PNS n NEW DELHI

After a religious gathering inDelhi at the headquarters ofthe Tablighi Jamaat emerged asone of the country's top coro-navirus hotspots, its chief cler-ic Maulana Saad and six oth-ers have been charged by thepolice.

Thousands of TablighiJamaat members, includingthose from other countries,attended the gathering inMarch, disregarding all coro-navirus warnings and precau-tions. Many then travelled todifferent states, widening thespread of the highly contagiousvirus.

Over 2,000 members havebeen removed from theMarkaz Nizamuddin, theTablighi headquarters, in thepast three days.

Sources say Maulana Saad ismissing; he was last seen onSaturday, when Coronaviruscases started surfacing.

Apart from Maulana Saad,Delhi Police's FirstInformation Report namesZeeshan, Mufti Shehzad, M

Saifi, Younus, MohammadSalman and MohammedAshraf.

They have been chargedunder the Epidemic DiseaseAct, said Delhi PoliceCommissioner SN Shrivastava.

Daily wage workers and homeless people watch television inside a government-run night shelter during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading ofcoronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the old quarters of Delhi, India.

GOVT’S ‘DISTANCE’

AFP n PARIS

The coronavirus pandemichas claimed more than 30,000lives in Europe alone, a glob-al tally showed Wednesday, inwhat the head of the UnitedNations has described ashumanity's worst crisis sinceWorld War II.

Italy and Spain bore thebrunt of the crisis, accountingfor three in every four deathson the continent, as the grimtally hit another milestoneeven though half of the plan-et's population is already undersome form of lockdown in abattle to halt contagion.

Across the Atlantic,President Donald Trumpwarned of a "very, very painfultwo weeks" as the United Statesregistered its deadliest 24hours of what he called a"plague".

America's outbreak hasmushroomed rapidly. Thereare now around 190,000known cases -- a figure thathas doubled in just five days.

Some 41,000 deaths havebeen recorded worldwide frommore than 830,000 infectionssince the pandemic emerged inChina in December.

For UN Secretary-General

Antonio Guterres, the extraor-dinary economic and politicalupheaval spurred by the viruspresents a real danger to therelative peace the world hasseen over the last few decades.

The "disease... represents athreat to everybody in theworld and... an economicimpact that will bring a reces-sion that probably has no par-allel in the recent past.

"The combination of thetwo facts and the risk that itcontributes to enhanced insta-bility, enhanced unrest, andenhanced conflict are thingsthat make us believe that thisis the most challenging crisiswe have faced since the SecondWorld War," he said.

As companies shut down forundetermined periods andentire workforces are forced tostay home to halt the spread ofCOVID-19, scenes of eco-nomic desperation and unrestwere emerging across theglobe. In Italy, queues werelengthening at soup kitchenswhile some supermarkets werereportedly pillaged.

Half a million more peoplenow need help to afford meals,Italy's biggest union for theagriculture sector Coldirettisaid, adding to the 2.7 millionalready in need last year.

The economic pain of lock-downs is especially acute in thedeveloping world.

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

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UNLIKELY TO GET SIGNIFICANT GAINS

ANALYSIS 7STRESS TEST FORGLOBALISATION

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IN 2020

VIJAYAWADA, THURSDAY APRIL 2, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 150*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published FromVIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

}POOJANOT DOING

SURIYA'S NEXT{Page 12

CORONAVIRUSOUTBREAK

9,11,578WORLD INDIA

Recovered

Deaths

201245,538 55

1,90,921 169

Rs 1 cr for kin ofhealthcare|personnel if theydie while treatingcoronavirus cases

5

India switches toworld's cleanestpetrol, diesel

8

Sonia asks PM togive 21 days'wages in advanceto MGNREGAworkers

4

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 01, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Chaitra & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Navami: 02:42 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Punarvasu: 07:28 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:51 pm – 03:22 pmYamagandam: 06:13 am – 07:44 amVarjyam: 07:29 am - 09:05 am

07:00 pm - 04:45 amGulika: 09:16 am - 10:48 amGood Time: (to start any important

work)Amritakalam: 05:04 pm - 06:40 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:55 am - 12:44 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: ClearTemp: 40/26Humidity: 61%Sunrise: 06.09Sunset: 06.29

PNS n HYDERABAD

Centre of Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB), aspart of its research on Covid-19, has started growing largequantities of the killer virus tounderstand its genome struc-ture useful for developing vac-cines and drugs, its DirectorRakesh K Mishra has said.

Anticipating a rise in thenumber of cases, Mishra alsosaid it would be at least oneyear before any nation comesout with vaccine or drug for thekiller virus. So as of now main-taining social distance andhygiene is the only way to keepit away.

"We have started researchactivity on Covid-19. We start-ed growing this virus in our labsin larger quantities so that wecan use it for serological testing,to study its growth in the cells

and for new interventions."To make potential drugs, we

are also carrying out the wholegenome sequencing of the virusso that we will understandhow virus is changing, what the

link of the virus is and whatroute it is taking," Mishra told'PTI'.

CCMB, the countrys pre-mier research organisation infrontier areas of modern biol-ogy, began testing coronavirussamples from Tuesday. It hasthe capacity testing severalhundred in day, the officialsaid.

Asserting that in theabsence of clear-cut study onthe impact of rising tempera-tures on the virus, he saidmaintaining social distanceand sanitisation is the onlyway to escape from the clutch-es of Covid-19.

"There is no question ofdecrease in number of cases.

CORONA EXPLOSION IN APPNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as 67 new cases ofcoronavirus have been report-ed in Andhra Pradesh sinceTuesday night, taking theoverall count to 111 in thestate, the government said.

Most of these cases relate tothe Tablighi Jamaat congrega-tion. West Godavari district,which did not have a singleCovid-19 case till Tuesday,recorded 15 positive caseswhile Kadapa district tooreported 15. Six new caseswere added in Chittoor district,four in Prakasam, two each inEast Godavari, SPS Nellore andone each in Krishna andVisakhapatnam districts, accord-ing to the latest bulletin of theMedical and Health Department.

In all 373 samples weretested since 9 pm on Tuesdayand 330 of them turned neg-ative till 9 am on Wednesday,the bulletin added.

No stigma attached toCOVID-19, reminds Jagann CM urges untraced TJ returnees to come forward for testsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Stating that there is no stigmaattached to people affected byCOVID-19 as it is similar toany other infection that can beeasily cured if timely treatmentis obtained, AP Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy onWednesday urged all thosewho travelled to the TablighiJamaat event in Delhi, theirfamily members and their con-

tacts to come forward for med-ical tests.

Speaking to the media here,Jagan said that of the 87 casesthat tested positive in the state,70 have a Delhi-connect.Disclosing that 1,085 peoplehad attended the Delhi event,between March 15-17, he said585 people have been tested sofar. While 70 positive cases havebeen identified from the tests,results of 500 cases are awaited.

Case against TJ chief who‘trashed Covid-19 warnings’

PNS n MUMBAI

Investor wealth dropped Rs3,20,633.05 crore on the firstday of the new financial yearas selling resumed in the equi-ty market amid rising cases ofCOVID-19.

The Sensex tanked 1,203.18points or 4.08 per cent to closeat 28,265.31 on Wednesday.

Tracking weakness in equi-ties, the market capitalisationof the BSE-listed companieseroded by Rs 3,20,633.05 croreto reach Rs 1,10,28,123.54crore.

Equity indices had ralliedsmartly on the last day of the

financial year 2019-20 on Tuesday."Markets witnessed a sharp

decline on Wednesday as par-ticipants took note of a suddensurge in coronavirus numbersin India and weak auto salesnumbers.

UN warns of humanity’sworst crisis since WW-II

The "disease...represents a

threat to everybody inthe world and... aneconomic impact thatwill bring a recessionthat probably has noparallel in the recentpast

— ANTONIO GUTERRESUN Secretary-General

Anticipating a rise in the number of cases, Mishraalso said it would be at least one year before anynation comes out with vaccine or drug for the killervirus. So as of now maintaining social distance andhygiene is the only way to keep it away.

33

3

33 3

3

PNS n HYDERABAD

The HRD ministry onWednesday directed theCentral Board of SecondaryEducation (CBSE) to promoteall students of classes 1 to 8 tothe nextclass in view of the sit-uation due to the coronavirusoutbreak in thecountry."In viewof the current situation due to#COVID19, I have advised@cbseindia29 to promote ALLstudents studying in classes I-VIII to thenext class or grade,"Union HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank'said in aseries of tweets.

All Class 1-8CBSE students promoted

One tests positivefor Coronavirus inMumbai's DharaviPNS n MUMBAI

One person tested positive forthe highly contagious coron-avirus in Mumbai's Dharavi,the largest slum cluster inAsia. Sources said the patient-- a 56-year-old man - hasbeen shifted to the Sion hos-pital. The other seven resi-dents of the house have beenhome quarantined. They willbe tested tomorrow.

Sources said the authoritieshave sealed the building,which is located in a redevel-oped part of Dharavi.

Sources say MaulanaSaad is missing; hewas last seen onSaturday, whenCoronavirus casesstarted surfacing.Apart from MaulanaSaad, Delhi Policenamed six others inthe First InformationReport.

CCMB grows coronavirus to study genome structure

ConfirmedCases

Rs 3.20 L-cr investorwealth wiped off

n Covid-19 cases spike sharply to 111 n In one day 67 test positive

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendrawill hold a video conferencewith all chief ministers onThursday during whichissues such as ways to con-tain the spread of COVID-19, movement of migrantsand contact tracing ofTablighi Jamat participantsare likely to come up for dis-cussion, sources said onWednesday.

The availability of essentialitems will also be discussedduring the conference, theyadded.

This will be the secondsuch interaction in less thantwo weeks on the criticalissue of the COVID-19 out-break and related matters,and the first after the Centralgovernment imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdownfrom March 25. The lastinteraction took place onMarch 20.

PM Modi to holdvideo conf withstate CMs today

n Six new cases were added inChittoor district, four in Prakasam,two each in EG Dist, SPS Nelloreand one each in Krishna andVisakhapatnam districts, accordingto the latest bulletin of the Medicaland Health Department.

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

CAPSULE

Ramoji Rao donates Rs 10 cr each to AP,TS CMs’ Relief Fund AMARAVATI: Media baron ChRamoji Rao on Tuesday donateda sum of Rs 10 crore each to theAndhra Pradesh and TelanganaChief Minister's Relief Fund tocombating the coronaviruspandemic. In a statement,Ramoji Rao, chairman of theRamoji Group, said the amountwas credited online into therespective accounts since hecould not meet the ChiefMinisters in person because ofthe ongoing lockdown. Hewished the two Chief Ministerswould succeed in their fightagainst coronavirus and peopleof the two Telugu states wouldbe in the pink of their health.

IPS officers donate 3-day salary to CMRFAMARAVATI: Taking a cue fromIAS officers, the IPS OfficersAssociation of Andhra Pradeshon Wednesday announceddonation of three days' salary ofits members to the ChiefMinister's Relief Fund to fightCOVID-19. Director General ofPolice D Gautham Sawang andassociation secretary ChDwaraka Tirumala Rao metChief Minister Y S JaganmohanReddy and handed over a letterto this effect.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020 vijayawada 02

Aclose look at the essenceof Sri Sita RamaKalyanam reveals that

every detail of it was divinelyordained. Whatever be thevariations of the immortal tale,its matchless beauty lies in theenduring appeal of the spotlesscharacters.

Sage Vishvamitra, who hadbrought Sri Rama andLakshmana to Mithila aftersuccessfully performing hisYagam with the help of boththe brothers, introduced themto King Janaka as sons ofDasharatha. Then he askedJanaka to show themShiva'sBow. Narrating its back-ground, Janaka explained thatthe Bow was handed over toDevaraata, the sixth descen-dent of Emperor Nimi -- theoriginator of their lineage --byDevatas for care. Since then theBow has been worshipped bygenerations in their family,said Janaka.

Janaka recounted that, oncewhen he was getting his fieldploughed to perform a ritual,he found a beautiful baby girlin a groove there. Since the girlwas gained while sanctifyingthe ritual field, she was namedas Sita. He then nurtured heras his own biological daughter.

In due course, he determinedto give her hand in marriageonly to a bridegroom whosewealth is valour.

Thereafter, Janaka orderedhis ministers to bring the rich-ly decorated Bow. It took fivethousand strong men totow;and that too, with greatdifficulty, the iron box contain-ing the Bow in their presence.Then,at the behest ofVishvamitra, Rama went nearthe box and opened its cover.He then told the sage that hewas desirous of getting a feel ofthe supreme Bow and wouldlike to handle it and take aimwith it. Vishvamitra permittedhim to do so.

Rama then stringed the Boweffortlessly in the presence ofassembled kings. Havingstrung the Bow, when Ramastretched it to the maximumextent possible, it brokeintotwo halves instantaneouslywith a big explosive sound.Then King Janaka toldVishvamitra that theindomitable valour of Ramahas been adequately displayed

and offered the hand of hisdaughter Sita to Rama. Later,on knowing about this,Dasharatha reached Mithila.

Upon the arrival ofDasharatha, Janaka heartilywelcomed him. The nextday,King Dasharatha, present-ing his royal priest Vasishta toJanaka, said that he wouldnarrate his lineage to him.Sage Vasishta started narratingIkshvaku lineage, beginningwith Marichi, who was born toLord Brahma and to whomKashyap was born. To him,Manu; and to Manu, Ikshvakuwere born. The Kingdom ofIkshvaku was Ayodhya. Likethis, he continued till the timeof Dasharatha and his sons

Rama, Lakshmana, Bharataand Shatrughna. Vasishta nar-rated the Surya Kings'lineage.Then he told Janaka that, givensuch a great family back-ground, it would be apt if hegives his daughter in marriageto Rama.

After sage Vasishta narratedthe Ikshvaku lineage, KingJanaka started narrating his lin-eage to Vasishta. He said thatthe originator of his dynastywas Emperor Nimi, who wasrenowned for his accomplish-ments and righteousness. Hisson was Mithi, who later builtthe great city Mithila. Janakawas Mithi's son-- the first oneto be designated as Janaka --and since then the title contin-

ued. Janaka said that he is theeldest of the two sons ofHraswaroma and his youngerbrother is Kushadhvaja. Janakasaid as one from such lineagehe is bestowing his daughterSita to Rama. Later, the pro-ceedings and rituals began forthe marriage.

On the day of marriage,King of Mithila Janaka ledforth Sita, who was fully dec-orated with a variety of bridaljewellery, and positioning herface-to-face with Rama in thepresence of Altar of Fire,addressed Rama like this:

"Oh! Son of Kausalya! Thisis Sita, my daughter. She sharesyour duties for life. She acquitsherself in whatever duty youundertake. Take her in mar-riage and take her from herfather. Everything good andbliss will happen to you. Holdher palm with your palm.Rama! Sita is extraordinary andreserved for you. Sita is thesymbol of moral truth andmorality and a tolerant wom-anhood. She is prosperous andwould be devoted to her hus-

bandand so will be with youalways as your own shadow".Janaka then poured holy waterinto the palms of Rama to theaccompaniment of the chant-ing of hymns. Amidst copiousfloral showers from the sky, thesages exclaimed 'Nice andgreat'. There were drumbeats ofheavenly drums.

On handing over his daugh-ter Sita amidst pouring of holywaters into the palms of Rama,gladdened Janaka turnedtowards Lakshmana and said:"Oh! Lakshmana! AcceptUrmila as I decided to give herto you in marriage. Take herpalm into yours." Then Janakaaddressed Bharata andShatrughna and requestedthem to take the palms ofMandavi and Shrutakirti,daughters of his brother. Thus,all the four daughters of Janakaand his brother were given inmarriage to four sons ofDasharatha.

Dasharatha's sons Rama,Lakshmana, Bharata andShatrughna,along with theirwives, at the behest of Janaka,

then circumambulated theAltar of Fire, Janaka, sagesetc. Thus, the celestial weddingwas performed in line with theprevailing customs and tradi-tions as directed by sageVasishta. Amidst celebrations,there were glorious floralshowers from the sky to theaccompaniment of drumbeatwith divine sounds. Apsarasdanced and Gandharvas sang.Amidst all this, the four broth-ers -- Rama, Lakshmana,Bharata and Shatrughna, alongwith their wives, once againcircumambulated the ritualfire thrice,marking the culmi-nation of the celestial weddingprocess.

The next day Dasharatha,along with his team as well assons and daughters-in-law, leftfor the city of Ayodhya. Janakagave patrimonial and bridalgifts to his daughters, besidesother things like cows, chari-ots, pearls, ornaments etc. Hethen accompaniedDasharatha's entourage till theoutskirts of Mithila and tookleave from them and returned

to Mithila. Dasharatha thenproceeded towards Ayodhyawith his sons, daughters-in-law,sages, with forces on either sideand reached the place in duecourse.

Sri Rama, who filled theheart of Sita and remained hid-den in her heart alone, togeth-er with her enjoyed many sea-sons. Rama's love for Sita mul-tiplied by virtue of Sita's distin-guishing qualities. Sita waslike Goddess Lakshmi incar-nate. She was the embodi-ment of Divine Wealth. Ramaexcelled like the God of GodsLord Vishnu when he was inthe company of Sita, who wasnone other than GoddessLakshmi.

Enduring appeal of the celestial wedding

VANAM JWALA NARASIMHA RAOCPRO to TS Chief Minister

"Oh! Son of Kausalya! This is Sita, mydaughter. She shares your duties for life. Sheacquits herself in whatever duty youundertake. Take her in marriage and take herfrom her father. Everything good and bliss willhappen to you. Hold her palm with your palm

PNS n AMARAVATI

When the whole world was inthe grip of coronavirus, YSRCPMP Vijayasai Reddy and TDPN Chandrababu Naidu werelevelling allegations andcounter allegations on farmers’welfare.

The YSRCP MP took onNaidu for speaking aboutfarmers’ problems though hehad neglected their welfarewhen he was at the helm. In

a message posted on twitteron Wednesday, he said thatprice stablisation fund wasnew to your regime. He won-dered about Naidu speakingabout farmers’ suicides sincehe was responsible for thetrend among farmers. ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy assured farmers to liftevery grain of paddy andordered that harvesting ofcrops should take place asusual. Onus lies on the gov-

ernment ensuring farmers notincur losses, he said.

He sought to know the num-ber of cold storage facilitiesbuilt during his 14-year regimeas the Chief Minister. Heaccused Naidu of sheddingcrocodile tears on the woes offarmers. Situation of no farmeror agriculture worker orlabourers suffering from star-vation does not arise in theState, he clarified. Drought leftthe soil of the State with yourparty’s electoral defeat, he saidadding that people want it

never to return.Pooh-poohing Naidu’s

claims of relief and rescuemeasures initiated during theTitli and Hudhud cyclones, hesaid that the Naidu’s regimecould not even restore drink-ing water supply even threedays after cyclones. Claiming tohave supplied drinking water,the government pocketedfunds on the pretext of supply-ing water through hundreds oftankers.

Govt to buy Navy’s MOMfor Coronavirus patientsPNS n AMARAVATI

The government has comeforward to purchase theportable Multi-feed OxygenManifold (MOM), a novel con-traption developed by navalpersonnel in Visakhapatnamthat would help meet anyemergency requirement of oxy-gen supply to coronaviruspatients.

Initially, the Navy was offer-ing a few MOMs to AndhraPradesh free- of-cost.Personnel of the NavalDockyard Visakhapatnam(NDV) designed the innovativePortable Multi-feed OxygenManifold (MOM) using a six-way radial header fitted to asingle cylinder.

Using this unique device,one cylinder could be used tosupply oxygen to six patientssimultaneously, enabling crit-ical care management to alarger number of Covid-19patients with the existing lim-ited resources, according toofficial sources in the EasternNaval Command.

Even the Central govern-ment is said to have evincedinterest in the innovative crit-ical care device and officials

from the Centre conductedenquiries with the NDV offi-cials on its manufacturing andutility, they said.

Sources said the NDV wasready to open source MOM sothat industries could manufac-ture it locally to meet theurgent requirements during

the ongoing crisis. The APIndustries Department SpecialChief Secretary, RajatBhargava, is facilitating thesharing of know-how and alsohelping the Department ofMedical and Health to procurethe required number of MOMsas the number of coronavirus

patients in the state was fastgrowing.

The Visakhapatnam districtadministration has approachedthe NDV to purchase theMOM devices and is current-ly getting them tested by a teamof pulmonologists. "About fiveto eight per cent of Covid-19patients require ventilator sup-port, while about 20 per centwill be needing oxygen supply.

