T he Union Home Ministry extended a diluted lock- down for two more weeks from May 4 by allowing a series of relaxations and clas- sifying the districts into three categories — Red, Orange and Green Zones — for this pur- pose. Except in 130 Red zone district, major shares of normal activities will resume with dif- ferent sets of restriction in 80 per cent of the country com- prising 284 orange zones dis- tricts and 319 green zones dis- tricts. Public movement will not be allowed for non-essential activities in all zones from 7 pm to 7 am. In green zones, all activities are permitted except the limit- ed number of activities which are prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone. However buses can oper- ate with up to 50 per cent seat- ing and depots can operate at 50 per cent capacity. In Red Zones which are high risk areas or containment zones, private vehicles are per- mitted with two persons and driver for four wheelers. Two wheelers can zip around with- out a pillion rider. Liquor shops, malls and barber shops will remain shut in red zone. However, liquor shops and pan shops will be opened in green zones with a caveat that not more than five persons will be present there at a time. Since Delhi and all other metropol- itan cities are Red zones, the booze lovers will have to keep waiting for further relaxation. Red and Orange Zones are known as Containment Zones, where local administration is asked to ensure the usage of Aarogya Setu App by all, including daily monitoring and surveillance of Covid-19 situ- ations on regular basis. Hotels, Restaurants, Cinema Halls, gyms, etc, are not allowed in Containment Zones. Private offices with 33 per cent attendance will be per- mitted to open in Red Zone, but public transport, including taxis and even auto-cycle rick- shaws will not be allowed. In Orange Zones, in addi- tion to activities permitted in Red Zone, taxis and cab aggre- gators will be permitted with 1 driver and 1 passenger only. Inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles will be allowed for permitted activities only. Four wheeler vehicles will have maximum two passengers besides the driver and pillion riding will be allowed on two- wheelers. In Orange Zones, buses are allowed with 50 per cent seating. A fter repeated flip-flops on the issue of mode of trans- port for millions of migrant workers stranded across the country in the lockdown, the Centre on Friday allowed using of trains for ferrying them to their home States. Addressing a Press confer- ence, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Punya Salila Srivastava said stranded people such as migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims and students can now be transported using trains. “States and the Railway Board will make the necessary arrangements for the same,” she said. Only a day ago, the Centre said buses can be used to trans- port these workers. This was opposed by several States which demanded that special trains should be introduced to transport these migrant work- ers, claiming that it would be impossible to arrange tens of thousands of buses for this pur- pose. Before that the Centre repeatedly opposed the demand to send them back home, saying it would lead to spread of coronavirus. The Ministry of Railways announced to six “Shramik Special” trains — Lingampally to Hatia, Nasik to Lucknow, Aluva to Bhubaneswar, Nasik to Bhopal, Jaipur to Patna and Kota to Hatia to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, stu- dents and other persons strand- ed at different places from the Labour Day (May 1). According to Railways, based on Home Ministry guidelines and as per the demands received from the various State Governments, Railways decided to run six special Shramik Special trains from Friday. Many more such trains will be required in the coming days to transport these work- ers. Even if one train could accommodate 1,000 workers after maintaining social dis- tancing, Bihar itself would require 20,000 such trips to complete the movement of workers. M ake in India’ will protect the frontline healthcare warriors from Covid-19 with the Government on Friday emphasising that the Indian firms will now take care of the country’s need for most of the vital medical components like Personnel Protection Equipment (PPE), N-95/N99 masks and ventilators. Claiming that the country can’t be dependent on import of these items which are in high demand globally due to the Covid-19 outbreak, PD Vaghela, Chairman of the Empowered Group-3 of the Central Government said these medical equipment are being manufactured in the country itself to protect the healthcare workers as well as the patients from the deadly virus. “Earlier, there was no domestic manufacturing of PPE in the country and almost all of them were imported. We now have 111 indigenous man- ufacturers,” he said. “Demand for PPE kits has been projected at 2.01 crore in India. We have placed orders for 2.22 crore kits out of which 1.42 crore kits are being pro- cured in the domestic market. 1.87 lakh kits are being pro- duced daily in the country,” he said at a Press briefing here. Similarly, out of the total 2.49 crore N-95/ N-99 masks and 2.01 crore PPE kits ordered, 1.49 crore and 1.42 crore respectively will be pro- cured from domestic manu- facturers. The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed 3 types of new PU coated nylon/poly- ester and technology transfer to manufacturers of India. The Union Health Ministry has indicated a pro- jected demand of 75,000 ven- tilators till June, 2020. A fresh war of words erupt- ed between the BJP and the TMC on Friday over the num- ber of Covid-19 “red” zones in West Bengal, with the ruling dispensation insisting that the State has just four hotspot dis- tricts and not 10, as listed by the Union Health Ministry. Bengal Health Principal Secretary Bibek Kumar the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday, described the list as “an erro- neous assessment” and said Bengal, keeping in view the parameters set by the Centre, has earmarked four “red” zones — Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore. I n a unique way to honour all “corona warriors” engaged in the battle against the pandem- ic, fighter jets will stream across the skies from Srinagar to Thiruvananthapuram and Dibrugarh (Assam) to Kutch (Gujarat) in thrilling fly past, while helicopters will shower petals on some hospitals. Army bands will enthrall citizens in almost all districts of the coun- try. All these activities marking show of solidarity with the frontline “warriors” will take place on May 3. As part of these nationwide thanksgiving gestures, the Navy will also deploy its warships at shores at various coastal towns and light them up on Sunday evening. Navy’s helicopters will shower flower petals on some hospitals treating corona- affected people, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said here on Friday. The three Services chiefs, including General MM Naravane, Air Chief Marshal RK Bhadauria and Admiral Karambir Singh, were also pre- sent on the occasion. Rawat also said on behalf of the armed forces, “We want to thank” all Covid-19 warriors like doctors, nurses, sanita- tion workers, police, home guards, delivery boys and media which has been reaching out with the message of Government on “how to carry on with lives in difficult times.” “We (wish to) convey our gratitude to each and every corona warrior and all the cit- izens of our nation. On May 3 there will be some special activities as a gesture of special gratitude by all three forces,” Rawat said. “The nation stood togeth- er, it showed resilience to over- come this crisis. In our coun- try, everybody understands that when it comes to the nation we have to stand togeth- er,” he added. Highlighting the crucial role played by the police, he said the armed forces will also lay a wreath here at the National Police Memorial on May 3 as a mark of support of the police forces. Incidentally, this plan of action for expressing gratitude to the “corona warriors” was discussed earlier in the day in a high-level meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval besides the CDS and three chiefs. I n a significant development that paved way for Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to get elect- ed as an MLC before the stip- ulated six month-deadline of May 27, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced it would hold the biennial elections on May 21 to fill nine MLCs seats. Acting on the request made by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to schedule the elections “at the earliest”, the ECI announced the schedule between May 4 and May 26 to complete the process of elec- tions to fill the nine vacant seats in the Upper House of the Maharashtra Legislature. A s the total tally of coron- avirus cases zoomed past 36,000 on Friday, the Centre split 733 districts across India into Red, Orange and Green zones, designating all metro- politan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad) into the “no activity” zone. According to the list, there are 130 Red zone districts, where more stringent restric- tions will be enforced post May 3. However, there will be partial easing in Orange zones (284 districts) and liberal eas- ing in Green zones (319 dis- tricts). Current classification is based on the incidence of coro- navirus cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing, and surveil- lance feedback. In a letter to Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan gave details of the grading dis- tricts in three categories, Red, Orange and Green. According to the letter, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar each have 5 districts in the Red zone, Delhi has 11 while Jammu & Kashmir 4. Jharkhand has 1, Karnataka 3, Kerala 2, Maharashtra 14, Odisha 3, Tamil Nadu 12, Uttar Pradesh 19 and Bengal 10. As per the letter a district will be considered under green zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case for the last 21 days in the district. “All States are accordingly requested to delineate the con- tainment zones and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and noti- fy the same,” she said. All the six metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — have been classified as red zone by the order. A gainst the national average of 654 coronavirus tests per million population as on May 1, Delhi is conducting about 2,300 tests. Even as the national Capital has high number of Covid-19 patients, above 3,600, the high rate of testing every 10 lakh population can be one of the reasons for the high rate of coronavirus cases in Delhi, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday. “When we see this number, it seems that cases are rapidly increasing in Delhi. It is hap- pening because we are con- ducting tests on a large scale in Delhi. We are conducting 2,300 tests per 1 million people in Delhi,” said Kejriwal. The CM also said that the Delhi Government will not stop clinical trials of plasma therapy to treat severally-ill Covid-19 patients as its initial results are good. The announcement by the Delhi CM came days after the centre said that plasma thera- py for treatment of coron- avirus patients is at an experi- mental stage and it has the potential to cause life-threat- ening complications. O n a day the Centre announced lockdown extension by two weeks, the country saw its biggest single day surge of 2,300 plus new cases in just 12 hours on Friday with Maharashtra alone log- ging 1,008 new cases, taking the tally of cases to 11,506. While 106 patients were discharged on Friday upon recovery, 26 Covid-19 patients died, the State Health Department said. The death toll in the State thus reached 485 and number of discharged patients reached 1,879. Maharashtra continued to be the most affected State in the country with a total number of positive coronavirus cases jumping to 11,506 while the death toll stood at 485. For the first time Telangana became the latest State to cross more than 1,000 confirmed cases to touch at 1,044. In terms of the cases reported, Maharashtra was fol- lowed by Gujarat at 4,721 cases with 236 deaths, Delhi at 3,738 cases and Madhya Pradesh at 2,719 cases and 137 deaths. Gujarat added 326 new cases, Delhi and MP 90 respec- tively. The other States that have reported total cases in four dig- its were Rajasthan (2,642), Tamil Nadu (2,526) and Uttar Pradesh (2,328). Tamil Nadu saw a major surge on Friday with day’s cases soaring by 203 and Punjab added 105 cases to fol- low a worrying trend following several Takhat Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchal Nagar Sahib pil- grims testing positive again on Friday. In West Bengal, the official death count is 33 while the Government has said 72 others who had coronavirus and died, passed away because of their co-morbidities. Among other major States, Andhra Pradesh has reported 1,463 cases and 33 deaths, Bihar stood at 426 cases and two deaths, Haryana at 313 and three deaths, Jammu & Kashmir at 614 cases and eight deaths, Karnataka at 576 and 22 deaths and Kerala clocked 497 cases and four deaths.
down for two more weeksfrom May 4 by allowing aseries of relaxations and clas-sifying the districts into threecategories — Red, Orange andGreen Zones — for this pur-pose. Except in 130 Red zonedistrict, major shares of normalactivities will resume with dif-ferent sets of restriction in 80per cent of the country com-prising 284 orange zones dis-tricts and 319 green zones dis-tricts.
Public movement will notbe allowed for non-essentialactivities in all zones from 7 pmto 7 am.
In green zones, all activitiesare permitted except the limit-ed number of activities whichare prohibited throughout thecountry, irrespective of thezone. However buses can oper-ate with up to 50 per cent seat-ing and depots can operate at50 per cent capacity.
In Red Zones which arehigh risk areas or containmentzones, private vehicles are per-mitted with two persons anddriver for four wheelers. Twowheelers can zip around with-out a pillion rider. Liquorshops, malls and barber shopswill remain shut in red zone.However, liquor shops and panshops will be opened in green
zones with a caveat that notmore than five persons will bepresent there at a time. SinceDelhi and all other metropol-itan cities are Red zones, thebooze lovers will have to keepwaiting for further relaxation.
Red and Orange Zones areknown as Containment Zones,where local administration isasked to ensure the usage ofAarogya Setu App by all,including daily monitoring andsurveillance of Covid-19 situ-ations on regular basis. Hotels,Restaurants, Cinema Halls,gyms, etc, are not allowed inContainment Zones.
Private offices with 33 percent attendance will be per-mitted to open in Red Zone,but public transport, includingtaxis and even auto-cycle rick-
shaws will not be allowed.In Orange Zones, in addi-
tion to activities permitted inRed Zone, taxis and cab aggre-gators will be permitted with 1driver and 1 passenger only.Inter-district movement ofindividuals and vehicles will beallowed for permitted activitiesonly.
Four wheeler vehicles willhave maximum two passengersbesides the driver and pillionriding will be allowed on two-wheelers. In Orange Zones,buses are allowed with 50 percent seating.
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After repeated flip-flops onthe issue of mode of trans-
port for millions of migrantworkers stranded across thecountry in the lockdown, theCentre on Friday allowed usingof trains for ferrying them totheir home States.
Addressing a Press confer-ence, Joint Secretary in theMinistry of Home Punya SalilaSrivastava said stranded peoplesuch as migrant workers,tourists, pilgrims and studentscan now be transported usingtrains. “States and the RailwayBoard will make the necessaryarrangements for the same,” shesaid.
Only a day ago, the Centresaid buses can be used to trans-port these workers. This wasopposed by several Stateswhich demanded that specialtrains should be introduced totransport these migrant work-ers, claiming that it would beimpossible to arrange tens ofthousands of buses for this pur-pose.
Before that the Centrerepeatedly opposed thedemand to send them backhome, saying it would lead tospread of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Railwaysannounced to six “ShramikSpecial” trains — Lingampallyto Hatia, Nasik to Lucknow,Aluva to Bhubaneswar, Nasik
to Bhopal, Jaipur to Patna andKota to Hatia to move migrantworkers, pilgrims, tourists, stu-dents and other persons strand-ed at different places from theLabour Day (May 1).
According to Railways,based on Home Ministryguidelines and as per thedemands received from thevarious State Governments,Railways decided to run sixspecial Shramik Special trainsfrom Friday.
Many more such trainswill be required in the comingdays to transport these work-ers. Even if one train couldaccommodate 1,000 workersafter maintaining social dis-tancing, Bihar itself wouldrequire 20,000 such trips tocomplete the movement ofworkers.
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Make in India’ will protectthe frontline healthcare
warriors from Covid-19 withthe Government on Fridayemphasising that the Indianfirms will now take care of thecountry’s need for most of thevital medical components likePersonnel ProtectionEquipment (PPE), N-95/N99masks and ventilators.
Claiming that the countrycan’t be dependent on importof these items which are in highdemand globally due to theCovid-19 outbreak, PDVaghela, Chairman of theEmpowered Group-3 of theCentral Government said thesemedical equipment are beingmanufactured in the countryitself to protect the healthcareworkers as well as the patientsfrom the deadly virus.
“Earlier, there was no
domestic manufacturing ofPPE in the country and almostall of them were imported. Wenow have 111 indigenous man-ufacturers,” he said.
“Demand for PPE kits hasbeen projected at 2.01 crore inIndia. We have placed ordersfor 2.22 crore kits out of which1.42 crore kits are being pro-cured in the domestic market.1.87 lakh kits are being pro-duced daily in the country,” hesaid at a Press briefing here.
Similarly, out of the total
2.49 crore N-95/ N-99 masksand 2.01 crore PPE kitsordered, 1.49 crore and 1.42crore respectively will be pro-cured from domestic manu-facturers.
The Defence ResearchDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) has developed 3 typesof new PU coated nylon/poly-ester and technology transfer tomanufacturers of India.
The Union HealthMinistry has indicated a pro-jected demand of 75,000 ven-tilators till June, 2020.
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Afresh war of words erupt-ed between the BJP and the
TMC on Friday over the num-ber of Covid-19 “red” zones inWest Bengal, with the rulingdispensation insisting that theState has just four hotspot dis-tricts and not 10, as listed bythe Union Health Ministry.
Bengal Health PrincipalSecretary Bibek Kumar theUnion Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare on Friday,described the list as “an erro-neous assessment” and saidBengal, keeping in view theparameters set by the Centre,has earmarked four “red” zones— Kolkata, Howrah, North 24Parganas and East Midnapore.
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In a unique way to honour all“corona warriors” engaged in
the battle against the pandem-ic, fighter jets will stream acrossthe skies from Srinagar toThiruvananthapuram andDibrugarh (Assam) to Kutch(Gujarat) in thrilling fly past,while helicopters will showerpetals on some hospitals. Armybands will enthrall citizens inalmost all districts of the coun-try. All these activities markingshow of solidarity with thefrontline “warriors” will takeplace on May 3.
As part of these nationwidethanksgiving gestures, the Navywill also deploy its warships atshores at various coastal townsand light them up on Sundayevening. Navy’s helicopters willshower flower petals on somehospitals treating corona-affected people, Chief of
Defence Staff (CDS) GeneralBipin Rawat said here onFriday.
The three Services chiefs,including General MMNaravane, Air Chief MarshalRK Bhadauria and AdmiralKarambir Singh, were also pre-
sent on the occasion.Rawat also said on behalf
of the armed forces, “We wantto thank” all Covid-19 warriorslike doctors, nurses, sanita-tion workers, police, homeguards, delivery boys andmedia which has been reaching
out with the message ofGovernment on “how to carryon with lives in difficult times.”
“We (wish to) convey ourgratitude to each and everycorona warrior and all the cit-izens of our nation. On May 3
there will be some specialactivities as a gesture of specialgratitude by all three forces,”Rawat said.
“The nation stood togeth-er, it showed resilience to over-come this crisis. In our coun-try, everybody understandsthat when it comes to thenation we have to stand togeth-er,” he added.
Highlighting the crucialrole played by the police, hesaid the armed forces will alsolay a wreath here at theNational Police Memorial onMay 3 as a mark of support ofthe police forces.
Incidentally, this plan ofaction for expressing gratitudeto the “corona warriors” wasdiscussed earlier in the day ina high-level meeting betweenDefence Minister RajnathSingh and National SecurityAdviser Ajit Doval besides theCDS and three chiefs.
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In a significant developmentthat paved way for
Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray to get elect-ed as an MLC before the stip-ulated six month-deadline ofMay 27, the ElectionCommission of India (ECI) onFriday announced it wouldhold the biennial elections onMay 21 to fill nine MLCs seats.
Acting on the requestmade by Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari to schedulethe elections “at the earliest”, theECI announced the schedulebetween May 4 and May 26 tocomplete the process of elec-tions to fill the nine vacant seatsin the Upper House of theMaharashtra Legislature.
As the total tally of coron-avirus cases zoomed past
36,000 on Friday, the Centresplit 733 districts across Indiainto Red, Orange and Greenzones, designating all metro-politan cities (Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad,Bengaluru and Ahmedabad)into the “no activity” zone.
According to the list, thereare 130 Red zone districts,where more stringent restric-tions will be enforced postMay 3. However, there will bepartial easing in Orange zones(284 districts) and liberal eas-ing in Green zones (319 dis-
tricts). Current classification isbased on the incidence of coro-navirus cases, doubling rate, theextent of testing, and surveil-lance feedback.
In a letter to ChiefSecretaries of all States andUnion Territories, UnionHealth Secretary Preeti Sudangave details of the grading dis-tricts in three categories, Red,Orange and Green.
According to the letter,Andhra Pradesh and Bihareach have 5 districts in the Redzone, Delhi has 11 whileJammu & Kashmir 4.Jharkhand has 1, Karnataka 3,Kerala 2, Maharashtra 14,
Odisha 3, Tamil Nadu 12, UttarPradesh 19 and Bengal 10.
As per the letter a districtwill be considered under greenzone if there are no confirmedcases so far or there is noreported case for the last 21days in the district.
“All States are accordinglyrequested to delineate the con-tainment zones and bufferzones in the identified red andorange zone districts and noti-fy the same,” she said.
All the six metros — Delhi,Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad —have been classified as redzone by the order.
Against the national averageof 654 coronavirus tests per
million population as on May1, Delhi is conducting about2,300 tests.
Even as the nationalCapital has high number ofCovid-19 patients, above 3,600,the high rate of testing every 10lakh population can be one ofthe reasons for the high rate ofcoronavirus cases in Delhi,said Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Friday.
“When we see this number,it seems that cases are rapidlyincreasing in Delhi. It is hap-pening because we are con-ducting tests on a large scale inDelhi. We are conducting 2,300tests per 1 million people inDelhi,” said Kejriwal.
The CM also said that theDelhi Government will notstop clinical trials of plasmatherapy to treat severally-illCovid-19 patients as its initialresults are good.
The announcement by theDelhi CM came days after thecentre said that plasma thera-py for treatment of coron-avirus patients is at an experi-mental stage and it has thepotential to cause life-threat-ening complications.
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On a day the Centreannounced lockdown
extension by two weeks, thecountry saw its biggest singleday surge of 2,300 plus newcases in just 12 hours on Fridaywith Maharashtra alone log-ging 1,008 new cases, taking the tally of cases to11,506.
While 106 patients weredischarged on Friday uponrecovery, 26 Covid-19 patientsdied, the State HealthDepartment said. The deathtoll in the State thus reached485 and number of dischargedpatients reached 1,879.
Maharashtra continued tobe the most affected State in thecountry with a total number ofpositive coronavirus casesjumping to 11,506 while thedeath toll stood at 485. For thefirst time Telangana became thelatest State to cross more than1,000 confirmed cases to touchat 1,044.
In terms of the cases
reported, Maharashtra was fol-lowed by Gujarat at 4,721 caseswith 236 deaths, Delhi at 3,738cases and Madhya Pradesh at2,719 cases and 137 deaths.Gujarat added 326 new cases, Delhi and MP 90 respec-tively.
The other States that havereported total cases in four dig-its were Rajasthan (2,642),Tamil Nadu (2,526) and UttarPradesh (2,328).
Tamil Nadu saw a majorsurge on Friday with day’scases soaring by 203 andPunjab added 105 cases to fol-low a worrying trend followingseveral Takhat Sachkhand SriHazur Abchal Nagar Sahib pil-grims testing positive againon Friday.
In West Bengal, the officialdeath count is 33 while theGovernment has said 72 otherswho had coronavirus and died,passed away because of theirco-morbidities.
Among other major States,Andhra Pradesh has reported1,463 cases and 33 deaths,Bihar stood at 426 cases andtwo deaths, Haryana at 313 andthree deaths, Jammu &Kashmir at 614 cases and eightdeaths, Karnataka at 576 and 22deaths and Kerala clocked 497cases and four deaths.
said the state government isensuring that essential items areprovided at the doorsteps ofpeople to restrict their move-ment during lockdown period.
