#ˇ...busiest route like delhi-mumbai sector, pricing will be in the range of 3,500 to ... that...

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A day after announcing the resumption of domestic passenger flights from May 25, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday capped the maximum fare for three months and made it mandato- ry for passengers to reach the airport two hours in advance for thermal screening. On the busiest route like Delhi- Mumbai sector, pricing will be in the range of 3,500 to 10,000. Announcing the new fare structures, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday that to check that airlines are not selling tickets at higher price, 40 per cent of the tickets will have to be sold below the mean average of upper and lower fare range. Earlier, the Ministry issued standard operating procedures (SoPs) for airlines, airports passengers and other stake- holders. As per SoPs, passen- gers are required to reach the airport two hours in advance for thermal screening. Explaining the new fare structures, the Minister said that flight durations have been divided in 7 categories — 0-30 minutes, 30-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120- 150 minutes, 150-180 min- utes, and 180-210 minutes. “For a journey between 90-120 minutes the minimum fare will be 3,500 and maxi- mum would be 10,000. The fare band is split into different fare buckets. 40 per cent of the seats have to be sold at a fare less than the midpoint of the band,” Puri said, adding that airlines will have to follow ticket price guidelines issued by it when they restart some domestic flights. The Minister further explained that for example, midpoint of 3,500 and 10,000 is 6,700. So 40 per cent of the seats have to be sold at a price less than 6,700. “This is how we’re ensuring that fares don’t go out of con- trol. The fares will be regulat- ed and will be within a fixed range”, Puri added. In addition, the capping is applicable only to base fares. Taxes, such as user develop- ment fee, GST (Goods and Services Tax) will be charged additionally. Puri also said that there will be no need to keep middle seats vacant. He said only one-third of the approved 2020 summer schedule list will be allowed from metro to metro and metro to non-metro cities. “For operation from metro to metro cities, 1/3rd capacity of approved summer schedule 2020, which is more than 33.33 per cent, will be allowed. For operation from metro to non- metro cities and vice-versa, where weekly departures are greater than 100, 1/3rd capac- ity of approved summer sched- ule 2020, will be allowed,” the Minister said. Puri said passengers will have to provide their medical details through the Aarogya Setu app or by filling up a self- declaration form. They will have to go for web-check-in as physical check-in counters in airports will not operate. Continued on Page 2 S uper Cyclone Amphan dev- astated at least four West Bengal district killing 72 peo- ple, 15 in State Capital Kolkata, some crushed under the uprooted trees, others getting electrocuted and yet others coming under collapsed parts of buildings. The fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years also wreaked havoc in Odisha. Residents recalled “living through hell” for six hours as the winds howled incessantly. Windows buckled from the pressure of the storm, cars floated on water logged roads, bumping against each other. Parts of air conditioners were flying around like missiles. Buses and taxis crashed against each other, small fishing boats turned turtle and grounded planes shook at the inundated Kolkata airport. Last time Bengal witnessed a natural calamity as dreadful- ly ruinous as Amphan was two years before Nadir Shah attacked Delhi and 20 years before Robert Clive humbled Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud Daulah at Plassey in 1757. Reacting to the magnitude of the devastation, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I have never witnessed such a fierce cyclone and destruction in my life. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Amphan-affected areas. There is nothing left. No infrastruc- ture, no power, no telephone connection. I will visit the affected areas very soon. A large part of North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata are facing massive power cut since last evening. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the Central gov- ernment to extend all help to the State.” Related report on P5 C entral Paramilitary forces like BSF, CRPF and ITBP personnel hit by Covid-19 have recorded significant improve- ment in recoveries. While the BSF has a tally of 274 recover- ies and 87 active cases out of a total of 363 patients, the CRPF has shown recovery of 212 personnel hit by coronavirus besides 121 active cases out of total 335 personnel suffering from the pandemic. However, the CRPF on Thursday recorded death of a personnel due to Covid-19. Out of the 363 Covid-19 patients in the Border Security Force (BSF), two personnel had succumbed to the disease. Continued on Page 2 C ases of coronavirus are not showing signs of abetting as on Thursday Delhi saw 571 fresh cases with death toll reaching 94, with a 50-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector of the Central Reserve Police Force succumbing to the virus. Also, Mandoli Jail Deputy Superintendent tested Covid - 19 positive. “The jail officer was on leave since May 11 as he had fever. He got himself tested for Covid-19 at Ganga Ram Hospital and the report came positive on Wednesday,” a senior jail official said. The coronavirus death toll in Delhi has climbed to 194, while 571 fresh cases of infec- tion were reported on Thursday, the highest single- day spike here, taking the total in the city to 11,659, authori- ties said. The previous highest spike in fresh cases — 534 — was recorded on May 20. On May 19, 500 fresh cases were report- ed. This is the third consecu- tive day, when 500 or more fresh cases have been reported in a day in Delhi. On Wednesday, the total number of cases stood at 11,088, including 176 deaths. A day after China blamed India for flaring up tension on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh, New Delhi on Thursday said it was the other way round. “In fact, it is Chinese side which has undertaken activity creating hindrance in regular patrolling by the Indian Army,” Ministry of External Affairs said. This strong rebuttal came amid continuing tension on the LAC in Eastern Ladakh where a likely flashpoint was devel- oping in the Galwan River. The Chinese Army has pitched about 80 to 90 tents there with additional troops and the Indian side has also reinforced its troop strength. China claimed India was building a road close to the LAC and disrupting Chinese activities while India has refut- ed it. Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activi- ty across the LAC in the Western Sector (Ladakh) or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the LAC in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said here. All Indian activities are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently under- taken activity hindering India’s normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and security, he said. The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agree- ments and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC. The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peace- fully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues, he said. In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of mainte- nance of peace and tranquility in border areas. This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian- China bilateral relations, he reiterated. This assertion came after the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Wednesday blamed the Indian Army for coming into its territory and “blocking” its patrols and “attempting to unilaterally change the status” on the LAC between the two countries in Sikkim and Ladakh. Continued on Page 2 R ailway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said booking of train tickets will resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres across the country from Friday, mak- ing the service accessible to those in remote locations where the availability of com- puters and internet is negligi- ble or absent. The Minister said bookings will also resume at counters at specific railway stations over the next two to three days but need to ensure that there is no crowding at railway stations. We will also soon announce the resumption of more trains, he said. T he authorities have found rare artifacts of archaeo- logical importance, including Shivling pillars, kalash and other items reported to be the remains of the ancient Ram temple, during leveling of the area and removal of debris at the Ram Janmabhoomi land meant for the construction of Ram temple as permitted by the Supreme Court. “While leveling the ground labourers found pillars in debris of the structure having carvings. They also found a Shivling,” said Champat Rai, general secretary, Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirth Kshetra Trust on Thursday. He said that these items were discovered during removal of debris during land leveling at Ram Janambhoomi during the past 10 days. Among the items discov- ered during the work are 5 feet tall Shivling with carving on it, seven black stone pillars, 6 red stone pillars along with sever- al broken idols of different Gods and Goddesses. Rai said that all the items discovered were of archeolog- ical importance and these items would be kept in the museum to be constructed along with the Ram temple. Meanwhile, the work of leveling of the ground was underway in a slow pace dur- ing the lockdown under strict social distancing. Continued on Page 2 A fter the return of tens of thousands of migrant workers to their villages, coro- navirus is rapidly moving into rural areas. A huge number of cases are being reported from the rural belts of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh , which were until now largely free form covid-19 cases. Take the case of Uttar Pradesh, a majority of the recent cases are being report- ed from districts with a large rural population, including Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Banda, Bahraich, Barabanki, Hapur, Jalaun, Sidharth Nagar, Ghazipur, Sitapur, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Jhansi, Bijnor, Sambhal, Pratapgarh, Deoria, Chandauli, Auraiya, Mainpuri, Ballia, Unnao, Khushi Nagar, Sonbhadra and Hathras. Till mid-March, a majority of these districts were free from the coronavirus. Barabanki, which was coronavirus free till the return of the migrants, has now reported 95 cases, the highest single day surge in any district of the State. Of them, 49 are migrant workers who had returned to the district in the past few days. Continued on Page 2 Lucknow: All urban areas of Agra, Meerut, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar have been put in red zone, a senior official said on Thursday. “All urban areas of Agra, Meerut, Kanpur, GB Nagar and Ghaziabad have been put in the red zone,” Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said in a statement on Thursday. M aharashtra on Thursday clocked 2,345 fresh Covid-19 positive cases and reported 64 deaths, taking the total count of infected persons to 41,642 and deaths to 1,454. Maharashtra’s tally of positive cases led to a total of 1,18,222 positive cases and 3,584 deaths across the country. Of the total casualties of 64 in Maharashtra, Mumbai alone accounted for 41 deaths. As many 1,392 persons were test- ed positive in Mumbai where the total count of those afflict- ed with the disease jumped to 24,118 cases. Tamil Nadu added 776 new cases stretching the tally of corona positive cases in the State to 13,967. The State also witnessed seven new deaths due to the viral disease where a total of 95 persons have suc- cumbed due to the pandemic. The State has 7,590 active cases where 6,282, including 400 on Thursday, have recovered from the infection. Delhi followed Tamil Nadu with 571 fresh cases being test- ed during the last 24 hours, spi- ralling up the tally to 11,659. The national Capital registered 18 deaths on Thursday where a total of 194 persons have died due to the disease. Delhi has 5,898 active cases with the rest having been relieved of the infection after medical treat- ment. Gujarat tested 371 new Covid-19 positive cases, taking the tally to 12,910 where 24 deaths occurred due to the dis- ease on Thursday. Till now, a total of 773 persons have died due to the coronavirus in Gujarat. There are 6,649 active cases with 5,488 recovering from the viral infection includ- ing 269 on Thursday. Rajasthan reported 139 new cases where 6,154 persons have been afflicted by Covid- 19 so far. A total of 150 persons have died in the State due to the disease. Rajasthan has 2,583 active cases and 3,421 have recovered including 17 on Thursday. Among the States witness- ing a surge in the infection due to influx of migrants, Madhya Pradesh recorded the most number of fresh cases with 246 people testing positive raising the total infected to 5,981. Continued on Page 2

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Page 1: #ˇ...busiest route like Delhi-Mumbai sector, pricing will be in the range of 3,500 to ... that flight durations have been ... booking of train tickets will

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Aday after announcing theresumption of domestic

passenger flights from May25, the Ministry of CivilAviation on Thursday cappedthe maximum fare for threemonths and made it mandato-ry for passengers to reach theairport two hours in advancefor thermal screening. On thebusiest route like Delhi-Mumbai sector, pricing will bein the range of �3,500 to�10,000.

Announcing the new farestructures, Union CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri said on Thursdaythat to check that airlines arenot selling tickets at higherprice, 40 per cent of the ticketswill have to be sold below themean average of upper andlower fare range.

Earlier, the Ministry issuedstandard operating procedures(SoPs) for airlines, airportspassengers and other stake-holders. As per SoPs, passen-gers are required to reach theairport two hours in advancefor thermal screening.

Explaining the new fare

structures, the Minister saidthat flight durations have beendivided in 7 categories — 0-30minutes, 30-60 minutes, 60-90minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 min-utes, and 180-210 minutes.

“For a journey between90-120 minutes the minimumfare will be �3,500 and maxi-mum would be �10,000. Thefare band is split into differentfare buckets. 40 per cent of theseats have to be sold at a fareless than the midpoint of the

band,” Puri said, adding thatairlines will have to followticket price guidelines issued byit when they restart somedomestic flights.

The Minister furtherexplained that for example,midpoint of �3,500 and�10,000 is �6,700. So 40 percent of the seats have to be soldat a price less than �6,700.

“This is how we’re ensuringthat fares don’t go out of con-trol. The fares will be regulat-ed and will be within a fixed

range”, Puri added.In addition, the capping is

applicable only to base fares.Taxes, such as user develop-ment fee, GST (Goods andServices Tax) will be chargedadditionally. Puri also said thatthere will be no need to keepmiddle seats vacant.

He said only one-third ofthe approved 2020 summerschedule list will be allowedfrom metro to metro andmetro to non-metro cities.

“For operation from metroto metro cities, 1/3rd capacityof approved summer schedule2020, which is more than 33.33per cent, will be allowed. Foroperation from metro to non-metro cities and vice-versa,where weekly departures aregreater than 100, 1/3rd capac-ity of approved summer sched-ule 2020, will be allowed,” theMinister said.

Puri said passengers willhave to provide their medicaldetails through the AarogyaSetu app or by filling up a self-declaration form. They willhave to go for web-check-in asphysical check-in counters inairports will not operate.

Continued on Page 2

�� �� 9:79+�+

Super Cyclone Amphan dev-astated at least four West

Bengal district killing 72 peo-ple, 15 in State Capital Kolkata,some crushed under theuprooted trees, others gettingelectrocuted and yet otherscoming under collapsed partsof buildings. The fiercestcyclone to hit West Bengal in100 years also wreaked havocin Odisha.

Residents recalled “livingthrough hell” for six hours asthe winds howled incessantly.Windows buckled from thepressure of the storm, carsfloated on water logged roads,bumping against each other.Parts of air conditioners wereflying around like missiles.Buses and taxis crashed againsteach other, small fishing boatsturned turtle and groundedplanes shook at the inundatedKolkata airport.

Last time Bengal witnesseda natural calamity as dreadful-ly ruinous as Amphan wastwo years before Nadir Shahattacked Delhi and 20 yearsbefore Robert Clive humbled

Nawab of Bengal Siraj udDaulah at Plassey in 1757.

Reacting to the magnitudeof the devastation, Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeesaid, “I have never witnessedsuch a fierce cyclone anddestruction in my life. I would

request Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to visitAmphan-affected areas. Thereis nothing left. No infrastruc-ture, no power, no telephoneconnection. I will visit theaffected areas very soon. Alarge part of North and South

24 Parganas and Kolkata arefacing massive power cut sincelast evening. We have to rebuildthose districts from scratch. Iwould urge the Central gov-ernment to extend all help tothe State.”

Related report on P5

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Central Paramilitary forceslike BSF, CRPF and ITBP

personnel hit by Covid-19 haverecorded significant improve-ment in recoveries. While theBSF has a tally of 274 recover-ies and 87 active cases out of atotal of 363 patients, the CRPFhas shown recovery of 212personnel hit by coronavirusbesides 121 active cases out oftotal 335 personnel sufferingfrom the pandemic.

However, the CRPF onThursday recorded death of apersonnel due to Covid-19.Out of the 363 Covid-19patients in the Border SecurityForce (BSF), two personnelhad succumbed to the disease.

Continued on Page 2

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Cases of coronavirus are notshowing signs of abetting

as on Thursday Delhi saw 571fresh cases with death tollreaching 94, with a 50-year-oldAssistant Sub-Inspector of theCentral Reserve Police Forcesuccumbing to the virus.

Also, Mandoli Jail DeputySuperintendent tested Covid -19 positive. “The jail officer wason leave since May 11 as he hadfever. He got himself tested forCovid-19 at Ganga RamHospital and the report camepositive on Wednesday,” asenior jail official said.

The coronavirus death tollin Delhi has climbed to 194,while 571 fresh cases of infec-tion were reported onThursday, the highest single-day spike here, taking the total

in the city to 11,659, authori-ties said.

The previous highest spikein fresh cases — 534 — wasrecorded on May 20. On May19, 500 fresh cases were report-ed.

This is the third consecu-tive day, when 500 or morefresh cases have been reportedin a day in Delhi.

On Wednesday, the totalnumber of cases stood at11,088, including 176 deaths.

�� �� 5#6�(#78!

Aday after China blamedIndia for flaring up tension

on the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh,New Delhi on Thursday said itwas the other way round.

“In fact, it is Chinese sidewhich has undertaken activitycreating hindrance in regularpatrolling by the Indian Army,”Ministry of External Affairssaid. This strong rebuttal cameamid continuing tension on theLAC in Eastern Ladakh wherea likely flashpoint was devel-oping in the Galwan River. TheChinese Army has pitchedabout 80 to 90 tents there withadditional troops and theIndian side has also reinforcedits troop strength.

China claimed India wasbuilding a road close to theLAC and disrupting Chineseactivities while India has refut-ed it.

Any suggestion that Indiantroops had undertaken activi-ty across the LAC in theWestern Sector (Ladakh) or theSikkim sector is not accurate.Indian troops are fully familiarwith the alignment of the LACin the India-China border areasand abide by it scrupulously,External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson AnuragSrivastava said here.

All Indian activities areentirely on the Indian side of

the LAC. In fact, it is Chineseside that has recently under-taken activity hindering India’snormal patrolling patterns.Indian side has always taken avery responsible approachtowards border management.At the same time, we are deeplycommitted to ensuring India’ssovereignty and security, hesaid.

The Indian troops strictlyfollow the procedures laiddown in various bilateral agree-ments and protocols to resolveany situations which may arisedue to difference in perceptionof LAC. The two sides haveestablished mechanisms toresolve such situations peace-fully through dialogue. Bothsides remain engaged witheach other to address any

immediate issues, he said.In accordance with the

consensus reached in Chennai,Indian side remains firmlycommitted to work for thecommon objective of mainte-nance of peace and tranquilityin border areas. This is anessential prerequisite to thefurther development of Indian-China bilateral relations, hereiterated.

This assertion came afterthe Chinese Foreign Ministrystatement on Wednesdayblamed the Indian Army forcoming into its territory and“blocking” its patrols and“attempting to unilaterallychange the status” on the LACbetween the two countries inSikkim and Ladakh.

Continued on Page 2

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Railway Minister PiyushGoyal on Thursday said

booking of train tickets willresume at around 1.7 lakhcommon service centres acrossthe country from Friday, mak-ing the service accessible tothose in remote locationswhere the availability of com-puters and internet is negligi-ble or absent.

The Minister said bookingswill also resume at counters atspecific railway stations overthe next two to three days butneed to ensure that there is nocrowding at railway stations.

We will also soonannounce the resumption ofmore trains, he said.

�� �� 7-�95:6

The authorities have foundrare artifacts of archaeo-

logical importance, includingShivling pillars, kalash andother items reported to be theremains of the ancient Ramtemple, during leveling of thearea and removal of debris atthe Ram Janmabhoomi landmeant for the construction ofRam temple as permitted bythe Supreme Court.

“While leveling the groundlabourers found pillars indebris of the structure havingcarvings. They also found aShivling,” said Champat Rai,

general secretary, Sri RamJanmabhoomi Tirth KshetraTrust on Thursday.

He said that these itemswere discovered duringremoval of debris during landleveling at Ram Janambhoomiduring the past 10 days.

Among the items discov-ered during the work are 5 feettall Shivling with carving on it,seven black stone pillars, 6 redstone pillars along with sever-al broken idols of differentGods and Goddesses.

Rai said that all the itemsdiscovered were of archeolog-ical importance and these itemswould be kept in the museumto be constructed along withthe Ram temple.

Meanwhile, the work ofleveling of the ground wasunderway in a slow pace dur-ing the lockdown under strictsocial distancing.

Continued on Page 2

��#� ��������� 5#6�(#78!

After the return of tens ofthousands of migrant

workers to their villages, coro-navirus is rapidly moving intorural areas. A huge number ofcases are being reported fromthe rural belts of Bihar,Jharkhand, West Bengal,Odisha, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh ,which were until now largelyfree form covid-19 cases.

Take the case of UttarPradesh, a majority of therecent cases are being report-ed from districts with a large

rural population, includingSant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Banda,Bahraich, Barabanki, Hapur,Jalaun, Sidharth Nagar,Ghazipur, Sitapur,

Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Jhansi,Bijnor, Sambhal, Pratapgarh,Deoria, Chandauli, Auraiya,Mainpuri, Ballia, Unnao,Khushi Nagar, Sonbhadra andHathras. Till mid-March, amajority of these districts werefree from the coronavirus.

Barabanki, which wascoronavirus free till the returnof the migrants, has nowreported 95 cases, the highestsingle day surge in any districtof the State. Of them, 49 aremigrant workers who hadreturned to the district in thepast few days.

Continued on Page 2

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Lucknow: All urban areas ofAgra, Meerut, Kanpur,Ghaziabad and GautamBuddha Nagar have been put inred zone, a senior official saidon Thursday.

“All urban areas of Agra,Meerut, Kanpur, GB Nagarand Ghaziabad have been putin the red zone,” PrincipalSecretary (Medical and Health)Amit Mohan Prasad said in astatement on Thursday.

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Maharashtra on Thursdayclocked 2,345 fresh

Covid-19 positive cases andreported 64 deaths, taking thetotal count of infected personsto 41,642 and deaths to 1,454.Maharashtra’s tally of positivecases led to a total of 1,18,222positive cases and 3,584 deathsacross the country.

Of the total casualties of 64in Maharashtra, Mumbai aloneaccounted for 41 deaths. Asmany 1,392 persons were test-ed positive in Mumbai wherethe total count of those afflict-ed with the disease jumped to24,118 cases.

Tamil Nadu added 776new cases stretching the tally ofcorona positive cases in theState to 13,967. The State also

witnessed seven new deathsdue to the viral disease wherea total of 95 persons have suc-cumbed due to the pandemic.The State has 7,590 active caseswhere 6,282, including 400 onThursday, have recovered fromthe infection.

Delhi followed Tamil Naduwith 571 fresh cases being test-ed during the last 24 hours, spi-ralling up the tally to 11,659.The national Capital registered18 deaths on Thursday wherea total of 194 persons have dieddue to the disease. Delhi has5,898 active cases with the resthaving been relieved of theinfection after medical treat-ment.

Gujarat tested 371 newCovid-19 positive cases, takingthe tally to 12,910 where 24deaths occurred due to the dis-

ease on Thursday. Till now, atotal of 773 persons have dieddue to the coronavirus inGujarat. There are 6,649 activecases with 5,488 recoveringfrom the viral infection includ-ing 269 on Thursday.

Rajasthan reported 139

new cases where 6,154 personshave been afflicted by Covid-19 so far. A total of 150 personshave died in the State due to thedisease. Rajasthan has 2,583active cases and 3,421 haverecovered including 17 onThursday.

