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F ree foodgrains to migrant workers, working capital loan to street vendors, and concessional credit to farmers are parts of the Government mega plan to mitigate the prob- lems of the people worst hit by the countrywide lockdown triggered by the coronavirus crisis. Also to benefit of migrant workers, the Government plans to allow inter-State portability of ration cards under public distribution system (PDS). Addressing a news confer- ence — her second in two days — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said 8 crore migrant workers will get 5 kilograms of grains and 1 kilo- gram of pulses free for two months. At the same time, 50 lakh street vendors, who have lost their means of survival by the lockdown, would get a working capital loan of 10,000 each to restart their activities. The Government will also provide 2 lakh crore of con- cessional credit to 2.5 crore farmers through Kisan Credit Cards. Also for post-harvest (Rabi) and current Kharif crop requirements in May and June, NABARD will provide 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital funding for farmers through rural cooper- ative banks and regional rural banks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the announcements made by his Government on Thursday to boost the econo- my will strengthen food secu- rity and credit to farmers as well as street vendors. “Today’s announcements by FM Nirmala Sitharaman will especially benefit our farmers and migrant workers,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter. “The announcements include a series of progressive measures and will boost food security, credit to farmers as well as street vendors,” he said. The FM also announced 70,000 crore boost to the housing sector through one- year extension of subsidised loan for affordable houses for the middle-income group with an annual income of 6 lakh to 18 lakh. Explaining the relief pack- age to the migrant workers, Sitharaman said the Central Government will bear 3,500 crore cost of giving free food grain and pulses while the State Governments will be responsible for implementa- tion, identification of migrants and full distribution. For small businesses, the Minister announced a 2 per cent interest subvention under MUDRA-Shishu loans of up to 50,000. This would cost the Government 1,500 crore. For street vendors, the working capital loan would cost 5,000 crore. She also announced 6,000 crore employment push, using Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds. Modi had on Tuesday announced a cumulative pack- age of 20 lakh crore (nearly 10 per cent of GDP) to provide relief to various segments of the economy. This included 1.7 lakh crore package comprising of free food grains and cash to poor for three months announced in March, and 5.6 lakh crore stimulus provided through various monetary pol- icy measures by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The remaining of the 20 lakh crore package is being announced in tranches. Sitharaman had in the first tranche on Wednesday unveiled a 5.94 lakh crore plan that mostly comprises of off- budget items such as 3 lakh crore of credit line to small businesses as support to shad- ow banks and electricity dis- tributors. Off-Budget items do not result in any outgo from the Government exchequer but these will aid in easing liquid- ity constraints for businesses once the lockdown is lifted. R etail prices of several gro- cery items, including puls- es, flour (aata), edible oils, mutton and dairy products, have increased across India during the lockdown period due to disruption of the supply chain. Pulses price have increased up to 50 per kg while prices of edible oils has witnessed 10- 15 per cent increase in the past two months. Even flour (aata) prices have seen an increase of nearly 20 per cent. Besides, there is a spike of 10-15 per cent in retail prices of dairy products, butter, cheese, ghee and milk powder across India. Similarly, mutton price has increased from 550 to 700 a kilogram. There is a huge difference between the retail price of 22 essential commodities put out by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and neighbourhood kirana stores. In the local kirana stores, average pulses price have increased up to 40-50 a kilo- gram. Arhar dal prices have increased from 90 in February to 135-150 a kilogram. As per the record of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the price of Arhar dal was 93 per kilogram in Delhi and neighbouring areas before lockdown, which has surged to 106 per kilo- gram as on May 14. Similarly, the prices of gam dal rose from 72 per kilogram to 86 per kilogram; masoor dal from 71 per kilogram to 81 per kilogram; moong dal from 90 to 115 per kilogram; mustard oil from 124 per kilogram to 145 and the prices of Soya oil rose from 111 per kilogram to 121 and ground nut oil from 140 to 178 a kilo- gram. Mutton, which was being sold at 500-550 a kilogram, is now being sold at 700-800 a kg in meat shops while the same is being sold at 1,100 a kilogram through online. Some variety of wheat flour which was available at 24 a kilogram before lockdown, is now being sold 33-35. According to the Ministry’s data, the average price of atta is 26 a kilogram. Continued on Page 2 M aharashtra saw another day of massive spike, reporting more than 1,600 cases during the day and 44 deaths, as the country contin- ued to reel under the onslaught of coronavirus with a total of nearly 82,000 cases and 2,649 deaths. The day saw addition of more than 3,932 fresh cases and 97 deaths. As India further eased lockdown allowing more busi- ness activities and States grap- pled with a huge flow of inter- States migrants and inter-coun- tries immigrants, the Covid-19 tally is now becoming alarming and is set to surpass China’s overall cases count which stands at 82,929. According to reports, at the rate of compounded daily growth in this eleven-day peri- od, the number of cases could rise to 1,00,000 by next Wednesday, three days after the current phase of the lockdown ends, posing a severe challenge for country’s strained and over- burdened health system. At least 8,470 people in Delhi have been infected, of which 115 died. The number of Covid-19 triggered deaths mounted to 49 in Mumbai’s hotspot Dharavi on Thursday, even as 33 more infected cases were recorded taking the total number of positive cases in Asia’s biggest slum to 1,061. While two more persons succumbed to Covid-19 on Thursday, the authorities added seven more deaths reported earlier to the total death tally in Dharavi. Continued on Page 2 I n a major setback, embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday lost his application seeking leave to appeal in the UK Supreme Court, setting a 28-day clock on extradition proceedings. It marks a big legal blow to Mallya, who last month lost his High Court appeal against an extradition order to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecov- ered loans to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The 64-year-old business- man had 14 days to file his plea to seek permission to move the SC on the High Court judg- ment from April 20, which dis- missed his appeal against a Westminster Magistrates’ Court extradition order certi- fied by the UK Home Secretary. The latest decision, referred to as a “pronouncement”, means that under the India-UK Extradition Treaty, the UK Home Office is now expected to formally certify the court order for Mallya to be extra- dited to India within 28 days. “The court having signified its intention to refuse to certi- fy a point of law of general pub- lic importance with a view to an appeal to the Supreme Court,” notes the pronounce- ment by Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. It sets the 28-day “required period’, as defined by Section 36 and Section 118 of the UK Extradition Act 2003, within which the extradition must be carried out. Continued on Page 2 F ourteen migrant labourers were killed and nearly 60 injured in two road accidents while they were on the way to their homes in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, police said on Thursday. In an early morning acci- dent in Guna in Madhya Pradesh, eight UP-bound migrant workers were killed and nearly 55 injured when the truck they were travelling in collided with a bus, the MP Police said. The second accident took place in UP’s Muzaffarnagar around 10.30 pm on Wednesday when six migrant workers walking to their homes in Bihar from Punjab were killed and four seriously injured after being hit by a roadways bus on the Delhi- Saharanpur Highway, officials said. Continued on Page 2 T he labour wing of the RSS —Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) — on Thursday called for a nationwide protest on May 22 against the dilution of labour welfare by three BJP- ruled States, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The BMS announcement comes on the heels of similar protests earlier announced by other Central trade unions affiliated to the Congress, Left parties and trade unions not affiliated to any political parties. The BMS condemned the total withdrawal of labour laws in UP, MP and Gujarat and criticised the move of increas- ing working hours from 8 to 12 by States like Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Goa and Odisha — ruled by non-BJP parties. Continued on Page 2 T rials of four traditional coronavirus drugs devel- oped by the AYUSH Ministry and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will begin within a week. Union Minister Shripad Y Naik on Thursday tweeted that the AYUSH Ministry and CSIR are working together on vali- dating four Ayush formulations against Covid-19. He said tri- als will start within one week. “The @moayush & the @CSIR_IND are working together on validating four Ayush formulations against #COVID19Pandemic and the trials will start within one week. These formulations will be tried as an add-on therapy and standard care for COVID- 19 patients. I am sure and quite hopeful that, our tradi- tional medicinal system will show the way to overcome this pandemic,” Naik tweeted. Continued on Page 2 W ith Covid-19 pandemic weakening the health systems and disrupts routine health-care services across the world, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that an additional 6,000 children might die daily from preventable causes in the next six months. The UNICEF has now requested US $1.6 billion to support its humanitarian response for children impact- ed by the pandemic. The health crisis is “quickly becoming a child rights crisis. And without urgent action, a further 6,000 under-fives could die each day,” it said. In India, the UNICEF said its plan to reach the most vul- nerable women and children currently has a funding gap of US $19.3million. Continued on Page 2 N ot only private firms, but even the Government departments are set to adopt “work from home” practice soon to ensure social dis- tancing norms till the coron- avirus pandemic is checked. A draft guideline in this regard has been circulated by the Department of Personnel Ministry to all Central Government Departments ask- ing them to send their com- ments by May 21. According to the draft, the Government may provide option for work from home to the eligible officers and staff for 15 days in a year as a matter of policy. Employees will be pro- vided with logistic support in the form of laptops or desktops by the respective Ministries or Departments and employees will be reimbursed for internet services that they would use while working from home. However, the draft makes it clear that papers marked “classified or secret” will not be processed while working from home for the time being till the National Informatics Centre (NIC) evaluates existing secu- rity protocol for remote access of classified files and informa- tion in consultation with Home Ministry and propose suitable guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for handling such material on e-office. The officials, working from home, have to be dressed prop- erly and maintain all norms of office environment while attending video-conference during and after the ongoing lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are 48.34 lakh Central Government employ- ees. Preparing for life amid Covid-19, the Ministry said the steps were being initiated because the virus necessitated many Ministries to operate from home to maintain social distancing. It is quite likely that for the near future, the central secretariat will continue to go for staggered attendance and variable working hours to maintain social distancing at workplace, the Ministry said. Continued on Page 2 T he Delhi University may opt for “Open Book” mode examinations for its final year postgraduate and undergradu- ate students from July 1 if the Covid-19 situation doesn’t nor- malise, the university said on Thursday. Under the “Open-Book” mode of examination, the stu- dent will be able to refer books, notes and other study materi- als to answer the questions. Students will sit in their homes and will download question papers for their respective course from the portal. They will upload the answers in a span of two hours. All examinations shall be conducted in three sessions in a day, including Sunday. Continued on Page 2 T he BSE Sensex plummeted 886 points on Thursday as concerns over the efficacy of the government’s stimulus package and grim global cues hammered investor confidence. After crashing over 955 points during the day, the 30- share index settled 885.72 points or 2.77 per cent lower at 31,122.89. Similarly, the broad- er NSE Nifty tanked 240.80 points, or 2.57 per cent, to close at 9,142.75. Market players were dis- appointed as the immediate spend out of the Government’s 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus package was seen to be rela- tively small, raising doubts about the revival of growth any time soon, experts said. Further, global markets tanked following the WHO’s comments that the novel coro- navirus “may never go away”. Tech Mahindra was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, cracking 5.24 per cent, followed by Infosys, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries and NTPC. On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp, L&T, Maruti, UltraTech Cement and Sun Pharma led the gainers’ chart, climbing up to 2.28 per cent. Detailed report on P9 New Delhi: A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday challenging the deci- sions of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to exempt industrial units from labour welfare statutes and allowing them to take steps such as increasing “daily and weekly working hours” and depriving workers of their right to move courts on the ground of Covid- 19 pandemic.

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Page 1: 0$$˛% , ./ ˛ .˚˙0%$() #ˇ ˘ 7 % (*ˆ8,3 * #*-#˛-3 ˆ !-3/ ˆ * …...2020/05/15  · affiliated to any political parties. The BMS condemned the total withdrawal of labour laws

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Free foodgrains to migrantworkers, working capital

loan to street vendors, andconcessional credit to farmersare parts of the Governmentmega plan to mitigate the prob-lems of the people worst hit bythe countrywide lockdowntriggered by the coronaviruscrisis.

Also to benefit of migrantworkers, the Government plansto allow inter-State portabilityof ration cards under publicdistribution system (PDS).

Addressing a news confer-ence — her second in two days— Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said 8 croremigrant workers will get 5kilograms of grains and 1 kilo-gram of pulses free for twomonths. At the same time, 50lakh street vendors, who havelost their means of survival bythe lockdown, would get aworking capital loan of �10,000each to restart their activities.

The Government will alsoprovide �2 lakh crore of con-cessional credit to 2.5 crorefarmers through Kisan CreditCards. Also for post-harvest(Rabi) and current Kharif croprequirements in May and June,NABARD will provide �30,000crore additional emergencyworking capital funding forfarmers through rural cooper-ative banks and regional ruralbanks.

Prime Minister NarendraModi said the announcementsmade by his Government on

Thursday to boost the econo-my will strengthen food secu-rity and credit to farmers aswell as street vendors.

“Today’s announcementsby FM Nirmala Sitharaman willespecially benefit our farmersand migrant workers,” thePrime Minister wrote onTwitter.

“The announcementsinclude a series of progressive

measures and will boost foodsecurity, credit to farmers aswell as street vendors,” he said.

The FM also announced�70,000 crore boost to thehousing sector through one-year extension of subsidisedloan for affordable houses forthe middle-income group withan annual income of �6 lakh to�18 lakh.

Explaining the relief pack-

age to the migrant workers,Sitharaman said the CentralGovernment will bear �3,500crore cost of giving free foodgrain and pulses while theState Governments will beresponsible for implementa-tion, identification of migrantsand full distribution.

For small businesses, theMinister announced a 2 percent interest subvention underMUDRA-Shishu loans of up to�50,000. This would cost theGovernment �1,500 crore. Forstreet vendors, the workingcapital loan would cost �5,000crore. She also announced�6,000 crore employment push,

using CompensatoryAfforestation Management andPlanning Authority (CAMPA)funds.

Modi had on Tuesdayannounced a cumulative pack-age of �20 lakh crore (nearly 10per cent of GDP) to providerelief to various segments of theeconomy. This included �1.7lakh crore package comprisingof free food grains and cash topoor for three monthsannounced in March, and �5.6lakh crore stimulus providedthrough various monetary pol-icy measures by the ReserveBank of India (RBI). The

remaining of the �20 lakhcrore package is beingannounced in tranches.

Sitharaman had in the firsttranche on Wednesdayunveiled a �5.94 lakh crore planthat mostly comprises of off-budget items such as �3 lakhcrore of credit line to smallbusinesses as support to shad-ow banks and electricity dis-tributors.

Off-Budget items do notresult in any outgo from theGovernment exchequer butthese will aid in easing liquid-ity constraints for businessesonce the lockdown is lifted.

��"���#������ 3,4� ,�!-

Retail prices of several gro-cery items, including puls-

es, flour (aata), edible oils,mutton and dairy products,have increased across Indiaduring the lockdown perioddue to disruption of the supplychain.

Pulses price have increasedup to �50 per kg while pricesof edible oils has witnessed 10-15 per cent increase in the pasttwo months. Even flour (aata)prices have seen an increase ofnearly 20 per cent.

Besides, there is a spike of10-15 per cent in retail pricesof dairy products, butter,cheese, ghee and milk powderacross India. Similarly, muttonprice has increased from �550to �700 a kilogram.

There is a huge differencebetween the retail price of 22essential commodities put outby the Ministry of ConsumerAffairs and neighbourhoodkirana stores.

In the local kirana stores,average pulses price haveincreased up to �40-50 a kilo-gram. Arhar dal prices haveincreased from �90 in Februaryto �135-150 a kilogram. As perthe record of Ministry ofConsumer Affairs, the price ofArhar dal was �93 per kilogramin Delhi and neighbouringareas before lockdown, whichhas surged to �106 per kilo-

gram as on May 14.Similarly, the prices of gam

dal rose from �72 per kilogramto �86 per kilogram; masoordal from �71 per kilogram to�81 per kilogram; moong dalfrom �90 to �115 per kilogram;mustard oil from �124 perkilogram to �145 and the pricesof Soya oil rose from �111 perkilogram to �121 and groundnut oil from �140 to 178 a kilo-gram.

Mutton, which was beingsold at �500-550 a kilogram, isnow being sold at �700-800 akg in meat shops while thesame is being sold at �1,100 akilogram through online. Somevariety of wheat flour whichwas available at �24 a kilogrambefore lockdown, is now beingsold �33-35. According to theMinistry’s data, the averageprice of atta is �26 a kilogram.

Continued on Page 2

����� 3,4� ,�!-

Maharashtra saw anotherday of massive spike,

reporting more than 1,600cases during the day and 44deaths, as the country contin-ued to reel under the onslaughtof coronavirus with a total ofnearly 82,000 cases and 2,649deaths. The day saw addition ofmore than 3,932 fresh cases and97 deaths.

As India further easedlockdown allowing more busi-ness activities and States grap-pled with a huge flow of inter-States migrants and inter-coun-tries immigrants, the Covid-19tally is now becoming alarmingand is set to surpass China’s

overall cases count whichstands at 82,929.

According to reports, at therate of compounded dailygrowth in this eleven-day peri-od, the number of cases couldrise to 1,00,000 by nextWednesday, three days after thecurrent phase of the lockdownends, posing a severe challengefor country’s strained and over-burdened health system.

At least 8,470 people inDelhi have been infected, ofwhich 115 died.

The number of Covid-19triggered deaths mounted to 49in Mumbai’s hotspot Dharavion Thursday, even as 33 moreinfected cases were recordedtaking the total number ofpositive cases in Asia’s biggestslum to 1,061.

While two more personssuccumbed to Covid-19 onThursday, the authorities addedseven more deaths reportedearlier to the total death tally inDharavi.

Continued on Page 2

� ��� ��3 �3

In a major setback, embattledliquor baron Vijay Mallya on

Thursday lost his applicationseeking leave to appeal in theUK Supreme Court, setting a28-day clock on extraditionproceedings.

It marks a big legal blow toMallya, who last month lost hisHigh Court appeal against anextradition order to India oncharges of fraud and moneylaundering related to unrecov-ered loans to his now-defunctKingfisher Airlines.

The 64-year-old business-man had 14 days to file his pleato seek permission to move theSC on the High Court judg-ment from April 20, which dis-missed his appeal against aWestminster Magistrates’Court extradition order certi-fied by the UK Home Secretary.

The latest decision, referredto as a “pronouncement”,means that under the India-UKExtradition Treaty, the UKHome Office is now expectedto formally certify the courtorder for Mallya to be extra-dited to India within 28 days.

“The court having signifiedits intention to refuse to certi-fy a point of law of general pub-lic importance with a view toan appeal to the SupremeCourt,” notes the pronounce-ment by Lord Justice StephenIrwin and Justice ElisabethLaing, the two-member benchat the Royal Courts of Justicein London.

It sets the 28-day “requiredperiod’, as defined by Section 36and Section 118 of the UKExtradition Act 2003, withinwhich the extradition must becarried out.

Continued on Page 2

� ��� $�3"5��6"77"*3"$"*5��83�4

Fourteen migrant labourerswere killed and nearly 60

injured in two road accidentswhile they were on the way totheir homes in Uttar Pradeshand Bihar, police said onThursday.

In an early morning acci-dent in Guna in MadhyaPradesh, eight UP-boundmigrant workers were killed and nearly 55 injured when the

truck they were travelling incollided with a bus, the MPPolice said.

The second accident tookplace in UP’s Muzaffarnagararound 10.30 pm onWednesday when six migrantworkers walking to their homesin Bihar from Punjab werekilled and four seriouslyinjured after being hit by aroadways bus on the Delhi-Saharanpur Highway, officialssaid.

Continued on Page 2

����� 3,4� ,�!-

The labour wing of the RSS—Bharatiya Mazdoor

Sangh (BMS) — on Thursdaycalled for a nationwide proteston May 22 against the dilutionof labour welfare by three BJP-ruled States, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

The BMS announcementcomes on the heels of similarprotests earlier announced byother Central trade unionsaffiliated to the Congress, Leftparties and trade unions notaffiliated to any political parties.

The BMS condemned thetotal withdrawal of labour lawsin UP, MP and Gujarat andcriticised the move of increas-ing working hours from 8 to 12by States like Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Goa and Odisha

— ruled by non-BJP parties.Continued on Page 2

����� 3,4� ,�!-

Trials of four traditionalcoronavirus drugs devel-

oped by the AYUSH Ministryand the Council of Scientificand Industrial Research (CSIR)will begin within a week.

Union Minister Shripad YNaik on Thursday tweeted thatthe AYUSH Ministry and CSIRare working together on vali-dating four Ayush formulationsagainst Covid-19. He said tri-als will start within one week.

“The @moayush & the@CSIR_IND are workingtogether on validating fourAyush formulations against#COVID19Pandemic and thetrials will start within oneweek. These formulations willbe tried as an add-on therapyand standard care for COVID-19 patients. I am sure andquite hopeful that, our tradi-tional medicinal system willshow the way to overcomethis pandemic,” Naik tweeted.

Continued on Page 2

����� 3,4� ,�!-

With Covid-19 pandemicweakening the health

systems and disrupts routinehealth-care services across theworld, the UN Children’s Fund(UNICEF) has said that anadditional 6,000 children mightdie daily from preventablecauses in the next six months.