Assured that there wasenough stock of food, medi-cines and other essential com-modities in the State and noone should worry as uninter-rupted and continuous supplychain of all commodities wasbeing ensured, he said the gov-ernment has enrolled 1,706vendors throughout the Statewho have been delivering var-ious goods and essentials onthe doorsteps of residents ben-efiting 12,82,334 persons so far.
Thakur said that to ensureregular supply of medicinesduring lockdown period, 575vendors have been authorizedfor home delivery of medicinesin the State. These includes 20vendors in Bilaspur, nine inChamba, 32 in Hamirpur, 44 inKangra, 19 in Kullu, one inLahaul-Spiti, 93 in Mandi, 125in Shimla, 165 in Sirmour, 40in Solan and 23 in Una district.
Total 1,507 persons in dis-trict Bilaspur, 550 in Chamba,1,472 in Hamirpur, 14,542 inKangra, 23 in Kinnaur, 387 inKullu, 73 in Lahaul-Spiti, 2,267in Mandi, 7,111 in Shimla,1,936 in Sirmour, 14,101 inSolan and 404 in Una havebeen benefited by home deliv-ery of medicines.
The CM said grocery itemsare required in every householdand 610 vendors have beenenrolled to maintain supply ofgrocery items in all parts of theState which has benefited1,61,955 persons directly.Similarly, 526 vendors havebeen enrolled for home deliv-ery of fruits and vegetableswhich has benefitted 10,75,572persons. Besides, 130 personstook benefit of home deliveryof cooked food so far.
SPECIAL CAMPAIGN TOMEDICALLY EXAMINEPEOPLE ENTERING HP,SAYS CM
Holding a video conferencewith all the DeputyC o m m i s s i o n e r s ,Superintendents of Police andChief Medical Officers of theState from Shimla on Friday,
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakursaid that a special campaignwould be launched on the anal-ogy of Active Case FindingCampaign to medically exam-ine the people entering toHimachal Pradesh from otherStates and these persons wouldbe kept in home quarantine. Heasked the officers that it shouldbe ensured that they do notjump from home quarantine.
Thakur asked officers tocompile the data of such per-sons who have arrived inHimachal Pradesh from otherStates and if a person hadcome from red zone he must bekept in quarantine centre.
The CM directed the offi-cers to ensure strict complianceof guidelines of Union Ministryof Home Affairs and makeelaborate arrangements tobring the people of HimachalPradesh stranded in otherStates. He said that StateGovernment had alreadyappointed adequate numberof supporting officers to theNodal Authority to coordinatemovement of the migrantworkers, pilgrims, tourists, stu-dents and other persons bothwithin and outside the State.
He urged the representa-tives of PRIs and Urban LocalBodies to keep a close vigil onthe persons who had returnedfrom other States and per-suade them to strictly followthe norms of home quarantine.He said that Himachal Pradeshwas in a comfortable positiontill now and it must be ensuredthat this situation is main-tained at all costs.
Thakur said efforts shouldbe made to start economicactivities particularly in thegreen zones, adding that specialthrust must be laid on provid-ing smooth movement of
essential commodities andfarming equipments. He saidthat people should also bemotivated to wear face masksand face covers as this couldcheck spread corona virus.
The Chief Minister saidthat since selective shops wereallowed to open in certain areas,but it must be ensured thateffective social distancing ismaintained there and everyoneuses face masks and sanitizer.
Chief Secretary AnilKhachi, Director General ofPolice S.R. Mardi, AdditionalChief Secretary, Home ManojKumar, Additional Chief
Secretary Health R.D. Dhimanand Principal Secretaries J.C.Sharma, Onkar Sharma andSanjay Kundu, Secretary I&PRRajneesh also attended themeeting.
HIMACHAL GOVTAPPOINTS NODAL OFFI-CERS TO FACILITATEINTERSTATE MOVEMENT
There are large number ofHimachali students, travellers,pilgrims, professionals who arecurrently stranded outsideHimachal Pradesh in differentstates and Union Territoriesdue to lockdown and restric-tion on interstate movement.Likewise there are many per-sons belonging to other statesand Union Territories, whoare presently staying in differ-ent parts of Himachal Pradeshas students, tourists, businesstravellers, professionals, indus-trial workers etc. and aredesirous to go back to theirrespective native states andUnion Territories.
A spokesperson of the stategovernment said that FC-cum-Principal Secretary Revenue-DMC to Government ofHimachal Pradesh Onkar
Chand Sharma has been des-ignated as State Nodal Officerand Director Tourism and CivilAviation and ManagingDirector HRTC Shimla, Yunushas been designated as StateJoint Nodal Officer for thepurpose. State Nodal Officercan be contacted on mobilenumber 94182-30009 and StateJoint Nodal Officer can becontacted on mobile number88940-35375.
He said the other officershave been designated as NodalOfficers to collect, collate andcompile the data pertaining tothe requests received for inter-state movement and formula-tion of comprehensive plan,devise protocol and facilitatemovement by using publictransport facilities or privatevehicles in consultation withthe officers of the otherstates/UT's, DistrictAdministration, officials of theDepartments of Labour andEmployment, Industries,Home, Transport, HRTC etc.under the overall supervisionand guidance of the State NodalOfficers/Joint Nodal Officer.
The spokesperson saidSecretary Information and
Public Relations and UrbanDevelopment Rajneesh hasbeen designated as nodal offi-cer for Haryana, New Delhiand National Capital Region.Similarly Secretary Financeand Housing Akshay Sood forTamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,Telengana, Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh, SecretaryAyurved G.K. Srivastava forUttar Pradesh, Bihar,Uttarakhand, Jharkhand andChhattisgarh.
Director Energy ManasiSahay Thakur for Maharashtra,Karnataka, Kerela, Goa,Lakshadweep, Andaman andNicobar Island andPuducherry, Director RuralDevelopment and PanchayatiRaj Lalit Jain for Punjab,Chandigarh and Mohali (Tricity), Special Secretary MPPand Power Hemraj Bairwa forRajasthan, Gujrat and MadhyaPradesh, Director Personneland Finance HPPCLManmohan Sharma for Assam,Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh,Manipur, Nagaland, Tripuraand Meghalya and DirectorElementary Education RohitJamwal for West Bengal,Odisha and Sikkim.
Chandigarh, the UTAdministration on Fridaydecided to take up the matterwith neighboring StateGovernment regarding theinflux of patients in the city.Punjab Governor and UTAdministrator VP SinghBadnore during his daily reviewmeeting said that the doctors ofvarious medical institutionshave expressed their apprehen-sion regarding the patients fromoutside coming to Chandigarhfor emergency cases withoutprior COVID checking.
The Administrator directedPrincipal Secretary (Health) toprepare a list of such cases, sothat the matter could be takenup with the neighbouring statesand sorted out.
He also stressed on theneed of providing routine ser-vices for regular patients of TBand vaccines for the children,
which might have been dis-turbed during the curfew peri-od.
Reviewing situation relatedto COVID-19 in the city, hedirected Commissioner,Municipal Corporation toensure that the cleanliness invarious sectors should bestepped up in areas, wheregarbage have accumulated dueto absence of employees.
He was informed that11,153 persons in 2541 house-holds have been covered underhouse to house survey forCoronavirus symptoms in BapuDham colony on Friday.
Arun Kumar Gupta, UTPrincipal Secretary (Health)informed that regular coordi-nation meeting is taking placewith all the medical institutionslike PGIMER, GMCH-32 andGMSH-16.
“Arrangements will bemade for home quarantine ofsuch persons, who would like tostay at home instead of availinghospital facilities provided they
have infrastructure for physical-social distancing at home. Thiswill cover only those cases,which are having no symptomor mild symptom of COVID-19, Gupta said. He also deniedreports about sealing of someother areas in Chandigarh andclarified that only six affectedpockets have been sealed, name-ly, part of Bapu Dham Colony,part of Sector 30-B, KacchiColony Dhanas, part of ShastriNagar, part of Sector 38 and partof Sector 52.
UT ADMN BEGINSPREPARING LIST OFSTRANDED PEOPLE
UT Adviser Manoj Paridasaid that a list is under prepa-ration for the stranded people,who would like to go out ofChandigarh. Such people canregister themselves on websiteor can call on the toll freenumber. The UT officer RajivTewari has been appointed asnodal officer for coordination ofmovement of stranded persons.
Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Friday
wrote to the Union Minister ofConsumer Affairs, PublicDistribution Ram VilasPaswan, seeking immediatewithdrawal of the “unjustified”heavy value cut on farmers inlieu of relaxation in normsdue to luster loss and shriveledgrain of wheat.
It may be recalled that theChief Minister had written toPrime Minister Narendra Modion April 28, seeking a review ofthis decision, to safeguard theinterests of state farmers inthese difficult times.
Seeking Paswan’s promptintervention to re-examine theissue of value cut in its entire-ty to protect the farmers’income, the Chief Ministertermed the imposition of avalue cut on the earnings of thefarmers for reasons beyondtheir control as unjustified.
Capt Amarinder apprised
the Union Minister about twoimportant issues raised by theState Government duringcourse of discussion with him– firstly, the relaxation in wheatprocurement norms for shriv-eled grain or lustre loss, andsecondly, the release of admin-
istrative and arhtiya charges,which had been acceded by theUnion Ministry.
Thanking Paswan for hisMinistry’s approval to release90 percent of the withheldcharges, the Chief Minister,however, said that he was con-cerned that issue of relaxationin norms for wheat withoutvalue cut had not beenaddressed so far.
Capt Amarinder said that,in fact, he had received a com-muniqué from the UnionMinistry of Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distributionon April 28, wherein heavyvalue cuts have been imposedin lieu of relaxation of norms oflustre loss and shrivelled grain.
“These cuts are complete-ly unreasonable since therewere unseasonal rains in theState in March, and the farm-ers were unable to take pre-ventive measures for saving thewheat crop as a result of lock-down across the country,” hesaid.
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Haryana, which has sealed allits inter-State borders, on
Friday decided to use rapid testkits for Covid infection on peo-ple entering it through any of itsborders to provide essentialgoods and services in the state,said state Home Minister AnilVij. The occupants of the essen-tial goods and services supplyvehicles entering the state will betested and allowed entry only ifthey test negative for coron-avirus, said the state home min-ister.
“We have sealed our bordersmaking exemption for essentialservices. However, we haveadded a condition that we willcarry out their coronavirus teston all our inter-state borders,” hesaid.
“If they are found Covid-19positive, they will be sent back tothe concerned state with inti-mation to the authorities. OnlyCovid-negative persons will beallowed entry into Haryana,”the minister said.
Vij said the state HealthDepartment is setting up med-ical booths on all borders for thispurpose. Notably, Haryanashares its borders with Delhi,Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UttarPradesh, and Union Territory ofChandigarh, which is also thestate''s common capital.
“Some inconveniences willhave to be tolerated becauseeither we have to bear them orbear the brunt of coronavirusinfection,” Vij said, justifyingthe stricter measures.
Haryana government hadearlier maintained that many ofthe coronavirus cases in NCRdistricts, including Sonipat,Gurgaon and Faridabad, havebeen found to have contracted
the infection emanating from thenational capital. Vij said strictermeasures have been put in placeon all inter-state borders.Haryana so far has reported 347positive cases, including those of24 foreigners.
Responding to the appeal ofPunjab Chief Minister Capt
Amarinder Singh, the man-agement, employees and pen-sioners of PSPCL/PSTCL con-tributed Rs. 7.91 crore towardsChief Minister Covid ReliefFund. Lauding this gesture,Capt Amarinder said thesedonations would go a longway in extending a helpinghand to the people in these try-
ing circumstances due toCovid-19.
It may be recalled thatmanagements and employeesbesides pensioners of bothPunjab State PowerCorporation Limited andPunjab State TransmissionCorporation Limited havedonated their one day’ssalary/pension in the ChiefMinister Relief Fund in the bat-tle against coronavirus. Lastyear also during the floods in
the Punjab state,PSPCL/PSTCL employees/pensioners showed their soli-darity by contributing one daysalary/pension to CM Relieffund.
Capt Amarinder alsoappreciated the services ren-dered by the employees ofthese corporations 24X7 evenunder harsh conditions duringsummer, winter and rainy sea-son besides ongoingcurfew/lockdown.
Asserting that this was notthe time to indulge in petty
politics, Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh onFriday appealed to theOpposition parties not to trig-ger panic among the people byspreading misinformationabout Covid pandemic in theState, but to work unitedlywith the State Government toovercome this unprecedentedcrisis.
Capt Amarinder, in a tele-vised address to the people ofPunjab, said that there were nomismanagement of the crisis orwidespread infections in theState, as was being projected bythe Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)and the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). Most of the cases nowwere those that were comingfrom other states, he said, dis-closing that of the new casesreported, only seven related tolocal infection while 93 werePunjabis who had come fromoutside the state.
The Chief Minister calledupon the people not to be wor-ried about the sudden spike innumbers that could be expect-ed over the next few days asmore people return to theirhomes from other states, withthe Government of India’s deci-sion to allow the movement ofstranded persons.
Urging the opposition tojoin hands, and work shoulder-to-shoulder with theGovernment, in the interest of
Punjab and its people, theChief Minister said: “We havea war at our hands, and it istime not to score browniepoints but to show unity.”
Pointing out that Punjab isgoing through a difficult time,Capt Amarinder underlinedthe need for all to work togeth-er to save the State and its peo-ple. “It is a war of Punjab andfor its people,” he said.
Warning of possible esca-lation in the number of Covidcases as more and more strand-ed Punjabis return from otherstates, in the wake of easing ofnorms by the Centre, the ChiefMinister appealed to the peo-ple not to be afraid of quaran-tine, which was just a means toensure that the returnees do notspread the infection among
their families, neighbours orothers.
“Quarantine is nothing buta way to keep those comingback to Punjab in isolationwhile they are tested and givena clean chit by the doctors,” saidCapt Amarinder, making itclear that every person return-ing to the State would be keptin institutional quarantine as apreventive measure. Amidreports of certain people sneak-ing through the borders to getback home, the Chief Ministerappealed to all not to resort tosuch dangerous measures butto come in through properchannels, with due screening,testing and quarantining.
“This is imperative to keepthe situation in Punjab undercontrol, as has been done so far,
largely on account of the deci-sion to go for curfewearly…Nobody will be allowedto go to their home withoutmandatory quarantine anddoctor’s clearance,” he declared.
While every Punjabi waswelcome to come back home,and those from other stateswould be facilitated in theirreturn, this needed to be doneproperly, to ensure that there isno further spread of the coro-navirus, said the Chief Minister.
On the return of people ofother states stranded in Punjab,he said that the concernedstates would have to makearrangements or theGovernment of India wouldhave to arrange special trains,given the large numbersinvolved.
The Chief Minister alsoappealed to the people to takeall due precautions, includingwearing of masks, handhygiene and social distancing,when they step out during theperiod of relaxation, which hehad announced two days ago.
“These relaxations, aimedat providing some relief to thepeople, would start falling inplace over the next couple ofdays as the respective DCsfinalise their area-wise plans foropening of select shops, byrotation,” he assured the peo-ple, calling upon them to fol-low all advice or guidelinesgiven by doctors and expert toprevent the spread of the infec-tion.
88 in Chandigarh, the denselypopulated Bapu Dham colonyin Sector 26 here continues toremain the epicenter of out-break of highly contagious dis-ease.
After the first positive caseof COVID-19 (Coronavirus)from the Bapu Dham colonywas reported on the night ofApril 24, the “affected pocket”has seen an explosion of infect-ed patients with numberrecorded at 37 so far and thereports of more infected peo-ple continued to pour in till lateFriday night.
Chandigarh continues tofigure in the new list of 130COVID-19 red-zone districtsreleased by the CentralGovernment and the doublingrate of Coronavirus cases stoodat 4.77 days in the city.
After imposing curfew inthe city on March 24 to stemthe spread of Coronavirus, theAdministration has so farsealed “six affected pockets”including part of Bapu Dhamcolony (BDC), part of Sector30-B, Kacchi Colony, Dhanas,part of Shastri Nagar, Part of Sector 38 and Part of Sector52.
Out of the total 88Coronavirus cases, 60 percentcases have been reported fromBapu Dham colony (BDC) and
Sector 30 in the city.The total cases stood at 88
while active cases were 70 andthose cured from theCoronavirus included 18, asper the Chandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.
As per the mapping ofinfected cases done byAdministration, a maximum of37 cases have so far beenreported from BDC, 16 fromSector 30, five each from Sector21 and 33, three each fromSector 6, 9, 10 and 12, two eachfrom Sector 19, 49 and oneeach from Sectors- 15, 18, 35,29, Dhanas, Maloya, MauliJagran, PGIMER and RamDarbar.
In the past one week, asharp surge in the number ofCOVID-19 patients is wit-nessed in the city with 60 freshcases reported. 1252 sampleshave been tested forCoronavirus in the city tillnow, according to the HealthDepartment’s bulletin.
As a precautionary mea-sure, 3530 residents have beenput under home quarantine tillnow, out of which 1945 havecompleted the quarantine peri-od.
UT Health-cum-HomeSecretary Anil Kumar Guptatold The Pioneer that the dou-bling rate of Coronavirus casesis 4.77 days in Chandigarh,which is included in the list ofred-zone by Central
Government.
HARYANA REPORTS 18FRESH CASES, TOTAL 357
With 18 new corona viruscases, the total number of pos-itive Covid-19 cases has risento 357 in Haryana. Of these,112 patients are active coronavirus cases, and a total of 241patients have been dischargedas of Friday.
According to the State gov-ernment’s health bulletin, 18fresh cases were reported fromGurugram, Sirsa, Faridabad,Sonepat, Jhajjar districts. Theworst affected districts of thestate with maximum number ofpositive cases are Faridabad(61), Nuh (58), Gurgaon (57)and Palwal (34).
While hard hit Faridabadreported eight more case, tak-ing the total number of Covid-19 cases in the district to 61,Gurugram district that had sofar reported 54 cases over twoweeks ago, added three more,taking the tally to 57.
Jhajjar reported 4 morecase, taking the tally to 28.Sonepat reported one morecase, taking the tally to 26. Twomore cases reported in Sirsa,taking the tally to 6.
As many as 30,191 sampleshave been tested so far, out ofwhich 27, 784 have tested neg-ative. The report of 2, 050samples is awaited.
second consecutive day, Punjabon Friday reported 129 positivecases of which 121 are those whohave returned from other states,including majority of NandedSahib pilgrims. With this, thestate’s tally has crossed 600.
Out of the total 609 positivecases across the State till now,more than 40 percent, approx-imately 250, amounts to thereturnees from GurudwaraHazur Sahib at Nanded inMaharashtra, students fromKota in Rajasthan, and fromother states.
Even as the government isunable to provide the exactnumber of the “positive”returnees in the state so far, ithas been estimated the figurehas crossed 250-mark, withmajority being the pilgrimsfrom Nanded who were strand-ed there. In the past 48 hours,about 193 Nanded pilgrimshave tested positive.
The corona explosion tookplace in the state at the timewhen Punjab has just started hisjourney on the road to recovery.Reports of more corona positivepatients recovering from thedeadly virus, in comparison tothe number of positive caseswere received.
But, it seems, the race for
political supremacy has costPunjab dear. Without any strat-egy, and fool proof planning tobring back as many as 3600stranded pilgrims back to theState, the Congress led PunjabGovernment sent the fleet ofbuses to Maharashtra. The“hasty” decision came close onthe heels when the UnionMinister and SAD MPHarsimrat Badal declared thatSAD would bring the “strand-ed pilgrims” back to Punjab.
The government sourcesinformed The Pioneer that allthe pilgrims were “screened”,that is checked for body tem-perature, symptoms of coughand cold, before the journey,and all were “asymptomatic”.
A government official,requesting anonymity, said thatthe authorities did not, at anypoint of time, expected thatthings would go “out of hand tothis extent”.
“But, extra care should havebeen taken as we were bringingpeople from Maharashtra,which is the most-affected statein the country,” admitted theofficial.
Even the state HealthMinister Balbir Singh Sidhuhas also blamed theMaharashtra Government forthe COVID explosion inPunjab.
“They were underMaharashtra Government’s
observation. It was their duty toimplement the Centre’s guide-lines. Their samplings and testsshould've been done there,” saidSidhu, adding that if Punjab hadbeen told that the tests hadn'tbeen done, “we would've senttwo teams from the state there”.
Sidhu added, “Our teamswould have tested them andsegregated them there only as
symptomatic and asympto-matic. We would have broughtthem here in separate buses. Wewould have kept the people whotested positive in isolation andthe others in quarantine.”
The Minister, however, saidthat the Government was nowtesting all of them, who arecoming back to state, includingthe Nanded pilgrims.
As per available figures, asmany 9,042 returnees reportedin all the 22 districts of the state,including 2,694 from Nanded,84 from Kota, 5603 migrantlabour, besides 661 others.
Of these, only 37 percenthave been sampled and tested,out of which reports for 78 per-cent are awaited — whichmeans, the figure is expected to
escalate further manifold.Among the districts,
Amritsar reported the maxi-mum cases 48 cases, taking thedistrict’s tally to 90 — third inthe state, followed by Jalandharat 105, and Mohali at 92. Atleast, 74 of these were peoplewho recently returned fromNanded.
With 16 more positive
cases, Jalandhar became thefirst district to cross the three-figure mark. One recentlyreturned from Nanded, onecame back from Rajasthan,seven were contacts of alreadydiagnosed cases and seven werenew cases, stated the dailyhealth bulletin.
In a major spike, once again,Patiala also reported 25 newcorona positive cases on Friday.All the new positive patients arethe pilgrims who returned fromHazur Sahib. With this, the totalnumber of positive cases hasreached 89 — fourth in the state.
Mohali district also report-ed six new cases, including fiveNanded pilgrims, while onewas a contact of an already diag-nosed case.
“The district today saw theemergence of six corona posi-tive cases which has taken thenumber of cases to 92. Out ofthese, five are pilgrims whoreturned from Nanded whilethe other one is fromJawaharpur village and is theson of Malkit Singh who isundergoing quarantine periodafter being tested negative,” saidMohali Deputy CommissionerGirish Dayalan.