Among the States witness-ing a surge in the infection dueto influx of migrants, MadhyaPradesh recorded the mostnumber of fresh cases with 246people testing positive raisingthe total infected to 5,981.

Continued on Page 2

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Chandigarh: Out of the total82.1 per cent respondents hav-ing no previous experience ofonline teaching, 90.2 per centteachers said that they are tak-ing online classes for the firsttime, while 9.8 per cent teach-ers mentioned that they werenot taking online classes duringlockdown amid Covid-19.

This was revealed during anonline survey comprising atotal sample size of 3,550 teach-ers from different Government,Recognised Private andGovernment Aided PrivateSchools of UT Chandigarh andPunjab. The sample survey con-sisted of 38.6% were PrimaryTeachers (PTs), 33.9% TrainedGraduate Teachers (TGTs) and27.5% Post Graduate Teachers(PGTs). The online survey wasconducted by Internal QualityAssurance Cell (IQAC) of DevSamaj College of Education,Chandigarh.

Dhaka/Agartala: To boosttrade, economic activity andconnectivity, India andBangladesh have added fivemore "ports of call" on eitherside and increased the protocol(water) routes from 8 to 10.

"These additions to theprotocol will facilitate bilater-al trade with improved relia-bility and cost effectivenessfor the business communityand the people of both thecountries," an official releasesaid.

The release issued aftersigning of the SecondAddendum to the Protocol onInland Water Transit andTrade, in Dhaka onWednesday, said the extensionof protocol routes, inclusion ofnew routes and declaration ofnew "ports of call" would facil-itate trade.

The Second Addendumwas signed by Indian HighCommissioner in BangladeshRiva Ganguly Das andBangladesh Shipping MinistrySecretary Mohammed MezbahUddin Chowdhury.

There are six "ports of call"each in India and Bangladesh.The new five "ports of call" onthe Indian side are Dhulian,Maia, Kolaghat, Sonamura andJogigopha and on theBangladesh side Rajshahi,Sultanganj, Chilmari,Daudkandi and Bahadurabad.

Two more extended 'portsof call" -- Tribeli (Bandel) andBadarpur in India andGhorasal and Muktarpur inBangladesh -- have been added.

According to the release,connectivity provided by theexisting and the new protocolroutes is all the more pertinentin the Covid-19 scenario. Theywill provide economical, faster,safer and greener mode oftransport for trade and busi-ness.

The new agreement willhelp improve movement ofcargo vessels in an organisedmanner on the protocol routes.The Indian transit cargo ismainly coal, fly-ash, POL andheavy machineries for powerprojects in the northeast. Theother likely cargo is fertilizers,

cement, grain, farm productsand containers.

The export cargo fromIndia to Bangladesh is mainlyfly-ash (around 30 lakh tonnesper annum). Around 638inland vessels (including 600Bangladeshi flag vessels) do4,000 loaded voyages annually.

Both the countries havealso agreed to introduce tradebetween Chilmari(Bangladesh) and Dhubri(Assam, India) through theuse of shallow draft mecha-nised vessels.

It will allow export of stonechips and other Bhutanese andnortheast cargo and easy accessfor traders to the hinterland ofBangladesh, enhancing thelocal economy in Bangladeshand the lower Assam region.

Inclusion of Jogigopha(India) and Bahadurabad(Bangladesh) as new "port ofcall" will provide connectivityto Meghalaya, Assam andBhutan. Jogigopha (in westernAssam) also becomes impor-tant as a multi-modal logisticspark is on cards there. IANS

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New Delhi: The Governmenthas identified 12 sectors,including auto components,textiles, industrial machineryand furniture, where focuswould be given with a view tomake India a self-reliant coun-try and a global supplier,Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal said onThursday.

He said a self-reliant Indiawill ensure production of qual-ity products on a large scale,fulfil India''s requirements andboost export of surplus pro-duction.

"There are a number of sec-tors that have been identified inwhich India''s competitive andcomparative advantage over

the other countries is seen. Wehave identified 12 sectors inwhich not only will India be''Aatmanirbhar'' (self-reliant)but can also lead the globalsupply chain," he said in a con-versation with BJP leaderSambit Patra on steps beingtaken by the ministry to com-bat the COVID-19 crisis.

In these 12 sectors — foodprocessing; organic farming;iron; aluminium and copper;agro chemicals; electronics;industrial machinery; furni-ture; leather and shoes; autoparts; textiles; and coveralls,masks, sanitisers and ventila-tors — India can become aglobal supplier, the ministersaid. PTI

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) used

all the latest information avail-able to give an accurate predic-tion on cyclone Amphan. AfterFoni, this is the second time thatIMD predicted accurate oncyclone Amphan.

The IMD’s predictions onthe cyclone’s trajectory, windspeed as well as its character insea and impact were “to thepoint” and “accurate” whichhelped the states in makingrequired preparation to face thecalamity. IMD Director GeneralMrutunjay Mohapatra said onThursday the IMD gave accurateforecast on the cyclone's track,its intensity, storm surge, land-fall time and weather associat-ed with it. The extremely severecyclonic storm weakened andmoved to Bangladesh at 11:30p.m. on Wednesday, he added.

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Washington: The possibilityof US sanctions on India forbuying the multi-billion dollarS-400 missile system fromRussia remains on the table, atop American diplomat hassaid, asserting that New Delhiwill have to make a strategiccommitment to technologiesand platforms.

In October 2018, Indiasigned a $5 bn deal with Russiato buy five units of the S-400 airdefence missile systems,notwithstanding warning fromAmerica that going ahead withthe contract may invite USsanctions under the CounteringAmerica's Adversaries ThroughSanctions Act (CAATSA). PTI

Washington: Underlining thatIndia has not been able to cracktrade deals, a senior US diplo-mat on Wednesday said it needsto bring economic reforms tograb the opportunity providedby the coronavirus crisis.

Alice Wells, the outgoingPrincipal Deputy AssistantSecretary of State for South andCentral Asian Affairs, said theUS wants a trade pact butIndia has not been able to do so.

Companies want to diver-sify their supply chains post-COVID 19, this really represents“a golden opportunity for India”,which we think it should seizewith market-friendly approach-es instead of protectionistimpulses, she said observingthat the US really wants towork with India to improve thebusiness environment.

“I would point out thatwe're a country that makestrade deals. As rough and tum-ble as these discussions are, wemake deals. We have not seenIndia be able to make thesetrade deals yet,” Alice Wells toldtold a Washington DC-basedthink tank.

“So, this is not just a USissue. It's an issue that India

faces and its relations with theEU, Australia, other countries,”Wells told former USAmbassador to India, RichardVerma, during a virtual dis-cussion organised by theAtlantic Council.

She said there's a realopportunity for diversificationas countries are looking to de-risk from China.

"India could make sense ifthe right policies are put in placeand the right commitments toinfrastructure,” she said.

The United States, she saidcertainly wants to see that hap-pen and facilitate that kind ofgrowth in its partnership withIndia. “But there are toughissues and this administrationis committed to doing what isnecessary to make progress,”the American diplomat said.

India and the United States,are working on a trade deal forthe past two years. LastSeptember, President DonaldTrump had announced that itwas likely to be signed soon.

It was later expected to beinked during his visit to Indiathis February. However, sharpdifferences remain betweenthe two countries. PTI

From Page 1 The official statement

about the recent stand-offs inNaku La in Sikkim which sawexchange of blows said the“the Indian Army has crossedthe line across the westernsection of the Sino-Indian bor-der and the Sikkim section toenter Chinese territory”.

The statement also saidthe Chinese side had taken upthe matter with India, askingthe Indian side to “immediatelywithdraw the personnel acrossthe line, restore the status quoof the relevant areas, strictlyrestrict the frontline troops,observe the important con-sensus reached by the leadersof the two countries and theagreements signed by the twosides, and jointly maintainpeace and stability in the bor-der areas”.

From Page 1The rules included no meals on board,

mandatory temperature checks for all pas-sengers and allowing only one check-in bagfor each passenger. People who were testedpositive for Covid-19 will not be allowed totravel. All the passengers will have to wearmasks while entering the airports and there-after. No newspapers and magazines will beoffered.

In a set of detailed guidelines, theMinistry advised the vulnerable people likethe elderly, pregnant women and passengersbattling health issues to avoid air travel tillthe coronavirus pandemic abates. Peopleresiding in the containment zone will not beallowed to travel. Only one check-in bagwould be allowed and airlines will not pro-vide any meal services in flights, the Ministrysaid. Boarding for a flight will commence 60minutes before departure and boarding gatewill be closed 20 minutes before departure,it said.

The Ministry also allowed resumption ofservices by all food and beverages (F&B) out-lets on the condition that they must followall Covid-19 precautions. “Take-away, digi-tal payments, self-ordering booths at F&Band retail outlets to be encouraged to pre-vent crowding of people, it said.

From Page 1Three JCBs, one crane, two

tractor trolley along with 10 labour-ers were working on the site sinceMay 11 to clear the debris along withleveling the ground.

In its historic ruling, the

Supreme Court had on November9 last year directed the CentralGovernment to hand over the siteat Ayodhya for the construction ofa temple and set up a trust for thesame. The apex court had furtherdirected the Government to give asuitable land measuring five acres tothe Sunni Waqf Board.

From Page 1According to a data by the

Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare, of the 5175 confirmedcases in the State, 1330 caseswere reported from these dis-tricts. The data says Sant KabirNagar has reported (46), Basti(104), Banda (21), Gonda (36),Bahraich (63), Barabanki (79),Hapur (87), Jalaun (41),Siddharth Nagar (51),Ghazipur (49), Sitapur (37),Farrukhabad (20), Hardoi(20), Jhansi (30), Bijnor (58),Sambhal (57) , Pratapgarh (56),Lakhimpur Kheri (40), Deoria(25) Chandauli (15), Auraiya(20), Mainpuri (24), Ballia (13),Unnao (11), Khushi Nagar (7),Sonbhadra (3) and Hathras(20) cases.

In Maharashtra’s Yavatmaldistrict, 13 new cases havebeen reported from rural areassuch as Digras ( 4), Isapur ( 3),Rui Talav (1), Pusad ( 4) andMalkini village in Mahagaon (1). All those tested positive areMumbai returnees.

Resumption of inter-Statepublic transport has heightenedconcerns that migrants return-ing to their native places couldpotentially be carriers of coro-navirus. Interestingly, peoplewho are coming back to theirState from other parts of thecountry are facing social boy-

cott in villages.In last few days, up to 65-

70 percent of the positive casesreported in Bihar were in ruraland semi-urban areas. Until thefirst week of May, about 410 ofthe 1607 cases were reportedfrom rural and suburban areas.Those who had returned fromDelhi and other States werefound to have the maximumpositive cases. As per data,Sitamarhi, Begusarai, Nawada,Siwan, Gopalganj, Munger,Bhgalapur, Aurangabad,Jehanabad, Muzaffarpur,Darbhanga, Madhubani,Saharsa, Supaul, Sheikhpura,Samastipur, Katihar,Madhepura, Araria andSheohar were coronavirus freetill April 25. Now several vil-lages in these districts havebecome the coronavirushotspot.

Two villages in Saharsadistrict have reported two eachcoranavirus cases. The caseswere reported from Nariyarand Kahra village, both fallingunder Kahra Block in the dis-trict.

In Odisha, 51 new coron-avirus case were detected from11 different districts whichinclude 11 cases each fromKalahandi and Nayagarh dis-trict, 9 were in Cuttack, 5 inJajpur, 4 in Ganjam, 3 inMaurybhanj, 2 each in Anguland Jagatsinghpur, one eachfrom Sambalpur, Malkangiri

and Puri districts.In Madhya Pradesh, eight

new districts have reportedpositive cases after May 1,these include Neemuch (50cases), Morena (49), Jhabua(11) Anuppur (3), Satna (10),Bhind (38), Guna (1), Jhabua(2), Panna (1 )and Sehore (5),Seoni (1), Mandla (1) andSidhi (5), all predominantlyrural districts. In the Neemuchdistrict that borders Rajasthan,the worst of the lot, the firstcase was reported on May 3.

In Rajasthan, Covid-19infections have spread to twomore rural districts-Jalore andSirohi in recent days. The high-est number of positive casesamong migrants has come infrom Pali district with 217positive cases reported.Rajsamand has the secondhighest number of cases (73),Sirohi with 70, Jalore with108, Churu with 52 cases.

In Jharkhand, about 75%of positive cases in recentdays emerged from ruralbelts. Six positive cases fromGovindpur village area ofGadra Tribal block has wor-ried the administration. Thesix infected persons atGovindpur are of the samefamily including husband,wife, daughter, son, daugh-ter-in-law and 3- year-oldkid. The girl along with herparents had arrived fromDelhi via Rajdhani Expresson May 10.

After the local residentsprotested, the girl and herparents were admitted toMGM hospital on May 14and sample was collected.After the reports of thethree came positive on May20 they were shifted toTMH Hospital. The otherthree members of the fam-ily were also admitted toTMH and their sampleswere taken for test.

Late on Wednesdaynight the other three mem-bers of the family including

a three- year-old child also test-ed positive. Govindpur area hasbeen turned into containmentand buffer zone which is thefirst in Jamshedpur and the sec-ond in East Singhbhum districtafter Chakulia, also a tribal belt.

Administration is lookingfor the persons who came incontact with the family andtheir samples will be taken.Govindpur area is being sealedand sanitized

Prime Minister NarendraModi, in his meeting withChief Ministers, had alsoflagged the issue saying “nowthe effort should be to stop thespread of the Covid-19 to ruralareas.”

From Page 1Four deaths occurred due to the

disease in MP on Thursday. A totalof 271 deaths have been recorded inthe State due to the virus.

Uttar Pradesh followed MadhyaPradesh with 181 new cases wherea total of 5,356 positive cases arethere. As many as 127 persons havedied in UP without any casualty onThursday. The State has 2,130 activecases where 3,099 patients haverecovered including 33 recoveries onThursday.

Uttar Pradesh was followed byBihar which added 124 new cases onThursday where a total count of1,900 infected persons have beenreported. The State has so far wit-

nessed just nine deaths due to thedisease.

Odisha, another State facingmigrant influx post-Covid-19, reg-istered 51 new cases during the last24 hours, taking the total count to1,103.

The State has witnessed sevendeaths due to the disease includingone on Thursday.

Jharkhand, on the other hand,reported just nine new cases onThursday where a total of 299 per-sons have tested positive for Covid-19.

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh areamong the States which havepresently more number of recover-ies than the active cases.

From Page 1The BSF has not tested any positive

case for the last two days.The CRPF has now two fatalities from

the total count of 335 infected personnel.The CRPF reported nine fresh cases ofCovid infection from the national Capitaland all of them have been admitted toAIIMS, Jhajjar and Haryana.

An Assistant Sub Inspector suc-cumbed to Covid due to co-morbidity ofliver cancer, officials said. Earlier, anoth-er ASI had died due to the infection.

In the Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) which had a total of 186 Covid-infected personnel, as many as 67 patientshave recovered and still has an active casecount of 119.

All the infection cases in ITBP arefrom Delhi and the condition of thoseunder treatment is stable, a spokespersonsaid.

The ITBP has not recorded any freshpositive case for the last four days in a row.The CISF had earlier recorded threedeaths due to the viral disease and withtwo casualties each in the BSF and CRPF,the tally of fatalities in the paramilitaryforces has reached seven.

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New Delhi: The linking ofadditional borrowing of stateswith reforms will help in medi-um-term debt management andthe difficult job before theGovernment is to return to asustainable debt trajectory, 15thFinance Commission ChairmanNK Singh said on Thursday.

Stating that additional 2

per cent borrowing by states isa "symmetric" treatment of theCentre and states, he said thatthe move augurs well forstrengthening fiscal architecture.

As part of the economicpackage, the Centre on May 17raised the borrowing limit ofstates from 3 per cent of grossstate domestic product (GSDP)

to 5 per cent in 2020-21, whichwill make available an additional�4.28 lakh crore. However, partof the increased borrowing limitwould be linked to specificreforms — universalisation ofOne Nation-One Ration Card,ease of doing business, powerdistribution and urban localbody revenues. PTI

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Recording the highest single-day spike of 571 fresh cases

in the last 24 hours, the totalnumber of Covid-19 cases inthe national Capital rose to11,659. This is the third con-secutive day where the city hasrecorded more then 500 newcases. Delhi also reported 194fatalities in this period.

On the other hand, the cityrecorded a recovery rate of 48per cent.

As per experts, the recov-ery rate is likely to increase bytwo per cent in next two days.

Lauding the efforts of med-ical staff and increase in coro-na patients’ recovery rate, DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaltweeted, “Am so proud of ourteam of doctors and nurseswho have provided the bestpossible treatment to our Covidpatients. Delhi will soon havemore recovered patients than

the number of active cases.”According to State Health

Department, this was the sec-ond single-day spike in Covid-19 cases reported in the nation-al Capital.

On Wednesday, the healthdepartment said that 534 newcases of Covid-19 were report-ed in 24 hours — the highestsingle-day spike — while thefigure was 500 for new infec-tions on Tuesday.

More than 5,500 people,5,567 to be precise, have recov-ered from coronavirus in Delhior have been discharged fromhospitals. The State healthdepartment has done the cumu-lative testing of 154,385 peopleso far while 2739 have been

advised for home quarantine. If corona data is compared

with last week, the number ofCoronapositive cases increasedbut recovery rate has improvedconsiderably.

The database of healthdepartment implied that inprevious week , the number ofpositive cases per day fluctuat-ed between 400-472 howeverthis week, per day cases havebeen reported above 500.

While on one side, casesincreased but the containmentzones have decreased.

According to Homedepartment, on Sunday, thenumber of containment zonewas 76, however, the numberhas reduced to 64.

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With the Covid-19 pan-demic inducing psycho-

logical issues in people acrossthe globe, an internationalweb seminar organised by theGargi College here dwelt onbeating the symptoms andinculcate happiness amid thecontinuing lockdown and hov-ering threats to livelihood.

Prof Issac Prilleltensky ofUniversity of Miami, USA,who addressed the webinar onthe topic of Helping PeopleMatter : Strategies forImproving Wellbeing in theCovid-19 Era, asserted there isa need to realise meaning in lifeby engaging in physical activ-ities and developing empathyfor others.

Community PsychologistPrilleltensky is an expert onwellbeing and stressed on needto handle multiple aspects ofwell being — Interpersonal,Physical, Occupational andPsychological among others —for the generation of feel goodfactor during the stressfultimes forced upon by the pan-demic.

He emphasised that for developing meaning inlife, there is a need to think beyond economic well-being based solely on GDPfactor but to generate innerhappiness by spending on oth-ers who may not be that for-tunate to handle the problemsarising due to the viral out-break across the globe.

The professor also dished

out seven drivers of well being---behaviour, emotions,thoughts, interactions, contextawareness, next steps and set-ting a goal.

Creating positive habits bynurturing relationships and asense of gratitude, managingnegative emotions by practic-ing self-compassion and chal-lenging negative assumptionsabout oneself can be fruitful tonegating the impact of the sit-uation forced by the coron-avirus, he said.

Focusing on strengths,recognising others achieve-ments and assessment of one’sreactions to stress can help inbetter controlling them.

The webinar, a brainchildof Gargi College Principal DrPromila Kumar, was attended

by about 500 participants from India and abroad.

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If one wants to learn what is'Happiness Curriculum', he

or she can google it fromThursday and get all historyand origin of the course fromWikipedia.

Announcing formallyabout the HappinessCurriculum - a course which isbeing taught in governmentschool from two years, theEducation Minister ManishSisodia tweeted,” HappinessCurriculum introduced inDelhi govt schools two yearsback is on Wikipedia now. Atruly unique curriculumdesigned to reimagine educa-tion now has a permanentaddress to reach a larger audi-ence.”

The Happiness Curriculumgot global attention after USFirst Lady Melania Trump vis-ited a Delhi government schoolto take part in a happiness classin February this year.

Delhi government had

introduced the course keepingmental health of children inpriority.

The course has variousstress release activities likeYoga.

Sisodia in his tweet alsoshared the web link ofHappiness Curriculum whichis -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_Curriculum.

The course was launchedin 2018 with n aim to trans-form school education in Delhigovernment schools shiftingfocus from only fierce compe-tition and marks orientedteaching.

Students during the courselearn language and other art-based activities.

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Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal has written to Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Thursday, asking him toconstitute a committee to ‘com-prehensively’ analyse and sug-gest measures to help peopleand businesses with specialfocus on protection of interestsof labourers.

"Govt. deptts to take proac-tive steps like automatic renew-al of various licenses, complet-ing pending processes, provid-ing maximum public services‘on line’ & minimising require-ment of visit to Govt offices,"Baijal tweeted.

Baijal has written to vari-ous authorities to further ame-liorate sufferings of people andbusinesses through proactivemeasures. Highlighting reliefmeasures announced byGovernment of India toencourage economic activityand help the people affected bythe Covid-19 pandemic,Lieutenant Governor has writ-

ten to various authorities tofurther ameliorate sufferings ofpeople and businesses throughproactive measures.

Baijal also wrote to DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA), Delhi Police,Municipal Corporations andDelhi Government, directingthem to take proactive mea-sures to ameliorate sufferingsof people and businesses in thistime of distress.

In another tweet, he said"DDA to galvanise implemen-tation of PM-UDAY, In-situslum redevelopment, LandPooling, TOD & use planningtools to stimulate city’s econo-my focusing on sectoral revival.Suggested to GNCTD to com-prehensively analyse & takemeasures to help people & busi-nesses in these tough times,"

L-G has suggested all theauthorities to take relief mea-sures to help people throughproactive steps including auto-matic renewal of various licens-es, moratorium on payments,simplified online processes,

minimizing requirement ofvisit to Government officesand innovative use of technol-ogy.

Baijal has advised DDA touse planning tools to stimulatethe business environment byattracting investments andfocusing on sectoral revival.

