A day after the Centre allowed States to bring back migrant workers to their respective States by roads, the logistical nightmare in arrang- ing tens of thousands of buses for this purpose has begun to haunt the State Governments. At least seven States — Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar — have asked the Centre to run trains to move the migrants to their States citing the distance and the difficulty in logistics of trav- elling by bus. Sources said the Railway Ministry is planning to run 400 special trains per day and may increase the number to 1,000 special trains. As safeguards, the train will run to the pas- senger-carrying capacity. Taking to Twitter, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wrote, “Long- awaited demand of movement of migrant workers has finally been accepted by the GoI. It is a welcome step but until GoI allows Indian Railways to oper- ate, practically it will not be possible to facilitate smooth and hassle-free transport to their home.” The Rajasthan CM said more than six lakh migrants have registered with the Rajasthan Government, asking for help to get home. They are being screened for coronavirus symptoms and those who don’t have any are being allowed to proceed. Telangana Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav also demanded that the Centre arrange special trains and provide free transportation for migrant workers to their native States. The Bihar Government also urged the Centre to allow running of special trains to facilitate the return of people stranded in different parts of the country. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi made an appeal in a video mes- sage claiming that depending on the road route could take months because of the limited availability and capacity of buses. Modi said the number of those wanting to return is like- ly to be huge. According to officials of the Bihar Government, it is esti- mated that there are 25-30 lakh people from Bihar, includ- ing students and migrant work- ers, stranded across the coun- try and it needs at least one lakh buses to bring them back by road. In a related development, Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav took the Twitter to announce that he has sent 30 buses to Kota, Rajasthan to bring back students from Bihar. “If we depend on buses, the process could take months to complete. I would therefore urge the Centre to run special trains. These could be non-stop ones, with no halts between the points of departure and the destinations. Seating arrange- ments could be made for pas- sengers in a way that social dis- tancing is ensured. Food, water etc could be made available on board,” Sushil added. The Nitish Kumar Government has been facing criticism from all quarters over its handling of the migrant crisis and its reluc- tance to bring back their peo- ple who have been stuck across the country during the lockdown. A s citizens wait with the bated breath for the Government’s decision on lockdown on May 3, the num- ber of Covid-19 cases in India continues to surge. On Thursday, it came close to 35,000 mark with Maharashtra alone logging more than 10,000 case and 459 deaths. Maharashtra was followed by Gujarat and Delhi, the two of the other States that have been severely hit with more than 4,000 and 3,000 cases respectively. It was another day of big spike of Gujarat, which added 303 new cases to reach the total of 4,395 and 214 deaths. Tamil Nadu also saw a big surge on Thursday with the addition of 161 cases . The State has now 2,323 cases and 27 deaths. Maharashtra recorded 27 deaths due to Covid-19 and with 583 fresh cases, the total number of infected cases crossed 10,000 mark to touch a tally of 10,498 cases. Of the latest 27 deaths, Mumbai accounted for 20 deaths, while there were three deaths in Pune, two in Thane and one each Nagpur and Raigad. Of those dead on Thursday, 19 were men while 8 were women. “Fourteen of the deceased were aged over 60 years, while 13 were from the age group of 40 to 59 years. “Twenty two out of 27 patients (81%) had high-risk co-mor- bidities such as diabetes, hyper- tension, heart disease, etc,” the State health bulletin said. Mumbai, which continues to be the worst-coronavirus affected city in the country, continued to be in the vice grip of Covid-19, as the pandemic claimed 20 more lives taking the total number of deaths in the metropolis to 290. Similarly, the total number of infected cases rose to alarming 7,061. Of the 20 deaths reported in Mumbai, 16 deceased had co- morbidities. Out of 1,45,798 laboratory samples, 1,34,244 tested nega- tive, while 10,498 have tested positive for coronavirus until Thursday. There are 733 active con- tainment zones in the State cur- rently. Total 10,092 surveil- lance squads worked on Friday across the State and surveil- lance of 42.11 lakh population was done. As many as 1,773 patients have been discharged till date after full recovery. Currently, 1,68,266 people are in home quarantine and 10,695 people are in institu- tional quarantine. Meanwhile, four teams from Government of India vis- ited various parts of Mumbai to monitor and assess the pre- vention & control measures undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at com- munity level and treatment facilities in the month of April. T he Government on Thursday said that the recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has increased to 25.19 per cent, while the doubling rate of positive coronavirus cases has gone up to 11 days. At least six States and Union Territories have reported a doubling rate of 20 days and above, with Himachal Pradesh taking the lead. “The progressive recovery rate of Covid-19 patients in the country now stands at 25.19 per cent, which was 13.06 per cent 14 days ago,” Joint Secretary at the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said at a Press conference here. Doubling time means the number of days it takes for the Covid-19 cases to duplicate. Agarwal cited data saying that coronavirus cases in Assam are doubling in 59 days, Telangana in 70.8 days, Chhattisgarh in 89.7 days and Himachal Pradesh in 191.6 days. Besides this, Karnataka is witnessing doubling in 21.6 days, Ladakh in 24.2 days, Haryana in 24.4 days, Uttarakhand in 30.3 days and Kerala in 37.5 days. Delhi saw doubling in 11.3 days, whereas cases in Uttar Pradesh became twice in 12 days, J&K in 12.2 days, 13 days in Odisha, 17.8 days in Rajasthan, 19.1 days Tamil Nadu and 19.5 days in Punjab. U nion Home Ministry on Thursday asked the States to facilitate easy movement of trucks to speed up the supply of all items, including essential commodities. In a letter to Chief Secretaries, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said all inter-State as well as intra- State truck movements must go on without any hindrance for the smooth movement of goods. This is Home Secretary’s fourth letter on easy movement of truck movements. The MHA also said empty trucks or trucks carrying any item should not be blocked anywhere, including at borders of States. The letter also reiter- ated that all trucks can carry a person apart from driver in the cargo carrying vehicles. Except drivers’ licence, nothing should be subject to checking by authorities, it said, adding that all transportation of non-essen- tial commodities is allowed. There were complaints from truck owners’ bodies that they were facing checks from some State borders and harassment from authorities. “The MHA has re-iterated to all States/UTs that, as per the consolidated revised guide- lines on lockdown measures, no separate passes are required for through traffic of trucks and goods carriers, including empty trucks etc,” the MHA said. In order to ensure compli- ance to these guidelines, the MHA has asked all States and UTs to ensure that district author- ities and field agencies are sensi- tised about the above instruc- tions, so that there is no ambi- guity at the ground level, and movement of through traffic of trucks and goods carriers, includ- ing empty trucks, is allowed without any hindrance. S ometimes you think you know all about the stars. Simply because you have seen them larger than life onscreen while growing up. Simply because you have read so much about them. In the end, you have formed a picture of them in your minds, just like the cin- ema projector, and have con- vinced yourself that is as good as it gets. Till you meet them in person. And they leave you with a stray memory of their inner selves. Rishi Kapoor was one such and more. He would lay his heart bare. Many years ago, when he was on the cusp of his second coming as an actor rather than the star by playing the brutal- ly cold villain Rauf Lala in Agneepath, I had met him at home. He was old world that way, relying on his secretary to find a time slot that would allow him to talk at length on his craft without the noise of film promotions. I was early for my appointment at Krishna Raj on 56 Pali Hill, fearing Mumbai traffic. Twenty minutes too early for Rishi Kapoor who was to meet me at 11 am. His office staff was readying for the day, shining up the awards shields and trophies, the cars had been lined up, indicating the denizens were in. I went down a flight of steps and was shown into a reception lounge which opened into a lawn encircled by azulejo panels. The lounge itself was a tribute to European tile art, with holy crosses of var- ious colours and sizes adorning the walls and pillars and a blithe Mary and Jesus alcove spreading benediction all around. “I just love Portuguese ceramic tiles and have been col- lecting them whenever I trav- el. It’s not religious though my going to a missionary school may have had something to do with my love for the holy cross,” said the man who showed up early because a guest was waiting. And the re-energised Rishi Kapoor, beginning the day with an earthy chaach, was not done with the artiste inside, be it decorating his little comfort zone or experimenting with his versatility in the second innings of his life. But that day he wanted a great conversation with a journalist guest and to play some word games on Literati. That year was 2012. So he was most curious about what the UP Assembly elec- tions were going to throw up and whether governance would be an issue. He was clued in about politics and cor- ruption, saying he never missed the 9 pm news, a far stronger addiction than the food or drink he loved. Apart from discovering a news junkie, he also appeared a practicalist, saying though the Kapoor eco-system was such that all members knew how to make films by the time they were 10, the sons of Raj Kapoor didn’t know the niceties of business too well and would have to ultimately sell RK stu- dios, which they did. New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the Delhi Government is making arrangements to bring back students of the national Capital who are stranded in Rajasthan’s Kota due to the lockdown imposed to control the spread of coronavirus. “Delhi Govt is making arrange- ments to soon bring Del stu- dents back home from Kota”, Kejriwal said in a tweet. Bengaluru: The Karnataka Government on Thursday decided to allow migrant work- ers, tourists, students and oth- ers stranded in different parts of the State due to the ongoing lockdown to return to their native places, a day after the Centre issued guidelines for the process. I n what came as a big relief for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday request- ed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to schedule elec- tions to the nine vacant seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council ‘at the earliest’. A day after Uddhav spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought the latter’s intervention to speed up the process of Koshyari nominat- ing him to the Maharashtra Legislature Council, the Governor wrote a letter to the ECI, urging it to fill nine seats that have been lying vacant from April 24, “with a view to end the current uncertainty in the State”. In his letter to the Election Commission, the Governor stated that the Centre had announced many relaxation measures regarding the enforcement of lockdown in the country. T he Supreme Court on Thursday refused to enter- tain a plea against the Centre’s Central Vista project which covers a 3-km stretch, from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, and includes construction of new Parliament building. A bench, comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justice Aniruddha Bose, did not agree to the submission that the project in Lutyens’ Delhi need- ed to be stayed as the Government bodies were to approach the authorities con- cerned for clearance and other formalities. “Nobody is going to do anything’ during the Covid-19 pandemic, said the bench. A mong top States with max- imum number of Covid-19 cases, Madhya Pradesh has now witnessed a dip in the cases in last week. However, the disease has so far affected 60 per cent of the State's districts with fresh cases. Amid death and destruc- tion all around, in a heartening aspect, the numbers of patients who have recovered from the infection crossed 500 mark on Wednesday. Between April 13 and 19, as many as 569 corona positive cases were reported in Indore which was only 269 between April 20 to 26 which was almost 50 per cent less. In last three days, the fresh cases were 165, 94 and 19 in Indore as the administration is claiming that majority of these cases are old samples tested now. Bhopal reported 112 fresh cases from April 13 to 19 while the same surged by 428 cases from April 20 to 26 an increase of around 380 per cent. In the same duration, only three pos- itive case increased in Ujjain from April 13 to 19 while the same surged by 79 which was an increase of around 12 per cent in first week as compared to 278 per cent spike in cases in the next week. However, Statewide report suggests that total cases rose from 615 to 1,370 (surge of 755) from April 13 to 19 while the same surged from 1485 to 2099 (surge of 614) between April 20 to 26, registering a dip from 122 per cent increase in the first week to 41 per cent surge in fresh cases in the sec- ond week. Comparatively, the rise in fresh cases in the State dipped by around 20 per cent in this period. By Thursday, the total number of cases of infection have risen to 1,485 in Indore, 495 in Bhopal, 137 in Ujjain, 70 in Khargone 26 in Barwani, 54 in Raisen, 46 in Khandwa and 48 in Dhar. An official statement on Wednesday said, the corona infection was prevalent in 31 out of 52 districts in Madhya Pradesh which makes the State 60 per cent affected by the fatal virus. Half a dozen of his kin were taken into quarantine but none turned out to be positive. On April 30, a 42-year-old woman who came to Katni from Sehora in Jabalpur has been tested positive. Her sec- ond sample has been sent for test on April 29. Besides, a man who is said to be affiliated to Tablighi Jamaat from village Akhrad in Umaria district in April second week. However, the man was in Nagpur and has been getting treatment in the Maharashtra city. Including these two, cases not included in State Health records, the State has 33 dis- tricts affected i.e. 63 per cent of the State is affected by the virus. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "It's heart- ening fact that fresh positive cases are going down in Bhopal, Indore and at State level also, mortalities are also coming down plus those recu- perating from the infection are increasing in numbers," added Chouhan. The number of patients who have recovered from the virus rose to 514 on Thursday. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008
back migrant workers to theirrespective States by roads, thelogistical nightmare in arrang-ing tens of thousands of busesfor this purpose has begun tohaunt the State Governments.At least seven States —Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Punjab and Bihar — have askedthe Centre to run trains tomove the migrants to theirStates citing the distance andthe difficulty in logistics of trav-elling by bus.
Sources said the RailwayMinistry is planning to run 400special trains per day and mayincrease the number to 1,000special trains. As safeguards,the train will run to the pas-senger-carrying capacity.
Taking to Twitter,Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot wrote, “Long-awaited demand of movementof migrant workers has finallybeen accepted by the GoI. It isa welcome step but until GoIallows Indian Railways to oper-ate, practically it will not bepossible to facilitate smoothand hassle-free transport totheir home.”
The Rajasthan CM saidmore than six lakh migrantshave registered with theRajasthan Government, askingfor help to get home. They arebeing screened for coronavirussymptoms and those who don’thave any are being allowed toproceed.
Telangana AnimalHusbandry Minister T SrinivasYadav also demanded that theCentre arrange special trainsand provide free transportationfor migrant workers to theirnative States.
The Bihar Governmentalso urged the Centre to allowrunning of special trains to
facilitate the return of peoplestranded in different parts ofthe country. Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Kumar Modimade an appeal in a video mes-sage claiming that dependingon the road route could takemonths because of the limitedavailability and capacity ofbuses. Modi said the number ofthose wanting to return is like-ly to be huge.
According to officials of theBihar Government, it is esti-mated that there are 25-30lakh people from Bihar, includ-ing students and migrant work-ers, stranded across the coun-try and it needs at least onelakh buses to bring them backby road.
In a related development,Jan Adhikar Party leader PappuYadav took the Twitter toannounce that he has sent 30buses to Kota, Rajasthan to
bring back students from Bihar.“If we depend on buses, the
process could take months tocomplete. I would thereforeurge the Centre to run specialtrains. These could be non-stopones, with no halts between thepoints of departure and thedestinations. Seating arrange-ments could be made for pas-sengers in a way that social dis-tancing is ensured. Food, wateretc could be made available onboard,” Sushil added.
The Nitish KumarGovernment has been facingcriticism from all quartersover its handling of themigrant crisis and its reluc-tance to bring back their peo-ple who have been stuckacross the country during thelockdown.
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As citizens wait with thebated breath for the
Government’s decision onlockdown on May 3, the num-ber of Covid-19 cases in Indiacontinues to surge. OnThursday, it came close to35,000 mark with Maharashtraalone logging more than 10,000case and 459 deaths.
Maharashtra was followedby Gujarat and Delhi, the twoof the other States that havebeen severely hit with morethan 4,000 and 3,000 casesrespectively. It was anotherday of big spike of Gujarat,which added 303 new cases toreach the total of 4,395 and 214deaths. Tamil Nadu also saw abig surge on Thursday with theaddition of 161 cases . The Statehas now 2,323 cases and 27deaths.
Maharashtra recorded 27deaths due to Covid-19 andwith 583 fresh cases, the totalnumber of infected casescrossed 10,000 mark to toucha tally of 10,498 cases. Of thelatest 27 deaths, Mumbaiaccounted for 20 deaths, whilethere were three deaths inPune, two in Thane and oneeach Nagpur and Raigad.
Of those dead on
Thursday, 19 were men while8 were women. “Fourteen ofthe deceased were aged over 60years, while 13 were from theage group of 40 to 59 years.“Twenty two out of 27 patients(81%) had high-risk co-mor-bidities such as diabetes, hyper-tension, heart disease, etc,” theState health bulletin said.
Mumbai, which continuesto be the worst-coronavirusaffected city in the country,continued to be in the vice gripof Covid-19, as the pandemicclaimed 20 more lives takingthe total number of deaths inthe metropolis to 290. Similarly,the total number of infectedcases rose to alarming 7,061. Ofthe 20 deaths reported inMumbai, 16 deceased had co-morbidities.
Out of 1,45,798 laboratorysamples, 1,34,244 tested nega-tive, while 10,498 have tested
positive for coronavirus untilThursday.
There are 733 active con-tainment zones in the State cur-rently. Total 10,092 surveil-lance squads worked on Fridayacross the State and surveil-lance of 42.11 lakh populationwas done.
As many as 1,773 patientshave been discharged tilldate after full recovery.Currently, 1,68,266 peopleare in home quarantine and10,695 people are in institu-tional quarantine.
Meanwhile, four teamsfrom Government of India vis-ited various parts of Mumbai tomonitor and assess the pre-vention & control measuresundertaken by theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) at com-munity level and treatmentfacilities in the month of April.
����� -67�*68#.
The Government onThursday said that the
recovery rate of Covid-19patients has increased to 25.19per cent, while the doublingrate of positive coronaviruscases has gone up to 11 days. Atleast six States and UnionTerritories have reported adoubling rate of 20 days andabove, with Himachal Pradeshtaking the lead.
“The progressive recoveryrate of Covid-19 patients in thecountry now stands at 25.19per cent, which was 13.06 percent 14 days ago,” JointSecretary at the Union HealthMinistry Lav Agarwal said at aPress conference here.
Doubling time means thenumber of days it takes for theCovid-19 cases to duplicate.Agarwal cited data saying thatcoronavirus cases in Assam aredoubling in 59 days, Telanganain 70.8 days, Chhattisgarh in89.7 days and HimachalPradesh in 191.6 days.
Besides this, Karnataka iswitnessing doubling in 21.6
days, Ladakh in 24.2 days,Haryana in 24.4 days,Uttarakhand in 30.3 days andKerala in 37.5 days.
Delhi saw doubling in11.3 days, whereas cases inUttar Pradesh became twicein 12 days, J&K in 12.2 days,13 days in Odisha, 17.8 daysin Rajasthan, 19.1 days TamilNadu and 19.5 days inPunjab.
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Union Home Ministry onThursday asked the States
to facilitate easy movement oftrucks to speed up the supplyof all items, including essentialcommodities. In a letter toChief Secretaries, Union HomeSecretary Ajay Bhalla said allinter-State as well as intra-State truck movements must goon without any hindrance forthe smooth movement ofgoods. This is Home Secretary’sfourth letter on easy movementof truck movements.
The MHA also said emptytrucks or trucks carrying anyitem should not be blockedanywhere, including at bordersof States. The letter also reiter-ated that all trucks can carry aperson apart from driver in thecargo carrying vehicles. Exceptdrivers’ licence, nothing shouldbe subject to checking byauthorities, it said, adding thatall transportation of non-essen-tial commodities is allowed.
There were complaintsfrom truck owners’ bodies thatthey were facing checks from
some State borders andharassment from authorities.
“The MHA has re-iteratedto all States/UTs that, as per theconsolidated revised guide-lines on lockdown measures,no separate passes are requiredfor through traffic of trucks andgoods carriers, including emptytrucks etc,” the MHA said.
In order to ensure compli-ance to these guidelines, theMHA has asked all States andUTs to ensure that district author-ities and field agencies are sensi-tised about the above instruc-tions, so that there is no ambi-guity at the ground level, andmovement of through traffic oftrucks and goods carriers, includ-ing empty trucks, is allowedwithout any hindrance.
��� ��"������ -67�*68#.
Sometimes you think youknow all about the stars.
Simply because you have seenthem larger than life onscreenwhile growing up. Simplybecause you have read so muchabout them. In the end, youhave formed a picture of themin your minds, just like the cin-ema projector, and have con-vinced yourself that is as goodas it gets. Till you meet them inperson. And they leave youwith a stray memory of theirinner selves. Rishi Kapoor wasone such and more. He wouldlay his heart bare.
Many years ago, when hewas on the cusp of his secondcoming as an actor rather thanthe star by playing the brutal-ly cold villain Rauf Lala inAgneepath, I had met him athome. He was old world thatway, relying on his secretary to
find a time slot that wouldallow him to talk at length onhis craft without the noise offilm promotions. I was early formy appointment at Krishna Rajon 56 Pali Hill, fearing Mumbaitraffic. Twenty minutes too
early for Rishi Kapoor who wasto meet me at 11 am. His officestaff was readying for the day,shining up the awards shieldsand trophies, the cars had beenlined up, indicating thedenizens were in. I went down
a flight of steps and was showninto a reception lounge whichopened into a lawn encircled byazulejo panels. The loungeitself was a tribute to Europeantile art, with holy crosses of var-ious colours and sizes adorningthe walls and pillars and ablithe Mary and Jesus alcovespreading benediction allaround.
“I just love Portugueseceramic tiles and have been col-lecting them whenever I trav-el. It’s not religious though mygoing to a missionary schoolmay have had something to dowith my love for the holycross,” said the man whoshowed up early because aguest was waiting.