Out of the 92 cases, total 20are Nanded pilgrims, includingone from Ambala, who hadarrived in the district on April28.
Ferozepur district also
reported 15 new cases, allNanded pilgrims. The districthad no positive case till the dri-ver of deceased Ludhiana ACPAnil Kohli had come here a fewdays ago and tested positive. Hewas already recovered and dis-charged after his report camenegative. Now, Ferozepur has 13cases.
Fazilka — a district that haduntil Friday been the only oneto have no confirmed coron-avirus cases — had four Nandedpilgrims tested positive. Mogaand Fatehgarh Sahib eachreported one positive case, bothNanded pilgrims.
“WE WILL CONTROL THISWITHIN FEW DAYS”:HEALTH MINISTER
Squarely blamingMaharashtra Government forthe COVID outbreak due toNanded pilgrims in Punjab, thestate Health Minister BalbirSingh Sidhu on Fridayexpressed confidence that theState would be able to controlthis “within few days”.
“We're testing all pilgrims.We’ll be able to control thiswithin few days. We haven’tallowed anyone to go home.Those who came to Tarn Tarandirectly had come after crossingfive-six states. They weren'tstopped on any border. Theyentered Punjab. Our govern-ment traced them,” he said.
To spur economic activities,Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on Fridayapproved new guidelines givingconditional relaxations toindustry in the State withimmediate effect amid thelockdown.
“As per the revised Stateguidelines, activities shall beallowed after obtaining a self-declaration from the industri-al units, commercial establish-ments and construction pro-jects, online. However, theseunits will need to comply withthe standard operating proce-dures (SOPs) as provided bythe Union Home AffairsMinistry,” a statement issued bythe State Government heresaid.
These guidelines would beapplicable only to units notfalling in a containment zone.
In 14 districts of Haryana-- Ambala, Bhiwani, CharkhiDadri, Fatehabad, Hisar, Jind,Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra,Mahendergarh, Rewari,Rohtak, Sirsa andYamunanagar, immediateapprovals would be accordedafter application is submittedon the State Government por-tal as per the norms.
For industries, industrialestablishments, and commer-cial and private establishmentsother than IT and ITeS units, ifthe workforce requirement isup to 20 people, 100 per centof the requirement would be
allowed whereas, in case thereis requirement of more than 20people, 50 per cent of theworkforce or 20 people,whichever is higher, would beallowed.
“For IT and ITes units, incase of workforce requirementof up to 20 people, 50 per centof the requirement would beallowed whereas, in case ofrequirement of more than 20people, 33 per cent of theworkforce or 10 people,whichever is higher, would beallowed,” the statement said.
For construction projects,in every case of in-situ con-struction projects whereemployer can retain workforceat the site, operations would beallowed with 100 per cent of thetotal workforce.
However, in case of non-in-situ projects, operationswould be allowed with only 50per cent of the total workforce.
In case the number ofCovid-19 active cases in any ofthese 14 districts reaches 15, all
industrial units, commercialestablishments and construc-tion projects, would have toshut down their operations.
In the remaining eight dis-tricts of Faridabad, Gurugram,Sonipat, Panipat, Nuh, Palwal,Jhajjar and Panchkula, whichhave maximum number ofactive cases, permissions wouldbe granted on the basis ofdevelopment block/town orzone.
If the number of Covid-19positive cases in the last 28 daysin any block/ town or zonereaches 10, then, no industrialunit except essential goods andservices would be allowed tooperate.
Industries, commercialestablishments and construc-tion projects employing lessthan 10 workers in any of the22 districts of Haryana neednot apply to the state govern-ment and may resume opera-tions subject to the social dis-tancing norms and otherrequirements as per the Union
Home Ministry guidelines.Also, in all 22 districts,
industrial units, commercialestablishments and construc-tion projects having in-situlabour would be allowed tooperate, with all the workerspresent in their premises.
In all districts in respect ofevery unit that does not beginfunctioning within 7 days ofapproval, the approval wouldbe liable to be cancelled with-out notice.
The district administra-tion would continuously assessthe on-ground situation and ifnew Covid-19 cases arise in thedistrict, the respective deputycommissioners shall reviewthe guidelines.
In any district, 100 per centexport-oriented units and thoseunits with 100 per cent in-situlabour would be given preferencein issuance of passes and othernecessary facilitation required tocommence operations.
In case the industrial unitor commercial establishmentmakes arrangement for thelabour force to stay in a build-ing near the factory premises orproject site, such cases wouldbe treated similar to in-situlabour projects.
The statement said that asMHA guidelines lay emphasison expediting the resumptionof industrial operations in ruralareas, all officials concernedincluding the district adminis-tration have been encouragedto give preference to units inrural areas.
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To check the further spreadof Covid-19 pandemic,
Punjab Government on Fridaysought technological supportand expertise from Israel toeffectively manage the coron-avirus outbreak in the State.
As the Covid-19 pandem-ic spreads globally, Israel hasdeveloped technological tools tomitigate and control it effica-ciously.
“Invest Punjab, in thisregard, has coordinated a spe-cial webinar with Embassy ofIsrael in India, which is focusedon the technological advance-ments behind Israel’s Covid-19outbreak management,” said anofficial spokesperson.
During the webinar, sever-al technological tools were dis-cussed at length, which under-scored the need and benefits ofan integrated IT tool to not onlyprovide updated information tothe citizens but also assist theState Government in effectivepolicy making backed by dataand trends. The PunjabGovernment will be assessingthe Israel use case and its poten-tial benefits to scale up the Stategovernment’s effort against theCovid-19 pandemic.
PUNJAB GOVT APPOINTSHONORARY COORDINA-TORS FOR NRIs
To mitigate the problems of
Punjabi Diaspora including stu-dents throughout the world,Punjab Government has decid-ed to connect with them by theappointment of various co-ordinators for different coun-tries.
The state NRIs Affairs,Sports and Youth AffairsMinister Rana Gurmit SinghSodhi said that amidst the coro-na crisis, many NRIs are eitherstuck abroad or in India becauseof the travel restrictions due tolockdown.
“Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) has also heldmeetings in this regard withnine states to discuss measuresto support and to offer any guid-ance necessary to these NRIs.MEA is also aware that NRIsmight face economic hardshipspost their return to India oncethe lockdown is over,” he said.
Punjab Government hastaken the initiative to connectPunjabi Diaspora with theappointment of honorary coor-dinators to facilitate them, whohave been given the task to worktowards resolving NRI issues orproblems via NRI Commission,said Sodhi.
He said that the coordina-tors are in touch with nodal offi-cers in various missions abroadand are taking up issues or prob-lems faced by NRIs. “Thesecoordinators are the local pointof contact. Any NRI facing anyproblem can directly contact
He added that DepartmentSecretary Rahul Bhandari canalso be contacted [email protected] for any mat-ter pertaining to the NRIs.
AAP LAUNCHESCAMAOIGN FOR PRTCDECEASED DRIVER, SEEKSRS 50 LAKH FINANCIALAID FOR FAMILY
Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP)Punjab unit on Friday held anhour-long statewide protestagainst the Capt AmarinderSingh Government to reiterateits demand for immediaterelease of financial aid of Rs 50lakh to the bereaved family ofPRTC driver Manjit Singh, whodied en route while on officialduty to ferry the pilgrimsstranded at Sri Hazur Sahibamid national lockdown.
AAP’s state unit presidentand MP Bhagwant Mann saidthat all party legislators, seniordistrict, block-level leadership ofthe party and thousands of vol-unteers held a silent protest out-side their homes, in support oftheir demand, sporting blackbands and holding play cards inbearing the slogan “Main BhiManjit Singh Haan” to wake upthe “deaf” Captain governmentto redeeming its pledge to givefinancial aid of Rs 50 lakh to thebereaved family immediately.
Chautala and more than 100journalists have tested negativefor Covid-19, Health MinisterAnil Vij said on Friday.
Although he did not haveany symptoms, Chautala had onWednesday got himself tested forcoronavirus to allay fears amongthe public surrounding the test.Chautala, and all the journalistswhich included reporters, photoand video journalists from theprint and electronic media, havetested negative, Vij informed.
After some journalists inMaharashtra and Delhi werefound to be infected with coro-navirus, Vij had arranged specialtesting for journalists inChandigarh on Wednesday.
Journalists are also at thefrontline in the battle againstCovid-19, Vij had said.The sam-ples were taken by HealthDepartment at MLA Hostel dis-pensary here in the specialcamp which had been set up bythe Department for the jour-nalists.
A senior journalist, whohad taken the test, said, “It is agreat relief to know that I andall my colleagues, who like meare in the field to cover variousevents during these challengingtimes, are Covid negative”.
revoke curfew order and put inplace lockdown restrictions fromMay 4 onwards. Curfew wasimposed in Chandigarh onMarch 24.
Notably, the CentralGovernment on Friday issuedfresh orders extending thenationwide lockdown by twomore weeks from May 4onwards to contain the spread ofCoronavirus in the country.
With 88 Coronavirus casestill Friday evening, Chandigarhfigures in the list of red zonesreleased by the CentralGovernment.
“The UT Administration isconsidering revoking the curfeworder. Lockdown restrictionsare likely to be put in place fromMay 4 onwards to ensure socialdistancing in the city,” said asenior officer of UTAdministration. “We are alsoconsidering removing the tag of‘containment zone’ from theentire city and declare the affect-ed pockets as ‘containmentzones’. With this, various activi-ties as per the latest guidelines ofthe Central Government will beallowed in non-containmentzone in Chandigarh,” the seniorofficer said.
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With corona pandemicscare likely to impact
functioning of all establish-ments and institutions for sometime to come, the Centre isdevising new guidelines forthe modus operandi of acade-mic institutions.
Sources in the HRDMinistry said that new seatingarrangements in classrooms,hostels, common spaces,libraries and assembly amongothers keeping in mind thesocial distancing mantra tofight COVID-19 will beenforced when the classesresume.
For schools, suspension ofmorning assemblies and sportsactivities in the playground,norms for school buses, do'sand dont's in washrooms andcafeterias and regular disinfec-tion of entire buildings, couldbe part of the guidelines evenas masks will be a mandatorypart of school uniforms. Forresidential schools, guidelineswill detail social distancingnorms to be followed in mess-es and hostels.
A HRD Ministry officialsaid whenever schools and col-leges reopen, proper social dis-tancing norms will have to befollowed as health and safety ofstudents have to be the prior-ity.
The guidelines are beingformed by the Ministry's
Department of SchoolEducation and Literacy forschools and by the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC)for universities and highereducation institutions.
Universities and schoolsacross the country have beenclosed since March 16 whenthe Central Governmentannounced a countrywideclassroom shutdown as one ofthe measures to contain theCOVID-19 outbreak. Later, anationwide lockdown wasannounced on March 24,which was extended till May 3.
While the UGC has alreadyrecommended that academicsession for freshers may beginin September and for enrolledstudents in August, schoolsare also doing teaching-learn-ing activities through differentvirtual mediums.
"The guidelines willinclude a checklist and recom-mended measures to ensurestudent and staff safety.However, the COVID-19 situ-ation in a particular area willalso be have to kept in mindand the institutions will haveflexibility to adapt to the guide-lines accordingly.
The Minister has reiterat-ed many times that the safetyand health of students has to beprioritised," said the official.
The guidelines are beingformed and will also be sharedwith States so they can prepareaccordingly before reopening
schools and colleges. "Districts will be tasked
with the implementation ofthe guidelines and certainspaces in the campuses willhave to be revamped to ensuresocial distancing," the officialadded.
HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank' had alsodeliberated upon the issue ofsafety guidelines in a meetingwith state education ministerslast week. Nishank will interactwith students from across thecountry through webinar onSaturday afternoon.
Several Indian Institutesof Technology (IITs) are alsoworking on chalking out waysfor students to follow socialdistancing, including restrict-ing entry of visitors, classes inshifts and staggered labora-tory timings.
As per UGC recommen-dations, semester exams canbe conducted in July eitheronline or offline.
"So, far the exams hap-pening online, the safetyguidelines will have to befollowed and same will applyto conduct of competitiveexaminations," the officialsaid.
Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE)has reiterated that it will con-duct pending class 10 and 12board exams in 29 subjectsbut has not announced theschedule yet.
the affairs of the aviation andpower sectors, a decision wastaken that the Indian air spaceshould be effectively used in amanner that flying time fortravellers is reduced and air-lines also save costs.
And this will be done inclose cooperation with theDepartment of Military Affairs,an official statement said afterModi held the comprehensivemeeting to review the strategiesthat could help in makingIndia's civil aviation sectormore efficient.
"For generation of morerevenue as well as to bring inmore efficiency at the airports,the Ministry of Civil Aviationhas been asked to expedite theprocess of handing over of sixmore airports on PPP basis bycommencing the tenderprocess within three months,"it said.
Home Minister AmitShah, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri among othersattended the meeting, whichalso reviewed the e-DGCAproject, aimed at bringing inmore transparency in theDGCA's office and helping allstakeholders by reducing theprocessing time for variouslicences and permissions.
"It was also decided thatall reform initiatives taken by
the Ministry of Civil Aviationand the organizations under itshould proceed in a timebound manner," the state-ment added
The civil aviation sectorhas been severely hit by thecoronavirus pandemic, whichforced governments aroundthe world to impose restric-tions on the movement ofpeople and virtually shutflights.
As for the power sector,the Prime Minister discussedvarious long-term reforms forenhancing sustainability,resilience, and efficiency ofthe key sector.
“The discussions includedmeasures regarding ease ofdoing business; propagation ofrenewables; flexibility in sup-ply of coal; role of public-pri-vate partnerships; and boost-ing investment in the powersector. The need for effectiveenforcement of contracts forattracting private investmentswas discussed,” the officialstatement said.
He emphasised the impor-tance of ‘consumer-centricity’and directed to work towardsthe goal of supplying 24x7quality and reliable power toall consumers.
“Measures for improvingviability of distribution com-panies, including tariff ratio-nalisation and timely releaseof subsidies along withimproved governance werealso discussed,” the statementsaid.
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The BJP and the Congresscontinued to snipe at each
other over the efficacy of mea-sures under the lockdown asthe ruling party on Fridayexpressed shock that its oppo-sition counterpart sees guide-lines of Ministry of HomeAffairs as a joke and use pan-demic as a “political opportu-nity”.
In his response to Congresscriticism of MHA steps to trans-port stranded workers to theirnative places, BJP Nationalspokesperson Sambit Patra saidrather than giving any positivesuggestion, the Opposition wasalways trying to find fault withthe steps taken by the UnionGovernment.
Patra said constant bicker-ing and pessimism during thesetimes are not the solutions.
Hitting back, the BJP leader
said, “It’s astonishing and shock-ing that senior Congress leaderAbhishek Manu Singhvi sees theMHA guidelines on migrantlabourers as a joke.”
Patra asked the Congressnot to use the coronavirus pan-demic as a “political opportuni-ty” as he expressed shock at theopposition party criticising theHome Ministry guidelines oninter-state movement of strand-ed workers.
“The Congress shouldrestrain itself from spreadingcanards, falsities and misinfor-mation purely for political gainduring a pandemic. The MHAguidelines lay down standardoperating procedures (SOPs)for states to follow duringmigrants’ transfer. States are intalks with each other to effec-tively carry forward this mam-moth task,” Patra said.
The BJP reacted after theCongress accused the Centre of“cruelly” and “mercilessly”
abandoning the entire categoryof migrant labourers and termed“a cruel joke” the order on inter-state movement of workers.
“A few days ago RahulGandhi had stated that lock-down is of no help… Our sim-ple suggestion to the Congressis not to use the pandemic as apolitical opportunity,” he said.
In his press conference,Singhvi said the “mismanage-ment” of migrant labour showsthe approach the central gov-ernment has adopted towardsthe poor of the country.
“The Centre has merciless-ly, cruelly and without secondthought abandoned the entirecategory of migrant labour,” hehad said.
The BJP and the Congresshave been locking horns fol-lowing the announcement oflockdown on March 24 by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andover the measures taken since bythe Government.
joined the 'One Nation-OneRation Card' system, taking thetotal ration card portability to17 States and Union territorieshelping 60 crore beneficiaries.The food ministry is aiming toimplement this facility acrossthe country from June 1."Today, 5 more States - Bihar,UP, Punjab, Himachal Pradeshand Daman and Diu - havebeen integrated with OneNation-One Ration CardSystem," Union ConsumerAffairs Minister Ram VilasPaswan said in a tweet.
Under the 'One Nation-One Ration Card' initiative,eligible beneficiaries would beable to avail their entitled food-
grains under the National FoodSecurity Act (NFSA) from anyFair Price Shop in the countryusing the same ration card.Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana,Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala,Madhya Pradesh, Goa,Jharkhand and Tripura are 12states where ration card porta-bility has been implemented.The beneficiaries can lift 50 percent of their entitlement.
On January 1 this year, 12states were integrated amongeach other and now 17 states areon integrated management ofthe public distribution system(PDS), also called rationshops/fair price shops, headded.
"About 60 crore beneficia-ries from 17 states and UTs canbenefit from the ration card
portability and they can pur-chase the subsidised foodgrainsusing the existing ration cards,"an official statement said.
According to the state-ment, the ministry has decid-ed to integrate the five statesafter assessing their technicalpreparedness.
The State officials weregiven technical assistance andtraining for the same.
The five States have beenasked to immediately beginmonitoring of the new system,it said, and added that theCentre is pursuing with otherstates to join the ration cardportability system at the earli-est. There are over 81 crore ben-eficiaries in the country regis-tered under the NFSA for sub-sidised foodgrains of 5 kilo perperson at �1-3/kg.
Battalion of CRPF reached 70on Friday of which one hasrecovered and another has diedleaving a tally of 68 activecases even as the ITBP has nowcontracted the viral diseasewith five personnel gettinginflicted with the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 49 personnel,including a Deputy InspectorGeneral, of the Welfare Branchof CRPF headquarters herehave been home quarantinedafter Havildar showed symp-toms of the pandemic onWednesday even as his testreport for Covid-19 is awaited.
In the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP), two personneldeployed here with the Delhipolice company at Shastri Parkand residing in Rohini areawith the Company have beentested positive for the disease.Another three personnel test-ed positive for corona virus
located at the paramilitary'sTigri Camp here. Following thedetection of the positive casesin the ITBP ranks, about 100personnel have been quaran-tined after detailed contacttracing of the people who camein contact with the infectedpersonnel.
All the development likedetection and quarantine of thepersonnel has been effectedduring the last 48 hours, ITBP
officials said.As many as 17 positive
cases have been identified inthe CRPF's 31 Battalion duringthe last 24 hours, officials said.Entire 31 Battalion of the CRPFlocated at the paramilitary'sMayur Vihar camp here hasbeen quarantined followingthe death of Sub InspectorMohammad Ikram Hussain.Swab samples of over 400 per-sonnel of the CRPF's 31
Battalion have already been col-lected and the test reports arecoming in batches, CRPF offi-cials said.
Out of the 70 positive casesin 31 Battalion, one patient hasrecovered whuile Hussain suc-cumbed to the disease owing tounderlying conditions of dia-betes and hypertension.
On Wednesday, HavildarOm Prakash Sahu exhibitedCovid-19 symptoms like sorethroat and headache followingwhich his swab sample was sentto Ram Manohar LohiaHospital for testing. While hisreport is awaited, Sahu is saidto be showing improvement inhis condition.
However, 49 personnelincluding DIG Rajeev RanjanKumar, two Commandants,one Second-in-Command offi-cer, two Deputy Commandantsand an Assistant Commandantamong others were home quar-antined for 14 days as they hadcome in contact with Sahu,officials added.
their fight against the deadlycontagion are harming coronawarriors globally in more waysthan one. If the risk of fallingprey to the deadly invisiblevirus wasn't enough, frontlinehealthcare workers are battlingan altogether different problem— their protective gears areleaving them bruised.
A new study of medicalstaff treating Covid-19-infect-ed patients has found that 42.8per cent experienced seriousskin injury related to the use ofpersonal protective equipment(PPE), including masks, gog-gles, face shields, and protectivegowns.
Researchers concluded thatthe skin injuries put staff atincreased risk of infection,with insufficient preventionand treatment measures inplace, according to the studypublished in Advances inWound Care, a monthly peer-reviewed journal from MaryAnn Liebert, Inc., publishers.
The article entitled "ThePrevalence, Characteristics andPrevention Status of SkinInjury Caused by PersonalProtective Equipment AmongMedical Staff in FightingCovid-19: A Multi-Center,Cross-Sectional Study" wascoauthored by Qixia Jiang,Nanjing University School ofMedicine (Nanjing, China)and a large team of Chineseclinicians.
The researchers identifiedthree main types of PPE-relat-ed skin injuries: device-relatedpressure injuries; moist asso-ciated skin damage; skin tear.
Several factors increasedthe risk for skin injury: heavysweating, greater daily wearingtime, being male, and usinggrade 3 versus grade 2 PPE.
"These significant find-ings are consistent with inde-pendent observations in
Europe and United States, andcall for systematic studiesaddressing skin injury andrepair in Covid-19+ patients aswell as in their healthcareproviders," said Editor-in-Chief Chandan K. Sen, PhD,Distinguished Professor at theIndiana University School ofMedicine and ExecutiveDirector of Indiana UniversityHealth Comprehensive WoundCenter, Indianapolis, IN.
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The firewood extracted from20 lakh trees which were
uprooted last year in the wakeof Fani Cyclone in Odisha’sBalukhand-Konark WildlifeSanctuary will be used for run-ning the kitchen of LordJagannath temple in Puri.
The Standing Committeeof National Board of Wildlife ofthe Union EnvironmentMinistry in a recent meetingalso allowed the State forestofficials to use a portion of the18 lakh quintals of wood fromthe 20-lakh damaged trees at acrematorium at Swargadwar,Puri and households situated
around the wildlife habitatbesides the temple.
As per provision of Section29 of Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972, salvaged firewood will behandedover among 6355households situated aroundthe sanctuary for their bonafideneeds as per the estimation oftotal requirement of firewood
per annum made by the DFO,Puri(Wildl Life ) Division.
Surplus firewood, if any,after distribution among theEDC members, was proposedto be supplied to Swargadwar,Puri for cremation purposeand to the kitchen of LordJagannath Temple through theOdisha Forest Development
Corporation on payment ofroyalty.