DDA being the develop-ment authority has a crucialrole to play in Delhi. L-G hasalso urged DDA to plan lastingstructural improvements forthe benefit of residents ofDelhi, their businesses and cityinfrastructure, through innov-ative policies and incentives.

“As most sections of soci-ety are facing challenge of cashflow management, whichmakes it difficult to payinstallment, allotment money,EMDs, lease rent, license fee,etc, Lieutenant Governoradvised DDA to explore mea-sures for moratorium on pay-ments so that EMD is not for-feited and allotment is notcancelled in this time of dis-tress,” according to a state-

ment issued by L-G office. Baijal further advised Vice

Chairman of DDA that allongoing pending processessuch as execution of lease,conveyance deed, issuance ofno objection certificates, layout,and completion plans etc.,should be expeditiously com-pleted. “To instill confidence inpublic, all ongoing and pend-ing public projects of DDA maybe given impetus and maxi-mum public services should bemade available ‘on line,” he said.

L-G also suggested thatDwarka, Narela and Rohinisub-cities can be revampedwith focus on attracting invest-ment in commercial, IT, ITES,educational sectors throughmeticulous planning with spe-cial focus on vacant land piecesas low hanging fruits.

Baijal has urged DDA togalvanize implementation ofPM-UDAY, In-situ slum rede-velopment, land pooling poli-cy and transit oriented devel-opment.

Further, L-G directed

home department to take stepsto explore the possibility ofautomatic extension of term,renewal of licenses of variouscategories such as hotels,restaurants, guest houses,swimming pools, etc. whichstand expired after March 1this year.

He further advised localbodies that ongoing pendingprocesses related to propertytax, conversion charges forallowing commercial activitieson mixed land use, parking,mutation, etc. should be expe-ditiously completed.

“While doing day-to-dayactivities relating to sanita-tion, de-silting of drains andcontainment of vector-bornediseases, etc ULBs will strictlyabide by all health advisoriesand guidelines of Governmentof India,” he said.

L-G reiterated that whileundertaking all these mea-sures, all government depart-ments should strictly abide byall health advisories and guide-lines of Government of India.

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a bus driver and the

owner of the tourist vehicle forallegedly ferrying 49 migrantworkers from the city to theirnative places in Bihar usingforged movement pass amidongoing lockdown.

The driver has been iden-tified as Manish Kumar Jha(31), a resident of Nangloi andwhile it's owner has been iden-tified as, Shravan Kumar Shukla(42), a resident of Govindpuri.

According to R P Meena,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast dis-trict, the tourist bus bearing UPregistration number wasnoticed by the police on EstateEntry Road during nightpatrolling on the May 18.

"On checking the vehicle,49 migrant labourers werefound sitting in the bus which

was going for Kishanganj, Biharand all of them were fromTughlakabad Extension. Thebus driver also showed a passissued from DM Shahdara forthe vehicle. When this pass waschecked, it was found forged,though he has applied for thepass," said the DCP.

"Both the driver and theowner have been arrested inconnection with the incidentand all the 49 migrant labour-ers were sent back toTughlakabad village," said theDCP.

"A case has also been reg-istered under section 188 (dis-obedience to order duly pro-mulgated by public servant),269 (negligent act likely tospread infection of disease dan-gerous to life) and 270(Malignant act likely to spreadinfection of disease dangerousto life) of Indian Penal Code,"the DCP added.

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Accusing the BJP- ruledcentre and AAP

Government in Delhi for ‘fail-ing’ to tackle Covid-19 pan-demic effectively, DelhiCongress on Thursday saidthat both the Governmentshave not only failed to act butalso turned a blind eye towardsthe plight of migrant labourers.

Delhi Congress vice- pres-ident Jaikishan said that due toapathetic attitude of the gov-ernment, people are forced tospend nights in open that toowithout food and water. “TheCongress workers have beenhelping people besides pro-viding them with masks, san-itizers, pads, food and water ondaily basis,” he said.

The party is also arrangingtransport toferry migrantsback to their home states, hesaid. Party senior leadersincluding president AnilChaudhary, Mudit Agarwal,Abhishek Dutt and Sishmita

Dev offered floral tributes toformer Prime Minister RajivGandhi on his 29th martyr-dom day at the DPCC office.

Meanwhile, the IndianYouth Congress launched“NYAY” campaign on the 29thmartyrdom day of RajeevGandhi. “It will be distributing

direct cash to underprivilegedpeople across the country as asymbolic NYAY for one day.We will also demand theCentral government to provideNYAY to the underprivilegedpeople for six months, saidyouth Congress presidentSrinivas BV.

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Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari and North Delhi

Mayor Avtar Singh distributedfood packets and other reliefmaterial including health kits toneedy people on Thursday.

Tiwari appreciated theefforts of Mayor for providingdry ration to needy persons. Hesaid that in this pandemic sit-uation corporation is providingevery possible service to the cit-izens of Delhi.

The BJP president alsoappreciated the efforts ofMayor for making 50000 masksby using turban cloth for stu-dents studying in corporationschools.

Mayor said that we havedistributed food packets andhealth kits to more than 300needy people. “Food packetshave essential items such asflour, pulses, cooking oil etc.and health kit includes sanitarynapkins and other necessaryitems,” he said.

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In wake of coronavirus out-break, SN Shrivastava, the

Delhi Commissioner of Police,inaugurated a new initiative ofwebinars called “PHQ WellnessSeries”. Police said the firstseries of the webinar was basedon Yoga and Pranayam whichwas held on Thursday.

"The webinar wasaddressed by Dr. SurakshitGoswami, an eminent Yogaexpert. Nearly 1000 police per-sonnel participated in the webi-nar. A large number of policepersonnel already practicingYoga got another opportunity

for learning and improvingupon their techniques," saidAnil Mittal, the AdditionalPublic Relation (APRO), DelhiPolice.

"Delhi Police has beenencouraging all police person-nel to practice yoga in differ-ent Districts and Units beingimparted through trained yogateachers from police establish-ment and those qualified from

Yoga Institutes," said Mittal."Further, it has been decid-

ed that this webinar series willbe done on weekly basis toaddress ongoing issues per-taining to police personneland their overall capacity build-ing," Mittal added.

According to police, it issquarely meeting the twin chal-lenges of deployment at sensi-tive locations and implemen-tation of pre and post lock-down 4.0, and consistentlyimproving upon preventivesteps to fine tune a robust con-tainment strategy for overallpreparedness of the entireDelhi Police personnel.

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Railway Protection Force(RPF ) has started concert-

ed nationwide efforts to identi-fy and act against touts afterreceiving complaints regardinge-tickets are being used usingmultiple personal IDs and cor-nering reserved berths in specialtrains run by the IndianRailways to ferry migrants backto their home.

It was also apprehendedthat once the reservation for the100 pairs of trains start on May21, the activities of these touts

will escalate adversely affectingthe availability of confirmedtrain reservations to the com-mon man.

“The drive has beenlaunched on May 20 and despite

the impact of AMPHAN ineastern part of the country;RPF has been able to arrest 14touts including eight IRCTCagents and recovered ticketsworth �6,36,727 wherein thejourney is yet to be performed,”he said.

The IRCTC agents wereusing personal Ids to corner tick-ets and then sell them unau-thorizedly at a premium, it said,adding that action has been ini-tiated to get them blacklisted.

“One of the touts was foundusing auto fill software calledSuper Tatkal Pro,” it added.

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3� ��������������������������������������45������� ����3���� New Delhi: The Delhi

Government has sent 1.32 lakhmigrants, including 1.2 lakhfrom Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,to their home towns throughShramik Special trains, DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiasaid on Thursday.

He said over 4 lakhmigrants have so far regis-tered on the DelhiGovernment's website to goback to their native places indifferent states.

"So far, around 1.32 lakhpeople have been sent throughShramik Special trains underthe special arrangements by theDelhi government. These

include 1.20 lakh from Biharand eastern UP districts,"Sisodia said in a tweet.

The deputy CM has alsowritten to the railway ministry,requesting for 262 trains forsending the remainingmigrants stranded in thenational capital to their nativestates, in the next four days.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal had alsorequested the Centre toincrease the number of trainsfrom Delhi to send maximummigrants back to their nativestates.

Among the 4 lakh regis-trations made on the city gov-

ernment's portal, around 1.95lakh migrants belong to Biharfollowed by 1.84 lakh fromUttar Pradesh.

"We are also seeking per-mission from other states tosend the migrants back to theirhome towns. As soon as we getthe permit, we will sanctiontrains for those states," Sisodiahad said.

An order had been issuedby the Delhi governmentdirecting for publicising theweb linkepass.Jantasamavad.Org amongthe stranded migrants for reg-istering on the Governmentportal. PTI

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Delhi Sikh GurdwaraManagement Committee

(DSGMC) is providing dailylangar to ‘Central Postal LadiesOrganization’ (CPLO) for its dis-tribution among 2,000 migrantlabourers moving on foot onNoida- Lucknow expressway.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa,president of DSGMC said thatCPLO is a national organisa-tion of women officers andemployees working in depart-ment of post and wives of theemployees and officers of thedepartment of post has part-nered with DSGMC for pro-viding nutritious and freshfood to the migrants labourerson way back to their homes.

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Amid the switch to onlineclasses in the educational

institutions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a need tomake the teaching sessionsmore fun-filled in order tounburden the students fromthe stress of virtual classrooms,insisted Assistant Professor atGargi College, DelhiUniversity, Dr Poonam Phogat.

The responsibility for thislies with the school manage-ment, teachers and parents toensure e-learning is not stress-

ful and instead it is driven bythe mantra of learning throughfun.

This can be ensured byincorporating exciting graph-ical elements in the teachingcontent to help the studentseasily grasp the topics.

Real-time virtual discus-sions will further encouragestudents to clear their doubtsregarding the taught subject.Interactive quiz session andactivity-based assignments canpotentially aid ease of learningthrough online sessions, sheadded.

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At least, 73 per cent of thetotal Covid-19 deaths in

India is of those with underly-ing co-morbidities like car-diovascular disease, stroke ordiabetes. And at 64 per cent,men continue to be the maintarget of the virulent viruswith females making up for therest.

Also, half of the totaldeaths is of those above 60years of age, probably becauseof weak immunity and under-lying poor health condition, asper the Health Ministry dataissued on Thursday.

The analysis further indi-cated that, in terms of age dis-tribution, 0.5 per cent deathsare reported in less than 15years of age group, 2.5 per centin 15-30 years age group, 11.4per cent in 30-45 years agegroup, 35.1 per cent in 45-60years age group and 50.5 percent in people above 60 yearsof age.

According to the UnionHealth Ministry data, at least3,435 individuals so far have

lost their lives due to COVID-19 in India.

The Health Ministry stat-ed that the case mortality ratein India is 3.06 per cent, asagainst the global average of6.65 per cent. The ministryattributed the outcome to itsefforts towards timely caseidentification and proper clin-ical management of the cases.

India currently has 63,624cases under active medicalsupervision. Of these, approx-imately 2.94 per cent cases arein the ICU, said the HealthMinistry.

In addition, it advised that

community awareness, per-sonal hygiene, hand hygiene,respiratory etiquette and envi-ronmental sanitation are themost important tools to com-bat COVID-19.

Asserting that the periodof lockdown has been gainful-ly utilized to ramp up thehealth infrastructure in thecountry, the Health Ministrysaid the recovery rate in thecountry improved up to 40.32per cent.

"There are reports in a sec-

tion of media about somedecisions of the governmentregarding the lockdown imple-mentation and response toCOVID-19 management. Theperiod of the lockdown hasbeen gainfully utilized to rampup the health infrastructure inthe country. As on date, 45,299people have been cured, takingour recovery rate to 40.32%."

The ministry said as onMay 21,26,15,920 samples havebeen tested and 1,03,532 havebeen tested in the last 24

hours, through 555 testinglabs (391 in the governmentsector and 164 private labs).

So far the Governmenthas set up 3,027 dedicatedCovid hospitals and Covidhealth centres and 7,013 Covidcare centres.

Additionally, more than2.81 lakh isolation beds, over31,250 ICU beds, and 11,387oxygen supported beds havealready been identified in ded-icated Covid Hospitals andCovid health centres.

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For every positive Covid-19test, more than 20 negative

tests have been done, the IndianCouncil Medical Research(ICMR) has said, asserting thatthere has been a 1,000-foldincrease in the quantum oftests per day in the last twomonths.

A total of 26,15,920 sam-ples had been tested till now,and the testing capacity hasbeen scaled up to 1 lakh testsper day which was less than100 Covid-19 test per day justtwo months ago, it said in astatement here.

A 1,000-fold increase injust 60 days has been made

possible by researchers fromvarious institutions, medicalcolleges, testing laboratories,ministries, airlines and postalservices working together, saidthe ICMR.

In January, India had onlyone laboratory testing forCOVID-19, at the ICMR'sNational Institute of Virology,Pune.

"Today there are 555 lab-oratories (391 in the govern-ment sector and 164 privatelabs) across the country, per-forming molecular tests fordiagnosis of COVID-19 - anunparalleled achievement inthe history of the Indian healthsystem," said the apex healthresearch body.

As the epidemic evolved,India's testing strategy under-went iterative calibration tokeep pace with the changingepidemiology and extent ofinfection. This ensured thataccess to tests was assured forrisk groups that needed it themost; wasteful, unnecessarytesting was avoided; and test-ing infrastructure was opti-mally scaled up without takingaway resources from otherkey public health interven-tions," the ICMR said.

This is evidenced by thefact that for every positive testmore than 20 negative testshave been done throughoutthe course of the epidemic, itsaid.

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In its bid to ensure that non-Covid-19 medical services

do not get hampered amid thepandemic, the Government onThursday said that birth dosevaccination at health facilitieswould continue irrespective ofthe categorisation of zones butimplementing social distancingprotocols.

According to the "Guidancenote for immunisation servicesduring and post Covid-19’ out-break released by Union HealthMinistry, an area exiting a con-tainment or a buffer zone cate-gory can start facility-basedand outreach immunisationactivities only after a mini-mum gap of 14 days.

The document said that inalignment with the area cate-gorisation, immunisation ser-vices will be classified under twoheads —immunisation in con-tainment and buffer zone and

immunisation in areas beyondthe buffer and green zone.

However, the State andDistrict administration shouldmake a local assessment ofCOVID-19 risk before startingthe outreach or health facility-based immunisation withmobilisation of beneficiaries.Similarly, an area enlisted as a‘containment/buffer zone’should stop health facility-basedsessions and outreach sessions.

As a standard practice,immunisation services are deliv-ered through the modes ofbirth dose vaccinations at deliv-ery points in health facilities,health facility based sessions,and outreach sessions as part ofurban/village health sanitationand nutrition days services, itsaid.

Guidelines from the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs andthe Health ministry pertainingto Covid -19 updates will be theprimary reference points and no

State should violate any Covid-19 guidance, it said.

Practices of social distanc-ing, hand washing, and respi-ratory hygiene need to be main-tained at all immunization ses-sions irrespective of zones ordistrict categorisation by all(i.e. beneficiaries and serviceproviders) in all sessions, theguidance document said.

According to reports, inMarch during the stringentlockdown period at least100,000 children did not receivetheir BCG vaccination, (pro-tection against tuberculosis(TB)), and another 200,000missed each dose of the pen-tavalent vaccine, which providessome protection against menin-gitis, pneumonia, whoopingcough, tetanus, hepatitis B anddiphtheria, and the rotavirusvaccine, which prevents diar-rhoea-causing rotavirus infec-tions, in March, suggests theanalysis.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Thursday

launched the Rajiv Gandhi KisanNyay scheme in Chhattisgarhthrough video conferencing andsaid this was a true tribute to theformer Prime Minister.Addressing the launch event onthe occasion of Rajiv Gandhi'sdeath anniversary, she lauded thescheme, saying it will bring achange in the lives of farmers andhelp them become self-reliant.

The party paid rich tributesto the former Prime Ministerand decided not to issue adver-tisements in his memory, ratherutilise the money in helpingmigrants. Former Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi also laudedthe Chhattisgarh Governmentfor launching the scheme at atime when the poor and farm-ers were facing hardships due tothe coronavirus outbreak and thelockdown to contain the spreadof the disease.

"Such schemes should beimplemented at the ground levelto help bring a change in the livesof people. This is a revolutionaryscheme and is a true tribute toRajiv Gandhi.

This is a big step taken in

lines with the values of RajivGandhi," Sonia said.

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel said the RajivGandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana willbenefit 19 lakh farmers andhelp bring more area under cul-tivation. He said the aim of thescheme is to help farmers earnmore and bring more area in thestate under cultivation, whichcurrently stands at 20 per cent.

While Rahul Gandhidescribed Rajiv Gandhi as a"true patriot, liberal and who putthe country on the path ofprogress and self-reliance withhis farsightedness, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, "To bekind to those who are unkind toyou; to know that life is fair, nomatter how unfair you imagineit to be; to keep walking, no mat-ter how dark the skies or fear-some the storm; to nurture astrong heart, and fill it with loveno matter how great it's sorrows;these are the gifts of my father'slife."

"In memory of my belovedfather, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, whowas martyred this day in 1991.He was a wonderful father; gen-tle, kind, compassionate andpatient.

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HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank' on

Thursday announced that thestudents enrolled inUniversities and affiliated col-leges may undertake SWAYAMcourses and avail credits bycompleting these courses as perUniversity Grants Commission(UGC)’s present regulationson credit framework for onlinelearning courses.

Now with the UGC givingits nod to a proposal in thisregard, students will soon beable to pursue two degreecourses simultaneously in sameor different streams. However,one of the two degrees will haveto be pursued through regularmode and the other has to bethrough online distance learn-ing (ODL).

"The proposal wasapproved in the recent com-mission meeting for simulta-neous dual degrees for studentsin India, allowing students tocomplete courses in the sameor different streams at thesame time. One of the twodegrees, however, has to bethrough regular mode and theother has to be through onlinedistance learning," UGCSecretary Rajnish Jain said.

Pokhriyal further informedthat UGC has shared a list of 82Under Graduate and 42 Post

Graduate Non-EngineeringMOOCs courses withUniversity Vice Chancellorsand College Principals, whichwill be offered in July Semester2020. He added that thesecourses cover subject areassuch asBiochemistry/Biotechnology/Biological Sciences &Bioengineering, Education,Law, Computer Science andEngineering, Commerce,Management, Pharmacy ,Mathematics , History, Hindi,Sanskrit, etc.

The Minister further saidthat in the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic scenario,Students, Teachers, Life-longlearners, Senior Citizens andHomemakers may enrol andavail the benefits of SWAYAMcourses to widen their horizonof learning. SWAYAM (StudyWebs of Active–Learning forYoung Aspiring Minds) is aprogramme initiated byGovernment of India anddesigned to achieve the threecardinal principles ofEducation Policy viz., access,equity and quality.

Jain said that "an officialnotification will be issued soonin this regard". The UGC hadlast year set up a panel head-ed by its Vice Chairman,Bhushan Patwardhan, toexamine the issue of pursuingtwo degree programmes simul-

taneously from the same uni-versity or different universitieseither through distance mode,online mode or part-timemode.

However, this is not thefirst time the commission wasexamining the issue. The UGChad set up a committee in 2012as well and consultations wereheld on the same but ultimatelythe idea was junked.

The 2012 committee head-ed by then Vice Chancellor ofthe Hyderabad University,Furqan Qamar, had recom-mended that a student enrolledin a degree programme underregular mode may be allowedto pursue a maximum of oneadditional degree programmesimultaneously under open ordistance mode from the sameor a different university.

"However, two degree pro-grammes under regular modemay not be allowed simulta-neously as it may create logis-tic, administrative and acade-mic problems. A student pur-suing a degree programmeunder regular mode may beallowed to pursue a maximumof one certificate, diploma,advanced diploma, PG diplo-ma programme simultaneous-ly either in regular or open anddistance mode in the same uni-versity or from other institu-tions," the panel report hadthen said.

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India’s people with disabilities(PwDs) are not only locked

down but also feeling left outbecause of Government’s fail-ure to ensure even basic ser-vices to them amidCoronavirus outbreak, accord-ing to a survey by the NationalCentre for Promotion ofEmployment for DisabledPeople (NCPDEP).

The Delhi-based NGO,said that many of the challengesconfronting persons with dis-abilities during lockdown couldhave been addressed had theGovernment duly enforced itsown directives.

The report, ''Locked Downand Left Behind'' focuses on thestatus of persons with disabil-ities in India during the Covid-19 crisis. It includes data froma survey of 1,067 people (73%male and the rest female) withdisabilities. The figures showedthat over 73% of those inter-viewed were facing severe chal-lenges on account of the lock-

down.Interviews with a sub-sam-

ple of 201 persons with dis-abilities showed that 67 per centhad no access to doorstep deliv-ery of essentials, and only 22per cent confirmed that theyhave access to essentials. Asmany as 48 per cent had noaccess to a government helpline,and 63% had not received anyfinancial assistance.

Many survey respondentsliving in remote areas said theydid not receive any reliefannounced by the government."The government grassrootsworkers do not want to come tosuch a remote area. Pradeep,one of the respondents, wasunable to get medical necessi-ties such as urobag, catheter andCIC pipes, and when he dialledthe emergency number 112, hewas told to ask his neighbour forhelp," the report said.

Similarly, Moin had noaccess to medical treatmentwhere he lived, and had totravel 40km to Ahmedabad toget his ear treated, the reportstated, adding these and other

similar issues could have beentaken care of if the''Comprehensive DisabilityInclusive Guidelines'' issued bythe Central government’sDepartment of Empowermentof Persons with Disabilities(DEPwD) had been uniformlyenforced across India.

The DEPwD guidelinesprovide for ensuring that per-sons with disabilities are givenaccess to food, water, medicine,preferably at their residence orplace where they have beenquarantined.

According to the guide-lines, caregivers should beallowed to reach persons withdisabilities by exempting themfrom restrictions during lock-down or providing passes in asimplified manner on priority.Continuation of support ser-vices for persons with disabili-ties with minimum human con-tact should also be ensured.

