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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

CIVIL SERVICES DAY

GARGIVERMARAIPUR,APRIL20

JAMALOMADKAM, 12, left herhouse for the first time twomonths ago, going with somerelatives and friends towork ata chilli farm in Telangana. OnSunday, she returned dead, try-ingtomakeherwaybackamidstthecoronavirus lockdown.Officials said the tribal girl

diedonApril18duetoelectrolyteimbalanceandexhaustion, hav-ingwalked for over three dayswith13others,coveringover100kmanddyingbarely11kmshortof her home in Aded in Bijapur

districtofChhattisgarh.Jamalowas the only child of

Andoram (32) and SukamatiMadkam (30), who barely sur-vive on the forest produce theycollect. It was the first time shehadgoneouttowork.“ShewenttoTelanganawithsomewomenfromthevillage,”Andoramsaid.OnMonday, Chief Minister

Bhupesh Baghel announcedRs1 lakh for Jamalo’s family.ManyamongChhattisgarh’s

tribal population go every yearto farms in Telangana to earnmoneypickingchillies.Andoram said he last heard

that Jamalo had left Peruru vil-lage in Telangana, where she

worked, on April 16 with agroup. “They decided to comebackafterrealisingthatthelock-downhadgotextendedandtheywouldnotgetanywork.”The13withJamaloincluded

threechildrenandeightwomen.Accordingtosources, Jamalo

died around 8 am on April 18when the group reached theborder of Bijapur district ofChhattisgarh. The group couldnotinformthefamilyasonlyoneamongthemhadaphonewhosebatteryhaddied.Finally, when the group

reached Bhandarpal village inBijapurdistrict, theymanagedtocallherparents.Aresidentof the

village requesting anonymitysaid,“Heaskedifhecouldmakeaphonecall tothegirl’svillage.”TheBhandarpalvillagersalso

alertedpolice.Medical Officer of Bijapur

district Dr B R Pujari said thatwhen they got the news, theyimmediatelyrushedover.“SinceTelanganahadcases,we imme-diately sent our teams, but wecouldn’t find them,”hesaid.Chhattisgarh currently has

36positivecases,ofwhich11arein hospital. It is quarantininganyonearrivingfromoutsidethestate. In Telangana, 872positivecaseshavebeenreported.Finally, amedical teamfrom

Bijapur managed to catch upwith the group on the outskirtsof Bhandarpal village. WhileJamalo’s body was taken to amorgue,thegroupwassentintoaquarantine facility.On Sunday evening,

AndoramandSukamati arrivedto take theirdaughter’sbody.SaidDrPujari,“Thegirlissus-

pected tohavedieddue toelec-trolyte imbalance and exhaus-tion, as the group had beenwalkingthreedays.Theywalkedthroughforests,andatoneplace,shealso tooka fall.”The day after she died,

Jamalo’s test results for coron-aviruscame.Shewasnegative.

PAGE1ANCHOR

JamaloMakdam’sparentsAndoramandSukamati. She lefttoworkatachilli farminTelanganatwomonthsago. Express

12-yr-old walks 100 km, dies just short of Bijapur home

WorkbeginsonMankhurdflyover inDeonar,Mumbai,onMonday, thefirstdayofeasingof somerestrictions.PrashantNadkar

OPPN-RULEDBENGAL,MAHARASHTRA,RAJASTHAN INLIST,WITHMP

Eateries tobarbers: AfterCentre warns,Kerala limitsrelaxationsSHAJUPHILIP&DEEPTIMANTIWARYTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,NEWDELHI, APRIL20

KERALAMONDAY rolled backsomeofthekeylockdownrelax-ations it had decided to allowfromApril 20 in a phasedman-ner, including the partial open-ing of restaurants, non-AC bar-ber shopsandbookshops, adayafteritwaswarnedbytheCentrethattheywereinviolationoftheguidelinesissuedbytheMinistryofHomeAffairs.Ina letter,datedApril19and

sent to Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan’s office, UnionHome Secretary Ajay Bhallawrote: “Iwouldurgeyoutorec-tify the guidelines... in linewiththe consolidated revisedguide-lines dated 15th April & 16thApril 2020withoutanydilutionand to ensure strict complianceof lockdownmeasures.”On Monday, as confusion

prevailed across Kerala withpeopleturningoutinstreetsandmarkets in large numbers, thestategovernmentdiscussedtheMHAletteratahigh-levelreviewmeeting and decided to adheretotheCentre’sguidelines.Byaf-ternoon,thepoliceforcedshopsselling non-essential items todown shutters and clampeddownonmovementofvehicles.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SANDEEPSINGH&ANILSASIMANESAR(HARYANA),APRIL20

ONMONDAY, as the first tenta-tive steps to ease lockdown re-strictions at designated indus-trial zones across the countrykickedin,thestreetsofManesar— one of the biggest auto ancil-lary hubs on the outskirts ofDelhi—remaineddeserted.

Despite the Union HomeMinistry’sApril 15order that of-feredrelaxationsforscaled-downoperationsofindustrialunits,the

majorityof the2,000unitsinthetownshipappearedshut.Theonlyvisiblesignofactiv-

ity was at a non-auto facility:MankindPharma’sresearchcen-tre on the Kasan Gaon Road, anarterialroadthathousesaboutadozen industrial units on onesideandMarutiSuzuki’ssprawl-ing factoryon theother.Maruti Suzuki’s 700-acre

main plant, operated by thecountry’sbiggestcarmakerwith

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL20

EVENAStheUniongovernmentis looking at various options for“gradual”liftingofthelockdownpost-May 3 and hopes that thedoublingtimeofCOVID-19caseswill increase to12daysby then,sources said it is preparing for asecondwaveinlateMayorearly

June, as restrictionsareeased.On Monday, the Health

Ministry said thedoubling time— an epidemiologicalmetric ofhow long an infectious diseasetakes for thenumberof cases todouble—is7.5days,upfromthe3.4 days before the lockdown.The government hopes that itwill increase to 10 days by theendof theweek, and12daysbythe firstweekofMay.

“At ourworst, our doublingtime was 3.4 days. We are ex-pectingtotouch12byApril-endorearlyMay,butafterthat,aswegradually start toopenup—thelockdownwill definitely not belifted inonego—therewill beagradual increase (in cases).Weare looking at a second peak inlateMay or early June, but nowthat awareness levels are high

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

DEEPTIMANTIWARY&ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL20

ADAYafter it directedKerala torectify its lockdown relaxationssaying some of the concessionsdiluted national guidelines, theCentre singled outmore states,putting under strain the com-monexitstrategythatthePrimeMinisterhadurgedstatestohelpframe in the country’s effortsagainstCOVID-19.OnMonday, the Centre in-

formed West Bengal,Maharashtra, Rajasthan — allruled by the Opposition— andMadhya Pradesh that lockdownmeasureswere being routinelyflouted in their districts, and itwas sending six newly-consti-tuted Inter-Ministerial CentralTeams (IMCTs) for on-the-spotassessmentofthesituationthere.The IMCTs, whichwill sub-

mit a report to the Centre, havebeen authorised to issueneces-sary directions to state authori-ties for redressal. Headed by

Additional Secretary-rank offi-cers from theCentre, the IMCTswill start the inspection visitswithin threedaysof theorder.TMC-ruledWestBengal’sini-

tial response was frosty, ques-tioning the deployment of theIMCTs and suggesting that it“might not be consistent withthespirit of federalism”.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Bengal cases far belowothers in list, Mamataslams ‘unilateral’ move

ACentral teamattheSecretariat inKolkataMonday.Express

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, APRIL20

WITHIN 30 minutes of WestBengal receiving the UnionHomeMinistry’sorderannounc-ing the formation of Inter-Ministerial Central Teams tomonitorcoronavirusindistricts,two teams flew into the state at10amMonday.Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjeepointedthisout,alongwith the fact that she got a callfromUnionHomeMinisterAmitShahonly around1pm, to slamthe Centre’s “unilateral action”.She also questioned the criteriaon the basis of which sevenBengaldistrictshadbeenpickedformonitoring—of the total11.TheUnionHealthMinistry’s

district-wise data for COVID-19released over the weekendshows that the seven districts

have 224 cases, as compared tothe four non-West Bengal dis-tricts selected, which togetheraccountforaquarterofthecasesin thecountry, at3,732.While oneCentral teamwill

look at Kolkata, Howrah, North24ParganasandEastMedinipurdistricts,anotherwouldfocusonDarjeeling, Jalpaiguri andKalimpong (the last three hadbetween them 15 cases as ofApril 18).A comparisonof theApril 18

data for Kolkata (105 cases)againstthefournon-WestBengaldistrictsunderlinesthewidegap.Mumbaihad20timesthenum-ber of cases (2,070) as theWestBengal capital; Indore seventimes (707); and Jaipur, Puneroughlyfourtimes(485and470,respectively). Mumbai, Indore,Jaipur and Pune are among theworst-hit in thecountry.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Lynchings in Palgharright under policenose, probe ordered48hrsearlier, anothermobattackaverted, samepolicemeninvolved

ThefamilyofNileshYelgade,whowasamongthethreekilled,at theirhomeinKandivali.Express RELATEDREPORTP7

SRINATHRAOMUMBAI, APRIL20

THELYNCHINGof threemenbyamob at Gadchinchle village inPalghar Thursday night hap-pened right under the nose of apoliceteamledbytwoofficers—whoshouldhaveknownbetter.For, barely 48 hours earlier,

theyhad responded toa similarsituation in thesamedistrict.OnMonday,thetwoofficers,

Assistant Police InspectorAnandrao Kale and Police SubInspector Sudhir Katare of Kasapolice station, were suspendedfor their failure to prevent thelynchingatGadchinchle.

Twodaysearlier,onApril14,KaleandKatarewerepresentatSarni Patilpada village, 60 kmfromGadchinchle,whereamobattacked a Thane-bound carwith two doctors and theirdriver,allegedlyonthesuspicionthat theywere “thieves”. In thiscase, though,policemanagedtodrivetheoccupantsofthecaroutof the area, which, according tothe district administration, hasbeen rife with rumours ofthieves, organ traffickers andchild kidnappers for the pastthreemonths.Two days later, Kale, Katare

and their teamof 18police per-sonnel were again present but

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SHUBHAJITROY&PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI, APRIL20

TWO DAYS after the govern-ment tweaked its FDI policy tomake its approval mandatoryfor firmsinneighbouringcoun-tries to invest in Indian compa-nies, China claimed Mondaythat this violates the WTO’s“principle of non-discrimina-tion”.Andhoped that Indiawill“revise” its decision.The government’s move is

seen as aimed at checking “op-portunistic takeovers”of Indianfirms hit by the ongoing COVIDoutbreakand lockdown.NewDelhimaintainsthepol-

icyisnotaimedatanyonecoun-try but spokesperson for theChineseEmbassyinIndiaJiRongmade it clear itsecho inBeijing.

“The impactof thepolicyonChinese investors is clear.Chinese investment has driventhe development of India’s in-dustries, such asmobile phone,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Centresteps in:Sends teamstomonitordistricts,withmandate to issueorders

CORONACOUNT

559DEATHS

2,842RECOVERED

4,01,586sampleshavebeentestedasonApril19

17,656CASES

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

THECOVIDoutbreakhashitmanybusinesses. Theamendment is seenasacheckagainst “oppor-tunistic takeovers.”Thestakesarehigh:Asof2019,China’s cumulativeinvestment in Indiaex-ceeded$8billion,morethan that fromallbordercountriesput together.

$8billionandhighstakesE●EX

PLAINED

TESTREP RTSFROMTHE

FIELDTRACKINGTHEVIRUS,

LOCKDOWN

Refrain at Manesar’s auto hub:Partial opening makes no sense

One option leftas Mallya losesextradition plea

ADITIKHANNALONDON,APRIL20

VIJAYMALLYAMondaylostaUKHighCourtappealagainsthisex-tradition, amajor turning pointthatbringsIndiaclosertogettingback the embattled liquor ty-coon wanted on alleged fraudandmoney laundering chargesamounting toRs9,000crore.The dismissal of the High

Court appeal leavesMallyawith14daystoapplyforpermissiontoappealtotheUKSupremeCourt.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Govt preparing for a second wavetowards May end as lockdown eases

ADILAKHZER&BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,APRIL20

THE J&K Police have booked a26-year-old woman photogra-pher under the stringentUnlawfulActivities(Prevention)Actforallegedlyuploading“anti-nationalposts”onhersocialme-dia accounts. In a separate case,the police have filed an “openFIR” related to “a news storypublishedinanationalnewspa-

per”,alleging itwas“fakenews”— in a statement issued later, itnamed Peerzada Ashiq, TheHindu’sKashmircorrespondent.In the case against the pho-

tographer, police claimed thatthe Cyber Police Station inSrinagar received informationon April 18 “through reliablesources that one Facebook usernamely Masrat Zahra is fre-quentlyuploadinganti-nationalpostswithcriminal intention”.“The post by the users can

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, APRIL20

THELASTritesof thefirstdoctorto die of COVID-19 in TamilNadu, prominent Chennai neu-rosurgeonandmanagingdirec-tor of a hospital Dr SimonHercules, were disrupted bymobsonSundaynight.Newsthatacoronavirusvic-

tim’s bodywas coming for lastrites brought residents to twoburial grounds inChennai,withsticks and stones. As they at-

tacked the ambulance driversand family, the doctors’ col-leagues had to ready the pit by

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

UAPA against Kashmirphotographer for posts,journalist faces FIR

DrSimonHercules finallyburiedwithpolicehelp

China says new FDI normsviolate WTO; officials sayothers put firewalls too

Friends dig pit as Chennaimobs attack family, stopburial of noted doctor

Rules being flouted,claims govt; 7 of 11dists from Bengal,others are hotspots

U.S. OIL PRICEHITSHISTORIC LOW:ENTERSNEGATIVETERRITORYPAGE13

ECONOMY

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020

Palghar lynchingthis timeas littlemore thaneye-witnesses as themobpulled thethreemenout of the police vanandlynchedthematGadchinchlevillage.On April 16, Mahant

Kalpavruksha Giri (70) andSushilgiriMaharaj(35),hadhireda driver, Nilesh Yelgade (30), totake them fromKandivali to at-tendafuneral inSurat,Gujarat.As theynearedGadchinchle

village,ontheborderwithDadraand Nagar Haveli, they werestopped by guards of the forestdepartment and told to goback.Soon,amobgatheredatthespotand,accusingtheoccupantsofthecar of being thieves, attackedthem.A teamof four policemenfromKasa reached the spot, butbythen,themobhadoverturnedthecar.Anotherteamof16policepersonnel reached the spot 45minuteslaterandmanagedtogetthe threementosit in twosepa-ratepolicevehicles.But themobpulledthemoutofthepolicevansandlynchedthem.Avideoofthelynchingshows

Giri pleadingwith a56-year-oldAssistant Sub Inspector, who isseensimplywalkingawaywhilethemob attacksGiri. The videoalsoshowssomeofthepoliceper-sonnelrunningawayfromthevi-olence.Whenaskedabout thevideo

andtheallegedinactionofthepo-lice, Kale,who is also the SHOofKasa police station, said, “Thevideoonlyshowshalfthestory.Itdoes not show thatwe first res-cuedthemenandtookthemin-sidethevan.Oneofourcolleagueshas health issues and could nothavefoughtback.Twentypolice-mencouldnothave foughtbackagainstamobof500,”saidKale.Onwhyonly a four-member

teamwenttothespotdespiteru-moursintheareaandtheincidentthat occurred two days earlier,Kale said, “The forest guardwhocalledusonlysaidthereisaninci-dent and that a fewpeople hadgathered. As soon I got there, Icalled for a backup. At night,wedo not have asmany people ondutyasintheday.Sixteenpeoplerushed fromKasapolice stationandtheSPandaround300otherpolicemen reached two hourslater as they were in Palghartown,”hesaid.Palghar Superintendent of

PoliceGauravSinghtoodefendedKale, saying he called for rein-forcementwhenheassessedthesituation on reaching the spot.“APIKalereceivedthephonecallat10pmandreachedthespot45minuteslaterasitwasquiteadis-tance away. Initially, hewas in-formedthatonlyasmallnumberof villagershadgatheredaroundthevehicle.Butbythetimeheandthree other officials reached thevillage, the number had in-creased.Afterassessingthesitua-tion,hecalledfor20morepolice-men,”hesaid.Policehavesofararrested110

people in the case. According topolice, the victims had taken aroute through villages to evadepolice check-postswhere theywouldhavebeenstoppedforvio-latingthelockdown,buttheforestofficials had forced themto turnbackatthestateborder.On Monday, Maharashtra

HomeMinister Anil Deshmukhannounced thatan investigationinto the lynchingwouldbe con-ducted by the CriminalInvestigationDepartment (CID)anddirectedInspectorGeneralofPolice, Konkan Range, NiketKaushik,toinvestigatetheroleofpolicemenatthespot.Intheearlier incidentofApril

14, a group of 200-250 menarmedwithsticks,stones,sicklesand pickaxes had gathered atSarni Patilpada village and at-tackedacarthatwasonitswaytoThane.

FDI normshousehold electrical appliances,infrastructure and automobile,creatingalargenumberofjobsin

India.Chineseenterprisesactivelymade donations to help IndiafightCOVID-19epidemic,”Jisaid.China’s FDI has grown five-

fold since 2014 and, as ofDecember 2019, its cumulativeinvestmentinIndiahasexceeded$8billion. ABrookings India pa-per pegs the total current andplannedChinese investment inIndiaasbeingover$26billion.Ji said that the outbreak

shouldmake countrieswork to-gether to bring their economiesback on track. “(But) the addi-tional barriers set by Indian sidefor investors fromspecific coun-tries violateWTO’s principle ofnon-discrimination, and goagainstthegeneraltrendofliber-alizationand facilitationof tradeandinvestment,” Jisaid.She added that NewDelhi’s

decision isn’t in tunewith “theconsensus of G20 leaders andtradeministersto...keepourmar-ketsopen”.According to the amend-

mentstoIndia’sconsolidatedFDIPolicy, 2017,while non-residententities cancontinue to invest inIndia,exceptinprohibitedsectorsor activities, firms inneighbour-ingcountrieswillhavetoseekap-proval. “...an entity of a country,which shares land borderwithIndia or where the beneficialownerofaninvestmentintoIndiaissituated inor isacitizenof anysuchcountry,caninvestonlyun-der the Government route,”statedthepressnoteissuedbytheDepartment for Promotion ofIndustryandInternalTrade.This camedays after China’s

centralbank,thePeople’sBankofChina (PBoC), raised its share-holdinginHousingDevelopmentFinance Corporation (HDFC) toover oneper cent during the re-centstockmarketslump.Restrictions on investments

bycitizensoforentitiesincorpo-rated inPakistancontinue in theamended notification. “Theamendmentsarenotprohibitinginvestments. (We have) justchanged the approval route forthese investments. There aremanysectors in India thatareal-ready subject to this approvalroute,”aseniorgovernmentoffi-cialtoldTheIndianExpress.Over the last two months,

countrieslikeGermany,Australiaand Spain have tightened theirforeign investment policies topreventhostiletakeoversbyover-seasinvestors.

KeralaAfter the review meeting,

ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayansaid public transportwouldnotbeallowedduringthe lockdownperiod. “The decision to allowmanagements of institutions tohire special buses for their em-ployees was misunderstood.Barbershopswillnotbeallowedtofunctionuntilafurtherdecisionis taken (they were earlier al-lowed toopenonSaturdays andSundays).Diningwouldnotbeal-lowed in restaurants. Inspectionof vehicleswill be implementedstringentlyinhotspots,”hesaid.Thisisthefirstinstanceofthe

Centreobjecting toa state’s con-tainment measures since thelockdownwasfirstannouncedonMarch24.ButVijayansaid“thereisnoconfrontation”betweenthestateandtheCentre.“For certain relaxations, the

permissionof theCentrewouldbe sought. There are minorchanges in certain guidelines,whichcanbeimplementedasperthe conditions of the states.Wehavepreparedaredzonebutnotin themanner they (Centre)hadsuggested,’’hesaid.The Centre’s letter had

pointed out that under theDisasterManagement Act, thestatecannotdilutemeasuresstip-ulatedbythecentralgovernment,and that theSupremeCourthadasked all states to abide by theCentre’sdirectionstocombatthecoronavirusoutbreak.The Sunday Express had re-

ported that that the state’s deci-sion toallowbuseswithin cities,

lettwopeopletravel intheback-seatofcars,andopenrestaurants,barber shops, electrical work-shops and repair shops, hadnotgonedownwellwiththeCentre.InSunday’sletter,theMHAre-

ferredtoKerala’sApril17orderon“revisedguidelinesforlockdownmeasures”andsaidthatthestate“hasallowedopeningofactivitieswhich are prohibited” in theMinistry’sorder issuedtwodaysearlier. TheHomeMinistry saidthat this “amounts todilutionofguidelines issued...and violationofMHAorder dated 15th April2020 issued under theDisasterManagementAct2005”.ThelettersaidthatinitsApril

15order,theCentrehadspecifiedthatwhilestatescantightencon-tainmentmeasuresstipulatedbyit, theycannotdilutethem.TheKerala government had

earlierdividedthestate intofourzones: Red,Orange-A,Orange-BandGreen.Relaxations innormswere allowed innon-red zones,includingtheplyingofprivateve-hiclesonanodd-evenregistrationbasis fromApril 20 in somedis-trictsandApril24inafewothers.However, on Sunday night,

thegovernmentissuedalistof88hotspotsunderlocalself-govern-ingbodies.Accordingly,localbod-ies in Green, Orange-A andOrange-B zones,whichhadear-lierreportedpositivecasesorcon-

tacts,weremarkedashotspots.Butwithmost residents un-

awareof the laterevision,a largenumberof privatevehicleswereseenonroadsMondaymorning,when someprominentmarketsalsoopened.

Second waveandpeoplearegettingusedtotheidea of social distancing,masksetc,wedonotanticipatethedou-bling time dipping to below 5daysatthatpoint,”saidasource.Itislikelythatthecaseswillbe

concentrated aroundurban andperi-urbanareas,whereCOVID-19managementwillbelesschal-lengingthaninruralareas.“HoweverasMumbai,Indore

andChandigarhhave shownus,therearesomanyunforeseende-velopments in this battle.Sometimes cities that are ex-pected todowell explode,whileat other times citieswhere youexpect a problem to happensomehowmanage tohold it to-gether,”saidthesource.Thereisasensethatarea-spe-

cific lockdowns and relaxationswillhavetobethenorm,depend-ingontheriseandfallincases,tillSeptemberatleast.Whilethegovernmenthopes

that the secondwave will nottouchtheMarchhighof3.4daysdoublingtime, itwill stillmeanariseinfreshcases.

However, themedical infra-structure— including hospitalbeds,PPEsandventilators—isex-pected to be better prepared inJunethanitwasinMarch.Whilethereisnoclarityyeton

the criteria for lifting the lock-down post-May 3, the HealthMinistry’sclassificationofdistrictsinto red, orangeandgreen is be-ingcarefullywatched.In her letter to the states last

week, Union Health SecretaryPreeti Sudan had said:“Containment operationwouldbedeemedoverwhenthereisnocasereported in28days fromanareaafterthelastcasetestsnega-tive. Hotspots (designated redzones)willbeassumedtobeun-dertaking effective containmentactivities if nocase is reported inthenext 14days (designatedor-angezones),andwillbedeemedsuccessful in containment if nocase isreportedfor28days(des-ignatedgreenzones).”Theredzonesareareaswhich

accountfor80%ofthecasesinthecountry, or 80%of the cases in astate,orwherethedoublingtimeislessthanfourdays.Currently, there are 321dis-

trictswithno cases; 77havenotreported cases for 7days; 62 for14days;17for21days;and3dis-tricts (Mahe, Kodagu and PauriGarhwal)havenotreportedcasesfor 28 days. However, officials

pointedoutthattheclassificationof districts into red, orange andgreen zones is quite fragile, as asingle casemay send a districtbackintotheredzone.

Chennai doctorscoopingmudoutwithhands.DrHercules, 55,whoheaded

NewHopeHospital,waslaterlaidtorestwithpolicehelp.OnMonday, theChennaipo-

licearrested20peoplefortheat-tacks. TheAIADMKgovernmentsaiditwasformingateamtohan-dle the last ritesof COVID-19pa-tients. “The teamwill hereaftermonitorarrangementsforthisinthe state,” Health Minister CVijayabaskarsaid.DrHerculesisbelievedtohave

contracted the virus fromapa-tient,andwasadmittedtoApolloHospital inVanagaram,assignedfor COVID-19 treatment, in thefirst week of April. He died onSundayeveningandhisbodywashandedoveraround9pm.Whenthedoctor’sfamilyand

colleagues reached the burialgroundatTBChatraminKilpauklate at night, a group of peoplewerewaiting to stop them. TheambulancecarryingDrHercules’sbody was diverted to theVelangadu burial ground, butfacedanothermobthere.As a vehicle arrangedby the

Chennai city corporation started

digging a pit at Velangadu, themob hit the workers withwooden logs andpelted stones,injuring the ambulance drivers,recounted a doctor. “The familywas also attacked. The corpora-tionofficialsfled,”thedoctorsaid.Anhourlater,withpolicepro-

tection,thebodywasburied.

Vijaya MallyaIfhedoesapply,theUKHome

Office wouldwait for the out-comeof that appeal. Otherwise,under the India-UKExtraditionTreaty, itwould be expected toformallycertifythecourtorderforthe64-year-old tobe extraditedtoIndiawithin28days.“Wehaveheldthereisaprima

faciecasebothofmisrepresenta-tion andof conspiracy, and thusthere is alsoaprima facie caseofmoney laundering,” the HighCourtconcluded.In India, the businessman

facescasesfiledbytheCBIandED.He has been on bail in the UKsincehisarrestonanextraditionwarrantinApril2017.TheformerKingfisherAirlines

bosshadappealed to thehighercourt against his extradition or-dered by the WestminsterMagistrates’ Court in London inDecember2018,andsignedoffbythen UKHome Secretary SajidJavidlastyear,atathree-dayhear-inginFebruarythisyear.PTI

J&K scribeprovokethepublictodisturbthelawandorder besides glorifyingtheanti-nationalactivities,etc.InthisregardFIRNo.10/2020undertherelevantprovisionoflawwasregisteredatCyberPoliceStationandinvestigationtakenup,”itsaidinastatement.Srinagar-basedZahra’swork

has been published in variousnewsorganisations in India andabroad.When contacted by TheIndian Express, she said that shemostly posted links toherworkonher socialmedia accounts. “Iamshocked to see these allega-tions. I amaprofessional photo-journalist.Ihavenopoliticalorso-cial agenda.This is anattempt tomuzzle journalists in Kashmir,”shesaid.Zahra said the police called

herSaturdayevening,askingherto report at the Cyber PoliceStation.Accordingtoher, sheex-pressedherinabilitytoreachim-mediately and informed theKashmir Press Club, afterwhichshecametoknowthatthe“mat-ter has been sorted and I don’tneedtogo”.Zahrasaidshecametoknow

fromcolleaguesMondaythatshehadbeenbookedunderUAPA.SPCyberCellTahirAshrafBhattitoldThe Indian Express: “The caseagainst (Zahra)was lodged forposting content on socialmediadepictingfakenewsandalsoglo-rifying terrorismand terrorists.”PolicesourcesclaimedZahra’sso-cialmedia posts “demean secu-rityforces”.In the other case, the police

claimedthatitreceivedinforma-tiononApril19“regardingafakenewsitembeingpublishedintheTheHindunewspaperbythejour-nalist namelyPir ZadaAshiq, re-gardinganencounteratShopianandsubsequentdevelopments”.On Sunday, a report by

Peerzada Ashiq said that the“JammuandKashmir adminis-tration onSaturday allowed thefamilies of two slainmilitants inShopian to exhume their bodiesfromagraveyardinBaramulla”af-ter “thepolicedenied themper-mission”.Thereportalsosaidthat“Yasin Choudhary, DeputyCommissioner,Shopian,wasnotavailableforhiscomment”.In its statement, the police

claimed:“Thedetailsreflectedinthenewsitemwerefoundfactu-ally incorrect and the saidnewscould cause fear or alarm in theminds of public. The said newswas publishedwithout seekingconfirmationfromtheDistrictau-thorities.”Policesaidthatthecor-respondent was called toAnantnag for questioning. “The

investigation inboth the cases isinprogress,” itsaid.Whencontacted, Ashiq said:

“I was questioned regarding anewsitembasedontheinterviewof the family in Shopian. I toldCyberPolicethat Ihavearecord-ingof theinterview.IalsosharedscreenshotsofthemessagesIhadsent on SMS, WhatsApp andTwitter to theDCShopian to gettheofficialversionforthestory.Itisshockingtonowtermitasfakenews.” In a statement, theKashmir Press Club condemnedthepolice action and sought theintervention of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah and J-K LtGovernorGCMurmu.

West BengalIn a letter to PrimeMinister

NarendraModi, Banerjee ques-tionedthe“breachofestablishedprotocol”innotkeepingthestateinloop.Earlier,inatweetmomentsaf-

ter the Home Ministry’s an-nouncement, the CMsaid, “Wewelcomeallconstructivesupport&suggestions,especiallyfromtheCentral Govt in negating the#Covid19crisis.However,theba-sisonwhichCentre isproposingtodeployIMCTsinselectdistrictsacrossIndiaincludingfewinWBunderDisasterMgmtAct2005isunclear.”There are several districts in

Bengalwhich havemore casesthanJalpaiguriandDarjeeling,in-cluding PaschimBurdwan andNadia, which are not on theCentrallist.Therearealsodistrictswith higher numbers thanKolkataoutsideWestBengalthatareomitted,suchasAhmedabad,Hyderabad, Thane, Chennai,BhopalandAgra.Asof April 18,Darjeelinghad

three cases, fromnone earlier,while Jalpaiguriwasat five(after0 onApril 1, and four onApril 6andApril12).The CMcited similar data in

her letter to the PM,writing, “Ithasbeenstated... that therehavebeennumberofviolationoflock-downmeasures and situation isspecificallyseriousinsomeofthedistricts. These observations aredevoid of any facts... KalimpongreportedthelastincidentonApril2. Similarly, Jalpaiguri onApril 4and Darjeeling on April 16. Itshows that the selection of dis-trictsandobservationsmadeuni-laterallyarenothingbutafigmentof imagination.”While one Central team ar-

rived in Bagdogra, headed forDarjeeling, Kalimpong andJalpaiguri, another visitedBelgachhia and certain areas ofHowrahinKolkatabeforereach-ingtheSecretariatintheeveningfor ameetingwith the CM. Thetalkslastedalmostanhour.Inherletter,Banerjeepointed

out thatwhile theCentral ordersaid the state should makearrangements for the teams, thelatter had “approached Centralforces like BSF, SSB (SashastraSeemaBal) for logistics supportandhadalreadymoved(into)thefieldwithout any consultationwiththestategovernment”.The TMC government has

been in awar ofwordswith theCentre aswell as theBJPover itshandlingofcoronavirus,particu-larly the state’s case count. TheHealthMinistry’s data for cases(339vs318)anddeaths(66vs12)inWestBengalishigherthanthestate’s. In anothermove in vari-ancewith thenational protocol,West Bengalwas the first in thecountry to start auditing deathstocertifyifthesewerecausedduetothevirusoranyco-morbidity.The state has also been ac-

cusedofnottestingenough.WestBengalhad225casesfrom15dis-tricts as of April 18. Kolkata hadthehighest share (108), from17onApril1,29onApril6and29onApril12.Incomparison,Indore,ahotspot,whichstartedoffat12onApril1wasupto707byApril18.