Being a portable device, theMOM could be put to use evenin makeshift hospitals and iso-lation wards, like the ones inrailway coaches. Importantly,MOM is highly cost-effectiveand will be handy for use onmultiple patients at a time," theENC sources said.

The preliminary trials ofthe entire MOM assemblingwere conducted at MI Room atthe Naval Dockyard-Visakhapatnam, followed byrapid trials at the NavalHospital INHS Kalyani whereit was successfully set up with-in 30 minutes.

After successful trials, NDVcommenced manufacture of 10portable MOM with two six-way radial headers that couldcater to 120 patients atmakeshift locations.

n Using this uniquedevice, one cylindercould be used tosupply oxygen to sixpatients simultaneously,enabling critical caremanagement to alarger number ofCovid-19 patients withthe existing limitedresources, according toofficial sources in theEastern NavalCommand

n The Centralgovernment is said tohave evinced interest inthe innovative criticalcare device and officialsfrom the Centreconducted enquirieswith the NDV officialson its manufacturingand utility

Fishing harbour closeddue to contagion threatPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Fishing in the harbour bymechanised boats, motor boatsand country made boats andalso sales of marine productsin the fishing harbour wasbanned by the Fisheriesdepartment on the orders ofDistrict Collector. The banwould continue till the furtherorders.

It may be noted that the fish-ing ban on the east coast of thecountry would commencefrom April 15 midnight for 60days. Fifteen days before thatconservation period, the dis-trict administration hadbanned all fishing activities inharbour to combating thecoronavirus.

Even after the districtauthorities, including fisheries,revenue, police, port manage-ment, along with boat ownershad taken many measures andkept a physical distancingbetween the fishermen sellingthe marine products and alsocustomers. But people are notmaintaining the social dis-tancing in the harbour.Hundreds of public gatheringsat the market and jostling alsoreportedly taking place.

Following the four positivecases coming to light in a sin-

gle day, the district administra-tion took the decision to banthe fishing in the vicinity of theharbour and also sales. Thefisheries department jointdirector K Phani Prakash saidthat they had taken manymeasures to control crowd atunloading, auction and retailmarketing of marine prod-ucts.

But controlling the crowdat the harbour had become aherculean task for theauthorities. Hence, theyinformed the Collector thatcontrolling the crowd at fish-ing harbour would not bepossible. Basing on thereport of the authorities,Collector took the decision.

Fisheries depart-ment joint directorK Phani Prakashsaid that they hadtaken manymeasures to controlthe crowd atunloading, auctionand retail market-ing of marineproducts. Butcontrolling thecrowd at the har-bour had become aherculean task forthe authorities

PNS n NEW DELHI

India is looking at South Korea,Germany and China for procure-ment of cutting-edge technolo-gy and adopting best practicesbeing followed by them in suc-cessfully containing the spread ofcoronavirus amid looming risk ofthe country entering the commu-nity infection stage of the pan-demic.

Indian missions in these threecountries have been asked toimmediately identifying possibleareas of cooperation and engagewith relevant authorities for pro-curement of medical equipmentand technology. The move comesas India saw rapid increase innumber of positive coronaviruscases in the last few days.

The need for looking at bestpractices, innovations, scientificbreakthroughs and medicalequipment to fight the pandem-ic was highlighted extensively byPrime Minister Narendra Modi

during a video conference heheld with heads of 130 Indianmissions on Monday.

Government officials saidIndia is specifically looking atSouth Korea's approach of wide-spread testing and significant useof digital tracking of suspected

cases to contain the pandemic.The South Korean model of'trace, test and treat strategy' hasreceived global recognition.Unlike majority of the countriesdealing with the pandemic, SouthKorea has not resorted to anylockdown and allowed business

and economic activities to go onas usual. As China managed toflatten the curve of new infectionsafter reporting over 80,000 casesand 3,300 deaths, India is alsolooking at China, along with avery few other countries to pro-cure medical equipment andtechnology to cater to expandingdemand of medical infrastruc-ture across the country.

"We have to prepare for thefuture requirement. That is why,we are scouting global marketsfor best available technology andmedical equipment," said anofficial. The Indian embassy in

Beijing has been tasked to coor-dinate with relevant authoritiesin China for procurement ofmedical equipment.

On multiple occasions, Chinasaid that it was ready to extendpossible assistance to India indealing with the pandemic.Officials said India is in touchwith a number of suppliers inChina for immediate procure-ment of 10,000 ventilators.

India has recorded over 1,600positive cases of coronavirusand at least 38 deaths so far.Globally, the virus has infectedmore than 850,000 people and

claimed around 42,000 lives.Officials said India is also exam-ining Germany's efforts to checkthe pandemic. The leadingEuropean nation has asked sev-eral of its car manufacturers toproduce ventilators and othermedical equipment to deal withrising cases of the infection.

The Indian envoy inWashington is coordinating withthe Trump administration forcooperation in laboratory testsfor the virus infection, sourcessaid. External Affairs Minister SJaishankar and Secretary of StateMike Pompeo spoke over phoneto discuss a coordinated effort byIndia and the US to respond tothe pandemic.

Earlier on March 14, the twotop diplomats discussed ways inwhich India and the US couldcooperate to address this globalchallenge. The number of thoseinfected by the deadly diseasesurged to 164,000 and fatalitiescrossed 3,100 in the US.

India looks at China, SK for tech to contain Covid-19

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In the wake of corona infec-tion pandemic and countrywide lockdown, IndianRailways cancelled all thetrains, including passengers,expresses and premium trainsfrom March 22 and extendedtill April 14.

Due to the lockdown somepoor workers were strandednear Visakhapatnam RailwayStation area. With the initia-tive of DRM Waltair DivisionChetan Kumar Shrivastava , asa good will gesture, the WaltairDivision in association withIRCTC arranging communitymeals to the stranded and thepoor.

Indian railways are alwaysin fore front in the need of thehour to shoulder socialresponsibility during crisis.

IRCTC Rail Dhaba-Visakhapatnam prepared foodfor 500 members and out ofwhich 250 packets were hand-ed over to NGO- Rythu Mitraand remaining 250 distributedto stranded public.Furthermore, RPF Waltair isdistributing meals to about 55poor from March 23 atVisakhapatnam RailwayStation on humanitariangrounds.

Community food serviceat Vizag Railway Station The need for looking at best practices,

innovations, scientific breakthroughs andmedical equipment to fight the pandemicwas highlighted extensively by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi during a videoconference he held with heads of 130Indian missions on Monday

Vijaya Sai criticises Naidu over farmer welfareLegal Metrology surprises traders in cityPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Surprise checks were conduct-ed by officials of the LegalMetrology department at vari-ous places in the city. The teamled by the State Legal MetrologyDepartment controller M KantaRao conducted checks at RythuBazaar in the Indira GandhiMunicipal Corporation Stadiumand tested the accuracy of theweighing machine used by veg-etable vendors and the officialseal of the department.

Kanta Rao said that theweighing machines used in theRythu Bazaar by the vendors areaccurate. He advised the cus-tomers to ensure zero before thevegetables are being weighed.

Later, he visited Big Bazaarand Metro Super Bazaar andinspected the weighingmachines and the accuracy ofthe machines. They also veri-fied the declaration detailsprinted on the packed com-modities as per PackagedCommodities Rules- 2011.

Officers inspected the date ofmanufacturing and date ofexpiry on the packets.

Officials inspected VijayaDairy and verified the decla-ration printed on the milkpackets and milk products.From there, they visited fairprice shops and inspected theaccuracy of the commoditiesweighed and distributed to thebeneficiaries. He warned ofsevere action if there is a dif-ference in weighing the com-modities.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020 vijayawada 03

PNS n AMARAVATI

Thanks to a network of villageand ward volunteers it had putin place on Independence Daythis year, the State governmenthas been able to smoothly exe-cute its coronavirus contain-ment measures and deliversocial welfare schemes.

On Wednesday, aroundthree lakh ward and village vol-unteers descended into actionand went door-to-door acrossthe State to deliver the month-ly pensions to 59 lakh retiredemployees.

So effective was the deliverysystem that by 8.30 am, volun-teers had covered 53 per centof pensioners, translating to 31lakh disbursement out of 59lakh pensioners. By noon, thevolunteers had distributed84.19 per cent of pensions.

The volunteers are takingadequate precautions to guardagainst COVID-19 transmis-sion. This time, pensions arebeing disbursed on the basis ofphoto identification cardsinstead of fingerprint.

The ward and village volun-teer system that was launchedon August 15 by Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy is envis-aged to help monitor andensure delivery of governmentwelfare schemes to beneficia-ries in the State. Each volunteeris supposed to access 50 house-holds in the vicinity.

Jagan had earlier credited thevolunteers with successfulmonitoring of the quarantinedpeople in the State. Volunteersare mostly in the age group of

18 to 35 years old, and resi-dents of the locality. Each vol-unteer receives a monthly hon-orarium of Rs 5,000.

At the time of the launch of

the ward and village volunteerplan, some of the oppositionparties in the state had criti-cised it on the ground that theruling party members wouldbenefit from it.

Ever since the COVID-19crisis broke out, the AP govern-ment has been utilising the vol-unteers to monitor the foreignreturnees in the state, deliveressentials to people atdoorsteps, and deliver welfaredoles.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP TransportDepartment on Wednesdaysaid that the deadline toobtain fitness certificates andpermits for vehicles, and thevalidity of driving licenceshad been extended till theend of June, in view of thelockdown.

In a release, DeputyTransport Commissioner SVenkateswara Rao said thatin the wake of COVID-19spread and lockdown beingannounced by both theState and CentralGovernments, deadlines forfitness of vehicles and allkind of permits and regis-tration of vehicles and dri-ving licences has beenextended till June 30.

As per the Motor VehiclesAct, 1988 and Central MotorVehicles Rules, 1989, docu-ments pertaining to the vehi-cle should be valid. In view ofCOVID-19 the UnionMinistry for Transport hastaken some decisions inregard.

The DTC said thatalthough the deadline forvehicle-related documentshas expired, orders have beenissued till 30 June.Documents pertaining tovehicles up to the date ofFebruary 1, 2020 as specifiedin the ordinance, shall bedeemed to be valid till June30, the DTC VenkateswaraRao said.

Transport wingextends deadlinefor fitnesscertificates, licences

Continued from Page 1

In Tunisia several hundredprotested a week-old lock-down that has disproportion-ately hit the poor.

Africa's biggest city Lagoswas set for its second full dayof lockdown on Wednesday -- but with some of the world'sbiggest slums, home to mil-lions who live hand-to-mouth,containment will be difficult.

Wary of a collapse of theworld's economy with shopsshuttered and millions forcedinto shorter working hours orlosing their jobs completely,the globe's leading centralbankers have pumped billionsof liquidity into the system.

Last week, G20 leaders saidthey were injecting USD 5 tril-lion into the global economy tohead off a feared deep reces-sion.

In the European Union,however, battle lines have beendrawn over the terms of a res-cue plan.

Worst-hit Italy and Spain areleading a push for a shareddebt instrument -- dubbed"coronabonds".

But talk of shared debt is ared line for Germany andother northern countries,threatening to divide the bloc.

The tone sharpened thisweek, with Italian politicianseven taking out an advertise-

ment in a major Germannewspaper to remind Europe'sbiggest economy of WWIIdebts in a bid to jolt it intoaction.

The economic cost of the cri-sis could still worsen as lock-downs remain at the forefrontof official disease-stoppingarsenals -- a strategy increas-ingly borne out by science.

Researchers said China'sdecision to shutter Wuhan,ground zero for the globalCOVID-19 pandemic, mayhave prevented hundreds ofthousands of new cases.

"Our analysis suggests thatwithout the Wuhan travel banand the national emergencyresponse there would havebeen more than 700,000 con-firmed COVID-19 cases out-side of Wuhan" by midFebruary, said OxfordUniversity's Christopher Dye.

At the same time, focus isnow turning to how asympto-matic cases may be fuelling thespread.

China on Wednesday said ithas more than 1,300 asympto-matic coronavirus cases, thefirst time it has released suchdata following public concernover people who have testedpositive but are not showingsymptoms.

Experts agree that asympto-matic patients are likely to beinfectious, but it remains

unknown how responsiblethey are for spreading thedeadly virus.

Chinese respiratory expertZhong Nanshan said in a statemedia interview last week thatasymptomatic carriers couldpotentially infect "3 to 3.5people each".

Germany and France werealso ramping up testing of thepopulation to establish howmany already have immunity.

The inundation of patientshas sent health facilities world-wide into overdrive.

Emergency hospitals arepopping up in event spaceswhile distressed medical staffmake grim decisions abouthow to distribute limited pro-tective gear, beds and life-sav-ing respirators.

In scenes previouslyunimaginable in peacetime,around a dozen white tentswere erected to serve as afield hospital in New York'sCentral Park.

But even with the extendedcapacity, doctors say they arestill having to make painfulchoices.

"If you get a surge of patientscoming in, and you only havea limited number of ventila-tors, you can't necessarily ven-tilate patients," Shamit Patel ofthe Beth Israel hospital said."And then you have to startpicking and choosing." (AFP)

UN warns of humanity’sworst crisis since WW-II

Continued from Page 1

The FIR says these sevenwere responsible for the gath-ering and they allowed visitorsto continue living in the build-ing despite notice issued tothem on March 24, the day thecountry went into a total lock-down to fight the spread ofCoronavirus.

The Delhi Police CrimeBranch is examining an audiorecording of a sermon postedon a "Delhi Markaz" YouTubechannel, in which the speakersays there is no need to followsocial distancing advised by thegovernment. The speaker

terms the Coronavirus warn-ings as a "conspiracy to keepMuslims away from fellowMuslims".

"Where will you run fromdeath? Death is in front of

you... This is an occasion toseek penance from God. Notan occasion where one comesunder the influence of doctorsand stops Namaaz, meetingeach other... Yes, there is a

virus. But 70,000 angels arewith me and if they can't saveme, who will? This is the timefor more such gatherings, notthe time to avoid each other...Who says if we meet then dis-ease will spread? The diseasewill pass, but eating from thesame plate, it will benefit us...This is a plan to end amitybetween Muslims, to alienatethem from each other," says thespeaker, which, some reportssay, is Maulana Saad.

Across the country, 128 peo-ple with Coronavirus havebeen traced to the gatheringand many more cases arefeared.

Case against TJ who allegedly thrashed...

Continued from Page 1

Besides, feeble global cuescombined with continuousoutflow of the foreign fundwas also weighing on the sen-timents," Ajit Mishra, vice-president (research), ReligareBroking Ltd, said.

Investors' confidence is con-tinuously being impacted dueto mounting fear of globalrecession, rising cases ofCOVID-19 and weak macrosleading to selling in the glob-al markets including India, headded.

Tech Mahindra was thebiggest drag in the Sensexpack, dropping more than 9per cent, followed by KotakBank, Tata ConsultancyServices, Infosys and AxisBank. Hero MotoCorp, BajajAuto, Bajaj Finance and Titanwere the only four gainersfrom the 30-share pack.

In the broader market, theBSE Midcap and Smallcapindices fell by 2.18 per cent and1.06 per cent, respectively.

All the indices closed theday lower, led by IT, Telecom,Teck and Bank.

Rs 3.20 L-cr investorwealth wiped off

All Class 1-8CBSE students...

Continued from Page 1

Students of class 9 and 11will be promoted on school-basedassessments conductedso far, he said, adding those notpromoted thistime can appearin school based tests online oroffline."Students studying inclasses IX & XI will be promot-ed to nextclass /grade based onthe school-based assessmentsincluding projects,periodictests, term exams, etc. conduct-ed so far. Students notpro-moted this time can appear inschool-based tests, online orof-fline," Nishank tweeted.

Continued from Page 1

All indicators are that casesare going to rise...There iscertainly going to be a rise inthe number of cases. How farit would go depends on howeffective is our lockdown. This(rise in temperature maydecrease number of cases) ismore of a speculation. Thereis no big evidence for that,"Mishra said.

He said the present coron-avisrus spread needs to betreated largely with "crisismanagement" skills and some

of the countries that are com-ing out of the upheaval are dueto their management skills, notthrough medicines or vac-cines.

"China has come outbecause of controlling ofmovement of people. Nocountry will have vaccine atleast before one year," headded.

The official opined thatIndia needs to increase its test-ing capacities so the morenumber of samples can beanalysed to get a clear pictureof the endemic.

CCMB growscoronavirus to study...

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Brahmin CorporationChairman and YSRCP MLAMalladi Vishnu distributedessentials to 500 migrant work-ers in the Division 23 organ-ised under the supervision ofYSRCP leader A Subba Rao.Vishnu distributed five kg riceand one kg red gram to 500migrant workers from WestBengal, who were working asconstruction workers.

On the occasion, the MLAappreciated Subba Rao for hisgenerosity to distribute essen-

tials to workers. Due toCOVID-19 pandemic and lock-down, many migrant workershad no work to do and are fac-ing severe problems, he said. Hesaid that Chief Minister YS

Jaganmohan Reddy had beentaking extensive measures tosupport the workers. He saidthat everyone should come for-ward voluntarily to help theneedy in this tough time.

Essential commodities distributed to migrant workers in city

PM Modi to hold video confwith state CMs today

Continued from Page 1

Sources said issues includ-ing the ways to contain thespread of virus, large-scalemovement of migrant work-ers, availability of essentialcommodities and extensivecontact tracing of participantsof Tablighi Jamat meet atNizamuddin here are some ofthe issues which are expectedto be discussed.

According to officials, con-tact tracing in several statesis underway to identify, quar-antine and test all the people

who attended a gathering ofalmost 4,000 people in Delhi'sMarkaz Nizamuddin in mid-March.

India has registered 386new cases of COVID-19 inlast 24 hours, taking the tallyto 1,637 in the country, thegovernment said onWednesday, and linked thesharp increase in number ofcases to the Tablighi meet atNizamuddin which hasbecome the new epicentre ofthe COVID-19 pandemic inthe country --from Kashmirto Tamil Nadu.

Continued from Page 1

Stating that 21 persons whohad visited the Tablighi Jamaatcongregation at Nizamuddin inDelhi, are yet to be traced,Jagan requested these people ortheir family members or peo-ple who came in contact withthem, to voluntarily come for-ward for medical tests.

Bringing attention to theimpact of the coronavirus onthe state's finances, the ChiefMinister thanked all the peo-ple's representatives and gov-ernment officials, and employ-

ees for offering to defer theirsalaries.

On Tuesday, the govern-ment had issued orders defer-ring the disbursal of salariesand pensions for people's rep-resentatives, government offi-cers, employees, and othercategories. As per the order,there will be 100 per centdeferment for the chief minis-ter, cabinet members, MLAs,MLCs, and elected representa-tives of all local bodies .

In the case of All IndiaServices Officers, the defer-ment is to the tune of 60 per

cent. The salary deferment is50 per cent in respect of allother government employees.

However, the state govern-ment has softened the blowsomewhat for Class-4 employ-ees who will receive 90 per centof their salaries on time.

The order copy states thatthe 'orders shall come intoforce in respect of thes a l a r y / w a g e s /remuneration/pensions for themonth of March 2020, payablein the month of April 2020 andwill continue to be in force tillfurther orders.

No stigma attached toCOVID-19, reminds Jagan

Volunteer system helpsdisburse pension at doorstep

On Wednesday, around three lakh wardand village volunteers descended intoaction and went door-to-door across theState to deliver the monthly pensions to59 lakh retired employees

‘Govt accords priority topublic safety over publicity’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

People should strictly followthe lockdown guidelinesimposed by the government tocontain the pandemicCOVID-19 across the State,said Minister for MunicipalAdministration BotsaSatyanarayana. Addressing themedia here on Wednesday,the minister said that the gov-ernment is carrying out pre-cautionary measures to preventthe virus from spreading fur-ther.

He said that public safety ismore important than publici-ty and the government is tak-ing necessary steps to tacklethe situation. Two days ago, 24COVID-19 positive cases werereported in the State but situ-ation has worsened in the pasttwo days, he pointed out.However, the government iskeen on ensuring that no onein the State suffers fromhunger, or any other issues, hesaid and added that ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy was monitoring the sit-uation.

While officials from the vil-lage to the State-level werestriving to contain the pan-demic COVID-19, oppositionleader N Chandrababu Naiduis using the situation for polit-ical mileage, he alleged andadded that Naidu was stayingin Hyderabad and directing hisaides to defame the govern-ment.

As per the Chief Minister’s

orders, officials are takingmeasures to provide theMinimum Support Price(MSP) to farmers and a plan inaccordance with the marketintervention scheme will beimplemented, he said andadded that tomato, mango andorange growers need not worryas the government will takecare of them.

