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Sending a clear message thatthere will be no compromise

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

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

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

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

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

accused may get six months toseven years in jail.

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

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

The Minister said if dam-

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

He also said health brief-

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

Soon after the approval ofthe Ordinance, Modi tweeted,

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

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

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

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

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

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Policemen came under attackat several places across the

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

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

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

Additional DistrictMagistrate RK Maalpani saidthe incident took place in theBhojpura locality in the old cityareas when policemen wereimposing the lockdown mea-sures after the 6 am to 10 amrelaxation. Despite the policeorder, the vegetable vendorscontinued to sell their items,

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

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

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

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

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Contrary to the general per-ception that coronavirus is

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The study authors rec-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chief Minister NeveenPatnaik on Wednesday

administered pledges of com-bating coronavirus to theSarpanhes of all 6,798 grampanchayats through videocon-ferencing from the NaveenNiwas here.

Patnaik asked theSarpanches to ensure that allpeople who return from out-side the State are put in quar-antine and provided with shel-ter, foods and required treat-ment. In no case, they wouldallow corona to enter villages.

Notably, the Chief Ministerhas recently given powers of adistrict Collector to theSarpanches to fight corona.

He also interacted withsome Sarpanches.

Panchayati Raj MinisterPratap Jena said theSarapanches would now workas frontline COVID warriors.5-T Secretary VK Pandian gaverealistic suggestions toSarapanches.

Meanwhile, the number of

COVID-19 positive cases inOdisha increased to 83 onWednesday after three per-sons of Bhadrak district andone of Jajpur tested positive forcoronavirus.

The Jajpur patient is a 38-year-old man having a travelhistory to West Bengal. Withthis, the number of COVID-19cases rose to eight in the dis-trict.

All three Bhadrak patientsare residents of Basudevpurblock and have a travel histo-ry to Kolkata. With this, thenumber of positive cases roseto 11 in the district.

So far, the number of activecases is 50 while 32 personshave recovered and one hasdied in the State.

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In another effort ford i s s e m i n a t i n g

information relatingto COVID-19, theState Government onWednesday launcheda WhatsApp informa-tion desk and a dash-board.

WhatsApp userscan join the info desk bearingno. 9337929000 by clickingbit.ly/OGCovidWhatsApp toget latest information on theGovernment’s COVID-19 con-tainment measures. It can beactivated by sending ‘Hi’ to theinfo desk on WhatsApp.

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statedashboard.odisha.gov.inwas launched for disseminationof latest information and sta-tistics relating to COVID-19and facilitate an AI-based self-assessment of health. Mobilephone application of the dash-board namely ‘Odisha COVIDDashboard’ is also available on

Play Store and App Store.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik has thanked Deloitte,Salesforce and Facebook forproviding the cutting-edgetechnology for the develop-ment of the innovative plat-forms.

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It is good news for power con-sumers in the State as there

will be no change in power tar-iffs for 2020-21.

The retail supply for 2019-20 would remain unchangedfor 2020-21, informed theOdisha Electricity RegulatoryCommission (OERC) onWednesday.

In view of COVID-19 sit-uation, the commission hasallowed a positive gap in theAnnual Revenue Requirement(ARR) of Discoms to the tune

of Rs 78.54 crore.Tthe transmission tariff of

OPTCL for 2019-20 shallremain unchanged for 2020-21at 25 paise per unit.

However, the OHPC tariff,which was 86.10 paise per unitin 2019-20 has been revised to90.11 paise per unit for 2020-21.

Similarly, the OPGC tarifffor stations-I and II has beenrevised to Rs 248.97 crore asfixed charge and Rs 153.91paise per unit as energy chargeagainst Rs 240.96 and Rs 150.68per unit respectively for 2019-

20.The Gridco will purchase

29,018.76 MU power during2020-21 and sell 28,090 MU tofour Discoms -- Cesu, Nesco,Wesco and Southco -- and 60MU to CGP. The averagepower purchase cost will be Rs278.57 per unit for 2020-21against Rs 259.88 in 2019-20.The gap allowed in Gridco’sARR is Rs 660.15 crore asagainst Rs 172.94 crore in2019-20.

The industrial consumershaving CD of 1 MW and aboveand drawing power in 33 KV

shall be allowed a rebate of 10paise per unit for the units con-sumed in excess of 70% of loadfactor and up to 80% of loadfactor and 20 paise for the unitsconsumed in excess of 80% ofthe load factor per month.

The industrial consumersdrawing power in EHT shall beeligible for a rebate of 10 paiseper unit for all the units con-sumed in excess of 80% of loadfactor.

However, 2% rebate shallbe allowed to all pre-paid con-sumers on pre-paid amount.

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The UnionMinistr y

of Culture hasincluded threetraditions ofOdisha in theNational Listof IntangibleC u l t u r a lH e r i t a g e(ICH).

ManabasaG u r u b a r a ,Chhau dance andRavanachhaya of the State havebeen included in the list.

Manabasa Gurubara is aritual performed on eachThursday of Margashirshamonth in honour of GoddessLakshmi. Lakshmi Puran bythe 16th century poet BalaramDas is read on the occasion,which narrates a story glorify-ing the place of women in everyrespect as central to the peace,progress and happiness of thefamily and denouncing evilpractices such as untouchabil-ity. The ritual involves makingrice flour patterns called ‘chit-ta’ and worshipping a repre-sentation of the goddess,moulded by the women usinga bamboo vessel called ‘Mana’overflowing with harvested

paddy, and eyes and nose aremarked with sandalwood,turmeric and vermillion.

Chhau is a major dancetradition of eastern India. Thedancers perform a repertoire

that explores a variety of sub-jects: local legends, folkloreand episodes from the epicsRamayana/Mahabharata andabstract themes. The vibrantmusic is characterized by therhythm of indigenous drumslike the dhol, dhumsa andkharka and the melody of themohuri and shehnai.

Ravanachhaya is a shadowpuppet theatre tradition ofOdisha. The narratives aremainly based on the epics ofRamayana and Mahabharata,Puranas, local myths and tales.

Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan hasthanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionCulture Minister Prahlad SinghPatel for inclusion of the threetraditions in the list.

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The Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) on

Wednesday withdrew contain-ment zone orders from threeareas in the capital city.

The containment zoneorders were withdrawn fromBomikhal, Satyanagar andSuryanagar.

The BMC, however, statedthat the active surveillance inthese containment areas wouldcontinue till next seven days asa precautionary measure.

Now, Bhubaneswar, where46 persons have tested positivefor COVID-19 so far, hasbecome a containment zone-free city.

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To redress the issues ofOdisha’s migrant workers

and students stranded outsidethe State due to the nationwidelockdown, the OdishaLegislative Assembly (OLA)has set up a control room.

As per an official notifica-tion on Wednesday, the controlroom will be operated fromApril 22 to May 3 (excludingofficial holidays) between 10am and 5.30 pm.