WITHINPUTSFROMKOLKATA

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Centre steps in: Sends teams

Refrain at Manesar hub: Partial opening makes no sense

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee,takingtoTwitter,said:“Wewelcome all constructivesupport & suggestions, espe-cially from theCentral Govt innegating the #Covid19 crisis.However, the basis onwhichCentre is proposing to deployIMCTs in select districts acrossIndia including few inWBun-derDisasterMgmtAct 2005 isunclear. I urge both Honb’lePrimeMinister@NarendraModiJi&HomeMinister@AmitShahJi tosharethecriterionusedforthis. Until then I amafraid,wewould not be able to moveaheadon this aswithout validreasons thismight not be con-sistentwiththespiritoffederal-ism.”Incidentally,West Bengal

andMaharashtraareamongthehandful of stateswhere dou-bling timeofCOVID-19cases iscurrently lessthanthenationalaverage of 7.5 days. Doublingtimeisanepidemiologicalmet-ricofhowfastaninfectiousdis-easeisspreading.OnMonday, theMinistryof

HomeAffairs,inidenticalletterstoWest Bengal,Maharashtra,RajasthanandMadhyaPradesh,identified districtswhich areproblemareas.Thejustificationfor constitution of IMCTs isbasedlargelyongeneralobser-vationssuchas“incidentsofvi-

olence on frontline healthcareprofessionals; complete viola-tionof social distancingnormsoutside banks, PDS shops etc,and inmarket places;move-mentofprivateandcommercialvehicleswithpassengers inur-banareas,andsoon”.Thistextisidenticalinalllet-

ters, signed by Union HomeSecretaryAjayBhalla:“...insomeof thedistrictsof thecountry, anumberofviolationstothelock-downmeasures havebeen re-ported, posinga serioushealthhazard and risk for spread ofCOVID-19whichisagainstgen-eral interestofpublic.”The letters go on to state,

“These incidents, if they are al-lowedtooccurwithoutanyre-strainingmeasures in hotspotdistrictsor emerging hotspots,withlargeoutbreaksorclusters,pose a serious health hazard,bothforthepopulationofthesedistricts and for that living inotherareasof thecountry.”In the case ofWest Bengal,

theMHAhas identified sevendistricts — Kolkata, Howrah,Medinipur East, North 24Parganas,Darjeeling,Kalimpongand Jalpaiguri—where it said“thesituation isespecially seri-ous” in termsof “prevalenceofsuchviolations”.Thesedistricts,accordingto

the Ministry of Health and

FamilyWelfare, cumulativelyaccountfor224CovidcaseswithKolkata reporting the maxi-mum (105), followed byHowrah (46) and North 24Parganas(37).Darjeelinghastheleast number of Covid casesamong these seven districts -threepositivecases.TheMHAordersaiditiscon-

stituting two IMCTs forWestBengalwhichwill“makeanon-the-spot assessmentof the sit-uation, issue necessary direc-tionstotheStateauthoritiesforredressal of the situation, andsubmit their report to theCentralGovernmentinlargerin-terestofgeneralpublic”.Asked about the specific

health circumstances in theidentifiedWestBengaldistrictsthat necessitated suchamove,LavAgarwal, Joint Secretary inthe Ministry of Health, said:“Whenweidentifyareasofcon-cern, there are primarily twomajorcriteria:highernumbers,rate of growth is high or dou-blingtimeis low.This isprima-rily inareaswhereweneedef-fectiveinterventionsothattheydo not further lead to largernumberofcases.”Similarordersholdfortheotherthreestatesre-garding the role of IMCTs. Thedistricts identified inMaharashtra areMumbai andPune.Together,theyaccountfor

over2,500cases in the state. InRajasthan, theCentrehas iden-tified Jaipurwhile inMadhyaPradesh,Indorehasbeenpickedfor lockdownviolations. Jaipurhas reported 485 caseswhileIndorehashad707.The MHA order said that

while the IMCTsair travel fromDelhiwill bemanaged by theMinistry of Civil Aviation, thestateswillprovidelogisticssup-port to IMCTs“for theiraccom-modation,transportation,PPEsand extend all cooperation fortheirvisitstolocalareas”.Statesarealso supposed tocooperatein “production ofdocuments/records as re-questedbyIMCT”.On Mamata Banerjee’s

tweets,PunyaSalilaSrivastava,Joint Secretary inMHA, said:“The purpose of constitutionof theteamsistoprovidesup-port and assistance to thestates in their endeavour tofight COVID-19. The teamshave been very carefully con-stitutedsothatsupportcanbeprovided fromhealth admin-istrativeanddisastermanage-ment aspects. I am sure thestateswill benefit fromit. Theordermentions SC (SupremeCourt) directions but the or-ders have been issued underSection 35 of the DisasterManagementAct.”

almost 22,000peopleworkingonanormalday, has a sizeablepresenceinManesar’sindustriallandscapeanddovetailsanum-berofancillaryunitsinitsvicin-ity.OnMonday,theonlypeoplewhomarked their attendancewere around100workers en-trustedwithmaintainingequip-ment and keeping essentialservices going at theplant. Butfor a fresh batch of securityguards coming in, there waspractically no other activity attheplant or the adjoining cast-ingunit.KuldeepJanghu,generalsec-

retary,Maruti SuzukiKaamgarUnion, said thatbesides these-curitystaff,onlythoserequiredforessentialservicesattheplantareworking.Employeesareget-ting salaries, he said. “But theyaremissingoutonotherincen-tivesandbenefitsastheplantisunder lockdown. We don’t

knowhow long this situationwill continue,andit isverybadfor all including theworkers,”Janghusaid.AnexecutivetoldTheIndian

Express that running theplantat 25per cent capacity didnotmake sense as the stockyardwas already close tobeing full.Unlesstheretailsideoftheautobusiness — dealerships andshowrooms—wereopen,therewasnopointproducingvehiclesand filling up the yard further,theexecutivesaid.Representativesofanumber

of largeunitsintheareaechoedthat view.WithMaruti Suzukidecidingagainstrestartingoper-ations, itwasunviableforancil-laries to open their units. ShutsinceMarch22,thereareindica-tionsthat theplantmightcarryout a test run to evaluate andprep for a restart over thenextfewdays,with full-scaleopera-

tionslikelyonlyafterMay3.While trucks couldbe seen

idling in yards alongside theDelhi-Jaipurhighway, anexec-utivewithanautomobileman-ufacturersaidthedriversarere-fusing to take the truckswithcarsandothergoods,andgoodsworthcroresarestuckonroads.Industryrepresentativesin-

dicated thatHaryana’s indus-tries and commerce depart-mentanditslabourdepartmenthad held consultations withthem late Friday evening, fol-lowingwhich some StandardOperatingProcedures for eachindustryweretobeissued.Apart fromMaruti Suzuki

andMankindPharma,theotherindustrial units based inManesar includeRiello Power,Alcatel-Lucent India, BaxterIndia, Denso, Hero Motors,HondaMotorcycleandScootersIndia, Johnson Matthey, and

SamsungTelecommunications.A state government official

said the administration hadmadeanattempt to get indus-trytorestartlimitedoperations.“District and block level com-mitteearebeingconstituted toprocessapprovalsandmonitorcontainmentrequirements, in-cludingsocialdistancing.Thesecommitteesarebeingentrustedwith the task of evaluatingwhich factories or industriescouldbepermittedtocarryoutoperations,”theofficialsaid.Ontheground,though,allof

this did not seem tohave con-vinced amajority of units toopen.Theproblemofworkersisanother deterrent, executivessaid.Unitownersarenotwillingtotakeresponsibilityforgettingbackworkers unless there issomeguidanceonhowtheycanprogressively scale up opera-tions.

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THE Government of India celebra-tes April 21 every year as ‘CivilServices Day’ as an occasion forthe civil servants to rededicate

themselves to the cause of citizens andrenew their commitments to public ser-vice and excellence in work. This date ischosen to commemorate the day whenfirst Home Minister of Independent India,Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel addressed theprobationers of Administrative ServicesOfficers in 1947 at Metcalfe House, Delhi,he referred to civil servants as the ‘steelframe of India’. The first such functionwas held in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi,on April 21, 2006.

As part of Civil Servant Day, Prime Min-ister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Ad-ministration are presented to Districts/Implementing Units for implementationof priority programme and innovationcategories. With participation from alarge number of districts across the coun-try in the Awards scheme, the scale of en-tire process is very large.These awards onthe Civil Service Day each year bring to-gether civil servants to connect with eachother and learn the good practices beingimplemented across the nation in thefield of public grievance. This annual af-fair is eagerly awaited by all public ad-ministrators to celebrate outcomes ofwork done in the entire year.

Objective of National Civil ServiceDay:

■ To motivate and appreciate thework and efforts of civil service officers.

■ Central government uses this op-portunity to evaluate the work of variousdepartments under the civil services.

■ The central government felicitatesand provides awards to the best workingindividuals and groups.

On this day mostly all the officers ofcentral and state governments are

awarded by the Prime Minister of Indiafor their extraordinary services in the fieldof public administration. The function isorganised by the Department of the Ad-ministrative Reforms and Public griev-ances (DARPG) and Ministry of Person-nel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

The 'Prime Minister Award for Excel-lence in Public Administration 'isawarded in three categories:

Category 1: Which comprises eightNorth Eastern States and the three hill

states namely Uttarakhand, HimachalPradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Category 2 : consists of seven UnionTerritories

Category 3 : Comprising rest of theeighteen states of India

Every year lakhs of candidates applyfor the Indian Civil Service examination.But we can't ignore that civil service isthe pillar on which the government runthe vehicle of policies and programmesof the country smoothly.The contribution

of civil servants for the society, the nationas a whole can't be expressed in words.Therefore, April 21 is celebrated asCivil Service Day to encourage civil ser-vants for their immense contribution tothe nation.Leading the fight against COVID-19

The current health pandemic ofCOVID-19 has ravaged the world and hasalso stormed India in the past one month.It is this ‘steel frame’ which is leading In-

dia's fight against the COVID-19 aswell.Whether it is the process of procure-ment of PPEs or to increase the availabil-ity of life-saving machines like ventila-tors, ensuring availability of necessaryand essential items to general masseskeeping in mind social distancingor smooth functioning of communitykitchens, civil servants are to beapplauded for their valiant and untiringefforts.

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Jamia Hamdard’s Residential Coaching Academy (JHRCA),One of the Premier Coaching Institute for UPSC acknowledgesthe invaluable services of our of icers and salutetheir spirit in the ight against COVID-19 on this#CivilServiceDay.Their contribution to the nation is exemplary.On this day we rededicate ourselves to the service ofthe great nation.

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ANOTHERHOSPITALSETTOBEGINTHERAPYTODAY

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, APRIL20

A49-YEAR-OLDcoronaviruspa-tient who was given plasmatherapy has shown improve-ment and been taken off venti-latorsupport.Themanisadmit-ted to Max Hospital in Saket.Two consecutive tests have re-turnednegative, said thehospi-tal inastatement.“Itisimportanttounderstand

that it isnomagicbullet.Duringhis treatment, other standardtreatment protocols were fol-lowed;we can say that plasmatherapy could haveworked as acatalystinspeedinguphisrecov-ery,” saidDr SandeepBudhiraja,GroupMedical Director—MaxHealthcare & Senior Director —Instituteof InternalMedicine.Another hospital in Delhi is

set to begin plasma therapystartingTuesday.TheInstituteofLiver andBiliary Sciences (ILBS)receivedplasmafromtwoyoungdonorsonMondayand willstartlooking for a recipient from to-day.ILBS has also identified six

more donors.“They are good samaritans

whorecovered fromCOVID-19and came forward to provide

their plasma.Wewill start theprocess from Tuesday andidentify the recipient who ful-fills all criteria,” said Dr S KSarin, head of ILBS.“The only qualification we

need from the donor is he/sheshould be between 18-60 yearsof age, having no diabetes or

blood pressure. He/she shouldhave crossed three weeks andtested negative for COVID-19twice. As far asweknow, ILBS isprobablythefirsttogetapprovalfor the trial in the country,” saidDrSarin.OnApril16,theDelhigovern-

ment received a go-ahead fromthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch touseplasma therapy.TheinstitutealsogaveitsapprovaltoMaulanaAzadMedicalCollege.Plasma therapy uses anti-

bodiesfoundinthebloodofpeo-plewhohaverecoveredfromtheinfection (or convalesced), totreat infectedpatients.

Rapid testing begins in capital,none positive out of 62 on Day 1

MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, APRIL20

DAYS AFTER a pizza deliveryemployee inSouthDelhi testedpositive for COVID-19, 16 ofhis co-workers, who hecame in contact with, havetested negative.The administration cate-

gorisedcontactsashighriskandlowrisk.Whilethoseheworkedwith were categorised as high

risk,thosewhohedeliveredfoodtowere categorised as low risk.Only high-risk contacts havebeentestedso far.According to South Delhi

DistrictMagistrate BMMishra,these categories have been cre-ated by doctors. “Thosewho hedelivered food tohavenot beentestedso far andwill have to re-mainunderhomequarantinefor14days,”hesaid.According to officials, the

otherswill be tested if theydis-

playsymptomsof thedisease.Thepizzadeliveryemployee

had tested positive on April 14.According to Mishra, he hadbeen unwell for over threeweeks, displaying symptomssuch as a persistent cough andfatigue.Afterhis symptomsdidnot go away, he went toSafdarjung Hospital, insistingthat he be tested. After severalrequests, he was sent to RamManoharLohiaHospital,wherehis swabsampleswere taken.

Officials said it is possiblethathecontractedtheinfectionfromsomeonewhohedeliveredfoodtoinMalviyaNagarorHauzRani (parts of both areas havebeen declared containmentzones).Thepatientdeliveredfoodin

a 5-kilometre radius of therestaurant, located in MalviyaNagar,and72homesinMalviyaNagar,Saket, IIT-DelhiandHauzKhas have been placed underquarantine.

16 colleagues of pizza delivery man negative

Patient’s family claimsnegligence by hospital,AAP MLA intervenesEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, APRIL20

THEFAMILYofacoronaviruspa-tient admitted to Lok NayakHospitalMondayallegedhewasnot beingprovidedproper care.InavideopostedonTwitter, thedaughterandwifeof thepatientsought help from the ChiefMinisterandPrimeMinister.The patient’s daughter said

that around 2 am on Thursday,her father fell unconscious for afewminutes andwas taken toFortis Healthcare Hospital atShalimar Bagh. “Doctors testedhim for coronavirus and it waspositive.Afterthat,withoutask-ing us, they shifted him to LokNayak Hospital, citing govern-mentorders,” sheclaimed.The Delhi government has

declaredLokNayakHospitalandRajiv Gandhi Super SpecialityHospital as two dedicatedCOVID-19 facilities where allcasesare tobereferred.Sheclaimedherfatherhadto

wait for two-threehoursbeforebeing admitted, andwas givenfoodonlynextmorningat9am:“He is a patient of sugar (dia-betes) and hypertension. If hedoesn’tgetfood,hisglucoselevelfluctuates.Today,onApril20,he

calledat5amsayinghehasfeverand isnotable togetup.He toldthis to people and nurses in thewardbutnoone is responding.”On Monday evening,

TimarpurMLADilipPandeysaidthe CM called him and askedhimtolookintothecase.Pandeysaid he had spoken to a doctorleading the COVID-19 responseteamatthehospital,andwasas-sured that all patients arebeinglookedafterproperly.“Ispoketothepatient’swifeandsaidthatateamofdoctorshaveattendedtohim... it isbeingensured thatheistakencareofproperly,”hesaid.HospitaldirectorDrJCPassey

said, “I have constituted a fact-finding panel; the report is ex-pectedTuesday.Thepatientcon-cerned is stable and segregated.Another enquiry has been initi-atedbytheDelhigovernment.”The family lives in G Block

Jahangirpuri,whichwasmarkedacontainmentzoneMonday.In another video on Twitter

Mondayevening,thefamilysaidtheyspoketodoctorstakingcareof theman. His daughter said:“Theysaidtheywouldkeephimunder direct supervision andcheckonhim.HelparrivedfromtheDelhigovernmentandotherplaces...Testsofourfamilymem-berswill bedonebyTuesday.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, APRIL20

A 40-YEAR-OLD man wasstabbed to death outside hisCentral Delhi home, allegedlyduring a scuffle over the ac-cused'sdrinkinghabit.The inci-dent took place at 4.45 pmMonday in PatelNagar andwascaught on CCTV. The victim,KrishnaShah,ownerof aplasticmoulding factory in Inderlok,

waskilled in frontof his family.DCP (Central) Sanjay Bhatia

said, “Thevictimhadtoldaresi-dent’s landlord about his ten-ant’s drinking habits. This en-ragedthetenant,Deepak,andhe

gatheredfive-sixmentobeatupShah. In the scuffle betweenboth sides, one man stabbedShah and ran away. The victimwas rushed toahospital,wherehewasdeclareddeadonarrival.Hediedof blood loss.”Bhatia said a case ofmurder

has been registered and threemen, including Deepak, havebeenarrested. Themanwhoal-legedly stabbed Shah has beenidentified as Shubham.He is onthe run, saidpolice.

Ina1.45-minutevideo,a fewmen and awoman can be seenbeating up a shirtlessman fromDeepak's groupwith sticks androds. Shah too is seen holding astick, but tries to stop theothersfrom beating up the man.Suddenly, aman inawhite shirtruns towards Shah, stabs himnear the abdomen, and flees.Deepak's men run away, andShahfallsontheground.Hisfam-ilymemberscanbeseenholdinghimasneighboursstandafar.

WorkerssanitisingLalBahadurShastriHospitalonMonday.PremNathPandey

ASTHASAXENA&MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, APRIL20

THEDELHIgovernmentMondaystarted community testing forcoronavirus in containmentzones.NabiKarimisthefirstareawhere the rapid antibody tests,whichproduceresults inaround15minutes, were held. None ofthe 62 peoplewhowere testedwere positive, said DistrictMagistrate (Central) NidhiSrivastava.In the first half of the day,

Srivastava said, officials weretrained to conduct the test, forwhichabloodsampleisrequired.“Ateamofsixofficialswastrainedinthefirsthalfandthetestingwasconducted inthesecondhalf.AllguidelinessuggestedbytheICMRwere followed.Weare glad thatnone have come out positive,”Srivastavasaid.Thecitysaw78newcaseson

Mondayfrom1,397samplescol-lected in 24 hours. Two people

admitted at SafdarjungHospitalsuccumbedtothedisease,takingthetollto47.Delhihassofarseen2,081 cases, while 431 peoplehaverecovered.OnMonday,athree-member

committeewas formed by thehealthdepartmenttoconductanaudit of COVID-19 deaths in thecity. “The responsibility of thecommittee would be to auditeach death daily, in which theCOVID-19 test is positive in gov-ernment and private hospitals,beforereleasingdata.Allgovern-mentandprivatehospitalsaredi-rectedtoreportallsuchdeathstothe committee alongwith thecopy of case sheet for death au-dit,” stated an order from thehealthdepartment.TheDelhigovernmenthasgot

42,000 rapid testing kits andplanstousethemforcommunitytestingincontainmentzones.OnMonday, fourmore areaswereadded—twoinJahangirpuri,andparts of Trilokpuri andTughlakabadExtension.Officials have been carrying

out tests onneighbours of thosewhohave testedpositive incon-tainment zones even if they arenot displaying symptoms.Officials have so far taken 5,560samplesfromtheseareas.According to experts, the test

detects antibodies that are pro-duced if one has contracted thevirus,andnotthepresenceofthevirusitself.“Oncethevirusentersthebody, itwillmakeantibodiesagainsttheviralantigen.TheseareIgM,producedintheacutephase,and IgG antibodies, producedwhen the virus starts clearing.Theymay take 3-7 days to de-velop.Thetestkitswillbeable totell us if a personwas affectedacutely or if he has recovered. Ifthe infection is acute or active, apersonwillhave IgMantibodies;if theyhave recovered, theywillhaveIgGantibodies.Unlikeintheswabtest,though,thereisalagbe-tweenapersonbeinginfectedandthe antibodies being detected,”saidDrSKSarin,whoheadsDelhigovernment’s committee onCOVID-19preparedness.

Thevictim,KrishnaShah

Man stabbed to death in front of his family

2,308CASES

47DEATHS

548RECOVERED

CORONACOUNTDELHI NCR

Man on plasma therapy improving: Docs

New Delhi

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21, 2020

THEOUTBREAK TheCity

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

HealthcareworkerscarryoutsanitisationandtestingatChandniMahal, acontainmentzone,Monday.ThemobileCOVID-19testingvan, launchedinDelhi’sCentralDistrictSunday, collectedsamples fromresidentsandpolicemeninthearea.AmitMehra

ANANYATIWARINEWDELHI,APRIL20

DAYSAFTERachiefcivilengineerof the New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) tested positivefor COVID-19, five peoplewhocame in contactwithhim, alongwith their families, have beenquarantined.“Currentlythereare19estab-

lished contacts. Of these, 10methimmorethan14daysago.Oftheremainingnine,fivearehigh-riskcontacts and are being quaran-tined. The rest have been in-structed to observe for symp-toms,” Tanvi Garg, DM (NewDelhi), toldTheIndianExpress.One of the quarantined offi-

cialsisanassistantengineerfromHaryana,whose family has alsobeenquarantinedbytheHaryanagovernment. “These contacts in-clude people from the depart-mentofcivilengineering,hisdriv-ers,apharmacist(ashevisitedtheNDMCpharmacy)andsomeoth-ers,” saidDrVijay Shankar Patel,seniormedicalofficeratNDMC’spublichealthdepartment.After exhibiting symptoms

suchasdrycoughonApril15,the56-year-old chief civil engineer,

whoworkedatthePalikaKendrain SansadMarg, was tested onApril 16 at RamManohar LohiaHospital.HistestresultscameoutonApril18andhehasbeenhos-pitalised since. Onwhether thePalika Kendrawill be declared ahotspot, Garg said: “As of nowonly one positive case has beenconfirmed.Furtheractionwillbetakenstrictlyasperprotocol.”The engineer is a resident of

Kundli, near Sonipat inHaryana.Oneofhisdrivers toldThe IndianExpress, “He used to go to officefrom Kundli, and it often tookmore than an hour.” His family,includinghiswifeandson,areun-derhomequarantine.

CM’SPETPROJECT

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI,APRIL20

THEDELHIgovernmentMondayissued an order launchingdoorstep delivery of rationacross the city’s containmentzones,standingatover80across11 districts, setting inmotion apet project of Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal. The develop-ment is significant as homede-livery of rationwas among themajor “promises”made by theAam Aadmi Party during the2020 assembly election cam-paign.Fornow,theinitiativewillbe rolled out at a limited scaleonlyat thesealedzones.The Department of Food,

Supplies and Consumer Affairsissued an order to this effect onMonday, detailing the rolloutplan involving food supply offi-cers, DistrictMagistrates, DelhiPolice, civil defence volunteersand the teams of “corona footwarriors” constituted by ChiefSecretaryVijayDev.InMarch 2018, the Kejriwal

Cabinet had cleared a proposalto launch doorstep delivery ofration toall 72 lakhPDSbenefi-ciaries in the city. However, LtGovernor Anil Baijal had shot itdown,advisingthegovernmenttotaketheopinionof theUniongovernment before taking a fi-nal call.Beforethe2020elections,the

CM had told The Indian Expressthat a fresh roadmap had beendrawn,whichwas“ataveryad-vanced stage”, relating to the

home delivery proposal. “Itshould be implementedwithinsixmonths of forming govern-ment,”hehadsaid.While the coronavirus out-

break has brought activities ofthe government to a halt, thePDS home delivery is set to be-gin,with the disbursal of rationfor themonthofMay tobenefi-ciaries residing in thosezones.Theorder,seenbyTheIndian

Express, states that the deliverywill be carried out by civil de-fencevolunteerswith theassis-tanceofareafoodsupplyofficers(FSOs), inspectors (FSIs)andfairprice shop dealers. They havebeen directed to complete thehome delivery before the usualdisbursal throughtheshops.“The entitled ration of the

monthofMayalreadyallocatedand delivered to the Fair PriceShops and additional allocationunder PMGKY as per directionsofthedepartmentshouldbedis-tributed tobeneficiaries in con-tainmentzones in the lastweekof April 2020 before opening ofsale for regular distribution ofspecified food articles to otherbeneficiaries...” it says.For now, the area FSOs and

FSIshavebeendirected to iden-tifybeneficiariesassoonaspos-sible. The identification processwillhavetobecompletedwithinthreedaysofeverynewcontain-ment order, a special commis-sioner in the food departmenthasdirected.“The FSO/FSI will share the

copy of the planwith the SDMandalsoprovide thecopy toco-

rona footwarriors containmentandsurveillanceteamsforcoor-dination and smooth distribu-tionwithoutanyhindrance.Thedistribution in thecontainmentzonesshallbemadebythecon-cerned FSOs/FSIs and fair priceshop licensee with the help ofcivil defencevolunteers alreadydeployed in their respectivecir-cles,” theorderadds.In caseswhere beneficiaries

are registered with fair priceshopsfallingwithinsealedareasbut reside in some other place,their cards will be temporarilyattachedwith shops located innearbynon-containmentzonesso that their quota of food canalsobehomedelivered.The DCPs have also been

asked to issue directions to po-lice staff deployed in contain-mentzonestoensurecoordina-tion with the circle FSOs forsmooth rollout of the initiative.So far, the civil defence volun-teerswere taskedwith deliver-ing essential commodities, ofwhich rationwas not a part, tothe doorstep of households intheredzones.Under the National Food

SecurityAct, eachPDSbenefici-ary is entitled to 5 kg of grainsper month. The allocation hasbeenraisedbytheDelhigovern-ment to 7.5 kg per beneficiary,under the PrimeMinister GaribKalyanYojana(PMGKY), tohelpsocio-economically disadvan-tagedfamiliestideoverthecoro-navirus crisis and related lock-downwhichhasrobbedmanyoftheir livelihoods.

Ration at doorstep incontainment zones

ANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI,APRIL20

EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SAHIBA doesnot understand the dangersposed by coronavirus, nor doesshe knowwhyher parents havenot left their house atMayapuriIndustrialareaforamonth.All she knows is that if she is

not among the first ones in line,herfamilywillskipbreakfast.Theenormityoftheweightshebearson her tiny shoulders is some-thingsheunderstandswell:“Myparentswill go hungry if I don’tget food.”Sahiba’s parents are toy sell-

erslivinginKanchanBasti,whichhasseveralothersfromthesameprofession. The residents of theslum have been sending theirchildren to collect food andwa-ter, since the dal-chawal distrib-uted in a local school is barelyenoughtofeedtwopeople.

Kanchan Basti in NarelaIndustrial Area, nestledbetweenscrapmarkets, has around3,000houses in an 8-km stretch be-tweenMayapuri police stationandDelhiCanttrailwaystation.Itcomprises migrants fromLucknow,whohavebeenstayinghere for over three generations,sellingtoysandballoons.TheybuythetoysinbulkfromSadarBazaarand sell them at middle classneighborhoods inWest Delhi,makingRs300ormoreperday.Some alsomake kitchen ap-

pliancesbyreworkingmetalcol-lected from the scrapmarket.Rajesh Kumar, the GeneralSecretary of IFTU, a trade union,said, “When compared in theecosystem of labourers in theMayapuri Industrial Area, theyare at the bottom. Their jhuggisare demolished by railway au-thoritieswhentheyextendtotherailway property. They are onlyrememberedduringelections.”

Themainsourceoffoodthesedays is anMCD school nearby.The children know the schoolwell since they study there too,andweredependentonmid-daymealsservedattheschoolbeforethe lockdown. Apart from the

school,which is aDelhi govern-menthunger relief centre, somelocal policemen have also beendistributing ration by spendingtheirmoney. But residents say itstill fallsshort.Outside the school, around

12.30pm,Pitu(12)isbusyorder-ingotherchildrentomakealine.Theydiscuss among themselvesandchooseGulgul(9)toentertheschool first.Gulgulcarriesasteelplate in her hand, beaming, asPitumakesherwearafacemask.The childrenuse the samemaskamongthemselves.Minuteslater,Gulgulemerges fromtheschool,her plate filledwith dal-chawal.Shehandsoverher facemask tothenextchild,waitinginline.However, their day starts

muchearlier, around6am.Theycarry small buckets to a DJBtanker, and it sometimes takesonefamilyalmost fivehoursun-tiltheirturnarrives.Thechildrenthenlineupoutsidetheschoolat10 am and wait for over twohourstogettheirfirstmeal.Theymake several trips to the schooltocollectmoreportions for theirfamilies. School authorities saidthey feed around 600 peopleeveryday.“Childrencomeforsec-

ond and third portions some-times.Wedon’tstopthem,”anof-ficialsaid.After collecting food they re-

turntotheirhomes,usuallya6x6foot room tied togetherwith atarpaulin sheet for a roof andgarbage bags filledwith emptybottles stitched around it to fillyawninggaps.Someroomshave10-15people.Thenearesttoiletisnexttoapolicestationnearby.Sahibahandsoutherplateto

her father, Dilshad (28), a toysellerwhotakesafewmouthfulsof the rice and hands over theplate to his wife, Suntita (25).Dilshadhas beenwithoutworksince the lockdown was an-nounced.His neighbour, Jaggish (28),

aballoonseller,hasfourchildrenbetween 5 and 7 years of age.Theytoohavebeensurvivingonfood distributed in the schooland do not have a ration card.With the situation worsening,

Jaggish said hehas nowstartedsendinghis childrenout to beg,something they have neverdonebefore.In a nearby house, toy seller

Raju’s daughter, Pooja, flashes awidegrinasshehandsoverajarfilledwith dal to her father. Sheearnsapatonherbackandgoesto bed, a discarded cementpacket lying on the floor. Thefamilydoesn’thavesoap,andin-steadrubsashfromtheirchulha,thinking it kills germs, beforetheyeat lunch.A fewstepsaway,Ranjit (50)

sitsinsidehishomestaringatair-guns, miniature tea cups andgoggles propped up on awall.The father of five children spentRs 10,000 before the lockdownto procure these toys andman-aged to sell some for threedays,earning Rs 2,200, which is overnow. “I amwaiting for work tobeginagain, thekidswon’thavetostandin linethen.”

Wait for foodatMayapuri slum,Monday.RenukaPuri

19 contacts of NDMCchief engineer traced,5 families in isolation

AttheNewDelhiMunicipalCounciloffice, Saturday

NARELA INDUSTRIAL AREA

In basti of toy makers, children have new duty: Get food home

ABHINAVRAJPUTNEWDELHI,APRIL20

MAYORSOFDelhi’sthreemunic-ipalcorporationshavedemandedthat sanitationworkers be ex-empted from further dutywiththeDelhigovernmentasitwillaf-fect their primary job of sanita-tion and anti-mosquito opera-tions. Mayor of South DelhiMunicipal Corporation SunitaKangra said the Delhi govern-ment had asked for 50workersfrom each ward to tackle thecoronaviruscrisis.Therehasbeenalong-stand-

ing conflict between theBJP-ledMCDsandAAP-ledDelhigovern-ment. The corporations accusethe government of not givingtheirfairshareoffunds,whilethegovernmentallegesmisappropri-ationof fundsbycorporations.Kangra has written to Lt-

GovernorAnil Baijal seeking ex-emption forSouthMCDworkersfromotherduties.Shesaidseveralsanitationworkersareengagedincleanliness and sanitisation incontainment zones, but thegov-ernment asked for anadditional50workers in eachward. Thereare272municipalwardsinDelhi.