The UNICEF has nowrequested US $1.6 billion tosupport its humanitarianresponse for children impact-ed by the pandemic. The healthcrisis is “quickly becoming achild rights crisis. And withouturgent action, a further 6,000under-fives could die each day,”it said.

In India, the UNICEF saidits plan to reach the most vul-nerable women and childrencurrently has a funding gap ofUS $19.3million.

Continued on Page 2

����� 3,4� ,�!-

Not only private firms, buteven the Government

departments are set to adopt“work from home” practicesoon to ensure social dis-tancing norms till the coron-avirus pandemic is checked.

A draft guideline in thisregard has been circulated bythe Department of PersonnelMinistry to all CentralGovernment Departments ask-ing them to send their com-ments by May 21.

According to the draft, theGovernment may provideoption for work from home tothe eligible officers and staff for15 days in a year as a matter ofpolicy. Employees will be pro-vided with logistic support inthe form of laptops or desktopsby the respective Ministries orDepartments and employeeswill be reimbursed for internetservices that they would usewhile working from home.

However, the draft makesit clear that papers marked“classified or secret” will not be

processed while working fromhome for the time being till theNational Informatics Centre(NIC) evaluates existing secu-rity protocol for remote accessof classified files and informa-tion in consultation with HomeMinistry and propose suitableguidelines and StandardOperating Procedures (SOP)for handling such material one-office.

The officials, working fromhome, have to be dressed prop-erly and maintain all norms ofoffice environment whileattending video-conferenceduring and after the ongoing

lockdown due to the Covid-19pandemic.

There are 48.34 lakhCentral Government employ-ees. Preparing for life amidCovid-19, the Ministry said thesteps were being initiatedbecause the virus necessitatedmany Ministries to operatefrom home to maintain socialdistancing. It is quite likely thatfor the near future, the centralsecretariat will continue to gofor staggered attendance andvariable working hours tomaintain social distancing atworkplace, the Ministry said.

Continued on Page 2

� �������� ��� 3,4� ,�!-

The Delhi University mayopt for “Open Book” mode

examinations for its final yearpostgraduate and undergradu-ate students from July 1 if theCovid-19 situation doesn’t nor-malise, the university said onThursday.

Under the “Open-Book”mode of examination, the stu-dent will be able to refer books,notes and other study materi-als to answer the questions.Students will sit in their homesand will download questionpapers for their respectivecourse from the portal. Theywill upload the answers in aspan of two hours.

All examinations shall beconducted in three sessions ina day, including Sunday.

Continued on Page 2

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The BSE Sensex plummeted886 points on Thursday as

concerns over the efficacy ofthe government’s stimuluspackage and grim global cueshammered investor confidence.

After crashing over 955points during the day, the 30-share index settled 885.72points or 2.77 per cent lower at31,122.89. Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty tanked 240.80points, or 2.57 per cent, to closeat 9,142.75.

Market players were dis-appointed as the immediatespend out of the Government’s�20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus

package was seen to be rela-tively small, raising doubtsabout the revival of growth anytime soon, experts said.

Further, global marketstanked following the WHO’scomments that the novel coro-navirus “may never go away”.

Tech Mahindra was thetop laggard in the Sensex pack,cracking 5.24 per cent, followedby Infosys, HDFC, IndusIndBank, Reliance Industries andNTPC.

On the other hand, HeroMotoCorp, L&T, Maruti,UltraTech Cement and SunPharma led the gainers’ chart,climbing up to 2.28 per cent.

Detailed report on P9

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New Delhi: A PIL was filed inthe Supreme Court onThursday challenging the deci-sions of Gujarat, Uttar Pradeshand Madhya Pradesh to exemptindustrial units from labourwelfare statutes and allowingthem to take steps such asincreasing “daily and weeklyworking hours” and deprivingworkers of their right to movecourts on the ground of Covid-19 pandemic.

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From Page 1The Ministry’s announcement came

two days after Prime Minister NarendraModi urged the people of India to be“vocal for local”, implying more supportfor India’s indigenous businesses.

CSIR Director-General ShekharMande and Ayurveda and AYUSH sec-retary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha had said onWednesday that the result will comewithin three months.

Earlier it was reported that the inter-disciplinary Ayush R&D Task Force hasformulated and designed clinical researchprotocols for prophylactic studies andadd-on interventions in Covid-19 posi-

tive cases thorough review and consul-tative process of experts of high reputefrom different organisations across thecountry for studying four different inter-ventions viz. Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu(Mulethi), Guduchi +Pippali (Giloy)and a poly herbal formulation.

While the CSIR is one of the world’slargest publicly funded scientific andindustrial research organisations, theMinistry of AYUSH stands for ayurve-da, yoga, unani, siddha and homeopathy,India’s traditional forms of medicine.

Meanwhile, the US Food and DrugAdministration has given its nod toGilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir inMay for emergency use on COVID-19patients.

From Page 1“Many of the Ministries

and departments inGovernment have successfullymanaged and rendered exem-plary results in fight against theongoing pandemic outbreakduring the lockdown period byleveraging e-office and videoconferencing facilities of NIC.This was the first of its kind ofexperience in Government ofIndia,” it said.

The draft has given broadSOPs that will ensure smoothand seamless functioning of theGovernment for continuity ofthe office works besidesimparting resilience in theecosystem even in post-lock-down situation.

From Page 1“It is learnt that many

other States are readying to fol-low the trend. This is unheardin history and is rare even inmost undemocratic countries,”the BMS said in a statement.

The Sangh said its Stateunits have written to StateChief Ministers but onlyMadhya Pradesh CM ShivrajSingh Chouhan has shown thecourtesy to meet its delegation.The Mazdoor Sangh said thatmigrant worker’s issues haveaggravated mainly becausethere is gross violation ofMigrant Labour Act by most ofthe States.

“Hence we are pushed to

the wall and there is no otherway out except going for agi-tation. Hence the BMS decid-ed nationwide agitation in sol-idarity with the fight against theanti-worker Ordinances in UP,MP, Gujarat as well as increaseof working hours in Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Goa and Odisha,”BMS general secretary VirjeshUpadhyay said.

This comes just days afterUP, MP and Gujarat - all BJP-ruled States - exempted achunk of labour laws for firmswilling to invest in these States.The move was taken to createjobs for those leaving big citiesin the wake of Covid-19 pan-demic. Corporate and Industry,according to observers, wantsGovernments to ‘simplify’labour laws if they want glob-al firms to come and invest.

From Page 1With a dramatic increase in

the costs of supplies, shipmentand care, the agency appeal is upfrom a USD 651.6 millionrequest made in late March -reflecting the devastating socioe-conomic consequences of thedisease and families’ risingneeds.

“Schools are closed, parentsare out of work and families areunder strain,” UNICEFExecutive Director HenriettaFore said, adding, “As wereimagine what a post-Covidworld would look like, thesefunds will help us respond to thecrisis, recover from its aftermath,and protect children from itsknock-on effects.”

The estimate of the 6,000additional deaths from pre-ventable causes over the next sixmonths is based on an analysisby researchers from the JohnsHopkins Bloomberg School ofPublic Health, published onWednesday in the Lancet GlobalHealth Journal. UNICEF said itwas based on the worst of threescenarios analysing 118 low andmiddle-income countries, esti-mating that an additional 1.2million deaths could occur injust the next six months, due toreductions in routine healthcoverage, and an increase in so-called child wasting.

From Page 1The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

said Mallya’s appeal to certify a point of law wasrejected on all three counts – of hearing oral sub-missions, grant a certificate on the questions asdrafted, and grant permission to appeal to theSupreme Court. The government of Indiaresponse to the appeal application had been sub-mitted earlier this week.

Earlier on Thursday, Mallya took to Twitterto reiterate his plea for the Indian governmentto take the money owed to the Indian PSU banks.

“Please take my money unconditionally andclose,” he said. The leave to appeal to the SupremeCourt is on a point of law of general public impor-tance, which according to experts is a very highthreshold that is not often met.

As a further step, in principle, Mallya can alsoapply to the European Court of Human Rights(ECHR) to prevent his extradition on the basisthat he will not receive a fair trial and that he willbe detained in conditions that breach Article 3of the European Convention on Human Rights,to which the UK is a signatory.

The extradition process would be held upif such an application is made to the ECHR anduntil it is decided. However, the threshold foran ECHR appeal is also extremely high, withvery limited chance of success in Mallya’s casebecause he would also have to demonstrate thathis arguments on those grounds before the UKcourts have been previously rejected.

From Page 1A detailed date sheet is

likely to be notified by the endof this month.

“In case the situation doesnot appear to be normal inview of Covid-19 and to main-tain social distancing, safetyand health of the students, theuniversity will adopt alternativemode of examinations i.E.Open Book Examinations(OBE) for finalsemester/term/year UG andPG students of all programmesand streams along with arrears(ER) of previoussemesters/term/year,” the noti-fication said.

From Page 1The Guna accident took place

around 3 am Thursday when the truckcarrying nearly 65 migrant labourersfrom Maharashtra to Uttar Pradeshcollided with a bus, which only had adriver, coming from the wrong side onthe Guna bypass road, Superintendentof Police Tarun Nayak said.

The injured were undergoing treat-ment at the Guna district hospital, hesaid, adding that none of them sustainedany serious injury. Prima facie, it seemsthe carelessness of the bus driver causedthe accident, Nayak said, adding a case

has been registered against the bus dri-ver and further investigation is under-way. The deceased were residents ofUnnao and Raebareli districts of UttarPradesh, according to police, who alsosaid the truck carrying the migrantlabourers was going to Unnao.

Guna Collector S Vishwanathansaid the district administration is mak-ing arrangements to send the injuredlabourers home safely after they recov-er. Madhya Pradesh Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan condoled thedeath of the migrant labourers and saidhe has directed officials concerned toensure proper treatment of the injuredpersons.

From Page 1In Mumbai, prices of puls-

es have witnessed an increaseof �10-20 per kilogram duringthe lockdown. For instance,arhar dal is being sold at �115per kilogram, an increase of�96 per kilogram sinceFebruary 15. In Chandigarh, itis selling for �95 per kilogram,up from �76 a kilogram on 20March. The retail price of uraddal in Gurugram jumped by�30 a kilogram due to panicbuying, short supply due tobottlenecks in transportationand hoarding by the unscrupu-lous traders.

From Page 1“The seven deaths which we have added to

the tally today are the ones of persons who haddied earlier on different dates, but the infor-mation about their deaths conveyed to wardoffice concerned subsequently. With the twofresh deaths and seven deaths added to deathtally today, the total number of deaths in Dharavihas mounted to 49," a senior officer of theBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)said.

A maximum five infected cases werereported from Kumbharwada. Matunga LabourCamp, from where a maximum number of coro-navirus cases have been reported in recent weeks,reported four positive cases on Thursday. Twopositive cases each were reported from ChamdaBazar and Jeevanjyot Rahiwasi Sangh area.

Maharashtra is followed by Tamil Nadu with9,624 cases (447 new cases) and Gujarat (324new cases) with 9,592 cases and 586 deaths.Tamil Nadu, in comparison, has reported lessfatalities at 66. Maharashtra has also reportedthe highest number of deaths at 1,602.

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Students of classes 9 and 11,who failed in the exams this

year, will get a one-time oppor-tunity to appear in school-based tests and improve theirperformance in view of theCovid-19 situation, the CBSEhas announced. The boardhad last month announcedpromoting all students up toclass 8, irrespective of theirperformance in the exams.

"In view of requests fromparents and students, as a one-time measure in an extraordi-nary situation, the CBSE hasdecided that all failed studentsof classes 9 and 11 will be givenan opportunity to appear in aschool-based test again. Theopportunity will be extended tostudents irrespective of whethertheir exams have been com-pleted and results announced orhave not been completed. Thefacility will be extended irre-spective of the number of sub-

jects and attempts," CBSE ExamController Sanyam Bhardwajsaid. The board has clarifiedthat the one-time opportunityis being extended only in thecurrent year in view of theunprecedented conditions ofCOVID-19 and the benefit willnot be extended in the future."Schools, by providing remedi-ation to such students, canconduct online, offline or inno-vative tests and may decide onpromotion on the basis of thetest. The test can be taken in allsubjects in which the studentshave failed. Before holding thetest, the schools will give suffi-cient time to the students toprepare," Bhardwaj said.

The board reiterated thatthis exemption is to be extend-ed to all students, even if theywere given the opportunityprior to the notification. "Thisis an unprecedented situation.Children are confined at home.Their schools are closed. Theyare experiencing mental stress

and anxiety. Parents are wor-ried about salaries and thehealth of the family. In this dif-ficult time, children who havenot been able to clear schoolexaminations will be evenmore upset.

"In such a difficult time, allof us will have to make jointefforts to relieve students fromstress and help them mitigatetheir anxiety," Bhardwaj said.

HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank alsoaddressed a live webinar ded-icated for teachers and educa-tors from across the country.Pokhriyal expressed his grati-tude towards the teachers’ com-munity, who had risen to theoccasion and taken up thechallenging task of impartingeducation to the students evenduring times of such crisis. Healso added that millions ofstudents are benefiting fromthe online classes that are beingheld by the teachers during theCovid-19 lockdown.

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Maharashtra continued tobe country’s Achilles' heel

in its fight against coronavirusas 44 more persons died ofCovid-19 and a record 1,602people tested positive for thepandemic in various parts ofthe State on Thursday.

The total Covid-19 deathtoll in Maharashtra crossed1000-mark as the fatality tallyrose to 1019 on Thursday.

The 1602 infected casesreported on Thursday, is thehighest-ever day’s infectiontally in the state. With the lat-est positive cases, the totalnumber of infected cases hasgone to 27,524. “Of the totalinfected cases, the active casesaccount for 20441,” a statehealth bulletin said.

Of the 44 deaths reported

on Thursday, Mumbaiaccounted for 25 deaths, whilethere were ten deaths in NaviMumbai, five in Pune, two inAurangabad and one eachPanvel and Kalyan-Dombivli.Ten deaths reported from NaviMumbai on Thursday werefrom the period between April14 and May 14.

Of those dead, 31 weremen while 13 were women.“Twenty one of them agedover 60 years, 20 were from theage group 40 to 59 years and 3were aged below 40 years.Thirty four out of 44 patients(77%) had high-risk co-mor-bidities such as diabetes, hyper-tension, heart disease,” thehealth bulletin said.

With the fresh fatalities andinfections, the total number ofdeaths in Mumbai rose to 621and infected cases to 16,738.

New Delhi: The HaryanaGovernment on Thursday gavean undertaking in the DelhiHigh Court that movement ofpeople engaged in essential ser-vices, including Governmentand private doctors, nurses, offi-cials of police, courts and munic-ipal bodies, will be allowedbetween Delhi and Haryana onproduction of e-passes duringthe Covid-19 lockdown.

The Haryana Governmentalso assured the high court thatmovement of trucks carryingessential and non-essentialgoods between Delhi andHaryana as well as transitingthrough the neighbouring stateshall be allowed.

A bench of JusticesManmohan and SanjeevNarula, which conducted thehigh hearing through video

conferencing, noted that inview of the undertaking givenby the counsel for the Haryanagovernment, the petitionerdoes not wish to press thePublic Interest litigation (PIL)and the court disposed of thepetition.

The court was hearing aPIL by petitioner O P Gupta,through advocate Nitin Garg,seeking direction to the Centreto take action against theHaryana government for adopt-ing a restrictive policy and notallowing the movement of peo-ple involved in essential serviceslike doctors, nurses, para-medics, sanitation workers, staffof Delhi Police, Delhi TransportCorporation, Delhi Jal Board,Municipal Corporations andcourts between Delhi andHaryana. PTI

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Amid the nationwide lock-down, the Indian Railways

on Thursday said that it has fer-ried more than 10 lakh strand-ed people since May 1 to 14 inover 800 Shramik Special trains.

As on 14th May, a total of800 “Shramik Special” trainshave been operationalised fromvarious states across the coun-try and more than 10 lakh pas-sengers have reached theirhome State, the Ministry saidin a statement.

“These 800 trains were ter-minated in various states likeAndhra Pradesh, Bihar,Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh,

Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand,Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Manipur,Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura,Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhandand West Bengal,” it said.

Proper screening of pas-sengers is ensured before board-ing the train, it said, adding thatduring the journey, passengersare given free meals and water.Indian Railways had decided tooperate “Shramik Special” trainssubsequent to the Ministry ofHome Affairs order regardingmovement of migrant workers,pilgrims, tourists, students andother persons stranded at dif-ferent places by special trains.

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Indian Railways will startissuing limited waiting list

tickets for different classes forspecial trains introduced fromMay 12. The Ministry saidthat as many as 20 waiting listswill be allowed for 1st AC andexecutive class, 50 for 2nd AC,100 for 3rd AC and chair careach and 100 in sleeper coach.

The Ministry said that ithas decided that there shall beno RAC (Reservation againstcancellation) in special trainsrestored on May 5. Also, it hasbeen decided that waiting listtickets shall be issued subject tomaximum limits.

“The refund rules i.e. can-cellation up to 24 hours withrefund of 50 per cent of fareand NIL refund within 24hours of train departure shallbe discontinued and extantrefund rules i.e Railways can-cellation and refund rule 2015shall be made applicable,” it saidin a statement.

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The Delhi Jal Board (DJB)has started constructing

four ‘underground reservoirs’(UGR) and Booster PumpingStations (BPS) which willimprove water supply to theresidents of West Kamal Vihar,Bijwasan, Mahipalpur,Rangpuri, Mundka, KarawalNagar, Mustafabad, parts ofVikaspuri and Nangloi Jat con-stituency.

With 39.18 MGD supplycapacity, theses UGR-BPS andexpected to be completed bythe end of September, a seniorDJB official said.

A 26.80 Million Litres(ML) capacity UGR will beconstructed at Sonia Vihar,

29.50 ML capacity UGR atMundka, a 3.0 ML capacityUGR at Mahipalpur and anoth-er UGR at West Kamal Viharwill be constructed with eachreservoir will also have a boost-er pumping station, he said.

DJB Chairman RaghavChaddha said that intensivepatrolling and repairs of leak-

ages in the transmission andperipheral water mains areplanned and will be executedbefore onset of summers.

“This will minimise shut-ting down of the system fromthe water treatment plantsduring summer. Old waterpipe lines have been replacedto reduce physical losses andcontamination of water.Preventive maintenance worksand rational distribution ofwater would result inimproved supply of water inareas during the upcomingsummer season,” he said.

Moving ahead with itscommitment of constantendeavor to develop plannedwater supply to meet the grow-ing demands of Delhi,Chaddha said that with com-

missioning of these projectslakh of residents of these con-stituency will be benefitted.

"As an immediate mea-sure to meet water demand andto cover more areas, DJB isleaving no stone unturned inproviding succour to people.As per its mandate, DJB isbringing more areas into itswater network and has set toachieve targeted 925 MGD(millions of gallons per day) ofpotable water production.

Every year water demandin the city reaches to its peakduring the summers. To caterthe need of consumers duringthe summer, the DJB has tar-geted water production ofabout 925 MGD in its summeraction plan by optimising all itsresources.

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Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and MLA

Virender Singh Kadian tookoath as members of the NewDelhi Municipal Council(NDMC) on Thursday.

According to NDMC Act1994, MLAs from New Delhiand Delhi Cantonment con-stituencies automaticallybecome members of theNDMC once the Union HomeMinistry notifies the NDMC ofthe appointment, the membersare officially sworn in. Kejriwaland Kadian took oath in a spe-cial council meeting held atconference hall of NDMCConvention Centre onThursday.

“In the exercise of thepower conferred by the certainprovisions of the NDMC Act,Ministry of Home Affairs,issued a notification for nom-ination of two elected membersin NDMC. As per act everynew member before taking hisseat, is required to make andsubscribe at a meeting of theCouncil an oath of affirmationin the prescribed format,” asenior MDMC official said.

The official said that theNDMC act was amended inJanuary, 2012. “In accordancewith the NDMC (Amendment)Act, 2011, a thirteen memberCouncil headed by aChairperson governs the coun-cil,” he said.

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The Police Families WelfareSociety (PFWS) immunity

drink distribution programmeconcluded on Thursday at SaraiRohilla Police Colony in thenational Capital. The PFWS hasstarted immunity drink distri-bution on May 4.

PFWS, President, PratimaShrivastava, along with MamtaGupta, Sapna Kumar andMonika Bhardwaj, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), North district, werepresent during the occasion.

"Nearly 9,000 members ofpolice families had the oppor-tunity to take the drink andlearnt its recipe. TV MadanKumar, the President of Legal

Rights Council and Secretary,Raj Lakmi Mandal and werehanded over appreciation let-ters on behalf of PratimaShrivastava alongwith a giftcontaining masks and sanitis-er being made by PFWS alongwith the memento mug andkoshis-ek-asha magazine," saida PFWS official.

