JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SINCE 1932

Dear friends & fellow members,

Government/Municipal Hospitals, a lot of members have come forward. the below mentioned Government/Municipal Hospitals on one hand & their empanelled vendors on the other to ensure that the right & much needed equipment & consumables were delivered to these hospitals. List of hospitals facilitated by the Chamber: Hospital Type Description (* in process) Cost/Value B.Y.L. Nair Hospital Consumable *3 Ply Surgical Mask `12.8 lakhs PPE kits Equipment *ICU Beds JJ Hospital Consumable 3 Ply Surgical Mask & Face Shields `17.1 lakhs Sanitizer Equipment Mobile Digital X-ray Kasturba Hospital Consumable 3 Ply Surgical Mask & Face Shields `15.4 lakhs Sanitizer Equipment Auto Bio Chemistry Analyzer *Coagulometer KEM Hospital Consumable PPE kits `2.8 lakhs Sion Hospital Consumable PPE kits `2.8 lakhs NMMC Vashi Hospital Consumable 3 Ply Surgical Mask & Face Shields `10.9 lakhs PPE kits Sanitizer Equipment *Video Laryngoscope Total ` Lakhs (approx.) `61.8 lakhs

As the COVID-19 cases are only increasing, we would once again request our esteemed members to continue contributing in every possible way. NEFT Details: : Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bank Name : State Bank of India Bank Address : Horniman Circle, Mumbai Main Branch, Mumbai Samachar Marg,Fort Account Type : Current Account Account No. : 10996680930 IFSC Code : SBIN0000300 In order to continue serving our members, Bombay Chamber has been regularly uploading its website with information on

Government/other Regulatory Authorities on COVID-19, including relating to employment. On behalf of the Bombay Chamber team, I wish you and your families a stay safe during the lock-in. Warm Regards, V. S. Parthasarathy President-Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry President-Mobility Service Sector, Mahindra Group & Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD,CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA,LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018-20RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 12 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

The`20lakhcrpie MIGRANTS FARMERS STREETVENDORS Maharashtra govt may Migrantswho arebeneficiaries To provide concessional credit Scheme foreasy access to `5.94LakhCr `3.1LakhCr of neither National Food to farmersthrough Kisan Credit credit forstreetvendors within extendlockdown in Announced Announced Security Act, or StateCard Cards. Small and marginal amonth. With initial working Wednesday Thursday wheretheyare stationed, will farmers to be extendedfunds capital of up to Rs 10,000,gov- get5kg of grains each and 1kg from NABARD, state and dis- ernment plans to incentivise Mumbai,Pune till May 31 chana per familyper month for trict cooperative banks,aswell digital repaymentsaswell as twomonths. States will implement scheme. as regional rural banks. regular repayment. VISHWASWAGHMODE INSIDE IMPACT: About 8crmigrantswho require IMPACT: To benefit around2.5 cr big IMPACT: Around 50 lakh street vendors MUMBAI,MAY14 foodgrain assistance areexpectedtobenefit farmers, and nearly 3crsmall farmers likelytogain easyaccess to credit IN Ameeting with his senior Cabinetcolleagues on Thursday, `9.74LakhCr `1.22LakhCr `3,500cr `2.36 lakhcr `5,000 cr MaharashtraChief Minister Announcedearlier TobeAnnounced to be spent for2months to be spent in total to be spent on the scheme UddhavThackeraydiscussed ex- tending the lockdown in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and cities likePune, COVID ECONOMIC PACKAGE: DAY 2 Malegaon and Aurangabad till FIRSTSPECIAL TRAIN May31. He also asked the state FROM DELHI administration to submitare- REACHES MUMBAI portonwhat activities can be al- CENTRAL lowedoutside containment Govtsafetynetformigrantworkersand zonesincities that fall in the red REFUSED ADMISSION zone. FIVE TIMES BY Uddhavchaired the meeting HOSPITAL,MAN DIES to discuss the wayahead after PAGES 4, 5 May17, whenthe current na- poorhasalittlefornow,moreforlater tionwide lockdown ends. The meeting wasattendedby bungalowinDadar. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Maintaining that the lock- Free foodgrainsto Pawar, WaterResources Minister down would be extendedin credit forstreet Jayant Patil, Revenue Minister these areas, asenior minister Balasaheb Thorat, Industries said: “Wediscussedwhat relax- vendors:OfRs MinisterSubhash Desai and ationscan be givenand what UrbanDevelopment Minister measures should be takeninred 3.10 lakhcrore, EknathShinde at Old Mayor CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Centre’s outflow Rs 5000cr TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE LOCKDOWN DAY CASES: RECOVERED:26,234 |DEATHS:2,549 AANCHALMAGAZINE& TESTS:1,947,041 | DOUBLINGRATE:12.65** ANILSASI 51 78,003 NEWDELHI,MAY14

THERE WASanexpectationthat apackage aimedatmigrant workers, farmers and street ven- dors would strive to offerimme- diaterelief given that they have borne the brunt of the lockdown- KEYSTATES TOTAL SURGEIN 7-DAYAVG. DOUBLING related distress forover50days TOWATCH CASES 24HRS GROWTH* RATE** now. But morethan half the nine ■ Maharashtra 25,922 1,495 6.43% 11.20 major proposals announced by Gujarat 9,268 364 4.91% 14.66 Union Finance MinisterNirmala ■ Sitharaman on Thursday have a ■ Delhi 8,470 472 5.10% 14.12 longer-term horizon. ■ Tamil Nadu 9,227 509 9.69% 7.43 Besides, the secondleg of the ■ Rajasthan 4,222 201 3.93% 18.33 relief packagecontinues with the basic design of leveraging large ■ West Bengal 2,290 117 6.68% 10.77 stimulus with minimal fiscalcost *Compounded Daily Growth Rate over last 7days**Calculated over 7-daygrowth —ofthe totalliquidity infusion of 4AM, THURSDAY Amigrant familyontheirway hometoUP, outside the Mayur Vihar MetroStation in Delhi. Gajendra Yadav Rs 3.10 lakh crore,the likely out- CONCERN CAUTION AGLIMMER flowfromthe Centre’s exchequer ODISHA: 180 BIHAR: Numbers PUNJAB: Just cases aweek ago still less than ten new cases is onlyaboutRs5,000 crore. No cash in hand for migrants, Rs 3-lakh-cr relief package to 611, Odisha has 1000, but Wednesday, daily Thursday’s measures fo- BUSINESSASUSUAL fastest doubling doubling in less rise on adecline cusedonthe poorer segmentsof time —3.77 days than nine days for the last 3days societyincluding migrant labour, BY UNNY govt falls back on existing for MSMEs butGovts, pvt small and marginal farmers and Based on daily data releasedbyUnionMinistry of Health and Family Welfare, urban poor,seemsskewedmore schemes: MNREGS, PDS firms owethem more IndianCouncil of MedicalResearch and state governments towardsthe long-term. Forinstance, the affordable lostwages over 50 days of the rental housing scheme under HARIKISHANSHARMA lockdown. AANCHALMAGAZINE& MAY5TOMAY 13 Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana NEWDELHI,MAY14 Theone changeseems to be ANILSASI ‘(Dues) will formigrant workers and urban the government’s offertobear NEWDELHI,MAY14 be more poor will likelybeimplemented THE SECOND tranche of the eco- the financial burden of food- than Rs 5 Next challenge for Odisha onlyoveralongertime frame. nomic packageannouncedby grains fortwo months to mi- THE FIRSTtranche of the Centre’s lakh crore’ Similarly,the portable ration the government on Thursdayre- grantswho arenot coveredei- relief packagemay have been and Bihar: Virus coming delivery system is scheduledto lies upon twoexisting mecha- ther under the National Food targeted at the country’s micro, be completedonlybyMarch nisms, the MNREGS and PDS, to Security Act(NFSA), 2013,orstate small and mediumenterprises mentstounitsinthe MSME sec- next year.The credit facility for offerwagelabour and free food- government schemes.Announ- (MSMEs), but muchofthe work- tor, as on March 31,2020, was home with migrants street vendors and the extension grains to migrant labourers re- cing the scheme, Finance ing capital-related distress faced pegged at upwards of Rs 4.95 of the credit-linked subsidy turning from urban areas to vil- MinisterNirmala Sitharaman by these unitscan be tracedback lakh crore, according to govern- scheme middle class (Rs 6-18 PACKAGE UNWRAPPED lages. said their number is estimatedto to one major source —the gov- ment estimates accessedbyThe SANTOSHSINGH& CASESAMONG lakh annual income) arealso PAGES 3, 7 However, therewas no cash be around eightcrore. ernmentmachinery. IndianExpress. KAUNAINSHERIFFM MIGRANTS CONTINUEDONPAGE2 relief forthe labourers,who have CONTINUEDONPAGE2 The total outstanding pay- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 PATNA,NEWDELHIMAY14 TOTAL: 320 positive FROM BIHAR to Odisha, cases out of 4,275 samples (May4-May13) Uddhav, eight otherselected India in talks with nations South Telangana to Karnataka, the re- turn of migrants,expected to Number testing positive Block’s pickuppace as the lockdown among Bihar migrants pushing for Taiwan at WHO dilemma eases, is bringing the coronavirus from: unopposed to Legislative Council home, too, posing afresh chal- lengetostates fightingtocontain DELHI: 76 out of 365 meet, China sends reminder samples Shashikant Shinde and Amol INDIA HAS agrowing the pandemic. EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE Mitkari; Congress’ Rajesh Health Assembly(WHA) as an relationship with Of the 4,275 samples col- MAHARASHTRA: 68 MUMBAI,MAY14 Rathod and BJP’s Gopichand SHUBHAJITROY observer. Taiwan but amuch lected in Bihar from among mi- out of 506samples Uddhav Padalkar,Pravin Datke, NEWDELHI,MAY14 Four of these sevencountries largerrelationship with grantswho returnedonboard GUJARAT: 88 out of MAHARASHTRA CHIEF Minister Thackeray Ranjitsinh MohitePatil and —US, Japan, Australia, New China. Committed to the Shramik specialtrains between 1,066 samples UddhavThackeray and eight Ramesh Karad. FOREIGN SECRETARYHarsh Zealand—are signatories to a One-China policy,New May4and May13, 320have WESTBENGAL: 11 out others were on Thursdayelected While 14 nominationswere Vardhan Shringla has partici- demarche, urging the World Delhihas high stakes in tested Covidpositive —7.5 per of 101samples unopposedasmembers of the withdrawthe nominations. filedfor the nine seats, two pated in at leastseven group Health Organisation (WHO) to itsties with Beijing. The cent. This is wayabove theposi- stateLegislative Council. Later in the night,anotification candidates eachfromBJP and phone calls with counterparts in allowTaiwan to be admitted as pandemiccrisis pres- tivity rate forthe state, whichis HARYANA: 10 out of 172 Officials from the Chief wasissuedabout their election, NCPwithdrew while one inde- the US, Australia,Japan, New an observer because itsinput entsanopportunity to justabout 2.75 per cent. Bihar samples Electoral Officer said as onlynine said an official. pendentcandidate’s nomination Zealand, South Korea, Vietnam will be “meaningful and impor- leverageits positionon has so farconducted about nominations were receivedfor The candidates, who were wasrejected duringscrutiny. since March 20 —once every tant.” Other signatories to this Taipei vis-a-vis Beijing, 35,000 tests, of which953 are the nine seats, all candidates elected unopposed, included Sourcessaid that Uddhav and week —asthe international demarcheare Canada, France, but that’s acall South positive. ing concernsinBihar whichisa were elected unopposed. ShivSena’s UddhavThackeray eight others arelikelytotake communitydebates whether to Germany, the UK. Blockhas to take. The high positivity rate primarydestination statefor Thursdaywas the last dayto and Neelam Gorhe; NCP’s CONTINUEDONPAGE2 letTaiwan attend the World CONTINUEDONPAGE2 amongmigrant workers is rais- CONTINUEDONPAGE2

THE EDITORIAL PAGE PAGE 1 MSMEsNEEDMORE ANCHOR In an orangezone,factories stir to lifewith staggered shifts PUSHFROMGOVT BY NEELKANTH MISHRA TEST MaharashtraIndustrial Develop- Manish said. Mostmajor facili- Nagesaid. PAGE 8 KAVITHAIYER ment Corporation(MIDC) lay- ties in Roha have arranged quar- Roha itself has zeroCovid ROHA(RAIGAD),MAY14 REP RTS out, alongwith twootheryoung antine spaces forthose return- cases until now, but Mangaon FROM THE men who toohavejustreturned. ing to work right now. nearbyhas one positive case and ABUSYmarketplace and ashort But before theyjoin work -the Medical Officer Dr Rohan so,screeningand quarantining queue of about six men outside FIELD threeare employedasfiremen Nage at the Ambewadi PHC has- measures arestrictlyenforced. the town’s solitarywine shop TRACKINGTHEVIRUS, at aunit manufacturingActive n’t returnedtohis home in Everyquarantinecandidate is markthe entrancetoRoha, an in- Pharmaceutical Ingredients Panvel since March 23, and has screened, stampedand asked to dustrialtowninMaharashtra’s LOCKDOWN (API) -theywill have to clear a remained on call for24hours return to the PHC after14days Raigad district, an ‘orangezone’ 28-dayquarantine period. Today, everyday. foranother round of clinical ex- ` 125 per kilo whereithas been about 10 days Roha, where thechemicalfacto- the three areinthe queue to get “Nearly 900people have amination, afterwhichanother nowsince mosttowns were able ries employover1lakh people. their hands stampedfor home come in the pastfew weeksto 14 days of quarantineisrecom- to open shops and businesses. “We’vebeencalledbackto quarantine as theyhaveentered getscreenedfor quarantine - mended, according to Dr Nage. ` 153 per kilo The queueoutside the local work -weare essential services the town from elsewhere. manyofthese would be people “GramPanchayatrepresenta- public health center (PHC) is at our factory,”said Manish Patil, “Wewerehereuntil March who have returnedhome from tives help our medical staff in ` 191 per kilo muchlonger than those at any a24-year-old from Nandgaon 23, and when the lockdown was Mumbai or other cities where keeping an eyeonevery one store, and it’snot unwell people villageinMurud,who isstand- announced, we decidedtore- theywork, and therewould also who is quarantined.” ` 46per Dozen in the queue. Manymen have re- ing outside the Ambewadi PHC, turn to our villages. Nowwe’ve StaffatSudarshan Chemicals in Roha. Nirmal Harindran be alarge numberwho arere- The very slowrestarting of turnedfromvillages nearbyto about 10 km from Roha’s been calledbacktowork,” turning to Roha to work here,” Dr CONTINUEDONPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 2 THE SECOND PAGE THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020

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■ CUSTOMIZABLE TheeldestsonofthecelebratedMarathaemperor,ChhatrapatiShivaji,Sambhajiwasthesecondrulerofthe Whyhas AarogyaSetu NEWS EXPERIENCE kingdomafterhisfather’sdeath.Inhisshortrulespanningnineyears,Sambhajigainedrecognitionforhis

WEB valourandpatriotism raisedlegal and privacy Indian Express EXCLUSIVE ★★★★★■4.6 concerns? CORONAVIRUS VIDEOOFTHEDAY NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY COPS REMEMBERTHE WALKING FROM Since it waslaunchedlastmonth, the FORGOTTEN MUMBAI TO AYODHYA AarogyaSetuhas raisedseveralconcerns. Police near Kolkataare Three elderly migrants Notonlyabout privacy,but also about the SCANTHISQRCODETO helping dailywagers were walking from legality of making it mandatory DOWNLOADTHEAPP and the homeless Mumbai to UP FROMPAGEONE Relief package blingtimeof caseswellbelowthe the US leads agroup of powerful the China-ledShanghai national averageof12.65 days. countries —all members of the CooperationOrganisation this for MSMEs Next door,Odisha wasone of UNSecurityCouncilexceptRussia week,participating in ameeting the firststatestohavereporteda Govt safetynet for migrants —tosupportTaiwan’s claim. of SCOForeign Ministers on Sources indicated that over surge in the number of migrant The WHO will meetonMay Wednesday. halfthisamount can be attrib- labourersturning positive on ar- viewedasmeasures which limitation of the incomplete Statistician of India. capital of onlyabout Rs 10,000 18 to discuss the COVID-19pan- uted to pendingpayments by rivalwith Ganjam district being would take time to be imple- value chain backedbyinfra- Exclusionofbeneficiaries per street vendor foramonth. demicand will hold avotetode- Mumbai, Pune Central government ministries the hotspotreporting as many mented and unlikelytopro- structure, including availabil- from PDS distribution could Analysts said street vendors termine whether to grant ob- zones or hotspotareas suchas and departments, stategovern- 249casesinthe10 days sinceMay videany relief in the immedi- ity of point of sale systems at possiblybeavoidedbysus- couldhavebeen better served server statustoTaiwan at the Mumbai,Pune,Thane,Malegoan mentsand public sector units un- 5. atecrisis being facedby PDS shops, and states coming pending the ration cardsystem with cash transfers. “The street WHA,its decision-makingbody. andAurangabad.We allagreedto der the Centreand state Overthesameperiod,Andhra workers. on board. Hence,this is un- fornow and instead relying on vendors will be farmoredisap- India, whichhas traditionally extend the lockdown in thesear- governments. Pradeshhasatotalof 105positive The announcement of free likelytoaddress the immedi- Aadhaar fordistribution of pointed than themigrant stucktoaOne-China policy —in eas till May31, as saving the lives On Wednesday,announcing cases importedfromoutside the foodgrain supply(5kgof ateissues being facedbytran- food grains, Sen said. workers since theyare justget- short, it considers Taiwan apart of the people is the priority.” the Rs 3-lakh-crore credit guar- state-this is 12.20percent of the grains and 1kgchana per per- siting and distressedmigrant The proposal regarding the ting ‘easy access to credit facil- of China —has notyet takena Lastweek,inameeting with antee forMSMEs, Finance state’s active cases. Of the 105, 67 son) fortwo months to 8crore workers. rollout of affordable rental ity’ andthattoo only‘within a stand, but has been in conversa- all party leaders,Uddhav had in- MinisterNirmala Sitharaman arefromMaharashtra, 26 are migrant workers without ara- Experts saidgiven the am- housingunder PMAYbyin- month’... Should theynot have tionwith someof Taiwan’sadvo- dicatedthatthelockdownmaybe had said that the Centreand fromGujarat,10 fromOdishaand tion card and outsidethe ambit biguity about differentiating volving the private industryvia been givencredibleforms of cates as well. extendeduntil Mayend to pre- Central PSUs would clear pend- one eachfromWestBengal and of National Food Security Act between non-cardholders and private public partnership on income supportgiven theydid These talkscome at atime vent the spread of Covid-19. He ing MSME dues in 45 days. Karnataka. wasexpected to provide some cardholdersunderthe ‘One government landisalso un- notand could notsell their when tensions have been rekin- had also spoken in favour of ex- The onlyavailable official es- On Wednesday,the state relief to migrant workers. Nation, One Ration Card’ pro- likelytodeliver benefitsto waressince March 26? Why dledontheLine of Actual Control tendingthe lockdown duringa timateisonthe MSME healthdepartment spelledout But experts said this entails posal, aworkercouldpossibly quell the short-term distress could notthe government followingclashesbetweenIndian video conference withPrime Samadhaan website, an online details of 930 migrant workers, resolving complicated logisti- take ration from one shop and that is playing out. think of instant direct benefit and Chinese troops in Pangong MinisterNarendra Modi on delayedpayment monitoring whoreturnedtoKurnool on a cal issues. Since everypublic then identify himself or herself “It is notgoing to happen transfer to strandedmigrants Tso, alakeineastern Ladakh, and Monday. systemforsettlementof disputes special train from Thane, distribution shop has afixed as anon-cardholderinanother soon. Also, details about the and the five million street ven- Naku La, ahigh mountain passin Anotherministersaidtheyall on filing of delayedpaymentsby Maharashtra: of the250 among number of registrantsbasedon shop. PPP modalities wasnot elabo- dors and free ration forthe lat- Sikkim. suggestedhow economic activi- affectedMSMEs, whichhas listed them who were tested,38were whichthe stockoffoodgrains “One of the major issues ratedtodayand needs to be teriftheyhavenot availeditfor Ontheweeklyphoneconver- ties can be resumed. “I said that out payment claims of Rs 40,720 positive-allworkedinafishmar- is suppliedtothe shop, allow- would be howtoidentify mi- lookedat,” said Partha want of ration cardunder the sations among the sevencoun- we have givenpermission to croreasonMay 14,afraction of ket in Mumbai. ing accessibilitytonon-card- grant workers and non-mi- Chatterjee, Professor and Head Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan tries, the MinistryofExternal 68,000industrialunitstillyester- the total dues. SinceMay 5until yesterday, holders mayresult in shortage grant workers if the uniform of the EconomicsDepartment, Yojana? Whyisthe govern- Affairs said the idea is “toshare dayandaround47,000unitshave Of this, 11.6 per cent or Rs Karnataka has reported 96 cases of supplies at theseoutlets. ration cardapplicability takes ShivNadar University. ment nottalking of DBT of a ideas and best practices among startedtheiroperations,employ- 4,738 croreare claims of dues from outsidethe state-this is The other proposal of ‘One place across the country. The The provision forconces- fixedamount of sayRs5,000 thesecountriesintheIndo-Pacific ing 9.5lakhlabourers. This is the from the Central government. 20.25percentof thestate’sactive Nation OneRation Card’, first administration willface issues sionalRs2lakhcrore credit to whichwill, infact, go backto region forresponding to the statusoftheindustrialunitsinor- Totalmutuallysettledapplica- cases. Of these, 48 arefrom announcedbyFood Minister about howmuchstock of food- be providedto2.5 crorefarm- the business in the form of pur- unique and complexchallenges angeand greenzones. Industrial tions were at 3524,with the set- Ahmedabad, 29 from Ajmer,16 RamVilas Paswan in Julylast grain supplies to send to which ers,including fishermen, is also chases and then possiblytothe presented by theCOVID-19 pan- operationsare increasingandwill tledamountatRs288.54crore, arefromMumbai, twofrom year and then targeted for shop, giventhat everyshop has contingent on newKisan Cards government,atleastapartof demic”. graduallyreachnormal propor- as on Thursday. However, this Odisha and one from Chennai. completion in June 2020, is afixed quota, whichthen could being handedout. it, as tax?” said KRShyam Among the discussion points tions,” Industries Minister does notreflectactual govern- However, forthe state, it is the seen as asystemofconsider- turn intoamajor logistical Credit facility of Rs 5,000 Sundar,labour economistand is “coordinated response andas- Subhash Desai told The Indian ment dues owing to areluctance spreadof thecaseswithtravelhis- able utility to migrants. problem,”said Pronab Sen, crorefor 50 lakhstreetvendors Professor of Human Resources sistance in the immediateneigh- Express. among MSME unit owners to tory from outside the state, that But this toosuffers from the economistand former Chief will translateintoaworking Management at XLRI. bourhood; and workingwith He addedthat it wasdis- wrangle with the government willbeabiggerworryforcontain- eachother in the multilateral cussedwhether anyactivity can over pendingpaymentsasthis ment. The 96 cases arenow fora,” the MEA said. be allowedoutside the contain- mayhaveanegative impact on spread across 14 districts. “Theyhaveunderlinedthe mentzonesinredzones.“Thead- fresh order flows. Over the lastone week, Govt falls back on existing schemes needfor anew templateofglob- ministrationhas been instructed “The exactdata(on MSME Telangana has reported 35 posi- alizationandforinternationalin- to submit areport on what activ- dues) is notavailable. It(the data) tive caseof migrantswhichis8.88 As per the announcement, nouncedfor migrant labourers have no cards arestaying in portability by March 2021. All stitutionsto reflectcontemporary itiescanbeallowed.We willmeet is coming from stategovern- per cent of all active cases of the migrantswho don’t have ra- on Thursday. In that respect, it camps run either by the gov- the statesand Union territories realities,” it said. in aday or twoafter the reportis mentsand major industries and state. tion cards will get5kg of is notanadditionalbenefit as ernment or NGOs. Therefore, will complete full automation An official source said adeci- submitted,” said Desai. other agencies...Itwill be more In Bihar,ananalysis of the wheat or rice per personand 1 the labourers alwayshad the based on arough assessment by March 2021.” sion will be taken“dependingon The ministerfurther said that thanRs5lakhcrore,”Ministerfor sampleswere takenfromreturn- kg of pulses per familyfor May option of taking up work un- giventous by allthe stategov- Consumer Affairs,Food and howthe formal agendaevolves”. some activities can be allowed MSMEs and road transportand ingmigrantsshows that as many and June each, with the cost der the scheme -whichisde- ernments, we think thereare Public Distribution Minister “Wecan’t sayanything moreat outsidecontainmentzonesasde- highwaysNitinGadkarisaidin an as 76 of the 365 from Delhi were working out to around Rs mand-driven—intheir vil- about eight croremigrants RamVilas Paswan said, “States thispoint.Adecisionwillbetaken spite being in the redzone, per- interviewtoCNBCTV18 positive;68of506 from 3,500crore. lages. Notedeconomists and who willbenefitthrough this will be providedfoodgrains to closerto thedate,”thesourcesaid. mission had been givenfor re- Thursday. Maharashtra; 88 of 1,066 from While this is partofPrime opposition leaders have been free foodgrains supply.” distributetomigrantsfreeof On May7,Geneva-basedam- sumption of activities at SEEPZ,a Industryestimates areeven Gujarat;11of101 from West MinisterNarendraModi’s Rs askingthe governmentfor a She said the stategovern- cost. The listofbeneficiaries bassadorsfromeightcountries— specialeconomic zone, and at higher.“ManyCentral, stategov- Bengal and 10 of 172from 20 lakh crorepackagean- one-time cash transfer to vul- mentswould be the“imple- willbetaken up later so that US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, BKC's diamondmarketin ernments, PSUs, corporates owe Haryana. nouncedonWednesdaytotide nerable sections likemigrant menting agencies”,takingcare the distribution starts imme- Canada,Australia,New Zealand— Mumbai. almostRs5.5 lakh croreto As in Karnataka, these cases over the Covid-19crisis, the labourers. of both identifying the migrant diately.” issued ajoint demarchetothe Another ministersaid that MSMEsand almost30per cent of have nowspread across over 30 UnionFood Ministry in fact has Whether Thursday’s an- labourers and distributing food Talking about howthe MN- WHO,pushingforTaiwan’sinclu- the consensus at the meeting it aredue over 120days, 45 per districtsinthe stateincluding been offering additional food- nouncementswill instead help to them. REGS wassupporting migrant sion in the WHA.Led by wasfor granting some relax- cent arebetween 60 to 120days Begusarai, Nalanda, Munger, grains to states forthose with- stem their flowout of the city Sitharaman also an- workers who had returnedto WashingtonandTokyo,thegroup ations from May18, as the re- and rest below60days.Were- Bhagalpur and Patna as the top out arationcardfromthe first remains doubtful, giventhat nouncedthe rollout of the ‘One villages, the Finance Minister includes six of the world’s 10 sumptionofeconomic activities questthe Finance Ministerto five districts. phase of thelockdown, start- the migrant labourers have Nation, One Ration Card’ proj- said the government had man- largest economies and four of is also important along with consider settling the dues with Speakingto TheIndianExpress, ing end-March. been leaving forvillages de- ect. But this is still under works, aged to generateabout14.6 China’s toptrading partners. fighting Covid-19 crisis. “But we interestsothat it will applypres- BiharPrincipal Health Secretary In another announcement, spitethe MNREGS and PDS be- and anationwide integration croreperson-days of work and These countries have made will wait forthe Union govern- suretopay as soon as possible,” SanjayKumar said: “There is still onApril 7, theCentrehad told ingalready in place. is notlikelybeforeMarch next offeredworkto2.33crore out acase forTaipei’s admission: ment’sguidelines before taking said KERaghunathan, former notaproblem with our home states that theycould avail ad- Earlier,onMarch 26, the year.While the Centrehad wage-seekers till May13. Taiwan has managed to control acall,” said the minister, adding National President of All India population as we collected less ditional foodgrains through Centrehad announced5kg hopedtoroll out the project by She said wagesunder the the pandemic in an exemplary that increasing revenue genera- Manufacturers Organisation. than4,000samplesafterdoor-to- the Food Corporation of India’s free foodgrains per individual June 1this year,only17states scheme have been raisedtoa manner despitebeing in close tion wasalso discussed. In September lastyear,then doorscreeningof10.40crore.Our openmarketsales fornon-ra- and1kg pulses per familyun- and UTshavecome on board national averageofRs202 per proximity to mainlandChina. ExpenditureSecretaryGC challengeistosaveour home tion cardholders. der the Pradhan MantriGarib so far. dayagainstRs182 per dayin Accordingto datacompiledby Uddhav elected Murmu had said that of the out- population from getting infected Additionally, in the third KalyanAnna Yojana forexist- Sitharaman said, “By the lastfinancial year,and Rs JohnsHopkinsUniversity, there oath as members of the standing non-litigated MSME from migrantscoming to Bihar week of April, the Rural ing beneficiaries of the NFSA. August2020, 67 crorebenefi- 10,000 crorespent overall till have been only440 casesand 7 Legislative Council on Monday. duesofRs60,000crore, payment since the lastweek of April”. Development Ministryhad re- The Finance Ministersaid, ciaries in 23 states, or 83%of dateinthe current financial deathsinTaiwan. In contrast, “The oath-taking ceremonywill of Rs 40,000 crorehad been Asked if their early return - leasedtostatesfunds required “Weare engaging with state the PDS population, will get year.Incidentally, this revision China, whichfirstreported the be held on Mondayat1pmin cleared. duringthe firstlockdown — forthe firstthree monthsofthe governmentstomakesure coveredbyOne Nation One in MNREGS wageswas notified pandemic,has seen84,000cases the central hall of thestate legis- MSMEs,whichmakeupfor would have helped, Kumar said: fiscal towardsthe MNREGS - theyknowwhere these mi- Ration Cardand we’resureof on March 23,adaybeforethe andabout 4,600deaths. lature,” said aminister,adding about45percentof the country’s “Ifs and butshavenomeaning the second half of therelief an- grantsare.Mostofthosewho 100% coverageofnational firstphase of the lockdown. Taiwan attendedthe World that afew people would attend total manufacturing output, 40 now. We have to increaseourtest- Health Assemblyasanon-voting the ceremony. per centof exports,almost30per ingcapacitytoscreenallsuspects. observer from 2009 to 2016.But Uddhav,who wassworn in as cent of the national GDP and op- We have requestedICMR to in- immediateand visibleimpact in motorists would like. restartbusiness-the lockdown from social distancing and stag- ChinascuttledTaiwan’spresence chief ministeronNovember 28, erateacrossthe value chain. They crease our testing capacity from the towns of Raigad -thereare Inthetownsof Wadkhal,Pen, and the shutdown of hotels and geredtimings in the canteen to afterTsai Ing-wen, who chal- 2019,had to become amember employanestimated 11 crore current 2,000 plus to 8,600per customers at garages, hardware Jiteand Roha, women from restaurantshaveaffected thede- twice-a-dayscreeningofevery lenged China,was elected of thelegislaturebyMay 27.Else, persons, arestresseddue to de- day.Getting positive cases from stores, clothingstores, grocery nearbycoastalvillages arelined mand forfizzy drinksand other singleperson on campus with a President in 2016.She wasre- he,along withhis Cabinet, would pletinginternal reservesandlow asymptomatic samplesisthe stores,sweetmeatstores.Thereis up either in aseparateenclosure packaged beverages. contactless thermal instrument. electedearly thisyearandhersec- have had to resign. Earlier this visibility of demand. challenge.” asamosawallahinmostmarkets, or along the main market road “We’resensitive to the fact “Weuse 90 litres of disinfec- ond term will begin on May20, month, the Election Commission Moresoasthe influx contin- throughthe restaurantsremain withfreshpomfret,surmai(king- that factories restarting is central tantdailytocleanallareas,wash- twodays afterWHA’sdecisionon had announced thepollsafter ues.Thiswhentheinfluxisongo- shutteredasperwhatiscurrently fish),rawas(Indiansalmon),sim- to the overall economic resur- roomsaredisinfectedtwicedaily, May18. UddhavapproachedPrime Next challenge ing. Sincelastweek of April, till permissible. pale (mussels), bangda (mack- gence,andwe were carefulnotto thereis100 per cent use of face- On Thursday, Ji Rong, MinisterNarendra Modi seeking May13, about3lakhmigrants Buildingconstructionactivity erel) and bombil (Bombay duck) shut down watersupplyorother mask and hand sanitiser,” said spokespersonfortheChineseem- his intervention to avoid acon- for Odisha, Bihar (including 2.25 lakh from trains) has begun along National from the morning’s catch. amenitiesfor even oneday.So RanjeetSingh,theadministration bassy in New Delhi,underlined stitutional crisis in the state. migrant labour.And when the have returnedtoBihar and are Highway 66,especiallywhereit Of the44industrialunits in whenthefirstunitresumedwork, head at the Roha facility. the One-China policy. Meanwhile, sources said that testing of migrantsreturning sent to quarantinecentres at re- crosses Penatthe intersection Roha’s MaharashtraIndustrial ourfiltrationplantwasreadyand BNKadam, associatevice- “Weurgethe relevant Indian the MonsoonSession of the through six inter-state borders, spective block headquarters. The where one road branchesoff to Development Corporation supplying immediately,” president(Works),saidabout100 media take acorrect stance on is- Legislature, whichisscheduled through whichabout10,000 are state government has opened Alibag,the popular getawayfor (MIDC) layout, 36 have resumed NimbalkartoldTheIndianExpress. migrant workers stayed backat sues of coreinterests concerning to startfromJune 22, is likelyto enteringeachday,isyet to begin. 4,672 quarantine centres which Mumbaiites.The Khopoli-Pali work over the last10days, said The largestunit at Roha is run the facility whereliving arrange- China’ssovereigntyandterritorial be deferreddue to the Covid-19 Therelativelylarge numberof can accommodate about 4.52 Road, the Khopoli-Pen Road and MIDC Deputy Engineer Maloji by Sudarshan Chemicals, India’s mentshavenow beenmadefora integrity,adheretotheone-China pandemic. “A meeting of the infectionsamongmigrantsisone lakh people. the Panvel-Goa NH 66 have all Nimbalkar,thoughmostare func- topmanufacturer of paint pig- percentageoflabourers,withfree principle,donotprovideplatform Business AdvisoryCommittee of reasonwhy Bihar has seenits beenunderrepairsfornearly two tioning at about40per centof ments, and their airy, manicured food and laundryfacilities. for‘Taiwanindependence’forces, statelegislaturehas been called caseload rise rapidlyinthe last years, and road constructionac- normal capacity. At leastone, facility has introducedaseries of and avoid sending wrongmes- on Mondaytodiscuss whether fewdays.Atless than 8.5 days, Raigad tivity is underwayonall three Varun Breweries,whichmakes safetymeasuresthatwillnowre- Taiwan sages to the public,” Ji Rong said. to defer the Monsoon Session,” Bihar has among the fastestdou- economic activities has had an stretches, though notasfastas Pepsi, is waiting to getordersto main forthe foreseeablefuture, Chinaisopposingthemove as India has also engaged with saidaminister.