At a meeting held here, theBoard members agreed forremoval of FANIuprooted/damaged trees fromthe sanctuary after the StateGovernment expressed appre-hension that they were not onlyfire hazardous but also hinder
movement of wild animals.It pointed out that they
need to be cleared to createspace for re-afforestion, mead-ow development and for freemovement of protection staffand rescue teams.
The extremely severecyclonic storm that ravagedOdisha on May 3 last year had
severe impact on Balukhand-Konark Wildlife Sanctuarywhere a large number of treeswere uprooted and damaged.
However, the Board mem-bers rejected the StateGovernment’s proposal to sellthe salvaged firewood in openmarket through the ODFC.
The Board said that the
royalty amount so realizedshall be utilized for cleaning ofsanctuary area and other devel-opmental works in the sanctu-ary. The State has also beenasked to prepare a scheme forundertaking post FANI reha-bilitation works in the sanctu-ary in conformity with theSanctuary Management Plan.
In a significant policy deci-sion, the Ministry of Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME), headed by UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari, hasdone away with the role ofDistrict Collectors in recom-mending the proposals underthe Prime MinisterEmployment GenerationProgram (PMEGP), therebysimplifying the entire proce-dure.
As per the amended guide-lines, Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission(KVIC), the nodal agency forimplementing PMEGPscheme, after due diligence, willdirectly clear theproposals/applications of theprospective entrepreneurs andwill forward it to the Banks fortaking credit decisions. As ofnow, the proposals were scru-
tinized by the District LevelTask Force Committee(DLTFC) that often led toinordinate delays in sanction-ing of the projects.
KVIC Chairman VinaiKumar Saxena said a majorbottleneck has been removedwith the discontinuation ofthe DLTFC in approving theprojects under PMEGP. Hethanked Gadkari for takingswift action in the interest ofthe country.
The government’s move hascome at a time when theemployment sector has taken ahit due to nationwide lock-down in the wake of the Coronadisease. The amendment in thepolicy would pave the way forswift implementation of projectsand create new employmentopportunities in rural and semiurban areas under the PMEGPscheme.
The District
Collectors/Magistrates headingthe DLTFC were often preoc-cupied with local administrativeissues and hence deciding ongranting approval of PMEGPapplications was not on theirpriority list and prroposalsunder the scheme remainedpending for several months.
“We are grateful that theHon’ble Minister accepted ourrequest and decided to discon-tinue the role of DLTFC. Thiswill ensure swift and timelyimplementation of the projects.The government’s decision willsafeguard the interest of lakhs ofpeople in the country seekingemployment opportunitiesunder PMEGP.,” Saxena said.
As per the new guidelines,the KVIC after receiving theapplications will scrutinize andexamine the proposals and thecorrected applications will beforwarded to the banks for tak-ing credit decisions. Under the
PMEGP scheme, loans up to Rs25 lakhs are given for manu-facturing and service indus-tries, in which 15 to 35% sub-sidy is provided by the KVICdepending upon the area.
Since its launch in 2008, thePMEGP scheme was receivingan average of 35,000 applica-tions per year. However, KVICin 2016 developed an in house,user-friendly PMEGP portaland launched it in July 2016 toreceive online applicationsunder the scheme. The onlinefacility received massive publicresponse and the number ofonline applications increasedmanifolds up to four lakh appli-cations per year, which itselfshows the popularity of thescheme.
In 2019-20, the KVICreleased over Rs 1951 croremargin money subsidy and setup 66,653 projects in the coun-try.
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����� 12�� 23�4
The Supreme Court Fridaygranted protection to
activist lawyer PrashantBhushan from any coerciveaction in an FIR lodgedagainst him at Rajkot inGujarat for allegedly hurtingreligious sentiments of theHindus.
The FIR was lodged byformer Army personnelJaidev Rajat Rajkot allegingthat Bhushan hurt religioussentiments of Hindus bytweeting against re-telecast ofthe Ramayana and theMahabharata.
ton and tightened the regula-tions to check the spread ofcoronavirus in the State ingeneral and Chennai city inparticular as there was furtherincrease on Friday in the num-ber of persons tested positivefor coronavirus.
Dr C Vijaya Baskar , min-ister for health , said in hismedia briefing that 203 personstested positive for coronavirusin the State on Friday. This isthe highest number of personstesting positive on a singleday. Chennai continued to bea cause of worry as 176 out ofthe 203 were from the metrop-olis. A 92-year old man suc-cumbed to Covid in a Chennaihospital taking the total num-ber of fatalities in the State tilldate to 28.
While medical experts likeDr C V Krishnaswamy, DrRajesh Kesavan and Dr RanjitVijayahari are of the view thatthe coronavirus in Chennaihas entered the phase of com-munity transmission , thehealth minister made light ofthe figures by stating that it wasbecause of increased number ofsamples being tested that thenumbers appear high.
“We have 45 laboratories inthe State to test the samples.The figure of 176 persons test-ing positive for coronavirus isbecause we could test 3200samples on a single day inChennai alone. Our medicalteams have tested 1,29,000samples all over the State whichis second only to Maharashtra,”said Dr Baskar.
The Minister said TamilNadu has the highest recoveryrate in the country and also thehighest testing rate. “We per-form 120 tests for every1,00,000 people in the State
and there are 73 containmentzones. We have to be carefulbut there is no need to panic,”he said.
But the Tamil Nadu hasbeefed up the police security inthe capital city and hasannounced that persons whoare caught loitering or jay-walking would be sent to 15days prison term. In a majordevelopment, Tamil NaduGovernment on Fridayappointed J Radhakrishnan,principal secretary/ commis-sioner, RevenueAdministration, who is a vet-eran in managing disasters andmishaps, has been appointed asthe Special Nodal Officer to co-ordinate with Covid-19 relatedissues and to contain the spreadof the disease in the capital dis-trict.
Medical experts and socialactivists in Chennai are aghastover the indifferent attitude ofthe people towards the regula-tions and protocols ordered bythe Government to check thespread of the pandemic. DrKrishnaswamy said the moveby the government to lift theshut down while the nationallockdown was in place hasupset the rhythm of the waragainst coronavirus. “The dis-ease could be checked only byfollowing the social distancing
norms and staying indoors asper the guidelines. But what Isee is a free for all crowd andshopping in Chennai. Therewere instances of genuine peo-ple on their way to hospitalsbeing send back by the policewhile shoppers and loiterersgoing scot free,” said DrKrishnaswamy.
Dr Renjit Vijayahari , gas-troenterologist, closely studyingthe spreading of the coron-avirus in Tamil Nadu is of theview that the pandemic hasentered the phase-three of itsspreading which means theChennai is on the verge ofcommunity transmission. “Thenumber of persons tested pos-itive on Thursday and Fridayare not the same people whowere tested negative onWednesday. The magnitude oftesting is very low in India aswell as in Tamil Nadu. Why thegovernment is not acceptingthe fact that community trans-mission has set in is surprising. Any person with basic knowl-edge of diseases like coron-avirus could make out that ina city like Chennai where thedensity of population is high, itis difficult to prevent theprogress of the disease fromreaching the communitytransmission,” said DrVijayahari.
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Apassenger train carrying1,200 migrant labourers
set off from Kerala’s AluwaRailway Station toBhubaneswar in Orissa lateFriday evening. This is thefirst passenger train to operatein the State during the last 35days. The details of the trainand the destination wereannounced only by Fridaynoon.
The migrant labourersmainly working in the plywoodfactories in Perumbavoor andsurrounding areas who hadregistered with the revenueofficials were screened by thedepartment of health in thelabour camps itself and weretransported to the railway sta-tion in sanitised buses whichwere guarded by the police. Therailway officials had made elab-orate arrangements at Aluwarailway station as part of socialdistancing norms and medicalexamination of the labourers.
The food for the passengershave been arranged by theRailways.
A senior official ofSouthern Railway told ThePioneer that only labourersfrom Orissa are being allowedto travel in this train. “We willoperate four or five trains onSaturday for the benefit ofmigrant workers who are fromAssam and Bengal. All thesetrains are exclusively for themigrant workers who areemployed in Kerala,” said theofficial.
Kerala Government offi-cials are finalising the detailsof the migrant labourers whowould be boarding the trains tobe operated from the State onSaturday and Sunday.
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Amaravati: For the first time inalmost a week, Andhra Pradeshsaw a noticeable decrease incoronavirus cases over a 24-hour span. On Friday morning,the State nodal officer report-ed that 61 positive cases weredetected. However, the goodnews was overshadowed bythe news of 2 deaths - takingthe death toll to 33 in the state.
Kurnool district continuesto cause concern as the tallycontinues to mount with everypassing day. On Friday morn-ing, it once again topped thetally chart, with 25 cases report-ed from the district alone. The
cumulative tally of the districtnow stands at 411 cases. Thehighest number of 10 deathshave also been reported fromthe district.
Guntur district reported 19cases, taking its cumulativetally to 306. The district ranks
behind Kurnool, both in num-bers of cases as well as in thedeath toll. So far 8 peoplefrom the district have dieddue to COVID-19.
Anantapur and Kadapadistricts reported 6 cases eachwhile 2 cases were reported
from Visakhapatnam and WestGodavari districts, respective-ly.
The death toll rose to 33 asKurnool and Nellore districtsreported one death each.
The last 24 hours saw 82persons cured of coronavirusand discharged from hospitals.With 403 persons cured anddischarged from various hos-pitals till date, the number ofactive cases in the state is1,027. The cumulative tally is1,463 in AP.
While 7 districts have notreported any new cases over thepast 24 hours, Vizianagaram
district remains the only dis-trict in the state to remainuntouched by the COVID-19pandemic. Meanwhile, the stategovernment is swiftly movingto fill up vacancies it had cre-ated for specialist doctors inCovid specialty hospitals, anddistrict hospitals. It has invit-ed applications for the positionsof 830 doctors to work atCovid specialty hospitals in the13 districts of the state.Similarly, it has also invitedapplicants for the vacant posi-tions of 240 specialist doctorson contract basis.
IANS
� ��� H6--�
Three Indian soldiers and twocivilians including a minor
girl received injuries duringheavy exchange of cross LoC fir-ing in Rampur sector of Uri inBaramulla on Friday.
According to groundreports, Pakistani army violatedceasefire agreement in Hajipeerarea of Rampur sector in Uriaround 3.30 p.m. Several civilianstructures were hit in heavyexchange of firing on the Indianside in which two civilians
including a minor girl alsoreceived injures.
Defence PRO in Srinagar,Col Rajesh Kalia said, "threeIndian soldiers received injuriesdue to ceasefire violation by thePakistan army in Uri sector onFriday".
He said, Indian army gave abefitting reply to Pakistan army.
Unconfirmed reports
claimed, several structures ofPakistan army were hit hard bythe Indian army during retalia-tory firing in the sector.
A class 12th student wasearlier killed in Mankote sectorof Poonch on Thursday minutesbefore attending Iftaar. DeputyCommissioner Poonch, RahulYadav Friday visited the nativevillage of teenager and handedover a cheque to Rs 1 lakh to thenext of kin of the deceased, asum of Rs 10,000 under RedCross and 5000 to an injuredperson identified as Zaffar Iqbal.
�� ���&� ����� -�-764
Maharashtra chief ministerUddhav Thackeray on
Friday indicated that hisGovernment may extend thelockdown in MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR),Pune Metropolitan Region(PMR), Nagpur andAurangabad, after May 3.
Addressing the peopleacross the state through socialmedia on the occasion of"Maharashtra Day", the chiefminister said: “What is to bedone after May 3 is a big issue.You may all be thinking as tohow long can we should sit athome. The lockdown hasaffected our economy. It istrue that economy will increase.More than economy, what ismore important for the coun-
try and state is the welfare ofpeople. That is the primaryresponsibility. People have to besaved”
“Red (Covid-19) is a livevolcano, while orange is a dor-mant volanco. Green Zonemay not erupt at any time, butthere will be chaos if freshinfected cases are reportedfrom this zone. The infectedcases are increasing in cities likeMumbai and neighbouringareas, Pune and neighbouringareas, and some places inNagpur. It is not our interestthat we do something in theseplaces,” the chief minister said,while indicating the extensionof lockdown in these places.
Uddhav, however said thatin orange zones, exceptingplaces where there is noincrease in the number of cases
but there are still active cases,“the state government is con-sidering relaxing the lock-down”. “In green zones, we havealready relaxed lockdown,” hesaid.
If the indications given bythe chief minister are anythingto go by, the lockdown will beextended in areas like MMR –which among other areas com-prises Mumbai, satellite townslike Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli,Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayandar andUlhasnagar, PMR – whichcomprises the areas under thePune and Pimpri-ChinchwadMunicipal Corporations, Pune,Khadki and Dehu road can-tonments, and some parts ofNagpur and Aurangabad cities,after May 3.
Among other things, the
chief minister said that the statehealth authorities had carriedout tests on nearly two people.“Seventy five to 80 per cent ofthe people who have testedpositive are showing very mildand mild symptoms for Covid-19. If there has been a rapidincrease in the number of casesin Maharashtra, it is because ofcontact tracing and contain-ment zones that we have cre-ated”.
Uddhav announced that
the State government would setup a Primary Health Centre atBandra-Kurla Complex (BKC)in Mumbai. “We have raised anarmy of 20,000 Covid-19 sol-diers. Of them,10000 are beingtrained in handling Covid-19situation...We are happy thatthe mayors of Mumbai andKalyan-Dombivili municipalcorporations – who were nurs-es once –have shown interest inworking as nurses once again,”the chief minister said.
Hyderabad: Various segmentsof the industry in Telangana arelikely to be hit hard by the exo-dus of the migrant workers,who constitute a major work-force in the state.
As the workers, majority ofthem belonging to northernand eastern states, begin toreturn home, industrial units indifferent sectors are keepingtheir fingers crossed on itsimpact and whether they willever come back.
Industry representatives areunanimous that the return ofmigrants will hit different sec-tors, especially constructionand manufacturing but aredivided over the degree ofimpact. While some expectthings to return to normal in acouple of months, others fore-see a long-lasting impact.
After the lockdown beganin March, Telangana hadannounced a series of measuresto look after the migrant work-ers. Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao assuredthat no one will starve andtermed the migrant workersmembers of Telangana familyand partners in the state's devel-opment.
The chief minister had alsoannounced 12 kg rice and Rs500 for every migrant workerand asked the employers to givethem shelter and provide themall necessary facilities.
The state authoritiesclaimed to have identified 3.5lakh migrant workers througha survey. However, followingcriticism from various quartersthey revised the numbers.
The industry bodies say theactual number of migrantworkers is more than eightlakh. Trade union leadersclaimed that the government'shelp has not reached majorityof the workers, forcing many ofthem to set on the risky jour-ney of walking towards theirstates.
"The impact will be severe,especially in unskilled seg-ments in construction, infra-structure, MSMEs, cement andsteel plants," Ramakanth Inani,Senior Vice President,Federation of TelanganaChambers of Commerce andIndustry, told IANS.
According to him out of100 people employed in everyMicro, Small, MediumEnterprise (MSME) inTelangana, 80 are migrants.
They are mostly fromChhattisgarh, Odisha, Biharand some from MadhyaPradesh.
Similarly, the migrantlabourers constitute 90-95 percent of the workforce in infra-structure projects and rice millsand over 70 per cent in the con-struction sector.
An overwhelming majori-ty is employed in and aroundHyderabad while the migrantlabourers in districts areemployed in brick kilns, gran-ite, construction of power pro-jects, fertiliser plants and ricemills.
Inani said despite all theefforts by the state govern-ment to take care of them, theworkers want to go home. Afterthe state government extendedlockdown by May 7, they start-ed fearing another extensionand grew restless.
He, however, hopes thatthey will come back in 2-3months. "They have to comeback. The unemployed gowherever there is employmentand since nobody mistreatedthem here, they will comeback."
The booming constructionsector in and aroundHyderabad is likely to be theworst affected by exodus ofmigrant workers. The labourersfrom Bihar, Jharkhand, UttarPradesh, West Bengal, Odisha,Chhattisgarh constitute major-ity of the workforce in con-struction. There are also work-ers from neighbouring states ofAndhra Pradesh, Karnatakaand Maharashtra.
K. Madhusudhan Reddy,director, Dwelton RealityPrivate Limited, believes theexodus of workers lead to slow-down in the sector
"They will not come backeasily because of COVID-19fear. There is also awarenessamong them," he said. Hebelieves there will not be much
activity for 3-4 months and theproblems may remain for sixmonths.
However, Confederation ofReal Estate DevelopersAssociation of India (CREDAI)Telangana unit presidentRamchandra Reddy said theimpact will not be much.
He pointed out that themigrant workers go to theirnative places for one to one-halfmonth every summer. "Thisyear the period has clashed withpandemic and the lockdown.As per our feedback they willcome back. It depends on thelockdown situation," he said.
He said that sinceTelangana and Hyderabad don'thave much unsold inventory,the impact on the sector will notbe long-lasting.
CREDAI HyderabadGeneral Secretary RajasekharReddy recalled that they werethe first to suggest to the gov-ernment to send back migrantlabourers. "We had suggestedthat it is better to send themhome. They will be happy withtheir families and when thingssettle down they can comeback."
He pointed out that whenthe government ruled out thisand asked the real estate devel-opers to take care of theirworkers, they did everythingpossible to look after them.
"They were getting callsfrom their homes. They weresitting idle and it was stressful.Some started going on foot. Weare saying that those who wantto go, let them go," he said
Rajasekhar Reddy saidsince survival was important foreveryone the workers will comeback. "The pandemic is notgoing to end till the vaccine isfound. Everyone has to learn towork with precautions. Fortheir survival they have towork. We have to take measuresto improve the working condi-tions."
Srinagar: The Jammu & KashmirGovernmenthas released 371 prisoners since April 1 thatinclude 72 inmates who were serving detentionunder Public Safety Act (PSA).
Sources said the decision to release the pris-oners was taken after the need to decongest thejails was felt in the wake of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed eight lives in J&Kso far.
The Review Committee in J&K headed byHome Secretary Shaleen Kabra took a seriesmeetings to review the cases of prisoners to bereleased.
Latest figures available with the IANSreveal that 72 PSA detainees were released fromApril 1 to April 30 that include 19 from CentralJail Kotbalwal, 43 from Central Jail Srinagar, fourfrom Kathua Jail, one from Udhampur and one
each from Anantnag, Baramulla and Kupwaraprisons.
Figures suggest that 97 undertrials were alsoreleased from these jails after a decision by theUnder-Trial Review Committee. Besides this,160 other prisoners were also released over thepast one month.
64 detention orders of prisoners from J&Klodged in jails outside the UT were revoked fromApril 1 to 30 and so far 43 PSA detainees werereleased.
Figures suggest that 23 prisoners lodged inAgra Central Jail were released while two werereleased from district jail Bareilly in UP, six eachfrom District Jail Ambedkar Nagar (UP) andCentral Jail Varanasi and three each werereleased from District prison Karnal andDistrict prison Jhajhar in Haryana. IANS
Jaipur: Rajasthan CongressMLA Bharat Singh has writtento Chief Minister Ashok Gehlotrequesting him to open liquorshops in the State highlightingthe fact that if alcohol can killcorona after being applied onhands, it will also "kill coronainside the body when con-sumed".
In his letter to Gehlot, theSangod legislator on Thursday,wrote: "It's better to open liquorshops than to see people dyingin state by gulping down hand-made liquor." He was referringto an incident in Bharatpurwhere two people died afterconsuming handmade liquor
recently."Open the liquor shops.
There are people who have
been longing to have alcohol.While they can get what theywant, the state at the same time,can also add more revenue toits kitty," he added.
Similarly, former BJP MLABhavani Singh Rajavat alsoissued a statement saying thatliquor has always played amajor role in winning any war."In Satyug, Gods consumedSomras, Later, kings also wonwars after consuming drinks.The opening of liquor shopsshall help in checking virus andwill bring in revenue for stategovernment. However, the banon tobacco, cigarettes etcshould continue," he said.
Srinagar: For the first time in J&K, the entire population of UT'sworst affected Covid-19 cluster has been tested for the virus.
Out of 52 positive cases in Gund Jahangeer village ofBandipora district, the Dangerpora locality, with 48 positive cases,was the worst-affected in entire J&K.
However, now the entire population of Dangerpora and itsperiphery has been tested for Covid-19.
Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari, officer in charge Covid control inBandipora told IANS that "of the total 52 positive cases, thereare 47 in Dangerpora Mohalla and only 4 in other mohallas ofGund Jahangeer village".
"One Covid patient from Dangerpora had succumbed ini-tially," he added.
"The good news is that as a first in J&K, the entire popula-tion of 450 people in Dangerpora and another 300 living in theperiphery of the Mohalla have been tested for Covid-19.
"Except for the 47 positive cases, all others in a populationof 750 have tested negative.
"To add to the relief of the local population and the front-line warriors, 25 out of the 47 positive cases have been dischargedafter they tested negative in repeated tests till yesterday," Bukharisaid."I am told another 13 positive cases out of this lot of 47 havealso been discharged today (Friday) from SKIMS medical col-lege hospital in Bemina Srinagar after they recovered fully," hesaid. There are 127 positive cases in Bandipora district which isthe highest among the 20 districts of J&K. IANS
Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir on Friday reported 25 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of cases in the Union Territoryto 639.
"Today's status update: 25 New Cases, 31 Recoveries; TotalCases now 639. Active Cases 384 (Jammu 6 Kashmir 378)," gov-ernment spokesman Rohit Kansal tweeted.
So far, 247 Covid-19 patients have completely recovered while8 have succumbed to the dreaded virus. The number of activecases is 384 in J&K, out of whom 6 are in the Jammu divisionwhile 378 are in the Kashmir division. IANS
Hyderabad: Telangana reported six new Covid-19 cases on Friday,taking the State's total tally to 1,044.
After a sudden spurt with 22 cases on Thursday, the num-bers again declined to single digit. Unlike the previous day whenthree fatalities were reported, there were no deaths on Friday.
