JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 12 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

`̀ 100 per kilo

`̀ 128 per kilo

`̀ 158 per kilo

`̀ 54 per Dozen

IRAMSIDDIQUEGADCHIROLI, APRIL 17

“I will not spread corona, I willstay at home,” reads a freshlypainted message on the road,with an image of the virus inbrightred.AtthemainchowkinBhamragad in Maharashtra'sGadchiroli district, shops areshuttered,andsoarethehomesaroundthem.Withapopulationof12lakh,

Gadchiroli has had no COVIDcases so far, but for the districtthat has always lived in theshadow of Maoist violence, thelockdowntocheckthespreadof

thevirushangsheavy.In Gadchiroli, the lockdown

has coincidedwith theharvest-ing season of tendu leaves andbamboo.It isalsothetimeof theyearwhenbothtradingactivitiesand Naxalite movement in-crease.During this season, eachadivasi family stands to earnup

to Rs 30,000within the first 10daysofMay,whentenduleaves,used tomake beedis, are gath-ered fromthe junglesandgiventoagentswhoauctionitforhighreturnsandpocket theprofits.“It isduringharvestdaysthat

Naxalmovementalsoincreases.This is the time they can extortmoney from local villagers andcontractors,”saidaseniorpoliceofficer.InMarchalone, thedistrict's

anti-Naxal squad has had fourexchanges of fire withMaoists.There have been two incidentsof tractors belonging to roadcontractors being torched atKishtapur in Aheri taluka, the

most recentoneonApril 7.RomaHabka, a widowwho

lives with her 15-year-olddaughterinKoyangundavillage,about three km fromBhamragad, is entirely depend-ent on the jungles, but the lock-down has made it difficult forhertostepout.“Noonehasfeverhere. But policewanted the vil-lage shut. Nowwe just boil riceand eat on days we are not al-lowedtogoinjungles,”shesaid,immediately covering hermouthwithhersariafteranan-nouncement in the localMadialanguage blares from a vehicledoingtheroundsnearherhome.These days, MayaMadavi, a

40-year-old widow with twochildren, rushes to the jungle inthemorningtofetchanyvegeta-blesorthestaplemahuaflowersto feed her two children. “Thedried trees have antswhichwecook as vegetables are too ex-pensive,” saidMaya, who usedto work as a conductor on aschool bus, earning Rs 3,000 amonth, until the lockdownforcedher tostayhome.Ithasbeenthreeweekssince

the Wednesday market ofBhamragadtalukawaslastheld.The market caters to around40,000 people who live in 120tribal hamlets in the heavily

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PAGE1ANCHOR

Anti-coronvirusmessagespaintedonaroad inBhamragadtaluka inGadchiroli.NirmalHarindran

TRUMPUNVEILSPLANTORE-OPEN:‘UP TOGOVERNORS’PAGE10

TESTREP RTSFROMTHE

FIELDTRACKINGTHEVIRUS,

LOCKDOWN

Gadchiroli count zero, but fears uptick in Maoist violence

THEWORLD

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL 17

Developers will be allowed toundertakeconstructionworkinongoing projects at COVID-19hotspots of Mumbai and PuneafterApril20.Buttodothis,theywill need special permissionfrom the respective civic com-missioners.Also,onlythoseproj-ectswhereworkersareavailableon site will be permitted.Builders won’t be permitted tobringworkers fromoutside.Two days after the Union

MinistryofHomeAffairs issued

guidelines regarding the en-forcement of the second phaseofthenationwidelockdownandadditionaleconomicactivitiestobe permitted fromApril 20, theMaharashtra government onFridayannouncednormsto im-plement thesame.WhiletheCentrehasmainly

advocated resumption of man-ufacturing and industrial activ-ity in areas outside the 170hotspots, Maharashtra appearsto havemade an exception forunderconstruction projects inMumbaiandPune.Nearly 2,000 building

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Builders get conditionalnod to operate ongoingprojects in Mumbai, Pune

QUARANTINE, KOLKATAAfunctionalCovidquarantinecentre inKolkataonFridayevening.Thebuilding,off theEMBypassnearChinatown,canaccommodateupto250people. ParthaPaul

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, APRIL 17

MORE THAN three weeks intothenational lockdown, anaver-age of 69 per cent — almostsevenof 10—of all active Covidcasesinastateareconcentratedin just three of its districts, ananalysis shows.This trend holds pointers to

notonlyworkingouttheeasingof the lockdown post-April 20,it is key to designing publichealth interventions to containtheoutbreak.Thiscaseloadpatternreflects

in recoveryanddeathaswell.Nationally,whenitcomesto

recovered patients, more thanhalf (55.55per cent) come fromthese three districts in a state;also, anaverage63.9per cent ofdeaths, too, are fromhere.Thisstatewiseconcentration

inthreedistricts is significantasthe government identified 170districts in25statesashotspots.Asmember of the high-level

technical committee andAIIMSDirector Randeep Guleria hadtold The Indian Express, one goal

of anycontainmentstrategy, inalockdown, is to localise highernumber of cases to one arearather thanhavingpockets scat-teredallaround.Thisenablesbet-teruseoflimitedhealthresourcesandtheirrampingup, ifneeded.This three-district zone also

helps states decide where torampup testing and householdsyndromic surveillance —detectingearlysignsof anyout-break.Orhowandwheretoeaserestrictions or adopt more ag-gressivecontainmentstrategies.Significantly, in the three

states of Maharashtra, MadhyaPradeshandGujarat,whichbor-der each other and account forover4,200activecases,threedis-trictsineachstateaccountfor80

CONTINUEDONPAGE2EVENTUALLY,WESHALLCURE;ANDWESHALLENDURE:RBIGOVERNOR

Reversereporatecut tohelpstressedsectors includingNBFCs,micro-finance institutions, realestate,housing

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI, APRIL 17

WITHIN THREE weeks of an-nouncing amajor COVID-19 re-liefpackage,theReserveBankofIndia (RBI) Friday stepped inagain toensure liquidity andal-leviatestressinsegmentswherethe pain is becoming acute —state finances, NBFCs,micro-fi-nance institutions, commercialreal estate, andhousing.Stating that COVID-19 has

“severely impacted” small andmid-sized corporates, includingNBFCs andmicro-finance insti-tutions, the RBI slashed reversereporate—therateatwhichthe

RBI borrows funds frombanks.The25-basispointcutto3.75percent will nudge banks to giveloanstoproductivesectorsrather

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AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI, APRIL 17

FINANCE MINISTERS of threestates,includingBiharwheretheBJP is in alliancewith the JanataDal(United), saidFridaythattheRBIdecisiontoallow60percenthigher borrowing underWaysand Means Advances (WMA)fromwhat it was inMarch 30,2020, is inadequate given themounting expenses of states tocountertheCOVID-19pandemic.In separate interviewswith

TheIndianExpress, thestateFMssaid the RBI movewould help,butwas at best a temporary re-

lief. They said the Central gov-ernmentmust raise their fiscalborrowing limits currentlycappedat3percentof theGSDP(Gross StateDomestic Product)under the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management(FRBM)Act.The WMA are short-term

loan facilities which allow theCentre and states to borrowfunds from the RBI at repo rate(4.4 per cent now) and bridgethemismatch between expen-ditureandreceipts.These loanshaveathree-monthtenure,andstates are allowed an overdraftof 21days.

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RBI gives a second booster dose: States get toborrowmore, easier terms for NBFCs, liquidity

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

HAMZAKHAN,ASADREHMAN&ANKITADWIVEDIJOHRIJAIPUR,LUCKNOW,NEWDELHI, APRIL 17

FOURDAYSafterPrimeMinisterNarendraModi announced theextension of the national lock-down by twoweeks, Rajasthanofficials said that “about 100”buses from UP reached KotaFriday to take “nearly 7,500”studentshome.Themove follows amassive

socialmediacampaignlaunchedby thousands of students stuckin the entrance-coaching hub.Kota’s Additional District

Magistrate (Administration),Narendra Gupta said that byFridayevening,“about100ofthe252 buses from UP reachedKota”.“Thebuseswillferrynearly

7,500 students back to theirhomedistricts inUP,”hesaid.The students will not be

chargedfortransportation. “WeCONTINUEDONPAGE2

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL 17

THEUNIONHealthMinistrysaidonFridaythatthedoublingtimefor novel coronavirus (COVID-19)casesinIndiahadrisento6.2daysoverthepastweek,ascom-pared to three days before thenationwide lockdownbeganonMarch25.The Indian Council of

MedicalResearch(ICMR)Fridaysaid three strains of the virushavebeendetectedinthecoun-trysofar.Whilethiswillhavenobearingontheefficacyofadrug,as andwhen it is developed, itmay affect the efficacy of a vac-cine, saidDrRRGangakhedkar,headofepidemiologyandinfec-tiousdiseases, ICMR.“Before the lockdown, the

doubling rate was three days.Goingbythenumberof cases inthelastsevendays,thedoubling

rate has been 6.2 days. In 19statesandUnionTerritories, thedoublingrateislessthanthena-tional average,” Lav Agarwal,JointSecretary,HealthMinistry,saidat thedailybriefing.These states and UTs

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GovernorShaktikantaDasinMumbaiFriday.ANI

CORONACOUNT

452DEATHS

1,767 RECOVERED

3,35,123sampleshavebeentestedasonApril17

13,835CASES

TN outlier but onan average, 69% ofcases in each statefrom just 3 districts

Hike in ways & means short-term fix,let us expand deficit, say state FMs

UP buses cut across states to bringstudents home from Kota centres

StudentsboardingbusessentbyUPonFriday.MaqsoodAhmed

NEERAJTIWARIPALGHAR,APRIL 17

THREEMEN from Kandivali inMumbai,whoweredriving to afuneralinSurat,werelynchedbya group of villagers inGadchinchle, inMaharashtra’sPalghar district, on Thursdaynight.Themob,whichallegedlysuspected the threemen to bethieves, also attacked a policeteamthat reachedthespot.“Asperpreliminaryinforma-

tion,oneSushilGiriMaharaj,whostays in an ashram inKandivali,and two others, Jayesh andNaresh Yelgade,were travellinginavanwhichtheyhadrentedto

traveltoSurattoattendafuneral,”Palghar District Collector KailasShinde said, adding that one ofthemwasdrivingthecar.Despite the lockdown, the

three hadmanaged to cover adistanceof120km,tilltheywerestoppedbyasentryof theforestdepartment near Gadchinchle

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Mob in Maharashtra lynches threefrom Mumbai headed to Surat

Thevictimsweretravelling inavan.Deepak Joshi

AMONGRBI’s liquidityenhancingmeasures,the importantdecisionsinclude thehike instategovernments’WMAlimitsbyanadditional30%andthereduction inthe reverse reporateby25basispoints.Both themeasuresareaimedatcatalysingan increase ineconomicactivities.

SpurringeconomicactivityE●EX

PLAINED

FORESEEDIFFERENTWORLDPOST-COVID,WORKFROMHOMEMAYBECOMENORMRAVISHANKARPRASADUNIONMINISTERFORLAW&JUSTICE

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

P5

Cases have slowedunder lockdown, saysGovt; 3 strains found

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

Kota studentswillprovidemasks, foodpacketsaswellaswater,”Guptasaid.However,withthecityemerg-

ingasacoronavirushotspotwith92 of the 1,131 cases reportedfromRajasthan, Gupta said thestudentswillbescreened,andthebusessanitised.“For each of these students,

wearerecordingtheirname,thename of their coaching centre,their home address, and othercontactdetails.Wehopetofinishthe exercise at the earliest,” hesaid.Thedistricthasalsoreportedtwodeathsfromthevirus.In UP, officials were

tightlippedover themove,withone officer saying the govern-mentwouldcommentonlyafterthebuses“returnsafely,carryingallthestudents”.Accordingtoofficials,around

200buseswere organised fromAgra, Jalaun and Jhansi districts.“The buses left on Fridaymorn-ing.Itwasatoughdecisiontakenbytopofficialsinthestategovern-ment.Thestudentsbelongtodif-ferentdistricts. Eachbuswill ac-commodate30students,keepinginmindsocialdistancingnorms,”saidanofficial.ThesituationinKotaescalated

after district authorities stoppedissuingtravelpassesfromApril12,whenBiharrefusedtotakeinanymore students and lodged aprotestwiththeCentre.Thestudentsthentooktoso-

cial media, using the hashtag#SendUsBackHome, and taggedthe PrimeMinister, the HomeMinister, and the chiefministersofBihar,RajasthanandUP.“Igotamessageinthemorn-

ing frommy institute, informingthatwewill be leaving at 4 pm.Wewerethensentalinktofillanonline form, which asked uswherewewantedtogo. I filled itup,andspoketomyparents.Theytold me to pack everything,change my IIT-JEE centre toVaranasi, and return home forgood,” says Kumar Saurabh, 19,whohails from Jaunpur andhasbeen in Kota for the past threeyears.Around 5 pm, Saurabh and

“over 200” other students gath-ered at a coaching centrewheretheywereput in separate class-roomstoensuresocialdistancing.Around10pm,hewaswaitingforhisturntobescreened.“Wehave been told thatwe

will be screened again at Agra.Fiveofusfrommyhostelareleav-ingwhile another six students,mostof themfromBihar,arestillthere. Theywere very sad, theywanttoleave,too,”saidSaurabh.Taking to Twitter, Rajasthan

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlotposted: “As the UP govt calledback students of UP living in#Kota#Rajasthan, it can also bedone for students from otherstates. Students in Kota can besent to their home states on theconsent of the concerned stategovt so that these youngboys&girls do not panic or feel de-pressed.”Reacting to the call, Bihar’s

Building and ConstructionMinister Ashok KumarChoudhary posted on Twitter:“Sending back students to theirrespectivestatesisaninjusticetothe purpose of national lock-down. Any citizen stuck at anyplace isan Indian first, it’s there-sponsibilityoftherespectivestateto take care of them, at any cost.Zero travel is the need of thehour...”However,thestate’sLeaderof

Opposition,RJD’sTejashwiPrasadYadav,welcomed theUPmove.“Bringingback its students from

KotaisawelcomemovebytheUPgovernment. But the Bihar gov-ernment has been stopping itsstudentscoming fromKotawithspecial permission fromdistrictadministration.Whethertheyaremigrants and students stuckupoutside the state, theBihar gov-ernment has deserted all ofthem,”healleged.UPhadpreviously organised

buses to takemigrantworkersfromDelhi back to their home-towns,daysafterthefirstphaseofthelockdownwasimposed.Reactingtothelatestdecision,

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav de-manded thatUP showthe sameconcern for strandedmigrantworkers. “It is awelcomestep tobring back students stuck inRajasthan’sKota.Butitleadstothequestion of why the mobilephonesofso-calledNodalofficialsaresilentonlabourers,belongingtothelowersections, facingstar-vationinotherstates?”hepostedonTwitter.

WITHSANTOSHSINGHINPATNA

69% of casespercentof thecases.InMaharashtra,89.27percent

of the cases are concentrated inMumbai,Pune,andThane,and83percentofrecoveredpatientsarefrom these three district; inGujarat,84.87percentofcasesareconcentrated in Ahmedabad,Vadodara andSurat, and52.05%oftherecoveredpatientsarefromthese threedistricts; inMadhyaPradesh,81.51percentof the to-tal cases are concentrated inIndore,BhopalandKhargaon.Similar is the trend in the

south.In Andhra Pradesh, the dis-

tricts of Guntur, Kurnool andNellore; Hyderabad,Nizamabadand Vikarabad districts inTelangana; inKarnataka, thedis-tricts of Bangalore,Mysuru, andBelagavi and in Kerala, the dis-tricts of Kasargod, Kannur andErnakulam—anaverage 63percentofthecasesareconcentratedinthreedistrictsinthesestates.Andanaverage50%percentof

the recoveredpatients are fromthesethreedistricts.In Uttar Pradesh, there is a

slight dip inpercentage: the topthreedistrictsAgra,LucknowandGautamBuddhaNagar accountfor45percentoftotalactivecases- one reason is the large geo-graphicsprawlof thestate.However, in Bihar, Haryana,

Punjab andRajasthan, threedis-trictscontributetoanaverage60percentof totalactivecases.Onestatewhichistheoutlier

is Tamil Naduwhere cases arespread across. Data shows thatthetopthreedistrictsaccountforonly33.46percentofactivecases:Chennai(217),Coimbatore(127),andindustrialhubTirupur(80).Twodistrictshavecasesinthe

range of 79-80; three districtshavecasesintherangeof65-50;andasmanyaseightdistrictshavecasesintherange40-35.Of the1267cases in thestate

untilApril16,thedeathtollstandsat15.

‘Cases slowed’are: Kerala, Uttarakhand,Haryana, Ladakh, HimachalPradesh, Bihar, Odisha,Puducherry, Chandigarh, TamilNadu,AndhraPradesh,Telangana,Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir,Punjab, Assam, Tripura, UttarPradeshandKarnataka.Agarwal said the average

growth factor of cases betweenMarch15and31was2.1,while itwas 1.2 betweenApril 1 and15.“Therehasbeena40%decline ingrowth, and this has comewith

anincreaseintestingofsamples.We are doing better thanmostcountries,”hesaid.Inthelast24hours,1,076new

cases and 32 deaths were re-ported, takingthe total to13,835cases (1,766 recovered) and452deaths.WhilethenumberofnewcaseshasgoneupascomparedtoThursday (826), this is still lowerthan Wednesday (1,118) andTuesday(1,463).With31,083testsbeing done in the last 24hours,3,35,123 samples have beentestedsofar.Describing the virus strains

detected in India, DrGangakhedkarclarifiedthatsincethefirstcasescamefromabroad,the strains differed according tothecountryoforigin.“The first cases were from

Wuhan(ofairliftedstudents)andthese are similar to the Chinesestrain,thesequenceisthesame...ThencasescameinfromItalyandIran.ForIran,therearesomefrag-

mentsinthegenomethatresem-ble theChinese strain. In case ofItalyandtheUS,becausethere isa lot of travel — especially inEurope—thereisalittlebitinthegenomefromdifferentcountries,”hesaid.“The important question for

usiswhichisthepredominantva-riety.Wewillknowthat insometime,butitisunlikelythatifadrugis developed, itwill showdiffer-ent efficacy for different strains,because all strains use the samemechanismforreplicatingwithinthe cells. Itmay be different forvaccinesthough.Thegoodthingisthat it does not seem tomutatetoooften,”heexplained.Respondingtoaquestionon

theefficacyof BCG inCOVID-19prevention, Dr Gangakhedkarsaidthereisn’tenoughevidencecurrently to take an official po-sition oneway or the other. Hesaid the ICMRisplanninga trialto test its efficacy in preventing

COVID-19.WhileBCGisapartoftheuni-

versalimmunisationprogrammeinIndia,theefficacyofthevaccine,which is usually given at birth,doesnotlastbeyond15years.“BCGdoesnotevengivecom-

pleteprotectionagainstTB,itmaybe partial protection against TBmeningitis.Also,itneedsrevacci-nationafter15years,soif Iam70andIhaveCOVID-19,itisunlikelytomakeanydifference.However,it does seem to have some im-mune-boostingproperties—itisan immunomodulator.We areplanningastudy,whichwillprob-ablystartnextweek,totestitsef-ficacy,”hesaid.Therearealsosomereportson

the leprosy vaccine showingpromiseagainstCOVID-19.