Calling this period a“learning KARISHMAMEHROTRA Top neuro depts raise alarm over sharp fall in stroke reporting, blame corona fear curve”, Dr Srivastava says,“Ithink NEWDELHI,MAY14 the ICMR, DHR (Departmentof medicines. Theyhavealsohigh- appropriatemeasures to “deal virtually allstrokecases...,”the fewercases in emergency.“Now be theharbinger of amajor troubling, as India hasahigher HealthResearch), we areall gear- THIRTEEN NEUROLOGYdepart- lighted the lackofpersonal pro- with the developing atmosphere survey adds, “timelycareinhos- that we have got the data, we are event.It’s arisk theyare willing incidence of stroke compared ing up fornew numbers as the ments in toppublicand private tective equipmentattheircentres. of fear of goingtohospitals”. pitals supersedes the risk of pos- saying (lesser reporting) is not to take instead of contracting with the United States.” scenario changes. Even in Europe, hospitals in the country have Publishedinthe Annals of the The survey cautions thata sible exposureto(Covid-19)”. because strokesare happening Covid-19outside.” Along with stroke admis- as proper non-Covid pathways highlightedcoronavirus’s impact New York AcademyofSciences, lackof“stroke risk control” dur- AIIMS neurology head MV less,”she said. “Alongwithgeo- The US has seen asimilar sions, thereisadeclineinpost- have been established, theyare on non-Covid healthcare, docu- theresearch,coveringcentresthat ing the pandemic may“eventu- Padma Srivastava, who wasin- graphical barriers, peopleare drop in reporting of strokesdur- stroke rehabilitation, of three to seeing strokescome backinan menting a61% reduction in re- getahigh volume of stroke cases ally”leadtoincreasedstroke-re- volved with the study,says she taking morechances withper- ing the pandemic, the study six months, whichcouldlead to even bigger way.” portingof strokes,aswellasasig- both in the US and India, states lated mortality “across the is getting just30-40% of her ceivedminor events, suchas states,adding,“The magnitude stroke recurrences, the study FULLREPORTON nificant shortage of essential that governmentshavenot taken country” in the coming days.“In usual dailypatients, as well as numbness, whichmight actually of decrease in India is deeply states. www.indianexpress.com WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 3 THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 THE OUTBREAK Nation

In top 10 Covid ICMR clears 1st UP: 6killed as bus hits Bihar states, nine cities Ascasesrise,marginal batch of key account for bulk ELISA antibody migrants walking home of positive cases testing kits growthinpatients Guddu wasfromBhojpur while made in India AMILBHATNAGAR 9UPworkers the rest were from Gopalganj KRISHNKAUSHIK NOIDA,MAY14 district. NEWDELHI,MAY14 killed in MP The bus, registeredatUP- requiringcriticalcare KARISHMAMEHROTRA AFATHER-SON duo were among SRTC Mathuradepot, had earlier COVID-19CASES in India arenot NEWDELHI,MAY14 six people who were killedwhen Bhopal: Nine migrant travelledfromAgratoSahar- justconcentrated in afew states, agroup of migrant workers, who workers from UP were anpur afterdroppingoff agroup theyare highlyconcentratedin IN ANOTHERsteptowardsde- were walking from Haryana to killedand 54 injured of migrantsstrandedinanother ahandfulofcities in these states. ABANTIKAGHOSH COVIDCURVE:ATWO-WEEKTALE ploying antibody testing kits their villages in Bihar,wereal- when atruckcarrying district, police said. The empty Adistrict-wise analysis of NEWDELHI,MAY14 manufacturedinthe country for legedly hit by aspeeding UPSRTC labourers collidedwith a bus wasdue to makeajourney datafor the 10 states with the ■April29 ■ May13 Activecases anationwide household Covid- bus on the Muzaffarnagar- bus near Guna bypass in back home when it allegedly ran highestnumber of positive cases WHILE THERE were 134deaths 19 survey,the Indian Council of Saharanpur statehighway in Madhya Pradeshearly over the group near Ghalauli in the countryshows that just due to coronavirus(all-Indiatotal Patients470 (2.17%) Medical Research (ICMR) has ap- Muzaffarnagar district. Thursday. The truckcar- checkpostaround 10.30 pm. nine cities in these states account 2,549)and totalconfirmedcases in ICU 1,425 (3%) 21,632 proved thefirstbatchmanufac- Four others were injured in rying 65 people —mostof According to survivors, the fortwo out of everythree cases. reported touched78,003, as of Patients80(0.36%) tured by Zydus-Cadila. the accident lateonWednesday. them workers —from migrantshad setout from The nine cities—Delhi (all 11 Thursdaymorning,185patients The test kits, called“COVID Twoofthem were takento Mumbai wasonits way Kharera in Haryana on Sunday on ventilator185 (0.39%) districts), Mumbai (including across the countryare on ventila- 47,480 KAVACHELISA”,wasdevelopedat Meerutfor treatment. to Unnao in Uttar Pradesh and takenrestatanashram in Mumbai Suburban), Pune, tors,1,425patientsare inICUs,and Patients280 (1.29%) the National InstituteofVirology, “Weweretold by local resi- while thebus wasreturn- Saharanpur aday before theac- Thane, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, 1,282 requireoxygensupport. on oxygen 1,282 (2.7%) Pune, by isolating the virusfrom dentsthat these people were mi- ing from Bhind to Ahme- cident. Theyhad coveredafew Indore, Jaipur and Chennai—had Inthelast24hours,3,722new patientsinIndiaearlierthisweek. grantswho were walking. Six dabad afterdropping pas- kilometres on Wednesday when 46,941cases as of May13, which cases have been reported. CAREGIVINGINFRASTRUCTURE According to an ICMR official, people were declared brought sengers.The bus driver the incident took place. is 65.77per cent of the total Thesefiguresof patientsneed- the ELISAkitswill be usedinthe dead afterbeing rushedtothe wasamongthose injured Taking cognizance of the in- 71,372 cases in Maharashtra, ingadditionalcarealsoshowthat 2,79,950 29,621 HealthMinistry'snewnationwide hospital. The accuseddriver, and acasehas been filed cident, UP Chief MinisterYogi Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, as coronavirus cases in the coun- Isolation beds ICU beds(with “sero-survey”, meant to detect Rajveer,was drinkingand driv- againsthim as the bus Adityanath announced compen- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, tryhavetrebledover the lastfort- (withventilators) oxygen supply) prevalence of antibodies that ap- ing and has been arrested for wasonthe wrong side, sation of Rs 2lakh eachtothe AndhraPradesh, West Bengal, night,the percentageofpatients pearafterapatienthasrecovered. death due to negligence,”said police said. ENS families of the deceased andRs Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. needingcriticalcarehasrisenonly The ICMR will lead the testingof Anil Kaparvan, SHO of Kotwali 50,000 eachtothose of the in- 4,93,101 beds(without 2,040 Covid health centres All these states recordedover marginally. 24,000 individualsin69districts police station in Muzaffarnagar. jured.Healso ordered the critical carefacilities) 1,000cases each. Onlyone other On April 29, when totalactive 8,708 quarantine centres at householdlevel as partofthis The accusedhails from his son Vikas (22), Guddu (18), Saharanpur authorities to probe state—Telangana —had more cases in the countrywere21,632, 900 dedicated Covid sero-survey.The ICMR says the Firozabad district. Vasudev(22), Harish Sahni (48) the matter and arrangefor the than 1,000 cases, but district- these figures were 2.17 per cent hospitals 5,577 Covid carecentres firstmanufacturedbatchofELISA The deceasedhavebeen and Virendra(28). bodies to be takentotheir re- wise datafor it wasnot publicly admitted in Intensive CareUnit kitshasasensitivity(accuratepos- identifiedasHarek Singh (51), Virendrawas from Patna and spective homes. (Source: Ministry of Healthdata) available. Datatill May13was (ICU),0.36 per cent patients on itive test results) of 98.7 per cent takenfromthe statebulletins. ventilators, and 1.29 per cent re- and aspecificity (accuratenega- Within these 10 states, an quiring oxygen support. (1,19,340 isolation bedsand forsurveillancepurposesingreen tive test results) of 100per cent. analysis of case load distribution The figures until Wednesday, 10,349 ICU beds). The former are zones(districtswithnocase/no TheCouncilstatedinarelease, across districtsshows that cases when the total number of active alsoequippedwith ventilators casereportedinlast21days),”the “While real-timeRT-PCR is the in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya cases was47,480, showthat 3per while the latter have oxygen document says. frontlinetest forclinicaldiagnosis Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West cent patientsneedICU,0.39 per supply. It lays down that amaximum of SARS-CoV-2, robustantibody Bengal were concentrated in cent areonventilator,and 2.7 per In addition, thereare 8,708 of 25samplescanbepooled.If any testsare criticalforsurveillanceto very fewcities. Twotothree cent on oxygen support. quarantine centres and 5,577 such“pool”of 25testspositive,all understand the proportion of cities accounted for70to80per The fact thatthese numbers Covid CareCentreswith 4,93,101 individualsamples would then populationexposedtoinfection.” cent of the state’s total case load. have remainedstableisimportant beds. These areisolation facilities have to be tested to identify the ELISAantibodytestsare differ- In Maharashtra, justthree because oneofthe concerns of whichare nothospital-based. person who is positive. ent from the rapid antibody tests cities—Mumbai, Pune and governments across the worldin The Health Ministryon The National Centrefor previouslyusedheavilybyIndian Thane—accounted foralmost85 dealing withCovid-19 has been Thursdayissuedguidelines for Disease Control has nowstarted authorities. The WHO has called per cent (21,938 cases) of the theapprehensionabouthospitals conductingpooledtesting in zero testing using COBAS6800, afully ELISAs “highlysensitive andspe- state’s 25,881positive cases. runningout of space. case districts, or districtsthathave automated,high-endmachinefor cific”teststhataresuitablefor“for NeighbouringGujarat, too, So far, 26,234 people have reportedcases in the pastbut are performing real-time PCR with a testing large numbers of samples had ahigh concentration of cases been cured across the country. currentlydesignatedin theGreen high throughput of around 1,200 per day, as well as in bloodbanks in acouple of cities. Out of 9,267 Dataavailable with the Health Zone. “A decision has been taken samples in 24 hours. or forsurveillance studies”. cases across 33 districts,more Ministryuntil Wednesdayshow to use one-time RT-PCR-based Thetotalnumberof tests done WhileonlyZydus-Cadilahad than 71 per cent, or 6,645 cases, thatin900dedicatedcoronavirus pooledsampling forsurveillance so faracross the countryis earlier acceptedanon-exclusive were in Ahmedabad. If Surat is hospitals in thecountrythere are purposes formigrant workers in 19,47,041. agreement to produce the test also takenintoaccount, then 1,79,882 beds(1,60,610 isolation institutional quarantine facilities, According to the ministry,the kits,ICMRstatedthat“now, ICMR these twocities had 7,612or82.2 bedsand 19,272 ICU beds) and in international passengers in insti- lastthree days’doubling time is hasbeenapproachedbyCiplaPvt. per cent of the state’s case load. 2,040 dedicated Covid-19health tutional quarantine facilities/ho- 13.9 days;doubling time in the Ltd.and NextGen LifeSciences”. Out of West Bengal’s 23 dis- centres thereare 1,29,689 beds telsearmarkedforquarantineand past14days was11.1days. tricts, Kolkataand Howrah ac- countedfor 1,610cases, whichis morethan 70 percent of the Presidenttoforego 30% pay, announces austerity steps state’s 2,274 positive cases. In MadhyaPradesh, which NewDelhi: PresidentRam Nath Astatement issuedby no newcapital work will be has 52 districtsand 4,173cases, KovindThursdayannouncedthat Rashtrapati Bhawansaid “this takenupinthe current financial morethan 70 percent cases he would forego 30 percentofhis will beasmall butsignificant con- year and minimum mainte- were in Indoreand Bhopal. salaryforayear.Hehasalreadydo- tribution to realise the govern- nance work will be carriedout. nated his Marchsalarytothe PM ment’s vision of making India Vice-President MVenkaiah CARES fund and also decidedto self-reliant (Atmanirbhar) and Naidu had announcedlast CBSE gives defer purchase of the Presidential energisethenation to take upthe month that he will forego 30 per Limousine whichwas to be used challengetofight the pandemic...” cent of his salarytillnormalcy is second chance to forceremonial occasions. According to thestatement, restored. ENS students who failed class IX, XI Buses not in sight, people throw stones in MP town near state border NewDelhi:StudentsofclassIXand XIwhofailedtocleartheirfinalex- Bhopal: Hundredsofpeople point from MaharashtratoMP. aminationswillbegivenachance headedfor their homes in north- Tomar said the number of to reappear,Central Boardof ern states likeUttar Pradesh and peoplewho entered MP from SecondaryEducationannounced BiharfromMaharashtra, and MaharashtraonThursdaywas asaone-timerelief measure amid transiting through Madhya muchmorethanthat on Tuesday the Covid-19crisis. Pradesh, on Thursdayprotested and Wednesday, when100 and “Children areconfinedat on the highway at Bijasan Ghat 125buses,respectively, couldtake home. Their schools areclosed. in MP’sBarwani district when them on the further journeyto Theyare experiencing mental theythought therewereno Dewas, 200kmtothe northwest stress and anxiety.Parentsare morebuses to take them on the pastIndoreand the transit point worriedabout salaries, health of journeyforward. from wherethese people con- familyetc. In this difficult time, Afew people reportedly thr- tinue their journeytothe north- children who have notbeen able ew stonesatpolicemeninfrustra- ern states. MILINDGHATWAI to clearschool examinations will tion.Therewerenoreportsof any be even moreupset,”read a injury, andthesituationwassoon statement by Controller of brought under control, officials Examinations SanyamBhardwaj. said. Avideoclipcirculatingonso- Theboardsaidthattheschool- cial media showedpolice using basedtestcanbetakenbystudents forcetodiscipline the migrant irrespective of thenumber of sub- workers aftertheypelted stones jectstheyhavefailedin, the num- and triedtoblockthe highway. beroftimes theyhaveattempted Barwani District Collector the exam, and whether or notthe Amit Tomar said the tension did examshavebeencompletedorre- notlastlong, and that the road sultsreleasedyet.The boardsaid has been cleared. schools mayconduct offline,on- Theincidentcomesaweekaf- line or other innovative testsas terpeopleblockedthehighway in theydeem fit, but addedthatstu- Barwani afterbeingdeniedper- dentsmustbegivensufficient missionto enterMP fromMahar- time to prepare forthese. ENS ashtra. Bijasan Ghat is the entry