He said that the ChiefMinister is keen on providingration to every beneficiary inthe State. To avoid public gath-erings, three distributions cen-tres will be set up under eachdealer and the ration will bedistributed for 15 days.Moreover, Rythu Bazaars andmobile Rythu Bazaars will beincreased.

The Chief Minister is ensur-ing that there is no paucity offunds in the health depart-ment. He issued orders to offi-cials that whoever shows the

symptoms should be immedi-ately shifted to quarantine andisolation centres and askedthe opposition party not toindulge in mud-slinging dur-ing this hour of crisis.

While officials fromthe village to theState-level werestriving to contain thepandemic COVID-19,opposition leader NChandrababu Naidu isusing the situation forpolitical mileage, healleged and addedthat Naidu wasstaying in Hyderabadand directing hisaides to defame thegovernment

‘Avail coronatoll-freenumber facility’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

District Collector Md Imitiazon Wednesday appealed topeople to avail the coronatoll-free number 1077 facili-ty, if they found symptomslike cough, throat infection,fever and body pains.Informing about this facility,the Collector on Wednesdaysaid that people can availfacility round-the-clock.

A general physician, pul-monologist and psychiatristwill be available to answer tothe queries of people and givethem advice. All the callsfrom people will be receivedby the operator and based onthe health issues of the caller,the call will be forwarded tothe doctor concerned. Thedoctor after speaking to thepatient, he will suggest treat-ment.

Kesineni objects to civic bodycontestants distributing pensionPNS n NEW DELHI

TDP MP Kesineni Nani in atweet alleged that the YSRCPcandidates, who are contestingCorporation polls, are distrib-uting pensions undertakingdoor-to- door visits to lurepeople for the forthcoming

local body elections.Candidates of other parties

are distributing essential com-modities and vegetables where-as the candidates of the rulingYSRCP are distributing bene-fits under various governmentschemes, he contended.

Retweeting a tweet of TDP

leaders, Kesineni Nani ques-tioned the government officialshow can the 13th division cor-porator candidate of the YSRCPUkoti Ramesh is seen, alongwith volunteers, while distribut-ing pension. “How contestantscan discharge duties of officials.If they are so enthusiastic about

it, they should have shown theirenthusiasm in reigning in thecoronavirus,” the TP MP felt.

He told the State ElectionCommissioner that such actsare not justified and wishedthat the SEC will take suitableaction to prevent recurrence ofsuch incidents.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

On the occasion of 'Sri RamaNavami' on Thusday, GovernorBiswa Bushan Harichandan con-veyed his wishes to people. TheGovernor says, "On this happyand auspicious occasion of SriRama Navami, I extend mywarm greetings to people. I pray

that Maryada Purushottam LordSri Rama maybe our guide to leada life of dharma, love, truth andhappiness. In these difficult times,I once again appeal to people tostay indoors, maintain social dis-tancing and cooperate with theadministration by adhering to theguidelines issued to prevent thespread of COVID-19.”

Governor extends Sri Rama Navami greetings

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Nurses of civic-runhospital demandprotective gearMUMBAI: As many as 18nurses and medical staff fromcivic-run Balasaheb ThackerayHospital in Jogeshwari onWednesday staged a protestdemanding protective gear toattend to COVID-19 patientsadmitted at the facility. Theprotesting medical staff fromBalasaheb Thackeray Hospitalsigned a letter addressed to theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation's medical officer.The hospital was converted intoa COVID-19 facility, for treatingpositive patients and suspectedcases, the letter stated."Despite the guidelines, wehave not been provided therequired kits for our own safetywhile serving patients. If anyone of us suffers from theinfection, the BMC would besolely responsible for it," thenurses have stated in the letter.As many as 167 people havetested positive for COVID-19 inMumbai, of which 14 haverecovered from the infection.

Nizamuddian eventattendees asked tocontact health forward

Patient forciblydischarged, faintsafter walking 50 kmKASARAGOD: A Keralitepatient, who was reportedlyforcibly discharged from aMangaluru governmenthospital, walked nearly 50 kmand fainted as he neared theborder here on Wednesday,police said. The patient, Balan,was admitted to the hospital inthat town on March 21 after hefell from a coconut tree. He toldpolice that he was forciblydischarged by hospitalauthorities On getting informa-tion, Kerala police arranged avehicle for the patient and hisrelative and dropped themhome at Kanhangad, KasaragodSuperintendent of Police P SSabu said. Since neighbouringKarnataka has blocked borderroads with Kerala following theCOVID-19 outbreak andlockdown, patients dependingon Mangaluru for theirtreatment are finding itextremely difficult to go there.Seven seriously ill patientsfrom Kasaragod have lost theirlives since March 27 after theborder roads were shut byKarnataka.

PANAJI: The Goa governmenton Wednesday asked peoplewho participated in thereligious congregationorganised by the TablighiJamaat at Nizamuddin in Delhito contact the state healthdepartment immediately. Thegathering held last month atMarkaz Nizamuddin, the Delhiheadquarters of the Tabligh-e-Jamaat, has become anepicentre for the spread of thedisease. Goa Health ServicesDirector Jose D'Sa has releasedhelpline numbers (0832-2225538/2421810) for peoplefrom the coastal state whoattended the event in thenational capital, and askedthem to get in touch with thehealth department immediately."If anyone has attended thereligious event, they shouldinform the health authorities,"D'Sa said in a release. Sixpeople from Telangana and onefrom Jammu and Kashmir, whoattended the event, have died ofcoronavirus.

J-K political parties slamCentre's new domicile rulesPNS n SRINAGAR

Political parties in the valley onWednesday criticised theCentre's new domicile rules forJammu and Kashmir, saying itwas adding insult to injury of thepeople as there were none of thepromised protections.

While the NationalConference termed the newrules as hollow, the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) saidthe rules will give rise tomassive problems for resi-dents of J-K.

"Talk about suspect timing. Ata time when all our efforts &attention should be focused onthe #COVID outbreak the gov-ernment slips in a new domicilelaw for J&K. Insult is heaped oninjury when we see the lawoffers none of the protections

that had been promised,"National Conference vice-pres-ident Omar Abdullah said in aseries of tweets.

The former chief minister oferstwhile Jammu and Kashmirsaid the new law was so hollow

that even politicians with"Delhi's blessings" were forced tocriticise it.

“You can imagine how hollowthe domicile law is from the factthat even the new party createdwith Delhi's blessings, whose

leaders were lobbying in Delhifor this law, have been forced tocriticise the #JKdomicilelaw,"he added.

Omar was apparently refer-ring to the criticism of thedomicile law by Jammu andKashmir Apni Party founder

Altaf Bukhari. The government on

Wednesday issued a gazettenotification announcing a slewof amendments to 138 Acts ofJammu and Kashmir thatincluded protecting jobs up toGroup-4 for only those whoare domicile of the union ter-ritory. Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) said the rules willgive rise to massive problems forresidents of J-K.

“The domicile law as itappears is not only trying toshake the boundaries of analready existing state, but it isalso trying to give rise to mas-sive problems for residents ofJ&K,” the PDP said on its offi-cial Twitter handle. The partysaid the Centre's “manipulationof the law” would only furtheralienate the people.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Over 300 public grievances,including those related to non-adherence of the ongoing lock-down and request for rescuefrom foreign countries, havebeen received by the centralgovernment under a recently-launched mechanism, officialssaid on Wednesday.

Out of the total 336 publicgrievances, 28 were on "lock-down not adhered to", 25 were"requests for rescue from for-eign countries" and 14 wererelated to "quarantine", theysaid, citing an official data.

A total of nine were related to"inadequate facilities in hospi-tals", seven were "examination-related", six were "stuck at someplace due to lockdown", five"essential supplies not beingprovided", four were related to"harassment" and one was on"problem in donating to the PM-CARES Fund", the officials said.

There were 101 suggestionsreceived by the government and136 public grievances fell under"others" categories, they said.

Giving further details ofgrievances related to non-com-pliance of lockdown, an officialsaid, people claimed that "pri-vate sector employees (were)still being called at work" andalso "postal department (was)calling employees to work".

He said grievances on "policeharassment" and "people getting

evicted from colleges" wereunder the harassment category.

Suggestions like "claimingto have found cure" and"request for financial aid" werereceived as public grievances,the official said.

Grievances like "garbage notbeing collected" and "supply ofbasic necessities affected" werealso received by the central gov-ernment, he said.

Giving details of the publicgrievances related to inade-quate facilities in hospitals, theofficials said people claimedthat "isolation wards were over-crowded", "masks and sanitis-er not available" and hospitalswere "not equipped to testpatients".

Minister of State forPersonnel Jitendra Singh onWednesday also launched theDepartment of AdministrativeReforms and Public Grievances'(DARPG) national monitoringdashboard on COVID-19grievances.

The national monitoringdashboard was developed andimplemented athttps://darpg.gov.in whereCOVID-19 related grievancesreceived in the Central PublicGrievances Redress andMonitoring System(CPGRAMS) with all min-istries/ departments andstates/union territories aremonitored on a priority basis bya technical team of DARPG.

PNS n NEW DELHI

After introducing two levels ofmathematics papers for class 10students, CBSE will now offer'Applied Mathematics' as anacademic elective at the seniorsecondary level for those whodo not want to take it up forhigher studies or won't opt forengineering which require abroader understanding of thesubject.

The elective subject aimed atdeveloping an understandingof basic mathematical and sta-tistical tools and their applica-tions in the field of commerceand social science, will beoffered as elective for class 11students from 2020 academicsession and ultimately for class12 students from the year after.

Students who had taken up'Basic Mathematics' in class 10will be allowed to opt for

'Applied Mathematics' at seniorsecondary level.

"Mathematics is widely usedin higher studies — in the fieldof Economics, Commerce,Social Sciences and many oth-ers. It has been observed thatthe existing syllabus of math-ematics aligns well with sciencesubjects, but not so much withcommerce or social science-

based subjects in universityeducation.

"Keeping this in mind, onemore elective course in math-ematics syllabus will be offeredfor senior secondary classeswith an aim to provide studentsrelevant experience in mathe-matics which can be used in thefields other than physical sci-ences," the Central Board of

Secondary Education (CBSE)said in an official notification.

According to CBSE officials,a course by this name was ear-lier designed as a skill subject.

"The academic course thathas been designed now by thesame name has several valueadditions to develop substan-tial mathematical skills andmethods needed in other sub-ject areas. Topics covered intwo years shall aim to enablestudents use mathematicalknowledge in the field of busi-

ness, economics and social sci-ences. It aims to promoteappreciation of mathematicalpower and simplicity for itscountless applications indiverse field.

"It is expected that the newsubject — applied mathemat-ics — is taught by connectingconcepts to the application invarious fields, thereby enablingstudents to develop 21st centu-ry competencies such as criti-cal thinking, problem solving,logical reasoning and mathe-

matical thinking," a seniorboard official said.

However, students who wantto opt for mathematics in high-er studies as an elective or wantto take admission in mathe-matics (honours) course orengineering course will berequired to take the existingsubject 'Mathematics'.

"Applied Mathematics courseis designed to enhance theknowledge and skills of mathe-matics that are required to be suc-cessful in different fields of theircareer. Therefore this coursemay be selected by studentskeeping this aspect in mind.

"Students, parents andschools may take a consciouschoice in selection of this sub-ject by taking into considera-tion the scope of this subject ingetting admission to differentcourses at university level," theofficial said.

CBSE to offer ‘Applied Maths' as elective for 11, 12 students

89 who attended Nizamuddin eventtraced to Nagpur, AhmednagarPNS n MUMBAI

At least 89 people who were partof a gathering at a religious con-gregation held in Delhi'sNizamuddin West area lastmonth have been traced toNagpur and Ahmednagar inMaharashtra, officials said onWednesday.

Fifty four of these peoplewere found in Nagpur and theyhave been quarantined, NagpurMunicipal CommissionerTukaram Mundhe said, addingtheir medical examination isbeing done.

"Apart from these 54 people,I appeal to the other citizens whoattended the Tabligh-e-Jamaatcongregation in NizamuddinWest in the national capital tocome forward and contact us, sothat appropriate treatment couldbe provided to them if they have

any (coronavirus) symptoms,"Mundhe said.

Besides, 35 such people havebeen identified in Ahmednagar.As many as 29 of them are fromIndonesia, Tanzania, SouthAfrica, Ghana and other coun-tries, while the rest are locals,another official said.

A foreigner and a local whowere part of the group havebeen found positive for coro-

navirus infection. The Tabligh-e-Jamaat's Markaz inNizamuddin West hasemerged as one of the COVID-19 hotspots, prompting manystates to launch a massivesearch for those who attendedthe religious congregation.

The Ahmednagar Policereceived information onMonday that some members ofthe Tabligh-e-Jamaat hadreturned to the district afterattending the congregationand have been staying inNevasa, Jamkhed andMukundnagar areas ofAhmednagar, the official said.

"Accordingly, the police tracedthe attendees and found that atleast 35 of them had participat-ed in the meet," he said, addingthat the group was taken to thedistrict civil hospital and laterkept under quarantine.

Request for rescuefrom foreign countriessees a spike

94 inmates released from Meghalaya jailPNS n SHILLONG

A total of 94 prisoners werereleased from the ShillongDistrict Jail in Meghalaya asper the Supreme Court orderto decongest prisons to checkthe spread of novel coron-avirus, officials said onWednesday.

The decision was taken by ahigh-powered committee

headed by Meghalaya HighCourt judge and MeghalayaState Legal Services Authority(MSLSA) executive chairman,Justice HS Thangkhiew at ameeting held here on Tuesday,they said.

The panel was constitutedby the state government incompliance with the apexcourt's directive to discuss therelease of prisoners on bail,

interim bail and parole, theofficials said.

The committee deliberatedon the preparedness of thePrison Department to dealwith congestion in the districtjails, a statement issued byMSLSA said. It said 174 prison-ers were identified in ShillongDistrict Jail, which constitutes37.9 per cent of the total prisonpopulation in the state.

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI)Congress president SoniaGandhi on Wednesday wroteto Prime Minister NarendraModi seeking advance pay-ment of 21 days' wages toMGNREGA workers acrossthe country to help them tideover the present crisis due tocoronavirus lockdown.

In her letter to the primeminister, Gandhi said a largenumber of rural poor are with-out work and around 8 croreMGNREGA workers aredevoid of an alternative sourceof income due to the country-wide lockdown, thus, theyshould be paid money inadvance to tide over the cur-rent crisis.

"Given the urgency of pro-viding income support to therural poor, due to lost wages,the government may considerimmediate advance paymentof wages for 21 days to regis-

tered and active MGNREGAworkers," she said.

The Congress ParliamentaryParty chairperson said theadvance wages may be adjust-ed against the work to bedone by the workers, onceMGNREGA sites are openedup.

"I request you to take imme-diate action and extend sup-port to nearly eight crore ruralworkers in the country," shesaid.

Gandhi said since its incep-tion, the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA)has been a critical lifeline forthe rural poor, particularlyduring periods of chronic eco-nomic distress.

Sonia asks PM to give 21 days' wagesin advance to MGNREGA workers

PNS n CHENNAI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami on Wednesday hadfood at a state-run AmmaCanteen here and asserted thatdirections have been issued toauthorities to cook meals for anynumber of people.

Palaniswami inspected AmmaCanteens at Foreshore Estateand Kamaraj Salai in the down-town area as part of his checks,had hot 'idlis' and interacted withpeople who came there to havefood.

As part of the lockdown mea-sures to tackle coronavirus,restaurants in the state are per-mitted to offer only takeawaysand dine-in amenities are open

only at government run AmmaCanteens.

The Chief Minister, laterspeaking to reporters said "wehave told authorities to give asmuch food as needed to the peo-

ple...the government has givenorders to cook food for any num-ber of people."

While as many as 4.5 lakhpeople had food every day atAmma Canteens here,

Palaniswami said all steps havebeen taken to ensure full avail-ability at eateries across the Stateand serve to the public.

Asked about a plea for freefood at the State run canteens, hesaid the delicacies were alreadybeing provided at a very low cost.

"Idli is given for just Rs oneand across India, it is in TamilNadu that we (the government)are providing idli for a rupee.Tamil Nadu (AmmaCanteen) isa model for other states," he said.

Launched by late ChiefMinister J Jayalalithaa years agoto cater to the working classesand needy people, AmmaCanteen or 'Amma Unavagam'in Tamil is run by local bodiesacross Tamil Nadu.

Decision to slash intereston small savings basedon ‘stupid advice'PNS n NEW DELHI

Senior Congress leader PChidambaram on Wednesdaydescribed as a wrong stepbased on "stupid advice" thegovernment's decision toreduce interest rates on smallsaving schemes and demand-ed its rollback.

He also said though India'sGDP for the last quarter couldnot be have been more than 4per cent, it was time to focuson saving people's lives andnot the GDP.

"I know that sometimesgovernment acts on stupidadvice, but I am amazed howstupid this advice was. Whilereducing the interest rate onPPF and small savings may be

technically correct, it isabsolutely the wrong time todo so," he said on Twitter.

The former finance ministersaid in times of acute distressand uncertainty about income,people depend on the interestincome on their savings.

13 more test positivefor coronavirus in JaipurPNS n JAIPUR

Thirteen more people testedfor coronavirus in theRamganj area of Jaipur'swalled city on Wednesday,taking the total number ofcases in Rajasthan to 106, anofficial said.

Jaipur has now become amajor hotspot in the countrywith 34 cases, 26 of which havebeen reported from theRamganj area, a densely pop-ulated locality.

"Thirteen more positivecases of COVID-19 have comeup in the Ramganj area. All arecontacts of the first personwho had tested positive in thearea. All have been kept in iso-lation," said Additional ChiefSecretary Rohit Kumar Singh.

A spurt in the number ofcases in the Ramganj areawas witnessed after a 45-year-old man with a travel historyto the Middle East region wastested positive on March 26.

He had landed at the Delhiairport on March 12 and tooka bus the same day to returnhome.

He met several people tillMarch 26 when he was testedpositive, officials said.

Ten members of his familyand a friend were also testedpositive for coronavirus.

The entire state is underlockdown since March 22.Prohibitory orders have beenimposed in Jaipur district andthe curfew in the walled cityof Jaipur has been extendedindefinitely.

TN CM eats food at ‘Amma' Canteen, saysready to serve meal to multitudes more

PM CARES fund is Modi's self promotion: ChavanPNS n MUMBAI

Senior Congress leader PrithvirajChavan on Wednesday said thatlabelling the coronavirus fund as"PM CARES fund" was the "bla-tant self-promotion attempt" byPrime Minister Narendra Modiwhich had no parallel in theworld. In a tweet, the stateCabinet mnister said, "Only inIndia our stimulus package has to

be called as the PM garib kalyanyojana. Narendra Modi will notleave any opportunity for self pro-motion (sic)". Chavan furthersaid, "No other global leaderwhile announcing a stimuluspackage had labelled it asPresident's package or a PM'spackage or a Trumpackage".

He said the Prime Minister'sRelief Fund was started byJawaharlal Nehru in January

1948 to help refugees fromPakistan. "No other PM felt itnecessary to start another nation-al relief fund, except NarendraModi now. PM CARES fund is ablatant attempt at self promotion,"Chavan tweeted.

Many business groups andcelebrities have announced con-tributions to the PM CARESfund, which is mainly aimed atcombating the coronavirus threat.

The Tabligh-e-Jamaat'sMarkaz in NizamuddinWest has emerged asone of the COVID-19hotspots, promptingmany states to launch amassive search forthose who attended thereligious congregation

"Keeping this in mind, one more electivecourse in mathematics syllabus will beoffered for senior secondary classes with anaim to provide students relevant experiencein mathematics which can be used in thefields other than physical sciences," theCBSE said in an official notification

“You can imagine howhollow the domicile law isfrom the fact that eventhe new party createdwith Delhi's blessings,whose leaders werelobbying in Delhi for thislaw, have been forced tocriticise the #JKdomicile-law," he added

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Rs 1 cr for kin ofhealthcare personnel ifthey die while treatingcoronavirus casesNEW DELHI: Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onWednesday announced Rs onecrore for the families ofhealthcare personnel if they losetheir lives while dealing withcoronavirus cases in thenational capital. Interacting withdoctors, the CM said that atpresent, the Delhi governmentgives Rs one crore to thefamilies of soldiers belonging tothe national capital if they die inthe line of duty. "Your contribu-tion is no less than a soldier's...if any healthcare personnal,including government or privatedoctor, nurse and sanitationworkers, die while servingcoronavirus patients, thegovernment will give Rs onecrore for their families," he said.Kejriwal's interaction withdoctors came after threedoctors tested positive forCOVID-19. So far, 120 cases ofcoronavirus have been reportedin the national capital.