"In an escalation to itscommitment the PFWS, inassociation with Legal Rights

Council-India is focusing uponhealth awareness apart fromother issues and it has under-taken a systematic distributionof Ayurvedic immunity drink,i.e. Kadha (decoction) alsoknown as “Kashyam” to Policefamilies of Delhi PolicePersonnel residing in PoliceColonies," said the official.

"The programme waslaunched on May 04 at WelfareCentre in Jagat Puri PoliceColony. A huge quantity ofdecoction that is nearly 80litres was prepared on each dayfrom raw materials containing400 grams of cinnamon, 1.5 kgof black pepper, 1.75 kg Ginger,6.5 kg jaggery, and 1 kg lemon,apart from Tulsi leaves," PFWSofficial said.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday said

that his appeal to the people forlockdown relaxations in Delhipost May 17 has received anoverwhelming response.

More than 5 lakh respons-es have been received throughWhatsApp, e-mails, and calls injust 24 hours. “I want to quotesome of them here to put for-ward the views of the people onwhether schools, colleges, andother educational institutionsshould open. Maximum peoplehave suggested that educa-tional institutions shall remainclosed until after the summerbreak,” said Kejriwal.

He also said that respons-es were received on various sec-tions, such as transport, indus-tries, businesses, etc.

All the suggestions givenby the people of Delhi dis-cussed in the meeting with theDisaster ManagementAuthority (DMA ) andLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal.

Interacting digitally withmedia, Kejriwal said, “Twodays back, I had asked forsuggestions from the people onthe lockdown relaxations inDelhi post May 17. I had askedwhether the lockdown shouldbe extended or lifted, and theextent to which the relaxationscan be given.

On Monday, PrimeMinister Narender Modi hadheld a meeting with the ChiefMinisters of all the states andhad asked all the CMs to sendsuggestions to the PMO beforeMay 15 on the level of lock-down relaxations in their states.We are going to send our sug-

gestions today." "Based on the suggestions

received by all the states, theCentral government will decideon the lockdown relaxations atvarious locations. But, sugges-tions on such an importantdecision cannot be draftedinside an air-conditioned office.People from all walks of lifeincluding citizens, doctors, andexperts must be included.Hence, I decided to appeal tothe people to send in their sug-gestions for the same in thenext 24 hours, which was till 5PM yesterday. In only 24 hours,we received more than 5 lakhresponses, including around4,75,000 messages onWhatsApp, 10,700 e-mails, and49,000 calls," he added.

Sharing suggestions,Kejriwal said maximum peoplehave suggested that hotelsshould not resume their facili-ties for now, but restaurantsmust open barring the dine-inarrangements and take-away orhome-delivery of food mustresume. “Maximum have alsosuggested that barbershops andhair salons must not resumedue to the high risk of contact.In the same way, cinema hallsand swimming pools, and othersuch gathering places must not

open for now,” he added."A lot of people have also

asked the logic and explana-tion behind not going outafter 7 PM, as they are of theview that the timeline shouldbe relaxed. However, everysuggestion that I saw saysthat senior citizens and peo-ple with other serious ail-ments, such as heart problems,asthma, diabetes, cancer, areexposed to higher risk andshould stay indoors, includingchildren below 10 years of ageand pregnant women.Everyone has suggested thatproper social distancing mustbe ensured, and strict finesmust be imposed on those notwearing masks. People havesuggested the opening ofparks for increasing immuni-ty," he said.

“Many people have giventheir suggestions for theresumption of transport ser-vices, including auto-rickshawsand taxis, with only one pas-senger allowed in autos andtwo passengers in taxis and dis-infection of these vehicles aftereach ride.” “A majority of peo-ple are in favor of the resump-tion of bus services, but withstrict social distancing normsin place and not more than 25

people traveling on a single busbecause not every person ownsa private vehicle to get to theiroffices, which were openedduring lockdown phase 3.People have also suggested thatmetros should be open in alimited manner.”

Kejriwal said, "Many mar-ket associations have also givenus suggestions, with a majori-ty of associations suggestingthat market places and com-plexes should open based onOdd-Even rules. Some peoplehave suggested that even mallsshould be allowed to resume,with only 1/3rd or limitedshops allowed to operate."

"We have also receivedsuggestions from and videoconferences were also heldwith industry associations.They have suggested the com-plete resumption of industriesand arrangements for employ-ing labourers living in nearbyareas in Delhi. No activities inthe containment zones must beallowed," he added.

Kejriwal said, "The nationwent into a lockdown one anda half months back on 24thMarch. It was easy to put thecountry and Delhi into lock-down, but lifting the lockdownand reviving the economy willbe much more difficult."

CM Kejriwal said, "TheDisaster Management Actallows the central governmentto give directions to the stategovernments on its operations.Based on what the central gov-ernment decides, various activ-ities will be resumed in Delhifrom Monday. Please followsocial distancing, wear masks,and please take care of seniorcitizens, pregnant women, andpeople with co-morbidities."

� �������� ��� 3,4� ,�!-�

The Delhi Government hasinstructed all the hospitals

to submit death summariesunder the DisasterManagement Act.

On mandatory testing ofGovernment officers, DelhiHealth Minister Satyender Jainsaid mandatory testing ofGovernment officers has someissues. “The Centre has madea protocol for these tests. Inthese protocols, there are setguidelines in place.” “The onlyway to do more testing is viarapid testing kits — which theCentre has not sanctioned as ofyet. On the other hand, the RT-PCR test has a complicatedprocedure and not many are

willing to get this test done. Noone even comes forward to getan RT-PCR test done.”

Health official said thatthe doubling rate of cases inDelhi is 11-12 days. “We wouldbe in a more comfortable posi-tion if the doubling rate is 20or more than 20 days,” Jainadded.

He further said that planfor lockdown 4.0 is being for-mulated, keeping social dis-tancing and other protocols inmind. Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal had sought sugges-tions from the public, we gotaround 5 lakh suggestions andare all being processed and pol-icy is being made. In a day ortwo, you will know what will beopened. Social distancing willbe strictly followed.

“We have to live withCovid-19. There are five mostimportant points we all shouldremember, maintaining socialdistancing, wearing a mask,washing hands, being extracautious for senior citizensand for people with comor-bidity,” he added.

� �������� ��� 3,4� ,�!-�

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and Lieutenant

Governor Anil Baijal, alongwith Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA), reviewed health pre-paredness and relief measure tocontain Covid -19.

It may be noted that thisreview meeting was held a fewdays before submission of pro-posal for lockdown 4.0 relax-ations keeping the corona fatal-ities in top priority.

According to Lt GovernorBaijal, the health departmenthas been tasked to ramp upmedical facilities keeping inview Delhi’s present statisticsand case scenario. “DDMApresented relief measures beingtaken for distressed populationincluding migrant workers,”L-G tweeted.

All stakeholders informedmeticulous arrangements fortheir movement, shelter homesand rehabilitation as per direc-tions of Government of Indiashould be ensured.

Lt Governor advised tointensify surveillance of ILI andcontinued focus on surveillancemicro plan, proper delineationand efficient perimeter controlwith active case search and con-tact tracing.

In the meeting DistrictsMagistrates and DCPs havebeen tasked to ensure seamlessmovement of essential goods/services.

Principal Secretary (Health)presented Covid-19 statistic ofDelhi, where it was informedthat upto 14th May, 2020 thereare 8,470 cases in Delhi out ofwhich 3,045 have recovered and

total active cases are 5,310, totalcumulative testes till date are1,19,736. It was informed thatDelhi’s doubling rate is morethan 12 days, recovery rate32.88 per cent, fatality rate 1.13per cent, tests conducted permillion 4,968 and positive con-firmation rate is 6.9 per cent.

Delhi Government offi-cials also informed that distri-bution of free of cost PDSration with 50 per centenhanced allocation has bene-fitted 71 lakh beneficiaries.

“Free Dry Ration has alsobeen distributed to over 2million people not havingRation Cards,” a Governmentofficial said.

On migrants workers , it wasinformed that as per directionsof Government of India move-ment of the stranded migrantlabour has been permitted sinceApril 29, 2020 strictly as per GoIprotocol.

GNCTD has appointedNodal Officers for each State tocoordinate the movement ofmigrant labourers.

“Workers housed in theShelters belonging to Bihar, MP,J&K have already been moved torespective States by GNCTD.

Out of over 12,000 migrantlabourers in shelters over 3,500have moved and safely reachedtheir homes. DDMA is collect-ing information of the distressed, stranded people of other Statesin Delhi. Till now over, 60,000people have registered on thisportal,” an official said.

Interacting with officials,the appointed officials said thatfor movement of Indians strand-ed abroad, 2300 rooms havebeen requisitioned and morehave been identified for quar-antine in Delhi. “Districts andother agencies are working tire-lessly to cater to the increasingdemands for quarantine centresand Covid Care Centres.”

For corona patients, theDelhi Government has madearrangements in Governmentbuildings.

“DUSIB Flats, SchoolBuildings, Hotels etc. have req-uisitioned to be used for quar-antine and Covid care. 20 Covidcare centres have been estab-lished in Delhi with the capac-ity of 5,949,” a Governmentofficer said.

To revive economic activi-ties GNCTD authorised theDMs to issue e-passes in ratio-

nal manner for seamless move-ment of essential goods and ser-vices and facilitate E-commerceOperators. Industrial estates areallowed to open as per directionsof GoI, they are being facilitat-ed. Other activities including in-situ construction activities,standalone shops, self-employedwork have also started.

Lt. Governor directedDDMA to ensure screening ofstranded people moving out ofor entering the national capitalfrom other states strictly as perthe SOP. Govt. of India berequested for more trains as perrequirement. He also instructedto constitute dedicated teamscomprising doctor, nurse, nodalofficer and pharmacist forscreening people with all thenecessary equipment.

During the meeting LtGovernor stated that our front-line workers i.e. doctors, nurs-es, paramedical staffs, police-men, sanitation workers,administrative officers andteachers are tirelessly working24X7 to contain theCoronavirus to keep us safeand it is because of them we areable to put up a brave fight tocontain the Covid-19 pan-demic. It should be ourendeavour that there should beno compromise on the safetyand security of frontline healthworkers.

Lt. Governor appreciatedthe solidarity of the residents ofDelhi during the lockdownperiod and urged people toimbibe the core mantra advisedby Prime Minister, NarendraModi Ji “Do Guj Doori” &“Jaan Bhi Jahan Bhi” and useArogya Setu App to keep safefrom Covid-19.

� �������� ��� 3,4� ,�!-

South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) sanc-

tioned ex-gratia amount of�10 lakh to family of sanitationworker Vinod who died ofcoronavirus while performinghis duties as a corona warrior.

South Mayor SunitaKangra also handed over anappointment letter to hisyounger son, Sumit.

“The family of deceasedSafai Sainik submitted theclaim form in prescribed for-mat. After verification of claimand recommendation of thecompetent authority, the wel-fare benefits will be extended tothe family of deceased. The

amount of �10 lakh is sanc-tioned as per the policyannounced by SDMC for itsemployees. The cheque will behanded over to the family byDeputy Commissioner, cen-tral zone shortly,” the SDMCsaid in a statement.

Kangra said that SDMC iscommitted to provide all possi-

ble assistance to those who arefighting in the forefront againstthe deadly virus.

Chairman of the StandingCommittee Bhupinder Guptasaid that it is our responsibili-ty to care for the employeeswho were risking their liveswhile performing their dutiesand extend every help to them.

Leader of House KamaljeetSehrawat said that in thisnational pandemic, SDMC issupporting and helping all thefrontline workers and employ-ees who are working selflesslyto fight against Covid-19. Thecivic body will also bear all themedical expenses on the treat-ment the corona warriors, sheadded.

� �������� ��� 3,4� ,�!-

Since the Union Governmentlaunched 'Vande Bharat

Mission' to evacuate Indiansstranded abroad in other coun-tries, the Delhi Police onThursday said that for theseamless immigration withcoordination from otherauthorities, all necessary pre-cautions are being taken andpeople including officials arestrictly maintaining the rule ofsocial distancing.

Following the announce-ment of Vande Bharat Mission,Sanjay Singh, Special CP,Transport Range had coordi-nated with various agenciesincluding Ministry of ExternalAffairs, Bureau of Civil Aviation,GMR Ltd, Immigrations,Customs, CISF & Medicalauthorities. "Hotels and Guest

Houses were lined up andTransport authorities were alsocoordinated to ensure smoothtransportation of arrived immi-grants to the quarantine cen-tres," said Rajeev Ranjan, theDeputy Commissioner of Police(DCP), Indira GandhiInternational (IGI) airport.

SN Shrivastava, DelhiCommissioner of Police super-vised the whole exercise,resulting in proper facilitationof all such passengers without

inconvenience. "During the “Vande Bharat

Mission” the arrival of IndianNationals had commenced on08/05/2020 through flights oper-ated by Air India. Local Policeis deployed at Terminal-3 of IGIAirport to bring the passengersfrom Immigration to medicalScreening Hall. In order to pre-vent the spread of deadly virus,the medical screening of the pas-sengers is being conducted in thedesignated halls of Airport.

After medical screening; thepassengers are being kept for aperiod of 14 days quarantine atdifferent designated places inDelhi," said the DCP.

"After this with theapproval of Nodal officer,ADM/New Delhi, passengersare being taken to the buseskeeping in mind the enforce-ment of the directive of socialdistancing. After this, the buseswith passengers are beingescorted by police personnel totheir destination, in order toprevent any slipping of passen-ger from the bus. The passen-gers are taken to different quar-antine facilities spread over thecity including the hotels ofAerocity," the DCP said.

"At designated quarantinecentres Police force is beingdeployed round the clock toensure that nobody goes out; so

that the Corona virus could notbe spread. Till date total 1186passengers have arrived fromabroad and out of them 685have been kept in quarantinesat designated centres in Delhi.The passengers of other stateshave also been assisted andthey are being received by therepresentatives of concernedstate in the manner explainedabove; for their medical screen-ing," he said.

"So far, a total number of174 passengers have been sent inthe hotels of Aerocity. About 55Police personnel from IGIAirport are being deployed atAerocity round the clock tosecure them in order to stop thespread of the Virus. In addition80 police personnel are deployedat terminal-3 of IGI Airport forthe above arrangement of med-ical screening," the DCP added.

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India’s surplus foodgrains iscoming handy to feed the

poor during the coronaviruspandemic. The Government onThursday added 8 crore non-ration card holders as benefi-ciaries who would be given freefoodgrains – 5 Kg of wheat/riceand 1 kg chana (gram) for thenext two months. As per theGovernment’s earlier decision,80-crore ration card holders arealready being provided freefoodgrains and pulses.

Put together, the 88-crorebeneficiaries will be providedwith 608 crore kg of foodgrains(rice/wheat/gram) till June thisyear.

The move comes even asration cards are being portableto allow migrant workers toaccess foodgrains across states.The ‘one nation one rationcard’ scheme will be fully oper-ational by March 2021.

According to the FoodMinistry, they hold 24.7 milliontonnes of wheat this year,which is more than three timesthe buffer stock requirementsof 7.46 million tonnes.Similarly, stock of rice, includ-ing unmilled paddy, was 49.15million tonnes, against thebuffer norm of 13.58 milliontonnes. So, on April 1 2020, thecountry had about 74 milliontonnes of wheat and rice asagainst the buffer stock normof 21 million tonnes – more

than thrice the buffer stocknorms require.

Announcing the secondtranche of economic stimuluspackage for migrants, UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said, eight croremigrant workers migrants whodo not have state beneficiarycards where they are, will getfive kg of wheat and rice each,and a kg of chana per familyper month and Rs 3,500 crorefor this would be borne by thegovernment. The central gov-ernment will fully bear the cost,while state governments will beresponsible for implementationand identification of migrantsfor distribution of dry ration.The government has earlierannounced a package of Rs 1.70lakh crore through which freerations were given for threemonths to 80 crore poor. Theration card holders were givenadditional two kg foodgrain perpersons due to the nationwidelockdown.

Currently, free 5 kg food-grains per person and one kgpulses per household is beinggiven for three months till Juneto PDS (ration )card holdersunder the Pradhan MantriGarib Anna Yojana (PMGAY),benefitting over 80 crore poor.This is over and above the 5 kggrains given at a subsidisedrate to per beneficiary underNFSA. For those migrantswalking on foot, the Ministersaid that cooked meals arebeing provided by state gov-ernments. They are allowed tobuy foodgrains on credit fromthe central pool at a sub-sidised rate for this purpose,the minister said. Even NGOs

and charitable bodies engagedin serving cooked meals tomigrants are allowed to buy ata reduced rate of Rs 24 per kgfor wheat and Rs 22 per kg forrice from the central govern-ment. The Finance Ministeralso clarified that the totalnumber of migrants at 8 crorehas been arrived at by count-ing those living in sheltercamps by state governments.

At present, nearly 90 percent of 23.5 crore ration cardsare seeded with Aadhaar num-bers of ration card holders (i.e.at least one member of fami-ly); nearly 85 per cent of all 80crore beneficiaries have alsoseeded their Aadhaar numberswith their respective rationcards.

"This will enable migrantbeneficiaries to access PDSgrains from any fair priceshop (FPS) in the country.About 67 crore beneficiaries in23 states covering 83 per centof the PDS population will becovered by national portability by August 2020,"she said.

She further said 100 percent national portability willbe achieved by March 2021.All states and union territorieswill complete full FPS automa-tion by March 2021, sheadded.

Already 17 states/UTs areready with FPS automation.These include AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Haryana,Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala,Madhya Pradesh, Goa,Jharkhand, Tripura, Bihar, UP,Punjab, Himachal Pradeshand Daman and Diu.

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Continuing its attack againstthe BJP-led NDA

Government on Day 2 of theannouncement of economicpackages by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, theCongress on Thursday termedit as a ‘jumla package’, deeplydisappointing and way short ofwhat Prime Minister NarendraModi had promised the nation.It also criticised the FinanceMinister alleging her addresson both the days was classicdisplay of arrogance, igno-rance and insensitivity.

On their part, Congressleaders Rahul Gandhi andPriyanka Gandhi Vadra saidthe party will ensure that thescreams of migrant workersreach the government anddescribed them as the ones car-rying the country's flag.

Congress's chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala saidFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman's announcementswere nothing but a "jumlapackage" while formerCommerce Minister AnandSharma said the countrybelieved that Prime Ministerwas serious when he made the"dramatic" announcement ofgiving 10 per cent of the GDPas a package to revive theeconomy and support workersand migrant labourers, andthat expectations had soared."The finance minister'sannouncement dashed allhopes," he added.

Sharing a video of migrantlabourers walking on the roadsof the country in an attempt toreach their native places amidthe coronavirus-induced lock-down, Rahul said: "There is adense darkness and these aredifficult times, have courage, allof us are standing for the safe-ty of all of them. We willensure that their screams reachthe government and they getthe help they deserve. They arenot the ordinary public of thecountry, they are the flag bear-ers of the country's self-respect.We will never let them bowdown."

Priyanka too took toTwitter to urge theGovernment to at least runbusses or any kind of transportto ferry the poor people under-going so much pain during theentire lockdown period.

Senior party leader AhmedPatel said, "It is not an eco-nomic package. It is an emptypackage wrapped with speech-es since the last three days."And former Union MinisterManish Tewari termed it as“unfortunate” that the entirepress conference (ofSitharaman) was a “classic dis-play of arrogance, ignoranceand insensitivity".

"We expected that thefinance minister would comeout with what the governmentis doing to ferry the migrantswho are walking on the roadsback to their homes safely.But nothing like that hap-pened," Tewari said.

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In the wake of Covid-19 cri-sis, President Ram Nath

Kovind on Thursday decided totake a 30 per cent salary cut forthe whole year and announceda slew of other austerity mea-sures, including deferment ofpurchase of the PresidentialLimousine (at an estimatedcost of around �10 crore) to beused for ceremonial occasions.

The domestic tours andprogrammes of the Presidentwill also be substantiallyreduced in order to followsocial distancing restrictionsand minimise expenditure,according to a RashtrapatiBhavan communique.

Announcing the severalmeasures, the communiquesaid in the President's estima-tion this will be a "small but sig-nificant contribution to realisethe government's vision ofmaking India self-reliant(Atmanirbhar) and energisethe nation to take up the chal-lenge to fight the pandemicand continue our journey fordevelopment and prosperitysimultaneously."

The President gets amonthly salary of � 5 lakh. It isestimated that these measureswill save nearly 20 per cent ofthe budget of the RashtrapatiBhavan in the current financialyear, the statement said.

According to the officials,these measures will result in thesaving of around �40-45 croreannually by the RashtrapatiBhavan, which has an yearlybudget of more than �200crore including an outlay of�80.98 crore allocated for "staff,

household and allowance of thePresident".

The consumption duringceremonial occasions such asAt-Home ceremonies and statebanquets will also be min-imised by keeping smaller guestlists, reducing the food menuand lessening usage of flowersand other decorative items, itsaid.