3 men lynchedvillage,which is close to thebor-derthatMaharashtrashareswiththeUnionTerritoryofDadraand

NagarHaveli.Over the past few days, vil-

lagers had formed vigilantegroupsoverrumoursthatorgan-harvestinggangs,childliftersandthieveswereoperatingintheareaatnight. The rumourshad led totwocasesofassaultinthenearbyareas,withamedicalofficerhav-ing been beaten up a few daysago. Lastweek, apolice teamledby anAdditional SP thatwas onitswaytoDadraandNagarHaveliwasalsoattacked.Around 10 pmon Thursday

night,whilethethreemeninthecarwere having a conversationwiththetwoforestguards,afewmen, said to be part of the vigi-lantegroup,walkeduptothecarandgotintoanargument.As the argument intensified

and themobbeat up the three,the forest guards called up theKasapolicestation,located35kmaway.A team of four policemen

fromKasa reached the spot, butbythen,themobhadoverturnedthe car inwhich the threeweretravelling and even threatenedthepolicemen.Videosshotbyby-standers show the three mencowering in the overturned car,whichthemobpeltswithstones,logsandaxes.Subsequently, anotherpolice

teamof 12 reached the spot andmanagedtogetthethreementositintwoseparatepolicevehicles.“However,themobofaround400people attacked our vehicles.Someof ourpolicemenwere in-juredaswell,”Shindesaid.Themobmanagedtopullthe

threefrominsidethepolicevehi-cle, after which they lynchedthem. None of the policemenwereseriouslyinjuredandques-tions are being raised about theallegedlypassiveroleofthepoliceintheentireincident.“Wewill investigatethedeci-

sions taken by our officers andtheir role during the incident,”Shindesaid.Theoverpoweredpoliceparty

than called for backup, afterwhicha largerpolice forceman-aged to disperse the crowdandrecoveredthethreebodies.Palghar District

Superintendentof PoliceGauravSingh said cases havebeen filedagainst 110 villagers fromGadchinchle under charges ofmurder and attempt tomurder,unlawfulassemblyanddisobedi-ence to order promulgated by apublicservant.Singh also said policewould

investigate how the threemenhadmanagedtocomeallthewayfromKandivalitotheareadespitethelockdown.

Gadchiroliforested terrain of Abujhmad, aknown Naxal stronghold. Theshutting down of this weeklyevent has led to a spike in veg-etablepricesandleft tribalswithno takers for the rice they pro-duce.While the local administra-

tion is conducting awarenessdrives andmedical surveys totackleCOVID-19,theyarehobbledbytheMaoistpresenceinthere-gion.Chief Medical Officer Suraj

Jadhav, who was returning toBhamragadafterattendingacon-ference inGadchiroli,was stuckenroutefortwodaysafteraland-mine scare on the road nearTadgaon. It later turnedouttobeafalsealertbuttrafficmovementontheBhamragad-Allapalliroutewascompletelyshut.In recent days,Maoists have

evenputuphoardingsoutsidevil-lages,warningthedistrictadmin-istration against entering. Totacklethesechallenges,anetworkof one talathi (a revenueofficial)forevery10villageshasbeensetup to alert the administration ifanyofthevillagersfaceproblemsdue to the lockdownorbecauseofMaoistpresence.Withmanyofthevillageshavingnocellularnet-work,thenearestspotwheresig-nals are strong are identified toensuredistresssituationsareno-tifiedwithinanhour.“Awareness and precaution

are the best way out,” saidGadchiroli Collector DeepakSingla,who carried out ahealthsurvey of all families across thedistrict.With the district sharing its

borders with four districts ofChhattisgarh and three each ofTelangana and Maharashtra,quarantiningthosecomingfromother districts has been a chal-lenge.On Thursday, for instance,

around 60 villagers entered

Sironcha talukaof Gadchiroli af-ter havingwalked through thejungles for three days fromTelangana.Buttheadministrationtracked themthrough theirmo-bile networks and took them toTadgaonwhere there are beingscreenedforsymptoms.

Mumbai, PuneprojectsareunderconstructioninMumbai alone. “Most of thestranded labourers inMaharashtra are stuck at con-struction sites inMumbai andPune. Resumptionof activity onthesesiteswillalsoprovidethemlivelihood,”aseniorofficialsaid.Till Friday, data compiled by

the labour department showedthat74,991workerswerestuckat629sitesinMumbai,andanother1,12,511workerswereholedupat854 sites in Pune. Officials saidthatprojectswithincontainmentzones won’t be permitted inMumbaiandPune.Withsomeotherurbanbelts

also still in the grip of the pan-demic,Maharashtra fornowhaspermittedjustindustriesoperat-ing in rural areas or outside thelimits ofmunicipalities to startfunctioningpostApril20.BasedonCentre’s directions,

export-orientedunits,SEZs,unitslocated in industrial townshipsandestates,productionunitsthatrequire continuous process andtheir supply chains situated innon-containment zones—withthe exception of MumbaiMetropolitan Region and PuneMunicipal Corporation limts—havealsobeenpermitted.Butitwillbetheresponsibility

of the plant owners to makearrangements for the stayof theworkerswithintheirpremisesoradjacent building. Noworkersfromahotspotoracontainmentzonewillbeallowedtocommutetosuchworkplaces,andtheown-erswillhavetoprovidededicatedtransport for the transportationofworkers.Inanothermeasuretoaccom-

modatestrandedworkersindailywage earning jobs, the state hasdecidedtopushwageworksper-mitted under the MahatmaGandhi National EmploymentGuaranteeAct in sectors suchasirrigation, roads andwater sup-ply. Brick kilns in rural beltswillalsobeallowedtooperateforthesamepurpose,officialssaid.Intheinformationtechnology

sector, establishments in non-containment zoneswill be per-mittedtooperatewith50percentstaff capacity,whiledataandcallcenterswillbepermittedtofunc-tionwith“barestminimumstaff”.While the state has decided tocontinuepermittingmovementof vehicles belonging to e-com-merceoperatorsandallowtake-homedeliveries fromeateries, ithas ruled that the delivery per-sons shall compulsorilywear amask and frequently use handsanitisers.Ithasalsomadethees-tablishmentresponsiblefor“reg-ularscreeningofkitchenstaffanddeliverypersons”foreateries.“Banks will be allowed to

work for normalworkinghourstilldisbursalofdirectbenefitcashtransfers is complete. Local ad-ministrationwill provide addi-tional security to banks for ob-serving social distancingprotocols,”statedtheorder.While educational institutes

will remain closed, governmenthasaskedinstitutionstopromoteonlinelearning.Thelocaladmin-istrationwill be responsible forensuring that SOP for social dis-tancinginalloffices,workplaces,factories andestablishments areinplace. FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

RBI provides states a window to funds

thanlazilyparkthesewithRBI.TheRBIprovidedaRs50,000crorerefi-

nancesupport toall India financial institu-tions (Nabard: Rs 25,000 crore; Sidbi: Rs15,000crore;and,NHB:Rs10,000crore),amovethatwillboostliquiditytoagriandru-ral businesses, small andmediumenter-prisesandtosmallhousingfinancecompa-nies.WiththeRs50,000croresupport, thetotal funds to be releasedby theRBIworkouttoRsonelakhcrore.With the lockdown impacting the al-

readystressedfinancesofstates,theRBIhasenhancedthelimitonwaysandmeansad-vances (WMAs) by 60 per cent over theMarch 30 levels. ICRA Ratings said thiswould help themborrowRs 51,600 crore(roughly Rs 20,000 croremore over theMarch30levels).WMAisashort-termliquidityarrange-

mentfacilitatedbythecentralbank,whichenables states to borrowmoneyup to 90days fromtheRBI (witha21-dayoverdraftpermitted)atthereporateof4.4percenttotideovertheirliquidityproblems.Thisissig-nificantlylowerthanabout7.5-7.7percenttheyarepayingon10-yearbonds.Announcingthestringofmeasures,RBI

Governor ShaktikantaDas said, “Althoughsocial distancing separates us, we standunited and resolute. Eventually,we shallcure;andweshallendure.”

ThehikeinWMAlimitisexpectedtopro-videgreatercomforttothestatesforunder-takingCOVID-19containmentandmitiga-tion efforts, and to plan their marketborrowingprogrammesbetter.OnApril 1,theRBI hadannouncedan increase in theWMAlimit of statesby30per cent,whichseems tohavenowbeensubsumedunderthe60percenthike.However, theRBI kept themainpolicy

rate,Reporate,or therateatwhichtheRBIlendsfundstobanks,unchangedat4.40percent.OnMarch27, theRBI, in its firstCovidpackage,hadslashedtheReporateby75ba-sispointsto4.40percent,cashreserveratio(CRR)— theportionof deposits to bekeptwiththeRBI—by100bpsto3percentandannounced three-monthmoratoriumontermsloanstosupporttheeconomy.GovernorDassaid thecentralbankhas

decided to offer Rs 50,000 crore to bankswhich should be invested in investmentgradebonds, commercial paper, andnon-convertible debentures of NBFCs,with atleast50percentofthetotalamountavailedgoingtosmallandmid-sizedNBFCsandmi-crofinanceinstitutions.Inanothersoptoborrowersandbanks,

Dassaidforallaccountswhichwerestan-dardasonMarch1,2020,thenormtoclas-sifythemasnon-performingassets(NPAs)— loan overdue above 90 days—will ex-

cludethemoratoriumperiod.Thisisappli-cableforaccountsforwhichlendinginsti-tutionsdecidetograntmoratoriumonloanrepayment for threemonths. Thismeanstherewould an asset classification stand-still for all such accounts fromMarch 1,2020 toMay 31, 2020. “NBFCs have flexi-bility under the prescribed accountingstandards to consider such relief to theirborrowers,”hesaid.Further, theRBIhasdirectedbanksand

cooperativebanksnot tomakeanyfurtherdividendpayoutsfromprofitspertainingtothefinancialyearendedMarch31,2020un-til furtherinstructions.Italsoreducedtheliquiditycoveragera-

tio(LCR)requirementforfrom100percentto 80per centwith immediate effect. LCRrequiresbankstoholdenoughhigh-qualityliquid assets (HQLA)—suchas short-termgovernmentdebt—thatcanbesoldtofundbanksduring a 30-day stress scenario de-signed by regulators. Nowbanks are re-quired to holdHQLAequivalent to 80percentof projectedcashoutflowsduring thestressscenario.Bankers said themeasureswill benefit

financialsectorplayers.“ThesecondroundofannouncementsbyRBItodaybearstesti-monyandrightfulrecognitiontotheevolv-ingmarket conditions,” said State BankofIndiaChairmanRajnishKumar.

Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister SushilKumarModi,who is also the state FinanceMinister,said,“ThisstepbytheRBIwillben-efit states for sure, states haddemandedahike(inWMAlimits).Earlier,wehadaskedforarelaxationinFRBMlimit...minimum4percentexpansionshouldbeallowedandifthere’s scope, then evenmore than that.There’saprecedentwhenthefiscallimitwasraisedfrom3percentto4percent,”hesaid.Kerala FinanceMinister Thomas Isaac

alsosaidstatesshouldbeallowedtoexpandtheir fiscal limits. “It iswelcome,but itwillhaveonlyamarginalimpactuponthefiscalcrisisthestatesarefacing.Whatisrequiredisanincreaseintheborrowingceiling.Nowbe-causeyoudon’thavenormalborrowingpos-sible,youhavegivenwaysandmeans.It’snotgoingtosolveanyproblem,”Isaacsaid.Kerala, he said, had demanded an in-

crease intheFRBMlimit from3percent to5percent(ofGSDP).The60percentincreaseinwaysandmeansmayappeartobeaverybig amountbut actuallywhen seen in theperspectiveof theexisting limits, theextramoneyisquiteless, Isaacsaid.Punjab’s FinanceMinisterManpreet

SinghBadal too said theWMAexpansiondoes not solve the fiscal problem, alreadyburdened by shrinking revenues andmounting expenditure. “WMA is a kindofborrowing and it’s not real help, andobvi-ously there’s an interest component to it.

FRBMandwaysandmeansarenotgoingtohelp states entirely.What theConstitutionof Indiasaysisthat if anystateof theUnionofIndiaisstressedeitherinternallyorexter-nally,theGovernmentofIndiamustcometotheaidof thatstate,”hesaid.ForPunjab,therevenueshaveshrunk,he

said,notingthatcollectionshavedroppedtoRs 66,000 crore (in FY20) fromRs88,000crore. “Howdo Imanage a shortfall of Rs22,000crore?Theyareaskingtogoforwaysandmeansbuthow longcan I go forwaysandmeans.I’llhavetoobviouslyslashmyex-penditure to a large extent because therearen’tmanyavenues left for revenueaug-mentation,”Badalsaid.Isaac also said the central bank should

considerpermittingdirectborrowingfromit.“Whateveryoumaydo,theliquiditypref-erenceamongthebanks isgoingupsofastthattheyarenotwillingtolendforlongtermandtheyaren’twillingtolendlargeamountsofmoney, so this policy is not going to beveryeffective.Thecentralbankshouldper-mit states and Centre to directly borrowfromit.That’swhatcountriesaredoingglob-ally,monetisingthedebt,”hesaid.TheRBI should look foranexit strategy

for the lockdown, Isaac said. “They havegivenlargessetocorporates,fortheSMEsec-tor, they should allow a restructuring ofloans, should give themadditional loans,otherwisehowwilltheyopenup.Thispack-

agedoesnotaddresschallengesoflockdownexit,”hesaid.EconomistssaidWMAlimitrelaxationis

atemporarymeasureandsoonerorlaterthefiscallimitsforstateswouldneedtobeeased.“This is for temporarymismatches. Statescan’tdolong-termexpenditurewiththisbe-cause it has to be returnedwithin threemonths,” saidDevendraKumarPant, ChiefEconomist,IndiaRatings&Research,said.D K Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL

Ratings,said,“Thisprovidesanopportunitytotideovershort-termmismatchesbutnotenoughforcash-strappedstates.Spendingfor apandemic cannot be sustainedwith-outafiscalexpansion.”States,however,willbenefitfromthead-

ditionalWMAatafixedrateof4.4percent,which isquite low in relation to thehigherSDL (state development loan) yields. “ThesizeableenhancementintheWMAlimitforthestategovernmentswill ease the liquid-ity tightness that theyare facing, followingthereductionintheirrevenuereceiptsamidahigher spending requirementduring thelockdownperiod.ThehigherWMAlimit isexpected to temper the surge in StateDevelopmentLoanissuancebythestatesinthe firsthalf of this financial year, andcon-tributetosomecoolingofspreadscomparedtothehighlevelsseeninthelastsixweeks,said Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice President &GroupHead,CorporateSectorRatings,ICRA.

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States get to borrow more in short-term

Venkaiahconcerned afterdoctor deniedresting placefor 36 hours

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,GUWAHATI,APRIL17

VICE-PRESIDENTM VenkaiahNaiduonFridayexpressed“deepconcern and agony” over theMeghalayaincidentinwhichthebody of a 69-year-old doctor

who died of COVID-19was de-nied a final resting place for 36hours.The Indian Express reported

the incidentonFriday.The Vice-Presidentwrote in

a Facebook post, “Deeply dis-turbedbyanewsitemintoday’s‘The Indian Express’ over a 36-

hourdelaytofindarestingplacetothedeadbodyofa69-year-oldpopular Meghalaya doctor fol-lowing strong resistance fromthe localpeople.”Thefamilyofthedoctor,who

also foundedoneof the first bigprivate hospitals of Meghalaya,wantedtoburyhiminNongpoh,

where they own a house. Butresidents and community lead-ers refused, citing the virus.Whencremationwasdiscussed,those living near the cremato-riumprotested.“Such incidents areablot on

the society’s consciousness andof great concern for all of us ...

There is an urgent need to edu-catethepeopleandremovemis-conceptionsonCOVID-19topre-vent such inhuman incidents...incidentoccurred inspiteof theadvisory issued by the CentralGovernment in March for themanagement of dead bodies...”theVice-Presidentwrote. The IndianExpress reportpublishedonFriday

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

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The Time Schedule for the Admission through Online Counseling in the State UttarPradesh for Government Medical/Dental College/Private Medical/DentalColleges/Institutions/Universities for Postgraduate (MD/MS/Diploma/MDSCourses) is as follows :-

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For further important and detailed information kindly visit the website regularly

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rd23 April, 2020

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& admission

filling & locking

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THE TIME SCHEDULE OF FIRST ROUND OFONLINE COUNSELING OF UP NEET PG-2020

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POST GRADUATE MEDICAL ADMISSION COUNSELLING (PGMAC)-2020for MD / MS & MDS in Government / Private Medical / Dental colleges of Bihar

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The list of candidates of NEET-PG 2020 and NEET-MDS 2020 which has been providedby National Board of Examination (NBE) through Health Department, Govt. of Bihar to the BCECEBoard will be uploaded on Board's website (bceceboard.bihar.gov.in) on 18.04.2020.

Online application in prescribed form from the qualified, eligible & interested NEET-PG 2020AND NEET-MDS 2020 candidates for admission to First year of the different Post Graduate Degree /Diploma courses in Govt./ Private Medical / Dental colleges of Bihar State are invited on the basis of theabove mentioned list for appearing in the Post Graduate Medical Admission Counselling (PGMAC)-2020 in order to select candidates for admission to the FIRST YEAR of the following Post GraduateDegree/ Diploma Courses ;

(i) MD / MS / PG Diploma (PGD) Courses in Govt. Medical Colleges viz. Patna Medical College,Patna , Darbhanga Medical College, Darbhanga , Nalanda Medical College, Patna , A.N.M.Medical College, Gaya, J.L.N.M.C., Bhagalpur, S.K.M.C., Muzaffarpur and IGIMS MedicalCollege, Patna for the session 2020.

(ii) MD / MS / PG Degree Courses in Private Medical Colleges viz. K.M.C., Katihar, NarayanMedical College & Hospital, Sasaram, M.G.M.M.C., Kishanganj for the session 2020.

(iii) MDS Course in Govt. Dental College i.e. Patna Dental College, Patna and Private DentalColleges viz. Mithila Minority Dental College & Hospital, Darbhanga, Buddha Institute ofDental Science & Hospital, Kankarbagh, Patna for the session 2020.

2. Eligibility criteria for counselling, Fee payment procedure, instructions and other details are availablein the prospectus of PGMAC-2020 and the related detailed Advertisement No. BCECEB(PGMAC)-2020/02Dated 17.04.2020which can be downloaded from theBoard'swebsite : bceceboard.bihar.gov.in.

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SRINATHRAOMUMBAI, APRIL 17

JUSTLIKEadiabetic’soccasionalgulab jamun, Marine Drive isShripalDalal’sguiltyandforbid-den pleasure — off-limits andunder extraordinary surveil-lance. The last time theChurchgate resident steppedontothepromenade,hewalkedwithpurposeandgavewatchingeyesnoreasontobelievethatheintendedto linger.“Iwasreturninghomefroma

bank.Therewasnotasoulinsightandforthosesevento10minutesthatIwasoutdoors.ItfeltlikeIwasthe only person in theworld. Itwas like a post-zombie apoca-lypse,” saysDalal,whorunsanITconsultingfirm.“Itisalsoaworldin which the promenade isunimaginably spotless and anytrespassers are placedunder ar-rest,”headds.UnderIndia’slockdownregu-

lations,movementofacitizenhasbeenseverelyrestrictedandwithitMumbai’s century-long pre-sumedfreedomtostrollbytheseahasbeentemporarilysuspended.So far, theMumbaiPolicehas

bookedsixpeoplethismonthforwalkingonMarineDrivewithoutanadequateoracceptablereason.The language employedbyout-raged officers in the FIRs sum-marises theoffencewithasingleedict:youcannolongerwander.Theonlyexceptionismadefor

two hours at dawn for locals towalktheirdogs.“Sometimesevenwegetscaredseeingtheplacesoempty,wonderingwhere every-

onehasgone,”saysabeatmarshalatMarineDrivepolicestation.The police’s response to citi-

zensleavingtheirhomeswithoutapermissibleorexemptedreasontodosohasvariedthroughoutthecity.Justlastweek,eveningwalk-ers at Lokhandwala’s spaciousbackroadweresparedarrestbutnot the ignominy of apologeticschoolboy hand-to-the-ear sit-ups,oncamera.Thoserestlessmenstillgotoff

much better than a 21-year-oldmaninNewcastle,Australia,whowas fined $1,000 earlier thismonthaftertwiceignoringwarn-ingsbythepolicetostayindoors.Thethirdtimethepolicespottedtheoffender, hewas eating ake-babonabench.Forthoseaccustomedtowalk-

ingtoandfromschool,work,mar-ketorpark,beingdeniedtheright

to unconsciously put one footahead of the other couldmakethemfeel disconnected fromre-ality, says Bharat Gothoskar’s,whose Khaki Tours runs 50guidedwalksinthecity.“Thisnowfeelslikeasimulationofwhatre-tirementwillbelike,”hesays.Others quarantined in con-

tainment zones have come toviewwalkingoutdoorsasaprivi-legetheynevertrulyappreciated.“Even if I get towalk out of mybuilding for threeminutes Iwillbeveryhappy,”saysSharmishthaChakravorty, director ofMusafirMotorcycle Tours. Having bikedacrosshalfthecountry,shehastocontent herself these dayswithkick-startinghermotorcycle andlettingitrunidle.Itdoesn’tcomeclosetoarun-

ner’s indoormarathon and theprofessional cyclist’s indoor

trainer bike. “But it is all I candofor my poor bike right now,”Chakravortysays.InMiraRoad, amateur cyclist

Bittu Singh has been filling hisdayslyingflatonhisbackandsus-pendinghis bike abovehim.His29 rotations of thebike’swheelsin this precarious position is anunbeaten record in his cyclinggroup.Likethatkidstuckwithun-finished homework at 6 pm,Singhcanonlylookoutatthehillsof nearbyManorwith longing.“Door se dekhkar sukoon ley letahoon,”hesays.Outonthestreets,whereciti-

zenshavebeengranteda lot lesslibertythaninnext-doorMumbai,Singhhas detected a noticeablechange. “People seem afraid tostandstillinoneplacefortoolong.Everyone buyswhat they needandheadshome,”hesays.This is

verydifferentcityonthemove.Judgingbythenumberof the

newgroups on Facebook fondlyrecallingpre-lockdownMumbai,Gothoskarpredictsonlyoneout-come once this unprecedentedcurfewends. “When restrictionswere finally lifted in China, theGreatWall looked as packed asDadar railway station is duringpeak hour. The same thingwillhappenhere,”hesays.But the city isn’t going any-

where.AbhaBahl,whorunsTheBombayHeritageWalkssaysthatthe city’s oldest buildings havebeensurvivingcatastrophessincethe1700s. “Theyarestill going tobe aroundwhen the lockdownends.Wejustneedtobepatient,”she says. Bahl however, appre-hendschangesinthewayMumbaiisusedtowanderingfreely.Back atMarineDrive, Nikhil

Bankerofthelocalresidents’asso-ciationhasnever seen theprom-enade this beautiful.WithNetajiSubhashChandraBoseRoad, theUniversity ground, the sevengymkhanas and WankhedeStadium lyingquiet, Banker canclearly hear the calls ofmynahsandparrots over theusual dinoftraffic,sportsmeetsandtheIPL.Forthefirsttimeinsevenyearshehasspottedsparrows.It is a scene alien even to

Marine Drive’s most belovedsaunterers.Havingambledalongthe seafront for half a century,Arjan and Sharda Ramani nowbidetheirtimeexercisingindoors.“We miss our friends and theyoungpeoplewhoused towaveatus.Hopefully,wewill get togobacksoon,”saysShardaRamani.