“The government has en-gagedourworkersinfooddistri-bution at government sheltersand quarantine centres but arenot engaging their own schoolstaffandcivildefencevolunteers.Nowthemosquitoseasonisuponusandthereisafeardenguewillbewidespreadthisyear,”shesaid.Domestic breeding checkers

(DBCs)arebusytacklingthevirusspreadandofficialsareapprehen-siveofavector-bornediseaseout-break. Around 3,500 DBCs areemployedacrosstheNorth,SouthandEastMCDs.Mayor of NorthMCD Avtar

Singh alsowrote to the L-G, de-manding that no additional du-ties be assigned to the availablemunicipalstaff.HesaidtheNorthbody has exempted employeeswho aremore than 55 years ofagefromregularduties.EastMCDmayorAnjuKamla-

kant said that additional sanita-tion staff should not be deputedfor other roles as itwill hamperanti-mosquitooperations.Meanwhile,SanjayGoel,who

is the coordinator of corona footwarrior teams, said the districtmagistratesconcernedhavebeenassured by the SDMC that re-quiredstaffwillbeprovided.

MCDs say cannotshare more staff withDelhi government

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, APRIL20

THE AZADPUR mandi will beopen24x7startingTuesday,saidDevelopment Minister GopalRai,describingitasameasuretoarresttherisingpricesofvegeta-blesandfruitsduetolockdown-relatedrestrictions.In an announcement on

Monday, Rai said that since thelockdown was enforced, theAgricultural Produce MarketCommittee at Azadpur has im-plemented social distancingnormswhich,while successful,have led to someproblems too.OnApril13, thegovernment

introducedaseriesofmeasuresincluding staggered timings,coupons and odd-even to en-sure social distancing at thecity’s mandis, frequented bythousandsonadailybasis.“Butthisledtotwoproblems

—we got reports that fruit andvegetablepriceswereincreasingacross the city, and that farmerswereunderduress as theywereunabletoselltheirproduce…Toeradicate all such issues, it hasbeen decided that the Azadpurmandi will remain open for 24hours fromTuesday,”saidRai.He added that “three sys-

temswillbeputintoplacetoen-sure social distancing”.First,producewillbesoldat

themarket from6amto10pm.Thiswindowof16hourswillbedivided into four segmentsof 4hours each. Only 1,000 peoplewill be allowed in each seg-ment. “Coupons will be givenfor this,” saidRai.Secondly, trucks bringing in

producewillonlybeallowedin-sidethemarketfrom10pmto6am,andsocialdistancingnormswill be followed thenaswell.Third, to ensure that people

are scattered, norms are fol-lowedandthearea iskept sani-

tised, 600 safai karamcharishave been hired and 900 civildefence volunteers have beenallottedduties.“Announcements will be

made throughout the day. Wehaveputup twocameras at thefruit and vegetable market tomonitor activities of thetraders,” said theminister.Any traderwhodoesnot fol-

lowsocialdistancingnormswillhavehislicenserevoked,saidRai.“We have held a meeting

with the traders. We will pro-vide the services and the facili-ties,butsocialdistancingnormshavetobemaintained,”saidRai.

AIIMS plansto restartelectivesurgeriesNewDelhi:Onemonthaf-terAIIMScurtaileditselec-tivesurgeries,theinstituteisplanningtostarttheserv-icessoon.“Discussionsaregoingon.Wewillstartit ina gradualmanner so thatcareof bothCOVID-19pa-tients and others can begivenproperly,”saidDrDKSharma,medical superin-tendent,AIIMS.

New cases: 3in Noida, 6 inGhaziabadNoida:Sixfreshcaseswerereported in Ghaziabadwhile three persons inNoidawerefoundpositivefor coronavirus onMonday. The total caseshavetouched100inNoidaand48inGhaziabad.

Rapid testingin GurgaonGurgaon: Testingforcoro-navirusinGurgaonwillbefaster fromTuesday,withthedistrict healthdepart-ment receiving 750 rapidtestingkitsMonday.

Examinedomesticviolence: HCNewDelhi: TheDelhi HChasdirectedtheCentreandstate to look into the issueof protection of domesticviolencevictimsand file astatusreportbyApril24.

Ensure food,amenities: HCNewDelhi: The Delhi HCMonday directed theCentreandStatetoensure“food, potablewater, elec-tricity and sanitation” intheareawhereinhabitantsof Yamuna Pushta havenowbeenrelocated.ENS

CORONAWATCH

Systemshavebeenput inplace toensuresocialdistancingatAzadpurmandi.RenukaPuri

To check price rise, Azadpurmandi to remain open 24x7

SCENES FROM A CONTAINMENT ZONE

New Delhi

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

WESTBENGAL

20cops injuredinclashwithlocalsover ‘bidtodisposebody’Alipurduar/Malda/Kolkata:Atleast20policepersonnelwereinjuredinaclashwithamobwhich alleged au-thoritieswere secretlydis-posingthebodyofapersonwhodiedduetoCOVID-19inAlipurduar.The incidenthappened on the banks ofthe Teesta river inSalkumarhatearlyMonday,policesaid.Localsallegedapoliceteamarrivedwithanearth mover to secretlydumpthebodyofapersonwho died of COVID-19.During the clash, policeopened fire, injuring ayouth, locals alleged.Denyingtheallegations,SPAmitavaMaity said a casehas been lodged and theyare trying to identify thosebehindtheincident. PTI

ANDHRAPRADESH

Man ‘assaulted’for lockdownviolation, diesHyderabad: A man diedafter allegedly beingassaultedby thepolice forviolation lockdownnorms in Sattenapallevillage of Guntur districtonMonday. The 28-year-old man was reportedlyoutbuyingsupplieswhenhe was assaulted at acheckpost. He collapsedat the checkpost andwasshifted to a hospitalwhere he succumbed.Guntur Rural SP V VijayRao said the policemanwho allegedly thrashedthe manwas suspended,pending inquiry. ENS

RAJASTHAN

Newborn testspositive forCOVID-19Jaipur:Anewbornbabyhastested positive for coron-avirus in Rajasthan’sNagaur district, an officialsaid Monday. “The babybornonSaturday iscoron-aviruspositive.Hermother,father and other familymemberstooareCOVID-19patients,” Nagaur chiefmedical andhealth officerDr SukumarKashyap said.The test report of thebabycameonSunday. PTI

CORONAWATCH

Ahealthworker inJammu. PTI

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL20

WHILE IT said that about80percent of novel coronavirus(COVID-19)patientsareasymp-tomatic, the Indian Council ofMedicalResearch(ICMR)main-tained onMonday that there isno need to change the testingprotocol.According to the govern-

ment’sstrategyforRT-PCRtests,only symptomatic peoplewithtravel or contacthistory, health-care workers who developsymptoms while caring forCOVID-19 patients, all hospi-talised patients with SevereAcuteRespiratoryIllness,asymp-tomaticdirectandhigh-riskcon-tactsof aconfirmedcase,andallpatients with symptomatic in-fluenza-like illnessaretested.Responding to a question at

the daily briefing, Dr R RGangakhedkar,headofepidemi-ology and infectious diseases attheICMR,said:“Ihaveexplainedthat80percentpeoplewillhaveinfection without symptoms.Theywill be asymptomatic butifyoutestthem,thereisachancethat theywill be positive…Weneedtounderstandthat theRT-PCR test comes positive after a

person is symptomatic. Peopletake time to be symptomatic.This means if I test him/ herwhen asymptomatic, thechancesofhim/hertestingpos-itivearesmall.”Statingthatthetesthas“lim-

itations”, he said: “This is a newdisease,peoplearelearning.Weare intervening, taking quickstepsbasedonourevolvingun-derstandingofthedisease.Asfortestingstrategy,yourchancesoftesting positive become less asyou near the infection time

point. It comes positive whentherearesymptoms,sokeepingin mind the cost effectivenessand risk-based approach, youryieldwillbecomelessthesooneryou test. Even to think aboutchanging the testing strategynow…Icannot say.”He said in hotspots, people

withinfluenza-likeillnessarebe-ing tested. “Howmuchweneedto change the testing protocol,timewill tell, based on the pro-gression of the disease and theevolutionof thetests,”hesaid.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretaryin theHealthMinistry, clarifiedthat80percentpatientsare“ei-therasymptomaticorhaveverymild symptoms”. “Our testingcriteriaisdetailedandtakesintoaccountasymptomatichigh-riskcontacts aswell as peoplewithsevere acute respiratory ill-nesses,”hesaid.He emphasised that it is al-

wayspossible tomakeaclinicalassessmentofwhethertestingisrequiredornot,basedonthepa-tient’shistory.

With1,540freshcasesand40deathsbeingreportedinthelast24hours, the total tallyhasnowgone up to 17,656 cases (2,842recovered)and559deaths.The average doubling time

has increased to 7.5 days, from3.4daysaweekbefore the lock-down.Thedoublingtimeismorethan the national average insome states and Union territo-ries.Amongtheseare:Delhi(8.5days),Karnataka(9.2),Telangana(9.4),AndhraPradesh(10.6), J&K(11.5), Punjab (13.1),Chhattisgarh (13.3), TamilNadu(14), Bihar (16.4),AndamanandNicobar Islands (20.1), Haryana(21), Himachal Pradesh (24.5),Chandigarh(25.4),Assam(25.8),Uttarakhand (26.6) and Ladakh(26.6). Two states have a dou-blingtimeofmorethan30days:Odisha (39.8)andKerala (72.2).Three districts — Mahe

(Puducherry), Kodagu(Karnataka) Pauri Garhwal(Uttarakhand) — have not re-ported any fresh case in the last28 days. In the last 14 days, 59districts, spreadacross23statesand UTs, have not reported anyfresh case. The six newdistrictsin this list are: Dungarpur andPali in Rajasthan, Jamnagar andMorbiinGujarat,NorthGoaandGomati inTripura.

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, APRIL20

AMID OUTRAGE from promi-nent Arab citizens overIslamophobic comments fromsomeIndians in theGulf region,Indian envoy to the UAE PavanKapooronMondaysoughttore-mindIndiansintheUAEthatdis-criminationisagainsttheIndianmoral fabricandruleof law.Kapoor tweeted, “India and

UAE share the valueof non-dis-crimination onmany grounds.Discrimination is against ourmoral fabric and the ruleof law.Indian nationals in the UAEshouldalways remember this.”He was sharing a tweet by

PrimeMinister NarendraModiin which he said, “COVID-19does not see race, religion,colour, caste, creed, languageorborders before striking. Our re-sponse and conduct thereaftershould attach primacy to unityandbrotherhood.Weare in thistogether.”Bilateral ties between India

and the UAE have deepened inrecent years, especially incounter-terrorism.Over2millionIndians live in

the UAE and about 8 millionIndiansintheGulfregion.Apos-siblebacklashagainst IndiansintheUAE inparticular, and in theregion in general, appears tohavepromptedthetweetbytheIndiandiplomat.OnSunday,Dubai-basedbusi-

nesswoman Noora Al GhuraircalledoutBJPMPTejasviSuryafora tweet aboutArabwomen thathe had shared in 2015. Sharingthe tweet,NooraAlGhurair said

shepitiedSurya’s“upbringing”.Lastweek, Princess HendAl

Qassimi,amemberofaUAEroyalfamily,warnedthat“anyonethatis openly racist and discrimina-tory intheUAEwillbe finedandmadeto leavethecountry.”She also slammed Dubai-

based Indian expat SaurabhUpadhyaywhohadputoutsev-eral tweets targetingMuslims.Meanwhile, the PTI has re-

ported that a prominent Indianbusinessman in the UAE hasapologised for “unintentionallyhurting religious sentiments”throughhispoem,accordingtoamedia report.Inarelateddevelopment,the

Organisation of IslamicCooperation’s IndependentPermanent Human RightsCommission (OIC-IPHRC)Sunday urged India to take “ur-gent steps” to protect rights oftheMuslimcommunity.Following this, Pakistan PM

Imran Khan compared theIndian government’s treatmentofMuslimsto“whatNazisdidtoJews inGermany”.The Ministry of External

Affairs, which has not com-mented on theOIC comments,issued a statement againstremarks by the Pakistanileadership.MEA spokesperson Anurag

Srivastavasaid:“...Insteadofcon-centratingonfightingCOVID19,theyaremakingbaselessallega-tions against their neighbours.On the subject of minorities,they would be well advised toaddress the concerns of theirown dwindlingminority com-munities,whichhavebeentrulydiscriminatedagainst.”

WestBengalgovernmentonMondaystartedconductingrapidantibodytestsasper ICMRdirectives inredzoneareasof thestate.ParthaPaul

ARABOUTRAGEAGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA

Delhi envoy remindsIndians in UAE:Discriminationagainst moral fabric

BACK TO WORKEmployeesundergothermalscreeningatParliamentHousewhilereporting fordutyonMonday,asLokSabhaandRajyaSabhasecretariat resumedwork.Anil Sharma

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JAIPUR,DEHRADUN,APRIL20

EVEN AS one of the studentsbrought back fromKota testednegative for coronavirus inUttarPradesh’sGhazipur,RajasthanCMAshokGehlotsaidthattheUniongovernmenthas agreed to allowstates tomakearrangements forstudentsfromKotatotravelbacktotheirhomestates.TheCMalsosaidthatafterUP

andUttarakhand, nowMadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,West Bengal and Assam haveagreedtotakestudentsback.Thestudentwhotestednega-

tive onMonday is among thosewhowerebrought back toUttarPradesh fromKota. On Sunday,shewas found tohavehighviral

loadinherrapidtestatGhazipur,hernativeplace,andkeptininsti-tutionalquarantinealongwith27othersincludingstudents,police-menandthedriverwhotravelledin the same bus. Now, after hernegativereport,allofthemarebe-ing sent formandatory 14-dayhomequarantine.“In the rapid test, a girl was

foundtohavehighviral load.HerthroatandnasalswabwassentforfinaltestingtoBHU,Varanasi.Thereportwas confirmed negativeMonday,”saidDistrictCMODrGCMaurya.SPOmPrakashSinghsaidthat

257studentswerebroughttothedistrictandallofthemtestedneg-ative.“Earlier,the28whowereonthatbuswerekeptininstitutionalquarantine.Now, as the report isnegative, they will be sent tohomequarantine,”saidtheSP.

Additional Chief Secretary(Home)AwanishKumarAwasthitold themedia 10,500 childrenwere brought fromKota in 250buses in three days. “TheywerescreenedatAgra and Jhansi, andADM-led teamsagain examinedthe students after they reachedtheirrespectivedistricts,”hesaid.UPbusesalsotransported411

students belonging toUttarakhand to Haldwani andRishikesh on Monday. TheUttarakhandgovernmentwillpayUPforferryingitsstudents.Kota’s Additional District

Magistrate, Administration,NarendraGupta,saidthat12,500studentshavebeenferriedtotheirhome towns across UP andUttarakhand by 400 buses. Hesaid that buses fromMPare ex-pectedtostartarrivingTuesdaytoferry3,000students.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,APRIL20

FIFTY-FOUR PEOPLE were ar-restedfromaBengalurulocalityidentifiedascoronavirushotspotafter they allegedly protestedagainsthealthworkerstryingtoquarantine secondary contactsof a COVID-19-positive patient,and for resorting toviolence.The incidents occurred in

Padarayanapura, which wassealed after 14 people testedpositiveintheareainrecentdays—-thehighest foranylocality inthestate.On Sunday night, health

workerswent therewithpoliceescorttobringintoquarantineafewsecondary contacts of a pa-tientwhohastestedpositivebutwere prevented by local resi-dents,whoclaimedthat theau-thorities were targetting onecommunity in their battle tocombat thepandemic.After a brief clash, in which

youths removed police barri-cadesputuptosealthearea,thepolicebroughtthesituationun-dercontrol.OnMonday, KarnatakaChief

Minister B S Yediyurappa saidsome local residents resorted to“goondaism”andtriedtostoppo-lice, BBMPandhealthofficials inPadarayanapura and tried to re-move roadbarricades. “They in-dulged in hooliganismwithoutunderstanding that the govern-mentistryingtoprotecttheirlivesandhealth;54peoplehavebeenarrested.Wecannottoleratesuchacts;theymustnotrecur.”He also said, “There is no

question of (differentiating be-tween) Hindu, Muslim orChristians —- action must betaken against whoever violatesthe law.”In a Cabinet meeting on

Monday, the state governmentdecided to promulgate an ordi-nanceonthelinesoflawscreatedinUP andKerala to punish peo-plepreventinghealthworkers.

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, APRIL20

INTHEfirstintegrationbetweenthe Central government’sAarogyaSetumobileappande-passes, the programme haschecked 10,000 travel passeswith its self-assessment andpositive case data tomake surepositiveandhigh-riskpeoplearenot issued a pass, the applica-tion’s technology developerstoldThe IndianExpress.Aside fromthis data, thede-

velopers of the app are alsoworkingtochecktheusefulnessof their contact history algo-rithms. In conjunctionwith theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) and theNational Center for DiseaseControl (NCDC), “on-groundchecking” of Aarogya Setu datawillbeusedtoassesshowmanypeopledeemedhigh-riskbythemobile app tested positive forthecoronavirus.If the proportion of people

testing positive based off of theapplication is higher than thecurrent proportion of positive

cases out of tested samples(roughly 4 per cent), then it is a“reasonable risk” to use the in-formation in prohibiting high-risk users from receiving e-passes, thedevelopers said.Theintegrationrelatedonlyto

corporatepasses so far, not indi-vidualones, and is spreadacrosssevenstates.Theapplicationcur-rentlyhas67.5millionusers.The app is also collecting

morespecificinformationabouta user’s potential symptoms,suchasdegreeof fever. Itwillbeintegrating various tele-medi-cineproviders soon.OnApril11,TheIndianExpress

had reported the various data-bases that are integrated withthe application at the backend,includinglocationhistoryofpos-itive cases held by the ICMR,NCDCandtheNationalDisasterManagementAuthority.Along with the self-assess-

ment,theapptracksauser’sGPScoordinates and Bluetooth dataaboutotherusersinthevicinity.Thisdata issent fromthephoneto the serverwhen auser regis-ters, or when a user is deemedhigh-riskorCOVID-19positive.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,APRIL20

THE LOCKDOWN in Karnatakawill continue tillMay3but a re-view for opening up some sec-torswill be held in three to fourdays, Chief Minister B SYediyurappasaidonMondayaf-terameetingofthestatecabinet.The state government has

decided to stick toMHA guide-lines for opening up of sectorsandwillawaitfurtherguidelines.“The lockdownwill continue

andwewill review it in three tofour days.We considered relax-ationforsomesectorsbutifwere-laxforruralindustriesoranyothersector, peoplewillmove aroundand itmay causeproblems,’’ the

CMsaidafterthemeeting.Whilerestrictionsonagricul-

ture and horticulture are beingeased, other sectors will be re-laxed only after a review undernewguidelines issued from theCentre, officials said. “Wemaytakeacall in3-4dayshowever,”KarnatakaEducationMinister SSureshKumarsaid.Thestategovernmentisplan-

ningtopromulgateanordinancetoprescribepunishmentforper-sons attacking health workersandforpeoplewhowilfullyhidethe knowledge that they are in-fected, theministersaid.Themedical education sys-

teminthestateisnowconduct-inglarge-scaleonlinetrainingofhealth professionals as part of aCovid-19preparednessstrategy.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,DEHRADUN,APRIL20

UTTARPRADESHChiefMinisterYogi Adityanath’s father AnandSinghBisht,whowasundergoingtreatmentatAIIMSinDelhi,diedonMondaymorning.Hewas89.Adityanath expressed his

helplessnessinattendingthefu-neral, as he is in themiddle ofworkingoutastrategytocombatthe spread of coronavirus in thestate. Inastatement,hesaidthathehasrequestedhismotherandfamilymemberstocompletethelast rites,with theattendanceofminimumpossiblepeople.Adityanath said he would

themvisit once the lockdownisover. Inastatement,hesaid,“...Hegave me sanskar to work withhonesty, selflessness andwithcomplete devotion as a child. I

wantedtoseehim(alasttime)butcouldnotvisithimbecauseofmyresponsibility towards 23 crorepeople of UP in the fight againstcoronaviruspandemic...”Uttar Pradesh’s Additional

ChiefSecretaryAwanishAwasthitold themedia that Adityanathreceived information about hisfather’s demise while he washolding a reviewmeetingwithsenior officials for coronaviruscontrol andmanagement.In Dehradun, Uttarakhand

CMTrivendra Singh Rawat saidAnandBisht,whowasanativeofPanchur village in the state’sPauriGarhwaldistrict,wasasso-ciatedwith the BJP, had servedas theparty’smandalunitpres-ident in Yamkeshwar block (ofPauriGarhwal), andhisworkasapartyworker andactive socialworkerwill be remembered bythepeople.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,APRIL20

AT LEAST 25 people from anAhmedabadlocality,whotestedpositive for COVID-19, allegedlywaited outside the AhmedabadCivilHospitalfornearlysixhoursdueto“miscommunication”be-tweentheauthorities.Theywereadmittedonlyafteravideoofoneof the patients speaking aboutthe issuewentviralonSunday.In the video, a patient

claimed that the25 testedposi-tive on Sunday. She said theywere waiting outside the CivilHospitalsincetheafternoonbutwerenotadmitted.ThededicatedCOVID-19hos-

pital on the civil hospital prem-ises has 1,200 beds and wasopenedinthelastweekofMarch.

“We are ill and no one is re-sponding. We have not beengiven food or water. So manycasesarecomingintothehospi-tal and there is only one stafferhere to register them,” the pa-tient said in the video. After thevideo went viral, the patientswereadmittedaround9pm.COVID-19 hospital incharge

DrMDGajjarsaiditwasduetoa“communication gap”. CivilHospital superintendent incharge,DrJVModi,“Therewasacommunicationgapattheman-agement level... the hospital re-ceived the test reports only by6.30pmwhilethepatientsweredroppedoff sooner.”Another patient told The

IndianExpress,“Wewerebroughttothecivilhospitalaround3pm.We were told that the staff incharge was busy in the emer-

gencyward...ataround8.45pm,all25ofuswereadmitted in theD-2 ward on the second floor.Mostofusareasymptomaticbutthose above 70 years have re-portedweaknessand fatigue,”Principal Secretary Health,

Jayanti Ravi, said, “We receivedinformationonSundayeveningand immediately got in touchwith our team of health com-missioner,additionaldirectorofmedical education and others.They (25 patients) were imme-diately accommodated and avideo of the patient expressingtheirsatisfactionwithouractionhas also been shared.We got toknowthattherewassomecom-munication gap in the data en-try for admissions... Senior offi-cials, including the healthcommissioner, visited them atnightandtheir comfortwasen-

sured. We’ve put systems inplace that such incidents don’ttakeplace in the future.”In another video that went

viralonMondaymorning,oneofthe patients requested for basicfacilities such as clean toilets,medical attention and timelymeals.Thepatient later toldTheIndian Express, “I called for anambulance and got myself ad-mitted to Civil Hospital around12.30am. It is 2.30pmnowandno doctor has come to check.There is only one latrine herewhich was clogged. After thevideowentviral,thehospitalad-ministration got cleaned...Wewere not even givenwater bot-tles. There is onewater jug foraround60patients.”On the complaints, DrModi

said,“Wehavebeenfixingtheis-sues sincemorning...”

5 states ready to get students fromKota, one tests negative after scare

Policeconductamarch inBengaluru’sPadarayanapuraareaonMonday.PTI

Health workersstopped in Bengaluruhotspot, 54 arrested

Aarogya Setu integrationensures high-risk peoplenot issued travel e-pass

25 corona patients wait at Gujarat hospitalfor 6 hours, admn says miscommunication

Lockdown to continue,Karnataka to reviewopening of some sectors

‘Can’t attend last ritesdue to corona work’

ADITYANATH’SFATHERDIES80%patients asymptomatic, but noneed to change testing protocol: ICMR

New Delhi

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³f¦fS´ffd»fI f, ²ffø WZOÞf õfSf Àf·fe Af¸fªf³f I û Àfcd¨f°f dI ¹ff ªff°ff W` dI I ûSû³ff ½ff¹fSÀfIZ J°fSm I f AfI »f³f I S³fZ IZ d»fE ·ffS°f ÀfSI fS ³fZ EI EZ´f »ffa¨f dI ¹ff W`, dªfÀfI f ³ff¸fAfSû¦¹f ÀfZ°fc (Aarogya Setu) W`, ªfû W¸fZÔ A´f³fZ AfÀf ´fOÞûÀf I û I ûSû³ff ÀfZ ÀfaIi d¸f°f½¹fd¢°f IZ ³fªfQeI ªff³fZ ÀfZ W¸fZÔ Àf°fÊI I S°ff W`Ü ´fcSm d½fV½f ¸fZÔ I ûSû³ff ½ff¹fSÀf I f J°fSf¸faOSf SWf W`Ü dªfÀfÀfZ d½fV½f ¸fZÔ »ffJû ½¹fd¢°f ÀfaIi d¸f°f Wû ¨fbIZ W`Ô ½f I fR e »fû¦f ªff³f ÀfZ Wf±f²fû ¨fbIZ W`ÔÜ ·ffS°f ÀfSI fS ³fZ BÀf ÀfaIi ¸f¯f ÀfZ ¶f¨ff³fZ IZ d»fE AfSû¦¹f ÀfZ°fc EZ´f I û »ffa¨f dI ¹ffW`Ü AfSû¦¹f ÀfZ°fc EZ´f I û Af´f ¦fc¦f»f ´»fZ ÀMûS ÀfZ ½f IOS user Apps Store ÀfZOfC³f»fûO I S ÀfI °fZ W`ÔÜ ªfû dI ¶fWb°f We ÀfS»f ´fidIi ¹ff W`Ü EZ´f OfC³f»fûO I S³fZ IZ C´fSf³°fIb L Àf½ff»fûÔ IZ ªf½ff¶f QZI S Af´f JbQ ·fe ªffa¨f I S ÀfI °fZ W`Ô dI I WeÔ Af´f I ûSû³ff ÀfZÀfaIi d¸f°f °fû ³fWeÔ W`ÔÜ MZÀM I S³fZ I f ¶ffQ EZ´f õfSf À½fa¹f We Af´fI û ´f°ff ¨f»f ªffE¦ff dIAf´fI û ÀfaIi ¸f¯f W` ¹ff ³fWeÔ, Àff±f We EZ´f ¸fZÔ Ib L ÀfbÓff½f dQE ¦fE W`ÔÜ dªf³fI f ´ff»f³f ªfø SI SmÔ AüS A´f³fZ BÊQ-d¦fQÊ Ad²fI °f¸f »fû¦fûÔ I û BÀfIZ ¶ffSm ¸fZÔ ¶f°ffEaÜ EZÀff I S³fZ ÀfZ ³ff IZ ½f»fAf´f Ad´f°fb Af´f A´f³fZ ´fdS½ffS, ¸füW»»ff ½f ´fcSm VfWS I û ÀfaIi ¸f¯f ÀfZ ¶f¨ff ÀfI °fZ W`ÔÜ A°f:Af´f Àf·fe ÀfZ A³fbSû²f W` dI Ad²fI ÀfZ Ad²fI »fû¦fûÔ I û AfSû¦¹f ÀfZ°fc EZ´f OfC³f»fûO I S³fZ¶ffSm ªff¦fø I I SmÔÜ

WÀ°ff./- Àfd¨f½f, ³f¦fSX´ffd»fIYf,

²fføYWZXOÞXfÜ80690/HRY.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT:www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in

80687/HRY.

TENDER NOTICESr. No. : 01NAME OF BOARD/CORP./AUTH: GMDA GURUGRAMNAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER: DESILTING OF 900MM DIA MASTER SEWER LINE BY HIGHPOWER SUPER SUCKER MACHINE FROM ATUL KATARIA CHOWK TO PARKASH PURI CHOWK.OPENING DATE CLOSING DATE (TIME): 18.04.2020 06.05.2020AMOUNT / EMD (APPROX.) IN RUPEES: 2 LACSWEBSITE OF THE BOARD CORP./AUTH: https://www.gmda.gov.inNODAL OFFICER/CONTACT DETAILS/EMAIL: xen4infra2.gmda@gov.inSr. No. : 02NAME OF BOARD/CORP./AUTH: GMDA GURUGRAMNAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER: DISMANTLING PROVIDING AND FIXING OF SLUICEVALUE IN EXISTING PIPE LINE OF FILTRATION UNIT OF MAKE IVC NASIKOPENING DATE CLOSING DATE (TIME): 18.04.2020 09.05.2020AMOUNT / EMD (APPROX.) IN RUPEES: 14120/-WEBSITE OF THE BOARD CORP./AUTH: https://www.gmda.gov.inNODAL OFFICER/CONTACT DETAILS/EMAIL: xen3infra2.gmda@gov.in

Government of JharkhandJharkhand Rural Health Mission Society

Department of Health, Medical Education & Family WelfareNamkum, Ranchi.

NoticeRequest for Proposal for Covid-19 RT-PCR testing at private laboratories

Notice No.: IDSP/2020/154-119 (IDSP) Date: 20.04.20Mission Director, Jharkhand Rural Health Mission Society, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. ofJharkhand, Namkum, Ranchi, invites proposals from ICMR approved Private Labs for conducting Covid-19RT-PCRtest as per ICMR guidelines.Objective:In compliance with the various orders of competent authorities and to supplement and complement the efforts ofthe government and to utilise the capacity of ICMR empanelled private laboratories to enhance the number ofCOVID-19 tests to the maximum without any compromise on protocol or quality of testing, towards mitigation andmanagement of COVID-19 Pandemic, the present ‘Request for Proposal (RFP)” has been envisaged. Under thisRFP, ICMR approved Private Labs shall be empanelled for the following models:a. Collection of samples (as facilitated by district administration) and testing thereuponb. Pick-up & testing of samples already collected by the districtsc. Collection of samples and testing thereupon against individual payment by the person tested.Detailed operational model for the above options & other terms & conditions can be obtained through websitehttp://jrhms.jharkhand.gov.in and proposal should be submitted through e-mail onnrhmjharkhandfmr@gmail.com only.

Sr. No. Particulars Details1 Name of the work COVID-19 RT-PCR testing

2 Date / time for receipt of proposals on email Upto 24th April by 12 Noon

3 Contact Person for queries Narsingh Kumar Khalkho-8986912295Pratik Mittal- 9570171514

Sd/-Mission Director

Jharkhand Rural Health Mission Society

ClassifiedsPPEERRSSOONNAALL

II,, SunilMittal R/oA-3/47-48,Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi-110089, have changedmyminor son’s name fromYanshuMittal toVeerMittalfor all futurepurposes.

0040536846-1

PPUUBBLLIICCNNOOTTIICCEE

6THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21, 2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

LINING UP ONLINEFOLLOWINGTHEpathofseveralothergovernmentproceed-ingsnowshiftingtothedigitalworld,LokSabhaSpeakerOmBirla has permitted online meeting request fromParliamentary Standing Committee on InformationTechnology chairman Shashi Tharoor. With some days ofphysical standstill, now several public institutions are grap-plingwithanonlinelifeline.SupremeCourthearingshavetri-aled video-conferencing, the PrimeMinister’s most urgentmeetingsarenowvirtually-held,andtheNationalInformaticsCentrehas startedallowing thee-filingsystemtowork fromhome.CongressMPTharoorapplaudedthe“welcomeprece-dent”onMonday.