On Kovind’s decision todefer the purchase of thePresidential Limousine, thecommuniqué said, "The exist-ing resources of the RashtrapatiBhavan and the governmentwill be shared and used forsuch occasions."

The repair and mainte-nance work in the RashtrapatiBhavan will be minimised toonly ensure proper upkeep ofassets. The Rashtrapati Bhavanwill also not take up any newcapital works (building andengineering works) in the cur-rent fiscal and only the ongo-ing works will be completed, it

said. There will be substantialreduction in the use of officeconsumables and a greateremphasis would be laid onusing e-technology to cut downthe use of paper to avoidwastage and make the officeeco-friendly, the communiquestated.

The President has giveninstructions to the RashtrapatiBhavan to set an example byeconomising the expenditure,making optimal usage ofresources, and dovetailing thesaved money to combat Covid-19 and mitigate the people'seconomic plight, the commu-nique said.

"Meanwhile, it will beensured that such austeritymeasures would have noadverse impact on supportgiven to outsourced (or) con-tractual workers. Other activ-ities taken up by theRashtrapati Bhavan for thewelfare of poor people will notbe affected either," it added.

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The national effort to rampup production of Personal

Protective Equipment (PPE) tofight the coronavirus pandem-ic has got a boost. The Navy hassuccessfully filed a patent for itsindigenously-designed PPE.The low-cost PPE will shortlygo in for mass manufacturingand the Navy is looking forlocal producers.

Giving details of the latest

development on the PPE, Navyofficials said here on Thursdaythe patent was filed by theIntellectual Property FacilitationCell(IPFC) of Ministry ofDefence, in association withNational Research DevelopmentCorporation(NRDC), an enter-prise under the Ministry ofScience and Technology. Thisprocess brings it a step closer tomass production, they said.

The low-cost PPE has beendeveloped by a Doctor of Indian

Navy, posted at the recently cre-ated Innovation Cell at Instituteof Naval Medicine (INM),Mumbai. A pilot batch of PPEshas already been produced atNaval Dockyard Mumbai, astatement by the Navy said.Efforts are now on to com-mence mass production of thislow-cost PPE and eligible firmsare being identified for takingup licensed production, officialssaid.

The PPE developed by the

Navy is made of a special fab-ric which affords high level ofprotection along with high‘breathability’ as against otherPPEs available in the marketand is, therefore, more suitablefor use in hot and humid weath-er conditions as prevalent inIndia. The technology has alsobeen tested and validated by the

Indian Council of MedicalResearch approved testing lab-oratory.

Concerted efforts are nowongoing by a core team ofNavy, IPFC and NRDC to com-mence mass production of thislow-cost PPE. The patent filingprocess came days after the PPEcleared mandatory certification

by the Institute of NuclearMedicine and Allied Sciences. Itis part of the Defence Researchand Development (DRDO)andis tasked with the testing andcertification of PPE.

The Navy product was 'cer-tified to be mass produced andused in clinical COVID situa-tions', officials said.

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After evacuating 698 Indianslast week, the Indian Navy

warship INS Jalashwa hasreturned to Male, Capital ofMaldives, to bring out 700 moreIndians. The 17, 000-tonamphibious ship, technicallyknown as landing platformdock(LPD), will enter the Maleport on Friday morning for therescue effort. Another ship, INSMagar, on Sunday brought out200 Indians from there. Both theships docked at Kochi, Kerala fordisembarkation of passengers.

Giving details of the missionto bring out Indians from foreignshores by sea known as‘Operation Samudra Setu, offi-cials said here on Thursday thesecond phase of this operationis now on with INS Jalashwaabout to enter Male.Embarkation of Indian citizens,

who have already registeredwith the Indian Embassy inMaldives, will commence onFriday morning. The ship willdepart for Kochi by Friday night.

Earlier, after successfullybringing home 698 Indiannationals to Kochi on May 12,INS Jalashwa proceeded forpreparatory activities towardsPhase II of the evacuation oper-ation which included disinfec-tion and sanitisation of theentire ship with special attention

to the areas occupied by the pre-vious set of repatriated citizens.

The ship is now anchoredoff Male and will undertakeembarkation of the second set ofIndian nationals on Friday.Nearly 700 Indian nationals,including 100 women and chil-dren will be repatriated. TheIndian nationals evacuated willbe screened medically, allottedIDs and their baggage sanitisedbefore boarding the ship, officialssaid.

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The ITBP on Thursdayrecorded 12 new Covid-19

cases even as a similar numberof patients recovered fromthe pandemic. The BSF post-ed 10 new cases and 21 recov-eries during the last 24 hour.Seven cases of coronavirusinfection have been reportedin CRPF and three in SSB. TheCISF did not register any pos-itive case in the last 24 hours.

The number of infectedpersonnel in the paramilitaryranks reached nearly 850 andsix personnel have lost theirlives to Covid-19.

Out of the 158 coronavirus hit men, as many as 24infected ITBP personnel areadmitted at AIIMS, Jhajjar,Haryana followed by one atLNJP Hospital, New Delhi and129 at CAPF Referral Hospital,Greater Noida.

Besides the ITBP person-nel, 28 BSF men, five from theCRPF and one from the NSGbesides a civilian are lodged atthe CAPF Referral Hospital.Four family members of theITBP are also admitted at thereferral hospital.

A total of 13 ITBP per-sonnel have recovered from thedisease.

All ITBP infected men arefrom the national capital.

In the BSF, eight personnelfrom Delhi and one each fromKolkata and Tripura have test-ed positive for Covid-19.

All of them are undertreatment in DesignatedCOVID19 Health Care hospi-tals.

"Since yesterday, 21 BSFpersonnel (Tripura- 14,Kolkata-6, Delhi- 1 who had )earlier tested COVID-19 pos-itive have been dischargedfrom hospitals after being test-ed negative. They have beenput under quarantine as perthe protocol," a BSF spokesper-son said.

These 21 are in addition toearlier three (Tekanpur-2 andDelhi-1) cured cases. All sixBSF personnel discharged fromKolkata were part of an escortteam of IMCT in Kolkata, thespokesperson added.

Likewise, in the CRPFseven new cases have beenreported, taking the tally ofinfecte personnel to 254 out ofwhich five have recovered andone had died due to the infec-tion. Presently, there are 248active cases in CRPF.

The SSB has a tally of 21infected personnel out of whichone has recovered till so far.

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Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad on

Thursday charged the Congresswith trying to save fugitive jew-eller and designer Nirav Modiand his maternal uncle MehulChoksi, both key accused in amassive banking fraud in India.

Diamond trader Modi and

Choksi allegedly siphoned offover �10,000 crore from thePunjab National Bank withfraudulent letter issued by thebank. Modi and his relativesescaped India in early 2018,when BJP was in the saddle atthe Centre.

Senior BJP leader allegedthat Congress leader andretired Mumbai High Court

judge, Abhay Thipsay, wastrying to "influence the judi-cial process" in the UnitedKingdom where Modi uner-going an extradition trial.

Prasad alleged that Modiwas always a favourite of theCongress and got all benefitsbefore the BJP governmentcame to the power.

“Congress has always

tried to save Nirav Modi orMehul Choksi. Now that he(Nirav Modi) has beenarrested and extradition pro-ceedings against him isunderway, a Congress mem-ber who is a retired judgehimself (Abhay Thipsay), isdefending him in the court,”the Minister said.

Addressing a video pressconference, Prasad said theretired Mumbai High Courtjudge, Thipsay, appeared onbehalf of the PNB scam-tainted Modi as a 'defencewitness' on saying that therewas no case against the busi-nessman and it cannot standthe scrutiny of the court.Prasad said his party con-demns this stand of theCongress.

"There is no case againstNirav Modi, neither fraudu-lent nor cheating case wouldstand the scrutiny of law inan Indian court," arguedThipsay Wednesday beforethe court, the Minister citedhim as saying.

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When officials including doctors of theDirectorate of Public Health and

Preventive Medicine informed ChiefMinister Edappadi Palaniswami that thenumber of Covid-19 patients in TamilNadu breached the 9,000 mark and was onan upward journey, there were three per-son in the State who were not at all shocked,amused or surprised by the development.

All three along with the doctors of theDepartment of Preventive Medicine werein the know of things and were expectingthe disaster to happen much earlier.

On May 7, Tamil Nadu had 5,409patients and within one week, on May 13,the figure breached the 9,000 mark andstood at 9,227. This means that the num-ber of coronavirus cases jumped by 3,818in six days. On every day starting May 6,

the number of coronavirus patientsincreased by an average of 637 patients.

Edappadi Palaniswami who had avideo conference with district collectors and revenue officials said that the increase ofcoronavirus cases was on expected lines.“We had asked traders at Koyambedufruits and vegetable market in Chennai toshut down their operations because of theinfection reported from that area. But thetraders were adamant that they would notmove out from Koyambedu citing the mas-sive loss they may have to face,” said theChief Minister.

The CM had deputed his second-in-command O Pannerselvam to convince thetraders about the need to relocate the mar-ket to one of the city suburbs, the leadersstood their ground and were adamant intheir conviction that they would not budgean inch.

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The story of six yards of ele-gance, the world famous

Mysore silk saree is no differ-ent from other businesses at thetime of Covid -19. The Covid-19 lockdown for the last twomonths has affected its sales atthe time of festive and weddingseason.

The State owned KarnatakaSilk Industries CorporationLimited (KSIC) produces tra-ditional silk sarees and marketsit.

The lockdown has haltedthe looms hitting the produc-tion of over 20,000 silk sareesputting weavers in a spot.These beautiful sarees representthe Royal heritage andGrandeur of Mysuru scions.

Mysore silk sarees are ingreat demand across the coun-try and abroad, as people pre-fer them for auspicious occa-

sions like weddings, festivalsand house-warming cere-monies. The Covid pandemichas now robbed its lustre in thewedding and festive seasons forthe last two months.

According to senior offi-cials of the corporation theyhave now slowly opening itsbranches in Bengaluru andalso in Mysuru apart fromother cities. The KSIC hasaround 17 showrooms acrossthe country. They say that inview of the fear of coronavirus customers were not vis-iting the showrooms.

“We have opening show-rooms after the lockdownacross Karnataka and peopleare hesitant to come into theshowroom because of theCovid fear. We have to make upfor the losses. It is not just ques-tion of demand but Covid hasaffected us badly,” said an offi-cial.

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Kerala which was on its wayto “coronavirus mukth”

State suffered a set back onThursday as 26 persons testedpositive for the pandemic in var-ious districts. On Wednesday 10persons had tested positive inthe State.

Out of the 26 persons test-ed positive on Thursday, sevenwere those who returned to theState from abroad as part of theVande Bharat Mission, said CMPinarayi Vijayan in his dailypress briefing. “Those who test-ed positive for covid-19 onThursday include 14 personswho reached the State from

other parts of India. There aresome news which bring relief tothe State like the reduction inthe number of hotspots. Thereare only 15 hotspots in the Stateas on date,” said Vijayan.

He also cautioned the peo-ple about the protocol to beobserved in the State in thebackdrop of coronavirus beinga reality for months to come.“The World HealthOrganization (WHO) haswarned that there wont be a sce-nario free of coronavirus.Hence, we have to make certainamendments in our daily life.The masks have to be made apart of our daily life. We have toplan our social life by ensuring

that we would not crowd pub-lic places. Please make surethat we avoid all unnecessaryjourneys as well as social gath-erings,” said Vijayan.

The most importantannouncement made by theCM was with regard to thereforms to be made in thesocial life. “When we intend tovisit restaurants and shoppingmalls, please ensure that we geta time slot from these estab-lishments which would lessencrowding in the places. In futurealso, be careful about our dailyroutines. Bear in mind that theshadow of coronavirus is pre-sent everywhere in our life,” saidVijayan.

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Tamil Nadu got a smallreprieve on Thursday in the

number of persons testedpositive for coronavirus. Forthe first time since last week,the number of persons testedpositive for the pandemic stoodat 447 and this took the num-ber of patients so far tested pos-itive in the State to 9,674. Withtwo more persons succumbingon Thursday, the death tollreached 66 in the State.

Chennai continued to leadthe table as the district withmaximum patients.

The day saw 363 personstesting positive for Covid andthis took the number of

patients in the capital city to5,274. The question beingasked is whether the Statewould breach the 10,000 markon Friday.

What brought relief to thedepartment of health officialswas the small decrease notedon Thursday in the number ofpositive cases for the first timein the last one week.

While on May 7, the Statesaw 580 patients testing posi-tive for corona virus. Thisincreased to 600 the next day,came down to 526 on May 9,shot up to 669 on May 10 andtouching an all time high of 798on May 11. The numbers camedown to 716 on the next dayand 509 on May 13.

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Athree-member centralteam arrived here on

Thursday to study the coron-avirus infection among theBorder Security Force (BSF)troopers and their kin, as thepositive cases in Tripuraclimbed to 152.

The central team, led byG.K. Medhi, Professor andHead of the Department ofCommunity Medicine of theShillong-based North EasternIndira Gandhi Regional

Institute of Health & MedicalSciences (NEIGRIHMS), willstudy the source and otheraspects of the coronavirusinfection among troopers, offi-cials and their family members.

"Soon after arrival, the

team held discussions withofficials of the Union Healthand Family Welfare Ministryand the National Centre forDisease Control (NCDC)through video link," a seniorTripura Health Departmentofficial told IANS.

On Friday, the central teamwould visit two BSF battalionsheadquarters in Ambassa, thedistrict town of Dhalai, 82 kmnorth of Agartala. The NCDCand the ICMR (Indian Councilof Medical Research) officialswould help the team, he said.

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Kolkata: In another shamelessdevelopment a corona warriorhad to commit suicide inJalpaiguri district after he wasprevented and humiliated bythe local villagers from settingup a corona kiosk — for testingcorona patients — atGhugudanga village.

Debashis Chakrabarty thevictim, who died after con-suming pesticide and jumpinginto a well, was due to retire inSeptember this yearsourcessaid. The senior medical super-visor was directed by the districthealth department to set up acorona kiosk at the village.PNS

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The Bengal Government willnot adhere to the “one

nation one ration card” schemeas it already has a “unique pol-icy” in place, State Food andCivil Supplies MinisterJyotipriya Mullick said onThursday.

Soon after Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman’sdeclaration that the entire coun-try would be covered under theONOR within a specific periodof time, Mullick said “Onething is for sure that Bengal isnot going to be a part of thisscheme because we alreadyhave a different scheme in

place.”The Minister said “our State

had taken this decision morethan six months ago because weare already running a schemecalled Khadya Saathi thatensures food for all,” adding “atleast for the time being we cansay that Bengal’s response to thecentral scheme is in thenega-tive.”

If Bengal chooses to disre-gard the ONOR then it will beyet another scheme that theState Government will not fallin line with as Bengal had ear-lier refused to implementschemes like Ayushman Bharat.

Congress Lok Sabha leaderAdhir Chowdhury too

slammed the Centre for doingtoo little and too late for thestarving millions, “particularlythe migrant workers whobecame the victim of theCentre’s unplanned implemen-tation of lockdown.”

Attacking the NarendraModi Government for makingthe “rendering migrant workersinto migrant beggars,” he said“these people who have becomejobless and walking back homebecause of the unplannedimplementation of the lock-down are not begging forfood… they only want an alter-native employment so that theycan earn their food them-selves… The government is

making them migrant beggars.”He also said that the OCOR

was nothing new or for thatmatter providing of free rationto the poor also a scheme thatwas already in place for manydecades as was the country’spublic distribution system.

“There is no credit in mak-ing announcements of thingswhich were already there.Instead of making futile decla-rations the Government shouldhave taken steps to reach cashin the pockets of these peoplewho are also consumers sothat they can survive in thesehours of crisis and the country’seconomy too gets some kind offillip,” he said.

Jaipur: Twelve hundredlabourers who were sent fromBarmer to Motihari in Bihardidnot have to pay any train fare.The fare of 600 labourers wasborne by State Governmentwhile the fare of the remaining600 labourers was paid by var-ious companies and contractorsdirectly to the railways.

The District CollectorBarmer Shri Vishram Meenainformed that as per the guide-lines issued by the CentralGovernment and subsequent-ly by the State Government, thestranded migrant labourers,tourists, pilgrims, students andothers were allowed to be trans-ported to their home states. Asa follow of these guidelines, itwas decided to send themigrant labourers to theirnative states through variousmeans of transport, he added.

Shri Meena said that sur-vey and identification of suchworkers of Bihar was donethrough sub divisional officers,in which about 1675 workerswere identified in Barmer dis-trict.

Of these, 600 workerswere found to be stranded asper the guidelines of theCentral and State Government.

The remaining 1075labourers were found engagedin works being carried on byother companies on behalf ofVedanta Cairn Energy IndiaLimited, the main company ofoil mining in the district.

The District Collectorapprised that a proposal wassubmitted to the TransportCommissioner to send 1675workers stranded in Barmerdistrict to Bihar through train.

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In a development that went onexpected lines, Maharashtra

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray and eight otherswere declared elected unop-posed to the State LegislativeCouncil on Thursday.

Uddhav, who was not amember of either of the Housesof the State Legislature when hewas sworn in as the ChiefMinister on November 28 lastyear, was elected unopposed tothe State Legislative Council 13days prior to the six-monthdeadline prescribed by the

Constitution for his becominga legislator.

Apart from Uddhav, eightothers who were elected theState Council unopposed were:Council Deputy ChairpersonNeelam Gorhe of the ShivSena, four candidates from theBJP - Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil,Gopichand Padalkar, PraveenDatke and Ramesh Karad,NCP's Shashikant Shinde andAmol Mitkari and Congress’Rajesh Rathod.

An informal announce-ment about the election ofUddhav and eight other can-didates to the Upper House of

the State Legislature came a dayafter BJP’s Sandeep Lele andAjit Gopchade NCP’s KiranPawaskar and Shivajirao Garje— withdrew their nomina-tions, while the papers ofIndependent candidateShehbaz Rathod were rejectedas invalid during the scrutiny.

Ahead of the withdrawal ofnominations, the OppositionBJP faced an embarrassment ofsorts as it had to replace its offi-cially declared candidate AjitGopchhade with RameshKarad, who had also filed hispapers as a "dummy" candidate.

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The officials at Raj Bhavan here onThursday lodged a police complaint

with the Cyber Crime Police Station atBandra Kurla Complex in north-CentralMumbai against a news portal over thepublication of “defamatory news” aboutMaharashtra Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari allegedly facilitating the trav-el of a model from Maharashtra toDehradun via New Delhi.

“The contents of the news are false,fabricated and based on nefarious designwith an intent to malign the unblemishedimage of Governor,” Raj Bhavan saidhere in statement released here in theevening.

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After a treacherous wait of 38 long hours, fam-ily members of a 70-year-old patient, who

died due to Covid-19 late Tuesday night, final-ly cremated him under the strict supervision ofdistrict authorities in Jammu on Thursday.

Earlier late Wednesday night, local residentsof old city area of Jogi Gate, led by a local cor-porator prevented the family from performinglast rites inside the cremation ground. Left withno choice, the dead body was shifted back to thedesignated mortuary in Government Medicalcollege hospital.

Family members of the deceased patientalleged, "on Wednesday evening when they shift-ed the dead body from GMC, hospital around8.30 p.m and reached near Jogi gate cremationground, large number of local residents in thearea accompanied by a local corporator preventedthem from gaining access inside the ground forperforming the last rites of the deceased patient".

On Thursday, the Chief Medical Officer

(CMO), Jammu informed Assistant MedicalSuperintendent, GMCH that the cremation ofdead body shall be done at 06:30.

However, it was delayed again. Family mem-bers initially alleged they were directed by theGMC authorities to arrange their own familymembers to shift the dead body to the crema-tion ground. However, J&K governmentspokesman in a statement said, "two attendantsof the deceased arrived around 08:00 am but werenot ready to assisting and shifting of the deadbody". The spokesman said, the family memberwere convinced by the administration andmembers of their religious organisation for thesame.

Following this, three sanitary workers andtwo attendants in full personnel protectivegears shifted the dead body from Mortuary tothe Ambulance for formal cremation at ShastriNagar Cremation ground with the coordinationof the local/civil administration at 09:40 am.Finally, the last rites of the covid-19 patient wereperformed around 11.00 a.m.

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The number of Covid-19triggered deaths mounted

to 49 in Mumbai’s hotspotDharavi on Thursday, even as33 more infected cases wererecorded taking the total num-ber of positive cases in Asia’sbiggest slum to 1,061.

While two more personssuccumbed to Covid-19 onThursday, the authorities addedseven more deaths reportedearlier to the total death tally inDharavi.

“The seven deaths whichwe have added to the tallytoday are the ones of personswho had died earlier on dif-ferent dates, but the informa-tion about their deaths con-veyed to ward office concernedsubsequently. With the twofresh deaths and seven deathsadded to death tally today, thetotal number of deaths inDharavi has mounted to 49," asenior officer of the

Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said.