National Institute of Technology,Uttarakhand (An Autonomous Body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development) Temporary Campus: Govt. ITI, Srinagar,Dist: Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand-246174 Website: www.nituk.ac.in, Email: [email protected] RECRUITMENT NOTIFICATION Institute invites online application(s) from the eligible Indian Nationals for the filling up of following post(s): S. Number of post(s) Name of post(s) No. UR SC OBC EWS Total 1. Professor 03 01 01 -- 05 2. Associate Professor -- 01 02 01 04 3. Registrar 01 ------01 Totalpost 04 02 03 01 10 The applicantsmay refer the Institute website www.nituk.ac.in for the details of educational qualification, experience, age, last date for submission of online application and other terms &conditions for filling up of application(s) for the above post(s). Any addendum/corrigendum shall be postedonly on the Institute website. Applicants/incumbentsare requested to visit the Institute website regularly. The Director,National Institute of Technology,Uttarakhand reserves the right to fill or not fill any vacancy in the absence of deserving candidate and to cancel application or all applications without assigning any reasons. Date: 12/05/2020 Director WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 4 THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 THE OUTBREAK Mumbai Sigh of relief, as first special train from Delhi reaches MumbaiCentral

see those theywereseparated hecameoutof thestationwithhis We were lucky to be givenac- ABHAGORADIA from forovertwo months. sister, to see his son having come commodation and meals by the MUMBAI,MAY14 Of the total passengers, 954 to receive him.Mehtaand his sis- company,”hesaid. were from the Mumbai terweresupposedtojoinatourof Beforethe train’s arrival, the THE FIRSTspecial train ferrying Metropolitan Region with 270 seniorcitizensthatwassupposed station premises wascordoned passengers from New Delhiar- from other parts of Maharashtra. to leave forSriLankafromDelhion offtoexecuteastandardoperat- rivedatMumbai Central station Thestatehadmadearrangements March 17. Mehtahad reached ing procedurereleasedbythe on Thursdaymorning with 1,224 to ferrythemhomethroughBEST Delhi days in advance. statedisastermanagement,re- passengers on board. The Delhi- buses, taxis and inter-city buses. “Sixty-sevendays,” he em- lief and rehabilitation depart- MumbaiRajdhani is part of the Nagpada resident Arif Advani phasised. “Weweretherefor 67 ment. As per the protocol, the first15passengertrains that the had wokenupat3.15amtoob- days.Luckily, we had relatives Railways setupaspecial screen- Railways had rolledout afterit serveRoza, and hadn’t slept thereand theytook good careof ing area forpassengers. “We suspendedall itspassenger serv- since, in anticipation of his wife’s us,” he said. While complaining arranged forover100trolleys to ices across the countryinMarch. return. “My wifehad gone to of congestion in the train, he said help passengers carry theirlug- Around 9am, wearypassen- Surat, along with my nephew’s social distancing norms were not gage.Firebrigade employees gers with home quarantine wifeand children, as our daugh- followed. “Wetiedcloths around were tasked with sanitising the stamps on theirhands, started terwas pregnant.Theyboarded our faces. The train wasnot premises and luggage. MSRTC trickling out of the station with the train from Gujarat,” he said, clean,”headded. buseswerearranged forthose luggage, visiblyrelievedtohave adding that the familyhad been It wasonlyinearly March who wanted to optfor it,and made it to Mumbai. overly worriedafter his that Kandivali residentAkshay BMC officials took over the re- Barring those who came di- nephew’s wifesufferedaseizure Barkade (26) reachedGurgaon’s sponsibility of passengers after rectlyfromDelhi,severalpassen- during her stay there. “Wehad Sector 60 to starthis newjob at a theydeboarded,” said the gers had travelledfromSurat, written an application to the col- gaming event company. His Western Railway spokesperson. Dehradun,Faridabad,Indoreand lector andhad even arranged for hopes of pursuing acareer there BMC officials said all the pas- other cities of north India to un- acar to bring them backfor Rs dulled with theannouncement sengers who deboardedwere dertake the trip. Manyofthe fam- 11,000but to no avail. We areall of alockdown. “I have no clue screenedfor symptoms. All were ilymembers parkedthemselves glad to have them back,”hesaid. when Iwill go back. Butfor now, allowedtogoafter being Passengers outside the Mumbai Central station on Thursday. GaneshShirsekar outside the cordonedpremisesof In his latesixties, Ghatkopar we have notreceivedany in- stamped“home quarantine” on the station,waiting patiently to residentAnilMehtawasintearsas structions from the company. the hands. Kurla village Pandemicderailspre-monsoonwork: 45-yr-old police naik dies sealedafter avirus nearly twoweeksago. EXPRESSNEWS An officer from the police sevenpositive SERVICE station said Partewas de- MUMBAI,MAY14 puted on patrolling duty. cases surface BMCstaresatyetanotherchallenge Shivaji Nagarareaisone of A45-YEAR-OLDpolicenaikof the worsthit areas in the city. Mumbai Police, who had “He wenton leave on April LAXMANSINGH itwillonlygetharderto ensureso- work againstvector-borne lahs, have notbeen cleaned. ailments,” Rukhsana Siddiqui, tested positive forCOVID –19, 30 and soon tested positive. MUMBAI,MAY14 TABASSUM cial distancing,” Jadhavsaid. dengue and malaria and bacter- Moreover, BMChasbroughtanew SamajwadiParty corporatorfrom passed away at ahospital in Initially, he wasadmitted to a BARNAGARWALA& Increasingquarantinefacilities ial infectionleptospirosis, aftera proposal to install de-watering Govandi, said.Cleaningof several NaviMumbaionThursday. He private hospitaland later WITH SEVENCovid-19positive LAXMANSINGH by focussing on high-risk slums delayoftwo months. pumps at 291locations. It means, nullahs near Baiganwadi in wasthesixthpolicemenfrom shiftedtoMGM hospital. He casesreportedover last oneweek, MUMBAI,MAY14 wherepeople will notbeable to Everyyear,BMChasto remove BMCisanticipatingfloodingspots Mankhurdisalso yettostart. Mumbaiandninthinthestate passed away on Thursday BMC has sealedthe entireKurla sociallydistance themselvesas 5.38 lakh tonne silt from major will increase,” he said. The Rs 70- The insecticide department, to succumb to the infection. morning,” an officer said. Gaothan,alsoknown asKurlavil- WITH THE monsoon justa their homes flood should be the and minor nullahs before May30 croreproposal forinstalling 291 whichcommencesits pre-mon- Asenior officer said Police He is survivedbyhis wife lage. With apopulation of 5,000, monthaway, the Brihanmumbai way forward, he added.Across -- the official deadline to finish pumps will be tabledbeforeits soon activities in March,has Naik Bhagwan Parte, who and twochildren. the area has become one of the Municipal Corporation(BMC), Mumbai, quarantine bedsare set pre-monsoon works. However, Standing Committee meeting been working since lasttwo waspostedwith Shivaji So far, six policemenfrom biggestcontainmentzones in the already stretchedtothe limit in to be increasedby142 per cent – thisyear,itisnowherecloseto the Friday. The city has 470kmminor months in three shifts to disin- Nagarpolice station, had Mumbaiand oneeachfrom city,BMC officials said. the fight againstthe coronavirus, from14,000to 34,000–forisolat- deadline. According to civic offi- nullah network. fect government offices, residen- been admitted to aprivate Pune, Solapur city and “Wehavenow sealedthe is staring at the prospect of deal- ing suspected high-risk cases. cials, desilting has to be under- In areas likeSion, Matunga, tial areas, police stations and hospital afterhecomplained Nashik rural have diedof Kurlavillagecompletely.Now, ing with araging pandemic dur- Feverclinics,currentlycheck- takenon715-km networkofnul- Parel, Hindmata,Bandra, hospitals whereCovid-19posi- of breathlessness. Aresident COVID-19and over 1,000po- our health team will commence ing the rainymonths, when ing suspected Covid-19cases, lahs, besides the 21-km-long Santacruz,Andheri subway, tive caseshavebeen diagnosed. of Navi Mumbai, he had licemen have been infected door-to-doorsurveysand screen Mumbai is prone to flooding, mayalso have todouble up for Mithi river, knownfor wreaking Chembur,Kurla and Malad, From Thursday, the department tested positive forcoron- across Maharashtra. residentsfor Covid-19 symp- waterlogging and asurge in screening dengue, malaria and havocduringmonsoon,especially whichface intense waterlogging has begun work in high-risk toms,” Assistant Municipal other diseases suchasdengue, leptospirosispatients, Jadhavsaid. alongthecentralandwesternrail- everyyear,the delayinnullah de- pocketsofdengue, leptospirosis Commissioner,L-ward(Kurla, malaria and leptospirosis. “Weare yettosit and chalk out a waylines. BMC officials said a7- silting has become amajor cause and malaria as partofpre-mon- Sakinaka), Manish Valunjesaid. While guessworkhas driven plan. We will prioritise, tackle one km stretchofthe riverhad been of concern.Lastyear,heavy rain soon work.Ithas been tasked to NO FOUL PLAY,SAY POLICE The L-ward,aCovid-19 hotspot, theoriesabout the impact of problem at atime,” he added. desiltedsofar. Ithashiredcontrac- and flooding in Mithiriver had finish the work by June 10. has recordedatleast900 posi- weatheronthenovelcoronavirus, Usually, 10 per cent or an en- torsforthisyear’snullahcleaning submerged rail tracks near Sion, Everyyear the department Lawyerappearing in tive cases.Till Thursday,16,738 and has mostlyprovedwrong, tirewardisreservedin everymu- work at the costofRs140 crore. Kurla and Mahim,leading to a inspects7,201 government cases were reportedinMumbai, doctors saythe intersection of nicipal hospital formonsoon-re- The floodingspots —atleast disruptionintrain services. buildingstocheck28,021water the highestinthe state,which monsoonwith Covid-19in latedillnesses. This year,however, 65 identifiedlastyear —were Assistant Municipal tanksand other possible mos- Palghar lynching case has recorded27,524cases. Mumbai will at the leastmakeit civichospitals have divertedtheir also to be mitigated before the Commissioner of L-ward (Kurla, quito-breeding sites from Denselypopulated with nar- harder to enforce social-distanc- resources towardsCovid-19. rains, but have remainedun- Sakinaka), Manish Valunje said Januaryand a‘mosquitoabet- rowlanes and small houses, civic ing norms and carry out contact- KEM hospital dean, Dr touched. Ongoing infrastructure thereshould be aprotocol to ment committee’ meets in killed in road accident officials said, the 400-year-old tracinginfloodedlow-lyingareas. Hemant Deshmukh, said, “We projects, suchasMetro and road- handle monsoon-related dis- March with various government Kurlavillage,whichhasamajority Civicofficials,however, saythe will startreserving bedsfor works, everyyear createnewer eases before theystrikethe city. bodiestoclean these tanks. That ing and lostcontrol of the vehi- of Christianpopulation,ismore shortage of manpowerisits monsoon diseases in June, when flooding spots during the rains. “Since we areaware of the fact meeting wascancelledthis year EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE cle. Thereare skidmarks on the vulnerable to the infection. biggestworry.Whileabsenteeism the rain starts.” The 1,800-bed “The situation is bad as there that thereare chances of an out- because of the Covid-19out- MUMBAI,MAY14 road indicating thathetriedto Despiteaspikeincases, several amongstaffhasbeenhigherinthe KEMfacility has currentlyre- arehardlyany workers to speed break of monsoon-relateddis- break on March 11.“We will now bring the car undercontrol,”said residentscontinuedtostepoutof lastfew weeksoverfear of con- served 340 bedsfor Covid-19 pa- up desilting. Although the clean- eases, we have to chalk out aplan send letters to government bod- ALAWYER appearing in the SiddhvaJaybhaye,assistant po- their houses. “People arestill tracting the virus, all available tients. By June, the other wards ing of major nullahs has started, to deal with this situation. ies to clear scrap, covertanksto lynching of three men in Palghar, lice inspector,Kasa police station. roamingoutside.Yesterday, police hands have been pressed into that arecurrentlyshut will be minor ones areyet to betouched. Labourshortageand fear among prevent mosquitobreeding,” waskilledinaroad accident on Police said Digvijaywas had announcedthat strict lock- Covid-related duties.Health openeduptoadmit dengue and Apartfromalabour shortage,the workers arehugeissues and said Dr Rajan Naringrekar,head Wednesdaymorning. Police rushedtoanearbyhospital, downwillbeimplementedinthe workers,whowouldbeotherwise malaria patients. department’s officers, too, arenot have affected cleaning work,” he of the insecticide department. have ruledout anyfoulplay. wherehewas declared dead area. AfterIhelpedaman, who deployed forimmunisationand Doctors arealso worried available in full strength. Some of said, adding the ward,where70 Insecticide officers will also The deceased, Digvijay upon arrival. Jaybhaye said Preeti testedpositive forCovid-19,to get populationsurveybeforeanddur- about howcoronavirus will in- them arestuckattheir native per cent of the population lives visitslums to put poisoninbur- Trivedi(32), washead of the le- Trivediwas being treated forher admittedtoBhabha Hospital, ing the rains,are deployedinthe teract with monsoon-related ail- places, afew others arescared to in denselypopulated slums, is rows to kill rats,whose urine is galcell of political party Bahujan injuries. Her statement will be someotherresidentstargetedme fight againstCOVID-19. ments, including gastroenteritis visit the sites amid Covid-19 out- also aCovid-19hotspot. More said to be acommon carrier of Vikas Aghadi. recordedafter sherecovers suf- by spreadingmaliciousmessages Medical officer Dr Jeetendra and typhoid. “Wedon’t know break,” an engineer with than 850 positive cases have leptospirosis. Areas that recorded According to the police, ficiently, the officer said. on social media groups.They Jadhavworriesthechallengeswill what symptoms apatientmay stormwater department (SWD) been reportedfromKurla alone. ahigh number of dengue cases Digvijayand his colleague Preeti Jaybhaye saidtherewas no claimedthereare no coronavirus be manifold this monsoon in come with if theyare co-infected said. Lastyear by May4,the BMC The M-eastward(Govandi, will be visited to inspect and de- Trivediweretravelling to acourt foul playinTrivedi’s death and it casesinthelocalityandthatIwas Kurla, 80 per cent of whichcom- with dengue andCovid-19,” had completedabout 40 per cent Mankhurd), anotherCovid-19 stroy mosquito-breeding sites. in Dahanu in Palghar district wasanaccident.Acaseof acciden- lying. Manypersons, who were prises slums. The low-lying area Deshmukhsaid. nullah cleaning across the city. hotspotwith over 650 cases, also Construction sites will also be whentheircaroverturnedaround taldeath wasregistered at Kasa stampedforhomequarantine,are witnesses floods everyyear.“We Meanwhile, preoccupation Withnullahcleaningprogress- has ahugeslum population. An sprayed with ‘indoor resident 9.30 am near CharotiNaka on the policestationonWednesday. also roaming outside,” Anita aresooccupiedwithCovid-19,we with Covid-19has affected es- ingslowly, Leaderof Oppositionin official from the M-eastwardsaid spray’. “Dengue, malariaandlep- Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway. Bothlawyerswere hiredby the Shetty,alocal social worker,said. have had no time to thinkabout sential pre-monsoon civil works. BMC Ravi Raja, expressedappre- water-borne diseases arecom- tospirosis arethree diseases that The lawyersweretoattend the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to repre- Meanwhile, to contain the the monsoons. It is already diffi- BMC has, so far, cleaned15per hension of increasedfloodingin mon in the areas and monsoon peak during monsoons. Starting remand of six accusedarrested sentsadhusMahantKalpavruksha spread of the virus, civic officials cult to ensurepeopleremain at cent nullahs across the city,cru- Mumbai.“At manyplaces, main onlyworsens it. “If these small Thursday, we will focus on high- in the lynching caseand also aju- Giri and SushilgiriMaharaj,who have starteddeclaring larger home. Afew days ago, we had to cial to preventing flooding, while nullahsadjoiningmainroadshave nullahs arenot cleaned, the area risk areassothat by thetimerains venile detainedinthe case by the alongwith their driverNilesh containmentzones by combin- deploy stafftherejusttoaskpeople itsinsecticide department beencleaned,butthesmallerones willwitness severe waterlogging startpreventive measures arein stateCID. Yelgade,were lynchedbyamobat ing multiple clusters. to go home. During the monsoon Thursdaybegan pre-monsoon thatcarry rainwatertomajor nul- in monsoon and will bring other place,” Naringrekar added. “...The deceasedwas speed- Gadchinchle villagelastmonth.

67-YEAR-OLD DIES ON WAY HOME Hospitalviolates govt notification, refuses admissiontoman five times

if aCovid-19testresult was breathless, his wifeagain rushed test.Hewas givenawheelchair in calledupher sons to inform they TABASSUM pending, on the ground, hospi- ACovid-19testresult, to HolyFamilyhospital, whichis the hospitalcompound outside were returning home. BARNAGARWALA tals arenot following the orders. acrossthe street from their the emergency ward entrance The 67-year-old’s mother, MUMBAI,MAY14 In ameeting earlier this week in the absence of which Bandrachawl.“He has always until aprivate laboratorytechni- who is in her late90s, prepared with heads of privatehospitals, the hospital had been treated there. Ikeptplead- cian came to collect hisswab. “He his bed forhim to rest.She was A67-YEAR-OLD man diedinan Chief MinisterUddhavThackeray refusedadmission, ing withthe nurses to give him remainedbreathless throughout notinformedthathehad col- autorickshawinMumbai on had asked them to create await- some medicine, anything to help the day. Isaw another patient lapsedenroutehome in an au- Wednesdayeveningafter afifth ing area forsuspected Covid-19 remains pending him breathe.” What he required withfits, even he remainedunat- torickshawand died. She came attempttoget admittedtoHoly patientsand provide them treat- wasanurgentdialysis. tended,” the wifesaid. to knowonlywhen his coffin Familyhospital failed. His wife, ment. The government has Afterafew hours, the hospi- Dr Niraj Uttamani,medical di- wasbrought home on who held his urinarybag in one warnedofactionunder to return to HolyFamilyhospital. talasked the man to undergoa rector of HolyFamilyhospital, Wednesdaynight. hand as he died, says she desper- EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897,but “Therewerehardlyany doc- Covid-19 test. saidtheyare workingunder con- BMC Additional Municipal atelytried to beat his chesttore- it is yettopenalise anyhospital tors at HolyFamily hospital, Anotification releasedbythe straints. “This patientrequired CommissionerSuresh Kakani vive him.Bythe time the au- fornon-compliance. nurses were doing all the work. government on April 30 had dialysis,wehaveonlyone centre. said, “Wehaveasked private torickshawreturnedtothe The 67-year-oldsuffereda Theykeptsaying theydid not stated that hospitals have to col- He wasasuspectedCovid-19pa- hospitals to scale up bedsby hospital, he had died. ACovid-19 high creatinine levels of 12.9 on have beds,” the 67-year-old’s son lectswabsforsuspectedCovid-19 tient, we could notrisk taking him 1,000.” Manisha Mhaiskar,offi- test result, in the absence of Tuesday. The normal rangeis0.5 said. He then took his father’s patientsonpriority and treat fordialysis. We recommended cer on special duty in BMC, said whichthe hospital had refused to 1.4. His wiferushedhim to medicalreportstoLilavati hos- them until resultscome. “Nopa- the family tovisitSevenHillshos- KEM hospital, Sion hospital and admission, remains pending. “It HolyFamilyhospital wherea pital, wherehewas informeda tientisto beturnedawaywithout pital or Nanavati hospital.” Nair hospital will eachscaleup isabadtimeto fall sick,”saidarel- nurseconducted an X-ray of the Covid-19testwas required be- examination and required inter- HolyFamilyistreating at to have 100bedsfor suspected ative,momentsafter the man’s abdomen in the emergency ward fore admission.Hereturnedto vention underany circum- leastnine Covid-19patients. Covid-19patients. coffinwas loweredinBandra’s and asked thefamilytoadmit HolyFamilyhospitalfor third stances,”thenotificationhadsaid. While the hospital had no vacant “What if the Covid-19test Seaside Cemetery on Thursday. him to Bhabha Bandrahospital, time and brought his father The HolyFamilyhospital bedsonTuesday,itdid have beds comes negative?Who should While the stategovernment claiming theyhad no beds. home when the nurses said they askedthe familytoget aCovid-19 by Wednesdayafternoon in its we blamethen?”the man’s son had issuednotification afterno- Bhabhahospital is acivic-run could do nothing more. test done 24 hours afterhewas B-wing,asconfirmedbyDr said. Hisbody waskeptintheir tification making it mandatory Covid-19hospital,and as the The 67-year-oldwas buriedincemetery, afterhis body was The 67-year-old man wasa firstbrought to the emergency Uttamani. Finally,after the man’s one-room chawlovernight on forhospitalstocreateasystem man did nothaveaconfirmed kept overnight in hishouse. Express retired municipal worker.On ward.The senior citizen waited swab wastakenbyaprivate lab ice inside acoffin, as the hospi- of triageand treat patientseven Covid-19report, the familyhad Wednesday, when he became forsix hours on Wednesdayfor a on Wednesdayevening, his wife talsaid it could notkeep it. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 5 THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 THE OUTBREAK Maharashtra Aslockdowneases,greendistrictropes Maharashtra’s invillagerstokeepoutsidersatbay toll crosses CORONA transportation resumes. Those eries.TillThursdayevening,2,517 1,000 mark WATCH SANDEEPASHAR whomustcometo thecitywillbe had applied on the portal. MUMBAI,MAY14 mandatorilyscreened and com- Parbhani has only 13 wine shops pulsorilyquarantined,” said and 58 beer shops. CASELODGEDFOR VILLAGERS IN Marathwada's Mugalikar.Asanotherprecaution- To avoidovercrowdinginmar- EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE ‘DEFAMATORY’NEWS Parbhani have nowtaken it upon arymeasures, the local adminis- ketplaces even postlockdown, MUMBAI,MAY10 27,524 themselvestoensurethatthedis- trationhas urgedresidentsto the district administration has ABOUTGOVERNOR trict remains Covid-19free. postponeallweddingstillMay31. adoptedonline platforms forcot- MAHARASHTRA'S TOLL dueto Mumbai: Police have regis- As authorities starttoease re- Home delivery of alcohol set tonprocurementanddistribution Covid-19reached1,019,with 44 TOTALPOSITIVECASES tered acase of criminal strictionsonmovementandcom- to commence in 21 districtson of vegetablesandgroceries.Aweb moredeaths being reportedon defamation againstan merce, eachvillageinthe district Friday. But notinany hurry to re- portalhas been designedfor citi- Thursday.The dayalsosaw 1,602 INMAHARASHTRA unidentifiedpersonfor al- has formedaGramSuraksha Dal open vends, the Parbhani collec- zen grievances. newcases being recorded–the Number of deaths 1,019 legedly circulateddefamatory (villageprotection group) that torhas made prior registrations The district has also pushed highestsince the firstcase was content againstGovernor mansentrypoints24hours aday mandatoryforthosekeentoavail the filling up of formsfor availing registered on March8–taking Totalnumber of people BhagatSinghKoshyari. An of- to keepoutsidersaway andalsoto theservice. croploansfortheupcomingkharif the overall count to 27,524. discharged6,059 ficer from BKCCyber Police keep tabs on who enters and “Wewillpreferhomedeliver- seasononline.“Governmentstaff Mumbai accounted for991 Number of peopletested said basedonthe complaint leavesthe locality. ies as and whenwedecide to al- willbedeputed fordoor-to-door of these 1,602 cases.Atotal of 2.40lakh submittedby RajBhavanPRO Parbhani Collector DM lowliquor shops to open. We delivery of cash to JanDhan ac- 364patientswho tested positive Totalnumber quarantined UmeshKashikar,annon-cog- MugalikartoldTheIndianExpress In Parbhani,villagers have formedspecial groups to keep want to avoid crowding outside countbeneficiaries... We will in various labs betweenMay 11 15,465 nizableoffence has been reg- thateachgroup comprises10vil- tabs on vehicularmovement from outside. Express thestoresatanycost.Startingyes- restartpublictransportinphases. and May12wereaddedto istered fordefamation. “We lages who have been issuedspe- terday,we’veasked allthosein- Home deliveries of restaurant Mumbai's totaltallyfor Number of newcases 1,602 willbeapproachingthe court cialidentification cards by thelo- terested to log ontoadedicated food willcontinuetobeencour- Thursday. At 16,738 the cityhas Fridaytoseekpermission to caladministration. While Maharashtraisatthe district,”Mugalikar said. portalwheretheywill identify aged,” Mugalikar said. reportedthe highestnumber of investigatethematter,”theof- If Parbhani’s Guardian epicentreofCovid-19inIndia, Around80residentswhomay themselves, identify their neigh- Malik,meanwhile, said that cases in Maharashtrawith 621 pertension, heartailment and ficer said. MinisterNawab Malik were to be Parbhanihassofaremergedfrom have been exposedtothe virus bourhoodliquorshopandprovide the villagers have also stepped deaths. lung disorders. In aseries of tweets,the believed,theinitiative hasreaped the crisis unscathed. Notasingle dueto contactwiththesetwopa- quantitiesandthebrandof theal- forwardtodonatemoneyasas- Of the 44 deaths registered In all, 6,059 patientshave Governorsaid,“Apolicecom- dividends.“Youcanexamineoffi- newcasehas been reportedfrom tientswerekeptunder institu- coholtheywant. We’ll acceptap- sistanceinbeefing up the health across the stateonThursday, the been dischargedsofar across the plainthasbeenlodgedagainst cial records. Therearen’tmany the district since April 28. “There tional quarantine. “Theyhave plications till May17. In consulta- infrastructure. “Wehaveeven highestwas recordedinMumbai state –512 were dischargedon anews portal with theCyber lockdownviolationsinthedistrict. arenoactive cases,” said testednegative.Allhave nowbeen tion withthe shopowners, the equippedmanyofour public (25), followedby10inNavi Thursday. Atotal of 20,446 peo- CrimePoliceStationatBandra Villagershavethemselvesestab- Mugalikar. discharged,” he added. administrationwilldraw upade- health posts withprecautionary Mumbai, five in Pune, twoin ple areundergoing treatment at KurlaComplexinMumbaire- lishedroadblocksandcheckposts Infact,thedistricthasreported “So farsogood.Weare green livery plan. Homedeliveries,if gear and machines,” he added. Aurangabad and one eachin present. garding the publication of a to exercisevigil.” onlytwo cases.“Thetwo infected at the moment,” said Malik. But permitted,will be doneunder The ministerclaimedthat elected Panvel and Kalyan-Dombivali. Across Maharashtra, 1,512 defamatorynews about He jokinglyadded, “These were notfromthedistrict.Thefirst withnovaccineinsight,Parbhani government watch,” said representativesinParbhani, cut- Of those who died,31were containment zones have been Governor Bhagat Singh days Ievenget telephone calls patient wasdischargedonApril istakingnochances.“Wewillcon- Mugalikar. tingacross parties, have effec- man and 13 women. While 21 setup. So far, the statehas tested Koshyari on the internetand from the villagers in the dead of 13,whilethesecondpatient,who tinue to discouragemovement The stateexcise department tively coordinated with thead- were over the ageof60, 20 were 2.40 lakh people. Atotal of 3.15 itscirculation on social me- thenightreportingsuspectvehic- had travelledtothe district, died intothe city from redand orange guidelines makethe liquor store ministration to keep Covid-19at between 40 and 59 and three lakh people areinhome quaran- dia.” It added, “The news re- ularmovement.” onApril28afterreachinganother districtsevenafter inter-district ownerresponsibleforthesedeliv- baysofar. were less than 40 years old. As tine while 15,465 areunder in- latesto theallegedfacilitation manyas34ofthe deceasedhad stitutional quarantine. of the travel of amodel from comorbidities likediabetes, hy- MaharashtratoDehradunen- routeDelhi. The contentsof About 3,500prisoners Mumbai to get 150 ambulances Monday the news arefalse, fabricated andbasedonnefariousdesign to be releasedfrom jails as BEST pitches in with 72 mini-buses Mumbai to add 3,300 with an intent to malign the unblemishedimageof the stategovernment had given Hon’ble Governor.” in Thane: Deshmukh TABASSUM the BMC’s disastercell charge of more beds for critical BARNAGARWALA& mobilisingambulancesforCovid- PILSEEKSHOUSING Central Jail, also known as Arthur IRAMSIDDIQUI 19 patients.Thecellis handlingits EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE Road jail.A54-yearold inmate MUMBAI,MAY14 ownfleetofambulances along patients by May 31 FORESSENTIAL MUMBAI,MAY10 had also testedpositive atByculla with MEMS ambulances. STAFFINMUMBAI women's jail last week.Prisonof- STARTINGMONDAY,Mumbai Suresh Kakani, Additional BMC has plannedtoincrease STATEHOME MinisterAnil ficials saidnomoretests were willhave150 ambulances, dou- Municipal Commissioner,said, EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE number of bedsto5,700 in mu- Mumbai: The BombayHigh Deshmukh,onavisit to Thaneon conductedinthe jail. ble itspresent capacity,toferry “Wehaveasked BESTtomodify MUMBAI,MAY10 nicipal hospitalsand2,300inpri- CourtonTuesdayasked the Thursday, said 3,500prisoners coronavirus patientsafter adeci- itsbusesandaddstretchers. From vate ones. Maharashtragovernment to will be released from jails in the Online moneytransfer sion to convertover72 BESTmini- Monday, we willhave150ambu- CHIEF MINISTER Uddhav Dr Hemant Deshmukh, dean respondtoaPIL seekingtem- district. Undertrialsinthestateare en- buses intoambulances and use lances. This includes mini buses, Thackeray on Thursday askedpri- in KEM hospital, said while his poraryaccommodation for “Once theycomeout of the titled to Rs 4,500per month sent them to transport patientswere The driver’s area has been BESTbuses and regular ambu- vate hospitals to double their hospital has 1,800beds, it has re- Palgharresidents, involved in jail,thepoliceadministrationand through moneyorder by their taken. The BESThas been asked sealedinthe mini-buses. lances.” In mini air-conditioned present capacitytotreat Covid-19 served only 340bedsfor Covid- providing essentialservices, collectoratealongwithotherswill family. Manyfamilymembers of to keep the buses ready by this buses, the lastrow of seatshas patientsfollowing avideo-con- 19 patientstill now. “Wehavelo- inMumbai.ThePIL,movedby ensurethat arrangements are inmates have complainedthat weekend. been replacedwith stretcher.The ference with private hospitals in gistics problem. We cannotopen Vasai businessman Charan made to drop them to their while they had sent amoneyor- Of the newfleetofmodified waiting in some cases. driver’sseating areahas been cor- the backdrop of multiple in- up all bedsfor patients. We need RavindraBhatt,throughadvo- homes.If theyliveoutsidethedis- derinMarch,theydid notreceive ambulances, BESThas installed Corporator Alpa Jadhavfrom donedusingaluminiumsheets to stances wheresuspected and to streamline staffduty,havesep- cateUdayWarunjikar,stated trict,theywillbeescortedtoabus anyacknowledgment or receipt twobuses with oxygen cylinders Andheri West saidanambulance protect him from the virus. Covid-19positive patientswere arateentryandexitpoints foriso- that 47 people from the dis- fortheir homes,” Deshmukh said from the jail. MumbaiCentral Jail and life-supportsystem. takestwo to three hours to reach PROfor BEST, Manoj Varade turnedawaybybothpublic and lation wards. We areslowlyopen- trict, involvedinessential at Thanepolice commissioner- officialshave issuedacircular,stat- The city is currently running aCovid-19 patientbecause the said, “As per the requirementsof private hospitals due to dearth of ing up morebeds,” he said. services, have tested positive ate.The 3,500are partof17,000 ingthatthemoneycouldbetrans- on 66 ambulances of the MEMS driverand helper have to disin- MCGM,69 semi-ambulancesand beds. StateChief SecretaryAjoy Private hospitals, too, have sincetheytraveltohotspotsin prisoners announcedtobe re- ferredthroughonlinetransactions to transportCovid-19patients fect the ambulance afterevery twofullyequippedambulances Mehtaand Public Health been askedto have aholdingarea Mumbai. It is becoming the leased. duringthe lockdown. and suspected cases. round and wear personal protec- made out of mini-buses have SecretaryPradeep Vyas were also wheresuspected Covid-19 pa- main cause forthe spread of Afterthe recommendation Ashortage of ambulances tive equipment eachtime a been handedovertothem. If the present. tientscan be treated untiltheir Covid-19inPalghar,which madeby thehigh-poweredcom- 303 IPC in minutes coupledwith adelayinavailing Covid-19patient comes. needarises, we areready to pre- Therehavebeen complaints test resultscome. hasreported136casesand10 mittee Monday, six undertrials On Monday, the high-pow- hospital bedshas ledtohours of In anotification on April 30, pare moreofthese.” that private hospitals have largely Apartfromaugmenting beds deathstillMay1,thepleasaid, were releasedThursdayfrom ered committeeinits minutes of been missing -- initiallydue to forcritical and moderatelyill addingthestateshouldeither MumbaiCentralJail.TillThursday the meeting, mentionedcertain high infection rate amongstits Covid-19patients, Mumbai is provide them temporaryac- evening, as per information pro- sections of the Indian Penal Code HC TO MOEF INTERIM MONITORING PANEL ownstaffers--insharing the pan- hugelygoing to relyonjumbo fa- commodation in Mumbai or videdbythe prison department, andotherspecialActs,whichifap- demicburdentill now. Whilemu- cilities at NSCI Dome, JJ hospital, stopcallingthemforduty.The 1,827convicts,including121 from pliedonanundertrial, will not ‘Urgently decide if vehiclescarrying nicipalhospitals, withthe current and BKC. NSCI dome and courtsoughtto knowthegov- five prisons in Mumbai makethem eligible forrelease. capacity of 3,600beds, share80 Mahalaxmi Racecourse together ernment’sposition and Metropolitan Region, were re- Oneofthem is Section 303 of IPC, percentof Covid-19burden in the have 1,400bedsfor mildlysymp- postedthehearingonMay15. leasedonemergency parole. insteadof Section302,formurder. essentials be allowed in Matheran’ city,private hospitalscontribute tomatic and asymptomatic The committee had recom- Whileitisdefinedaspunishment only1,100beds. Covid-19patients, BKCwill have RAIN,HAILDAMAGE mended releaseall undertrials formurderaspertheIPC,legalex- Justice SJKathawallaThursday hand-pulledhorse carts,but Manisha Mhaiskar,the officer 1,000 and JJ will soon add 500 exceptthosechargedwith seri- perts said thesection has been OMKARGOKHALE passedthe order through video- since the lockdown, manyhand- on special duty in BMC said, “By beds. Private doctors who are CROPSINNASHIK ous offences. District Legal rendered unconstitutional and MUMBAI,MAY14 conference on plea filedbyfor- cart-pullerswereunavailable. May31, we plantoadd 2,100beds willing to treat Covid-19patients Mumbai: Unseasonal rainfall Services Authority officials said struckdownbythe Supreme mer MLASuresh NarayanLad The benchnoted,“The resi- in the public sector and 1,200in areexpected to be givenposts at and hailstorm lashedparts of information on all undertrials el- Courtasitmandated death sen- THE BOMBAY High Courthas di- that stated the hill station resi- dentsofMatheranare unableto the private sector.Every day, one these centres. Nashik district, affecting igible forrelease will be collated tence ifaperson is convictedfor rected an interim monitoring dents, tribals and cattle farmers, procureitems of dailynecessity or twowards arebeing openedin The special 500-bedfacilityat onion and wheat crops. The from courts and the process for lifeimprisonment. committee formedunder Union aredependent on the town for and sustenance,orhavetopay hospitals to expand Covid-19 JJ hospital will be setuponopen IMD had warnedofthunder- granting themtemporarybail Undertrials,includingSanjeev MinistryofEnvironment and their livelihood and daily supply an extraamount forthe same in treatment facility.” ground.Doctorsand medicalstaff storms in the region, which will begin. Khanna –booked forthe alleged Forests(MoEF) to decide Friday foressential items. The courtwas these difficult times.” Currently, thereare over4,800 of the hospital will handle the lashedparts of thedistrict So far, 5,105undertrials who murder of Sheena Bora, the on urgent basis on whether to informedthat as Matheran is an Justice Kathawalla directed bedsingovernmentand private centre. It will also have around both on Wednesdayand face up to sevenyears in jail,have daughterofhis ex-wifeIndrani grant relief to nearly 30, 000res- eco-sensitivezone(ESZ), and no thecommittee, formedunder hospitals to treat critical and 100bedswith intensive careunits Thursday, causingdamages alsobeen released.The decision Mukerjea –who sought bail on identsofMatheran and neigh- vehicular movement beyond the chairmanship of Konkan moderatelyill Covid-19patients. forpatientswho arenot critical to standingcrops as well as on Monday willpaveway forthe the sameground, Thursday said bouring villagesduring lock- Dasturi Point wasallowed, ex- Divisional Commissioner on With the patient load rising, and but requireoxygensupport and houses in areas including release of atotal of 17,642 prison- that while he waschargedunder down by allowing essential ceptfor ambulances and vehi- May13, to arrive at adecisionon asurge expected in coming days, intensive care. Dindori, Satana, ers across the state, nearly halfof Section 302, the section wasnot supplies vehicles to reachcore cles of fire brigade and solid Friday“keeping in mind the Trimabkeshwar,Surgana the entire prison population. Last partofthelistofexceptionsasper eco-sensitive area of the hill sta- wastemanagement. rightsofthe residentstoobtain and Sinnar. ENS week,184 –including 158in- the committee. The courthas di- tion on regular basis while fol- Advocate Gaurav Parkar told suchnecessarysupplies to sus- matesand26staffers–hadtested rected theCBI to file itsreplyon lowing pollution norms. the court thatgoods were trans- tain life”. It posted the hearing on Dedicated testing block positive forCOVID-19atMumbai the plea Saturday. Asingle-judgebenchof ported intothe town through May16. at NIV for Malegaon