FIRs against 10people for defyingprohibitory orders

26 booked for fleeingfrom quarantinefacilitySULTANPUR (UP): Police havebooked 26 people fornegligence after they fled froma quarantine facility in UttarPradesh's Gosaiganj area, anofficial said on Wednesday.SP Shivhari Meena said in thewake of the coronavirusoutbreak, 115 people who hadreturned from other stateswere kept at Gosaiganj'sKamla Nehru Institute , ofwhich 26 fled on Tuesdaynight. He said they werecaught by police and FIRswere lodged against themunder Sections 269 (negligentact likely to spread infection ofdisease dangerous to life) and270 (malignant act likely tospread infection of diseasedangerous to life) of the IndianPenal Code. Legal action willbe taken against them afterthey complete their quarantineduration, the SP added.

LEH/JAMMU: Police haveregistered 10 FIRs againstpeople for defying prohibitoryorders in Leh district ofLadakh, official said. Theprohibitory orders have beenissued as part of the nationwidelockdown to contain the spreadof coronavirus. Officials saidthe vehicles involved in theviolations have also beenseized. It is once againappealed to the public to obeythe prohibitory orders undersection 144 IPC failing whichpolice will take stringent actionwarranted under law, theyadded.

81 Tablighi Jamaat returneessuspected in Bihar, 30 identifiedPNS n PATNA

Altogether 81 people are saidto have travelled to differentparts of Bihar after attending acongregation of TablighiJamaat in New Delhi'sNizamuddin, which hasemerged as a COVID-19hotspot, a top Health depart-ment official said here onWednesday.

Thirty of the 81 people havebeen identified and subjectedto medical examination,including 17 Kyrgyztan nation-als, he said.

Principal Secretary, Health,Sanjay Kumar said 17 peoplehave been identified in Patnaand 13 others in Buxar, andefforts were on to track downthe others.

Out of the 17 in Patna, 10were in Kurji and seven inPhulwarisharif. They had beenscreened some time ago buthad no symptoms. However,on Tuesday, their samples werecollected and sent for testingand results are expected by theevening, he added.

Notably, all the 17 happen tobe Kyrgyzstan nationals whosepresence was reported torespective police stations on

different dates earlier thismonth.

They were later let off sincethey had been preaching inmosques in the city for sometime and had valid documents,but kept under close observa-tion.

However, now they are beingkept in quarantine while theirreports are awaited.

Earlier last week, a 65-year-old preacher from Malaysia,who attended the congregationin the national capital, hadtravelled to Araria where hedied though the district admin-

istration said the death wascaused by a cardiac arrest andthe deceased showed no symp-toms of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the principalsecretary added, the rise in thenumber of cases in Bihar to 23is a matter of grave concern.

Most people testing positivehave a travel history. It hastherefore been decided to traceout all those who have returnedto Bihar from outside by March18 and collect their samples fortesting. Earlier, we had beentesting only those who showedsymptoms. But now we have

PNS n NEW DELHI

Rights group Oxfam has writ-ten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi calling for aneight-point plan to includefocus on increasing free testing,ensuring gender and sociallyinclusive response, andenabling the civil society net-work to join the fight againstcoronavirus.

"India should aggressivelyramp up testing to include allthose with symptoms or evenloosely matching the criteria tocurtail community spread andrelease district-level informa-tion on COVID-19 cases.Testing should be made free inboth public and private sectorin line with the recommenda-tions made by the ICMR,"Oxfam India CEO AmitabhBehar said in an open letter toModi.

He also said a "humane"enforcement of the lockdownmust be made.

"Urgent steps are needed to

orient those tasked with itsenforcement to allow move-ment of essential workers andrespect dignity of those sus-pected or infected or needingto travel for unavoidable rea-sons," the letter said.

A decentralised quarantinenetwork also needs to be set upacross the country, it suggested.

Welcoming Tuesday'sannouncement of health insur-ance for frontline responders, the

group recommended addition-al steps like hazard/incentive pay,reimbursement of all expenses,ensure testing and provision ofprotective gear and enhanced ex-gratia compensation.

It also suggested ensuringthat the response towardsCOVID-19 is inclusive of gen-der and social groups.

"The COVID-19 responseneeds to address the specificneeds of women, the LGBTQ

community, persons with dis-ability and marginalized com-munities. With good WASHfacilities critical for a victoryover COVID-19, it is criticalthat water by tankers is reachedto slums and rural areas withpoor access to water to mini-mize burden on women," it said.

The term 'WASH' in healthcare refers to the provision ofwater, sanitation, health carewaste management, hygieneand environmental cleaninginfrastructure, and servicesacross all parts of a health carefacility.

It is critical that helplines areavailable, working and publi-cised for information and psy-

cho-social support for womenfacing domestic violence, theletter said, adding that specialpolice units be charged withrescuing women who com-plain of domestic violence andtake them to their natal fami-lies, relatives of their choice orfunctioning shelter homes.

The letter also asked foraddressing the needs of India'schildren. It also called forenhancing public health provi-sions.

"India needs to do more toensure safety of health workersand those on the frontlines ofthe response by making avail-able personal protective equip-ment to minimize the risk of

their infection and monitorand prevent any discriminationor attacks on health workers,"it said.

"Aggressive steps are need-ed to address shortage of ven-tilators, oxygen and personalprotective equipment throughany means including orderingindustry to switch to produc-tion of essential equipment,"the letter said.

The group also called forprotecting informal workers,the poor and the vulnerable.

"We regret that despite thepackage, some of India's mostmarginalized, like unregisteredconstruction workers and thosewithout Jan Dhan accounts,will remain outside social pro-tection during the pandemic,"the letter said.

It also recommended puttingin place a package to revive theeconomy, but for the peopleand not corporations.

The letter also called forenabling civil society to join thefight against COVID-19.

Oxfam stresses on free testing and civil society role

PNS n BENGALURUV

Four new positive cases ofcoronavirus have been con-firmed in Karnataka, taking thetotal number of the affected inthe state to 105, the Healthdepartment said on Wednesday.

"Till date 105 COVID-19positive cases have been con-firmed this includes 3 deathsand 9 discharges," the depart-ment in a mid-day situationupdate said.

Four new cases detectedsince last evening to this morn-ing include 37 and 27 year oldmen, who are residents ofNanjangud, in Mysuru andaccording to preliminary inves-tigation were said to be work-ing in the same pharmaceuticalcompany, where the patientwho was tested positive last

month despite no travel orcontact history was working.

Also, a 24-year old man,who is a resident of Bengaluruhas tested positive, and thedetailed investigation is underprocess on how he got infect-ed.

A 33-year old man, who isalso resident of Bengaluru, andcontact of a patient already test-ed positive has been confirmedfor infection. He is isolated at adesignated hospital in Mysuru.

Meanwhile, in the light ofcurrent pandemic of COVID-19, the Government ofKarnataka has directed all theMedical Colleges in Karnataka(Government, Private &Deemed / Private UniversityMedical College) to work incoordination with respectivedistrict authorities.

Four new covid-19cases in K’taka

35 people who attendedNizamuddin eventtraced to AhmednagarMUMBAI: At least 35 people whowere part of a gathering at areligious congregation held inDelhi's Nizamuddin area lastmonth have been traced toMaharashtra's Ahmednagardistrict, an official said onWednesday.As many as 29 of them arenationals from Indonesia,Tanzania, South Africa, Ghanaand other countries, while therest are locals, he said.The official added that a foreignerand a local who were part of thegroup have found positive tocoronavirus infection.Nizamuddin area has emerged asone of the hotspots forcoronavirus outbreak since the'markaz' or gathering of Tabligh-e-Jamaat was held there,prompting many states to launcha massive search for theattendees.

The official said AhmednagarPolice received information onMonday that some members ofthe Tablighi Jamaat had returnedto the district after attending thecongregation and have beenstaying at Nevasa, Jamkhed andMukundnagar in Ahmednagardistrict, he said."Accordingly, police traced theattendees and found that at least35 of them had participated inthe meet," he said, adding thatthe group was taken to thedistrict civil hospital and latersent for quarantine.The official added that the searchis on to trace people who cameinto contact with the Tablighigroup.All necessary precautionarymeasures are being taken by thepolice and administration tocontain the spread of novelcoronavirus, he said.

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

A day after the detection of thefourth COVID-19 patient inthe state, who returned fromDubai and did not show symp-toms of the disease, the Odishagovernment on Wednesdayurged people "with travel his-tory but no symptoms" tostrictly observe the 14-dayhome quarantine norms.

As a precautionary mea-sure, people, who had retunedfrom abroad or other states inthe country, were advised tomonitor their health conditionsfor another two weeks after fol-lowing the 14-day home quar-antine procedure, a seniorhealth department official said.

"The fourth COVID patientdid not have any symptom.Hence people with travel his-tory but no symptoms shouldnot be complacent. They mustfollow home quarantine for

two weeks and then self mon-itor their health condition foranother two weeks," statehealth and family welfaredepartment said in its Twitterhandle.

A 29-year-old man fromBhadrak district, with a travelhistory to Dubai, tested posi-tive for coronavirus onTuesday.

"What is significant is that

the man had no symptom ofcoronavirus infection," the offi-cial said, adding that peoplecoming from outside the state"should not adopt any casualapproach".

The three earlier cases werereported from Bhubaneswar.Of them, two had returnedfrom abroad while the thirdhad recently visited Delhi andHaryana. Of the three, two are

undergoing treatment in thegovernment-run CapitalHospital and one in the AIIMS,Bhubaneswar.

Odisha's health and familywelfare secretary N B Dhal hasasked the Bhadrak district col-lector to take the fourth patientto SCB Medical CollegeHospital in Cuttack.

The immediate steps havealready been taken by puttingthe family members of theman in isolation centre andconducting the required tests,the official said.

The efforts are also on totrace all those who had comein contact with the fourthpatient, he said, adding that themission director of theNational Health Mission ismonitoring the follow-upaction. The government hasbeen focusing on detectingcases to contain the spread ofthe coronavirus, he said.

Odisha govt urges people with travelhistory to follow home quarantine norms

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijalon Wednesday asked authori-ties to deploy fire servicespersonnel for disinfectingCOVID-19 hotspots, quaran-tine centres and public placesto check the spread of thevirus, which has infected atleast 120 people and killed twoin the national capital.

Baijal held a high-level meet-ing with Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, Chief Secretary VijayKumar Dev, PoliceCommissioner S N Srivastavaand other senior officers toreview containment measuresbeing taken in the wake of thecoronavirus outbreak.

In a series of tweets, the lieu-tenant governor said districtauthorities will continue effec-tive measures for enforcing theongoing lockdown, social dis-tancing and home quarantine.

"Also advised to use firebrigade for disinfecting vulner-able neighbourhoods, espe-cially the hotspot areas, quar-antine centres, public places,etc. Directed district disastermanagement authorities totake concerted preventiveactions," Baijal tweeted.

In another tweet, he saidthat in the meeting hereviewed medical prepared-ness, procurement of medicalessentials, discharge guide-lines, quarantines and mea-

sures to enforce lockdown.Meanwhile, Delhi State

Cancer Institute, run by theDelhi government, has beenshut for a day on Wednesdayafter a doctor tested positivefor COVID-19.

The total number of coron-avirus cases in Delhi climbed to120 on Tuesday after 23 newcases of the disease were report-ed. These 120 cases include 24people who took part in a reli-gious gathering in NizamuddinWest earlier this month.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Two resident doctors of theCentre-run SafdarjungHospital in Delhi have testedpositive for coronavirus infec-tion, official sources said onWednesday. One of them, whois part of the team treatingCOVID-19 patients at thehospital, is believed to havecontracted the disease duringthe course of duty, they said.

According to sources, thefemale resident doctor, a third-year post-graduate student ofthe biochemistry department,who has tested positive for thenovel coronavirus had recent-ly travelled abroad.

Both of them showed symp-toms of COVID-19 and theirtest results came out positivetwo days ago. They are nowundergoing treatment at the

isolation ward of theSafdarjung hospital.

"All the doctors and staffwho had come in contact withthem have been tested. So far,none of the contacts has test-ed positive for coronavirusinfection," they said, adding allof them have been asked tomonitor their health.According to the Union healthministry, 1,637 COVID-19cases have been reported inthe country so far, out ofwhich 38 people have died.

2 resident doctors ofSafdarjung Hospital testpositive for COVID-19

PNS n NEW DELHI

Wheelchair-bound ViraliModi, a disability rightsactivist, has started a petitionrequesting Union HomeMinister Amit Shah to issuepermits to caregivers andhelpers of persons with disabil-ities so that they do not sufferduring the lockdown imposedto control the spread of coro-navirus.

To ensure welfare of Peoplewith Disabilities (PwD), theUnion Social Justice ministryon March 26 had issuedinstructions to all states andunion territories to ensure thatcaregivers, maids, essential ser-vices and NGOs working withPwD were able to reach themduring the three-week lock-down.

However, things on the

ground seem to be far fromwhat the central instructionslaid down.

"As we all follow social dis-tancing, our public facilities arenot disabled-friendly and bar-rier-free. I am struggling withthe basics of having my care-givers reach my house withoutbeing stopped by the police.

"The government needs toprovide minimum support ser-vices for people with disabili-ties during the ongoing lock-down. There is a need for per-mits to be issued for the care-givers and helpers of personswith disabilities on a prioritybasis. Sign my petition," Modihas said in her petition which

she started on Change.org onTuesday.

In less than 24 hours, thepetition has already garneredmore than 500 signatures.

In the petition, she said inthe absence of accessible pub-lic facilities and assistive tech-nologies, the disabled needhuman assistance.

"But social distancing makesit difficult, especially those ofus living alone. Some of us arestruggling to access our basicmedical supplies like catheters,urine bags etc.

"During the three-weeklockdown, persons with dis-abilities require guidance tonavigate to the hospital, med-ical stores or places to fetchessential commodities. Thegovernment needs to be mind-ful of our restrictions," she said.

Modi is not alone indemanding help from the gov-ernment. Social media isreplete with SOS messagesfrom people with disabilitiesand even from their lovedones requesting the govern-ment's intervention.

Varun Khullar, a Delhibased DJ sent out a tweetdescribing his condition.

Activist petitions Shah to issue permit to caregivers of PwDNo need for extraspectrum to maintainnetwork quality: COAIPNS n NEW DELHI

The Cellular OperatorsAssociation of India (COAI)said, here on Wednesday, noadditional spectrum wasrequired for maintaining thenetwork stability and quality.

COAI Director GeneralRajan Mathews said over thepast few days, the industry hasseen flattening of traffic demandon members' networks.

The clarification comes daysafter the telecom operatorsrequested the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)for additional spectrum tomeet the rising load on net-works due to the nationwide

lockdown.As streaming services and

over-the-top (OTT) platformshad reduced content fromhigh definition (HD) to stan-dard definition (SD) and tele-com operators had also takenother measures, pressure onthe network had eased, he said.

"Some of these actions relateto streaming services reducingtheir content from HD to SD,local municipalities workingwith operators to bring sealedtowers back on line, and someredistribution of traffic. As aresult, operators believe thereis no immediate need foradditional spectrum,"Mathews said.

Deploy fire brigade to disinfecthotspots, quarantine centres: Delhi LG

As we all followsocial distancing, ourpublic facilities arenot disabled-friendlyand barrier-free. I amstruggling with thebasics of having mycaregivers reach myhouse without beingstopped by the police

"Urgent steps are needed to orientthose tasked with its enforcement toallow movement of essential workersand respect dignity of those suspectedor infected or needing to travel forunavoidable reasons," the letter said

With the Chinese making aconciliatory statement, thewar of words — of accusa-tions and counter accusa-tions — between the US

and China appears to be thawing. As theepicentre of the pandemic has shifted fromChina to Europe and the US, there may bea window of opportunity. With the success-ful handling of the Coronavirus crisis, evenas the rest of the world is grappling withthe menace, China maybe eyeing to squeezediplomatic capital out of such a humani-tarian overture. It’s truly a case of schaden-freude. Foreign leaders, from the SerbianPresident Aleksandar Vucic to theHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbanand Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio,have all thanked China loudly for the med-ical supplies and teams of doctors receivedby them while at the same time chidingtheir neighbours for abandoning them.Spain has already decided to buy medicalequipment and supplies from China wortha few hundred million US dollars.

Pakistan is reported to have opened itsland border with China on the Karakoramhighway in order to receive a generous con-signment of medical supplies. In fact, aninformal offer of building makeshift hos-pitals in India to treat COVID-19 patientson the pattern of the set-up in Wuhan alsoexists. And despite all the controversies,China continues to be the biggest suppli-er of medical equipment to the US.

Talking of controversies, there aresome, which refuse to die, even with thepassage of time. Considering the wide-spread human interest involved, some ofthese continue to be kept alive by conspir-acy theories. In the context of Coronavirus,a lot has already appeared in the media butin a latest salvo, US President DonaldTrump has targetted the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) while China has spo-ken strongly in support of the globalhealth body. However, there is a back-ground to the accusations made by Americavis-a-vis the WHO.

Its contention is that despite the diseasein its initial stages remaining confined toWuhan, where the virus first caused an out-break, it was neither tagged with China northe province. Even when all the details werenot available, it could have been tagged geo-graphically or simply named as the Chinesevirus. It was much later that the WHOnamed it as COVID-19, avoiding anymention of China. On the other hand, wehave seen in the past, Spanish flu, Japaneseencephalitis, German measles and someother country or place specific diseases,breaking the geographical barriers tobecome international pandemics. China hassomehow managed to escape this tagging.

We are aware that both H5N1 bird fluand Severely Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) had originated from the Chinese

province of Guangdong. Yet,both these, even at their peaks,had managed to avoid theChinese tag.

Sometimes, the name tagscan also be greatly misleadingwith disastrous results. It is nowknown that the 2009 pandem-ic, which was popularly knownas the Swine flu, was actuallyspread by humans and notpigs. But in its attempt to pre-vent contagion, a country in theMiddle East mistakenly slaugh-tered a few lakh pigs.

Undeniably, there appearsto be a certain degree of poli-tics attached with the nomen-clature of labelling such fataldiseases. In this regard, thedecisions are taken at the levelof the WHO, which hosts theInternational Classification ofDiseases (ICD). The currentguidelines for nomenclaturehave been criticised by a num-ber of scientific organisations.

It is the general opinionthat by simply giving numbersto alphabetic codes, people atlarge are unable to appreciatethe gravity of the disease. Forinstance, the letters HN denotethe genetic size and sequence ofthe virus HemagglutininNeuraminidase. On the otherhand, geographical labels tendto convey some very useful

information for the world atlarge.

By leveraging their finan-cial clout over certain interna-tional institutions, the Chinesehave disturbed the existingorder. This has not gone wellwith Western powers, who inany case had been increasing-ly looking inwards. Besides,there has been the question offinancial support to such insti-tutions, too. This is bound tomake an impact on the post-Corona economic revival. Inthe given situation, the Chinesestand to gain substantially at thecost of others and emerge as adomineering influence cannotbe ruled out.

Such a situation was in themaking for a long time. In fact,ever since the economic down-turn of 2008-09 and with thedrying up of resources, thereappeared to be some kind of avacuum as far as investments inEurope were concerned. Thisspace was readily occupied byChina.

According to data com-piled by the Institute for Studiesin Industrial Development(ISID), New Delhi, the Chineseinvestments in Europe between2010-17 have been of the orderof $318 billion, which is 45 percent more than their invest-

ments in the US. In fact, theyhave been targetting technolo-gies that can, in the long run,provide a key to their own crit-ical infrastructure. During thisperiod, China has taken over360 European companies, rang-ing from Pirelli & cSpA of Italyto Kuka AG robotics ofGermany. ChemChina, achemical firm in China, hasacquired the Swiss giantSyngenta for $46 billion. Thepenetration of the communica-tion giant Huawei with its 5Gnetworks has already raisedenough of hackles among theNATO countries.

It is in the backdrop ofthese developments that thepost-Corona scenario must beviewed. The Chinese are mak-ing a quick economic revivalwith heavy investments whileother nations are still reelingunder the virus onslaught. Thiscoupled with China’s outreachprogramme for medical andhumanitarian aid are bound topay it handsome dividends.For the decades to follow, thenext few months are going to becrucial for politics, economy,diplomacy and the world order.