A maximum five infectedcases were reported fromKumbharwada. MatungaLabour Camp, from where amaximum number ofCoronavirus cases have beenreported in recent weeks,reported four positive cases onThursday.

Two positive cases eachwere reported from ChamdaBazar and Jeevanjyot RahiwasiSangh area.

Matunga Labour camp,which had on Wednesday

accounted for four infected, hasbeen the worst-hit area inDharavi. On Tuesday, eightinfected cases were recorded inMatunga Labour camp. OnMonday, this area had regis-tered eight cases. There was aseventeen- year-old among theeight newly infected persons onthat day. Six positive cases hadbeen reported from MatungaLabour camp on Sunday.

Spread over 240 hectarearea, Dharavi is home to morethan 4 lakh people. This slumhas been one of major hotspotsin Mumbai, ever since the firstcouple deaths and infectedcases were reported from thisslum in the first week of April.

In an effort to devise waysto arrest the rapid spread ofpandemic in this slum,Mumbai’s new MunicipalCommissioner Iqbal SinghChahal had visited this slumand taken stock of the situationhours after he assumed theoffice on Saturday last.

New Delhi: Indian scientistshave developed an injectableSilk fibroin-based hydrogel forsustained insulin delivery indiabetic patients. A patentapplication has been filed forthe invention.

Prof T Govindaraju and hisresearch team from JawaharlalNehru Centre for AdvancedScientific Research (JNCASR),an autonomous research insti-tute under the Department ofScience and Technology, devel-oped the silk fibroin (SF) for-mulation using biocompatibleadditives and prepared theinjectable SF hydrogel (iSFH)that can ease insulin delivery indiabetic patients.

The iSFH has demonstrat-ed successful delivery of activeinsulin in rats, and the resultshave been published in thejournal ACS Applied Bio

Materials.They have shown that sub-

cutaneous injection of insulinwith-iSFH in diabetic ratsformed active depot under theskin from which insulinleached out slowly and restoredthe physiological glucosehomeostasis for a prolongedperiod of four days with norisks of low blood sugarthrough sudden burst of highconcentration of insulin intothe blood.

The viscous additives used bythe team restricted the mobility ofSF protein backbones and results inthe rapid gelation.

The microstructures providemechanical strength (to supportinjectability), and porous mor-phology of iSFH allowed the encap-sulation of human recombinantinsulin in its active form in diabet-ic rats. PNS

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On May 12, following his ownset pattern of building upcuriosity and hype thatleads to slogan-loadedheadlines and ear-catching

sound bites, the Prime Ministerannounced a �20 lakh crore “fiscalpackage,” the details of which werecommunicated by the Finance Ministerone day later to the eagerly waiting lockeddown people of the country. Prior to theunveiling of the package, there was nodispute in any quarter with respect to therequirement of the dole. But there weresuspicions regarding the contours, con-tent and intent of the Government qua,the restoration of the economy, which hasbeen lying demolished in the debris ofclosing businesses, shrinking savings,evaporating jobs, rising bad loans, ruraldistress and a bleeding agriculture sec-tor. Post the announcement, the questionthat is begging an answer is: Can the fis-cal package give any stimulus to analready sluggish and sinking economy?To answer this, we need to test and weighthe package on the scales of political reli-ability and economic effectiveness andscope for implementation.

As for the latter, at this crucial andsensitive juncture when the entire nationis going through one of the darkest phas-es of “health and wealth” recession, it wasexpected that the Central Governmentwould loosen the strings of its purses tofill the pockets of people with extraincome without any terms and condi-tions. However, at 5:45 pm on May 13,when the Finance Minister finished her1.5 hour-long Press briefing, the net resultwas that of “operation successful, patientdead.” It failed to show any colour of realmoney to the people. Much to everyone’sdismay, the vulnerable section of the soci-ety ie, the migrant labourers, farmers,shopkeepers and salaried class, who havebeen the most affected due to the lock-down, were left completely ignored in thescheme of things. Further, even the slewof announcements that was made gavethe impression that the Finance Ministrywas presenting a “loan marketingbrochure” rather than a “rescue plan.”Simply put, the fiscal package (contain-ing the fund of legally due tax refunds),misleadingly projected as “stimuluspackage,” failed at the altar of genuineexpectation and needs of the people forvarious reasons that shall be discussedin this column.

To begin with, instead of adoptingan all-inclusive formula of “something foreveryone,” our framers opted for aninsensitive policy of “nothing for the oneswho need the most,” completely leavingout the 48 crore informal sector work-force, 13.62 crore families, the farmers,lower middle and the salaried class fromthe ambit of the package. As was the case

during demonetisation, the mostvulnerable section of society hasended up paying a heavy pricedue to the Government’s ill-planned, indifferent and irra-tional approach in handling thelockdown. Its decision to confine1.3 billion people to their homes,without building any economicbunker at a mere notice of fourhours, was juxtaposed with thethree to four days intimation itgave prior to the celebration ofevents like tali thali and diya jalao.The lockdown has had a visiblecatastrophic effect on the people,especially the daily wagers, whoearn �300-400 a day and survivehand-to-mouth. They are all leftstarving. The unemploymentrate has been at a 45-year high.Overall, it slowed to 24 per centfrom 27 per cent in the weekended May 10 (as per CMIE).Last but not the least, even themost economically sound corpo-rations have been forced todeclare salary cuts and undertakemassive lay-offs.

To make matters worse, theGovernment adopted theapproach of the “East IndiaCompany” during the lockdownperiod by extracting a pound offlesh from the economicallyfatigued citizens through a seriesof insensitive decisions, includ-ing but not limited to an increasein taxes on fuel. This, despite thefact that international crude oilprice has hit an 18-year low.Further, interest rates on varioussmall savings schemes have beencut. This has hurt more than 30crore depositors. The State Bankof India, too, has reduced savingsaccount interest rate from 3.25per cent to 2.75 per cent for 44

crore account holders. All of thesehave further dried the incomestream of depositors in this hourof grave crisis. At a time when thecountry is visibly trapped in thevortex of an economic recession,natural expectations of the peo-ple were that the NDAGovernment would balm thewounds of those economicallyaffected. It was expected of it tomake a minimum �7,500 directcash transfer to each and everyJan Dhan account holder. Itshould have announced unem-ployment benefits and promisedmonthly stipend. It should haveincreased the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) for the farmers, low-ered the fuel prices and given thesurplus income vide tax incen-tives to the salaried class. Instead,the Government chose to leaveeveryone “high and dry” andeuphemistically labelled the “fendfor yourself ” scheme as“Atmanirbhar Bharat” abhiyan(self-reliant India mission).

Despite a previous �1.7 lakhcrore package announced underthe PM Garib Kalyan Yojana onMarch 26, the deaths of morethan 55 migrants, disturbingvisuals of reverse migration, ofthe poor craving for “roti andsabzi” are a living testimony to thefact that lofty announcements,catchy slogans and repackagingof existing measures are all non-effective measures. The onlymodus operandi to prepare for thelong journey ahead is to place realmoney in the palms of those whopull the ropes of the economy.Minus this, the package is simi-lar to a mirage in the desert thatprojects an illusion rather thanconcrete substance.

Second, the raison d'être ofany stimulus package is to spurdemand in the economy by wayof ensuring availability of surplusincome rather than increasing thedebt burden. Our policy-makersclearly missed this visible skylinein their script this time, too. Thedecision to establish a �3 lakhcrore credit guarantee fund toprovide collateral-free loan to 45lakh Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs) with amoratorium of 12 months con-veniently ignores the harsh real-ity that the Achilles heel of thissector is a shortage of demandrather than of loans. Even if wepresume but not concede that the�3 lakh crore credit guaranteeplan would provide a breather,why were a majority of the 6.5crore MSMEs, employingapproximately 11.5 crore of thepopulation, left out of thisscheme? Furthermore, instead ofhanding over a political lollipopin the form of a moratorium, aninterest waiver on bank loan/EMIfor a minimum period of 12months should have beendeclared so as to make surplusincome available and off-set thelosses they are incurring on adaily basis due to a complete clog-ging of the pipelines of the econ-omy.

On the one hand, there is anunrealistic expectation from theindustry to pay itsemployees/workers even in theabsence of any source of revenue.On the other, not even a singlerupee worth “interest-free” ben-efit has been passed on to them.This highlights Government apa-thy and chicanery. In a nutshell,the fiscal package ended up

being focussed on creating debtrather than demand, leavingeveryone flummoxed and disap-pointed.

Most importantly, the fiscalpackage failed to give wings to thePrime Minister’s catchy slogan,“It is time to be vocal about local.”The sleeping paper tiger of “Makein India” is a gentle yet crudereminder of the fact that the hall-marks for the presentGovernment are catchy slogansand sketchy implementation. Forlocal industries to be successful,it will take a lot more than sell-ing indigenous products at theCentral Armed Police Forcescanteens. To unleash the fullpotential of the local industry, thepackage ought to have provideda solution to arrest sliding indus-trial output growth rate. Lastly, itshould have provided for a “wageprotection package” to cushionthe ongoing saga of losses. In theabsence of a holistic approach, the“vocal for local” slogan will die anatural death and be buried likeother slogans in the vast ceme-tery of the BJP Government’sunfulfilled promises.

Overall, looking at the non-beneficial, non-inclusive, zeroincome generation potential ofthe package, it will not be anexaggeration to say that it hasfailed the test of economic effec-tiveness and political reliability.The package lacks a plan to over-come the deadlock created dueto the lack of demand in theeconomy.

The way forward and polit-ical reliability: At present, thenation has only got a glimpse ofthe promised �20 lakh crorepackage. Looking at the preview,the future does not look promis-ing. One must exercise cautionbefore politically relying on theGovernment to salvage the cur-rent situation. In pure publicinterest, the Opposition sincere-ly hopes that the remainingscript will not be written with thesame pen that made numerouspromises like depositing �15lakh in every citizen’s bankaccount, bringing back blackmoney within 100 days, cleaningthe river Ganga, ending terrorismthrough demonetisation, build-ing a $5 trillion economy, gener-ating two crore jobs every year,transforming Varanasi into Kyotoand the invisible �1.25 lakh crorepackage for Bihar. These exam-ples also highlight that theGovernment’s report card ondelivering promises is full of redlines. Given the current “arrogantand ignorant” mindset of theUnion Government, the possibil-ity of the economy coming out ofthe quicksand of recession looksbleak.

(The author is a SupremeCourt Lawyer and NationalSpokesperson of the IndianNational Congress)

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Sir — It was heart-wrenching tohear that a mosque in Telanganawas attacked by goons while fivepersons — this number has beenallowed by the government —were offering namaaz there.Members of the majority commu-nity not only created an unneces-sary ruckus but also pelted stones,injuring some people. The policehave taken cognisance of thematter; four cases have been reg-istered and Section 144 has beenimposed in the area. TheTelangana Government must takestrict action so that such a dread-ful incident does not recur.

Ibn-KatibAzamgarh

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Economic rescue” (May 14).The Prime Minister’s idea of a self-reliant India (atmanirbhar Bharat)is like old wine in a new bottle. Foreven our scriptures mention eshahpanthah — that is, self-sufficientIndia. In fact, Make in India, theeconomic slogan of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has

Swadeshi overtones rather thanbeing an original concept.

Coming to Modi’s fourthnationwide address to the peoplein the wake of the pandemic, itlasted for about 30 minutes butlacked enthusiasm. Make in India,Digital India, Startup India andthe Smart Cities project were allaimed at creating jobs for the

country’s youth but theGovernment has failed miserably.Had these projects been a success,the Prime Minister would nothave talked about making Indiaself-dependent. It’s time to comeup with real ideas to tackle theeconomy than show oratory skills.

Navneet SethDhuri

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Economic rescue” (May 14).The Prime Minister’s widely-tele-vised speeches during theCOVID-19 lockdown have beenGreek and Latin to many non-Hindi speaking Indians, especial-

ly in the South where a majoritydo not understand the language.Most people were unable to fol-low the speeches in real-time aswe had to wait for the translation.

During the demonetisationannouncement in 2016, thePrime Minister’s message wasaired in English and Hindi. Theleast the Ministry of Informationand Broadcasting can do is todub the speeches in regional lan-guages and air them in States. Ina crisis of this magnitude, clearand instant communicationacross India is essential.

Adrian DavidChennai

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Sir — In these crucial timeswhen Governments across theworld are struggling to fight theCorona pandemic, Central aswell as State Governments mustfunction with stability for thesafety of mankind. Political agen-da can be addressed later ifpeople survive the present crisis.

SumitVia email

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Page 7: 0$$˛% , ./ ˛ .˚˙0%$() #ˇ ˘ 7 % (*ˆ8,3 * #*-#˛-3 ˆ !-3/ ˆ * …...2020/05/15  · affiliated to any political parties. The BMS condemned the total withdrawal of labour laws

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Noble words like “justice”, “liberty” and“equality” in the Indian Constitution’s pre-amble — “We the people of India... do here-

by adopt, enact and give to ourselves thisConstitution” — safeguard the staggering popu-lation of above 137 crore citizens amid adversities.Pitching real issues over rhetoric to improve ourHuman Development Index (HDI) ought to besensed pragmatically. With a plan to impose lock-down 4.0 to wage war against the Coronavirus, theGovernment announced a �20 lakh crore specialeconomic package. This is equivalent to around 10per cent of India’s GDP, which is the componentof Aatma Nirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India.Further, the Prime Minister has stated, “Corona willbe with us for a long time but our lives cannotrevolve around it. We will wear masks, we will fol-low doh gaj doori (keep a distance of six feet) butwe won’t let it derail our targets.”

However, stories of starvation are becoming thenew normal. The migrant population is strugglingto manage one meal a day. Unemployment and des-peration are all around, be it in rural or urban areas.In the aftermath of the lockdown, distribution net-works of crops are choked and sometimes the StateGovernments are clueless on how to move the foodto where it is most needed. At the beginning of thisyear, the World Economic Forum reported thatIndia ranked 76th out of 82 countries on the socialmobility index. This precisely signals the sordidstate of social justice. Reflecting on inclusive devel-opment, the United Nations (UN) has underlinedthe aspects of HDI, equality and justice in its ambi-tious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)comprising 17 objectives. Nonetheless, the Coronacrisis will upend the timeline and derail the devel-opment of prescribed goals. It has infected the SDGsat the very core.

The National Institution for TransformingIndia (NITI Aayog) has taken up the challenge toachieve the SDGs. Aroya Setu, the Government’sapp, is enabling the machinery to identify poten-tial COVID-19 cases in the country. However, theinfection has claimed above 2,500 lives, renderedmillions jobless and stranded people at numerouslocations with empty bellies. This makes one ques-tion the achievement of inclusive development andsocial justice on the constitutional apparatus as 5.5per cent of India’s total population is under theextreme poverty line and is battling the epidemicalone. Rights groups have demanded adequatesocial security measures for women and labourerson a war footing.

Social justice in India is in shambles. Sixteenmigrant labourers, who were fatigued and fell asleepon railway tracks in Aurangabad district ofMaharashtra, were crushed to death. This humanloss could have been averted if they had beenpromised free travel home. Millions are starvingand the Public Distribution System (PDS) in manyStates is unable to address food insecurity as thegap between demand and supply is widening eachday. To combat the Coronavirus, the nation is reel-ing under lockdown 3.0, which will extend into 4.0after May 17. There are potential problems risingto counter the infection. The doorstep delivery offree rations and other essentials for vulnerable sec-tions of society is yet to be intensified. When nor-malcy is limping back in a regulated manner, liquor

shops have opened which contradicts thetheory of meagre supply of essentials forthe deprived. In a startling note, theConfederation of Indian AlcoholicBeverage Companies and the SupremeCourt have asked States to contemplateonline sales and home delivery of liquor.

Usually, the five southern States —Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Kerala — consume halfof India’s liquor and also provide majorexcise to the Government. In the wakeof the opening of liquor shops in Delhi,the Government has imposed 70 per cent“special Corona fee” on the sale ofliquor, aiming at enhancing revenue,which has been hit hard due to the lock-downs. However, there is chaos outsideshops, forcing police to use batons to dis-perse crowds jostling to buy alcohol. Inthe melee, social distancing norms aregrossly violated. Though the police haddrawn chalk circles at the appropriate dis-tances for people to stand in a queue, alltheir effort was in vain.

With COVID-19 looming large,social justice, the signature tune of ourConstitution, still eludes scores of citizensin these troubled times.The UnionGovernment has taken a $1.5 billion loanfrom the Asian Development Bank toprovide social protection to the needy.Understanding that constitutional justiceis non-negotiable, State Governments areon their toes to deliver basic amenitiesto citizens. The MaharashtraGovernment has announced free rationto the disabled for a month. The police-men, who are above 55 years of age inMumbai, have been asked to go on leave.The Rajasthan Corona Sahayata Yojanais catering to the needs of the disadvan-taged.

The Odisha Government is trying tobring out a whopping 4.86 lakh strand-

ed migrant workers from Maharashtraand Gujarat. The Uttar PradeshGovernment has brought back thousandsof labourers from neighbouring States.The Government has started train ser-vices from the national Capital to vari-ous cities. The passengers are made toadhere to social distancing norms andstand inside circles marked on the path-way and the platform. They are subject-ed to thermal scanning and the trains arebeing sanitised. However, it still seemsthat there is a dearth of efforts to meetthe requirements of the people in the timeof crisis.

In order to achieve its SDGs, Indiacannot afford to leave anyone behind andthere is no other way to end stigma anddiscrimination than through social jus-tice and inclusive societies. Previously,abject poverty, lack of education, health-care facilities, gender parity and theinability to reduce maternal mortalityrates were the factors due to which Indiafailed to achieve its 2015 MillenniumDevelopment Goals. That cannot happenagain.

Currently, glaring instance of laps-es in securing social justice worldwidecannot be ruled out, too. Older BlackAmericans dying in greater numbers issetting a disturbing trend in the socialmilieu, warranting a probe in socio-eco-nomic and racial justice issues. In Spain,older people were found dead and aban-doned and elderly homes were not paidthe required attention. In India, suchcommunity issues are yet to come to thefore. However, these issues of neglectedsocial justice, human rights and unad-dressed social insecurity are not new. Itis not during COVID-19 alone, theissues of social unrest were also therewhenever any major epidemic broke outin the past. When the Zika epidemic

broke out in South and Central Americaamong sugarcane workers, they were sub-jected to racial, gender and economicinequity. Women in El Salvador fromCentral America encountered seriousbarriers in exercising their sexual andreproductive rights.

The West African Ebola epidemic,which killed above 11,000 people, exac-erbated the poverty crisis. The endemicwas neglected as a social justice issue.Human rights violations were prevalentwhile dealing with the H1N1 Swine Flupandemic and the Asian Flu. Similarly,the outbreak of SARS caused socialexclusion of a racial minority — theAsian-Canadian group.

Social justice remains a distantdream. Millions were denied social, eco-nomic and political justice when epi-demics were dealt with from time to time.There are several precedents of noncha-lance in enforcing laws and initiativesduring epidemics. The Indian Swine Fluoutbreak in 2015 resulted in socio-eco-nomic inequities. Dana Majhi, a tribalfrom Malkangiri district of Odisha car-ried his wife’s corpse on his shoulders ashe failed to get a hearse. His wife had diedof Japanese Encephalitis and he walkedaround 10 km from the hospital with hiswife’s body.

Social justice, equity and humanrights are at the borderline. At this junc-ture, no one should be left behind andwe must end discrimination throughsocial justice and inclusive societies.The politics of epidemics is not thepanacea. The approach to the epidemicshould be holistic by bringing science,governance and social justice into onefold.

(Biswal and Chakraborty areAssistant Professors at SIBM and are work-ing at Symbiosis International, Pune)

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It is hard being born Canadian ifyour ambition is to be a real-lifeversion of movie tough guy Jean-

Claude Van Damme (Blood Sport,Death Warrant, Universal Soldier,Last Action Hero and so on). Thesame goes for being Belgian, ofcourse, but Van Damme just want-ed to be in the movies. JordanGoudreau wanted the real thingand joining the Canadian armyreserves while studying computer sci-ence at the University of Calgary did-n’t quite do it for him. So he movedto the United States (US) and joinedthe Green Berets, which provides a

much better mix of derring-do, mar-tial arts, and exotic foreigners to kill.(Sudden Death, Die Fast Die Furious,6 Bullets, Kill ‘Em All and so on).

Goudreau was not a fake. He didseveral tours in Afghanistan and Iraq,killing real people and by all accountswas a brave and competent soldier.But action heroes have early expirydates.

At 60, Jean-Claude Van Dammeis doing self-mocking tough-guycommercials for Coors Light. JordanGoudreau’s luck ran out in 2016,when he was injured in a parachuteaccident and had to retire from hisbeloved Special Forces at the youngage of 40.