The control room has beenset up at Room No. 9 (ground

floor) of the Assembly buildingfor the MLAs to help thestranded persons belonging totheir constituencies.

The migrant workers andstudents from Odisha can con-tact the OLA control room atthe telephone number 0674-2390525 for further assistance.

Assembly DeputySecretary Shishir Kanta Swain,who is the Nodal Officer of thecontrol room, would coordi-nate with other StateGovernments or LegislativeAssemblies to provide assis-tance to the distressed persons.

Besides, the victims seek-ing assistance from the OdishaGovernment can send emails tothe MLAs of their constituen-cies at [email protected] and sharetheir issues.

Meanwhile AssemblySpeaker Surjya Narayan Patro

has urged all MLAs and MPs ofthe State to inform his officeabout the people stranded out-side the State.

Patro said this after hold-ing a meeting with Lok SabhaSpeaker Om Birla throughvideoconferencing on Tuesday.It is decided that the MLAs andMPs would provide informa-tion about the migrant work-ers from their respective con-stituencies stranded in otherStates due to the lockdown.

“Based on this information,the State Government will takenecessary steps for rehabilita-tion of these workers,” he said.

Patro also said that spitting,chewing betel and smoking inthe Assembly premises havebeen prohibited. Any Assemblyemployee on duty found drunkwould be dismissed from ser-vice, he added.

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Pradesh CongressCommittee president

Niranjan Patnaik on Tuesdayrequested Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik to prepare adetailed strategy as to how tosafely hold the Puri Rath Yatrathis year in the event of com-bustion of COVID-19 restric-tions.

"This year, Rath Yatra fallson June 3. For making chariots,wood logs have already arrivedat the Grand Road and Rathmaking will start on AkshayaTritiya on April 26,” the PCCchief has pointed out in a let-

ter to the CM.Possibility of

lifting of social dis-tancing restrictionlooks gloomy. Thus,as advised by theSupreme Court, theG o v e r n m e n tshould consult withthe ShreemandirM a n a g e m e n tCommittee and theP u r iShankarachar yaregarding holdingof Ratha Yatra. As the situationis different this year in view ofcoronavirus, the Governmentshould make a detailed plan asto how and in which wayRatha Yatra would be heldsafely, he told the CM.

Mentioning that Rath Yatrais also held across the State,

Niranjan Patnaik said the deci-sion taken for holding PuriRath Yatra must be followed byother temples.

Rath Yatra of LordJagannath is a very sensitiveissue. So, the Governmentshould not make any delay intaking a decision for holding it.

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In view of closure of theAnganwadi Centres (AWCs)

due to COVID19 pandemic,the State Women and ChildDevelopment Department hasplanned to engage and stimu-late 16,13,775 Anganwadi chil-dren (3-6 years) across 72,587AWCs of the State, who aremostly indoors these days.

The Women and ChildDevelopment Department, incoordination with the UNICEF,has, therefore, released ̀ GhareGhare Arunima, a calendar-based fun-filled list of activitiesfor children to be implement-ed in support of parents andgrandparents.

This will help sustain earlylearning and ensure schoolreadiness of children at home.

The WCDMS DepartmentPrincipal Secretary while ded-icating the programme to theDSWOs and CDPOs, througha video conference on Tuesday,maintained that it was impor-tant for families to keep youngchildren engaged in meaning-ful activities at home.

She hoped that, the calen-dar of activities will keep themstimulated and improve theirpsychosocial wellbeing. It willalso strengthen the bondageamongst the members of fam-ily and spread happiness athome.

The programme stresseson reaching out to parents forkeeping the children engagedin a host of activities such asaction songs,dance,painting,storytelling/listening etc basedon the prescribed theme. It alsofocuses on practice of goodhabits like hand washing,hygiene, sanitation, social dis-tancing etc. to prevent infec-tion. Further, children are to beinitiated to household choressuch as folding clothes andwatering plants etc.

Given the challenges ofthe lockdown and social dis-tancing measures, the calendarof activities will be shared dig-itally with parents by theAnganwadi Workers.

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The Citizens’ Action Groupon Corona has sought has-

sle-free repatriation of strand-ed migrant workers in differ-ent parts of the country toOdisha.

Notably, the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs onApril 19 has issued an orderthat lifted some restrictions onintra-State movement ofstranded migrant workers, butkept the restrictions on inter-State movement unchanged.Also Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik announced that theState Government was initiat-ing a process of registeringworkers from the State whoare stranded outside and want

to come back.The forum said despite all

this, there is little progress withrespect to facilitating thereturn of stranded migrantworkers to their native places.In fact, by reinforcing the banon inter-State movement ofthe workers, the MHA hasheightened the trauma andsense of uncertainty amongmillions of these sufferingworkers and their families.

It demanded constitutionof a National Task Force thatshould be set up on priorityto work with States, design andexecute a plan for the returnmigrant workers.

It urged the UnionGovernment as also theGovernments of all States to

desist from any action thatmight amount to forceful orinvluntary confinement ofthese workers.

While welcoming the ini-tiative taken by Chief MinisterPatnaik to start enlistingmigrant workers from theState who want to returnhome, it sought more clarityon this, especially with respectto a timeline for the return ofthe workers, the modalities oftheir return and, most impor-tantly, their economic reha-bilitation.

CM Patnaik should con-sider an immediate cash trans-fer of Rs 3,000 to each strand-ed worker, over and above theRs 2,000 that he/she would getafter returning home, it said.

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Police onWednesday

arrested a 35-year-old manof Nayagarhdistrict afterseizing a hugequantity of ille-gal liquor fromhis possessionnear Gohira Chhak atTamando here.

Acting on a reliable infor-mation, the Quick Action Team(QAT) of the Commissioneratepolice and the Tamando policeconducted a raid in the vicin-ity of Gohira Chhak in morn-ing and arrested PrakashKumar Parida, a resident ofBadabarmul under the Ranpur

police limits in Nayagarh dis-trict. During the search oper-ation, the cops seized 202 bot-tles containing over 36 litres ofliquor, cash of Rs 5,420, a SUVand a mobile phone fromP a r i d a ’ spossession.

SI Pranab Tudu is furtherinvestigating the case, saidpolice.

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For the first time in the his-tory of mankind, an

extremely fragisle, near-deadorganism has shaken up themighty human race withunprecedented fear of death.No wonder, the entire mankindhas come together to fight themicro-size thing with whatev-er method that comes to mind.There have been several coro-na viruses ravaging mankind inthe recent past. They invariablycause flue initially and eventu-ally damage the respiratory

system by affecting the lungswith acute pneumonia. Thesame type of Chinese SARSvirus of 2002 was very deadlybut much less infective. TheRNA genetic material dupesthe host human cell and getsitself re-replicated by the con-fused host very fast. Besides,infected humans may not showeven the mildest symptomsuntil ten to fourteen days havepassed by, which poses thebiggest problem.

