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You may follow The Indian Express’s news and analysis through the day on indianexpress.com DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES SINCE 1932 `6.00 (`8 PATNA &RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Constitution STATE OF THE PANDEMIC TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE Bench must Hopeinnumbers:Dailycasesstablefor 170 CASES: RECOVERED:20,37,870 DAYSSINCE 27,67,273 DEATHS:52,889 hear Bhushan PANDEMIC case: ex-SC BEGAN TESTS: 3,17,42,782 | DOUBLING RATE: 28.92** judge Joseph twoweeks,testsshowfewerpositives Newcases rangearound 60,000; R-value at all-timelow NEARFLATGROWTHINNEW OVERALLPOSITIVITYRATE CASESINLASTTWOWEEKS TotalPositive/Total Tested Forthe firsttime since May, fallen to 8.72per cent. KEYSTATES TOTAL SURGEIN 7-DAYAVG DOUBLING AMITABHSINHA the overall positivity rate in the Simultaneously—and not TOWATCH CASES 24HOURS GROWTH* TIME** ‘If justiceis 80000 10 PUNE,AUGUST19 countryhas begun to decline. unrelatedly —there is arelative notdone 70000 Whichmeans,for thesame stagnation in the numbers of ■ Maharashtra 6,15,477 11,119 2.01% 35.90 60000 8 heavens will SIX MONTHS afterthe outbreak number of tests,fewer people newpositive cases being de- ■ Tamil Nadu 3,49,654 5,709 1.80% 40.05 certainly fall’ 50000 of the novelcoronavirus epi- arenow beingfound infected tected everyday.This number CENT ■ Andhra 3,06,261 9,652 3.27% 22.04 40000 6 demic —and over 27 lakh cases with the virus. has been lockedinthe mid- 30000 PER ■ Karnataka 2,40,948 7,665 3.56% 20.22 IN and 52,000 deathslater —sev- The positivity rate touched 60,000sfor almost twoweeks– 20000 4 APURVAVISHWANATH eral indicators have begun to ahighof9per centonAugust muchlonger than it has re- ■ Uttar Pradesh 1,62,434 4,218 3.03% 23.73 NEWDELHI,AUGUST19 10000 suggestthatanimprovement in 9, and has been declining mainedinany other rangeof 0 2 *Compounded Daily Growth Rate over last 7days**Calculatedover7-daygrowth Aug2 Aug18 May1 Aug18 the situation might justberound steadilysince. As of Tuesday quitesome time now. ADAY before the Supreme Court the corner in India. Consider: (August18), positivity had CONTINUEDONPAGE2 CASEFATALITYRATIO POSITIVITYRATE DAILYIN,DAILYOUT hears argumentsonthequantum 7DAYSEARLIER: 7DAYSEARLIER: DETECTED TODAY of punishment to be awardedto advocatePrashant Bhushan for 1.98 8.95 64,531 contempt of court,former SC NOW: NOW: RECOVERED TODAY: judge Justice KurianJoseph on Hotels to 1.91 8.72 60,091 Wednesdaysaid the matter Deaths as aratio of Positives against Becoming sick vs shouldbeheardbyaConstitution positivecases (in%); numbertested recovering; more Benchand calledfor an “intra- reopen in indicator of progress (in%); indicatorof recoveries for 14 days in avertingdeaths the spread of disease may signal the peak court” appeal in the case. Delhi, no nod DataasonAugust18,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth,ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbersinclude “Under Article 145(3) of the datafrompreviousdays.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareindicative,notdefinitive Constitution of India, thereshall be aquorum of minimumfive for gyms yet Judges fordeciding anycasein- volving substantial questions of lawastotheinterpretation of the EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE $2.7bn by 2023, big Constitution. In both the suo NEWDELHI,AUGUST19 motu contempt cases, in viewof the substantial questions of law HOTELSINthe Capital can finally players enter race on the interpretation of the reopen, with the Delhigovern- Constitution of India and having ment and Lt-Governor Anil seriousrepercussions on thefun- Baijal’s office resolving their dif- damental rights, the matters re- ferences on the issue during a for e-pharma pie quiretobeheardbya meeting of the Delhi Disaster Constitution Bench,” he said in a Management Authority (DDMA) statement. on Wednesday. PRANAVMUKUL “A three-Judgebenchofthe Adecision wasalso takento NEWDELHI,AUGUST19 Supreme CourtofIndia has de- delink banquethalls from hos- cidedtohear afew serious ques- pitals and allowweeklymarkets FROMAMAZONto Reliance,major tions on the scope and extent of “on atrialbasis”, officials from players have entered theraceto contempt of court. Certainly, the L-Ghouse said.The Chief scale up, consolidateand corner a Long-termplan thereare moregraverissues, in- Minister’s Office said gyms will shareoftheonlinepharmacymar- volving substantial questions of MUSEUM MAROONED remain shut as of now. ket,which is expected to swell lawastothe interpretation of the “The corona