Nobody offered him any beercommercials and his great idea to sellthe services of military veterans toschools to stop mass shooters — par-ents would pay a subscription of$8.99 a month — didn’t fly. So heended up doing what washed-upAmerican action heroes always do:He went to Latin America (Butch

Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, TheMagnificent Seven and so on.)

Specifically, he went toColombia. Having set up a “securi-ty company” called Silvercorp inFlorida, he got in touch with theVenezuelan Congressional leaderwho claims to be the legitimatePresident, Juan Guaidó, offering tooverthrow Nicolás Maduro (whoactually lives in the presidentialpalace). This would be done in thetime-honoured way, by recruitingand training exiles and mercenarieswho would go in, attack the regime,and trigger a mass uprising. (Thinkthe 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion ofCuba, only successful.) And forabout two weeks last October,Guaidó was tempted. He even signeda $213 million contract withGoudreau’s Silvercorp for unspecified“general services”, but he cancelledthe contract in early November.Maybe Guaidó is not quite as gullibleas he seems, or maybe he justremembered that hiring foreigners to

overthrow your country’sGovernment, even in the name ofdemocracy, is a bad look.

Anyway, that was the end of thegrand plan but Goudreau didn’tgive up. The US Government hadrecently declared Maduro a “narco-terrorist” (whatever that is) and puta $15 million price on theVenezuelan dictator’s head. SoGoudreau’s Plan B was to send in acrack team (they’re always called“crack teams”) to capture Maduro,airlift him out of the country and col-lect the reward.

However, by now Venezuela’sIntelligence service and practicallyeverybody else knew aboutGoudreau’s plan. The AssociatedPress even ran a story about it on May1, quoting associates of Goudreau assaying he was “in way over hishead.” But before we get to the endof the story, a brief pause to contem-plate the equally spectacular incom-petence of the other side.

By late March the Venezuelan

Government was on hair-triggeralert for Goudreau’s planned raid,and on March 30 the VenezuelanNavy spotted a Canadian-ownedcruise-ship, the RCGS Resolute,stopped off the Venezuelan island ofTortuga. So the Navy patrol shipNaiguatá ordered the ship to proceedto port for inspection.

Resolute didn’t move, because itcouldn’t. It had already sufferedsome mechanical failure and put outa warning that it was “not undercommand.” But the Venezuelansthought it was stalling and after fir-ing some shots at or near the cruise-ship it started ramming it repeated-ly on the starboard bow, apparentlytrying to force it around in the rightdirection.

Now, Naiguatá was not some lit-tle speedboat; it was a 90-metre steelship with a crew of 44 and a heli-copter on the aft deck. But Resolutehas four times the displacement andits hull is ice-strengthened for cruis-ing in polar waters. Ramming it was

like running at a brick wall again andagain with your head, hoping tomake an impression. Eventually, theNaiguatá just sank.

Another ship picked up its crew,and eventually Resolute got under-way again. It’s now parked in Curaçaoand no, there weren’t any mercenar-ies aboard. No passengers of anykind, in fact. And finally, the tragi-comic end. A few dozen volunteersand mercenaries tried to land on theVenezuelan coast near Caracas aweek ago. Six were killed, all the restwere arrested. Goudreau would havebeen there, too. “He would have 100per cent gone out in a blaze of gun-fire because that’s who he is,” said afriend. But he couldn’t leave Floridabecause of Coronavirus travel restric-tions. US President Donald Trumpdenies any official American involve-ment in the incident, and for once Ialmost believe him.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

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Around 3,00,639 peoplehave died from Covid-19.

While almost 4,485,683 infec-tions have been confirmed inmore than 185 countries andterritories. More than 1,687,565people have recovered to date.

Meanwhile, a typhoon thatslammed into the Philippineson Thursday forced a riskyevacuation for tens of thou-sands of people during thecoronavirus pandemic, whileNew Zealand and Japan wereamong countries to relaxrestrictions as the virus isbrought under control in someplaces.

Typhoon Vongfong addedthe threat of flooding andlandslides to the further spreadof Covid-19 as people in theeastern Philippines were evac-uated into shelters. Officialswere seeking to open up moreshelter space so people couldcreate more physical distancefrom themselves, somethingthat was a clear challenge asfierce rains and winds bat-tered the region.

As the pandemic restric-tions across the globe inflictdamage on economies, sever-

al governments promised relief.New Zealand’s Governmentsaid it plans to borrow andspend vast amounts of moneyas it tries to keep unemploy-ment below 10 per cent.

“We face a global econom-ic and health crisis not seensince the Great Depression,”Finance Minister GrantRobertson said.

In Italy, one of the worst-hit countries, PremierGiuseppe Conte promised amassive package of tax cuts andother financial aid to helpbusinesses and families.

“Your cry of alarm didn’tescape us,” Conte said HisGovernment also promised tolegalise the status of foreigners,many of them illegal migrantswho are crop-pickers, baby-sit-ters and caretakers.

The world’s public healthmeasures continue to provokeconflict between officials andthe public.

In Ethiopia, police saidthey arrested over 1,000 peoplefor refusing to wear face masksin public, while in Greece a spatbroke out over a governmentplan to install cameras in highschool classrooms. The idea isto provide live-streaming toallow for reduced classroom

attendance when schoolsreopen next week. But a priva-cy watchdog and a left-wingopposition party called camerasa serious privacy risk.

In many parts of the world,communities and individualswere finding inventive ways tocope with what many view asa “new normal.”

Apartment dwellers in Riode Janeiro were getting somemuch-needed entertainmentfrom children’s movies pro-jected onto screens set up out-side their buildings, similar toa drive-in theater.

Cesar Miranda Ribeiro,president of city-ownedRioFilme company, said theeffort, called “Cinema in theWindows,” is aimed at “tryingto take care of the mentalhealth of the people.”

Chinese people looking forsome stay-at-home retail ther-apy have tuned into livestreamshopping.

Others seeking spiritualsupport and human connec-tions are worshipping remote-ly via online religious services,including from the Vatican tovillage churches.

“People in general, I think,are looking for more meaningand spirituality in the midst of

all this,” said Omar Suleiman,an Islamic leader in Irving,Texas, whose Yaqeen Institutefor Islamic Research has beenuploading YouTube videos. “SoI think there’s just a generalincrease in religiosity and con-sumption of religious content.”

For most leaders, though,the focus was a far more world-ly one: how to get back to busi-ness and revive economies reel-ing from record numbers of joblosses and chilling uncertainty.

In New Zealand, malls,retail stores and restaurantsreopened Thursday and manypeople returned to their work-places as the nation of 5 millionpeople ended most of its coro-navirus lockdown restrictions.But most gatherings will belimited to 10 people and socialdistancing guidelines willremain in place.

The US has the largestcoronavirus outbreak in theworld by far: 1.39 million infec-tions and over 84,000 deaths,according to a tally by JohnsHopkins University.Worldwide, the virus has infect-ed more than 4.3 million peo-ple and killed some 297,000.Experts say the actual numbersare likely far higher.

A top US immunologist

who says he lost hisGovernment job because hewarned the Trump adminis-tration to prepare for the coro-navirus pandemic said he wasready to tell Congress thatAmerica faces its “darkest win-ter in modern history” unlessleaders act decisively to preventa rebound of the coronavirus.

Dr Rick Bright’s testimonydue Thursday follows thisweek’s warning by Dr AnthonyFauci, the government’s topinfectious disease expert, thatrushing to lift store-closingand stay-at-home restrictionscould “turn back the clock,”seeding more suffering and death and complicatingefforts to get the economyrolling again.

But the pressure is on tostaunch job losses after the U.S.unemployment rate soared to14.7% in April, the highestsince the Great Depression.

The fallout from the pandemic includes heightenedpolitical tensions betweennations.

In China, Foreign Ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian, crit-icized the United States, sayingauthorities there have failed toeffectively fight the global coro-navirus pandemic and “abusedAmerican people’s trust.”

Zhao appeared to be firingback against accusations fromthe Trump administration thatChina mishandled or deliber-ately delayed releasing infor-mation about the outbreak,first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhanlate last year.

Australia said it will pushfor an inquiry into the originsof the coronavirus even if ithurts trade relations withChina. Prime Minister ScottMorrison had been accused ofplaying “deputy sheriff ” to theUnited States after calling forthe inquiry.

Morrison brushed off thecriticism, telling reporters: “Wehave always been independent,we have always pursued ournational interests, and wealways will.”

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump on Thursdaysaid he was very disappointedin China over its failure to con-tain the novel coronavirus,saying the worldwide pan-demic cast a pall over his US-China trade deal.

Coronavirus outbreak orig-inated in Wuhan, China, inDecember and was spreadingsilently as Washington andBeijing signed a Phase 1 tradedeal hailed by RepublicanPresident as major achievement.

“I’m very disappointed inChina,” the Republican presi-dent said in an interviewbroadcast Thursday on FoxBusiness Network.

“They should have neverlet this happen. So I make agreat trade deal and now I saythis doesn’t feel the same to me.The ink was barely dry and theplague came over. And it does-n’t feel the same to me,” Trump said.

Under the Phase 1 dealsigned in January, Beijingpledged to buy at least $200 bil-lion in additional US goods andservices over two years

while Washington agreed toroll back tariffs in stages onChinese goods.

A Chinese state-run news-paper has reported that someGovernment advisers in Beijing were urging fresh talksand possibly invalidating theagreement.

Trump said again he wasnot interested in renegotiating.

While US Intelligenceagencies said the virus did notappear to be manmade orgenetically modified, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo saidearly in May there is “a signif-icant amount of evidence” thevirus came from a laboratory in

Wuhan.His comments followed

Trump’s assertion on April 30that he was confident the coro-navirus may have originated ina Chinese virology lab.

In the Fox Business inter-view, which was taped onWednesday, Trump focusedmore on China’s response tothe outbreak than on its origin.

“We have a lot of informa-tion, and it’s not good. Whetherit came from the lab or camefrom the bats, it all came fromChina, and they should havestopped it. They could havestopped it, at the source,” he said.“It got out of control.” Agency

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US President Donald Trumpon Wednesday

said he will “certainly” look intothe recently introduced legis-lation that authorizes him to sanction China if it failsto cooperate and provide a fullaccounting of the events leading to the coronavirus outbreak.

“I respect US SenatorLindsey Graham and I will cer-tainly look at it. The bill tosanction China, I will certain-ly take a look at it. I have notseen it yet,” Trump toldreporters at a White Houseevent on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, severalRepublicans senators includingGraham had introduced legis-

lation authorizing the USPresident to impose sanctionson China if it fails to cooper-ate and provide a full account-ing of the events leading to thecoronavirus outbreak.

China on Wednesdaystrongly protested the billaimed at imposing sanctionsagainst Beijing over the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This act sponsored byseveral US lawmakers shows norespect for facts. By pushing forinvestigations based on thepresumption of guilt, it ismeant to shirk responsibilityfor the US fumbling responseto China. This is highlyimmoral. We are firmlyopposed to it,” ForeignMinistry’s spokesperson ZhaoLijian said.

Washington: President DonaldTrump is mobilising the USmilitary to distribute a novelcoronavirus vaccine when onebecomes available and willfocus first on older Americans.

“You know it’s a massivejob to give this vaccine,” Trumpsaid in an interview broadcastThursday on Fox BusinessNetwork.

“Our military is now beingmobilised so at the end of theyear, we’re going to be able togive it to a lot of people very,very rapidly.”

He said he believes there willbe a vaccine by the end of theyear and the United States ismobilising “our military and other forces” on thatassumption.

The White House has set atarget of having 300 millionvaccine doses by the end of2020. No such vaccine for thispathogen has been approvedthough a number are under

development, and producingand distributing an effectivevaccine are seen as key steps tojumpstarting the US economy.

Trump’s timetable conflictswith that given by the nation’stop infectious disease expert inSenate testimony on Tuesday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, whodirects the National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious dis-eases, said the idea that therewill be a vaccine available bynext fall, when schools anduniversities resume classes, was“a bridge too far.” Agency

Washington: Microdropletsgenerated by speech canremain suspended in the air inan enclosed space for morethan ten minutes, a study pub-lished Wednesday showed,underscoring their likely role inspreading Covid-19.

Researchers at the NationalInstitute of Diabetes andDigestive and Kidney Diseases(NIDDK) had a person loudly repeat the phrase “Stayhealthy” for 25 seconds insidea closed box.

A laser projected into thebox illuminated droplets,allowing them to be seen andcounted.

They stayed in the air foran average of 12 minutes, thestudy published in the journal

Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences of theUnited States of America(PNAS) showed.

Taking into account theknown concentration of coro-navirus in saliva, scientists esti-mated that each minute ofloudly speaking can generatemore than 1,000 virus-con-taining droplets capable ofremaining airborne for eightminutes or more in a closedspace. “This direct visualizationdemonstrates how normalspeech generates airbornedroplets that can remain sus-pended for tens of minutes orlonger and are eminently capa-ble of transmitting disease inconfined spaces,” theresearchers conclude. AFP

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Warning that the Covid-19crisis is increasing “psy-

chological suffering”, UN chiefAntonio Guterres has called foran ambitious commitmentsfrom countries to address men-tal health issues arising fromthe coronavirus pandemic,amid a potential global spike insuicides and drug abuse.

Ahead of the upcomingWorld Health Assembly inGeneva, UN Secretary Generalin a video message launching apolicy briefing on Wednesdayurged the international com-munity to do much more toprotect all those facing mount-ing mental pressures.

“Mental health is at the

core of our humanity. It enables us to lead rich andfulfilling lives and to participate in our communities.But the Covid-19 virus is not only attacking our physicalhealth; it is also increasingpsychological suffering,”Guterres said.

Launching the UN policybrief — Covid-19 And TheNeed for Action On MentalHealth — Guterres highlight-ed how those most at risktoday were “frontline health-care workers, older people,adolescents and young people,those with pre-existing mentalhealth conditions and thosecaught up in conflict and cri-sis. We must help them andstand by them.”

Beijing: China on Thursdaytermed as “slanderous” the USaccusation that hackers backedby Beijing may be attemptingto steal Covid-19 relatedresearch and vaccine materialsand said that “smearing andscapegoating” others will notmake the deadly virus go away.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian alsorebutted US National SecurityAdvisor Robert O’Brien’s chargethat five plagues came out Chinain the last 20 years, saying USofficials are shifting the blameon Beijing as they struggled tohandle the coronavirus pan-demic back home. The USclaims have added fuel to ten-sions between the two nations,which are engaged in a war ofwords over the origin of thecoronavirus that has killed3,00,000 people globally. PTI

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Boeing has been awardedtwo contracts worth more

than $2 billion for the deliveryof more than 1,000 air-to-sur-face and anti-ship missiles toSaudi Arabia, the Pentagonsaid Wednesday.

A first contract, worth$1.97 billion, is for the mod-ernization of SLAM ER cruisemissiles as well as delivery of650 new missiles “in support ofthe government of SaudiArabia,” it said.

The contract is to be com-pleted by December 2028 forthe SLAM ERs, a GPS-guidedair-to-surface missile with arange of up to 155 nautical

miles (approximately 180 miles,290 kilometers).

The Pentagon alsoannounced a more than $650million contract for delivery of 467 new HarpoonBlock II anti-ship missiles,including more than 400 toSaudi Arabia.

The others will be deliveredto Brazil, Qatar and Thailand.Support equipment will besupplied to India, Japan, theNetherlands and South Korea,the statement said.

In a separate statement,Boeing said the new contractswould ensure the continuationof the Harpoon programthrough 2026 and restart theSLAM ER production line.

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Nearly 3 million laid-offworkers applied for U.S.

unemployment benefits lastweek as the viral outbreak ledmore companies to slash jobseven though most states havebegun to let some businessesreopen under certain restrictions.

The wave of layoffs maynot subside until Congress canagree on providing rescue aidfor financially desperate stateand local governments as wellas further help for households.Republicans in Congress andthe Trump administration arelocked in a standoff withDemocrats, who have pro-posed trillions more in aid

beyond the nearly $3 trillionalready allocated to individualsand businesses. Republicanleaders have said they want tofirst see how previous aid pack-ages affect the economy andhave expressed skepticismabout approving much morespending now.

Roughly 36 million peoplehave now filed for jobless aid inthe two months since the coro-navirus first forced millions ofbusinesses to close their doorsand shrink their workforces,the Labor Department saidThursday. An additional842,000 people applied for aidlast week through a separatefederal program set up for theself-employed and gig workers.

Washington: President DonaldTrump and Republicans arelaunching a broad election-yearattack on the foundation of theRussia investigation, includ-ing declassifying intelligenceinformation to try to placesenior Obama administrationofficials under scrutiny forroutine actions.

The effort has been aidedby a Justice Department deci-sion to dismiss its prosecutionof former Trump administra-tion national security adviserMichael Flynn, essentiallyrewriting the narrative of thecase in a way that former fed-eral law enforcement officialssay downplays the legitimate

national security concerns theybelieve Flynn’s actions raised.

Trump and his Republicanallies are pushing to reframethe Russia investigation as a“deep state” plot to sabotage hisadministration, setting thestage for a fresh onslaught ofattacks on past and presentDemocratic officials and lawenforcement leaders.

Two Republican critics ofthe Russia investigation, Sens.Chuck Grassley of Iowa and RonJohnson of Wisconsin, discloseda list of names of Obama admin-istration officials they say mayhave received Flynn’s identityfrom intelligence reports in2016 and 2017. AP

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Nearly eight years after hewas last on the ballot,

Barack Obama is emerging asa central figure in the 2020presidential election.

Democrats are eagerlyembracing Obama as a politi-cal wingman for Joe Biden,who spent two terms by his sideas vice president. Obamaremains the party’s most pop-ular figure, particularly withblack voters and youngerDemocrats, and Biden’s presi-dential campaign is planningfor him to have a highly visiblerole in the months to come.

For President Donald

Trump, that means an opportunity to focus thespotlight on one of his favoritepolitical foils.

In recent days, Trump andhis allies have aggressivelypushed conspiracy theoriesabout Obama designed to fireup the president’s conservativebase, taint Biden by associationand distract from the glut ofgrim health and economicnews from the coronaviruspandemic.

“Partisans on both sideswant to make this aboutObama,” said Ned Price, whoserved as spokesperson forObama’s White House NationalSecurity Council.

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Kolkata: Manoj Joshi, General Manager, Metro Railway held ahigh level meeting at Metro Rail Bhavan on May 11.

During this meeting, he took stock of the preparedness ofTapan Sinha Memorial Hospital to combat Covid-19 pandem-ic. He advised medical officers to take all possible steps to pro-vide best medical facilities as per rules to Covid-19 patients ifthey come for treatment at this hospital.

Joshi advised all concerned officials to be ready for resump-tion of Metro services in a short notice. Before the resumptionof Metro services, fitness of assets required for providing smoothservices needs to be ensured, he instructed.

He has also asked officials to prepare a ‘Must Do List’ beforethe resumption of services and also precaution needs to be takenwhen Metro services will start.

Noida: The Covid-19 testinglab in MicrobiologyDepartment, Super SpecialityPaediatric Hospital and Postgraduate Teaching Institute,NOIDAwas formally inaugu-rated at 10 am on May 13 byCEO Greater NOIDA, MrNarendra Bhushan.

The inauguration was donethrough remote video confer-encing. Director of Child PGI,Dr DK Gupta, ICMR ScientistDr Anup Kumar Anvikar, otherFaculty and Microbiology staffof SSPH PGTI also participat-ed in the video conference.

A brief presentation aboutthe Covid testing facility wasshared by Dr Sumi Nandwani,Prof and Head, Department ofMicrobiology.

The laboratory has beenapproved for Covid-19 testingby ICMR and as per recom-mendations of KGMU afterremote assessment of the lab-oratory quality and facility.

External Quality ResultValidation with NationalInstitute of Biologicals, NOIDAwas also done with controlsamples before commence-ment of the facility.

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The Modi Government onThursday announced the

extension of the deadline forthe affordable housing CreditLinked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS)till March 2021. The deadlinefor CLSS had expired on March31, 2020. The move is expect-ed to bring investments to thetune of �70,000 crore in thehousing sector.

According to theGovernment, this move willbenefit 2.5 lakh middle incomefamilies during 2020-21. Withthe help of the CLSS, theGovernment aims at increasingthe credit flow in institutions tomeet the housing needs of theurban poor population in ourcountry.

Announcing the secondtranche of measures under the�20 lakh crore economic stim-ulus package on Thursday,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said that the movewill benefit the lowest strata ofthe middle income group with�6-18 lakh annual income.

“For them there is a CreditLinked Subsidy Scheme, whichwas introduced by Governmentof India in May 2017... it wasextended up to March 31, 2020.This scheme benefits a lot of

people who want to have sim-ple affordable houses. This linkis being extended up to March2021,” Sitharaman said.