The virus gets destroyedeasily with soap solutionbecause its protective outercover is only a thin layer thatgets ruptured in the soap solu-tion in about 15-20 seconds.The infected individuals canrelease the virus into air bysneezing and, unless protectedwith masklike covers, peoplenearby can get the pathogen ontheir bodies.

It is also true that twentyper cent of the infected personsget sick severely and out of

these twenty, a mere five percent seek intensive care withrespiratory support. That’swhere the panic occurs as thenumber of the infected peopleis so big that hospital beds,healthcare personnel are foundbadly inadequate. Sophisticatedlifesaving ventilators have notbeen in place anywhere in theworld, for which the elderlyand the less immune left to die.

Humans have beenexposed to more than twohundred types of flu virusesthat are routinely ignored. Butthis crown-like virus has takenthe human race by the tail andshockingly unawares.

Wise people and spiritualleaders say nature is takingstrong steps to teach the humanrace a lesson for ravaging all itsresources and creations withoutany effort to have these replen-ished. The planet has evolvedsystems that promote and sup-port ‘trans-species democracy'which has sustained life forms

equitably. The greedy humanshave broken that divine equi-librium and, hence, the horrif-ic wrath of nature on display.

The more frightening factis the current corona virus isnot the last one. There is morecoming, one after the other. Novirus has any life of its own andso never gets killed by any drugor medicine. The only way toremain safe is to keep the viruswarded off or hide away fromit. Further, ‘herd immunity' isdifficult to attain in this case asat least 60-70 per cent of thepopulation needs to be infect-ed to develop that universalfighting power, which is notpossible in the current crisis.

From now on, more hos-pital beds with support systemto manage pneumonic condi-tions are the only way out.Lastly, vaccines that actually arethe only answer cannot bedeveloped overnight. At leastone full year is required tocome up with a fully-tested

vaccine.Though the greatest enemy

of mankind in thousands ofyears, corona has also done agreat deal of good to the plan-et. Excessive fear has nowforced industries to reduceoutput of luxury items, com-bustion machines of all types torun at less than five-per centcapacity and human beings toeat simple home food therebydissuading big food chains toclose shops that consumed somuch of natural resourcesindiscriminately. Consequently,carbon emissions have declinedsubstantially. Amusingly, fossilfuel vehicles are literally locked.The air around the planet hasnow turned as clean as in theearly 19th century.

Internationally-acclaimedvirologist Dr Ian Lipkin saysthe Covid-19 pandemic is onlya beginning. The humanityhas more such crises coming.Only behaviour change cankeep us alive and healthy. Much

of unnecessary economic activ-ity has to decrease to retard therising rate of health crises.Deforestation, populationmigration, international tradeand travel have all reduced tozero now and should remainlow when minimal normalcyreturns. People are back homeand less sick as is evident fromempty beds at hospitals. Sincethe Spanish Flu, there havebeen many epidemics such asAIDS, Nipah, Chikungunya,SARS-1, MERS, swine flu andmore, but none of those couldhammer fear into the arrogantand unruly human mind asmuch as corona has done.Human beings should not for-get the way corona has civilisedthem to come together againstone invisible enemy only tosurvive. They have to remainhumble and give up the crim-inal way of devouring away allthat has been so caringly cre-ated by nature across millionsof years!

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The State Government hasdirected the District

Education Officers (DEOs)and the District ProjectCoordinators (DPCs) to com-plete distribution of schooltextbooks among students ofClasses-I to VIII in next two tothree days.

But the officials have beenrestricted to carry out the dis-tribution drive in hotspots,containment zones or any otherareas restricted by the districtauthorities, said an order issuedby the Odisha School EducationProgramme Authority

(OSEPA) on April 20.Besides, teachers and

Cluster Resource CentreCoordinators (CRCCs) havebeen asked to obtain priorpermission from their respec-tive district Collector beforegoing out to distribute books.

As textbooks could not bedistributed during the pre-scribed time due to closure ofschools in the wake COVID-19outbreak, the OSEPA decidedto distribute the books to theparents of students from schoolpoints or by visiting door-to-door. Teachers and CRCC arecarrying out the distributiondrive.

“During the distribution,all protocols regarding socialdistancing, safety and securityshould be followed strictly,” theorder reads.

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Even as the country reelsunder the impact of the

coronavirus crisis, in an exem-plary display of grit and deter-mination, an eight-monthpregnant woman police officeris standing firmly with hercolleagues and subordinatesto enforce the COVID-19 lock-down in Mayurbhanj district.

Betnoti police station Sub-Inspector Mamata Mishra hascertainly set an example formany others fighting the waragainst the pandemic. She hadjoined Betnoti PS on January20, 2019.

“All frontline personnel ofthe Health Department, policeand district administration are

working hard and are res-olutely engaged with theirresponsibilities in the COVID-19 battle. So, why shouldn’t Iface the challenge,” saidMamata.

“I am totally fine now andwill seek leave when there isurgent need. I do patrolling aspart of COVID-19 duty andinvestigate at police station.There is no extra work load andpressure from my seniors. TheIIC and my colleagues are verysupportive and cooperative. Iam planning to take leave afterthe end of the extended lock-down on May 3”, she added.

Mamata is among thefrontline warriors who areputting their best efforts to dealwith the crisis.

DGP Abhay, during hisvisit to the district on Tuesday,complimented Mamata forbeing brave enough to dis-charge her duties during thetough situation keeping asideher personal priorities.

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Red Cross State BranchProtection Committee con-

venor Dillip Dashsharma hasurged Indian Red CrossSociety- Odisha State Branch(IRCS-OSB) President andGovernor Prof Geneshi Lal tolook into all issues of the soci-ety and resolve them as he hastime during the ongoingCOVID-19 lockdown.

In a letter, Dashsharmamentioned that annual gener-al meeting of the IRCS-OSBhas not been held for over 10years. Financial Statement hasnot been passed in the execu-tive body meeting since 2008-09. The executive meeting,which should be held thrice a

year, has not been held sinceJanuary 2010.

An executive meeting hadonly been held in February2019 and it was decided thatthe name and logo of the RedCross would be written at all 55blood banks in the State.However, the decision has notbeen implemented yet.

The monthly meetings oflifetime members have alsobeen stopped altogether.

"The Red Cross Society inthe State is running withoutannual and executive meetings.Many issues have to beresolved. His Excellency mighthave time now. Kindly lookinto all the issues and resolvethem soon," urgedDashsharma.

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The State Level BankersCommittee (SLBC), Odisha

has decided to implement 8 am-to-2 pm banking hours whileaccepting the advice of the StateFinance Department.

Customer service hours atthe banks will be 8 am to 1 pm.