And the re-energised RishiKapoor, beginning the daywith an earthy chaach, was notdone with the artiste inside, beit decorating his little comfortzone or experimenting with his
versatility in the secondinnings of his life. But that dayhe wanted a great conversationwith a journalist guest and toplay some word games onLiterati. That year was 2012. Sohe was most curious aboutwhat the UP Assembly elec-tions were going to throw upand whether governancewould be an issue. He wasclued in about politics and cor-ruption, saying he nevermissed the 9 pm news, a farstronger addiction than thefood or drink he loved. Apartfrom discovering a newsjunkie, he also appeared apracticalist, saying though theKapoor eco-system was suchthat all members knew how tomake films by the time theywere 10, the sons of Raj Kapoordidn’t know the niceties ofbusiness too well and wouldhave to ultimately sell RK stu-dios, which they did.
New Delhi: Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Thursdaysaid the Delhi Government ismaking arrangements to bringback students of the nationalCapital who are stranded inRajasthan’s Kota due to thelockdown imposed to controlthe spread of coronavirus.“Delhi Govt is making arrange-ments to soon bring Del stu-dents back home from Kota”,Kejriwal said in a tweet.
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Bengaluru: The KarnatakaGovernment on Thursdaydecided to allow migrant work-ers, tourists, students and oth-ers stranded in different partsof the State due to the ongoinglockdown to return to theirnative places, a day after theCentre issued guidelines for theprocess.
In what came as a big relief forChief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray, MaharashtraGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari on Thursday request-ed the Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) to schedule elec-tions to the nine vacant seats ofthe Maharashtra LegislativeCouncil ‘at the earliest’.
A day after Uddhav spoketo Prime Minister NarendraModi and sought the latter’sintervention to speed up theprocess of Koshyari nominat-ing him to the MaharashtraLegislature Council, theGovernor wrote a letter to theECI, urging it to fill nine seatsthat have been lying vacant
from April 24, “with a view toend the current uncertainty inthe State”.
In his letter to the ElectionCommission, the Governorstated that the Centre hadannounced many relaxationmeasures regarding theenforcement of lockdown inthe country.
tain a plea against the Centre’sCentral Vista project whichcovers a 3-km stretch, fromRashtrapati Bhavan to IndiaGate, and includes constructionof new Parliament building.
A bench, comprising ChiefJustice SA Bobde and JusticeAniruddha Bose, did not agreeto the submission that theproject in Lutyens’ Delhi need-ed to be stayed as theGovernment bodies were toapproach the authorities con-cerned for clearance and otherformalities.
“Nobody is going to doanything’ during the Covid-19pandemic, said the bench.
cases, Madhya Pradesh hasnow witnessed a dip in thecases in last week. However, thedisease has so far affected 60per cent of the State's districtswith fresh cases.
Amid death and destruc-tion all around, in a hearteningaspect, the numbers of patientswho have recovered from theinfection crossed 500 mark onWednesday.
Between April 13 and 19,as many as 569 corona positivecases were reported in Indorewhich was only 269 betweenApril 20 to 26 which wasalmost 50 per cent less. In lastthree days, the fresh cases were165, 94 and 19 in Indore as theadministration is claiming thatmajority of these cases are oldsamples tested now.
Bhopal reported 112 freshcases from April 13 to 19 whilethe same surged by 428 casesfrom April 20 to 26 an increaseof around 380 per cent. In thesame duration, only three pos-itive case increased in Ujjainfrom April 13 to 19 while thesame surged by 79 which wasan increase of around 12 per
cent in first week as comparedto 278 per cent spike in casesin the next week.
However, Statewide reportsuggests that total cases rosefrom 615 to 1,370 (surge of755) from April 13 to 19 whilethe same surged from 1485 to2099 (surge of 614) betweenApril 20 to 26, registering a dip
from 122 per cent increase inthe first week to 41 per centsurge in fresh cases in the sec-ond week. Comparatively, therise in fresh cases in the Statedipped by around 20 per centin this period.
By Thursday, the totalnumber of cases of infectionhave risen to 1,485 in Indore,495 in Bhopal, 137 in Ujjain, 70in Khargone 26 in Barwani, 54in Raisen, 46 in Khandwa and48 in Dhar.
An official statement onWednesday said, the coronainfection was prevalent in 31
out of 52 districts in MadhyaPradesh which makes the State60 per cent affected by the fatalvirus. Half a dozen of his kinwere taken into quarantine butnone turned out to be positive.
On April 30, a 42-year-oldwoman who came to Katnifrom Sehora in Jabalpur hasbeen tested positive. Her sec-ond sample has been sent fortest on April 29.
Besides, a man who is saidto be affiliated to TablighiJamaat from village Akhrad inUmaria district in April secondweek. However, the man was inNagpur and has been gettingtreatment in the Maharashtracity. Including these two, casesnot included in State Healthrecords, the State has 33 dis-tricts affected i.e. 63 per cent ofthe State is affected by the virus.
Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan said, "It's heart-ening fact that fresh positivecases are going down inBhopal, Indore and at Statelevel also, mortalities are alsocoming down plus those recu-perating from the infectionare increasing in numbers,"added Chouhan. The numberof patients who have recoveredfrom the virus rose to 514 onThursday.
To provide support and helpto the stranded people in
the imposed lockdown andfacilitate return of people ofstate stranded in different partsof the states, a control rooms atState assemblies have beenestablished.
After video conferencing ofSpeakers of State Assembliesand Chief Secretaries onCorona pandemic it was dis-cussed and establish control
room on April 23, 2020 forhelping stranded people in thelockdown.
The control room wouldprovide help to MadhyaPradesh people stranded inRajashtan (Jodhpur),Telangana, Andra Pradesh,Gujarat and other states. Thecontrol room was establishedon April 23, 2020 which isaimed to provide help tostranded people in other partsof state and facilitate theirreturn to the state.
With the help and coordi-nation of the control room 28people from Jodhpur Rajasthanand 10 people in two groupsfrom Jodhpur to Mandsaurhas been facilitated for returnand all other facilities required
in the process has been com-pleted. These people reachedMandsaur on Thursdayevening.
Professor VK Parashar ofBhopal who is a suffering fromcancer and was stranded inRoorkee Uttarakhand has beenprovided with permissionthrough e-pass after his letterwas received by Chief Secretaryand after the letter was receivedUttarakhand state assemblycontrol room was informedand permission was providedfor his return to Bhopal.
In the same manner effortsof providing food for people ofthe state stranded in Gujaratand Telangana states were fruit-ful and help was providing tothese people.
Burglars targeted car work-shop of Maruti Company at
Nayapura under Kolar policestation area on Sunday anddecamped with goods worth Rs1 lakh on Wednesday.
According to the police, thecomplainant Nitin Saman whois employee with the workshopof Maruti owned by ‘My car’showroom lodged complaintregarding breaking of shutter ofworkshop and burglary ofgoods.
In the complaint Nitin stat-ed that when he reached theworkshop in the morning shut-ter was found broken and onentering goods were found bur-gled.The miscreants managedto escape with repair tool, spareparts and tyres of MarutiCompany. The total loss wasaround Rs 1 lakh. The policehave registered a case undersection 457 and 380 of the IPC
and have started further inves-tigation.The footages ofinstalled CCTV camerasinstalled at the workshop andnearby areas would be checkedduring the further investigationto establish the identity of themiscreants.
The workshop was closedafter the lockdown wasimposed and around two daysago the employee who lodgedcomplaint went to check theworkshop on Wednesday andfound that the goods have beenburgled. Police were informedand on the receipt police teamreached the spot and startedinvestigation.
Locals and security guardsof the area would be questionedin the further investigation.Police suspects that habitualoffenders of the area areinvolved in burglary and searchwould be made for any kind ofvehicle which was used by mis-creants to carry the goods.
Accountants of India (ICAI)Bhopal chapter distributed safe-ty kits to police officers of thecity, here on Thursday. The kitsincludes masks, gloves, hand-kerchiefs, sanitisers and othersafety materials.
Chairman of ICAI Bhopalchapter CA Zuber Ullah saidthat in this time of global pan-demic the role of cops is unpar-alleled. They are working dayand night without caring ofthemselves and their families.asa result of that many police offi-cers and employees becameprey of covid-19 and unfortu-nately some of them becomemartyred too. Hence undoubt-
edly police safety should be ourtop priority but unfortunatelywe have very limited resources.Understanding the importanceof police safety Bhopal branchof ICAI decided to distributesafety kit in all police station ofBhopal.
In this series it started dis-tribution of kit from mp nagarand Habibganj police stationand express deep regards andgratitude for there untiringduty towards nation.
It distributed 50 kit each inboth police station. Each kitcontains masks, sanitizer,gloves.On this occasion CA.Zuber Ullah Khan(chairman),CA Anshul Agrawal (vice chair-man), CA Pradeep Mutreja(secretary), CA SamankMohabe (Treasurer), CA AnkurJain(Cicasa Chairman), CA.Mayank Agrawal and CA.Aditya Shrivastava from BhopalBranch Managing committeewere present.
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Ratibad police have bookeda couple on the charge of
attempt to murder of a 60-year-old man who died after hewas attacked by couple onApril 24 at Neelbad; couplesuspected that deceased hadtipped off police regardingillegal trade of liquor.
The nabbed accusedKishore Suryavanshi and LeelaSuryavanshi were detainedafter the death of RameshMalviya on April 24.Policefound that the house of theaccused was raided by policeafter receiving informationand later suspecting thatRamesh has hinted the policethey went in search of theaccused who met them at ShivNagar Neelabad after whichthey showered punches andattacked with wooden stickand Ramesh fell on the groundwhile the two escaped thespot. Ramesh was rushed to
hospital where he was declareddead. He died of brain hem-orrhage which was revealed inthe post mortem report andwhich was caused due toshooting up of blood pressure.
The accused couple workas labrourer and has two chil-dren. For the past five daysaccused are detained by theKolar police.
Ramesh used to work aspolice informer and the couplewas aware of the fact and afterthe police raided their housethey attacked him suspectingof passing the information tothe police.Body was sent forthe post mortem after the pre-liminary investigation. Thepolice have registered a caseunder section 307 of the IPC.
Earlier case under section174 of the CrPC was registeredand police said that accusedwould be charged with case ofmurder if it is found in theinvestigation that he died dueto assault by the accused.
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Apollo TeleHealth’sFoundation has enabled
Sanjeevani Telehealth Seva forMadhya Pradesh Governmentto cater to almost 10 millionpeople of Bhopal and Indore -the two districts most serious-ly hit by the COVID 19 pan-demic in the state.
The toll-free call servicewill help patients with non-COVID 19 related issues toseek timely medical help at atime when non-emergencyOPDs have been suspended bymany hospitals.
The Sanjeevani TeleHealthService project is being exe-cuted along with BharatFinancial Inclusion Limited(recently merged into IndusInd
Bank) under their CSR initia-tive. The toll-free number wasimmediately flooded withqueries, receiving over 200calls within a few hours ofbeing launched."The move tolaunch a telehealth service inthe hotspot cities of Indore andBhopal is, therefore, a highlywelcome initiative. We wouldlike to appreciate and congrat-ulate the state Government forrecognising this void and act-ing quickly to fill it.
We are happy to become anenabler in this effort and ourdoctors will proactively helppatients to the best of their abil-ities,” said Dr Sangita Reddy,Joint Managing Director,Apollo Hospitals Group.
The new service is beingaggressively promoted by theMadhya Pradesh government.The Commissioner, Health &Family Welfare has also tweet-ed about the service, exhortingthe people of Bhopal andIndore to use it.
was involved in duping victimto the tune of Rs 5000 in thename of ailing daughter bysending message over face-book; several other victimswere sent with the same mes-sage on April 27.
According to the police,the victim Balista Rawat madea payment of Rs 5000 to helpthe ailing daughter of accusedwhich was a fraud in which hegot trapped.
A complaint was lodged byvictim who has Facebook pro-file in the name of BalistaRawat stating that at 7.20 in theevening on April 27 hereceived a message overFacebook messenger fromFacebook profile in the nameof Pandit Phoolchand Shastrithat his ailing daughter requiretreatment and Rs 5000 isrequired, he then provided
mobile number of SurendraYadav for making paymentthrough mobile wallet. Thevictim payment of Rs 5000 intwo parts of Rs 1000 and Rs4000.
The accused providedmobile number as 9126577925while paytm bank accountnumber 918696293873, IFCnumber paytm 0123456.
On April 28 victim’s friendVirendra Tripathi informedthat several requests for helpregarding medical emergencyare sent from his Facebookprofile. The messages contin-ued till 9.45 in the night.
The victim initially con-tacted Chhola Mandir policestation which was in vain as thenumber provided of cyber cellfailed to respond, he contact-ed HDFC bank and paytm butit was of no use. Finally, onApril 29 victim lodged com-plaint with the cyber cellBhopal. The police have regis-tered a case of fraud.
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The faculty members andstudents of Agriculture
and Research Centre ofRavindra Nath TagoreUniversity have taken an ini-tiative to distribute organicvegetables among the needy.
The initiative was takenkeeping in view the ongoinglockdown in the city. The ini-tiative is lead by ProfessorVijay Singh and Nitin Vats,Director, IQAC.
The faculty of Agricultureand Research Centre ofRavindra Nath TagoreUniversity is known foradvanced technology andtechnological innovations.Singh said that theAgricultural ResearchComplex is one of the impor-tant centers of excellence inthe University,
which is the center forskill development for studentsand farmers of the Faculty ofAgriculture. As well as pro-
ducing crops from organicfarming here Is going Variouscrops are being produced inthe university's modern green-houses. Ravindranath Tagore
University, Faculty and stu-dents are constantly makingevery effort to help in this timeof Coronavirus. In this con-text, Nitin Vats informed thatrecently the whole productionof tomatoes and cherry toma-toes produced by organicmethods in the greenhouse at
the University Campus aredistributes among people.Shubham Kumar Kulshrestha,Faculty of Agriculture, Facultyof Agriculture, told that thesetomatoes produced in thegreenhouse have been grownin safe ways with the help ofbacteria and other beneficialmicro-organisms, withoutspraying any chemical medi-cines.
Anurag SD Rai informedthat we have been through"Zindagi the Hope of Change"NGO and Volunteers ofElectrical EngineeringDepartment of the Universityare distributing kits in variousplaces of Bhopal city likeAnand Nagar, Kota,Hathikheda, Barkheri Pathaniand Indrapuri areas.
Guidelines are also givento the poor families regardingapplying masks during fooddelivery, following lockdown,maintaining social distanc-ing, and washing hands withsoap.
Seven men allegedly gang-raped a girl in Betul village
and also threw girl’s brotherinto a well, but she was savedlater.
The police later on theidentification of the victim-aged around 18 years, arrest-ed five men and the searchwas on for the remaining twoaccused.
The incident had takenplace late evening onWednesday, the police said onThursday. One of the arrest-ed accused is a minor boy.
The police said that a girlwas going on a bike with herbrother near Ghodadongri
tehsil when some locals menstopped them close to Padharvillage. As girl’s brotherobjected to the act, the localsbeat him up and threw himinside a well nearby.
The men took turns torape the hapless girl and fledafterwards. The girl somehowreached her home and nar-rated her ordeal to the fami-ly who rushed to the spot andsaved girl’s brother.
After the family informedthe police, five of the accusedwere nabbed while a manhuntwas launched to nab theremaining two, BetulSuperintendent of Police DSBhadauria said.The siblinghave sustained minor injuries
and the police are ascertain-ing whether the girl is aminor.The incident comesdays after when a six-year-oldgirl was raped a week ago inDamoh district and the rapisthad tried to blind the girl bydamaging her eyes. The girlwas saved and the rapist, a vil-lage youth, has been arrestedby the police.
In another incident a 53-year-old visually impairedwoman bank employee wasraped by a local goon inBhopal’s Shahpura area asher family was stuck inRajasthan due to lockdown onApril 18. The rapist, a habit-ual criminal was later nabbedby the police recently.
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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that
many of our lawyers are facingfinancial problems due to clo-sure of courts following Coronacrisis. Madhya PradeshAdvocate Assistance Schemehas been launched to providethem with assistance.
Along with this, it has alsobeen decided to increase thelimit of funds set up for thisscheme from Rs 1 crore to Rs2 crore, so that maximumneedy advocates can avail its
benefits. Chouhan was presid-ing over the meeting of theTrustee Committee constitut-ed in connection with theMadhya Pradesh AdvocatesAssistance Scheme. Chouhansaid that we will make effortsto ensure that more and moreneedy advocates can avail ben-efits of the scheme.
For this, he directed todouble the number of eligibleadvocates in the proposedscheme. Under the scheme, ifthe number of advocates in anyBar Association was more than25 but up to a maximum of100, the number of eligibleadvocates in the scheme waskept at 5, which the ChiefMinister directed to hike to 10.
Advocates are facing seri-ous challenges due to thespread of Corona virus. Hence
“ M P L a w y e r s A s s i s t a n c e(Natural Calamities andUnexpectedSituations) Scheme2020” has been formulatedwith the objective of providingfinancial assistance for liveli-hood of advocates of weakeconomic condition.
This scheme will be applic-able to the advocates nomi-nated by the Madhya PradeshState Advocates Council. Thisscheme will be applicable to theadvocates nominated by theMadhya Pradesh StateAdvocates Council.
This amount will bepayable to the eligible advocateunder special circumstances,which the committee willdetermine from time to timeonly on the advice of theAdvocate Council. Under cer-tain circumstances this amount
will not exceed Rs 5000.Advocate members in thescheme will submit their appli-cations to the District / TehsilAdvocates Association address-ing Madhya Pradesh StateAdvocates Council.
After the application isexamined by the concernedDistrict / Tehsil AdvocatesAssociation, the applicationalong with the recommenda-tion will be sent to the StateAdvocates Council forapproval.
Additional Chief SecretaryFinance Anurag Jain, PrincipalSecretary Law Satyendra Singh,Secretary Gopal Shrivsatavawere present in the meeting.Advocate General PurushendraKaurav participated in themeeting through video con-ferencing.
Session has been postponed.According to the latest notifi-cation released by the Instituteof Company Secretaries of India(ICSI) on Thursday,
the ICSI CS Exam 2020 forJune Session has been post-
poned by nearly a month dueto the on-going national lock-down.
According to the notifica-tion, the CS Foundation,Executive and ProfessionalProgramme and PostMembership Qualification(PMQ) June Session exam willnow be held from 6th July 2020.
extorting Rs 15000 from a groceryshopkeeper at Ashoka Garden;accused posed as media personsand were carrying mike and cam-era.
The arrested accused were iden-tified as Kafil Ahmed and Salim-
ul-Haq Abbasi who were nabbedafter the victim Shafiullah Khanlodged a complaint against thetwo. In his complaint, victimstated that he runs a grocery shopin B-sector Ashoka Garden, onApril 28 the two accused came ona bike bearing registration num-ber GJ06LR7683 and were carry-ing mike and camera and showedtheir identity cards. They told that
are from Crimenews and theyhave video of selling cigarette andmouth freshener( tobacco based)at four times the original price andthreatened to take legal actionwhich could result in sealing of theshop and would run news inmedia and demanded Rs 50000.
The victim provided Rs15000 while they remainingwould be provided within nexttwo days and they left the shop.The miscreants threatened the vic-tim of life in case if he reports thematter to anyone.
The victim provided thedetails of the two accused capturedin the CCTV footage capturedand based on the complaint anddetails provided by the victimcrime branch nabbed the twoaccused on April 30.
preparations have started tobring back stranded studentsand migrant workers in variousstates back to Jharkhand. Allpublic representatives shouldsuggest measures so that thestranded people can be broughtback.
The government hasappointed nodal officers forthis. The stranded people haveto be brought back with all cau-tion. All public representativesshould assure the strandedlabourers that the governmentis concerned about them andthe government is reachingout to them by connectingwith different social organiza-tions.
The CM, while interactingwith MPs and MLAs of Kolhanand Palamu region said that thework of doctors, health work-ers, policemen, representativesof Panchayati Raj system, socialorganizations who are fightingagainst the Coronavirus in theentire State is commendable.
The CM said that the StateGovernment will try to arrangeemployment for the labourerscoming from different states.For this, the government ispreparing an action plan, whichwill soon be implemented. Thegovernment is preparing tointroduce a new guideline onMNREGA, so that moreemployment can be generated.
Workers will get employ-ment in their village itself.
Soren said that a directive hasbeen given to assess the dam-age done to the crops due to theweather. The government willcompensate for the loss ofcrops under disaster manage-ment. As far as the payment ofthe amount of paddy throughthe lamps is concerned, thefarmers are being paid.TheCM urged the public repre-sentatives not to stop the vac-cination work in the lock-down. Children should be vac-cinated. The government ispaying special attention to chil-dren and the elderly.
All public representativesshould make aware thePanchayat level public repre-sentatives of their area toensure distribution of rationamong everyone. It is theresponsibility of the govern-ment to give food grains to all.
Soren said that social polic-ing has to be made meaning-ful for the people returning totheir village from outside.Because people coming fromoutside can be prone to theCoronavirus infection.
The government is fullyconscious on this matter. Thissocial pillar will play a big rolein this work. The public repre-sentative should identify thepeople coming from outsideand inform the administration,so that the spread of infectioncan be prevented. There is aneed to awaken the social sys-tem.
MLA, Jamshedpur East,Saryu Roy informed the CMthat Jamshedpur administra-
tion is doing better work. Hesuggested that the Central gov-ernment should support theState government to bring thestranded labourers and stu-dents back.