(The writer is a formerGovernor and a Senior Advisorat the Pranab MukherjeeFoundation)

The Coronavirus is a great leveller. The oncesoaring jet-setters around the globe are nowjust like the rest of us, confined to the walls

of their own homes. Who would imagineHollywood star Tom Hanks getting it of all peo-ple while scouting for locale of his new film? Backhome in Bollywood, reality has hit hard too as starstake to micro-blogging sites, using their homediaries and even plebeian activities to stay rele-vant. With all big ticket releases stalled and shoot-ing schedules cancelled because of the nation-

wide lockdown, our film industry is looking at a projected loss of ̀ 1,300 crore.What’s more, the sudden career break is not doing anything good to stars whosemarket value is decided by hits and misses. Elaborate film sets now lie emptyand Mumbai’s mega tourist attraction, Film City, has cancelled all tours indef-initely. Big-budget ventures like Akshay Kumar’s Suryavanshi, Kabir Khan’s83, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, and Salman Khan’s Radhehave been postponed. And with festival celebrations forever changing in a post-COVID-19 India, there is not much cheer around a big Eid or Diwali release.But Bollywood is not all about stars. There are character artistes, technicians,spot boys and logistics staff, who are all hired on a temporary basis, have nolong-term security cover and are suddenly jobless. The distributors and cin-ema hall owners have all flatlined in their ventures. By rolling out 1,500 filmsa year, the Indian film industry is one of the country’s biggest generators ofemployment. As for debutantes, who have invested their all in a film career,this lull will affect their ability to get work as producers will prioritise pendingprojects first.

This time of crisis has also brought out the philanthropic side of numer-ous celebrities. Of course, the big fish in the industry are trying to do their bitfor COVID-19 management. Akshay Kumar has donated a whopping ̀ 25 croreto the PM Relief Fund. Kartik Aaryan has donated `1 crore to the PM CaresFund. Superstar Rajnikanth has donated `50 lakh to the Film EmployeesFederation of South India to help workers who are losing their jobs due to theshutdown. Varun Dhawan has pledged `30 lakh contribution to the PM Caresfund and `25 lakh to the Maharashtra’s CM Fund. One would have expectedBollywood’s royal clans to do some more but at the moment they haven’t.Perhaps, this may serve as a reality check to their s/hero worshipping fans.Going forward, maybe brands need to think their hefty endorsement fee forsome so-called stars. Only those who helped and contributed in their own waywill come out with a stronger, more loyal fan following than those who did

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)slashing lending rates for popularschemes at the recently-concluded

Monetary Policy Committee meeting, it wasonly a matter of time before savings rates ona host of saving instruments — from the pub-lic provident fund (PPF), postal savings andeven fixed deposits — in the banks wereslashed. The present rate cut intervention wasall but expected. Governments all across theworld have announced similar measures tostave off Coronavirus-related recession. Butnone had expected that cuts in the rates of

small savings schemes, which offer assured returns and capital safety, wouldbe so steep. The Indian Government has decided to cut small savings inter-est rates sharply by 70-140 basis points for the April-June quarter. The inter-est rate on PPF has been reduced from 7.9 per cent to 7.1 per cent per annum,a reduction of 80 basis points. For the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, theinterest rate has been cut from 8.6 per cent per annum to 7.4 per cent perannum. Schemes with larger social intent, like for the girl child or the seniorcitizens, too, have not been spared. The present move comes close on theheels of the Central bank’s decision last week to slash the repo rate by 75basis points, along with announcing a slew of liquidity-enhancing measuresto counter the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, the Government haspursued a difficult path ahead as this decision is bound to face opposition butfor greater public good, it has to take the bitter pill. This announcement mayhave surely raised the hackles of some senior citizens and other small saversdependent on the interest income for everyday survival but the fact is that rightnow, the Government needs to encourage people to spend money so as todeal with the flood of economic issues from a realistic perspective. It needsto bridge the gap between deposit rates and earnings from small savingsschemes. In view of this, the monetary policy cannot be determined by thewishes of a vocal minority. The Government should not be dependent on con-sumers, attracted by the promise of cheap loans, to spend. With India’s bank-ing sector still trying to recover from the profligacy of a decade ago, will banksbe willing to forward money in the form of more consumer loans? For, bankersare in no doubt whatsoever that several businesses, which were viable andprofitable before China’s gift to the rest of the world, will be hard hit and Indiawill be on the verge of bankruptcy once everything gets going again. Banksmust not be reluctant to pass on the benefits to the borrowers. Some indus-tries will be worse affected than others, travel and tourism and all its alliedsectors have already incurred losses in crores. Possibility of a global reces-sion, too, cannot be ruled out. But the Government will have to spend its wayout of this crisis. Commentators have suggested that the Seventh PayCommission’s recommendations be put on hold for now as tax revenues, bothdirect and indirect, are going to plummet this fiscal year and the forthcomingone as well. Indeed, to spur spending, the Government should even look atreducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate for several sectors. To citean example, high excise duties on the automobile industry can be lowered.Buyers will look to buy vehicles if they see a good deal.

To spur spending, cutting bank rates will clearly not be enough. Innovativethinking is needed. This will hurt some people, savers in particular, but get-ting a stalled economic machine restarted will take a bit of sacrifice from every-one. It will not be easy, particularly in times of crisis when the natural humantendency is to keep cash assets and savings locked up. Cutting savings ratesis a way to encourage spending. While many people are unsure of their eco-nomic future right now, spending will be essential for everyone to get eco-nomic activity going again. And if that means making a bit less money fromour savings, so be it.

Savings cut

Testing is believing

Sir — There may be theories thatother nations may have a milderversion of the Coronavirus but itsduration and transmission out-side the human body is still thesame. Distancing is only a stop-gap, not the silver bullet. We mustnot be complacent because Indiahas registered far lesser cases thanChina, Italy or the US. For, wemay just be in the primary incu-bation phase whereas othernations are in advanced stages.

Unless we start a massive testprogramme based on excellentalgorithms on data, we are sure tofind too late that social distanc-ing has its limitations. China, theepicentre of the virus, undertookdraconian isolation measures butit was mass testing that helped itkeep casualties in check.

The US failed in isolating itscitizens but is now trying toredeem the position undertakingmillion tests per week. SouthKorea was the smartest. It simul-taneously went for testing and iso-lation. Let us not be lulled by datawhen tests are yet to be greatlyscaled up.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

Extend a helping hand

Sir — In times of crisis, benevo-lent hands should come forwardto reach out to the poor and theunprivileged. Genuine feelingstowards the affected sow the

seeds of charity. The “reverse gift”of life is giving back to society. Indoing so, no one will becomepoor. In view of the spread of theCoronavirus pandemic, contribu-tions made by the people canstrengthen India’s battle againstthe infection. Generous donations

have come but more is needed. In particular, efforts of the

Kerala Government need to beapplauded. The Pinarayi VijayanGovernment rolled out a ̀ 20,000crore financial package to miti-gate the impact of the deadly virusand counter its economic fallout.

Its efforts to help migrant work-ers stuck at the borders, too, havebeen commendable. The State hastaken steps to ensure the welfareof the labourers and treated themas its guests. Most of them havepreferred staying back.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Tough times ahead

Sir — The quote, “Uneasy lies thehead that wears a crown” is veryapt in the case of Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan, who isvery much upset over the suici-dal deaths in his State for want ofalcohol as beverages outlets wereclosed due to the lockdown.Taking a lenient stand towardsboozers, Vijayan kicked off acontroversy by directing the StateExcise Department to provideliquor to those carrying medicalprescriptions. The truth of thematter is that it’s difficult foraddicts to give up on drinking.The Chief Minister has a peculiarsituation to deal with.

TK NandananChennai

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020

06

A new dependence

KK PAUL

Despite all controversies, China continues to be the biggest supplier of medicalequipment to the US. By exporting humanitarian relief, it is setting a new world order

The Tablighi Jamaat’s international congregation inNizamuddin is nothing shortof a Talibani crime. Not justthe law, but even the Almightywill not forgive such a thing.

Union Minister—Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Nothing cheers me up thesedays. I push myself to behappy by doing things likereading a lot or watching someseries. I keep myself busy sothat I don’t have time to think.

Actor—Neena Gupta

A stronger and more effectiveresponse... is only possible insolidarity if everybody comestogether and if we forget politicalgames and understand that it is humankind that is at stake.

UN Secretary-General—Antonio Guterres

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

No Coronavirus in newspapers

For some, mornings without a newspaper are like foodwithout salt. But ever since India has been hit by thepandemic caused by the spread of Coronavirus, deliv-

ery of newspapers has suffered in several metropolitancities. According to Government notification, the printmedia, along with other essential services, is exempt-ed from the lockdown announced by the Centre. Evendoctors affiliated to the Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) have declared that there is no evidencethat COVID-19 is transmitted through newspapers. Peopleshould, of course, take care while reading the newspa-pers and wash hands right after, just as one has to doafter having touched any other item coming from out-side the house these days. Accessing newspapers can-not be more dangerous than touching currency notes.In fact, these notes are handled by many other peoplebefore they reach us.

Scientists have also found that the sterility of ink andthe process of printing make newspapers especially safe.Moreover, nowadays, newspapers are printed automati-cally, without human contact. The risk of the papers get-ting contaminated is, therefore, further diminished.International agencies, including the World Health

Organisation (WHO), have corroborated this. The globalhealthcare body has also said that the likelihood of “catch-ing the virus” from a delivery package is low as is thechance of an “infected person contaminating commer-cial goods.” Without the newspaper reaching theirdoorsteps, hundreds of readers, especially the elderly, inself-quarantine will be cut off from the most trusted sourceof news during this crisis. The Government must look intothe matter and ensure that this does not happen.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

BY LEVERAGINGTHEIR FINANCIAL

CLOUT OVERCERTAIN

INTERNATIONALINSTITUTIONS,

THE CHINESEHAVE DISTURBED

THE EXISTINGORDER. THIS HASNOT GONE WELLWITH WESTERN

POWERS, WHO INANY CASE HAD BEEN

INCREASINGLYLOOKING

INWARDS

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Bollywood blues

Our (India-US) close coopera-tion is imperative to combatthe #Coronavirus, includingstrengthening global pharma-ceutical and healthcare manu-facturing and supply chains.

US Secretary of State—Mike Pompeo

The fact is that we cannot have cheap loans and high savings rates at the same time. The RBI is being practical

The film industry is staring at a `1,300 crore loss and arevision of star values. Will this demolish star domination?

op nion

Stress test for globalisation

THE GATHERING AT THE CENTRE WAS ANIRRESPONSIBLE ACT. I REQUEST RELIGIOUS LEADERS

TO ENSURE NO LARGE GATHERINGS IN THE CITY. —DELHI CHIEF MINISTER

ARVIND KEJRIWAL

NOW THE #TABLIGHIJAMAT WILL BECOME ACONVENIENT EXCUSE FOR SOME TO VILIFYMUSLIMS EVERYWHERE.—NATIONAL CONFERENCE VICE PRESIDENT OMAR ABDULLAH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The spread of the deadly Coronavirusthrough human-to-human transmissionand the growing number of fatalities are giv-

ing birth to all kinds of conspiracy theories, blamegames and racism. However, the growing prefer-ence for isolation, erection of walls, closing ofboundaries, restrictions on travel and tourism arealso exhibiting that the world is no longer a glob-al village and we are now divided into numerousGoogle villages.

The ills of globalisation and relative interde-pendence are visible in the acute dearth of pro-tective gear for fighting the contagion, even in themightiest of all countries, the US. Since China isthe largest producer of protective gear like masks,ventilators, respirators, protective suits and test-ing kits, America’s helplessness and dependenceon China, which controls 95 per cent of the USmarket for the supply of these kits, are easily under-standable. This is a warning sign for not just theglobal super power but also for other nations thatthey need to reduce such dependence and startproduction of everything, which used to be out-sourced for manufacturing to China or othercountries. The Coronavirus is shaping up to bean enormous stress test for globalisation. As crit-ical supply chains break down, nations hoard med-ical supplies and limit travel, the crisis is forcinga major re-evaluation of the interconnectedglobal economy. Not only has globalisationallowed for the rapid spread of contagious diseasebut it has fostered deep interdependence betweenfirms and nations that makes them more vulner-able to unexpected shocks. Now, firms andnations alike are discovering just how vulnerablethey are.

Another major impact of the Coronavirus isthe fact that it is challenging and redefining theworld order as we know it. The inability of the USto quickly control the spread of this virus and savethe lives of its citizens has exposed the weaknessand lack of vision of the US leadership in takingstock of the situation and providing the much-needed guidance to the administration. As a result,the number of casualties today in the country hascrossed the number of deaths in China, where thewhole nightmare began.

The status of the US as a global leader has beenbuilt not just on wealth and power but also on thelegitimacy that flows from its domestic gover-nance, provision of global public goods and theability and willingness to muster and coordinatea global response to crises. The Coronavirus pan-demic is testing all three elements of US leader-ship and so far Washington is failing the test.

On the other hand, as this deadly virus trav-elled from China’s Wuhan province to virtuallyevery part of the globe, therefore, primarily Chinais being considered the villain by the world. Thisis also in major part due to the fact that it con-cealed the information about the contagion for along time. Had it informed the global village intime, the precautions, which are being taken now,could have been taken earlier and the large-scalespread of the virus could have been averted.

At present, the concerns about the dominanceof the world order through economics, expansionof trade, commerce and route connectivity havetaken a back seat and the control of the pandem-ic has taken a front seat. Though by locking downWuhan province through draconian measures,China succeeded in containing the spread of theoutbreak to other parts of the country, hiding thenews of the contagion, it was unable to preventits spread to the rest of the world. Apart from the

42,352 people across the globe who havedied because of the Coronavirus, theother big casualty of the pandemic is theglobal village-based world order, asnow every country has sealed its bordersand even flights have been grounded fornow. Currently, the only thing that iskeeping the world united and linked isthe internet as the Google village is avail-able for accessing and exchanging infor-mation and ideas.

After being castigated and ostracisedby the world community for hiding andspreading the virus globally, the ChinesePresident sought India’s support to con-front its isolation and face the worldbravely. Even in the time of a crisis,China has not forgotten its world-dom-ination ambitions and in order to showits greatness and maintain its status asa major power on the world stage, as agoodwill gesture, it is willing to share itsexperiences and strategy with India.

As the US fumbles around, China ismoving quickly and adeptly to takeadvantage of the opening created byTrump’s mistakes, filling the vacuum toposition itself as the global leader in theresponse to a major crisis. It is workingto tout its own system, provide materi-al assistance to other countries and evenorganise other Governments. But theworld community, including the US, isnot going to forget what China has doneand how Beijing is using this opportu-nity to increase its military and econom-ic might by offering to supply the med-ical necessities to Europe and the US.

Beijing’s move to block the recent-ly-called United Nations SecurityCouncil meet on the Coronavirus pan-demic also indicates that China is aspir-ing hard to maintain its image of a gen-erous leader of the world, ready to helpwith loans and equipment.

Chinese attempts clearly hint that

this pandemic will surely change theglobal scenario but the power game willremain unhampered because China,even in the wake of the crisis, is not leav-ing any stone unturned to make its pres-ence felt in the Indo-Pacific.

Although it was felt that theCOVID-19 outbreak would halt China’soverseas investments, interestingly thesignals coming from China right nowindicate that it is not likely to stop invest-ment in its ambitious Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) project and will also keepon exploring the possibility of grabbingnew markets for its goods, commoditiesand investments. Because, through thisit can fill the power gap and make itspresence and power felt in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in the BRIcountries.

According to reports, recentlyChinese military aircraft carried out anti-submarine drills in the contested SouthChina Sea (SCS), to respond to patrolsby US warships, which suggest thatCoronavirus or no Coronavirus, Chinais not going to mend its ways, tone downits assertiveness and leave any opportu-nity to exhibit its power politics. Theclaims of controlling the COVID-19 inWuhan have made it more aggressivethan ever. Even though the People’sLiberation Army’s (PLA’s) activities onthe Tibetan plateau have reduced due tothe outbreak, PLA intrusions wererecently reported from Naku-la, southof the watershed in northern Sikkim, aborder said to be “settled” by China.

In view of China’s obvious movesfor domination, most of the countries,including the World HealthOrganisation, are looking at the othermajor power in the region India’sresponse and efforts to confront thischallenge, with interest and anxiety.

If this crisis is not handled careful-

ly by India, the death toll and the num-ber of sick people would be unimagin-able and would take the country back bydecades, something which would not bein favour of New Delhi and its allies asthey look to stop China’s march.

In this context, it would be appro-priate to highlight that while in thedomestic sector, India is taking all nec-essary steps to contain the outbreak, itis also at the forefront of the fight againstCoronavirus internationally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s callfor cooperation to fight the pandemic inthe SAARC countries places the nationat the front and centre of the fight againstthe pandemic in the region and gives ita place at the global power high table.With the creation of the $10 millionSAARC Emergency Fund to fightCOVID-19, India has also suppliedtesting equipment and sanitisers to theMaldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepaland Bangladesh. In a recent meeting, theG-20 group also pledged to introduce $5trillion into the global economy toblunt the effect of the virus. PrimeMinister Modi has also advocated theneed for developing a new crisis man-agement protocol to deal with globalhealth issues, which indicates patient andgood leadership and signals India’seffective presence in the global powerscenario. The seriousness and gravityshown by the Indian leadership andappeals to people for restraint anddetermination are a great example of eth-ical leadership in the time of a crisis. Thewell-timed lockdown and appeals by theleadership for social isolation are allow-ing all of us to forget the concept of glob-al village and just turn into a Google vil-lage with limited exposure to people butunlimited contacts for our well-being.

(The writer is Vice-Chancellor HNBGarhwal University, Srinagar, Garhwal)

Apart from raising doubts about the benefits of a global village, another major impact of theCoronavirus is the fact that it is challenging and redefining the world order as we know it

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Putting livesabove money

GWYNNE DYER

Governments are putting the lives of the oldahead of the alleged needs of the economy.Because that’s what their people really want

ANNPURNA NAUTIYAL

AS THE USFUMBLESAROUND,CHINA IS MOVINGQUICKLY,

DECISIVELYAND ADEPTLY

TO TAKEADVANTAGE OF

THE OPENINGCREATED BY

TRUMP’SMISTAKES,

FILLING THEVACUUM

TO POSITIONITSELFAS THE

GLOBALLEADER INRESPONSE

TO A MAJORCRISIS

The basic choice all along with Covid-19 has been: Do we let theold die, or do we take a big hit economically? So far, the deci-sion almost everywhere has been to take the hit and save the

old (or most of them), but in some places it has been a very near-runthing. The number of confirmed cases globally is now 8,60,696 andnumber of casualties has touched 42,352. Already, at 4,055, the num-ber of deaths from Coronavirus in the United States (US) surpassesthe total number of people who have died in China (3,312) from whatUS President Donald Trump generally calls the “Chinese virus.” Chinahas four times the population of the US but in the end around 50 timesas many Americans will die from the Coronavirus. That is accordingto Trump’s own prediction on March 29 in the speech where he final-ly did a U-turn, that “only” 1,00,000-2,00,000 Americans will die becauseof his wise decision to extend the national lockdown to April 30.

It was a decision he took long after the last minute, if “last minute”is defined as the last moment when the right decision would have heldAmerican deaths down to the Chinese level. But Trump was not alonein this dereliction of duty: His “Mini-me” equivalent across the Atlantic,Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also waited much too long,and the United Kingdom (UK) will be lucky to escape with 20,000 deaths.

Incidentally, Johnson’s Chief Political Adviser, Dominic Cummings,is also believed to have experienced mild Coronavirus symptoms, includ-ing a cough, and is self-isolating. The Prime Minister and the HealthSecretary, Matt Hancock, are already self-isolating after developing symp-toms towards the end of last week.

So, why did they wait so long before imposing the restrictionson movement that will break the chain of transmission of COVID-19?Because locking down the people also means locking down the econ-omy: A huge number of people will lose their jobs, at least temporar-ily and the stock market will crash.

Whereas if you don’t impose the restrictions, perhaps on the plau-sible pretext that you are pursuing an alternative solution called “herdimmunity”, then the economy will keep ticking over nicely. However,achieving herd immunity requires 60 per cent-70 per cent of the pop-ulation to have had the disease — and with this particularCoronavirus, about one or two per cent of those people will die.

But who cares? Almost all the victims will be over 70, two-thirdsof them will be male and at least half of them will also have “under-lying conditions” or “comorbidities” that are already forcing the healthservices to spend a lot just keeping them alive. They are entirely dis-pensable to the economy. We would be even richer if they did die.

Did Johnson understand that this was the real strategy? Possiblynot: He’s never been a “detail” man. But his Svengali, Cummings, cer-tainly did understand it and seems to have been perfectly fine with it.What forced Johnson into a thinly-disguised about-face two weeksago was one or both of the following facts. One: Almost everybodyhis policy was condemning to death was somebody’s beloved fatheror mother, uncle or aunt. And two: It amounted to carrying out a cullof Conservative voters, since two-thirds of British people in the over-70s group vote for the Tories.