The decision was taken bySLBC after reviewing the presentbanking hour in the State in viewof the continuing lockdown.

During the lockdown, thebasic banking services are pro-vided. The services are: a) Cashdeposit/withdrawals b)

Remittances like RTGS/NEFT c)Clearing of Cheques d)Currency Chest operations e)Govt. Tax Collection Services

However, in view of pro-viding emergency funding sup-port to farmers, SHG benefi-ciaries, PMJDY beneficiariesand MSME sector, the SLBCdecided that bank brancheswould undertake such servicesin the interest of the cus-tomers/borrowers.

As the Kharif season is inthe offing, bank branches wouldalso meet the requirement offarmers in providing agriculturefinancing to support the crop.

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Two BJD MPs from Odishahave been elected to two

committees of the Lok Sabha.While Cuttack MP BhartruhariMahtab was elected as themember of Committee onPublic Accounts, Puri MPPinaki Misra was elected mem-ber of Committee on Estimates.

The term for both thememberships would begin onMay 1, 2020 and end on April30, 2021.

For election of 15 membersto the Committee on PublicAccounts, 17 nominations werereceived. Subsequently, twocandidates, Kunwar DanishAli and Jayadev Galla withdrew

their candidature. Hence, theremaining 15 candidates,including Bhartruhari Mahtabwere declared members of thecommittee for 2020-21.

Similarly, for election of 30-member of Lok SabhaCommittee on Estimates, 28members were declared as dulyelected to the panel for the termbeginning on May 1. A notifi-cation was issued for furtherelection to fill up the remain-ing two seats.

Later, nominations ofPinaki Misra and Ajay Bhattwere received and none of thecandidates withdrew candida-ture till last date. Both weredeclared as duly elected to theCommittee on Estimates.

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Lakhs of Odisha people stan-dard in different parts of

the country due to the ongo-ing COVID-19 lockdownwould remain in 14-day quar-antine on their return to vil-lages after May 3, the daywhen the lockdown wouldcome to an end.

The State Government hasmade this decision keeping inview the safety of the State's 4.5crore people as COVID-19 isa highly infectious disease.

Anyone, be it students,professionals, pilgrims, patientsor migrant workers, all have toundergo a 14-day quarantinewith financial incentives, saidChief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

On completion of thequarantine, Rs 2,000 would begiven as incentive to each

quarantined. The ChiefMinister said this exercisedemands a decentralisedapproach and every gram pan-chayat would have a registra-tion facility to facilitate thereturn of people. The CM alsosaid Odisha would hold talkswith the Central and otherState Governments to ensuresafe return of people standardin other places.

“One of the key factors incontrolling the spread (ofCOVID) in Odisha wasmandatory registration of allforeign returnees and placingthem in compulsory quaran-tine.” said the CM.

For mandatory registra-tion of the returnees and foreffective management ofCOVID-19, Sarpanchs havebeen given the powers of a dis-trict Collector, he added.

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The Novel Coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic

has badly hit the power sec-tor in the State and the situ-ation is precarious.

While revenue genera-tion is going down, workingcapital bank loans are onrise, leaving both Discomsand Gridco in dire straits.

With lockdown in force,revenue generation by theDiscoms has been hard hit.

While total revenue offour Discoms during 2019-20 was Rs 10,193 crore, rev-enue from industrial andcommercial consumers wasexpected at Rs 5982 crore.

Fixed charges from industryand commercial consumerswere pegged at Rs 868 crore.

So, both together werepegged at Rs 6,850 crore.Nearly 70 per cent revenue isexpected from industrial andcommercial establishments.

With lockdown in force,industrial and commercialestablishments are almostclosed down and power util-isation has gone down badly.

Over the years, Odishahas developed insta l ledcapacity 7,070 MW power,which includes thermalpower of 3,067 MW, hydropower of 2,085 MW, renew-able power of 637 MW andCentral sector power of1,281 MW.

Out of the insta l ledpower capacity, the poweravailable in the State hasgone up to 3,285 MW. Butthe power demand has gonedown to 2,405 MW, thanksto the corona crisis.

Industrial and commer-cial consumers were themajor user of power andtheir demand has gone downdrastically due to COVID-19lockdown. So Odisha has

880 surplus power, whichthe authorities are surren-dering to the Inter StateGeneration Stations (ISGS).

While revenue genera-tion has gone down, workingcapital loans on both Gridcoand Discoms are on rise.

As on March 31, 2020,the outstanding workingcapital loan on Gridco andDiscoms was at Rs 6,033crore. The Discoms are alsofacing problem in receivingthe dues from the StateGovernment and its variousorganisations.

Above all COVID-19 hascome as a major blow for theDiscoms and power utili-ties, which are providing24x7 power supply to con-sumers.

Take for example, theDiscoms are to receive Rs480 crore f rom theGovernment departments.An amount of Rs 1 370 croreis payable to various gener-ating companies like NTPC,OHPC, IPPs by Gridcowhich procures bulk powerfor the Discoms.

An amount of Rs 5,374crore of Gridco is outstand-

ing with various Discoms.Cesu, Nesco, Wesco andSouthco owe an amount ofRs 2, 158 crore, Rs 997 crore,Rs 1,217 crore and Rs 1,002crore respectively. Gridcoowes Rs 48 crore to PGCIL.

Different industry asso-ciations have been repre-senting to the Chief Ministerfor several concessions likewaiver/ remission/ defer-ment of minimum charges,fixed charges and electricityduties etc. If any of thedemands are met and if theGridco were to resort toborrowings from financialinstitutions like REC/ PFCand in view of the fallingrevenue collection, it may benecessary to consider Statesubsidy, because passing ofany additional burden byway of tariff will be object-ed by the consumers who arehard pressed otherwise. Eventhe borrowings will entailGovernment guarantee.

A judicious mix of mar-ket borrowing and State sub-sidy is required to tide overthe situation in the State,s tates a former ChiefSecretary.

��-��#��1�A 200-bed hospi-tal for treatment of COVID-19became operational inSambalpur on Wednesday,informed Health MinisterNaba Kisore Das. The COVIDHospital, which has come upat the District HeadquartersHospital (DHH), has 20 ICUs,10 HDUs and two dialysisunits. In the first phase, asmany as 94 doctors, para-medics and supporting staffswould be deployed at the hos-pital. Later, healthcare person-nel from the VIMSAR inBurla would be roped in forthe hospital, official sourcessaid. The Government wouldfacilitate accommodation forthe doctors and paramedics atvarious hotels and hostels inSamblapur, the sources added.

Following the inaugurationof the hospital, the HealthMinister reviewed healthcarefacilities in the district and briefedreporters on the Government’spreparedness to fight against thecoronavirus. PNS

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Three persons of a familycomprising two brothers

and child covered a distance of740 km on two bicycles afterthey failed to get any publictransport to reach their nativeBedari village under Patkurapolice limits from AP wherethey were working as migrantlabourers.