were being givenafter agap of CPCB bans PoP, promoteseco-friendly idols, artisanssay not viable EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE eight days.However, now MUMBAI,MAY10 Malegaonwillgetadedicatedslot In itsguidelines, the CPCB en- tricts. But this neworder will BSGSS president, said, “Weare for300testsdailyatNIV,withre- SANJANABHALERAO couragedthe use of natural, dampen the small progress we requesting the pollution control AFTER COMPLAINTS from sultscoming in 24 hours. We are MUMBAI,MAY14 biodegradable and eco-friendly had made.” boardtogivesome relaxations Malegaonresidentsoverdelays in alsosettingupanew testingfacil- rawmaterial –for example, use Hamrapur village, in Raigad and move theimplementation of testing forCovid-19 andunavail- ity in Dhule,which willhaveaca- IN NEW guildelinesreleased on of natural clay, pyramid of sugar- district’s Pentaluka, has about ban to next year.” abilityof doctors,thestategovern- pacity of conducting 450 tests Wednesday, theCentral Pollution cane sticks thatrepresentsthe 450idol-making units.High Other guidelines issued by menthasnowproposedtostarta daily... this will also help Control Board(CPCB) has banned pandals and natural claymixed manufacturingcostofidols the CPCB requiregroups of crafts- teleradiologysystem,wherebyra- Malegaon,” Tope said afterhis the use of plasterofparis (PoP), with alum formaking idols. made of shaadu maati (clay) and men making over 100idols to be diologistscan evaluatethe X-rays visit to Malegaon Wednesday. thermocol and single-use plastic “Idols made up of PoPshall be lackofskilledlabourers worry registered with urban local bod- of patientsfromMalegaon with- He addeditwas afact that big to make or decorateidols, while banned.Onlydriedflowercom- Sachin MurtikarPatil from Pen. ies and the statepollution con- outphysicallybeingpresentthere. doctors were notwilling to come promoting the use of eco- ponents and straws among oth- “A 2-ftidolofshaadu mati costs trol board, whichwill grant fresh Alarmedatthe delayintests, to Malegaon. However, to ensure friendlymaterials forthe same. ers formakingornamentsof at least Rs 1,700morethanPoP permitstoartisans. Idols mustbe Health MinisterRajesh Tope has that local residents had accessto With Ganesh festival onlya idols and natural resins of trees idols. Forevery 10 PoPidols in a immersedinartificial ponds but also announcedadedicated test- better diagnosis, the statewas fewmonths away,for idol-mak- maybeusedasashining mate- day, aworkerisable to makeonly in case thereisnooption but to ing blockfor Malegaon, through starting ateleradiology system. ers, the latestCPCB guidelines are rial formaking idols attractive,” twoidols of clay.Financially, it is immersethem in rivers, lakes or which300testscanbeconducted Teleradiology is the transmis- adeathknell. Staring at losses af- the guidelinessaid. notviable forusand we don't ponds,adesignated location exclusively forthecityatthePune- sionofradiological patient im- terexportswerehit due to lock- Kunal Patil, who heads the even getworkers skilledinmak- with shallowdepth needs to be basedNational Instituteof ages,suchasX-rays,CTs andMRIs, down since March anddue to Hamrapur unit of the Ganesh ing clayidols. Immediate move identifiedbythe local authorities. Virology (NIV). from one location to another for mounting debt,manyamongthe UtkarshaMandal, said, to clayidols is impossible.” Forimmersions at sea, idols Residentshadspokenoutover thepurposesofsharingstudiesor skilledidol-makers nowfeel that “Everybody has loans to pay, Brihanmumbai Samanvay will be immersedbetween the delays in testing samples, which diagnosis. The system will be op- these guidelines will close down startingfromRs5lakh to the big GaneshotsavSarvajanik Samiti high tide and lowtide line at des- at times aresent670 km away to erational by Friday. their business. Ganesh idols aremadeonamass scale at Hamrapur village unitshaving loans of Rs 70 lakh. (BSGSS), the umbrella body of ignated sites definedbythe labs in Nagpur,leading to unde- As of Wednesday, Malegaon On Wednesday, the CPCB in Pen. Amit Chakravarty JustonMonday, someartisans Ganesh mandals in Mumbai,said state’s coastalauthority. The tected spread andincreasing fa- had reported617 cases and 34 publishedarevisedversion of its startedtransporting PoPidols to an averageof11,000large (sarva- wastegenerated by the immer- talitiesinMalegaon.Samplesfrom deaths.Topeclaimedthatthough 10-year-old guidelines, which markets, whichfall in green and janik) idols and 1.6lakh house- sion mustbecollected anddis- Malegaon arealso sent to Nashik the city had recordedhighnum- coverinstructions foridol mak- and in the sea, festival organising ities of the statepollution control orangezones, mostlyinRaigad, hold idolsare made everyyear posed safelybythe localcivic and Dhule.“Therehad been de- berofcases,atotalof 256patients ers, immersionsatwaterbodies committees andthe responsibil- board. Sindhudurgand Ratnagiridis- using PoP. Naresh Dahibhavkar, body within24hours. lays in testing earlier and reports have been dischargedsofar. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 6 EXPRESS NETWORK THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020

Swimming guidelines? Federation TENSIONONINDIA-CHINA BORDER ED arrests Wadhawan takes easy lane, forwards US norms Delhistrikesconciliatorynote, brothers in USASwimmingarefoolproof and, Nanavati said that as afedera- MIHIRVASAVDA to startwith, we canrelyonthat. tion, it wastough forthem to set Yes Bank case NEWDELHI,MAY14 Theyhaveproperexpertiseinthis protocols at this moment, “until invokesspiritofrecentsummits areasowe have forwardedthatto we know whatthe central and EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE FOUR DAYS ago, when the gov- the SAIcommittee. Letthem stategovernmentsdecide and MUMBAI,MAY10 ernment asked the Swimming modifyasperthecentralandstate what their policies will be”. whichbothsides disengaged af- (Prime Minister) afterthe Federation of India (SFI) to pro- governmentguidelinesforCovid- So, his advice to SAIistodo SHUBHAJITROY& terdialogue and interaction at Wuhan and Mallaparam sum- THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate posewaystoresume aquaticac- 19,” Nanavati said. whatthe Americans —aswim- KRISHNKAUSHIK local level”. mits,” the Armychief said. on Thursday arrested DHFLpro- tivitiesinapost-pandemic sce- Training in allsports has been mingpowerhouse—haverecom- NEWDELHI,MAY14 Indianand Chinese soldiers The MEA spokesperson moters Kapil and Dheeraj nario, theywerenot expecting a halted from the time the lock- mended. in the Naku La areainnorth Thursdaysaid Indiaand China Wadhawaninconnection with replywithin aday.And thattoo, a downwasfirstimposedonMarch Intheirdetailedproposal,USA STRIKINGAconciliatory note af- Sikkim and Pangong Tsoineast- attach“utmostimportance”to theirinvolvementintheYesBank meticulousframework withref- 24.And while it is unlikely there Swimminghas urgedswimmers terincidentsonthe India-China ern Ladakh were involved in maintenance of peace in border alleged fraudcase. erences to the WhiteHouse’s willbeanycompetitive eventheld to “changeclothes and showerat border,India on Thursdayin- scufflesand stone-pelting in the areas. The Wadhawan, arrested by guidelinesfor ‘Opening Up forthe foreseeable future,the home” and “eliminatethe use vokedthe spiritsofthe Wuhan firstweekofMay.The Armyhad Prime MinisterNarendra the CBIlastweek,are currentlyin America Again’ and advisoriesis- sports ministryisconsidering a roomsthatpreventsocialdistanc- and Mahabuliparam summitsin stated the soldiersdisengaged Modi and Chinese President Xi Taloja jailasper the orders of a suedbytheUSCentersforDisease phase-wise resumption of train- ing, suchaslockerrooms”. which both sides had reaffirmed afterintervention of senior offi- Jinping, in their informal special CBI court. Their interim Control and Prevention. ing at government-runinstitutes Theyhavealsoillustratedhow thattheywillmakeefforts to cers at the local level. The tension SummitsinWuhan (2018)and bail applications citing the out- It turnsout the SFI had simply by theend of this month. social distancing can bepractised “ensurepeace and tranquility in has been around forovertwo in Chennai (2019), had reaf- break of Covid-19injails were re- forwardedaset of guidelinesUSA As afirststep, SAIformedtwo in the pool while training by us- the border areas”. ArmyChief General months as the People’s firmedbothsideswill continue jected earlier. Swimming had preparedfor committees lastSundaytopre- ingstaggeredstarts,oppositeends MinistryofExternal Affairs MMNaravane Liberation Armytriedtostop to makeefforts to ensure peace The ED soughtthe custody of swimmers in their country.Not pareaStandardOperating andlimitingthenumberof swim- (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Indian troops from patrolling. in the border areas. the DHFL promoters stating that copy-pasting bitsorborrowing Procedure—and asked allfeder- mers per lane. Srivastavasaid, “Occasionally, The Armychief downplayed Recallingthat the twolead- they wanted to probetheir links ideas, but passing on the eight- ations under itswatch to submit The document states that the however, on account of differ- tion faceoffs betweenborder the tension betweenIndian and ers had also directed their mili- intheallegedconspiracywithYes pagedocument titled ‘USA recommendations to restart poolshould be disinfected with ence in perception of the align- guarding troops do occur along Chinese troops at twopoints taries to implementconfidence Bank founder Rana Kapoor and Swimming: Facilityre-opening, sportingactivities.Oneof thetwo chlorine and bromine to “inacti- ment of the Line of Actual theLAC due to thedifferingper- along the LAC. building measures agreedupon others in the moneylaundering messaging and planning’ as is. committees wasdedicated to vate thevirusinthe water”, citing Control, situations have arisen ceptions of the alignment of “It is reiterated thatboth and strengthen institutional case.ThespecialcourtgrantedED The SportsAuthority of India swimming, giventhat the “sport the Center forDisease Control’s on the ground that could have boundaries whichare notre- these incidentsare neither co- arrangementsand information the custody of Wadhawans (SAI) has nowasked theSFI to re- requires athletes to train in water advisorythat“thereisnoevidence been avoided if we hadacom- solved”. Claiming that troops related nor do theyhaveany sharing mechanisms to prevent till May22. work therecommendations and and mayhavedifferent health the disease spreads through mon perception of the LAC.” This from both sides were aggressive, connection with other global or incidentsinborder regions, KapoorwasarrestedonMarch makethem relevant in India’s risks involved compared to other treated water”. Fortheir Indian is alluding to the demarcation of whichresultedinscuffles at two local activities. All suchincidents Srivastavasaid, “As aresult, 8bythe ED, following whicha context. sport”, according to SAI. counterparts,however, thereis the boundaryand exchangeof different pointsindifferent com- aremanaged by established India-China border has largely proberevealedthe involvement Speakingto TheIndianExpress, Following this, an online stillabigquestionto beanswered: maps, whichDelhi has been in- mands,hesaid “thereweretwo mechanisms where-in local for- been peaceful.” of the Wadhawans in the matter. VirendraNanavati,SFI’sexecutive meeting washeld betweenthe “If swimming centres open up sisting upon. incidentsatEastern Ladakhand mations from both sidesresolve He also said the twosides The ED has claimedthatthe con- director,saidtheycouldnotcome swimming federation and SAIof- basedonguidelinesweset,and ArmyChief General MM NorthSikkimwhere aggressive issues mutuallyasper estab- have establishedmechanisms to spiracywas plannedbyKapoor up with amorecomprehensive ficialsonTuesday, when its“rec- somethingunfortunatehappens, Naravane said in astatement behaviour by both sides resulted lishedprotocols and strategic resolve suchsituations as and along with Kapil forextending fi- plan. “The guidelines issuedby ommendations” were discussed. whowill take responsibility?” that “temporaryand shortdura- in minor injuries to troops post guidelines givenbythe PM whentheyarise. nancial assistance to DHFL by the YesBank in lieu of undue benefit to Kapoorand his familymem- bers through the companies SALUTE THE SOLDIER Package insensitive to migrants, FM claim of MNREGS held by them. 9419142N LNK DUN NARAYANSHRESTHA “BetweenAprilandJune2018, 15 MAY full of statistical jugglery: Oppn spike true only for YesBank Limited invested Rs On this day 9419142N LNk Dun Narayan 3,700croreinshort-term deben- Shrestha of 1/11Gorkha Rifles (BATALIK) made NewDelhi: Opposition leaders todaywas aclassic displayofar- gether,all youhavefor the mi- tures of DHFL.Simultaneously, the supreme sacrifice during 'OP VIJAY' in May on Thursday slammedthe rogance, ignorance and insensi- grants, whom youcall the Kapil Wadhawan paidakickback 1999 in atrue act of valour.Hewas the first of government over itseconomic tivity,” senior Congress leader builders of the nation,isRs3,500 May, April saw afall of Rs 600crore to Rana Kapoor many that the Paltan lost on the Path of Glory package, arguing thatthe an- Manish Tewari said. The govern- croreinterms of attaand gram. and his familymembers inthe that summer.The brave soldier will always be nouncements were insensitive ment is trying to “bamboozle” This is your empathyfor the “The40-50%increasethemin- garbof aloanofRs600croregiven remembered for his raw courage and indomitable team spirit. To this braveheart we pledge that we shall always be guided by immortal towardsmigrantsand full of people by throwing big numbers poor,” Tewari said. HARISHDAMODARAN& isterreferredtoisonlyforthepast by DHFL to DOIT Urban Ventures spirit and make his name proud. statistical jugglery. at themwhile actuallygiving Senior leader Anand Sharma NUSHAIBAIQBAL fewdays. Notmuchworkcould (India) Pvt Ltd (A Rana Kapoor CO AND ALL RANKS, 1/11GORKHA RIFLES “The entirepress confer- nothing to them, he added. said the government has offered NEWDELHI,MAY14 be takenupinAprilbecause the Group Company),” the ED (BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE) (BATALIK) ence of the Finance Minister “The Finance Ministersaid “too littlemoney” to supportthe focus of everybody,including had said. thereare 8crore migrant work- crores of workers who have lost ANNOUNCINGTHE second states, wasonenforcing the lock- TheEDclaimedthattheircus- ers. She said the government has wages. “Shockinglythereisno tranche of thecoronavirus relief down. The actualramping up is todialinterrogation wasrequired transported10lakh people emergency transfer to the package, Finance Minister happening now, wheneconomic to probeintothe financialtrans- home. What about the 7.9crore states.” Nirmala Sitharaman said on activitytooisbeingopenedup,”a actions. It also claimedthat the people. Have youleftthem at the AhmedPatel, another senior Thursdaythatenrolmentof work- topofficialsaid. twohad notcooperated with the mercy of god?” he asked. party leader,said, “It’s an empty ers under the MNREGS has in- Sitharamanalso said that investigationearlierdespitesum- “...Out of the Rs 20 lakh crore packagewrappedbyspeeches creased40-50% “compared to 14.62 croreperson-days of work mons issuedtothem in March. that youhaveostensibly putto- since the lastthree days...” ENS Maylastyear”. had been generated under the However, an analysis of data MNREGS till May13. “The data in on the MNREGS publicportal thepublicportalisonlyuptoMay Bookings on regular shows that both the number of 12.Theminister’sfigureisnot only people to avail of work under the morerecent, she has also men- trains cancelled flagship rural employment tionedthat2.33crorewageseek- till June 30 scheme and the number of days erswereofferedwork justyester- theywereemployedhas fallen in day(i.e. on May13).The uptickin thisfinancialyearstartingApriltill employmentwillbevisibleinthe AVISHEKGDASTIDAR now, compared to 2019-20. coming days,” the officialsaid. NEWDELHI,MAY14 This financial year,1.06crore The main driverofthe MN- households have got 13.59crore REGSemploymentwillbethemi- IN AN indication that normal person-days of employmentun- grant workersreturningbackto train services areunlikelytore- dertheMNREGSsofar. Asagainst their villages from cities and in- sume soon, the Indian Railways this,1.55crorehouseholdshadgot dustrialcentres.“Stateshavebeen on Thursdaysaid it hasdecided A.P.STATE WAREHOUSING CORPORATION 24.66croreperson-days of work toldto registerliberally, asperthe to canceland refund all bookings (A State Government Undertaking) D.No. 55-17-3, Stalin Corporate Building, 2nd Floor, inApril2019 alone.Therespective provisions of the MNREGS...”the on regular passenger trains till BehindAutonagarBus Stand,VIJAYAWADA -520 007. A.P. numbers forApril2020 arejust official said. FULLREPORTON June 30. However, specialtrains, PhonesNo. 0866-2556244, Fax:0866-2556344 89.66lakh and 11.08 crore. www.indianexpress.com likethe Shramik Specials formi- SWC/M2/0488/F.Covers/P&S/2020-21 Date: 14-05-2020 grantsand the Rajdhani-type NOTICE INVITING E-TENDER trains startedearlier this week We are Inviting E-Tenders in TwoBid (Technical Bid &Price Bid) connecting NewDelhi to 15 ma- System for supply of MLCL Fumigation Covers onARC basis for different jor cities, will continue to operate. places. Interested Bidders may contact at our Head Office on Phone The Railways had announced No. 0866-2556244/9849057693 or viewonour Website www.apswhc. “indefinite”suspension of pas- com & www.tenderwizard.com/APSWC senger train services in mid- Sd/- Managing Director April, at the end of the firstphase of thelockdown. However, as reservation can be made 120 days in advance, train tickets were booked tillAugust12, sources said.