He was late but not too late. Even the strictest measures now willnot keep the British death toll under 20,000, according to the ImperialCollege London group that did the key calculations two weeks ago— but half a million would have died without them. And exactly thesame equation applies to Donald Trump.

It’s always tough to know what Trump really believes, becausehe will say whatever he thinks works best politically at this precisemoment. If it flatly contradicts what he said yesterday, he doesn’t care.And if some journalist calls him on the contradiction, he just denieswhat he said yesterday. It doesn’t matter if the statement is on the record;it’s “fake news.” We cannot know if Trump ever really understood thechoice he was making when he condemned lockdowns and repeat-edly promised the imminent “reopening” of the economy. And then,two weeks after the Imperial College group published its predictionthat without lockdowns 2.2 million Americans would die, he finally readit and reversed course. Or so we are supposed to believe.

He even claimed credit for saving two million American lives byabandoning his old strategy (if that’s the right word for it). His real cal-culation, at some level of his conscious or unconscious mind, wasthat his re-election in November would be even more damaged by twomillion needless American deaths on his watch than by a deep reces-sion and huge unemployment.

But at least half of the Americans who will still die would havesurvived had he moved two weeks sooner, when he already had ampleevidence that it was the only sane course. Exactly the same criticismapplies to Johnson. But here’s a consoling thought. Everywhere fromChina and India to Spain and Russia and even in the UK and the US(after stalling as long as possible), Governments are putting the livesof the “useless” old ahead of the alleged needs of the economy. Becausethat’s what their people really want.

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

As the old proverb goes, “Everydark cloud has a silver lining.”The ongoing COVID-19 crisis,

too, has a silver lining as it has giventhe environment the much-neededbreak from the relentless degrada-tion and exploitation by mankind.

The Earth is healing itself even asits biggest “parasite” humanity,grapples with the virus by practisingsocial distancing amid strict lock-downs. Suddenly, the urban as well asperi-urban areas have started experi-encing a resurgence of nature as the

lockdowns have brought with themfresh air, clearer skies and the revivalof urban wildlife.

Social media is abuzz with citizensposting pictures of the night sky glit-tering with stars that were not visibletill now in most cities due to the pol-lution. They are also posting videosof wildlife like deer, Blue Bulls, the rareIndian Civet and so on, straying intotowns. There are more birds singingthese days and the flora is actuallylooking green instead of the usualdusty brown. The light showers in thelast few weeks have only helped to fur-ther bring down pollution and fresh-en up nature.

The city of Wuhan, the epicentreof the COVID-19 pandemic, hasbeen witnessing clear blue skies andfresh air instead of the usual low-hanging smog. In fact, satellite imagesof China collated by the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA), showedmajor reduction in Nitrogen Dioxide

(NO2) levels due to the restrictionsimposed in the wake of the virus con-tainment efforts. The European SpaceAgency (ESA) also reported similarfindings of a drop in NO2 levels acrossEurope, especially Italy. The canals ofVenice, now devoid of the boat traf-fic, sport clearer waters with a freshspurt in aquatic life.

Furthermore, the suspension ofall air traffic in most parts of theworld, including India, and the lackof vehicular traffic on roads due to thelockdowns have considerably reducedpollution levels and especially easedparticulate matter (PM) 2.5 woes.

Stanford University has conduct-ed a research on the long-term ben-efits of this current rejuvenation of theplanet and the study showed thathumanity will stand to benefittremendously in future due to therespite received by the environment.These benefits would translate intolives being saved on account ofreduced pollution levels of the PM 2.5

kind, which claim lives of children andthe elderly.

The study’s findings were even-tually published in the interdiscipli-nary group, Global Food, Environmentand Economic Dynamics (GFEED).Other research data from across theworld also supports these findings andadditionally suggests that China iscurrently experiencing a 25 per centdrop in carbon dioxide emissionswhich is equivalent to 200 tonnes.

Research aside, the fact that itrequired a pandemic for the environ-ment to experience this much-required relief and recovery isappalling. Our daily routines do notoffer any concessions or respite for theenvironment. Neither do the period-ic climate conferences, which becomea battleground of opposing views butwitness very little meaningful actionin the best interests of the planet. InIndia, too, the peak polluting monthscompel us to adopt environmental-conservation measures in a half-

hearted manner. Compliance withregulations then is not anywherenear the current level of obediencethat we are witnessing regarding thelockdowns. This is unfortunate as itshows that we humans respond withsincerity only when our lives arethreatened.

The current phase can be a majorlearning curve for the IndianGovernment and environmentalauthorities. The pattern of publicbehaviour and response to a matterof community emergency is evidenthere and the Government must takenote of the same. So that in future,when environmental conditions wors-en and require a community-basedaction, the Government can follow asimilar methodology. This is essentialbecause the current lockdown rules— though not 100 per cent success-ful — have been followed sincerely bymany of the citizens.

The current situation also high-lights another important aspect of

how nations and governments mea-sure the real-time improvement ordeterioration of the environment.The authoritative and authentic satel-lite visuals of the ESA and NASA wererelied upon to draw conclusions onthe state of the environment of Chinaand Europe. India, too, must stop pol-itics over environmental assessmentand data collection and instead relyon impartial international data. Thiswill provide the real picture and dis-able any attempts at manipulation ofState agency data by vested interests.

The rejuvenation of the Earthcomes as a succor at the time ofanguish and pain to mankind. Everyhuman being pauses, even if it is fora second, to marvel at the beauty ofnature and forgets the hardshipsbeing faced in this difficult time. Ifhumanity needs a break from thispandemic, the environment needs abreak from us.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

The virus is saving lives as the Earth is healingStanford University has conducted a research on the long-term gains of this current rejuvenation of the planet due to the lockdowns and

found that humanity will benefit tremendously in future because the environment has got a respite

KOTA SRIRAJ

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

This might not feel like themoment to go on aboutBrexit, but Brexit goes onwhether we are feeling it or not. When people are worriedabout surviving April,December’s deadline for EUtrade talks seems a longway off. COVID-19 mayhave eclipsed olderproblems but they will notsolve themselves in itsshadow.(The Guardian editorial)

THE BREXIT ISSTILL ON

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's fiscal deficit in 2020-21 may shoot up to 6.2 percent of the GDP from 3.5 percent government estimate asa fallout of the Covid-19 eco-nomic stimulus package, FitchSolutions said on Wednesday.

With businesses disrupteddue to the lockdown and itsripple effects, revenue willcome under "heavy pressure"and may force the govern-ment to look towards addi-tional borrowing and/or ahigher central bank dividendto fund its expenditure, itsaid.

"At Fitch Solutions, we arerevising our forecast forIndia's FY2020/21(April–March) central gov-ernment fiscal deficit towiden to 6.2 per cent of GDP,from 3.8 per cent of GDP pre-

viously (estimated by FitchSolutions), which reflects ourview that the governmentwill miss its initial target of 3.5per cent by a wider margin,"the agency said.

Underpinning the revisedforecast are weaker revenuecollection as a result of asharp virus-driven downturnin economic activity andhigher expenditures aimedat softening Covid-19's eco-nomic shock.

PNS n BENGALURU

Navratna Defence PSU BharatElectronics Limited (BEL)posted a turnover in excess ofRs 12,500 crore (Provisional &Unaudited) during 2019-20, asix per cent growth over theprevious year's figure of Rs11,789 crore. BEL's order bookas on Wednesday is Rs 51,800crore, the Bengaluru-head-quartered company said in astatement. The year saw BEL securingorders worth Rs 13,000 crore,including Akash missiles(seven squadron), coastal sur-veillance systems (CSS),upgrade for EW system,radars, AMCs for radars &weapon systems, softwaredefined radio (SDR), sonarsand advanced communica-tion systems, it said.

Some of the flagship pro-jects executed during 2019-20are: Command & control sys-tems, thermal Imagers for

tanks, upgrade of communica-tion system, land based EWsystems, weapon repair facil-ity, various Radars, smart cityprojects, Delhi CCTV project,avionics package for LCA,classroom jammers, real timeinformation system forRailways and LRSAM, BELsaid. BEL achieved exportsales of USD 48.59 millionduring 2019-20. Major prod-ucts exported include cablelooms, coastal surveillancesystem spares, radar, compactmulti-purpose advanced stabi-lization system (CoMPASS),and electro mechanical parts.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The three-month suspensionof EMI payments may notresult in a significant gains forborrowers as they will chargeinterest for the moratoriumperiod, according to the mora-torium scheme announced bystate-owned banks.

Last Friday, the RBI hadannounced that all term loans,including retail and crop loansand working capital payments,will be covered by the three-month moratorium. Bankswill now have discretion indeciding the limits on workingcapital, with RBI saying that nopayment miss should be con-sidered a default and reportedto credit information compa-nies.

It seems like a doublewhammy for the borrowers ason one side income has beenhit due to COVID-19 pandem-ic and on the other hand thereis a threat of increased tenureif they opt for RBI relief mea-sure.

In a note to customers, thecountry's largest lender StateBank of India said "interestshall continue to accrue on theoutstanding portion of the

term Loan during the morato-rium period".

The accrued interest will becollected by the lender in theform of additional EMIs fromthose borrowers who opt forthree months moratorium.

Explaining the financialburden with the help of anexample, SBI said for a homeloan of Rs 30 lakh with aremaining maturity of 15

years, the net additional inter-est would be approx 2.34 lakhequal to 8 EMIs for those bor-rowers who opt for the mora-torium.

Similarly, it said, "for an autoloan of Rs 6 lakh with aremaining maturity of 54months the additional interestpayable would be Rs 19,000approx equal to additional 1.5EMIs".

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Sebi slaps Rs 55 lakh fine on11 entities forfraudulent trade

‘Credit quality ofIndian companiesworsened in FY20’

Hyundai sales fall47 pc in March

Sensex plunges 1,203 pts;Nifty tanks below 8,300PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexplummeted over 1,203 pointson Wednesday, in line with aglobal selloff as investors fret-ted over the impact of pro-longed worldwide lockdownsdue to the Covid-19 pandem-ic.

Starting the new financialyear on a poornote, the 30-shareBSE barometers l u m p e d1 , 2 0 3 . 1 8points or4.08 percent to

finish at 28,265.31.Similarly, the NSE Nifty

tanked 343.95 points, or 4 percent, to close at 8,253.80.

Tech Mahindra was thetop loser in the Sensex pack,crashing over 9 per cent, fol-lowed by Kotak Bank, AxisBank, TCS, Infosys and HUL.

On the other hand, HeroMotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, BajajFinance and Titan were thegainers.According to traders,domestic equities plunged intandem with global stocks asno respite from the coron-

avirus pandemic seemed insight.Extensive lockdowns

t o

contain the spread of thevirus have severely hit busi-ness outlook, they said.

Around the world, totalnumber of infected casessurged past 8.6 lakh, whiledeaths have crossed 42,000.

The number of Covid-19cases climbed to 1,637 inIndia, while the death tollrose to 38, according to theHealth Ministry.

"For the month of April,macro risk appetite driven bynews flow around potentialpeaking of fresh Covid-19cases would be the key dri-ving force for foreign flows,"said S Hariharan, Head -Sales Trading, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services.

On the global front, bours-es in Hong Kong, Tokyo,Seoul and Shanghai plungedup to 4 per cent.

Benchmarks in Europewere also trading with signif-icant losses.Brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, plunged 5.20 per centto USD 24.98 per barrel.Mid- and small-cap sharesalso faced selling pressure asthe Nifty Midcap 100 indexfell 2 per cent and NiftySmallcap 100 index declined1.6 per cent.

46 out 0f 50 shares in Niftyended lower. Tech Mahindrawas top Nifty loser, the stockcracked 9.4 per cent to Rs512.

Starting the new financialyear on a poor note, the 30-share BSE barometerslumped 1,203.18 points or4.08 per cent to finish at28,265.31

SiemensGamesa bagscontract forproject in BrazilPNS n MUMBAI

Wind turbine manufacturerSiemens Gamesa onWednesday said it hasbagged a contract to supplyits next generation turbinesfor 312 MW project to AESin Brazil.

As per the contract,Siemens Gamesa will supply52 units of its next generationSG 5.8-170 turbines to AESfor its 312 MW Tucano windfarm in Brazil, the companysaid in a statement.

"The turbines will operateat up to 6.2 MW capacity. Forthis order, the company willleverage its strong supplychain and upgrade its nacelleassembly plant in Camaçarito produce Siemens Gamesa5.X platform locally," it said.

The wind farm, located inBahia, is scheduled for com-missioning in 2021.

Mercedes joins hands in fight against Covid-19PNS n MUMBAI

Mercedes-Benz Indiaannounced on Wednesday itwill set up in association withlocal authorities a temporaryhospital with 1,500-bed isola-tion wards for coronaviruapatients in Chakan in Pune.

Besides, its employees willvoluntarily contribute one day'ssalary, the amount of which willbe matched by the companytowards contribution to theMaharashtra Chief Minister'sRelief Fund for COVID-19pandemic, the company said ina release.

Mercedes-Benz India hasboth its manufacturing facilityand corporate office situated inChakan industrial belt in Pune.

"In the wake of the ongoingglobal health crisis caused bythe outbreak of COVID-19pandemic, Mercedes-BenzIndia has decided to set up atemporary hospital with med-ical facilities and isolationwards for COVID-19 patients.The newly developed medical

facility in Mhalunge-Ingale vil-lage, Chakan Khed, will haveisolation wards with a capaci-ty to take care of 1,500 patients,"the company said.

The facility is in MaharashtraHousing and AreaDevelopment Authority's(MHADA) housing area, whichis newly built with 374 rooms,it said.

The German auto-makersaid it will assist the ZilaParishad with all the necessaryinfrastructure including the

medical equipment requiredto create a temporary OPD,infrastructure for stay, stretch-ers, wheel chairs, PPE kits,sanitisers, among others.

"In these challenging times,we are trying to support thelocal community and the localauthorities. The new medicalfacility will help support thelocal authorities and the peopleof the region with healthcare inthe coming times, if the situa-tion worsens. We hope for asteady recovery of the crisis and

getting back to normalcy,” saidMartin Schwenk, ManagingDirector and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Mercedes-Ben India.

According to the company,after easing of the COVID-19condition, the medical equip-ment will be donated to theCivil Hospital of Khed, and theassets from isolation wards willbe donated to the tribal youthhostels.

The company has also direct-ly supported by donating ven-tilators to a hospital, it said,

adding, "Mercedes-Benz Indiawill also support 1,600 familiesfrom Khed and Viman Nagararea (a locality in Pune near theairport). The company willprovide them dry ration andcleaning kits."

This initiative will be execut-ed through Mercedes-BenzIndia's existing partner NGOs,Shashwat Trust and AshrayaInitiatives for children and willsecure the food and hygienerequirement for these familiestill the May.

Mercedes-BenzIndia said it willset up inassociation withlocal authorities atemporary hospitalwith 1,500-bedisolation wards forcoronaviruapatients in Pune

NEW DELHI: Market regulatorSebi has imposed a penaltytotalling Rs 55 lakh on 11entities for indulging infraudulent trading in the scripof Unisys Software andHolding Industries Ltd. Theregulator levied a fine of Rs 5lakh each on 11 entities —Deepa Saurabh Shah ,SunilJain, Rahul Gupta, DecentVincom,Anthony Gayen, DilipKumar Mandal, Badri Prasad& Sons, Premsagar Vinimay,Nityadhara Plaza, ConquerBarter and NavdurgaInvestment Consultants. Theregulator had conducted aninvestigation between January2010 and November 2014regarding the scrip of UnisysSoftware. During theinvestigation, Sebi found thatthese entities are connected toeach other and had indulgedin fraudulent trade practicesthat created a misleadingappearance of trading andcontributed to manipulation inthe scrip price of Unisys,which misguided the investorsin the securities market.

BEL achieves record turnover

RBI had announced that all term loans,including retail and crop loans andworking capital payments, will becovered by the 3-month moratorium

Moratorium plan: Borrowersunlikely to get significant gains

PNS n NEW DELHI

Only 5 per cent of around 90lakh trucks across India are ply-ing on the roads at the momentdue to shortage of drivers andlabourers at loading andunloading points following thenationwide lockdown, therebyseverely hampering transporta-tion of goods, according totruckers body AIMTC.

The All India MotorTransport Congress (AIMTC)said even after the notificationby Union Home Ministry onSunday allowing movement ofnon-essential goods during thelockdown, things have notchanged at the ground level asmany drivers have either aban-doned trucks and went to nativeplaces, or have moved to stayput at places where basicamenities like food and shelterare available.

"There are around 90 lakhcommercial vehicles that werepresent all across the countrywith 3,500 state, district andtaluka level bodies affiliatedwith us... What we feel is thatonly around 5 per cent of themare operating now. These aremainly LPG and other petrole-um products carriers and shortdistance milk tankers," AIMTCChairman Core Committee

and former president Bal MalkitSingh told PTI.

He further said vegetableand fruits that are available inthe market now transported byfarmers through their ownmeans.

Singh said before the nation-wide lockdown was announcedon March 24, there was alreadypartial lockdown as some stateshave already sealed bordersand lakhs of trucks were strand-ed.

"When lockdown wasannounced, there was a panicsituation among drivers frater-nity across the country.

As a result many driversabandoned vehicles and went totheir native places. Some head-ed to safer places where basicamenities like food and shelterare available and they don't wantto come on the highways at themoment as there are no 'dhabas'or eateries available now," hesaid.

Many drivers abandoned vehicles andwent to their native places. Someheaded to safer places where basicamenities are available

Only 5% of trucks operating; driver,labour shortage hampering logistics

PNS n NEW DELHI

The price of non-subsidisedLPG, or market-priced cook-ing gas, on Wednesday was cutby Rs 61.5 per cylinder in linewith a fall in benchmark inter-national rates.

The price of non-subsidisedLPG, which a domestic house-hold consumer buys afterexhausting his quota of 1214.2-kg cylinders at below-market price rates, was cut toRs 744 in Delhi. This is the sec-ond reduction in rates sinceMarch, according to a pricenotification issued by state-owned oil firms.

On March 1, non-subsidisedLPG price was cut by Rs 53 per

14.2-kg cylinder. This was pre-ceded by a massive Rs 144.5per cylinder hike in February.

The two reductions have notyet brought LPG rates to pre-February hike levels.

Cooking gas is availableonly at market prices across thecountry. Eligible users, howev-er, get subsidy in their bankaccount for buying LPG cylin-ders at subsidised rates.

Domestic LPG users areentitled to buy 12 bottles of14.2 kg each at subsidisedrates in a year.

Price of 19-kg LPG cylin-ders, used by commercialestablishment, came down toRs 1,285 from Rs 1,381.50, thenotification said.

Revenue willcome under‘heavy pressure’and may force thegovt to looktowards additionalborrowing

PNS n NEW DELHI

Steel major Tata Steel onWednesday said the outbreakof COVID-19 pandemic hasimpacted its business andoperations in India andEurope.

As the novel coronaviruscontinues to spread rapidlyacross the world, Tata Steel willbe reducing operations at someof its sites, the company said ina statement.

In India, where a 21-daynationwide lockdown has been

announced to combat thespread of the virus, the com-pany said its mining operationsare running normally "but theintegrated steel facilities inJamshedpur, KalinganagarAngul (Tata Steel BSL) andGamahria (Tata Steel LongProducts) have started reduc-ing production levels and oper-ations in the downstream facil-ities have been suspended andput on care and maintenancemode."

New Delhi: Hyundai MotorIndia Ltd (HMIL) onWednesday reported a 47.21per cent decline in total salesat 32 279 units in March. Thecompany had sold 61,150units in the same month lastyear, HMIL said in astatement. Domestic saleswere down 40.69 per cent to26,300 units as against44,350 units in March 2019,the company added. Similarly,exports last month were down64.41 per cent to 5,979 unitsas compared with 16,800units in March 2019.

Mumbai: Domestic creditrating agency Icra said creditquality of Indian companiesworsened in fiscal year 2019-20 as it downgraded Rs 7 lakhcrore of debt and warned of"unprecedented strain" oncredit profiles of corporatesdue to the coronaviruspandemic. The agency saidpolicymakers will have tounleash more measures toavoid “severe economicimbalances” if the COVID-19crisis prolongs. In its annualcredit quality review after theend of the fiscal year, Icra saidit downgraded Rs 7 lakh croreof debt in FY20, as against Rs3 lakh crore in the year-agoperiod, driven largely byactions against financial sectorcompanies. However, thiswasn't accompanied by anincrease in the overall defaultrates which softened to 2.3 percent in FY20 in comparisonwith the past five-year averageof 3 per cent, it noted.