Health Minister Eatala Rajender told reporters that the deathtoll stands at 28. He also announced that 22 people were dis-charged from hospitals after their recovery. With this the num-ber of recoveries rose to 464. Currently, there are 552 active casesin the state, he said. IANS
Chennai: The Tamil Nadugovernment on Fridayannounced the appointment ofJ. Radhakrishan, PrincipalSecretary/Commissioner,Revenue Administration,Disaster Management andMitigation, Chennai as theSpecial Nodal Officer forGreater Chennai Corporationfor Covid-19 matters relating toChennai.
As per the GovernmentOrder issued on Friday, asSpecial Nodal Officer,Radhakrishnan will co-ordi-nate the Covid-19 related issueswith the Commissioner of
Greater Chennai Corporationand other teams constituted forspecific purpose of containingthe spread of the disease fur-ther in Chennai district.
Radhakrishnan will alsoensure effective implementa-tion of various guidelinesissued by the state govern-ment, the order said.
The appointment comeswith Chennai reporting high-er number of persons testingpositive for coronavirus.
As on April 30, a total of960 persons have been testedpositive for coronavirus in thecity. IANS
While a contentious debaterages as to whether theCOVID-19 virusemerged from a “wet”market selling live ani-
mals, including exotic ones, and their meatin Wuhan, China, or escaped/let out of avirology laboratory at the same place, thecase for banning such markets in everycountry needs to be pursued vigorously.Simply put, these should not exist. Thereare two main reasons for this. Animals —including crocodiles, deer, raccoons, pan-golins and dogs — suffer horrendous cru-elty. They are kept in utterly cramped andmost unhygienic conditions, which causethem stress 24/7, and are grossly underfed.The stress factor is heightened by the factthat they often have to watch others of theirspecies kept with them being slaughteredin their presence and their meat sold. Infact, wet markets owe their nomenclatureto the blood spilled on the floor when ani-mals are killed. Many in India, who havebought chicken meat from often-illegalroadside stalls, have seen it. Many buyershave also witnessed their feathers beingplucked from them even when they arealive, with them screeching in agony.
All this is nothing secret. Worse, itcomes at the end of the long journeys inthe worst possible conditions of confine-ment involving dehydration and starvation.The inhuman manner of prolonged trans-portation, as well as the abominable con-ditions in which they are kept in the mar-kets, weaken their immune systems andleave them most vulnerable to diseases.Besides, keeping wild animals along withdomesticated ones enables viruses to jumpspecies, including transmutation to affecthumans, which has happened in the caseof COVID-19. Not surprisingly, a numberof epidemics, including that of SARS, haveoriginated from such markets and willemerge again if the latter are not closedworldwide.
Apart from the medical consequencesfor humans, the existence of wet marketsraises fundamental questions relating totheir future. These exist because people notonly eat meat but believe, consciously orsub-consciously, that they can treat animals— which exist for their benefit — any waythey want to. This, in turn, springs fromthe belief that they can treat nature, ofwhich animals are a part, just as they desire,which, again, lies at the root of the envi-ronmental crisis which threatenshumankind with extinction.
Clearly, one needs to examinehumankind’s attitude to both animals andnature. The belief that animals are inferi-or to humans and meant for their benefitand, hence, can be treated in the cruellestmanner, is a result of the Graeco-Roman,Judaeo-Christian and post-Renaissance-Enlightenment mindset which dominatesmodern discourse. Its essence has been best
expressed by Aristotle in Politics.He wrote that nature made allanimals for the sake of man andthat it was permissible to enslavepeople who did not possess rea-son as it was to enslave animals.Saint Augustine wrote in The Cityof God, “when we read ‘Thoushalt not kill’, we do not under-stand this phrase to apply tobushes, because they have nosensation, nor to unreasoninganimals that fly, walk or crawl,because they are not associatedin a community with us by rea-son…Hence it is by a very justordinance of the Creator thattheir life and death is subordinat-ed to us.” Given such views, it ishardly surprising that MattCarmill writes in A View to aDeath in the Morning: Huntingand Nature through History, “ani-mals were routinely treated witha mixture of brutal indifferenceand sadism” in the Graeco-Roman world.
The attitude continuedbeyond it. In Eternal Treblinka:Our Treatment of Animals andthe Holocaust, Charles Pattersonquotes Saint Thomas Aquinas,perhaps the greatest exponent ofmedieval Scholasticism, as say-ing that it was all right to kill ani-mals because “the life of animals…is preserved not for themselvesbut for man.” He denied not onlyrationality but afterlife to animals.Patterson further points out,“Like Aristotle, whose work heincorporated in his theology,only the reasoning part of the
soul survived after death. Sinceanimals lacked the capacity toreason, he claimed that theirsouls, unlike human souls, didnot survive after their death.”
As it has been repeatedlyshown, the characterisation ofrationality as the definingattribute of humans, is untenable.People are equally prone to irra-tionality. Otherwise, they wouldnot have supported creeds likeNazism and Fascism — or any ofthe fundamentalist religious doc-trines of our time — and votedHitler and Mussolini to power.Besides, rationality can hardly beregarded as a supremely laudablefaculty in itself. It is an instrumentfor drawing conclusions frompremises. The capacity for rea-soning, which is central to it, canbe used to justify both moral andimmoral ends. Also, not all per-sons are equally capable of rea-soning. Does one, who is lesscapable than others, deserve to betreated with the kind of horrify-ing savagery that is reserved foranimals? If the answer is yes, thequestion arises as to what is thatlevel of rationality below whichsuch treatment to humans is per-missible?
Historically, madness, whichcame to be designated as men-tal illness at the end the 18th cen-tury, has been considered assomething that puts a personbeyond society’s pale. As MichelFoucault points out in Madnessand Civilisation: A History ofInsanity in the Age of Reason, “in
the majority of the cities ofEurope there existed throughoutthe Middle Ages and theRenaissance a place of detentionreserved for the insane…” Therehave been many definitions ofmadness. This writer believesthat it is best considered as exis-tence in a separate, personal real-ity very different from, andinconsistent with, what is accept-ed by the masses of people. Thebehavioural manifestation ofmadness lies in a person’s reac-tion, which can be violent and/ordisruptive when there is a clashbetween his/her and the society’sversion of reality. Thus, a personmay consider himself to be JesusChrist and fly into a rage if peo-ple laugh at his claim.
Questions arise. What if aperson’s separate reality is thetrue one? There have been peo-ple in advance of their ages, suchas Nicolaus Copernicus, whosemodel placed the sun ratherthan the earth as the centre ofthe universe and who held thatthe earth spun on its axis andorbited the sun annually. Hisdoctrine, however, was pro-nounced heretical in 1616 andthe Inquisition in Rome forcedGalileo Galilei to recant hissupport of the Copernician viewon June 22, 1633. In our time,we have seen dictatorial regimeslike the Soviet Union silencinga dissident by proclaiminghim/her insane and dispatchinghim/her to an asylum.
From this angle, it is quite
clear that harping on animals’lack of reason is a rationalisationof unpardonably cruel way inwhich humans have been treat-ing them. It is not just animals.There are implications forhumans. Patterson points inEternal Treblinka, “Since vio-lence begets violence, theenslavement of animals inject-ed a higher level of dominationand coercion into human histo-ry by creating oppressive hier-archical societies and unleash-ing large-scale warfare neverseen before.” He further quotesthe historian Keith Thomas asbelieving that domestication ofanimals created a more author-itarian attitude since “humanrule over the lower creaturesprovided the mental analogueon which many political andsocial arrangements werebased.”
Clearly, human beings can-not escape the adverse conse-quences of their own inhuman-ity be it in respect of themselvesor other living beings. We are inthe midst of the devastating con-sequences of COVID-19 pan-demic. What next? Two tellinglines by a Carter Family song,quoted by James Baldwin at thebeginning of The Fire NextTime, run, “God gave Noah therainbow sign/ No more waterbut the fire next time.” Will it bea virus instead of fire?
(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and an author)
Sir — It has been a terrible weekfor Indian cinema with the sud-den deaths of actors Irrfan Khanand Rishi Kapoor. The feeling ofgrief is such that it will not goaway too soon. For the fans, whomay not have any shared anyclose moment with them, the lossis quite personal.
Undoubtedly, Kapoor wasan evergreen romantic hero anda wonderful human being. Thegreatest thing about him was thathe made a distinct mark inBollywood amid a galaxy ofsuperstars such as AmitabhBachchan, Shatrughan Sinha,Vinod Khanna and SanjeevKumar, all of whom were his con-temporaries. Kapoor charmedmillions with hit films like MeraNaam Joker, Bobby, Chandni andAmar Akbar Anthony.
Irrfan was a distinguishedand charismatic actor who madehis name in both Bollywoodand Hollywood. He stunned theaudience with audacious roles inmovies like Paan Singh Tomar,Life of Pi and The Lunchbox. Bothactors enriched our lives so well.
Ramesh G Jethwani Bengaluru
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Sir — The Coronavirus pan-demic has impacted the worldeconomy and India is no excep-tion to this. In this hour of crisis,the Government must salvage the
economy by stopping all projectsthat are not essential in the shortrun. Instead, the Centre hasdecided to freeze the hike in dear-ness allowance for Governmentemployees. Unsurprisingly, theCongress is up in arms against
this decision. Congress leaderRahul Gandhi pointed out thatthe Government should have puton hold the Central Vista projectinstead of taking away moneyfrom the middle class.
It is true that the Narendra
Modi Government seems to havekept aside an enormous amountof money for development pro-jects — the Central Vista andbullet train projects are examples.Decisions that affect the citizensdirectly can be justified onlywhen the Government is in a realfinancial crisis. But it is clear thatthe Government prefers its devel-opment projects more than thepeople. This is condemnable.
TK NandananKochi
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Sir — In this crucial time whenwe are fighting a dreadful virus,the sad demise of actors IrrfanKhan and Rishi Kapoor has dou-bled the grief. Irrfan was a bril-liant performer and a magnifi-cent actor and did justice to everyrole he was given. He would havecontributed tremendously to thefilm industry had he survived.Rishi Kapoor was the superstarof his time. It is an irreparableloss. May they rest in peace.
Given India’s resource limitations and con-straints, both at the Centre and State level,it is amply clear that the measures to battle
the Coronavirus require more than just Stateefforts. There is a need for a comprehensive publichealth national policy to make adequate capacityavailable, in true letter and spirit, till the grassrootlevel. When the clock is ticking and much remainsto be achieved to handle an unprecedented pandem-ic, it is the time for the private sector to stand upand be counted and open up for the public.
The present scenario: On the one hand, we hearthat the pandemic will last up to 2024 and on theother, we are told that the virulence of the strain willbe low but infectiousness high. This gives rise to somany questions. Is herd immunity the only answerfor us? Who are the major players in India who areprotecting the country from the shackles of this dis-ease? We all know that the task at hand is humon-gous as we have to manage a population of 1.3 bil-lion, discipline them, take care of their basic needsand provide them with appropriate healthcare. Eventhe fastest-growing trillion-dollar economy in theworld will need help at a time like this. There is anold adage that, “Charity begins at home.” Hence, theprivate sector, which gains a lot from theGovernment, must stand by it now and provide equalsupport to the country’s infirm and powerless pop-ulation.
The role of the health sector: The Corona-war-riors, hailing from the Government sector mostly,are giving their all in the fight against the pandem-ic but the resources are limited. Some private hos-pitals have come forward and they have been includ-ed in the list of hospitals approved by theGovernment for COVID-19 testing and treatment.They have the exact modules to be followed for treat-ment and submit daily data to the Director,Preventive Medicine. However, the big question iswhere are the others? Till now only Governmenthealthcare professionals are combatting the disease.Where are the other stakeholders in the healthcaresector? If this were a war and all the security forceswere not a part of it or doing enough, nobody wouldhave spared the Government. This is a similar sit-uation, just that the warriors are from the medicalfraternity. Whether a war happens or not, the mil-itary is trained for it. Similarly, these are the situa-tions for which doctors/nurses are helped, givenresources and educated to serve. What about theHippocratic Oath that doctors take? If not in thesesituations, then when is a doctor supposed to pro-tect patients? It’s the same “Do or Die” situation forboth, soldiers and medical professionals. It is thesame threat to life and a family to provide for. It’sthe same as keeping the country before self. It’s thesame selfless and unconditional love for the coun-trymen that should be the guiding principle forhealthcare professionals in the private sector now.The private sector hospitals should rise to the occa-sion now and take the responsibility of traininghealthcare staff, organising sessions and making theirinfrastructure available for the nation to fight thisCorona war.
The same goes for pharmaceutical giants. Allgrants, permissions, compensations and concessionswere made by the Government to bring them to thisstature. So what about their responsibility towardsthe nation? How come everyone is selling masks andsanitisers at double the cost? Where is the person-al obligation and commitment to the country? Aren’twe meant to give back to the country in times ofneed? What about the Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) of these pharmaceutical com-panies and corporate hospitals? In spite of the pre-sent Financial Year 2020 CSR estimate of �2,000-�3000 crore, this is only a drop in the ocean when
it comes to the support that is actuallyrequired on the ground to fight the pan-demic. This is the time that India Inc.should give with both hands to supportthe populace and country which has madethem what they are, in the first place. Sadly,there are very few examples emergingfrom this direction.
Also, now that the Government itselfhas a PM Cares Fund dedicated for theCOVID-war and is open to accepting allCSR funds, it needs to be decided whetherthese funds must be merged in theCentral repository or used for welfaremeasures in States. There is a need for acentralised system which will reduceduplication of efforts and make the fundsimmediately available for use without dis-turbing the already planned projects.
Major challenges: COVID testing,even at subsidised rates and a cap of �4,500per test, is a luxury even for the middleclass, let alone the underprivileged. Hence,the people who are most susceptible to dis-ease will not have affordability or acces-sibility to these tests. How many tests canbe done daily? And how many days willit take to screen the whole population? TheIndian healthcare workforce of aroundfour million is majorly employed in theprivate sector and that, too, mainly inmetro and Tier-I and II cities.
This lopsided availability needs to beaddressed once we are on our way to fight-ing COVID-19 throughout the country.The World Health Organisation (WHO)standard of 22.8 doctors and nurses per10,000 population is met by India, keep-ing aside the distribution patterns. Awhopping 70 per cent of the populationlives in rural India, which is backed by only33 per cent of the healthcare workforce.
The Primary Healthcare Centres(PHCs) are the ones on whom the onusof care lies in these testing times. Thesecentres, which have been made outdatedby private practice, now have to be at parto combat the disease. So where are theprivileged and fund-surplus clinics and
private practitioners now? If they cannotopen their clinics to help the nation in itstime of need, why can’t they work in thesePHCs? Primary healthcare workers arealready scanning zones for Corona-pos-itive cases. It is time for the specialised lotto come in and offer their services.
There is going to be an absolute dearthof ventilators, beds, ICU set-ups, nursesand doctors. COVID-19 has impactedhugely the supply of medical aids, be itelectrical, mechanical, pharmacological oreconomical. The increasing demandneeds to be taken care of and planned for,both in terms of availability and supplylogistics. In an economic slump, how willthe expenses be met, and on what oppor-tunity costs? Pharmaceutical giants needto step in and take full responsibility formaking supplies available with logistics,whereas the hospitals need to provide ser-vices and make operations smooth.
The Coronavirus crisis at the momenthas an unclear path. Actions will dependon a hypothetical acceptance of either adelayed recovery or a prolonged contrac-tion. Delayed recovery if we see a countrise till April, followed by control throughsocial distancing, when the testing is fastand the virus is seasonal, will give an opti-mistic public approach by April.
Or else the prolonged contractionphase where peak is not achieved untilMay, with ineffective testing and failedsocial distancing, and the virus is non-sea-sonal, the virus will trail till the end of theyear keeping all engaged and resourcesexhausted. In both the scenarios, the roleof the private industry and pharmaceuti-cal giants is large, with immediate actionrequired. At the moment, the majorchallenges that are apparent are bridgingthe gap between knowing and doing. Thatthe COVID-19 has an exponential growthis easy to know but tackling it is difficultunless similar experiences were seen andlessons were learnt in the past.
Response management: Private hos-pitals need to start planning critical care
massively to control the pandemic surgein healthcare systems. Without this thenumber of deaths cannot be contained.Achieving it once can give us the confi-dence to fight resurgence later, if any.Capacity-building to empower theGovernment by private hospitals isrequired. Simple things being done reli-giously right in a controlled and quickmanner is required. Surveillance of the dis-ease, followed by contact tracing and thenquarantine, needs all private hospitals,pharmaceutical companies and IT giantsto step up together. The quicker and widerwe screen, the better we can control thedevastating outcomes. This will in turnrelax social distancing measures once weare down the slope for positive cases.
The credibility and accessibility toantibody test screening needs to be wide-ly made available to understand zero-prevalence and to start with the conceptof herd immunity. If the private sector willnot help now, it will become very difficultto restart the economy. The vicious cycleneeds to break.
Corporate Social Innovation via phil-anthropy, media advocacy, social respon-sibility tasks and shared values by the pri-vate sector will need to leave a positiveimpact not only for the present but alsofor the future, when all will be well. It canalso be taken as brand development.
If the private sector doesn’t come tothe aid of the nation on its own, then theGovernment will have to take over hos-pitals and laboratories for some time forcreating ICUs, isolation wards and testingsamples. Universal healthcare is everyone’sright and the Government will need toensure its availability across all strata ofpopulation throughout all geographicalboundaries. It is time to double up theresponsibilities. After all, we are all in thistogether.
(John is faculty member a the PublicHealth and Hospital ManagementDepartment, Jamia Hamdard andPasrichaa is a research scholar)
The lockdown has been extend-ed yet again although this timethere is a relaxation of some
restrictions to enable economic activ-ity. It will be interesting to see how theGovernment as well as the industrynegotiate this challenge.
Despite the doom and gloom sce-nario in the country right now dueto the lockdown, the fact remains thatthe current Corona crisis has provid-ed an opportunity, too, for India. But
for the country to take advantage ofthis spell, it would require major ini-tiatives and that too, at a fast pace.COVID-19 has provided the much-needed elbow room to the politicalleadership to push for transformation,more particularly land and labourreforms. If a Communist China canserve the economic interests of thecapitalist West, then India is even bet-ter positioned to do that.
Now, more than ever, globalfirms are aware of the dangers ofputting all their eggs in one basketand they must implement strategiesto reduce that risk. It is quite surpris-ing that the risk-governing frame-work of all these corporates didn’thighlight the concentration of man-ufacturing in one territory as a keyrisk and even their boards overlookedthis aspect. China has established
itself as the manufacturing hub for theglobal economy and it is also posi-tioned as the first-tier supplier in theoverall global supply chain. EvenIndia is hugely dependent on Chinafor raw material, chemical and engi-neering goods. Our telecom, pharma-ceutical, power and mobile acces-sories sectors are largely dependenton China for raw material, semi-fin-ished goods and skilled manpower.
It would not be easy for anycountry to replace China and posi-tion itself as an alternative to it, butwe can start leveraging our compet-itiveness in areas like informationtechnology, to gradually move in thisdirection. The world order is expect-ed to change and diplomacy will playa key role in establishing India as analternative, low-cost manufacturingdestination. For this to happen, first
and foremost, Indian manufacturersmust start thinking globally.
Integration with the global sup-ply chain is the key to this and insteadof just setting up assembly lines, ourcompanies should start thinking ofdeveloping industrial clusters whereIndia can be a first-tier supplier in theglobal supply chain. It is worthwhileto understand the difference betweenfirst-tier and second-tier supplier. Allthe entities and activities in the sup-ply chain are dependent on the first-tier supplier and, therefore, placingIndia as one will provide sustainableeconomic development which can beenjoyed for decades.
This is a long-term task and apartfrom structural reforms (like land,labour, sanctity of contracts, tax cer-tainty and so on), this will requireskilled manpower and latest technol-
ogy, for which the Government andprivate players, both, must come for-ward.
Some sort of additional taxincentives should be considered as astimulus for local players to startinvesting in these areas. Friendlynations like Japan can be our poten-tial technology ally and this wouldserve the economic as well as politi-cal interests of both the countries.
However, under all circum-stances India must act fast to capitaliseon flight of firms from China. Initialindicators are suggesting that we areunable to project ourselves as an alter-native to China and Japan has alreadymade a move in this direction byoffering major incentives.
India is lagging despite loweringincome tax rates last year, which hasincreased the competitiveness.
However, policymakers shouldunderstand that tax rates are just oneamong the various factors which aperson looks at before committing hisresources. As per a Nomura report,out of 56 companies which havedecided to shift operations fromChina, only three have decided tocome to India.
We can either continue to blamethe bureaucracy or India Inc. canrealise that it is high time to get thebull by the horns.
In 2017, Deloitte research iden-tified five countries, which it dubbedthe MITI-V (Malaysia, India,Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam) asan alternative to China in which Indiawas positioned at top.
We have our advantage in termsof a young population, cheap labour,domestic consumer market, rising
income levels and so on, but this willremain in theory only till the timepolicy interventions grab the eyeballsof investors.
If we lose this opportunity, thenwe will lose out for at least the nextthree decades and provide millions ofemployment opportunities to ourAsian peers.
India must take a host of mea-sures and do it fast while the iron isstill hot, to convince Westerninvestors to come here and positionitself as an alternative in the globalsupply chain. Initially our manufac-turers can supplement the Chineseglobal supply chain but we shouldthink of establishing ourselves as analternative to China for all time tocome.
Friday categorically deniedallegations from a formerSenate staffer that he sexuallyassaulted her in the early 1990s,saying “this never happened.”
Biden’s first public remarkson the allegation by a formeremployee, Tara Reade, come ata critical moment for the pre-sumptive Democratic nomineeas he tries to relieve mountingpressure after weeks of leavingdenials to his campaign.
“I’m saying unequivocally,it never, never happened,”Biden said in an interview onMSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Bidensaid he will ask the NationalArchives to determine whetherthere is any record of a com-
plaint being filed, as Reade hasclaimed, but he said repeated-ly that he doesn’t believe sucha record exists.
Reade did not immediate-ly respond to a request for com-ment Friday. The NationalArchives also did not immedi-ate reply to an AP inquiry.
“The former staffer hassaid she filed a complaint backin 1993,” Biden said. “But shedoes not have a record of thisalleged complaint. The papersfrom my Senate years that Idonated to the University ofDelaware do not contain per-sonnel files.”