SAGARRAJPUTMUMBAI,APRIL17

AFORMERAirIndia(AI)employeehas been booked for allegedlyspreading false information thatthe airline had run anunautho-risedpassengerplanetoFrankfurtonApril2andreturnedtoIndia.The accusedhad sent emails

toseveralministers,includingtheUnion homeminister, aviationminister, healthminister, DGCAand Mumbai Police commis-sioneronApril 3, asking themtotakeactionagainstAI.Healsoal-leged thatAI staffers didnot fol-lowsocialdistancingnormsdur-

ingthejourney.On Tuesday, the airline,

throughanemployee,filedacom-plaintwith theMarineDrivepo-licestation,followingwhichanFIRwasregistered.The complainant, a senior

managerinAI,inhisstatementtothepolicehasclaimedaninternalinquiry had found the suspectguilty and hewas dismissed in2014. “As he is angry with thecompany,heisconstantlymakingfalse complaints,” the com-plainantsaid.“He has been booked for

spreadingwronginformation.Weareyet toarresthim,” saidseniorinspectorMrutunjayHiremath.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL 17

NURSESATWadiahospitalhaveclaimed that irregular supplyofthree-plymaskshadputthematrisk of contamination, but thehospital administrationmain-tainedtheywerestrictlyabidingby government norms and hadanadequatestockofmasks.At least twohospital techni-

cians and a social worker, whoattended a blood donationcamp, have tested positive forthe virus. While 13 people, in-cluding a newborn, at Wadiahospital have also been put onquarantine after a coronavirus-afflicted pregnant woman, aWorli resident, visited the hos-pital for treatment.“Noneof thestaffwaswear-

ing amask.Wewere last givenN95masks in February.We arenotbeinggiventhree-plymasksregularly,” nurse Vaishali Patilsaid.According to nurses, the

Worli resident had approachedhospital onApril 13, in her 34thweek of gestation and requiredacaesareansection.Thewoman,theysaid,wascheckedonanex-amination table, but was re-ferred to Kasturba Hospital fordeliveryaftersheinformeddoc-tors that shehad testedpositive

for coronavirus. Another preg-nant woman, who was exam-inedonthesametableandlaterdeliveredachildat thehospital,had to be put on quarantinealongwith her newborn there-after, theysaid.A hospital technician, who

was part of a blood donationcamp held on April 11, showedcoronavirus-like symptoms andonApril 13 her swabwas testedpositive for the virus.Subsequently, twomore staffers—atechnicianandasocialworker—werealsotestedpositive.The medical director of

Wadia hospital, Dr MinnieBodhanwala,however,said,“Weareprovidingmasksaspergov-ernmentnorms.Thereisenoughstock of two-ply and three-plymasks. Personal protectiveequipment is not required foreverystaffer,” shesaid.Resident doctors fromKEM

hospital,whohavebeenpostedatWadia hospital, meanwhile,havealsocomplainedthateventhey were not provided withanymasks or PPE at the hospi-tal. “Wereachedout toNGOstoarrangefor fundsforthemasks.We have raised the issue withKEM hospital dean. They haveassuredBMCwillprovidePPEifWadia hospital does not,” aKEM doctor posted at Wadiahospital said.

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI, APRIL 17

SULEIMANMOHAMMAD(50)isfashioningclaybowlsforservingphirni at Ramzan iftars. The de-mandforsuchbowlsspikesdur-ingRamzan,whichbegins fromApril 25. Thisyear,however, theuptake of these eco-friendlybowls is unlikely due to the na-tionwide lockdown.ForSuleiman’ssmallpottery

business in Dharavi’sKumbharwadaarea,thisusedtobe a time of brisk sales. “Diwaliand Ramzan aremajor periodsof business.We sell 15-20 lakhphirnibowlseveryyear, but thisyear ourmarket itself is closed.Monsoonwill start soon, afterwhichwewon’tbeable toworkanyway.”Kumbharwada,thecentury-

old pottery hub of Asia’s largestslumDharavi, whose residentsmostly hail from Gujarat, hasclosed its gates for outsiderssince the lockdownstarted;butin its narrow lanes the potter’swheels are still turning. YousufGulwani (38), whose firm han-dlescorporateordersforpottery,says, “The clay is lying around,some have pending orders butthere isnotransport.Pottersarenot used to sitting idle. In anycase,nextbatchofclay(sourcedfromGujaratorBhiwandi)isun-likelytoreachusfortwomonthsat least.”While Prime Minister

NarendraModi, during his ad-dress to the nation on April 14,spoke of a conditional resump-tionof production inbig indus-tries from April 20, there is noword on exemptions for microand small businesses like thepottersinDharavi, forwhomtheextendedlockdownmaysounda death knell. “We have bor-rowed money from privatelenders. While the Centre hasfrozen instalments for bankloans, what about us,” won-deredGulwani.Dharavi is also one of the

hotspotsoftheinfection,with60cases and eight deaths at lastcount,whichcouldmeanrelax-ationsmay not come any timesoon. T D Rajamani Nadar, asnackwholesaler and secretaryof Dharavi Anna PadarthaUtpadak Unnati Sangh, says,“Thisisaverybadtimeforsmallscaleunits.Wehaven’t receivedany orders for more than a

monthnow.Ourmanufacturingunitswill shut down if the gov-ernmentdoesn’thelp.”The leather industry in

Dharavi that supplies to bigbrandsworld-wide is alsocom-pletely shut. Deepak Kale (57),member of the Leather GoodsManufacturingAssociation,said,“Iseenorevivalforthenexttwo-three years. First itwas demon-etisation, then GST and nowcoronavirus. The 8,000 leatherunits in Dharavi are bracing foranuncertain future.”Ten kilometres away at

Zaveri Bazar, the hub of gold-smiths employing 20,000-30,000 artisans, ShafiullahHalder (40), who works as agoldsmith, isalsoanxiousabouthis future. “The business hasbeen bad for the last few years.Allah knows if things will im-proveevenafterthelockdownislifted.”At neighbouring Kalbadevi,

oneof thebiggestgarmenthubsin Mumbai, Rajesh Shah (37),whoownsawholesalegarmentshop, is worried aboutmeetingoverheads. “The earnings arezero rightnowbut Iwill have tocontinue paying rent for myshop,paysalaries tomystaff.”Thepandemichasseencon-

sumerdemandhit rockbottom.Shahdoesnotthinkitwillreviveitself any time soon. “E-com-merce had anyway reducedfootfallsandnowwedon’tevenknow if people will come evenafter the lockdownis lifted.”

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALA&LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI,APRIL17

ASMANYas1,223healthwork-ers, including nurseswhowerewaiting for appointment, nurs-ingstudents,MBBSstudentsandinterns,havestartedworking inBMChospitalshandlingCOVID-19cases.Of the fresh appointments,

BMCprocessedpendingappoint-ments of 670 qualified nurses.BMC Commissioner PraveenPardeshi said thesenurseswereawaitingappointmentbecauseoffund crunch. “We have giventhem immediate appointment,”he said on Friday. BMCofficialssaid at least 135 of them joineddutyonThursday.Apart from appointment of

nurses,atleast1,709residentdoc-tors have been trained in use ofventilators. They have been de-puted in hospitals, fever clinicsandfeveroutpatientdepartmentstohandlebothsuspectedandcon-firmedCOVID-19cases.“Alldeansoffourmedicalcol-

leges came together and formu-

lated a course structure for stu-dents.Wetaughtthemaboutper-sonalsafety,patientmanagementandcoronavirustreatmentproto-col basedon ICMR’s guidelines,”saidNRamaswamy,whoman-agedtrainingofstudents.Thenursingstudents, interns

andmedicalstudentsweregivenaday-longtrainingatBMC’strain-ingcentreinBorivali.Atleast300second-yearnursingstudents,213interns, 40 fifth-yearMBBS stu-dents and1,709 residentdoctorshavebeendeputed inKEM,Sion,NairandDrRNCooperhospital.Dr Amrut Bang, from NGO

Nirman inGadchiroli, said thereare 2,900 MBBS doctors whograduated this year inMaharashtra.“Iftheircompulsorybond after graduation is imple-mented, they could be useful intreating patients.Weneeddoc-tors in the entire healthcare sys-tem in rural hospitals, primaryhealthcentresandcivilhospitals.Wehave suggested to thehealthministertoenforcethebondsys-tem,”Bangsaid.While nursing andmedical

students have been roped in totreat coronavirus patients, con-cernshavebeenraisedbyhealthexperts over their lackof experi-ence and risk of exposure. DrSwati Rane of Clinical NursingResearchSocietyof Indiahasde-mandedaspecialtaskforcetodealwithproblemsfacedbynursesincivic-runhospitals, during awe-

binareventorganisedbyLoksattaonFriday.Rane said norms mandate

thatstudentsshouldbeassignedworkinnon-COVID-19hospitals.“Despite the norms BMCpres-suredabout150studentstoworkin various COVID-19 hospitals.They are exposed to the virus.Now at least six such studentshave tested positive for coron-avirusandadmittedinSevenHillshospital,”shesaid.Sheaddedthatmanynursesworking in generalwards are contracting the virusbecause the patient admittedshowssymptomsata laterstage.“Thishascausedalotofproblemssincetheydon’thavesafetykits,”Rane said. She also pointed outthatBMCwasnotsharingdataonhowmanynurses in civic hospi-talshavecontractedthevirus.Thereareabout5,000nurses

working incivic-runhospitals. InMumbai,therehavebeenseveralcomplaints from these nurses,whoarefrontlineworkers,aboutlackofsafetykits,safetyconcernsandbeingoverburdened.Nurseshavealsoallegedthatratherthanaddressingtheirissuesthehospi-talmanagementpressurethemtoworkinthesameconditions.Pardeshipromisedhewillset

upa task force to lookatnursingstaff’sproblemsseparately.Heas-sured that nursing studentswillbemovedtoquarantine facilitiesoraskedtolookafternon-COVID-19patients.

Associationraisesconcernsoverrising infectionamongworkers

More than 1,200healthworkers joinCOVID-19fight in civichospitals

Off limits in city — stroll on MarineDrive, Lokhandwala back road

Sofar, sixpersonshavebeenbookedthismonthforwalkingonMarineDrivewithoutavalidreason. NirmalHarindran

AI former staffer booked forspreading false information

WADIAHOSPITAL

Nurses complain of lackof masks, hospital saysadequate stock available

Another tradertests positive atVashi APMCMumbai: A trader at the grainsmarket of Vashi APMC testedpositive forCOVID-19onFriday.This comes days after anothertraderfromtheAPMChadtestedpositive, followingwhich, someof thewholesalemarkets wereshut fora fewdays.“The trader owns a shop in

the grainmarket. There are 32other shops in thewingand theentirewing has been sanitised.Wewill also sanitise the entireAPMC,” saidAnil Chavan, secre-tary of Vashi APMC. He addedthatnodecisionhasbeen takenonshutting themarket. ENS

I seeno revival forthenext two-three

years. First itwasdemonetisation, thenGSTandnowcoronavirus. The8,000leather units inDharaviare bracing for anuncertain future”—DEEPAKKALEMEMBEROFTHELEATHERGOODSMANUFACTURINGASSOCIATION

No word on exemptions, smallbusinesses stare at bleak future

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

THEOUTBREAK Maharashtra

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL 17

WITHTHEcoronaviruspandemiccontinuingtocausechaosandin-stability in the country, the stategovernment Friday took steps toprotect tenants andother homerentersaffectedbythelockdown.The statehas issued instructionstoalllandlordsandhouseownerstoensurenorenter, ineithergov-ernmentorprivateaccommoda-tions, is forcedoutof theirhouseforatleastthreemonths.Contendingthattheunprece-

dentedshutdownhadlefttenantsinextremelyvulnerablesituation,the state’s housing departmenthas further instructed all houseowners to postpone rent collec-tionforatleastthreemonths.“Asizeablepercentageofpeo-

pleresideinrentedapartmentsinthe state. The coronavirus pan-demichas also inflictedverydif-ficult economic hardship on thecommonman.Withalleconomicandbusinessactivitieshalted,sev-eralpeoplehavelosttheirmeansoflivelihood,makingitdifficultforthemtopay(rents)regularly,”saidAdditional Chief Secretary(Housing) Sanjay Kumar, in thedepartment’swrittencommuni-cationforallhomeowners.“Itisafact thatmanyhavedefaultedonrentpayments,”headded.When the Chief Minister’s

Office later tweeted about themeasure,mostcitizenswelcomedit.Therewas,however,somewhoraisedthecauseofseniorcitizensandotherindividualswhosesub-sistencewas dependent on therents received fromtheirhomes.Someevenraisedthedemandforcompensationinsuchcases.BR Bhattad, president,

PropertyOwners Association, arepresentativebodyof landlordsinMumbai,meanwhile,askedthegovernment to first defer collec-tionofpropertytaxandothermu-nicipal taxes. “Before expectinglandlordstodefercollections,the

governmentshouldalsodefertaxcollections.Thiswill facilitatethemove,”itsaid.Whilewelcomingthegovern-

ment’smeasuretoprotectvulner-abletenants,Bhattadsaidseveralhouse owners themselvesweredependentonrentsfortheirownsubsistence.Seniorlawyer,advo-cateVinodSampat,echoedBhat-tad’sconcern.“Howwouldthela-ndlordspaymaintenancechargesandpropertytaxesinrespectofli-censed flats?Societies chargeupto21percentinterestfordelayedpayments of maintenancecharges.Whowillbeartheinter-estburden?Thereisnoclarityonwhetherthelandlordscanchargeinterest for delayed rent pay-ments.Thiswillonly leadtoariftbetweentheownersandtheten-ants,resultinginlitigations.Abet-ter solution at themoment is toaskthelandlordsandthetenantstoarriveatamutualunderstand-ingregardingthepaymentsched-ule,” said Sampat. “Many apart-ment owners depend on theirrents to pay home loan install-ments.Banksarestillchargingin-terestonloanamountsevenifthemoratoriumclauseisoptedfor.”But senior officials, when

asked, said the instructionswereof re-commendatorynature. “Intimessuchasthese,itisimportanttoensurethatnobodyisrenderedhomeless,”theysaid.It was also pointed out that

legislationshavebeenformulatedin somedeveloped countries re-quiringlandlordstowithholdrentcollections, and barring themfrom evicting anyone. In someparts of theworld, activists haveraised a call from collectivelywithholding rents or going on a“massrentstrikes”.EarlieronMarch28,theUnion

Ministry of HousingAffairs, hadcited similar concerns to orderslandlordsof properties occupiedbymigrant labourers and stu-dentstodeferrentcollectionsforamonth andnot undertake anyeviction.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,PUNE,APRIL17

MUMBAI RECORDED a furtherdrop in coronavirus cases, fivedays aftermodifying its testingguidelines.OnFridayonly12newcaseswererecorded,stateofficialssaid. From April 14, when itrecorded204cases,Mumbaihasrecordeda94percentdecline innewcasestillnowafterstoppingtestingofasymptomaticpeople.Totalcaseshavetouched2,085

inMumbai; acrossMaharashtra3,320 caseshavebeen recorded.Eight deathswere recorded inMaharashtratakingthedeathtollto202.The decline has been attrib-

uted to a shift in testing policy.BMC is nowhomequarantiningall high riskpeoplewhohavenosymptoms and avoiding testingthem. At least, 57,700 high andlow risk contacts of confirmedcases havebeen asked to stay at

homeundera14-dayquarantine.On Thursday, 3,713 people

were advisedhomequarantine,this included all asymptomatichigh risk contacts of 107peoplewhotestedpositiveonThursday.Maximumof thosequarantinedare in Andheri West (K-West

ward), followedbyDadar-Worliarea (G-north) andMaladWest(P-north).WhileMaharashtragovernment officially recordedonly 12 new cases inMumbai,BMC has recorded 77 cases.Officialssaidthediscrepancywasdue todifference in figures com-piledfrompublicandprivatelab-oratories.Five people passed away in

Mumbai due to COVID-19, ofthem two had no symptoms.ThreepeoplediedinPune.A61-year-oldman, admitted

onApril 9, passed away inKEMhospitalonThursday.Doctorssaidhe suffered from age-relatedproblemsthatwerefurtheraggra-vatedbyCOVID-19. Another 51-year-oldmanwithnocomorbid-ity died in Kasturba hospital onFriday, three days after gettinghospitalised.In Sionhospital, aman, aged

58, and a woman, aged 56,passedaway.Bothhadhyperten-sion. Themanwas admitted on

April 13 and died on Thursday.The woman was admitted onApril 14 and died a day later.Another40-year-oldmandiedinBabasahebAmbedkarKandivaliShatabdihospitalonWednesdayafter getting treatment for adayinhospital.BMC commissioner Praveen

Pardeshi said the civic body ismulling opening entertainmentavenuesliketheatresinthecitybymid-Maytoprovideabreathertocitizenswhohave beenunder alockdownsinceamonth.In Pune, three deaths due to

coronavirus were recorded atSassoon General Hospital byFriday evening, taking the toll to50. Thedistrict reported68newcasesFridayandnowhasatotalof565COVID-19patients.Across the state 331 people

havebeendischargedwhileover80,000 are under quarantine. Acontainment zonehas beende-clared inParbhani district after a21-year-oldtestedpositive.

HealthworkersatMahim’sPoliceColony, inMumbaionFriday. NirmalHarindran

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI, APRIL 17

AT A time when the poor arescrambling for food suppliesamid lockdown, few rationshopkeepers in the MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR)have reportedly been divertingfreesuppliesmeantforthemostmarginalisedsections.On Thursday, a vigilance

squad of the department raideda ration shop in Mumbai’sKandivali followinga tip-off andfoundthat2,299kgofrice,meantto bedistributedunder PradhanMantriGaribKalyanAnnaYojana(PMGKAY),hadbeenillegallydi-verted. Theshopwassealedanda criminal offence registeredagainst the shopkeeper as perprovisions of The EssentialCommodities Act, 1955, whichmakespilferageanddiversionoffoodgrainsfromthepublicdistri-butionnetanon-bailableoffence.