The report, however,praised states such as Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Nagaland fordoing a commendable job forthe PwDs.

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Admitting that defence man-ufacturing industry was

adversely affected due to thelockdown, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Thursdayurged the Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises(MSME)tobe self-reliant and said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s call tobe “atmanirbhar” will createscores of jobs within the coun-try.

Appreciating the role playedby the MSMEs in the ongoingnational effort to fight coron-avirus pandemic, Singh saidthe manufacturing sector hasbeen affected the most due tolockdown and disruption inexisting supply chains and thedefence sector is no exception tothis. “Rather, it can be said thatthe defence sector is more aggra-vated than other sectors as theonly buyer of defence productsis the government,” he saidwhile addressing a conclavehere.

Keeping MSMEs strong isone of the priorities of the gov-ernment, he said adding thereare more than 8,000 MSMEswhich are partners of ordnancefactories, DPSUs and serviceorganisations. They contributemore than 20 per cent of thetotal production of these organ-isations.

Citing the example ofUnited States where domesticdefence industry developedwithin a short span of two years

during the World War-II, Chiefof Defence Staff General BipinRawat said India should have itsown defence industry.

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Hand sanitisers and masksare just temporary fixes to

keep the Covid-19 at bay. Butwithout access to soap andclean water, more than 2 billionpeople in low and middle-income nations includingIndia, which are home to quar-ter of the world's population,have a greater likelihood ofacquiring and transmitting thecoronavirus than those inwealthy countries, according toa global study.

"Handwashing is one of thekey measures to preventCOVID transmission, yet it isdistressing that access isunavailable in many countriesthat also have limited healthcare capacity," said Dr MichaelBrauer, professor at Institute forHealth Metrics and Evaluationat the University ofWashington's School ofMedicine, which currently hasone of the world's leadingmodels of the coronavirus ofthe pandemic.

The study published in therecent journal ‘EnvironmentalHealth Perspectives’ noted thatin 46 countries, more than

half of people lacked access tosoap and clean water. InNigeria, China, Ethiopia,Democratic Republic of theCongo, Bangladesh, Pakistan,India, and Indonesia, morethan 50 million persons ineach were estimated to bewithout handwashing access, itadded.

"Temporary fixes, such ashand sanitizer or water trucks,are just that - temporary fixes,"Brauer said. "But implementinglong-term solutions is neededto protect against COVID andthe more than 700,000 deaths

each year due to poor hand-washing access," Brauer said.

Even with 25 per cent ofthe world's population lackingaccess to effective handwashingfacilities, there have been "sub-stantial improvements in manycountries" between 1990 and2019, Brauer said. Those coun-tries include Saudi Arabia,Morocco, Nepal, and Tanzania,which have improved theirnations' sanitation.

Earlier this month, theWorld Health Organizationpredicted 190,000 people inAfrica could die of Covid-19 in

the first year of the pandemic,and that upward of 44 millionof the continent's 1.3 billionpeople could be infected withthe Coronavirus.

For India’s homeless andurban poor too who live in thou-sands of slums across cities likeDharavi slums in Mumbaiwhich is now hub of Covid19cases, maintaining good hygienecan be nearly impossible.

According a study byWaterAid, a global advocacygroup on water and sanitation,published in 2018, more than163 million people in India donot have access to clean water,the highest in the world. Climatechange is likely to add severalchallenges on water resourcesfront.

The Government on its parthas launched Jal Jeevan Mission(JJM) that aims to provide pipedwater to every household inurban areas while Swajal schemein around 115 rural districts inIndia to provide clean drinkingwater.

Experts assert that keepinghands clean is one of the easiestand best ways to prevent trans-mission of the new coronavirus,in addition to social distancing.

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Pointing out that violation ofthe nationwide lockdown

has been noticed in variousplaces, the Union HomeMinistry on Thursday askedthe States to ensure strictimplementation of the curbs.In a communication to allstates and Union Territories,

Union Home Secretary AjayBhalla also said there should bestrict compliance of the orderissued for night curfew orprohibition of all non-essentialactivities between 7 pm and 7am. The Home Secretary saidthat it was brought to thenotice of the Ministry of HomeAffairs, through media reportsand others sources, that there

are violations at various placesin the implementation ofMHA guidelines issued tocheck the spread of coron-avirus across the country. "Iwould like to emphasise thatthe MHA guidelines should bestrictly implemented, and allauthorities in states and UTsshould take necessary steps toensure the same," he said.

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Expressing concern overreduced budget for capital

procurement over the years,Defence Secretary Ajay Kumarsaid here on Thursday the allo-cation has come down from40% in 2010-11 to 33% andefforts are on to reduce the bur-geoning pension bill. He alsosaid the Indian Ocean is becom-ing a “threat” after the SouthChina Sea, in an apparent ref-erence to growing Chinese mar-itime prowess and its fastexpanding naval presence in theIndian Ocean in the last onedecade or so.

Addressing a webinar here,Kumar said the reduction inallocation for capital procure-ment was “systemic problem”with three factors - growingpension bill, non revenueexpenditure and dependence onimports.

On Blue economy in theregion, Kumar stated China

has been a leader in deep waterfishing while the Indian fisher-men are not even equipped tocover the entire Indian ExclusiveEconomic Zone (EEZ).Observing that India does nothave the infrastructure to sup-port them, Kumar said it needsto be seen how it can be put inplace.

Stressing on indigenoustechnology development,Kumar said it is an open secretthat current model of technol-ogy transfer drives up cost ofplatforms from 30% to 60%compared to direct imports.Other measures being pursuedto reduce expenditure are out-sourcing, leasing, automation invarious organisations under theministry and monetisation ofsome defence lands. Process isalso underway for closing downmilitary farms. Giving exam-ples, he said the Border RoadsOrganisation (BRO) is out-sourcing all work worth upto�300 crore.

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India’s efforts to ramp up itsantibody tests for surveil-

lance and understanding theproportion of populationexposed to Covid-19 got amajor boost on Thursday withHealthcare firm Zydus Cadilasupplying the first batch of30,000 Covid Kavach ELISAtests free of cost to IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR).

The kit will be used forantibody detection of Covid-19, a disease caused by thecoronavirus infection.

Just a few days ago Indiahad to cancel the order ofrapid anti-body test kits thatwere imported from China asthey were found to have pooraccuracy rate and the testsshowing false positive andnegative results with multipleinstances of failure of tests.

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Karnataka law and minor irrigationMinister JC Madhuswamy caught on

a video which went viral verbally abus-ing a woman farmer when she con-fronted the Minister over lake encroach-ment at Kolar on Wednesday. TheMinister had gone to inspect a lake inKolar and the woman came up to himalleging encroachment around the lake.

According to the video which wasaired in local channels, the Minister isheard saying, “Aye, muccho bayi rascal(Aye, shut your mouth, rascal) inKannada “ to the woman. The womanwas asking the Minister to clear theencroachments around the lake when theminister apparently lost his cool andabused the woman. Then, a police offi-cer is seen pushing the woman away andshouting at her, while she was present-ing the demands of the locals.

As the issue has been embroiled ina major controversy Chief Minister BSYediyurappa chided the Minister andasked him to apologise to the woman. Ina press conference in Bengaluru onThursday Yediyurappa publicly warnedLaw Minister JC Madhuswamy for yellingat a woman farmer in Kolar, an incident

that attracted widespread criticism.“What he (Madhuswamy) said is not

right. I have warned him. None can for-give such an explicit manner of talkingwith a woman. That, too, behaving likethat being a minister doesn’t bode well.I will talk to that woman also and I’llensure this doesn’t happen again,”Yediyurappa told reporters.

On his part, Madhuswamy said hefelt intimidated. “If I have hurt the feel-ings of any woman, I will certainly apol-ogise,” he said. “But citizens shouldrealise, we go to their villages to ask abouttheir problems. If they start abusing uspublicly, how can we work? My secretaryand I heard her for five minutes and thentold her that we know our responsibili-ty. We asked her to close the issue. Shedidn’t stop and I lost my cool,” the min-ister said.

Former chief minister and Leader ofthe Opposition Siddaramaiah find this apolitical opportunity and targeted the BSYediyurappa-led BJP Government overthe video and has demanded sacking ofJC Madhuswamy from the Cabinet. Healso demanded that the Minister issue anapology to the woman for his behaviour.Several social media users have also crit-icised the Minister for this incident.

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If the daily medical bulletinsreleased by the Directorate of

Public Health and PreventiveMedicine, Government of TamilNadu, are any yardsticks, they arean endorsement of the Indian sys-tem of medicine in fighting thecoronavirus.

While districts like Chennai,Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Kanchipuram,Thiruvallur , Villupuram andDindigul lead the list with highestnumber of covid-19 patients, thereare districts like Dharmapuri (5patients), Krishnagiri (20), Nilgiris(14), Pudukottai (7) and Sivagangai(26) which have succeeded in con-taining the pandemic to a greatextent. Districts like Pudukottaiand Dharmapuri stand out becauseof the desi system of preventionadopted by them to check coron-avirus.

This newspaper had reportedon March 29 that Pudukottaiwould remain inaccessible to coro-navirus because of the cautionshown by the local populationand their belief in Indian system

of medicine. Persons entering vil-lages/homes have to wash theirhands and legs with water boiledwith turmeric.

Members of village protectioncommittee would spray waterboiled with turmeric and neemleaves on the tyres of all passengervehicles and two wheelers includ-ing bicycles.

“The strategy paid good div-idends and we were never in doubtabout the efficacy of this preven-tive measures. Roads laden withneem trees also guarded us fromthe pandemic,” Dr Arjun KumarViswanathan, deputy director(health services) , Pudukottai dis-trict told The Pioneer.

Dr Viswanathan is worriedover the arrival of coronavirusafflicted persons fromMaharashtra. “On Thursday morn-ing we had persons tested forcovid-19 from Maharashtra reach-ing the district. Though it is wor-risome, we will overcome thatchallenge too,” he said. Till date,Pudukottai has screened and test-ed 5,000 persons, according to theDD(HS). He said the combination

of turmeric, neem and other herbalplants helped the health depart-ment in Pudukottai checking thespread of the pandemic.

S Malarvizhi, district collector,Dharmapuri, could be described asthe frontline warrior who fightscoronavirus tooth and nail.Dharmapuri, though a backwarddistrict because of its rural land-scape, is the most vulnerable spotin Tamil Nadu because of its loca-tion and topography. Agriculturallabourers and 1.65 lakh construc-tion workers are potential carriersof the virus but Malarvizhi chosea multi-pronged strategy to containthe pandemic.

Starting from the panchayatward members to district pan-chayath members, all were desig-nated as covid warriors and aneffective surveillance system wasput into operation. “As onThursday we do not have even asingle coronavirus positive case inthe district. The persons who test-ed positive were from Maharashtra, Koyambedu and Bangalore. Butall of them have been dischargedand Dharmapuri has become a

green zone district,” saidMalarvizhi.

In addition to this, Malarvizhiand her team of fighters ensuredthat all people in the district werefed Kapa Surnam (a powder tofight cough) and Nilavempu (amedicine made of herbs andplants) to increase the immunitypower of the population.

“This substantiates our find-ings that the Indian system of med-icine is the best protocol to cure thecoronavirus pandemic,” said Dr CV Krishnaswamy, Tamil Nadu’sleading physician and a strong sup-porter of the holistic properties ofIndian system of knowledge. Dr CK Krishnan Nair, molecular biol-ogist of international repute whohas nearly four decades of researchexperience in Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre of the Departmentof Atomic Energy said this was evi-dence based research findings forwhich the world was waiting. “Thevaccine may take months to reachthe drug store but we have thismedicine which can neutralise thevirus causing covid-19,” said DrNair.

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Despite the lockout caused by the coronaviruspandemic, Keralaites all over India and across

the world celebrated on Thursday the 60th birthdayof Mohan Lal, Malayalam cinema’s evergreen hero.

This is the first time Malayalam film industryand the cultural field came together to celebratethe birthday of an actor. Besides his friends in filmindustry, Kathakali artists and poets joined handsand wished birthday greetings, health and prosperityin years to come to Lal, popularly described asNatana Vismayam (the acting wonder) of SouthIndia.

“It is my great fortune to live in this era and getenthralled by an artist like Mohan Lal. While watch-ing his movies, I’ve never felt Lal was acting. He isknown for living the characters given to him withelan by the director,” said Kalamandalam Gopi, theoctogenarian Kathakali maestro, who taught thedance form to Lal for his role in Vanaprastham.

Gopi said he cannot believe that Lal turned 60.“We are confident that he would give us more andmore immortal characters in years to come,” saidGopi while wishing the actor who has been honouredwith Padma Bhushan in 2019 and has won manynational and international awards for some of theroles essayed by him during his four-decades longacting life.

Janam TV, a popular Malayalam news channel,sprang a surprise on the actor’s birthday by mak-ing him anchoring the Sanskrit bulletin. Lal is wellversed in Sanskrit which he perfected for acting ina Sanskrit play and a short film.

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Arecord number of 776 per-sons were tested positive

for coronavirus on Thursday inTamil Nadu as the number ofpersons tested positive till daterose to 13,967 in the State.

A medical bulletin releasedby the Directorate of Health andPreventive Medicine onThursday said the 776 who test-ed positive included 86 personsreturned to the State from for-eign countries and other Statesin India like Maharashtra andKerala. Death toll due to thepandemic reached 94 in TamilNadu with seven more suc-cumbing to the dreaded diseaseon Thursday.

The State saw 400 personsgetting discharged from hospi-tals on Thursday making thetotal number of persons gettingcured and discharged reaching6,282. This makes the activecases on date 7, 588. The bul-letin said that with two more

laboratories beginning to testthe samples in the State onThursday, there are 66 labora-tories working round-the-clockto test samples. A total of 3,72,532 samples were tested onThursday, said the bulletin.

Out of the 776 positivecases on Thursday, Chennaicontributed 567 positive sam-ples which took the number ofcovid-19 patients in GreaterChennai Corporation to 8,795.Dr K Kulandaiswamy, advisorto Tamil Nadu Governmentwho was the director of publichealth and preventive medicinetold The Pioneer that there wasno need to panic over the everincreasing number of coron-avirus patients in the State.

“This is one phase of thepandemic. The important thingis that how many persons in the60 Plus age group got afflictedwith the coronavirus. If thenumber of persons who testedpositive for covid is above theage group ,then we have to becareful. This is because they arethe vulnerable section and wehave to give maximum protec-tion to them,” said Dr

Kulandaiswamy.Dr Kulandaiswamy, an

authority on preventive medi-cine pointed out that testing,isolation and containment arethe only option available to savethe vulnerable sections. “Whatwe should focus is on the age ofpeople who are afflicted withcorona virus. The lockout ismeant for those in the 60+ agegroup,” he said.

The neighbouring State ofKerala saw 24 persons testingpositive on Thursday. Out ofthis, 13 were those who reachedthe State from West Asiancountries and one fromMalaysia while the remaining10 were from other States inIndia who reached the State bytrain and road.

A press release by theKerala government said thatthere were 177 persons in hos-pitals in the State who arebeing treated for covid-19. Itfurther stated that 78,096 per-sons returned to Kerala by air(5,495), sea (1,621), road(68,884) and by rail ( 2,136). OnThursday, 153 persons havebeen hospitalised.

Jaipur: The Governmentschool students in Rajasthanwill get to learn course studyvia television from June 1 as theInformation and Broadcasting(I&B) Ministry has allotted ita slot on Doordarshan toensure regular education dur-ing the lockdown.

Rajasthan EducationMinister Govind SinghDotasara said, here onWednesday, the students with-out access to smart phones andhigh-speed internet were beingdeprived of education. “Nowthey will be able to study viaDoordarshan from June 1,” hesaid.

“The EducationDepartment gets one moresuccess. After radio, we havegot a slot on Doordarshan,” hetweeted. IANS

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Last time Bengal witnessed anatural calamity as dread-

fully ruinous as Amphan wastwo years before Nadir Shahattacked Delhi and 20 yearsbefore Robert Clive humbledNawab of Bengal Siraj udDaulah at Plassey in 1757.

That is how a seniorbureaucrat at the centuries’old Writers’ Buildings — theold state secretariat— paintedthe ferocity of super cycloneAmphan which devastated theState as no other twister didbefore.

Miles away at Nabanna —-the new secretariat— ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onThursday summed it as “thebiggest calamity I have everseen in my life. Even the districtadministrations have no com-plete information of the extentof the losses as they have notbeen able to reach the far flungareas… there is nothing left. Noinfrastructure, no power, no

telephone connection.Nothing.”

It will be at least a week tillthe State Government managesto prepare a detailed report ofthe losses suffered after reach-ing relief and absorbing the ini-tial shock, she said appealingPrime Minister Narendra Modito visit the State to see for him-self the extent of the disaster.

“I request the PrimeMinister too, to come and visitthe places to gather a person-al impression of what has hap-pened to the State,” Banerjeesaid adding she had talks withHome Minister Amit Shah toowho had assured her all help.

“I will also like to go for anaerial survey but cannot do thatnow as my chopper cannot finda place to land, as most openareas are inundated,” she said.

“The Home Minister toocalled me up. I told him aboutthe devastation. I have appealedto him for helping the State

during these hours of crisis. Ido not know what help theywill make or whether any helpwill come at all because hard-ly any help has come to handlethe corona crisis. The State hasexhausted all its � 2 0 0crore fund earmarked for coro-na endemic but is yet to receivefunds from the Centre to fightthe disease,” Banerjee main-tained.

While on Wednesday nightshe came out with a ballparkfigure of “�1 lakh crore” totackle the crisis on Thursdayshe was silent about that sayingthe Government will estimatethe extent of the destructionbefore preparing any report.

“Now after this cyclonewe do not know how to goabout it and how to conduct therelief work together with fight-ing the pandemic. Nothing isleft. Agriculture is totally gone.Districts after districts areinundated, river embankmentsare breached and the adminis-tration is working overtime torepair them as monsoon sea-sons are coming. The power

infrastructure is thoroughlydamaged, so are the internetlink and road connection,” shesaid adding thousands of hous-es have been literally raised tothe ground.

True, the devastation infour districts of Bengal is com-plete. At least 72 people died,out of who 15 in State CapitalKolkata — some crushed underthe uprooted trees, others get-ting electrocuted and yet oth-ers coming under collapsedparts of buildings. The ChiefMinister announced �2.5 lakhfor the kin of those who dieddue to the cyclone.

“There is a house right infront of mine part of which wasliterally torn off and hang-ing… and the in adjacent hous-es the greels and doors weretwisted,” Banerjee said in ameeting with her Cabinet col-leagues and the senior bureau-crats.

While there was no exactestimate of the losses theimpact of the cyclone was suchthat Kolkata withdrew into anun-imposed lockdown with

people having no way to drivearound as more than a thou-sand bid trees lay blocking thecity’s busiest thoroughfares. Atleast 47 trees had fallen with-in a mile between Ballygungeand Kasba.

So much so that the ChiefMinister’s convoy itself had towind its way through by-lanesto reach the desired spots forinspection. The news thatwould come on Wednesdaynight came in the Thursdaymorning reporting how electricshort circuits sparked fires atvarious places and how trafficsignals were lay helpless on theroads. With television connec-tion snapped almost in theentire part of the five-six southBengal districts.

“If Kolkata has more thana thousand trees uprooted whatmight it be in the districts. Ithink the number of uprootedtrees may go up to a lakh ormore,” said a Minister addingthe Chief Minister had direct-ed the Cabinet to take upimmediate plantation pro-grammes.

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Shortly after senior officers ofJammu & Kashmir Police

attended a function commem-orating the National Anti-ter-rorism day in Srinagar, a groupof 'unidentified' terrorists tar-geted a joint 'naka' party ofpolice and CRPF at Prichoo inSouth Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict in which one head con-stable of JKP laid down his lifewhile another sustainedinjuries on Thursday.

This is the second back toback terror strike on securityforces in Kashmir valley afterthe killing of Junaid AshrafSehrai, a Hizbul MujahideenCommander and son ofHurriyat Chairman in anencounter in downtown area ofSrinagar on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, two jawansof Border Security Force werealso killed by terrorists in a 'hitand run' attack in Ganderbaldistrict.

Police spokesman inSrinagar said, 'Terrorists firedupon joint naka party of policeand CRPF at Prichoo, Pulwamaon Thursday. 02 police per-sonnel got injured in the inci-dent, however one of theinjured succumbed to hisinjuries and attained martyr-dom”.

The martyred policemanwas identified as Head

Constable Anoop Singh. Meanwhile, three newly

recruited local terrorists wereapprehended live by the jointteams of security forces fromthickly forested area ofGungbugh in Kupwara dis-trict on Thursday. The trio,were reportedly in touch withtheir handlers across thePakistan Occupied Kashmirvia social media and they had

motivated them to join theranks of a terror outfit.

According to policespokesman, “On Thursday, apicture went viral on socialmedia with three youths hold-ing AK-47 rifles ,who claimedto have joined the terror ranks.The trio were identified asAabid Hussain Wani son ofGulzar Ahmad resident ofLalpora, Zakir Rafiq Bhat sonof Abdul Rashid resident ofLalpora and Javid Ahmad Darson of Ghulam Qadir residentof Thayan Kalaroos”.

Police spokesman claimed,“Prompt contact tracingrevealed their presence in theforest area of Gungbugh area ofLolab.

Accordingly KupwaraPolice along with 28RR and162Bn CRPF launched a cor-don and search operation in thearea. During the search oper-ation they started firing on thesearch party.

However, repeated

announcements were made topersuade them to surrenderand after a brief shootout all thethree were apprehended aliveduring the operation.Incriminating materials includ-ing arms and ammunition wererecovered from their posses-sion. “Case FIR No. 54/2020under relevant sections of lawregistered at PS Sogam andinvestigation set intomotion”,police spokesmanadded.

In Pulwama, before hand-ing over the martyrs’ body tothe next of kins for last rites awreath lying ceremony wasorganised in District PoliceLines Awantipora where floraltributes were paid to the mar-tyr.