It took them three days toreach at their native villagefrom Rambilli underAnakapalle of Andhra Pradesh.The trio was identified asKishore Behera(50),his 23-year-old son Rakesh Beheraand his 40-year-old youngerbrother Ramesh Behera.

According to Kishore, theywere engaged in a project workof L&T company for setting upa Naval base at Ramabilli inAndhra Pradesh. The con-struction work was stopped atthe site due to the nationallockdown and the L&T com-pany did not provide them

wage for 21 days.They were forcedto remainstranded in theirrented house.

H o w e v e r ,when they hadexhausted theirsavings in buyinggrocery items,vegetables andessential needs,all hell brokeloose. As a result,they decided toreturn to theirnative village.

“We set outfor our village ontwo bicycles on April 15evening at about 4 pm by tak-ing a torch, drinking water ,biscuits and flattened rice. Wetook rests for some minutes onthe way. We faced policechecking in several places onthe way and finally we reachedon the wee hours of April 19at our village," narratedRamesh.

After reaching home, thetrio stayed in home quarantineand asked the family membersto keep social distancing fromthem for 14 days .

Acting o information aboutthe arrival of the trio, a healthteam ,including local ASHAand Anganwadi worker, led byDr Himanshu Bhushan Sarangiand Dr Bishnu Charan

Pradhan rushed to Bedari vil-lage on Sunday and advisedthem to keep social distancingfrom each other along withobeying the home quarantineprotocols.

A doctor of Patkura CHCalso contacted with the districthealth department to collectthe swab samples of the threereturnees for Coronavirus test.

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The Dalmia OCL has got duepermission from the State

Government to resume opera-tions at its plant at Rajgangpurin Sundargarh district.

The plant is in the processof resuming production whilestrictly adhering to the speci-fied norms on social distancing,hygiene, availability of food andhealth measures like availabil-ity of adequate masks and sani-tisers in its plant, informed anofficial release.

The refractory would runwith 900 workers in three dif-ferent shifts. The plant, whichhas an annual capacity of 106KMT, employs around 2700workers under normal cir-cumstances.

Special vehicles would beallowed to carry employees in30 to 40 per cent of capacity.

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Amid the COVID-19 pan-demic, there is good news

for wildlife lovers as a very rarespecies of bird has been spot-ted in a wetland for the firsttime in the State.

The western reef-heron,also called western reef egret,which is dark-coloured with awhite throat, was found by aguide, Madhu Behera, atMangalajodi situated at thenorthern edge of Chilika lake.

Behera spotted the wingedguest on Tuesday while he wasmonitoring the activities ofbirds in the lake.

Behera said he had seen theparticular bird species last yearin the same area but had paidno attention to it. Now, afterclicking a few photographs ofthe bird, he discussed with

some bird field guide person-nel, following which he wasconfirmed that the bird waswestern reef-heron.

Primarily a coastal inhab-itant, though the western reef-heron birds are found at someinland water bodies in south-ern Europe, Africa and parts ofAsia and India, it was neverfound in Odisha.

This bird species is foundin two plumage colour forms,all white morph and dark greymorph. The morphs can alsooccur with intermediate shadesof grey as per the age. Thewhite morph generally lookslike little egret. However, thebird spotted at Chilika has alarger and curved beak, Beherasaid.

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While the StateGovernment has decided

to set up Covid Hospitals in all30 districts, such facilities havealready been activated in 26districts as on Wednesday, thelatest two being inaugurated inSambalpur and Jharsuguda byHealth and Family WelfareMinister Naba Kishore Das.

Das said Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik is now in a

leading position in the fightagainst corona becoming a rolemodel for other States.

The Minister said thiswhile inaugurating the CovidHospitals at Jharsuguda having110 beds, 10 ICUs with venti-lators, seven HDU units and 93general beds and constructed ata cost of over Rs 10 crore spentfrom the District MineralFund. The Vedanta companyhas supplied equipments wortharound Rs 2 crore.

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Seven former police chiefsof Odisha appreciated the

work done by the State Policeto contain the spread ofCOVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik torecord their appreciation ofthe work done by the OdishaPolice, seven former DGPswrote, “The feedback fromacross the State and from var-ious sections of society isheartwarming. Never beforehave we seen such outpour-ing of trust and affection forthe police. You should indeedbe proud of your policeforce.”

The signatories to theletter include Sarat ChandraMisra, Amiya BhushanTripathy, Nimai CharanPadhi, Bipin Bihari Mishra,

Suchit Das, Gopala ChandraNanda and ManmohanPraharaj.

Praising the CM for his‘far-sighted’ leadership, ‘skill-ful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and ‘timelydecision’ the seven formerDGPs have complimentedthe State police for enforcingthe lockdown measures effec-tively ensuring smooth move-ment of emergency workersand essential goods withoutwhich the pain suffered bypeople would have multi-plied many times over.

“We have even found thatpolice teams have visited con-struction sites and bastis tomap population most vul-nerable to hunger and toensure that no one is left outfrom the food-safety ring-fence, all these going beyondtheir normal call of duty.That extra and proactiveefforts are one major reasonwhy Bhubaneswar has notwitnessed the heart-wrench-

ing images that have emergedfrom other parts of the coun-try of thousands of deprivedsouls revolting against thelockdown measures,” the let-ter read.

The former DGPs havemade a particular mention ofthe empathy and sensitivitywith which the situation isbeing managed by the policein Bhubaneswar-Cuttack.

They have suggested thatthe morale of the police forceneeds to be kept high sincefuture course of eventsremain unknown and thepolice force must be welllooked.

Besides writing to theCM, the association of retiredSenior IPS Officers also sentseparate letters to DGPAbhay and twin cityCommissioner SudhanshuSarangi appreciating theirleadership and asking themto communicate their appre-ciat ion to the force.

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Puja Agrawal ofBankipali vil-

lage under Rampurpolice limits ofSubarnapur district,stranded at Kotawhere she is takingcoaching for med-ical entrance, hasurged the OdishaGovernment tofacilitate her returnto her native village.

She requestedChief MinisterNaveen Patnaik tohelp her come backas survival hasbecome very diffi-cult for her withmost of her friends fromMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarhand some other States havingleft hostel to their respectivehome.

“Sir, please help me toreturn to my home. I am wor-ried about my family and theyare also concerned about me. Iam only a single girl in my

Floor and feeling my life indanger as I am a girl. Here no

security facilities are also avail-able,” informed sources.

Puja is taking medicalcoaching in the Allen CoachingCentre at Kota in Rajasthan.

Puja's father BhagirathiAgrawal also requested thedistrict Collector to take nec-essary steps for return of hisdaughter.