Aday earlier, onApril 15, an-other fairprice shop in the samedistributionzone,wasfoundsell-ing subsidised ration stock at ahigher rate than prescribed. Acasewasfiledagainstthelicenseeat theDahisar police station. OnApril 11, a repeat offender fromAmbernathwascaughtsellingra-tionmeantforpublicdistributionin the open market. KailashPagare,thecontrollerofRationingandDirectorofCivilSupplies,toldThe Indian Express that his li-censehasnowbeenpermanentlyrevoked. In Ghatkopar, a rationshopwascaughtdiverting429kgriceand558kgwheat.Between April 1 to April 17,

Pagare informed, nine cases ofmisuse of ration supplies havebeenlodgedatvariouspolicesta-tionsinMumbaiandThane.Under the PMGKAY, the

Centrehasofferedadditionalfive-kgwheat or rice free of cost forthreemonths,beginningApril,to800million poor to help them

copewith the prolonged lock-down.Thesupplies, extendedtopeople covered under the FoodSecurity Act, are over and abovetheirmonthlyentitlementofsub-sidisedfoodgrains—3kgwheat,2kgrice,and1kglentil.At the beginning of the

month, the state had formed44vigilanceteamstooverseerationdistribution in theurbanbeltsofMMR,which is theworst hit bythepandemic.Followingthede-tection of the cases of diversion,the department, on Friday,formed a special flying squad totightensurveillance.“It isunfortunatethatevenin

times such as these, we havefoundcaseswhere rationmeantfor thepoor is being embezzled.Butwe have taken strict action.Nine FIRs have been filed in thepastfortnight.Wehavealsocan-celled the license of one shop-keeper permanently, while an-other one has been suspended.Those indulging in such corrup-

tionwon’tbespared,”saidPagare.Meanwhile,onFriday,Deputy

ChiefMinisterAjitPawardirectedguardianministersofalldistrictstopersonallysuperviserationdis-tributionduringthelockdown.InaCabinetmeetinglastweek,sen-iorministers fromMumbai, in-cluding Nawab Malik, VarshaGaikwadandAslamShaikh,hadcomplainedaboutirregularfoodsuppliestopoorfamilies, follow-ingwhichaseniorbureaucrathasbeenappointedtolookintothesegrievances.Pagare, however, defended

theoveralldistributionsofar.“Wehave4,223rationshopsinthere-gion.TillApril17,wehadalreadydistributed88percentofthesub-sidisedrationstock.Thedistribu-tionof free ration (only rice) un-der PMGKAY commenced onApril12.Insixdays,wehavecov-ered 41per cent of the benefici-aries,”hesaid.Until Friday, 6.92 lakh of the

19.47lakhcardholdershadlifted

thefreestock.“Theinfrastructureneeded to transport the food-grains fromFoodCorporation ofIndia (FCI) godowns to fair priceshopswasbeefedup todo this,”he added.While admitting thateventhedepartment’sconsumerredressal hotline has beenbuzzingwithcomplaints,Pagaresaid, amajority of thesewere todo with meeting supplies forthose not entitled for ration un-dertheFoodSecurityAct.Earlier this month, the

Maharashtra cabinet hadwideneditsownpublicdistribu-tionnet, agreeing to supply sub-sidised rationeven to saffron ra-tion cardholders, not coveredunder theAct. But the state’s of-fer is for twomonths, startingMay. Sources said the govern-mentisnowpushingthedepart-ment to advance the lifting andsupply for even this category ofbeneficiaries.“We’replanningtostart lifting from April 20 on-wards,”saidPagare.

ABHAGORADIAMUMBAI, APRIL 17

OVER 10 days afterMinister ofHigher andTechnical EducationUdaySamant formedacommit-teetomakerecommendationsforconductingexamsandpreparingauniformacademic calendar forall non-agricultural stateuniver-sities, ithashitaroadblock.Thecommittee,whichhadits

firstmeetingonApril14,decidedthat it cannot submit a report tothedepartmentandtheGovernorwithout taking into account rec-ommendations of theUGC. TheUGCalso formeda seven-mem-ber committeeonApril 6 to lookat several issues, includinganal-ternateacademiccalendar,possi-bilityofconductingexamsduringthe current scenario and an-nouncementof results,but ithasnotyetsubmitteditsreport.“Ourpoliciesandrecommen-

dationsneedtobeparalleltothatof theUGC.Wedecided towaituntiltheUGCcommitteesubmitsitsreport,sothattheirrecommen-dationsalsofindresonance,”saida member of the committee

formedbySamant.Samant on Friday issued a

statementthattheUGCcommit-tee has not yet presented its re-port. “The state departmentwilltakeadecisiononcollegeanduni-

versity examsbased on the rec-ommendationsinthereportpre-sentedby theUGC formedcom-mittee,”thestatementadded.Theuncertaintyhasleftmany

studentsinthestateconfusedandanxious. Conducting examson-line,passingfirstandsecondyearstudents,andextendingthepres-ent academic year are someop-tions that the state committee isexploring. So far, the committeehascollatedsuggestionsfromsev-eralstakeholders,amembersaid.The six-member committee

includesMumbaiUniversityVCSuhasPednekar,PuneUniversityVC Dr Nitin Karmalkar, SNDTUniversityVCShashikalaVanzari,KolhapurUniversityVCDevanandShinde,directorofhighereduca-tionDhanrajManeanddirectoroftechnicaleducationAbhayWagh.Meanwhile, Mumbai

University has tentatively post-poned its exams tillMay3, afterthelockdownwasextended.

Mumbai: A special court onFriday rejected interim bail toHDIL promoter RakeshWadhawan, accused in the al-leged PMC Bank scam that sur-faced inSeptember lastyear.Wadhawan,whoiscurrently

lodged in the Arthur Road jail,had sought bail on medicalground citing that he is highlysusceptible to coronavirus duetohisadvancedageandexistingillnesses .TheEnforcementDirectorate

(ED)throughAdditionalSolicitorGeneral Anil Singh and SunilGonsalves,opposedtheplea.TheED saidWadhawanwas hospi-talisedinFebruaryandhadbeendischarged after he recovered.The agency said that since thentherewasnoinstanceofhimre-quiringmedical attention.“The claim of the applicant

forbailonmeritisalreadypend-ing. No urgency ismade out...,”additional sessions judge UMPadwadsaid. ENS

PARTHASARATHIBISWAS&KAVITHAIYERPUNE,MUMBAI, APRIL 17

INWHATwill come as amajorrelief to theover1.31 lakh sug-arcane harvesters stranded at37 mills across the state, thegovernmentonFridayallowedtheir repatriation to their vil-lagesafterundergoingmedicalexamination.Inanorder issuedonFriday,

Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehtaasked managing directors ofthese sugarmills toprepareanevacuationplan for the labour-ers who have been staying intemporaryhousingunits at themills forwell over14daysnow.TheCOVID-19crisis and the

nationwide lockdown camewhen the 2019-2020 sugarcane crushing season was onits last lap. Of the 143 factoriesmilling this season, about 16were operational and the mi-gratory cane harvesters got

stuck at 37mills.A survey by the sugar com-

missioner’s office showed that96,017 of these labourers werehoused in the fields within thecommand areas while 35,415were housedwithin the prem-isesof themills.Mehta’s letteraskedmills to

prepare an evacuation plan forthe harvesters who have beenstayingformorethan14daysatthese locations. The harvestersaretobecheckedforsymptomsof pneumonia by a medicalpractitioner. Labourers whoclear the examination are to besentbacktotheirrespectivedis-trictsaspertheevacuationplanthatwillbesharedwiththedis-trict collectors. The villagesarpanchhasbeengiventhere-sponsibility to ensure propersettlementof theworkers oncethey reach their villages.DeepakNagargoje,whoruns

an orphanage and school inBeed's Shirur Kasar taluka forchildren of the district's cane

workers, said the decision hasbrought relief to tens of thou-sands of families. "Not a singleone of these more than 1 lakhworkershastestedpositive,andyet they were being forced tolive away from their families.This is a welcome decision andpeople will continue to followsocialdistancingnormsevenaf-tertheyreturnhome,"headded.Nagargoje has, meanwhile, be-gunacommunitykitchenserv-ing two meals a day to nearly650 people from daily wagers'families in the region.Minister for Social Justice

Dhananjay Munde, also theguardianminister of Beed dis-trictthataccountsforthelargestnumbersof theseworkers,wel-comed the decision. "Continueto follow government instruc-tions. Be accountable for yourownhealthandthatof yourvil-lage toowhere you are return-ing,"he said.Hailing mainly from Beed

and other districts of

Marathwada, the harvesterstravel to themills at the start oftheNovember-Aprilcanecrush-ingseason.Oncetheseasongetsover,theystarttheirreturnjour-ney in time to prepare for theirownkharif crop season.Sugar commissioner

Saurabh Rao had earlier in-structedmills toprovidemasksand sanitisers for the workers.Movement of the harvesterswas banned as district borderswere sealed. The district policeofKolhapurandSanglihadfiledFIRs against managing directorof threemillswhohad allowedtheir labourerstoreturntotheirhomedistricts.Meanwhile, the

Maharashtra State CooperativeSugar Factories Federation hasdecided to donate Rs 30 lakh tothe CM's Relief Fund in view ofthe ongoing COVID-19 crisis.Cooperative sugar mills havebeenaskedtodonatetothefed-eration's fund, which will behandedover to theCM.

KAVITHAIYERMUMBAI, APRIL 17

JUSTDAYSaftertheMaharashtragovernment came under firewhen around 2,000 migrantworkersprotestedontheroad insuburbanMumbai,severalstatesareliningupplanstoprovidecashassistance to their residentswhoare stranded inother states dur-ingtheextendedlockdown.Thelargestnumberofbenefi-

ciariesoftheseschemeswillbeinMaharashtra,where lakhsofmi-grant labourers are currently liv-ing inchallengingconditions, of-ten unable to access food andsanitationandhavinggonewith-out wages for well more thanthreeweeksnow.The BJP government in

Madhya Pradesh is currentlyanalysing suggestions and datafrom two committees — oneformedby the state BJP and theother comprising senior govern-ment officials — on howmanysuch labourerswill need relief,and how much may be paid.Similarly,theBJPgovernmentsinUttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand andHaryanahavesetupcommitteesto assess the extent of relief thatmayneedtobeprovided.In Jharkhand, which was

quickest off the block, ChiefMinisterHemantSorenlaunchedamobile application on Fridaythroughwhichthestate'snativesinotherstatescanregister foras-sistanceofRs2,000, tobepaidtoeveryAadhaar-verifiedapplicantviadirectbenefittransfer.“We aremapping only two

things–theAdhaarnumberthatwewillverifythroughtheAdhaardatabase andourowndatabase;andthedetailsofaccountholdersinanybankin Jharkhand,”saidAP Singh, the state PrincipalSecretary(Education)andalsothenodal officer for relief to bepro-vided to Jharkhand nativesstrandedinMaharashtra.Jharkhand'smigrants else-

wherecannowsimplydownloadthe app,which allowsmultiplepersons froma family to registeron a single phone, andupload aselfie alongwith their Aadhaarandbankaccountdetails.Thedis-bursalsaretobedonebytheendofnextweek, saidSingh.The lastdateforregistrationisApril22.Together, Uttar Pradesh,

MadhyaPradesh and Jharkhandaccountforwellover2millionmi-

grantworkersacrossIndia,includ-ing an estimated 6 to 7 lakh inMaharashtraalone.InMadhyaPradesh,adecision

is expectedwithin thenext twodays on howmuch cash assis-tance can be paid to the state’sworkers currently stranded inotherstates.OnThursday,thegov-ernment announced that it haspaid cash assistance to 7,000workers from22 stateswhoarecurrently stuck inMP, and alsothatithasappointedacommitteetoensurerelief to labourers fromMPwhoarestrandedoutside.The MP government esti-

matesthatabout1.5lakhworkersfromthestateareinvariouspartsofMaharashtra,mainlyMumbai,Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad andNagpur. State BJP spokespersonDeepakVijayvargiyasaidelectedrepresentatives, includingMPsandMLAs aswell as district offi-cials, havebeenasked to analysedistrict-wisenumbersofmigrantsinotherstateswhowillrequirere-lief.“Cashassistancetotheirbankaccountswillbeannouncedinthenexttwodays,”Vijayvargiyasaid.Notwishing to speculate on thesum, he said it would be “ade-quatetomeettheircurrentneeds”beforetheycanreturnhome.The BJP-led government in

Assam also announced onMondaythatitwouldprovideas-sistance to itspeople stranded instates includingMaharashtra,Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,AndhraPradeshandDelhi.Theaidis to be provided through ahelplinenumber.The government of

Meghalaya,whichhasnatives inlarge numbers in south India,North-East andWest Bengal, aswell as inMumbai andNagpur,has also asked its people inneedof assistance toregisteronaspe-cialisedportal.Followingverifica-tionoftheirdocuments,theywillprovide up to Rs 3,000 throughtheCM’sspecialgrant.“Accordingtoourroughdata,

around 5,000Meghalaya resi-dentscurrentlylivingoutsidemayrequire suchhelp,buteven if thenumber is higher, the relief shallbe provided,” said CPGotmare,Secretary (Education andPlanning),whoisalsooverseeingrelief payment tomigrants. TheMeghalayagovernmenthas alsobeen running a helpline formi-grant workers in other states,fieldingcallsfromsomerequiringhelpgettingfoodorshelter.

3,085 (49,756)CasesregisteredunderSection188(Violatinganorderissuedbyapublic servant)of the IndianPenalCode

Personswhoviolatedquarantine 15(555)

Phonecallsmadeto100pertainingtoCOVID-19 841(70,303)

Numberof infectedpolice personnel 1 (30)

Casesof illegal transport 25(1,044)

Arrests 1,121(10,276)

Vehiclesseized 1,128(32,424)

Fines imposed Rs11.79 lakh(Rs1.82crore)

*Total figures forall categories inbrackets

Figures forApril17releasedbytheMaharashtraPolice

NUMBERWATCH

Stranded cane harvesters to return home

‘Defer collection ofrent for 3 months,don’t evict tenants’

GOVT INSTRUCTSLANDLORDS

UNIVERSITYEXAMS

Uncertainty as state panel waits for UGC report

PMCBANKSCAM

Interim baildenied to RakeshWadhawan

As poor scramble for food, 9 PDS shopownersin MMR booked for diverting ration supplies

Mumbai: School EducationMinister VarshaGaikwadonFridayaskedallschoolstoen-surethatnoparentisforcedtodeposit fees until the lock-downends.AcirculardatedMarch30

had been sent to all schoolsasking them to refrain fromcollectingfeesforeitherpres-ent academicyearor comingoneinthelockdownperiod.“...Given the situation of

COVID-19cases...andtheavail-abilityoffundswithmanypar-ents,acircularhasbeensenttoall schools torefrain fromcol-lecting fees... In case schoolscontinue toask, I appeal toallstudentsandparentstoregis-ter their complaintswith thedistricteducationofficer.Ihaveorderededucationofficials toensureimplementationofthecircular,” Gaikwad said in avideoonherTwitterpage.ENS

State education minister asksschools not to collect fees

Many migrants setto get cash relieffrom their states

Numberofdeaths 202

Totalnumberofpeopledischarged 331

Numberofpeople tested60,284

Totalnumberquarantined6,376

Numberofnewcases 118

TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRA

3,320

Only 12newcases inMumbai,toll reaches202 instate

Agra private hospital linked to 50cases, two deaths, alert in 11 districtsAVANEESHMISHRALUCKNOW,APRIL 17

ONE OF Uttar Pradesh’s worsthotspots,with172cases and fivedeaths, Agra, that has seen pa-tientslinkedtoforeigntravelandtheTablighi Jamaat, isnowgrap-plingwithanothercrisis.Aprivatehospital in the district has beenlinkedtoaround50positivecases,sending alarm bells ringingthrough11neighbouringdistricts.So far, twopatientswho are

believedtohaveacquired the in-fection at Shri ParasHospital inAgra have died. The hospital,whichispopularintheregionandreceives cases from rural areasaround,wassealedonApril6.OnThursday, an FIRwas reg-

isteredagainstthehospitalman-agerandthemaindoctor,whore-main missing, over charges ofnegligenceundertheIPC.AgraSSPBablooKumar said strict actionwouldbetakenagainstthehospi-taladministration.Thehospitalauthoritiescould

notbereachedforacomment.The Indian Express traced

around 40 coronavirus cases ortheircontactstothehospitalfromAgra,whileatleastadozenbelongto the surrounding districts ofKannauj,Mainpuri,FirozabadandMathura.Apartfromthem,caseslinked to ParasHospital are sus-pectedinEtawahandHathras.Atpresent,Kannauj,Mathura

andMainpuri have four coron-aviruscaseseach,whileFirozabadhas27cases.

AgraDistrictMagistrate(DM)PrabhuNarainSinghsaidthefirstcoronaviruscaseatParasHospitalis suspected to have been awomanpatientwhogotadmittedonMarch26forsomekidney-re-latedissues.“Theneededprecau-tionswerenot takenby thehos-pital. Before we sealed it, acleaningstaffofthehospitalwholatertestedpositivehadpassedontheinfectiontoeightmembersofher family.Wehavemadeaplantoidentifyallprimary,secondaryand tertiary contacts,” the DMsaid.Singhsaidhehadnotifiedfel-

lowDMs in11districts. “Onepa-tientcametoParasHospital fromFatehpurSikri,andthroughoneofhercontacts,theinfectionreachedahospital inMathura aswell as

nineofher familymembers,” theDMsaid, elaboratingon just onelinkinthechain.Apartfromtech-nical surveillance, authorities aretakingthehelpofpoliceandhealthofficialstotracepossiblecases.Mainpuri DM Mahendra

Bahadur Singh said, “A lot of pri-vateambulancedriversheretakepatientstoParasHospital,report-edlyforacommission.Asaresult,cases are also suspected amongambulancedriversinourdistrict.So farwe have sent samples ofcloseto50drivers.”Boththepatientswhodiedat

Parashad co-morbid conditions.Onehadlungcancerwithkidneyfailure,while the seconddevel-opedcerebral haemorrhage. Theseconddeath is not attributed toCOVID-19.

KAVITHA IYERMUMBAI, APRIL 17

MORE THAN 500 tourists, in-cluding several foreigners,whocontinue to be stranded inMumbai amid the extendedlockdown,willnowhavetheop-tion of living at a shelter fortourists being set up at RosaryHigh School in Mazgaon afterArchbishop Cardinal Graciasgavethenodforfourcityschoolsrun by the archdiocese to beusedas shelters formigrants.TheMazgaonshelter forfor-

eigners and touristswill be runby Fr Nigel Barrett in coordina-tionwithHarmonyFoundation,whichisalreadyrunningacamp

formigrantworkers inVersova,along with other non-govern-mental organisations.“These guests will be wel-

comed in the true Indian spiritof Athithi Devo Bhava,” said DrAbraham Mathai of theHarmonyFoundation.The first tourists at the shel-

ter are expected tomove in onFriday.He saidmanywho travelled

toMumbaibeforethelockdownhave foundthemselveswithnoplace to live with hotels closedand having run out of money.Earlier,atouristfromSpain,are-tired teacher, stayed at theVersova camp for several daysuntil he was flown back alongwith other European nationals

lastweek.“Some of these tourists also

movedintorentedaccommoda-tion but expected to be able toreturn to their country or theircityafterApril15.Withthelock-down being extended, they’releftwithoutmoney andare be-ing forced to move out by theowners of their bread-andbreakfast or rented accommo-dation. This Mazgaon shelterwill be a safe space for them,”saidDrMathai.The shelter will follow all

regulationsof theBMCandtheWHOregardingsafety, precau-tions and hygiene. Residentswill be provided food, cleanwater and hygienic livingspace, he said.