Civil & Police Officers ledby IGP Kashmir Zone VijayKumar, IGP CRPF RajashKumar, DC Pulwama RaghavLangar laid floral wreaths onthe mortal remains and paidrich tributes to the martyr.

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The total number of Covid-19 infected cases in

Mumbai’s Dharavi slum shotup to 1,425 on Thursday, as 47more persons tested positive forthe pandemic. What is worry-ing the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)is that there has absolutely nolet up in the number of infect-ed cases in Dharavi, wherethere have so far been 56deaths.

Of the fresh infected cases,Matunga Labour Camp –which has become a hotspotwithin Dharavi – accounted forsix new positive cases, whileMukund Nagar locality report-ed five cases.

There have been four newpositive cases in Shastri Nagar,while three infected cases eachhave been reported Rajiv Gadhi

Nagar and Shahu Nagar.Matunga Labour Camp

recorded has been the worst-affected locality within Dharaviin the last few weeks. OnWednesday, as many as sevenpositive cases were reportedfrom this locality, while eightpositive cases had been record-ed in this area on Tuesday.

Earlier, six infected caseshad been reported fromMatunga Labour Camp onMonday, while this area hadregistered six positive cases.

Even in the previous week,there have on an average beenhalf a dozen cases reportedfrom this locality every day.

Spread over 240 hectarearea, Dharavi is home to morethan 4 lakh people. It has beena hotbed for coronavirus, eversince the first couple deaths andinfected cases were reportedfrom this slum in the first

week of April.Less than 12 hours after

taking over the new MunicipalCommissioner, Iqbal SinghChahal had visited Dharavion May 9 and taken stock of thesituation and devise ways toarrest the rapid spread of pan-demic in this slum

Apart from going aroundin worst-affected localities ofMukund Nagar and ShastriNagar, a containment zonenear Tata colony and interact-ing with the affected residents,the new MunicipalCommissioner had laid stresson the police enforcing thestrict lockdown and BMCmedical staff intensifying thetracing of Covid-19 “contacts”in the densely populated slumand putting them in an insti-tutional quarantine in a big wayto prevent the rapid spread ofthe Covid-19 in the area.

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With two moredeaths reported

from Kashmir valley,the death toll due toCovid-19 touched 20while 59 fresh cases weredetected taking the total tally of coronaviruscases to 1,449 cases in the Union Territoryof Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday.

8 new cases were reported from Jammudivision and 51 from Kashmir division. Thehighest number of 21 samples of policemenposted in Kulgam tested positive whileAnantnag reported 12 new positive casesincluding two pregnant women.

Two women, undergoing treatment atSMHS and CD hospital in Srinagar, died onThursday .Both the patients had a long his-tory of respiratory diseases and had testedpositive during admission in the hospital.

According to the daily Media Bulletin onnovel Coronavirus (Covid-19), out of 1449positive cases, 745 are Active Positive, 684have recovered and 20 have died; 02 in Jammudivision and 18 in Kashmir division.

Moreover, 06 more COVID-19 patientshave recovered and discharged from varioushospitals, 03 from Jammu division and 03from Kashmir Division.

The Bulletin further said that out of107108 test results available, 105659 sampleshave been tested as negative till May 21, 2020.

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Maharashtra continued to be inthe grip of severe coronavirus

on Thursday, as 64 more personsdied of Covid-19 and 2,345 otherstested positive, taking the totaldeaths to 1,454 and infected cases to41612 in the State.

Of the total deaths, Mumbaiaccounted for 41 deaths – as it didon Wednesday, while there were ninedeaths in Malegaon, seven in Pune,three in Aurangabad city, two inNavi Mumbai and one each inPimpri-Chinchwad and Solapur.

Of the dead, 36 were men while28 were women. Thirty one of themaged over 60 years, 29 were from theage group 40 to 59 years and 4 wereaged below 40 years. “Thirty eightout of 64 patients (59%) had high-risk co-morbidities such as dia-betes, hypertension, heart disease,”a state health department bulletinsaid.

Such has been gravity of theCoronavirus situation inMaharashtra that there have been asmany as 435 deaths during the lastseven days. The death tally hasbeen as follows: May 15- 49, May 16

-67, May 17 -63, May 18-51, May 19-76, May 20 -65 and May 21 – 64.

With 41 fresh deaths and stag-gering 1382 infected cases reportedon Thursday, the total number ofdeaths in Mumbai mounted to 882,while the total infected cases jumpedto 24118.

Out of 3,19,710 laboratory sam-ples, 2,78,068 tested negative while41,642 samples tested positive forCOVID-19 until Thursday.

There are 1949 active contain-ment zones in the State currently.Total 15,894 surveillance squadsworked across the state on Thursdayand surveillance of 64.89 lakh pop-ulation was done.

As many as 11,726 patients havebeen discharged till date after fullrecovery. Currently, 4,37,304 peopleare in home quarantine and 26,865people are in institutional quarantine.

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Months after taking over the security ofVVIPs like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,

Rahul Gandhi and other dignitaries, theCentral Reserve Police Force (CRPF) hascreated a new VIP security wing, which willonly look after security-related matters. Thewing will function from Delhi and anInspector General-level officer will handlethis wing.

The CRPF had asked for a separate VIPsector headquarter and a range along witha training centre in its proposal.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in itsorder issued in November last year hadwithdrawn the SPG protection fromGandhi family and their security wasgiven to the CRPF.

During initial days, CRPF, as well assome Gandhi family members, faced issueswith each other, especially when an unau-thorised car entered into the residence ofPriyanka Gandhi Vadra. The matter wasescalated and Home Minister Amit Shahhad to give a statement in Parliament.

Another controversy erupted duringPriyanka Gandhi’s Lucknow trip where shewas found riding pillion on a scooter.

CRPF after this incident had said that

while travelling, the protectee used a civil-ian vehicle, which was non-bullet resistant.CRPF termed the act of Priyanka Gandhias “violation.”

After these incidents, CRPF floated aproposal of having a separate Security Wingdedicated for VVIP security.

“In pursuance of the review meeting ofHome Minister of India, a self-containedproposal for the creation of a separate VIPSecurity Sector HQr, VIP Security Rangeand VIP Security Training Centre (VSTC)for setting up of a permanent infrastruc-ture was submitted to MHA,” CRPF DGoffice said in its letter.

“Keeping in view of the MHA’s direc-tion, it is decided to start functioning anindependent VIP Security Wing headed byIG Rank officer duly assisted by one DIGand other corresponding staff under thesupervision of ADG (Hqrs and Ops)Directorate. Accordingly, VIP SecurityWing is created in CRPF Directorate on anad-hoc basis at RK Puram, New Delhi,” saidthe CRPF.

Prior to this, IG, Intelligence, was han-dling charge of VIP security. “One of theexisting posts of IG will be converted intoIG, VIP Security Wing. He will exercise allstatutory and financial powers,” said theCRPF.

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These are difficult times forany human being as theentire world is sufferingdue to the pandemic.Millions of people are at

risk and every time we think we havehandled the situation, the virus one-ups us. It is a difficult time alsobecause so many of our loved ones(especially the aged) are at grave risk.The virus has already claimed 3,27,000lives across the world and this num-ber is heavily on the conservative side.One such life that the virus claimedwas of Willie Levi, one of the Atalissaboys who succumbed to the virus atthe age of 73 in late April this year.

Levi did not create a large busi-ness that changed the world as weknew it. He was not an inventor noran activist or a celebrity. Yet, his obit-uary was one that stayed with me. Hewas mentally challenged and startedworking for Henry’s Turkey Service in1974 along with other men with thesame disorder. Their pay was meantto be $750 a month but they receivedjust $65 for their entire course ofemployment that spanned for decades.The rest of the fund was taken by theemployer for provisions like bed,board, clothes and medical care(though they received hardly any).Besides, they were never given anoption to seek other forms of employ-ment and were lodged in an old schoolthat had been converted into abunkhouse. This inhuman treatmentmeted out to them was made possi-ble due to a cruel provision in the law,which allowed the employers to paypeople with disabilities less than theminimum wage.

Ultimately after years of inactionGovernment agencies evacuated hisbunkhouse in 2009. Levi was foundwith a broken knee cap and a debili-tating depression. In 2013, in a law-suit filed by the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission, Levi, alongwith other claimants, emerged victo-rious. The courts finally ruled infavour of proper pay and workingconditions for people with disabilities.It is fitting to come across the storyof Levi when back home, some StateGovernments have decided to makesome shocking changes to the labourlaws.

The BJP-ruled State of UttarPradesh has proposed an ordinancethat will exempt businesses from thepurview of almost all labour laws forthe next three years. The GujaratGovernment, too, has announcedthat it intends to follow Uttar Pradesh’sstride by allowing 1,200-day labourlaw exemptions for new industrialinvestments. Madhya Pradesh, too,

has sought to significantlydilute the labour laws althoughthe Shivraj Singh ChouhanGovernment has tried to adopta slightly more nuancedapproach.

The changes in the labourlaws are oppressive and with-out any basis as to what theyseek to achieve: Attract invest-ments into their States. Anexample of this oppressivenessis how Uttar Pradesh’s ordi-nance retains only the “safetyand security” provisions of theFactories Act and excludes thechapter relating to “health” aswell as the provisions relatingto “hazardous processes.” Theseprovisions mandate an employ-er to inter alia provide adequateventilation to the employees,prevent overcrowding, ensurea clean working environmentand sufficient accommodationfor latrine and urinal. Are wecomfortable with having ourlabourers work in an environ-ment that does not even pro-vide basic amenities to them?

Labour is one of the fourtypically cited factors of pro-duction. The other three areland, entrepreneurship andcapital. When we say each ofthese factors of production outloud, certain mental images areformed in our minds. We donot have the same image for allof them. While the other fac-tors of production are theoret-ical constructs, labour, by def-inition, is human. However,such a move reduces human

labour to a mere number or alargely theoretical construct.

We must realise that unlikethe other factors of productionthat are unidimensional ie, ameans to further production,labour involves individualswho are closely interlinkedwith other human lives. Whena father has no opportunity tospend time with his family ordies due to poor working con-ditions, it is not merely a fac-tor of production that is extin-guished but the entire life of afamily is upended.

The Government cannotallow this to happen. There isno debating the fact that India’slabour laws need a revamp.The country’s regulatory envi-ronment, too, needs to be easedso that businesses and entrepre-neurship can flourish. But willdoing away with basic labourprotections achieve that objec-tive? Stalwarts of Indian busi-ness like Azim Premji andKiran Mazumdar Shaw certain-ly do not think so.

No organisation wishes totreat its labourers poorlybecause owners know that suchtreatment is not conducive totheir business. Instead, what isneeded is strong infrastructure,a skilled workforce and a health-ier environment for businessesto flourish. Instead of address-ing these substantive concernsthat would require respectiveState Governments to workhard by instituting real change,many have taken the easy way

out by taking on our labourers. The role of the Government

is encapsulated in theConstitution. A bare examina-tion of the Articles on funda-mental rights or the DirectivePrinciples on State Policy clear-ly shows that the Governmentmust advocate for its citizens.Businesses like Henry’s (Levi’semployer) are known to takeadvantage of the labourerswhenever they get a chance andthere are many such employers.

All they care about is theirtop line. This is why we haved e m o c r a t i c a l l y - e l e c t e dGovernments in place. It is theduty of the Government toensure that businesses do nottreat humans like other factorsof production. There is a basicdignity and protection that theConstitution guarantees to thecitizens. Governments have amoral, ethical and legal respon-sibility to protect these values.

If we fail to do this andaccept these changes, we arebeing hypocritical. Ask your-self: Would we allow our chil-dren to work in such condi-tions? Then what gives us theright to allow any worker to nothave adequate ventilation oraccess to proper toilets? Thereis no economic benefit to sucha move and even if there was,the price of human dignity can-not be reduced to mere num-bers on a balance sheet.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and cur-rently a member of the AAP)

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Sir — Bees and other pollinatorslike butterflies, bats and hum-mingbirds are increasingly underthreat from human activities.Pollination is fundamental to thesurvival of ecosystems across theglobe. Nearly 90 per cent of theworld’s wild flowering plants,more than 75 per cent of theworld’s food crops and 35 per centof global agricultural needs aredependent, entirely or in part, onanimal pollination. Not only dopollinators contribute directly tofood security but they are also keyto conserving biodiversity.

The aim of celebrating WorldBiological Diversity is to raiseawareness about the importanceof pollinators, the threats theyface and their contribution to sus-tainable development. Measuresto protect bees and other pollina-tors could go some way towardssolving problems related to theglobal food supply and eliminat-ing hunger in developing coun-tries. Since human beings needpollinators for their survival, it iscrucial that we take steps tocheck their steady decline.

Ibn Hafiz MazahireeHyderabad

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Sir — The Government’s deci-sion to allocate an additional�40,000 crore for MGNREGA

funds is a welcome step that willhelp generate employment inrural areas and address the dis-tress caused to the migrantworkers due to COVID-19.

Given the rising spread of the

disease as well as the return ofmigrants to their home States, itis unlikely that migrant farmlabour will return for the comingKharif season. Keeping in mindthe current labour shortage, the

scheme’s work calendar must beadjusted to local conditions. Tomanage peak agricultural labourdemand, input operations likesowing and harvesting of cropsmust be allowed. This will not onlyreduce farm input cost but alsoenhance man-days and encouragethe migrants to return, especiallyto States like Punjab, Haryana andUttar Pradesh where farm oper-ations can increase man-days sig-nificantly.

Harvinder Singh ChughJalandhar

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Sir — Ever since the first lock-down was imposed on March 25,there have been a series of cur-fews till date. The fact is that acomplete nationwide lockdownhas only helped us to slow therate of spread of theCoronavirus. The virus hascome to stay for long. Peopleshould change their lifestyle tominimise its impact and getaccustomed to living with it.

ManishaVia email

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There is no better day than the InternationalBiological Diversity Day to remember thatwe are a part of nature, not separate from

it. Ancient seers of India described this relation-ship as Vasudeva Kutumbakham (one universalfamily) that supports and sustains each other,right from the humble earthworm to the mightyelephant. We learnt over our 10,000-year civil-isational history, lessons from planetary con-sciousness and celebrated the inter-dependenceof all life and our role as stewards and childrenof Mother Nature.

Our ancestors toiled for centuries so that wecould be the beneficiaries of diverse, climate-resilient and nutritious seeds. As a result, Indiatoday has the largest diversity of plants and foodsand the country alone accounted for over2,00,000 varieties of rice. We honoured seeds,right from barley to millet, with sacred rituals,for filling our stomachs and bestowing upon ushealth. We pray to nine goddesses duringNavratri and offer them each a sacred seed. Frombirth to death, our biodiversity is conserved inour rituals.

In many communities in India, brides stillcarry to their husband’s home the gifts of nativeseeds and sacred spices like turmeric and so on.All communities across India, but more partic-ularly tribals, have forms of biodiversity entwinedwith their daily lives and sacred rituals. In fact,sugarcane in Sanskrit is “ikshu” and the dynastyof the mythological King Ram was Ikshvaku. Isn’tthis an uncanny coincidence?

The animal family was not left out either, wesanctified them as companions or steeds of godsand goddesses. Even the most hated pest, the rat,is associated with Lord Ganesh. The sub-conti-nental civilisation saw beyond the anthro-pocentric myopia and valued each being assacred, for each one of them contributed to thelarger wheel of life. But sadly, these were just“pagan rituals or superstitions” for the officersof the East India Company. With the mighty gun-boat and lust for gold, the colonist birthed a classof compradors, who focussed on the reversal ofour ancient ways of life.

They infected us with a virus — the conquestof nature, which was contradictory not just tothe Indian way of life but to all civilisations acrossthe world (including the pagan traditions ofEurope, which were repressed during the GreatInquisition in medieval Europe).

Right from the native tribes of the Americasto the Chinese, all affirmed that human life is asub-part of nature. And with the age of imperi-alism began the great fall from Eden into des-perate hell of pillaging, looting and rape of theEarth and all her living beings for the profit ofthe great pirate overlords.

But is the conquest of nature over? No, theconquest has evolved. Instead of the East IndiaCompany, we have India Inc. and larger behe-moth agri-giants that survive on the plunder ofthe Earth and on bio-piracy. India, the land ofabundance and diversity, is losing its truewealth — our connection with our biodiversi-ty, our seeds, our medicinal plants and the genet-ic diversity of our animals.

For instance, from the Gir to Ongalcows, we have destroyed our cattlewealth with artificial insemination andsacrificed the Nandi bull to the tractor.We have made oxen redundant in oursystem of agriculture.

The diversity of the thali, too, hasshrivelled to a handful of crops and sub-varieties of fruits, cereals and vegeta-bles. Millets and local varieties have dis-appeared from our diet and have beenreplaced by commercial varieties, whileour fields have become a eulogy tomonoculture cropping. It had takenthousands of years to evolve each vari-ety and crop and yet in little less than50 years, we have destroyed generationsof breeding.

But at the national level, there aregreater threats. Indian Plant GeneticResources (PGR), rated among thehighest in the world, are being piratedabroad. Sometimes due to laxity ofenforcers and other times illegally.Nevertheless treaties like TheInternational Treaty on Plant GeneticResources for Food and Agriculture(ITPGRFA) and International Unionfor the Protection of New Varieties ofPlants (UPOV) are trying to bully Indiainto surrendering all our PGR for cor-porate exploitation, while receivingminimal remuneration and benefits forthe communities that have co-evolvedthese plants and seeds. There is also anattempt to subvert our Biodiversity Actand undermine the NationalBiodiversity Authority.

International seed companies,including Chinese ones, are controlling100 per cent subsidiaries in India,accessing strategic PGR and exporting

parent lines of our varieties to theirnations. Meanwhile Indian companiescan’t even own firms in China, Thailandand so on, forget exporting parent linesof varieties.

We need to have a more national-istic Foreign Direct Investment policyespecially dealing with our PGR as it isa treasure trove that will prepare us toface challenges such as climate change.

The next policy step to conservediversity is to have a strong protectionof farmers’ rights to breed and co-evolvenewer varieties. As the theme “OurSolutions are in Nature”, suggests, wemust also harness the wild varieties andland races for meeting newer chal-lenges. But this should be done sustain-ably, involving local communities andfarmers instead of patented technolog-ical alternatives, which are expensiveand promote profiteering.

MS Swaminathan, father of theGreen Revolution in India, many timesstressed on how the country’s biodiver-sity has the potential to meet all of ourneeds, we don’t need gene modifica-tions or other genome editing interven-tions like CRISPR and so on. We mustlook towards nature and her abundancefor solutions.

Each of us has to embrace biodiver-sity-based products in our lives. Notonly will it be an economical option butalso the healthier one. Starting from ourplate, we can all include one millet mealor local varieties of rice/wheat apartfrom basmati, and trust me, there arehundreds of aromatic, medicinal andtasty varieties available in each city andvillage. This will increase the biodiver-sity of our gut and improve health.

We need to also bring back localnative vegetables and prefer seasonaland locally-grown greens over coldstorage ones. For processed foods, weagain must buy as much as we can ofbiodiversity- based products and sup-port native tribes. For our clothes, too,we need to end the hegemony of BtCotton. It is about time that Indians,like other more conscious citizens,choose cheaper alternate fabrics andsupport handloom and sustainableclothings collectives.

In dealing with other challenges, wemust involve processes such as bio-mimicry and evolve technologies thatwork with the Earth and not against her.Circular and non-polluting economi-cal policies are the need of the hour.

Finally, each thing we eat, touch,feel are all transformed nature so weneed to reject the false separationfrom nature. The problems and solu-tions are both part of nature. What weunderstand as problems are so becausethey risk human survival but may notbother nature so much.

The true solution lies in awareness.We need to embrace our VasudevaKutumbhakam and bring back biodi-versity and sacredness into our lives. Weneed to dispel war-mongering againstnature for profit and embrace theabundance she provides. We ought tochange our behaviour and our language(which treats nature as dead and anobject). We need to remove the “it” todenote nature and replace it with“her” as the goddess she truly is.

(The writer is Director, Policy andOutreach, National Seed Association ofIndia)

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Farming has never been prof-itable for a large majority ofcultivators in India. As a result,

they are more than willing to selltheir land for development projectslike airports, highways and so on, ifthey get good money for it. One ofthe biggest worries of Indian plan-ners today is how to control the frag-mentation of agricultural land dueto population pressure as the num-ber of small and marginal farmers(owning less than two hectares ofland) is increasing. Though suchgrowers account for 86.2 per cent ofall farmers in India, they own just

47.3 per cent of the crop area,according to provisional numbersfrom the 10th agriculture census of2015-16, which was released in2018. The census showed a declineof 1.53 per cent of the total farmedarea to 157.14 million hectare (ha)as compared to 159.59 million ha in2010-11. In spite of all our attempts,the annual grain production (291.95million tonnes) is far below the 500million tonnes that China pro-duces from the same spread ofland. The plight of farmers can begauged from the fact that the con-tribution of agriculture to the GDPis down to 15 per cent, despite thefact that 45 per cent of the peopleof the country are dependent onagriculture for their livelihood.

After Independence, except fora brief period of the GreenRevolution in the 60s, the farmersnever benefitted from true reformsand were prisoners of the consumer-oriented mentality of theGovernment and the control of themiddlemen and mandi (wholesale

market) mafia. The Prime Minister’spromise of doubling farm incomesby 2022 is a lofty dream. One of thereasons for this is the neglect of ani-mal husbandry and fisheries, whichcontribute more than 30 per cent tothe farmers’ income and which hasthe potential to jump to around 45per cent.

Now, the Corona crisis and thelockdown have made things worsefor the already beleaguered agri sec-tor. The Finance Minister’s recentannouncement of providing animpetus to the farm sector will bereckoned as a watershed event in thehistory of agriculture if it is imple-mented sincerely. Some of thedemands were long-pending and tillnow the Government was bucklingunder pressure from various lobbies.Now, the reforms planned by theGovernment will reshape the futureof the agriculture sector.