Non-subsidisedcooking gas price cutby Rs 61.5 per cylinder

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's largest carmak-er Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Wednesday reported 16.1per cent dip in total sales in2019-20 at 15,63,297 units asslowdown and coronaviruspandemic took its toll on theauto sector.

The auto major had sold18,62,449 units in 2018-19financial year.

Domestic sales during 2019-20 declined 16.7 per cent to14,61,126 units as compared

with 17,53,700 units in 2018-19, MSI said in a statement.

The company reported 47per cent decline in total salesat 83,792 units in March, itadded. It had sold 1,58,076units in March 2019, MSI saidin a statement.

Domestic sales last monthdeclined 46.4 per cent at 79,080units as against 1,47,613 unitsin March 2019, it added.

Sales of mini cars compris-ing Alto and WagonR inMarch 2020 stood at 15,988units as compared to 16,826units in the same month lastyear, down 5 per cent.

Sales of compact segment,including models such as Swift,Celerio, Ignis, Baleno andDzire, fell 50.9 per cent at40,519 units as against 82,532cars in March 2019.

Maruti Suzuki reports dip in salesMoratorium:Most privatebanks go for‘opt-in’ optionPNS n MUMBAI

Most of the private sectorlenders have decided to go forthe "opt-in" option on loanrepayment moratorium,putting the onus on the cus-tomer to take the initiative ofinforming the bank of theirchoice to go for the three-month breather offered bythe Reserve Bank of India.

Pandemic affecting business in India, Europe: Tata Steel

Fiscal deficit may shootto 6.2% of GDP in FY 21

ll of us know the importance ofeducation and its role in trans-forming our lives. The educationsector has undergone a majorcatharsis in the last decade, thanksto technology that made its way

into the sector and deeply impacted it.Undoubtedly, the Government and institu-tions have been making untiring efforts toreform the existing education model; howev-er, there are still several issues, the nation isgrappling with, which is hindering the sec-tor from realisng its huge potential. These arethe issues that need immediate addressal. Keyareas of improvement:

ROTE LEARNINGWe have come a long way with time, how-

ever, we still have not been able to detach our-selves from rote learning and focus on con-ceptual learning. Many schools are leadingand changing the system at their level but onlya small population has access to it and noteverybody can afford the education they areoffering.

Therefore, it becomes important for thegovernment to take the onus of responsibil-ity to introduce and implement effectivestrategies and eradicate rote learning from theschools at all levels.

The Government should come forward andencourage schools to introduce conceptuallearning which avoids rote learning. This willnot only help students to understand the con-cepts in a better way but will also help themto apply them effectively.

INTRODUCTION OFTECHNOLOGY

In today’s time, refraining from technolo-gy means going against the wind! In thisrenaissance of technology, the educationsystem cannot afford to function in silos. Oureducation system must whole-heartedlyembrace technology and pass it on to studentsas their future relies on it. Students must betaught about technology right from the earlyyears of their education so that they do notface any problems in the future. Moreover,they should be taught to use it wisely and cau-tiously.

EVALUATION SYSTEMIn the present education

system, marks still playa crucial role inassessing a stu-dent’s abilityand decidingtheir future.The pres-sure ofobtainingg o o dm a r k so f t e nleaves thestudentsburdeneda n dm a k e s

them underperform.Instead of evaluating a student’s knowledge

by a three-hour exam, more impetus shouldbe given to communication skills, leadershipskills, classroom participation, projects andextra-curricular activities.

A HEALTHY MIX OF SUBJECTSWe all grew up hearing that the sharpest

minds opt for Science and Humanities wasconsidered second best. Students should begiven the option of choosing subjects thatinterest them. A more liberal mix of subjectsshould be encouraged so as to enable studentsto have an exposure to a variety of curricu-lum.

BETTER TRAINING OFEDUCATORS

With new technology seeping into the edu-cation system and with different kinds of stu-dents with different interests and talents, thereis an impelling need for all the teachers toreceive the best of educational and technol-ogy training. This is a core area that needsattention. Training that is continuous andcomprehensive must be provided to teachers.

PERSONALISE EDUCATIONAll students are unique in

their own ways and inherit dif-ferent talents. They might

have different levels ofcomprehension which

need to be addressed differ-ently. To equip teachers topay attention to every stu-

dent and understandtheir abilities, schoolsmust utilise technology

like AI and chatbotsthat can assist.

First job: ‘Juggled between two jobs'

“I juggled between two jobs — one of a con-tent writer and another as an emcee for an eventmanagement company, simultaneously. We wouldget four days a week to pursue our dreams of part-time jobs. I’d drive for over 3 hours across the cityafter I was done with my classes.”

First paycheck: ‘Any money is good money'

“Rs 3,500 doesn’t seem like good money. Butfor a teenager, that is real good money. I alsoreceived around Rs 5,000-6,000 for Emceeing. I’dbuy little gifts for my family with that. It was anoverwhelming feeling.”

First professional photoshoot:‘Click, click, click!'

“My first ever photoshoot was before the releaseof my first film Kerintha. 'I was shot by ArvindChenji. Before this photoshoot, I never thought I’dget into show business.”

First designer bag: ‘Left me with awe'

After some thinking, she replies, “My firstdesigner bag was ‘Fossil’ that my aunt got me fromthe USA. Back then, there were no online stores forme to check them out, so I was in awe.”

First love: ‘A heavenly feeling'“As cheesy as it sounds, I fell in love for the first

time, in my 8th grade. The moment hormonalchanges tend to happen, it goes from girls v/s boysto girls and boys. I was conscious about wholooked at me, how I looked. I wasn’t a popular girlat school, but it was a cute experience.”

First autograph: ‘Kids asked for an autograph'

“Just after I finished working for NandiniNursing Home, I was invited and called a ‘Youthicon’ by Don Bosco school for an alumni meet oftheirs. While I was leaving, a bunch of adorablekids came running to me with papers and pensthey were the first ones who took my first auto-graph.”

First travel experience abroad: ‘Travelling fuels me'

“My first trip abroad was to Abu Dhabi andDubai when I was 16. It’s always amusing to visitsuch places. My visit to the Dubai mall was fullof astonishment since I never saw that big a mallever. The young kid in me couldn’t have enoughof the Amusement parks and ice-cream corners.”

First time I felt like a star: ‘My OMG moment'

“Kerintha’s success bash made me feel like asuperstar. It was a 15-minute role in the movie,yet everybody recognised me for the impact therole had left on the audience. At the success party,I was called onto the stage by my director. Theloud cheers that followed as I walked flanked bybouncers made me feel like a superstar!”

First rejection: ‘Not a great feeling'

“My first rejection came after I did Kerintha andbefore Nandini Nursing Home came out. As I wasnew to the industry with no backing, I was boundto face rejections before I landed the best projects.Although my USP is my curly hair, it was also thesame reason I was rejected for, sometimes. ‘Youare too dusky for this role’ or ‘your body type isn’tthe one we are looking for’ were some of thecomments I was faced and it wasn’t a great feel-ing.”

First fan encounter:‘Sending lots of love to myfans, they made me'

“Oh yes, these are the most inter-esting things. My first ever fan encounterwas when I was at GVK with one of my friendsand there was this teenager who was constant-ly staring at me. After a point, I felt uncomfort-able. When we were exiting the elevator heapproaches and says ‘Excuse me, ma’am, are youthe same actress from Kerintha?’ And that was thefirst time a fan recognised me in public. Lots oflove for them!”

First celebrity moment“My first ever celebrity moment was in

Goa while we were staying at a hotel.I was in the pool with my familywhen I see this man walking bythe pool in orange tracks. Iturn to my dad asking ‘Isn’tthis Ajay Devgn,’ dadsaid he wasn’t, but itturns out, he was!”

A

‘My USPis my

curly hair'

Actress Nitya Naresh who was recently seen in themovie Operation Gold Fish talks about all her firsts

— her first job, first fan encounter, the first time shefell in love and more in an exclusive conversation

with SHIKHA DUGGAL

ADAPTATION IS KEY

Education is undergoinga sea change due totechnologicaladvancement andInternet penetration,paving way for blendedlearning, says AMOLARORA

he use of the Internet andother technologies inimparting education hasexploded in the recent years.With digitisation making itsway into the education sec-

tor, blended learning has found its spacein the classrooms, and is on its way tobecome the new norm. Blended learn-ing, also known as hybrid learning, isnothing but a union of online and face-to-face instructions for better learningoutcomes.

It is a combination of classroom-based learning and web-based content.Online resources, together with in-per-son instructions create a more person-alised learning environment for stu-dents. The prevalence of digital andsocial media in our lives has madeblended learning more of a necessitythan an upcoming trend. It is a flexibleconcept that empowers both studentsand facilitators, and should be adaptedin every school.

Blended teaching methodologiesoffer students a wider perspective andan enhanced learning experience thatgoes beyond what face-to-face or onlinemodes can do alone. There are differ-ent ways in which online and face-to-face instructions are combined:

ROTATION MODELHere the instructor plans as to how

and when students rotate between dif-ferent learning modalities (at least onebeing online) within a course or sub-ject. There are four Rotation sub-mod-els:

Station rotation model: This modelis common for elementary classeswhere teachers are familiar withrotating between learning stations.

Here, students rotate through fixedschedules, with at least one of the sta-tions being an online learning station.Lab rotation model: Here, schoolcomputer labs are utilised in a newway by the teachers, where studentsare allowed to rotate from station tostation on a fixed schedule. Flipped classroom model: In thismodel, traditional roles are switchedas students are introduced to onlinecontent at home, while they reviseand practice it in school in the pres-ence of their teacher and peers. Individual rotation model: Here theinstructor or a software algorithm setindividual schedules for every studentand they rotate to planned activitieson different stations based on theirplaylist.

FLEX-MODELHere, online learning is the driving

factor behind student learning, even ifstudents are occasionally directedtowards offline activities. Resources aremade available for students to move ona fluid schedule across learning modal-ities. Majority of the learning takes placein the school campus where teacherscan be contacted for help and provideindividual tutoring and face-to-face sup-port.

A LA CARTE MODELStudents decide for themselves, if they

want to supplement their regular cours-es with online offerings at other insti-tutions.

REMOTE MODELHere, students’ main focus is on fin-

ishing online coursework. They don’tinteract with teacher face-to-face on adaily basis, but only at the beginning orthe conclusion of an online course.

Things to be kept in mind whileimplementing blended learning

There is no standard approach to it:We need to decide on how our blendlooks like. What all face-to-face com-ponents are substituted with onlineinstructions widely varies dependingupon course instructional goals, teacherexperience, teaching style, learner char-acteristics, developmental level, andresources available online.

You need a good chunk of time toswitch to hybrid: Redesigning a tradi-tional course into a hybrid one takestime - sometimes up to 6 months. Ittakes time and commitment to mergethe blended learning processes in theexisting courses effectively and toachieve the goals of the course withappropriate teaching methods.

Just start small and keep it simple:New learning technologies, for exam-ple podcasting, internet-based audioand video communication, e-portfolios,web-annotation and social networkingtools including blogs, websites and

wikis are creating new blending poten-tials. Out of these many possible learn-ing technologies available, teachersneed to choose wisely to come up withtheir personalised blended course.

Give students time to grasp thehybrid concept: It is important forteachers to communicate their inten-tions behind the approach at the onsetof the academic term. Students need tobe made aware of the technologies inuse, their responsibility for personallearning as well as time managementrequirements.

Some of the key challenges of teach-ing in a blended format from the fac-ulty perspective are the time commit-ment, lack of support for courseredesign, difficulty in acquiring newteaching and technology skills, and therisk factors associated with this type ofcourse. Blended learning will not ful-fill its promise of improved learningunless teachers are encouraged to re-think and redesign courses that offerstudents varied and better learningexperiences than those offered by eitheronline or classroom teaching alone.

Despite all the above challenges,blended learning has increased rapid-ly, driven by evidence of its advantagesover either online or classroom teach-ing. There is enough evidence to sug-gest the enormous potential blendedlearning has - all that is required is theadequate professional development ofthe teachers. Opportunities need to beprovided to the teachers to incorporateonline learning components into theirclassrooms. Institutions and teacherstogether can make the most of theopportunities presented by blendedlearning.

The writer is Vice-chairman & MD,Shemford Group of Futuristic School

BLENDED TEACHINGMETHODOLOGIES OFFERSTUDENTS A WIDERPERSPECTIVE AND ANENHANCED LEARNINGEXPERIENCE THAT GOESBEYOND WHAT FACE-TO-FACE OR ONLINE MODESCAN DO

t

‘There’s need to embrace technology’

ThursdayApril 2, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

ctor Andrew Jack, bestknown as the man whoplayed Caluan Ematt in theStar Wars series of films, haspassed away two days aftercontracting the novel coro-

navirus. He was 76.Jack’s agent Jill McCullough con-

firmed his death, reports bbc.com.He died in a Surrey hospital on

Tuesday. McCullough said she has beenflooded with tributes to one of the act-ing world’s “brightest and clearest voic-es”.

She said Jack couldn’t see his wife inhis final days because she was quaran-tined in Australia.

The British actor, who was seen inStar Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), hadappeared in over 80 films and was alsoa successful dialect coach.

Jack’s fellow Star Wars actor GregGrunberg said he was “devastated” tolearn of his death, describing him asa “wonderful, talented, beloved gen-tleman”.

“He is one of the kindest peopleI've ever worked with,” Grunbergadded.

Jack, who lived on a houseboaton the River Thames, had been“full of life”, “funny, charming anda joy to be around. He was stillworking full-pelt, currently coach-ing on the new Batman,” his agentsaid.

The actor had been unable to seehis wife and fellow dialect coachGabrielle Rogers, who he was

“madly in love with”, because she was“stuck in quarantine in Australia, hav-

ing just flown in from New Zealandlast week,” McCullough said.

Star Wars actorAndrew Jack diesof Coronavirus

ollywood star Dwayne Johnsonhas revealed that a Hobbs &Shaw sequel is in develop-ment, and he is excited aboutit.

During a recent InstagramLive Q&A, Johnson confirmed the newsabout the follow up to Fast & FuriousPresents: Hobbs & Shaw, which minted$759 million worldwide, reports daily-mail.co.uk.

“We are developing now the next film,the next (Hobbs & Shaw) movie, and I’mpretty excited about it,” said the 47-year-old star, who appeared in the successfulFast & Furious spin-off alongside JasonStatham last year.

“Just gotta figure out the creative rightnow, and the direction we’regoing to go,” added Johnsonwhen asked where heand producers are at inthe pre-productionprocess on thesequel.

Fast & FuriousPresents: Hobbs

& Shaw, also starring Helen Mirren, EizaGonzalez, Vanessa Kirby and Idris Elba,was well received by the audience and crit-ics upon its release last August.

It is unclear when the movie will hit cin-emas, especially as the latest film in theFast And Furious franchise, F9, has beenpushed back to 2021 due to the globalcoronavirus pandemic.

Johnson plays the role of DSS agentLuke Hobbs in the film series. He had pre-viously recalled how his mother, AtaJohnson, wept on the set of the first Hobbs& Shaw movie as she heard her son speakin Samoan, the language of their family.

“She is incredibly proud of the movie.It’s the very first time in the history ofHollywood that the Samoan culture hasever been showcased on this scale, so it’sa big deal. Within the scene, she never

heard me speak in Samoan to thisdegree. She hears me speaking in

Samoan, calling on our ancestors togive us strength... I look over andshe is crying so hard,” said the for-mer WWE star, who spent part of

his childhood in Hawaii.

Dwayne Johnson confirmsHobbs & Shaw sequel

10

Vijayawada Thursday April 2, 2020 what’s brewing

H

A

Actor Prithviraj, film crewstuck in Jordan desertcamp, seek evacuation

op Kerala actor Prithviraj and award winning direc-tor Blessy and 56 others are stuck in Jordan after shoot-ing of a movie was stopped there following restrictionsin the wake of coronavirus crisis and have sought helpto return home.

Blessy emailed the Kerala Film Chamber, seekinghelp to take up the case with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The

media came to know about the email on Wednesday. A chamberofficial Anil Thomas said the email has been forwarded to vari-ous lawmakers, including Malayalam superstar turned Rajya Sabhamember Suresh Gopi.

Prithviraj too took to social media to post a long note of howthe situation unfolded. He wrote, “Hi all. Hope everyone is hold-ing up and doing their best to stay safe during these tough times

On 24/03/2020, the shooting of Aadujeevitham in Jordan was tem-porarily stopped due to the prevailing circumstances. But after anappraisal of our situation, the authorities were convinced that our

unit was isolated and operating safely within the confines of theWadi Rum desert and we were given a go ahead for the shoot.

Unfortunately, soon after, the prevailing restrictions in Jordanhad to be further strengthened as a precautionary measureand as a result, our shoot permission was revoked on27/03/2020 (he corrected it in his post caption). Followingthat, our team has been staying at he desert camp in WadiRam. We have now been told that an immediate permis-sion for shoot to resume is unlikely due to the situationand hence, our next best option would be to return toIndia at the first available opportunity.”

He also mentioned that since they were to stay theretill the second week of April, there have provisions forthat. However, what would happen after that is a mat-ter of concern, he added. He also said that while therewere far more pressing concerns for the authorities tolook into, it was their duty to keep them informed Therewere thousands of Indians waiting to return home, headded.

Prithviraj’s mother Malika Sukumaran, a yester-year’s actress, said that she spoke to her son on

Monday.“He said the shooting has been stopped follow-

ing strict restrictions imposed on account ofCovid-19 in Jordan. The shooting was on in adesert. Things are fine with them, except thatthe shooting is not happening. They weresupposed to wind up the Jordan part of theshoot next week and were scheduled tofly out to Algeria as per their originalschedule,” said the actor’s mother.

Billed as one of the costliestMalayalam film Aadujeevitham isbased on the award winning epony-mous Malayalam novel byBenyamin. It tells the tale of thelife of a man ending up in

shambles after reaching theMiddle East and finds himself

tending goats in extreme deserttemperatures.

Blessy’s past films including hisdebut film in 2004 Kaazcha,Thanmathra (2005) Pranayam (2011)to name a few, all of which occupya place of pride in the Malayalamfilm industry.

T

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

AFPn LONDON

Wimbledon organisers onWednesday scrapped the old-est Grand Slam tennis tourna-

ment for the first time since World WarII as the coronavirus wreaks furtherhavoc on the global sporting calendar.

The cancellation of the only grass-court major at the All England Clubleaves the season in disarray, with no ten-nis due to be played until mid-July.

“Devastated,” tweeted eight-timechampion Roger Federer, while SerenaWilliams, who has won the tournamentseven times, said she was shocked by themomentous decision.

Wimbledon was due to run for twoweeks from June 29, with NovakDjokovic and Simona Halep set todefend their singles titles.

But tournament chiefs bowed to theinevitable on Wednesday, saying in astatement that they had made the deci-sion with “great regret”.

All England Club chairman IanHewitt said the decision had not beentaken lightly.

“It has weighed heavily on ourminds that the staging of TheChampionships has only been interrupt-ed previously by world wars,” he said.

“But, following thorough and exten-sive consideration of all scenarios, webelieve that it is a measure of this glob-al crisis that it is ultimately the right deci-sion to cancel this year’s Championships.”

Halep tweeted her disappointment.“So sad to hear @Wimbledon won’t

take place this year,” she said. “Last year’sfinal will forever be one of the happiestdays of my life! But we are goingthrough something bigger than tennisand Wimbledon will be back! And itmeans I have even longer to look forwardto defending my title.”

The decision to cancel the tourna-

ment was widely expected, with theworld struggling to contain the spreadof COVID-19.

It also prompted the ATP and WTAto cancel the grasscourt swing in thebuild-up to Wimbledon, meaning thetennis season will not now recom-mence until July 13 at the earliest.

The US Tennis Association respond-ed by saying the US Open was still dueto take place as planned, from August 31to September 13.

“At this time the USTA still plans tohost the US Open as scheduled, and wecontinue to hone plans to stage the tour-nament,” it said in a statement.

“The USTA is carefully monitoringthe rapidly-changing environment sur-rounding the COVID-19 pandemic,and is preparing for all contingencies.”

Organisers had earlier ruled outplaying Wimbledon behind closed doorsand postponing the event would also

have created its own problems, withshorter days later in the

English summer.The cancellation of

Wimbledon could meanmultiple championsFederer, Serena

Williams and VenusWilliams have played at the

All England Club for the finaltime.

Federer and Serena will be nearly40 by the time of the 2021 champi-onships and Venus will be 41.

Serena, beaten in last year’s final byHalep, is stuck on 23 Grand Slam sin-gles titles — agonisingly one away fromequalling Margaret Court’s record.