If everyone works togeth-er then better results will comeout. This is not a time for crit-icism. It is the need of the hourto join hands and provideevery possible assistance tothe needy in this crisis. MP,Jamshedpur, Vidyut VaranMahato, said that the StateGovernment is fighting againstthe Coronavirus with all itseffort. He urged the ChiefMinister that it would be bet-ter if the government starts thework of bringing the strandedlabourers soon.
Chaibasa MLA , DeepakBirua, Chakradharpur MLA,Potka MLA, Ghatshila MLA,Manoharpur MLA also puttheir views and suggestionsbefore the Chief Minister.
Bishrampur MLA,Ramchandra Chandravanshi,urged the CM that many peo-ple of the area are stranded out-side the state and it is veryimportant to bring them back.
Garhwa MLA, cumDrinking Water ministerMithilesh Thakur, said that ifany complaint regarding handpumps is received in the State,it has been directed to fix itwithin three days. If not, theconcerned engineers will beresponsible. Thakur informedthat social distance and otherinstructions are being followedstrictly in Garhwa.
Home Ministry on Wednesdayrelaxed lockdown measuresallowing movement of migrantworkers and students acrossstates but with prescribed healthprotocols.
However, despite MHAguidelines, the fate of migrantworkers and students strandedacross different parts of coun-try to reach their home State isuncertain as politics has inten-sified between StateGovernment and BJP -- mainopposition party in State. Thenew guidelines amid theCOVID-19 outbreak will comeinto force on May 4 leading
relaxation in several dis-tricts.Chief Minister HemantSoren while thanking PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for theMHAs decision has asked thecentral assistance in this regardclaiming that Jharkhand haslimited transport facilities.
The Chief Minister wasquick in appointing nodal offi-cers to get work plan, but Sorenhad stated that Jharkhand haslimited transport facilities andhas no transport corporationeither, seeking central assistanceto bring students and migrantworkers.
The Chief Minister hadsaid that there are approxi-mately five lakh migrant work-ers stranded at different parts ofcountry and it will take around
six months to bring back withstate limited resources. Echoingthe views of Chief MinisterJMM general secretary, SupriyoBhattacharya had evendemanded running of dedicat-ed trains to bring migrantworkers and students.Bhattacharya said, “We haveknocked centre’s door toarrange transportation facilitiesto bring back workers and stu-dents stranded at differentstates.”
Bhattacharya further saidthat centre can run dedicatedtrains from Maharashtra,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi,Hyderabad and other parts ofcountry where migrant work-ers are stranded. He said,“These trains must be different
from local trains having speci-fied originating and final des-tination. These trains musthave pantry car facilities so thatlabourers don’t face problem.”However, the BJP has put theonus on Soren government tobring back stranded migrantworkers, students, tourists.
State BJP president DeepakPrakash said that now theCentre has allowed states tobring back students andmigrant workers state shouldtake immediate initiative andbring back laborers, studentsand tourists by planning on awar footing exercise.
The BJP leader said thatnow the State government hasno scope to make excuses. Hesaid, “The Opposition is ready
to extend all possible assistanceto the State Government. Butthe Chief Minister should takethe initiative without any delayon this issue.” The MHA guide-lines assume importance asfew days back, Chief MinisterHemant Soren demanded auniform policy on movement ofmovement of migrant workersand students across states dur-ing lockdown period.
Also last week, Soren beganthe process of transferring cashin the bank accounts of thestate's migrant workers. Onthe first day, Rs 1,000 each wastransferred into the accounts of1,11,568 migrant workersthrough the Chief Minister'sSpecial Assistance Schememobile App.
transferred Rs 42 lakh hono-rarium of the month of Aprilto the bank accounts of 2.10lakh cooks of the state underthe mid day meal programmefrom Mantralaya throughsingle click. Additional ChiefSecretary Panchayat andRural Development ManojShrivastava, Director PublicRelations OP Shrivastavawere present on this occasion.
Chouhan told the cooksof Mid-day Meal Schemethrough video conferencingthat due to Corona crisis,children are being givenmoney and food grain insteadof cooked mid-day meal.
Hence you do not have tocook meals for them. Despite
this, the government is takingcare of you and an honorari-um of Rs 2 thousand is beingtransferred to your bankaccounts every month.
The Chief Minister saidthat our cooks should makepeople aware about Corona intheir village and areas. Theyshould urge them that tomaintain at least 2 yards dis-tance from each other todefeat Corona.
Everyone must wearmasks, wash hands frequent-ly, take care of hygiene andmust not gather at publicplaces.
Labourers who havereturned to their villages fromother places must remainindoors for 14 days and stayseparate from other familymembers. A little precautioncan defeat Corona.
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Acleaning and washingactivity was carried by the
support staff of Sagar Group’sto support the Covid Warriors.Katara Hills Barai Police Stationwas cleaned and washed by thesupport staff of Sagar PublicSchool Katara extension.
The team on behalf ofSagar Group also thanked theCOVID Warriors for their con-tinuous hard work and serviceextended to citizens at theCOVID-19 pandemic. TheCovid Warriors appreciatedthe support and help extendedby Sagar Group for their con-tribution to fight the pandem-ic. Sagar Group is already dis-tributing 2000 food packetseach day at its Sagar PublicSchool & SISTec Mess at itsGandhi Nagar campus and
handing it over to BhopalMunicipal Corporation for dis-tribution. Group’s Founder &Chairman Sudhir KumarAgrawal, Managing DirectorSiddharth Sudhir Agrawal andits employees have already con-tributed to Chief Minister ReliefFund with an amount of Rs 51Lakhs to fight against coronavirus crises last month. InMadhya Pradesh, Sagar Goupoperates in education sectorunder the umbrella brand ofSagar Group of Institutions –
Sagar Public School andSISTec College; Manufacturingsector with SagarManufacturers Pvt Ltd – SagarYarn & Sagar Nutriments -Sagar Rice; Real Estate Sectorwith Agrawal Builders; CSRArm Abhay Sagar Foundationand impacts lives of over 2 lakhpeople each day.
and parents of students regard-ing submission of school feeduring the lockdown, locals ofDehradun opine that someschools and parents are tryingto take advantage of the currentcrisis. The private schools wererecently given permission by theState Government to collectfee from financially sound par-ents who can afford to pay theschool fees. Those who cannotpay the fee during the lockdowncan pay their dues later, as perthe government orders. Thelockdown has put pressure onparents who are facing financialchallenges and also the schoolswho are completely dependenton the monthly fees to operatetheir school and pay staffsalaries.
Several groups, organisa-tions and parents have request-ed the government to waive offthe three months school fee.The chairperson of StateCommission of Protection ofChild Rights (SCPCR) also sug-gested that school should pro-vide fee relaxation during suchcrisis.
While some of the schoolshave waived off three monthsfees, some of them are still ask-ing parents to submit it or atleast state when they can depositthe fee. “I understand that theseare difficult times but everyschool actually cannot afford towaive off three months fees. Iteach in a private school and I
will probably not receive mysalary next month if the parentsof the students do not depositthe fees. We are teaching stu-dents from our home during thelockdown which is way moredifficult than teaching physi-cally. I think we deserve oursalaries,” said a local teacherPriyanka Sharma.
Some people are claimingthat even those who are finan-cially well off do not want tosubmit the school fees in thehope that the UttarakhandGovernment will also providerelaxation to the parents as insome other states. Mathematicsteacher Dheeraj Santosh said, “Iknow some parents who aredoing quite well financially andstill want the school to waive offthe fees of their children.
Our school has requestedthose parents who are govern-ment servants because theirsalaries are not being hinderedduring the lockdown but eventhey are not ready to pay in thehope that the government willsoon issue an order statingschools to waive off the fee.Schools compelling parents tosubmit the fees are not right butsome parents are also takingadvantage of the situation.”
However, some parents saidthat they understand schooladministration needs funds torun the school but those schoolswhich are run by charitable trustshould at least give someexemption in the fee becausemost of these schools are quiterich and capable of coping withsome financial restraints.
Ministry of Home Affairsenabling transport of strand-ed persons, the Uttarakhandadministration has started theprocedure for facilitating this.
To facilitate passes for thevehicles and personnel to besent to bring backUttarakhand natives strandedin other states, chief secretaryUtpal Kumar Singh has deput-ed superintendent of police(Traffic),
Dehradun and theUttarakhand TransportCorporation general manager(Administration) in Garhwalregion and SP (Traff ic)Haldwani and the Haldwanicity magistrate in Kumaonregion.
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The return of the outsiders toPunjab has led to an
unprecedented spike of 119cases on Thursday in Punjabduring the past 24 hours —highest in the state in a singleday. Of these, 108 cases wererelated to those returning to thestate from Nanded Sahib(Maharashtra), Kota (Rajasthan)or others. As per figures avail-able, till date, 158 persons, whohave returned to the State in thepast 24 hours, have been testedpositive.
The Government officialon Thursday informed that sofar, 3,525 pilgrims from Nanded(Maharashtra), and 153 stu-dents from Kota (Rajasthan)had returned to Punjab in thelast four days, in addition to
3,085 labourers received at theFazilka-Rajasthan border.“Ofthose who had returned fromNanded, test reports had, so far,been received for 577 persons,of whom 20 percent were foundpositive. Incidentally, of the 105fresh cases reported in the Statetoday, 98 were from outside,”added the official.
Among about 10,000returnees reported across all dis-tricts in the State, samples ofonly 3,168 have been collected,and the results for 2,478 isawaited. “Considering this, thenumber is expected to go fur-ther.
Out of the total casesreported on Thursdaym maxi-mum 48 were reported fromLudhiana, taking the district’stally to 77 — third in the state,followed by Jalandhar with 89
and Mohali with 86.LudhianaDeputy Commissioner PradeepKumar Agrawal said: “48 newpositive cases have been report-ed in the district today, out ofwhich 38 cases are related to pil-grims who came from Nanded(Maharashtra), one case is relat-ed to woman jail, two of labour-ers (out of which one came fromGwalior and one came straightto civil hospital for treatment),six are related to different areasof Ludhiana district, while oneis a contact case related toalready positive BDPO.”
Amritsar district alsoreported 28 new cases, havingthe “source of infection fromoutside Punjab”.Mohali districtalso reported 13 more coron-avirus cases, taking the total inthe district to 86. Those infect-ed include 10 pilgrims who had
recently returned from Nandedin Maharashtra, where theyhad gone to pay obeisance atGurdwara Hazur Sahib.
Another man found posi-tive is an employee of the PGIand a resident of Mullanpur vil-lage in the district. He was incontact with the Nayagaon res-ident, also a PGI employeeundergoing treatment at the iso-lation ward at PGI Chandigarh.
Two more were tested pos-itive in Covid hotspotJawarharpur village.“Of the 41samples of the pilgrims who hadarrived from Nanded, 16 havetested positive.
Besides these, another pil-grim, a resident of Ambala, hadtested positive.The pilgrimswho had arrived in the city hadbeen kept at a quarantine cen-tre in Sector 70. Those tested
positive have now been admit-ted to the Covid Care Centre atGian Sagar Hospital in Banur,”said MohalI DeputyCommissioner Girish Dayalan.
Other districts from wherecases were reported includeMoga (one Nanded), Tarn Taran(seven Nanded), Gurdaspur(three Nanded pilgrims),Jalandhar (one contact of pos-itive Case and two returnees),Muktsar (three from Nanded),Sangrur (two Nanded), SBSNagar (one returnee),Kapurthala (six retunees),Patiala (one Nanded), Ropar(two Nanded), and Ferozepur(one returnee).
In Muktsar, a 40-year-oldman of Kaoni village inGidderbaha subdivision wastested coronavirus positive. Hewas home quarantined.
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A68-year-old coronaviruspatient from Faridabad
district died on Thursday, asthe total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 339 in thestate with 28 fresh casesreported in a day. The statehas recorded four COVID-19-related deaths so far. "Theaged man having underlyinghealth conditions had testedpositive for COVID-19. Hepassed away on Thursday," an
official said, adding that sevenfresh cases were reportedfrom Faridabad. Gurgaon alsoreported three fresh cases.
Jhajjar reported 18 freshcases, taking the total numberof COVID-19 cases in the dis-trict to 24, according to StateHealth Department's dailybulletin.
Jhajjar has seen thesecases within a span of threedays, which is a cause of con-cern, officials said. Jhajjarreported its first COVID-19
case on Monday, after remain-ing coronavirus-free for longdespite falling in the NationalCapital Region, which has alarge number of hostpots or''red zones''.
Haryana government hasmaintained that many of thecoronavirus cases in its NCRdistricts have their origins ininfections emanating fromthe national capital and theauthorities had ordered seal-ing the districts with Delhi tocheck spread of the infection.
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Amid grave concernsexpressed by various
Deputy Commissioners on sev-eral Covid-infected personscoming in from outside theState in recent days, PunjabChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on Thursday ordered vil-lage level quarantine in desig-nated buildings. At the sametime, he issued strict instructionsfor compulsory institutionalquarantine, for both positive andnegative cases, of all those com-ing from other states.
The Chief Minister, duringa marathon videoconferencewith Deputy Commissioners(DCs), Senior Superintendentsof Police (SSPs) andCommissioners of Police (CPs)of all districts, made it clear thatno one coming from outsideshould be allowed to go homewithout completing 21-dayquarantine period, since symp-toms generally show up aftersome time. ,“Where possible,those found positive and nega-tive should be segregated in dif-ferent buildings altogether,” hesuggested, as a measure to checkthe further spread of the pan-demic.
The Chief Minister direct-ed the officials to work withSarpanches to identify schoolsand other buildings for quaran-tine purposes in villages. He alsoappealed to Sarpanches andpanchayats to increase villagelevel surveillance to check fur-ther spread of the disease.
The Chief Minister direct-ed the DCs and SSPs to ensure
that all those coming from out-side download the COVA app toenable strict monitoring of theirmovement through geo-fencing.He further instructed trackingand screening of all those whohad come from outside theState on their own.
Apart from migrants andothers, the meeting discussedthe lockdown and relaxations inthe State, as well as the pro-curement operations. Rulingout any relaxation at the borders,which continue to remain strict-ly sealed, the Chief Minister saidthat there was no question ofallowing any buses to enterPunjab without permit orapproval from the respectivestates which are sending vehiclesto pick up their people.
He directed the officers toensure strict enforcement ofsealing at the borders, assertingthat “we will not allow anyoneto enter without proper proce-dure”.
In Punjab, the ChiefMinister attributed the infec-tions to three sources – NRIs,Nizamuddin Tabligi Jamaat andNanded returnees. “WhilePunjabis returning home arewelcome, they have to be strict-ly quarantined,” said the ChiefMinister, directing the officialsto ensure not to allow any unau-thorized entry at the borders. Ifwe do not control the situation,no industry will open,” hewarned. Stressing that industrywas critical to reviving the state’seconomy, he asked the DCs toexplore ways of facilitating thesame. Of the 2.5 lakh odd indus-tries in the State, only around
3,600 were eligible to open, andof these, so far a mere 1,100 hadchosen to open up, he pointedout.
Ludhiana DC called forpermission to industries, notlocated in focal points andindustrial estates, to also open upin designated areas as per themaster plan — to which theChief Minister agreed. He point-ed out that with 95 percent of thestate’s industry in Ludhiana, itwas important for them to startoperating in order to revive theeconomy of Punjab.
He also stressed the need forall milk plants in the state towork at full capacities.Describing the prevailing situa-tion as unprecedented, of thekind he had not seen even in the1965 and 1971 wars, CaptAmarinder warned that theproblem was likely to get aggra-vated in the coming days, goingby the global trends of thespread of the disease.
Referring to the relaxationannounced a day before, theChief Minister said that main-taining law and order in thegiven situation was a difficulttask but had to be done.However, he told the officialsthat they should open up as andwhen, and in whatever mannerthey felt they could do so safe-ly. He also directed the officialsto ensure that nobody steps outwithout a mask. In some dis-tricts, the DCs had judiciouslychosen to open only the shopsin rural areas as of now, and hadkept the decision to open up inurban areas on hold for a cou-ple of days.
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If States like Karnataka areclamouring to ease the
restrictions on sale of liquorafter May 3, it isn’t without rea-son. Karnataka is losing almost� 55-60 crore daily on revenuescollected through taxes onalcoholic beverages. In otherwords, the 40-day lockdownwould deal it a �2,400-croreblow in terms of revenue loss-es. For neighbouring TamilNadu, which collects the high-est excise revenues in India, thelosses by the end of the secondlockdown would be even big-ger at �3,500-3,600 crore.
Karnataka ranks fourthamong the 12 big States whereearnings through tax on alco-hol make for 20-40 percent of
State’s revenues. WhileKarnataka clocked �19,950crore in 2018-19 in excise rev-enue earnings, Tamil Naduwith �31,150 crore,Maharashtra with �25,300crore and Uttar Pradesh with �23,900 crore occupied the topthree positions during the samefiscal.
They are part of the 12 bigexcise revenue generatingStates. Put together, they gen-erate revenues worth � 2-2.50-lakh crore from excise dutyfrom the sale of liquor everyyear.
Telangana, Kerala, WestBengal, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjaband Delhi are the other Statesdepending heavily on exciserevenue. Together, the dozen
States earned nearly �1.80 lakhcrore in 2018-19 through rev-enue of alcoholic beverages.
Recently, Karnataka’sExcise Minister H Nagesh said
he has advised Chief MinisterBS Yediyurappa to relax thecoronavirus lockdown afterMay 3 as “we we need moneyto give salaries and meet other
expenses”.If States are itching to open
the excise sector, the �4.25-lakh-crore alcoholic beveragesindustry too has been pursuingthe issue of easing of restric-tions for the sector with theChief Ministers and the Centre.
The sector is losing Rs 700crore daily, meaning whichthe industry would incur loss-es of about �28,000 crore byMay 3.
Incidentally, the 12 Statescombined account for over25,000 of the 33,000 coro-novirus positive cases andabout 800 deaths of over 1000fatalities, as on April 30.
“The Confederation ofIndian Alcoholic BeveragesCompanies (CIABC) has writ-ten to the Chief Ministers to
take up with the Centre thematter of permitting produc-tion, distribution and sales ofalcoholic beverages only out-side containment zones andthat too, in conformity withCOVID-19 guidelines,” VinodGiri, Director General, CIABC,told The Pioneer.
“We are hopeful of easingof restrictions after May 3.There haven’t been job cuts inthe sector so far but an exten-sion could compound prob-lems,” he cautioned adding thesector has also contributed itsbit to the nation’s fight againstCovid-19 by making 5 lakhlitres of hand sanitisers for use.
Pointing out the impor-tance of India’s alcoholic bev-erages industry, he said it con-tributes �2-2.50 lakh crore
annually by way of taxes to theState exchequer, provides director indirect employment to 20lakh persons and sustains liveli-hood of 40 lakh farmers.
The CIABC has alreadysuggested to the Chief Ministersto go for a phase-wise openingof the sector besides introduc-ing an online sale-cum-homedelivery mechanism.
The CIABC has in its lettersto the Chief Ministers alsorequested for an extension ofcurrent excise year to June 30,2020 without penalty to carryout stock clearances and statu-tory processes mandated with-in March 31 normally.
Besides, while it has soughtconverting the excise process-es like approval, licensing, reg-istration, permits etc into an
online mechanism, it has alsofor granting permission tohome deliveries of alcoholicbeverages through an onlineprocess.
The CIABC has also sug-gested phase wise opening ofdistilleries/bottling plants,indenting/transit/stock move-ment, wholesaling/distribu-tion/warehousing, retail shopswith fixed timings.
The CIABC includes mostmajor Indian companies thatmanufacture and market theirproduct range in India andabroad like Allied Blenders &Distillers Private Limited,Amrut Distilleries, AlcobrewDistilleries , Devans ModernBreweries, Jagatjit IndustriesLimited (JIL), Mohan Meakinand Radico Khaitan.
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Six more CRPF jawans,including a national kabba-
di player, from the same 31Battalion here at Mayur Vihar,tested positive on Thursday asthe paramilitary force subject-ed the personnel of the entireBattalion to massive testingfor the Covid-19 infection.
Earlier, a Sub-Inspectorfrom the same Battalion died toCovid-19.
Officials said swabs of over350 personnel have alreadybeen collected and test reportsare awaited. The swabs of about150 others are also in theprocess to be taken and testedfor the viral disease.
Sub Inspector MohammadIkram Hussain had died onTuesday due to Covid-19. Hewas tested positive on Fridayfor the disease and was under-going treatment at theSafdarjung Hospital here.
Seventeen personnel tracedto be in direct contact withHussain besides a ChiefMedical Officer and a nursingassistant were quarantined.
As many as 46 personnel ofthe 31 Battalion had earlier test-ed positiveduring their quar-antine period at the quarantinefacility of the CRPF at Narelahere.
Director General ofCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) AP Maheshwari hasbeen on record saying theparamilitary has been on theforefront of the war againstCovid-19. “Deployed acrossthe country, out warriors have
been instrumental in stallingthe virus,” he had in a messagesaid after the death of Hussain.
The paramilitary haslaunched a detailed survey ofpersonnel deployed in Covid-19 related duties in the hotspotsand other operational areasand if positive cases have beenreported from such locations inorder to take preventive steps.
According to a circularsent across all the formationslast week, a proforma for seeking information of the per-sonnel regarding regular andadditional deployment oftroops in hotspot areas duringthe last 20 days has beensought.