One of the biggest hurdles thatfarmers face in selling their producefreely are the mandi samitis whichforce growers to sell through them.

Till now, the foodgrain movementwithin States was restricted, whichvirtually stifled the farmers. Now,they will be able to sell their producewherever they want and be free ofthe mandi mafia. This is the biggestreform in the agriculture sector andthe Government must be lauded forthis. The �1.6 lakh crore agricultureinfrastructure fund will be used tocreate a support structure at thefarmer’s doorstep.

Of this �20,000 crore will be forfishermen, �15,000 crore for animalhusbandry infrastructure develop-ment and �10,000 crore will be usedto help micro-food units developtheir global brands. The package willalso support bee-keeping. Thefarmer producers’ organisationsand farmers’ cooperative societieswill benefit from this. It also givesan opportunity to young agriculturegraduates to develop start-ups.

The Essential Commodities Actwas one of the main hurdles in thefarmers getting better prices for theirproduce as the Centre authorised

State Governments to impose stocklimits on identified food items,issue licences to produce, sell anddistribute under the Act. Now theGovernment will enact a Central lawto ease these restrictions and helpthe farmers. This gives growers anopportunity to innovate and shouldalso cover animal resources, bee-keeping, medicinal plants, bambooproduction and so on, for which aspecial package has beenannounced. This will deregulatecereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses,onions and potatoes, giving farmersthe choice of seeking better returns.However, the Government can stillimpose stock limits for meetingemergencies.

The Government has alsoannounced a legal framework toenable farmers to tie up with retail-ers, exporters, agriculture fairs,food aggregators and processors andso on to promote investments.Contract farming may get a bigboost with these reforms and it is theonly viable solution to deal with

decreasing land holding. It willprovide opportunities for investorsto bring technology and financesinto the sector to grow what theywant. Besides, the farmers can pro-duce more from the small land hold-ing by joining hands with their com-rades and investors.

However, the Governmentwould do well to increase the ani-mal husbandry package by �15,000crore and also announce a separatepackage for bamboo development.The �6,000 crore CAMPA fund forafforestation should utilise at least�1,000 crore for creating infra-structure for the indigenoustribal/non-tribal healers and vaids(country doctors) and another�3,000 for raising 10 to 15 selectspecies of medicinal plants on for-est land and on the land vestedunder the Forest Rights Act, 2006.The investment for herbal growthon agriculture land should only bedone on organic farms, otherwise itwill not produce the medicine-yielding compound.

So focus on organic farms andforest lands and the stretches adjoin-ing them. However, the success ofthe package depends on how effec-tively and innovatively it is imple-mented.

The package has to be con-verged with the schemes of RuralDevelopment, Environment, Forestand Climate Change, Medium andSmall Enterprises, Ayush ministriesso that it evolves into a model forholistic and integrated develop-ment of our land-based resources.In fact the National Rainfed AreaAuthority was created in 2007 by thethen Prime Minister on the recom-mendations of a PlanningCommission sub-committee to getthe agriculture sector out of the stag-nated growth of one to two per cent,with a focus on integrating all theresources on a piece of land. Now,the Prime Minister has the oppor-tunity to not only achieve integra-tion but to take it to the global level.

(The writer is a former civil servant)

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China on Thursday said itwill not accept any “unwar-

ranted lawsuit” or demand forcompensation from the USover its handling of the coro-navirus pandemic and warnedcountermeasures if Americapasses any legislation or legalcases blaming Beijing for thedeadly virus.

Zhang Yesui, spokespersonfor China’’s Parliament - theNational People’s Congress - inhis media briefing ahead ofFriday’’s annual session alsosought to deflect allegations

that the virus emerged inWuhan, saying that the recentreports indicated coronavirusoccurred earlier in differentparts of the world.

Replying to questionsabout the lawsuit filed in theUS to demand compensation aswell as attempts by US politi-cians to bring a legislationblaming China for the coron-avirus pandemic, Zhang saidthe accusation are completelybaseless and run counter to theinternational law and basicnorms governing intentionalrelations.

“We will strongly opposethem and we will watch howthe bills proceed and firmlyrespond with counter mea-sures accordingly,” he said.

“Trying to blame others inorder to deflect attention fromone’s own problems is not aresponsible thing to do. It is notmoral either. For China, we willnot accept unwarranted lawsuitor demand for compensation,”he said.

Zhang said that since thestart of the COVID-19, Chinaeffectively put the diseaseunder control after an“extremely hard battle andenormous sacrifices”.

He also reiterated thatChina has acted with trans-parency and shared the neces-sary information like genomesequence with the WorldHealth Organisation and anumber of countries in a time-ly manner.

“These are facts and factsare facts. We will not accept anysmear or attack whatsoever”, hesaid. In the backdrop of theWorld Health Association inGeneva passing a resolution toprobe the origin of the virusafter the pandemic subsided,Zhang said the recent reportsindicated that COVID-19occurred in the different partsof the world and early caseshave been identified whichkept shifting the timeline of thedisease forward.

“I am sure in time thingswill get more and more clear.As to the origin of the virus,this is a serious scientific issueand should be left to scientistsand medical experts to lookinto it and come up with sci-

ence based conclusions sup-ported by facts and evidence”,he said.

Zhang also dismissed USPresident Donald Trump’s threatto move the global supply chainsaway from China post-Covid-19saying that it cannot be done bya single country.

Global supply chaindepends on the behaviour andchoices of businesses across theworld. “As such it cannot bechanged by any single country.”

He said it is true that coro-navirus has affected foreignbusiness operating in China.“But there is no flight of foreigncapital. China is still an attractivedestination for foreign invest-ment. Foreign investors remainoptimistic about China...,” he

said. About the secrecy overChina’s defence budget, Zhangdenied China has any “hiddenmilitary spending.”

China has been submittingreports on its military expen-

ditures to the United Nationsevery year since 2007, he said.

“From where the moneycomes from to how the moneyis used, everything is account-ed for,” Zhang said.

Washington: Global coron-avirus cases surpassed 5 millionon Wednesday, with Latin America overtaking theUnited States and Europe in thepast week to report the largestportion of new daily casesglobally.

It represents a new phase inthe virus’ spread, which initiallypeaked in China in February,before large-scale outbreaksfollowed in Europe and theUnited States.

Latin America accountedfor around a third of the 91,000cases reported earlier this week.Europe and the United Stateseach accounted for just over 20per cent.

A large number of those

new cases came from Brazil,which recently surpassedGermany, France and theUnited Kingdom to become thethird-largest outbreak in theworld, behind the United Statesand Russia.

Cases in Brazil are now ris-ing at a daily pace second onlyto the United States.

The first 41 cases of coro-navirus were confirmed inWuhan, China, on Jan. 10 andit took the world until April 1to reach its first million cases. Since then, about 1 mil-lion new cases are reportedevery two weeks, according toa Reuters tally.

At more than 5 millioncases, the virus has infected

more people in under sixmonths than the annual total ofsevere flu cases, which theWorld Health Organizationestimates is around 3 million to5 million globally.

The pandemic has claimedover 3,31,531 lives, though thetrue number is thought to behigher as testing is still limit-ed and many countries do notinclude fatalities outside ofhospitals. Over half of the total fatalities have beenrecorded in Europe.

Despite the continuedincrease in cases, many coun-tries are opening schools andworkplaces following weeks oflockdown that have stemmedthe spread. Agency

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China said on Thursday thatits relationship with

Pakistan stood the test of thechanging international land-scape and remained “firm as arock” as the all-weather alliescelebrated the 69th year of theestablishment of their diplo-matic relations.

Pakistan recognised Chinain 1951, a year after Indiaestablished diplomatic ties withBeijing. India became the firstnon-Communist country inAsia in 1950 to establishdiplomatic relations withChina. Though a late entrant,Pakistan, an Islamic republic,has emerged as CommunistChina’’s closest ally and the twocountries in recent years firmedup their all-weather alliancewith USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,the biggest overseas invest-ment by Beijing.

“Today marks the 69thanniversary of the diplomaticrelationship between Chinaand Pakistan. I offer congrat-ulations,” Foreign Ministry

spokesman told a media brief-ing here on Thursday.

“We are all-weather strate-gic cooperative partners. In thepast 69 years, this relationshiphas stood the test of the chang-ing international landscape,and has remained firm as arock,” he said.

Zhao, who was earlierChina’s Deputy Ambassador toIslamabad, had a personal noteof praise for his stint inPakistan.

“I had the pleasure ofworking in Pakistan. Beforeleaving the country, I said thatPakistan stole my heart. Ibelieve it shows the deep-root-ed friendship between the twocountries,” he said.

“In future, we have everyconfidence in the developmentof bilateral relations. We willcontinue to put Pakistan a pri-ority in our neighbourhooddiplomacy and work togetherfor high-quality CPEC devel-opment”, Zhao said.

India had protested toChina over the CPEC as it tra-versed through Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir.

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson will notface a criminal investigationinto whether he offered specialfavours to an American busi-nesswoman during his time asmayor of London.

The Independent Officefor Police Conduct ruledagainst a criminal investigationinto Johnson’’s ties to techentrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri.

The independent office,which oversees police com-plaints in England, was askedto consider if there weregrounds to investigate him formisconduct in public office.Johnson has vociferouslydenied wrongdoing.

The Greater LondonAuthority immediatelyannounced that its investiga-tion into Johnson’’s conductwould continue, even though acriminal investigation has nowbeen ruled out. The case arosefrom a Sunday Times reportsaying Arcuri was given moneyand privileged access while ontrade missions that Johnson ledas mayor. AP

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China’’s ceremonial parlia-ment will consider a bill

that could limit oppositionactivity in Hong Kong, aspokesperson said Thursday,appearing to confirm specula-tion that China will sidestep theterritory’’s own lawmakingbody in enacting legislation tocrack down on activity Beijingconsiders subversive.

Zhang Yesui said theNational People’’s Congresswill deliberate a bill on “estab-lishing and improving the legalsystem and enforcement mech-anisms for the Hong KongSpecial Administrative Regionto safeguard national security.”

Such a move has long beenunder consideration but washastened by months of anti-government protests last year inthe former British colony thatwas handed over to Chineserule in 1997. Such legislationwas last proposed in 2003under Article 23 of the Basic

Law, Hong Kong’’s mini-con-stitution, bringing hundredsof thousands of the territory’’scitizens out in protest.

The proposal was with-drawn by the government butBeijing has increasingly pushedfor measures such as punish-ment for disrespecting theChinese national flag andanthem and increased pro-China patriotic-themed edu-cation in schools. Oppositionin Hong Kong’’s LegislativeCouncil, however, made itunlikely such a bill could passat the local level.

The new measures arerequired by the “new situationand demands” and action at thenational level is “entirely nec-essary,” Zhang said.

Hong Kong’’s South ChinaMorning Post newspaper saida draft resolution would be brought before theNational People’’s Congress onFriday afternoon and votedon at the end of its session onMay 28.

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British pharmaceuticalsgroup AstraZeneca on

Thursday said it had securedmore than $1.0 billion from the United States to helpfund production of its coron-avirus vaccine.

AstraZeneca is partneringwith University of Oxford todevelop and distribute a vac-cine being trialled in the UK.

It comes amid concernsthat the United States — whichhas the world’s highest officialdeath rate from Covid-19 —could have a vaccine beforeother countries thanks to itslarge-scale funding of multi-national pharmaceutical com-panies.

France has slammed Paris-based drugs giant Sanofi forsuggesting the US wouldreceive its vaccine first, asworld leaders demand that thescience should be sharedamong nations.

AstraZeneca said it had“received support of more than$1.0 billion from the USBiomedical Advanced Researchand Development Authorityfor the development, production and delivery of thevaccine”.

The company, however,added it was in contact withgovernments and internation-al health institutions to ensure the vaccine is availableglobally.

AstraZeneca said it had

concluded deals for the first 400million doses of the vaccine —and has manufacturing capac-ity for one billion doses, withit hoping to begin deliveries inSeptember.

“AstraZeneca is advancingits ongoing response to addressthe unprecedented challengesof COVID-19, collaboratingwith a number of countries andmultilateral organisations tomake the University ofOxford’s vaccine widely acces-sible around the world in anequitable manner,” a statementsaid.

The company added it was“engaging with internationalorganisations”, including theWorld Health Organization,for the fair allocation and dis-

tribution of the vaccine aroundthe world”.

“AstraZeneca is also in dis-cussions with governmentsaround the world to increaseaccess.”

Britain this week pledged84 million pound ($103 mil-lion, 93 million euros) to besplit between researchers atOxford University and ImperialCollege London to help financea COVID-19 vaccine.

The UK Government hadalready given 47 million pound.

Human trials of the vaccinedeveloped by Oxford’s JennerInstitute began last month,with hundreds of people inBritain volunteering to be partof the study.

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The British Government hasextended a Covid-19

Bereavement Scheme, whichgrants permanent UK residen-cy to the family members ofoverseas medics who die aftercontracting the coronavirus, toall healthcare staff and socialcare workers.

UK Home Secretary PritiPatel on Wednesday said thescheme will apply not only tothe families and dependents offoreign doctors and nurseskilled on the National HealthService (NHS) frontline duringthe pandemic, but also tolower-paid NHS support staff,including from India.

“Every death in this crisisis a tragedy, and sadly someNHS support staff and socialcare workers have made theultimate sacrifice in the pursuitof saving the lives of others,” theIndian-origin Cabinet Ministersaid.

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Anew Government reportindicates there were 46,909

excess deaths in Italy in Marchand April compared to whatwould have been expected.The report says it would beaccurate to attribute most of thedeaths to the coronavirus.

Italy’s social security andwelfare agency (INPS) con-cluded the official COVID-19

death toll reported by the civilprotection department “isn’tvery reliable” since it includesonly those who tested positivefor the virus, omitting thosewho died at home or in nurs-ing homes without ever beingtested.

By the end of April, Italy’sofficial Covid-19 death tollstood at 27,938. INPS saidexcess deaths at that point hadreached 46,909 and said most

of the 18,971 deaths making upthe difference could be attrib-uted to the pandemic.

The agency reached thatconclusion by noting that thefive Lombardy provinces withthe most excess deaths were thesame five provinces hardest hitby the virus. In addition, mostof the excess deaths wereamong the elderly men whoaccount for most Covid victims.

London: Doubts were growing on Thursdayover whether ambitious plans by EuropeanGovernments to use contact-tracing apps to fightthe spread of the coronavirus will be able to beimplemented with any real effectiveness soon.

In contrast, there appeared to be somemovement forward in the sprint to find a vac-cine against Covid-19, bolstered by a USD 1 bil-lion investment from the US vaccine agency.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnsonpledged Wednesday to have a “test, track andtrace” programme for Covid-19 in place by June

1 as part of a strategy to persuade the countrythat it’s safe to move on to the next stage of eas-ing the lockdown and restarting the economy.

But the Government also appeared to back-track on an earlier pledge to make a smart phoneapp a pillar of that programme.

Security minister James Brokenshire told theBBC on Thursday that he remains “confident”that the tracing system will be in place by June1, but acknowledged that an app intended to helptrack the virus was not ready.

AP

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The lives of about 36,000people could have been

saved if the US had begun imposing socialdistancing measures just a weekearlier than it did in March tocontrol the spread of the coronavirus, new esti-mates from ColumbiaUniversity show.

“Counterfactual simula-tions indicate that, had thesesame control measures beenimplemented just 1-2 weeksearlier, a substantial number of cases and deathscould have been averted,” theUniversity said in an analysis bySen Pei, Sasikiran Kandula andJeffrey Shaman.

A report in The New YorkTimes, citing the analysis saidthat if the US had begun locking down cities andlimiting social contact onMarch 1, two weeks earlier thanwhen most people started stay-ing indoors, about 83 per centof the people who died so farfrom the virus could have beensaved.

Under this scenario, about54,000 fewer people wouldhave died by early May.

Tel Aviv: Israel’s newOpposition leader saidBenjamin Netanyahu’s upcom-ing corruption trial is “embar-rassing” the country and that hebelieves the only reason thelong-time prime minister isstill in office is because law-makers never imagined a sce-nario in which an indicted pre-mier would not have the decen-cy to step down himself.

In his first English-lan-guage interview since assumingthe post, Yair Lapid said he wasuncomfortable addressingNetanyahu’’s troubles before aforeign audience. Despite theirrivalry, he said he takes no joyin watching a sitting primeminister walking into a court-room defendant’’s dock andsaid he felt bad that it wouldattract worldwide attentionwhen the trial begins Sunday.

“It’’s almost like I’’m saying,I wish they would never noticethis … this shouldn’’t happen,”Lapid said. “This is horrible forthe spirit of the nation.”Together with former militarychief Benny Gantz, Lapid ledthe centrist Blue and Whiteparty to a deadlock withNetanyahu’s Likud in threeconsecutive elections over thepast year. AP

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Iran is slowly pulling out ofSyria in response to Israeli

strikes, as well as growingdomestic discontent linked tothe economy and its handlingof the coronavirus pandemic,the Israeli military saidThursday.

Israel and Iran have foryears been engaged in a shad-ow war that has recently beenplaying out in Syria, whereIsrael says Iran has been boost-ing its military presence alongthe frontier. Amid the chaos ofthe Syrian civil war, Israel hascarried out repeated strikesaimed at pushing back Iranianforces and preventing the trans-fer of advanced weapons toHezbollah, the Iran-backedLebanese militant group that isalso fighting in Syria.

The Israeli militarydescribed the withdrawal as “abackward movement from var-ious locations to other locationsthat are further away and inreduced numbers.” It said themovement was “not massive,not overwhelming,” but that itwas also “undeniable.” Themilitary shared its findings in

a briefing with reporters andsaid they were based on classi-fied intelligence, without elab-orating.

The military partly attrib-uted the pullback to growingdiscontent in Iran, where theeconomy has cratered underU.S. sanctions and authoritieshave struggled to contain thedeadliest coronavirus outbreakin the Middle East.

Israel and Iran have tangledin the open on a number ofoccasions in recent years, withthe latest incident in November,when Israeli fighter jets hitmultiple targets belonging toIran’’s elite Quds force in Syriafollowing rocket fire on theIsraeli-controlled GolanHeights. Israel views Iranianentrenchment on its northernfrontier as a red line, and it hasrepeatedly struck Iran-linkedfacilities and weapons convoysdestined for Hezbollah.

Iran portrays its actions inSyria as support for an alliedgovernment battling terroristgroups, and says its support forHezbollah is aimed at defend-ing Lebanon from Israel, whichoccupied parts of southernLebanon from 1982 until 2000.

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���������� �''������� � 6� ������ �������������� ��������Beijing: China has reported 33 new coronavirus cases, includ-ing 31 asymptomatic ones, majority of them in Wuhan, the firstepicentre of the Covid-19 where the city’s 11 million people arebeing tested in order to prevent a second wave of the deadly virus,health authorities said on Thursday.

According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC),two confirmed coronavirus cases, including one imported infec-tion, was reported on Thursday in Guangdong province and alocally transmitted one in Shanghai on Wednesday.

But there was a spike in asymptomatic cases. PTI

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New Delhi: NHPC, India’s pre-mier hydropower company,observed Anti-Terrorism Dayat its Corporate Office andacross all its Regional offices,Power Stations and Projects onMay 21, 2020. AK Singh,Chairman and ManagingDirector, NHPC administeredthe oath of Anti-TerrorismDay to staff of the CMDSecretariat. Ratish Kumar,Director (Projects), NK Jain,Director (Personnel), MKMittal, Director (Finance) andYK Chaubey, Director(Technical) administered theoath to the staff of their respec-tive offices.

The oath was also admin-istered through PA systemwherein all other employeestook the pledge from theirrespective workstations/ officesas per directions issued byMinistry of Home Affairs,Govt. of India.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Thursday said

the Government is set to intro-duce a vehicle scrappage poli-cy, under which recycling clus-ters may be established nearports, expressing confidencethat India will emerge as theworld’s leading automobilemanufacturing hub in fiveyears. “Now, we are going tostart the new scrapping policy,by which old cars, trucks andbuses will be scrapped,” theMinister of MSME and RoadTransport and Highways said.

He said the Governmenthas decided to increase thedepth of the country’s ports by18 metres, and automobileclusters comprising recyclingplants can be set up near theports. The Minister added thatthe material recycled will beuseful for the automobileindustry as it will reduce costof manufacturing cars, buses,

and trucks, increasing India’scompetitiveness in interna-tional markets. “Within fiveyears, India will be the numberone manufacturing hub of allcars, buses and trucks, with allfuel, ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG, LNG, electric as well ashydrogen fuel cells,” Gadkarisaid.He was addressing a meet-ing via video conferencing withthe representatives of MITADT University on future ofhigher education. Experts saidthe draft guidelines for settingup authorised vehicle scrappagefacilities that the Ministry ofRoad Transport and Highways(MoRTH) released in October2019 was seen as a step in theright direction but a lot of workwas yet to be done.

The guidelines detailed theinfrastructure requirement andthe procedure for setting upvehicle scrappage facilities inthe country, streamlining theprocess for entities interested inentering this business.

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Transporters are reelingunder severe financial

stress and if the Govt fails tointervene, they will be left withno other option than to stoprunning the vehicles, industrybody AIMTC said onThursday. The All India MotorTransport Congress is the apexbody of transporters repre-senting about 95 lakh truckersand entities.”The transport fra-ternity is in. Extreme financialturmoil and if Govt does notprovide immediate help to thetransport sector than the 30 percent vehicles (on roads now)will be stopped as they will notbe able to comply (with) thefinancial implications to runtheir vehicles or pay the EMIs,”AIMTC president KultaranSingh Atwal said.

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Welcoming the measurestaken by the Centre and

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s emphasis on ‘Vocal forLocal’, the Trimex Sands PrivateLimited (TSPL) has termed ita testimony where he has chal-lenged the crisis itself andturned it into an opportunityfor Indian mining industry.

“We take this opportunityto also urge the PM to allow theindigenous beach sand miner-al industry to flourish in adomain being monopolised byChina.