The CLSS to the middleincome group with �6 lakh to�18 lakh per annum wasopeationalised from May 2017.This scheme till date has bene-fited around 3.3 lakh families.Under the scheme, the govern-ment offers interest subsidy toeligible beneficiaries. The schemecovers two middle-income seg-ments — MIG-I, with annualincome between �6-12 lakh,and MIG-II, for families earningbetween �12-18 lakh per annum.

The Finance Minister alsoannounced plans to launchaffordable rental housing com-plexes (ARHCs). This movewill help migrant workers andurban poor to live in cities bypaying reasonable rents at thesegovernment complexes. Theinitiative will be rolled outunder the Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana (PMAY) by convertinggovernment funded housing inthe cities into ARHCs underpublic-private partnershipthrough concessionaire.

Sitharaman added it willhelp the subsidiary industries ofreal estate like cement, steel, etcas affordable housing will boostthe real esatte industry.

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India Inc on Thursday saidthe second tranche of the

stimulus package will providerelief to the most vulnerablesections of the society reelingunder the impact of Covid-19and boost the housing sector,aiding economic growth.

The Government onThursday announced a �3.16lakh crore package of freefoodgrains for migrant work-ers, concessional credit tofarmers and working capitalloan for street vendors as partof the second tranche of fiscalstimulus to heal an economyhit hard by the lockdown.

At a news conference,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said 8 croremigrant workers will get 5 kgof grains and 1 kg of pulses freefor two months, while 50 lakhstreet vendors rendered joblessby the lockdown would begiven a working capital loan of�10,000 each.

As many as 2.5 crore farm-ers will be provided �2 lakhcrore of concessional creditthrough Kisan Credit Cards.

Also for post-harvest(Rabi) and current Kharif croprequirements in May and June,NABARD will provide �30,000crore additional emergencyworking capital funding forfarmers through rural cooperative banks and region-

al rural banks.She also announced a

�70,000 crore boost to thehousing sector through one-year extension of subsidisedloan for affordable houses forthe middle-income group withan annual income of �6 lakh to�18 lakh.

“ Today’s announcementstake forward the elements thatwere mentioned in the PradhanMantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojanaand add more dimensions to it.We hope that the governmenthas planned for the imple-mentation of these schemeswell in conjunction with thestate governments who willhave a major role to play here,”Sangita Reddy, President,FICCI said.

CII Director GeneralChandrajit Banerjee said thesecond tranche of stimuluspackage rightfully focussed onproviding relief to poor includ-ing migrant workers, farmers,street vendors and members oftribal community who haveborne the brunt of the lock-down necessitated due toCovid-19 outbreak.

Banerjee said it is hearten-ing to note that the immediateavailability of �30,000 crore ofEmergency Working CapitalFunds through NABARD forthe small and marginal farm-ers is expected to meet post-harvest Rabi and current Kharifrelated work.

In addition, the �2 lakhcrore concessional credit boostto farmers through KisanCredit Cards will ensure thatthe ongoing agricultural oper-ations are not interrupted dueto lack of funds, he added.

For migrant workers, theavailability of free foodgrains,concessional rental housingcomplexes, among other mea-sures are expected to alleviatetheir stress by providing themsome succour in the currentchallenging scenario, he said.

The measure to extendCredit Linked Subsidy Scheme(CLSS) for middle incomegroup is expected to give aboost to the all-importanthousing sector which has sig-nificant multiplier impact onrest of the economy, Banerjeeadded.

Assocham SecretaryGeneral Deepak Sood said,“After providing crucial supportto the MSME sector, the PrimeMinister’s �20 lakh crore eco-nomic package has most aptlytargeted small farmers, migrantworkers and street vendors whoare the most vulnerable sectionof the society, reeling under theCovid-19 crisis.”

Increased credit availabil-ity to the farm and allied ruralsectors through extension ofPM Kisan Card scheme wouldalso play a critical role in reviv-ing the country’s economicgrowth, Sood said.

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The Government onThursday released trun-

cated data for April wholesaleprice-based inflation sayingthere was limited transaction ofproducts in the market due tothe outbreak of Covid-19.

As per the data released bythe Commerce and IndustryMinistry, wholesale price index(WPI) deflation in primaryarticles was 0.79 per cent inApril, as against an inflation of3.72 per cent in March.

The fuel and power basketsaw a deflation of 10.12 per centin April, against 1.76 per centdeflation in the previous month.“In view of the limited transac-tions of products in the whole-sale market in April 2020 due tothe spread of Covid-19, it hasbeen decided to release theprice movement of selected sub-groups/groups of WPI, follow-ing the principles of adequacy,”an official statement said.

All commodities WPIcould not be computed forApril-2020 due to non- avail-ability of manufactured productgroup index, it added. It said theprice indices of primary articleshave been computed based onmandi prices of agriculturalitems; ex-mine prices of min-erals; prices of crude petroleumand natural gas.

Price indices of fuel andpower major group have beencomputed based on the price

data reported from Ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Gas,selected public sector under-takings, Office of the CoalController and CentralElectricity Authority.

Price indices of these majorgroups (primary articles andfuel & power) were released forApril 2020 with standard proce-dures. No changes in estimationprocedures were done, it added.With regard to inflation in man-ufactured products, the ministrysaid in view of the preventivemeasures and announcementof nationwide lockdown by thegovernment to contain spread ofCovid-19, the price collection ofmanufactured products throughpersonal visits of price collectorswas suspended with effect fromMarch 19.

The data (ex-factoryprices) was collected throughelectronic means of communi-cations from selected factoriesand institutional sources. Theprice movement of these sub-groups/groups of WPI wasworked out by taking the pricesof only those items for whichat least 25 per cent of price quo-tations were reported from theselected manufacturing units.

Indices were compiled onlyfor five manufacturing groups— manufacture of food prod-ucts, beverages, chemicals andchemical products, pharma-ceuticals, medicinal chemicaland botanical products, andbasic metals.

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The BSE Sensex plummeted886 points on Thursday as

concerns over the efficacy ofthe Government’s stimuluspackage and grim global cueshammered investor confidence.

After crashing over 955points during the day, the 30-share index settled 885.72points or 2.77 per cent lower at31,122.89.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty tanked 240.80 points, or2.57 per cent, to close at9,142.75. Market players weredisappointed as the immediatespend out of the Government’s�20 lakh crore fiscal stimuluspackage was seen to be rela-tively small, raising doubtsabout the revival of growth anytime soon, experts said.

Further, global marketstanked following the WHO’scomments that the novel coro-navirus “may never go away”.

Tech Mahindra was thetop laggard in the Sensex pack,cracking 5.24 per cent, followedby Infosys, HDFC, IndusInd

Bank, Reliance Industries andNTPC.

On the other hand, HeroMotoCorp, L&T, Maruti,UltraTech Cement and SunPharma led the gainers’ chart,climbing up to 2.28 per cent.Meanwhile, the Governmentreleased truncated data forApril wholesale price-basedinflation, which showed defla-tion in primary articles was0.79 per cent, while fuel andpower basket saw a deflation of10.12 per cent last month amidthe nationwide lockdown.

“Indian benchmark indiceswiped out all the previous ses-sion gains with Nifty endedbelow 9150 level due to unen-thusiastic response to the reliefpackage announcements madeon Wednesday amid weakglobal cues.

“Capital goods and mediastocks were up while IT, met-als, financials, and telecomshares were down. All eyes arenow on the balance twoannouncements by FM overThursday and Friday,” saidDeepak Jasani, Head RetailResearch, HDFC Securities.

Announcing the secondtranche of economic stimulusmeasures post market hours,

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said these will befor the benefit of migrantworkers, street vendors andsmall farmers.

BSE IT, energy, teck,finance, metal, bankex, oil andgas, power and realty indiceslost up to 3.60 per cent, whilehealthcare, FMCG and capitalgoods closed with modestgains. The broader midcapand smallcap indices droppedup to 0.63 per cent. Asianmarkets were in the red afterthe World Health Organizationwarned that the novel coron-avirus “may never go away”.

On top of that, US FederalReserve chief Jerome Powellwarned of a “highly uncertain”outlook for the world’s topeconomy. Bourses in Shanghai,Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoulclosed with losses. Stockexchanges in Europe were alsotrading on a negative note inearly deals.

International oil bench-mark Brent crude futuressurged 3.85 per cent to USD30.32 per barrel.

On the currency front, therupee slipped 10 paise to pro-visionally close at 75.56 againstthe US dollar.

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At the outset, there are some points thatI would like to clarify. First, I have been

driving around the NCR with all requisitepermissions to cross the borders whenrequired. Also, I have been adhering to alltraffic rules and regulations, although mydriving licence has expired during the lock-down, but thanks to government forvalidity extension. That said, no-one needsreminding that these are tough times,despite some traffic on the roads of NewDelhi towards the latter half of the week,it was for the large part negligible.

Now, to the main dish of the day. Thenew second-generation Hyundai Creta isthe first new car I have evaluated in a while.Honestly, I put on quite a few extra kilo-metres on the car over the week, not justbecause it was my job but primarilybecause it was a fun car to drive. So I wasdriving the Creta with the new 1.4 turbo-petrol engine with 140PS of power and aseven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. There isa bit of turbo noise in the background buton the whole, the power comes on smooth-ly with no perceptible lag and the gearchanges are brilliant. Not all dual-clutchgearboxes are created equal, and this oneis very good.

But you cannot talk about the newCreta without talking about the elephantin the room — the looks of the car. Andthat brings up the other issue that severalfolks have asked me, what to look atbetween the Hyundai Creta and the KiaSeltos. The latter is a valid questionbecause the Creta and the Seltos are thesame cars mechanically. Same engineoptions, same gears but yes, quite differ-ent to look at. It is very peculiar to me thathistorically, it is Kia that has had quirky

design cues on their cars, Hyundai has beenrelatively conservative. But then you lookat these two cars, the Seltos despite its ‘lightbars’ front and back looks conventional.The Creta on the other hand, definitely hasvery polarising features. When Hyundaitook the covers off the second-generationCreta at the Auto Expo, the screams werefor Shah Rukh Khan, the rest of us werescratching our heads because this is a dra-matic change from the previous car.

Of course, there is a new focus on SUVdesign that mounts the headlights lower,you have seen that on the Tata Harrier, therefreshed Renault Kwid and even Hyundai’sVenue. This dramatic change in design ispossible thanks to advances in light tech-nology, mainly thanks to LED lights. Thatsaid, the base models of the new Creta willnot have the trio-beam LED lights, whichare only available on the SX models. TheLED positioning light, the ‘eyebrow’ lightas you might call it, is however standard.The LED taillights are also not there on thebase models, and neither is the chromed-out front grille. Much like its cousin, theSeltos, buying a base model of the Cretamakes little sense if you want the latest inlighting technology.

The same is true of the interiors. Thetop-spec Hyundai Creta is a brilliant car tosit inside and not just because of the bril-liant 26-cm high-definition screen. I havebeen using the 2020 Hyundai Elantra for

a few months but this screen is utterly bril-liant, in size and resolution, a step abovealmost all the competition. The Air Purifier,available on all automatic models, is a greatnew feature and is well-integrated into thecentral armrest. It gives a clear idea of theair quality inside the cabin. In these timesof the Coronavirus, the HEPA-filter insidethe car is a huge plus for Hyundai, well, theSeltos has it too. Similarly, for the BOSEsound-system, which is, in my opinion, isbrilliant for those who love driving withmusic. There is also the digital instrumentcluster on the op-spec models, and I knowHyundai can do a bit more here with thatspace, which I expect will be graduallyimproved. Rear leg room is better than theoutgoing car as is luggage space butfrankly this is a driver-oriented vehicle.

So great features, and it is a much bet-ter drive than the outgoing generation. Ifthere is a small flaw, it is that under veryheavy braking from very high speed, thecar is a bit skittish and demands that youhave a firm grip on the steering wheel. Ifyou are a Creta owner, and there are thou-sands of those in Delhi, this is a worthy andbetter successor of the badge. Yes, the looksare polarising and personal aesthetics willcome into play when choosing the car andthat is where the Creta versus Seltosdebate will rage. But at the end of the day,the profits will end up in the same place,so guess who wins?

The Indian restaurant industry was inthe midst of seeking a prescriptionfor a range of ailments, namely deep-

discounting, predatory aggregator policies,non-availability of GST input tax credit,rising costs, wafer-thin margins and theevolution of the new-age consumer whopreferred flirting with multiple brands asopposed to remaining loyal, among oth-ers. But this was early March 2020, whichnow seems aeons ago. What hit theindustry in the form of COVID-19 in lateMarch and the subsequent national lock-down has put the entire sector in need ofimmediate ventilator support. Sadly, as weare all aware, ventilators are in short sup-ply. The industry waits its turn with thehope that a timely intervention would helpit survive. It is not about prescriptions anylonger, it’s the very survival that is at stakenow.

That favourite waffle store, the neigh-bourhood pub, that smiling server whoalways knew how you liked your drink,and that immensely talented chef who hadmastered the intricacies of a pinch of salt,might not be around when diners returnout of the lockdown inertia. Conservativeestimates predict that almost 30 per centof your favourite eateries might not be ina position to fire their ovens once any sem-blance of normalcy returns. The balance70 per cent would, in most likelihood,rationalise recruitment — thereby point-ing towards a massive loss of livelihood.A sector that employs more than 7.2 mil-lion is staring at laying off close to two mil-lion people.

So what’s the way forward?

Step 1: Revive the patient — governmentintervention

A patient in critical care does not planon how to run the marathon in under fourhours. The restaurant industry is akin tothat patient. The first step is to revive thepatient and the governments (both cen-tre and state), which need to fulfill the vitalrole of a life-saver. But, how, may we ask?

Employees — The government in itswisdom ordered all businesses to pay theiremployees in full and not allow any ter-mination. While the intent behind this pol-icy is laudable, the practicality of this pro-vision would eventually bankrupt thesoundest of balance sheets. Saving employ-

ees today at the cost of businesses whichprovide that very employment wouldeventually save no one. It is a zero sumgame. As businesses fail, the employee thatwas the target of benefit, would eventu-ally face the same fate. Such short-termmeasures need to give rise to a sustainedpractical view. The government needs tointrospect and propose a mechanismthat addresses both issues — employee sur-vival as well as business survival. The gov-ernment could allocate a certain percent-age of employee wages to be paid throughthe ESIC corpus. Furthermore, it couldallow businesses to furlough employeesand allow them to pay only a subsistenceallowance during the lockdown period.

Statutory dues — Under lockdown,with no cash flows accruing to restaurants,the government could provide tax-defer-rals for at least the next six months, forrestaurants to conserve cash and be ableto re-start operations, thereby creating liq-uidity.

Credit Availability — Governmentcould facilitate loans without collateral andinterest subvention to make credit avail-able to ailing restaurants that are capableof surviving the crisis and hopefullythrive in the new COVID-19 world.

Licensing — With most licenses duefor renewal, authorities must ensure thatexisting ones are automatically renewedfor the current fiscal.

Consistent re-opening strategy —As and when the “new normal” isdefined, government needs to formulatea cohesive consistent policy with respectto reopening — one that is clear, objec-tive and practical. A well thought-outplan with respect to time-lines, publichealth, safety standards and standardoperating procedures that are notambiguous would help the restaurantsector to prepare and work in tandemwith the state to deliver the desiredresults. Once the above emergencymeasures are administered, the restau-rant industry could look to the nextstage, that is, ‘rehab’ (akin to planning

to run the first few miles while prepar-ing for the marathon run).

Step 2: Rehabilitate the patientThe world has changed as we know it

and we’re realising that a “new normal” isthe need of the hour. We all understandthat we have to live with the threat of thevirus till a reliable cure is found. Changesto our lifestyle, interactions and consump-tion habits are a foregone conclusion andthe restaurant industry shall have toadapt to these changes to survive and even-tually flourish in the “new normal”. Postlockdown, health and safety are probablygoing to be the prime determinants of con-sumption in the restaurant industry for alltimes to come.

Social distancing — With new normsin place, restaurants are already planningoperations with reduced seating layouts.Kitchens are being redesigned to ensuresocial distancing at the production stage.Safety through social distancing shallreplace “cheek-by-jowl skirmishes”.

Hygiene — Sanitisers, periodic disin-fection protocols, temperature checks,masks and gloves, contactless paymentsand digital menus are things that woulddefine the “new normal”. Most restaurants

are actively working during this shutdownto ensure public health and safety is givenimportance.

Trust — Restaurants would need towin the trust of the customer for them topatronise their services. The fear psychosiswould last for an extended time and hence,most consumers would be risk-averse.Restaurants would re-strategise theirUSPs and “selling with a seal of trust andconfidence” would be the new marketingmantra.

Menu rationalisation — With socialdistancing and whole new operating sce-narios at work, menus across restaurantsshall have to be re-engineered. This willachieve sustainability with respect toanticipated reduced footfalls (owing toreduced seating capacity as well as reducedcustomer visits owing to a certain fear psy-chosis of being in public spaces).

Spreadsheet magic — With rev-enues expected to see a dip, anywherebetween 30 per cent to 40 per cent on re-opening, CFOs would need to realign costpercentages to re-build a sustainable busi-ness model, markedly different from theone being followed pre-COVID-19.

Ease of doing business — To ensurea swift revival, governments must adopt

a business-friendly approach and removeall bottlenecks to speed up commercialactivity within the sector. A rationalisedindirect tax structure, ease of licensing andminimum government intervention couldpotentially unshackle the industry —creating substantial economic dividend.

While the government has announceda slew of measures to alleviate the pain,how and when the serum permeates downto the patients (restaurants) shall deter-mine how many survive to attempt themarathon ahead.

Step 3: The final marathon runIn due course, the lockdown would be

lifted. Restaurants, by their very nature ofbeing public spaces, might end up de-shut-tering later than most businesses. Onceopen, the final marathon run wouldbegin — probably as challenging as thelockdown itself. If the revival and rehabil-itation procedures are administered withprecision, the fit and able restaurantswould be able to stand a chance toembrace the tape in this final run.Marathons are never easy. Running arestaurant, especially in these times — notso either.

(The writer is Director, Pebble Street.)

The COVID-19 pandemic hasbrought the world down to its

knees. It has changed almost every-thing, especially people’s perspectiveabout life. Katrina Kaif isn’t feelinganything different.

“The pandemic, followed by thelockdown, has surely left many of usintrospecting on how blessed we areand how much we take for granted inour normal lives. Also, with thealarming number of cases, I feel we allshould work towards having betterimmunity through our food habitsand lifestyle. It also changed my per-spective about life in some ways,”Katrina said.

She also shared how she gets wor-ried about the situation at times, andshares a few tips on how to controlanxiety during the lockdown.

“I take one day at a timebut, yes, there are days whenI miss being on a shoot.Sometimes I also get wor-ried about when will lifego back to normal again.But I understand the cri-sis the world is dealingwith, and the impor-tance of everything thatis being practised todefeat the pandemic.

“While anxiety is aserious issue, I wouldsuggest that everyonekeeps calm, medi-tate or performyoga and think ofthe brighter side.Think about thedays to come afterthis phase andhow to not repeatthe mistakes we havebeen making towardsthe environment. Inthis phase whenever Ihave felt low, I have

resorted to meditating, doing yoga, orwatching a film or a show that cheersme up,” Katrina added.

Not only this, the crisis has helpedthe actor polish her housekeepingskills, in the absence of caretakers.

“This phase has helped me polishmy cooking and kitchen skills in a bigway. It has helped me improve in man-aging many household chores at onceand has also given me a newfoundrespect for the homemakers who doit on a regular basis,” she expressed.

Katrina has also contributed herbit in the fight against theCoronavirus. Her make-up brandKay Beauty has partnered withDe’Haat to support daily-wage earn-ers in rural areas of Maharashtra.

“Right from the start, we hadplans for Kay Beauty collaboratingwith various foundations. There was

a lot planned in terms of creatingawareness and helping people,and also associating with sever-al causes. De’Haat has been ourfirst collaboration and consid-ering the pandemic they werereally happy to work togeth-

er on this initiative.Vrundan, its founder

and CEO, is anamazing personality.She is very strong-headed and workshard for the wel-fare of ruralIndia. In our ini-tiative, we arereaching out tothe families ofdaily wageworkers in the

Bhandara dis-trict of Maharashtra

and providing them withfood and sanitary needs,”Katrina explained.

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The COVID-19 pandem-ic has got the countrysheltering at home dur-

ing the lockdown. While itwas assured that the supply ofessentials will continue asbefore, however, the appre-hension resulted in panic buy-ing, hoarding and stocking.Several stores ran out of anumber of food items and theprices of vegetables and fruitsspiralled.

Now that you’re over-stocked, one should getsmarter about what they have.We must learn the art ofstoring food with an extend-ed shelf life and minimisefood waste.