FULL AGAINAFTERFUNCTIONINGwithafewjudgesforthe lastcoupleofweeks on account of the lockdown, the Supreme Courtwillseenear-full attendance of judges onTuesday,with30of 33of them taking upmatters for hearing.While therewill beonlyonevirtual courtheadedby JusticeNVRamana tohearurgentmattersviavideoconferencing,heandtheotherswillalso takeupreviewandcurativepetitions in their chamber.

TOOCLOSEFORCOMFORTITWAS supposed to be a graded opening of government of-fices fromMonday.However, the sheer crowdatoffices—ofpublicservantscomingbacktowork—hasstumpedofficers.Thefamiliarstruggletofindaplacetoparkinofficialcarpark-ingwas, unexpectedly, back.Many staff were spotted com-ing toworkon two-wheelers,with colleagues ridingpillion.Many officers in internal groupswere founddiscussing thatstricter rules needed to be applied for relaxation of govern-mentworking if socialdistancingneededtobemaintained.

‘Confident we will win this battle,Indore will emerge as a model’

Haryana lab barredfrom Covid testing

Moradabad doctorsuccumbs to corona

ZEROTOOVER1,000 IN3WEEKS,CRISIS INMADHYAPRADESH

MADHYA PRADESH ChiefMinister SHIVRAJ SINGHCHOUHAN speaks to LIZMATHEWonthestate’sresponsetothepandemic.Excerpts:

HowareyoutacklingthecoronavirusspreadinIndore?Indore is theprimecommer-

cialcentreanddenselypopulatedcityof the state. It is aplace fromwhere a largenumber of peopletravel abroad for business...Initially, such people hid theirtravelhistoriesandcameintocon-tactwith others, resulting in thespreadof infection.Now,weareputting special attention on thecaseshere.Iamconfidentwewillwin this battle soon and Indorewillemergeasamodel. Ihavere-viewedthesituationinIndoreandelsewhere in the state throughvideoconferencing.Ihavealsodi-rected effective implementationof thestrategytoIdentify, Isolate,TestandTreatinalldistricts.

Seniorhealthofficershavebeenaccusedofcarelessnessandarequarantined.Whyhasnoactionbeentaken?It is too early to label them

withtermslikecallousapproach.We are fighting an epidemic inwhichinfectionspreadsveryrap-idly...Ourofficers,healthworkersand administrative personnelwere at the forefront of thiswar....unfortunately,theywerein-fected. Ihaveaskedforadetailedreport,withoutknowingtherealfacts, itwouldnotbe right to saywhatwentwrong. They are all

government officials andwereperforming their duties... theircontact history is being investi-gated... Further action will betakenbydistrict authorities afterobtaining informationbased onprotocol.

FormerCMKamalNathhasallegedthatthestatefailedtotakerequiredmeasuresintimeasBJPwasbusytopplinghisgovernment.I do not agree with him.

Medical facilities and importantmeasureshavebeentakensinceItookcharge.Priortothis,medicalfacilitieswerelessinnumbers,wehave gradually increased them...If Mr. KamalNathwas aware of

these facts, why didn’t he takemeasures to overcome thesethings when he was ChiefMinister, it isamatterofconcern,they are hiding their failure bymakingsuchstatements.Ifeelthisisnotarighttimetoputblame,in-stead of making political com-ments, they should contributepartinthisfight...

YoutookoathonMarch23,butyourCabinetcontinuestobeaone-manarmy.Why?Itisrightthatthecabinetplays

acrucialrole.CouncilofMinisterswork together as a team for thebettermentofstateandbeingto-getherhelpsduringthechalleng-ingtimes...butthistime,thesitu-ation is like never before, it isglobalpandemic;assoonasItookcharge, Iputeverything intothis.Ourprimaryfocuswastoprepareforthisbattle... IamcontinuouslycoordinatingwithMLAsandMPs.

Thestatestilldoesnothaveadequatetestingcapacity.Whenwillthisimprove?No, it isnot truenow.When I

was sworn in asCM, these facili-tieswere very less in number...Today, our medical system isstrongerthanbefore...Atpresent,testsarebeingconductedinninelabsinthestate.About5120sam-pleshavebeencollectedinIndoreand1,000ofthemhavebeensenttoDelhi... There has been an in-creaseindailychecks.theprocessto startmore labs is in progress.Testingkits are available andarebeingsuppliedcontinuously.

Many,includingsomeinyourparty,haveadmittedthatthespreadoffakenewsledtohostilitytowardshealthworkers.Didyoufindfakenewsahurdleinthisbattle?Wehaveaskedpeopletostay

away from informationwhichcreatesanxiety...wearetryingourbest, local administrative bodieshavealso repeatedlyappealedattheirlevel...Wearetryingtocoun-selsuchpersons...yet,suchthingshappen,which is very unfortu-nate... Thosewhowere involvedinIndorearebehindthebarsun-der the provisions of NationalSecurityAct. Recently, such inci-dentshappenedinUttarPradeshandMaharashtra...inmyopinion,strict action should be takenagainstculprits. Ihave instructedtheauthoritiesthatifanyonegoesagainstthelawordoesnotcoop-erate or is found spreading fakenews should be booked understrictpenalprovisionsoflaw.Theyaresocialenemiesof thestate.

Whatisthelockdown’simpactonstateeconomy?Itisafactthat.itisgoingtodis-

turbtheeconomicalwheelsofthestate... The state is facing amonthlylossofaround2-3thou-sandcroresandweareconcernedaboutit.Wehave formedastate-level

committeetodiscussmeasurestoreboot the economyand regainthe financialmomentumwhenthiscrisisends.

FULLINTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

WITH

SHIVRAJ SINGHCHOUHANMADHYAPRADESHCHIEFMINISTER

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

DIPANKARGHOSE&KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, APRIL20

SENIORMADHYA Pradesh offi-cials have admitted that COVID19 testing capacities in Indorewere not “what it should havebeen”,andthat itwaslikelythatthere were “undetected cases”muchbeforeMarch24whenthefirst casewasdetected.The officials said therewere

“initial setbacks”, but the statehassincetakenstepstorampuptestingand isnowinagoodpo-sition to tackle the number ofcases. They added that therewere at least 40 cases where“100 per cent contact tracing”hasnotbeenpossible, indicativeof possible local communitytransmission.Additional Chief Secretary

Mohammad Suleman,whohasbeengivenchargeof theHealthDepartment,toldreportersovervideo-conference on Saturday,“Itisafactthatourtestingcapac-itywasway lower thanwhat ithadtobe.Wehaveabacklog.Weare trying to run three shifts inthe labs and have given addi-tionalmachines.Delayintestingdoes result in some kind of un-certainty. But we are ensuringthatthosewhosetestresultsarepending are either inhome iso-lation or institutionalquarantine.”Headded, “Initiallyour test-

ing and sampling capacitywasvery low. In March, we tested150 samples per day in twolabs. Now we are testing over1,200 samples per day. By theend of the month our target is2,000, and 5,000 by May. Wehaverampedupsamplecollec-tion. In Indore alone we havecollected 5,000 samples. Weare ensuring that all suspectedpeople in quarantine facilitiesare tested on priority.Additionally, 2,000 teams aredoing surveillance to identifyhigh-risk patients.”The Additional Chief

Secretary said that while

Indore’sfirstcasewasidentifiedonMarch24,thenumberssincethen—closeto900now—showthat it is probable that therewerecasesthatwentundetectedearlier.“The growth has been very

fast,andnomathematicalmod-ellingcanexplainthis.Therefore,whilenobodycansayforcertain,it does seem like there werecasesbeforethefirstonewasde-tected,”hesaid.Dr Lokendra Dave, a health

official from the state govern-ment, said the high mortalityratesintheinitialstagesofcasesemerginginIndoreshowedthatpatientswereturninguplatefortreatment,andthattheyhadco-morbidities.Sulemanaddedthatforthose

thathavedied, theaveragehos-pital stay was three and a halfdays, indicating thatmostcametohospitalwithlittletimeleftfortreatment.“Nowwe are also admitting

suspected cases in hospitals sothatwecanmonitorthemmoreefficiently,”hesaid.The senior officials also ex-

pressed confidence that therewassufficienthealthinfrastruc-ture, and even in Indore, notclose to a crisis point. The offi-cials said that ramping up ofmedicalinfrastructureinthelastmonthhasmeantthat in Indore19percentisolationbedsarebe-ingusedasopposed to thestateaverageof 28percent.

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL,APRIL20

THREE DAYS after hewas al-legedly beatenupbypolice forviolation of lockdown restric-tions, a 50-year-old farmer inJabalpur died onMonday. Thishas led to suspension of sixpolicemen.DIG (Jabalpur) Manohar

Varmasaidaprobehasbeenor-dered into the death of BanshiKushwah. Varma added that avideo in which the victimnamedthepolicemenhasbeenincluded in the probe. In thevideo,thevictimallegedthepo-licemenaskedhimaboutagam-blingdenandbeathimupwhenhesaidhedidnotknowaboutit.It is alleged that the farmer

was onhiswayhomeafter at-tending to cattle in his field onApril 16 when the policestopped and assaulted him.Banshi’s familymembers havenotfiledanycomplaint,buthaveclaimed that theycalledup thepolicecontrolroomaftertheal-legedassault,buttonoavail.ASP SanjeevUikey said the

policehad reached the area af-ter a tip-off that some peoplewere gambling there. “Thepo-licepersonnelwerenotjustifiedin beating up the farmer... Thefamily members have de-manded that a case ofmurderbe registeredbut that canhap-penonlyifthepost-mortemes-tablishes that the death wascausedduetoinjuries,’’ theASPsaid. Tweetingthevideo,formerCMKamalNathtermedtheinci-dent“barbaric”.

GARGIVERMARAIPUR,APRIL20

USINGRAPIDantibody testkits,the Chhattisgarh HealthDepartment has managed tofindthesourceof infectionintheonly hotspot in the state,Katghora, in Korba district, offi-cials saidonMonday.The22-year-oldman (or the

source), identifiedas“Patient0”,was found to have antibodiesthrough the rapid test, eventhough his swab test had comeback negative. Earlier thismonth, a 16-year-old boy wasfirst found with the virus inKatghora. Given laxity in thequarantine process, asmany as25 confirmed cases soonemerged in Katghora, afterwhich itwasdeclaredahotspotin the state. While the stateHealth Department was in-volved in containment in thearea,itsotherprioritywastofindthesourceof infection.“Theboyhad come from Kamptee,

Maharashtra. He had neithergonetoNizammudinmarkaz(ofTablighiJamaat),norwereanyofhis contacts found positive. Sowe did not know how he con-tractedthevirus,”anofficialsaid.On Monday, the mystery wassolved after one of his friendswas found to have COVID anti-bodiesduringrapidtesting.“Theman (friend) had traveled toNizamuddin. He had then trav-eledwith the 16-year-old fromGondiya to Katghora; theystayedtogether,”theofficialsaid.Theman,whohadalsobeen

quarantined, hadhad the infec-tionandbecameacarrier,beforehewas cured, a source privy tosaid.“Sincehehadtravelhistoryto Nizamuddin, he was underobservation.Butnowwecanbesure (thathewasthesource), ashisbodyshowspresenceofanti-bodiesagainst thevirus,” a localHealthofficial said.Chhattisgarh currently has

4,500rapid-testingkitsandissettoget75,000morefromaSouthKoreanfirminthenextfewdays.

StateHealthMinisterT S Singh Deo said:“Rapid tests give usthree indicators: ei-ther you don’t havethevirusinfection,oryou had it and havenow recovered, oryou are positive. Thekits are currently be-ing used at thehotspot.Basedontheresults, we can startspacing them out,checking largergroups faster. Wehave started testingfrom Sunday withthesekits, andasandwhenmorecomewewill deploy themacross thestate.”

Panchkula:Oneofthefiveprivatelabs in Haryana authorised bytheCentretoconductCOVID-19tests was barred on Mondayfrom any further testing afterlapseswere found in four casesthat the lab tested positive.Health Minister Anil Vij onMonday said, “Since four testshave been foundwrong, all theteststhatthis labhasconductedso far shall be re-tested in thegovernment'slab.” Allfourpeo-plewhose testswere under thelensarestillunderquarantine,inaccordance with the Centre’sguidelines,hesaid. ENS

Noida: A doctor inMoradabaddied of a coronavirus infectiononMonday,officialssaid.The40-year-olddoctor,earlierpostedata health centre in Tajganj, is thethird fatality inthedistrict. “Thedoctordevelopedsymptomsbe-tween April 7-8th andwas ad-mittedtothehospital. Inthelast3-4 days, his condition wors-ened... He eventually died of acardiac arrest onMonday,” saidCMODrMCGarg. According toofficials, the doctor part of thescreening and contact tracingteamfromwhenthecaseswerefirst reported in thestate. ENS

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL,APRIL20

AMID THECOVID-19 outbreak,MadhyaPradeshisseeingaseriesof unexpected events set off inmotion by an incident of stone-pelting at a police constableinIndore.After stoneswere thrown at

the constable trying to enforcelockdownrestrictions in Indore’sChandanagar locality onApril 7,four peoplewere bookedundertheNational SecurityAct (NSA).OnceNSA is invoked, detaineesare sent to jails far from their

homedistrict. TheadministrationdecidedtosendtwodetaineestoJabalpur and two to Satna andthey travelledon the samevehi-clefromIndore.Accordingtopolice,aftera30-

year-olddetaineesenttoJabalpurshowed symptoms, he and thedetaineewithhimweretakentoanisolationwardatagovernmenthospital. The other two reachedSatna jail andwerekept inasep-arate barrack. The 30-year-oldtested positive for COVID-19 onApril11,forcingauthoritiestotestpolicemeninvolvedinthearrestsandtransport,saidpolice.The two in Satna jail tested

positive andbecause thedistrictdoesnothaveanyCOVID-19facil-ity,theywereshiftedtoRewa,po-lice said. Rewahad reported nocases and did notwant the twopatients in their hospital. So, theauthorities shifted themall thewaytoahospitalinBhopal.ManyguardsandprisonersinSatnajailwerequarantined. OnSunday,the30-year-old escaped fromNSCBCollege,Jabalpur.Hewasarrestedaday later fromNarsingpur andhesaidhefledbecausehewasleftalone inthewardforawhileandhewasscared,policesaid.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

In MP, a series of unexpected events

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA,APRIL20

THEBIHARgovernment has ex-presseditsangeroverprivatehos-pitals“completelywithdrawing”fromthefightagainsttheCOVID-19. The state government hasasked all private hospitals andclinicstotakeupusualservicessothatgovernmenthospitalsarenotoverburdened. The governmentalsoofferedacost-sharingplanforprivate hospitals if they tookupCOVID-19 cases butprivatehos-pitals in thestateareyet tocomeforward.AnorderissuedonMondayby

thePrincipal Secretaryof Bihar’sHealthDepartment stated, “Allheads/in-charges/managers oftheprivatesector(includingtrust

and charitable institutions (hos-pitals)/ nursing homes/ clinics/pharmacy,diagnosticcentresaredirectedtoresumetheirservices."While therewereno specific

instructions for privatehospitalstotreatcoronaviruscases,hospi-talswillingtodosowereaskedtomaintainscreeningandtravelhis-toryofCOVIDpatients.However, private hospitals

havesaidtheyarenottakingcoro-navirus cases since they do notwanttoputtheirnon-COVIDpa-tientsatrisk.Mostprivatehospi-talseitherremainshutorfunctionpartially during lockdown. Thecumulative bed capacity in theprivate health sector is about80,000beds.Bihar Principal Secretary

(Health) Sanjay Kumar earliertweeted, “#BiharFightsCorona

thealmostcompletewithdrawalofprivatehealthsectorinthestateispalpableand thoughtprovok-ing.privatesectorhas48k bedsascompared to 22k in public anddoesalmost90%ofallopd’s.forgetcovid-19,even regular serviceshavebecomeunavailable.”“We cannot force them. But

whathurts is their completedis-interestandwithdrawal intimesofCoronacrisis...Wedonotexpectthemtotakerisksbuttocomefor-wardanddiscusshowtheycouldhelp,”hesaid.“WearenottakingCOVIDpa-

tients becausewe have to takecareofotherpatients,”saidDrAsifRahman,MedicalSuperintendentof ParasHMRIHospital. Anotherfunctionary of a private hospitalsaid stakeholders should sit to-gethertoworkoutaplan.

ASKSHOSPITALSTORESUMEUSUALSERVICES

Bihar accuses pvt hospitals ofpulling back from Covid fight

Rapid antibody testhelps Chhattisgarh findPatient Zero in hotspot

MP farmer diesafter policeassault, 6 copssuspended

Officials: Indoretesting lowerthan required

Securitypersonnelbeingthermalscannedforcoronasymptoms. PTI file

New Delhi

Government of IndiaDepartment of Atomic Energy

CORRIGENDUMAdvt.No.02-R/IMSc/2020 Date: 20.04.2020

Reference indicative Advt.No.01-R/IMSc/2020 Dated20.03.2020 inviting applications for the post of DIRECTOR,IMSc, Chennai (Level – 15 under 7th CPC) which appearedon all leading Newspapers.

Due to COVID–19 Lock Down the last date for receipt ofapplications, is extended up to May 31, 2020.

Other terms and conditions as explained in the detailedadvertisement appearing on the following websites remain same.

i) www.dae.gov.in under “Vacancy Notices’’ii) www.imsc.res.in under “other positions”

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21, 2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,APRIL20

THE INDIANArmy onMondayannounced that all its personnelwhoaresettorejointheirposts—eitherafterleaveorafterfinishingtheircourses—willundergoa14-dayquarantine.TheArmy said its personnel

will be categorised into threegroups—green, yellowand red.Allthosewhoneedtoundergothequarantinewill be classified asyellow, while those who havecompleted their quarantinewillbe classified as green.Symptomaticindividualswhore-quireisolationandtreatmentinaCOVID-19hospitalwill beput intheredcategory.Further, anyone reporting

back fromleave, temporarydutyor a course, “will be classified asyellowandwill undergo14daysquarantineperiod at the report-ing station/ unit” and will bemoved to their duty stations inArmyvehiclesorspecialtrains.“Incasepersonnel donotmoveun-der supervision of military au-thorities, theywillbeconsideredyellowandundergo14daysquar-antineagain,”theArmysaid.Onlypersonnelwhohavere-

ceivedspecificinstructionsfromtheirunits, formationsorestab-lishment that granted themleave will be allowed to join,Army said. The orders will notapplytothoseinhotspotorcon-tainment zones, the Army said,adding that they will “followstrict ‘NoMovement’ till the ar-easarede-notified...”

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI,APRIL20

GIVING A boost to the supplychainamidthelockdown,anewmechanismisconnectingdistrictmagistratesandlocalrailwayof-ficers to ensure doorstep deliv-eryofessentialitems,medicinesandparcelsonspecialtrainsrun-ning24x7.‘Setu’,whichwaslaunchedon

Sunday,hasaround-the-clockall-India helpline number —8448848477.Ithasfacilitatedthedelivery of 30 tonnes of itemswithin24hoursof launch.Amongtheitemsbeingtrans-

portedaremedicinesfromphar-maceutical companies todistricthospitalsandessentialitemsfromwholesalers to retailers.What'smore, the teamhas transportedcamelmilkandhumanbloodonspecific requests by individuals.The delivery is door to door, notstation to station—giving shapeto a new business model forRailways.WithPrimeMinisterNarendra

Modi indicating that someareaslessaffectedbytheCOVID-19out-breakmightseerelaxationsinre-strictions after April 20, officialssaid that coordinationwith dis-trict-levelofficersandtheircoun-terparts in nearest railheadswouldbevitaltokeepthesupply

chainworking.Throughits68divisionalcom-

mercialmanagers anddivisionaloperations managers, theRailways is also facilitating thepassesandpermitsfortrucksusedtodelivertheitemsfromstationstotheirdestinations.Asmany as 204 “COVID-19

ParcelSpecial”trainsareoperatinginabout63routesacrossthecoun-try at present. “On Tuesday,wesupplied60kgofmedicine fromPrayagraj toBandaafter the localauthoritiescalledthehelplineandindicated the requirement,” saidSanchit Tyagi, SeniorDivisionalCommercialManagerofPrayagrajdivisioninUttarPradesh.Thehelplineisbeingmanaged

from a training institute inUdaipurandisbeingoverseenbyanofficer inUP’s Tundla. It is re-layingmessages to 68 divisionsacross India. The helplineman-agershaveinstantfarecalculatorsso that the moment a querycomes, the fare can be instantlyconveyed, doing awaywith thecomplicated process of the cus-tomercalculatingthefigureasperdistance,taxesetc.“Themechanism is connect-

inguswithdifferentmandiasso-ciations for agriculture produceandthepharmaceuticalsectorforPPEs, masks etc,” said SanjayKumar, Assistant TrafficManager,Tundla.

SANTOSHSINGHMADHUBANI,KHAGARIA,APRIL20

SAROJ KUMAR, a farmer fromMadhubani’sPandaulwiththreebighas of land, is in a fix if heshouldwait for the lockdown toend tobeable to sowhighqual-itymaize seeds inhis field or goaheadwith the local inferior va-rietyforthekharif season.Askingwhy rules have not

beenrelaxedtoenablefarmerstogoout for agricultural purposes,hesaid,“Transportationisnotal-lowed during lockdown..mostmaize companies are finding itdifficulttosupplyseeds.”Sudhir Yadav, a farmer from

Khagaria’s Beldaur, saidhemayswitchtosoyabeanbecauseofthedelay inmaize seeds. “I cannotleavemyplotbarren,”hesaid.Farmers in11districts,want-

ing to sowmaize for the kharifseasonhavenotbeenabletosowhighqualityseedsas35firmsanddealersarenotbeingabletosup-ply seeds. The yieldwith goodqualityseedisabout40-45quin-talperbighaasagainst30quintalwithinferiorvariety.AmarKothari, a dealerwith

Kanhaiya Trading Company inKhagaria, said, “Though I havebeenable togetmaize forkharifseason with some difficulty,farmers are not being able toreachus...Theywillhavetodelaysowing of good qualitymaizeseedor go aheadwith any localvarietyavailableatvillagelevel.”DeepakKumar, Biharmana-

ger for Manjira Seeds, said,“Some35 companies, includingus, are in highquality seed sup-plybusiness.Butourmovementisrestricted.Wehoperelaxationalso covers seed supply trans-portation.”

ABHAGORADIAMUMBAI,APRIL20

“THEYHADnot set out on apic-nic.Despitemyconcerns, I letmyhusbandgobecauseitwasagooddeedtohelpKalpavrukshMaharajattend his guru’s funeral. Theydidn’thavepermissionbutitwasthepolice’sdutytoprotectthem.Whenthepolicekeepswatchinglike helpless spectators amid aghastlyact,wheredoesonegoforjustice?” askedPooja, thewifeofNileshTelgade.On Thursday night, Telgade

wasatthewheelof thecarwhenitwas surroundedbyvillagers inGadchinchale in Palghar district,andheandhistwopassengers—KalpavrukshMaharaj andSushilMaharaj—were pulled out andbeatentodeath.Telgade is survived by his

mother,wife, twodaughtersandhis brother’s family. His twodaughters, Sanika (7)andShalini(5),arenotawareofhowtheirfa-therdied.Telgade used to live close to

the Pimpaleshwar MahadevTemple in Kandivli East’sHanuman Nagar area, whereKalpavrukshMaharaj (70) per-formedhisduties.Hewasclosetothepriest.KalpavrukshMaharaj’shomewasasmallroomattachedto the rear of the temple. SushilMaharaj(35)wasapriestatatem-pleinJogeshwari.“KalpavrukshMaharaj des-

peratelywantedtoattendthefu-neralofhisguruRamgiriMaharaj.Thepolicerefusedpermission,buthewasadamantongoingandfeltitwasurgent.Hesaid‘wewillfinda way’,” recounted DiwakarGupta,whohelped thepriest inlookingafterthetemple.“He (KalpavrukshMaharaj)

askedmetolookafterthetempleaswasthenormwheneverhehadtotravel,”Guptasaid.OnMonday, the temple lo-

catedonthemainroadremainedshut with photographs of the

three victims, and tributeswrit-tenonablackboardby local resi-dents.The management of the

Varanasi-based Shri PanchDushnam Juna Akhada, whichruns the temple in HanumanNagar,haswrittentoUnionHomeMinister Amit Shah. Signed byMahantPremgiriMaharaj,thelet-ter narrated the events askingShahwhy the police remainedmute spectators despite the triobeingintheircustody.“Manysad-hus in the akhada are angeredovertheincident.Werequestyoutoconstituteahigh-level inquirycommittee to takeactionagainsttheguilty,”theletterstated.Local residents said the three

hadleft forSuratonThursdayaf-ternoon. “We heard theywerestoppedby thepolice andaskedto returnat somepoint, but theytried to take another route lead-ingfromtheforests,”saidGupta.“Wespoke to theakharapra-

mukh,andtoldthemthatwedid-n’t have anyone to conduct lastrites.TheycollectedthebodiesofthesadhusfromPalgharandtookthemtoTrambakeshwar,”saidlo-calresidentRajAlma.

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI, APRIL20

INDIANRAILWAYShasseta tar-get tomake 1 lakh coveralls byMay31, even as it races to com-plete 60,000 of this criticalPersonal Protective Equipment(PPE) item, raw material forwhichhas alreadybeendistrib-utedamong itsvariouszones.India is tacklingashortageof

PPEsforitsfrontlinestaff,likedoc-torsandothersfromthemedicalfraternity, battling theCOVID-19outbreak.Railways’sampleswerepassed by the DRDO lab inGwalior, and after that it haspickedupmaterialfromfourgov-ernment-authorisedsuppliersofrawmaterial for PPEs. Railwaystaff have also been infected orsuspectedtobeinfectedinmanyplaceswhile carryingout essen-tialdutiesoutdoors.While raw material for

60,000 coveralls is already dis-tributed among all zonal rail-ways, the same for another40,000 has been requisitionedandwill reach by April-end sothatthefiguretouches1lakhbyend ofMay. The coverallsmadebyRailwayswill costRs447perpieceincludingGST,whereastheonesavailable in themarket areforRs808.50,officials said.

Army personnel rejoiningposts to undergo quarantine

Bihar: Farmers unableto get maize seeds

SLOWSTARTONDAYONE

In Goa, data sheets, thermal guns readySMITANAIRVERNA,APRIL20

ONSUNDAY, aDefenceMinistryflight carryingMoSShripadNaikfromNewDelhi toGoa also fer-ried two consignments of good-qualitythermalguns,identifiedasa “crucial” catalyst to openGoa’sindustriesduringthelockdown.“Without them, these indus-

trialunitswouldn’tbeallowedtofunction,”saidatopofficial inthegovernment.

While 1,000 thermal gunswereforgovernment-runessen-tialservices,another400wenttoindustrial units across 24estatesinGoa.ByMonday, a Google Sheet

went live,withdata sharedwiththeoffice of theCollector, indus-trial units feedingdetails of theiremployeesandvehiclenumbers,andthecollector’sofficefacilitat-ing codedvehicle pass, in accor-dance with MHA guidelines.Another live sheetwas for regis-trationwithdetails of industrial

unitsintendingtoopenshutters.“Around 1,200 have opened

inthesecondphase.Wehavebigpharmaceutical industriesworking for twoweeks, so weareusingthesamemechanismsthattheyusedtoexitlockdown,”said Damodar Kochkar, presi-dent of Goa State IndustriesAssociation.Goaaccountsfor11percentof

India’spharmaexports,includinghydroxychloroquine.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

No relief, TN industries seek Centre aidARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, APRIL20

THETAMILNadugovernmentonMondayannouncedthatthepro-hibitory orders enforced in thestate to contain the spread ofcoronavirus will continue tillMay3.Thishas led to the indus-trialandmanufacturingsectorinthe state to appeal to theCentrefor a “helping hand” by provid-ingfinancialaidtothesector.On Monday, a number of

leadingindustryplayersandas-sociationsofmanufacturerssaidtheywill approach the Centralgovernment for financial aid. AShanmugavelayutham of theTamil Nadu Small and TinyIndustries Association said theconsortiumwaspreparingape-tition to send to PrimeMinisterNarendraModi, seeking finan-cial aid tomanage thesituation.Manufacturers in the state

have already approached theUnion FinanceMinistry, statingthat there should be policy ini-

tiatives for small andmicro in-dustriesduring the lockdown.A letter addressing Finance

Minister Nirmala SitharamanstatedthattheMSMEsectorwas“struggling for our concrete re-vival”evenbeforethelockdown.With the lockdown, the lettersaid, all units have been closedandthattheydonotknowaboutthestatusofrawmaterials,semi-finishedproductsandmachinery.The state has among the

highest numberof industries inIndia.

3,000 Maharashtra unitsseek nod to start workVISHWASWAGHMODEMUMBAI,APRIL20

EVEN AS industries were al-lowed to resume operations insomedistrictsofMaharashtraonMondaywithpre-conditions,of-ficials said around 3,000 indus-trial units have sought permis-sion tostartwork.Sources in the industry de-

partment said that of the 3,000registrations made on theMaharashtra IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(MIDC) portal, 1,355 industrialunits— 750withinMIDC areasand the rest outside—have ap-pliedwith details of how theyplantoaccommodateandtrans-port labourers.“These industrial units will

provide employment to 20,000workers in the state. Of the totalworkers, the industries havemade arrangements for accom-modation of 10,000 workerswithin their premises and4,500in nearby areas... they have alsosought permission to transportthe rest of theworkers,” said anofficial.The official added thatmost

of these applications have beenreceived from districts such asNashik,Ahmednagar, Sangli andSatara.Theapplicationsarebeingscrutinised andpermissions arelikelytobegivenonTuesday,theofficialsaid.Terming the industry re-

sponse as positive, another offi-cialsaidthatmanymorearelikelytocomeforwardtoseekpermis-sion to resume operations. “Weneed to take into account thatMumbai Metropolitan RegionandPuneMunicipalCorporationareas have been excluded fromlockdownexemptions.Moreover,with conditions like submittingself-declarationsadheringtolaiddown conditions, includingarrangements like accommoda-tionandtransportoflabourers,tobe followed, the industrieswilltakesometimetomakearrange-mentsandthencomeforwardtoseekpermission,"saidtheofficial.The newguidelines that are

being enforced from Mondaypermitindustrialactivityinruralareasoroutsidethelimitsofmu-nicipalities.Butsuchactivitiesareprohibited in MumbaiMetropolitan Region and PuneMunicipalCorporationareas.

VAIBHAVJHAAHMEDABAD,APRIL20

EVENAStheUnionandstategov-ernments have grantedpermis-sion to partially open industrialunits,justaboutsixcompaniesinthe Sanand Gujarat IndustrialDevelopmentCorporation(GIDC)becameoperational onMonday.The reason is amassive shortageofworkforce, industrialistssaid.“Out of 8,000workers, only

3,500remainedinthevillageandGIDCareasincethelockdownwasannounced.Theytooarenotstay-ingbychoice.TheywanttoreturntotheirnativeplacesafterMay3.Therefore, the coming timeswillbechallengingforindustrialunitsto remain operational,” saidAjitShah, headof Sanand IndustriesAssociation.At least 70 industrial units

weregivenpermissiontooperateatSanandGIDContheoutskirtsofAhmedabad, but only six —mainlyfromtheengineeringsec-tor—wereoperational.Another factor that canham-

per normalcy in SanandGIDC isthelackofskilledworkers.WhileSanandGIDChostsmajorityofthemigrant workers who are un-skilled,theskilledworkersstayinAhmedabad.WhileAhmedabadhas seen hundreds of positiveCOVID-19 cases, Sanand talukahasnone. Industrialists said theyhavebeenwarnedbythedistrictadministrationthatifanyworkertests positive, thenpolice actioncanbeinitiatedagainsttheownerof theunitfornegligence.Meanwhile, thestategovern-

ment issued a statement onMonday that 6,000 units with40,000-45,000workersrestartedoperationsinGujarat.Thesectorsthatstartedoper-

ationsincludetheceramicindus-try inMorbi, chemical industriesin Bharuch, oilmillers and engi-neeringunits inRajkot,andengi-neering units in Kutch andAhmedabad.