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Though the Governmenthad announced that

patients will not be restricted toreach hospitals in any case butthere are several allegationsalleging police personnel work-ing in the field blocking andharassing people in need ofmedical treatment from reach-ing hospitals.

Scribe Subrat Swain wasmanhandled by police while hewas taking his sick son to theDistrict Headquarters Hospitalfor treatment on Wednesdaymorning. “I was stopped on theway near the market and abusedin obscene language by twopolice staff. When I pleadedthem to allow my son who wassuffering from high fever to goto the DHH, they simply refusedand manhandled me,” Swaintold. About 40 mediapersonsgathered near the Gandhi stat-

ue at Town Hall to protestagainst the police action. Whenprominent mediapersons facethis kind of police action whatabout the fate of common manin the district, senior journalistDhiren Rout lamented.

Subsequently an FIR waslodged against the police offi-cials at the Town police stationand action from the SPKeonjhar was awaited.

In another incident a persontaking his sick girl child toKeonjhar hospital by motorcyclewas mercilessly beaten nearKhireitangiri recently. A bankemployee was also beaten bypolice on his way to office inKeonjhar inspite of holding pass-es. Many other such incidentshave come to light for whichmediapersons have requestedthe police and district adminis-tration to be sympathetic towardsgenuine patients and public mov-ing on emergency needs.

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Union MSME MinisterPratap Chandra Sarangi

has requested Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik that Odishalike other States should adopta country-wide uniform sched-ule for the examinations andpublication of their results inthe larger interest of students.

In a letter to Patnaik onApril 20, Sarangi wrote, “Auniform schedule may beadopted across the States inconsultation with the Ministryof Human ResourcesDevelopment (HRD) so that

the students of our State availthe same opportunities forstudy in the country as muchas the students of other States.”

He laid emphasis on themental stress that students,who have appeared in theannual examinations like HSC,Plus Two and Graduation, arecurrently going through due tothe COVID-19 outbreak andnationwide lockdown.

“This is the period duringwhich the results of HSC,Higher Secondary andGraduation examinations usu-ally come out. But due to theoutbreak of coronavirus andsubsequent nationwide lock-down, the examination sched-ules have been disrupted.Matriculation Examination inOdisha has been over, butpapers have not been evaluat-ed and similarly, other exami-

nations in our colleges, uni-versities have not begun as yet.All these have cascading impacton the state level and also AllIndia level entrance examina-tions for professional courses,”the Minister said.

He said that even the par-ents of the students are anxiousto know about the course ofaction being contemplated bythe Government regardingtheir unfinished examinationand evaluation which willdetermine their future.

Sarangi appealed toPatnaik to instruct the author-ities to clear the misgivingsabout the examinations or eval-uation schedule and come outwith the future course of actionas the online system is to beresorted to and social distanc-ing is to be followed for somemore time to come.s

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Aminor girl of Ganjam dis-trict, who had sustained

critical burn injuries followinga fire mishap in 2019, is set tobegin a new life as she is mak-ing a speedy recovery follow-ing a successful surgery at theSCB Medical College Hospitalhere.

Puja Sethi (14), a native ofBadakholi village under Askablock, was recently operatedupon by a team of surgeonsheaded by Dr Bibhuti BhushanNayak in the burn unit of theSurgery Department of thehospital.

As per information, the girlhad fallen prey to a fire mishapwhich had severely disfiguredher face. She was rushed to ahospital in Aska and then shift-ed to the MKCG MedicalCollege Hospital in Brahmapur.

But the doctors there

referred her to the SCB MedicalCollege Hospital in Cuttack.After undergoing treatmentfor around five months, whenshe did not show any improve-ment, her family took her backhome.

But when her conditiondeteriorated and she could nottake food, her desperate fami-ly members rushed the minorto the SCB Hospital again onFebruary 18, 2020.

Considering Puja’s delicatemedical condition, doctors didnot go for an immediatesurgery. She was kept underobservation and fed with afeeding tube till her conditionsimproved. Later, Puja under-went the surgery in which theskin of her chest was grafted inthe face.

Currently, the minor isshowing great improvementand can eat properly withoutany difficulty, said Dr Nayak.

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After three more people test-ed positive for coronavirus

in Basudevpur area in Bhadrakdistrict on Wednesday, itprompted the authorities todeclare nine villages under theblock as containment zone.

The nine villages declaredas containment zone includefour villages from zone-I ofBasudevpur block, two eachfrom zone II and III and onevillage from zone IV.

With this, movement ofpublic has been strictly restrict-ed in the zone. All shoppingestablishments would continueto remain shut while the sup-ply of essentials and medi-cines would be ensuredthrough various teams formedby the district administration,reads the order issued by thedistrict Collector.

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Against the backdrop of thedenial of burial to a doctor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Abattery of covid-19 war-riors has been deployed

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The hospital details of201 public sector enterprises,

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

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

containment zones and fieldsurveillance curative compo-nent.

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

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

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An employee working inthe Ministry of Civil

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Union HRD Ministry onWednesday unveiled the

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I believe that for those

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

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

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

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BJP president Jagat PrakashNadda on Wednesday wel-

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

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

years for those found guilty.BJP president said the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A CRPF spokesperson saidSharma being a nursing assis-

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

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

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

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

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

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The CRPF has dismissedConstable/Driver Inder Pal

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

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

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The Supreme Court onWednesday dismissed a

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hence, the apprehension

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

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

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

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

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

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

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With the countryobserving social

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved �22,

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

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

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

Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)Scheme.

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

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

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Number of persons testedpositive for coronavirus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Shri Amarnath Shrine Board(SASB) authorities on

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

istration for this years yatra.During the 38th board

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

was not even one Muslimamong the arrested accused.

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

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

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

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

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

forward to cooperation from allpeople,” Deshmukh said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three Covid patients weredischarged in the past 24 hours.

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

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

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

Incidentally, no new casessurfaced from Bengaluru afterthree days.

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

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

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

IANS

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Clashes broke out over inad-equate supply of relief

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

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

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

broke out.Back in Kolkata the

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

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

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

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

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The Jammu & KashmirGovernment on

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

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

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

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

Besides, 42340 persons

have completed their surveil-lance period.

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

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

Similarly, Jammu has 26positive cases of whom 21 are

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

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Hours before the institu-tional quarantine of DHFL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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In a major success, a joint teamof security forces eliminated

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

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

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

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

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

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With no let up in its con-tinued onslaught on

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

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

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

With ten new deaths, the

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

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

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

“There are 465 active con-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With nowhere to store theoil, the prices of Brent crude

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

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

(The writer is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer)

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

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

Varun DambalBengaluru

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

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

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

M Pradyu Kannur

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

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

Tushar AnandPatna

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But these findings are inareas where the water is most

polluted and stagnant.Devendra Swarup Bhargava,

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

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

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

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

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

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

(The writer is a military veteran and founder of

Atulya Ganga)

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One of the grimmest symbolsof the coronavirus outbreak

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

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

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

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

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

aren’t taking the outbreak seri-ously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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President Donald Trumpannounced what he

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

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

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

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

from abroad.”An administration official

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

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

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

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

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China on Wednesdayslammed a lawsuit brought

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ply with a UN Security Councilresolution.