Through the circular, theparamilitary has also soughtdetails of personnel and alsocivilians who worked with thetroops during deployment inhotspots in the last 20 days andif anyone had tested positive forCovid-19.
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Given the confusion pre-vailing amongst the stu-
dents over their academics dueto the corona pandemic, HRDMinister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank has scheduled anonline interaction with thestudents on Saturday.
He is likely to address andredress grievances of studentson many aspects including con-fusion over annual and semes-ter examinations and the syl-labus. Pokhriyal announced thison his Twitter handle.
The HRD Ministry mean-while also revised certainimportant dates of the entrancetests to be conducted byNational Testing Agency (NTA).
The HRD minister said ontwitter that given the queriesand restlessness within the stu-dent community across thecountry due to corona pan-demic lockdown, he will bedoing a webinar on May 2afternoon. Pokhriyal has alreadyconducted the same with par-ents followed by the State
Education Ministers and offi-cials early this week where headdressed issues like academicsession, syllabus and class testsand semester exams. Issues per-taining to the confusion over theremaining and pending boardexaminations were also dis-cussed and is again likely to bethe main agenda when theMinister interacts with studentsfrom across the country.
On the other hand, in view
of the hardships faced by theparents and the students due toCOVID-19 epidemic, the HRDMinister advised NationalTesting Agency (NTA) toextend / revise the dates for sub-mission of online applicationforms for various examinationslike IGNOU, ICAR, HotelManagement etc.
"NTA understands theimportance of academic calen-dar and schedule, but it isequally concerned about thewellbeing of every citizen,including students," said a HRDMinistry official.
NTA would expect stu-dents and parents to not worryabout the Examination.Moreover, parents are request-ed to help young students utilisethis time for preparing for theExamination and focus on crit-ical concepts in order to closelearning gaps if any.
NTA would keep studentsupdated about the latest devel-opments and would informabout changes with ample time,said a statement by HRDMinistry.
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BJP President J P Nadda hasinteracted with former
diplomats of the country on theCoronavirus situation who hesaid “appreciated” quick-footedefforts of Modi-Government torope in companies “disillu-sioned” with China followingthe pandemic.
Nadda, who interacted withfrom former Indian diplomatsthough videoconferencing onthe measures to battle out thepandemic on Wednesday, askedthem to contribute with theirexperience to strengthen theanti-Coronavirus measures inthe country.
He said country need theirsupport to lead new policiesneeded in post-Coronavirusphase.
Nadda said former diplo-mats “appreciated” fast pacedefforts of the government underPrime Minister Narendra Modito rope-in business companieswhich are “disillusioned” with
China in the aftermath of pan-demic. BJP President told for-mer diplomats that govern-ment is working to make anenvironment in which thesecompanies could shift to India.
Ex-diplomats appreciatedgovernment efforts to bringcompanies to Indian side andcomplimented Modi-govern-ment in making Indian diplo-macy effective and leading theanti-Covid-19 during the glob-al pandemic, according to a BJPstatement.
Nadda apprised them of‘#FeedtheNeedy’ and‘#WearFaceCoverStaySafe’ ofthe BJP which he said havehelped needy during the ongo-ing lockdown in the country.
BJP President also heldvideoconferencing with theMPs from the North-East statesand reviewed their work in thecurrent situation.
BJP General Secretary(Organisation) B L Santoshwas also present during thevidoconferencing.
In the backdrop of the coro-navirus pandemic, China
will not host the customaryborder personnel meeting(BPM) with India on Mayone, International LabourDay, on designated places onthe Line of ActualControl(LAC). Instead, thearmies of both the nationswill greet each other on thelocal hotlines this year.
This border personnelmeeting between the troopsof both the countries is partof confidence building mea-sures(CBM)with India alsohosting similar ceremonialevents on the occasion of theRepublic Day andIndependence Day.
There are five mutuallyagreed points or meeting cen-tres on the 4,000 km longLAC where apart from suchceremonial meets local com-
manders on both sides alsomeet to sort out differencesduring incidents of trans-gressions and stand-offsbetween the troops of twocountries.
Confirming that theChinese army has, so far, notextended event for the MayOne event, sources said hereon Thursday, the IndianArmy will wish their Chinesecounterparts on three loca-
tions including two in Ladakhand one in ArunachalPradesh. The five designatedpoints for BPMs are Moldoand Spangur gap (Chusul) inLadakh, Natu La(Sikkim) andBum La and Kibithu inArunachal Pradesh.
The ceremonial functionsinclude cultural events andlunch and the meetings com-mence with saluting thenational flag by members of
the delegations. This is fol-lowed by the ceremonialaddress by delegation leadersand exchange of greetingsand gifts.
These meetings form partof the CBMs to maintainpeace and tranquility on theLAC. The disputed borderhas not seen a single shotfired in anger in the last 45years or so. The two nationsfought a war in 1962.
Pune, a deemed university sup-ported by the Defence Researchand Development Organisation(DRDO) has developed amicrowave steriliser named as‘ATULYA’ to disintegrate
(COVID-19). The virus gets dis-integrated by differential heat-ing in the range of 560 to 600Celsius temperatures.
The product is cost effectivesolution, which can be operat-ed in portable or fixed installa-tions. This system was tested forhuman/operator safety and hasbeen found to be safe.
Depending upon size and shapeof various objects, time of ster-ilisation is from 30 seconds toone minute. Approximateweight of the system is threekilogrammes and it can be usedfor non-metallic objects only,according to an official state-ment by the defence ministryhere on Thursday.
Aday after US-based GileadSciences said that antiviral
Remdesivir, in a trial, has beenfound to have a positive effectin diminishing the time forrecovery of the Covid-19patients, India on Thursdaysaid that it is also examining thedrug as one of the protocols forthe contagion.
Lav Agarwal, JointSecretary at the Union HealthMinistry said that as of now,there is no confirmed treat-ment protocol for Covid-19.“Remdesivir is one protocolwhich is being examined.Even the study on Remdesivirby National Institute ofAllergy and InfectiousDiseases (NIAID) has notconclusively proved its effec-tiveness. Waiting for largerevidence, to take meaningfulaction," he added.
Remdesivir was original-ly developed as an Ebola treat-ment. It is an antiviral andworks by attacking an enzymethat a virus needs in order toreplicate inside our cells.
The trial was run by theUS National Institute ofAllergy and InfectiousDiseases (NIAID) and 1,063people took part. Somepatients were given the drugwhile others received a place-bo (dummy) treatment.
The US company had saidit is aware of positive dataemerging from the NIAID
study of the investigationalantiviral remdesivir for thetreatment of Covid-19.
NIAID is part of NationalInstitutes of Health, an agencyof the United StatesDepartment of Health andHuman Services.
Gilead Sciences Inc. in astatement had said, "Weunderstand that the trial hasmet its primary endpoint andthat NIAID will providedetailed information at anupcoming briefing." It alsoshared additional Remdesivirdata from the company''sopen-label Phase 3 SIMPLEtrial in patients with severeCovid-19 disease.
The Phase 3 trial evaluat-ed 5-day and 10-day dosingdurations of Remdesivir inhospitalised patients withsevere manifestations ofCovid-19.
The study demonstrated
that patients receiving a 10-day treatment course ofremdesivir achieved similarimprovement in clinical statuscompared with those taking a5-day treatment course.
Meanwhile, Agar wal,responding to a query onhuman trials in the process ofvaccine development, saidthat multiple stages have to bepassed, to conclude safe andefficacious use of a vaccine byhuman beings. "As far as Indiais concerned, we have identi-fied Hydroxychloroquine tobegin with as a prophylaxistreatment," he added.
Agarwal pointed out thatmultiple organisations in thegovernment are engaged inmultiple vaccine trials forCovid-19. "We are also part ofWHO''s Solidarity Trial. Somecandidate vaccines have beenidentified. Nothing conclu-sive has come up," he said.
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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has arrested
an overground worker ofHizbul Mujahideen TariqAhmed Mir in connection withthe case relating to Jammuand Kashmir Deputy SPDavinder Singh's alleged facil-itation of safe passage to ter-rorists out of the Valley.
Mir hails from Shopiandistrict of Jammu and Kashmirand said to be the lifeline forlogistic support for terrorgroups in the Valley. Mir wasin touch with Singh before hisarrest and the former's ques-tioning could lead furtherunravel the nexus between thepolice officer and the jehaditanzeems.
Arrest of Mir is the seventhin the Davinder Singh case andmore arrests are likely in the
case soon, official said. Singh was arrested last
year along with three terroristswho were being facilitatedmovement out of the Valley tothe national capital beforebeing nabbed by the localpolice.
Unhindered activities ofSingh and his deep-seatednexus with the terror groupshave been a major failure andconcern for the Intelligenceagencies.
However, grilling of Mir isexpected to uncover the logis-tic chain of the terror groupswhich in turn could help thesecurity forces in the operationsagainst the ultras.
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In the wake of reports thatnon-Covid patients including
persons with blood disorderslike haemophilia and tha-lassemia were facing difficultiesin availing medical facilities,Union Health Minister HarshVardhan on Thursday directedall States and Union Territoriesto ensure uninterrupted blooddonation and transfusion ser-vices for people with blood dis-orders and advised all healthfacilities to remain functionalfor the benefit of the people.
In a letter to his counter-parts in States and UnionTerritories, Dr Harsh Vardhanasked them to ensure that non-COVID health services wereavailable.
Also “denial of critical ser-vices like dialysis, blood trans-fusion, chemotherapy andinstitutional deliveries to reg-ular patients will not be accept-able,” he said.
States and UnionTerritories are advised that as
per the guidelines issued by theMinistry of Home Affairs, allhealth services should remainfunctional during the lock-down period.
The movement of serviceproviders may be facilitated,especially for those working inthe private sector.
The Health Ministers arealso advised to ensure quickresolution of grievances ondenial of critical services espe-cially on account of insistenceon testing, said the Minister.
Meanwhile, JointSecretary, Health, Lav Agarwalsaid at a routine presser herethat that the concept of socialdistancing will stay even afterlockdown is lifted.
"From the Health Ministryside, we are very clear that wehave to ensure that the conceptof physical distancing is adapt-ed as behavioural change in ourday to day life so that we canbreak the chain of transmis-sion. It is equally important tofocus on containment mea-sures," he said.
Mahavir International (MI),a non-religious social ser-
vice organisation, has provid-ed ready-to-eat food packets toover 3,50,000 people and 98,000 packs of dry ration kits of10 KG each consisting of rice,wheat flour (atta), daal andother food ingredients totallingto about 980 tonnes during thenationwide lockdown amidcoronavirus pandemic.
According to a statementissued by its international pres-ident, Vir Shanti Kumar Jain,MI has also provided 2,50,000face masks across the countryas well as 65000 hand sanitiz-er bottles to the people andCovid warriors.
This apart, members andcentres of MI contributed Rs.71,81,000 to PM CARES fundand �17,99,100 to ChiefMinister and DistrictAdministration Funds till date.r every day from the day lockdown started,” Jain added.
Joy Arakkal, the Dubai-based54-year-old oil tycoon from
Kerala’s Wynadu district com-mitted suicide on April 23 in theBusiness Bay of the oil kingdom.Joy, a philanthropist shot intofame following his decision tobuild houses for those who losteverything in the 2018 floods inWaynadu district. Matters India,a Church sponsored news por-tal had reported that Hoy had
died of a massive heart attack faraway from home in Dubai. Butthe Dubai Police announced onThursday that the businessbaron committed suicide byjumping from his 14th flooroffice building in Business Bay.
Joy had hogged the limelightwhen he built a 40,000 sq ftpalace in Wayanadu, describedas Kerala’s biggest house. Joy wasthe managing director of petro-chemical trading giant InnovaRefining and Trading FZE.
Dubai-based media attributethe suicide to financial crisisfaced by Joy over the last coupleof months.
According to an auditorbased in Dubai, Joy’s companyis engaged in trading and repro-cessing of petroleum and petro-chemical products. With refiner-ies in Sharjah and Ras alKhaimah in the UAE andDammam in Saudi Arabia, thefirm has been supplying lubri-cants to automobiles, industries
and ships. It also got terminaloperations – storage and han-dling of bulk cargo to be trans-ported by road tanks and ships– with four storage facilitiesSharjah, Dubai and Dammam.
Joy was in the news in 2019when the UAE Governmentconferred him with a ten-yearGold Card Visa. Arakkal Palace,the 45,000 sq ft house he built inWayandu is a visual wonderwhich had been featured bynational and international TV
channels. Father Joshy Valiplackal, an
associate of Joy Arakkal, said hehad taken 40 percent shares andserved as a director of Wam Tea,a company promoted by theCongregation of St Theresapriests to help 500 small teagrowers of Wayanad. “He alsohad plans to set up a large poul-try farming project for the needypeople of the area,” the priestsaid. The tycoon is survived bywife and two sons.
Bengaluru: Thirty new Covidpositive cases surfaced inKarnataka, raising the State’stally to 565, an official said onThursday.
“As of 5 p.m. Thursday,cumulatively 565 Covid positivecases have been confirmed in
the state, this includes 21 deathsand 229 discharges,” said ahealth official.
Thirteen Covid patientshave been discharged, takingthe total to 229.
Among the new cases, 14are men and 16 are women, andinclude six children below 16.
Of the 30 new cases, 27 arecontacts of earlier cases whiletwo more are suffering fromSevere Acute RespiratoryInfection (SARI) and anotherwoman with Influenza LikeIllness (ILI).
Belagavi contributed 14cases, followed by Bengaluruwith 10, Vijayapura, two,Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru,Kalaburagi and Davanagere,with one each. IANS
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Ahead of breaking fast on thesixth day of holy month of
Ramzan, a class 12th student ofTain Monkote tensil in Poonchdistrict was killed in heavyshelling from across of the lineof control by Pakistan Army onThursday.
According to groundreports, “the family memberswere preparing for Iftaar when
their son, standing near the gateof the house was hit by splintersof mortar shell, which explodedin the near vicinity”. “One of thesplinters punctured his chestand he died on the spot”, officialsources said. The dead body ofthe deceased youth could not beshifted to a nearby hospital dueto continuous shelling in the areatill late evening.
Jammu based DefenceSpokesman, Lt Col Devender
Anand said, “at about 7.00 p.mPakistan army initiated unpro-voked ceasefire violation by fir-ing with small arms and shellingwith mortars along Loc inMankote setcor of Poonch dis-trict”. He said, Indian army retal-iated befittingly.
Confirming the death of acivilian in the fresh incident offiring, DeputyCommissioner,Poonch RahulYadav said, “a class 12th student
was killed after he was hit bysplinters of a mortar shell dur-ing cross LoC firing in Mankotesetcor on Thursday evening”. Thedeceased boy has been identifiedas Gulfaraz (16) son of MohdRashid of Tain Mankote.
Since the beginning of holymonth of Ramzan, there hasbeen no let up from the Pakistaniside in violating ceasefire agree-ment along the LoC.
�����"��������� �9�3,.
Maharashtra Chief MinisterUdhav Thackeray on
Thursday set into motion theprocess of movement of 6.5lakh migrant workers staying atvarious labour camps, to theirrespective states, by releasingthe Standard OperatingProcedure (SOP) and appoint-ing three senior officers tocoordinate the efforts.
A day after the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) issuedorder to State/UTs to facilitateInter-State movement ofstranded people includingmigrants in the country, thechief minister tweeted: “Due tothe lockdown, migrant work-ers, pilgrims, tourists, studentsand other persons are strand-ed at different places. Theywould be allowed to move asper the conditions in theattached Standard OperatingProcedure (SOP)”
As part of the SOP, theMaharashtra governmentappointed Additional chiefSecretary (Revenue) NitinKareer, Principal Secretary(Women and Child Welfare)Idzes Kundan and Director ofState Disaster ManagementAbhay Yawalkar to coordinatethe movement of migrantworkers to their respectivestates.
Among other things, theState government has appoint-ed all district collectors asnodal authorities for receivingand sending such strandedpersons between the states andunion territories and also with-in Maharashtra.
“The Nodal Authority shallregister the stranded personswithin their district and submita detailed list to collector of thedistrict to which those personsdesire to travel, with a copy tothe respective state nodal offi-cer,” the SOP stated
“For Inter-state movement,the sending and receivingStates/UTs shall consult eachother and mutually agree to themovement by road as also theschedule,” the SOP pointedout.
The SOP made it clearthat no movement shall bepermitted into the state ofMaharashtra unless the groupof persons has obtained the let-ter from the appropriate districtcollector or the director, StateDisaster Management.“Similarly no group shall beallowed to leave unless theyhave an appropriate from thereceiving State/DistrictAuthority,” the SOP added.
The Centre’s decision topermit the Maharashtra gov-ernment to send back themigrant workers staying invarious parts of the state, totheir respective home states fol-lowed the Uddhav Thackeray’sefforts to mount pressure onthe Union government to givea go-ahead to state to send backthe migrants to their states.Uddhav had raised the migrantworkers’ movement issue withthe Prime Minister NarendraModi at the two previous meet-ings that the latter had withvarious chief ministers in thecountry to review the contin-ued lockdown across the coun-try.
On April 23, two days afterMaharashtra chief ministerUddhav Thackeray reiteratedhis demand for the Centrerunning special trains “toensure that migrant labourfrom other States can returnhome”, deputy chief ministerAjit Pawar upped the ante byurging Railway Minister PiyushGoytal to make necessaryarrangements in advance torun special trains to accom-modate “all such restlesslabourers” so that “there is nolaw and order problem at rail-way stations in Maharashtra”.
In his letter to Goyal, Pawarwrote: “As Maharashtra is aleading industrial state andhaving highest constructionactivities, a large number ofinformal labourers particular-ly migrated from UttarPradesh, Bihar and othernorthern states are working inthese sectors”.
“Due COVID-19 lock-down, about 6.5 lakh migrantsare staying in respective labourcamps in Maharashtra and thestate government is providingdaily food and health servicesto them. In addition to this,almost equal number oflabourers are being providedwith food by various NGOsand social organisations,”Pawar said,.
Earlier on the night ofApril 21, the chief minister’soffice (CMO) Maharashtra hadtweeted: “CM UddhavBalasaheb Thackeray has reit-erated his demand for specialtrains to ensure that migrantlabour from other States canreturn home. He has demanded to the Hon’blePrime Minister & the Railway Ministry that guide-lines about this to be issued byApril-end”.
“Approximately 6 lakhmigrant labours are being pro-vided with food, shelter &medical assistance in reliefcamps setup acrossMaharashtra by theGovernment. However, in suchtimes staying away from theirhomes & families is taking a tollon them,” the CMO tweeted.
“If the CentralGovernment is anticipating arise in the transmission of thevirus between April 30 andMay 15, then it must considerif it can utilise the time at handto arrange for special trains tosend them back home andissue guidelines about this byApril-end,” the CMO added. Itmay be recalled that on April18, the chief minister hadassured the migrant labourerssettled in the state that he wasin touch with the Centre and hewas confident that “in the nextfew days, some solution wouldbe found for their problems”.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu onThursday reported 161 personstesting positive for Coronavirustaking the State’s total tally to 2,323.
Out the 161 cases from 11districts, 138 were fromChennai taking the city’s tallyto 906. In a statement issuedhere, the Health Departmentalso said that the total numberchildren in the age group 0-12who are Covid-19 patientsstands at 142.
A total of 48 Covid-19patients were discharged fromvarious hospitals in the Statetaking the total number Covid-19 cured to 1,258.
The number of active casesis at 1,035.
According to the state-ment, the total number of sam-ples tested on Thursday was9,787, taking the tally till dateto 119,748.
With the Covid-19 patientsincreasing in the State capital,the Greater Chennai
Corporation has threatened toseal business units for threemonths if they didn’t followsocial distancing norms andother regulations to curbspread of coronavirus.
According toCommissioner G Prakash, spe-cial teams would be formed toensure following of social dis-tancing norms to curb coron-avirus infection.
The corporation willdeploy resources in a focussedmanner and a separate team forcontainment zone manage-
ment has been set up. Theessentials for people in thecontainment zone will be pro-vided. Whereever water supplywas an issue, water tanks wouldbe installed, he said.
According to him, around1,250 samples are being testeda day and the number will beraised to 2,000 a day. There are22,000 beds quarantine facili-ty in the state.
For admitting the mildcases, another 22,000-bed quar-antine facility will be readied in15 days. IANS
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DMK President MK Stalinon Thursday urged the
Government to announce itsdecision on relaxing or extend-ing the lockdown in advancerather than waiting for the lastminute.
In a statement issued here,he said the second lockdownperiod is coming to an end onMay 3 and people are anxiousto know whether it would beextended/lifted or lifted grad-ually.
Stalin said it is the duty ofthe people to abide by theCentral/state Government’sdecision to prevent the spreadof Coronavirus.
He said people are con-fined to their homes for 35 daysand the Central and state gov-ernments should announce their decision fasttaking into consideration theirlivelihood.
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Jammu on Thursday scored a‘big zero’ in the long list of pos-
itive cases while Kashmir valleyreported 33 fresh cases ofCoronavirus taking the finaltally to 614 cases in the UnionTerritory of Jammu& Kashmir.