WITHENSAHMEDABADAtatollnaka inMulund,Mumbai,onMonday.Deepak Joshi

Atanindustrialunit inSanandGIDC nearAhmedabadonMonday.Express

From blood to PPEs,‘Setu’ parcel trainsfor doorstep delivery

6firmsreopeninSanandhub

Fewhands on deck, some units restart

Railwaystargets 1 lakhcoverallsby May 31

700Armymenarrive in Jammubyaspecial train. Express

53 journaliststest positivein MumbaiEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL20

WITH466 newCOVID-19 casesreportedonMonday,Maharash-trahasnowrecorded4,666cases,withMumbaiaccountingfor308of these new cases. Twelvedeathswerereportedinthestate,withtheoveralltollreaching232.Of thenewcases inMumbai,

53weremediapersons,whohadbeen recently tested by theBrihanmumbaiMunicipalCorp-oration(BMC).The53journalists,all asymptomatic, have beenmoved to a hotel in suburbanGoregaonandkept in isolation.TheBMChadlastweektested

167media professionals whowerereporting fromthefield.Mayor Kishori Pednekar

went into self-quarantineMon-dayaftercomingincontactwithsomejournalistswhohavetestedpositive. “I was present duringthe check-up of the journalists.Mydriver’sandmyreportisneg-ativebutsomejournalistswhomImet in the last five days (sincethe testswere conducted) havetestedpositive,soIhavedecidedtoisolatemyself,”Pednekarsaid.Thirteen staffers in ENThos-

pitalandtwostaffersinSewriTBHospital also tested positive.More than 200 healthworkershave now tested positive forcoronavirusinMumbai.PuneonMondayrecorded87newcases.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL20

CHIEF MINISTER UddhavThackerayonMonday ruledoutany communal angle in thePalgharmoblynchingincident,inwhich two sadhus and a driverwere killed,whilewarning thatstrictactionwillbetakenagainstthosewhoareignitingcommunalhatredthroughsocialmedia.Uddhav, who has received

phone calls from both UnionHomeMinister Amit Shah andUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath to inquire intothe incident, added that he hadtold Shah that there is no com-munalangle in the incident.“Since there were curbs on

themain roads due to the lock-down, the two sadhuswere go-ing to Gujarat from a remotearea. Theywere stopped at theborder of Dadra Nagar Haveliand asked to return. On theirway back, they were attacked

due to amisunderstanding andkilled unfortunately,” Uddhavsaidwhile addressing the statethroughwebcastonMonday.He added thatwhile the in-

cident tookplace inPalghardis-trict,thelocationwasaround110kmaway fromPalghar, near theborder of Union Territory ofDadraNagarHaveli.Uddhavsaid that therewere

rumours that the thieves wereroaminginthearea."Somepeo-ple are trying to ignite commu-nalhatredintheincident.ThereisnoHindu-Muslimangleoranycommunalangleinit,"headded.Uddhav also indirectly

blamedtheauthoritiesofDadraNagarHaveliforturningthetwosadhusback in thenight.

Where does one gowhen cops turnspectators: wife ofPalghar deceased

UddhavThackeray

No communal angle inlynching incident: Uddhav

Photographsof thethreevictimsoutsidethetemple

New Delhi

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

FIGHTING TOGETHERCentreandstatesmustsidestepconflict incrisis, agreeonacommonminimumprogrammeoncontainmentstrategies

INTHEBATTLEagainstCOVID-19, inwhichsurvivaldependsonaunityofpurpose,governmentscan ill afford toplayupdifferencesanddivisionsonthesmallerde-tails, or allowthemto takecentrestage.Among thepointsof difference, andcon-tention,betweenNewDelhiandThiruvananthapuramovertherelaxationofcon-

trols in the second phase of the lockdown, is thewisdom of opening up barbershops,restaurants,bookstores.TheMinistryofHomeAffairshadwrittento thegovernmentofKerala onApril 19, protesting that thepermissions announcedby it forApril 20were atvariancewiththecentralorder, issuedundertheDisasterManagementAct.StateTourismMinister Kadakampally Surendran,who looks after the interests of the sector hitworstby the novel coronavirus, admitted that unlockingwas a novel exercise and attributedthe incident toa “misunderstanding”. So far, sogood.The first difference of opinion between the Centre and the states on containment

strategydoesnotnecessarily representconflict. It is a learningprocess, andanopportu-nitytoreaffirmthefederalspirit.Butwhatisgleanedsubsequentlydependsontheman-nerinwhichtheproblemisaddressed.Whiletheprimeministermadeavisibleefforttomarshal the states against the coronavirus — holding extensive consultationswith allchief ministers ahead of the extension of the nation-wide lockdown— the Centre hasconstituted six inter-ministerial teamswhichwill assess the situationon theground inWestBengal,Maharashtra, RajasthanandMadhyaPradesh. This canbe readasa lackoffaithinthestateadministrations.BoththeCentreandthestatesneedtoappreciatewhatisatstake,andtounderstandthatanypointsscoredoff eachothermaycometonothing—thefinalpoliticalreckoningwillonlycountthelivesandlivelihoodslost. Inabattlethatisbeingwagedonmultiplefronts,byvariousstrategies, thequestionof legal jurisdictionmustnotbeoveremphasisedorallowedtocome in theway.COVID-19presentsdifferentrealitiesaccordingtogeography.WhatisgoodforKerala

is not necessarily good forMaharashtra, and vice versa. Each state has its own diseasemapanditsownscatterplotof theresources thatcanbemobilisedagainst it,whether itis respirators or self-help groups, and the value of local knowledge cannot be stressedenough.Theprimeministerhadhimselfacknowledgedthatstatesshouldhavetheelbowroom to craft their own exit strategies, but, at the same time, it is also clear that stake-holdersmustagreeonacommonminimumprogramme.Letitconsistofgoalsandbroadguidelines. Thedetailsmaybe left to thestates.

LAWLESS IN PALGHARLynchingof threemeninMaharashtrapoints toshockingpolice failure.Culpritsmustbeurgentlybrought to justice

THELYNCHINGOFthreemen inPalghardistrict,Maharashtra, in themidstofthe coronavirus crisis is a shocking case of police failure. More than a hun-dredpeoplesuspectedtobe involved inthe incidenthavebeenarrestedandthe police personnel who evidently failed to prevent the crime frombeing

committedhavebeensuspended.ChiefMinisterUddhavThackerayhasorderedahigh-levelprobeandassuredthat theculpritswill bebrought to justice.Heneeds tourgentlydeliveronhispromise.The incident that tookplace last Thursday night, a video ofwhichwent viral subse-

quently, was allegedly triggered by suspicion that themen, including two sadhus andthedriver of the car inwhich theywere travelling fromMumbai to Surat to attenda fu-neral,werethieves.Thevillagers,belongingtoatribalcommunity,hadformedvigilantegroups, apparently following rumours that organ-harvesting gangs, child-lifters andthieveswereroaming in thearea.Byall accounts, the forestguards,who initiallyappre-hendedthetravellers, andthesmallpolice teamthat laterarrived inthevillage, failedtointerveneorprevent themob fromtaking the law into its ownhands. The incident rep-resentsa terrible failureof the lawandordermachinery.Thegovernmentmust takeex-emplaryactionagainstthepolicebrassresponsibleforthisshamefulabdicationandsur-render tomob justice.Especiallyintimesofheightenedfearandanxietysuchasthese,amidalockdownne-

cessitatedbythefightagainst thecoronavirus, it is incumbentonthe lawandorderma-chinerytobealertandvigilantandtocounterrumourandpreventsuspicionfromgain-ing ground through sustained outreach to the people. In times such as these, theadministrationneedstovisiblyandfirmlysendoutthemessagethat theruleof lawwillprevail—notthemob.Anyfailuretodosocanprovetobecostly—ashasbeenseenear-lier, inothercontextsandsettings, in the lynchings inUP, JharkhandorRajasthan, for in-stance,oversuspectedillegalcattletrade.Actionmustbetakenquicklyandfirmlyagainstthose in thepolice forcewho failed to takeactionagainst theculprits, orwerecomplicitin thecrimecommittedatPalghar, lest thepeople’s trust in, andrespect for, theauthor-ityof thestate iseroded.Theremustbenodelay,much isat stake.

CIVILISATION, DREDGED UPShipwrecksdiscovered inLevantBasinmaybechangingthe ideaof ‘westerncivilisation’

BEYONDBORDERSANDunderthesea,aBritish-ledteamof scientistsandar-chaeologists discovered 12 shipwrecks in the Levant Basin in theMediterraneanSea in2015.Now, amidst a halt on themovement of peopleand goods forced on the world by the coronavirus, the first findings from

whatpromisestobeoneof themostrewardingarchaeologicalsitesarebeingpublished.AndtheEnigmaShipwrecksProject(ESP) isalreadychangingideasof “civilisation”and“sophistication”.Thedozenships spana largeswatheof history—spanningHellenistic, Roman,early

Islamic andOttomanvessels. The largest among these is a 17th-centuryOttomanmer-chant ship, “an absolute colossus”, at least twice the size of the other vessels. Its cargofrom14civilisationsrangesfromancientChineseartefactsandincludescupsrepurposedfordrinking coffee andspices fromIndia.According to theESP, this ship reveals aprevi-ously unknown “silk route” and also goes someway in establishing the degree of cos-mopolitanisminIslamicsocietiesatthetime,andhowmuchofwhattheWestvaluesasits civilisationalheritage isowedtoAsiaandAfrica.“Europemaythinkitinventednotionsofcivility,butthewreckedcoffeecupsandpots

provethe‘barbarianOrient’wasatrailblazerratherthanabackwater,”accordingtoSeanKingsley,director,ESP.Thefactthatmuchofwhatisseenas“westerncivilisation”isare-sultofcontactwiththeIslamic,AsianandAfricanworldsisnotapartofpublicknowledge,evenover70years afterdecolonisation. In fact,muchof the contemporary criticismsofglobalisationandopennesstotradestemfromafearof thatculturalandeconomicasym-metry.On thecultural front at least, boats from2,000metresunder the seacanaddressthese insecurities. It turnsout, opennessand internationalismcreateandnurturecivili-sations—theydonot threaten them.

Spotlight on the states

Sanjaya Baru

ChakshuRoy

Managementof lockdown,itsaftermath,willshapebalanceofpowerbetweenCentreandstates

MOVING HOUSE ONLINEHowcrucial legislativeworkcouldcontinue incrisis

THE TELUGU DESAM supremo, N T RamaRao,oncefamouslydeclared,“theCentreisaconceptual myth.” If Prime MinisterNarendraModi had notmade his repeatedpost-lockdown appearances on television,most citizens dealing with the threat ofCOVID-19andthechallengeofthelockdownmaywell have felt the sameway. From en-suring supply ofwater, food, electricity andhealthcaretolawandorder,thegovernmentthat a citizendealswith is the state govern-ment.Only inDelhi thepoliceareunder theCentre’s charge. Themanagement of a sub-continental lockdown has brought into fo-cus the role of state governments, their un-evencapacitiesandcapabilitiesandvaryingquality of provincial leadership— both po-litical andbureaucratic.There is a growing body of opinion that

inthepost-COVIDworldmostcountrieswillsee governments playing a larger role inshapingpeople’slivesanddeterminingtheirlivelihoods. The return of big governmentand the prospect of a potentially larger roleforthestateintheeconomyraisestheques-tion,certainlyinIndia,ofwhatitwouldmeanfor Centre-state relations, and for nationaland provincial politics. The central govern-ment’srolewillnodoubtbeimportantinthehandling of the economic and financial af-termath, in reviving inter-statemovementofpeopleandgoods, inre-negotiatinginter-nationaleconomictreatiestomakethemrel-evant to the new situation and so on.However, the immediate challenge of pub-lic health andmedical care, as well as thecontinuedsupplyofnecessities,willremaintheresponsibilityof stategovernments.The manner in which the central and

stategovernmentsresolvetheproblemofin-adequate fiscal resources, given falling rev-enuesduetotheslowdownandrisingclaimsonthepublicexchequer,willbeakeyissueinCentre-state relations. Several chief minis-ters have been complaining about theCentre’s lack of fiscal nerve, resolve andimaginationinhelpingstates.KeralaFinanceMinisterThomas Isaachasdubbed it “crazymacroeconomics” (‘Ahead of the Covidcurve’, IE, April 17). The Fifteenth FinanceCommission,alreadygivenanextensionandsaddledwith additional termsof reference,may have to look de novo atmany new is-suesinfederalfinancegiventhefiscalimper-ativesof apost-COVIDeconomy.

Given the constitutional division of re-sponsibilitiesbetweentheCentreandstates,oneissuethathasfallenbetweentwostoolsis the entire question of internalmigrationandtheeconomicandsocial interestsofdo-mestic migrant labour. Historically, bothhomeandhoststateshavenotactedrespon-sibly in dealingwith thewelfare ofmigrantlabour. Many states have, in fact, discrimi-nated against migrant labour. The COVIDlockdown has brought their welfare to thefore. PrimeMinister NarendraModi has ill-advisedly dissolved the NationalDevelopment Council, but the problem ofmigration andmigrant labour, especially inthe current context, is a fit subject for a fed-eral forumlike theNDCtodiscuss.Indian politics today presents a balance

betweenthecentripetalpulloftheBJP’sHindunationalismandthecentrifugalpullofregion-alism.Themanagementofthelockdownandits aftermathwill determine the balance ofpowernotjustbetweenCentreandthestates,butbetweenalternativepoliticalplatforms.Ifchiefministerssucceedindemonstratingtheircompetence and compassion to their con-stituents, theycanweakenthenationalbaseofapopulistPM.Modiwouldsurelybeawareof this. In part, hismedia outreachmaywellbedefinedbyhisneedtooccupypublicmindspaceatatimewhenmostcitizensare,infact,turningtolocalpoliticalleadershipforlibera-tionfromthelockdown.Inhisfirstterm,PrimeMinisterModiwas

able to keep national attention focused onhis foreign and economic policy initiativesaswellasonnationalsecurityanddefence-all areas within the purview of the Centreandoffering thePMthespace toact.Modi’ssecond term got off to a wrong start withpublic attention focused on law and order,questionsofcitizenshipandpersonalhealth.These issueshaveopeneduppolitical spacefor provincial leadership. Not only has theprofile of non-BJP chief ministers like KChandrashekar Rao and Pinarayi Vijayangoneup,butevenBJPchiefministerslikeYogiAdityanathseemtohaveacquiredapoliticalpersonality of their own. At the same time,the unsure start of PMModi’s second term,damagedbyavarietyof factors, hasmadeaPMwithmorenumberslesssureofhimself,mimicking the experience of the secondManmohanSinghgovernment.Ideally, at a time like this, anyPMwould

wanttoshiftpublicattentionbacktoforeignaffairs and national security to burnish hisnational image. However, the current eco-nomicandfiscalsituationathomeandglob-ally offers little space for significant diplo-matic initiatives. Most governments willremainfocusedondomesticaffairsandpoli-cies. This policy context opensup the spaceforprovincial leaders.During the “era of coalitions” — from

1989 to 2014—Centre-state relationswereshaped by the decentralised politics of thatperiod inwhich primeministers were de-pendentonchiefministersbothfortheirsur-vival inofficeandtoensuredeliveryofpub-lic services and national initiatives. Thearrivalinofficeofasinglepartygovernment,that too one headed by a domineering per-sonality who has centralised governancewhile advocating “cooperative federalism”,suggestedforawhilethatIndianpoliticswasmoving in the direction of greater centrali-sationof policy initiative.Ironically,however,theabilityofregional

partiestoretaintheirbaseandtheresurgenceof theCongressparty in somestates, thanksto provincial leaders rather than the party’sFirst Family, has createdadualpower struc-turewherein chief ministers have becomepowerfulfunctionariesonceagain. Itusedtobelikethis intheearly1950sandlater intheearly 1970s when, first under JawaharlalNehru and then under Indira Gandhi, thecountry saw a powerful PMworkingwithpowerfulCMs.Since the1990s, a successionofrelativelyweakPMshavehadtoworkwithrelatively powerful CMs. PrimeMinisterManmohan Singhhandled this situation byfrequently interactingwith CMs and regu-larlyconveningCMs’conferences. Itwas theCOVID crisis that finally forcedModi to en-gagetheCMsinanorganisedmanner.In thecomingmonths, the focusof pub-

lic policywill perforce shift to areaswherestate governments and provincial leaderswillhavetoplayalargerrole.Theonlywayinwhichthecentralgovernmentcanre-assertits developmental role would be throughmassive public spending and investment.How competently that is donewill have itsownconsequencesforeconomicgrowth,po-litical stabilityandCentre-state relations.

Thewriter isapolicyanalystand formermediaadvisor toprimeministerof India

EARLIER THISMONTH, 12MPs created his-torywhen theymet virtually in their officialcapacities.TheseMPsaremembersofthejointcommittee on salary and allowances. LokSabhaMPRitaBahugunaJoshiheadsthecom-mittee,whichhasnineother LokSabhaMPsand five Rajya SabhaMPs. OnApril 6, an on-linemeeting of the committee took place.Therewere two sittings of 15minutes each,bytheendofwhich,theyrecommendeda30percentreductionintheconstituencyandof-fice allowancesofMPs.Despite itsmember-shipbeingmadeexclusivelyofMPs,thejointcommittee is not like other parliamentarycommittees. Itwas set up in 1954under theSalary,AllowancesandPensionofMembersofParliamentAct.ButifMPscanmeetonlinetodiscussissuesunderaparticularlaw,cantheyalsoassembleonlinetodolegislativework?OurparliamentaryrulesdonotrequireMPs

tomeet physically at the ParliamentHouse.Discussionshave takenplaceonmultipleoc-casions for holding its sessionoutsideDelhi.The only requirement for a duly constitutedsittingofahouseisthatitbepresidedoverbythe chairman/speaker or anyauthorisedMP.The rules alsogive full discretion to theRajyaSabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu and LokSabhaSpeakerOmBirlawhenitcomestorun-ningthehouses.Onmatterswhicharenotap-

parentintherules,bothofthemhavetheresid-uary power to decide on them. The Speakeralsohasthediscretiontoallowtheparliamen-tary committees tomeet outside theHouse,whichhehasallowedonmultipleoccasions.As the next session of Parliament is a fewmonthsaway,itgivestheparliamentarysecre-tariattimetodrawupplansforholdinganon-linesessionshouldtheneedsoarise.Itisthestoppageintheworkofparliamen-

tarycommitteeswhichneedsimmediateat-tention. Two committees are scrutinisingpendingbills on issues related to labour andregulationofpersonaldata.Boththeseissuesare important andhave gainedprominenceduring the ongoing pandemic. Committeesinvitestakeholderstoappearbeforethemandsharetheirviewpointsonthebills.Perhapsaninitialsteptowardsresumingtheworkofpar-liamentary committees could be tohear thetestimony of stakeholders through a videoconference. Since there are only 30MPs ineachcommittee,itmightbeeasiertoconducta pilotmeeting for these committees. Theaddedadvantagecouldbethatthecommitteecould get to hear awide range of stakehold-erswhomightotherwisefinditdifficulttoap-pear in-person before the committees.SpeakerOmBirlaisconsideringsuchamove.Across theworld, legislatures areusing a

combinationof technology, physical separa-tionandreducedphysicalpresencetocontinuetheirwork.TheBrazilianparliamentpassedaresolutiontoworkremotelyduringthepublichealth emergency. The Chilean Senate haspassedalawtoallowittomeetremotelyusingappropriatevideoconferencingtechnology.InIndonesiaandMaldives,asittingoftheparlia-menthashappened remotely. In theUK, theHouse of Commons Commission has sug-gestedahybridmodelof virtualandphysicalpresence. It has recommended that 120MPscanparticipate in certainhouseproceedingsviavideoconferencingand50of themcanbein thehousephysically under social distanc-ingguidelines.Thecommitteesofparliamentsofmorethan15countriesareworkingonline.Many of ourMPs are already interacting

with their constituents andparty colleaguesviavideoconferencing.Therefore,theswitchtoavirtualmeeting for their legislativeworkmightbeeasy.Whatwill requirework is thesettingupofprotocolsforensuringparticipa-tion,securityandrobusttechnology.ItistimethatourParliament leverages its technologi-cal ability and steps up to fulfil its constitu-tionalduty.

Thewriter isheadof legislativeandcivicengagementatPRSLegislativeResearch

In his first term, PrimeMinister Modi was able tokeep national attentionfocused on his foreign andeconomic policy initiativesas well as on nationalsecurity and defence - allareas within the purview ofthe Centre and offering thePM the space to act. Modi’ssecond term got off to awrong start with publicattention focused on law andorder, questions ofcitizenship and personalhealth. These issues haveopened up political space forprovincial leadership. Notonly has the profile of non-BJP chief ministers like KChandrashekar Rao andPinarayi Vijayan gone up,but even BJP chief ministerslike Yogi Adityanath seem tohave acquired a politicalpersonality of their own.

Our parliamentary rules donot require MPs to meetphysically at the ParliamentHouse. Discussions havetaken place on multipleoccasions for holding itssession outside Delhi. Theonly requirement for a dulyconstituted sitting of a houseis that it be presided over bythe chairman/speaker or anyauthorised MP.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020WORDLYWISE

Theymake glorious shipwreckwho are lost in seekingworlds.

— GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSINGTHEEDITORIALPAGE

GANGA WATER TALKSINDIA ANDBANGLADESH are tomake yetanother attempt to resolve the deadlockover theirdiscussionsonthesharingof theGangawaters.The JointRiversCommissionof thetwocountrieshasmet18timeswith-out throwing up an agreement. Given thevastlydivergentpositionsof the twocoun-tries, the fate of the JRCmeeting, slated totake place on Saturday inDelhi, is likely tobe no different. This week’s JRC meetingwill, however, be crucial as another failureto reach an agreement can even put theIndo-BangladeshRiverWatersAgreementthe twocountries signedthreeyearsago injeopardy.

JANATA CONVENTIONTHENATIONAL CONVENTION of the JanataPartyconcludedinBombaywithadetermi-nation to effectively meet the challengeposedbyauthoritarianforces.Inhisconclud-ing remarks, party president ChandraShekhar expressed the hope that with theconfidenceof theyouthandtheguidanceofthe veterans, the partywouldmarch aheadtowards its goal of rebuilding India as con-ceived byMahatmaGandhi and LokNayakJayaPrakashNarayan.

ASSAM AGITATIONTHOUSANDSOF PEOPLEmarched towardsthe Narengi oil installation, 15 kilometres

awayfromGuwahati,whichwasbarricadedby the Army and the CRPF after arrestingsome 8,000 picketers who had stayedovernight, after an abortive attempt to sealtheroutes.TheNarengiareahasbeenputun-der curfew.ArmedCRPFmenprotected thebarricades.

US PLANNED IRAN COUPTHENEWYORKTIMESquotedseniorCarteradministrationofficialsasdisclosingthattheadministrationattemptedtolaytheground-work for a military coup in Iran againstAyatollah Khomeini, but the rapid disinte-gration of Iran’s military forces made theplansunworkable.

APRIL 21, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21, 2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“If the United States gets it right, coronavirus testing will eventually becomeavailable in community centers and parks, at mobile clinics and sports arenas..”

— THENEWYORKTIMESTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THECURRENTFOCUSinthefightagainsttheCOVID-19 pandemic rightly remains on themedicalmanagement,economicfalloutandimpact on social harmony due to themassdisplacementofmigrantlabour—allaspectsofhumansecurity.Iwouldnothazardaguessat the final comprehensive impact of thecoronavirus on India or theworld. Humanimagination is finding it difficult to fathomhowthiswill panout.It’sthepost-pandemicstrategicenviron-

ment that will dictate how soon theworldrecoversfromthisunexpectedshock.Itmuststartwith the international geopolitical an-gle,withmanyassumptions.Withsomeclar-ity inthisdomain,wecanprepareourselvesbetter for the recoveryphaseof anearpost-war situation. Inhis essay titled “TheWorldafterCoronavirus”, Israelihistorianandcele-bratedauthorYuvalNoahHarariwrites:“Thedecisions people and governments take inthenext fewweekswill probably shape theworldforyearstocome.Theywill shapenotjust our healthcare systems but also oureconomy,politicsandculture.Yes,thestormwillpass,humankindwillsurvive,mostofuswill still be alive—butwewill inhabit a dif-ferentworld.”Shortly,evenastheworldcon-tinues to reel under the pandemic threat,therewill bemore endeavours on enhanc-inghumansecurity throughbetter strategicmanagement of theworld. So, whatwill allthatbeabout?In 1921-22, the great powers came to-

getherfortheWashingtonNavalConference.Itwasatimewhentheworldwasalsotryingtodealwiththeglobaleffectsof apandemicandanageof greatpowercompetitionaftertheGreatWar.Amoratoriumonaspectssuchas enhanced naval deployment and restric-tionson the sizeof battleships followedbutnothingmore. The strategic effects of theTreatyofVersaillesescapedattention.Acen-tury later, the level of trust between greatpowers is even less. Individual nations orblocsofnationsareboundtoseeopportuni-tiesforstrategicgain.Thesituationissimilarto theelusiveefforts towards thecreationofa newworld order after the end of the ColdWarin1989.Willtheworldconsideramajorconferencewith the agenda being a revivalafterthecoronavirus?The2015ParisSummitof theUnitedNations,whichwas convenedto save theworld from the rapid impact ofclimate change, couldnotmuster a consen-sus.Willapotential2020“pandemicconfer-ence” succeed ingettingbigpowers to jetti-son theirgeopolitical ambitions?TheUS-Chinarivalrywillremainthecore

issue,withseveralotherregionsandnationsjostling to clamber on to the onewho canbring them short tomedium-term advan-tages. Contingent uponhowbadly theUS isfinally affected, its current confused leader-shipisunlikelytoinspireanditseffortsatin-ternal stabilisation may compromise USpower. Iseeamajorturninpoliticalfortunesin the US and its bumbling on pandemicmanagement could throwopenopportuni-

tiesforotherstoexploit.TheUSwillperceiveitself as farmore insecure than it was evenafter9/11.There is likely tobeahugeeffort to slan-

derChina—accusing itof beingtheorigina-tor of the scourge—and isolate it economi-cally and politically. The allegations on theuseof biologicalwarfareare theoneswhichwill cause turbulence in relationships.Ironically, China is also in a unique positionto help theworld bounce back. Against thebackdropoftheseaccusationsregardingcul-pability,we need to be ready for changes inthenormsof international cooperation andbehaviour.A coldwar of sorts couldwell be on the

cardsforsometime,hamperingafull recov-ery. It will be brutal in the cyber world —fake news on social mediawill prevent in-ternational cooperation in crucial fieldssuchasscientific research,patentsandper-hapsevenslowdowntheability topreventthe next pandemic. China is reported to behaving leadership issues, but a steadfast-ness of purpose has always been China’sstrength. Its ambitions for 2035 and 2050,so succinctly expressed by the 19thCongress of the Chinese Communist Party,couldwell be advanced sensing amomentof opportunity.Subject to the US’s economic capability

after thepandemic, theability to findacon-sensus to put on hold defence spending forthe sake of human securitywill be the key.But the trust deficit between nations willprobably hamper this to a great extent. Thekey anchor of globalisation— theUS-Chinatraderelationship—will changeevenmore.ChinacannotbereplacedbytheUSasama-jorindustrialproducer(evenfortheUSmar-ket). Other countries or blocs — ASEAN,Bangladesh and India —will all chip in butthat will still not be enough. Nor can anycountry buy asmuch grain from the US asChinadoes.So,aneconomicrelationshipwillcontinue butwill be politically fractured asboth parties search for alternatives, whichdon’texistonascalethatbothof themneed.China’srecoveryislikelytobethefastest.

Its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)may now go uncontested by the US-led ef-fortstocreatealternatives.TheChineseabil-

ity to influence politics among smaller na-tions inAsiaandAfricacouldbring it strate-gicadvantages,butitisunlikelytobeenoughto replaceAmerica unless the recession-hitUS remains defensively oriented. Knowingthe US propensity to bounce back, China’seffortswillhavetoremainenergeticandthatiswhere thepotential forconflict is likely torise. Of course, it is not as if the USwouldabandon its interests for an era of only-in-wardeconomichealing.Itseyeonthefuturewill remain firmly inplace.The UN has lost credibility with the

WorldHealthOrganisationtakingtheworsthit any UN agency has suffered in years.However, its future is contingentuponhowitmanagesthegeopoliticalfalloutofthepan-demic.Thesooner itcanget theworld lead-ersonboard, thebetter.Some traditional hot spots could yield

temporaryspace.Iranhasbeenhitbadlyandwith the US unrelenting on sanctions, itseconomycouldcollapsewithfrighteningre-sults as far theMiddle East is concerned. Abignation in instabilitymodewith internalturbulenceandleadershipchallengescouldspreadgreaterthreatsofanundefinedkind.TheUSmayabandonAfghanistanwith lesscommitment towardskeeping itseconomysustainable — a sure recipe for internal in-stability, which could see the Islamic Stateemerge a major player. Everything in theMiddle East points towards Russian advan-tageanddomination.Is this an opportunity for India?

Economicallyhitbutprobablyoneofthefewnationswithout a recession, India’s strongcentral leadershipcouldbeabigadvantage.PrimeMinisterNarendraModiwouldneedtouseallhisinfluencetocobbletogetherin-ternational cooperation to pull the worldfrom the abyss it could sink into. His credi-bility is already higher thanmost interna-tional leaders and could spell a leadershiprole for India not in conflict with China butincooperationwithit. ItisIndia’sestablishedmultilateralforeignpolicythatcouldeventu-ally cometo theassistanceof theworld.