The French Tennis Federationprovoked widespread anger with itsunilateral decision to move the FrenchOpen from its original May 24 startdate to begin on September 20.

That puts the start only one weekafter the planned date of the US Openmen’s final.

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | APRIL 2, 2020

PTI n NEW DELHI

Epicentre of the COVID-19 pandem-ic before it gripped Europe and the

USA, China will host the third editionof the Asian Youth Games in Shantou inNovember next year, the OlympicCouncil of Asia said on Wednesday.

The OCA has decided to hold theAsian Youth Games from November 20to 28. The host city was decided by theOCA in 2019 but the dates of themulti-sporting event was announced onWednesday.

“The OCA while maintaining avery strict isolation policy is still con-tinuing its activity and liaising with thevarious Asian Games OrganisingCommittee to ensure that the prepara-tions for the Games are not hindered,”the OCA said in a letter sent to all itsmember nations in Asia.

“In this respect I have the pleasureto inform you that the OCA in coordi-nation with the Shantou 3rd AsianYouth Games Organising Committee(SAYGOC) has decided the dates andsports programme of the 3rd AsianYouth Games, which are from 20th to

28th November 2021,” OCA DirectorGeneral Husain Al Musallam said in theletter.

The 3rd Asian Youth Games willhave 18 sports in its roster — Athletics,Aquatics, Badminton, Basketball (3x3),Beach Volleyball, Dragon Boat Racing,Football, Gymnastics, Golf, Handball,Hip Hop Dance, Rock Climbing, Rugby,Surfing, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, WindSurfing and Wushu.

The Asian Youth Games were firstheld in Singapore in 2011 and then againin Nanjing in China in 2013.

The 2017 event was awarded toHambantota in Sri Lanka but the islandnation dropped out following a series ofproblems.

Jakarta was then lined up as areplacement but it also withdrew.

In 2019, Shantou was awarded theGames in 2021, marking the event’sreturn after eight years, that too in thesame country for the second time.

The Asian Youth Games are consid-ered the second biggest multi-sportingevent in the continent and nearly 2500athletes took part in the 2013 edition inNanjing in China.

LONDON: World Cup-winningcaptain Eoin Morgan says he isopen to England fielding twoteams on the same day at sepa-rate venues if the coronavirusoutbreak leads to a compressedhome international season.

The England Test team,skippered by Joe Root, couldface either West Indies orPakistan, who are both due toarrive for three-match series,while Morgan’s white-ball sidetake on Australia in 50-over andT20 matches scheduled in July.

“I see every option beingviable during this extraordi-nary time,” said England limit-ed-overs captain Morgan duringa conference call on Wednesday.

“Certainly I’ve never expe-rienced anything like it and Idon’t think anyone else has. I

think the serious nature of thesituation economically andfinancially for the game is some-thing that we have never comeacross.”

All domestic cricket in

England has been postponeduntil May 28 at the earliest, withthe West Indies series still sched-uled to start on June 4.

England and Wales CricketBoard chief executive TomHarrison, announcing a £61million aid package on Monday,said touring international sideswere being “very flexible, inno-vative and massively under-standing”, with Morgan indicat-ing his teammates would adopta similar approach.

“Certainly from a players’point of view, we want to do asmuch as we can to try and keepthings going,” Morgan said.

“If there’s an opportunity toplay as much cricket as we can,I’d like to think every playerwould be behind it. I certainlyam. AFP

IANSn NEW DELHI

India’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur has said India’sdomestic scructure is “five-six years behind” Australia

and England, adding that skill wise they are at par withthem.

India lost to Australia in the T20 World Cup finalby 85 runs last month.

“Definitely we are five-six years behind them in theseaspects,” Kaur told Mumbai Mirror.

“But now girls have understood their responsibil-ity towards being fit. Earlier there used to be a huge dif-ference between a domestic player and what is expect-ed at the international level. But now some 30 girls aregiven individual programme by the BCCI.

“So when one of them is picked for India, she is notclueless about what is expected of her. As we keepimproving our domestic level, the performances at theinternational level will improve. That is why I said weare five-six years behind these teams because our domes-tic set-up is not as good as it should be.”

“Now the players are getting more aware about beingfit and following the right daily routines,” Kaur said.

“The things we have grasped in the last two-threeyears, England and Australia have been doing from longbefore.”

Kaur said it is more about fitness and not skills thatseparate them from Australia or England.

“Just the fitness. In these two countries fitness is partof their culture. Unfortunately, in India we start thesethings late,” Kaur told The Week.

“For the last three years the girls have been work-ing hard on fitness. It does not improve overnight, weneed to work on it for longer durations. Earlier, we wouldcome close to these teams and lose, but now we are win-ning matches against them. Skill-wise we are better bat-ters and bowlers than these two countries.”

Kaur’s form was poor throughout the World Cupcampaign in Australia. But the 31-year old dashing bat-ter said she is not thinking too much about pressure andalso captaincy.

“From the outside it may look like that, but person-ally I have never felt so,” she said when questioned onthe captaincy.

“I really enjoy this part. I feel more involved. Thecaptaincy keeps me alert all the time. Earlier, I used tothink about my performance alone. Captaincy has mademe a better person. [ Now,] I cannot think only aboutmyself, but [have to think] of other things, too.”

AFPn NYON

UEFA have made a move towardsclearing the decks for the return

of club football by announcing onWednesday that all internationalmatches that had been pushed back toJune have now been postponed untilfurther notice.

“This includes the play-off match-es for UEFA EURO 2020 and quali-fying matches for UEFA Women’sEURO 2021,” said European football’sgoverning body in a statement.

“All other UEFA competitionmatches, including the cen-tralised international friendlymatches, remain postponeduntil further notice.”

The decision followed avideo conference with Europe’s55 member federations aspart of discussions onhow to adapt thefixture calendar inthe face of the

ongoing coronavirus crisis.The play-off semi-finals and finals

that are supposed to decide the lastfour qualifying berths for the nextEuropean Championship were initial-ly postponed at the end of March andpencilled in provisionally for June.

That was “subject to a review ofthe situation” amid uncertainty overhow the pandemic will develop andwhether many European countriescurrently in lockdown will be able toreturn to some kind of normality.

However, UEFA has alsostated a determination to finishall domestic and club compe-titions by June 30.

While that currently looksambitious at the very least,clearing the international fix-

tures from the same month doesbuy some more time as they aim

to complete the Champions Leagueand Europa League competi-

tions as well as domesticleagues.

NEW DELHI: Even a shortened IPLwith just Indian players wouldbe good enough in these “extra-ordinary times”, RajasthanRoyals Executive ChairmanRanjit Barthakur said onWednesday, revealing that afinal call on the glitzy event’s fateis unlikely before April 15.

The top executive spelt outhis franchise’s wish even as thenumber of positive cases anddeath toll due to the pandemiccontinued to rise across theworld.

“We are open to a shortenedtournament with only Indianplayers, at the end of the day itis the Indian Premier League,”Barthakur said.

With a nationwide lock-down in place to combat thespread of the disease, the eventseems unlikely to go ahead

unless the BCCI figures analternate window later in theyear.

The RR executive thoughsaid they are confident that theBoard will take a decision keep-ing in mind the best interests ofthe franchises.

“These are extraordinarytimes and the BCCI will do thebest it can when things improve,”he said.

“Earlier we could not thinkof an Indians-only IPL but nowthere is enough quality to choosefrom. It is better to have anIndians-only IPL than not at all.

“When can we have it? ThatBCCI decides. And I think thatcall be taken only post 15th

PTIn NEW DELHI

Australian spin legend ShaneWarne has named former skip-

per and current BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly as the captain ofhis all time India XI, which includesmaster blaster Sachin Tendulkarand Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Warne said he ignored formerskipper MS Dhoni and current cap-tain Virat Kohli because he pickedonly those Indian players againstwhom he had played.

“I am only picking players thatI played against and that’s why MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are notgoing to be a part of the side. WhileDhoni is probably the greatestwicketkeeper-batsman to haveplayed the game, Kohli is one of thegreatest batsmen across formats,”Warne said in Instagram Live post.

Warne also ignored VVSLaxman, who was once consideredhis nemesis. He justified his deci-sion, stating that the stylish

Hyderabadi batsman faced the axeto accommodate Ganguly.

“I went for Ganguly because Iwanted him to be the captain of myside, that is why Laxman missedout,” he said.

Nayan Mongia was his pick asthe wicket-keeper of the team,which also includes the likes of1983 World Cup-winning captainKapil Dev, spin duo of HarbhajanSingh and Anil Kumble and Javagal

Srinath among others.The 50-year-old spin wizard

named Virender Sehwag and Sidhuas openers in the strong battingline-up which also includes thelikes of Rahul Dravid, Tendulkarand Mohammad Azharuddin.

On picking Sidhu ahead ofother openers, Warne said theright-hander from Punjab was thebest player of spin during his play-ing days.

“I had to pick Navjot SinghSidhu because he was the best play-er against spin I have ever playedagainst. All the other spinners Ihave played with, they have alsotold me that Sidhu was brilliantagainst them,” Warne said.Shane Warne’s all-time IndiaXI: Sourav Ganguly (c), VirenderSehwag, Navjot Singh Siddu,Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,Mohd Azharuddin, Kapil Dev,Nayan Mongia (wk), HarbhajanSingh, Javagal Srinath, AnilKumble. PTI

PTIn NEW DELHI

Asix-time world championand an Olympic Bronze-

winner, surely M C Mary Komcan be expected to have a“secret mantra for success”. Butas it turns out, she has none.

On Wednesday, she wasspeaking on the subject“Making of a Champion” forSports Authority of India’sFacebook Live session for ath-letes, who are mostly confinedto their homes or hostel roomsright now amid a nationallockdown to contain the pan-demic.

Mary Kom said she does-n’t have any secret recipe toshare for the stupendous suc-cess she has achieved.

“I don’t have any mantrasfor success. Just work hard andbe honest to what you are

doing, that’s all. Ups anddowns are always there butyou should not lose focus onyour dreams,” said the trail-

blazing boxer.“My boxing journey was

not easy. To reach national,international and Olympiclevel is not easy. But if youhave the will, and want toachieve in life, you can,” sheadded.

The fierce competitor inher can’t wait for the crisis tobe over so that she can resumenormal training.

“When all this is broughtunder control, we will getback to training in big way,”she said.

“I am trying my level bestfor an Olympic Gold but I amincomplete without yourblessings. Pray for me,” sheadded.

SAI has lined up morethan 20 such sessions for ath-letes to help them cope withthe lockdown.

PTIn NEW DELHI

Star Indian wrestler BajrangPunia is assured of a top-four seeding in the 65kg

category at next year’s TokyoOlympics even if he skips the lastranking series tournament,going by the latest world stand-ings.

The fast-rising Ravi Dahiyaalso seems set for a top-fourbilling at the mega-event, whichwill be held from July 23 toAugust 8 next year.

Wrestling’s world governingbody UWW announced thefresh rankings which placedBajrang at number two in the65kg category. Dahiya is fourthin the very competitive 57kg cat-egory.

Russian Olympic championGadhzimurad Rashidov leadsthe 65kg rankings. Four Pointsseparate Rashidov (60), Punia(59) and Kazakshtan’s DauletNiyazbekov (56) for the topseeding.

But the Russian and Indianwrestlers have such command-ing leads over the field thatthey can sit out of thefinal ranking seriesevent and still earn atop-four seeding at theOlympic Games.

R a s h i d o vowns the topspot in 65kgafter finallyclaiming hislong-awaitedworld Gold inNur-Sultan lastseason.

Punia began theyear ranked num-ber three with 25points after hisworld Bronzemedal. He hasoverthrown worldfinalist Niyazbekovfor the number tworanking.

Punia added16 points to hisworld champi-onship total after heerased a three-pointdeficit against JordanOliver (USA) to winthe 16-point MatteoPellicone RankingSeries Gold medal.

Although he stumbled inthe Asian finals against 2018world champion TakutoOtoguro(JPN), Punia collected18 points and pushed himself towithin one point of the Russiandefending world champion.

The 57kg is led by reigningworld champion and numberone from Russia Zaur Uguev (60points).

World runner-up SuleymanAtli is firmly in the number twoposition after runner-up finish-es at the World and EuropeanChampionships. He has 58points and is followed by StevanMicic (48) and Dahiya (45).

Dahiya needs a 12-point fin-ish at the final Ranking Seriesevent to secure one of the top-four seeds. There is slim chancethat the Indian wrestler can grabthe number one seeding.

For that to happen, Dahiyawould need Uguev, Atli andMicic to sit out of the finalRanking Series event and winGold in a bracket with morethan 11 wrestlers to earn the 16points he needs to clear his top-three rivals.

Nurislam Sanayev is rankedfifth in this weight and trailsDahiya by six points.

World ChampionshipSilver-medallist Deepak Punia

is ranked second in 65kgbehind Iranian greatHassan Yazdani, who

underwent kneesurgery earlier thisyear and had nochoice but to skipthe Matteo Pellicone

and Asian Championships.He commanded a 20-

point lead over Deepak butthe Indian wrestler closedthat gap on Yazdani with a14-point Asian champi-onship Bronze-medal fin-ish. Deepak leads RussianArtur Naifonov by sevenpoints after the conclusionof the continental champi-onship season.

No Indian figures intop-10 of the 74kg, 97kgand 125kg categories, thethree other olympicweight categories.

The top four in eachcategory will be seeded at

the Tokyo Games.

We are behind Aus & Eng infitness, but not skill: Harman

Harmanpreet Kaur returns to pavilion after getting dismissed ICC

No Wimbledon in 2020

A security guard inside the main gates to Wimbledon as it was announced that the Championships for 2020 has been cancelled due to coronavirus in London AP

Bajrang No 2 in latestworld rankings

Warne names Ganguly as captain of his India XI

There's no mantra for success,just hard work: Mary Kom

RR open to shortened IPL among Indian players onlyApril,” Barthakur added.

Acting on the directives from the cen-tral government in March, the BCCI post-poned the IPL until April 15. PTI

China to host Asian Youth Games in 2021

MC Mary Kom PTI/File Picture

UEFA postpone all int’l

matches scheduled for June

No talks around Kohli & boys taking pay cutNEW DELHI: Sportspersons beingasked to take pay cuts have beenmaking news ever since the out-break of the coronavirusbrought the world to a standstill.But BCCI Treasurer ArunDhumal has made it clear thatthere is no such thought processat present when it comes to thesalary of the Indian cricketers.

He made it clear that therehave been no such discussions.

“No, we have not spoken

about this (pay cut). Whateverthe steps after this setback, it willbe taken judiciously and keep-ing the interest of all people inmind. Any step taken needs tobe thought out and right nowwe haven’t even thought aboutit. Obviously this is a big set-back, but we will go about thisin a way that nobody getsaffected. These things can bediscussed once things settledown,” he said. IANS

England could field twoteams at same time: Morgan

aveena Tandon who will be seen as Ramika Sen inKGF: Chapter 2, points out that her role is filledwith a lot of mystery surrounding it. “Shootingfor KGF Chapter 2 was a pleasure. The role is dif-ferent and it has shades of grey. There is a lot ofsuspense. I wasn’t sure if I would have been able

to do it, but it was an amazing and fun role to do,” the actresssaid in an Instagram live session with an online media por-tal.

Showering high praise on the film’s lead Yash, she noted,“He is a fantastic person and a gem to everyone on set.It was a great experience to shoot with him. The wholeunit was warm. Luckily my schedule got over inFebruary before coronavirus and the lockdown..wewrapped up the film (sic).”

While the first part, which released in December of2018, concentrated on the rags to riches journey of Rocky(Yash) and his quest for power in the underbelly of the Kolar

Gold Fields, the second install-ment, it is said, will fol-

low the strugglebetween Rocky and

Adheera (playedby Sanjay Dutt).With the firstpart doing well,the expectationson the second partare expectedly sky-high. The film, dire-cted by PrashanthNeil, is scheduled torelease on October23 later this year.Dil Raju’s name isattached to distributethe film in Telugu.

The first part was dis-tributed by SaiKorrapati.

ith films like Yevariki Vare YamunaTheere, Vidhi Vilasam, Katha KanchikiManam Intiki and Vesavi 1999, AdithArun has an impressive roster of films forthe remainder of the year. We’ve nowlearnt that the year has just got bigger for

him with another film, which will be a Telugu-Tamilbilingual. It will mark the directorial debut of Noor,while a new producer Madan will pool in resources.

A source close to the development tells us, “Adithhas been discussing this project for over six months.The working title of the Telugu version is Cut Chesthe.As the name suggests it’s set in the backdrop of filmindustry. It’s a comedy entertainer and the makersare calling it a light-hearted version of Jigarthanda.It’s about an assistant director (to be played by Adith)who has no idea about filmmaking but gets a pro-ducer to make a film. There’s a love track that dri-ves his filmmaking ambition. Major portions of thefilm will be shot in Hyderabad while some portionsrequire the unit to visit Chennai.”

The source further adds that the makers havealready initiated talks with Tamil actress PriyaBhavani Shankar to be the film’s leading lady. “Sheagreed to do the film but in the meanwhile, shebagged Manchu Manoj’s Aham Brahmasmi. She toldCut Chesthe makers that she would first shoot for por-tions of Manoj’s film before joining their film. Itremains to be seen how this situation pans out oncethe lockdown is lifted,” the source mentions.

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tollywood

Adith Arungreen-lits a

Telugu-Tamil bilingual

hile his plans to takehis second director-ial, RGV, to floorslast month faileddue to Covid-19outbreak, promi-

nent lyricist-directorJonnavithula Ramalin-geswara Rao has utilised thetime to rope in some notablenames like Suresh, Raasi,Shraddha Das and PunarnaviBhupalam to spearhead theproject. The veteran Suresh, itis believed, will be playing thetitular role.

On the account of SriRamanavami, the lyricist alsorevealed the film’s title logoand announced thatRGV abbreviates toRoju Gille Vadu. “Thefilm is an attempt toshed light on how oneindividual is misdirectingyouth in a wrong pathwith his views,” he said.

Film’s presenterVenkata Srinivas saidthe film will roll onceCoronavirus outbreakis contained.

RGV, it is said, will becovering Ram GopalVarma’s rise, fall, con-tentious statements,and porn viewinghabits among othercontroversies thatdotted the filmmak-er’s career.

Shraddha Das Punarnavi

land roles in a film on RGVand

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Nidhhi turns to baking

ith the entire industry shut due to the outbreakof coronavirus, iSmart Shankar girl NidhhiAgerwal decided to hone her baking skills. TheBengaluru beauty took to her social media pages,where she shared photographs of herself bakinga cake.

“Baked a cake for the first time of course with the expertguidance of @tanveagerwal.... 1. Check whether the battertastes good because we used maple syrup instead of sugar.2. Wait for light bulbs to cook the cake. 3. Some coco pow-der seasoning. 4. Satisfaction. Oh, and we baked the secondone too.. with fresh orange.. let's see how that tastes #stay-home #stayhome #quarantine#cake #healthyfood,” she cap-tioned the image.

Nidhi’s photograph has got over 365K likes on Instagramtill Wednesday evening.

On the work front, she will be next seen in director SrirramAditya’s next with Ashok Galla.

WPooja

not doingSuriya's

next

ince the beginning of this week, speculations havebeen rife about Pooja Hedge giving her in-prin-ciple consent to director Hari for his next withSuriya, thus staging a comeback of sorts in Tamilfilm industry. However, the actress took toTwitter to clear the suspense surrounding her

participation in the film, a family entertainer. “Hello hello.Let’s not jump to conclusions ofme doing Tamil films right now.As of now I haven’t signed any-thing and I have a couple of nar-rations lined up, but I am definite-ly looking forward to doing aTamil film this year...if all goeswell...fingers crossed,” the actressposted.

Pooja made her film debutwith the Tamil action-entertain-er Mugamoodi in 2012 but shefound major success in Telugu cinema where she has superhits like Aravinda Sametha Veeraraghava, GaddalakondaGanesh and Ala Vaikunthapuramlo. She is also a busy artistein Hindi. There has been a clamour from Tamil fans, ask-ing her to do a Tamil film.

SPOOJA TOOK TOTWITTER TOANNOUNCE SHEHASN’T SIGNEDANY TAMILFILM YET

Vijayawada Thursday April 2, 2020

MAJOR PORTIONS OF THE FILMWILL BE SHOT IN HYDERABADWHILE SOME PORTIONS REQUIRETHE UNIT TO VISIT CHENNAI

Raveena was in twominds pulling offRamika Sen

The working title of the Telugu version is Cut Chesthe. It's acomedy entertainer and the makers are calling it a light-hearted version of Jigarthanda, finds NAGARAJ GOUD