MAHARASHTRA

Stranded tourists can nowstay at school in Mazgaon

DIPANKARGHOSE&MILINDGHATWAINEWDELHI,BHOPAL,APRIL17

WITHCORONAVIRUScasescon-tinuing to surge in what hasquickly become India’s mostworrisome hotspot, officials inIndore say theyareprepared foran eventualitywhere they out-numberthebedsavailable.Ade-cision has also been taken toscreen“everysingle resident” inIndore, a citywith a populationof around30 lakh, over thenextfewweeks.However,seniormedicaloffi-

cials said they expect the num-bers to stabilise soon, and as-sertedthatalargebufferwasstillthereintermsofbedsavailable.Positivepatientsarenowbe-

ingcategorisedaspersymptoms,with themilder cases taken to aCOVID Care centre, generally ahoteltakenoverforthepurpose;theonesshowingsymptomsandmoderatecasestohospitals;andseverecasestocoronavirus-onlyhospitals.As on Tuesday night, Indore

accounted for over half ofMadhya Pradesh’s cases (411 of741) aswell as deaths (37of 53).By Thursday, the city’s numbersstoodat844casesand47deaths.In the first such official re-

mark, Collector Manish SinghFriday said the virus could havebeen brought to Indore by pas-sengerswho arrived in Januaryand February from abroad.MadhyaPradeshhasonlyonein-ternationalflight,whichoperatesbetweenDubaiandIndore.Dubaiflightswere cited as a probablesource of cases in Indore in theinitial days, but it’s the first offi-cialcommentonthematter.Singh, who took over as

Indore Collector in lateMarch,saidabout5,000to6,000passen-gers who landed in the cityaround the time were notscreened properly. “I was notthere,soIdon’tknowwhatweretheexact instructions,”hesaid.Without elaborating, he

addedthatsomeofthoseairpas-sengers had attended the ongo-

ing protests against theCitizenship(Amendment)Act.Dr Pravin Jadia, Indore Chief

Medical andHealthOfficer, toldThe Indian Express, “Today, wehave1,200-1,500beds (for coro-naviruspatients). Twonewcen-tres have beenopened,which isanadditional800beds.Wehavealso arranged for three moreCOVIDCareCentres. Thismeanswehaveatotalcapacityofaround2,500patients.”Of the800-pluspatientscur-

rently, Dr Jadia added, “50 are tobe discharged soon”. “After thispoint,thecyclewillseepeoplebe-ingdischargedaswell,sowecanbeginrotation(ofbeds).”He pointed out that the case

mortalityratehadalsostartedtofall,from10%earlierto5%,andthehighnumberof caseswas“notareason topanic”. “Thesepositivecasesarefromagroupwhomwehadalready identifiedandquar-antined. If there are new casesfromanewareainthesevolumes,then itwould have beenworry-ing... These results are comingfrom the backlog cases.We aretesting2,000peoplepermillion,which is thehighest in India.Weare trying to identify people asmuchaswecan...Toemergepos-itive is not such a bad thing. Themain concern, which was ourmortality rate, has become lessthanhalf.”About the mammoth city-

widescreeningexercise,DrJadiasaid, “Wehave 500 teamsdoinghouse-to-house survey, we areplanning to form another 500.Wehavecoveredonelakhhousesand around six lakh people al-ready.We are going to expandfirsttowardsneighbouringthosewherecaseshavebeenfound."Indore has 167 containment

areaswith6.9lakhpeople.Ofthe4.76 lakh people in these areasscreened, 4,647 have been ear-marked as high-risk,with 1,548inhomequarantine.Said Dr Jadia, “There is one

doctorforevery10teams. If any-onecomplainsofsymptoms,thedoctor scans their temperature,does a check-up andmakes rec-ommendationsaccordingly.”

Collector linksIndore cases toDubai flights asdeath rate falls

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CBSE note tostates on feein pvt schoolsNewDelhi:TheCBSEFridayaskedstategovernmentstoissueinstructionstoprivateschoolsoncollectingfeesininstallments during thelockdown. It pointed to itsaffiliation bye-lawswhichstate that schools canonlycharge fees under headsprescribed by the govern-mentofthestateorUT;andthatfeesunderanyheadaretobechargedasperthereg-ulationsofthegovernment.The board urged the gov-ernments to consider issu-inginstructionsonperiodic-ity of payment of fees andpayment of salaries toschoolstaff. ENS

CORONAWATCH

AwomanmakesfacemasksatBandiporainJ&K. ShuaibMasoodi

RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD,Minister of Law and Justice,Communications,ElectronicsandIT, speaks to KARISHMAMEHROTRA on the need to de-communalisetheCOVID-19out-breakandhowtheoutbreakwillchangetheworld

Whathaveyoudonetoensurethatthedigitalecosystemcanhandlethismajorshiftintheeconomy?This is the first challenge that

India’s great IT success storyshouldnotbedisrupted.Thefirstthing I didwas to permitworkfromhome in themost liberalmanner,whichrequiredrelaxingtherulesofbigdeposit,ofautho-rised permission of TSPs, etc... Iforesee, theworld is going tobe-come a different world post-COVID...Work fromhomemaybecome the new norm. I haveaskedmy department toworkwitharobustmechanismsothatIndia’sworkfromhomemodeliseconomicalandbeneficial...

Whataretherisksyouforesee?When theworld is grappling

withwhethertodothelockdownornot,PMModi tookagreat riskandI’mveryproudofmyleader...civil services have also risen ingreatheights,managingpeopleinisolation,tracingvictims’contact,feedingsomanypeople.Theotherasset is that whether it is thestakeholders, thebusiness com-munity,orthetraders,allhavere-alised that in the course that thePMhas adopted, saving lives ismost important... I cannever saytherewill not be difficulty. Buttherewillalsobeopportunity.Forexample,Indiaisabigcen-

treforelectronicmanufacturing...Iamverykeenthatundertheen-couragementof thePM,weshallbecomethetopmanufacturer intheworldpost-COVID.

Butasyouarenowclosed,China’sfactoriesareworkingagain.Idon’twanttomakeanycom-

ment onChina.Many countrieshave even stopped having anytradelinkagewiththem...IforeseetheworldwilllooktowardsIndia...

Theeconomyhastakenahit

andthestategovernmentsaredemandingmorefundsfromtheCentredaily.Won’tthisdisruptallthecooperationyoudescribe?Youdon’tbecomethepropo-

nent of doomsday in this crisis.ThePMhasalwaystalkedofTeamIndia. Already it has workedwell...Whatever is further re-quiredshallbedone.

Thereseemstobeanoticeableblindspotwhenthelockdownwasannounced—theunorganisedsector,themigrants.Howdidthegovernmentnotforeseethis?You are not properly in-

formed. Lots of migrants comefrommystate.ThegovernmentofBiharisrunningnearly13feedingcentres...Iappreciateallstategov-ernmentsfortakingcareofthem...AnandViharwaswhereitstartedandcouldhavebeenavoidedbythelocaladministration.

ButevenbeforeAnandVihar,massmigrationwastakingplace.Theywere stopped inmany

places. But then Anand Viharcame. But even they have beensegregatedandquarantinedinalldistricts.Thelargerissuewasnotdifficulty in surviving...but thequesttoreturnhome...

Somearesayingtheviruscamefrompassportholders,buttheaffectedweretherationcardholdersTherearetwothingshere.Iget

a lot of calls to getmydaughterfrom Dehradun, my son fromKota.Thatisavalidconcern,butIcan’t help. I can counsel, and Idon’t grudge their emotionalstress. As for passports, that is asubstantial fact. For example,what happened inNizamuddin.If the Tablighi issuehadnot hadbeen there, maybe the issuewouldhavebeenundercontrol.

Thereappearstobeanattempttocommunalisethisissuebyrepeatedlypickingupthisincident.Thepartypresidenthasstated

publicly.ThePMhassaidthisvirusdoesnotseegeography,religionorrace...thosewhoareinthewrong,actionmustbe taken.Butnooneshouldcommunaliseit...Ialsoap-peal to religious leaders to...dis-suade any community from re-sortingtoviolencewithdoctors...

FULL INTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENOIDA,APRIL17

BJP MLA from Chaprauli,Sahendra Singh Chauhan, hascalled for thesegregationofpeo-ple fromtheTablighi Jamaat sectand those from “their commu-nity”, asking people in his con-stituency to “maintaindistance”fromthem.Chauhan,whowas expelled

fromtheRashtriyaLokDalbeforehe joined the rulingparty,madethe comments in a Facebookvideo.“Weallknowthatthisdisease

is very dangerous and itwouldhave very well been broughtdown in the first phase of lock-down. But certainmembers of aparticular community and reli-gionwerefoundinfectedandthediseasehasspreadfar.Inmyownconstituency,severalcaseslinkedto Jamaat were found. It is myhumbleappealthatpeopleshouldstay away frommembers of theparticular community. It is fortheirownsafetyandthesafetyofothersaroundthem,”hesaid.“Ihavespokentothemealdis-

tributionteamandthelocalmag-istrate that they shouldbegivenfood separately anda timemustbe fixed for them towithdrawmoney.Thisisintheinterestofthedistrictandthenation,”Chauhansaid.Headdedhiscommentstar-getedonly thoseassociatedwiththeTablighi Jamaatsect. “Severalcommunitiesresideinthedistrict.I onlywish thatpeoplemaintaindistancefromsuspectedcases...”

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

RAVI SHANKARPRASAD

UNIONMINISTER

‘Different world post-COVID... Workfrom home may become new norm’

Maintain distancefrom Tablighis,their community:UP BJP MLA

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,APRIL 17

NIKHILKUMARASWAMY,grand-sonofformerPMHDDevegowdaandsonof formerKarnatakaCMHDKumaraswamy, Fridaymar-riedhisfianceandCongressleaderM Krishnappa’s grandnieceRevathiatafarmhouseownedbyhis father inRamanagaradistrictnearBengaluru.Theweddingwassupposedto

bea family affair but sawpeoplefromthenearbyKethiganahallivil-lage and neighbouring areasgatheroutsidethevenuetocatchaglimpseoftheceremony.Theevent triggered criticism

onsocialmedia for beingorgan-isedamidtheCOVID-19outbreakandafterpicturesshowedfamilymembersblessingthecouplewit-houtmasksandsocialdistancing.Kumaraswamy,however,said

socialdistancingwasmaintainedandtheweddingtookplaceafterobtaining clearances from stategovernment. His aides releasedimagesoffamilymembersseated

on chairs arranged as per socialdistancingnormsatthevenue.“Weinitially plannedtohave

theweddingatmyhomeinBeng-aluruwith only our immediatefamily... about 100 people. Butkeepingthenumbersinmindandgiven the fact thatBengaluru is aredzone,wedecidedtomovethewedding to my farmhouse inRamanagarwhichis inthegreenzone,” he said, adding “Weob-tainedtheadviceofdoctors.Inour

family,thereare12to13doctors.”Ramanagar is represented in

theAssemblybyKumaraswamy’swifeAnitha.State Education Minister

SureshKumarsaid,“Werequestedthemtomaintain social distanc-ing. They said only a fewpeoplewill be called. SinceRamanagardoes not have cases, it was al-lowed.Wedonotknowwhathap-pened in the wedding and weneedtofindout.”

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, APRIL 17

ADAYafterissuingdetailedguide-lines for the secondphaseof thelockdown, theCentrehas issuedanaddendum,allowingmoreac-tivities in sectors of agriculture,bankingandruralconstruction.InanaddendumissuedThurs-

day, theMinistryofHomeAffairshassaidthatunderagricultureandhorticulture,“Collection,harvest-ingandprocessingofMinorForestProduce(MFP)/NonTimberForestProduce (NTFP) by ScheduledTribesandotherforestdwellersinforestareas”willbeallowed.Earlier, relaxationsweregra-

ntedtofarmingactivities,butforestproducehadnotbeenmentionedspecifically.“Thereisaconstantdi-alogue between states and theCentre.Basedonconcernsofstatesand suggestions of Unionmin-istries,newexemptionsareadded.Wehopethisaddendumwillhelptribalpeople,”anMHAofficialsaid.

Under“constructionactivitiesinruralareas”,whichisexemptedfrom the lockdown, the govern-ment has added “water supplyandsanitation;laying/erectionofpowertransmissionlinesandlay-ingoftelecomopticalfibreandca-blealongwithrelatedactivities”.In banking sector, theCentre

has allowedNBFCs to function“withbareminimumstaff”.

Kumaraswamy son’s weddingamid lockdown draws criticism

NikhilGowdaandRevathiat theirweddingFriday.PTI

New Delhi: The Centre hasaskedstatestolookforRohin-gya suspected to have at-tended the Tablighi Jamaatevent in Delhi and screenthemforCOVID-19infection.In a letter to chief secre-

taries of all states,MHAhassaidRohingya fromHydera-bad,Jammu,PunjabandDelhihadnotreturnedtotheircam-psafterthecongregation.ENS

Centre to states:Track Rohingya

Govt allows moreactivities in banking,agri, rural construction

SAKSHIDAYALGURGAON,APRIL17

ONTHURSDAYmorning,35-year-old ChhabuMandal, amigrantfrom Bihar who worked as apainterinGurgaon,soldhisphoneforRs2,500andusedthemoneyto purchase a portable fan andsome ration to feedhis family—hiswife,herparents,andhisfourchildren, the youngest fivemonthsold.His wife Poonam was de-

lightedwhenhe returnedhome—thefamilyhadnothadanythingtoeatallthroughWednesday,andevenbeforethat,hadbeenrelyingonmealsbeingdistributedforfreein their area, or thegenerosity ofneighbours.Before she started cooking,

Poonamwent to thewashroom,

while hermother took the chil-drenandwent tositundera treenear their home— two shantiesstandingsidebysideinGurgaon’sSaraswatiKunj,withtinsheetsforthewalls and roofs.Mandal’s fa-ther-in-lawslept in the adjacentshanty.While his family was out,

Mandal closed the door of hisshantyand,usingarope,hangedhimself fromtheceiling.“He had been very troubled

ever since the lockdownstarted;we had been struggling to getfood. Therewasnowork andnomoney.Wewerecompletelyde-pendentonfreemealstofeedour-selves,butthesealsodidnotcomeeveryday,”saidhiswife.GurgaonPoliceofficials,when

contacted, said Mandal was“mentallytroubled”.“We received information

about the incident yesterday af-ternoon. Themanwasamigrantworker andwasmentally trou-bled.His bodyhas beenhandedover to his family, but theyhavenot sought any further action inthematter.NoFIRhasbeenregis-

tered,” saidDeepakKumar, SHOofSector53policestation.Officials from thedistrict ad-

ministrationalsoinsistedthe35-year-old was “mentally dis-turbed”. “In this unfortunateincident,thepersonwasabitdis-

turbedandaggravatedbecauseofthediseaseoutbreak. Foodavail-abilitywasnotan issue since thefamily still has some food, andthere is a food disbursal MCGpointnearby,”saidanofficialfromthedistrictadministration.The closest food disbursal

point for residents of SaraswatiKunj, as per a list releasedby thedistrict administration, is theCommunityCentreinSector56.“ThereisoneinSector56and

there is one inWazirabad also,fromwhatwe have heard, butthoseareveryfarforustowalkto.Iamdisabled,mywifeisalsoaged,and the children are young.Walking that far for food is notpossible, that too on a hungrystomach,”saidMandal’sfather-in-lawUmesh.Firoz, another resident of

Saraswati Kunj, who also hails

fromBihar, said residentswerealso scared to venture out since“somepolicemenareaggressive”.Official from the district ad-

ministrationsaid thegaps, if any,would be plugged. “Efforts to-wardsfooddistributionwillbein-creased,”anofficialsaid.It was 15 years ago that

Mandal,whohailed fromBihar’sMadhepura district, moved toGurgaon and took upwork as apainter.Tenyearsago,hegotmar-ried andmovedhis family to thecity. For the last severalmonths,theyhadbeenlivinginSaraswatiKunj, payingRs 1,500 as rent foreach of the two shanties.Workhaddriedupbeginning“Octoberor November” last year, saidUmesh.“Firstwork stopped coming

because of the banon construc-tiondue to pollution. Even after

that,workremainedthinandwewere struggling to make endsmeet.Forthelastmonthorsobe-fore the lockdown, he had gotwork only on a couple of days,”said Umesh, who has not beenabletoworksinceanaccidentsixmonths ago. ItwasMandalwhomanaged to run the twohouse-holdswithwhatever littleworkhegot.Soonafter the lockdownwas

announced in Gurgaon on theevening ofMarch22, the familyran out ofmoney. Poonamalsoclaimed the landlord contactedthem“once or twice” asking forrent, which created additionalpressure.Allofthemstartedkeepingan

eyeoutforwherefoodwasbeingdistributedeveryday.Wheneverthey would get a tip off, theywouldrush,“becauseifwedidnot

manage to grab that meal, wewould have nothing”, Poonamsaid. “OnThursdaymorning,myhusbanddecidedtosellthephonehehadpurchased for aroundRs10,000sohecouldbuysomefood.Hebought rice andpulses and aportable fan,” said Poonam,adding that the rising tempera-ture and tin roof hadmade stay-ingindoorsunbearable.Apart from the fan, some of

therationMandalhadpurchasedlayinthefamily’sshantyonFridaymorning. “Wewere all stressed,but himmore sobecausehe felthehad the responsibility topro-vide for us.We knew that, butnone of us expected hewouldtakesuchastep,”saidPoonam.Mandal’sfamilycarriedouthis

lastritesinGurgaononFriday.FULLREPORTON

www.indianexpress.com

ChhabuMandal’swifePoonamandtheir fourchildrenatashanty inGurgaon’sSaraswatiKunj. Express

Migrant’s last earning before suicide: Rs 2,500 from sale of phone

EXPRESSNETWORK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRAPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

Office of the Executive EngineerMultistoreyed Bldgs Construction Division,

Administrative Building, 1st Floor, R. C. Marg, Chembur, Mumbai-400071.

E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 2 (2nd Call) of 2020-2021ONLINE E-Tenders in "B-1" Form for the following ONE WORK are invited by Executive Engineer,

Multistoreyed Bldgs Construction Division, Chembur, Mumbai-400071, from the registered contractor inappropriate class of Public Works Department, Govt. of Maharashtra. Details regarding E-Tenders can beseen on http://mahatenders.gov.in

E-Tender can be downloaded from Date 13.04.2020 at 10.30 hrs to 22.04.2020 at 17.30 hrs fromabove mentioned site. Duly filled E-Tender will be opened on Date 27.04.2020 at 15.00 hrs (if possible)at office of the Executive Engineer, Multistoreyed Bldgs Construction Division, Chembur, Mumbai-400071.

All detail information is available on following websites.Visit Web Site for details :1. http://mahapwd.com2. http://mahatenders.gov.in

Sd/-Executive Engineer

Multistoreyed Bldgs Construction Division,DGIPR-2020-2021-25 Chembur, Mumbai-400071.

Sr. No. Name of Work Amount1 Surveying and fixing km. stones by chainage fixing on Sion Panvel Highway

from B. A. R. C. junction to Kalamboli junction.9,36,089/-

No. MBCD/TC/749/2020 Date : 31.03.2020Email : msbckurla.ee@mahapwd.com Tel. No. 022-25220277 Fax No. 022-252240600

Government of JharkhandJharkhand Rural Health Mission Society

Department of Health, Medical Education & Family WelfareNamkum, Ranchi.

Phone No: 9065527620, 9939086709, 9570171514 Mail ID: nrhmjharkhandfmr@gmail.comLetter No:IDSP/148/2020 Part III-115(IDSP) Dated: 17.04.2020

Public NoticeNational Health Mission, Jharkhand is in urgent requirement of the following items for COVID 19 Test Facility:

Any interested vendor/agency may submit immediately available quantity, delivery time line, price and purchase order from anystate/central government agency for the quoted items & other terms and conditions through e-mail onnrhmjharkhandfmr@gmail.com by 20.04.2020 - 2:00PM. Vendor with immediate delivery terms and P.O from any state/centralgovernment agency will be preferred for ordering.