Thewriter, a formercorpscommanderof theSrinagar-based15Corps, is chancellor,

CentralUniversityofKashmir

THEREISaChinesejokefromthemid-1990saboutUSPresidentBillClinton,BritishPrimeMinister Tony Blair, Russian leader BorisYeltsin and the General Secretary of theChineseCommunistParty,JiangZemindriv-ing downa road to arrive at a fork. Clintonturnedrightwithoutsignalling.Blairtaggedalong.Yeltsin,whowasblindlyfollowingtheAnglos,was not looking for choices. A ten-tative Jiang lookedbacktoaskhis lonepas-senger,“whichway?”DengXiaoping,inthebackseat,said:“Signal leftandturnright.”The imagined story tells us a lot about

global transformation in the last fourdecades. It was about historic politicalchangeswithinmajor economies and be-tween them. Chinawas an integral part ofthisstory.Denggaveahugeboostershottoglobal capitalismwhile helping China rap-idlyelevateits internationalstanding.This extraordinary transformationwas

running out of steam in the last fewyearsand the corona crisis threatens towrite itsobituary.Thereversalofthegreatright-warddriftsincethe1980shasbegun.But first to the fourmenon the road. In

theUS,ClintonmovedtheDemocraticPartyaway fromitsworking-class rootsandem-braced the Reagan revolution—domesticderegulationand free trade. Inpushing thepartytotheright,Clintonendedthepoliticalwildernessof theDemocrats inAmerica. InBritain,Blairdidmuchthesamebyrebrand-ing a working-class party as the “NewLabour” to endnearly twodecades of Toryrule underMargaret Thatcher and JohnMajor. The socialists in France and Europedemurred at the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalistexcessesbuthadnochoicetoadapt.As Yeltsin buried the Soviet Union and

turnedtotheWesternmodel,thenewly-lib-eratedmembers of theWarsawPact em-braced economic openness and joined thepoliticalprojectonEuropeanintegration. Itwas Deng, however, who provided the“piecede resistance” of the era by openingupChinatoWesterncapital.After the Tiananmen Square events in

1989,therewasabriefmomentwhenChinaflirtedwithclosingitseconomy.Inhisfamous“southerntour”inearly1992,Dengorderedrenewed economic reform that propelledChinapoliticalfortunes.Dengwasconvincedthat “leftism” was a bigger danger than“rightism”. But the right turn had to bemaskedwith a left signal in a country thatwasavowedlycommunist.SotheCCPmain-tained a relentless emphasis on socialism,evenif itwaswith“Chinesecharacteristics”.Cynics have named it “red capitalism” or“capitalismwithChinesecharacteristics”. ItdidnotmatterwhattheCCPcalledit,buttheglobalconsequenceswereprofound.ThenewWashingtonconsensus led to

boominginternationaltrade,super-profitsforWestern capital, prosperity for China,andbenefittedmanypartsof thedevelop-ingworld, includingIndia.Theemergenceof the internet economy reinforced the

proposition that aworldwithout borderswasjustaroundthecorner.Butthe“losers”fromglobalisation, especially in theWest,showeduptoruin theparty.InBritain,theBrexiteerssuccessfullymo-

bilisedagainst the integrationwithEuropein the 2016 referendum. In theUS, Trumpwhipped up passions on trade to squeakthrough toWhiteHouse in the 2016 elec-tions.Trumparguedthatglobalistshadout-sourcedAmericanjobstoChinaandvowedto bring themback. Trump’s success hasturnedtherichmen’sRepublicanPartyintoachampionof theworkingpeople fightingagainsttheinequitiesperpetratedbyaglob-alistelite. Inpolitics, surprisesnevercease.Boris Johnsonwon amassivemandate

in2019byreachingouttotheworkingclassandbreachingtheLabour’s“redwall”inthenorth.BothJohnsonandTrumparenowac-tivelyundoingtheThatcher-Reaganconsen-sus on neoliberal economics. Some of thecoreelementsof thatera—freetrade, fiscalprudence,downsizingthestate,marginali-sationof theworkingclassandpartnershipwithChina—areallunravellingtoday.Theuncriticalsupportforfreetradeisbe-

ingreplacedbyargumentsabout“fairtrade”.LondonandWashingtonaredolingoutlargesums for protecting the paychecks of theworkingpeopleastheeconomyundergoesamassivecontraction.TheRepublicanswhohadvotedagainstbailingoutWallStreetdur-ingthe2008financialcrisisarenowlettingtrillionsofdollars flowoutof theCongress.Meanwhile, the presumptive nominee

of theDemocraticParty, JoeBiden, ispivot-ing to the left oneconomic issues, partly inresponse to the pressure from BernieSanders,whohassuspendedhiscampaignbutwants a big say in the party’s platformforelectionsthisyear.Wedonot know if Biden ismerely sig-

nalling left for electoral purposes or gen-uinelyreclaimingtheoldworking-classbaseoftheDemocraticParty.Democratsarealsounder pressure to respond to Trump’scharges that the party andBiden are com-plicitinlettingChinagaintheeconomicup-perhandovertheUSthroughfreetradeandrefusing to see theemergingpolitical chal-lengefromBeijing.As Trump ties China, globalism, and

Beijing’s responsibility for the pandemicwith Biden and the Democrats, there aregrowing prospects for the decoupling of“Chimerica” that emerged in the 1990s.Democrats can attack Trumpas fiercely astheywantto,buttheycan’taffordtobeseenasweakonChina.TheWesternimperativetoseparatefrom

China has been reinforced by Xi Jinping’sabandonment of theDeng line onkeepingan open economy and a low internationalprofile. The perception that China, thebiggest beneficiary of globalisation, hastakenadvantageof theWesthasbeenrein-forcedbythecoronacrisis. If the rightwardshift had transformed the global politicaleconomyandinternationalaffairsinthelastfourdecades,thedrifttotheleft—de-glob-alisation, big government, the focus on re-dressinginequalityandnewpoliticalweightoftheworkingclass—islikelytohaveapow-erful and lasting impact on national eco-nomicstrategieseverywhereandthepoliticsamongnations.

Thewriter isdirector, InstituteofSouthAsianStudies,NationalUniversityofSingaporeandcontributingeditoroninternational

affairs forTheIndianExpress

Subject to the US’s economiccapability after thepandemic, the ability to finda consensus to put on holddefence spending for the sakeof human security will be thekey. But the trust deficitbetween nations willprobably hamper this to agreat extent. The key anchorof globalisation — the US-China trade relationship —will change even more. Chinacannot be replaced by the USas a major industrialproducer (even for the USmarket). Other countries orblocs — ASEAN,Bangladesh and India — willall chip in but that will stillnot be enough. Nor can anycountry buy as much grainfrom the US as China does.So, an economic relationshipwill continue but will bepolitically fractured.

The drift to the leftThecoronacrisisthreatenstowritetheobituaryofglobalcapitalism.Itwillhavealastingimpactonnationaleconomicstrategiesandpolitics

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

TRUTH AND FREEDOMTHISREFERSTOTHEarticle, ‘Virusandthe one-party State’ (IE, April 20). Thenotionthatthehigh-handednessofau-thoritarianism trumps the soft de-meanour of democracy is false. Onecannotvouchfortheveracityofthedataof an authoritarian state, democracy,howsoever dysfunctional, allows free-dom of press to a certain degree. TheChinese grassmight look greener, butitmostly isamirage.

AbhishekKumarAnshu,Patna

SURVIVAL FIRSTTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Resettingbalance’(IE, April 20). The knee-jerktweakingof FDI rules topreventChinafromtakingadvantageofthepandemicis arguably an act of playing to thegallery,giventheriseofanti-Chinasen-timent across the globe. At this criticaljuncture, India shouldavoidbadbloodwith any country.We are heavily de-pendentonChinaforlive-savingdrugs(APMs). The first priority is survival ofhumanityandnot tosettle thescores.

DeepakSinghal,Chennai

RIGHT RESPONSETHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Mappingacivic response’, (IE, April 20). The stan-dard response to any modern-dayhealthcrisisistogeneratepublicaware-ness by leveraging ICT tools. The dis-seminationofessential informationon

preventivecarehasmadepeoplemoreconsciousabout theirhealth.

SudipKumarDey,Kolkata

A CASE FOR SWARAJTHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Rethinkingthemodern’(IE,April20).IntheGandhi’swayoflifesociety,economyandpoliticsare linked. The articlemakes a case foran economybased on swadeshi and asocietybasedonsarvodaya,butitissilentonswaraj,whichisthepoliticalrealmofGandhi’s thought. Swaraj is basically adecentralisationofpower. Itempowersthe people. Without swaraj, neitherswadeshinorsarvodayaarepossible.

SuchakDPatel,Ahmedabad

LETTER OF THEWEEKAWARD

To encourage quality readerintervention, The IndianExpress offers the Letter oftheWeek award. The letteradjudged the best for theweek is published everySaturday. Lettersmay be

e-mailed toeditpage@expressindia.comor sent to The IndianExpress, B-1/B, Sector 10,Noida-UP 201301.

SyedAtaHasnain

In India, tomeetchallengesahead,emphasismustbeon livelihoodsecurity

HUMANSHAD started to believe that theyhad become invincible with technologicaladvancements. Now, an organism that isone-thousandththewidthofaneyelashhasforcedaboutsevenbillionpeopleacrosstheworldtonotonlystopflying,buttoalsostaywithin theconfinesof theirhomes.Many are optimistic that a vaccinewill

soon be found andwewill return to life asweknewit.Thismissesalargerpoint:Thereare limits to technological advancements.Defeatingthecoronavirusdoesn’tobliteratethe risk of emergence of newviruses.Withrapid deforestation and climate change,manynewvirusesareemergingevenasweracetofindavaccineforCOVID-19.Andthereareno instantvaccines for them.While viruses are as old as human exis-

tence, climate change has only aggravatedourvulnerabilities. In2014,avirus frozen intheSiberianpermafrostfor30,000yearswasrevived in a laboratory andwas still foundpotentenoughto infectanamoeba.With glaciers melting, floods ravaging

countries and earthquakes bringing downthesturdiestofhumancreations,thecoron-avirus,couldwellbethetrailerforwhatistocome. Ifwewant tocomeoutof ourhousesand livewith the freedom tomove around,weneedtocourse-correct.Forstarters,wemustredefinehumande-

velopmentgoalsandprioritisesectorswhichneedmoreattention.Bothvillagesandcitieswillhavetobetreatedinawaythatfactorsinthesustainabilityof theirdevelopment.Wecannolongerturnablindeyetothespecific

requirements of our villages and cities; weneed tomake both self-sufficient and non-exploitativewhen it comes tousingnaturalresources.Catchmentareasandfloodplainswill have to be freed fromconstruction andcommercially exploitative activities. Smartcitiesmustbecomplementedwithsmartvil-lages that are not just provided electricity,sanitation andwater, but are also digitallyconnected.Themovetowardsgreenenergy,includingsolarandwindhas tobemade.While we do need to augmentmedical

education with more doctors and betterhealthcare facilities, Indiaalsoneeds togivea big push tomedical research. Research isnotonlyneededinthefieldofallopathy,butalso inthefieldof traditionalmedicinesuchas ayurveda. Together, the two can prepareus for thechallengesof tomorrow.Marketdemandcannotbeallowedtodic-

tateeconomicmodelsonwhichcountriesarerun.Marketdemandinitiatedarelentlessas-sault on nature with resources being ex-tractedwithout caring for the future of theplanet. An important question to ask is therolethatpoliticswillplayinthisefforttopre-ventenvironmentaldegradationthatexposesmankindtothreats likevirusesandbacteria.Humanhistoryshowsusthatsomeofthe

most seemingly insignificant things haveushered in some of the most significantchangesintheworld. InSapiens,YuvalNoahHarari describes howwheat productionchanged the course of human evolution.Hararisays,“Wedidnotdomesticatewheat.Itdomesticatedus.” InAgainst theGrain,po-

liticalscientist-anthropologistJamesCScottsaidthatwheatcultivationisresponsibleforthe arrival of what we now understand asstatepower,andwithit,bureaucracyandin-equality.Nopoliticalpartycanaffordtoignorethe

significance of a virus. Irrespective of theirideological moorings, parties will have tocometogethertoformulateauniform,trans-parent and implementable policy to tacklesuch threats tohumanexistence that knownoterritorialboundaries.Politicalpartieshavetoworktogetherto

developanagendaforhumandevelopmentthatfocusesnotjustonGDPgrowthbutalsoon enhancing livelihood security by gener-ating sustainable occupations. The virus isjust one aspect.Wemust be able to foreseethesocio-economicdisruptionsthatwilltakeplaceasaresultof suchchanges. Inafederalsystem such as in India, it is important forboththeCentreandthestatestohaveamin-imumagreed“pathofgrowth”whichissus-tainable and reduces dependence on inter-nationalmarket forces.Wemust realise that the corona pan-

demic is not a temporary disruption. Theviruswill run its course, but India needs toprepare itself for the economic impact thatwillhitthecountrybecauseofrisingsealev-els, more cyclones, floods andmelting gla-ciers.In2018,theWorldBankestimatedthatthe current trajectory of carbon emissionswill result in sharply diminishing the livingconditions of 800million SouthAsians.Wecandebate thenumbers, butwecannotde-

bateonwhether itwillhappen.Thecurrentpandemichasseenthecoun-

tryactasoneunit:Almosttheentirecountryhasrespondedresponsiblytothecallofstay-ingindoorsduringthelockdown.States,too,areworkingincoordinationwiththeCentreto fight the virus. Future challenges need tobemet inasimilarmanner.Another question is how the economy

willchangeafterthethreatof thepandemicrecedes.Allassessmentsshowthattherewillbeaneconomicmeltdown.Theexactnatureof the impact will depend on how long ittakes for us to take control of the situation.Thecurrentcrisishasexposedthevulnerabil-itiesof theglobaleconomicandtradingsys-tems.Thereisthusaneedtoreviewthesec-torswhicharedisproportionatelydependenton internationalmarket forces.Sectorssuchasaviationandtourismmay

wellbehitthehardest.Buttherushtofixtheeconomycannotdiscounttheaspectof sus-tainability. Financial packages for an eco-nomicrevivalshouldbecarefullyplannedtoensurethat theyaredirectedtowardsactiv-itieswhichprovidegreaterscopeforsustain-able livelihoodsecurity,asopposedtothosewhicharedependentontheglobaleconomy.Weneed todevisebettermodels forour

existenceso thatwecanovercomenotonlythe challenge at hand, and are never againheldhostagebyavirus.Thegoodnewsisthatit is totallydoable.

Thewriter isnationalgeneral secretary,BJP,andmemberofRajyaSabha

Future, post-COVID-19Bhupender Yadav

Strategiccooperation,focusonhumansecurity,willbethekeytoglobalrecovery.Buttrustdeficitbetweengreatpowerswillmakethatahardtask

Putting world together again9

RAJA MANDALA

by CRajaMohan

CR Sasikumar

New Delhi

10 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020

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DIPR/1657/Tender/2020

TAMILNADU CIVIL SUPPLIES CORPORATIONHead Office: 12, THambusamy ROad, KilpauK, CHennai-600 010.

ph.no.(044) 26426773 email id : tncsc.tn@nic.in

Short e-Tender NoticeNo. : Com1/014050/2020 Date: 20.04.2020

Short e-Tender No. : TNCSC/20-21/ET-2Tamil nadu Civil supplies Corporation invites online electronic shorte-tender for “ PURCHASE OF 60,000 MTs. of S-30 grade SUGAR forPublic Distribution System (To be supplied at TNCSC Godowns in33 regions). Season 2018-19 (or) 2019-20”.Complete short e-Tender document can be viewed and downloadedthrough https://www.mstcecommerce.com/eprochome/tncsc andalso available in www.tenders.tn.gov.inThe bidders have to participate online bidding only with digitalsignature Certificate (dsC) of Class-ii or Class-iii. For Registration andfurther details contact msTC limiTed, phone: 25222842/ 25251910/25261005 e-mail: mstcsro@mstcindia.co.inlast date for Online submission : 06.05.2020

MANAGING DIRECTOR.

Tender Enquiry No.: 77/GHTP/MM-II/HM-50(V) dated: 20.04.2020E-tenders are invited from reputed and registered Firm/Contractors for

the following work:-

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF WORKRoutine, Preventive and Breakdown maintenance of Heavy EarthMoving Machinery, i.e. Loco Shunters, Bulldozers, Poclain includingGrabber Loader Machines, AUGER Machine and Coal Compactor etc.and Re-railment of minor derailments of Wagons & Loco Shunters inCHP of GHTP, Lehra Mohabat as per tender specifications.

EMD: Minimum Rs. 1,22,000/- (Rupees One Lac Twenty TwoThousand only)Last Date & Time for bid submission: 20.05.2020 upto 11.30 hrs.Date & time of opening of Fee stage bid: 21.05.2020 at 12.00 hrs.Detailed NIT and tender specifications can only be downloaded from web-site: http://eproc.punjab.gov.in from dated 22.04.2020 onwards.NOTE:-1. The prospective bidders can obtain clarification regarding tender

specifications from this office. For registration of Digital Signaturesand uploading of tender, information may be sought fromhttp://eproc.punjab.gov.in.

2. It is informed that in case the tender process is not completed due to anyreason no Corrigendum will be published in Newspapers. Detail regard-ing corrigendum may be seen on website i.e. http://eproc.punjab.gov.in.

Sd/- Dy. Chief Engineer,Mechanical Mtc. Circle-I, O&M,

GHTP, PSPCL, Lehra Mohabbat, Distt. Bathinda (Pb.)-151111.

GURU HARGOBIND THERMAL PLANT, LEHRA MOHABBATCorporate Identity Number: U40109PB2010SGC033813

e-Tendering website: https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

NOTICE INVITING TENDER(Through E-tendering)

´fÂffaI 28-29/Àff°f-17/VffWªfWfg´fbS/2020-21 dQ³ffaI 20-4-20

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Government of Jammu and KashmirOFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, PHE, GROUND WATER DIVISION,

BAGH ALI MARDAAN NOWSHERA, SRINAGAR KASHMIRGist of e-Tender.

NIT No: PHE/GWDS 02 of 04/2020 Dated: 18.04.2020For and on behalf of Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir e-tenders are invited in 02 Cover System for

Construction of Exploratory Test Bore Well and Construction of production tube well for successful exploration at thefollowing location/site from registered water well drillers/contractors as per the details given in tender document.

1 Publishing Date 20.04.2020

2 Document Downloading Start Date 20.04.2020 (09.00 A.M.)

3 Document Downloading Last Date 02.05.2020 (06.00 P.M.)

4 On Line Document Submission Start Date 20.04.2020 (09.00 A.M.)

5 On Line Document Submission Last Date 02.05.2020 upto (06.00 P.M.)

6 Date of Opening of Tender. 04.05.2020 at (11.00 A.M.)

7 Tender Receiving Authority: Executive Engineer PHE Ground Water Division Srinagar.

8 Document Cost: Rs. 3000/- (Three Thousand only) for S.No.1 & for S.No. 2 Rs. 1000/= (OneThousand only) (Non-Refundable) in the shape of Treasury Challan/receipt deposited to AccountHead 0215 in favour of Executive Engineer PHE Ground Water Division Srinagar (at Saddar TreasurySrinagar) on account of (The firm shall specify the name of work for which apply)

9 Earnest Money: for an amount shown in Gist of NIT against each well tender in the shape ofCDR/FDR pledged to Executive Engineer PHE Ground Water Division Srinagar 190011.

10 Bid Validity Period: 180 Days

11 Time of completion: Thirty days from the date of issuance of letter of intent/allotment.

Sd/-Executive Engineer,

PHE Ground Water Division, Srinagar

Sr. Site Cost of Cost of Estimated Time of Validity ProgrammeNo. Tender EMD Cost Completion of

Document Rates

1. Rs. Rs. Rs. 108.00 2 180 Languishing3000/- 216000/- Lacs Months Days

2. Rs. Rs. Rs. 22.14 30 180 KLC1000/- 44280/- Lacs Days Days

Construction of Production Tube Wells within thepremises of W.S.S AIIMS Awantipora (4 No’s).

Construction of Production Tube Well at W.S.SAugmentation Awantipora Under KLC Awantipora.

Position of Funds: Available.Critical Dates / Information.

No.: PHE/GWD/35Dated: 18.04.2020DIPK-NB-87/20

Government of Andhra PradeshREVENUE (DM) DEPARTMENT

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)IFB No. 01 to 2/APDRP/APSDHA/2020 Dated 20.04.2020

The Government of India has received credit from the InternationalDevelopment Association (IDA) for an amount equivalent to US$ 201.38million towards the cost at Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project(APDRP) and intends to apply a part of the proceeds of the credit tocover eligible payments under the contract for which this Invitation to bidhas been issued. The bidders from India as defined in the IDA and IBRDGuidelines are eligible to bid for the project, Bidders are advised to notethe eligibility and qualification criteria specified in the Bidding Documentto qualify for the award of the contract.The Project Director, PMU, APDRP invites "on line e-bids" from eligiblebidders for the Activities shown below, through website of Central PublicProcurement Portal http:/eprocuregov.in from 22/04/2020, The IFBsare also available at the website www.apdrp.ap.gov.in and UNDB website www.devbusiness.com

Sd/-Project Director, APDRP

Release Order No 14PP/CL/ADVT/1/1/2020-21

IFB No ActivityNo inSTEP

Activity Name BidSecurity inRs. Lakhs

Period ofcontract in

months1 2 3 5 6

01/NCB/APDRP/APSDMA

152622 Procurement and Setting up ofIn-House Data Centre forAndhra Pradesh State DisasterManagement Authority

11.00 40

02/ RFQ/APDRP/APSDMA

163911 Procurement of Vehicle Trackingand Management System forEmergency ServiceDepartments in Andhra Pradesh

NIL 39

ANDHRA PRADESH DISASTER RECOVERY PROJECTWORLD BANK CREDIT NO. 5694-IN

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER (Procurement)PLANNING & PROCUREMENT WING

KASHMIR POWER DISTRIBUTION CORPORATION LIMITED

EXTENSION NOTICEIn view of present circumstances due to covid -19, the last date of sale/down-

load, receipt/submission and the bid-opening of below mentioned e- NIT for thepurchase of the material detailed below is extended as under:-1. Last Date of sale/Downloading Receipt/submission of e-Bid Documents below

mentioned Tender (Extended): 30.04.2020 up to (14.00 Hrs)2. Submission of Hard Copy (End) Date &Time: 01.05.2020 (16.00 Hrs) in the

office of Chief Engineer Procurement and Planning wing, PDD ComplexBemina, Srinagar.

3. Commercial /Technical Bid opening of e bid Document of the Below mentionedTender (Extended): 02.05.2020 up to (14.00 Hrs.)

The complete NIT/Tender Documents/BOQ can be downloaded from the website:www.jktenders.gov.in. All other terms and conditions as stipulated in the original NITshall remain same.

Yours faithfullySd/- Superintending Engineer

(Procurement) KPDCL.DIPK-NB-84/20

S. NIT No. Tender ID Description of Techno-No. Material Commercial

Bid-OpeningDate (Extended)

1. SE/Proc/06/2019-20 2020_PDD_91685_1 Purchase of EHV 02.05.2020Grade Transformer Oil 14.00 Hrs.

IMPORTS SECTIONSubject: Invitation of Quotation for

Supplying COVID-19 antibody(lgG/lgM) Rapid Test Kits.

SKIMS invites quotation for supplyingCOVID-19 Antibody (lgG/lgM) Rapid Test Kits(Approx. 5,000 Kits). Therefore detailed quota-tion depicting the rate & terms of supply, shouldbe submitted within three working days, eitherin physical form or emailed on the above men-tioned address, along with following docu-ments:-1. Product catalogue of the items depicting

the sensitivity, specificity, & accuracy etc.2. Quality certificate issued by European CE-

IVD or US-FDA or validation certificate fromNIV Pune/ICMR.

3. Copy of Marketing/ Import License for suchRapid Kits from Drug Controller General ofIndia.

4. GST & PAN Copy along with latest returns.5. Authority letter.6. Benchmark order copies for the item placed

on order by other Institutions.Note: The bids shall be evaluated on the

basis of ‘‘Rate Quoted’’, Schedule ofSupply’’ and ‘‘Quality of the offeredproduct’’.

Sd/- Asstt. Materials Management Officer,SKIMS.

Government of Jammu and KashmirSHER-I-KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

SOURA SRINAGAR,J&K, India-190011Fax No.: 0194-2403404

E-mail: ammoimports@skims.ac.in

No. SIMS-324-Covid Rapid-2020-1495-1500-4515-18Dated: 20.04.2018

IMPORTS SECTIONSubject: Procurement of Virtual Bronchoscopic

Navigation System with FusedFluroroscopy on proprietary basis fromM/S Bronchus Medical U.S.A.

SKIMS Intends to procure Virtual BronchoscopicNavigation System with Fused Fluroroscopy (Model:Archimedes) from M/S Bronchus Medical USA forthe Department of Internal & Pulmonary MedicineSKIMS being their proprietary item as claimed bythe company.

In this connection, objections (if any) from com-panies manufacturing/ marketing, such equipmentcapable of delivering the same result as intendedfrom the above equipment, regarding the proprietarynature of the above item should be communicatedwithin 15 days on the above mentioned email ID/Faxafter which the claim of the company who hasclaimed for the proprietorship of the said item shallbe accepted.

Sd/- Asstt. Material Management Officer,Imports.

Government of Jammu and KashmirSHER-I-KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

SOURA SRINAGAR-190011E-mail: ammoimports@skims.ac.in Fax No.: 0194-2403403

No. SIMS-324-Virtual Bronchoscopic-2020-1482-87-4512-14Dated: 20.04.2020

New Delhi

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL20

KERALAHAS bucked the national trend fornovelcoronavirusdisease(COVID-19)withadoubling time of 72.2 days—whichmeansthatthenumberofcasesinthestatedoubledinthatmanydays—againstanationalaverageof 7.5days. Lastweek, theCentre showcasedthe contact tracing and containmentmodelofKerala’sKasaragod,oneoftheearliestspotson India’s COVID-19map, as one of the suc-cessstoriesof thecontainmentexercise.A lookat theKasaragodmodel, andhow

it differs from some of the other modelsacross the country that have generated in-terest.

WhyshowcaseKasaragod?Kasaragod reported the third case of

COVID-19inthecountry—astudentairliftedfromWuhanon February 3. The district ad-ministrationmounted amassive exercise totracethe150-oddcontactsofthatonestudent.According to figures uploaded by the

Kerala government, Kasaragod has had 169casesandzerodeathsuntilApril19,auniqueachievement in itself, given the fact that alargeproportionof thedistrict’s populationhave settled abroad. Of those infected, 123peoplehaverecoveredsofar, leavingonly46activecasesamongtheoriginal169.Intheinitialdaysof theepidemic,almost

all indexcaseswerepeoplewhohadcaughtthe virus during their travels abroad (about15.38%).Thesecondwaveinthedistricthap-penedafterpeoplestartedcomingbackfromtheMiddleEast fromMarch16.

Underwhatcircumstanceswasthiscontainmentachieved?Thedistrict is far frommajorcities,sothat

theisolationexercisewassmoother.KasaragodisKerala’snorthernmostdistrict,farawayfromcapital Thiruvananthapuram.However, thisdistance also presented an additional chal-lenge.When expatriates returned in largegroups, they landed in various airports andtookvariouspublic transport options— rail-ways,roadetc—toreachhome,whichhadthepotentialtoleavecontactsallalongtheway.HealthMinistry officials said thatwhile

Kasaragodhasbeenshowcased,thesuccessof Kerala as awhole is a story essentially ofthestrengthof thestate’shealthcaresystemrather thanoneof the immediatemeasurestaken.“It isnot fornothingthat it leads inall

human development indices. The mostamazingthingaboutKeralaishowreceptivethey are of suggestions for improvement,”saidaseniorofficial in theHealthMinistry.

What is theKasaragodmodel?Thedistrict administration relied on ag-

gressivetesting,technology,foolproofcontacttracing,andaneffectivepublicawarenesscam-paignon social distancing to achieve the re-sultsitcannowshow.InKasaragod,asinotherdistricts, the state government appointed aspecialofficertocoordinatefunctioningofthedistrictadministrationandforeffectivecoor-dinationbetweenlinedepartmentsatfieldandsecretariatlevels.Section144wasimposedintheentiredistrict,withsevendronesemployedforsurveillance.UndertheCareforKasaragodinitiative,adetailedactionplan—commonco-ordinated action plan—was drawn up forcombatingCOVID-19so thatall stakeholderscouldturntoitwhenthesituationarose.

Andwhatwasthisactionplan?Allquarantinedpeopleweretrackedus-

ingGPS.Allessentialswerehome-deliveredin the containment/cluster zones, irrespec-tive of whether they were rich or poor. Acampaignonsocialdistancingcalled“Breakthe Chain” was carried out to deliver themessage of social distancing. Core teamswere formedwith incident commanders torush tovariousareasandtakequickaction.

The plan was carried out with a verystrong socialwelfare component,which in-cludedfreefoodkitsforthepoorandmigrantworkers, a strong check on hoarding andblack-marketing, and health checkup on al-ternate days formigrants or the destitute.Communitykitchenssuppliedfreefood. JanaJagratha Samitis at theward level ensuredthat themessagingreachedeveryperson.

Whatwasthescaleof theexercise?A total of 17,373 people were quaran-

tined.Onanaverage,100-150samplesweretested every day andnew testing labswerestarted. Themedical college in Kasaragodwith200bedsandan ICU facilitywasoper-ationalised in fourdays. There is also a709-bedCOVID-19carecentre.ASHAsandhealthinspectors carriedouthouseholdsurveys.All primary and secondary contacts of

high-riskcases(thoseaged60orabove)werequarantinedinisolationcentres.Thiswasdoneasmanyhomesdidnothaveseparatetoilets.

Whataretheothersuccessfulmodelscontainment?Inarecentmeeting,theCentreaskeddis-

trictmagistrates to draw up separate crisisplansforCOVID-19management,andsharedseveralmodels.TheseincludeAgra,Bhilwara,Pathanamthittaetc.AGRAMODEL:Under the cluster con-

tainmentandoutbreakcontainmentplanin

Agra, the district administration identifiedepicentres,delineatedtheimpactofpositiveconfirmedcasesonthemap,anddeployedaspecial task force as per amicro planmadeby thedistrict administration. Thehotspotsweremanagedthroughanactivesurveyandcontainment plan. The “hotspot” areawasidentifiedwithin a radius of 3 km from theepicentre,whilea5kmbufferzonewasiden-tifiedas thecontainmentzone.BHILWARAMODEL:Thisentailedcom-

plete isolation of Bhilwara citywith Section144 CrPC being imposed. In the first phase,essential serviceswere allowed; in the sec-ondphase, theshutdownwas totalwith thecity and district borders sealed and check-posts at every entry and exit point. Trains,buses and cars were stopped. The districtmagistrates of neighbouring districts toowereaskedtosealtheirborders.ThemessagefromBhilwarawas“ruthlesscontainment”.PATHANAMTHITTAMODEL:Keralade-

ployed technology to a large extent in thePathanamthittamodeltoo.Everypersonwhohad entered thedistrictwas screened and adatabasecreatedsothattheycouldbereachedatshortnotice.Graphicswerecreatedshowingthetravelrouteof thepositivecasesandpub-licised.Thisledtoself-reporting.Aspeoplere-alisedfromtheroutemapsandthetraveltimesthat theyhadcomeincontactwithsomeonepositive forCOVID-19,manywalkeduptobescreenedortreated.

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

UDITMISRA&NUSHAIBAIQBALNEWDELHI, APRIL20

THE ECONOMIC disruption due to thespread of the novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19) over the past fewmonths hasadversely affected various aspects of theIndianeconomy.But is the impactonIndiamorethantheimpactonothereconomies?Therearedifferentways toanswer this

question.Onecouldlookatthegrowthratesof gross domestic product and gross valueadded.Or, in theabsenceof suchdata, onecould treat other high-frequency data likesalesof automobilesetc. asaproxy.In this regard, the exchange rate of the

rupeecanalsobeanaptmarkeronthestateof the Indianeconomy’s competitiveness.

What iscurrencyexchangerate?Essentially, a currency’s exchange rate

vis-a-vis another currency reflects the rel-ativedemandamongtheholdersofthetwocurrencies. This demand, in turn, depends

on the relative demand for the goods andservicesof thetwocountries. If theUSdol-larisstrongerthantherupee,thenitshowsthatthedemandfordollars(bythosehold-ingrupee) ismorethanthedemandforru-pees (by thoseholdingdollars).Typically, stronger economies have

strongercurrencies.Forinstance,theUSecon-omyisrelativelystrongerthanIndia’sandthisis reflected in oneUSdollar being equal toaround76rupees.Therupeehasbeenlosingvalue(ordepreciatingorweakening)againstthedollaroverthepastfewmonths.ButtheUSisnottheonlyothercountry

intheworld; India tradeswithmanyothercountries. To have a better understandingof the Indian economy’s overall competi-tiveness,oneshould lookathowtherupeeisbehavingwith itsmajor tradepartners.