Biden said, “There is onlyone place a complaint of thiskind could be – the NationalArchives.” The former vicepresident said “there are somany inconsistencies” in
Reade’s various accounts. ButBiden said he does not “ques-tion her motive.” He said thatover his five decades in publiclife, none of his employees,including Reade, were asked tosign nondisclosure agreements.
“There’s no NDA signed,”Biden said. “No one’s eversigned, I’ve never asked any-body to sign an NDA. Thereare no NDAs, period, in mycase. None.” The NationalArchives also did not respondto an AP inquiry about Senaterecords. Republicans worriedabout President DonaldTrump’s increasingly precariouspolitical standing are seizing onReade’s allegation to portrayDemocrats as hypocrites whoonly defend women who allegewrongdoing against conserva-tives.
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President Donald Trump hasspeculated that China could
have unleashed the coronaviruson the world due to some kindof horrible “mistake,” and hisintelligence agencies said they arestill examining a notion put for-ward by the president and aidesthat the pandemic may haveresulted from an accident at aChinese lab.
Trump even suggested onThursday that the release couldhave been intentional.
The Office of the Director ofNational Intelligence, the clear-inghouse for the web of US spyagencies, said it had ruled out the
virus being man-made but wasstill investigating the precisesource of the global pandemic,which has killed more than220,000 people worldwide.
Though scientists suggestthe likeliest origin of the pan-demic remains natural, that itspread from an infected animalto a human, Trump claimed tohave seen evidence to supportthe theory that the origin was aninfectious disease lab in Wuhan,the epicenter of the Chinese out-break.
He said the U.S. now “isfinding how it came out.”
“It’s a terrible thing thathappened,” the president said.“Whether they made a mistake
or whether it started off as a mis-take and then they made anoth-er one, or did somebody dosomething on purpose.”
The intel statement said thefederal agencies concur “with thewide scientific consensus that theCOVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified.”
“The IC will continue to rig-orously examine emerging infor-mation and intelligence to deter-mine whether the outbreakbegan through contact withinfected animals or if it was theresult of an accident at a labora-tory in Wuhan.”
In recent days the Trumpadministration has sharpened itsrhetoric on China, accusing the
geopolitical foe and vital tradingpartner of failing to act swiftlyenough to sound the alarmabout the outbreak or to stop thespread of the virus that causesCOVID-19. U.S. officials havesaid the Chinese governmentshould “pay a price” for its han-dling of the pandemic.
This all comes as the pace ofTrump’s own original responsecontinues to come under scruti-ny, questioned as too meager andtoo slow. Earlier Thursday, beforeTrump’s comments, the Chinesegovernment said that any claimsthat the coronavirus was releasedfrom a laboratory are “unfound-ed and purely fabricated out ofnothing.”
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China will lower its Covid-19 emergency response
from the highest level to thesecond-highest in Hubeiprovince and its capital Wuhan,the epicentre of the deadlyvirus outbreak, on Saturday, asmost tourist sites in the coun-try were opened for May Dayholidays.
The lowering of the emer-gency level shows a major break-through in Hubei’s preventionand control against Covid-19,but it does not mean that Hubeihas downgraded its risk alert ordecreased work intensity againstthe epidemic, Vice-Governor
of Hubei Yang Yunyan told themedia on Friday.
After more than threemonths of precise and tightprevention and control, thevirus spread is “basically cutoff ” in Hubei, Yang said.
Hubei province was lockeddown for three months sinceJanuary 23. Now, the lock-down has been lifted and peo-ple are allowed to travel afterhealth checks.
“The unprecedented emer-gency measures during the ini-tial phase have basically cut offthe spread of the novel coron-avirus,” Yang said. “In line withnational regulations and theprovincial contingency plan,
Hubei has basically met thecondition to lower the emer-gency response level,” state-runXinhua news agency quotedthe governor as saying.
The emergency level wasdowngraded as the provincedid not report new Covid-19cases in the last 27 days.However, Hubei province hasreported 631 asymptomaticcoronavirus in the period.
China’s National HealthCommission (NHC) on Fridaysaid 25 new asymptomaticcases were reported in thecountry, taking the total tally to981, including 115 fromabroad, who were still undermedical observation.
Scientists have developed aquick, sensitive test for anti-
bodies against the novel coro-navirus in human blood thatcould help doctors track a per-son’s exposure to Covid-19, aswell as confirm suspected casesthat tested negative by othermethods. Because Covid-19symptoms range from mild tosevere, with some people appar-ently having no symptoms, thenumber of people who havebeen infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at some point islikely much higher than thenumber of confirmed cases, theresearchers said.
Although more researchneeds to be done, it is possible
that people with antibodies tothe virus could be immune tofuture Covid-19 outbreaks,according to the research pub-lished in the journal AnalyticalChemistry.
To help identify peoplewith current or past exposure toSARS-CoV-2, the researchers,including those from SouthernMedical University in China,wanted to develop a fast, sen-sitive antibody test.
They based their test on atechnique called a lateral flowimmunoassay (LFA); a homepregnancy test is an example ofthis kind of assay.
The team attached a viralcoat protein to a specific regionon a strip of nitrocellulose,and then added human serum.
���� �14�2 �16�4�1�
The United Nations chiefsaid he hopes many coun-
tries in the world will follow the“remarkable example” of SouthKorea, which he said has been“extremely successful” inaddressing the coronaviruspandemic and is planning totackle climate change in itsrecovery from Covid-19.
Secretary-General AntonioGuterres pointed to Thursday’sannouncement “that there wasno new case in the Republic ofKorea,” the country’s officialname. At the same time, hesaid, South Korea has present-ed plans for “a very ambitiousgreen deal” for its recoveryfrom the pandemic, includinga ban on new coal-fired plants
and a reduction of emissionsfrom existing coal-fired plants.
“We hope that this exam-ple of the Republic of Koreawill be followed by many othercountries in the world,”Guterres said at a news con-ference. The Koreas Centers forDisease Control andPrevention said in a statementearly Thursday that four casesin the previous 24 hours, allimported, took the country’stotal to 10,765, with 247 deathsand 9,059 recoveries.
South Korea’s caseload hasbeen slowing in recent weeksafter it recorded hundreds ofnew cases every day betweenlate February and early March.It has subsequently relaxedsome of its social distancingguidelines and is expected to
ease up on more restrictions inthe coming days if the down-ward trend continues.
South Korea had its firstconfirmed coronavirus caseJanuary 20, the same day as the
United States.But unlike the US, officials
there used a test focused on thesame gene targets as the WorldHealth Organization’s recom-mended test, according to thewebsite of a test manufacturer.The Government then quick-ly allowed private sector labs toproduce it.
As a result, a nation withless than one-sixth the popu-lation of the United Statesmobilised to test more than20,000 people a day. SouthKorea also instituted drive-through testing centers, allow-ing quicker identification ofthose who were infected butmight not be displaying symp-toms, thus slowing the emer-gence of new cases to a moremanageable level.
���� 12��G�(5
May is bringing cautiousreopenings from coron-
avirus lockdowns, fromBeijing’s Forbidden city toshopping malls in Texas, as thegrim economic toll from thepandemic ticks higher.
Many communities aroundthe world are inching towardnormalcy without certaintyover whether they’ve van-quished outbreaks of the virus.But bleak new figures releasedThursday underscored the paininflicted by the disease andadded to pressure on leaders toend shutdowns.
The number of Americansfiling for unemployment ben-efits surpassed a staggering 30million and the Europeaneconomy shrank a record 3.8%
in the first quarter as hotels,restaurants, construction sitesand manufacturing were frozenby lockdowns.
As bad as those and othernumbers are, some are outdat-ed because of the lag in gath-ering data so the true situationis almost certainly much worse.
Still, analysts saw a glim-mer of hope in the way newunemployment claims have
fallen for four straight weeks.Andrew Stettner, a senior fel-low at the Century Foundation,said the wave of layoffs at vul-nerable businesses such asrestaurants, hotels and storesmay have largely run its course.
Layoffs amount to 1 in 6American workers and encom-pass more people than theentire population of Texas.Some economists say the US
unemployment rate for Aprilmay be as high as 20% - a fig-ure not seen since theDepression of the 1930s, whenjoblessness peaked at 25%.
China’s ancient, majesticForbidden City reopened onFriday with all tickets for theMay 1-5 holiday period soldout, and a limit of 5,000 visitorsa day, down from the earliermaximum of 80,000.
The Chinese capitalreopened its parks and muse-ums, with controlled entries,about three months after hun-dreds of millions of people wereordered into a near lockdown asthe coronavirus outbreak erupt-ed in the central city of Wuhan.China on Friday reported 12new cases, six of them broughtfrom overseas, and no newdeaths for the 16th day.
In the US, where largenumbers of people are stilldying from Covid-19, healthofficials are warning of the dan-ger of a second wave of infec-tion, and some employers andemployees have expressed fearof going back to work.
In some states, authoritiesare adopting a more cautiousstance: California GovernorGavin Newsom ordered beach-
es in Orange County closeduntil further notice after tens ofthousands of people flocked tothe sand last weekend.
In other parts of the world,shutdowns are winding down,with caution.
Malaysia’s Prime MinisterMuhyiddin Yassin said mostbusiness activities will reopenfrom Monday, days before atwo-month lockdown is due toend, after infections fell sharplyin recent weeks.
Thailand was preparing toreopen parks and some retail-ers, hair salons and restaurants,while keeping a 10 pm-4 amcurfew in place and extendingits ban on sales of alcohol.
British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, who recentlyrecovered from Covid-19, saidthe UK is “past the peak” and
“on a downward slope” in itsoutbreak but was expected toextend precautions, whileGermany, Portugal and theCzech Republic were set to startloosening their restrictions.
With signs that the out-break has stabilised in places,and after news that the econo-my shrank at a 4.8% annual ratein the first three months of theyear with a crushing 40% dropprojected for this quarter,President Donald Trump chosenot to extend the WhiteHouse’s social-distancingguidelines past their expirationon Thursday.
Those guidelines encour-aged people to work fromhome and avoid restaurants,groups and nonessential trav-el. The virus has killed over2,30,000 people worldwide,
including more than 61,000 inthe US, according to a tally byJohns Hopkins University.Confirmed infections globallytopped 3.2 million, with 1 mil-lion of them in the US, but thetrue numbers are believed to bemuch higher because of limit-ed testing, differences in count-ing the dead and concealmentby some governments.
���� �2(��
Australian police fatally shota man who stabbed and
slashed seven people at andnear a shopping mall on Friday,officials said.
None of the victims of therampage in the northwestcoastal town of South Hedlandsuffered life-threateninginjuries.
Five were hospitalised withstab wounds, including twowho remain in serious but sta-ble condition, officials said.Police have not revealed amotive.
There was no indicationthe assailant, aged in his 30s,was politically or ideologicallymotivated, Western Australiastate Police CommissionerPolice Commissioner ChrisDawson said.
�� � ��1C�5�1C
Hong Kong police used pep-per spray on Friday to dis-
perse over a hundred protest-ers in a shopping mall whowere singing and chanting pro-democracy slogans.
The demonstrators sangthe protest anthem “Glory toHong Kong” and chanted“Glory to Hong Kong, revolu-
tion of our times” in the NewTown Plaza mall in HongKong’s New Territories.
As protesters gathered inthe mall, riot police stoppedand searched some and latertold them to leave, saying theywere violating social-distancingrules. The police then sprayedtear gas to disperse the crowdbefore cordoning off the atri-um of the mall.
Geneva: The UN meteorolog-ical agency said depletion of theozone layer, which protectsthe Earth from harmful levelsof ultraviolet radiation, brieflyreached an unprecedented levelover large swaths of the Arcticin March.
The World MeteorologicalOrganization reported Fridaythat the spike stemmed fromthe lingering presence of man-made ozone-depleting sub-stances in the atmosphere andvery cold temperatures in thestratosphere that preventedozone from reaching the north-ern region.
WMO spokeswoman ClareNullis said conditions were“back to normal again” inApril, describing the temporarydepletion as “not a cause forexceptional concern.”
US President Donald Trumphas said the World Health
Organisation should be“ashamed” of itself, as helikened it to a public relationsagency for China amidst thecoronavirus pandemic after itoriginated in Wuhan.
The Trump administra-tion has launched a probe intothe role of the WHO on coro-navirus, and has temporarilysuspended the US’ financial
assistance to it. “I think that the World
Health Organisation shouldbe ashamed of themselvesbecause they are like the pub-lic relations agency for China,”Trump told reporters in theEast Room of the White Houseon Thursday.
Ever since the virus out-break came to light in Wuhanin December last, speculationhas been rife on whether theviral strain originated fromChina’s premier Wuhan
Institute of Virology (WIV) orfrom its nearby HuananSeafood Market.
The US has launched aninvestigation into whether thedeadly virus “escaped” from the WIV.
China has come underincreasing global pressure overlack of transparency in its han-dling of the coronavirus pan-demic, which has so far infect-ed over 3,257,000 people andkilled 233,400 others across theworld.
New Delhi: Undaunted by theunprecedented halt in opera-tions due to the lockdown,Bharat Heavy ElectricalsLimited (BHEL) has achieveda major milestone by success-fully implementing a hugeemployee engagement initia-tive. In the past one month, thecompany has reached out tonearly 21,000 employees tomaintain continuity and tofacilitate the transition to work-from-home.
Significantly, in addition tofocusing on the health andwellbeing of its employees,BHEL has effectively used thislockdown as an opportunity tosharpen the skill set and cre-ativity & productivity ofemployees.
The company has createdmore than 230 learning oppor-tunities through various e-learning courses/ webinars/trainings on technical, func-tional, managerial and behav-
ioral domains. These opportu-nities are the joint efforts ofBHEL’s Corporate Learning &Development Division,Engineering Division – ProjectEngineering Management andvarious training centres spreadacross BHEL’s units.
BHEL has extensively usedits in-house skill, expertise anddomain experts in developinge-modules that are available onits e-Learning Portal(Unnayan).
New Delhi: Ramesh Babu Vassumes his new role asDirector (Operations), NTPCLtd w.e.f 01.05.2020. Shri Babugraduated as a MechanicalEngineer from NIT Srinagarand completed his Masters in Thermal Engineering fromIIT Delhi.
He joined NTPC asExecutive Trainee (12th batch)in 1987 and has more than 32years’ experience in managinglarge Power Stations in theareas of operations & mainte-
nance, renovation &modernisation of oldunits as well as in thedomains of efficiency& systems improve-ment of thermalplants.
Shri Babu as aProfessional Manager andStrategic Planner has led sev-eral initiatives for improvingreliability and efficiency ofPower Stations. His experi-ence in power sector includesSenior Management level expo-
sure as a “BusinessUnit Head” of NTPCTalcher Kaniha &NSPCL Durgapur.
As Director(Operations), NTPC,Shri Ramesh Babuwill be responsible
for the overall planning of safe,reliable and efficient operationsof all power generating stationsof the NTPC Group whileensuring fuel security and envi-ronmental compliance of thesepower stations.
��� � 12�� 23�4
Majority of respondentsfavoured continuation of
the lockdown for another twoweeks to fight coronavirus,according to a survey by think-tank National Council ofApplied Economic Research(NCAER).
The Government onFriday extended the lockdownfor another two weeks fromMay 4. It had imposed a 21-daynationwide lockdown onMarch 25 and extended it fur-ther till May 3 to contain thespread of deadly coronavirus.
The second round of DelhiNational Capital RegionCoronavirus Telephone Survey (DCVTS), conductedduring April 23-26 by theNCAER, is based on respons-es from 1,800 adults.
In the survey, respondentswere asked whether they would
support continuing the lock-down for an additional twoweeks.
In Round 2 (April 23- 26),about 88 per cent of respon-dents expressed some degree ofsupport for continuing thelockdown for an additionaltwo weeks, compared to 86 percent in Round 1 (April 3-6).
“Quite remarkably, sup-port for continuing the lock-down was about the same inRound 2,” the NCEAR said ina release.
In Round 1, 62 per centstrongly supported the contin-uation of the lockdown and 24per cent expressed some sup-port, it added.
Round 1 of the DCVTS-1was conducted between April3 and 6 and responses of 1,756adults were obtained.
When asked what activitiesthey would resume immedi-ately if the lockdown were to be
lifted after May 3, more than athird of respondents said theywould in effect continue socialdistancing.
Some 37 per cent ofrespondents were of the opin-ion that they would not resumeactivities such as going to theirwork place, educational insti-tutions, a bank, ATM or postoffice, a market, religiousplaces, health facilities, visitingfamily and friends, or attend-ing social functions, the surveyshowed.
On the impact of the lock-down on the livelihoods of peo-ple, the vast majority (82 percent) of the DCVTS-2 respon-dents reported some level ofreduction in their income orwages in the two weeks beforethe Survey with the reductionbeing the highest for casualwage workers and businesses,similar to the findings ofDCVTS-1.
��� � 12�� 23�4
Non-subsidised LPG ormarket-priced cooking gas
prices were cut by a record�162.50 per cylinder on Friday,in line with the slump inbenchmark international rates.
This is the third straightmonthly reduction in rates ofnon-subsidised LPG, whichusers who have given up sub-sidy buy. Also, this is the gasthat domestic household con-sumers buy after exhaustingtheir quota of 12 cylinders of14.2 kg each at subsidisedprices.
The outbreak of coron-avirus and the lockdownsimposed by nations to curb itsspread has evaporated demandfor oil, sending international oilprices crashing.
Benchmark Brent crudeoil last month dropped to a
two-decade low of USD 15.98a barrel, but has rebounded
since to USD 26.43 a barrel onFriday.
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The Government on Fridaydeferred the release of April
GST revenue collection datadue to the ongoing lockdown,sources said. The governmenthad last month extended thedeadline to file GST returns forMarch to May 5, from April 20.
As per convention, the gov-ernment releases GST revenuecollection number on the basisof cash collection in a particu-lar month. However, with thesituation arising out of Covid-19, the Government has decid-ed to wait till the extended dead-line for filing returns beforerelease of the collectionfigure.
Sources said due to the“unprecedented situation” aris-ing out of the coronavirus out-break, it has been decided todefer the April GST collectiondata release. No date has yetbeen decided to release this data,they said.
“The Government will waittill May 5 before announcing thecollections,” a source said.
For business activity in aparticular month, GST returnhas to be filed in a staggeredmanner by the 20th of nextmonth. Hence for transactionsin March, GST return had to befiled by April 20, which wasextended till May 5.
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ITraders' body Confederationof All India Traders (CAIT)
on Friday said it will soonlaunch a national e-commercemarketplace 'bharatmarket' forall retail traders in collabora-tion with several technologypartners.
The marketplace will inte-grate capabilities of varioustechnology companies to pro-vide end-to-end services inthe logistics and supply chainsfrom manufacturers to endconsumers, including deliver-ies at home, CAIT said in arelease.
The e-commerce portalwill include a nationwide par-ticipation by retailers, it added.
This endeavour aims tobring 95 per cent of retailtraders onboard the platform,who will be the shareholdersand the portal will be runexclusively by the traders,CAIT Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said.
“We have already startedthis programme as a pilot, ini-tially with a limited number ofessential commodities, in sixcities — Prayagraj, Gorakhpur,Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpurand Bengaluru, with tremendous response fromretailers, distributors and evenconsumers.
��� � 12�� 23�4
Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikanta Das has called
a meeting with bank chiefs onSaturday to take stock of thefinancial sector and deliberateon steps to be taken to boostindustry amid the Covid-19crisis, sources said.
The meeting will take stockof implementation of severalsteps announced by the RBI,including moderation in inter-est rate and its transmission, aswell as liquidity infusion mea-sures to support the industry.
Besides, various facilitiesprovided to help the stressedMSME industry and rural sector would also be reviewed.
It would also provide aplatform for bankers to givetheir suggestions for furtheraction required to ease stress inthe economy, the sources said.
New Delhi: The extended lock-down in India has resulted inzero shipments for the smart-phone players in India in themonth of April as factories areshut and it will take two-fourweeks time for the manufac-turing units to resume normaloperations once lockdown isrelaxed. The month of Marchsaw a steep annual decline insmartphone shipments, at -19per cent, due to Covid-19nationwide lockdown that set-tled in from March 24.
Since then, factories areclosed, retail shops are shut andonline sellers are busy deliver-ing groceries and other essen-tial items. Result: April hasseen almost zero sales.
“We see zero activity onsmartphone shipments part inApril and lockdown now enter-ing May amid uncertainties, theQ2 2020 is going to be real chal-lenging for the smartphonemakers in the country,” TarunPathak, Associate Director,Counterpoint Research, toldIANS. IANS
New Delhi: Around 80 per centof corporate industry leadersexpect business travel to getback to pre-Covid levels intheir organisation within 6 months, according to a sur-vey by FabHotels.
A statement by FabHotelssaid that 58 per cent of the cor-porate chiefs expect budget per trip to reduce by 15 per centor more.
“The survey found that 58per cent of corporates expectreduction of 15 per cent ormore in travel budget, 19 percent expect a reduction of lessthan 15 per cent, while 24 percent corporates expect travelbudgets to remain same postthe lockdown is lifted,” it said.
While one-third of respon-dents said they would not moveemployees to lower-tier hotelsto save expenses, other two-thirds said they are expected tomake this transition to reducetheir travel budgets. IANS
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No job at all, or a job with-out enough protections —
millions of workers worldwidemarked international labourday trapped between hungerand fear Friday, as more coun-tries and states reopen forbusiness even though the coro-navirus is far from vanquished.
Beijing's Forbidden City,the imperial palace turnedmuseum that is one the coun-try's biggest tourist attractions,cracked open its doors, andshopping malls around the
U.S. Were set to do the same,while world leaders try to sal-vage their battered economieswithout unleashing new wavesof infections.
With traditional May Daylabor marches curtailed bystrict limits on public gather-ings, Turkish protestersattempted to stage a wildcatdemonstration. Californiaactivists planned strikes, andParisians sang from balconiesto plead their causes: workplacemasks, health insurance ormore Government aid for thejobless.
It was a melancholyInternational Workers' Day forgarment workers acrossSoutheast Asia such asWiryono, a father of two inIndonesia's capital, Jakarta,who was laid off last month asretailers slashed orders.