(Director Finance)

S. No. Item Quantity1 Absolute Alcohol (100%) 100 liter in 500ml packing2 Blotting Sheet 5000 Sheets3 Forcep Big (8’ blunt tooth with grip) 50 Pcs4 Tissue paper 500 roll5 ICE trays (Ice box for laboratory use) 20 Pcs6 Test Tube Rack (for VTM) 20 Pcs7 Auto Clavable bags (35 liters) 10000 pcs8 Hair Cap 5000 pcs9 Shoe cover 5000 pcs

10 De-ionized water (5liters) 200 Jars11 Nitrile gloves 10000 pair (60% Medium, 40% Large)12 Normal non powdered gloves 2500 (500 Small, 1000 Medium 1000 Large)13 Ziploc bags 10000 pc (50% 8X10 size, 50% 9X12 size)14 Disposable Safety Lancet (for finger prick) 110000 Pcs15 Alcohol Swab (Single Use pack) 110000 Pcs

CHANGE OF NAME

I have changed my name fromGautam V Sajeevan to GautamVeliyath vide MaharashtraGazette (M-19179122).

TThhee IInnddiiaann EXPRESS

GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESHInformation & Public Relations Department

The tender dates for the publication of tender schedule ie. 17.04.2020 for theRequest for Proposal for the services from Multimedia Electronic CreativeProduction Agencies are extended till the break down of the lockdown.For further details can be viewed in the website:www.apeprocurement.gov.in or contact Sri P. Kiran Kumar, Joint Director(Advertisements) 9121215223.

Extension of Date to Request for Proposal for EngagingMultimedia Electronic Creative Producing Agency for Government

of Andhra Pradesh

R.O. No.: 10/CL/ADVT/1/1/2020-21Sd/-

T. Vijay Kumar Reddy, I.I.S., Commissioner

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHANDIGARH,AURANGABAD,APRIL 17

AMAHARASHTRAresidentFridayfiled a complaint against BabitaPhogat over her recent tweetsagainstTablighiJamaatmemberseven as thewrestler-turnedBJPleaderclaimedthatshe is receiv-ingthreats.The complaint lodgedat City

Chowk police station ofAurangabad district againstPhogat and actor KanganaRanaut’s sister Rangoli Chandelsaidtheirtweetswereintendedatcreating disharmony amongcommunities.ThecomplaintwasfiledbyamanassociatedwiththeJamaat andwill be forwarded toplaceswherePhogatandChandellive,anofficialsaid.The Jamaat had comeunder

flakwhenthousandsof itsmem-bers dispersed froma religiousgathering in New Delhi'sNizamuddin,manyof themcar-ryingthecoronavirusinfection.The30-year-oldinternational

wrestler,who joined theBJP lastyearandunsuccessfullycontestedAssemblyelectionsfromHaryana,defendedhertweets.“In the recent past, I posted

some tweets afterwhichmanypeople sent me objectionablemessagesoverFacebookmessen-ger,WhatsApp and Twitter and

abused me,whilesomepeo-ple threatenedme over thephone,” Phogatclaimed in avideomessage.The BJP

leader,however,saidshewasnot

scared.“Iwanttotellallthesepeo-ple I amnot ZairaWasim, that Iwillfeelscaredbyyourthreatsandsit athome.Your threatswill notscareme. IamBabitaPhogatandhavealways fought formycoun-try. I will continue to do so andspeak formynation,” sheadded.Wasim, who had made herBollywooddebutwith the 2016filmDangal, had quit acting lastyear,sayingit interferedwithherreligion.Defendinghertweets,Phogat

said therewas nothingwrongwithwhat shewrote. “I standbythetweet...Iwanttoask,don'ttheTablighiJamaatmembersaccountformaximumcases? Had theynotspreadthevirus,thelockdownwould have been lifted by nowandcoronaviruswouldhavebeeneradicated...Iwill only speak thetruth,”shefurthersaid.Meanwhile, seniorBJP leader

andHaryana's HealthMinisterAnil Vij also blamed TablighiJamaatmembers for thespike inthenumbercasesinthestate.

—WITHPTI

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,APRIL17

ASCOOTER riderwho allegedlyspatatawomanfromManipurinKalina earlier this month wasidentifiedandarrestedbythepo-liceonFriday.The incident happened on

April 6, when the 25-year-oldwoman was walking in GeetaVihar.Thewomanhadclaimedtobesingledoutinadeliberateracistattack. Inher complaint, shehadalso expressed fears of being ex-posedtoCOVID-19.Inshock, thewomanwasun-

abletonotedownthevehicle’sli-cenceplatenumber.Overthelasttwoweeks, the police scannedfootage from over 120 govern-ment andprivateCCTVcamerasbetweenKurla andGoregaon totryandidentifytherider,butwereunabletodoso.However, CCTV footage

showedthattheriderwasspeak-ingonhisphonewhileridingpastAirIndiaColonyinKalina.Thepo-liceanalysedover1.2 lakhphonenumbersfoundactiveintheareaat the time and zeroed in on50.Finally,thepolicenarroweddownthelist toaphonenumberfoundactivebothatGeetaViharandAirIndiaColonyaroundthetime.Thephonenumberwasfound

to belong to 23-year-old KurlaWestresidentMohammadAmirKhan.Aseniorpoliceofficial saidthe police are yet to establishwhether he spat at thewomandeliberately.“Theaccusedclaimshe did not mean to spit at thewomanandthatitwasamistake.But CCTV analysis indicates hecouldhaveavoidedspittingwhenhewas riding past thewoman.Weareinterrogatinghimfurther,”saidtheofficial.Khanwas bookedunder the

IPC for committing amalignantact likely tocause thespreadof adeadly infectionandassaultingapersonwithout beingprovoked,thepolicesaid.

ATIKHRASHIDPUNE,APRIL17

A21-YEAR-OLDboy fromPune,whotravelled370kmonhistwo-wheeler, sneaking in throughthree ‘sealed’ district borders onhisway, and landed in Parbhanidistrictearlierthisweek,becamethefirstcoronaviruspatientinthedistrict, which so far hadman-aged to remain in the 'GreenZone'withnoreportedcases.The youth, who hails from

Hingolidistrictandworksatafur-niturestoreinBhosarinearPune,left his residence on April 12night,andreachedhisbrother-in-law’shouse inParbhani thenextmorning.Ashewas complainedof throat irritation, hewas takento a public health centre (PHC),whereathroatsamplewastakenandsenttoalaboratory.Thesam-pletestedpositiveThursday.The 21-year-old man was

stopped at two of the three dis-trict bordershehad crossed, butsomehowmanagedtogivepolicea slip. Asmany as 14 people de-ployed atMatori check-post atAhmednagar-Beed border andfivepersonsatDhalegaoncheck-post at Beed-Parbhani border,whocameintocontactwithhim,have been quarantined and arebeingtestedforthevirus.Although Parbhani district

borders have been sealed and

check-posts have been installedat 15 entry points to the district,fewpeoplemanage to sneak in,said CollectorDeepakMuglikar.The incident has prompted theadministrationtostrengthensur-veillance across towns and vil-lages locatedontheborder.“This youth left under the

coverof thenightfromPuneandreachedBeeddistrictbordernearDhalegaonearlynextday.Thepo-licemenonthecheck-post inter-ceptedhimandturnedhimaway.He, however, crossed theborderfromanotherpointandlandedathis brother-in-law’s house inParbhani town. He is not aParbhani resident. He is fromJawala Bazaar, a town about 40kmfromhere,”saidMuglikar.After the youth tested posi-

tive, a total of 17 people, includ-ingninemembersofhisbrother-in-law’s family, three policepersonnelwhohad interceptedhim at Dhalegaon check-post,two other civilians andmedicalpersonnel at the PHChave beenput in institutional quarantineandarebeing screened for coro-navirus.Similarly, two familymem-

bersof theyouthinBhosarihavealso been isolated and are beingtested after authorities inParbhanialertedtheircolleaguesinPunedistrict.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Mumbai:Threeminors allegedlykilled a 17-year-old boy atKurarinMaladEastafterheallegedlyre-fusedtopaythemforpigeonstheyhad stolen fromhim. Police saidafter stealing their friend’s petbirds,thejuvenileshadrefusedtoreturn themtohimfor free. “Thejuvenilesbecameangrywhentheboydemandedthepigeonsbere-turned tohimbut refused topayfor the birds,” said D S Swami,DeputyCommissioner of Police,ZoneXII.At7.30pmThursday,anargumentbrokeoutbetweenthefour,andtheteenagersreportedlystabbed their friend in the stom-ach,kickedandpunchedhimbe-forefleeing,policesaid. ENS

FIRSTCOVID-19CASE IN ‘GREENZONE’

Youth travels 370 kmon bike to reachParbhani, tests positive

Complaint againstBabita Phogat overcontroversial tweets

BabitaPhogat

Rider who spat atManipur womanidentified, held

3 detained formurder of friend

ATRIMITRAKOLKATA,APRIL17

THE DIRECTOR of the NICED-ICMR,Kolkata,ShantaDutta,whoheadsoneof thepremiercentraltestinglaboratoriesintheeasternregion, has questioned the statedecisiontosetupacommitteetocertifyCOVID-19deaths.Inanin-terview to The Indian Express,Dutta said it was the treatingphysician who should decidewhether a patientwith coron-avirushaddiedduetoit.Earlier, the Director of the

National Instituteof CholeraandEntericDiseaseshadsaidthatthenumber of samples coming fortesting to theNICED in the statehadseenafall.Asked about the Mamata

Banerjee government settingupan audit committee on deaths,Dutta said, “Members of the au-ditcommitteeareupdatedbyat-tendingphysiciansonthecondi-tion of a patient. Hence, theattending physician is the bestjudgetodecidethefactorsrespon-sible for a death.Moreover, anydeath in aCOVID-19 caseoccursdue to cardio-respiratory failure,irrespectiveof co-morbid condi-tionsor infections. Therefore, for

countingdeathsofCOVID-19pa-tients, one should rely on thetreatingphysicianandnotacom-mittee.”TheDirectoraddedtherewasnoguidelinefromtheCentreregardingsuchacommittee.TheBrihanmumbaiMunicipal

Corporationhasdecidedtosetupa similar panel to certify coron-avirus deaths inMumbai,whileUttarPradeshisplanningtodoso.The Trinamool government

hasbeen in awarofwordswiththeCentre andBJP over its han-dlingofcoronaviruscases,partic-ularly its recorded figures. OnFriday,while the stateputoutan“active cases” (excluding those

deadandrecovered)listof161,theCentreput the total coronaviruscasesinWestBengalat255.EvencountingtheBengalnumbersfordeaths(10)andrecovered(55),thetotal comestoonly226—29lessthantheCentre’s.TheUnionHomeMinistryhas

alsoaccusedBengalofnotenforc-ing the lockdown strictly. WestBengalChiefSecretaryRajivaSinhasaid, “Health is a state subject.However, this is a national pan-demic. So, we aremaintainingconstant liaisonwith the centralgovernment.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

WESTBENGAL

Womenreturnafterpurchasingessentials inBirbhumdistrictonFriday.PTI

Head of virus lab: Attendingdoctor best judge of death

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,APRIL 17

POLICEINtheKalaburagiregionof Karnataka have arrested fivepersons and accused another150-200people of violating theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897 byallegedly carrying out a templechariotprocessionintheRevoorvillageontheeveningofApril16,despite prohibitory orders is-suedbydistrictofficials.Besides arresting the organ-

isersoftheevent,theauthoritieshavesuspendedasub-inspectorand a district official in connec-tionwith theviolation.Inasuomotucaseregistered

at theWadi police station, the

policebooked20peoplefortak-ingoutaprocessionwithachar-iot belonging to theSiddalingeshwaraMutt,withupto200people, inRevoorvillage.ThepersonsnamedintheFIR

are part of the RevoorSiddalingeshwara TempleCommittee.They have been accused of

unlawful assembly, disobedi-enceofordersofapublicservantand negligence likely to spreadinfectionofadiseasethatisdan-gerous to life — under sections143, 188 and 269 of the IndianPenalCode.“Wewill decide if any other

charges have to be invoked,”Kalaburagi Superintendent ofPolice, IadaMartin, said.

Five held for organising templechariot procession in Karnataka

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USGermanyChinaTurkeyItalySpainFranceUKCanadaBelgiumRussiaBrazilIranSwitzerlandNetherlandsIndiaIrelandPortugalAustriaIsrael

● 750 to 1,500 ● 1,500 to 3,000 ● 3,000 to 6,000 ● 6,000 to 12,000

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7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

FACTCHECK, GROUND REALITY

HowlongdidCOVID-19casestaketodoublefrom750to1,500, thento3,000,6,000and12,000?Acomparisonofdoublingrates in Indiaandthe19countrieswithahighercasecount(untilThursday)

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, APRIL 17

ON THURSDAY, the HealthMinistry circu-latedachartcomparingIndia’sdoublingrateforCOVID-19withthoseofsevenothercoun-tries, including the six that had the highestnumberofcasesasofthatdate.Doublingratehere refers to howmany days it takes for acountry’s casecount todouble.WhilethedoublingrateofIndia’scaseshas

been largely slowercomparedto therates inthesevencountriesshowcasedbytheHealthMinistry,thereare12othercountriesthathavehadahighernumberofcasesthanIndia,asofApril16, thatonecancomparewith.The countries with a higher case count

thanIndia’sasofApril16were,fromhighestto lowest: the United States, Spain, Italy,Germany, France, United Kingdom, China,Iran, Turkey, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,

Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Portugal,Austria, Irelandand Israel.

Whydoubling rateDoublingrateisoneofmanymetricsthat

modelling experts are using to assess thespread.Ithelpsoneseehowquicklytheout-breakmight grow, even if current numbersaresmall. If casesgrowbythesamenumbereveryday(lineargrowth), it islessofaworry.than if cases aremultiplyingwithin a shortperiod (exponential growth). In the latterevent, thenumbersmay soonbecomeverylarge even if current numbers are low. Aswith most COVID-19models, this is con-strainedbyeachcountry’s testingstrategy.TheMinistry chose four ranges to com-

pare therates: thenumberof days inwhichcasesgrewfrom750to1,500;1,500to3,000;3,000 to 6,000; and 6,000 to 12,000.WhiletheMinistryuseditsownnumbersforIndia,ouranalysiscomparesall countries (includ-

ingIndia)usingthesamesinglesource—theJohnsHopkinsUniversitydatabase.Becauseof this, some of the doubling rates in thisanalysisareslightlyatvariancewiththerateshighlightedby theMinistry.

Phase by phaseForthefirstphaseofdoubling(from750

to 1,500 ), the case count in India took fivedays, according to numbers from the JohnsHopkins database. This was longer than inanyothercountry.Comparatively,countriessuchasIran,Spain,andTurkeytookonlyoneday todouble in this range.By the secondphase of growth (1,500 to

3,000),Indiahadjumpedtothemiddleofthepack,with cases in seven countries growingslowerthaninIndia,andthosein12countriesgrowingeither fasteror in thesamenumberofdays(three).Thecountrieswherethedou-bling rates in this phasewere longer thanIndia’s are: UK, Russia, Portugal, Austria,

Netherlands, Brazil, and Irelandwhichwit-nessedtheslowestgrowth,withtherisefrom1,500to3,000casestakingsixdays .In the third phase of growth, India ap-

pears to have contained the outbreakwell,with cases taking five days to jump from3,000 to 6,000. Apart from Ireland, wheredoublingtookeightdays,allothercountriessawthisphaseofdoublingtakingeitherlesstime than, or the same time as, in India. InSpain, it tookonlyoneday.Inthefinalphaseofgrowth,casesinIndia

tooksixdaystodoublefrom6,000to12,000.Only in four countries was this growthslowerthaninIndia. InIsrael,growthseemsto have significantly slowed,with this dou-bling phase taking 13 days. This phase took10 days in Austria, eight in Portugal, andseveninIreland.AmongcountrieswherethisphaseofgrowthwasfasterthaninIndia,theUS,GermanyandChinaeach saw ithappenin theshortest time: twodays.

Ways andMeans Advances: what is it,and how far will relaxation of limit help?

HARISHDAMODARAN&NUSHAIBAIQBALNEWDELHI, APRIL 17

THERESERVEBankof India (RBI), onFriday,announced a 60% increase in theWays andMeans Advances (WMA) limit of state gov-ernments over and above the level as onMarch 31,with a view to enabling them“toundertakeCOVID-19containmentandmit-igationefforts”and“tobetterplantheirmar-ketborrowings”.

Whatexactly isWMA?Simply put, it is a facility for both the

Centre and states to borrow from the RBI.These borrowings aremeant purely to helpthemtotideovertemporarymismatches incashflowsoftheirreceiptsandexpenditures.In that sense, theyaren’t a sourceof financeperse. Section17(5)of theRBIAct, 1934au-thorisesthecentralbanktolendtotheCentreand state governments subject to their be-ing repayable “not later than threemonthsfromthedateof themakingof theadvance”.

HowmuchdoestheRBIchargeontheseadvances?TheinterestrateonWMAistheRBI’srepo

rate, which is basically the rate at which itlendsshort-termmoney tobanks. That rateiscurrently4.4%.Thegovernmentsare,how-ever, allowed to draw amounts in excess oftheirWMAlimits.Theinterestonsuchover-draft is 2 percentage points above the reporate,whichnowworks out to 6.4%. Further,nostatecanrunanoverdraftwiththeRBIformore thanacertainperiod.

WhataretheexistingWMAlimitsandoverdraftconditions?FortheCentre,theWMAlimitduringthe

first half of 2020-21 (April-September) hasbeen fixed at Rs 120,000 crore. This is 60%higher than theRs75,000crore limit for thesameperiodof2019-20.Thelimitforthesec-ondhalfofthelastfiscal(October-March)wasRs35,000crore.Forthestates, theaggregateWMAlimitwasRs32,225croretillMarch31,

2020. On April 1, the RBI announced a 30%hike in this limit, which has now been en-hancedto60%,takingittoRs51,560crore.Thehigher limitwill be valid till September 30.Thecentralbank,onApril7,alsoextendedtheperiod forwhich a state can be in overdraftfrom14to21consecutiveworkingdays,andfrom36to50workingdaysduringaquarter.

Whyhaveall theserelaxationsbeenmade?The reason is simple. Government fi-

nances are in amess today. The lockdownhas resulted in revenuesdryingup, and it isthe states that are actually feeling the heat.With economic activity at a near standstill,there is hardly anymoney coming in fromGST, petroleumproducts, liquor, motor ve-hicles, stampdutyor registration fee.At thesame time, the states are also incurring thebulkof theon-the-groundexpenditures forcombatingthenovelcoronavirus.Theseex-tendnotonlytopurchasesoftestingkits,per-sonal protective equipment andventilatorsordeploymentofhealthcareandpoliceper-

sonnel, but even to providing food, shelterandother reliefmeasures to thoseworsthitby the lockdown.In a scenario where their expenses are

real,mountingandcannotbedeferred,evenasrevenuesarecollapsinganduncertain,thestates are facing an unprecedented cashcrunch.Mostof themhaveresortedtoslash-ingexpendituresofotherdepartmentsinor-dertomeetCOVID-19exigencies,withsomeevendeferringorcuttingsalariesofemploy-ees.Butallthesemeasureshaven’treallyad-dressedtheunderlyingproblemof liquidityandcash flowmismatches.

Can’t theyborrowfromthemarket?The financial position of stateswas pre-

cariousevenbeforethelockdown.Thegrossfiscal deficit of 22 states, as per latest avail-abledata,rosefrom2.4%oftheirGSDP(grossstate domestic product) in 2018-19 to 2.9%in2019-20,withthecorrespondingrevenuedeficit ratio also climbing from0.1% to0.7%.Moreover, gross governmentmarket bor-rowings shot up from Rs 10,49,323 crore

(Centre:Rs571,000crore,States:Rs478,323crore) in 2018-19 to Rs 13,44,521 crore(Centre:Rs710,000crore,States:Rs634,521crore) in2019-20.Given the current pressure on revenues

aswellasexpenditures-not tospeakofun-certainty over the COVID-19 outbreak’s“depth,spreadandduration”,astheRBIgov-ernor Shaktikanta Das puts it - these num-bersare likely toshowfurtherdeteriorationin2020-21.Thelackofclarityonhowmuchthestates

(andeventheCentre)wouldeventuallyneedto borrow is reflected in bond yields. SinceMarch9, theweightedaverageyields(inter-est) at auctionsof 10-year stategovernmentsecurities have risen from 6.86% to 7.57%.Yieldson10-yearGovernmentofIndiabonds,too, have goneup from6.07% to nearly 6.5%overthisperiod.This,despitetheRBIcuttingits reporate from5.15%to4.4%(seechart).