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

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

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

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With North Korea sayingnothing so far about out-

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

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

Kim Il Sung. It’s North Korea’s most

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The fate of a $484 billionstimulus package was in the

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

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

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

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

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

death toll to 21,717.Spain has suffered the

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

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

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

Italy’s Government is look-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stocks around the world areclawing higher on

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Market benchmark Sensexjumped 743 points on

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Securities.BSE energy index rallied

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

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

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Facebook on Wednesdayannounced an investment of

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

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

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

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

crore pre-money enterprisevalue (USD 65.95 billion).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The deal would requirethe approval of the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It has been talking to Saudi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Covid-19 pandemic haswalloped inbound invest-

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

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

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

by around USD 500 million. “Deal-making might

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PTI

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

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

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

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

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

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The rupee on Wednesdayrecovered from record low

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

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

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The cast of the iconicAmerican sitcom Friends

launched a contest for fans toattend their reunion special,through which they will raisefunds to help people dealingwith food scarcity amid theCOVID-19 pandemic.

They have joined the “All InChallenge.” Actors JenniferAniston, Lisa Kudrow,Courteney Cox, DavidSchwimmer, Matt LeBlanc andMatthew Perry announced thecontest on their social mediaplatforms.

The stars are offering sixtickets to the taping of theirforthcoming HBO Max reunionspecial as well as a cup of cof-fee at ‘Central Perk’ as part ofthe Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

“Hey, it’s us! YourFRIENDS! And We Are All In.Some of you may have heardabout a reunion special that weare doing for HBO Max? Well,we want you and five of yourfriends to join the six of us onStage 24,” the six posted on theirrespective social mediaaccounts.

“Be our personal guests inthe audience for the tapingwhere you’ll get to see us alltogether again for the first time

in ages, as we reminisce aboutthe show and celebrate all of thefun we had. Also, sip a cup ofcoffee with us at Central Perk,and get the Friends VIP expe-rience on the Warner Bros.Studio Tour,” read the postfurther.

The reunion tickets andstudio tour auction are part ofthe challenge, which is unitingcelebrities, athletes and sportsleagues to raise funds.

In addition to the cast ofFriends, others participatingin the challenge are Madonna,Russell Wilson and Ciara, JustinBieber, Leonardo DiCaprio andRyan Reynolds. The fundsraised from the various auc-tions will go to several organi-sations working towards reliefwork.

The Friends reunion wasamong the productions thatwere forced to suspend workamid the near shutdown due tothe ongoing global crisis. Thespecial, featuring all six Friendsstars, was scheduled to berecorded in March. A new datefor the special has not yet beenannounced as it remainsunclear when it will be safe forthe productions to resume.

—IANS

DAG has announced its 10-day fundraising sale that

includes 51 masterpieces from itscollection and 100 per cent pro-ceeds from the sale will be donat-ed to one of the two charities: PMCARES fund and LtGovernor/Chief Minister ReliefFund, Delhi.

Taken together, the 51 mas-terpieces represent the gamut ofmodern and contemporaryIndian art. The artworks havebeen carefully selected and hand-picked for its quality. For a bet-ter understanding, an e-cata-logue has also been created. It hasaccompanying notes of each art-work and artist. This helps todescribe their unique value andaid us in understanding theartist’s work while situating itwithin a wider context.

The collection on saleincludes artwork from artistssuch as MF Hussain, MadhaviParekh, Jamini Roy, FN Souza,

Nemai Ghosh and more. Theprices of the artworks range from� 50,000 to ��5 lakh. The curat-ed selection includes only onework per artist, with works oncanvas, paper, board, in oil,acrylic, water colour and graphite,photography and sculpture.

Commenting on thefundraiser sale, Ashish Anand,CEO and MD, DAG said, “Wehave seen a great tide of appreci-ation for the nation’s warriorsleading the fight and we arehopeful that this fundraiser willaid them in this critical hour ofneed. To help make this fundrais-er a success, DAG has decided tosignificantly reduce the price ofthese artworks, making themadditionally viable for buyerswho will have the satisfaction ofseeing the proceeds from theirpurchase being diverted to helpthe poor and support the healthsector during these times. We atDAG have always believed in thehealing power of art and evenmore, in the power of giving.”

DAG has donated the entireproceeds of its fundraising salesor auctions to charity earlier too.In December 2018, it conducteda charity in Mumbai to supportthe work done by The Taj PublicWelfare Trust during which itraised �� 2.54 crore. Earlier, thesame year, it had supported theKerala Chief Minister’s ReliefFund by donating works for afundraiser at NGMA to mitigatethe ravages of flood in the state.

(The sale will be live till April30).

Four unapologetic flawed womenliving life on their own terms, deal-ing with misogyny and body sham-

ing, comfortable with their imperfectionswhile exploring their potential and rela-tionships. The vision or thought is certain-ly a powerful one.

Director Nupur Asthana’s recentseries Four More Shots Please 2 has fourunapologetic women who live, love anddiscover their lives, friendships and morein Mumbai. Each of the experiences ofDamini (Sayani Gupta), Anjana (KirtiKulhari), Siddhi (Maanvi Gagroo) andUmang (Bani J) gives an insight into a dif-ferent issue. There are several interlinkedthreads in their journey which unfold oneby one.

We all have seen or experiencedcasual misogyny at work, men thinkingthat they know better, opportunitiesbeing given to a man even if a woman ismore deserving or a joke being crackedabout the driving abilities or the financial

acumen of women. This is exploredthrough Anjana’s character. Another topicthat the show wanted to talk about was,how hard it is to speak in an environmentthat doesn’t want to hear your creativevoice. And that is Damini’s journey. Shewrites a book on a judge and no one wantsto publish it because it challenges the sys-tem. Nupur says that she wanted to putspotlight on this issue as we see so manyjournalists and writers who are constant-ly under threat because of their opinionsand writings.

Love, with all its complications isexplored through Umang. What does lovereally mean? How much can you give in?What is the power equation in a relation-ship? These are things that Umang goesthrough. She literally gives her everythingto a relationship which doesn’t workbecause she is unable to find a balance.The whole exploration of ‘how can you bein a relationship which is not equal’ isheart wrenching.

The search for self and body-sham-ing is another topic explored. For Siddhi,it was very important to find her ownvoice. The whole search for self before shecould call herself somebody’s girlfriend isthought provoking. In season 1, she wasbody-shamed initially but later found herway by accepting herself and movingahead in life. And what better way to doit than by talking about it at her ownstand-up, coming to terms with theissues and questioning the whole beautyindustry. These are four big threads thatthe show explores through different storygraphs.