His side gig delivering cof-fee dried up, too, amid a viruslockdown. So he set up a cloth-ing repair business to makeends meet.
“I don't earn as much as Igot from the clothing factory.But I have to feed my wife andkids every day,” said Wiryono,
who goes by only one name.In Bangladesh, production
is starting back up despite a ris-ing number of new cases of thevirus that has killed at least230,000 people worldwide.
A Government-orderedlockdown couldn't extinguishthe May Day protest spirit inGreece, where demonstratorslined up 2 meters (6 feet) apartin careful rows in Athens'Syntagma Square. Organizersin masks and gloves used tapemeasures and large coloredsquares to set out exact posi-tions for the protesters.
Greeks who work by mak-ing deliveries staged a motor-ized protest, driving throughAthens on their motorbikes,and police were out in force toensure residents didn't headfrom cities to the countryside,another May Day tradition.
“We are praying for allworkers, so that no one willlack work and all will be fairlypaid and can enjoy the digni-ty of work and the beauty ofrest,” Pope Francis said at a pri-vate morning Mass. May Daylabour protests started in the19th century in the United
States, where this week thenumber of Americans filing forunemployment benefits sur-passed a staggering 30 million— and joblessness in Aprilcould hit numbers not seensince the Great Depression ofthe 1930s.
Essential workers wereexpected to strike around theU.S. On Friday to demandsafer conditions, while othergroups organized rallies toprotest stay-at-home ordersthey say are crippling the econ-omy. The nation's death tollwas put at more than 60,000.
��� � 12�� 23�4
India's top carmakers, includ-ing Maruti Suzuki and
Hyundai, on Friday reportedzero monthly domestic salesfor the first time ever in Aprilafter the nationwide lockdownhalted output and shut salesnetwork. Maruti Suzuki India,Hyundai Motor India Ltd(HMIL), Mahindra &Mahindra (M&M), ToyotaKirloskar Motor (TKM) andMG Motor India reported nilsales as they suspended operations even before theimposition of lockdown onMarch 25 to check the spreadof coronavirus.
Maruti Suzuki, which produces more than half of the cars running on Indianroads, said it did not sell any
vehicle in the domestic marketin April.
It, however, exported 632vehicles after Mundra port inGujarat resumed operations,MSI said in a statement.
Similarly, HMIL said it didnot sell any vehicle last monthin the domestic market due tosuspension of manufacturingactivities at its Chennai plant.
The company, however,exported 1,341 units last month.
The overseas dispatchestook place by adhering to allguidelines set by the govern-ment and export regulatingauthorities while ensuring ade-quate safety and protection foreveryone, it added.
Homegrown automakerM&M also reported zero salesof passenger and commercial
vehicles in the domestic mar-ket. It, however, dispatched
733 vehicles to overseasmarkets during the last month.
“We are hopeful that ourdealerships will open soon andhave stocks to cover the firstfew weeks of sale,” M&M ChiefExecutive Officer, AutomotiveDivision Veejay Nakra said.
Similarly, TKM said the re-start of the entire value chaincycle and its restoration will be
gradual as the industry is facedwith varied challenges like lowconsumer sentiments, rebuild-ing of disrupted supply chainsand return of workforce.
“As with many other sec-tors, with the closure of deal-erships and manufacturing,the operation of the automotivevalue chain has come to agrinding halt,” TKM SeniorVice President (Sales andMarketing) Naveen Soni said in
a statement.These are critical times
and the company was awarethat there would be no whole-sales in the month of April2020, he added.
“As we prepare for a restart,we are working closely with ourdealer partners to offer themthe best support to re-stimulatedemand in a safe and healthyatmosphere,” Soni said.
MG Motor India said ithas resumed operations at itsHalol facility in the last week ofApril and now hopes that theproduction will ramp up in themonth of May.
In two-wheeler segment,niche bike maker Royal Enfieldsaid it had zero sales in thedomestic market but exporteda total of 91 units lastmonth.
New Delhi: In its continuesendeavor to ensure availabili-ty of essential commoditieslike food grain across the coun-try through its freight & parcelservices during the nationwidelock down due to Covid-19,despite severe constraints,Ferozpur Division of Northernrailway has started the finan-cial year 2020-21 with recordbreaking loading of food grainsin the month of April -2020. Inthis month, total 1.10 MT in401 rakes of food grain has
been loaded which is the high-est ever in a month. Previousbest was 1.05 MT or 362 rakesloaded in August -2016 and1.03 MT or 365 rakes loaded inMarch -2015.
In addition to above,Ferozpur Division has alsoformed and run 61 long haulsAnnapurna trains in themonth of April -2020 which isalso the highest ever in amonth, surpassing the earlierrecord of 16 long hauls run inMarch-2020.
New Delhi: Three industrybodies of the automotive sec-tor, SIAM, ACMA and FADA,on Friday asked theGovernment allow the entirevalue chain in the auto indus-try to re-commence opera-tions in unison.
In a joint representation toHome Secretary Kumar Bhalla,the Society of IndianAutomobile Industry (SIAM),Automotive ComponentManufacturers Association ofIndia (ACMA) and Federationof Automobile DealersAssociations (FADA) said if anyof the segment does not com-mence operations the value
chain will not be able to re-start.They also said the sector is los-ing revenue to the tune of �2,300 crore per day and there-fore starting of economic activ-ity in the sector is critical.
“The automotive industryin India, which was already fac-ing a severe downturn for over15 months, with the lockdown,is now confronted with total dis-ruption of its entire value chain,”they said, adding with chal-lenges of working capital acrossthe sector, several of the playersin the industry, right from thecomponent suppliers to thedealerships, are faced with thechallenge of staying solvent.
Asking the sector to beallowed “to resume operationsin complete unison”, the threeapex chambers representingthe entire automotive valuechain said “the automotivevalue chain is highly complex,integrated and interdependent”.
“A vehicle manufacturercannot commence operationsif any one of its suppliers isunable to undertake produc-tion. Further, production for avehicle manufacturer wouldonly amount to adding toinventory and thus blockingworking capital in case dealersare unable to sell vehicles,” thejoint representation said. PTI
>�� C1���C����.���11���1���'������������!���C#6�������Mumbai: Amid the lockdownto curb Covid-19 pandemic,more and more companiesare offering work-from-homejobs for women, says a report.
As per the report by onlinecareer platform JobsForHer,work-for-home jobs postedon its platform saw 30 per centrise in March 2020 as com-pared to the same month lastyear. “This is a time whenworking from home is thenew normal. The number ofwomen looking to start orrestart their careers has alsorisen dramatically in recenttimes,” said JobsForHerFounder and CEO NehaBagaria.
he rise has been particu-larly noted in metro citiesincluding Delh- NCR,Bengaluru , Chennai, Mumbai,Hyderabad and Pune, it added.
With work-from-homebecoming the norm for amajority of the workforce, sev-eral companies are postingremote working jobs, offeringopportunities for women whoare looking to begin theircareer or make a comeback, itsaid.
The platform saw that cer-tain job roles such as journal-ist, editor, content writing, telecalling, customer services, QAtesting were the ones thatwomen professionals majorlyapplied for. JobsForHer alsoobserved that education, IT,recruitment, Internet or e-commerce and advertising andPR are some of the most pop-ular industries for womenwhile searching for jobs.
Amazon, SQUADRUN,Ufaber EduTech, Multibhashiand OneHourLearning aresome of the companies inwhich women were applyingfor work-from-home jobs, itadded. Overall, there was 50per cent increase in the num-ber of applications from jobseekers in March this yearcompared to the year-agomonth.
“Women today are highlymotivated and despite theworld almost coming to a halt,they are still pursuing oppor-tunities. The work-from-homecomes as a blessing for thosewomen who have prior famil-ial commitments,” Bagariaadded. PTI
Modern Family is a show that rede-fined what it means to be one.
This ground-breaking comedy, cen-tered around an extended family witha gay couple, a Columbian step-moth-er, and all their kids, now comes to anend with its 11th and final season.Excerpts of conversation with JulieBowen aka Claire:
��This is the last season. What didyou take from the sets?
I started mourning on day one ofthe shooting of this season. I was sob-bing. I was feeling that a long relation-ship was suddenly going to end. Andso, I got some art work, which isn’t thatfancy but it reminds me so much of theshow. I took one of those ugly plateshung on the wall in the Dunphyhouse, which I’ve always hated.
��Eleven years and it is finally overnow. It is going to be very emotion-al, right?
Yes! I have already done a fairamount of crying but it always comesout of the blue. Whenever someonewants me to cry about it, I can’t. But Ihave definitely done the walking aroundand saying to people, ‘I love you.Working together has been amazing.’But come that last day, I am out of here!I am gone. I am not hanging out for thecrying fest because I imagine that to belike a big amoeba of weeping — peo-ple hugging each other and crying. Ican’t do it. I would rather do it alone.As I mentioned, I had a hysterical cry-ing fest the very first day. And that dayfor some reason, just wrecked me somuch that I thought the season is goingto be crazy but I was fine. But I predictthat I will double down at the end.
��You have been virtually pregnantthe whole time you were doing
Modern Family. Tell us about that.I was pregnant with the twins at the
very beginning of Modern Family, inthe pilot episode. And I have to putthree kids through school. The twinsare 10 and the older one, 12. And nowthis is the last season so I will have plen-ty of time to explain stuff to them andspend time with them. Maybe, goingover the shower procedure — nuts andpits. Can I say that? Although you haveto go in some order.
��You and Sophia have always beenpitted against each other. While theother actors are nominated at theEmmys as Modern Family is alwayspart of the conversation but it’salways the two of you who get it. And
you’ve won two...It is friendly. But as she would prob-
ably say, ‘Yes, you have two statues butI have a big bank account’, I’d be like ‘Iwould take her bank account or sell hera statue’.
��Tell us about the character who youwould miss the most?
Well, it has to be Phil. Of course,there is something that Ty Burrell hasdone with his character that has madehim both odd and funny as well as theunicorn of TV dads.
��What’s the most that you are goingto miss about Claire?
Claire can day drink. And I cannot.She is able to have a glass of
Chardonnay and be fine. It is so funnythat people do like fan art and they sendus really amazing ones. Claire’s symbol-ic one is blonde hair and a glass of wine.And I know that I could never be likethat in reality. So I envy Claire’s abilityto day drink but I will not miss her lovefor Halloween. I am amazed at peoplewho love gore. Well, Claire loves it andtakes it all the way. And it is quite funto do those scenes, fun to scare people.Also, there are 70 professionals behindyou pumping blood or making it lookreally gory. In my life, I hate putting updecorations which I will eventually haveto take down.
�� Do you think that there’s somepressure on actors or writers to makethe finale season great?
I think the writers surely feel it.Really heavily. But it’s equally on theactors as well because we have beendoing this thing for 10 years and thisis the 11th year. So, my goal is to deliv-er what we have been delivering for thelast 10 years the best way possible tokeep it memorable. Because we arenever going to do it again!
��Since this chapter ends, what’s nextfor you?
I am going to produce and do somedirecting. I like bargain. I don’t shop. Iam a big saver because I don’t like thatfeeling of desperation waiting for the
phone to ring with ‘Somebody hire me’.I don’t like that. I am going to try andproduce a comedy for ABC, aboutfemale friendship. And then I amgoing to try and produce some otherstuff that I am not allowed to talk aboutright now. It’s a bit hush-hush! Also, Iam tired of being a mom. I do love itbut do I want that to be my identity inthe world all throughout my life? Iwould like to reclaim this situation forsomething other than mom-ing for alittle while.
I could just seal this up and neveract again but I love acting. Also, I likethese shorter formats that they havenow. Where you can be on a show forsix episodes or do an anthology series.And yes, would surely do more behindthe camera. This business isn’t very kindto women over 40 and I think thatsometimes you do have to step away fora second, especially, after doing 11 yearsof Claire. I love Claire but I can’t be onlyClaire.
��What do you think the legacy ofthe show is?
There is so much. When we began,there was no gay couple on television— a stable married gay couple on net-work TV who had an adopted child andthat represented something so vastlydifferent. It seems so normal now andI love that that’s been normalised andhow we have almost forgotten how biga deal it was. This is the show that peo-ple sit down and turn on for comfortand laugh. I and my kids, we sit downand watch so many amazing shows likeThe Office, FRIENDS, or Seinfeld. Weare so lost in these. And that what’s Iwant for people — to go ‘Oh! This feelslike home.’
(The show’s season 11 airs everySaturday at 7 pm and all seasons everyMonday-Friday at 8 pm on Star World.)
Oscar and Grammy-win-ning composer AR
Rahman and celebrated lyricistPrasoon Joshi have united togive a musical tribute to thenation’s fight against COVID-19, with song Hum Haar NahiMaanenge.
The song has been concep-tualised to spread hope, posi-tivity and motivation. Theemotional track reminds peo-ple that we all are in thistogether, stating that we will getthrough it together. The songis composed by Rahman, andthe lyrics are penned by Joshi.
“This song has brought allof us together for a noble causeand we hope it inspires thenation to come together too,”said Rahman.
Talking about the hopeanthem, Joshi said, “Thoughthis is not the most ideal of cir-cumstances for creativity but asartists we have to breakthrough adversity and catch thefinger of hope. My poem iscentred around the thought ofthe un-putdownable spirit of ushumans. We have much tolearn, but together we will sur-mount the odds, we won’t giveup.”
The track also bringstogether an ensemble of musi-cians from all over India. Thefeatured artistes include namessuch as Clinton Cerejo, MohitChauhan, Harshdeep Kaur,Mika Singh, Jonita Gandhi,Neeti Mohan, Javed Ali, Sid
Sriram, Shruti Haasan, ShashaaTirupati, Khatija Rahman andAbhay Jodhpurkar. India’s per-cussionist Sivamani, sitaristAsad Khan and bass prodigyMohini Dey are also part of theproject. The song has beenreleased by HDFC Bank.Through the track, it shows itssolidarity and support to thenation by encouraging moreand more people to donate toPM CARES Fund. It will alsocontribute �500 each time thesong is shared on social media.
“Music is universal. It liftsthe spirit and soothes the soul.Through this tribute we wantto touch the heart of every per-son in the country and let themknow that they are not alone.Together, we will emergestronger. Right now, every con-tribution, bolsters the nation’seffort to fight the pandemic,”said Ravi Santhanam, CMO.
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In the wake of Coronavirus pandemic,our attention has been drawn majorlytowards migrant population. Dwelling
on the photographs of master S Paul, Irealised a number of them were studies ofmigrant labour. He has captured them intransition or while working.
These images echo the vitality andimportance of the destiny of men andwomen. It makes one realise that their veryexistence is to create a new world, to reveala new life, to remember that there existsa frontier for everything. In a quaint way,Paul is commenting on their ability toadapt, to resist, to believe and survive.
��������������There are two images of babies sleep-
ing in a basket. The same basket is laterused for carrying stones/bricks or anyother elements used for construction.These two images offer a visual aura of atime in Indian history known as theIndustrial Revolution, a time when menand women’s work with their hands pro-vided the central axis to the world. Relateit to today’s world of real estate construc-tion, and the story is the same.
In the very act of carriage lies a spec-tre of hope and continuity. It draws ourattention to the simplicity and rustic res-onance of the marginalised group in soci-ety. It also talks of paradoxes in the pre-sent world, which seem to be racing aheadyet stumbling over the future.
� ������ �&����In yet another image, we see the real-
ity of migrant labourers and poverty. Thereare four figures and two children, walking
past a stone wall. Here, it seems to be a tele-scoping of time, reminding us that this isthe result of the work of people done acrossthe world. We think of developed anddeveloping nations and how the formerproduces only for those who can consume— approximately one-fifth of all the pop-ulation. The remaining four-fifths, whocould theoretically benefit from surplusproduction, have no way of becoming con-sumers.
Paul grabs our attention to the stag-gering phenomenon of migrant labour andits niceties. While these four photographsdocument the epic elegance of the people,it also points to small realities in a largercontext — of natural disasters, environ-mental degradation, explosive populationgrowth and the widening gap between therich and the poor.
����� ����� ������& ��%The last among these four is a portrait
of an individual with livestock on the go.There is a kid goat on a labourer’s shoul-der while another goat is held in tow. Thisphotograph is a beautiful commentary on
the imagery of everyday idioms in living.And yet, this image has a dulcet dig-
nity about it — never does the viewer feelan exploitative signature. The beautiful —yes, beautiful — imagery undoubtedly cov-ers migration at one end but there is alsoa detailed dignity woven into the fabric ofthe moment. All these four images are notjust about destitution. They are about sin-gular moments of migrants in the land-scape of flux, caught in the logistics of theirown limbo.
� ������ �����This suite of four is an exercise in recall
and reflection. It highlights a renewedfocus on the desperate and unchangingplight of migrants and refugees all over theworld. Indeed, in the Coronavirus hyperreality, where there is tragedy upontragedy, it adds historical context to theglobal story of humanity on the move —their trials and tribulations.
The lot of migrants today in India andthe rest of the world are unparalleled inhuman history. Their predicament presentsprofound challenges to the notions of
nation, community and citizenship. Theseimages are a pictorial stamp of the currentglobal flux of humanity. In many ways,Paul reveals the humanist element, digni-ty and simplicity of these subjects. Withhis unique vision and empathy, the emi-nent photographer gives us four picturesthat echo enormous social and politicaltransformations occurring in a worlddivided between excesses, utmost greedand greater needs. More than five decadesafter he captured these shots, the world hasnot changed.
By looking again at these images, wecannot help but reflect on the unchangingplight of those trying to seek a new home.And you think of how this great lensmandocumented so silently the nomadiclabour at the frayed — and distinct —edges of humanity.
The journey of migrant labourerscan be ruthless, with families often part-ing with life-savings to board hopelesslya dreamboat, of shattered dreams, steeredby opportunists who care only abouttheir own empires.
During this time of globalhealth crisis and stress, Indianphilosophy and yoga have
become more relevant than ever.Yoga is the action part of Indian phi-losophy. It shows us the path, awayfrom our fears and confusions of theworld, to a century of peace, whichcan be found within. It points theway to love and harmony, whichwould be our best shields against theperils of the virus as well as of gen-eral ill-health. Our balance andpeace are the foundations of ourimmune system. If we can preservethat, we are much stronger and lesssusceptible to diseases.
Yoga quite literally means tounite oneself with the higher self,which is in us and is all pervasive. Itmeans to join the subject with theobject. To do this, we have to stripaway the many layers of momentarysensory perceptions, which assail oursenses. These keep us forever boundto the material world. Our percep-tions must be detached from theexternal world to look within.
We live amid much turmoil andconfusion in the material world. Thestate of mental and physical healthhas deteriorated considerably. It isestimated that 70 per cent of thecosts incurred on health are onchronic diseases, like diabetes, heartdisease, hypertension andosteoarthritis. There are hardly anypermanent solutions to these, eitherthrough medicines or surgery.Mental ailments are also expected toreach epidemic levels very soon.
I have recently completed shoot-ing my film, Yoga for Health &Global Harmony. In an interview inthe film, yoga and ayurveda expertfrom Santa Fe, USA, Padma BhushanDr David Frawley, shares, “Whathappened in the Western world isthat we have been very good at pur-
suing the outer, material, media-based world. We have lost our con-nections to a great extent with theinner world of consciousness anddirect perception. In Indian philos-ophy, our true state is that of sukhaor eternal bliss. The purpose of yogais to free us from our pain, to liber-ate us from the shackles of our innu-merable desires, which lead usnowhere at all, to awaken true
knowledge within us and to help usto be in harmony with all that thereis.”
He elaborates further, “In theworld today, we have reached astage of tremendous fragmentation.Our language, science, is runningafter the particularised... We havereduced human health to very com-plex chemicals. The question is howdo we integrate our perceptions
and knowledge? How do we arriveat a holistic understanding of who weare as individuals? What is thenature of the universe? So yogadeconstructs our outer worldview ofphysical reality but restores ourinner sense of the immortal, tran-scendent, overflowing universe ofconsciousness.”
Dr Frawley believes that yoga isabout uniting our individual mindwith the universal consciousnesswhich is full of bliss. He says, “Yogatakes us to true self-awareness. Whiledoing yoga, we calm ourselves andrealise that we are less affected by thenoise and distractions of the ever-changing world around us. Step-by-step, we become aware, first of ourbodies and then of our breath. It letsus take the control. In that moment,the transformation begins.”
In another interview, TulkuSherdor, director of Blazing WisdomInstitute, New York, highlights theimportance of yoga. He says, “I thinkthat all of the yogic traditions of Indiaare all pointing to this same vision.It’s the path of reconnecting with whatis most essential for our own being.”
Minakshi Devi Bhavnani, yogaguru from Puducherry, shares thatlove is the essence of everything.“Love transcends all personalitiesand as long as the personality isinvolved, there is no love. It has tobecome a universal experience. Iwould ask Swamiji what is love? Andhe would say love is profound inter-est... To have profound interest, youmust be capable of concentration.And if we can sustain that love, itbecomes dhyan. We become onewith that object of love. If we can sus-tain that long enough, then lovewould take us right into samadhi,where our individual self that seeksliberation is dissolved, like the salt isdissolved in the ocean,” she says.
It’s a stunning sound, emerg-ing amid the clanging and
the whooping and the bangingand the honking at 7 pm eachnight as New Yorkers cheerfront-line workers: the velvety,buttery baritone of BrianStokes Mitchell.
For decades, Mitchell’svoice has been one of the mostcelebrated in the Broadwaytheater, evoking goosebumpsin musicals like Kiss Me, Kate,for which he won a Tony, andMan of La Mancha, in whichhe played Don Quixote. Now,with Broadway’s houses shut-tered due to the Coronavirus,the voice rings out from a fifth-floor apartment on the UpperWest Side — fittingly onBroadway, a couple miles upfrom the theatre district.
“This is my quest,” Mitchellsings, leaning precariously outhis window, launching direct-ly into the meatiest part of TheImpossible Dream.
Below and across theavenue in their apartments,neighbours cheer. But Mitchell,62, is looking to serenadecrews of ambulances, fireengines, police cars, or medicalworkers from the nearbyurgent care facility. When theydo stop and listen — as a citybus did recently — Mitchellsings directly to them. Andwhen people clap, he sweepshis arms over the workers, asif to say: “Not me. Them.”