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 @ieExplained #ExpressExplained If thereare questions of current or contemporaryrelevancethat you 7 E EXPLAINED TheOutbreak would likeexplained, please [email protected]

SIMPLY PUT QUESTION &ANSWER CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD THE WORLD Freeing prisoners in emergency 234,431 174,284 223,096 144,749 United Kingdom Germany Italy Turkey Followinginfections inside MumbaiCentral Jail,Maharashtrahas startedtemporarilyreleasinghalf the 178,184 prisoners in itsjails. Which ones arebeingfreed,what is the procedure, and what areother states doing? France 252,245 1,400,500 Russia house 13 prisonersagainstacapacity of 10. US SUSHANTKULKARNI& The MaharashtraPrison Department’s re- 114,533 SADAFMODAK portsaid the capacity in statejailsis23,547 Iran 196,375 PUNE,MUMBAI,MAY14 while therewere35,239 prisoners before the Brazil 229,540 lockdown. It warnedagainstanoutbreak in Spain ON TUESDAY,following an outbreak of novel other prisons if theyare notdecongested. coronavirus infections in Mumbai Central Beforethe release began, Arthur Road jail TOTALCONFIRMED: 4,405,019 DEATHCOUNT:299,873 Jail, better knownasArthur Road jail, the waspackedtomorethan four timesitscapac- Maharashtragovernment issued acircular ity—3,718 prisoners in place of 804. In Pune’s Source: JohnsHopkins University,updated at 11 pm on May14 that effectively facilitates the release of half Yerwada Jail, 5,717 prisoners arehoused, the prisoners lodged in the state’s jails, on when itscapacity is 2,449.The other impor- temporarybail and emergency parole. Until tant jails in the state, Thane Central Jail, Kalyan Thursday, around7,000of atargeted17,000- District Jail, and Byculla, all aresimilarly plus prisoners had been released. crowded, amajority of them undertrials. Can Covid-19 spread through “These crampedand crowdedjails— What ledtothe move? mostlyBritish-eracentral prisons in stool? Paper reviews evidence Over the lastseveral days,184 persons Maharashtra—are aticking time bomb for (158inmates and 26 staff) were found in- the spread of infectiousdiseases. The bar- STUDIES SO far, including afew re- fected in Arthur Road Jail, besides a54-year racksare very crowded, so arespaces of eat- portedinTheIndianExpress,have old woman inmate at BycullaJail. While ing and cleaning,” said the Prisons shown evidence of SARS-CoV-2 ge- Tuesday’s circular came afterthis, the gov- Aprisoner’s relativewaits outside Mumbai Central Jail, better known as Arthur Department officer. netic material in faecal matter.Does ernment’s movestorelease prisoners had, in Road jail. This wasbeforethe outbreak insidethe jail. Ganesh Shirshekar that mean the virus can spread fact, precededthe outbreak. Have there been coronavirus infections through stool? Moreworkisneeded In March,the Supreme Courthad directed in prisons in otherstates? to determine that,accordingtoanew decongesting of prisons and observed that talof17,642representsnearly halfthe 35,239 has to be sanctionedbyauthorisedjail officer. States including Uttar Pradesh, reviewpaper. the “bitter truth is thatour prisons areover- prisoners lodged in thestate’s 60 jailsbefore “Even though the decision to release Karnataka, Madhya Pradeshand Delhi have “Potential FecalTransmission of crowded, making it difficult forthe prisoners the lockdown. them has been taken, the prisoners have to recordedCovid-19casesintheir prisons. SARS-CoV-2: Current Evidence and to maintain social distancing”. With many By Thursday, the number already re- send bail applications to the designated Following the Supreme Courtorder,most Implications forPublic Health” will Maharashtrajails severely overcrowded, leasedwas up to 7,000 —5,200 on tempo- courts.Selection of eligible prisoners, verifi- states have constitutedahigh-poweredcom- appear in an upcoming edition of the housingprisoners four to five times their ca- rary bail and 1,800onemergency parole. cationoftheir records and completion of all mitteeand comeupwith theirrespective International Journal of Infectious Asewagetreatment plantin pacities, the stategovernment became the Tuesday’s order wasfor therelease of all formalitiestakes time. The superintendent categoriesofprisoners eligiblefor release. Diseases,Rice University (Texas) said Chandigarh. File photo firsttotakeamove in thatdirection. undertrials, relaxing the earlier categoryof of ajail is authorised to grant parole, and According to datacollated by in astatement. The paper,currently On March 25, ahigh-poweredcommit- thosefacing up to sevenyearsimprisonment, theretoo thereisaprocesstobefollowed, Commonwealth Human RightsInitiative, available online, is ledbyanepidemi- teerecommendedrelease of undertrials but with exceptions including those charged some paperwork to be done,” said asenior moststateshavemade similar exceptions ologistfromthe University.Itre- tant implications, especiallyfor those chargedwith offencespunishable up to with murder,rape, kidnapping, bank frauds, officer in the PrisonsDepartment. againstthe release of inmates chargedwith viewedanever-changingbody of lit- working in the restaurant industry, sevenyears.Italso directed release of con- major financial scams, money-laundering, Theprocessof releasefacedanotherhurdle. offences including murder,rape, terror,drug eratureondetection of the novel nursing homes, daycares, etc. victsonemergency parole with afew con- anti-terrorlaws, child sexual abuse as well Itwasbegunatatimewhenlockdownrestric- trafficking, child sexual abuse. While the coronavirus in faecal matter of Covid- “Ultimately, moreresearch is ditions.OnMarch 28, officialsofthe District as allforeign nationals. It also said inmates tionswerethemostsevere.Prisonersreleased Supreme Courthad said the categories for 19 patients. The major takeaway: neededtodetermine whether expo- Legal Services Authority beganfacilitating who reside outside the statecan be released had no means to reachvariousdestinations, release should be determinedbut notbelim- studieshavemostlybeen finding only suretostool is spreading this virus release of undertrials. Then onMay 8(fol- onlyafter the lockdown period is over and and afew non-profit organisations came for- ited to the natureofoffence, duration of sen- the RNAofthe virus in stool. and making the pandemic worse. But lowing the outbreak in the jail), the stategov- public transportation is available. ward tohelp in some districtslikeLatur.Some tence,and previous criminal record, most “Mostofthe studies that have giventhis possibility,itbehoovesus ernment amendedthe MaharashtraPrisons The release is temporary. Initially, both bail prisoners were found loiteringonthe streets. states have adhered to these and granted re- been done so farare to be morecareful, es- (Mumbai Furlough and Parole) Rules, and is- and parole is valid onlyfor 45 days,ortillthe In Pune, areleasedprisoner wasmur- leaseonlytothosefacingchargesthatinvolve picking up viral RNAin peciallyinsettings suedanotification enabling the release of application of Epidemic Diseases Actfromthe dered by agroup of people; old enmity is sus- punishment up to sevenyears in jail. the faeces rather than wherepeople have an certain categories of convicts. stateisrevoked,whicheverisearlier.The 45- pected.InMumbai, areleasedwoman in- Haryana and Odisha have directed the re- infectiousvirus. increased risk of mor- dayperiod would later beextendedinblocks matecould notreachher home in Palghar, lease of all prisonersabove age65onatem- However, afew studies bidity and death due to Howmanywill be released,and how of 30 days each. But eventually, theprisoners and wasgiven shelter by awomanjailer for porarybasis, with exceptions. Goa has di- have showedthat infec- Covid-19.” many have been so far? aresupposedtobebackinthe barracks. anight before another inmate, newly re- rected undertrialreviewcommittees, setup tious virus maybepres- Amirian said there’s According to areportbythe Prisons leased, offeredtotakeher home withher. in eachdistrict as per aprevious Supreme ent in stool samples,” PAPER no downsidetoexer- Department submitted on Monday, 5,105 Whyisthe release taking time? Courtorder,toundertake the responsibility lead author ESusan cising an abundance of prisoners had already been releasedasare- Whilethe decision has been takenbythe Howcrowdedare Maharashtra’s jails? of releasing undertrials. Amiriansaid in the CLIP caution in following sult of thedecisions onMarch 25 andMay 8, governmentandtheprisonershave beeniden- Beforethe lockdown,the state’s jailswere Committees across the country can rec- Universitystatement. good personal hygiene another 3,017 were in the process of being tified, theprocessofobtaining bail or parole accommodating 50%overtheir capacity.This ommend release of 14 categories of prison- Amirian said the NEWRESEARCH practices until we released, and afurther 9,520 would be re- hasto befollowedasearlier.Thebailorderhas ismuchhigherthanthenationalaverageoccu- ers, including women and those with severe merepresence of ge- knowmore. “Thereare leasedasaresult of Tuesday’s order.The to- to be issuedbyarelevant court, while parole pancy in central prisons, whichonanaverage illnesses. netic material is less plenty of other diseases worrisome than if infectious amounts out therethat aretransmitted of viable virus arefound in stool in fu- through fecal contamination, includ- COVID ECONOMIC PACKAGE: DAY2 turestudies, as thatwould implyitis ing hepatitis Aand norovirus. possible forittobe transmitted to oth- Followingahighlevel of precaution ers through faeces.She said if future will help justincase Covid-19can be How ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’works research continuesfinding viable spread this way.” virus in stool, this could have impor- Source: Rice University is required forrationcardportabilitytobe Integrated Management of Public HARIKISHANSHARMA operational. As of May9,ePoSdevices have DistributionSystem(IM-PDS) scheme in NEWDELHI,MAY14 been installedinaround 90% of fair price April 2018. INDIA COUNT: 78,003 (2,549DEATHS) shops nationally. Also, about 90%ofration The idea wastoreform India’s PDS, which AS PART of theUniongovernment’s Covid cards have been seededwith the Aadhaar has been historicallymarredbyinefficiency RESTOFINDIA economic relief package, Finance Minister numbers of the respectivecardholders. and leakages. The scheme envisaged atech- TOP10STATES AndamanandNicobarIslands 33 ArunachalPradesh1 Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursdayan- Once 100% Aadhaar seeding of ration nological solution involving the use of 1,924 Assam 80 nouncedthe national rollout of ‘OneNation, cards is achieved, and all fair price shops have Aadhaartoidentify beneficiaries. Punjab Bihar940 One Ration Card’ —asystem of inter-and in- been coveredbyPoS devices, amigrant Chandigarh 187 tra-state portability of ration cards —inall worker will be enabledtouse their 20 states and UTsonboard 4,328 7,998 Delhi Chhattisgarh 59 Rajasthan DadarNagarHaveli 1 states and Union Territories by March 2021. existing/same ration cardatany fair price It wasinitially proposedtoroll out One 3,729 UP Goa 7 Portability will enable migrant workers shop in the country. Nation, One Ration CardbyJune 1this year. Haryana 793 and members of their family to accessPublic The Integrated Management of Public Seventeen states and UTs—AndhraPradesh, HimachalPradesh 66 JammuandKashmir971 Distribution System benefits from anyfair Distribution System (IM-PDS) portal Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, 4,173 Jharkhand 173 price shop anywhereinthe country, (http://www.impds.nic.in/)willprovide the Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, 9,267 MP 2,290 Karnataka959 Sitharaman said. Twenty states and UTsare technologicalplatform forinter-state porta- Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat Kerala 534 already on boardtoimplementthe scheme. bilityofrationcards. Bihar,Punjab, Himachal Pradesh,and Dadra West Bengal Ladakh 43 Manipur 2 Migrant workers boardabus on the Adifferent portal, annavitran.nic.in,will &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu —are al- 25,922 Meghalaya13One Nation, One Ration Card MP-Maharashtraborder. Nirmal Harindran hostthe data on thedistributionoffood- ready on board. The states of Odisha, Maharashtra 2,137 Mizoram 1 Under The National Food Security Act, grains through E-PoS devices withinastate. Mizoram, and Nagaland areexpectedto AndhraPradesh Odisha 538 Puducherry 13 2013,about81crorepeople areentitledto Annavitran willenableamigrant worker come on boardbyJune 1. 9,227 Tamil Nadu Telengana 1367 buy subsidisedfoodgrains —rice at Rs 3/kg, foodgrains from anyfair price shop in India. orher familyavail PDS benefitsoutside their Tripura 155 wheat at Rs 2/kg, andcoarsegrains at Re 1/kg Thus, amigrant worker from, say, Bastidis- districtbut withintheir state. Intra-state morepopular Uttarakhand 72 —fromdesignated fair price shops underthe trict of Uttar Pradesh, will be able to access While aperson can buy foodgrains as per While inter-state ration cardportability Union Health Ministryupdateasof11pm, May14. Some states mayhave Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). PDS benefitsinMumbai, whereshe might her entitlement under the NFSAatthe place is available in 20 states already,itisnotvery reportedhigher numbers. Onlystates/UTswith at leastone case listedabove. About23crore ration cards have been is- have gone in search of work. whereshe is based, members of her family popular yet. Accordingtodataavailable on suedtobeneficiaries across thecountry. can still go to their ration dealer backhome. the IM-PDS portal, only275 transactions had 26,235 PATIENTS DISCHARGEDIN32STATES ANDUNION TERRITORIES However, the cardholdercan buy foodgrains Biometric authentication been done until May14. onlyfromthe specific fair price shop in her The newsystem, basedonatechnologi- In the worksfor twoyears However, the number of transactions us- Have aquestion on the COVID-19outbreak and what youshould/should notdo? locality to whichshe has been assigned. cal solution, will identify abeneficiary Whilethe Covid-19crisis has exposedthe ing intra-state ration cardportability has [email protected] Once the One Nation, One Ration Card through biometric authentication on elec- starkreality of the conditionofmigrant been quitehigh. DataontheAnnavitaran system becomes operational nationally, each tronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices at the fair workers, work on the ration cardportability portalshowabout 1crore transactions took beneficiarywill be abletobuy subsidised price shops. So, end-to-end computerisation project had begun with the launchofthe place using the facility lastmonth. CatscaninfectcatswithCovid,withoutsymptoms:unpackinganewstudy

symptoms. Within weeks, afew moretigers swabs of twocatsthe following day, andin Also,all thecatswentonto clear thevirus. toms of COVID-19avoid contact with cats. KABIRFIRAQUE and lions at the zoo tested positive. allthree within three days. In the Sciencestudy,inwhichthe researchers NEWDELHI,MAY14 Among domestic cats, the firstknown The dayafter administering the virus, the euthanisedthe cats. Also, the Chinese re- What it does notmean infection happened in Belgium. This wasaf- researchers placedasecond cat in eachcage. searcherswrote they could nottakenasal On Thursday, theAssociated Press ON WEDNESDAY,researchers publisheda terits humanstarted showing symptoms. These three were notadministeredthe virus. swabs because the catswereaggressive. quoted theAmericanVeterinaryMedical paper with evidence that catscan transmit Therehas also been at leastone previous Within sixdays, allofthe cats were shed- The latestfindings, according to the re- Association as saying that justbecause an the novelcoronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to one study,publishedinScience,that suggested ding the virus. And all of it wasdetected in searchers, suggestthat catsmay be capable animal can be deliberatelyinfected in alab another,and without showing symptoms. domestic catscan infect infect one another. nasal swabs, but none in rectal swabs. of becoming infected whenexposedtopeo- “does notmean that it will easilybeinfected The fact that catscan getinfected has been Chineseresearchersinoculatedanumberof Eachcat shedSARS-CoV-2 foruptosix ple or other catspositive forSARS-CoV-2. withthat same virus under naturalcondi- known forsome time now; what do the lat- catswith the virus, and placedthree of the days.None of them showedsymptoms,and Other researchers have previouslysug- tions”. It said “thereisnoevidencetosug- estfindings add to existing knowledge? catsincages alongside other caged cats, eventuallyall of them got rid of the virus. gested reasons whycatsmay be vulnerable gest thatanimals, includingpets, that may whichhad notbeen inoculated.Later,the cats to infection from humans: feline and hu- be incidentallyinfected by humans are Previous cases &findings were euthanised;thevirusRNAwas foundin Temperaturecheck in acat cafe. AP What is new, whyitmatters mancells have similar ACE2 receptors, playing arole in the spread of COVID-19.” The mostfamous case of infection all the inoculated catsand in one exposed The keyfinding wasthat catscan be whichare enzymesthat facilitatethe coro- The existing guidelines from the US amongcats, big or domestic, has been that of cat, but notinthe other twoexposedcats. asymptomatic while carrying the virus. navirus’sentryinthe body. Centers forDisease Control and Prevention four-year-old Nadia, aMalayantiger at New England JournalofMedicine. “That wasamajor findingfor usùthe cats The generalviewremainsthat acat is (CDC) saythat based on thelimited infor- York’s Bronx Zoo. She tested positive last The newest research The researchers isolated thecoronavirus did nothavesymptoms,” lead researcher morelikelytoget Covid-19fromahuman, mation available so far, theriskofpets month,having apparentlycaughtthe virus The newpaper,byresearchers from the from ahuman patientand administeredit YoshihiroKawaoka said in astatement is- than ahuman getting it from acat. The re- spreading coronavirus to people “is consid- from azoo employeewho had notshown US and Japan, is publishedinthe New to threecats. SARS-CoV-2 showedinnasal suedbythe UniversityofWisconsin. searchers have advised peoplewith symp- ered to be low.” WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 WORDLY WISE Most gods throw dice. Fate playschess —and you 8 don’tfind outtill late thathe’sbeen playing with two THE EDITORIAL PAGE queens —TERRY PRATCHETT The credit lifeline

§ FOUNDED BY § RAMNATH GOENKA Fund forMSMEs will easecredit. But government BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL mayhavetoscale up supportincoming months