The series starts in Istanbul giving theaudience a visual tour, much-needed inthese times when we can’t step out. Formost of us, the show is a treat to the eyesdue to its sartorial sensibilities and thetravel involved. But Nupur, who is excit-ed reading the reviews and is chained toher desk during quarantine, wanted it tobe so much more than that. “I wanted it

to be more real, relatable and authentic.I build Mumbai into the narrative so thatthe girls feel rooted. It has a lot ofnuances and layering which is deep andcut close to the bone. My aim was to gointo the emotional journeys of the girls,get into their minds and try to understandthem better as they try to understandthemselves,” says she.

The first season, directed by AnuMenon, was a hit. But Nupur didn’t feelpressurised as she had a clear vision forthis one. But she does have her own shareof challenges. She says, “Every show ischallenging. Filmmaking itself is challeng-ing because there are so many variablesattached to it. You don’t want to come tothe season 2 of a show that has alreadydone well and not do justice to it. Havingsaid that I didn’t feel any pressure. I workwith my instincts. I just went with theflow.”

The director wanted it to be morerealistic but it has missed the mark at some

points. For instance, Damini is barely sur-viving and reeling under the loss of herwebsite but her lavish lifestyle and homedon’t gel with the crisis in her life. Nupuragrees but makes a point. “In season 1, wehave seen that Damini comes from a well-settled family. Her father is an editor andpublisher. So that might be her family’shome. Even though she’s living on her sav-ings but her stylish outfits might be old.And if you are not paying rent, living inSouth Bombay is easy,” says she.

Though the situations in the secondseason are different from the first but itsomehow deals with the same ideas anddilemmas. Nupur says that during season1, the women’s relationship were not fullyexplored, so she wanted to delve more intothem. “These days relationships are socomplicated. When I read terms likehook-up, situationship, I find them insane.It is no longer about two people meeting,going out, having a relationship and get-ting married. There are so many levels ofintimacy,” says she. This is why the showlooks dramatic at some points. Forinstance, when things are on the verge ofgetting simpler and better, something goeswrong.

There is nothing black and white inthe show because the director feelsnobody wants to see such characters asthey are too predictable. She says: “Whenyou already know that s/he is good or bad,there’s no fun in exploring the character.You empathise and relate with grey char-acters. When you see things going wrong,your heart is in your mouth and you ques-tion ‘why is she doing it?’” We do thingsthat are not necessarily right for us or arein relationships with people who are notappropriate. We make those mistakes andfall. But how you get up and learn fromthose and strive to be better is important.These are the grey areas that the series triesto understand through the journey of thecharacters.

The show caters to the urban andmetropolitan crowd primarily. Does itexclude a mass audience for whom thedefinition of empowerment and feminismmight be totally different? “You will besurprised to know that the show has alarge audience in the Tier-II cities too.They might have different concerns butemotions are universal. You might be sit-ting in Mumbai with a beautiful closet anda lavish lifestyle but you can still feel aban-doned, rejected and might have bodyissues or trouble at work. You can still bea subject of misogyny. A girl from smalltown might not be going through simi-lar challenges but for her the guts to standup and tell her family that she wants topursue modeling can be difficult.Everyone faces various issues though ata different level. And that is what womenacross the board are connected with,” saysNupur.

The director’s first series was Hip HipHurray (1998). It dealt with the lives of12th grade students who experiencedadventures, fears, hopes and relationshipsas they enter adulthood. However, explor-ing the same genre and youth-orientedshow after 22 years wasn’t much differentfor Nupur because the world of young peo-ple and their minds have always excitedher. She says, “Though the world haschanged during this time as everything hasevolved for the better but feelings duringadulting remain the same. In your mid 20syou think you know it all but you are actu-ally a confused mess. On one hand, youare fearless but at the same time you areinsecure and under confident about whoyou are as a person and what do you wantin life?”

But the show certainly takes the jour-ney of these four particularly and women,in general, forward with the questions thatit asks.

(The series is streaming on AmazonPrime Video).

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

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

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

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

The state worked recklessly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The role of power utilities hasassumed greater significance as

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

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

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

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

Sundergarh at Odisha.Availability and access to prop-

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

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

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

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

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

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

As the world braces upwith Coronavirus pan-

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

learning methodology.From rolling out online

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

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

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

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

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

Appreciating the digital

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

Narendra Bhushan, CEO of GreaterNoida Authority, is taking utmost

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

India is under lockdown, just likemany other countries across the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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All divisions and workshops ofNorthern Railways are working

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

Apart from fabrication of cover-

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

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Mines of SAIL, Raw MaterialsDivision, has taken the battle

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

SAIL’s Mines at Kiriburu,Meghahatuburu, Gua and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

impact on the mood of thecountry.

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

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

��

The numbers are heavily infavour of Mahendra Singh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

English conditions wasthe toughest for Rahaneby his own admission.

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

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

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

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

� ��

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

��

The time spent away from cricketwhile serving a doping ban was

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pakistan Test opener ShanMasood on Wednesday

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

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

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

“Consistency is veryimportant. We need to accept

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

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

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

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

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

right direction and results willsoon start showing.

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

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

��

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

� �� %��%��

Former England all-rounderAndrew Flintoff believes the entire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

� �� )��

Star Bangladesh all-rounderShakib Al Hasan has decid-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

� ��

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

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

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

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

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

players,” said the 24-year-oldIndian.

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

to me.”Besides Sindhu, other

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

of Zheng SiWei and Huang

Ya Qiong,England’s Jack

Shephard, Germany'sValeska Knoblauch,

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

��(��1The Dutch football fed-eration (KNVB) announced onTuesday its intention to call an endto the season, subject to discussionswith UEFA, following the govern-ment’s decision to extend a ban onlarge gatherings until September dueto the coronavirus pandemic.

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

“The KNVB has not yet defin-itively cancelled competitions

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

Clubs and other stakeholders

will meet on Friday to discuss theconsequences of the decision.

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

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

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

AUS SERIES WILL BE DIFFERENT BALL GAME THIS TIME: ROHIT �� 4�"��3 ��@��" �� -�#�,��1 It’s “not ideal” but fastbowler Josh Hazlewood has sug-gested that the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy be held at onevenue — Adelaide Oval — asCricket Australia is exploringoptions to save next summer’s Testseries against India.

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

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

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

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

The T20 series will be played

ahead of the T20 World Cup,starting October.

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

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

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

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)1 ��*+��#+��?9��#��"�1�"��8�$� �� /�� 0#�� 4 +<��-#��,��1 Pakistan batsmanImam-ul-Haq feels cricketmatches, including the T20World Cup, should be playedin front of spectators as thecharm isn’t quite there if it isheld behind closed doors.

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

“But this will be decidedby ICC and we will respect

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

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

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