Instead of declaring JammuCOVID free, twitter handle ofthe office of DeputyCommissioner, Jammu soundeda word of caution to all the Covidwarriors to continue working onthe ground zero. The messageclearly stated, “All the reported26 positive cases from the districthave recovered. It’s indicative ofbeing on the right course, nev-ertheless declaring the districtCOVID free, will be premature.Need to carry this forwardproactively, with caution”.
Meanwhile, spokesman ofthe Jammu and Kashmir gov-ernment, Rohit Kansal in a sep-arate press briefing in Jammusaid, “a total number of 33 per-sons tested Positive in Kashmir
Valley while 24 patients recov-ered and discharged from dif-ferent hospitals.
He said, though Jammu andKashmir was performing rea-sonably well but there was noroom for complacency at thisstage. He said, “at present we aretesting around 1800 samplesper day and in the next coupleof days we will cross the barrierof 2000 tests to implement ourstrategy of adopting aggressivetesting across red-zone areas ofvarious hot spot districts”.
According to daily mediabulletin, out of 614 positivecases, 390 are active positive. 384are from Kashmir and 6 fromdifferent districts of Jammuregion. At present, two cases areactive in Udhampur, one each inKathua, Ramban, Reasi andRajouri districts. In Kashmirvalley, 12 cases were reportedfrom Anantnag, 11 fromBaramulla, 04 from Kulgam, 02from Srinagar, 02 fromPulwama, 01 from Budgam 01,from Shopian.
Kanpur Dehat (UP): A coro-navirus positive patient onThursday attempted suicideby drinking sanitiser in Sarsaulisolation centre in KanpurDehat in Uttar Pradesh.
The youth has been admit-ted to the Hallett hospital inKanpur in a critical condition.
According to reports, theyouth is a resident of Jharkhandand had been intercepted bythe police two days ago. He wasmade to undergo medicalscreening and tested positivefor corona after which he wasput in the isolation ward onThursday morning.
Hours later, the youthdrank the sanitiser and hiscondition started deteriorating.
Meanwhile, Hallett hospi-tal chief medical superinten-dent Prof R K Maurya said thatthe condition of the youth wascritical.
Sarsaul community health
centre superintendent S LVarma said that it was still notknown how the youth came toKanpur Dehat though he hadsaid that he was working inMaharashtra and was going tohis home state.
The controversial death auditcommittee formed by the
Bengal Government has comeout with specific guidelinesfor issuing death certificates insuspected corona related cases.
According to the newguideline the certificate mustcontain the “immediate,”“antecedent,” and “underlyingcauses” of the death, StateChief Secretary Rajiva Sinhasaid on Thursday claiming 77out of the 105 deaths were trig-gered by other serious ail-ments. Co-morbidity hastenedtheir deaths, he said implyingthere by that Bengal had so farwitnessed 33 deaths wherecorona virus was the sole fac-tor of the death.
Bengal witnessed 37 newcorona cases in the past 24hours, Sinha said adding 50people were discharged fromhospitals in the past one day“leaving 572 active cases in thestate.” The State had witnessed33 deaths with 11 people suc-cumbing to the disease in thepast one day, he said. TheState which currently had 13functional laboratories hadtested 14,620 people out ofwhich 1,397 people were test-ed in the past 24 hours, hemaintained adding 10,773 peo-ple were in home quarantineand 5288 had been had beenkept in government quarantinefacilities.
Under attack from the
opposition parties for subject-ing certificates of death forcorona patients to a final deci-sion from the designated deathaudit committee, BengalGovernment also proffered jus-tification behind the formationof the said committee sayingthe death audit panel hadhelped not only understand thetrends of the disease but alsofacilitated line of treatment. Indays to come the studies con-ducted by the committee couldprove helpful in a systematicanalysis of the disease.
Deliberating on the repa-triation of migrant laboursstuck up in various states theChief Secretary said that thingswould have to be done in aphased and planned manner sothat there was no chaos creat-ed at the borders.
“The Government is clearon its stand that no one will beallowed into the 444 contain-ment zones inside the state inwhich case those who may beallowed to return in hordescould land in trouble as theywill not be able to reach theirhome if that falls in the con-tainment zones,” he said adding“a planning will have to bedone for such a big exercise.”
The Government will also
want the workers returninghome to be tested at the sourceof their journey. Besides theywill also be tested when theyenter Bengal, the official said.
Meanwhile, though therewas no direct word from theState Government sources saidChief Minister MamataBanerjee had expressedanguish over the opening up ofthe Indo-Bangladesh borderfor trade.
Border trade started fromThursday at Petrapol andBenapol borders sources said.
Notwithstanding the con-cern expressed by the ChiefMinister over the way the bor-ders were opened for tradewithout taking the StateGovernment into considerationlocal sources said the hundredsof trucks and their driversstranded on both sides of theborder would not be allowed toenter the respective countries.
“Truck-to-Truck loadingand unloading is taking placeat the “zero point” with theclearing under the supervi-sion of the clearing agents,” alocal source said adding thedrivers and other staff of theeither countries will not beallowed to enter the respectivecountries.
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Subimal (Chuni) Goswamithe football legend and one of
India’s greatest sportsmen —who not only led the country insoccer, winning gold medals inAsian Games but also playedfirst-class cricket scoring cen-turies against the likes of WestIndian fast bowler Roy Gilchrist—passed away on Thursdayevening.
The iconic sportsman whowas suffering from diabetes,prostrate and kidney ailmentssuffered two successive cardiacattacks that caused his death, hisdoctors said. He was 82 and issurvived by his wife Basanti andson Sudipto.
His death comes within amonth of another soccer legendand his team mate PK Goswamiwho too was a magical footballerin his own right. Arguably themost successful Indian footballcaptain under whom India wonGold in 1962 Asian Games andfinished runner-up in 1964Asian Cup and narrowly lostMerdeka football cup played 50matches for India scoring 7goals.
His sheer class bought him
an invite to play for theTottenham Hotspur FootballClub which played in LondonPremier League. Hew howeverdeclined the offer and remainedassociated throughout his lifewith Mohun Bagan FootballClub. He was also proficientplayer of hockey and tennis.
The iconic sportsperson,who also played first-class crick-et for Bengal, was 82 andbreathed his last at a hospitalhere. He is survived by his wifeBasanti and son Sudipto.
As a cricket he played 46first-class matches taking 47wickets and hitting a number ofcenturies. He missed the Indiancap by a whisker in the 1960swhen he led Bengal to the RanjiTrophy finals.
“I consider him among thethree biggest footballers Indiahad ever produced alongside PKBanerjee, and Balram,” saidBidesh Bose another India foot-baller of the 1970s. ShyamThapa another football legendsaid “Chuni da was the bestalround sportsman who playedall the fourbig games but also anactor to have acted in films.”
He was born on January 151938 in Kishoreganj district .
ADahanu court on Thursday extendedthe police custody of 101 accused in
the much-discussed Palghar incident inwhich two Sadhus and one driver werekilled by a mob of villagers on April 16,till May 14.
After their custody ended on Friday,the accused were produced before judicialmagistrate O B Kulkarni, who remandedthem in custody for two more weeks.
Of the total 110 accused who had beenbooked under IPC Section 307 (attempt tomurder) and 353 (deterring governmentservant from performing his duty) forassaulting cops and damaging their vehi-cle, there were nine minors.
The nine minors in the case will con-tinue remain in the Bhiwandi ChildrenRemand Home.
It may be recalled that on the night ofApril 16, three persons were lynched by a
200-strong mob of villagers near Kasa townin Maharashtra’s Palghar district on sus-picion that they were thieves.
The villagers first hurled stones at thevan, prompting the driver to stop the vehi-cle. Later, they pulled three persons out ofthe vehicle and beat them to death inGadhchinchale village on Dabhadi-Khanwel road, with sticks and rods.
The deceased ---identified as ChikneMaharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70), SushilgiriMaharaj (35) and driver Nilesh Telgade(30) were travelling to Surat. Of them onewas the diver, while two are residents ofKandivli in north Mumbai. The placewhere the incident took place is approxi-mately 120 km from Mumbai.
After the incident, thee Kasa policehad registered three FIRs in connectionwith the lynching and assault on police-
men. All the accused had been arrested aday after the ghastly crime.
In the first FIR, the police had charged110 accused with murder under IPCSection 302. The court sent them to judi-cial custody in this case. \
In the second FIR, the 110 accusedwere booked under IPC Section 307(attempt to murder) and 353 (deterringgovernment servant from performing hisduty) for assaulting cops and damagingtheir vehicle.
Meanwhile, three police officials of theKasa Police Station in Palghar, have beensuspended in connection with the incident.These comprised: two Head Constablesand one Assistant Sub Inspector.
In a related development, the BombayHigh Court has – while hearing a PublicInterest Litigation (PIL) filed in thePalghar lynching case --issued a notice tothe CBI and Maharashtra governmentseeking a response within two weeks.
It was an adage about Hindi films in the1970s and 1980s that the police alwaysarrived in the end. There seemed to be
a re-run of it in real life when Delhi Policepersonnel reached the Nizamuddin Markazmosque on Sunday, March 29, as part of theCOVID evacuation exercise, several daysafter the Tablighi Jamaat event (March 13-15) had concluded and many of the partic-ipants had departed to various parts of thecountry. Attendees took home not only themessage of reverting to true Islam but manyalso carried the strain of the NovelCoronavirus. The rest stayed back in theenormous six-floor dormitory of theMarkaz mosque before being caught up inthe lockdown.
The evacuation lasted for 72-odd hoursinvolving police personnel, medical andadministrative officials and staff membersfrom the Delhi Transport Corporation. Butit was the National Security Advisor (NSA),Ajit Doval, who stole the media thunder withhis presence. Why does the NSA need to visitthe spot like a superintendent of police is notclear. One does not expect any bonhomiebetween the nationalist “superhero” of intel-ligence and the Tablighis, who fell to disre-pute. It might be his signature style. Had henot visited the scene during the Nepal earth-quake, the Kashmir lockdown or even theriots in Delhi? However, one wonderswhether the Government did not possess anyadvance information on the Nizamuddingathering? Why was the event, which drewparticipation from COVID-affected nationslike Malaysia and Indonesia, allowed to takeplace in the first place? It appears that inter-national participants were permitted toenter India without proper screening, letalone sending them into quarantine. Thisfailure led to a flare-up in COVID infection.
Though the conduct of the event ante-dated the beginning of the lockdown peri-od, there were hardly any prohibitory orders(from the Delhi Government) on any polit-ical, cultural, social or religious gathering,comprising more than 200 people. It was laterhardened to a gathering of more than 50 peo-ple, before being completely prohibited. Werethe intelligence and law enforcing agenciescompletely clueless about what was going on?It is difficult to believe that his large congre-gation of more than 3,000 people wasorganised without seeking any permission.Neither the Central or the Delhi Governmenthas accused the gathering as patently illegal.In non-COVID times, the event would havepassed off peacefully without raising eye-brows.
The event has actually exposed anoth-er kind of intelligence failure. Our securityapparatus is more obsessed with Islamic ter-rorist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiyabba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, theHarkat ul Mujahideen, the Islamic State andAl Qaeda, among others because of theiroffensive and disruptive activities. Theseorganisations recruit full-time activists
(Mujahideen), who indulge interrorist activities with the use ofexplosives and weapons.
By doing no such thing, theTablighi Jamaat escaped thesecurity radar. It is a huge glob-al missionary network that doesnot recruit fighters but workspeacefully. It does not target thenon-Muslims in any manner. Itsfocus is only on nominal orlapsed Muslims, whom it seeksto enliven with true faith ofIslam. The Tablighis insist thatpreaching must be done face toface and that intellectualismand arguments are irrelevantwhen it comes to influencinglives. For them, what countsmore is a meeting of hearts. Nowonder, the Tablighi Jamaat hasno digital presence like theDarul-Uloom of Deoband or theDarul Uloom Nadwatul Ulamaof Lucknow.
Its agenda is actually morepenetrative. More than a decadeago, the Tablighi Jamaat was inthe news for Islamisation ofPakistan’s cricket team.Cricketers like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar and ShahidAfridi became devout Muslimsby visibly growing beards. WhilePakistan is an Islamic republic,its cricketers, recruited fromurban nurseries, were mostlyurbane and suave sportsmen tillthen. In the 1980s and early 90s,before ODIs became a year-longactivity, many Pakistani crick-eters played in British countycricket. Even the Islamisation ofPakistan under Zia-ul-Haq had
left them unimpressed. What Zia could not do with
his policies and laws in the1980s, the Tablighi Jamaatachieved with its proselytisingactivities in the first decade of themillennium. Yousuf Youhana,Pakistan’s former vice-captain,thanks to the Tablighi’s activitiesinside Pakistani cricket squad,became convinced that “Islam isthe best religion.” He adoptedIslam, accompanied by a changeof name to Mohammed Yusuf,whereas his wife Tania becameFatima. As a Muslim, he grew along beard and piously hopedthat if every non-Muslim accept-ed Islam in Pakistan, the coun-try could become the land of thepure, literally. That is the powerof the Tablighi Jamaat.
The “Islamisation” of thePakistani cricket team is illustra-tive of what Muhammad IlyasKandhlawi (1885-1944),founder of the Tablighi Jamaat,envisaged to achieve almost acentury ago. His goal was to turna born Muslim (mumin) into atrue Muslim (Ihsaan/Muhsin).He sought to purge a Muslim ofnon-Islamic parts, whetherinherited or adopted, into aone-dimensional individualinspired by the lives of theProphet Mohammed and hiscompanions as the basis ofmodel Muslim society.
This was against the spirit ofsyncretism that liberals oftenwax eloquent about. Mewat,the historical region spanningHaryana and Rajasthan, became
the nursery of Maulana Ilyas’work in the 1920s. Islam hadextended its sway in this regionduring the time of the DelhiSultanate. However, Islam satonly lightly upon most convertsfor ages. The Meos (MewatiMuslims) celebrated Hindu fes-tivals like Holi, Janmashtami,Dussehra and Diwali alongsideMuharram, Eid and Shabi-e-Barat. Very few know the Kalimaand fewer still observe Namazregularly. The beginning of theShuddhi and Sangathan move-ment in 1923 by SwamiShraddhanand of the AryaSamaj threatened many Muslimslapsing to their original faith viz,Hinduism.
Maulana Ilyas began hiscampaign to turn Meos into trueMuslims. He had grown up as abeloved student of MaulanaRashid Ahmad Gangohi (1826-1905), co-founder of the Darulul Uloom, Deoband. TheDeobandi movement, in con-trast to the contemporaneousAligarh movement started by SirSyed Ahmed Khan, had keptitself away from Western educa-tion and turned its back todevelopments in the modernworld. Maulana Ilyas’ work hadthe same imprint of Deobandiorthodoxy. He wished to bringthe expertise in Islam availablein western Uttar Pradesh —Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur(which he considered “well-spring of faith and godly men”)— to the service of Mewat.
His innovation was in the
terms of method that made itsimpact widespread. Perhapsrealising the truism of theaxiom (made famous of FrancisBacon), “If the mountain doesnot come to Muhammad, hemust go to the mountain”, hebegan taking the teaching ofIslam to homes, fields andworkplaces of those who couldnot go to maktabs andmadrasas. The Tablighi Jamaatwas born in that open airpreaching of missionaries goingfrom village to village in Mewatand group retreats centred onreligion. Publicity was shunnedfrom day one by Maulana Ilyas,a code which remains in force even in this day of socialmedia.
Emanating from theNizamuddin Markaz, this mis-sionary movement has spreadto various parts of the world.The Tablighi Jamaat organisesthe world’s largest Islamic con-gregation next to Hajj in Mecca,at Tongi near Dhaka inBangladesh every January. It iscalled Bishwa Ijtema (globalcongregation). The TablighiJamaat has contributed to “re-Islamisation” of Bangladeshthat gained independence fromPakistan on the plank of Bengalinationalism. How little doesIndia know about its mostglobalised conservative Islamicmovement?
(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher based in NewDelhi. The views expressed here-in are his personal)
Sir — If the Indian political lead-ership and entrepreneurs playtheir cards well, the nation is sureto witness a revolution post theCOVID-19 crisis. This is becausehundreds of multinational com-panies, in sectors like automo-biles, mobile phones, electronicsand textiles among others, areconsidering moving their manu-facturing bases from China toIndia and other business-friend-ly Asian nations. They havedecided to relocate due to the fail-ure of China to contain theCOVID crisis and also its lack oftransparency.
The US has been openly crit-icising China for the same; vari-ous European nations, too, haveraised fingers at it. The need is forthe Indian Government to intro-duce more reforms to attractinvestors. Foreign companies arebound to get attracted by the bigmarket that India represents. Theavailability of skilled manpower,labour and raw material will be ofimmense help to these companiesand their entry will boost oureconomy.
M Pradyu Kannur
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Sir — As we mourn the death ofBollywood stars Irrfan Khan andRishi Kapoor, we must also sparea thought for the daily wageearners and migrant workers
who are left without jobs andmoney, struggling to find food.Many have even died as theyundertook a long march backhome.
Let class-conscious India dis-play a bit of humane attitude atleast in this moment of crisis and
express gratitude towards thepoor, who toil hard to keep thewheels of our economy running. Let this be the spirit of May Day.Let us celebrate the achievementsof workers.
Kajal ChatterjeeKolkata
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Sir — It is worrying that a corpo-rate hospital in Delhi used plasmatherapy to treat a critical COVID-19 patient. Hospital authoritiesclaimed that the patient had beencured of the disease. But there’s noevidence that plasma therapy canbe used as treatment as it’s still inthe experimental stage. The IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) has itself not approved itsuse.
If not used under properguidelines, it can cause life-threat-ening complications, too. Therisks associated with it are many.First, as the blood transfusiontakes place, other kinds of infec-tions may get transferred to thepatient. Second, the therapy maynot essentially be successful for allpatients. And third, the anti-body administration may sup-press the body’s natural immuneresponse. Given the risksinvolved, medical professionalsmust desist from using this formof treatment.
Human health is a prerequisite for the econom-ic health of a country. Unless the populationis healthy, the economy of a nation cannot
perform. This hypothesis has been validated by theoutbreak of the Coronavirus which has led the worldinto an economic recession. In the light of this, theimportance of mother and child health (MCH) can-not be overemphasised as pregnant women, infantsand children are very susceptible to infections anddiseases. The Coronavirus has posed several legit-imate concerns and challenges for expectant moth-ers and parents due to the closure of doctors’ clin-ics, outpatient departments (OPDs) of hospitals andthe Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) providing vitalhealthcare services.
So the question that arises is, how can benefi-ciaries access healthcare/welfare services during thepandemic? Pregnant and lactating mothers and chil-dren in both rural and urban areas have alreadybegun to suffer. For instance, the Government orderto the Anganwadi workers (AWWs), to home-deliv-er dry rations for children and mothers, has hadproblems in execution. The AWWs have complainedabout having to travel long distances on foot becauseof lack of personal/public vehicles and villagersthreatening and in some cases even beating thewomen AWWs for violating the lockdown. Plus theyhave to bear an added financial burden as they havenot been paid money to purchase rations for the lastone year and have not been provided with protec-tive gear to save themselves from the virus.
Another challenge that has emerged is the inabil-ity of the auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) andaccredited social health activists (ASHA) to helppregnant mothers and infants get their vaccinationas well as arrange transportation to the nearest healthfacility for delivery, while adhering to the service levelbenchmarking to combat the pandemic.
While we don’t know what the future will beonce the lockdown ends, here are some solutions thatthe Government/States can consider to addressMCH-related concerns during the times of Covid.
Harness the advantage of mobile phone andinternet penetration to the remotest areas of thecountry for geo-tagging beneficiaries and for the pro-vision of telemedicine, using location data, call data,and Health Management Information System(HMIS) database. In this situation, the health prac-titioner will only advise high-risk pregnancy caseslike ante-partum hemorrhage (APH), gestationalhypertension (PIH/GH), eclampsia and severeanaemia. To distinguish between severe and normalcases, the programme can be administered bymachine learning and Artificial Intelligence.
With all the recent beneficiaries of the JananiSuraksha Yojana (JSY) and the Pradhan MantriMatru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) having beenassigned Unique IDs, these should be used for directbenefit transfers (DBT) and nutritional assessment,screening of COVID-19 cases, triage referrals andreferral to secondary-care hospitals.
As an emergency measure, pregnant women(especially migrant workers) travelling or in tran-sit in the next few months and seeking institution-al delivery can be imparted with the benefits of thePradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PM-JAY) orAyushman Bharat (AB) with the participation of theprivate sector.
Create a MCH dashboard in line with theAyushman Bharat and PMMVY dashboard, to syn-chronise data, harness HMIS and Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) database to show thefacility closest to the pregnant mother for rapid wel-fare delivery and integration of immunisation ser-vices for home-based new-born care, so that all theessential immunisation vaccines can be given to thechildren below two years of age without any delay.
The dashboard can also track thewhereabouts of pregnant women (of theregion in focus) and put reminders ontheir cell phones and on that of their fam-ily members, which would provide regu-lar information on the precautions theyneed to maintain and the ways to respondif they develop Coronavirus-like symp-toms and so on. These can be integratedwith the existing applications of theGovernment and must be triaged after pri-mary screening.