FALLING SHORT NeelkanthMishra Distress of poor,migrantsisgreater than relief announcedby THE BATTLE AGAINSTthe virus is likelyto manyconditions. ForstandardMSMEs (that tureofthe fund (likeits duration, the investors government so farpromises to address. It needs to do more last severalmoremonths,implying pro- is,those that have been servicing their loans it raises funds from), as well as howitwould longed curtailment of economic activity to so far), newloans upto20per centofthe operate. Asharp increase in credit to farmers, NTHURSDAY,FINANCE MinisterNirmala Sitharamanunveiledthe second ensuresocial distancing. The resultant eco- current outstanding credit willbefully back- through Kisan Credit Cards (extendedtolive- tranche of relief measurestoalleviatethe stress stemmingfromthe coron- nomic pain has been, and is likelytobe, stoppedbythe government.That is, if there stockfarmersand fishermen) as well as spe- avirus.Whilethe firstset of measureswas geared towardsensuring liquid- broad-based,though it is mostacutelyfelt is adefault, the government will paythe cial loans, should alsohelp funds flow in the Oity flowtovarious partsofthe economy, the second aims to ensure food se- by the indigent and small-scale enterprises. bank.Weexpect this to drive immediate economybyincreasing the quantum of new curityfor migrants workers, and ease credit flows to the morevulnerable sections of society Notonlyisitnecessary to support the worst- credit creation, as guarantees areavailable bank credit. affected,but it is also necessarytopreserve onlyfor loans extendedinthe next six The natural limitation of the policyin- —streetvendors and small farmers,among others.But thoughmoreannouncementsare India’seconomic growth potential, so that, months,lenders have zerorisk,and the bor- terventionsthus faristhat theyonlyaffect in the offing, foracountrywhichhas gone through the moststringent of lockdowns, with once the restrictions arelifted, the economy rowers aremostlikelystressedand would enterprises in the formal sector and in agri- thethinnest of safetynets, the measures so farlackthe required breadth and depth. quicklyreverts to arapid growth trajectory. want these funds. It is possible if notlikely culture. As we aretalking about taxpayer To ensurefood security formigrants, the government has announcedtwo sets of The firstpackage(‘Howtominimise the thatfirms will use theseloans to justpay in- funds and formal savings, it maybeunfair measures. First, provision of foodgrains forthe next twomonths —thisincludesthe non- damage’, IE, March 28) announcedbythe terestand coverlosses, but if so, that in away to allocatethem to informal enterprises. ration card-holders who arenot coveredbythe national food security act or stateschemes. Uniongovernment focusedonthe poor,and is the purpose of this scheme —the govern- Suchmeasures (orsay if the government the second rightlyfocuses on providing ment absorbing losses upfront rather than provides GSTcreditsfor liquidity support) And second, portability of benefits. This implies that ration card-holders will nowbeable credit to smaller enterprises. the (likely larger)losttaxes andpotential maybeincentivesfor firms to formalise,but to withdraw rations from anywhereinthe country, notjusttheir home states. While both While assessing policy measures during bank bailoutsifthereisabankruptcy.For the pain ininformal non-agricultural enter- these relief measures arewelcome, theyhavecome toolateinthe day. By the govern- the lockdown, wherestimulating newac- the government, the costs of this guarantee prises maystayunaddressed, and remain an ment’s ownadmission, this measurewill cover8croremigrants. This is astaggering num- tivity has limited value, we believe thereare would be spread over several years, with at overhang on growth. ber. Implementing these measures early on could have avertedthe painful migrant cri- twoover-arching principles one mustkeep most10per cent incurredinthis fiscal year. Whileless than 10 per cent of the an- sis that has unfoldedoverthe pastseveral weeks. Ensuring food security,some form of in mind.One, the flowoffunds slows with Thetwo schemestogether,targeting to nouncementsthus farhas been the fiscal economicactivity;and two, firms do notgo provide Rs 75,000 croreofliquidity to non- cost, the remaining 4lakh crores of the eco- short-term income supporttotide over this crisis, could have alleviated their hardship. bankruptbecause of insolvency,but because banking finance companies (NBFCs), may nomic packagemay have agreater fiscal el- Further,ifthe onlyplan formigrant workers is to provide them jobs under MGNREGA,then of lackofaccess to funds (also calledliquid- be abit less successful, however, in our view. ement, though at this stageitappears un- surelythe firststepshould be to significantlyrampupallocations to thescheme. The ef- ity). Policymakers theworld over arepulling The special purpose vehicle that is to pro- likely. One senses afiscalcaution in ficacy of measures geared towardsensuring easier access to cheaper credit is also ques- out all stops to makesurethat the flowof videliquidity to NBFCs provides funds for government measuresthat in ourviewis tionable. Forinstance, aspecial credit facility has been setupfor over 50 lakh street ven- credit continues. Of the Rs 20-lakh-crore Thenatural limitation to three months at atime, maybeenough to overdone, and couldhurtmorethan it helps. economic support announcedbythe Prime prevent accidents(likeanNBFC defaulting By pre-announcing the additional bond is- dorswithanestimated outlayofRs5,000 crore. But in acountrywith well-known policy interventions thus far problems of identificationofbeneficiaries forgovernment schemes, that maynot be MinisteronMay 12,wehavedetails for due to lack of liquidity). Butitmay notsuf- suance forthe year,and giving an implicit about Rs 16 lakh crore. Monetary and finan- is that they only affect fice to getthem to grow.The partial credit assurance that additional deficitswould be enough. The credit linked subsidyscheme foraffordable housing has been extendedby cial interventionstaken by the government enterprises in the formal guarantee giventobanks’loans to NBFCs financedseparately, bond market volatility another year —but withquestions over job/income security,its ability to spur demand and the RBI to provide credit to those who sector and in agriculture: As maybemoreeffective forasubsetofNBFCs, has been minimised. Even though that po- foraffordable housing is questionable. Thereare alsocontradictorysignal over labour needitmakeupmorethan 90 per cent of it. but as it is onlyavailable to public sector tentiallymeans the RBI purchasing govern- laws.Sitharaman spokeofextending minimum wages, and providing protection to work- Mostofthe measures announcedbythe we are talking about banks,itwould dependontheir willingness ment bonds, the rupeehas been remarkably ers, yetatthe same time, the Uttar Pradesh government, ruledbythe BJP,isinfavourof RBI earlier have nothad thedesired effect, taxpayer funds and formal and ability to extend newloans. stable —therewas fear that fiscal spending doing away with all forms of labour protection. withthe quantum of cheap funds being savings, it maybeunfair to The Rs 50,000 crorefundtoprovide eq- financedbythe central bank would be made available being moreorless the same uity forMSMEs, with acorpus of Rs 10,000 frownedupon and drive currency weakness. The hurtbornebythe most vulnerable in this crisis is likelytobefar greater than the allocate them to informal as the increase in the amount being de- crorebeingprovidedbythe government, The road ahead remains unclear,but it is relief measures the governmenthas announcedsofar can address. Though the govern- posited in the RBI everynight by banks. enterprises. Suchmeasures whichwouldthen beleveraged, is an interest- likelythat the economicdamageisalready ment has said that measuresare still in the offing, the scaleofthat distress requires it to Heightenedrisk aversion in bankshas (or sayifthe government ing initiative.Losses incurredinthe current muchlargerthanthe measures undertaken do more. meant that justreducing the costoffunds provides GSTcredits for lockdown aredepleting risk capital, some- so far. It is best to see this as the beginning of had no impact on the volume and costofthe liquiditysupport) maybe thing that the country wasshort of even be- government action. The scale of government credit theyprovided. At this stageofthe cy- fore this crisis.Replenishing if notgrowing intervention mayhavetointensify in the cle, this is notsurprising. incentives forfirms to thatisparamount to restoringIndia’s growth coming months. We believe acontinued fo- IN EC’SCOURT The seriesofmeasures announcedto formalise,but the pain in potential. While globalaswell as local private cus on reforms and on sustaining India’s provide credit supporttothe micro, small informal non-agricultural equity andventure capital funds would con- growth potential will be critical in prevent- and medium enterprises(MSMEs) attempts tinue to exploreand invest in smaller firms, ing macroeconomic instability. Setting aside of election in Gujarat by courtposes aquestion it to address this gap. We believe the largest enterprises maystay suchafund can scale up the funds availabil- mustrespond to seriously and institutionally of these schemes is likelytobethe mostef- unaddressed,and remain an ity significantly.Its efficacy though can be The writer is co-headofAsia Pacific Strategy fective,particularly as it comes without too overhang on growth. judged onlyafter details emerge on the na- and IndiaStrategist forCredit Suisse MID THE PANDEMIC, acourt verdict has deliveredasetback of adifferent kind to the Gujarat government, and to the Election Commission of India. In araresteponTuesday, theGujarat High Court setaside the electionin2017 Aof Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, ministerwithmultipleportfoliosinthe Vijay Rupani government, from Dholka constituency,and upheld the contention of the peti- tioner,his Congress rivalinthat election,that it wasconductedin violation of the poll code. The court rulingwas strikingly stern and strong: It spokeof429 “illegally” rejected and IAMMORE LEFT THAN YOU THINK excludedpostalballots when the margin of victorywas aslender 327, of an “unholynexus”, “manipulation of record”, and “corruptpractice”, whichgaveanunfair advantagetothe win- ningcandidateand materiallyaffected the result. The High Court verdict is settobechal- Manywho claim to be leftistfeelonly they should have freedom of speech, nobody else lenged in the SupremeCourt, but it lends weight to allegations of misuse of government machineryto influence an election. Anditplaces in thedockthe ReturningOfficer,Dholka’s Sadhguru deputy collector,DhavalJani. In the verdict’s aftermath, the EC has constituted athree- memberCommittee of Officers and has spoken of disciplinaryproceedingsagainstthe RO being underway. But that, surely,cannotbethe end of the embarrassment. IAMFAR more“left” thanpeople can Their lifestyle, opinions and attitude do ahead with it. So then yousay:“Iwill take to The Election Commission is deservedly fetedasthe independent and impartial mon- imagine, but Iamnot crazyleft, whereyou notshowthattheyare leftorliberal. the streets—myright to protest.” Youhave itor of apoll process of staggering complexity in alarge anddiverse country. Over the years, makesurepeople areleftout of all devel- One aspect of this is that theyfeel onlyt the righttoprotestfor sure, but youdonot it has earneditsplace at thetop of the heap of India’smosttrustedinstitutions. Yet, it is also opment and all possibilities.Myidea of left heyshould have freedom of speechand have the righttodisruptevenone citizen’s true thatits stature and standingcalls forconstant vigilancebythe poll monitor against is amorefairand just administration. Isay nobody else. Liberal means whatever is life. Youhavenoright to blockthe road,cut everyand anybreachofdue poll process. That an election has been held invalid by the “more”becausethereisnosuchthing as an in my heartIwill speak,and youshould lis- offthe waterorelectricity or whatever else. absolutelyfairand justsociety. Allwecan tenand tell me what is wrong with it. Youmustask forpermission, find an area, sit court is an indictment that needs to be addressedseriously, and institutionally. This is es- createisasociety where thingsare largely Youcannotpoint out onething and thereand protest. The democratic process peciallyimportant in times when politics is becoming moreconfrontational, and when the happening in afairmanner,and if people justsay,“No,Idonotlikeit.”Thatwill has enough proper platforms whereyou EC is coming underincreasingfirefor feeble interventionsthatare heardlessand less. arenot equal, at leasttheyhaveequal op- notwork. can protest. The EC’s rebukeand reprimand even forviolations of the legallyun-enforceable Model portunity. If youbelieve that your opinion is much If youdonotagree with the law, thereis Code of Conduct matter because of itsformidable reputation forfairness. Anysigns of in- What leftmeans is your lifeisnotabout moresacred thanthe people’s will in adem- acourtwhereyou can go.Ifitisinany way stitutional weakening or sloth —inthe recentUddhavThackeray election case, it report- yourself; your lifeisabout thecommunity. ocratic society,then youhaveafundamen- illegal,itwill getknocked down. But if it is The Isha Yoga Center is acommune—in a talproblem. When amajority of the people legaland youstill do notlikeit, youmust edly took acall from the chief ministertothe prime ministerand then the governor’s in- way, it isacommunist arrangement. electagovernment, even if youdonot per- strive hardtowin the next election —that is terventiontoprodthe EC to hold an election that wasnecessary to avertapolitical crisis Nobody is asking howmuchyou have,your sonallylikeit, it is stillyour government. It the onlyway youcan doitinademocratic —mustbeguardedagainst. The EC mustact, and be seentoact, to ensurethat the aber- religion, caste,whereyou comefrom, who is notsomeoneelse’sgovernment. Forme, country. Manypeople arenot able to digest ration in Gujarat remains justthat. your father is. We willtreat youlikewetreat this is India’s governmentand Iwill support thissimplefact.Theydonot have the nec- everyone else. If yourise and showsome it. Notbecause Iamsomeone’sfan or be- essary commitmenttoworkfor five years specialqualities, we willhonour thatas cause of anypolitical ideology,but simply andsomehow win the election next time. well. Communism means everyone is shar- Yo uhavethe right to protest becauseIamacitizen of India. The country Theyjustwanttosit at home, wineand dine A METEOR CALLED DING ing and living together. Forinstance, youare forsure,but you do not have is offeringacertain order,facilities and fun- all their lifebut protestabout everything willing to give away your phone to some- the right to disrupt even one damentals forustoliveand work.For that, that the government does. Youcannotlose one who does nothaveone, or at least share Iwill abide by whatever the government theelection and pass the laws.Ifthe losers If he manages to dethrone Carlsen, China’s emergence in the it with your neighbourbecause,after all, citizen’s life. Yo uhaveno says by law. want to pass laws and carrythe trophy, it is game it had once bannedwould be complete youare aparty member.Inthe Yoga Center right to blockthe road,cut Youcan voteagainstaBill in Parliament, notfair. we do suchthings effortlessly. This is ab- offthe water or electricityor youcan express what youthink is wrong ASTOCTOBER, CHINA’S WorldNo3Ding Liren defeated worldchampion solute left. whatever else. Yo umust ask with it. If we have some concerns about a The writerisfounder,Isha Foundation. But the people who claim theyare “left” certain law, we can say, “thisisour concern, He wasconferred thePadma Vibhushan Magnus Carlsen in adramatic play-offtocapturethe prestigious Sinquefield arenot living likethat.Manyare just living forpermission, find an area, please fixit”. But it is stillthe government’s by theGovernmentofIndia Cup in St Louis, strengthening the growing impression that the 26-year-old in their ownhome, talking leftphilosophy. sit there and protest. choice whether theywant to fixitor go in 2017 Lcan challenge the Norwegian’s globalcrown in 2020. The pandemic has put the prospect on hold, but by claimingthe FIDE Online Nations Cup, Chinahas assertedits credentials as aglobal superpowerinchess, agame it hadironicallybannedinthe incip- ient years of communistrule. The victorywas areflection of China’s real depth and qual- ity,atriumph of the long-term strategy,Big Dragon, designedtomakethe countryone of the leading chess powers by 2010. MAY 15,1980, FORTY YEARS AGO Barring themen’s worldcrown, they have conquered vast areas of the 64-squareboard forthe lastdecade. Hou Yifan, justthe second woman afterJudit Polgar to crackthe list AAGSP THREATS MANIPUR MILITARY AID BANNING STRIKES of the world’s top100players and the youngest ever worldchampion,has been sittingatop WITH THE ULTIMATUM on the foreigners’ THE MANIPUR GOVERNMENTislikely AN ORDINANCE GIVINGwide powers to the the women’s grid forthe better partofthe lastfiveyears. In thetop 15,she has four com- issue due to expire, the All-Assam Gana to seek militaryaid to stem the near-insur- Maharashtragovernment to ban strikesin Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) made what it gency situation prevailing in the Manipur essential services has been promulgated by patriots forcompany. Likeinbadminton and table tennis, women’s chess has become a calledalast-minuteappeal to the govern- Valley, it waslearnt through reliable official the president. The ordinanceprovides forar- field of Chinese expertise. And unlikeseveral western countries, China has thrivedon ment to come forwardwith an “acceptable sources. The stategovernment plans to have rest without warrant of anyone suspected of home-grownand notassembledtalent, by investing in people and spreading opportu- and constitutional” solution before expiryof almosthalf of the Valleydeclaredadis- having committedanoffence underitand nity across the country. Yifangrew up in aremote county town in Jiangsu Province; Ding deadline failing which, it said, ‘’appropriate turbed area under Section 3ofthe Armed seizureofvehicles usedbyhim/her.Anyone in asmall town in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang. action would have to be taken”.The Parishad, Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special participating in an illegal strikeisliable to a The men’s circuit,though, wasmoredifficult to crack. Forseveral years, players with in astatement issuedinGauhati, said it was Powers Act. Official sourcessaid the gov- jail term of upto six months and afine of upto promise emergedfromChina but entering the top10proveddifficult. Then came Ding, waiting forsome meaningful response from ernment had prepared acase forrecom- Rs 200besides disciplinaryaction by the em- the government “at thislastminute”. If the mending the invocation of the Armed ployer. It lays down severe punishment for whose rise to WorldNo3was as meteoric as it wasspectacular.Barelyapassing mention government does notact as demanded, it Forces Actof1953. The recommendation those instigating strikes or giving financial till 2017,heimprovedrapidlyinthe lastthree years, beguiling his adversaries and friends warned, then the people will have to take willbeforwarded to Shillongwithin aday supporttostrikers. This categorymay in- with asmile and anincrediblyattacking game.IfDingmanages to dethroneCarlsen, some appropriatemeasures towardsfulfil- or two, the chief minister, DorendraSingh, clude labour leaders who areliable to impris- China’s emergence in the game it had once bannedwould be complete. ment of the goal. told UNI. onment upto ayear andfine of upto Rs 1,000. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 WHATTHE OTHERSSAY “The best way of striking abalance betweencommerce andsafetyistocommit seriously to amasstest and trace regime,ascountries from Germany to South Korea are doing. Sadly,Westminster’s efforts in that direction have fallen far short.” 9 THE IDEAS PAGE — THEGUARDIAN Things not to do in apandemic Recover and Youcannotreplace the invisible hand of the market with the visible hand of the bureaucrat and the police, shield telling people what to do and doling out moneyand food Anapproachthatcapitalisesontherealities of thevirusandthevirtuesof India

talisesonthe realities of the virus and the virtues of India. First, it is becoming clear thatthe fatality rate of the virusismuch lowerthan it appears. Antibodystudies in ECONOMIC GRAFFITI Italy, Germany, California and NewYork showthatfor everyone case recorded in by Kaushik Basu the system, theremay be five-10others who have immunity.Inall likelihood, they Shitij Kapur got their immunityfromverymild or silent THE RISK OF COVID-19iswidelymisread. This infections. If confirmed, thishas twoimpli- is causing afear psychosisand can do great cations. First, the virus is toowidespread to harm to the economy, creating shortagesin FORTHE LAST four weeks, Ihavehad the allowfor controlledsuppression in India, food and essentialservices. All over Europe privilegeofleading over ahundred of and that the virus is notasfatal as has been and in manyEastAsian nations, people have Australia’s brightest medical scientists, initially assumed. come to grips with the fact that we mayhave economists andpolitical scientists to de- Addtothat, COVID-19ismuchlessdan- to live and functionalongside COVID-19for velop areportcalledthe “Roadmap to gerous, almost 20 times less dangerous, for some time to come. In contrast, severaldevel- Recovery”. It outlines twooptions for those under the ageof50. Three-quarters of oping nations, especiallyinAfricaand South Australia —elimination of the virus, or con- Indians areunder50, and theyaccount for Asia, remain shuttered andclosed. trolledadaptation to it. Ihavewondered morethan 80 per centofits productivity. My argument is notabout howrisk- whether these options make sense for Theyare the ones who earn to supportthe averse we should be butthe needtobecon- India, but neither of these approaches will young and the old. India’s under-50 could sistent in ourresponse. The stress of the pan- work forIndia: The countryneeds to pio- thus “recover” backfromsocial distancing demicisoften robbing us of consistency.In neer itsown pragmatic way. intoproductive employment. India, roughly10,000 people diefrom Australia is asmall countryof26mil- “Recover” does notmean backtonor- malariaeachyear,and close to 200,000 are lion people spread across avastcontinent mal. It means alarge-scale return to work killedinroad accidents. But everytime we CRSasikumar with awell-developedhealth system. This but withafew practical conditions: No go out forastroll,wedonot worryabout con- shut down then. Clearly,Gates wasnot sug- large gatherings, buses and trains running makes eliminationpossible. In fact, five re- physical contact,everyone wears home- tracting malaria or being hit by acar. gesting that. He wasurgingfor moreresearch but with limitsonthe number of people al- gions in Australia have successfully elimi- mademasks,placesofemployment pro- Thereisliteratureinpsychology on and better health preparedness.Moreover, lowedineachcompartment, planes with al- nated the virus already and nowhaveex- vide waterand soap and requiredisinfec- “salience”.Depending on howsalientlya by focusing on the worst-case scenario,we ternateseatsvacant. This will mean arise in tensive testing to certifythat. In acountry tion three times aday,maintain “arm span” piece of information is presented to people, areignoringwhy the risk of COVID fatality is, faresbut that is aprice we will have to pay. of India’s scale and size, and limited health- distance wherepractical; amplify in the rational responsescan be drownedout. If,for in general, severalhundred times lowerinall The government can shield the poor with di- careresources, the eliminationofCOVID is media the three major symptoms of COVID instance, accountsofCOVID deaths arepre- of Africa and Asia compared to Europe and rected subsidies. We will neednew staffto notpossible anymore. India will have to live and provide advice on self-isolation if any sented in vivid detail while the risk facedby NorthAmerica. The lowerriskmay well be managethis, whichwill also createjobs. with it. twoofthose three present;and, testing and adrivernot wearing aseat belt is givenin rootedinpastillnesses and, therefore, re- When someone contractscoronavirus we The rest of Australia is nowgoing for tracing wherepossible. No large parties, no purenumbers andrelegated to the back silience, in these regions. should ensurethat the household concerned “controlledadaptation” wherethe virus is large gatherings. Asimple message, posted pages of our newspapers, people will per- This is nottodenythat thereare some ir- follows quarantine rules, instead of shutting suppressedtoverylow levels. Australia all over the country. ceive thetwo risksdifferently. This is hap- responsible leaders in the world, suchas down awhole area or ahousing complex. In right nowhas 10-20 newcases aday,and it While allowing this, one would selec- pening in abig waytoday, especiallybecause Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who have gone to the western nations and in East Asia, thereisnow is hopedthatitwill be heldatthis level tively “shield”the elderly,the vulnerable we live in the ageofsocial media, and instant other extreme by ignoringall scientific evi- alot of writingaboutopening schools (some whilegraduallyreleasingrestrictions. To and those who feel particularly at risk.They news. dence andtreating COVID-19likethe com- have already done it), because otherwise we achieve this, one needs aprecise handle on should continue to practisesocial distanc- Muchofthe pandemic datafromthe rich mon cold. Luckily, we have outstanding lead- can damagethe nation’s human capital and the total number of cases and extensive ing as theydonow,and should use face countries arepresented without correction ers, likeGermany’s Angela Merkeland long-run growth. Iwouldnot take this step in testing. Ifear none of these conditions ap- masksand “armspan” wheninteracting forpopulation size. This is causing people in France’s Emmanuel Macron, who arere- India at this time but take adecision some- plytoIndia. with the young. populous regions likeAsia and Africa to mis- minding people of the risksofthe pandemic time in June when we have even moreevi- India currentlyreports approximately Modelling studiesbythe London School read the risk.Thus, manyIndians maypanic but also pointing out to them thatwehave dence. And, we need to work relentlesslyon 3,000cases aday and has relatively limited of Hygiene showthat suchanapproachof on learning that morethan2,500peoplehave to take the harddecision of unwinding from testing and contact-tracing. This will enable testing. The London School of Hygiene es- “recover andshield”for countrieslikeIndia diedofCOVID in the countrywhile the virus the lockdown and enablingthe economyto us to do acurated lockdown in amuchmore timates thatthe real number in India is could achieve thebenefits of an early eco- has claimedless than 1,500people in Ireland. function. effectiveway,cutting down the riskofcapi- closer to 2,00,000totalcases, and rising fast. nomic recovery,and dramaticallydecrease But correct these figures forpopulationsize, Even though therehas been aworrying talflight and economiccrash. Even if India wishes to hold thenumbers the number of cases requiring hospitalisa- and the risk of an individual dying by COVID outflowofcapital from India over the lasttwo Economistshavewritten about the need to this level, the scale of testing required for tion and deaths. Indeed,the number of in Ireland is about 260 times greater than in months, thereishopeinthe countrybecause forgovernmentstoallocate moremoneyto finelytunedrelaxation of social distancing deaths in India couldbeheld to lessthan India. These kinds of differences in risk exist severalcorporateleaders,senior bureaucrats, help workers, migrants, and small informal is in therange of 10,000to 20,000permil- those lostevery year from smoking and air notjustbetween Ireland and India, but all of and some political leaders,across ideologi- When it comes to the businesses. This is absolutelyessential. lion. India currentlystands at 700per mil- pollution. Europe andNorth America compared to all cal lines, have begun speaking up in recent economy, the question is not However, this is also time to recognise that lion. India would have toincrease itstesting India could use itssophisticated system of Africaand Asia. days,showing awareness that aprotracted whether or not there should the economyisanunbelievablycomplexor- by afactorof20. No countrycan do that in of collecting databydistrictsand zoning Some will counter my analysis by argu- lockdown can do moreharm than good. We ganism. One critical factor that allows it to the next fewweeks. them by COVID cases to implement this ing that Iamdiscounting the future. Is it not also have remarkable examples of good prac- be alockdownbut what kind survive andflourish is the invisiblehand of The livesversuslivelihood trade-offfor model in stages, comparing districtsasit possiblethat Africa and Asia areonthe brink tice —moststrikinglyinKerala, whichis of alockdown. There is the market, whichhas evolvedoverthou- Indiaisnot the same as thatfor Western goes along, refining the method and shar- ofahugesurge?And in that case, should we talked aboutall over the world, butalsoin growing evidence that we can sands of years. The market’s invisible hand nations.Astudy done by Barnett-Howell ing it with the rest of the world. notlockdown our economiestotally? The an- some other areas suchasDelhi. create afew social-interaction enables collaboration among millions of in- and Mobarak of the Yale University School The strategies of theWestwill notwork swer to thefirstquestion is yes, and the sec- But thereare manycountrieswhichare dividuals eachtakinghis or her owndecision of management shows howthe cost-ben- forIndia, nor forthe other lowand middle- ond no. Letmeexplain. About the future,at running big risksofending up with major rules, suchasno large concerningwhat to produce,and what to efit trade-offofsocial distancing makes income countries. Following them will lead thebestoftimes, we know little. COVID-19 economic setbacks.Argentina is acase in gatherings, buses, and trains buy.Ifthe market is brought to ahalt through good sense in Western nations while in na- to an economic and humanitarian disaster. is new, and so we knowevenless. The pan- point. The countryisnot completely to blame running but with limits on excessivecontrol, thereisnoway youcan re- tions likeIndia, using local costs and local With itsown version of “recoverand demic could slowlygodown, remain flat, or forthe situation it is in now. Argentina is the number of people place the invisible handwith the visible hand values, the returnsare meagre. Social dis- shield”, India can pioneer abetterway.And surge intoamegapandemic. We cannotrule about to be declared in debt default by itspri- of the bureaucrat and the police, telling peo- tancing in countries likethe US and it does nothavetowait. It can starttomor- out anyofthese situations,but that should vate international lenders, who have shown allowedineach ple what to do anddolingout money and Germanydelivers economic returns more row. notmean that we always thinkofthe worst- an unfortunatelackofempathy in themidst compartment,planes with food. It wasDeng Xiaoping’s recognitionof than 10 times greater than the returns for case scenarioand live by that. By that reason- of the pandemic. But some of Argentina’s alternate seats vacant. This this in the late1970s thatenabledChina’s countries likeIndia. So,why is India follow- The writer is dean of thefaculty of ing,nations should have lockeddowntheir problems arebecause of the country’s over- will mean arise in fares but economytoflourish. Theseare challenging ing the sameprescription? medicine, dentistry and healthsciences at economies even before Wuhan happened. zealousness in shutting down theeconomy times but it is important foremerging na- We needour ownapproachthat capi- The University of Melbourne Afterall, the risk of newviruses has been and mobility in themistakenviewthat this that is aprice we will have to tions in Africa and Asia to be awarethat a known forawhile.OnApril27, 2018,atan will save lives. pay. Thegovernment can controlledeconomyand society is arecipe event organisedbythe Massachusetts When it comes to the economy, the ques- shield the poor with directed fordisaster. Medical Society,Bill Gates and severaloth- tion is notwhether or notthereshould be a ers warnedusofthe possibility of anew virus lockdown but what kind of alockdown. subsidies. We willneed new The writer is CMarksProfessor at Cornell LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR and pandemic. By the reasoning some people Thereisgrowingevidence thatwecan cre- stafftomanage this, which University and former Chief Economistand areusingnow,economies should have been ateafew social-interaction rules, suchasno will also create jobs. SeniorVicePresident, World Bank DANGEROUSAUGURY THIS REFERSTOthe editorial, ‘Justice IDEAS deferred’ (IE, May14).The Supreme Court’s referral of the restoration of 4G ONLINE services in Jammu &Kashmir issue to a special committee isn’t surprising. ONLYINTHE EXPRESS Schooling in times of corona Since the abrogation of Article 370, the ● TIMEFORARELOOK SC has been dragging itsfeetonthe manycontentiousissues emanating ATLOCKDOWN: Roles of parents, teachers have merged, education mustbefoundedoncompassion thereafter. If judiciarytoo starts using RUCHIGUPTA national security as apretext to forsake Shailendra Sharma itsduty of protecting people’s rights, ● WHEN COVID HITS then it doesn’t augurwell forthe future. SLUMS: RAMAN, NIRMA Kamna Chhabra, Gurugram BORA AND KANIKA SINGH “I HOPE MY children have eaten today.”“I encouragethem to step intoeachother’s even non-literateparentsinfacilitating the with the internationally-renownedKhan calledall 35 children from my class yester- shoes. recommendedactivities. Nearly 5.7 lakhpar- Academy. Studentsjoin the class by clicking MIGRANTS FIRST www.indianexpress.com day. Icould notget through to threeofthem. Ageneric “happiness class forfamily” was entsget these messagesevery day. alink,sent to them through SMS, to reach Hope theyare fine.” “Rahul barelysitsfor 10 introduced forall children and their families. Nearly 68 per cent of the studentsin the video shortlistedasper the lesson plan. THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘The first minutes in one place.Iwonderhow he is Forabout afortnight, government teachers higher classes have access to asmartphone Aftereachlesson, students takeanonline test tranche’(IE,May 13).Rhetoricandbuzz- coping with confinement. Ihope he is not conducted daily online classes on twodis- —amorestaggered and onlineapproachhas to assess if theyhaveunderstood the con- wordsneedtobereplacedwith action STATES’ CALL stepping out.” These were the remarksof the tinct componentsofthe happiness curricu- been adoptedfor them. As soon as achild cept. Forstudentsofclasses 10 and12, wait- on ground. The needofthe hour is to at- THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Heedthe Delhi government teachers whom we called lum —the practice of mindfulnessand self- joins class 12,preparation forthe boardex- ing forthe completion of the remaining tend to thelakhs of migrant labourers difference’ (IE, May13).Staggered eas- fortheir views on howtosupportthe learn- reflection throughstories and activities. Daily ams or competitive examsbegins. boardexamsand results, an online spoken who areonroads, suffering emotional ingoflockdown measures is best leftto ing of children during the lockdown. viewership of these classes on social media Considering this, live online classeswerein- English and personality development course and physical pain. Theyshould be im- the states. Centremay spell out policies Next, we called afew parents. One of platforms averaged about 40,000. troducedwith the help of atechnology part- has been introducedinpartnership with the mediatelytransportedtotheir homes to fight thepandemicand revive the them asked,“When will sheget her text- To ensurethe continuous learning of chil- ner,Career Launcher.Withintwo weeks, British Council and Macmillan Education. and givensomemoney. Else, the vast economy, but states should be giventhe books?” “Everyyear she gets her booksfor dren in Delhi’s government-run schools, a nearly 81 per cent of the likelyclass 12 batch, Aweeklylivereviewbythe Education workforce, movers of our economy, will leewaytorespond to the ground situa- the next classinApril, but this year we don’t twofold strategy has been adopted. One, for withsmartphones,wereoffered registration. MinisterofDelhi withstudents,parents,and lose faith in the state. tion as per the former’s guidelines. knowwhether sheisinanew class. When younger children up to class eight,using a Online classes areconductedin11subjects teachershelpedindeepening the engage- RDSingh, Ambala Kamna Chhabra, Gurugram will she startgoingtoschool?”Another par- non-internetbased approachand second,for by alead teacher foreachsubject. Three co- ment and evolution of the approach. The ent wasabit worried: “My son wanted to join older children, in classes nine to 12 usingthe teachers, who assistthe lead teacher,keep a Delhi government nowplans to telecastits IMMUNITYGAMBLE JUST NOT ENOUGH engineering collegeafter school. Withso internet. tabonthe questions of studentsinthe chat- classes as per the lesson plan of itsschools manydays of schooling lost, will he get Foryounger children, the government boxand prompt thelead teacher to respond. on free-to-air TVchannels.Suggestions from THISREFERSTO thearticle, ‘Thecurethat THIS REFERS TO the report, “Rs 1000 enough time to prepare?” alignedits approachwith twoongoing pro- The handholding of the teachers by thetech- students, parents, teachers, and principals lasts’(IE, May14). Herdimmunity is not crorefor welfareofpoor,migrant labour In another time, whether the child has grammes in schools —happiness classes and nology partner has enabledabout 60 teach- have been invited to develop aprotocolfor somethingIndia should notwait for. In from PM CARES” (IE, May13). We don't eaten or notwould have been the concern of Mission Buniyaad. Information on dailyac- ers to transitionfromthe classroom to screen schooleducationafter the lockdown. the process of developing herdimmu- knowhow much money thereisinthe parents, and if the child is learning well, a tivities, generic and specific, is sent through teaching. The confidence of these teachers The lockdown could nothavebeen antic- nity,manylives could be lostasIndia’s PMCARESfund.Butthedeclaredamount concern of teachers. But notanymore.This SMS and IVR (interactive voice response) to has thrownopen the possibility forthe Delhi ipated.However, in retrospect, this crisis has inadequatehealthcarefacilities won’t be of Rs 1,000crorefor the poormigrantsis distinction has blurredduring the lockdown. parents. Mission Buniyaad involvesparents government to consider creatingits ownon- givenusanopportunity to usher in anew era able to bear the burden of increased peanuts.Anestimatesuggests thereare Everyone is worriedabout the well-being of helping children in reading, writing, and ba- line teaching platform. of learning, one that is basedonthe funda- COVID cases. The best solution,there- morethan 12 croremigrant labourers in children. Therefore, anyteaching-learning sicarithmetic. Happiness activities support Aftercareful analysis of the examination mental principles of schooling —care, con- fore, is agradual openingoflockdown, India. So, it comes to less than Rs 100per approachhas to be imbuedwith care, con- the emotional well-being of children and en- resultsofthe lastacademic year,itwas found cern, and compassion. with strict measures of social distancing labourer.Itmay work foraheadline, but cern, and compassion. It is in this context that couragethem to self-reflect and think criti- that in class 10,nearly 26 per cent students in place till avaccine is available. in reality the amount is nothing. the Delhigovernment launchedits initiative, cally. We use SMS because nearly 40 percent failedinmath —the highestamong all sub- The writer is principaladvisor to Director Dimpy Bhatia, Delhi Anil Kumar Jain, Jaipur “Parenting in the time of corona”. It seeksto of children in elementaryclasses do nothave jects. To address this, onlinemathteaching Education at DirectorateofEducation, combinethe role of parentsand teachers and access to smartphones and IVR can enable forclass 9was introducedinpartnership Government of Delhi WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 10 THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 THE OUTBREAK TheWorld