Whatmeasuresshouldwelookat?TheReserveBankof India tabulates the

rupee’s Nominal Effective Exchange Rate(NEER)inrelationtothecurrenciesof36trad-ingpartner countries. This is aweighted in-

dex— that is, countrieswithwhich Indiatradesmorearegivenagreaterweightintheindex. Adecrease in this indexdenotes de-preciation in rupee’s value; an increase re-flectsappreciation.Asthechartshows,inNEERterms,theru-

peehasdepreciated to its lowest level sinceNovember2018.Therupeehasbeensteadilylosingvalue—showingtheIndianeconomy’sreducingcompetitiveness—since July2019.ThedipinMarchwaslikelyinfluencedbythenetoutflowof foreignportfolio investmentsfromthe Indianequity anddebtmarkets—they stood at $15.92 billion in March asagainstnetinflowsof$1.27billioninFebruary.There is onemoremeasure that is even

betteratcapturingtheactualchange.This iscalledtheRealEffectiveExchangeRate(REER)and is essentially an improvementover theNEERbecause it also takes into account thedomesticinflationinthevariouseconomies.

Andhowdoes inflationaffectexchangerates?Manyfactorsaffecttheexchangeratebe-

tweenanytwocurrenciesrangingfromtheinterestratestopoliticalstability(lessofei-therresults inaweakercurrency). Inflationisoneof themost important factors.Here’s how. Imagine that the Re-$ ex-

change ratewas exactly 1 in the first year.This means that with Rs 100, one couldbuy something thatwaspriced at $100 intheUS.But suppose the Indian inflation is20% and the US inflation is zero. Then, inthe secondyear, an Indianwould needRs120 to buy the same item priced at $100,and the rupee’s exchange rate would de-preciate to 1.20.

WhatdoesREERshow?Even in REER terms, the rupee has de-

preciated inMarch and fallen to its lowestlevel since September 2019. As the graphshows, the difference between trends ofNEERandREERwasdue to India’s domes-ticretail inflationbeinglowerrelativetotheother 36 countries. As domestic inflationstartedrising, theREER, too,starteddepre-ciating like theNEER.

How Kasaragod has fought virusSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

InKerala,whereCOVID-19growthhasbeenmuchflatter thanthenationalaverage,Kasaragodstandsoutwithaprogressivedecline inactivecases.What is theKasargodmodel,beingshowcasedbytheCentre?

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL20

INTHE immediate aftermathof thenation-wide lockdown being announced lastmonth, when countless migrant workersstartedwalking hundreds of kilometres inthehopeof reachingtheirvillagesor towns,visuals emerged from various parts of thecountry, includingBareillyinUP,ofmigrantsbeingsprayedwithdisinfectant solution.As the country prepares for some relax-

ationsandindustriesgetreadytostartfunc-tioningwithstrictconditionsincludinghous-ing labourers on the premises, the HealthMinistry has issued a detailed advisoryagainstsprayinghumanswithdisinfectants.

Whatdoestheordersay?The order datedApril 19 says, “Spraying

of individuals or groups is NOT recom-mendedunderanycircumstances.Sprayingan individual or groupwith chemical disin-fectants is physically and psychologicallyharmful. Even if a person is potentially ex-

posedwiththeCOVID-19virus,sprayingtheexternal part of the body does not kill thevirus thathasenteredyourbody.Also thereisnoscientificevidencetosuggest that theyare effective even in disinfecting the outerclothing/body inaneffectivemanner.”Theadvisoryhasbeenissued,officialssay,

to prevent a rerunwhen labourers start re-turning to industries that qualify for relax-ation. HomeMinistry guidelines requirethemtobehousedonthepremisesbut“dis-infection”atentry isavery realdanger.

Howis“disinfection”carriedout?Disinfection for the SARS-CoV2 virus is

usually done using a solution of sodiumhypochlorite, commonly known as bleach.It isaharshchemical. “It (disnfectant) refersto substances applied on inanimate objectsowing to their strong chemical properties.Chemical disinfectants are recommendedfor cleaning and disinfection only of fre-quentlytouchedareas/surfacesbythosewhoare suspected or confirmed tohaveCOVID-19,” theadvisory laysdown.

What is theproblemwithsprayingpeoplewiththissolution?It canbeharmful.Besides, theact itself is

pointless. This is because there is a specifictime that the disinfectant takes to act on anarea,andasperthedisinfectionprotocol,anyplacethathasbeendisinfectedhastobekept

shut overnight. “There are very clear normsforthis.Youdisinfectwithsodiumhypochlo-rite and then the place remains closedovernight.Ifduringthattimeanybodyenterstheplace, regardlessofwhether thatpersonis carrying the infection or not, the processhas to be repeated,” explained a senior offi-cialoftheNationalCentreforDiseaseControl.

Whatarethepossibleharmfuleffects?The solution of sodium hypochlorite is

unstableandquicklybreaksdowntoreleasechlorine. Chlorine canhave severalharmfuleffects, theHealthMinistry said.“Spraying of chlorine on individuals can

leadtoirritationofeyesandskinandpoten-tiallygastrointestinaleffects suchasnauseaand vomiting. Inhalation of sodiumhypochloritecanleadtoirritationofmucousmembranes to the nose, throat, respiratorytract and may also cause bronchospasm.Additionally use of suchmeasuresmay infact lead to a false sense of disinfection &safety and actually hamper public obser-vancetohandwashingandsocialdistancingmeasures,” says theadvisory.

Why disinfectant must not be sprayed on humans

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like explained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED TheOutbreak

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 17,656 (559 DEATHS)

4,203Maharashtra

1,477 Tamil Nadu

1,478 Rajasthan

873Telangana

1485MP

1176 UP

2,003 Delhi

1,851Gujarat

402 Kerala

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

722 Andhra Pradesh

CORONAVIRUSOUTBREAKYOURQUESTIONSANSWEREDDAILY

83,505Iran

181,228Italy

146,200Germany

125,851United Kingdom

154,098France

200,210Spain

47,121Russia

761,991US

83,817China

86,306Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED:2,435,876 DEATHCOUNT: 167,369Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonApril20

MEHRGILL

THEVIRUSSARS-CoV2,whichcausesthe disease COVID-19, is called a“novelcoronavirus”becausethereareother coronaviruses that are not“novel”. A look at various coron-aviruses, how they infect, andwhattheadjective “novel”means:CORONAVIRUS:Acoronavirusis

a family of viruses, which are sur-roundedbyafattylayer,onthesurfaceofwhichisa“spike”proteinthatgivestheappearanceofacrownor“corona”.There are hundreds of coronavirusesthat infect animals, but only sevenkinds have been known to infect hu-mans. Coronaviruses are subdividedinto groups called alphacoronavirus,betacoronavirus, gammacoronavirusanddeltacoronoavirus,dependingontheirevolutionaryhistory.NOVELCORONAVIRUS:Acoro-

navirus is called “novel”when it is anew strain that was not previouslyknowntoinfecthumans.SARS-CoV2wasnamedonlythisyear,afterinfec-tionwith it started in late2019.ANIMALINFECTION:Inanimals,

coronavirusescancausediarrhoeaincowsandpigs,andupperrespiratorytract disease in chickens. The firstcoronaviruswas isolated in 1937; itwas the infectious bronchitis virus(IBV), which infected chickens. Cats

are vulnerable to feline coronavirusattacks.Batsareknowntobeinfectedbyavarietyofcoronavirusesandhaveoftenbeenthesourceoftransmissiontohumans,usuallyviaanintermedi-ate host.When a coronavirus infec-tion is transmitted from human tohuman, it is after undergoing amu-tation thatenables this.HUMAN CORONAVIRUSES:

BeforeSARS-CoV2struck, thereweresix known human coronaviruses —229E,NL63(bothofwhicharealpha-coronaviruses), OC43, HKU1,MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV (all fourbetacoroaviruses).Thecoronaviruses229E and NL63 cause the commoncold;NL63causesmoresevereupperrespiratory tract infection; HKU1 in-fectsboththeupperandlowerrespi-ratory tracts. MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, which caused the MERS andSARSoutbreaksrespectively,andnowSARS-CoV2have emerged in the lasttwodecades.Thesehavebeenseentobemuchmore aggressive than thefourcoronavirusespreviouslyknown.ROOTSOFTHENAME: In 1965,

scientists D J Tyrrell andM L Bynoewere the first ones to identify a hu-mancoronavirus,whichtheyisolatedfrom the nasal washing of a malechildwhohadsymptomsofcommoncold.Thestrain,B814,wasofthecoro-navirus OC43. In 1968, the term“coronavirus”wasaccepted.

What are the coronavirusesthat can infect humans?

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 15ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 35Bihar 96Chandigarh 26Chhattisgarh 36Goa 7Haryana 233HimachalPradesh 39JammuandKashmir 350Jharkhand 42Karnataka 395Ladakh 18Manipur 2Meghalaya 11Mizoram 1Nagaland 0Odisha 68Puducherry 7Punjab 219Tripura 2Uttarakhand 44WestBengal 339

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,April20.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystateswiththemostcasesarelistedabove.2,842PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN28STATESACROSSTHECOUNTRY

200

150

100

50

0

19Mar

20Mar

21Mar

22Mar

23Mar

24Mar

26Mar

27Mar

28Mar

29Mar

30Mar

31Mar

1Apr

2Apr

3Apr

4Apr

5Apr

6Apr

7Apr

8Apr

9Apr

10Apr

11Apr

12Apr

13Apr

14Apr

15Apr

16Apr

17Apr

18Apr

19Apr

169Confirmed

123Recovered

Activecases

45

6

136

161

FEWER&FEWERACTIVE CASES

Kasargod’s firstcase, reportedonFeb3,hadrecoveredbythetimethesecondcasewasreportedonMarch16;thegraphplotstrendsfromMarch19.Thegapbetweenthetwolines(shaded)representsactivecases.Datasource:GovernmentofKerala

HowCOVID-19 is hurting the rupee’s exchange ratewithother currenciesNOMINAL&REAL EFFECTIVE EXCHANGERATES120

110

100

90

80

70

60

Apr-18

May-18

Jun-18

Jul-18

Aug-18

Sep-18

Oct-18

Nov-18

Dec-18

Jan-19

Feb-19

Mar-19

Apr-19

May-19

Jun-19

Jul-19

Aug-19

Sep-19

Oct-19

Nov-19

Dec-19

Jan-20

Feb-20

Mar-20

116.51REER

71.22NEER

74.44

116.26

109.78

69.8771.64

74.87

112.07

117.72

Thiruvananthapuram

KasaragodKERALA

Screengrabof asolutionbeingsprayedonmigrants inBareillyonMarch30.PTI

155

46

131

44

Source:RBI

New Delhi

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SPAIN

200,000cases;infectionratedropping‘alot’Madrid:Thespreadofthecoronavirus in Spainseems to be slowing de-spitemore than200,000people nowhaving beeninfected, officials said onMonday. With 200,210recordedinfections,SpainissecondonlytotheUSintermsofconfirmedcases,accordingtoReutersdata.But Health EmergencyChief Fernando Simonsaidtherateofnewinfec-tionscontinuestofallde-spite an increase in test-ing, suggesting theoverall prevalence of thedisease could be lowerthan expected in thepopulation. “Fortunatelyoccurrenceisfallingalot,evenmore than we hadthought,” he said.

Atahospital. Reuters

PANDEMICWATCH

AUSTRALIA

CasesatrecordlowinmanypartsofnationMelbourne:ManypartsofAustralia have registeredrecordlowinnewCOVID-19 patients, with somestates even reporting nilcase in the last 24 hours.Australia has so far re-ported 6,619 coronaviruscases,including71deaths.SouthAustralia,WesternAustraliaandQueenslandhave reported zero casesin the past 24 hours,healthofficialssaid.WhileQueenslandandWesternAustraliareportednonewdiagnosesforthefirsttimeinovertwomonths,SouthAustraliahasrecordeditsthird consecutive day ofzeronewcasesdespitean"unprecedented" num-berof tests.

UNITEDKINGDOM

GovthitsbackatreportsoverslowresponseLondon:Downing Streethas dismissed as “false-hoods and errors” a UKmedia report which al-leged the government'sresponse was slow andthat British PrimeMinister Boris Johnsonmissedemergencymeet-ings in theearly stagesofthe outbreak that haskilledover16,000peoplein thecountry. "This arti-cle contains a series offalsehoodsanderrorsandactively misrepresentstheenormousamountofworkwhichwasgoingoningovernmentattheear-liest stages of the coron-avirus outbreak,” a UKgovernment spokesper-sonsaid inastatement.

AGENCEFRANCE-PRESSEBERLIN,APRIL20

CHANCELLORANGELAMerkelurged discipline in the fightagainst the coronavirus pan-demic,warning thatGermany isnot"outofthewoods"evenasthecountrytooksmallstepsineasingcurbsimposedtoslowcontagion.Withsmallshopsopeningon

Monday for the first time in amonth,Merkel said the author-ities can only allow such smallcautiousstepseachtimetoavoidadevastating relapse."Wemust not lose sight of

the fact thatwestandat thebe-ginningofthepandemicandarestillalongwayfrombeingoutofthewoods," she told journalistsafter chairing a cabinet sessiononthecoronavirusbattle.Itwouldbea"cryingshameif

we were to stumble into a re-lapsewithoureyeswideopen,"she added.Merkel and regionalstate premiers announced thedecision to reopen last week—but were careful to cast it as acautious first step.From florists to fashion

stores, the majority of shopssmaller than800squaremetres(8,600squarefeet)wereallowedtowelcome customers again inmuchofGermany,inafirstwaveof scalingback lockdownmeas-ures introduced lastmonth.Merkelsaidlooseningrestric-

tions too hastily could be coun-terproductiveastheeffectsofthefirst stepswouldonlybeseen intwoweeks."We must remain vigilant

anddisciplined," shestressed.Germany currently has

141,672 confirmed coronaviruscasesand4,404deaths.Widespread lockdown

measures were rolled out lastmonth,restrictingnon-essentialoutings and closingmost shopsexcept for supermarkets andpharmacies.

HYONHEESHIN&HEEKYONGYANGSEOUL,APRIL20

SOUTHKOREANS are returningtoworkandcrowdingshoppingmalls, parks, golf courses andsomerestaurantsasSouthKorearelaxes social distancing rulesamid a continued downwardtrend incoronaviruscases.Agrowing list of companies,

including SK Innovation andNaver, has ended or eased theirworkfromhomepolicyinrecent

weeks,thoughmanycontinuetoapplyflexibleworkinghoursand

limit travel and face-to-facemeetings.Parks, mountains and golf

courses brimmedwith visitorsover theweekend, while shop-pingmallsandrestaurantswereslowly returning tonormal.SouthKorea'songoingrecov-

ery from the first major coron-avirus outbreak outside Chinapaints a stark contrast tomanyother countrieswheremetrop-olises remain sealed off andsweeping stay-at-home ordersare inplace."I'mamemberof acommu-

nity football club andwewentout to play on Saturday for thefirst time in twomonths," saidKim Tae-hyung, a 31-year-oldpower plant engineer living inSeoul. "We were wearing amask while we played, stillworriedabout thecoronavirus,but theweatherwas nice and Ifelt so refreshed."SouthKorea extended its so-

cial distancingpolicy for another16 days on Sunday but offeredsomereliefforreligiousandsportsfacilities previously subjected tostrictrestrictions. REUTERS

OTHERTOPGLOBAL STORIES

NEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,APRIL20

PRESIDENTDONALDTrumpsaidSundaynighttheadministrationwaspreparingtousetheDefenseProductionActtocompelanun-specified US facility to increaseproductionof testswabsbyover20millionpermonth.Theremarkscameduringhis

Sunday evening news confer-ence, after he defended his re-sponse to the pandemic amidcriticism fromgovernors acrossthe countrywho have said thatthere had been an insufficientamountoftesting—andashort-ageof teststhemselves—tojus-tifyreopeningtheeconomyanytimesoon.“We are calling in the

DefenseProductionAct,”Trumpsaid. He added, “You’ll have somany swabs you won’t knowwhat todowith them.”Multiple governors had said

ontalk showsearlieronSundaythat a shortage of tests wasamongthemostsignificanthur-dlestoliftingrestrictionsintheirstates.“Wearefightingabiolog-ical war,” Governor RalphNortham of Virginia said onCNN’s “Stateof theUnion.”“Wehavebeenaskedasgov-

ernors to fight thatwarwithoutthesuppliesweneed.”Thegov-

ernors bristled at claims fromTrumpadministrationthatsup-plyof testswasadequate.Meanwhile,Trumpdefended

protesters whowere rebellingagainst the restrictions, threat-ening to undermine the effortsofhisownadministration’spub-lichealthexperts.“These people love our

country,” Trump said Sundayevening after a day filled withscattered protests around thecountry. “Theywant togobacktowork.”TrumpattackedDemocratic

governors and took up the slo-gan of protesters who claim towant to “liberate” their states.

MARINESTRAUSSBRUSSELS,APRIL20

BELGIUM'S IMMEDIATE coron-avirus crisis appears to havepasseditspeakasthenumberofpeople admitted to hospitalswith COVID-19 fell to its lowestlevel inamonth,healthofficialssaidonMonday.Belgium, with one of the

highest per capita rates of con-firmed COVID-19 cases and re-lated deaths in Europe, an-nounced that 232 peopleweretaken into hospital on Sunday,the lowest level sinceMarch19."Thereareseveral indicators

thataregoing in the rightdirec-tion and that continue to go inthe right direction," EmmanuelAndre,spokesmanforthecoun-try's COVID-19 council, told anewsconference."Andsoyes,bydefinition,wearegoingtowardswhat is called de-confinement.That is to say a progressive en-largement of the safety zonearoundussonowwe'rethinkingabouthowtoorganise this."Belgium's national security

council is due tomeetonFridaytodiscussaneasingofrestrictionmeasures fromMay4.Officialsaddedthatthecoun-

trymay also be beyond its peakfordeaths.Belgiumrecorded168newdeathsonMonday,bringingthetotalto5,828deaths.Justoverhalfhavebeeninnursinghomes,the vast majority of them inwhichCOVID-19issuspectedbutnotconfirmed. REUTERS

AGENCIESGENEVA,APRIL20

WORLDHEALTH Organisationchief Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus insisted onMondaythattheUNagencyhadnot hidden from the UnitedStates any information it hadabout thepandemic.He said thepresenceof em-

bedded US government secon-deesworkingattheWHOhead-quartersinGeneva"meansthereis nothing hidden from the US,fromdayone",adding:"Thereisnosecret inWHO".He also warned that “the

worst isyetaheadofus”, raisingnewalarmbells about the pan-demicjustasmanycountriesarebeginning toeasecurbs.WHODirector-GeneralTedros

AdhanomGhebreyesus didn'tspecify exactlywhyhe believesthattheoutbreakcouldgetworse.“Trust us. Theworst is yet aheadof us,” he said. “Let's prevent thistragedy.It'savirusthatmanypeo-plestilldon'tunderstand.TedrosalludedtotheSpanish

fluin1918."Ithasaverydangerouscom-

bination and this is happening ...like the1918 flu that killedup to100millionpeople... Butnowwehavetechnology,wecanpreventthatdisaster,wecanpreventthatkindofcrisis,”hesaid.

GURDIPSINGHSINGAPORE,APRIL20

SINGAPORE ON Monday re-portedarecord1,426newcoro-naviruscases,outofwhich1,410are foreign workers, includingIndians residing in dormitories,healthofficials said.Withthefreshcases,thetotal

number of coronavirus cases inthecity-statestandsat8,014,theMinistryofHealth (MOH)said."We are still working

through thedetails of the cases,and further updates will beshared via the MOH press re-leasethatwillbeissuedtonight,"saidtheMinistryinastatement.A total of 18 foreignworker

dormitories have been gazettedas isolationareas, as thenumber

ofCOVID-19casescontinuetorise.AsofSunday,theclusteratS11

Dormitory at Punggol remainedthebiggest,with1,508confirmedcases. The next biggest clusterwasatSungeiTengahLodge,with521confirmedcases.Though the dormitories are

beingdisinfectedandbeddingac-commodationre-arranged,mostofthesewereovercrowded,lead-ing toa largenumberof cases asforeignworkers are nowunder-goingscreeningandtesting.TheMinistry of Manpower

(MOM) and the Building andConstruction Authority (BCA)notedthatwhiletherecentriseinthenumberofforeignworkersin-fectedwith the coronavirus hasmostlybeenconcentratedindor-mitories,therehavebeencasesatconstructionworksites. PTI

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIACOLOMBO,APRIL20

THESRI LankangovernmentonMondaydropped itsdecision torelaxthenationwidecurfewandextendedittoApril27followingasuddenspikeof41coronaviruscases in the last24hours.The island nation has been

under a 24-hour curfew sinceMarch 20 to combat the deadlyviral infection. On Sunday, thegovernment announced topar-tiallyliftthecurbsfromMondaytoboosteconomicactivity.Health Minister Pavithra

Wanniarachchihadsaidthegov-ernmentwas able to tackle thecommunityspreadofthedeadlyvirusandwas,therefore, lookingat the need to revive the eco-nomicactivity,stalledduetothelockdownsincemid-March.However, following the 41

COVID-19 cases reported in thelast 24 hours, PresidentGotabayaRajapaksa'sofficesaidtheplannedeasingofthecurfewwon'thappenandithasbeenex-tendedtillApril 27.Following the curfewexten-

sion, ameeting of the ElectionCommission scheduled forMonday afternoon to decide onthe date of the parliamentaryelectionhasalsobeenpostponed.

OUTANDABOUT:Apackedshoppingstreet inGelsenkirchen,Germany,afterstoreswereallowedtoopenonMonday. AP

Workersatadormitory inSingaporeonMonday.Reuters

South Koreans return to offices, crowdparks, malls as social distancing rules ease

InSeoulonMonday. Reuters

Belgium saysCOVID-19peak passed,looks at endingrestrictions

Lanka dropsplan to relaxcurfew aftersudden spikein virus cases

Nothinghidden fromUS on virus:WHO chief

Record 1,426 new casesin Singapore, foreignworkers mostly affected

MEASURES INOTHERCOUNTRIES

DENMARKHairsalons,dentists,physiotherapistsandeventattooparlourswereallowedtoreopeninDenmark,withprecautions inplace.

IRANThecountrybeganopening intercityhighwaysandmajorshoppingcentresMondaytostimulateitsvirus-hiteconomy

■ChinaonMondayrejectedTrump'sdemandtoallowanAmericanteamintoWuhantoprobeoriginsofthevirus.

■"Wespoketothemalongtimeagoaboutgoingin.Wewanttogoin.Wewanttoseewhat'sgoingon...”hesaid.

■"Likeanyothercountry,Chinaisattackedbythisvirus.Chinaisavictiminsteadofculprit,”aChineseofficialsaid. PTI

Healthcareworkersstandagainstpeoplecalling forastay-at-homeorder tobe lifted inColorado. Reuters

Governors criticise Trumpover lack of testing, gear aslockdown protests continue

AngelaMerkel

ILIANAMAGRA&IANAUSTENNEWYORK,APRIL20

THE AUTHORITIES on the eastcoast of Canadawere searchingfor amotive onMonday after agunman who appeared to bedressedasapoliceofficerandwasdrivingavehiclethatappearedtobeaNovaScotiapolicecarkilledat least 18 people in one of thecountry’sworstmassshootings.Prime Minister Justin

TrudeauofCanadaimploredhisnation, which likemany othersis reeling from the coronaviruspandemic, tostandtogetherde-spitethisnewshock,“nomatter

how evil, how thoughtless orhowdestructive.”

GabrielWortman,whoranadentureclinicinNovaScotia,be-

gan themassacre in the townofPortapique on Saturday nightanddidnotstopuntilhedied12hours later at a gas station inEnfield, 22miles away, the au-thorities said. The police havenot saidhowhedied.Thepolicesaidthatwhilethe

killings appeared tobe targetedatthestart,theybecamerandomas the rampage through NovaScotiaprogressed.“Oneman’sactioncanbuild

awall between us and a betterday, no matter how evil, howthoughtless or how destruc-tive,”Trudeausaid. “As familiesgrievethe lossof a lovedoneallCanadians are standing withthem.” NYT

ASSOCIATEDPRESSJERUSALEM,APRIL20

ISRAELI PRIME MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and hischief rival announcedMondaythat they have forged a deal toform an “emergency” govern-ment, endingmonths of politi-calparalysis.The deal avertswhatwould

have been a fourth consecutiveelectioninjustoverayear.Termsoftheagreementweren’timme-diately announced. But Israelimedia said it called for a three-year period with Netanyahu

servingasprimeministerforthefirst half, and Gantz taking thejob for thesecondhalf.

After the last vote onMarch2 ended in a stalemate,Netanyahuand formermilitary

chief Benny Gantz agreed latelastmonthtotrytoformaunitygovernment. The talks havedragged on and stalled severaltimes since.Thedeal likely requiredma-

jor compromise by both men.During three bitter campaignsover the past year, Gantz andhis Blue and White partyvowed never to serve in a gov-ernment under Netanyahu solong as he faces corruptioncharges. Netanyahu, mean-while,would likelybe forcedtostep aside and allow Gantz toserveasprimeminister forpartof the time.

18 killed in Canada mass-shooting

Workersremoveabodyfromtheattacksite inNovaScotia.AP

THEREAREquestionsofhowlongthealliancecanbesta-ble.AmainfactorunitingGantz’sgrouphadbeenitsoppo-sitiontoNetanyahu.Whentalksbegan,Gantzfacedcriti-cismfor“abandoning”hisvowtonotserveinNetanyahu’sgovernment,withmanyalreadyleavinghisparty.Expertssaidhiscredibilityasaleadertookahitbecauseof this. Inaddition,thecorruptionchargesNetanyahuisfacingmayleavetheallianceinaprecariousposition.

Coalitionfacesquestionsofcredibility,stability

Israel: Netanyahu, Gantz announce dealto form ‘emergency’ govt, ending paralysis

As Germany allows smallstores to reopen, Merkelsays not out of woods yet

More countries begin easing lockdowns

New Delhi

13SENSEX: 31,648.00 ▲ 59.28 NIFTY: 9,261.85 ▼ 4.90 NIKKEI: 19,669.12 ▼ 228.14 HANG SENG: 24,330.02 ▼ 49.98 FTSE: 5,746.48▼ 40.48 DAX: 10,480.76 ▼ 145.02

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`76.53

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates. *IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

REUTERSNEWYORK/LONDON,APRIL20

TRADERSFLEDfromtheexpiringMayUSoil futures contract in afrenzy onMonday, sending thecontractintonegativeterritoryforthe first time inhistory, asbarelyanybuyersarewillingtotakede-liveryof oil barrelsbecause thereisnoplacetoputthecrude.MayUScrudefuturesplunged

toadepthneverbeforeseen, set-tlingonthedayatminus$37.63abarrel, adeclineof some305percent,or$55.90abarrel.Pricessetalowofnegative$40.32.With demand down30 per

centworldwideduetothecoron-aviruspandemic,andthemainUSstoragehubinCushing,Oklahomaexpected to fill up in amatter ofweeks,very fewwanttobestuckwithoil barrels that theyhave totakedeliveryonatsomepointdur-ingMay.“Thepeoplewhoare longare

desperate to get out,” said PhilVerleger, a veteranoil economistand independent consultant. “Ifyoudon’thavestorageyouhavetogetout.”Major oil-producingnations

have agreed to cut output andglobaloilcompaniesaretrimmingproduction,butthosecutswillnotcomequickly enough to avoid amassiveclog.Thedifferencebetweentheex-

piring May US West TexasIntermediate crudecontract andthecomingJunecontractwidenedtoarecordatmorethan$22abar-rel.Thatyawninggapemergedbe-cause owning theMay contract

whenitexpiresonTuesdaymeansthat buyer is obligated to takethosebarrels,which fewwant todo.“Formanyinvestorsorpeople

usingthesecontracts forhedgingthis is really a big pain,” saidEdwardMoya,market analyst atOANDA inNewYork. “There’snoplacetoputit-we’rerunningoutofspacetostoreoil.”TheJunecontractendeddown

16 per cent to $20.43 a barrel.Whena futures contract expires,tradersmust decidewhether totakedeliveryorrolltheirpositionsintoanupcomingcontract.Usuallythisprocessisrelativelyuncompli-cated, but theMaycontract’s de-cline reflects worries that toomuch supply couldhit themar-kets,withshipmentsoutofOPECnations likeSaudiArabiabookedinMarchsettocauseaglut.

Availablestoragespaceisdrop-pingfastattheCushing,Oklahomahub,wherephysicaldeliveryofUSoil barrels bought in the futuresmarket takes place. Fourweeksago,thestoragehubwashalffull-now it is 69per cent full, accord-ingtoUSEnergyDepartmentdata.“It’sclearthatCushingisgoing

tofillanditwillstayfullforthenextseveralmonths,”saidAndyLipowof LipowOilAssociates. “Becauseproducers have been lagging intheirproductioncutswe’reseeingan overwhelming amount ofcrudeoil looking foraplace togoaroundtheworld.”Crude stockpiles at Cushing

rose9percentintheweektoApril17,totalingaround61millionbar-rels,marketanalysts said, citingaMondayreportfromGenscape.Theworld’smajoroilproduc-

ersagreedtocutproductionby9.7millionbpd in anattempt to getworldsupplyundercontrolasde-mand slumps, but those cuts donotbeginuntilMay.SaudiArabiaisramping updeliveries of oil, in-cluding big shipments to theUnitedStates.Worldwideoilconsumption

is roughly 100million barrels aday, and supply generally staysin linewith that. But consump-tion is down about 30 per centglobally, and the cuts so far arefar less.USexchange-tradedfundsare

alsoplayingaroleintheaction,an-alystssaid.TheUSOilFundLP,thelargest crude oil ETF, said onThursdaythatitwouldstartmov-ing someof its assets into later-datedcontractsearlierinthelifeofthemonthlycontract.

KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI,APRIL20

THE AUSTRALIAN govern-ment has said it will sooncomeupwith a law thatwillmandateinternetbehemothsFacebookandGoogle to startsharing advertising revenuewith local media groups.Whenthelawispassed,itwillmakeAustraliathefirstcoun-try in theworldwhere inter-net companies will have topaymediagroupsforthecon-tenttheyshare.According to Reuters,

Australia Treasurer JoshFrydenberg said onMondayAustralia’s competitionwatchdog, the AustralianCompetition and ConsumerCommission(ACCC),hasbeenaskedtocomeupwithacodeof conduct formedia outletsand digital platforms likeFacebookandGoogle, sayingthat codewill bemandatory.The draft code is likely to bereadybyJuly.Reutersmentioned that

Frydenbergwroteinanopin-ion piece that there is noprogresson the issueof pay-ment for content. “On thefundamental issue of pay-ment for content, which thecodewas seeking to resolve,there was no meaningfulprogress,” he wrote in TheAustraliannewspaper. It is inthis context thathesaid “thegovernment has taken thedecision tomove fromavol-untary to amandatory code,thepreparationofwhichwillbe ledbytheACCC.”“The codewill include a

numberofprovisions,includ-ingthoserelatedtovalueex-changeandrevenuesharing;transparencyofrankingalgo-rithms; access to user data;presentation of news con-tent; and the penalties andsanctions for non-compli-ance,” he said, adding “it isonly fair that the search en-ginesandsocialmediagiantspayfortheoriginalnewscon-tent that they use to drivetraffic to their sites”.ACCCChairmanRodSims

reportedlytoldtheAustralianBroadcastingCorporationthatthe“problemwiththatisthatsomeofthatinformationthey

are providing consumers forfree has come from peoplewho have invested a lot ofmoneyinjournalismandthecaseofmedia toprovide thatcontent.”The announcement by

Frydenberg comes nearly 10daysaftertheFrenchcompe-tition regulator has de-manded that Google shouldstartpayingmediaforsharingtheir content, as its practiceshad caused serious harm tothe press sector. The Frenchregulatorhadasked, inanor-der on April 9, to “negotiatewith publishers and newsagencies the remunerationduetothemunderthelawre-lating to neighbouring rightsfor the re-use of their pro-tected contents”. However, itwas an interimdecision, andtheregulatorisyettodecideifGooglehasactuallybreachedcompetitionrulesofFrance.The French competition

regulatorhadsaidinitsorderearlier inApril that “Google’spracticescausedaseriousandimmediateharmtothepresssector,whiletheeconomicsit-uationofpublishersandnewsagencies is otherwise fragile,andwhile the law aimed onthecontraryatimprovingtheconditions of remunerationtheyderivefromcontentpro-ducedbyjournalists”.Boththesedevelopments,

actingasprecedents,providehopefor largeandsmallme-dia businesses across theworldwhohavebeenhopingto increase their advertisingrevenue.MediabusinessesinIndia have been severely hitrecently,withdwindling ad-vertising and subscriptionsrevenues,andhavetakenfur-therbeatingsincethedisrup-tion caused by COVID-19pandemic.

SECTORWATCHONLINENEWS

ENTERSNEGATIVETERRITORYONSTORAGECONCERNS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI, APRIL20

THE RESERVE Bank of India(RBI)hashikedthelimitofWaysandMeansAdvances(WMA)fa-cilityof thecentralgovernment,allowing it to borrow up to Rs2,00,000 crore from the centralbanktomeettheshort-termliq-uidity requirements.This is the second hike in

WMAlimitbytheRBI inthelastonemonth.OnApril1,theWMAlimit—theceilingonitstempo-rary loan facilitywith theRBI—for thecentralgovernmentwasraised to Rs 1.2 lakh crore fromRs75,000crore,a60percentin-crease.AccordingtotheRBI, thelimit forWMA for the remain-ingpartof firsthalfof thefinan-cialyear2020-21(April2020toSeptember2020)willberevisedtoRs2,00,000crore“totideoverthe situation arising from theoutbreakof thepandemic”.On April 17, the RBI en-

hanced the limit onWMAs tothe state governments from 30percentto60percent,enablingthem to raisemore funds fromthe RBI. On April 1, the RBI in-creased theWMA limit by 30per cent from the existing limitfor all states and UnionTerritories to enable them tideover the situation arising fromthe outbreak of the COVID-19pandemic.WMAisashort-termliquid-

ity arrangement facilitated bythecentralbank,whichenablesthe government to borrowmoney up to 90 days from the

RBI at the repo rate of 4.40 percent to tide over its liquidityproblems. The hike in WMAlimit is expected to providegreater comfort to the govern-mentforundertakingCOVID-19containmentandmitigationef-forts.“When we look at the past

WMAlimits for theCentresuchahugeamountwasseenonlyinFY19whichwasanelectionyearin which the government ex-penditure generally witnessesan increase,” said a research re-port fromStateBankof India.

Australia to comeup with law askinginternet platforms topay media for content

Fitch cuts FY21GDP forecast to1.8% from 4.6%PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA

NEWDELHI, APRIL20

THE FINANCE Ministry onMondaysaidithassanctionedRs46,038croreforthedevolutionofstates’ share in central taxes anddutiesforApril.Inatweet,theMinistrysaidto

assiststateseffectivelyaddresssit-uation arising out of COVID-19pandemic, as a special dispensa-tion,thecalculationofnetproceedsof shareable taxeshasbeenkeptunchangedasperBudget2020-21.TheBudgethadprojectedtheshareofthestatesintaxesatRs7.84lakhcroreforFY21.The15thFinanceCommission

had recommended the share of

statesat41percentof thedivisi-ble pool and 1 per cent for thenewly-createdunionterritoriesofJammuandKashmir,andLadakh.The14thFinanceCommission

had recommended the statesbegiven42percentshareintaxes.“MinistryofFinancehasissued

sanctions forApril instalmentofDevolution of States’ Share inCentralTaxesandDutiesamount-ingtoRs46,038.10croretoday,”theMinistrytweeted.

Pvt PF trusts disburse `481.63 crore to40,826 staff as non-refundable advanceENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, APRIL 20

ATOTAL of Rs 481.63 crore hasbeenwithdrawnby40,826em-ployees of companies runningtheir own provident funds un-der the non-refundable ad-vance facility from theEmployees’ Provident FundOrganisation (EPFO).NLC India, TataConsultancy

Services, Visakhapatnam SteelPlant,NTPCandHCLareamongthe top10exemptedestablish-ments or companies havingtheirownprovident fundtruststhat have recorded the highestwithdrawals under the provi-

sion that allows withdrawalsexceeding the basicwages anddearness allowances for threemonths or up to 75 per cent ofthe member’s EPF accountamount, whichever is less, inthewakeofoutbreakofCOVID-19 pandemic.Of the total Rs 481.63 crore

disbursed to these subscribersof privateprovident fundorex-emptedestablishments,68percent has been withdrawn bythesetencompanies:NLCIndia(Rs 84.44 crore), TCS, Mumbai(Rs 43.34 crore),VisakhapatnamSteel Plant (Rs40.99 crore), NTPC, Delhi (Rs28.74 crore), HCL, Gurugram(Rs 27.14 crore), Power Grid,

Delhi (Rs 26.17 crore), ONGC,Dehradun (Rs 24.17 crore),BHEL, RC Puram (Rs 22.22crore), BHEL, Bhopal (Rs 16.42crore),HPCL,Mumbai (Rs14.33crore).Exempted establishments

haveexemption fromfilingEPFreturns with the EPFO andmanage their employees EPFaccount as well as funds. OnApril16, theEPFOhadsaid that3.31 lakh claims had beenprocessedandanamountof Rs946.49crorewasdisbursedun-der the facility which waslaunched lastmonth as part ofthe government’s financialpackage to counter theCOVID-19 outbreak.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,APRIL20

FITCHSOLUTIONSonMondaycutIndia’seconomicgrowthforecastforFY21to1.8percentsayingpri-vateconsumptionislikelytocon-tractdue to large-scale lossof in-come in the face of worseningdomesticoutbreakofCOVID-19.“Wehavecontinuedtoadjust

downour country-specific realGDPgrowthforecastsonthebackofpersistentlowoilpricesandthewideningspreadofCOVID-19.Ourforecastsremainfluidand...webe-lievethattherisksremainskewedtothedownside,”itsaid.

BMW IndiaCEO RudratejSingh deadPRESSTRUSTOF INDIANEWDELHI, APRIL20

BMWGROUP India PresidentandCEORudratej Singhpassedaway onMondaymorning fol-lowinga cardiac arrest.BMWGroup India, as an in-

terimmeasure, has appointeditschief financialofficerArlindoTeixeira as actingpresident.“The company with pro-

found sorrow, announces thedemise of Rudratej Singh (46),President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer on April 20, 2020,”BMW Group India said in astatement.

RBI asks banks,NBFCs to carryout moneylaundering riskassessmentperiodically

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIAMUMBAI, APRIL20

THERBIonMondayaskedbanksandNBFCs to carry outmoneylaundering (ML) and terrorist fi-nancing (TF) risk assessment ex-erciseperiodically.The Reserve Bank said it has

addedanewsectionintheMasterDirectionsonKYC.Thisrequiresitsregulateden-

tities(REs)tocarryoutMLandTFriskassessmentexerciseperiodi-callytoidentify,assessandtakeef-fectivemeasures tomitigate itsmoneylaunderingandterroristfi-nancingriskforclients,countriesor geographic areas, products,services, and transactions or de-liverychannels.“While assessing theML/TF

risk, theREs are required to takecognizanceof theoverall sector-specificvulnerabilities,ifany,thatthe regulator/supervisor maysharewithREsfromtimetotime,”theRBIsaidinacircular.Further, the internal risk as-

sessment carriedout by the reg-ulatedentityshouldbecommen-surate to its size, geographicalpresence, complexity of activi-ties/structure, itadded.Entities regulated by theRBI

include,banks,AllIndiaFinancialInstitutions, NBFCs, and all pay-mentsystemproviders.

PRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI,APRIL20

THEDELHIHighCourtMondaystayed invocation and encash-mentoftheeightbankguaranteesof a firm,whichexpressed its in-ability todevelop threeoil blockswith thedeadline, observing thelockdown,whichcameintoplaceonMarch24,was “prima facie inthenatureof forcemajeure”.“Sucha lockdownisunprece-

dented,andwasincapableofhav-ingbeenpredicted either by therespondentorby thepetitioner,”JusticeCHariShankarsaidinitsin-terim order, while restrainingVedantafrominvokingbankguar-antees of HalliburtonOffshoreServiceInc.It further observed the situa-

tionof nationwide lockdown, inwhichwefindourselvestoday,hasnever,earlier,beenimposed.“The imposition of the lock-

downwasbywayofasuddenandemergentmeasure, ofwhichnoadvanceknowledgecouldbecred-itedtothepetitioner–or, indeed,toanyoneelse.Asaconsequence,submitsMr (Sandeep) Sethi, thepetitioner’s(Halliburton)activitieshad to suddenly discontinue onMarch22,2020,andhavenotbeen

abletoresumeeversince,”itsaid.Thelockdown,as imposedby

theCentreispresentlyinplacetillMay3,2020.Thecourthasstayedtheinvocationofguarantees tillaweekafterthisdate.Theguaranteeswereissuedby

the ICICI Bankon the instructionof Halliburton, ofwhich five areduetoexpireonJune30,2020,andremainingonNovember24.SeniorAdvocateSandeepSethi,

appearingfor Halliburton,argued

thatthoughasubstantialpartoftheprojectwascompletedbeforethesetdeadline,butowingtoacom-pletelockdownonindustrialactiv-ities aswell as onmovement ofpersons in thecountry, includingRajasthan,whichcontinues toaf-fectthecountrytilldate–thepeti-tionerwas unavoidably handi-cappedinperformingthecontract.Itwasemphasised in thepetitionthat theperformanceof thecon-tract required travel of personsfromoverseasandworkmenfromvariouspartsofthecountry.Sethipointedtothecourtthat

hisclienthadaddressedcommu-nications,“dated18thMarch,2020and 25th March, 2020, toRespondentNo. 1 (Vedanta), in-vokingtheforcemajeureclauseinthe contract…and seeking thebenefitthereof.”

HeaddedVedantaearlier ex-tended the project deadline tillMarch31.“Asubstantialportionoftheprojectwascompletedpriortothedeadline,” Sethi said, adding“totheeffect thatonly2.1%of theworkrelatingtotheManglafield,5.5% of thework relating to theBhagyam field and 2.4% of thework relating to theAishwariyafield, remained,whichcouldeas-ily have been completed beforeMarch31, 2020, had the restric-tions clampedby the lockdownnotintervened.”Senior Counsel Abhishek

Manu Singhvi, appearing forVedanta, submitted in law, theonlygroundonwhichinvocationofabankguaranteecanbestayed,istheexistenceofegregiousfraud.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

Whenthelawispassed, itwillmakeAustralia thefirstcountry intheworldwhere internet firmswillhavetopaymediagroupsfor thecontenttheyshare

Infosys Q4 net rises 6%, suspendsrevenue guidance on outbreakENSECONOMICBUREAUBENGALURU,APRIL20

INLINEwithitsotherpeers,InfosysonMondayrefrainedfromgivingaguidanceonrevenuesandmar-ginsforthenewfiscal,asitantici-patesnear-termchallenges in itsbusinessasawidesetofindustrieshavebeendisruptedbythecoron-aviruspandemic.InfosysCEOSalil Parekh said,

“Giventheuncertainenvironmentwith theglobalpandemic,wedonot feel itwill be appropriate toprovideanannualguidanceatthisstage.Asaresultwearesuspend-ingthepracticeofgivingrevenuegrowthandmarginguidance forFY21.”Thecompanyhassuccess-fully facilitated93per cent of itsworkforcetoworkfromhome.

Despite its strong balancesheet, the company is still takingseveralmeasurestocutcosts,apartfrom “no regret” decisions like

freezingwagehikes, promotionsandnewhiringforthemomenttotideoverthecurrentcrisis.The impact of the COVID-19

crisis is visible in the company’sfourthquarternumbers. Indollarterms,thecompany’srevenuesfell1.4per cent sequentially to $3.19billion,whileinconstantcurrencyrevenues fell by 0.8 per cent se-quentially.Forthequarter,Infosysposted a revenue of Rs 23,267crore andanetprofit of Rs4,335crore,withanoperatingmarginof21.2per cent—a70-bpdecreasesequentially.Digitalrevenuenowaccountsfor42percentofoverallrevenues.Growthacrossbusinesssegments and geographies re-mained flat in thequarter endedMarch 31, 2020. However, thelandscapeissettochangewiththecrisis,inthecomingquarters.FE

‘India Inc’s biz confidence atlowest level since 2008-09’AsurveybyFicci has “revealed sharpestmoderation” in theconfidence level of India Inc since theglobal financial crisis of2008-09as the coronavirus outbreakhasaffectedbusinesses

SUGGESTIONItmade a case for financialpackage for the entire industry(especiallymicro, small andmediumenterprises) from thegovernment in the formofsubsidies, policy support, taxholidays, and specialdispensation of funds tosustain employment levelsbefore the pandemic

100-BPCUTIt also demanded a further 100basis points reduction in therepo rate by theRBI

SITUATIONON‘08-09The index value had slippedto a lowof37.8 in the secondquarter of 2008-09–attime of the global financialcrisis

Methodology: The Survey drew responses from about 190 companieswith a turnover ranging from ` 1 crore to ` 98,800 crore and belongingto a wide array of sectors. The survey gauges expectations of therespondents for the April-September 2020 period

Source:Ficci/PTI

42.9TheOverall BusinessConfidence Index in thecurrent round vis-à-vis anindex value of 59 reported inthe last survey

THEHIKEinWaysandMeansAdvances(WMA)limitisexpectedtoprovidegreatercomforttothegovernmentforundertakingCOVID-19containmentandmitigationefforts,andtoplanitsmarketborrowingprogrammesbetter.Consideringthe

expectedfiscalslippage,totalborrowingsoftheCentreandstatesarenowestimatedtobearoundRs20lakhcrore.

GreaterfinancialcomfortforCentre

RBI hikes Centre’s Ways& Means Advances limitto `2L cr from `1.2L cr

Bengaluru: Infosyswill de-laytakingonboardnewre-cruits andwill temporarilyfreezehiring,hikesandpro-motions in thewake of thedisruptionduetotheglobalpandemic. “Wehavenore-gretsindoingso.Itwillhelpus come out of the crisisstronger,” Nilanjan Roy,CFO, saidonMonday.FE

Company tofreeze hiring,salary hikes

BRIEFLYNextMPCscheduledforJun3-5:RBIMumbai:TheReserveBankof India on Monday an-nouncedthecalendarofthemeetings of theMonetaryPolicy Committee for thecurrent financial year, anddecisionofthefirstmeetwillbeannouncedonJune5.PTI

Rolls-RoyceformsvirusdataallianceNewDelhi:Rolls-Roycehasinvited a group of leadingcompaniestocollaborateonEmer2gent,anewallianceofdata analytics experts chal-lengedwith finding fasterways of supporting busi-nessesandgovernmentsasthey recover from the eco-nomicimpactsofCOVID-19.

BISclarifiesonIndiastandardsforcoverallsNewDelhi:Aspersomeme-dia reports, confusion hasarisen about standards ofcoverallsinpersonalprotec-tion equipment. Standardsspecified by the HealthMinistryareapplicable,saidaBIS release. TheBureauofIndian Standards (BIS) hasnotnotifiedanystandardforcoveralls,itsaid.ENS

TheBudgetprojectedtheshareof thestatesintaxesatRs7.84 lakhcroreforFY21

FinMin sanctions `46,038 cr asstates share in taxes for April

■Thecourt furtherobservedthat thesituationofnationwide lockdown, inwhichwefindourselvestoday,hasnever,earlier,

been imposedonthecountry.■Thecourthasstayedtheinvocationofguaranteestill aweekafter thisdate.

UNPRECEDENTEDSITUATION

Citing lockdown, Delhi HC stops invocation of bank guarantees

OIL FUTURESCONTRACTSSHOWHUGEGAPThe spread between the currentUS crudeMay futurescontract and the June contract haswidened tomore than$45 a barrel, widest in the contract's history

February March April

Source:RefinitivEikondata/Reuters

$10

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50perbarrel

USOILCRASHES300%

New York: Wall Street fellsharplyonMondayafterUScrude futures turned nega-tive for the first time in his-tory,underscoringthechaosthe coronavirus pandemichasunleashedontheglobaleconomy.TAt 2:26 p.m. ET, the

Dow Jones IndustrialAveragewas down1.79 percent at 23,807.69 points,while the S&P 500 lost1.27 per cent to trade at2,838.15.The Nasdaq Composite

dropped 0.46 per cent to8,610.34.REUTERS

Wall Street drops

New Delhi

VolLXXXVIIINo.139 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301. Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:Unni

RajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha ** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

NIHALKOSHIENEWDELHI,APRIL20

ELITE INDIAN track and field athleteswill bein for ahectic time in2022with threemajorcompetitionslineduponeaftertheotherovertwomonths.Thepostponementof theTokyoOlympicshasresultedinasituationwheretheWorld Athletics Championships,CommonwealthGamesandAsianGameswillallbeheldintheJuly-Septembertimeslot.TheWorlds, to be staged inOregon in theUnitedStates,willbeonfromJuly15-24,quickly fol-lowedby theCWG inBirmingham (July 27-August 7). After abrief respite, the fortnight-longAsianGamesbegin inHangzhou, ChinafromSeptember10.With Indians eligible for all three events,

the tight schedulingwill present a challengeto the athletes, especially those like javelinthrowerNeerajChopra,whowillbeeyeingthepodiumatallthreecompetitions.“Itwill be challenging because youhave

threebigcompetitionsinoneyearandthattoowithintwomonths.Inmycase,Ihopetheex-perience of participating in the DiamondLeague series (up to three competitions amonth),which I havegotused to, helps,” thereigningAsianGamesandCWGgoldmedallisttoldTheIndianExpress.“DiamondLeaguecom-petitionsalsotakeplacewithinaboutamonth.Ihaveparticipatedinabout10competitionsayear, including theDiamondLeague. But theschedulefor2022callsforproperplanninginterms of training if I want to peak andwinmedalsinallthreecompetitions.”

Preparing for the challengeTheAthletics Federation of India (AFI) is

prepping its competitors to use the timeoff,becauseof theCoronavirus lockdown,tostaystrong. Anonline video callwith50 athletesand30coacheswasarrangedlastweek.“WiththeOlympics2020beingpostponed

to 2021 andWorld Championships, AsianGamesandCommonwealthGamesscheduledto takeplace in 2022, itwill be a tough chal-lengeforyouall.Wehavetousethisopportu-nityofdelaytoouradvantageandyouhavetobementally prepared for these challenges.Withback-to-backmajor eventsplanned forthe next twoyears,wewill have to adapt to

singlephaseofcompetitionperiod,”AFIpres-ident Adille Sumariwalla told athletes andcoachesoverthegroupvideocall.With'micro-planning'andtargetedfocus,

Sumariwalla believes Indian athleteswill beable todealwith thecongestedcalendar twoyearsfromnow.“We have to plan correctly and look at

eventsinwhichaparticularathletewillfocus.For somepeople,who don't qualify for theWorldChampionships, theAsianGamesandCommonwealthGameswill be themain fo-cus. Therearecertainevents inwhichwearestrong at the Commonwealth Games andtherearecertaineventsinwhichwearestrong

attheAsianGames.Accordingly,wewillhavetoplanandforonesetofathletesthemainfo-cuswillbetheAsianGames, foranothersetitwillbetheCommonwealthGames.“TheFederation's responsibility is toplan

thewholethingandgivethembuild-upcom-petitions andprepare schedules. And thosewhodon't qualify forWorldChampionships,their trainingwill beplanned towardspeak-ingfortheCommonwealthGamesandAsianGames (if the current schedule remains un-changed),”theAFIpresidentsaid.Indianathleteswon20medals, including

eightgold,atthepreviouseditionoftheAsianGames in 2018 but won only three at the

CommonwealthGamesandreturnedempty-handedfromtheWorldChampionships.

Even tougher forEuropeansThescheduleisequallyhecticforEuropean

athleteswhowill be part of the CWG. Theydon’t have toworry about theAsianGamesbut the EuropeanChampionships (Munich,August11-21)meanstheywillhavethreemar-quee events crammed in38days. The conti-nentalcompetitioninGermanystartsjustfourdaysaftertheCWGends.

Lookingat thebright sideRatherthantheunprecedenteddemands

putontheathletes,WorldAthleticspresidentSebastianCoechosetomarketthesummerof2022asafestivalforthesport.“Wewouldnothavechosentohavethree

majorchampionshipsback-to-backbutitwillgiveusauniqueopportunity topromoteoursportanditsstarsaroundtheglobeoverasix-weekperiod. Thiswill be a bonanza for ath-letics fans around theworld. Theywill betreated to sixweeks of absolutely first-classathletics,”thetwo-timeOlympicgoldmedal-listsaidinastatement.“Morethan70ofourMemberFederations

arepartoftheCommonwealthandmorethan50ofourMemberFederationsareEuropeanso our guiding principle in rescheduling theWorldChampionshipswastoensureenoughspacewas created around the centrepieceWorldAthleticsChampionshipforathletestochooseothermajoreventstocompetein.Wewerealsoverymindful thatwedidnotwanttodamagetheothermajorchampionshipsin2022,becausetheyarealsoveryimportanttooursport.”

A little leewayAccordingtomultiplereports, there isa

suggestion tomove the athletics competi-tionstothesecondweekof theCWGtogivemore breathing space post the WorldChampionships.ThrowintheOlympicGamesnextyearand

theroadaheadiscrammedwithmajorevents.In a step to ease the pressure on athletes toqualify immediatelywhen lockdowns arelifted,WorldAthleticshassuspendedthequal-ifyingwindow for next year’s Olympics tillDecember1,2020.

Gruelling 2022 season for athleticsTrack&fieldstarsfacepossibleburnoutasrescheduledWorlds,CWG,andAsiadslatedformidJuly-Septemberslot

14THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,APRIL21, 2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

NOVAKAGAINSTCOMPULSORYVACCINATIONNovak Djokovic has said he would be against a compulsory coronavirusvaccination if it became a requirement for tennis players to travel to tournaments."Personally I'm against vaccination. I wouldn't like that someone forces me to get avaccine in order to be able to travel," the world number one said late Sunday.

AGENCEFRANCEPRESSETOKYO,APRIL20

A JAPANESE expert who has criticised thecountry's response to the coronaviruswarnedMondaythatheis"pessimistic"thatthepostponedOlympicscanbeheldevenin2021."TobehonestwithyouIdon'tthinktheOlympics is likely tobeheldnextyear," saidKentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious dis-easesatKobeUniversity.Japan and the International Olympic

Committee(IOC)agreedlastmonthtodelaythe Tokyo2020Gamesuntil July 2021 afterpressure from athletes and sports federa-tions. But in recent days, as the coronaviruspandemic continues to spreadworldwide,there have been questions about whetherevenayear-longdelaywill besufficient.Iwata told a press briefing that the virus

wouldhavetobeundercontrolathomeandabroadfortheGamestotakeplace"becauseyouhaveto invite theathletesandtheaudi-ence fromallover theworld"."Japanmight be able to control this dis-

easebynext summer, Iwishwecould, but Idon't think thatwouldhappeneverywhereonEarth,sointhisregardI'mverypessimisticaboutholdingtheOlympicGamesnextsum-mer."IwatasaidhecouldonlyseetheGamesbeingheldnextyearif theyweresignificantlyaltered,"suchasnoaudience,orverylimitedparticipation".Iwatamadeheadlinesearlierthisyearfor

hispubliccriticismof Japan'shandlingofthecoronavirus-wracked Diamond Princesscruise ship that docked off the country'scoast. Japaneseofficialsoptedtocarryoutanon-shipquarantine,butmorethan700peo-pleonboardendedupcontractingthevirus,and 13 died. The decision to postpone theOlympics is unprecedented in peacetime,andfollowedawaveofcomplaintsfromath-letes facing travelbansand lockdowns.The postponement is a huge undertak-

ing, but organisers have insisted they areworking towards thenewopeningdatede-spite ongoing uncertainty aboutwhen thepandemicwill beover.

Tokyo Games‘not likely’ in2021, believesJapan expert

WorldC'shipOregon,July15-24

CWGBirmingham,July27-Aug7

EuropeanC'shipMunich,Aug11to21

AsianGamesHangzhou,Sept10-Sept25

2022ATHLETICSCALENDER Itwillbechallengingbecauseyouhavethreebigcompetitionswithintwomonths. Ihopeexperienceofparticipating intheDiamondLeague(uptothreecompetitionsamonth),whichI’vegotusedto,helps.”

NEERAJCHOPRAJAVELINTHROWER

CROSSWORD4097

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ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Today’s starsareadirectextensionofyesterday’s,indicatingthat there

willbe fewnewdevelopmentstocopewith. If you’restartingtorun into themudatwork,don’tworry; take theopportunity tohavesometimeoff andgeta freshperspectiveonyour life.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)If youhaveeverwonderedwhyyouexperienceboutsoffinancial indecision,

it’sbecause it’sall in thestars!Actually, there isawayout ifyouwould justputyourfearsandworries toonesideandstopallowingyourfeelings to interferewithyourgoodsense.

GEMINI (May22- June21)TheMoon’scontinuedalignmentwithyoursign isadirect

indicationthat theworld liesatyour feet, speakingmetaphoricallyof course.Thefact is, though, thatamightyactof self-sacrificemaybenecessary if youare tomakethemostof partners’ support.

CANCER(June22- July23)Yourmysticalaspirationsarebeingstirredupandthisprocesscreatesasort

of ‘divinediscontent’ leavingyoudeeplyambitious.You’rereluctant tosettle foranythingless thanthebest—butyoushouldconsiderwhetheratemporarycompromisewouldbeagood idea.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Anumberof verypowerfulalignmentshaveremained invitalareasof your

chart, inspiteof the fact that themaingaggleofplanetshasmovedon.Youshould thereforekeepupyourguardandresolvenever tobecaughtoutagain,at least,notbythesameperson.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)If therearechoices tobemade, try toclarifyyour ideastoday,andrecognise

thatchangemaynotonlybenecessarybutalsodesirable.Devoteadditional timetoprofessional responsibilities,anddon’t shrink fromtakingonnewtasks.Doyourbest.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)TheMoonmakesahelpful relationshiptoyoursign,and itshouldbe

responsible fora fairamountofemotional support. Itmaythereforenotmatter thatyoumight forgetacoupleofimportantengagementsorpromises.Afterall, it’sabouttimethatotherpeoplesharedtheresponsibility.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Social starsdoseemtobestrongandgrowingstronger, anindicationthatyou

canfindsolace inotherpeople’sarms.Theoneconditionseemstobethatold friendswillproveagooddealmorereliablethannew.You’resomuchhappierwithpeopleyoucantrust.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Professionalcommitmentswillsoontakeover,buteventhoughthere

aredefinite indicationsofhardworkahead,youareabout tochangeyourmind.Youmightdecidethatyouhavebetterthings todothanwasteyourtimeonpeoplewhodon’tdeserve it.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)There is still everysignof theneedforhardwork,whichmaynotbevery

excitingbut isno lessnecessaryforall that.Mercury,planetofthemind,will soonmakeyourealise that traditionalvalueswerealways thebest, inspiteofwhatyouthought.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)AssoberSaturngraduallyshifts itsposition,soyourgriponcertainvital ties

andcommitmentsmayweaken.However, thismaybenobadthingif itenablesyoutostartalloveragainwithafreshplan.Themainpointtoremember is thatall futureactionsmustbefirmlyrootedinthepast.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Don’t listentowhatpartnerssay,watchwhattheydo. Ifyoucanseparatethought

fromactionandwordfromdeed,you’ll realisethatthereisaninternalconsistencyintheiractions,eventhoughthey’recompletelyunawareof it. Inspiteofappearances, itwillsoonallseemtomakegoodsense.

SUDOKU418

6

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU418

5

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Withoutthe___therewouldbeno__onEarth.-PeterBenchley (6,..,4)

SOLUTION:ENEMA,OASIS,SUNLIT,FORCEDAnswer:WithouttheoceanstherewouldbenolifeonEarth.-PeterBenchley

MNAEE INSULT

ASIOS DEORCF

SolutionsCrossword4096:Across:1Stamp,8Obtained,9Pride,10Coughsup,11Diary,12Ebb,16Putter,17Around,18Egg,23Skies,24Half-moon,25Waste,26Emigrant,27Stays.Down:2Terminus,3Moderate,4Absorb,5Cargo,6Angst,7 Adept,12Ere,13Bag,14Rocksalt,15Ancestry,19Ground,20Cheek,21Slain,22Smart.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

ICCtodiscussT20WorldCupfutureThe ICC Chief Executives’ Committee(CEC)meeting - via conference call onThursday-willexplorecontingencyplansfor the T20World Cup, scheduled to beheld inAustralia inOctober-November.TheCovid-19outbreakhascastdoubtonthetournamenttakingplaceaspersched-ule; especially after Australia closed itsborders to all foreigners for sixmonths.ICChasbeenweighingupalternativesandit is learnt that deferment, too, is anop-tion.TheCECwillalsodiscussthefutureofthe ongoingWorld Test Championship.“The CECwill discuss the approach torescheduling postponed series and theneed for collectively reviewing the FTPthroughto2023aswellastheWorldTestChampionship and CricketWorld CupSuperLeague.Theywillalsoreceiveanup-dateonthecontinuingcontingencyplan-ningforallICCglobalevents,includingtheICCMen’s T20WorldCup2020,” an ICCreleasestated. ICCChief ExecutiveManuSawhneyadded:“InrelationtoICCevents,including the ICCMen’s T20WorldCup,wewill continue to takeadvice fromex-perts and authorities, including theAustraliangovernment.” ENS

Sonbegins3-weekmilitarytrainingTottenham forward Heung-min Sonstartedathree-weekperiodofmilitaryservice in his native South Korea onMonday. The27-year-oldSonreportedtoaMarineCorpsunitonthesouthernisland of Jeju, according to SouthKorea'sYonhapNewsAgency, andwillbe in campuntilMay 8. He is fulfillingrequirementsof themilitaryserviceex-emptionheearnedbywinningthegoldmedal for South Korea in the soccertournament at the Asian Games in2018. Without the exemption, hewould have been required by law toserve21months.Son,whorecentlyre-covered from a broken arm sustainedin a match in February, is doing hisservicewhile thePremierLeague is in-definitely suspended because of thecoronavirus pandemic. AP

BRIEFLY

New Delhi