situation in Delhi seven-fold to $2.7 billion by 2023. THE ONLINE pharmacy Constitution of India. Forexam- Manuscripts beingspread out to dryonthe floor of Albert Hall MuseuminJaipurWednesday. As the city sawheavy rain last is much better.The economyof In justthe lastone week,with segmentinIndiafalls ple, whether aperson convicted Friday, waterseepedintothe basementofthe museum,damaging artefactsand files. Rohit Jain Paras REPORTPAGE8 Delhi has to be broughtontrack. Covidnumbersyet to flatten right intothe playbook by the SupremeCourt of India in Forthis, we had proposed open- across the world, the market saw of corporates and tech asuo motu case should getan ing all hotels in Delhi, whichwas twosignificantmergerand ac- giantsplanning along- opportunity foranintra-court rejected by the Centralgovern- quisition deals—RelianceRetail term digital retail strat- appealsince in all other situa- ment. We againrequestedthe picking up majority stake in egy. The sector is follow- tionsofconviction in criminal BUSINESSASUSUAL Sushant case: SC okays CBI probe, Central government,and we are Chennai-based e-pharmacy ing in the footsteps of matters, the convicted person is happythatthe proposal has been Netmeds, and PharmEasy mov- online commerce, which entitledtohaveasecond oppor- BY UNNY approved.Now,all hotels in Delhi ing to merge with smallerrival built astrong presence tunitybyway of an appeal,” said for ‘credible, complete justice’ willopen. At the same time, Medlife. And thelaunchofe- on thebackofdeepdis- JusticeJoseph. weeklymarketswill be allowed commercegiant Amazon’s on- countsbut called for “Under Section 19 of the by Rajput's father,KKSingh, to openonatrial basis. Inthe line drug delivery services. hugeinvestments. Contempt of CourtsAct, 1971,an ANANTHAKRISHNANG Court againstactor RheaChakraborty meantime,everyonemustexer- At thesametime, the Centre intra-courtappeal is provided NEWDELHI,AUGUST19 invoked and her familymembers. cise precautions and followso- announcedthe National Digital wherethe order is passedbythe powers Asingle-judgeBenchof cial distancing,” Chief Minister Health Mission (NDHM), which PaymentsInterface in the online single Judge of theHighCourt, REJECTINGTHE Maharashtra under Justice Hrishikesh Roysaid that Arvind Kejriwalsaid. envisages adigital health ecosys- paymentspace. and, in case it is by the Division government’s objections,the Art142 “if anyother case is registeredon CONTINUEDONPAGE2 temonthe linesofthe Unified CONTINUEDONPAGE2 CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Supreme CourtonWednesday CONTINUEDONPAGE2 accordedapproval to the ongo- BHUSHAN URGES SC ing probebythe CBI intothe tion is the needofthe hour”. death of actor Sushant Singh Earlier this month, the Bihar SC HAS BACKED OUR TO DEFER HEARING Rajput,sayingthata“fair,com- government had recommended DECISION, BIHAR CM ON SENTENCING P8 petent and impartial investiga- aCBI probeintothe case lodged PAGE 8 INSIDE 27% Central school kids Centre pulls up Gujarat HELP US ASSERT RIGHTSNEAR LAC:EX have no phone, laptop over ‘inordinate delay’ LADAKHBJP CHIEF P6 CABINET NOD FOR to access classes: Study in river pollutionworks NATIONAL RECRUITMENT in CBSE-affiliated schools, AGENCY P7 EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE KendriyaVidyalayas(KVs)and HARIKISHANSHARMA NEWDELHI,AUGUST19 Navodaya Vidyalayas(NVs). NEWDELHI,AUGUST19 According to the findings THE WORLD ABOUT27per cent of students sharedby the Education Ministry HIGHLIGHTING THE“inordinate don’t have smartphones and lap- Wednesday, as part of its delay” in completion of projects tops to access online classes ‘StudentsLearning Enhancement to control pollution in tworivers amid the Covid school shut- Guidelines’, about33per cent felt in Gujarat, theUnion JalShakti down. But among those who do, online learning waseither“diffi- Ministryhas pulled up the Vijay Work on Sabarmati stuck mostfind online learning either cult” or“burdensome”. Rupani government. forsix yrs: minister “joyful” or “satisfactory”, al- Significantly,among those While the project on the ShekhawattoCMRupani though mathematics and sci- who areable to access online Sabarmati riveris“yettobecom- ence arethe toughesttolearn, a classes, the survey found that al- pleted” six years afterfunds government survey of students most84per cent rely on smart- were sanctionedin2014, there GajendraSingh Shekhawat DEMOCRATS has found. phones to access online classes. has been “practicallynoprogress pointed out in alettertothe CM OFFICIALLY The survey,conducted by the Laptops, adistant second,are on the ground till date” in the datedAugust4.