Currently, China controlsover 95 percent of world’s rareearth supply and its completemonopoly is quite undesirablefor the world. At the same time,despite owning 70% of theworld’s monazite reserves,India still imports 100% of its

needs of rare earth and rare-earth-based components. Thismust change now as we movetowards a self-reliant India,”said Pradeep Koneru,Managing Director, TSPL.

He pointed out an over-sight has caused stumblingblocks in the high-potentialBeach Sand Mineral industryin India, which could otherwiseyield nearly Rs 30,000 crore inannual turnover to the exche-quer and provide jobs to thou-sands of persons.

“The Notification No.G.S.R. 134(E) dated 20thFebruary 2019 issued byMinistry of Mines that reservesthe mining of beach sand min-erals for government compa-nies only has led to huge joblosses and brought billions ofprivate sector investments to agrinding halt,” said Koneru.

India’s GDP has grown

steadily since Independencebecause it is backed by robustgrowth in the production ofminerals such as iron ore, coal,copper, zinc, aluminum, mag-nesium, limestone, etc. Indianhas significant beach sand min-eral resources of Ilmenite,Garnet, Sillimanite, Rutile,Zircon and Monazite contain-ing Rare Earths, but theseresources remain grosslyunder-utilized with theProduction to Reserve Ratio(PRR) being a meager of0.0018%, when compared toGlobal PRR of 0.01%. India isstuck in this paradox and mustleverage its plentiful Resourcesto transform into a major glob-al producer.

Appealing the PrimeMinister to rescind the notifi-cation barring private sectorfrom beach sand mineral min-ing.

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Equity indices ticked higherfor the third session on the

trot on Thursday as investorsaccumulated FMCG, auto andIT stocks amid gradual reopen-ing of the economy.

After rallying over 370points intra-day, the 30-shareBSE Sensex settled 114.29points or 0.37 per cent up at30,932.90. Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty advanced 39.70points, or 0.44 per cent, to9,106.25.

Investors took heart fromthe gradual resumption of eco-nomic activities, including air

and rail travel, though theunderlying sentiment remainscautious amid the coronaviruspandemic, traders said.

ITC was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, rallying 7.48per cent, followed by AsianPaints, Hero MotoCorp,Maruti, Bajaj Auto, SunPharma, TCS and HCL Tech.On the other hand, IndusIndBank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance,HDFC and L&T slipped up to2.91 per cent.

Buying was seen in front-line stocks of sectors like auto,IT, metals and FMCG astraders took note of gradualopening of the economy, rais-ing hopes of economic recov-ery, said Narendra Solanki,Head- Equity Research(Fundamental), Anand Rathi.

However, at the fag-end ofthe session, some selling was

witnessed as negative globalcues continued for the secondstraight day and traders bookedprofits as weekly expiry neared,leading to indices losing major-ity of the gains, he added.

Concerns over the long-term impact of COVID-19 andworsening China-US relationstoo kept investors on the edge,traders said.

BSE auto, metal, FMCG,IT, teck, oil and gas, healthcareand energy indices ended up to2.45 per cent higher, whilepower, capital goods, financeand bankex finished with loss-es.

The broader BSE midcapand smallcap indices spurtedup to 0.76 per cent. Worldequities were on the backfootas weak macroeconomic dataand US-China tensions sappedrisk appetite.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong and Tokyo ended in thered, while Seoul closed withgains.

Stock exchanges in Europewere trading with significantlosses in early deals.

International oil bench-mark Brent crude futuresclimbed 1.79 per cent to USD36.39 per barrel.

On the currency front, therupee appreciated 19 paise toprovisionally close at 75.61against the US dollar.

The number of COVID-19cases in India spiked to over1.12 lakh, while the death tollrose to 3,435.

According to the healthministry.

Globally, the number ofcases linked to the disease hascrossed 49.96 lakh and thedeath toll has topped 3.28 lakh.

��� 5#6�(#78!

Leading food ordering anddelivery platforms Swiggy

and Zomato on Thursday saidthey have started home deliv-ery of alcohol in Ranchi andplan to expand it to othercities going forward.Swiggy onThursday said it has startedhome delivery of alcohol inRanchi and is in talks with var-ious State Governments to pro-vide support with online pro-cessing and home delivery ofalcohol in their States.

The service has gone live inRanchi and will be launched inother major cities in Jharkhandwithin a week, Swiggy said ina statement. The company isalso in advanced stage of dis-cussions with multiple StateGovernments to provide sup-port with online processing andhome delivery of alcohol, itadded.

In similar vein, Zomatosaid it will go live in Ranchi onThursday and seven other citiesin Jharkhand over the next cou-ple of days.

“With due permissionsand licences in place, we arestarting home delivery of alco-hol in Jharkhand. We believethat a technology-enabledhome delivery-based solutioncan enable responsible con-sumption of alcohol as well asprovide an option that’s saferand promotes social distanc-ing,” a Zomato spokespersonsaid in a statement.

On the steps taken toensure safe delivery of alcohol

in compliance with applicablelaws, Swiggy said it has intro-duced measures such asmandatory age verification anduser authentication to completedeliveries. “By enabling homedelivery of alcohol in a safe andresponsible manner, we cangenerate additional businessfor retail outlets while solvingthe problem of overcrowding,thereby promoting social dis-tancing,” Swiggy Vice-President(Products) Anuj Rathi said.

Taking advantage of thecompany’s existing technologyand infrastructure to enablehyperlocal deliveries, it hasbeen working closely with thelocal authorities to supportthem with initiatives likeexpansion of grocery deliveryand COVID-19 relief efforts, headded.

The company is partner-ing with authorised retailersafter validating their licenceand other required documentsas outlined by respective StateGovernments, Swiggy said.

�� �� 5#6�(#78!

With the COVID-19 pan-demic introducing

numerous changes to the econ-omy, only about 15 per cent ofcompanies appear to be win-ning so far, said a new report.

While many parts of theeconomy will jump back to anormal State once the healthcrisis is under control, somecompanies may not and if just20 per cent of companies donot recover quickly, it will haveseveral ripple effects on oureconomy, warned the reportfrom global business designand innovation strategy firmBoard of Innovation.

“Based on our conversa-tions with companies in everypossible industry, just 15 percent of companies seem tohave seen a positive impact sofar,” said the report titled ‘The

winners of the Low TouchEconomy: How companies canrecover and grow in the newnormal’. Some examples ofpotential winners include plat-forms to connect with remotecustomers, tools to support e-commerce, healthy food deliv-ered at home, safe at-homeworkouts, and those that pro-vide alternatives for supplychain.

The report details whatsteps companies can take toemerge as winners in whatBoard of Innovation calls the“Low Touch Economy” whichis characterised by low-touchinteractions, health and safetymeasures, new human behav-iors, and permanent industryshifts.”The Low TouchEconomy is here to stay. Itoffers unseen opportunities forinnovators to make bold moves- now,” said the report.

��� 5#6�(#78!

The Government onThursday extended till June

30 the deadline for internet ser-vice providers (ISPs) to filemonthly and quarterly reportsin wake of the coronaviruspandemic.

The Department ofTelecom (DoT) also suspend-ed any inspection scheduled forISPs till June-end.

DoT said the decision hasbeen taken following requestfrom ISPs for additional timeto file the reports.“Accordingly, considering thepresent circumstances, it hasbeen decided to grant relax-ation up to June 30, 2020,from the perspective due datesin respect of... Monthly andquarterly reports that are sub-mitted by ISPs to DoT head-quarter and licensed servicearea field units,” the DoT saidin an order.

The ISPs are required tosubmit subscribers’ reports tothe DoT every month andquarter.

The service providers arealso required to update theGovernment about their pointsof presence, network andequipment compliances,among others.

“Various inspection sched-ules of UL (ISP), ISP authori-sation under UL (VNO), oldISP license granted before ULregime shall also remain sus-pended till June 30, 2020,” theorder said.

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The Coronavirus pandemic has putthe global economy into a tailspin.Several countries are already head-

ing towards a full-fledged recession, whichexperts predict would be akin to the GreatDepression, while other economic disrup-tions seem inevitable. While the presentcrisis has short-term impact on all organ-isations, its effect on small businesses andstart-ups is turning out to be far-reachingand long-lasting. It has left various indus-tries and markets jittery about theirfuture.

The start-up ecosystem is desperate-ly attempting to cope with the unprece-dented circumstances. There are a pletho-ra of challenges right from continuingoperations to tackling supply chain issuesto managing cash flow. Besides these, rais-ing fresh funds has turned out to be amajor challenge for the community. DrApoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder,Venture Catalysts, and Managing Directorof 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund, says thatthe fall in public markets has directlyimpacted venture capitalists and angel

investors which, in turn, has slowed downinvestments.

According to Venture Intelligence,start-up funding in India for Marchdropped by 22 per cent as compared to thesame period in the previous year. The start-up data tracker also reports that Indianstartups only secured $354 million inMarch, down from $714 million inFebruary — more than 50 per centdecline. These numbers indicate thatstart-up investors are tightening their pursestrings and only focussing on their exist-ing portfolio companies. When we movebeyond the statistics, we face another grimreality. A slowdown in funding activitieshas resulted in a severe liquidity crunch,rendering many start-ups on the verge ofbankruptcy. Moreover, start-up valua-tions have also declined in the wake of thecrisis.

Under such circumstances how are thestartups surviving? As per NASSCOM’srecent statement, the start-up sector is fac-ing grave cash flow issues as 70 per centof them have cash reserves that will last less

than three months. The e-survey, titledReviving the Indian start-up engine duringCOVID-19, showed that about 90 per centof Indian start-ups saw a decline in rev-enues, while 30-40 per cent have haltedtheir businesses temporarily.

Shilpa Lalit, founder, Artyshills, a com-pany related to artworks, says, “Non-saleof products in the red zones is a problem.Another major challenge is that we arerunning out of stock of a lot of our sup-plies. And there are no labourers to runthe factory. This demand-supply gap willtake time to be bridged and stocks torevive.”

While Jitendra Chouksey, Founder ofFittr, an online fitness platform, feels thatthere’s no such thing as “disaster-proof”industry, he says: “There has been a slow-down in business, there is uncertainty andpeople are prioritising what they spendtheir money on.” If start-ups want to sur-vive, they need to accept this new normaland figure out what the rules of doing busi-ness are going to be.

There are many start-ups that have

lowered the rates of their services to sur-vive during these times of crisis. AarnavKalra, Chief Operations Officer, Beforv, adigital start-up says that his business hasincurred profits, though he had to reducethe price of his services in order to createmore demand during the lockdown.

An independent artist and DIY expert,Shilpi, who was planning to set up a start-up but couldn’t accomplish her aimbecause of the pandemic, says that thelockdown has affected her craft immense-ly. “I have to confine my ideas to the prod-ucts that I already have at home. I can’t stepout to buy things to keep myself going,”she adds.

Of course, the above incident wouldmake one wonder about the fresh start-upswho had started their operations before thelockdown. What about them? Jitendra says,“I don’t think anyone could have predict-ed this crisis. For those who’ve just start-ed operations, the silver lining is that theyhave little to lose. Invest this time to goback to the drawing board and rejig thebusiness plan and systems for a post-

COVID scenario. This virus is here to stayfor a long time and has disrupted howbusiness is done or taken forward. I haveone piece of advice: “think lean!”

The situation has affected people inevery possible manner. While for some itis proving to be the worst nightmare, forothers it has also proved to be a boon —the tech-based and digital start-ups as theyhave got a boost. Jitendra says that theirbiggest strength is their business model.Right from inception, they have been anonline fitness platform with no offline foot-print. “Since the beginning, our primarysource of revenue has been client enroll-ments with Fittr coaches. These enroll-ments have continued despite the lock-down. Our business model is such that theclient and coach don’t meet in person. Allcoaching is carried out online through ourapp. That’s why we have managed to seam-lessly adapt to the remote work culture,”says he and goes on to add, “Mainstreambusinesses tend to invest heavily in infra-structure. As we’ve seen with other play-ers in the fitness industry, unmanageableoverhead costs was a major reason behindtheir financial woes post lockdown. Thisis a lean start-up and we’ve concentratedmore on building a strong IT infrastruc-ture and robust internal systems. Thesehave helped us and saved us from hittinga trough.”

Shilpa says that though her stocks arehanging mid-way but she has received pos-itive responses online. “People have a lotof free time to explore and scroll throughthe paintings and other artworks right now.They also have the time to pursue their lostpassion in arts and craft, which was notpossible before due to busy schedules. Thishas also led to an increase in the viewer-ship of my online art tutorials,” she adds.

It has resulted in rise of new onlinebusinesses. A B2B edtech startup NextEducation has come up with several newfeatures to adapt to the need of the hour.Beas DevRalhan, CEO and Co-Founder,says: “Being stuck at home does not nec-essarily mean that students cannot con-tinue to learn. Advancements in technol-ogy, both computational and telecommu-nication have enabled remote learningopportunities and helped us gain profits.”

While the start-ups have beenimpacted by COVID-19, they are morelikely to regain lost ground after the lock-down gets over. Apoorva says, “This isbecause they have low-risk investmentoptions.”

It goes without saying that theCOVID-19 pandemic has seriously dis-rupted India’s start-up ecosystem, whichwas once thriving and booming. Apoorvasays that the expectations from 2020 arelow, but start-ups may pick up in the lastquarter of this year. Of course, it will taketime for it to go back into the pre-COVIDstate, but it is the early-stage start-ups thatwill take the lead.

Jitendra says that the founders shouldtry to have a lean start-up, stay debt-free,invest in people and technology. “Also,keep an ear to the ground and be pre-pared to respond swiftly to market move-ments,” he adds.

The start-up Davids, who are able toride out the virus, would emerge as theGoliaths of the business world post pan-demic.

Since time immemorial, humans haveadapted to the changing environ-

ment. These adaptations pass off unno-ticed, when viewed over a short periodof time. But as one takes a bird’s eye-viewof the period in question — lets say adecade, a century or a millennium —the transformation becomes apparent.However, the pace at which COVID-19is forcing humanity to change and adaptis astounding. It seems, that in less thansix months since the virus struck,human behaviour is undergoing a shift,one that is noticeable.

An extended hand towards a con-fident handshake gesture is met with ourage-old “Namaskar”. The act of cheekkissing (La bise in French) while meet-ing someone, gets replaced with an“elbow-knock”. Welcome to the new-agegreeting trends in a world trying tocome to terms with having to live withCOVID-19. Human interactions seemto be changing, and naturally portenda shift in how consumers behave andinteract while patronising restaurants intimes to come.

As some lockdown restrictionshave been taken off, social distancing,minimal physical contact, hygiene anddisposable incomes are going to deter-mine human behaviour. Each one ofthese, in some measure, shall alter con-sumer behaviour in the restaurantecosystem.

Sparsely laid-out restaurantsFrom the concept of “six degrees of

separation” which theorised humanconnect, the world is now hunkeringdown to “six feet of separation” in orderto avoid the spread of COVID-19.Naturally, this entails that consumerswould be averse to dining where tablesare set close to each other. Expect seat-ing capacity at restaurants to maybehalve, in order to create the requisite dis-tance. Innovative ways to screen off adja-cent tables are already being developedby enterprising ideators. No more push-ing at the bar counter to squeeze one-self in for another round of gin & tonic.The vibe of a restaurant/bar went much

beyond the four walls. The cacophonyof human chatter from close quarters iswhat made it vibrant. With the six feetin play, this would definitely change. Thevoid, probably filled with lyrics ofMichael Jackson’s “We are the World”.

Smaller GroupsTaking off from the concept of

social distancing, diners would prefer tomeet in smaller groups. The sight of atable of 15 would probably be replacedwith cosy tables of twos and fours.Dining shall get more intimate andwould probably be limited to meetingfamily and close friends, rather than aparty.

Contact-less Dining ExperienceConsumers will avoid not just

physical proximity, but shall prefer tominimise physical contact with objectsas well as persons. At a restaurant, con-sumers would probably prefer to enterdoors that are sensor controlled asopposed to palming the “push” sign,unless someone else does the pushingfor them. Glossy paper menus wouldcede ground to digital menus accessi-ble on their personal mobile phones.The fight over who gets the bill folderat the end of the meal might getreplaced with a sublime chime on themobile phone — a digital invoice. A fewclicks and the same would have beenpaid digitally without the need fortouching currency notes or fumblingwith the keypad on the oft-used creditcard terminal. This would be the com-ing of age of the “contact-less” diningexperience, which was being pedal-pushed by start-ups for the last few years.The sight of robots serving is notunthinkable, but consumers wouldprobably view them as pure optics, andstill prefer the congenial server, whosmiles, while bringing their food to the

table. The process of preparation of foodand drinks and the act of relishing thesame, shall ordinarily be spared of thiscontact-less mania till humanity evolvesfurther for it to be possible and enjoy-able, and thankfully so.

The Shift to Ordering-InSince the fear of the virus is all per-

vading, consumers might be averse tospending time at public places.Restaurants, being such, shall have towin the confidence of customers beforethey start patronising the services withconfidence. The fear of dining-outmight also shift the consumer to order-in in the comfort of their homes (spacesthey have control over). Consumer pref-erences might shift from a “bar nightwith friends” to “private gatherings athome”. Hopefully, such private gather-ings shall still be serviced by food fromtheir favorite eateries.

YouTube ChefsThe lockdown, by its very nature,

allowed millions to have time availableat hand. Some used this time to learnthe art of cooking through YouTube andthe like. Going by the number of suchposts on Facebook and Instagram, a cer-tain percentage of potential dinersmight have already pivoted to beinghome-chefs capable of preparing a finemeal without the urge to order-in.

Reduced Consumer SpendThe economic havoc that the pan-

demic has saddled us with, in most like-lihood, has left very little disposableincomes in the hands of the majority.Since dining out is purely a discretionaryspend, the amount a consumer spendsgoing forward would diminish. Optingfor better value-for-money options, toreducing frequency of visits might becommon themes across consumers,

for them to manage their monthly bud-gets.

Masks & Sanitisers — the new vanitykit

Hygiene, both personal as well aspublic, would be demanded as well aspracticed by consumers. Dressing up forthe evening before stepping out to dine,would now also involve choosing theright shade or print of the mask to beworn. The shade of the mask mightbecome as important as the shade of thelipstick. Restaurant entrances wouldseem like sanitisation zones, with cus-tomers ensuring that their hands get ataste of the alcohol before they do. Morethan discounts, customers woulddemand that their servers splash thesame before serving. In a nutshell, con-sumer behaviour would exhibit thestrongest preference for all thingshygienic. Standards of hygiene andsafety would determine when, whereand how the consumer opens his/herdigital wallet.

The Right Degree - 98.4Consumers would now be sub-

jected to an infra-red thermal scannerto check whether they qualify toenter the premises, purely for safetyreasons. Thus, consumers would prob-ably check their body temperaturebefore making a reservation.Whatsapp texts among friends wouldchange from “Hope you are wearinga collared shirt” to “Hope, you are nothot enough”.

While, we second-guess what thenew world looks like, the “new nor-mal” would have varying degrees ofwhat has been enumerated above. Thefactor of fear would determine if thechanges to consumer behaviour arepermanent or a passing phase.

Some changes would be perma-nent, while others would no longer berelevant, once the panic dissipates.Hopefully, among others, the art ofqueuing up without pushing andkeeping our public spaces clean,would stay forever.

Till such time, learn to commu-nicate with your eyes, since saying“read my lips” through the maskmight not be as effective.

They say, time is a great healer. Intime, we shall know.

(The writer is Director, PebbleStreet.)

Actor Bhumi Pednekar is taken aback todiscover the uncanny similarity that she

has with her character in Dolly Kitty Aur WohChamakte Sitare. Currently in lockdown,Bhumi took a trip down memory lane whenshe found her long lost scrapbook from schooland that triggered a huge moment for her.

She says, “There is so much time at handthat you can use it to declutter and it is notonly your space but your mind. I was clean-ing a trunk in my old house and I came acrossa scrapbook from my school. My first DVDaudition tape from my acting college, the firstscript I wrote. I was so nostalgic. My charac-ter in Dolly Kitty does something similar inthe film withher scrapbookand thismoment wasso uncanny.There are somany of yourlife experi-ences you gothrough againas an actor andthat’s what Ilove about cin-ema!”

D i re c te dby AlankritaShr ivastava ,the film hasearned Bhumiseveral inter-national acco-lades at presti-gious film festivals including the Face of Asiaaward at Busan.

Talking about life in lockdown, Bhumishares, “The first week was so weird, my roomis towards the road so it’s usually noisy butnow it’s silent and taken over by the birdschirping. The first week was manic, I meanall we used to do was talk about the virus, westill do but now we’ve figured out a way to dealwith it. Be more empathetic about what somany people are going through.”

The actor takes over her house post 6 pmevery day and lets her hair down with hermother, Sumitra, and sister Samiksha. “I lovedressing up my room and my house – thereis always some music, I light up the candles.So, post 6 pm I take over the house becausefor me it’s a way of survival. You have to bepositive and you have to spread positivity,” sheadds.

DAVID VS VIRUSC���������������� �������������������� ��������������������������������-����������� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������'0���!��-��������������������������������������!��������������������������-������.7�0/ �0.5%.

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Remember that scrumptiousquinoa salad we ate at Natasha’s

brunch? Or what was that amazingorange elderflower cocktail Nikhilwhipped up for us? Well, you cer-tainly want to give your friends andfamily a meal they will rememberand refer to in the future. But youalso want to keep your sanity whilebringing the home. The trick tohosting and cooking is to makesure 90 per cent of your work isdone before the guests arrive,preferably over a span of two orthree days, so that you aren’texhausted and ready for a napbefore the first Bellini is served. Inprofessional terms, this is calledmise en place, which literally means‘to put in its place’. Let me break itdown.