PANDEMIC WATCH Coronavirusmaynevergoaway:WHO

EMMAFARGE& Psychological MICHAELSHIELDS GENEVA,MAY14 sufferingfrom virus growing, THE CORONAVIRUS thatcauses COVID-19 couldbecomeen- In Singapore. Reuters warns UN chief demiclikeHIV,the WorldHealth Organisation said on Wednesday, SINGAPORE warning againstany attempt to WHO chief Tedros ASSOCIATEDPRESS predict howlong it would keep AdhanomGhebreyesus UNITEDNATIONS,MAY14 Migrantcurbs circulating and calling fora“mas- sive effort”tocounter it. UN SECRETARY-GENERAL tostarteasing “It is important to put this on Antonio Guterres urgedgovern- fromJune the table: this virusmay become POSSIBLEDRUG ments, civil society and health justanother endemic virus in APPROVAL‘BEFORE authorities on Wednesdaytour- Singapore: Singaporewill our communities, and this virus gentlyaddressmental health graduallyliftsome of the maynever go away,” World THESUMMER’ needs arising from the pan- measures targeting the Health Organisation emergen- demic, warning that psycholog- migrant workerstopre- cies expert MikeRyantold an on- ical suffering is increasing. vent the spread of the line briefing. THE EUROPEAN The UN chief saidinavideo coronavirus from June, as “I think it is important we are Medicines Agency messagelaunching apolicy asenior ministerasked realistic and Idon’t think anyone predicted therecould be briefing that “afterdecades of the public nottobe"overly can predict when this disease licenseddrugstotreat neglect and under-investment in alarmed" by the spikein will disappear,” he said. coronavirusinthe next mental health services, the the number of COVID-19 “I think thereare no promises fewmonths and that a COVID-19pandemic is nowhit- cases in the country. in this and thereare no dates. vaccine might even be ting families and communities Singaporereported752 This disease maysettle intoa approved in early 2021,in with additional mental stress.” newcases as of noon on longproblem,oritmay notbe,” a“best-case scenario.” He pointed to “grief at the Thursday, taking the total he added. loss of lovedones, shockatthe numberofinfectionsin However, he said the world DR MARCO Cavaleri Amedical worker conducts acoronavirus test forachild asresidents queue up in Wuhan on Thursday. Reuters lossofjobs, isolationand restric- thecountryto26,098. The had some control over howit said approving medicines tions on movement, difficult vast majority of thecases copedwith the disease, although might be possible familydynamics, and uncer- areworkpermit holders this would take a“massive ef- “beforethe summer,” tainty and fear forthe future.” residinginforeignworker fort”evenifavaccine wasfound citing ongoing clinical Millions of children could die of preventable Guterressaid those mostat dormitories. All 323,000 —aprospect he described as a trials. Cavaleri cautioned risk and in needofhelp are workers will be tested to “massivemoonshot”. manyexperimental front-line health careworkers, ensuretheyare virus-free Morethan 100potential vac- vaccines nevermakeit diseases as health services are overtaxed older people, adolescents, before resuming work,a cinesare being developed, in- to the end and that there young people, those with pre- ministersaid. cluding several in clinical trials, areoften delays estimate wasbasedonastudy existing mental health condi- but experts have underscored THENEWYORKTIMES Different ways in which the publishedinthe Lancet Global tions, and those caught up in the difficulties of findingvac- NEWYORK,MAY14 Health journal by researchers at conflict and crisis. cines that areeffective against eliminated. outbreak affects children the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg The 17-pageUNbriefing JAPAN coronaviruses. WHO Director General ABOUT 1.2millionchildren in School of Public Health. stressedthat “the mental health He also expressedcynicism Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus morethan 100countriesare at “Under aworst-case sce- and well-being of whole soci- Emergency about the prospectsfor eradi- added: “The trajectoryisinour risk of dying from preventable OVER THE course of the pandemic, the manyindirect ways in nario, the globalnumber of chil- eties have been severely im- cation even with avaccine, say- hands, and it’s everybody’s busi- causes everysix monthsbecause whichthe pandemic has affected children have been high- dren dying before their fifth pacted by this crisis and areapri- stateliftedin ing, “wehavesome perfectly ness, and we should all con- health services areoverstressed lighted. This is visible in anumberofsectors—in education, birthdays could increase forthe ority to be addressedurgently.” mostareas effective vaccines on this planet tributetostopthis pandemic.” or curtailedbythe coronavirus where manyhavefallenoff theradar; or in healthcare, as the firsttime in decades,” Henrietta TheUNsaid“along-term up- that we have notusedeffec- Ryan said“very significant pandemic,UNICEFsaidthisweek. UNICEF reportelaborates. Reports alsofound that the outbreak Fore,UNICEF’s executive direc- surge in the numberand sever- Tokyo: Japanese Prime tively fordiseases we could control” of the novelcoron- The figureisinaddition to the would push manyfamilies that rose above thepoverty line be- tor, said inastatement. ityofmental healthproblems is MinisterShinzo Abelifted have eradicated”, as per a New avirus wasrequired in order to 2.5 million children age5or lowitonce again, whichispredicted to affect manychildren. The spillovereffectsofCovid- likely” and warnedthat if action astate of emergency in York Times report. lowerthe assessment of risk, younger who already die every 19 have alsoheightenedthethreat isn't takenCOVID-19“hasthe large partsofthe country Ryan notedthat vaccines ex- whichhesaid remainedhigh at six months in 118low-and mid- to expectant mothers. UNICEF seeds of amajor mental health on Thursday but said it istfor otherillnesses, suchas the “national, regionaland dle-income countries. 13,800children who die every 6,000 others whoselives could said56,700more maternaldeaths crisis” as well as “a physical would remain in place in measles, that have notbeen global levels”. REUTERS Put another way, the roughly daywill be joined by morethan have been saved. UNICEF said the could occur within six months. health crisis.” Tokyountil the coron- avirusiscontained. Abe liftedthe emergency in Don’t want 39 of Japan’s 47 prefec- US: Wisconsin Supreme Court FirstCovid-19 casesdetected tures but leftitinforce in the capital and in the sec- to speak with ond-largest urban area of strikes down stay-at-home order in Bangladesh Rohingya camps Osaka, as he tries to cush- Xi: Trump ion the economic blow lation, and authorities stepped while stopping the virus. NEILVIGDOR AGENCEFRANCE-PRESSE up prevention measures and “While controlling spread NEWYORK,MAY14 DOINACHIACU COX'SBAZAR,MAY14 were scaling up testing. of the virusasmuchas WASHINGTON,MAY14 In early April authorities im- possible by acting on the THE WISCONSINSupremeCourt TWOROHINGYAhavebecome posedacomplete lockdown on premise thatthe virus is on Wednesdayrejected the ex- US PRESIDENT Donald Trumpon the firsttotestpositive forcoro- the surrounding Cox's Bazar dis- all around us, we will re- tensionof thestate’sstay-at-home Thursdaysaid he wasverydis- navirusfromthe vast refugee trict afteranumber of cases, re- storeordinaryworkand order, sidingwithRepublicanleg- appointedinChina over itsfail- camps in Bangladesh that house strictingall trafficinand out of the dailylife,” Abesaid. islatorsinahigh-profilechallenge uretocontain the novelcoron- almostamillionpeople, officials camps. Bangladeshauthorities of the emergency authority of a avirus, saying the worldwide said Thursday. Rohingyarefugees at acamp also forced aid organisations to UNITED KINGDOM statewideofficialduringthecoro- pandemic castapall over his Health experts have been in Cox’s Bazar. Reuters/File slash their camppresence by 80 navirus pandemic. trade deal with Beijing. warningfor sometime that the per cent. Rightsgroups and ac- Newantibody Governor Tony Evers, a The coronavirus outbreak virus could race through the tivists have expressed concerns testapproved Democrat,hadextendedthepro- originated in Wuhan, China, in sprawling, unsanitarycamps thantwo years ago. that the camps arehotspots of hibition on mosttraveland oper- December and wasspreading that have been home to the Local health coordinator Abu misinformation about the pan- London: Anew antibody ationsof nonessentialbusinesses Acrowdedpub in Wisconsin following the courtorder. AP silentlyasthe United States and refugees since theyfledamili- Toha Bhuiyan said the two demic because of aninternetban test to establish whether until May26. But in a4-to-3 rul- China signedaPhase 1trade deal tary offensive in Myanmar more refugees had been put intoiso- imposedlastSeptember. someone has been in- ing,the courtsaid that hailed by the Republican presi- fected with coronavirus Wisconsin’stophealthofficialhad dent as amajor achievement. in the pasthas been ap- notfollowedthe proper process. Window to fight pandemic “I’m very disappointed in proved by health offi- Although the opinioncen- China,” Trumpsaid in an inter- Imran says Pak more vulnerable cials, it emergedon tered on thetechnical method by closing, warns whistleblower viewbroadcastonFox Business Thursday. Public Health whichthe limits hadbeen set, Network. England (PHE) said the severalconservative justices NewYork: Dr RickBright, the sponse,” said Dr Bright. “Theyshould have neverlet to poverty, hunger as cases rise antibody test,bySwiss conveyedtheir dismayatthe re- whistleblowerwho wasousted He told lawmakers on a this happen.SoImakeagreat pharmaceutical com- strictions themselves. as head of afederal agency in- House health subcommittee trade deal and nowIsaythis Khanchaired ameeting of ground reality about the prob- panyRoche, wasa"very “This comprehensive claim to volvedindeveloping acoron- that the countrycouldbefacing doesn’t feel the sametome. The SAJJADHUSSAIN National Command and lems facedbythe people,” he positive development". control virtuallyevery aspect of avirusvaccine, warned “the darkest winterinmodern ink wasbarelydry and the ISLAMABAD,MAY14 Operation Centre(NCOC) to dis- said. "Thisisaverypositive aperson’s lifeissomething we Congress Thursdaythe out- history”ifthe administration did plague came over.And it doesn’t cuss the latestpandemic situa- Khan said adopting safety development because normallyassociatewith aprison, break will“getworse and be notact swiftly. feel the same to me,” the US PAKISTANISmorevulnerableto tion in the country. measures wasakey to fight the suchahighlyspecific notafreesociety governedby the prolonged”ifthe US does not He told lawmakers that he president said. povertyand hunger than the Addressing the meeting, disease but instead of forced im- test is averyreliable rule of law,”Justice Daniel Kelly swiftlydevelop anational test- had pressedfederal officials The US president’s pique ex- coronavirus-induced lockdown Khan said that it is important to plementation, the people should markerofpastinfec- wrote in aconcurring opinion. ing strategy and devise aplan early on to stockpile remdesivir, tendedtoChinese President Xi and it is important to keep abal- keep abalance between health be sensitisedtoadoptthem. tion,” said Professor John The ruling, Evers’s office said, fordistributing avaccine. adrug that has proved helpfulto Jinping, with whom, Trumpsays ance between healthneeds and needs and financial problems of Emphasising the needfor Newton, national co-or- appears to endstatewide provi- “The windowisclosing to ad- virus patients, but wasignored. repeatedly,hehas agoodrela- financialproblems of the people, the people. pooling resources, he addedthat dinator of the UK sions that required Wisconsin dress this pandemic because we Trumpsaid Thursdaythat Dr. tionship. “But Ijust–rightnow I Prime MinisterImran Khansaid “Ourpopulation is morevul- "no leader can rest easy until Coronavirus Testing residents to stay home. Within still do nothaveastandard, cen- Brightwas “nothing morethan don’t want to speak to him. I on Thursdayevenasthe number nerable to povertyand hunger everyindividual in everynation Programme. hours, some taverns were mak- tralised, coordinated plan to take areally,unhappydisgruntled don’t want to speak to him,” of cases in Pakistanrose to than lockdown. We should take is able to access avaccine free of ing plansfor reopening. NYT this nation through this re- person.” NYT Trumpsaid. REUTERS 36,717 andthe death toll to 788. decisions by keeping in mind the charge". PTI

OTHER TOP GLOBAL STORIES Born into carnage, 18 babies in Afghanistan face an uncertain fate

mainsofthe suicide bombers “The child of Suraya!” the seen them. Gul Makai lefther Therehewas, in alittle shirt fights, the hospital begandis- MUJIBMASHAL who come to kill and be killed. community elder shouted.“The baby, rushedtothe hallway, with pink sleevesand yellow charging the babies, one by one. KABUL,MAY14 But what do youdowith so child of Suraya—she was jumpedout, and wasevacuated cartoons on itschest: the “child By the endofthe day, theiden- manybabies, all toosimilar in healthy, Imyself helped load it through one of the backdoors. of Gul Makai.” tities of 11 were confirmedand WHEN THE carnagewas over,the their littleshapes and rawfaces, intothe ambulance.” Gul Makai stoppedamotor- Outside the ward on handedtotheir families. dead bodies bagged and the guns mostofthem nowwithout the “The child of Gul Makai — cycle, told the man what had Wednesdaymorning, Azizullah Forsome, it wasrelatively put away,what wasleftbehind firstpeople in their livesand evac- evacuated to the Ataturkhospi- happened, and pleadedwith pacedwith other fathers, grand- easy once the process finallygot spokeofthe true extent of the uatedfromablown-up hospital? tal,” he shouted. him to take her to her home. fathers, auntsand uncles. They underway. Others leftwith only tragedy: 18 newbornbabies,many The oldest, bornfivedaysear- Gul Makai, 35,isahousewife, From home, she calledAzizullah had brought the documents rawpain. coveredinblood and mostnow lier,and the youngest, delivered marriedtoataxi driver. Her sev- to tell him she wassafe. neededtopickupthe babies, as Ayoung woman,inher 20s, motherless—casualtiesof warbe- in asaferoomafter theattack enth child wasborn with breath- But the baby. theyweretold:national IDs of the wept in the hallway outside the fore they hadevenleftthehospital. had begun, arelucky:Their ing problems, so theyhad re- Forseveralhours, Gul Maki fatheror mother,the signatureof ward.She wastheretocollect Even foracountrysteepedin mothers survived. Many of the mainedatthe hospital. had no news of her child. And all thelocal community elder. her sister’s child, shesaid. The violent death to thepoint of others have barelycompleteda When the attackbegan, she those hours? “I justwailed,” she But the doctors and the offi- sisterwas dead, and her husband numbness,the assault on ama- full 24 hours in this violent said, she and the twoother said. When the community cials from thehealth ministry wasinthe armyservingonthe ternityclinic in Kabul on Tuesday world, their mothersmurdered Thenewborns, aday afterthe attackonthe clinic. NYT mothersinher room faceda elderreading the listoutside the were in meetings. The family front lines of the warinGhazni. wasunfathomable in itscruelty. next to them. dilemma: Should theytry to es- attackedhospital announced members outside —some who No matter howmuchshe Afghanistanisadeptatthe The heart-wrenching effort cape and leave their babies be- that“the child of Gul Makai” had had justcome from burying the begged,the doctorssaid that ritualsofviolent death. Thereare to identify the babies at the ma- tack,beforethe special forces emergedfromahospital that hind? Or should theystay? been takentoAtaturkhospital, dead mothers —grewrestless, what she wanted wassimplynot procedures forhandling the vic- ternity clinic and reunitethem had even leftthe scene. wasstill drenched in blood with The other twomothers Azizullah rushedthereand frustrated. possible. One hospital official tims, and even well-practiced with their families beganinthe Dozens of men gathered alistofmothers’ names. The ba- stayed,and were mostlikely calledhis wifetocome over,so Finally, by early afternoon af- blockedthe door to theward. routinesfor discarding the re- immediatehours afterthe at- around as acommunity elder bies had notyet been named. dead,she said —she had not she could identify the baby. termuchemotion and near-fist- “Gobringaman,”hesaid.NYT WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 11 ECONOMY GOLD RUPEE OIL SILVER `41,705 `75.56 $26.15 `38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshut due to lockdowninmajor states; Indianbasket as on March19, 2020 SENSEX: 31,122.89 ▼ 885.72 NIFTY: 9,142.75 ▼ 240.80 NIKKEI: 19,914.78 ▼ 352.27 HANGSENG: 23,829.74 ▼ 350.56 FTSE: 5,727.35 ▼ 176.70 DAX: 10,265.68 ▼ 276.98

Internationalmarket data till 1900IST RUPEE DECLINES 10 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 75.56 Govt prepares for staggered SensexdivesonWHOwarning,USFedchief resumptionofflights: Stamping remarks;economicpackagefailstoenthuse of boarding passes suspended jor traffic centresare still in redor PRANAVMUKUL The government has orangezones, and forthat it is es- down will also be on their Oil pricesrise NEWDELHI,MAY14 sentialthatwe have stategovern- ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU Globaldevelopments, radar. circulated aset of draft mentsonboard,” the official said. MUMBAI, MAY14 “Atthe same time, global 3% on dip in US THE CENTRAL government has standardoperating The officialalso alluded to the lockdown4.0 markets arealso notshowing startedworktopreparefor re- procedures with possibilitythatinitiallyitmay just STOCKMARKETS on Thursday anysignofstability yet. In short, crude stockpiles sumption of commercialdomes- beAirIndiathatwillbeallowedto reeledunder heavy selling keyfactors we do not expectthe prevailing tic flights, something that may various stakeholders startdomesticrepatriationflights pressure. While the economic volatility to subsideany time happen in astaggered manner on the lines of the international packageannouncedbythe gov- soon thus traders should plan and IEA data over the next one month, senior Vande Bharatmission.Inthe sec- ernment failedtoboost market MARKETS WILL react to the Finance Minister’s their positions accordingly and governmentandindustryofficials views on measures forensuring ond phase of this mission, Air sentiment, rising COVID-19 announcementsinthe following sessions. Besides, the focus moreonmoneymanage- REUTERS said. To this effect, government socialdistancingandhealthsafety India will flyaround 30,000 pas- cases in the countryand weak guidelines forthe next phase of lockdown will also be on ment aspects,” Mishrasaid. NEWYORK,MAY14 agencies have beganlaying the of passengers and staff. These in- sengers from 31 countries. Some global cues afterUSFederal theirradar.Atthe same time,global markets arealso not According to analysts,the groundworkintermsofsafety clude downloading of Aarogya of the flightsunder this mission Reserve chief Jerome Powell showing anysign of stability yet. stimulus packageannounced OILPRICESroseonThursdayafter and policy measures required to Setu app, increasing of passenger also connect airportswithin the warnedofa“highlyuncertain” The prevailing volatility is unlikelytosubside any by Finance MinisterNirmala the International Energy Agency startflight operations. reportingtimeatairports,manda- countrysuchasDelhi-Varanasi, near-term outlook forthe time soon. Sitharaman on Wednesday was forecastlowerglobalstockpilesin The BureauofCivil Aviation tory webcheck-in,amongother Delhi-Bengaluru,Mumbai-Kochi, United States, addedtothe moreofleveraging on existing the second half of 2020,evenas Security issuedacircular suchprocedures. etc.However, theseflightsare only weakness. institutions and postponement worries remain over asecond Wednesdaydoing away withse- “…suggestions were sought forpassengersarrivingfrominter- Marketsalso took aknock of activities suchastax de- surge in coronavirus infections in curity personnelstamping board- on adraft discussion paperfrom national stations and bookings afterthe WorldHealth Marketswitnessedagap- out the daywith IT stocks drag- ducted at source instead of coming months. ing passes of flight passengers at airlines and airports.The sugges- have notbeenopenedfordomes- Organization (WHO) warned down opening, tracking weak ging indices as Gartner predicts fresh infusion of cash. Crudepriceshavetickedupin airports.“In view of the prevail- tionshave nowbeenreceived.The tic passengers. that the coronavirus “may cues from the bothdomestic IT spend to decline 8%. Asection of the market said thelasttwo weeksassomecoun- ing situation of COVID-19pan- finalSOPisyettobeissued,”agov- Anexecutive atalow-costair- nevergoaway”. and global fronts. Automobile stocks ledby the announcementswereshort tries relaxed coronavirus restric- demic and countermeasures be- ernment spokesperson forthe linesaidthateventhoughthecar- The BSE Sensex, which “The rise in COVID-19cases Maruti staged asmartrecovery of expectations. tionsandlockdownsto allowfac- ing takentocontain itsspread by MinistryofCivil Aviation, said. riers have been running opera- tanked as muchas956 points and lackofclarity over the im- even as Reliance dragged.” RIL Marketswereexpecting a tories and shops to reopen. touch/contact, it has been de- Asenior official saidthat tionsforcargo flightsinpassenger at one stage, closeddownby pact of stimulus packages shares fell 4per cent to Rs fresh infusion of liquidity Brent crude futuresrose 88 cidedtodispense with the proce- while the civil aviation ministry aircraft, the size of the operation 886 points, or 2.77per cent, at weighedonthe sentiment. 1,435.45 on the BSE. whichcouldhavebeen in the cents, or 3per cent, to $30.07a dureofstamping the passengers’ wasawaiting anod from hasbeenscaleddowntounprece- 31,122.89, while the Nifty Index Besides,weaknessinthe global Analysts said the focus form of external borrowings, barrel,at$30.12 perbarrelat1530 Boarding Pass…aftercompletion MinistryofHomeAffairs before dented levels and the carriers fell 241pointsto9,142.75. marketsfurther dented the would remain on the FM’s an- using forexreserves or the GMT (1130EDT). of pre-embarkation security allowing airlines to take bookings might requiresome time to pre- On the sectoral front, bar- sentiment. TheNifty index nouncementsoverthe next few Reserve Bank of India’sbalance US West TexasIntermediate checkofthe concernedpassen- forscheduledcommercial flights, parefor commercial passenger ring FMCG and pharma, all shednearly 2.5 per cent and we days as the Finance Minister sheet, among others. (WTI)crudefuturesrose81 cents, ger, till further orders,” the circu- the Centre wasalsoindiscus- operations.“We have beentoldby other indices endedinthe neg- had asimilar trend on the sec- will be sharing further details But the governmentdid not or 3.2 per cent, to $26.10 abarrel. lar said. sions with variousstate govern- thegovernmentthatwe mightget ative territory. toralfront, mostindices ended on other beneficiaries of the announce anysuchthings. US crude inventories fell for Additionally, thegovernment mentsconsidering it wasimpor- 10 days to take bookings and pre- The rupee also declined10 in the red,” said Ajit Mishra, VP stimulus package. Moreover, publicsector units the firsttime in 15 weeks, theEIA has also circulated aset of draft tant forstatestobeonboardwith paretechnically, and arehopeful paise to closeat75.56against -Research,ReligareBroking. “Markets willreact to those suchasREC and PFC willhave said Wednesday, with afall in US standardoperating procedures the plan. forsome clarity once the guide- the US dollar amid astrength- SRanganathan, Head of announcementsinthe follow- to mobilise Rs 90,000 crorefor crude stockpilesof745,000bar- withvariousstakeholdersinclud- “Initially,nod forflightsmay lines forLockdown 4.0 arere- ening greenbackand weak do- Research at LKP Securities, said, ing sessions. Besides, the guide- the stressedpowerdistribu- rels to 531.5million barrels in the ing airlines, airports and ground be givenfor someofthe green leased,”theexecutive said,oncon- mestic equities. “Markets traded weak through- lines forthe next phase of lock- tions companies. week to May8. handlingcompaniesseekingtheir zonedistrictsbutmostofthema- dition of anonymity.