Most women have monthly to week-ly interactions with doctors/health prac-titioners during pregnancy for prenatalcheck-ups. But in the times of the pandem-ic this may go missing, so it is imperativeto keep them informed via digital medi-um. For instance, the Kilkari applicationof the Haryana Government can bescaled up to include video messages forwomen that are specific to their stage ofpregnancy. Frequent live conversationswith doctors/health practitioners need tobe arranged to reduce anxieties and neg-ative psychological impacts due to thespread of COVID-19 and the lockdownin effect.
WhatsApp accounts must be set upwhere pregnant and lactating women areable to share their concerns and throughaudio and video messages. Volunteers canbe roped in with the support of civil soci-ety and community networks.
Coordinators of Self-Help Groups(SHGs) in the villages must be identifiedto assist ASHA workers and ANMs in-home delivery of required medicines.While this would help in reducing the bur-den on the latter two, it would also helpexpand community cohesion. For this, theSHGs can be awarded certificates ofappreciation that would strengthen theircredit scores for availing any furtherloans from banks.
The Government has identified bothprivate and public hospitals to take inCoronavirus patients in each district.The contact numbers of these hospitalsshould be publicised through every avail-
able medium so that the people use thesewhen they develop COVID-19 symptoms.
Pregnant women, who becomeinfected, should be treated with WorldHealth Organisation-recommended sup-portive therapies in consultation with theirobstetrician/gynaecologist. Pregnantwomen and health practitioners must beinformed about these therapies withoutany delay.
It is also important to record all newcases of pregnancies due to the COVID-19 lockdown, so that Government pre-pares for an impending “Coronial gener-ation” after nine months and also has aready benchmark for future shutdownsbased on the lessons learnt. The existingHMIS and ICDS data, though not veryreliable, can still be low hanging fruits inthis regard to utilise the Digital India archi-tecture.
In the lockdown scenario, theGovernment must ensure that the dutiesof AWWs are notified as essential servicesif it does not want the health and nutri-tion security of women and children to becompromised. All pending payments dueto the AWWs must be transferred to therelevant bank accounts without any fur-ther delays. It must be noted that theBudget 2020-21 has allocated �28,600crore for programmes that were specificto women. It is indeed a matter of concernthat the reimbursement for the purchas-es made for preparing Mid-Day Meals forchildren at AWCs has not been releasedfor over seven months in States likeJharkhand. With the present Budget out-lay, there should be no financial excuse towithhold the payments due to the AWWs,and in fact, they must be paid a three-month advance honorarium to facilitatetheir work and ensure their safety.
Expanding health insurance cover-age to women and children will increasetheir access to necessary health servicesmore than other groups. Along with thematernal and child health programmes,this must be added with the existing pub-lic health and community services such as
prenatal care, well-child care and enablingservices such as case management, trans-portation and home visits.
The maternal healthcare servicesmust include mental healthcare, contra-ceptive services and supplies; diagnosis andtreatment of sexually transmitted diseases;prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartumcare; regular breast and pelvic exams(including Pap tests), in accordance withwell-recognised periodicity schedules;risk assessment; adequate education andcounselling to support these interventions.
For infants and children up to fiveyears, emphasis must be on preventive ser-vices, such as immunisation and themonitoring of physical and psychosocialgrowth and development, with attentionto critical periods in which appropriatecare is essential for sound developmentand progress.
A separate, more comprehensivemidwifery training programme with ser-vice level benchmarking in India must beintroduced on an urgent basis. Havingwell-trained and capable midwives wouldprovide a better birthing experience for themother and would reduce the burden onobstetricians.
Women’s SHGs should be roped infor better outcomes in ensuring the pro-vision of take home rations. There shouldalso be certain modifications and expan-sion in the type of food provided, vary-ing regionally, to meet nutritional require-ments. Planning of resources is a must toavoid misallocation and panic.
With the Coronavirus crisis expect-ed to continue and peak in the next fewmonths, it is imperative to urgently designand implement alternate solutions whichensure institutional deliveries, facilitatetreatment to the pregnant mothers andtheir new-borns and address MCH needsin a timely and structured manner, simul-taneously adhering to social distancing andisolation norms of the Government.
(Simi is CEO and Editorial Directorwhile Ritika and Anshula are ResearchAssistants at IMPRI)
People who look for silver linings(aka optimists) think thatCOVID-19 might be the inflec-
tion point where we start getting seri-ous about our relationship with theplanet.
There’s no direct link between theCoronavirus and climate change butif a tiny virus can bring our wholebustling civilisation to a halt, thenhow vulnerable will we be to a dis-ordered environment driven by out-
of-control global heating? Just in time we are being taught
humility and perspective, the opti-mists say. Even better, some of thethings we urgently needed to do arenow happening without our help.People are learning to work fromhome, air travel has been closeddown, the oil industry is collapsing.
By contrast, the pessimists (whooften refer to themselves as realists)believe that crises don’t make peoplebehave better. The “Great Depression”led to World War-II and 9/11 led towars all over the Middle East, the“Crash of 2008” led to austerity, slowgrowth, mounting popular angerand the rise of populist regimesacross the world. Don’t expect anybetter from this crisis.
Moreover, they say, most peoplecan only process one problem at a
time, and that has the unfortunatering of truth. Last year saw anunprecedented upsurge in publicconcern about climate change —Australian wildfires, record floods allover the place, “Extinction Rebellion”,Greta Thunberg — but all that hasnow been pushed aside by theCoronavirus.
Global heating and its associat-ed disasters will kill far more peoplein the long run but COVID-19 iskilling them now. There’s no time forclimate this year and last year’s climatemomentum will not automaticallyreturn when the virus is under con-trol.
Momentum takes time to buildand we are running out of time. Thereis no magical deliverance on the wayand on balance the current healthemergency is setting back the cause
of climate sanity, not advancing it. Nevertheless, we can take some
comfort from the fact that behaviour-al moulds are being broken all overthe place and several generations arelearning together that disruptivechanges, even very big ones, can beaccepted by most people if theyunderstand the need.
A small example from my owntrade: This column has appeared innewspapers all over the world fordecades but the relentless retreat ofthe print media before the onlineonslaught has eaten deeply into therevenue base of the Press everywhere.
Many papers have died, almostall have downsized, and that hit myown income hard. My solution wasto do more speaking engagements,which involved more time awayfrom my real job and a lot more trav-
el. No show, no dough, so I did it —but then came Coronavirus, socialdistancing and a temporary halt to airtravel. End of that solution. What todo next?
So I put my talks on video andoffered them to the usual suspects —universities, schools, libraries, confer-ence organisers — saying I could doa live Q&A session afterwards onsome web-hosting site for the wide-ly distributed audience. They wouldnever have accepted that arrangementtwo months ago. Now there is noalternative, so we’re back in business.Some of this business will go back tothe old model when normal serviceis restored but I suspect quite a lot ofit will not.
This is happening all across thebusiness world and will mean perma-nent, significant change: More work-
ing from home, less commuting,more teleconferencing, less travel.And lower greenhouse gas emissions.Another positive change coming outof this emergency is that we are final-ly beginning to take a chunk out ofour biggest problem: our heavydependence on oil. Coal, the dirtiestof the fossil fuels, has been decliningfast as an energy source for years inmost places but oil, the second-worst fossil fuel, just kept going up.
In January the world was pump-ing and burning 100 million oil bar-rels per day (BPD). That is about twolitres a day for every man, woman andchild on the planet.
Demand this month has fallen to70 million BPD and while some of itwill return when the Coronavirus iscontained, it will probably never see100 million again. The inexorable
decline of oil has begun.But those are about the only
bright spots. This year is forecast tobe the hottest-ever and the major cli-mate summit that was scheduled forNovember has been postponed untilnext year. Total annual emissions maybe down by a few percentage pointsthis year but most of the decline isonly temporary.
Do not despair. The planet is nowhot enough to produce several majorlocal calamities every year, so we’llquickly get re-motivated to worryabout global heating once the currentemergency is past. Although proba-bly not fast enough to save us fromhaving to resort to geo-engineeringby the 2030s.
(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)
new coronavirus was “notmanmade or genetically mod-ified” but say they are stillexamining whether the originsof the pandemic trace to con-tact with infected animals or anaccident at a Chinese lab.
The statement from theOffice of the Director of
National Intelligence, the clear-inghouse for the web of U.S. spyagencies, comes as PresidentDonald Trump and his allieshave touted the as-yet-unproven theory that an infec-tious disease lab in Wuhan, theepicenter of the Chinese out-break, was the source of theglobal pandemic that has killedmore than 220,000 worldwide.
In recent days the Trumpadministration has sharpened its
rhetoric on China, accusing thegeopolitical foe and vital tradingpartner of failing to act swiftlyenough to sound the alarm tothe world about the outbreak.orto stop the spread of the virusthat causes COVID-19.
The new statement says,“The Intelligence Communityalso concurs with the wide sci-entific consensus that theCOVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified.”
“The IC will continue torigorously examine emerginginformation and intelligence todetermine whether the out-break began through contactwith infected animals or if itwas the result of an accident ata laboratory in Wuhan.”
Trump addressed the the-ory earlier this month, saying,“More and more, we’re hearingthe story.” Secretary of StateMike Pompeo added, “The
mere fact that we don’t knowthe answers — that China has-n’t shared the answers — Ithink is very, very telling.”
Pompeo also pressed Chinato let outside experts into the lab“so that we can determine pre-cisely where this virus began.”While Trump and Pompeo havemade public statements specu-lating about the lab, a U.S.intelligence official disputedthe notion that there was any
pressure on agencies to bolstera particular theory. The intelli-gence official was not autho-rized to publicly discuss theissue and spoke only on condi-tion of anonymity.
Scientists say the virusarose naturally in bats. Even so,Pompeo and others have point-ed fingers at an institute that isrun by the Chinese Academy ofSciences. It has done ground-breaking research tracing the
likely origins of the SARS virus,finding new bat viruses anddiscovering how they couldjump to people.
“We know that there is theWuhan Institute of Virologyjust a handful of miles awayfrom where the wet marketwas,” Pompeo said two weeksago. The institute has anaddress 8 miles, or 13 kilome-ters, from the market that isconsidered a possible source.
US officials said theAmerican Embassy in Beijingflagged concerns about poten-tial safety issues at the lab inWuhan in 2018, but they haveyet to find any evidence thevirus originated there nearlytwo years later. The Chinesegovernment said Thursday thatany claims that the coronaviruswas released from a laboratoryare “unfounded and purely fab-ricated out of nothing.”
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The Philippines protestedon Thursday China’s des-
ignation of a disputed SouthChina Sea reef, which it hasturned into a heavily fortifiedisland base, as a Chinese“administrative centre.” TheDepartment of Foreign Affairsissued a statement objecting towhat it called China’s “illegaldesignation” of Fiery CrossReef as a regional administra-tive center in the hotly con-tested Spratly archipelago.
It’s the latest in a series ofdisagreements in the sea asAsian nations grapple with thecoronavirus pandemic. U.S.Secretary of State MikePompeo accused China lastweek of taking advantage ofwidespread distraction over
the pandemic to advance itsterritorial claims.
“The Philippines calls onChina to adhere to interna-tional law,” the departmentsaid, reminding Beijing of a2002 agreement that urgedgovernments with rival claimsin the sea to exercise self-restraint and avoid actions thatwould escalate the disputesand undermine regional sta-bility.
The Philippine govern-ment has protested China’sself-declared territorial zones inthe waters starting in 2012,with what it said was Beijing’s“unlawful establishment” of aSansha City covering much ofthe South China Sea.
It said it “does not recog-nise Sansha nor its constituentunits nor any subsequent acts
emanating from them.” TheDepartment of Foreign Affairscited a July 2016 internationalarbitration ruling that invali-dated China’s sweeping terri-torial claims in the South ChinaSea on historical grounds.China refused to participate inthe arbitration case, which wasinitiated by the Philippines, andrefused to recognize the ruling.
Last week, the Philippinesprotested China’s establish-ment of two districts to admin-ister two disputed groups ofislands and reefs in the SouthChina Sea. One district report-edly covers the Paracel islandsand the other has jurisdictionover the Spratlys, where Chinahas turned seven reefs, includ-ing Fiery Cross, into missile-protected island bases, includ-ing three with runways.
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India’s outgoing PermanentRepresentative to the UN
Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin bid adieu to UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres with a ‘Namaste’ in avirtual meeting.
Akbaruddin had a virtual meeting with Guterresas he prepares to return to India.
“Before I leave SecretaryGeneral, I have one last smallrequest and that is in the Indiantradition, when we leave orwhen we meet, we don’t stayhello or shake hand but we sayNamaste. So before I end I want
to say Namaste to you and I hope if you can recipro-cate,” Akbaruddin said during his video conversationwith Guterres, adding that “I bow out with a Namasteto you.”
Guterres, smiling, alsoresponds with a Namaste, say-ing it three times.
Akbaruddin had assumedcharge as India’s envoy to theUN in November, 2015.
Seasoned diplomat TSTirumurti, currently servingas Secretary in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs, was onWednesday appointed as India’sPermanent Representative tothe United Nations.
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Around 3,261,936 cases havebeen registered and
2,30,401 people have died fromCovid-19, the disease caused bythe coronavirus. More than1,030,709 people have recov-ered to date.
US: US President DonaldTrump likes to talk about themost, the best, the thing thatnobody has ever seen. Now heis trying to make a virtue of alower number, arguing thatthe efforts of his administrationhave warded off a far greaterdeath toll than otherwise wouldhave been seen.
But the reported US deathtoll on Wednesday crept past60,000, a figure that Trump inrecent weeks had suggestedmight be the total death count.He had cited the estimate as asign of relative success after theWhite House previouslywarned the U.S. Could suffer1,00,000 to 2,40,000 deaths.
Trump also has repeated-
ly used the outer band of anyestimate -the potential that 2.2million Americans could havedied had there been no inter-ventions — to try to make hiscase most powerfully.
The US death toll fromCovid-19 is certain to keepgrowing from here.
And, like the unemploy-ment rate, the numbers alsowill be revised- and likelyupward, due to underreporting.The focus on death tallies alsooverlooks other importantmarkers such as immunity lev-els and infection rates.
UK: Britain’s death tollfrom the coronavirus outbreakjumped to 26,097 onWednesday — the second-highest in Europe behind Italyand third-highest in the world— as the government tookinto account fatalities outsidehospital, including care homes,for the first time.
The increase came aftersurprise news that PrimeMinister Boris Johnson had
become a father again at age 55,several months earlier thanexpected, and just weeks afterhe was taken to hospital withCovid-19.
Meanwhile, British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson said theUK is “past the peak” and “ona downward slope” in its coro-navirus outbreak. In his firstnews conference in more thana month following his hospi-talisation with Covid-19 andhis subsequent recuperation,Johnson said he would be pre-senting a “comprehensive plan”next week about how and whenthe UK will ease the lockdownrestrictions, which are due tolast at least until May 7.
Though he said it would
provide a “roadmap,” Johnsonis widely expected to extend thecurrent lockdown further.
France: France reported427 more deaths from Covid-19 to push the total above24,000 but it also saw newdeclines in the numbers ofpatients in hospital and inten-sive care.
The total number of deathsin hospitals and nursing homesfrom the virus in France is now24,087, the health ministrysaid in a statement.
The daily count was slight-ly higher than the 367 deathsannounced on Tuesday. But thelatest figures confirmed therecent more optimistic trends
seen over the last days with 650fewer coronavirus patients inhospital and 180 less in inten-sive care.
Spain: Spain’s health min-ister has announced strict con-ditions for a relaxation ofmovement and isolation mea-sures from next Saturday.
Health Minister SalvadorIlla said Thursday that peoplecan practice sports or go forwalks with one other personfrom their home between 6a.m. and 10 a.m. and between8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Team sports are notallowed, and people cannot gofurther than 1 kilometer fromtheir home. People over 70
years old and people who needsomeone’s assistance to walkhave a separate time period forgoing out.
Russia: Russia’s coron-avirus caseload surpassed1,00,000 on Thursday, withthe number of deaths exceed-ing 1,000. Russian health offi-cials reported a record dailyspike of 7,099 new confirmedcases on Thursday morning,which brought the country’stotal to 106,498. The number ofinfections is likely to be muchhigher, as not everyone is beingtested and many carry the dis-ease without exhibiting anysymptoms.
The vast majority ofRussian regions have been onlockdown since late March,with people ordered to stay athome and only essential busi-nesses, such as grocery shops,pharmacies and banks, oper-ating.
Meanwhile, on lateThursday Russian PrimeMinister Mikhail Mishustinhas tested positive for coron-avirus.
Italy: Scientists are defend-ing a controversial report warn-ing of a new wave of criticalcoronavirus cases that prompted the ItalianGovernment to keep schoolsclosed until September andtake a gradual approach toreopening.
The statistical models inthe report estimate that Italycould see as many as 151,000people in intensive care byJune 8 if everything reopened,given the large number of pos-sible contacts where infectionscould spread.
Industrial groups haveassailed the report’s methodol-ogy, but its authors appeared atthe Superior Institute of Healthon Thursday to defend thefindings.
At the height of Italy’s out-break, the deadliest in Europe,there were a fraction of peoplein ICUs, slightly more than4,000 for four days runningMarch 31-April 3.
Even that number, howev-er, overwhelmed the healthsystem in hardest-hitLombardy.
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Chinese President Xi Jinpinghas termed China’s battle
against COVID-19 as a majorstrategic achievement, as theruling Communist Party is allset to hold the postponedParliament session on May 22amid a steady decline in thecoronavirus cases.
China’s National HealthCommission (NHC) onThursday said the countryreported only four new con-firmed COVID-19 cases onWednesday, taking the totalnumber to 82,862, while nodeath due to the disease was reg-istered. The virus has claimed4,633 lives in the country.
China’s arduous efforts tocontain the coronavirus havebrought a decisive outcome tothe fight of defending Hubeiand its capital city Wuhan, Xitold a high-powered CentralCommittee meeting of the rul-ing Communist Party of China
(CPC) on Wednesday. The nationwide battle
against the epidemic has gainedmajor strategic achievements,the state-run Xinhua newsagency quoted Xi as saying.
Xi said Hubei, includingWuhan, should continuestrengthening community-levelepidemic prevention and con-trol. He asked officials to makeefforts to contain the viruscase at Heilongjiang Provincebordering Russia, where a largenumber of Chinese returningfrom Russian cities were test-ed positive for coronavirus.
The meeting emphasisedthe need to accelerate workresumption and businessreopening, help companies espe-cially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises address diffi-culties, and promote the recov-ery of pillar industries such asauto manufacturing, electronicinformation, new materials andbio-medicine, the report said.
The meeting stressed accel-
erating farm production andexpanding sales channels foragricultural products to boostincome for farmers.
The Hubei province and itscapital Wuhan — where theCOVID-19 first emerged inDecember last year — were theepicentres of the deadly virus,which later turned into a pan-demic, bringing the world to astandstill. The COVID-19 pan-demic continues its explosivegrowth overseas, Xi said, not-ing the mounting pressure toprevent imported infectionsand the growing complexity ofstemming domestic epidemicresurgence. Xi demanded norelaxation in epidemic controlto safeguard the hard-earnedachievements, the report said.
According to the NHC, allthe four COVID-19 patientsreported on Wednesday wereimported cases. The number ofimported cases rose to 1,664,including 13 patients in severecondition, it said.
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China has no interest ininterfering in the US pres-
idential election, it said onThursday, after US PresidentDonald Trump said he believedBeijing would try to make himlose his re-election bid inNovember.
“The US presidential elec-tion is an internal affair, wehave no interest in interferingin it,” Chinese foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuang told
reporters during a daily brief-ing.
“We hope the people of theUS will not drag China into itselection politics.”
In an interview for Reuterson Wednesday Trump said“China will do anything theycan to have me lose this race”,adding that he believed Beijingwants his Democratic oppo-nent, Joe Biden, to win the elec-tion to ease the pressure Trumphas placed on China over tradeand other issues.
Trump also said duringthe interview he was looking atdifferent options in terms ofconsequences for Beijing overthe coronavirus pandemic.
He and other top officialshave blamed China forCOVID-19, the respiratory dis-ease caused by the new coron-avirus. It has infected morethan 1 million Americans andhas thrown the U.S. economyinto a deep recession.
“There are many things Ican do,” Trump told Reuters.
“We’re looking for what hap-pened.”
Geng reiterated duringThursday’s briefing that Chinawas a victim of the epidemicand not its accomplice, addingthat attempts by “certain polit-icans” to shift the blame awayfrom their poor handling of theoutbreak to Beijing would only“expose the problems of the USitself ”.
“The U.S. should knowthis: the enemy is the virus, notChina,” he said.
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The Russian ForeignMinistry rejected US argu-
ments for fielding low-yieldnuclear warheads, warning thatan attempt to use such weapons against Russiawould trigger an all-out nuclearretaliation.
The US State Departmentargued in a paper released lastweek that fitting the low-yieldnuclear warheads to subma-rine-launched ballistic missileswould help counter potentialnew threats from Russia andChina.
It charged that Moscow inparticular was pondering theuse of non-strategic nuclearweapons as a way of coercionin a limited conflict — anassertion that Russia hasrepeatedly denied.
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NASA’s first Mars helicopterhas a name now and the
credit goes to 17-year-oldIndian-origin girl VaneezaRupani. Rupani, a high schooljunior from Northport,Alabama, earned the honour ofnaming the helicopter aftershe submitted her essay intoNASA’s “Name the Rover” con-test.