“Different food typescome with different shelf life.While some have the capaci-ty to stay fresh for longer, oth-ers may not,” states LuveOberoi, marketing manager,Asahi Kasei Pvt Ltd, listingbelow a few ways which canhelp you keep your food freshfor an extended period oftime:� Use of premium wraps

Premium (plastic) wrapsare considered extremelyhelpful when it comes to pre-serving food. These are madeof different materials andhence, can be found in thevariety of PVDC cling film,PVC or PE cling film. Thesewere introduced in the mid-20th century and owing totheir capability to preservefood, gained popularity.

However, if one has tochoose the best, PVDC cling.is considered the best. Theseplastic wraps help in keepingthe food fresh for a longertime by avoiding moistureand smells from seepingthrough. It is considered idealfor storing raw vegetables,fruits, poultry, seafood, rotidough without any fear of dis-coloration or oxidisation andthus eliminates any wastage offood.

� Store your fruits and veg-etables separately

Every food type has itsown properties. It is advisedthat we must not store our

fruit and vegetables together asa number of fruits expel a gascalled ethylene glycol as theyhit maturity. This gas speedsup the ripening of the fruitleading to premature ripeningof vegetables stored with them.Consequently, this can dam-age the fruit as well as vegeta-bles.

Also, some fruit, on the

absorption of odours fromvegetables, become unpalat-able. Hence, fruits and vegeta-bles must not be put together.

� Get creative and experi-ment with your food

What better time thanthis lockdown to nurture yourcooking skills and bring outthe inner chef. Most of us aretaking cooking classes onYouTube and experimentingwith new dishes which is caus-ing some amount of foodwastage too.

However, in times likethis, we need to get creativeand experiment with leftoverfood. There are so manythings which could be pro-duced out of it. For example,rice. It can be used in multi-ple ways. If you had cookedplain white rice in the after-noon for lunch and have someextra, you can add spices,onions and different flavoursto it for dinner and have anentirely new dish.

� Lable the expiry dates ofpantry items

We often have food itemsat home but we are unaware oftheir expiry dates. We must beaware of what we have and itsshelf life. This will help in con-sciously using items andavoiding wastage of those fooditems.

� Use fridge freezer shelvesfor different foods

Your fridge’s freezershelves are very helpful whenit comes to storing food itemslike ready to eat productssuch as dairy, cooked meats,raw meat, poultry and fish,salad, fruit and vegetables.However, since they have dif-ferent properties, they arestored in different shelves ofthe fridge.

Raw meat, f ish andseafood should be kept at acertain temperature in orderto lock in freshness and pre-vent harmful bacteria fromtucking in. They should bekept on the bottom shelf or, ifyour fridge has one, a chillcompartment that’s speciallydesigned for this purpose.

Butter and cheese are lessperishable, so they’re best keptnear the top of your fridgewhere it’s warmer.

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Since the Coronavirus pan-demic has led to a surge in

interest in gardening, espe-cially vegetable gardening,some seed companies are hav-ing trouble keeping up withdemand. But one thing wegardeners can do is grow andsave our own seeds.

Some kinds of seeds areeasier and more worthwhile tosave than others. Look on theseed packets or tags for plantsthat you’re growing. If it saysthe seeds or plants are “hybrid”or “F-1,” those seeds are prob-ably not worth saving.

Hybrid or F-1 seeds aretaken from plants grown fromseeds that are the result of mat-ing two different, selected par-ent plants. Each offspring dif-fers from the others and fromits parents. These seeds willgerminate and grow into plants,but those plants will be differ-ent from those from which youtook the seeds. Perhaps better.Perhaps worse. At any rate,somewhat of a gamble.

If a label indicates thatseeds or plants are non-hybridor are “heirloom” varieties,their seeds can be saved withconfidence that they’ll grow upto be just like their parents.These plants always have thesame parents; they pollinatethemselves.

Some plants, such as beans,peas, peppers and most toma-toes, do this naturally. Withothers, you must make surethat another variety doesn’tsneak in for pollination. Do thisby growing the seed plant farenough from other varieties ofthe same kind of plant to pre-vent cross-pollination, or byhand-pollinating and then cov-ering the pollinated blossomswith a paper or fine mesh bagto prevent cross-pollination.

���� � ����Fortunately, some of the

easiest kinds of vegetable seedsto save are also among the mostpopular: tomatoes and peppers.And when it comes time to col-lect tomato or pepper seeds, noneed to sacrifice the best fruits.

Most tomato flowers self-pollinate before they even open,so there’s usually no need toworry about cross-pollination.Just choose a healthy-lookingfruit from a healthy-lookingplant, and slice it in halfthrough its “equator,” at whichpoint the seed-containing cav-

ities are staring at you. Turn thehalf upside down over a glassand squeeze out the seeds.(Then eat the tomato — not anecessary step for seed saving.)

Those seeds are enmeshedin a gel that contains a germi-nation inhibitor. Purge thisinhibitor by adding some water,stirring, and letting the mix sitfor 24 hours. Then rinse theseeds thoroughly in severalchanges of water, pouring offwaste and nonviable seeds,which float, and strain out thegood seeds. Spread the seedsonto a plate or a few sheetsthickness of newspaper to dryout in a sunny spot or in thegentle breeze of a fan.

Peppers, which also self-pollinate, are even easier. Justcut a ripe pepper in half, scoopout the seeds, and let furtherdry. (Then eat the pepper.)

Not all seeds develop intojuicy fruits. An example is let-tuce. Leave a plant or twounharvested in your row of let-tuce, and let the warmer andlonger days of summer coaxthe plants into flowering mode.The leaves turn bitter, and upthe plants’ centres will rise aflower stalk capped by small,daisy-like flowers. As the seedsripen, shake the flower headsinto a paper bag to collect themover their several days of ripen-ing.

Beans and peas develop injuicy fruits, but that’s when weeat them, not when the seedsare ready (except in the case ofdry peas or beans). Tie a rib-bon onto a couple or moreplants to remind yourself notto pick their fruits, and let thefruits get thoroughly matureand dry. Then just pop out themature, dry seeds.

���� ������ ���Most vegetable plants have

both male and female flowerparts, so can self-pollinate.Plants in the cucumber fami-ly, such as squash, melon,pumpkin and, of course,cucumber, have separate maleand female flowers on thesame plant, which increases thechances of a female flowergetting pollinated by a malefrom a nearby plant of anoth-er variety.

Prevent cross-pollinationby, first, hand-pollinating afemale flower; she’ll have aminiature cucumber, melonor squash fruit at her base. Daba paint brush on a male flowerto pick up pollen and then dabthe pollen-laden brush on thefemale flower parts. Or plucka male flower, pull off itspetals, and rub its head into afemale flower.

Further limit cross-polli-nation by enclosing the polli-nated blossoms in a bag or, ifpetals are large enough, tapingthem closed.

Seeds of the cucumberfamily are mature only in thefully ripe fruit, so let cucum-bers or summer squash grownfor seed thoroughly ripen onthe plant before slicing themopen to collect seed. Melons,pumpkins and winter squash-es are fully ripe when ready toeat, so just scoop out theseeds, then rinse and drythem.

To best preserve any ofyour harvested seeds, storethem thoroughly dried insealed bags in a cool location.This season’s crop of seedsmight spur you to try savingother kinds of vegetable, evenflower, seeds next season.You’ll save money, be assuredof having seeds of the veg-etable varieties you want togrow, and have some fundoing so. —AP

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�������C���D� Tottenham man-ager Jose Mourinho says he is“desperate” for the return ofPremier League actiondespite mounting con-cerns about theEnglish top-flight’srestart plans.

Some top-flightbosses understoodto have expressedconcerns about theplan to play from mid-June but Mourinhosaid he would relishthe chance to get backto work despite the chal-lenges and risks posed by

the pandemic.“I have not asked for

any delay,” Mourinho saidin a statement.

“I want to train,and I am desperatefor the PremierLeague to return assoon as it is safe todo so, particularly nowwe are seeing otherleagues preparing toreturn to action.”

Mourinho said he ishappy with the way his

squad have kept themselvesfit during the lockdown.

“I am extremely proud of

the way my players have main-tained their fitness,” he said.“They have shown great profes-sionalism, passion and dedica-

tion.“We have all been

working extremely hardthrough remote squadtraining sessions and isolat-

ed running now the pitches areavailable to use again at thetraining centre.

“Every player has beenextremely committed in terms oftheir individual work and nowwe wait for clearance to com-mence working in small groupsagain, which I will fully support.”

� ��� 3,4� ,�!-�

The National Rifle Association ofIndia (NRAI) has nominated ace

shooter Anjum Moudgil for the KhelRatna — the country’s highest sportinghonour — while recommending JaspalRana for the Dronacharya Award for thesecond year in a row.

Moudgil, the 26-year-old rifle acewho started shooting in 2008, is amongthe first two Indians to have securedquota places for the Tokyo Olympics.

The NRAI on Thursday said it willbe sending the Sports Ministry thenames of champion pistol shootersSaurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma,Manu Bhaker and promising rifle shoot-er Elavenil Valarivan for the prestigiousArjuna Award.

Bhaker and Valarivan’s names wereadded to the list on Thursday, according

to federation sources. NRAI PresidentRaninder Singh said in a statement, “Ourshooters had an outstanding last seasonand it was a particularly difficult selec-tion to make this time around.

“I wish all those recommended all thevery best and hope those who could notmake it this year, force us to do so nexttime around with their performances.

“I believe all are equally talented andwill certainly reap rich awards if theycarry on the way they have.”

Bhaker and Valarivan’s names wereadded to the list on Thursday.

“Anjum Moudgil has been nominat-ed for Khel Ratna while the NRAI hasagain send Jaspal’s name for Dronacharya.They have always believed that hedeserves it and are hoping he gets it thistime,” a federation source said.

“Saurabh Chaudhary, AbhishekVerma, Manu Bhaker and Elavenil have

been recommended for Arjuna.”Moudgil, the shooter from

Chandigarh earned the quota in the 10mAir Rifle event when she won the Silvermedal in the ISSF World Cup in Koreain 2018.

Last year, Moudgil paired up withDivyansh Singh Panwar to claim the 10mAir Rifle mixed team Gold medal in theISSF World Cup in Munich and Beijing.

She also reached the final in the 10mAir Rifle event in the ISSF World Cup inMunich and Rio de Janeiro.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardcarries a medallion, a certificate and acash prize of �7.5 lakh.

While, the 43-year-old Rana, a mul-tiple Asian Games Gold-medallist marks-man, is credited to have groomed the likesof teen sensations Bhaker, Saurabh intoworld-class shooters. The award carriesa cash prize of �5 lakh.

� � � 3,4� ,�!-

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an uncon-ventional and unique leader,

whose biggest strength is his incrediblegut feeling, says his Chennai SuperKings teammate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africa skipperhas spent considerable time with Dhoniafter joining the IPL side in 2011 andhas been an integral part of its success-ful journey.

“He reads the others player reallywell and he uses that to make instinc-

tive decisions on the field. He’s got anincredible gut feeling on the game andI think that’s his biggest strength,” duPlessis said in a Facebook Live sessionwith B’desh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhonichanged his perception of how a cap-tain should be. “It was amazing for meto see how different MS was as a cap-tain. I used to think a captain mustspeak all the time in team meetings etcbut MS was completely different.

“He doesn’t believe a lot in teammeetings. He’s a very instinctive captainhe’s got such a good cricket brain thathe relies on it to make the right deci-sions on the field,” du Plessis said of for-mer India skipper.

Calling Dhoni the best finisher hehas played with, Du Plessis said no onecan emulate what the dasher fromRanchi can do with the bat.

“He’s extremely calm. I haven’tplayed with someone who is a better fin-isher than him. It’s just remarkable towatch him from the side of the field.”

“If someone else tries to do it likehim they won’t be able to. He’s just sounique like he times the ball so late he’sgot an incredible calmness. He knowshis game and he picks a bowler and goesfor it.”

Du Plessis also added that playingfor CSK alongside Dhoni and under theguidance head coach Stephen Fleminghas taught him a lot about leadership.

� ��� ��3 �3

England players could ten-tatively start their out-

door skill-based training inthe coming weeks with theECB eyeing resumption ofInternational cricket with aseries against West Indies inJuly, said its director of crick-et Ashley Giles.

However, as per healthdirective issued byGovernment wing, the play-ers — across all sports in UK— will have an option to ‘optout” of training if they have

any apprehensions of healthrisk.

“These are the very firsttentative steps back to playingcricket,” Giles was quoted assaying by ESPNCricinfo, indi-cating that it could be done incontrolled environment.

“This is individual-basedtraining, so in many ways weshould be able to get controlof the environment so it’s saferto go back to practice than itis to go to the supermarket. Itshould be that controlled anenvironment.”

However as per protocols

issued by the Department forDigital, Culture, Media andSport (DCMS), players will

have an option.The ECB Director also

agreed that they have to cre-ate an environment whereWest Indies and Pakistanboth feel safe while travellingto the United Kingdom.

“It can be quite scary butwe are doing everything wepossibly can to answer all ofWest Indies’ questions. Wewill be speaking to Pakistanas well and mitigate as muchrisk as we possibly can. Wecan’t mitigate all risk but asmuch as possible to get guyscomfortable.”

����� �*���3

Borussia Dortmund’s youngstars Erling Braut Haalandand Jadon Sancho will be

hunting more goals on Saturday in“the most unusual derby in history”against Schalke as the GermanBundesliga returns behind lockeddoors.

Dortmund usually expect82,000 spectators at Signal IdunaPark for a home derby, but the sta-dium will be near-empty with onlya handful of media and officialsadmitted.

Even national team coachJoachim Loew will not be allowed into watch his Germany players Liveon their return to action.

“It will be the most unusualderby in history,” former Dortmundcaptain Sebastian Kehl told Germandaily Welt.

Normally, a home derby againstSchalke comes alive “through thefans, from their emotions, from theenthusiasm in the stadium,” Kehladded.

Dortmund are looking to closethe four-point gap behind leadersBayern Munich, who visit UnionBerlin on Sunday.

However, Dortmund’s iconicsouth stand, dubbed The Yellow Walland normally packed with 25,000passionate fans will — like the restof the stadium — stand empty.

“The players will miss thechance for extra motivation by thefans and the atmosphere,” admittedKehl.

While league action in England,Spain and Italy is still at least a monthaway, the German Football League(DFL) has drawn up detailedhygiene guidelines to restart.

At games around the country,

substitutes will wear masks, goal cel-ebrations will be replaced by elbowtaps while handshakes and hugsbefore kick-off are a no-go.

“A lot of things will start fromscratch on Saturday,” Dortmundwinger Julian Brandt told Sky.

“There will be no real advan-tages and disadvantages to playinghome or away.

“In the end, it depends on who

best accepts this situation and canbest deal with it.”

The pressure is on Haaland, 19,and Sancho, 20, to continue theirgoal-rich partnership, despite theempty terraces, and steer injury-depleted Dortmund to victory.

Midfield enforcers Emre Canand Axel Witsel are out with mus-cle strains, while playmaker MarcoReus is recovering from a groin

problem.Haaland was in stunning form

when the league was suspended inmid-March with nine goals ineight Bundesliga appearancessince joining from Salzburg.

Sancho also terroriseddefences with 14 goals and 16assists in 23 league games.

At third-placed RBLeipzig, Germany striker TimoWerner is aiming to move closer tohis goal target for the season against

Freiburg on Saturday. “Not manyplayers my age have scored 20 goalsin a season once and I’ve done it

twice,” said the 24-year-oldWerner who has netted 21times this term. “I’d like toscore 30 in a season.”

Julian Nagelsmann’sLeipzig trail leaders Bayern byfive points following draws

against Leverkusen and Wolfsburgbefore matches were halted due tothe virus outbreak.

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Spanish driver Carlos Sainz willreplace four-time Formula One

world champion Sebastian Vettel atFerrari next season, while DanielRicciardo has signed a “multi-year”deal with McLaren from 2021.

Sainz, 25, will leave McLaren fol-lowing the 2020 season to partner 22-year-old Charles Leclerc at Ferrari,forming the team’s youngest pairing inthe past 50 years.

“With five seasons already behindhim, Carlos has proved to be very tal-ented and has shown that he has thetechnical ability and the right attrib-utes to make him an ideal fit with ourfamily,” Ferrari team boss MattiaBinotto said in a statement onThursday.

“We believe that a driver pairingwith the talent and personality ofCharles and Carlos... will be the bestpossible combination to help us reachthe goals we have set ourselves.”

Sainz emerged in pole position tosucceed Vettel at Maranello after theGerman announced on Tuesday hewas quitting Ferrari after talks over anew contract broke down.

Sainz, whose father, also Carlos, isa two-time world rally champion, haspreviously driven for Red Bull’s feed-er team Toro Rosso and Renaultbefore impressing with McLaren lastseason.

He secured the once all-conquer-ing British team’s first podium place inalmost six years in Brazil last year.

Signing Sainz will also end any lin-gering speculation about six-timechampion Lewis Hamilton leavingMercedes for Ferrari.

“I am very happy that I will be dri-ving for Scuderia Ferrari in 2021 andI’m excited about my future with theteam,” said Sainz, who is expected toplay a supporting role alongsideLeclerc.

Australian Ricciardo will drive forMcLaren next season when he takesover the seat left vacant by Sainz.

Ricciardo, 30, will line up along-side Britain’s Lando Norris, 20, in 2021after he leaves Renault at the end of thisseason.

“Daniel is a proven race-winnerand his experience, commitment andenergy will be a valuable addition toMcLaren and our mission to return tothe front of the field,” said McLarenteam principal Andreas Seidl.

“With Daniel and Lando as team-mates, I believe we have two racerswho will continue to excite our fansand help the team grow.”

Ricciardo has won seven races andrecorded 29 podium finishes since hisF1 debut with the HRT team at theBritish Grand Prix in 2011.

He drove for Red Bull’s juniorteam Toro Rosso in 2012 and 2013before making the jump to the flagshipRed Bull team in 2014. He finishedthird in the drivers’ standings in 2014and 2016.

Vettel’s future meanwhile remainsuncertain.

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������� Borussia Dortmund mid-fielder Julian Brandt has saidwhile he is not feeling the samepressure as he would in normalcircumstances when they take onlocal rivals Schalke, the sense ofoccasion is not lost on him.

“You have to say that it’s thefans who always make it special.If you’re a few days before such agame you’ll notice that yourneighbours are only speakingabout the game when they seeyou,” Brandt told bundesliga.comin midweek interview.

“You notice that the mediafocuses heavily on the game andthat creates a certain tension in theair. At the moment, this isn’t thecase. Although I think the fans stillreally care about the result of thefixture, you don’t notice it. Theonly tension that you could poten-tially feel is through the media butthey have many other topics tocover so I think BVB vs Schalkeis at the bottom of their priorities.

“Therefore, you don’t feel thesame pressure as you would innormal circumstances, but in the

end, this is the situation that we’rein. Everyone will be watching uson Saturday, the Dortmund fanswill watch us and the Schalke fanswill watch their team. The resultof the game will be important tothem so it’s not like we just saythat it’s irrelevant who wins orloses, it won’t be like this. We dorecognise that it would be animportant tone to set if we win thegame,” said the 24-year old.

“This game is already his-toric, regardless of what happenson the pitch, as there has neverbeen something like this,” headded. IANS

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Emphasising that long term goals can putstress and pressure on a player, star

India opener Rohit Sharma says he prefersshort term goals and would continue withthe same strategy in future.

Sharma, who has played 224 ODIs and32 Tests, said he likes setting a target forhimself before the start of a series.

“Over the years, I’ve realised that long-term goals won’t help you in anyway. Onthe contrary it will add to your pressure andstress. I have always focused on short termgoals which are mainly the next fewgames in the upcoming 2-3 months — whois it against, what can I do best,” the Sharmasaid on Star Sports show Cricket Connected:Chats.

“Setting goals for each series or tour-nament helps me a lot and I will continueto follow this method in the future,”added the Mumbaikar, who has scored9,115 ODI runs.

All the sports persons are stuck in theirhouses due to the lockdown, enforced tocontain the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.Sharma said considering the situation, theycan only wait for action to begin.

“I hope we get the opportunity to playcricket, as we don’t know when we will playagain. When we resume playing cricket, wewill have to see what’s coming our way —whether its T20 World Cup or (the) IPL,”he said.

“We even had a big bilateral seriesagainst Australia planned — we will haveto analyse and see who we are playingagainst,” he signed off.

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A7����( ������������ ��� �0�� �� ������(7����������������P���� � ��������������9<�4�1������ Veteran South Africa bats-man Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players beforeand after the T20 World Cup as a wayto stage the event as per schedule laterthis year.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captainTamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel wasgoing to be an issue despite Australiabeing less affected by the deadly con-tagion. “I am not sure... Reading thattravelling is going to be an issue for lot

of countries and they are talking aboutDecember or January. Even if Australiais not affected like other countries, toget people from Bangladesh, SouthAfrica or India where there is more dan-ger, obviously it's a health risk to them,”du Plessis said.

“But you can go in before the tour-nament (for) two weeks isolation andthen play the tournament and after-wards two weeks isolation,” said the for-mer captain. PTI

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