Virus Cases Rise, More Airlifts Planned

follow us: march 15, 2020 Coimbatore City Edition thehindu.com 30 pages ț ₹10.00 facebook.com/thehindu twitter.com/the_hindu

BJP leaders meet Lalji Ghulam Nabi Azad Government notiﬁes Truncated IPL Tandon, urge him to meets NC president reconstruction scheme under consideration, conduct ﬂoor test Farooq Abdullah for crisishit Yes Bank says Ganguly page 8 page 8 page 11 page 17

Printed at . Chennai . Coimbatore . Bengaluru . Hyderabad . Madurai . Noida . Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi . Vijayawada . Mangaluru . Tiruchirapalli . Kolkata . Hubballi . Mohali . Malappuram . Mumbai . Tirupati . lucknow . cuttack . patna NEARBY Virus cases rise, more airlifts planned SAARC virtual National tally touches 102, including 31 in Maharashtra; States ramp up measures for social distancing meet today

Special Correspondent NEW DELHI Home Ministry PM to convene videoconference The list of positive coronavi does a Uturn Suhasini Haidar CM lays foundation for rus cases as confirmed by NEW DELHI medical college, hospital the Union Health Ministry The Union Home Ministry Two days after he made the DINDIGUL stood at 84 on Saturday, with on Saturday said it would surprise offer, Prime Minis Chief Minister Edappadi K. two deaths reported so far pay ₹4 lakh in compensation ter Narendra Modi will con Palaniswami on Saturday from Delhi and Karnataka. vene a meeting of SAARC laid the foundation for a to the families of those who government medical college Data from States, however, die of COVID19 and meet leaders on the coronavirus and hospital in Dindigul. put the number of confirmed the treatment cost at rates pandemic over a videocon cases at 102, with Maharash fixed by the States. Within ference on Sunday evening. TAMIL NADU Ī PAGE 4 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD tra reporting 12 new cases. hours, it issued another The conference, which