So,will the increase intheWMAlimitshelp?TheWMAwindow, as already pointed

out, is intendedonly to tideover temporarymismatchesincashflowofreceiptsandpay-ments.Given the likelihoodof total govern-mentborrowingscrossingRs20lakhcrore-aconservativeunderestimate-aWMAlimitof Rs 120,000 crore for the Centre and Rs51,560croreforstatesmayprovegrossly in-sufficient.Atsomepoint, theCentre,at least,might

have to invoke Section 5(3) of its FiscalResponsibilityandBudgetManagementAct,2003. That overriding provision in theAct -whichotherwisebarstheRBIfromlendingtothegovernment,exceptformeetingtempo-rarycashflowmismatches-allowsthecen-tralbankto“subscribetotheprimaryissuesof Central Government securities” underveryspecifiedgrounds.Thosecover, amongother things, “act of war” and “nationalcalamity”. Apart from monetisation ofdeficits -which iswhat thisprovisioneffec-tivelyentails-theRBImay,inthecomingday,alsohavetoundertakeincreasedsecondarymarketpurchasesandsalesofCentralaswellas stategovernmentsecurities.

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 13,835 (452 DEATHS)

3,205Maharashtra

1,267 Tamil Nadu

1,131Rajasthan

743Telangana

1,308MP

846 UP

1,640 Delhi

1,021Gujarat

395 Kerala

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

572 Andhra Pradesh

CORONAVIRUSOUTBREAKDAILYWORLDAND INDIACOUNTS

79,494Iran

168,941Italy

138,273Germany

104,155United Kingdom

147,113France

184,948Spain

36,138Belgium

671,425US

83,760China

74,193Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED:2,196,109 DEATHCOUNT: 149,024Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11:00pmonApril 17

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 11ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 35Bihar 83Chandigarh 21Chhattisgarh 36Goa 7Haryana 205HimachalPradesh 35JammuandKashmir 314Jharkhand 29Karnataka 353Ladakh 18Manipur 2Meghalaya 9Mizoram 1Odisha 60Puducherry 7Punjab 186Tripura 2Uttarakhand 37WestBengal 255

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,April16.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystateswiththemostcasesarelistedabove.1,767PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN27STATESACROSSTHECOUNTRY

How cases doubled in India, elsewhere

8%

7%

6%

5%

4%

3-Mar

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11-M

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■Repo rate ■10-yearGovtof Indiabond ■Weightedaverage10-year stategovtbonds

GOVERNMENTBONDYIELDS vs RBI REPORATE

SIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

CHOICE OF COUNTRIES20countries inthiscomparison; theseare Indiaandall countries thathadahighercasecountthanIndia’sasof Thursday,basedonJohnsHopkinsUniversitydatabase

2of thesecountries (IsraelandIreland)hadlowercasecountsthanIndia’sbyFriday

12,000Thecountriesarearrangedinorderof thenumberofdays takenbycasesto jumpfrom6,000to12,000;longest timesfirst

Note: The graphhas been plotted on thebasis of the Johns Hopkins Universitydatabase, whose numbers may varyslightly from those put out by variousgovernments, includingGovtof India

Cases in India took 6 days to double from6,000 to 12,000. Only 4 of the other 19countries saw a slower doubling rate,3more countries saw the same growthin 6 days, and 12 countries saw casesdoubling in less than 6 days.

6days

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

A HELPING HANDRBI takessteps toensureadequate liquidity.Butmoremeasureswillbeneededtoovercomebanks’ riskaversion

ONFRIDAY, SHAKTIKANTADas, governor of theReserveBankof India (RBI),unveiledanothersetofmeasurestoaddressthefinancialandeconomicdis-locationcausedbythespreadofthecoronavirus.Thelatestannouncementsfollow a four-pronged approach: First, ease the liquidity constraints being

facedbypartsofthefinancialsystem(non-bankingfinancialcompaniesandmicrofinanceinstitutions);second,incentivisebankstoboostcreditflow;third,easefinancialconstraintsbeingfacedbystategovernments;andfourth,relaxregulatorynormsforbanksandNBFCs.To ensure that credit flows to all parts of the financial system, the central bank an-

nouncedthesecondversionof itstargetedlong-termrepooperations,thistimedirectedtowardsNBFCsandMFIs—flows fromprevioussuchoperationsweredirected towardslargecorporatesandpublicsectorundertakings.Thisstepisaclearindicationof theRBI’sintentionofdirectingcreditflowtocertainsegments,toensurethatliquidityreachestheright pockets. Similarly, opening up a special refinance facility for NABARD, SIDBI andNHBwill help facilitate credit flow to the agricultural sector, MSMEs aswell as cash-strappedhousingfinancecompanies.Thecentralbankhasalsoloweredthereversereporatefurther,hopingthatitwilldisincentivisebanksfromparkingtheirsurplusfundswithit, thereby incentivising themto lendtothebroadereconomy.However, as thepreviouscutshavenothadmucheffect—banksparkedRs6.9 lakhcrorewith theRBIonApril 15—thequestion is:Will risk-aversebanks lend? It is likely that thesemeasureswill needtobe followedby further cuts in the reverse repo rate andmore LTRO to address banks’riskaversion.Settingupacreditguarantee fundcouldalsohelp facilitatecredit flow,es-peciallytoMSMEs.Ontheregulatoryside,bankshavebeenprovidedfurtherrelief—the90-dayNPAclassificationnormwillkick inonlyafter themoratoriumends,while time-lines for implementing resolution plans have been extended. NBFCswith exposure tocommercial real estatehavealsobeenprovidedwithsomerelaxations.Toeasethefinancialconstraintsbeingfacedbystategovernments,theRBIhasfurther

increasedthewaysandmeansadvances limit.While these limitsmayneedtoberaisedfurther, given the disruption in their revenue streams, it does provide themwith somebreathingspace. Stategovernmentscanspreadout theirborrowingprogramme,whichwill help cool off the spreads fromtheir recenthighs.However, this is only a temporaryfacilityanddoesnotaddresstherootcauseof theproblem—thecollapseingovernmentrevenues. Towards the endof the announcements, the governor also provided forwardguidanceon thedirectionofmonetarypolicy.Heacknowledged that inflationwasonadeclining trend, andwhile there are likely to be supply side disruptions, inflation is ex-pectedtobewellbelowthetargetof4percent.Thissignalsspaceforfurtherinterestratecutsdownthe line.

TESTING AND MOREIndia’shighpopulationdensity,diversitiesdictateuseofmore

thanonemethodtotrackCOVID-19cases

THEINDIANCOUNCILofMedicalResearch(ICMR)hasreportedthatthenum-berof samplestesteddaily forCOVID-19crossed30,000onThursday.This isnearly four timesthenumberof samples testeddailyat thebeginningof themonthandalmostdouble thenumberat theendof lastweek.OnThursday,

ICMRalsomadethereassuringannouncement that ithasstarted testing inareaswhichhavenoCOVID-19cases,usingtheserologicalmethod.Theuseof thismethodislikelytobe scaledupwith the country finally receiving the long-delayed consignmentof 5 lakhantibodytestingkitsfromChina—another6,50,000kitshave,reportedly,beendispatchedfromGuangzhou.However, byall accounts, India’s demographicswill constrain testingon the scale deployedbyglobal leaders suchas SouthKorea andGermany. It is impera-tive, therefore, that thecountrymakessmartuseof testingkits.TheICMRhasclarifiedthattherapidantibodytestingkits“willbeusedforsurveillance”

andnot fordiagnosis. In several countries, the serologicalmethod—arapidantibody testthatshowsif apersononce infectedbythecoronavirushasdevelopedimmunityto it—isused to track the trajectoryof COVID-19 in clusters. In India, too, the ICMR’sprotocol pre-scribestheseteststoascertainthesuccessofcontainmentmethodsinthehotspots.However,itseemsthateveninclusterswithahighcaseload,COVID-19patientsarenotbeingtrackedintime.Forexample,asreportedbythisnewspaper,72householdshadtobequarantinedinaDelhi locality, partsofwhichhavebeennotifiedashotspots, after theyhadcome intocontactwithacoronavirus-positivepizzadeliveryemployee.Thispatient, reportedly,hadapersistentcoughsincethelastweekofMarchbutcontinuedtoworktillApril13.StateswhichhavehadsuccessinthebattleagainstCOVID-19—notablyKerala—have

complemented testingwith a robust disease surveillance system. Healthcareworkershavetakenthehelpof localcommunitiesandvolunteerstoreachouttopeoplewhoshowCOVID-19symptomsandcounsel themtoself-isolatebeforetheyareexaminedbydoc-tors and tested for the coronavirus. Theexpansionof such syndromic surveillance inallthe170-oddhotspotscouldobviatecases likethatof theSouthDelhipatient. It is impor-tant,ofcourse,thatsuchsurveillanceeschewsanyshowsofhigh-handedness.Thecoun-try’shighpopulationdensityanditssocialandeconomicdiversitydictatethatitemploysanarrayofmethods in its fightagainstCOVID-19,not just testing.

ALONE TOGETHERIsolationhas ledtoaboomforonlineplatforms. It isalsomakingpeoplerealise thatadigital life isn’tenough

THEMARKETPLACEANDthepublic square since thevery inceptionof the cityhavebeenattheheartofpubliclifeandsocialinteraction.Andneitherthepan-demic,northepandemic-fuelledtransitiontothedigitalage,seemstohavedi-minishedthecentralityandroleof thesespaces.OnThursday,WallStreet ral-

lied as Amazon andNetflix stocks soared because of the lockdown. In addition, videoconferencingappslikeZoomhaveseenanexponentialriseinvalue.Theirephemeralexis-tencenotwithstanding,eachoftheseservicesmimics,respectively,thebazaar,theColosseum(entertainment inancientRome)andtheagora (public square inancientAthens).Butde-spitetheir financialsuccess, thedigitalalternativestosocial lifehavebeenfoundwanting.Forthosewhohaven’tdirectlyfacedadeepdisruptiontotheir lives—hunger,unem-

ployment, disease and dislocation— due to COVID-19, online giants have indeed pro-videdcomfortandconvenience.Yet,peoplewhobinge-watchedshowsonOTTservices,pre-pandemic, rememberwithnostalgia on socialmedia their love for the theatre. Thedesiretogotoarestaurantcannotbereplacedbyorderingin; thejoysof thecompanyofcolleagues andcomradesaren’t quite the same inanonlinemeeting. Even the small in-teractionswithpeopleonpublic transport, at shops,havebecomeathingof value.Thedigital alternative canprovide forpeople’swants andeven themeans forphysi-

cal sustenance.Butwithoutothers, theself crumbles;eventhegreatestnarcissistsneedan audience. Perhaps that’swhypeople are reaching out in their neighbourhoods, per-formingmusicandtheatrethroughwindows,comingtogethertoapplaudtheotherwiseunseenandunrecognised, likesanitationworkers.Themimicryofcivilisationonlinejustisn’t enough. In isolation,perhaps,peoplewill realisewhynoonecango it alone.

Beyond solidarity

Pratap BhanuMehta

KhaledAhmed

Themigrant labourandtheunemployedwillbedemandingtheir rights,notourmercy

BACKSLIDING STATESIndia, Pakistan, Turkeyaregoingback to religion. There isabetterway

DEALINGWITHA pandemic requires highlevels of solidarity. It is, however, becomingequally clear that expressions of solidarityrisk devolving into a sentimental charade.There is an incredible number of peopleacrossdifferentsectionsofsocietywhohave,often at great risk to themselves, and underdifficultcircumstances,helpedprepareustofight the pandemic andmitigate a loominghumanitarian disaster. Thewidespread co-operationwiththegruellingdemandsofthelockdown,onsomeinterpretations,canalsobe seen as expressions of solidarity. But thisshouldnotblindustothefactthatsolidarity,in the truemeaningof the term, is failingus,justat themomentweneeditmost.It is failing us because at the core of the

idea of solidarity is not pity, compassion, orevencare. It is justice. Theharrowingscenesof grief and injustice that arenowemergingcallforanimmediateresponse.Pity,compas-sion and care, as morally worthy as theymight be as sentiments, are not fundamen-tally related to solidarity. Solidarity presup-posessomethingliketheideaofcommonal-ity, some form of identification. Pity,compassionandcareareactsofkindnessthatcan often presuppose distance and power.Even the act of helping, as necessary as itmight be, underscores someone’s privilege.This iswhy, innormalcircumstances, it isanaffronttothedignityofpeopletomakethemdepend on someone’s compassion.Compassion as an expression of solidaritypresupposes power, because it appeals tosomeone’sdiscretion,nottotheirobligation.Thereissomethingdeeplymorallyoddin

usingthelanguageofcompassioninrelationto the state.Whatweneed from the state isnotcompassion,itisaminimumsenseofjus-tice. In fact, the appeals to compassion de-structively depoliticise social policy by ap-pealing to sentiment. By contrast, genuinesolidarity,thatspeaksthelanguageofjustice,will askhardquestionsabout rights, institu-tional obligations, processes and accounta-bility.Compassionspeakstothe languageofsubjecthood, justice speaks to the languageof citizenship. Justiceallowsyoutobeangryat the state when you see injustice.Compassion isadisfiguringappeal tosome-one’spower.Theoriginalmeaningofthetermsolidaritywasajuridicalterm,connotingjoint

liability. This had the advantage of not justemphasising a commonality, but also of thefact that therewas an obligation. Therewasnochoice inthematter.Soajustice-basedsolidaritywillaskadif-

ferent question. It will not ask:What is thebareminimumwecangetawaywithtoavoidstarvation, or social unrest? The question is,whatdoesthestateoweasamatterofobliga-tion in these circumstances? The statemayyet announce amore ambitious economicpackage. But bywaiting so long, and reduc-ingmillions of citizens to an avoidable andabject dependence on compassion—wait-ingforfoodifavailable,dependenceonNGOs—thestatehasalreadyaddedtheinjuryofin-dignityontoeconomichardships.Graindis-tributionwas necessary. But awidespreaddistribution of cash, through variousmech-anisms, as advocated by somany politicalparties andexperts,was the requirement ofjustice.Whenthestatehastobepulledinthisdirection,kickingandscreaming,youknowitisnot thinking justice.Second, a genuine solidaritywould now

ask very different kinds of structural ques-tionsabouttheeconomy.Thereisnoreliabledata on this yet. But one thing is very clear.Perhapsasmanyas50per cent, if notmore,ofhouseholdsinIndia,willnothavesavings,assets or resources to survive even a coupleofmonthsofstoppingeconomicactivity.Thefall in poverty in the last two decades hasblinded us to the precariousness of mosthouseholds in India, even those above thepovertyline. ThenumbersputoutbyMaheshVyasof CMIEare stunning:Anemploymentrate of 23.4 per cent in an economywith alabour participation rate of 36 per cent. Inshort,pervasiveunemploymentorunderem-ploymentwill remainafeatureof theIndianeconomy for the foreseeable future. The in-terestingquestionis:Whatwouldsocialsol-idarity look like in these circumstances? Itwill requireus to thinkof amuchmore am-bitiousarchitecture for thewelfare state, in-cluding some guarantee of basicminimumincome. The question of justicewill be onewhich focuses our attentionon the fact thatcitizensshouldnotbeputinapositionofde-pendenceinthefirstplacesuchthatwehavetoappeal tocompassion.Third, justicewouldrequirethatappeals

donotsubstituteforpolicy.Thegovernmenthas rightly called for employees not to befiredinthecurrentcircumstances.Itcertainlybehovesallprivateorganisations,asamatterof justice, to ensure that the pain withinthose organisations is justly shared.Whatthis looks likewill depend on the nature oftheorganisation.Butanappealfromthestatenottofirepeople,withoutanyseriousfinan-cial backing for this proposal, is a species ofsentimental tosh.Fourth,solidarityrequiresrethinkingthe

relationshipbetweenpublicandprivate,esp-ecially in health. Right now, the focus is oncreatingpreparednessfortacklingthepande-mic.Inhealthinparticular,weoptedforapri-vaterisk-basedinsurancesystem,asopposedtostrengtheningthepublicsystem. Inan in-surancesystem,we,inasense,sharerisksforour own long-term individual self-interest.In public systems,we share common goalsand objectives in the promotion of healthcare. The pooling of risk through private in-surance is not the same thing as collectivepreparedness. The latter requires solidarity.That isonethingthiscrisishasmadeclear.Fifth,therewillhavetobeamassivestim-

ulustotheeconomy,gearedtowardsdrivinggrowth.Butanystimuluswillalsohavedeepdistributionalconsequences.Whowillgetre-lief?Whowillpayforit?Howmuchappetitedowehavefortaxingtherichmore,asalmosteveryright-mindedeconomistisproposing?Thesemay seem like large-scale struc-

turalquestions.Buttheyarethequestionsofthemoment. Over the next fewweeks, de-cisionswillbemadethatwillhavefar-reach-ing consequences for the Indian economy.Will these decisions be guided by our cur-rent language: In the short run, a plea forcompassion;inthelongrun,deepstructuralinjustice?Orwilltheyutiliseanopportunitytoaskquestions that indicateagenuinesol-idarity.Compassionmightbeabout lookingatpeople’shearts,realsolidarityisaboutfol-lowingwhere themoney and power flows.Themigrant labour and the unemployed,whosequiescenceweseemtotaketoomuchfor granted,will bedemanding their rights;notourmercy.

Thewriter is contributingeditor,TheIndianExpress

SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY, A BJP leader, saysMuslims are not equal citizens since theyposeathreattotheworldand“Onthis issue,the country iswith us andmost people likeour hardline approach to solving pendingproblems”. He added: “Where theMuslimpopulation is large, there isalwaystrouble.”Not long ago a Pakistani poet (now late)

FahmidaRiaz,ontherunfromGeneralZiaulHaq’s Islamisation, lived in India for a timeand realised that religion, as opposed toIndia’sconstitutionally-ordainedsecularism,was on the rise. Shewrote her now-famouspoemwhose title conveyed themessage:“Youturnedouttobejustlikeus.”Manyyearslater,Hindutvamaychange India forever.MAJinnahbeganasa“Muslim”leaderby

owning the “Islamic state”. His Eidmessagein 1945 encapsulatedwhat Pakistanwas tobecome two years later: “Everyone, exceptthosewhoareignorant,knowsthattheQuranis the general code of theMuslims and ourProphet has enjoined on us that everyMusalmanshouldpossessacopyoftheQuranand be his own priest.” But Jinnah also ad-miredKamalAtaturk,whosecularisedTurkeyafterbanishingtheIslamicsystemofKhilafatoverwhichMuslims staged public demon-strations in India but fromwhich Jinnah ab-sented himself, as did the national poet,AllamaMuhammadIqbal.Today,Turkeyhasfollowedthepathof Pakistan—“just likeus”

—makingitthreestatesthathavegonebacktoreligion in the 21st century. The only differ-enceisthat,whileIndiaandTurkeyaredoingwell,Pakistanisbelly-upeconomically.Turkeywentsecularin1937whenitscon-

stitution declared it so, but in 2016, a JusticeandDevelopmentParty(AKP)speakerintheelectedparliamentdeclaredthatthenewcon-stitution“shouldbeareligiousconstitution”.The parliament, however, did not vote infavour of his “religious” vision. Butwith theempowerment of Prime Minister (nowPresident)RecepTayyipErdogan,Islamisationwent ahead, and the statewanted “that un-der Islamic lawgirls as young as nine couldmarry”whiletheTurkishlawprohibitedmar-riageundertheageof16.AKPideologuesevenwantedleft-handedeaterstobepunished.JustasPakistanwentforthetextbooksto

ground Islamisation, Turkey toohas revisedschoolbookscelebrating the foundersof theTurkish Republic. Instead, Ottoman, ArabicandQuranicsubjectshavebeeninsertedand,“evolution”banishedto“protectnationalval-ues”. InPakistan, Imran Khanhasdecidedtocreate a “uniform curriculum” for the ideo-logical state of Pakistan, aimed indirectly attheEnglish-mediumschoolscarryinga“lib-eral-secular”worldviewintheir textbooks.SaudiArabia,oncethebastionofconserva-

tiveIslam,istryingtoliberaliseafaiththathasbecomedehumanisedthrough“compulsory

jihad”,gettingtogetherwithEgypttoopposeTurkey’s “Ottomanism” that once enslavedtheArabs.Pakistanhasbeenthecradleofthis“experimental”jihadandhascometogrief inourtimes.Pakistanhasevolvedunderan“ide-ology”,which it borrowed as a utopian con-cept fromtheSovietUnion, ignoring the factthat inautopiatherecanbenoopposition.Arewe going to have two opposed reli-

gious utopias sitting next to each other inSouthAsia?Pakistanhastriedwarlike“revi-sionism” and has come to grief twice, oncein1971andagainatKargil,where itwasde-feated in 1999. As the soldiers of Hindutvastrong-arm their way to utopia, the nu-cleariseddystopiaofPakistanisstillnursingits Ghazwa-e-Hind dream, in which theProphetPBUHhimselfwill fighttheinfidels.Canwe roll back the religious state and

theutopiaofviolentsuppressionof thevari-ant point of view? Pakistan and India canprosperbybecominggoodtradingpartners,linking upwith China and Iran and CentralAsiawhereIndiastillenjoysalotofgoodwill.IdeologicalPakistanislearningitslessonsthehardway, but India has an intellectual eliterecognised theworld over that can help anoverpopulated South Asia evolve into a re-gionofpeaceandprosperity.