BRIEFLY SENSEX AVERAGE PRICE OF THE SENSEX IN 30 Truncated April TRADING DAYSPOST-MARCH 24 HAS Vijay Mallya’s moveto Exceptbanking &finance, essential 16% FALLEN 16%, COMPARED TO AVERAGE PRICE WPI data:10.12% IndiaasksG20 IN 30 TRADING DAYS BEFORE LOCKDOWN nationstoensure sectors outperform Sensex: Report appeal againstUK deflation in fuel, Shareprices of companies in essential sectors have Sector Index 30-day Average price Performance accesstovaccines outperformed theSensex, withthe exception of banking post lockdown compared relative to Sensex power basket and finance, even as sectors that arenon-essential have to pre- lockdown extraditionhitsablock NewDelhi: CommerceMin- fallen moresharply than theSensex,as per CareRatings Key essential sectors outperforming Sensex PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA isterPiyush Goyalon Healthcare 6.60% 22.60% ‘Big victory’ and a ‘milestone’, says CBI NEWDELHI,MAY14 Thursdaycalledforanagree- HEALTHCAREGAINS FMCG -1.90% 14.10% ment amongG20 nations to While the share prices of THE GOVERNMENT on Thursday enabletheuseof flexibilities healthcare sector companies Energy -3.50% 12.50% PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA Nirav Modi releasedtruncated datafor April under aWTO pact on intel- on average have increased Telecom -5.90% 10.10% LONDON/NEWDELHI,MAY14 wholesale price-basedinflation lectualpropertyrightstoen- 6.6% in 30 days of post Oil and Gas -10.90% 5.10% extradition saying therewas limited transac- sureaccessto essentialmed- lockdown trading, share prices IN Ahugelegal blowtoVijay tionof productsinthemarketdue Key essential sectors underperforming relative to Sensex case adjourned icines, treatmentsand of companies in other Mallya,theembattledliquorbaron to the outbreak of COVID-19. vaccinesataffordableprices. essential sectors including Bankex -28.10% -12.10% on Thursday losthis application London: The UK courthear- Asperthedatareleasedbythe FMCG, IT, Energy, Telecom Finance -27.00% -11.00% seekingleave to appealhisextradi- ing the extradition case of Commerce Ministry, wholesale and Oil and Gas have fallen but Key non-essential sectors under performing relative to Sensex tion to Indiainthe UK Supreme fugitivediamondmerchant priceindexdeflationinprimaryar- COVID-19to still outperformed the Sensex Court,settinga28-dayclockonhis Nirav Modi, wanted in India ticles was0.79 per cent in April, as Basic Materials -20.00% -4.00% havedeflationary removalfromthe UK. on chargesoffraud and against3.72percentinMarch. The Banking and finance company CONSTRUCTION,AUTO Auto -21.20% -5.20% The UK court’s decision moneylaundering amount- fuelandpowerbasketsawadefla- impact:CEA share prices have fallen more SECTORSLOSE ConsumerDurables -21.50% -5.50% marks abig legalsetbacktothe ingto anestimated$2billion, tion of 10.12per cent in April, than the Sensex by 12.1% and Standstills in construction and Industrial -23.60% -7.60% 64-year-old flamboyant busi- on Thursdayadjournedthe against1.76per cent in the previ- NewDelhi: Chief Economic 11%, respectively, despite auto manufacturing during the Realty -31.90% -15.90% nessman, who lastmonth losthis trial to be resumedfrom ous month. All commodities WPI Advisor KVSubramanian being essential services as lockdown have led to the HighCourt appealagainstanex- September 7. PTI could notbecomputed due to on Thursdaysaid the investors are concerned on sectors performing worse than Note: Average performance compares average price from March 25- May 12 tradition order to Indiaon non-availability of manufactured COVID-19pandemic hasse- how their assetswill perform the benchmark index by with average price from Feb 10 -March 23 chargesoffraud and money product group index, it added. verely dented the demand under current circumstances 15.9% and 5.2%, respectively Compiled by ENS Economic Bureau Source: Care Ratings laundering related to unrecov- forextradition of Mallyaon fornon-essential or discre- ered loans to his now-defunct January31, 2017.Basedonthe re- tionarygoods, creating de- Kingfisher Airlines. quest, he wasarrestedbythe UK Francetogo flationaryconditions. Mallya had 14 days to file his authorities on April 20, 2017,but latestapplication to seek permis- wasgiven bail within hours. ahead with digital WTO head to stepdown ayearearly siontomovethe higher court on “The courthaving signifiedits Jet-KLMdeal the High Courtjudgment from intentionto refuseto certifyapoint taxthis year forDutchbiz national members on Thursday deal on e-commerce. However, April 20, whichdismissedhis ap- of lawofgeneral public impor- REUTERS afternoon. keydifferences remain and they peal againstaWestminster tance with aviewtoanappeal to REUTERS failstotakeoff GENEVA/BRUSSELS,MAY14 His departurecomesatatest- arefar from theconsensus re- Magistrates’ Court extradition or- theSupremeCourt,”notesthepro- PARIS,MAY14 ing period forthe 25-year-old quired to agree both deals. der certifiedbythe UK Home nouncementbyLordJustice NewDelhi: JetAirways’pro- WORLD TRADE Organization body,which has seen itsrole in Some members, notablythe Secretary. Stephen Irwin and Justice FRANCE WILLgoahead with its posedsale of itsbusiness in head RobertoAzevedo will step settling disputes underminedaf- United States,Japan andthe The latestdecision, referred to ElisabethLaingattheRoyalCourts taxonbig digitalbusinesses this the Netherlands to KLM has down ayear earlier than planned terits AppellateBody wasparal- European Union, arepushing for asa“pronouncement”,meansthat of JusticeinLondonpresidingover year whether thereisprogress or been scrappedasthe in August, he said on Thursday, in ysed in December by morefundamental reforms. They under the India-UK Extradition the appeal. nottowardsaninternational deal European country’s airport asurprisemove asthetradebody Washington’sdecision to block sayglobaltradingrulesneedtore- Treaty,theUKHomeOfficeisnow Itsetsthe28-day“requiredpe- on the issue, itsfinance minister slot coordination organisa- strugglesto reininglobaltensions the appointment of judges. flect newrealities -notablyafar expected to formallycertify the riod’,asdefinedbySection36and said on Thursday. tion,ACNL,rejectedthedeal. and coordinate responses to the Since the COVID-19 crisis hit, strongerChina-andaddressprob- courtorder forMallya to beextra- Section 118ofthe UK Extradition France offeredinJanuaryto COVID-19pandemic. Azevedo has calledfor govern- lems suchasstate-ledsubsidies dited to India within28days. Act2003, withinwhichthe extra- suspend until the end of the year The 62-year-old Brazilian has mentstorefrain from imposing and forced technology transfers. The Central Bureauof dition mustbecarriedout. instalmentsofitstaxonbigdigital RBIsellsnet been director-general since 2013 exportrestrictions on food and Suchissues might have been Investigation has described the The UK CrownProsecution companies’ income in France $4.05bn and is servingasecond term that medical supplies. addressed at theWTO’s biennial move as a“big victory”and a ServicesaidMallya’sappealtocer- while an international deal to re- wasdue to conclude at the end of WorldTrade Organization The WTOclub of 164mem- meeting due to have takenplace “milestone”. “Vide order dated tify apoint of lawwas rejected on writetherulesof cross-bordertax- inMarch August2021. head RobertoAzevedo. File bers, whichisdesignedtoset in KazakhstaninJune. That has 20.04.2020,aDivisionBenchofUK all three counts–ofhearing oral ation wasnegotiated this year. Azevedo said thathehad global trading rules, has also not nowbeenpushedbacktomid-or HighCourthasdismissedMallya’s submissions,grantacertificateon “Neverhasadigitaltaxbeenmore Mumbai: The ReserveBank takena“personaldecision”after producedany majorinternational late-2021. Azevedosaidhisdepar- appealagainstthe lowercourtor- thequestionsasdrafted,andgrant legitimateand morenecessary,” of India turnednet sellerof talkingwithhisfamilyandthathis alsointhebest interests of theor- accordsinceabandoningits“Doha turewouldallowasuccessorto be derrecommendinghisextradition permission to appealtothe SC. Finance MinisterBruno Le Maire the US dollar afteritsold move wasnot due to health rea- ganisation. Round” of negotiations in 2015. in place before then. to face trial in India,” CBI The case will nowmakeits toldjournalists.“Inanycase,France $4.054billion in March on a sons or because of specific politi- “As members starttoshape Itsmembers arenegotiating Azevedo said the WTOcould spokesperson RKGaur said. waybacktoUKHome Secretary will applyasithas alwaysindi- netbasis in thespotmar- cal ambitions. the WTO’s agenda forthe new an agreement to cut subsidiesfor notstand still while the world Theagency had filedacharge PritiPateltoformallycertifytheex- catedataxondigitalgiantsin2020 ket, recent RBI data Accordingtothetextof anad- post-COVID realities, theyshould fishing to allowarevivalofde- around it changed,nor ignorethe sheetonthe conclusionofthe in- traditionorder,withMallya’s re- either in an international form if showed. PTI dress to theWTO’s members, do so with anew director-gen- pletedfishstocks,whileasmaller “newnormal” that had emerged vestigation on January24, 2017, movalexpected to take place thereisadealorinanationalform Azevedo said he thought it was eral,”hetold avirtual meeting of group arediscussing apossible from the COVID-19 pandemic. whichwas followedbyarequest within 28 days. if thereisnodeal,” Le Mairesaid. Sebi relaxes minimum public holding norms ‘Fiscaldeficit UN forecastspandemic to likely to more shareholding (MPS)require- 10,000 on companies foreach ENSECONOMICBUREAU ATLEAST25%PUBLIC ment.The rules have been re- dayofnon-compliance withMPS than double to shrink world economy by 3.2% MUMBAI,MAY14 SHAREHOLDING:RULE laxedforlistedentities forwhom requirements. Besides, ex- the deadline to complywith MPS changes can intimatedeposito- 7.9% in FY21’ UN experts hail THE SECURITIES andExchange requirementsfalls between the ries to freezethe entireshare- PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA Pandemic has ledtoa3 BoardofIndia(Sebi) onThursday ■ The rules have been period from March 1, 2020 to holding of the promoterand PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA UNITEDNATIONS,MAY14 India’s ‘impressive’ relaxedthe 25 per centminimum relaxed forlisted August 31,2020.UnderSebi promotergroup. This circularwill MUMBAI,MAY14 per cent drop in global public shareholding norm and entities forwhomthe norms, listedentities arere- come intoforce with immediate THE UNITED Nations forecast trade in the first stimulus package deadline to comply advisedexchangesnottotake pe- quiredto have at least25per cent effect, it said. WITH THE government’sRs20 Wednesdaythat the COVID-19 quarterof2020: UN United Nations: TopUNexperts nal action till August2020 in case with MPS publicshareholding. Manypublic sector compa- lakh crorestimulus package, the pandemicwillshrink the world have hailedas“impressive”India’s of non-compliance. requirementsfalls Stockexchangeshavebeen nies areyet to fulfill the 25 per country’sfiscaldeficitislikelytobe economyby3.2 per cent this year, Rs20lakhcrorestimuluspackage, The Sebi move is aimedateas- betweenthe period askedto nottakeany penal action cent minimum public sharehold- morethan double to 7.9per cent the sharpestcontraction since the forecast amodestaccelerationin thelargestsofaramongthedevel- ing suchcompliance rules amid from March 1, 2020to againstsuchentities in caseof ing norms, and have been seek- in the current financial year,ac- Great Depression in the 1930s. growth of 2.5 per cent in 2020. opingcountries,to revive itsecon- the disruptions causedbythe August31, 2020 non-compliance during the said ing deadline extensions. In July cording to an SBI research report. The UN’s mid-year report Meanwhile, the pandemic omy, which has been severely hit coronaviruspandemic.The deci- ■ Under Sebinorms, period. Penal actions, if any, initi- 2019,Finance MinisterNirmala The reporthad earlier esti- said the impactofthe coron- has ledtoa3per cent drop in by the lockdown. sion has been takenafter receiv- listedentities needto ated by exchanges from March 1, Sitharaman in her maiden Budget matedthefiscaldeficitto be3.5per avirus crisis is expected to slash global trade in the firstquarterof Chief of the Global Economic ing requests from listedentities have at least25% 2020 tilldatefor non-compliance speechurgedSebi to considerin- cent of GDP this fiscal. The Centre globaleconomic outputby 2020 and this downturn is ex- MonitoringBranchHamidRashid and industrybodies as well as publicshareholding of MPS requirementsbysuch creasing the minimum public hasannouncedanadditionalbor- nearly $8.5trillion over the next pected to accelerateinthe next saidin responseto aquestion that considering the prevailingbusi- listedentitiesmaybewithdrawn, holding in listedfirms to 35 per rowingof aroundRs4.2lakhcrore, twoyears, wiping out nearly all quartertoproject awhopping the stimulus packageannounced ness and market conditions, it the regulator said. cent from 25 per cent. However, or2.1percentof GDP.Thegovern- gainsofthe last four years.In quarter-on-quarterdeclineof27 by theIndian government on said. decidedtogrant relaxation from As per the norms, exchanges Sebiboard is yettotakeaviewon ment debt as apercentageofGDP January, before COVID-19be- per cent, the UN trade body has Tuesday“isaverywelcomedevel- In acircular,Sebi said it has applicability of minimum public can impose afine of up to Rs this proposal. has been rising since FY11. came apandemic,the UN had warned. opment.” PTI WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY15,2020 Football isn’tnecessarily anecessity –it’sagame, it’s a sport. Imean, what if we go throughall this rigmaroleof trying to getbackstarted andwehaveasecondpeakand we'restopped anyways?.” 12 SPORT GLENNMURRAY, BRIGHTON &HOVEALBION STRIKER

Domestic performers get Football’snew‘sanitised’era award money after 4months

From socially-distancedteam buses to elbowbumps, Bundesligawill have newguidelines when it restarts this weekend DEVENDRAPANDEY MUMBAI,MAY14 SANIA MIRZA AGENCEFRANCEPRESSE LIVE BERLIN,MAY 14 JUSTDAYSafter this newspaper reportedthat severaldomestic players were yettoreceive PLAYERS ARRIVINGinseveral sparsely- their awardmoneyafter four months of an- Six-time Grand Slam populated team buses, substitutes wear- nouncement,theBCCItransferredtheamount champion Sania Mirza will be ing masksand goal celebrations limited to to the bank accountsof10cricketers. the guestatTheIndianExpress elbowbumps —when German football re- The eight male players who receivedRs1.5 on Friday, May15, at 4pm. turns to the pitchthis weekend, it will have lakh eachare:Sidak Singh (Puducherry), the Sania, who returnedtothe to followadraconian setofguidelines. The highestwicket-taker in the under-23 CK courtinJanuarypost German Football League (DFL) presented NayuduTrophy; AryanHooda(Jharkhand),the motherhood, will talk about political leaders with a51-pagedocument highestrun-getterinU-16Vijay Merchanttour- of guidelines to earn the right forthe nament;AbhishekYadav(Jharkhand),thehigh- the impact of the pandemic Bundesligatobecome the firstofEurope’s estwicket-taker in VijayMerchant tourney; on tennis, among other topics. big five leagues to resume action. MananHingrajia(Gujarat),thehighestrun-get- The matches will be surroundedbyex- terintheunder-23CKNayuduTrophy; Apurva THEEVENTCANBE traordinarymeasures to protect players Anand (Gujarat), the highestwicket-taker in FOLLOWEDON and officials from infection by coronavirus. the under-19CoochBehar Trophy; Vathsal THEINDIANEXPRESS’ And the weighty text underlines that “all Govind (Kerala), the highestrun getter in un- FACEBOOKPAGE of the measures areconditional on the fact der-19CoochBehar Trophy; Milind Kumar (https://www.facebook.com/ that theydonot divert indispensable re- (Sikkim),thehighestrun-getterinRanjiTrophy indianexpress/) sources from the fight againstCOVID-19for and Ashutosh Aman (Bihar), the highest the rest of the population”. wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy. Shafali Verma, the best woman playerin Testing and quarantine junior cricket,and Deepti Sharma, the best in The central pillar of the DFL's plan is the The stadiums forrestofthe Bundesligaseason will be empty, although therewill still be home and away teams. Reuters file senior domestic tournaments, receivedRs1.5 mass testing of players, coaches and back- lakh eachasprize money. All the awards were room staff. Theyare tested at leasttwice a announcedatafunction held in Mumbai in week and once on the eveofmatches. Any cluding security guards. It is the police's plastic screens between interviewerand in- January2020. The Indian Express had reported that test positive forthe virus areseparated job to prevent supporters gathering out- terviewee. Just10journalists will be admit- thatthefamiliesof juniorcricketerswere badly from the rest of the team. side the stadiums. SCRAMBLETOTHEFINISH tedtoeachmatch. Therewill be no press affected by the Covid-19lockdown. Sidak’s fa- The decision to quarantine teams rests conferences and the mixed zone wherere- therhasaclothbusinessthathasrunintoprob- with the authorities in eachofGermany's Team arrivals Therewill beatotal of porters can normallyask players questions, lems. In Bokaro, Abhishek Yadav, the son of a federal states, whichexplains whythe en- The teams will arrive in severalcoaches 213people allowedin will be closed. Class Drailway employee, wanted his money 213the stadium -98around tireteam of second-division Dynamo to ensureeachoccupant is sitting 1.5metres forhis grandmother’s treatment but his father tend itscontract with chief executive officer Dresden wasplacedinquarantine aftertwo (fivefeet) apart. Everyone in the vehicles the pitch(including players, coaches, Holedupinhotels had to take aloan forit. Rahul Johri by one year.Johri had tendered his players were found to have coronavirus but mustwear masks. The social distancing ball boys and photographers) and Wherever possible, visiting teams must Six players confirmedthat theyhad re- resignation to boardsecretaryJay Shah afew Borussia Moenchengladbach, in adifferent rules mustalso be respected in the chang- another 115inthe stands (including book an entirehotel or,atthe very least, an ceivedthe moneybyThursdayevening. months agoand his tenurewas supposedto state, continuedtotrain aftercases were ing rooms. When the players come ontothe officials and media). Therewill be entirefloor.The hotelhas to be disinfected endinApril.However, theboarddecidedtogive found among their squad. pitch, handshakes arebanned, therewill be less than 100other people allowed before the players arrive.Players arebanned Prabhakar’s dues cleared him an extension as manyinBCCI felt that his no team photosorhandshakes and no team justoutside the stadium for from the hotel’s weightsroom and mustre- FormerIndiaall-rounderManojPrabhakar, expertisewillbehandyindealingswiththeICC. Emptystadiums pennantswill be exchanged. occupational reasons. spect the required distance from their team- whose five-year ban foralleged matchfixing Onlyaround 300people will be al- mates even at mealtimes. endedin2005,willfinallygethispendingdues Junior selectors’ tenureends lowedintothe stadium on matchdays. On the pitch –pension,benevolentfund,andone-timeben- The boardhas informedtwo junior selec- Theyare dividedintothree zones to avoid Players and the matchofficials do not avoided. “Contact with elbows or feet is Private lives efit money, amounting to over Rs 1crore —as tors,GyanendraPandeyandRakeshParikh,that anycontact between eachgroup. Only need to wear masks, but everyone else on preferred,” the document states. At home, players mustliveinnear-quar- BCCI acceptedhis requesttogrant him the their tenures have ended. The BCCI had called players, matchofficials, firstaid personnel the pitchside does, including substitutes The DFL urgesplayers to show“exem- antine conditions, without seeing their money. The decision comes afterthe board forapplication forthe postoftwo junior selec- andasmall groupofphotographers areal- on the bench. The matchballs will be dis- plarybehaviour”. neighbours or friends. The same rules apply cleared the dues of former India captain tors in Januaryand the positions areyet to be lowedonthe pitch. infected regularly during the action. to all of aplayer’s familymembers. The play- MohammadAzharuddin,of approximatelyRs filled.Untilnow, PandeyandParikhwere asked In the otherwise emptystands there Players have been told that physical con- Media coverage ers arenot even permitted to do the family’s 1.5crore,inDecember 2019. to watchjuniortournaments,includingtheun- will be justahandful of reporters and TV tact should onlybemade as aresult of play Eight pages of the health document de- shopping. der-23CKNayuduTrophy. “Theboardhassent cameraoperators. Outside the stadium it- during the matchand embracing or high- tail the measures that the TV teams must (LiveonStarSports 2: 7pm onwardson Johri granted extension themofficialcommunicationthattheirtenure self is the thirdcategoryofpersonnel in- fivestocelebrategoals is to be strictly take to avoid contact, including erecting Saturday) The BCCI ApexCouncil also decidedtoex- has cometoanend,” sources said.

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry &TLewis CROSSWORD 4118 DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

ARIES (Mar 21 -Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 -Oct 23) You’restill in a One thing you sensitive mood, should be doing this perhaps too week is building up sensitive.Ifyou personal contacts, so should begin to feel that your makeall those phone calls and imagination is running away send those letters whichyou’ve with you, come backtoearth been thinking about forfar too and getstuckintoone of your long. Younever know-perhaps moreadventurous hobbies. It’s someone maybedelighted to definitelytime to broaden hear from you. your horizons. is restored. TAURUS (Apr 21 -May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 -Nov 23) Thereare people Youknowwhat you around who are want in your heartof prepared to create hearts.The Sun is CALVIN &HOBBES by Bill Watterson havocifyou let shortlytoraiseall them. The risksseem slight at those deep emotional issues, the moment but theywill grow, likewho youcan and can’t rely so the sensible thing to do on. Find unusual ways to would be to deal with causes of put your point across, and discontent, now. On balance tryalittle lateral thinking! ACROSS Down you’ll probablylose if you The answer is staring youin 1Considers changing gear on 1Theymay be usedfor storing prevaricatefor toolong. the face. the roads (7) stretchers (5) GEMINI(May22-June 21) SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 -Dec 22) 5Optical student? (5) 2TraveloveraportinIndia (3) There’s asimple Can youturn the 8Cash lender pointlessly 3Healthydislikemay make switchfromthe clockbackand grow providing foryachtsperhaps one so (4) desiretocompete,to younger? As the (9) 4Outbursts of temper appear the needtoco- hours pass youwill 9Biblical character leftto in parts of the play(6) operate. Others maybe become ever moreyouthful reflect (3) 5Spoken exam on history of confusedbyyour changing and spontaneous in your 10 Notthe topteam (4) shepherds (8) opinions but, then, theyoften reactions. It will be important 12 Journalistabout to take a 6Toothsome friend with a are! Anytravelarrangements to give others the benefit of drink (8) restaurant reservation (9) requireanextracheck, the doubt, forthen they’ll be especiallyifthey’remainlyfar moreinclinedtoindulge 14 Look pleasedabout one 7Alter anumber on the side (7) away or overseas. your whims. literarycomparison (6) 11 Volume of noise -mind out! MARVIN by Tom Armstrong 15 Fish hook tip usedbythe (9) CANCER (June 22 -July23) CAPRICORN (Dec 23 -Jan 20) Spanish (6) 13 Requestwith certain You’rereallyrather The general mood of 17 Drug involvesgirlinbasic satisfaction (8) tenacious when you the times is still changes (8) 14 To getahead, take the other actuallyget going. reasonablysober, 18 Raygives us abig smile (4) fellow’s place (7) Once youhavethe whichsuitsmanyof bit between your teethyou will your underlying serious 21 Old prophetinthe limelight 16 Theybelieve in British be impossible to shakeoff,as qualities. It would be very morethan once (3) industry(6) other people will very soon useful indeedifyou took the 22 Duetbound to be off-key, 19 Amode of address forone discover. Pity the poor initiative and got other people that’s certain (9) mother and another (5) individual who triedtoput one to talk to eachother fora 24 Poet is soundlyswindled(5) 20 Go and act (4) over on you. Theywill soon change. Thereisnosubstitute 25 Word forword(7) 23 Upsetthe fruit barrel(3) regret their mistake forgood communication.

SolutionsCrossword4117:Across:1Collapse,5News,9Easel,10Emotion,11 LEO (July24-Aug 23) AQUARIUS (Jan 21-Feb 19) Contaminates,13Astern,14Abrade,17Ghoststories,20Awesome,21Irony,22 Recent events Nothing stays the Sets,23Sturgeon.Down:1Crew,2Lashout,3Alliteration,4Steamy,6Edict,7 should have same forever, least Sinister,8Soundbarrier,12Gangways,15Anemone,16Street,18Overt,19Hymn. remindedyou that it of all your mood. is awaste of time Afterapossibly trying to do things in a uncertain morning youwill roundabout manner,evenifyou become ever moreconfident. JUMBLED WORDS areeager to spareothers’ There’s something about the DifficultyLevel5s feelings. Thereisnosubstitute changing astrological ’weather’ Instructions forbeing utterly open and that will makeyou happier to Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, direct, and no excuse for be assertive,independent and therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 4109 being lazy. in control. theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe Itistimeforusto_____eachother,____eachother.-JesseJackson(4,2,..,3,2) nineverticalcolumns,in VIRGO (Aug 24 -Sep 23) PISCES(Feb20-Mar 20) Youare liable to lose Changehappens

4110 eachoftheninehorizontal interestinone hourly,sotry to keep GMOOR AETNNT rowsandineachofthe particular person, or up! Aim to settle nineboxes. in aprospective important personal SUDOKU social gathering. On the other tasksthis morning when you hand, your desires could still seem to have the balance of DYOTT EGMTNU DifficultyLevel become muchdeeper and cosmic energy on your side.

SUDOKU 1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; moreintense, meaning By mid-afternoon youwill 3s=Medium;4s=Hard; that you’ll be fussier about have to take other 5s=VeryHard;6s= whom youmix with. Quite people intoaccount to a

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Vol. LXIV No.114 Printed forthe proprietors, The Indian Express (P) Ltd by Ms Vaidehi Thakar at The Indian Express Press, PlotNo. EL-208, TTCIndustrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai -400710and publishedfrom1st floor,Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai -400021.Editorial &Administrative Offices: Express Towers, Nariman Point,Mumbai -400021.Phone: 22022627/67440000.Fax: 022-22835726. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor:Raj Kamal Jha, Editor:Unni Rajen Shanker,Editor (Mumbai): Nirupama Subramanian.* (*Responsible forselection of News under the PRB Act) Additional air surcharge of `1 .00-Goa. Copyright:The Indian Express (P) Ltd. All rightsreserved.Reproduction in anymanner,electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited.The Indian Express® Invest in independent journalism. Subscribe to The Indian Express E-paper

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