MAGAZINE Ī 12 PAGES Ten persons have been circular and deleted the will include leaders of seven Ī PAGE 7 CLASSIFIEDS Ī PAGES 15 & 16 discharged and contact trac clause. countries — Afghanistan, Pakistan PM Imran Khan ing of the positive cases has Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, has deputed his special DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD led to identification of more Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka — adviser to the meeting. M.P. floor test than 4,000 contacts who and the special adviser have been put under surveil Spain emerges (Health) to Pakistan Prime of the videoconference, tomorrow lance, Health Ministry offi Minister Imran Khan, Dr. Za which will begin at 5 p.m. Sidharth Yadav cials said. as new hotspot far Mirza, will discuss the IST on Sunday. Bhopal “We currently have a total Safety concerns: Health workers spraying disinfectants in a residential area as Governments around the number of coronavirus cas The conference will come The office of the Madhya number of 84 confirmed cas a precautionary measure in Jammu on Saturday. * AP world ramped up the battle es in the subcontinent, diffe a day ahead of a similar “vir Pradesh Governor an es, including 17 foreigners . against the SARSCoV2 virus rent measures taken to stop tual conference” convened nounced late on Saturday More than 4,000 people passengers from Iran would tain the spread of the dis stitutions till March 31. Pun on Saturday by shutting the spread of the virus, and by France for members of that the floor test to decide who had come in contact land in Mumbai on Saturday ease. Himachal Pradesh and jab has ordered cinema halls borders and promising cash treatment methods. the G7 countries — Canada, the fate of Kamal Nathled with those testing positive midnight. A special Air India and gyms to close down and injections, as Spain emerged France, Germany, Italy, Ja Congress government have been identified,” Spe flight is also being sent to Mi Gujarat has issued an epi as a global hotspot ‘For common good’ pan, the United Kingdom would be held on Monday. cial Secretary, Union Health lan, Italy, to bring back In demic disease notification. registering more than 1,500 “Coming together for com and the United States — The division of votes will Ministry, Sanjeeva Kumar dian students. new infections in just 24 mon good,” tweeted Minis which will be held on be held after the Gover said on Saturday. Several States have West Bengal have an CONTINUED ON Ī PAGE 8 hours. Further, the number try of External Affairs spo Monday. nor’s address. He added that a Mahan Air ramped up measures to en nounced the closure of all VIRUS POSES NEW CHALLENGES of cases worldwide passed kesperson Raveesh Kumar, RELATED REPORT PAGE 8 TO INDIA’S U.S. POLICY PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Ī flight bringing back Indian sure social distancing to con schools and educational in Ī 1,50,000. Ī PAGE 10 making the announcement Ī Centre hikes excise duty on petrol, IT Dept. shocked by Tasmac’s acceptance of banned notes diesel by ₹3 per litre Dismisses State undertaking’s explanation of law and order as reason for accepting invalid notes Mohamed Imranullah S. ₹2.66 crore in other tion how the State ty like liquor against invalid No change in retail price; govt. to earn ₹39,000 crore CHENNAI denominations. undertaking, managed by an bank notes,” the IT depart The Income Tax Department Subsequently, Tasmac IAS officer, would collect de ment order said. Press Trust of India has expressed shock at the had collected ₹3,490.21 monetised currency in con Refusing to believe that il NEW DELHI Tamil Nadu State Marketing crore between November 10 travention of the order of the legal transactions could have The government on Saturday Corporation (Tasmac) hav and December 30, 2016, and Government of India,” the been carried out by a State increased the excise duty on ing accepted demonetised the collections were deposit IT department said in an As entity and since Tasmac did petrol and diesel by ₹3 a litre currency notes worth ₹57.29 ed in bank accounts on a dai sessment Order passed on not provide branchwise de each to garner ₹39,000 crore crore from customers bet ly basis. Records showed December 30, 2019, and ac tails of deposited demone in additional revenue, as it ween November 9 and De that the Corporation had de cessed by The Hindu. tised notes, the IT depart repeated its 201415 act of cember 30, 2016, in contra posited about ₹140 crore in “Though assessee claimed ment said the transactions not passing on to customers vention of the The IT Department has demonetised notes during that it accepted SBN from using demonetised notes the gains from the slump in demonetisation announce sought tax for ₹57.29 crore the entire demonetisation customers due to law and or should be treated as “unex international oil prices. ment made by the Prime Mi in unexplained investment. period. After deducting the der problems, the assessee plained investment,” for The retail prices of petrol nister on November 8, 2016. initial ₹81.57 crore , the ba has failed to produce any evi 201718. and diesel will not be impact After scrutinising the Cor November 9, 2016. Of that lance worked out to ₹57.29 dence from Government of Besides demanding tax ed by the increase as the poration’s IT returns for the balance, ₹81.57 crore was in crore. Tamil Nadu or the police evi for the unexplained invest stateowned oil firms adjust year 201617, the department Specified Bank Notes (SBN or “The assessee is a govern dencing any law and order ment of ₹57.29 crore, the de ed them against the recent the special excise duty on pe sen to ₹22.98 a litre and on found that it had an opening demonetised currency notes mentowned State undertak issue that constrained [it] to partment ordered proceed fall in oil prices and the likely trol was increased by ₹2 to ₹8 diesel to ₹18.83. The tax on balance of ₹84.23 crore as on of ₹500 and ₹1,000) and ing and it is beyond imagina sell nonessential commodi ings against Tasmac. trend in the near future, offi a litre and on diesel from ₹2 petrol was ₹9.48 and on die cials said. to ₹4 a litre. Road cess was sel ₹3.56 when the BJP en According to a notification raised by ₹1 a litre each to tered office in 2014. On the glitches in the GST deadline sought by Infosys from the Central Board of In ₹10. The total incidence of GST on mobile phones hiked to 18% Network (GSTN), built and chairman Nandan Nilekani. direct Taxes and Customs, excise duty on petrol has ri CONTINUED ON Ī PAGE 8 managed by Infosys, she He also made a presentation Special Correspondent ing to increase the rate on was taken to correct the in said the company was given and the Council asked him NEW DELHI mobile phones and specific verted structure of duty on a deadline of July 31, 2020, to attend the next three Mobile phones are likely to parts to 18% from the cur some products, wherein the to implement the initiatives meetings and update it of get costlier, with the Goods rent 12%, from April 1. rate of tax paid on inputs is discussed for the smooth the status of upgrade. and Services Tax (GST) Finance Minister Nirmala more than the rate of tax on running of the system, in Council on Saturday decid Sitharaman said the decision finished products. stead of the January, 2021 CONTINUED ON Ī PAGE 8

SCs, OBCs fear losing beneﬁts under new scholarship plan Centre likely to put new scheme in place in a few months

T. RAMAKRISHNAN “liberal financial assistance” CHENNAI of the State government, The Central government’s said M. Bharathan, State proposal to scrap scholar convener of the Amebdkar ship schemes catering exclu Kalvi Nutrandu Iyakkam. “If sively to students belonging it is going to get merged with to communities such as the proposed scheme, it is Scheduled Castes (SC) and our apprehension that this Other Backward Classes may restrict the number of (OBC) and club them into beneficiaries drastically,” he one has drawn criticism added. from activists in Tamil Nadu. The number of beneficiar To be called Pradhan ies under the postmatric Mantri Young Achievers scheme in T.N. has gone up Scholarship Award Scheme to such an extent that the for Vibrant India (PMYASAS State government is bearing VI), the new arrangement is most of the scheme’s bur expected to be in place in a den, though it is a Central few months. Last month, the scheme. For example, in Union Ministry of Social Jus 201819, the share of the tice and Empowerment held State government was discussions with senior offi around ₹1,526 crore while cials from various States. that of the Union govern The main objection of ment was ₹384 crore. One of critics to the Centre’s initia the reasons being advanced tive is the reduced coverage by the Centre for the launch that the new scheme is likely of the new scheme is that the to achieve. share of the Centre has been The existing postmatric reduced to less than 10% ulation scholarship scheme which, according to a docu for SC students, whose ori ment of the Union govern gins can be traced to the ef ment, has led to the old forts of B.R. Ambedkar, in scheme losing its “character the mid1940s, has become a of a national scheme”. “big hit” in the last seven or eight years, mainly due to CONTINUED ON Ī PAGE 4

CM A CB-CBE YK