Mitchell’s gratitude,expressed nightly the last fewweeks, stems from a very per-sonal ordeal. He himself is asurvivor of the Coronavirus,falling ill in late March. Onenight, he had a fever nearing105 degrees, and almost washospitalised. He’s been symp-tom-free for three weeks. “I’dbeen going to the window toapplaud for the health careworkers like everybody else inNew York,” he says. “Then onenight I spontaneously thought,‘Oh, I think my lungs feel like
I can sing now.’” And so, hedid. He thought it would be aone-night gig. He was mistak-en. People kept coming.
“To fight for the right,without question or pause, tobe willing to march into hellfor a heavenly cause!” Mitchellsmiles as he repeats the words,amazed at how appropriatethey are for medical workersfighting an “unbeatable foe.”“People think it’s just calledThe Impossible Dream, but it’salso called ‘The Quest,’” hesays. “It’s not about doing theimpossible. It’s about trying.”
It is, of course, a terribletime for the theatre communi-ty, with arts institutions suffer-ing severe economic loss.Mitchell is chairman of TheActors Fund, which helps per-forming arts and entertain-ment professionals. He’s donat-ing all profits from his latestalbum, Plays With Music, tothe fund.
When the city shut down,Mitchell was working onnumerous projects.“Everything was canceled,” hesays. “I have no idea whenthey’ll come back. A year? Sixmonths? Unfortunately I thinkour sector will be one of thelast to come back fully.”
For now, though, Mitchellfeels busy with his unpaid gig.“Broadway’s closed, but some-one’s still singing onBroadway!” he quips. His per-formance ends with a flourish:“And the world will be betterfor this, that one man, scornedand covered with scars, stillstrove, with his last ounce ofcourage, to reach the unreach-able star!”
Mitchell, though, adaptsthe lyrics to squeeze in wordslike “one first responder andhealth-care worker.” The audi-ence cheers. “It’s three min-utes,” says onlooker Sari Rubin,“of me remembering thatthere’s good in the world.”
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�We heard that you really want-ed to work with director TimBurton, is that true?
Colin Farrell: Yes. He is bril-liant in the world he creates and theway he transports you immediate-ly into whatever he is presenting.He has the ability that very fewfilmmakers have, along with theawkwardness and the otherness ofthe characters that he presents,there’s a heart at the centre of all hisworks. This heart, beauty and vul-nerability in his work is there eversince Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands.
�Which was the first film thatintroduced you to Tim?
Colin: Actually, it was PeeWee’s Big Adventure. I just forgotthat he had made it. He’s so bril-liant, my brother showed it to me.Edward Scissorhands is myyoungest boy’s favourite.
�Was it difficult to film scenes ofcharacter with a physical chal-lenge?
Colin: Initially, I thought it willbe more about the emotional andpsychological difficulties. But Irealised later that it was all mixed— my personal emotions about thecharacter I was playing, as he wasdealing with a lot. He lost his wifewhen he was away fighting inWorld War I. As a single parent, hethen has to deal with his two chil-dren, who have grown up while he
was away. They now have their ownopinions, dreams, ideas and a wayof behaving. So handling them isnot too easy. Moreover, he is phys-ically impaired. There is a canvasof all these different issues that hewas facing. His journey is moreabout accepting himself and hischildren while overcoming his lim-itations.
�How was the mood on the sets?Did you feel some kind of pres-sure?
Colin: Yes. There was tensioneverywhere. It was all practical andthey had built the most extraordi-nary set that I’ve been on in 20years. And I’ve been on a few real-ly incredible ones like Alexander,Total Recall and many others.
The one that was put here hadthe little guy Dumbo flying around.But in some of the scenes, where hewasn’t airborne, they had his stat-ic model who would help in mov-ing the things that were kept far
away. However, it wasn’t hugelyhelpful. Instead, Edd Osmond whoplayed Dumbo, was dressed ingreen spandex from head to toe andthey gave him sticks that elongat-ed his arms and he would move,command and do other stuff. Whathe would do was really moving.This turned out to be helpful. Hewas extraordinary to work with.Everything else was great too.You’d walk onto the set and therewere like eight Ford model T fromthe 20th century, a bunch of pop-corn and hotdog concession stands,fairground rides everywhere, peo-ple on horseback — all inside thebuilding.
�Do you remember watching theoriginal as a kid?
Colin: I didn’t watch it as a kid.I didn’t see it until months before Iflew to London to do this. I hadn’tseen it; I just had no reason. I hadseen The Aristocats, Lady and TheTramp, The Jungle Book but neverthis.
�How does it feel to be in aDisney modern classic, Dumbo?
Eva Green: Oh my god, I justcan’t believe I am in it too. It’s sucha surreal beautiful story. I saw it lastnight. Usually, a lot of actors don’tlike watching themselves on thescreen but I completely forgot I wasin it. I was really invested in the filmand got really emotional. I really feltfor Dumbo, it’s just beautiful work.
�How did you film flight sceneswith Dumbo?
Eva: I was surrounded by Greenscreen and on some kind of weirdmechanical bull, like the one cow-boy’s use to train on for rodeos. Itwas attached to a very long arm andyou kind of lift it in the air and itmoved. I don’t know what exactly itis but maybe some kind of a weirdcar. It’s an odd mixture between abull in a car and an elephant. But it’scompletely surreal to have thosewind machines as well, sometimesyou really feel you are flying. It’scompletely crazy.
�You had tweeted that this is a filmwe need right now...
Eva: We live in such a crazychaotic world. So it’s just wonder-ful to have a film about love, hopeand dreams. It is important for usto believe that our dreams can turninto reality some day.
�You have worked with Tim beforealso. What made this experiencespecial?
Eva: It has always been specialto work with him. He is such a won-derful man, a beautiful humanbeing, very delicate, sensitive and agenius. He gave me roles that are dif-ferent, Dark Shadows which was a‘crazy witch woman bird’ and nowa ‘trapeze artist’. It’s a real gift andprivilege for sure.
(The film will be aired on StarMovies on May 3 at 1 pm.)
Former Pakistan all-rounderAbdul Razzaq says HardikPandya is nowhere near the
league of Kapil Dev and needsto work harder to become aworld-class cricketer.
Razzaq also clarified that his“baby bowler” comment againstlead India pacer Jasprit Bumrahwas misconstrued.
One of the most prolific all-rounders to have come out ofPakistan, the 40-year-old alsosaid India will continue to enjoyan unbeaten record against histeam at the World Cup, asIndians handle the pressure ofthe big game much better.
Talking about Pandya, whohas been battling fitness issuesof late, Razzaq feels the 26-year-old doesn’t seem to be workinghard enough.
“Pandya is a good player buthe can be a much better all-rounder. It is all about hardwork. When you don’t giveenough time to game, it driftsaway from you,” Razzaq said.
“He has to prepare bettermentally as well as physically. Asyou have seen, he has been get-ting injured a lot of late (under-went back surgery last year).When you earn a lot of money,you tend to relax. For every play-er it is the same. MohammadAmir did not work hard enoughand his performance dipped.”
Pandya, who made his Indiadebut in 2016, has drawn com-parisons with the great Kapil, butRazzaq said it is way too prema-ture.
“Kapil Dev and Imran Khanare the best all-rounders of alltime. Hardik is nowhere nearthat league. Even I was an all-rounder but it doesn’t mean thatI would compare myself withImran bhai.
“Kapil paaji and Imran bhaiwere in a different league,” saidRazzaq, who played 46 Tests, 265ODIs and 32 T20Is.
Razzaq had courted contro-versy last year by calling Bumraha “baby bowler” in comparisonto the fast bowlers of his times.The Indian pacer has gone on tobecome one of the world’s lead-ing bowlers across formats aftermaking his debut in 2016.
“I do not have anything per-sonal against Bumrah. I wassimply comparing him with thelikes of Glenn McGrath, WasimAkram, Curtly Ambrose, ShoaibAkhtar. It would have beenmuch tougher to face them. My
comments were misconstrued.“He is heading towards
becoming a world-class bowler.But in our times, the bowlerswere of much higher calibre. Notmany can dispute that.”
The standard of cricket hasgone down, according toRazzaq.
“You don’t feel the samepressure facing the current cropof pacers. Overall, there is a badpatch in world cricket. We arenot producing world class play-ers the way we used to 10-15years ago.
“You had Tendulkar, Zaheer,Sehwag, Ganguly in the sameteam. They would have walked
into any team. May be toomuch T20 cricket is responsiblefor this decline,” he said.
Pakistan were the strongerteam in the 90s but India haveenjoyed an upper hand over thearch-rivals in the last decade.India have also extended theirunbeaten World Cup recordagainst Pakistan to 7-0.
“India will continue tomaintain that record,” saidRazzaq, who played in threeIndo-Pak World Cup games(1999, 2003, 2011).
“It is rare that India andPakistan play each other inknock-out matches of ICCevents. They most play in the
league stage and India arefavourites. Our players are notable to absorb the pressure thatcomes with this game.
“We used to win a lotagainst India in Sharjah, beatthem in Canada twice. I remem-ber the 1999 World Cup, peopleand media put pressure on theplayers before the game and wewilted. It has stayed like thatunfortunately.
“The pressure builds on theplayers though it is like any othermatch. The players are not con-fident about beating India inWorld Cup,” he said, addingPakistan had the best chance ofbeating India in the 2011 edition.
� ��� 12�� 23�4�
India lost the top spot in the ICC Test rankingsto Australia on Friday, dropping to third after
their stupendous 2016-17 record was eliminatedfrom the annual update as per rules.
India yielded the top spot in Test rankings forthe first time since October 2016 but continue tolead the ICC World Test Championship, a leaguecomprising six series played by each of the top ninesides.
India dropped in the ladder largely becausethe record of 12 Tests victories and just one Testdefeat in 2016-17 was removed in the latest chart,the ICC said in a statement.
Virat Kohli’s men had won all five series dur-ing that period including against Australia andEngland. On the other hand, Australia had lostto South Africa as well as to India in the same peri-od.
The latest update rates all thematches played since May 2019 at100 per cent and those of theprevious two years at 50 percent.
Australia not only movedto the top of the Test rankingsbut also grabbed the No 1 spotin the T20I list for the first timewhile England continued to leadthe men’s ODI rankings after theannual update, which elimi-nates results from 2016-17.
Australia now have 116points and are followed by NewZealand (115) and India(114).
With only twopoints separating them,this is the second clos-est the top three teams
have been since the Test rankings were launchedin 2003.
The closest for the top three teams was inJanuary 2016, when India had led Australia andSouth Africa by a single point.
South Africa have suffered the biggest ratingfall of eight points, which sees them drop belowSri Lanka into sixth place.
They had won three series in the periodculled, while lost eight of their nine Tests sinceFebruary 2019, playing against Sri Lanka, Indiaand England.
In the ODI team rankings, reigning worldchampions England (127) have increased their leadover India from six to eight points.
New Zealand remain in third place, threepoints behind India. The top ten rankings remainunchanged.
In contrast, the updated T20I team Rankingssee plenty of changes. Australia (278) top the listfor the first time since the T20I rankings were
introduced in 2011.Pakistan, who had overtaken New Zealand
to reach top position in January 2018 and thenspent 27 months there, are now fourth with260 points.
England have moved into second posi-tion with 268 points
while India are up oneplace to third, just twopoints behind.
Afghanistan aredown from seventh to10th while Bulgariaare the biggest gain-ers, up 12 places to51st in the 84-countrylist of teams thatplayed the requisitesix matches in thepast three years.
�� ���� ��Reclaiming the topspot in Test cricket has broughtsmiles back on their faces butAustralia coach Justin Langersays beating India in their ownden remains the ultimate testand their numero uno status willbe put to test when they clashwith the Virat Kohli-led team.
After a tumultuous transi-tion phase post the ball-tamper-ing scandal, Australia on Fridaydisplaced India as number oneside in Test format but Langer isaware that it does not take longfor situation to change.
“We recognise how fluidthese rankings are, but at thistime it was certainly nice to puta smile on our faces,” Langer toldCricket Australia website.
“We’ve got lots of work to doto get to be the team that wewant to be, but hopefully overthe last couple of years not only
have we performed well on thefield, but also off the field,”Langer added.
The former left-handedopener underlined what he feltwill be the ultimate test of char-acter.
“Certainly a goal for us hasbeen the World Test C’ship ... Butultimately, we have to beat Indiain India and we’ve got to beatthem when they come back (toAustralia).
“You can only judge yourselfas being the best if you beat thebest and we’ve got some reallytough opposition to come,”Langer put his priorities inplace.
The team he insists needs toget better as now others willcome gunning for them.
“Getting to No 1 is a greatthing, but when you’re No 1,you’re always the hunted,”Langer said. “We’ve been thehunters for a while, now we’rethe hunted and we need to getbetter and better.”
Langer also hoped thatwhite ball team under AaronFinch will win the World Cup.
“I know how hard it is towin World Cups ... Everythinghas to go right. One day, I’d loveto see Aaron Finch with all hismates lift that T20 World Cupabove his head.” PTI
��� ��23341C��1
Veteran batsman Ross Taylorbagged the prestigious New
Zealand Cricketer of the Yearaward on Friday, winning the SirRichard Hadlee Medal for thethird time for excelling acrossformats.
In what has been a season ofmilestones, Taylor leapfroggedStephen Fleming as NewZealand’s leading run-scorer inTest matches and became thefirst cricketer from any countryto play 100 International match-es in all three formats.
He scored 1389 runs in thelast season in all formats and wasan integral member of the NewZealand team which reached theWorld Cup final in July.
“It’s been full of ups anddowns. A World Cup final, los-ing that final. The Boxing DayTest which was such a proudmoment to be part of and tohave so many Kiwis there sup-porting us was something I’llnever forget,” Taylor toldreporters as the three-day virtu-al awards ceremony concluded.
“The biggest thing, I think,is the hunger and the mentalmotivation to keep getting bet-ter, if that’s still there then age isjust a number,” the 36-year-oldadded.
Taylor also said he wouldremain with the Black Caps aslong as he felt he deserved hisspot and was contributing to theteam.
“I’ll see if I can get to (age)38 or 39, which will be the nextWorld Cup, and we’ll see fromthere,” he said.
Hadlee, regarded NewZealand’s greatest cricketer,
congratulated Taylor on the
achievement.“I’ve followed your career
since 2006 as I was part of theselection panel when you playedyour first ODI and then Testmatch,” Hadlee told Taylor viavideo link.
“I’ve watched your progressover the past 14 years and I justwant to congratulate you on allyour performances and recordsto date.
“You’ve been a wonderfulperformer, you’ve got a fantas-tic record and on behalf of NewZealand Cricket I’d just like tosay thanks very much for yourcontribution, not only to NewZealand cricket, but to worldcricket.”
Pacer Tim Southee onFriday followed his best bowleraward with the Test Player of theYear recognition.
Southee scalped 25 wicketsat an average of 16.4 in the fourTest matches that New Zealandwon during the awards period.
“To perform in the formatis very pleasing and the stats arenice, but at the end of the daythere’s a lot of work from yourteammates that go into thosenumbers,” said Southee.
� �� �MCC President KumarSangakkara has advocated arevival of international cricket inPakistan, calling on powerhous-es like England and Australia totake the leading role in thisendeavour.
Sangakkara was part of theSri Lankan team, which wasattacked by terrorists in 2009near the Gaddafi Stadium inLahore, but he says returning toPakistan and playing cricket forthe MCC, which is the custodi-an of cricket laws, was a gooddecision earlier this year.
In February, the Sri Lankan
legend had travelled to Lahorefor Marleybone Cricket Club’sPakistan tour for a documentarycalled MCC: On tour in Lahore.
“It doesn’t matter an Asianside going there or a secondaryside in terms of world promi-nence when it comes to havingsecurity measures in place,”Sangakkara told The CricketShow on Sky Sports Cricket.
“I think it’s important thatEngland or Australia, even SouthAfrica, make up their minds toactually tour when security isassured and they have those dis-cussions; the MCC tour will be
a precursor to that.”The MCC had won a 20-
over match against LahoreQalandars before losing by fivewickets to the Pakistan Shaheensin a 50-over fixture two dayslater.
England last played a Testseries in Pakistan in 2005 andsince then Pakistan have playedtheir home series at neutralvenues against prominent teams.
Sangakkara said a full-fledged tour was not possible atthis stage.
“I don’t think you are evergoing to see in the near future afive-Test match series coupledwith a one-day series playedback-to-back.
“I think it will be more acase of you play two Test match-es, you take a break, you go backand play three one-dayers,” hesaid.
“A strong Pakistan side play-ing in front of their homecrowds is one of the best thingsthat can happen to world crick-et,” he added. PTI
�� �� �� The badmintonworld championship slated forAugust next year in Spain willnow take place from November29 to December 5, the sport’sapex body said on Friday, post-poning its showpiece to avoid aclash with the Olympics.
“The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) and SpanishBadminton Federation (FESBA)can confirm the BWF WorldChampionships traditionallyscheduled for August 2021 willnow take place at the end of 2021from Monday 29 November toSunday 5 December,” the BWFsaid in a statement.
The world championshiphas traditionally been an annu-al event, which is however not
held in an Olympic year. But,with the 2020 Tokyo Gamespostponed to next year owing tothe Covid-19 pandemic, it willbe the first time that the presti-gious event will be conducted inthe Olympic year.
The decision to postponethe Tokyo 2020 Olympic andParalympic Games to 23 July to8 August and 24 August until 5September 2021 only confirmedthis move, the BWF said.
The decision means reign-ing champion P V Sindhu willget a chance to defend her titlewhen the tournament is held atthe Carolina Marin Stadium, thearena named after the three-timeworld champion in her nativecity of Huelva in Spain. PTI
����� 3�1 �1
Premier League clubs onFriday reconfirmed their
commitment to finish the2019/20 season subject to coro-navirus restrictions being liftedin Britain despite fears expressedby players.
The English top flight facesan eye-watering estimated lossof around £1 billion ($1.25 bil-lion) if no more football isplayed due to the global pan-demic.
Playing the 92 remaininggames behind closed doorswould mitigate that loss, avoid-ing the need to repay hundredsof millions to broadcasters.
But the Premier Leaguefaces huge logistical difficultiesin its attempts to return toaction, with Britain one of thecountries worst-hit by Covid-19.
The league and clubs dis-cussed possible steps towards
resuming the season at a meet-ing on Friday.
“The league and clubs areconsidering the first tentativemoves forward and will onlyreturn to training and playingwith Government guidance,
under expert medical adviceand after consultation withplayers and managers,” thePremier League said in a state-ment.
“The clubs reconfirmedtheir commitment to finishing
the 2019/20 season, maintain-ing integrity of the competitionand welcomed theGovernment’s support.”
The British Government isdue to review a nationwide
lockdown on May 7 and PrimeMinister Boris Johnsonpromised on Thursday to pro-vide a “roadmap” towards eas-ing restrictions.
Liverpool are on the brink
����� 12�� 23�4
Australia will not allow theuse of saliva or sweat to
shine the ball once crickettraining resumes in the postCovid-19 world, says a frame-work released by the federalGovernment regarding thestaged return of sports amid thepandemic.
There is speculation thatuse of saliva to shine the ballwill be stopped to cut down therisk of the highly contagious
infection with reports suggest-ing that the ICC is consideringthe possibility of allowing theuse of artificial substances topolish the red ball under thesupervision of umpires.
According to ESPNcricinfo,Australian Institute of Sport(AIS) in consultation withmedical experts, sporting bod-ies and federal and stateGovernments, has come upwith guidelines, restricting theuse of saliva and sweat to shinethe ball.
�����-6 (4 �
Gareth Bale has said he wouldbe interested in playing in
Major League Soccer in Americaif he leaves Real Madrid.
Bale has not been a regularin Zinedine Zidane’s team thisseason and the 30-year-oldalmost departed last summer,before a move to Chinese clubJiangsu Suning fell through.
Any MLS club keen to signBale would likely have to over-come the huge financial impli-cations of a deal. Bale’s Madridcontract ends in 2022 and earnshim close to 30 million euros($33 million) a year before tax.
“I really like the league,” saidBale, speaking to the Hat-Trickpodcast presented by the ICC, inan episode released on Thursday.
“I think it’s grown so muchover the years. Whenwe come over and playthem in pre-season,the games are difficult,the standard isgetting a lot bet-ter. The clubsare improving,the facilities areimproving, thestadiums areimproving.
“I think it’s aleague that’s onthe up and still ris-ing.
I think a lotmore playerswant to comeover to Americanow and play. Iwould defi-nitely be inter-ested in it.”
�����;�������� ))��)����� �$����&����� �����0����������������������������������������� � ��Italy’s Serie A clubs onFriday reiterated their unani-mous desire to complete thefootball season interruptedamid the coronavirus crisis.
The emergency Lega SerieA assembly via video of the 20top flight clubs came afterSports Minister VincenzoSpadafora this week said thechances of restarting were“increasingly narrow”.
Lega Serie A presidentPaolo Dal Pino stated “his
openness to a dialogue with theGovernment from a construc-tive and collaborative perspec-tive, obtaining on this positionthe full agreement of all theclubs”. The top flight clubshave repeatedly insisted thatthey want to finish the 2019-20campaign which has been sus-pended since March 9 amid thehealth crisis.
Clubs would like to resumetraining on May 18 at the lat-est and start playing again in theweekend of June 13-14. AFP
/ ���%��� ��� �������������
of their first league title for 30years with a 25-point lead at thetop of the table.
However the PremierLeague is keen to avoid poten-tial legal challenges over theawarding of much more tight-ly contested European places,relegation and promotion ifthe season cannot be complet-ed.
Key to any restarting ofmatches in the Premier Leagueis Government support. OliverDowden, the Secretary of Statefor Digital, Culture, Media andSport, struck a positive toneafter a meeting with leaders ofa number of sports on Friday.
“We just kicked off first ofmany detailed meetings to planfor a safe return of elite sportbehind closed doors when, andonly when, it is safe to do so onthe basis of expert medicaladvice,” Dowden tweeted.
However, players are ques-tioning whether they are beingrushed back into action to savethe clubs money.