First, fix your menu. That is thebackbone of everything else. Sayyou want to have three snacks,three salads, three mains and twodesserts. Always have some roomfor options, as someone might bevegetarian, gluten-intolerant orallergic to seafood. Another dishmight need you to cook it fromscratch at the last minute. Look fordishes that you have made beforeand like to eat. Beware of recipesfrom random sources on the inter-net. Rather, ask friends for recipes.Think of the cooking process orlook at the recipe and see what youcan make in advance. Make ashopping list and break it up intosections such as fresh vegetablesand fruits, grocery store, speciali-ty store, fishmonger, butcher andbakery. Write down quantities andalso dates for when you should buyeverything. For example, vegetablesand protein can be bought inadvance, but try to buy fruits andsalads on the day of or the eveningbefore the brunch.

Plan your prep over two orthree days. Say you want to makean antipasti and cheese platter.Cheese can be bought and storedthree days in advance. Roastingvegetables such as peppers and egg-plants can happen a day in advance.Bread should be bought on the dayof the event.

Do a check the night before theevent to make a ‘collection list’ ofall the things you forgot. Keep allthe crockery, tableware, linen andglassware ready the day before.Ideally, you will just have to toss thesalad, reheat your already bakedphyllo parcels, toss the burrata inthe spaghetti and brunch will beserved!

Do ask for help. Enlist yourbest friend, husband’s assistant,sister or mom to help you or refill

your glass while you play domes-tic goddess. Get the kids to set thetable. Make it fun so you don’t feellike a slave.

I don’t know whether to thankthe stars for the internet, Googleand Pinterest, or to rue the day theywere created. Although it helps youget inspiration and tells you how toexecute anything your imaginationcan conceive of, it also makes thelife of any professional (caterer,stylist, bartender) who is workingfor you a living nightmare. Keepingthings real is important. Do youwant to spend the month beforeyour brunch knitting dreamcatch-er return presents for your guests?Do you want to be scouring localbazaars for chairs for the woodenledge on your terrace? Do you wantto be practising how to make asoufflé repeatedly before the bigday? If the answer is yes, then byall means, go for it. But if you wantto keep life pretty yet relaxed,identify a few areas where décorelements will have the biggestimpact, such as the entrance, din-ner table or the bar counter.

Flowers that go with the theme,a few rustic items like wateringcans, mason jars, wooden platters,boards and jute strings can go along way. First, work out the lookyou are going for, pick two-threeitems that will help you achieve it,and repeat the look through thevenue. ‘Online home delivery’ arethe magic words here, and a fewtrusted stores can also help you cre-ate that magical feel.

If you are working with eventstylists, give them your referencesand ideas but also let them presenttheir ideas and tell you — what isimpossible and out of your budget.Ask for a quotation, reference pho-tos and break up for each item soas to avoid any nasty surprises inthe end.

(The book has been publishedwith permission from PenguinRandom House India.)

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��1����3���1�Upping Vitamin C intake after catch-

ing a cold is essential because it helps buildup your immune system.Vitamin Cincreases the production of white bloodcells, which are key to fightinginfections.Almost all citrus fruits are highin vitamin C. Because your body doesn’tproduce or store it, you need daily vitaminC for continued health. But do keep inmind that while vitamin C might help yourecover from a cold quicker, there’s no evi-dence yet that it’s effective againstCoronavirus.

������While adding taste to your food, gar-

lic also gives a boost to your health. It alsoslows down hardening of the arteries, andthere’s evidence that it helps lower bloodpressure. Garlic’s immune-boosting prop-erties seem to come from a heavy concen-tration of sulfur-containing compounds,such as allicin.

��/���Ginger helps in decreasing inflamma-

tion, which can help to reduce a sore throatand inflammatory illnesses. It packs someheat in the form of gingerol, a relative ofcapsaicin. Ginger may also decrease chron-ic pain and might even possess cholesterol-lowering properties

���/����Spinach is rich in vitamin C, numer-

ous antioxidants and beta carotene, whichincrease the infection-fighting ability of our

immune systems. It is healthiest when it’scooked as little as possible so that it retainsits nutrients. However, light cooking makesit easier to absorb the vitamin A and allowsother nutrients to be released from oxal-

ic acid, an antinutrient.

@����1�The live and active cultures in yogurt

stimulate your immune system to help fight

diseases. Yogurt is a natural probiotic andaids in the formation of good bacteria inour body. However, if you have sore throatregardless of the cause, yogurt mightworsen it. Yogurt can also be a great source

of vitamin D which helps regulate theimmune system and is thought to boost ourbody’s natural defenses against diseases.

�� �/)��When it comes to preventing and fight-

ing off colds, vitamin E tends to take abackseat to vitamin C. However, this pow-erful antioxidant is key to a healthyimmune system. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin,which means it requires the presence of fatto be absorbed properly. Nuts, such asalmonds, are packed with the vitamin andalso have healthy fats.

��/3��A������)��These are full of nutrients, including

phosphorous, magnesium, and vitamins B-6 and E.Vitamin E is important in regulat-ing and maintaining immune system func-tion. Sunflower seeds are also incrediblyhigh in selenium.

1�� ����There is ancient wisdom packed in that

turmeric laced milk that our grandmoth-

ers forced us to drink when we were ill. Thisgolden spice is known for its anti-oxidantand anti-inflammatory properties.Curcumin, the compound present inturmeric is a very potent agent and aids inhealing of wounds and infections. Thisbright yellow, bitter spice has also been usedfor years as an anti-inflammatory in treat-ing both osteoarthritis and rheumatoidarthritis. Research shows that high concen-trations of curcumin, which gives turmer-ic its distinctive color, can help decreaseexercise-induced muscle damage.Curcumin has promise as an immunebooster (based on findings from animalstudies) and an antiviral.

����@��It is loaded with vitamin C. You can find

the daily recommended amount of vitaminC in a single medium fruit. Papayas alsohave a digestive enzyme called papain thathas anti-inflammatory effects. The fruit haspotassium, magnesium, and folate, all ofwhich are beneficial to your overall health.

1��A good old cup of some black tea can

actually help build your immunity.Regardless of colour, black or green, teapacks a big punch of polyphenols, flavo-niods, and antioxidants that destroy freeradicals that can damage healthy cells andeven cause premature aging. It’s also a goodmeans of hydrating your body. Just don’tmix it with milk, as the proteins in milk bindwith the polyphenols, thereby reducing theirbenefits.

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England pacer JamesAnderson believes his

teammates will have to moti-vate each other when cricketresumes, and in all likelihoodin front of empty stands, amidthe COVID-19 pandemic.

England were on their tourof Sri Lanka when all cricket-ing activities came to a grind-ing halt due to the outbreak ofnovel coronavirus. All profes-sional cricket activities current-ly remain suspended there tillJuly 1 and the England team arenext slated to play againstPakistan in August — threeTests and as many T20Is.

“We’re lucky (in England)that most Test matches aresold out, certainly the first few

days, we get big crowds somotivating yourself isn't anissue,” Anderson told CNN

Sport’s Amanda Davies viaInstagram Live.

“You just get out there in

front of a packed house and it'squite easy to get up for a game.I think we might have to leanon each other as players ifthere’s no crowd there, noatmosphere, we hear the soundof leather on willow echoingaround the ground rather thanthe applause,” he added.

In the post-COVID era,cricket will see a number ofchanges amongst which onewould be the ban on usage ofsaliva to shine the ball as hasbeen recommended by theICC Cricket Committee.

“It’s a massive thing for mebecause to get the ball to swing,you need to be able to polishthe ball and repair it when itgets scuffs on it,” said Andersonwho is England's leading wick-et-taker in Test cricket and

One-Day Internationals.The right-arm pacer also

said while he is “desperate toget out there and play,” hethinks it's only natural forplayers to be a bit nervous.

“It’s just a human reactionto be nervous about this situ-ation. We’ve got players in ourteam who have pregnant wivesand the worry there is if theybring something back,” he said.

“So I think what the ECBis doing is trying to make surewe really, really tick every boxthat we can to make sure thesafety of the players and staff isparamount and make sureeverything is in the right placeso if and when we do join backup as a team before we startplaying, we are as safe as we canbe,” he added.

�� �� 5#6�(#78!

West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravoheaped praise on Chennai Super

Kings’ skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoniand stated he has a calming influenceon everyone in the CSK dressing room.The all-rounder also revealed howDhoni makes teammates play withfreedom which in turn gets the teamresults on the field.

In normal circumstances, Bravo andDhoni would have been currently play-ing in the 13th edition of the IndianPremier League but due to coron-avirus pandemic the tournament waspostponed by the BCCI.

“CSK over the years have had manygood captains in their dressing room.

We’ve had Faf du Plessis, BrendonMcCullum, myself, Mike Hussey,” Bravosaid in a video uploaded onESPNCricinfo.

“These guys have been leaders invarious countries, but MS (Dhoni) is thetype of person who always says that 'youare here because you’re good enough,so when you come here, you don’t needto prove anything to anyone. The fran-chise sees and it knows what you canoffer. Just be yourself ’.”

Bravo also shed light on Dhoni’shandling of players in the CSK changeroom and how he makes everyone feelcomfortable without thinking too muchabout the game and the pressure itbrings along with it.

“MS doesn’t put pressure on anyone.

Outside of cricket, you rarely see him,but his room is always open, so you canwalk in there anytime.

He's brilliant to have conversationswith, obviously played so many games,”Bravo said.

“He creates an environment wherepeople feel comfortable and everyonerelaxes; he doesn’t behave like a super-star despite all his accolades andachievements,” Bravo said.

Under the stewardship of Dhoni,CSK have won the IPL title threetimes, second-best behind MumbaiIndians’ four.

Dhoni has also led Chennai in theknockout stage of every edition of thecash-rich league that they have partic-ipated in - the only team to do so.

��� 5#6�(#78!

Vijay Shankar would nottorment himself by think-

ing that it's not he but HardikPandya, who is Indian team’spreferred all-rounder in thewhite-ball format, as the TamilNadu cricketer is focussed atchurning out match-winningperformances to stay in themix.

The 29-year-old was part ofIndia’s World Cup campaignbut an ankle injury cut short hisjourney.

Since then, he hasn't beenpart of the senior team withShivam Dube coming in placeof an injured Pandya. Now witha fit-again Pandya back in themix, the wait for anothernational comeback could belonger.

“If it starts affecting me(that Hardik is the No 1 choice)then I will lose out on gamesthat I have with me. If I focuson the games that I have andhave match-winning perfor-mances, then my name will bethere in the circuit (reckon-ing),” Vijay told PTI during aninterview.

“If I perform, people willtalk about me and if someopportunity arises, I will be get-ting into the Indian side. So Ican’t think about what otherplayers are doing,” said Vijay,who played 12 ODIs and 8T20Is for India.

Vijay said that he is notlooking at being a mere sur-

vivor in the Indian team butsomeone who can perform forlong time.

“My dream is not just to getthere and be a mere survivor.Only if I excel, can I prolongmy international career. It'simportant for us to be at ourbest when we go to internation-al level.”

But for that, the man with45 first-class games under hisbelt want a permanent battingposition in the Tamil Nadu set-up which would give him anopportunity to score moreruns.

“Over the years, if you see,I have batted in all middle-order slots and adapted to theneeds of the team. However,when people ask me what mygoal is, I tell them for that Ineed to have a fixed batting

position. If I bat at Number 3or 4, then only can I thinkabout all these goals,” he said.

“If I am always shifting mybatting position, then I willonly end up getting those 30sand 40s," he opined.

World Cup was a goldenopportunity and he admittedthat Afghanistan game endedup being a missed chance.

“I missed out on twoopportunities and one wasagainst Afghanistan (he scored29). Against West Indies, I gota good delivery. Before that Ihad successive 40 plus scoresagainst New Zealand in a toughgame and against Australia.Had I converted even one startinto a big knock, it would havebeen a different story,” he rued.

Vijay has an astro-turfwicket on the rooftop of his res-idence but during lockdown, hedidn’t hit the nets.

“Usually, I call two or threepeople who come and bowl orgive throwdowns. Due to thelockdown, I wasn’t able to callanyone so just did my exercis-es. Hope I can now start train-ing.”

A lesser known fact aboutVijay is his patronage for TamilNadu’s physically challengedcricket team, where most of theplayers are daily wage earnerssuffering due to the lockdown.

“I have been the players forthe last three years, and thistime during lockdown, I helpedthem with some money sothat they don’t go hungry.

��� *#7A:-@5#

Australia opener David Warner’sparticipation in the Big Bash

League (BBL) would depend onhow the international calenderpans out on resumption as he doesnot want “a cluttered mindset”,playing different formats close toeach other.

Warner reflected on how in2013-14, playing Twenty20 tourna-ment without much gap betweenthe Test cricket adversely impactedhis performance.

“All my decisions are basedaround how much playing andtouring I’m doing in the summer,”Warner told cricket.Com.Au abouthis Big Bash options.

“When I last played a game, mymindset in the next two Tests wascluttered between playing and notplaying shots.”

Warner had hit centuries in thefirst and third Ashes Tests of thatwhitewash summer before scoring50 from 31 balls for the SydneyThunder in a one-off appearance.In the final two Tests of the sum-

mer, he did not pass 25.“I know that's how I play but

I’ve reined it in a lot over the last fewyears and don’t want to be puttingmyself into a situation again whereI’m playing a Test match and thena T20 and then Tests again a fewdays later.

The star opener said he wouldprefer having “one rhythm goinginto it”.

“It would be easy to sit here nowand say ‘Yes, I’d like to play’ but Ihave to see what is happening at theend of the year. I'll have to have ahard think about it depending onthe schedule.”

���*#7A:-@5#

Australian pace spearheadPat Cummins believes the IPLwill be a great way to resumecricket after the coronavirus-forced hiatus and the high-octane tournament will alsohelp in preparing for the T20World Cup this year.

Cummins was bought byKolkata Knight Riders for awhopping Rs 15.5 crores, mak-ing him the most expensive for-eign player in the IPL.

The 27-year-old said he hasbeen in touch with his ownersand is optimistic of playing thetournament this year.

“Whenever I speak to theowners of the team and the staffthere, they’re still really confi-dent that it can be played atsome stage this year,” Cumminstold SEN on Thursday.

“I was really looking for-ward to playing it for manyobvious reasons, hopefully itgoes ahead.”

The COVID-19 pandemic,which has so far claimed over3 lakh lives globally, forced theshutdown of sports, includingcricket, across the world.

“It (IPL) could be a greatway to get back into playingcricket (after the COVID-19stoppage). It’s T20, not as cum-bersome on your body.

“We’ve got a big World Cupthat is going to be played atsome stage, so playing as muchhigh-quality T20 cricket as wecan is great.”

The 13th IPL, which wasscheduled to start in Marchend, was indefinitely suspend-ed due to the COVID-19 pan-demic, which has also put indoubt this year's T20 WorldCup in Australia.

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

In a bid to resume cricket,Boards across the globe arelooking at ensuring a bio-secure environment whichincludes mandatory quarantineperiods and other safety proto-cols.

Cummins, who will beginNSW pre-season training onJune 1, said he is ready to do“Whatever it takes to get backplaying cricket safely.”

��� 6#77!5&�:5

Cup final loss to England last year andhasn’t yet figured if the epic match shouldcount among the highs or lows of his career.

New Zealand got a raw deal in last year'sWorld Cup final when England wereadjudged the winners on the basis of theirsuperior boundary count after the epic gameand also the ensuing Super Over ended in atie.

Williamson said he is still trying to com-prehend what happened in the closing

moments of that spectacular final.“To determine whether it was a high or

a low takes a bit of time. And I’m still tryingto work out what it was really ... Sometimesit is difficult to make sense of it. You need toaccept, which is that it is a part and parcel oflife,” said Williamson on a ‘Cricbuzz’ show.

“We didn’t get the fruits but upon reflec-tion, it was a pretty spectacular game to bea part of but a really difficult game to under-stand and get around because you were a partof the game.”

In the drama-filled finale, a lot of thingsdidn’t go New Zealand’s way, includingMartin Guptill’s throw which ricocheted offa diving Ben Stokes’ bat and went across theboundary. Add to that, on-field umpireKumar Dharmasena erroneously gave Stokesan extra run.

Williamson said it was difficult to makesense of these “things on the outside that youcan’t control”.

“When there were so many things thatwere out of your control, pivotal things thatwere so late in the match. It meant that youwere trying to make sense and it was very dif-ficult to do that,” said Williamson, who wasadjudged the ‘Player of the Tournament’ forscoring 578 runs.

“Despite being on the wrong side of theresult you still think you played your part andwere perhaps able to do that.

��� 5#6�(#78!

With a commitment to tourSouth Africa in August fol-lowed by the IPL likely in

October, the BCCI seems ready with itsresumption plan as it waits for theCOVID-19 situation to improve andcricket to resume :in earnest: after themonsoon.

Cricket South Africa on Thursdayrevealed that the BCCI has shown “will-ingness” to play three T20 Internationalsat the end of August. This was afterBoard CEO Rahul Johri said he expectsthe sport to restart after the monsoon.

India and South Africa could playthree T20 Internationals at the end ofAugust as part of a prior “agreement”,provided the situation arising out of thepandemic improves substantially forgovernments on both sides to give a go-ahead.

The fixtures are currently ear-marked for late August but CricketSouth Africa’s acting chief executiveJacques Faul, encouraged by the BCCI's“willingness”, said both parties are notaverse to having the series at a later date.

“India wants to honour its agree-ment. If it’s postponed, maybe a bit later,”Faul said during a virtual press confer-ence on Thursday.

“We’ve had a very good discussionwith them (BCCI),” the CSA executiveadded.

A BCCI official on condition ofanonymity said that the possibility is“there” provided they get an all clearancefrom the government of India.

“First, we have to get the players fora conditioning camp in a green zone.Obviously, if things are on track, wewould play in South Africa,” the officialtold PTI.

BCCI agreeing to this bilateralseries will also mean that they will haveCSA’s support if they want to organisethe cash-rich IPL in October-November

window instead of the T20 World Cup.Considering the fast-evolving situ-

ation, CSA has reiterated that the serieswill be subject to the clearances from thehighest authorities of both India andSouth Africa.

Faul said they have already initiat-ed the process to seek permission fromthe South African government.

CSA’s Director of Cricket GraemeSmith said having the series withoutspectators is not much of a logisticalissue either.

“We have been talking to them and

the commitment is there to get the threeT20s done,” Smith said at a news con-ference on Thursday.

"There is an element of guesswork,no-one knows what things will be likeat the end of August. But we believe weare a socially-distanced sport and thatwe can play behind closed doors,” headded.

Johri, while addressing a webinaron Wednesday, gave some insight intothe BCCI’s plans going forward.

“We are going to be guided by theGovernment of India in its entirety,

whatever are the government guidelinesis what we'll follow...Cricketing activi-ty in earnest can start practically onlyafter the monsoon season,” he said.

India’s monsoon season lasts fromJune to September. There is speculationthat IPL might be conducted inOctober-November if the T20 WorldCup in Australia is postponed.

“…hopefully things will improveand give us more variables which wecan control and accordingly take thedecision.”

He also highlighted the many

logistical issues that are going to cropup because of the new safety protocolsto minimise the risk of infection.

“The flavour of the IPL is that thebest players around the world come andplay, and everyone is committed tomaintaining that flavour. Of course, itis going to be a step-by-step process, soyou cannot expect normalisationtomorrow,” he said.

“We need to factor what the gov-ernment advisories will be. Right nowthere are no flights. At some pointflights will open and everybody needsto quarantine themselves before play-ing.

“How will that impact the sched-ules because as it is the schedules areextremely tight,” he explained.

A 14-day quarantine is being talkedabout as one of the compulsory safetymeasures, which is likely to have a hugebearing on the overall scheduling.

“So there are a lot of moving parts.Having said that we stay optimistic.Hopefully the situation post the mon-soon will improve and we approach itthat point of time,” Johri said.

He also touched on the challengesthe Board will face while conductingIndia’s lengthy domestic season, whichgoes on from October to May and fea-tures more than 2000 matches.

“In this changing scenario thescheduling of domestic cricket needs tobe completely relooked at becausetoday there is a team which can travel50 kilometres to play a match or 3000kilometres to play a match,” he said.

“Everybody plays every other teamhome and away. Now in this scenariowhere travel is restricted, where play-ers’ safety, support staff safety is of para-mount importance, how do you con-duct these leagues?

“It is a discussion that will be hadand interesting options will have tocome up. Innovation will be the key inthis,” he added.

���*-*A+!

Former India openerGautam Gambhir has cho-

sen legendary SachinTendulkar over current skipperVirat Kohli as a better batsmanin the ODI format, consider-ing the changed rules of thegame and the Mumbaikar’slongevity of career.

Tendulkar, who retired in2013, played 463 ODIs andamassed 18, 426 runs with 49hundreds at an average of44.83.

Kohli, on the other hand,has played 248 ODIs andscored 11, 867 runs with 43tons at an average of 59.33.

“Sachin Tendulkar,because probably with onewhite ball and four fieldersinside the circle, not five field-ers outside, it will be SachinTendulkar for me,” Gambhirsaid on Star Sports show‘Cricket Connected’.

Nowadays, a one-dayinnings is played with twowhite balls and with threepowerplays.

In the first power play(overs 1-10), two fielders are

allowed beyond the 30-yardcircle, while in the secondpowerplay (overs 10-40) fourfielders are allowed. In the lastpowerplay (overs 40-50), fivefielders are allowed outside the30-yard circle.

Gambhir, who was thestar performer in 2011 ODIWorld Cup final which Indiawon, feels that the change inrules has helped batsmen.

“It’s difficult because ViratKohli has done phenomenal-ly well but I think the ruleshave changed as well, whichhas helped a lot of new batters,”elaborated Gambhir, whoplayed 58 Tests and 147 ODIs.

“The new generation, with2 new balls, no reverse swing,nothing for the finger spin, fivefielders inside for the 50 overs,probably that makes battingmuch easier.

He said he would also gowith Tendulkar, consideringhis longevity and flow of theODI cricket format at thattime.

“Probably I’ll go withSachin Tendulkar if we see thelongevity and flow of the one-day cricket format.

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