Destined to become thefirst aircraft to attempt poweredflight on another planet,NASA’s Mars Helicopter offi-cially named: Ingenuity, as sug-gested by Rupani.
While NASA announcedin March that its next roverwould be named Perseverance
based on seventh-graderAlexander Mather’s essay, theagency decided to also choosea name for the helicopter thatwill accompany the rover toMars.
“Our Mars helicopter has anew name! Meet: Ingenuity.Student Vaneeza Rupani cameup with the name during our“name the rover” contest.Ingenuity will ride to the RedPlanet with @NASAPersevereto attempt the first poweredflight on another world,” NASAtweeted.
Rupani’s entry was among28,000 essays submitted by K-12 students from every USstate and territory, according toNASA, which made theannouncement on Wednesday.
The head of the World Health Organization’sEuropean office is warning the continent
remains “in the grip” of the coronavirus pan-demic even as about three-fourths of theregion’s countries are easing restrictive measures.
Dr. Hans Kluge noted a reduction of casesin the region thanks to social distancing mea-sures, adding: “We must monitor this positivedevelopment very closely.”
He said Italy, Britain, France, Germany andSpain still have high numbers of cases, and point-ed to increases in cases in Belarus, Russia,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine.Of the 44 countries in WHO Europe’s region
that have enacted domestic restrictions, 21 havealready started easing those measures andanother 11 plan to do so in the coming days,Kluge said.
“This virus is unforgiving. We must remainvigilant, persevere and be patient, ready to rampup measures as and when needed,” he said.“COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon.
“The European region accounts for 46 per-cent of cases and 63 percent of deaths global-ly,” he added. “The region remains very muchin the grip of this pandemic.”
New Delhi: In its continues endeavor to ensure availability ofessential commodities like food grain across the countrythrough its freight & parcel services during the nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19, despite severe constraints, FerozpurDivision of Northern railway has started the financial year 2020-21 with record breaking loading of food grains in the month ofApril -2020.
In this month, total 1.10 MT in 401 rakes of food grain hasbeen loaded which is the highest ever in a month. Previous bestwas 1.05 MT or 362 rakes loaded in August -2016 and 1.03 MTor 365 rakes loaded in March -2015.
In addition to above, Ferozpur Division has also formed andrun 61 long hauls Annapurna trains in the month of April -2020 which is also the highest ever in a month, surpassing theearlier record of 16 long hauls run in March-2020.
Greater Noida: The authorityhas decided to honor itsemployees for motivating themto fulfill their duties in the fightagainst the coronavirus disease(Covid-19) epidemic.Authority officials believe that
these employees have servedthe public by standing in thefront line. Every month suchemployees will be crowned theEmployees of the Month.
A new beginning has beenmade by the Chief ExecutiveOfficer. Under which theAuthority honored the employ-ees by announcing theEmployment of Month everymonth to increase the effi-ciency of their officers andemployees, making the workscompetitive, encouraging pos-itive environment and effi-ciency of the work of the work-ing and efficient officers andemployees. will go.
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Reliance Jio on Thursdayposted 177.5 per cent year-
on-year rise in net profit to�2,331 crore for the threemonths ended March 31,fuelled by rising subscriberbase and recent tariff hike.
The net profit of Jio stoodat �840 crore in the year-agoperiod. Seen sequentially, thenet profit grew 72.7 per centwhen compared to �1,350 crorein December quarter(Q3FY20).
Jio’s standalone revenuefrom operations for the fourthquarter stood at �14,835 crore,which translates into year-on-year growth of 26.6 per cent.Commenting on the Q4 results,Mukesh Ambani, Chairmanand Managing Director,Reliance Industries Limitedsaid, “Jio is embarking on thenext leg of growth with a path-defining partnership with oneof the world’s largest digitalcompanies, Facebook”.
“We are together deter-mined to make India a trulydigital society with best-in-class connectivity networkcomplemented with disruptivedigital technology platformsfor entertainment, commerce,communication, finance, edu-cation and health harnessingworld’s best tech capabilities.Our focus will be India’s 60 mil-lion micro, small and medium
businesses, 120 million farmers,30 million small merchantsand millions of small and medi-um enterprises in the informalsector,” he said.
The standalone net profitstood at �2,331 crore, the com-pany in a statement said,adding that there was excep-tional item (income) during the
quarter of �31 crore related toreversal of provisions on AGR dues.
Average Revenue Per User(or earning per subscriber)was sequentially higher at�130.6 per month, the compa-ny said, adding further impactof December 2019 tariff hikewill flow through in comingmonths.
Jio’s net profit increased to�5,562 crore for the full yearFY20 from �,964 crore in theprevious fiscal, an annualincrease of 88 per cent, thestatement said. The revenuefrom operation stood at�54,316 crore for FY20, upfrom �40,663 crore in FY19.
Subscriber base as on March31, 2020, was at 387.5 millionwith net addition of 17.5 millionduring 4QFY20, it said. JioPlatforms will launch a nation-wide video platform called‘JioMeet’, the company said.
New Delhi: The task force onNIP has stressed the need formore private investment inhighways and projected thetotal capital expenditure inroad sector at �20.33 lakhcrore in fiscals 2020-2025.
To augment infrastructureand create jobs in the country,the Government task force onNational InfrastructurePipeline (NIP), which in itsreport projected total invest-ment of �111 lakh crore in infraprojects over five years, saidthat 18 per cent of the target-ed investment is expected to bemade in road sector.
“Approximately 18 per centof �111 lakh crore investmenttargeted over fiscals 2020-25 isexpected to be made in roadssector — bulk of it in augment-ing road length and safety fea-tures,” the final report of the taskforce on NIP for 2019-2025 pre-sented to Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said.
“Given ambitious target,increased private sector partic-ipation is critical,” it added.Crediting Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways forintroducing comparatively de-risked models for private sector,like engineering procurementand construction and hybridannuity model, task force saidthis could result in doubling ofrate of construction of nationalhighways since 2015. PTI
����� �9�3,.
The Sensex surged 997points while the Nifty
reclaimed the 9,850-level onThursday as short-covering onexpiry of F&O contracts andencouraging results from aCovid-19 drug trial in the USturbocharged sentiment.
Rising for the fourthstraight session, the 30-shareBSE Sensex settled 997.46points or 3.05 per cent higherat 33,717.62.
Similarly, the NSE Niftysoared 306.55 points, or 3.21per cent, to 9,859.90.
Global markets shruggedoff US GDP contraction dataafter American pharma firmGilead’s remdesivir drugshowed promising results intreating Covid-19 patients.
Further, a strengtheningrupee and rising buzz of anoth-er stimulus package by theGovernment, focussed onindustries, kept domesticinvestor sentiment positive,traders said.
ONGC was the top gainerin the Sensex pack, rallying13.40 per cent, followed byHCL Tech, Hero MotoCorp,TCS, Maruti and Infosys.Shares of Reliance Industriesand Tech Mahindra climbedaround 3 per cent ahead oftheir earnings announcements,while HUL settled in the red.
Sun Pharma, IndusIndBank and Asian Paints tooclosed with losses of up to 2.72per cent. During the holiday-shortened week, Sensex rallied2390.40 points or 7.63 percent, while Nifty Surged 705.50points or 7.70 per cent.
Domestic financial marketswill remain closed on Friday for‘Maharashtra Day’.
“The NSE Nifty 50 hasposted its best monthly gainsince April 2009, registering
gains of over 14 per cent.Buying was seen among hugevolumes on weekly F&O expiryday with old economy stocks(including auto, oil & gas, met-als) advancing well accompa-nied by IT stocks.
“Asian markets rose onThursday, carried by optimismovernight on Wall Street that anew drug could help to treatCovid-19,” said Deepak Jasani,Head Of Research, HDFCSecurities.
BSE metal index zoomed8.27 per cent, followed by auto,IT, teck, oil and gas, basic mate-rials, telecom and energy.
On the other hand, health-care and FMCG indices ended inthe red. Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices advanced up to1.46 per cent.
On the global front, USGDP shrank 4.8 per cent in Q1
amid the coronavirus crisis, whileChinese factory activity expand-ed for the second straight monthin April as the country resumedwork after the lockdown.
Top US epidemiologistAnthony Fauci said that GileadScience’s remdesivir “has aclear-cut, significant, positiveeffect in diminishing the timeto recovery”. Bourses inShanghai and Tokyo endedwith significant gains, whilethose in Hong Kong and Seoulwere closed for a holiday.
However, stock indices inEurope were trading on a tepidnote in early deals after datashowed the euro zone econo-my contracted 3.8 per cent inthe first quarter.
International oil bench-mark Brent crude futures ral-lied 9 per cent to USD 26.40per barrel.
New Delhi: Oil-to-telecomconglomerate RelianceIndustries on Thursday post-ed its biggest drop in quarterlynet profit, even as itannounced India’s largestrights issue and said the SaudiAramco deal was on track andmore strategic investors haveevinced interest in buying astake in its digital platform.
Net profit in January-March slipped 37 per cent to�6,546 crore, the lowest inthree years, as a rise in con-
sumer-facing business wasnot enough to shield the firmfrom fall in the petrochemicalbusiness. The profit was alsodown due to one-off spend-ing. The company’s boardapproved a rights issue of�53,125 crore, which it saidwas the biggest in India andthe first by RIL in threedecades. “The price of rightsissue has been determined at�1,257 per share and the shareratio at 1:15,” the companysaid in a statement. PTI
New Delhi: With coronaviruslockdown hitting businesseshard, India’s largest companyReliance Industries has decid-ed to cut the salary of most ofits employees by 10 to 50 percent with firm’s chairman andrichest Indian Mukesh Ambaniagreeing to forgo all his remu-neration.
Also, the oil-to-technologyconglomerate has deferredannual cash bonus and perfor-mance-linked incentives thatare normally paid in the firstquarter, according to anemployee communique.
The nationwide lockdownthat began on March 25 had ledto evaporation of demand as
factories shut down, officesclosed, air flights suspended,trains stopped and restrictionson the movement of people andgoods placed.
Reliance’s hydrocarbonbusiness was adversely impact-ed due to a reduction indemand for refined productsand petrochemicals. PTI
�There’s no doubt that you are a goodactor but after Agneepath, which sawyou transform into a villain for the firsttime, the buzz seems to have intensified.Does this belated spotlight bother you?
This has been the most intense weekof my life, what with TV channels andnewspapers lining up for interviews andthe deluge of phone calls and greetings.And will you believe it when I tell you thatI haven’t watched the film as yet? It’s notthe attention, I have never sought it; it’sthe recognition from a diverse section ofpeople beyond the fraternity, be it politi-cians, officials, rank outsiders and thecommon man. I was so moved whenIndira Jaisingh, the former solicitor-gen-eral of India, called me up personally totell me how much she enjoyed a TV inter-view of mine, so much so that shewatched the film after it and had becomea great fan. It was an interesting experi-ence. (At this moment director Imtiaz Ali’sfather calls him up from Jamshedpur tocompliment him for Agneepath). Suchreactions make me feel great. And admit-tedly, I am on a high. I knew I had a meatyrole but didn’t know a catalyst characterbetween the hero and anti-hero, playedby two biggies like Hritik Roshan andSanjay Dutt, would manage to leave a bigimpression.
�Why do you think Rauf Lala has madesuch an impact because you have had amixed bag of character-driven roles inyour kitty recently?
People never expected Rishi Kapoorto turn a visceral villain on screen. I haddone very little externally except the netvest, my hair, beard and the kohl-rimmedeyes. The rest was my interpretation, myspontaneous emoting of what this char-acter would do in real life. I neverresearch, just rely on my instincts and myexperiences. Rauf Lala doesn’t depend onmannerisms, he is naturally evil. I doaccept the fact that I am a reasonably goodactor but this role has really worked won-ders. If you ask me objectively, this hasbeen a stand-out performance.
Over the years I have only been doingromantic films. Nobody gave me roles Icould experiment with until now and Iam thoroughly enjoying this phase ofbeing challenged as an actor, as anartiste. Finally, I am reinventing myselfand getting my due. There is growth ofan actor, not a star. I am not saying all myroles are great but finally I am being ableto do justice to them and it’s fun to be ona rollercoaster ride. Be it a Rauf Lala orthe patriotic sardar in Patiala House, theharried producer Romi Rolly in Luck ByChance or Everyman in Do Dooni Char,an unimaginable variety is surfacing forme. Did you know so many peoplethought that it would never be possiblefor Rishi Kapoor to become Mr Duggal?But it seemed Mr Duggal couldn’t havebeen more real. I am just humbled thatall this has happened because my produc-ers and directors have kept the faith.
�How did you decide on each of thesecharacters?
I always tell my producers that I donot want to play stereotypes, definitely notthe typical father. The project must be ofsome interest to me so that I can bringsomething on the table. It is not going tobe the lead but it must have some meatfor me to chew on.
�Rauf Lala wasn’t in the original ver-
sion of Agneepath. Did that make it easyfor you to accept?
I liked the role but I refused itbecause I wasn’t sure I could carry it offconvincingly. But the producer and direc-tor were very persistent, so I asked for alook test, the first in my 40 years of beingin the film industry. Fortunately, the guid-ance of the new director, Karan Malhotra,and my own abilities helped me get thecharacter right. I must give total credit tothe director and producer for their fore-sight and confidence to cast me in the filmdespite my lover boy image. They couldhave taken any established villain but theyvoted for me. That was a great responsi-bility on my shoulder. Thankfully, the div-idends paid off for them and me.
�People are now saying you are com-peting with your son Ranbir in terms ofperformance...
Thankfully. I am to glad to be part ofa phase of Hindi cinema where both ofus have a chance to push the envelopewith each project.
�How difficult was it to adjust yourvision as a seasoned actor with that ofthe young filmmakers?
They young blood has brought infresh thinking with boldness and convic-tion. Who would have thought of puttinga Rauf Lala in the middle of what is essen-tially a David versus Goliath battle? Andhe conceived him thinking of me. Karantook the skeleton of the old film and filledit up again beautifully. These youngstersare never tired, willing to experiment andkeen to work with old actors too. Theyare a blend of tradition and modernity.Older directors are stagnating becausethey refuse to think out of the box, chal-lenge the viewer. Rather they want to playit safe, repeating the formula of their oncesuccessful films.
Young men like Karan Malhotra havea great respect for seniors like us and atthe same time are very straight forwardand adamant about what they want. EvenHabib Faisal debuted as a director withDo Dooni Char. It’s great that both myacclaimed performances have been withfirst time directors.
�But you had to be malleable too?If you are an actor true to your craft,
you can adjust with anybody. Besides, Ichoose to work with only thosewhom I can gauge. When theycome to me with their scripts,I can sense if they know theirjob or not.
�Though you are not amethod actor, would yousay you have to put morethought into your charactersnow than before?
Well before I just had torun around trees, sing songs andwear jerseys. (I am just joking)We did have some goodones too butp l a y i n gcharactersthese daysis certain-ly moreinterest-ing. Theconcept ofhero haschanged, hehas many
layers to himself. So as leading man,Ranbir can develop his range given thedifferent protagonists he has to play.
�How would you analyse the maturingof audience sensibilities?
Of course, a lot has to do with eco-nomic growth where people are ready tospend �200 a ticket at a multiplex, whichagain is a single window for both big andsmall films. The sensibility of the personspending �200 is not the same as the mandriving an auto. You could say multiplex-es have widened the bandwidth and madeit possible for filmmakers to address adiverse range of viewers. So now you havefilms like Agneepath which strikes theperfect balance between the front bench-es and balcony, one that straddles the sin-gle theatre and the multiplex.
�Would you agree that small budgetfilms are nudging experiments in theindustry?
It’s not only about the budget, it’sabout the ability to make a good film thatmakes commercial sense. I believe art isuniversal and there is nothing parallel ormainstream about it. There is only goodcinema and bad cinema, nothingcrossover or in-between. Just because youthrow in a few English dialogues, does-n’t mean you have crossed over to anoth-er genre or grammar. For 40 years of mylife, I have been a commercial actor andwhen the viewer pays an entertainmenttax, he earns the right to be entertained.Then I can’t serve him a film that goesover his head.
If you want to make an artistic film,then send it to Doordarshan for a free tele-cast, the tax burden is not on you.Anyway, I find most so-called arthousefilms boring and pretentious. Otherwiseyou would not have had brilliant actorslike Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah andShabana Azmi going mainstream. Wouldyou say they are not doing good cinemanow? It is an art to sing, dance, fight orbecome a Rauf Lala. I am an artiste, agenius of these virtues...
�Let’s go back to your younger years,when you were growing up as scion ofthe Kapoor legacy... were you ever con-fused about what you wanted to be, anactor, director, a script writer maybe?
You are right, the influences of a filmtradition were not only strong
but ingrained in our psy-che. It was like a lifelong
internship at the KapoorInstitute of film-mak-ing. By age 10, all of usknew how to make afilm, we had beenexposed to everyaspect of filmcraft.Unconsciously, you
become a productof your envi-
ronment and you feel you have to dosomething with films. Acting came nat-urally to me. Besides, Lady Luck favouredme because I was accepted as a roman-tic hero for 25 years and was a top star ofmy time. Acting has remained a joyride.I thank God I have been able to contributeto our family legacy and hope thatRanbir will take it forward.
�You have produced Heena, directed AaAb Laut Chalein. Why haven’t you con-sidered making a film under the RKbanner?
Filmmaking is a full time job and Idon’t have the time as I am enjoying thisphase of my acting career, probably mybest. I am not saying never, I will definite-ly try my hand if I get a good script. Butright now I am not in that space. I don’teven want Ranbir to take up directionnow; he is young, should concentrate onhis acting and not jump puddles. As afather, I must respect the fact that you letyour son find his way among the bush-es...
My father did not interfere with mycareer either and I am the better for it. Ihave not guided Ranbir and that’s why heis standing on his own feet. He has got totake the bouquet along with the brickbats.
�How did his entry to films happen?Did he discuss it with you?
Though his growing up in a film fam-ily taught him a lot, Ranbir went to filmschool, the Lee Strasbourg Institute andis trained in all aspects of filmmaking. Hecame back, worked as an assistant toSanjay Leela Bhansali and got his break.As a product of today’s society thrivingon the information highway, he doesn’treally need my advice. Besides, we don’tbring back or discuss work home. He isvery close to his mother, talks to her butin the end he exactly knows what he isdoing and takes his creative decisions.There is an appreciable growth in him.Though he is young, he has not been acollege boy sitting in a canteen, he hasdone a Rajneeti, Rocket Singh and nowRockstar.
�These days, there is an entire image-building machinery around an actor,one that ensures his brand value and amedia profile. How was it in yourtime?
Thankfully, my body of work hasalways spoken for me and I have neverneeded that kind of a media profile or pro-jection. You have come to interview me,I never asked my PR to organise it. WeKapoors have never lobbied for awardsand have been happy entertaining theaam janta. I have never lobbied for recog-nition and it has been 40 years. Peoplewho are not even 40 years old have beenawarded by the government. The govern-ment never cared for the Kapoors andwell, we also don’t give a damn. We arehere by the masses, of the masses and forthe masses.
Of course, the platform has becomeso huge these days that stars are underconstant pressure to sell themselves allthe time. This has taken a toll on
today’s actors, they are workinglesser, may be just two films a year.
We worked in four films a year.With easier revenue, visibility
and endorsements, they areinvading your conscious-ness every day. In our time,there were just
Doordarshan and hoardings. We did upto four films a year, generated employ-ment in the industry, ensured revenue foreverybody, endorsed the worker. Now allour technicians are looking for rehabili-tation in the television industry.
�Any roles that you might want to lookback with satisfaction?
As an actor, I don’t want to dwell inthe past and bask in the glory of what Ihave done. I look forward, want to beencouraged and prodded to do muchmore than I am capable of. I don’t wantto stop. I have a quiver full of arrows, eachdifferent from the other and I’d like to hitthe eye with each of them.
�What kind of projects are you busywith now?
I have done my first slapstick role inSajid Khan’s Housefull 2, which will bereleasing in April. I have done KaranJohar’s Student of the Year, where I will beplaying a gay Dean, who is very subtle. Iwill be appearing in a remake of ChashmeBuddoor with Lilette Dubey. It is a mod-ern version of the old film where I willbe playing the character of Saeed Jaffery.I will be teaming up with AmitabhBachchan after many years in SudhirMishra’s Mehrunissa, a story about twofriends who fall out over a girl and do nottalk to each other for 39 years. Then thereis a mature spin on a Zindagi Na MilegiDobara type bonding with NaseeruddinShah and Boman Irani.
�So you have a hectic pace?Not really. I am no longer the lead-
ing man who has to give 60 days. A char-acter actor can work in short bursts. Ofcourse, there is a lot of travelling.
�In your time, every actor, be it a manor woman, had a personality. Todayeverybody looks factory made... yourcomments.
Actors today are very image-drivenand have intelligently carved such con-stituencies for themselves that they havemanaged to last 15-20 years. Nobody isa complete package. More so among theleading ladies. From 16 to 35, they all lookclones, the make-up, hairstyle and thelook are the same. Sadly, we haven’t hada good actor since Sridevi, who had ter-rific star value as well. Of course, there wasRekha. Today you define actresses by whatthey lack, somebody has sex appeal, some-body knows acting, somebody looksgood... Nobody is everything.
�So when do we see you with Neetu jiagain?
She is very reluctant about comingback and it is my insistence that made hertake up Do Dooni Char. I did thatbecause the role was a custom fit for her.
�So what do you do in your spare time?I like to relax, watch TV, I am not a
great reader but I follow newspapers andnews television. I play Literati, a form ofscrabble online; I have played over 15,000games.
�What about social media? Well, I exist on Facebook but will be
the last guy to sign up for Twitter. WhenI do not even open up to the Press, whatam I going to talk about with the invisi-ble world? (Well, he did join Twitter andowned it with his brand of wit andhumour.)
3�-�#��#0/�3��32?)�0@�#2�$�Babies love other babies
and are often very toler-ant of the snatching andgrabbing of toys.
Because babies are 'captured bythe moment' they are moreinterested in seeing the otherchild with their snatched toythan fretting over the fact it hasbeen stolen. This begins tochange in the second year, butchildren who often play along-side others remain relativelytolerant.
Children under two do notmake real friends or play togeth-er with children of their own age.But they tend to sit side by sidedoing much the same thing.They can and do return thefriendship of others -- they loveplaying with older children --but they do not yet know howto strike up a friendship forthemselves. This skill developsbetween the ages of two andthree, but even at three a childmay be more attracted by thegames other children are play-ing than by a particular child.From three onwards children aremore and more likely to selectactivities because they want to bewith a particular child.
It seems like some kids aremore naturally socially adeptthan others—you know, thekind of people others gravitateto and for whom making friendscomes easily. Don't worry if yourchildren don't fit that mold oraren't winning any popularitycontests. Like any other skill,social skills can be learned, and,besides that, "being social" or
outgoing isn't the end goal initself.
Many students do not knowhow to handle interpersonalsocial situations that involvefollowing directions, holding aproper conversation, listening,giving compliments, properbehavior during transition times,teasing, bullying, or just "hang-ing out" with friends.
Those are basic skills wewant all kids to be able to have.Depending on your children'sages, they might also need morespecific social skills.
There does seem to be agenetic component to shyness.Although most tiny babies donot shrink from strangers, someare shyer than others. All babiesgo through a period when theyare more likely to cling to theircaregivers, but some cling hard-er and for longer than others.There is always a child who doesnot want to stay alone at theparty, always another who runsin without a care. Shyness is oneof those characteristics that fol-lows us through life. Althoughit is possible to help a child tocope with it, it is difficult -- if notimpossible -- to change a shy,retiring child into a outgoingchild revelling in the crowdaround him.
But -- and it is a big but --how we react to our child's basictemperament also influencesher. A shy child can be helpedby sensitive parenting, while ahappy, outgoing and extrovert-ed child will become withdrawnin an abusive family. If we pro-
tect a shy child from having tointeract with others we build onthat initial predisposition mak-ing it harder for her to cope.Equally, if we ignore her tem-perament and throw her in atthe deep end, we underminewhat little confidence she has.What's needed is a middle way-- a sensitive and gradual intro-duction to other children.
Your little ones face manychallenges the day they opentheir eyes in this material world.Developing social skills andinteracting with the world
around them will be a criticalpart of their success and happi-ness, even more important thantheir academic results. Are youready to help them develop thedesired social skills?
Let your children imitate avariety of emotions—joy, anger,disappointment, excitement,mischief, weirdness, nervous-ness, tiredness, terror, danger,etc. Play ‘identify the emotion’game by making faces or hold-ing placards of different smiley.This helps them differentiateemotions and express better; and
not get confused when minglingwith other kids or people. “Toteach them emotions, it isimportant that you also commu-nicate to your kids what makesyou happy and sad.
A lonely child may have dif-ficulty in interacting with theworld. Give your children goodcompany, exposure, and chancesto interact with different typesof people. Kids with social skilldeficits often have trouble read-ing expressions and interactingsocially. So activities that getthem more comfortable with
these situations are a great idea.Playschools, hobby classes, play-grounds, sports activities, etc.,will give them a chance tosocialise. When kids minglewith other kids or elders, theydevelop a range of interperson-al skills that become the foun-dation of their personality.
The top social skills wouldbe to listen to others, follow thesteps, follow the rules, ignoredistractions, ask for help, taketurns when you talk, get alongwith others, stay calm with oth-ers, be responsible for your
behavior and do nice things forothers
These might seem like socialskills promoted just to turn out"nice girls and boys" who earnthe "gets along with others"check on their report cards, butthey're fundamental behaviorsthat help kids succeed in aworld that emphasizes socialnorms.
Teach your child that peo-ple are important. All parentshave to choose their battles, soput up with messiness anddawdling if you must, but teachyour child consideration forothers. Model it for him early on,praise it, help him brainstorm tosolve peer problems, and don'tlet your child intentionally orunintentionally disrespectanother person. It you can'tconfront it as it happens with-out embarrassing your child, besure to talk about it later. As kidsget older, you may need to bevery explicit about insisting thatthey acknowledge adults in theirpresence, as well as other kids.Often preteens and young ado-lescents need to be reminded ofthis, and to be given coaching onhow to handle interactions thatfeel awkward to them.
All that said, chances areyour kids are learning positivesocial skills the way most of usdo, simply as we go along andthrough trial and error. Don'tworry or try to intervene toomuch unless there are serioussigns of social trouble . Most kidsare insensitive or socially clum-sy sometime.
Senior batsmen UsmanKhawaja and Shaun Marshmissed out but the fast-rising
Marnus Labuschagne and JoeBurns were rewarded for theirperformances in CricketAustralia’s annual player con-tracts announced on Thursday.
The list, which has come laterthan scheduled, features six newfaces for the 2020-21 season —Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Agar,Burns, Labuschagne, KaneRichardson and Matthew Wade tothe list.
“Marnus’ rise has been mete-oric and well-documented, Joe hasbeen a good Test match player,Ashton Agar’s form in T20Internationals has been exception-al, while Kane Richardson hasbeen outstanding in the 20-overand one-day games,” Chief selec-tor Trevor Hohns said in a state-ment.
Labuschagne has risen to No3 in ICC rankings after makingTest debut for Australia in 2018.In 14 Tests he has played,Labuschagne averages over 63and has accumulated 1459 runs.
Burns averages over 50 inboth Tests and ODIs.
The 33-year-old Khawaja,who missed out for the first timein five years, didn’t feature in anyTest for Australia since losing hisplace after the third Test againstEngland in August last year.
Besides Khawaja, Peter
Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis,Nathan Coulter-Nile, MarcusHarris, and Shaun Marsh werealso not included as CricketAustralia named 20 players in itsnew centrally-contracted list.
“Matthew Wade’s summershowed he is not only a tough buta good Test player for us. His formextended into white ball cricketlate in the summer, earning himwell deserved call-ups to the one-day and T20 Australian squads.”
Talking about Mitchell
Marsh’s inclusion, Hohns said:“After missing the list last yearMitch Marsh’s recent form showedhe has a lot of international crick-et ahead of him as a batting all-rounder.
“Mitch proved this with hisman of the match performanceagainst New Zealand at the SCGin the last game Australia playedand a five-wicket haul in the lastTest match he played on theAshes tour.”
Players, who miss out on the
initial contract list, can be upgrad-ed during the year by accruing 12upgrade points with Tests worthfive points, ODIs two points andT20s one point for men.
“...There are always plenty ofopportunities for those who havemissed out to be re-selected byperforming consistently at domes-tic level; and importantly to makethe most of any opportunity thatcomes their way at internationallevel,” Hohns said.
“As is always the case there are
unlucky omissions but, however,because you are not on the list doesnot mean you cannot be selectedto represent Australia,” he added.
National selectors also named15 women who will be contract-ed for the next 12 months withSouth Australian Tahlia McGrathbeing a surprise addition on the
women’s list having not played forthe national side since 2017.
Fast-bowling all-rounderMcGrath and young guns TaylaVlaeminck and AnnabelSutherland are the new faces onthe women’s list, while NicoleBolton, Elyse Villani and ErinBurns have missed out.
�#��� 8:-*:-
Moeen Ali is keen to make a “fresh start”and regain his place in England’s Test
side after ending his self-imposed exile fromthe five-day game.
The off-spinning all-rounder wasdropped by England following a poor dis-play in last year’s Ashes opener and then losthis England central contract.
Moeen then decided to take a breakfrom Test cricket that saw him miss seriesin New Zealand and South Africa.
He also made himself unavailable forthis year’s tour of Sri Lanka, cut short beforethe internationals by the coronavirus,even though he’d taken 18 wickets at animpressive average of 24.5 duringEngland’s last visit to the island 18months ago. But now, with 181 wick-ets in 60 Tests behind him, Moeen isready to fight for his place in Joe Root’sXI once again despite the competitionfrom the likes of fellow spinners JackLeach and Dom Bess.
“For sure if I got the calltomorrow to play I woulddefinitely put my handup,” Moeen told reportersvia video link.
“I will be available to play any
cricket now. I still backmyself to get back into theside at some stage.”
Moeen, 32, had previ-ously spoken of how he felthe’d been made a scapegoatfor England defeats but hestressed his mood was nowfar more positive after abreak from Test duty.
“I absolutely love Test
cricket and I just almost had a fresh start andthat’s hopefully what has happened over thelast year or so, it’s probably made me a bet-ter bowler. It’s put me in a better mindset.
“I don’t want to keep going on about itnow, I just want to move forward and tryto enjoy my cricket again.”
Moeen, a member of England’s victo-rious 2019 World Cup squad, continued toplay limited overs internationals during hisTest absence.
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Veteran South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahirsaid every time he turned up for Chennai
Super Kings it gave him goosebumps and the fam-ily atmosphere in the IPL team is something whichhe has never got anywhere else.
“Every game I played for CSK gave me goose-bumps, a really special feeling about it...We playso well as a team,” he was quoted as saying on theCSK website.
“We just try to play as hard as we can and winas many games as possible for CSK, enjoy eachother’s success and that’s what makes Chennai sucha special team,” he said about the three-time IPLwinner.
Tahir, who joined the Mahendra SinghDhoni-led team in 2018, said the day he put onthe CSK cap was one of the special moments ofhis life.
“The day I put on the Chennai Super Kingscap was one of the special moments of my life. Inever knew I was going to be around special peo-ple and (be part) of a special squad,” he added.
The 41-year old South African, winner of thepurple cap (prize for highest wicket-taker in IPL)in 2019 season, said the family atmosphere in theteam makes it special.
“It’s a family really, and I never really felt thatin any other franchise anywhere. It’s very special,not just to me but close to myfamily’s heart as well. Myson always sings the CSKsong when he is at theground and when I amplaying for Chennai. Hejust loves it,” Tahir added.
The veteran leggiealso fondly rememberedthe open-top busparade in the run-upto the 2018 season,when the franchisereturned after a two-year ban from IPL.
“Unreal to see thesupport the fans gaveus, it was amazing,something that I’dnever witnessedbefore in my life.Grateful toeveryonewho sup-p o r t sCSK,” hesaid.
�#��� 8:-*:-
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho believesbringing football back, even behind closed
doors, would be a much-needed morale boostfor fans starved of action during the coronaviruscrisis.
No Premier League games have been playedsince March 9 due to the pandemic.
England’s top-flight clubs are due to meeton Friday with Project Restart at the top of theiragenda. They will discuss how they can completethe season despite the logistical difficulties.
“I miss football,” Mourinho told Sky Sportsfrom the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, which hasbeen transformed to house a testing centre.
“But I prefer to say I miss our world, like Ithink we all do. Football is just part of my world.But we have to be patient, this is a fight that weall have to fight.”
Even if matches can return, they will beplayed behind closed doors for the foreseeablefuture to minimise the risk of spreading the virus.
Mourinho, though, believes players will stillbe putting on a show for millions watchingaround the world.
“If we play the remaining nine matches thisseason it will be good for every one of us,” hesaid. “It will be good for football, for the PremierLeague.
“If we play football behind closed doors I’dlike to think that football is never behind closeddoors. With cameras, it means that millions andmillions are watching. So if one day we walk intothis empty stadium, it will not be empty, not atall.”
�#��� 8:-*:-
Former Tottenham managerMauricio Pochettino says
he wants to return to thePremier League club one dayto finish the job he started.
The Argentine leftSpurs in November, sixmonths after leadingthem to the ChampionsLeague final, and hasbeen linked withNewcastle in recentdays.
Reports claim he isthe main target of theMagpies’ prospective newSaudi Arabian owners
should they complete a takeover, butPochettino could not disguise hisdesire to return to north London atsome stage in his career.
The ex-Southampton boss, whospent more than five years at
Spurs, told BT Sport: “It wasan amazing journey thatfinished the way no onewanted it to finish.
“But deep in my heartI am sure our paths willcross again. From theday I left the club, mydream is to be back oneday and to try to finish the
work we didn’t finish. Wewere so close to winning the
Premier League and
Champions League.”Pochettino said he felt motivated
for his next job but still felt the pull ofTottenham.
The 48-year-old transformedSpurs’ fortunes after arriving fromSouthampton in 2014 but failed to wina trophy.
“Deep inside I want to go backbecause the fans are so special. Maybein five years, maybe in 10 years, butbefore I die I want to manageTottenham,” he said.
“I want to feel what it means towin one title with Tottenham becausethe fans are amazing, all the love wereceived was amazing and that is agood opportunity to pay back all thelove they showed us from day one.”
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France’s football league declaredthe season over on Thursday,
with Paris Saint-Germain namedas Ligue 1 champions.
PSG led the table by 12 pointsfrom Marseille when the seasonwas suspended in mid-Marchbecause of the coronavirus out-break.
The announcement by theLFP comes after Prime MinisterEdouard Philippe said on Tuesdaythat “professional sports leagues,notably football, cannot restart”because of the risks linked to thepandemic.
“There is no ambiguity aboutthis declaration. We needed tomake a final decision about thisseason. We acknowledge that the
2019-20 season is over,” said LFPpresident Nathalie Boy de la Tour,in a conference call with reporters.
Ruling out any possibility offollowing the lead of theNetherlands, who decided to voidtheir season without a champion,relegation or promotion, the LFPsaid a final table was arranged onthe basis of average points pergame.
Ten rounds of matchesremained when the campaign washalted, although PSG andStrasbourg both had a game inhand.
As a result, Marseille andRennes will go into the ChampionsLeague next season, while fourth-placed Lille will play in the EuropaLeague.
Toulouse and Amiens, thebottom two, are condemned to rel-egation, with Lorient and Lenscoming up from Ligue 2.
The identity of the otherEuropean representatives dependson whether the finals of the twodomestic cups are ever played.
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The German league con-firmed on Thursday that
clubs have started testing play-ers for the coronavirus as partof plans for the Bundesliga toresume next month.
Testing for the virus, whichhas so far claimed over 6,000lives in Germany, is a keycomponent in the plans torestart the Bundesliga in stadi-ums without spectators.
The DFL confirmed thatregular testing has begun in thetop two leagues amid hopesmatches could be played fromas early as May 9 or May 16.
However, the league stillneeds the go-ahead fromAngela Merkel’s government to
resume.The labour ministry, which
has approved the plans, hasdemanded each player be test-ed twice before clubs resumeteam training, having so fartrained mainly in smallergroups.
Players would be subject tostrict hygiene measures, includ-ing testing for the virus everyfew days.
German ChancellorMerkel is chairing a video con-ference with the premiers of 16states with the Bundesliga setto be discussed, but a final deci-sion is only expected nextweek.
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Serie A “will comply” withthe Italian government’s
decision should it choose toend the current season due tothe coronavirus pandemic, theleague’s president said onThursday.
Italy’s top flight, a majori-ty of its clubs and the ItalianFootball Federation (FIGC)have repeatedly insisted thatthey want to finish the 2019-20campaign but on WednesdayMinister of Sport VincenzoSpadafora said the chances ofrestarting were “increasinglynarrow”.
And Paolo Dal Pino in astatement said that Serie Awould maintain a “constructiveand collaborative” dialoguewith the Government afterweeks of hostility.
“If it’s possible to do it(restart) while respectinghealth legislation, great,” Dal
Pino said.“Otherwise we will rigor-
ously comply, as we havealways done, with theGovernment’s decision. The(sports) ministry can be sure ofour constructive and collabo-rative spirit.”
Serie A, which has beensuspended since March 9 dueto a pandemic, will hold anemergency general assemblyon Friday and the possibility ofthe season being ended is like-ly to be on the agenda follow-ing Spadafora’s remarks.
That’s despite FIGC presi-dent Gabriele Gravina saying acancellation would be “thedeath of Italian football” andthat he would “never sign forthe end of the championships”.
Gravina estimates thatItalian football would sufferlosses of up to 800 millioneuros ($870 million) in theevent of the season being can-celled.
��@� ����� Indian tennis star SaniaMirza on Thursday became the firstIndian to be nominated for the Fed CupHeart Award from the Asia/Oceania zonealong with Indonesia’s Priska MedelynNugrorho. Sania had recently made acomeback to Fed Cup after four years.
With her 18-month son Izhaan pre-sent in the stands, Sania had helped Indiaqualify for the Play-offs for the first time.
“Stepping on to the court for the firsttime in India colours was a moment ofpride for me, back in 2003. It has beenan eighteen year long journey sincethen and I feel extremely proud and priv-ileged to have contributed to the successof Indian tennis,” Sania was quoted as say-ing.
“The Fed Cup result at theAsia/Oceania tournament last month isone of the greatest achievements of myplaying career. These are the moments anathlete plays for and I am grateful to theFed Cup Heart Awards selection panel forthis recognition,” added the 33-year-old.
The winners of the Heart Awards willbe determined by online voting by fanswhich will go Live on May 1 and will goon until May 8. PTI
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Subimal Chuni Goswami,one of India’s sporting giants
who captained the 1962 AsianGames Gold-winning footballteam and also played first-class cricket, died here onThursday after suffering a car-diac arrest.
The versatile sports veter-an was 82 and is survived by hiswife Basanti and son Sudipto.
“He suffered a cardiacarrest and died at the nursinghome at around 5pm. He wasbrought here for a routinecheck-up,” Sudipto said.
Goswami was also battlingunderlying ailments, includingsugar, and prostrate and nerveproblems. Goswami neededinsulin daily and due to thelockdown, his medical super-
visor was not able to attend tohim regularly, forcing his wifeBasanti to administer the med-icine.
The former striker played50 international matches, 36 ofthem official, between 1956and 1964, including the 1960Olympics in Rome. He netted13 goals during his internation-al career.
During his cricket stint, herepresented Bengal in 46 first-class games between 1962 and1973. A right-handed middleorder batsman, Goswami couldalso bowl medium pace andwas a very good fielder.
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The World Archery onThursday decided not to
hold any Olympic qualifyingevent this year in view of theCovid-19 pandemic and alsofreezed the world rankings.
The world body alsoextended the suspension of allinternational competitions tillthe end of August. It, however,is hoping to start competi-tions (not Olympic qualifiers)before the end of the year.
Accordingly, a draft calen-dar for the last few months ofthe year has been prepared.
“No further Olympic qual-ification events will take placein 2020. They will be scheduledin 2021. The world rankingswill remain frozen,” the WAsaid in a statement.
The suspension of interna-tional competition was up toApril 30 initially but it wasextended to June 30 later,
before Thursdaydecision to imple-ment it till August31.
The world body
also said no newevent will beannounced with lessthan two monthsnotice.
=�� ����#�� ����������� ������ � #������������� C���D� Australianopener David Warner does not seethe need to abolish the use of sali-va to shine the ball when cricketresumes in the post Covid-19world as he feels it is no more orno less risky than sharing thechange room with fellow players.
“You’re sharing change roomsand you’re sharing everythingelse, I don’t see why you have tochange that,” Warner toldcricket.Com.Au.
“It’s been going around forhundreds of years now, I can’trecall anyone that’s got sick bydoing that. If you’re going to con-tract a bug, I don’t think it’d nec-essarily be just from that.
“I’m not too sure but it’s notmy place to comment on whetheror not we should or shouldn’t (usesaliva to shine the ball). It’s up tothe ICC and the governing bod-ies to decide.”
However, former fast bowler
Shaun Tait believes it is importantto be open about changes and theuse of saliva could become a thingof the past.
“I’ve never been a huge fan ofthe saliva on the ball, it’s not verynice really,” Tait said.
“We have to open to somepossible changes there.” The sub-ject of legalisation of ball tamper-ing has led to divided opinions.
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������� �����E��������'���������� � ���������?� ����������� ������7�7;������ English cricket’s controversialnew Hundred competition has beendelayed until 2021 because of the coron-avirus pandemic, cricket chiefs announcedon Thursday.
The new 100-balls-per-side format, tobe played by eight franchises rather thanthe established 18 first-class counties,had been due to start in July.
But with the English season delayeduntil at least July 1 and matches after
that likely to be played behindclosed doors, the England andWales Cricket Board hasdecided to hold the Hundred
over until next year. “The situation we findourselves in as a country means thatdelivery of the Hundred will not be possi-ble this summer,” ECB chief executive TomHarrison in a statement.
“Whilst we are naturally disappointedthat we won’t get to realise our ambitionsthis year, the Hundred will go ahead in 2021when we are safely able to deliver every-thing we intended to help grow the game.”
The ECB's statement said playing theHundred behind closed doors was not anoption because an event with no fans“directly contradicts the competition’s goalto attract a broader audience”. AFP
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