Thewriter isconsultingeditor,NewsweekPakistan

What we need from the stateis not compassion, it is aminimum sense of justice. Infact, the appeals tocompassion destructivelydepoliticise social policy byappealing to sentiment. Bycontrast, genuine solidarity,that speaks the language ofjustice, will ask hardquestions about rights,institutional obligations,processes and accountability.Compassion speaks to thelanguage of subjecthood,justice speaks to thelanguage of citizenship.Justice allows you to beangry at the state when yousee injustice.

Can we roll back thereligious state and the utopiaof violent suppression of thevariant point of view?Pakistan and India canprosper by becoming goodtrading partners, linking upwith China and Iran andCentral Asia where Indiastill enjoys a lot of goodwill.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020 WORDLYWISEEffective healthcare depends on self-care;

this fact is currently heralded as if itwere a discovery. — IVAN ILLICHTHEEDITORIALPAGE

ASSEMBLY POLLSELECTIONSINTHEninestateswheretheas-sembliesweredissolvedthroughapresiden-tialnotificationlastFebruarywillbeheldonMay 27 and 30, the chief election commis-sioner, S L Shakdher, announced. WhileGujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Rajasthan,TamilNaduandUttarPradeshwillhavepollingonbothMay27and30,Orissa,PunjabandBiharwillhavepollingoneitherof these dates. A final decision on the exactdatewill be taken inadayor two,Shakdhertoldnewsmen.Thenotification,callinguponroughly342millionvotersinthenineStatesto elect 2,237 candidates will be issued bythegovernors in theninestatesonApril 25.

ZIA-INDIRA MEETINGPAKISTANPRESIDENT, GENZia-ul-Haq, an-nouncedthathewouldmeetPrimeMinisterIndiraGandhi, for the first time ever, to dis-cuss the “outright naked aggression” ofAfghanistanbytheSovietUnion.GeneralZiatold a news conference that he planned tomeetMrsGandhithenextmorning.BoththeleadersareinSalisburyfortheindependenceofZimbabwe.PakistaniandIndiandiplomatssaidthemeetingwouldprobablytakeplaceat 10 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m 1ST) in thehotel housing heads of delegations. He saidhe wanted Pakistan readmitted to theCommonwealthbutwasleavingthematteruptoindividualmembercountriestodecide.

Pakistan quit the Commonwealth, the clubofformerBritishcolonies,in1972overrecog-nitionof Bangladesh.

BIRTH OF ZIMBABWEON THE EVE of the birth of the new, inde-pendent republic of Zimbabwe, PrimeMinisterRobertMugabepaidraretributetotheBritishgovernorfromwhomhewilltakethereinsofpoweratthestrokeofmidnight.And, after a bitter seven-yearwar betweenhis all-black guerrillas and the white-ledarmy,the56-year-oldleaderurgedanendtopasthostilitiesbetweentheracesofBritain’slastAfricancolonyandAfrica’snewestblack-ruledstate.

APRIL 18, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“The strict review and correction of the death toll means there is no room fordeliberate concealment. Speculation that China falsified the death toll fromthe coronavirus is far from truth.”

— GLOBALTIMES,CHINATHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

MILLIONSOFMIGRANTworkers, and othervulnerablegroups, havelosttheirlivelihoods,incomesecurity,andsenseofdignityinthreeshortweeks. Theyknewthat theywere vul-nerable to thevirus,but for them, thecureofanextendedlockdownisalreadyworsethanthedisease.Whileextollingthevalueofeveryindivid-

ual, the PrimeMinister asked for another 18daysofdisciplineandsacrifice. Ithasbecomeatactictosugarcoatstringentordersasasac-rificeforthecountry.Butlikeotherpolicymak-ers, hewasonly taking into account calcula-tions of the spread of disease. Therewas nomentionofthespreadofhungerandbasicin-securitythatthelockdownhasunleashed.Noconcretemeasure emerged fromhis speechforthelakhsofmen,womenandchildren,par-ticularlymigrantworkers,whohavelosttheirlivelihood, andwho have been locked intocrampedaccommodation,acrossthecountry.The PrimeMinister instructedus to hon-

ouraseven-point formula. First,hesaid, takespecialcareoftheelderly.Foroversixyearsinoffice,thePrimeMinisterhasrefusedtolistento thepleasof theelderly. The social securitypensionprovidedbythecentralgovernmentforathirdof thecountry’selderlyisacruelRs200 permonth! This amount has remainedfrozensince2007.ThePradhanMantriGaribKalyanYojana has given social security pen-sioners aone-timeadditional paymentof Rs1,000 to be disbursed over twomonths. Theelderly,areexpectedtofacethischallengewithan additional fund of Rs 5,00 permonth, fortwomonths,while a larger number of other“senior citizens” divided by a hairs breadth,will remaincompletelyhungryanddestituteunlesssupportedbystatefunds.Second, PrimeMinisterModi asked for

strict adherence to the “LakshmanRekha”ofthelockdownandobservethesocialdistanc-ingnorms.Fortheurbanpoor,the“LakshmanRekha”of“socialdistance”isacrueljoke.Theyhaveabysmallivingconditionsandarepackedtogetherwithnophysicalspace.Inthefaceoflost jobsandnoaccess tomoneyformeetingbasicsustenance,theyaredemandingpassagehomewheretheycan atleasttryandsurvivewithanelementofdignity.Third,towardsboostingimmunity,thePM

urgedthepeopletofollowtheprotocolissuedbytheAyushMinistry.ThePMbarelytoucheduponimportantupdatesonthegovernment’sstrategyregardingtestingorhealthprotocolsto address the spread of the pandemic.Instead,heledustotheAYUSHMinistrypro-tocol.Forthosewhocan,itisworthaccessingtheprotocolpreparedby16eminentvaidyas,whichurgesadinacharya (daily regime)andritucharya (seasonal regime) toenhance im-munity. The 11-point protocol includes theregular use of various herbs and spices, thatmost of India’s vulnerablewould rarely see,let alone be able to consume. There is a rec-ommendationtodrinkwarmwaterthrough-outtheday,anddodailypracticeofyogasana,pranayama, andmeditation forhalf anhour.TheMinistryofAyushquiterightlyendswithan apt disclaimer that sums it up: The advi-sory does not claim to be treatment forCOVID-19.

Fourth,thePrimeMinisterrecommendedeveryonedownloadanduse theArogyaSetumobileapptostaysafeandsecurefromcoro-navirus.Howmanyoftheruralorurbanpoorhave smart phones?Howwill they under-stand,howthisappwillkeepthemsafefromCOVID-19? Besides, there aremany privacyand safety questions that have been raisedabout this app,which reportedly needs ap-proximately50percentoftheIndianpopula-tiontodownloadit, for it tobeeffective.Fifth,thePrimeMinisterwantspeopleto

becompassionate towards thosewhoworkwith them. Do not sack them or cut theirwages,hesaid.WhiletheMinistryofLabourissued a directive to employers not to sackemployees and pay full wages during thelockdown,thegovernmentasthelargestem-ployer throughMGNREGA refused to givetheir workers wages for the period fromMarch24tillApril20,whenMGNREGAwasnot exempt from the lockdown.While thebeleaguered private sector seems to be fol-lowing thedirective only inpockets, it has abetterrecordthanthegovernmenthaswithMGNREGAworkers.Sixth, the PrimeMinister asked to “help

the poor and the needy as they are the oneswho are themost affected by the stringentmeasuresputinplacetotacklethecoronavirussituation”. This almost biblical edictwouldhavebeenthemostrelevantandreassuringifthegovernmenthadactedonit.Unfortunately,it has only paid lip service to it. The rapidspread of hunger, starvation, pauperisation,and destitution, need urgent and decisivecounter measures from the government.There are notable examples of pro-activemeasurestakenbycertainstategovernmentsanddistrict administrations. But the govern-mentofIndiahasfailedtoshowanyrealcom-mitment toworkers and vulnerable groupsevenwhile viable options are available to it.The government has godowns overflowingwith excess grain, even before procurementis to begin. Yet, for inexplicable reasons, thegovernment is unwilling to universalise thePDSata timewhenit ismostneededto fighthunger and food insecurity.MGNREGAop-tionsareremovedwhenworkers’livelihoodsaremost threatened.Apowerful sermonbe-comesweakwithbetrayal.Seventh,thePrimeMinisteraskedpeople

to respect the efforts of coronawarriors, in-cludingdoctors.Thepoorwouldworshipdoc-torsandnurses,if theycouldhaveeasyaccessto them. Never has the implication of the

breakdownofourpublichealthfacilitiesbeenmoreobvious.Despite sterlingefforts beingputinbyhealthfunctionariesatthefrontline,majorinitiativesareneededtoassurecitizensthat therewill be equal access to health forall.Healthprofessionalsandcitizensgroupshave been clamouring for urgentmeasuresto increase public investment and build ca-pacities of the healthcare establishment.Instead, the PrimeMinister and his govern-ment seem to believe that the immediateneedistocreatepubliceventstohonourandclap for an obviously overstretched publichealthestablishment.Statesmanship requires dealingwith a

pandemic by taking people along and re-spondingwithconcretemeasuresandempa-thy to everyone’s distress andneeds.Whenbasicfood,healthcare,andlivelihoodsecurityisdenied,hopedies.Thiscrisiscallsforimaginativeandambi-

tious state-citizenpartnerships. There is anopportunity thatmust be seized to ensurethatcertainbasicrightswillbeguaranteedtoall citizens — the right to food, the right towork atminimumwages, and equal accesstohealthcare.Theseentitlementscanbepro-vided to our citizens, to help flatten thepoverty curve and enable them to respondtothepandemicwithgreaterconfidenceandplannedcooperation.Foodgrainandpulsescan be assured through an expanded anduniversalised National Food Security Act.Basic livelihood security can be assuredthrough an expanded and reorientedEmployment Guarantee Act. Equal health-care can be assured as a right though amuch-needed pooling of all our health re-sources—privateorpublic.OnAmbedkarJayanti,thePrimeMinister

invoked “we, the people of India”, drawinguponthePreambleandtheConstitutionatatime our democratic fabric is severelystretched.We have to choose between anautocratic, paternalistic state, and a demo-cratic one that uses the values of liberty,equalityandfraternitytomakepeopleequalparticipants.Wewillonlysecureatruesenseofunity,whenweensurethedignityofeveryindividual. That is the concept of fraternityarticulated in the Preamble to the IndianConstitution.Wemust use these foundingprinciples in ourmoment of greatest chal-lenge.

DeyandRoyaresocialactivistsworkingwithTheMazdoorKisanShaktiSangathan(MKSS) TRUST US

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Not bydistrust’ (IE,April17).Thegovernmentmust notmistrust thepeople—espe-cially media, NGOs — during a timewhenuncertainty loomsoverthelivesand livelihoods of millions of them.Even the law should become moremercifulandcompassionate. It shouldbe considerate enough to appreciatethe deep-rooted fervour and furyamongthepeopleandendorsethede-pressingvoiceemanatingfromwithin.We have the principles of humanrights and natural justice to turn forguidance.

GJavaidRasool,Lucknow

PROSECUTE NOWTHISREFERSTOthereport, ‘Lockdownrelief reveals Purulia secret: PDS cardsasloancollateral’(IE,April17). It isquiteshockingtonotethatinseveralvillagesWest Bengal, people have depositedtheirPDSrationcardsfordecadeswiththemoneylendersforborrowingloans.Theactsofmoneylendersarebarbaric.Theymustbeprosecuted.

MGaneshan,Pune

FOLLOW KERALATHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Ahead ofthe Covid curve’ (IE, April 17).Managinganydisasterrequiresactionson the three fronts— response, recov-ery and preparedness. Kerala ticks alltheboxes. Itssuccess,asrightlypointedout by thewriter, lies in a robust pub-lic healthcare system, well-function-inglocalgovernmentsandaparticipa-tive approachwith all stakeholders —

elementswhichare largelymissing inmostother states.

Tushar,Meerut

ADDRESS STIGMATHISREFERSTOthereport, ‘68quaran-tinedafterpatientwhokepthospital indarkabout travelhistorydies’ (IE,April17). A number of patients reporting todoctorsaretryingtohidethefacts.Thesepatients are not only harming them-selvesbutalso their family, friendsandhealthcareworkers.Theyactoftenfroma fear of stigmatisation and ostracism.This must be addressed through allchannelsof communications.

LRMurmu,Delhi

LETTER OFTHEWEEK

A DISSERVICETHIS REFERS TO the editorial,‘Babasaheb and Kashmir’ (IE,April 15). UnionMinister ArjunRamMeghwalhasdoneasingu-lardisservicetonationalunitybygoingoutofhiswaytoshowthatBabasahebAmbedkar'sviewsonKashmirexpressedhissympathyfor Hindus and Buddhists.Historically,Babasaheb'slifewasastruggletoupliftDalits.Thear-ticle seeks to drive awedge be-tweenDalits andMuslims. Thatismost unfortunate in the pres-ent Islamophobic climate in thecountry.

J SBandukwala,Vadodara

9

THE FRAMERS OF the Constitution hadnever imagined that one day, two out ofthe three organs of the statewill virtuallystop functioning. But, that is exactlywhatishappening in India today.Onlytheexecutiveisattemptingtoper-

form its function. Parliament is in recess.The judiciary is in a state of coma.Consequently, the executive has a freehandinthefunctioningormalfunctioningof thenation.Noonecandenythatthecountry,orfor

thatmatter, theworld, is facing thegreat-estchallengetoitsexistence—ifnotphys-ically, at least economically. The govern-ment of India and the primeminister aretryingtodosomethinggoodforthecoun-try.But, there isa flipside to theiractionas

well,anditneedstobedebated.Somemayargue that in times of crisis, there is noplace for critical debate. But they forgetthatintheabsenceof it,a lotofgoodthingsor actions are missed, while a lot of badthings andactionsgoonunchecked.WetendtoforgetthattheConstitution

of Indiaisa livingdocument. Itcreatedtheexecutive, legislature and judiciary withtheobjectivethatthewingsofgovernmentwillmaintainchecksoneachotheraswellas a balance among them. As ThomasJefferson once said, “The principle of theConstitution is that of a separation ofLegislative, Executive and Judicial func-tions,exceptincasesspecified. If thisprin-ciplebenotexpressed indirect terms, it isclearlythespiritof theConstitution,anditought to be so commented and acted onbyevery friendof freeGovernment.”So, then,why is it that the twopower-

ful organs— theParliament and judiciary— are totally silent on the present suffer-ing of hundreds of millions of citizens?Why is it that workers, the poor and thedowntrodden,andfarmers,arecompletelyleft to fend for themselveswhen the stateboastsofunlimitedsuppliesof foodgrainsandotherresources?Theseareseriousvi-olations of the constitutional and legalrightsof teemingmillions, takingplaceonadailybasissinceMarch24.Andyet, thereare no serious questions being raised bythese two organs, much less compellingtheexecutivetoprovideredressforthwith.Howisthenationgoingtocompensate

these people for their sufferings? Not bysilence.Notbyinaction.And,certainlynotbygivingtheexecutiveafreehand.Thena-tionsaw,inthepast, theincalculableharmto citizens — including avoidable deaths,loss of millions of jobs and permanentdamage to the economy— on account ofdemonetisation.TheParliamentandjudi-ciaryremainedmutespectatorswhilethecitizens suffered. Yet, no lesson has beenlearnt by those who are constitutionallyobliged to protect us, the citizens. They

continue to look theotherway.These organs of the state cannot ab-

solvethemselvesof theirfailureswhilethenation bleeds. Look at the situation ofIndia’s largestminority,Muslims.Wehaveeven criminalised their health sufferings.Theyareincreasinglyisolatedandsociallyostracised.Was it their fault that COVID-19, a foreign virus, was allowed to enterIndia?Thegovernmentof IndiadidnotactinJanuarywhenitshouldhave,onceChinadeclared the pandemic in Wuhan, onJanuary23. ItshouldhaveensuredthatallthoseenteringIndiafromabroadeitherbedenied entry altogether — except for re-turningIndians—orbecompulsorilyquar-antined for 14 days beforeminglingwiththe citizens, including attending theMarkaz inDelhi.Further,withjustfourhours’noticebe-

fore the lockdown came into effect, withall means of transport shut down, wherecould they go?Yet, the nation is inflictingcriminal chargesontheminsteadof heal-ing their sickness, under thewatch of theveryconstitutionalorganscreatedtopro-tect them. On November 25, 1949,Ambedkar told the constituent assemblyinhisclosingspeech:“BecauseI feel,how-evergoodaConstitutionmaybe, it is sureto turn out to be bad because those whoare called to work it, happen to be a badlot.” He, and the 388 other great Indianswhoformalisedtheconstituentassembly,must be so disappointed today. One canonlysaytothem,“We,thecitizensof India,offerourunconditionalapologytoyouforfailingyou”.According to Ambedkar, “The factors

onwhichtheworkingof theorgansof thestatedependarethepeopleandthepolit-icalparties theywill setupastheir instru-ments to carry out theirwishes and theirpolitics. Who can say how the people ofIndia and theirpartieswill behave?”He had also prophetically said, on

December17,1946:“Letusleaveasideslo-gans, let us leave aside words whichfrighten people. Let us evenmake a con-cessiontotheprejudicesofouropponents,bring them in, so that theymaywillinglyjoinusonmarchinguponthatroad,whichasIsaid, ifwewalklongenough,mustnec-essarily leadus tounity.”Far from this path, sections of the civil

society, media and political class are allraising slogans to damage, if not destroy,unity. The judiciary has a duty to step in,even byway of suomoto proceedings. Itmustbe remembered that the judicial re-viewofadministrativeandlegislativeactsis a basic feature of the Constitution. Thedoctrine of Parens Patriae is writ large inits functioning.The judiciarymustnot take thecolour

of whatever may be popular at the mo-ment. Parliament toomust reconvene, orat least themembersmust play their roleasguardianangelsfromwherevertheyare.Letushopeandpray that theywill act.Nothing else can guide the executive

towardstherightdirection.A failure todosowill result in avoidable chaos and, per-haps, anarchy.

Thewriter is a senior advocateandpresident of the SupremeCourtBar

Association.Viewsexpressedarepersonal

Statesmanship requiresdealing with a pandemic bytaking people along andresponding with concretemeasures and empathy toeveryone’s distress andneeds. When basic food,healthcare, and livelihoodsecurity is denied, hope dies.This crisis calls forimaginative and ambitiousstate-citizen partnerships.There is an opportunity thatmust be seized to ensure thatcertain basic rights will beguaranteed to all citizens —the right to food, the right towork at minimum wages,and equal access tohealthcare.

DushyantDave

NikhilDeyandArunaRoy

A one-horse stateMissingParliamentandthejudiciary

intheCovidcrisis

Unseeing the people

CR Sasikumar

PrimeMinisterdemandeddisciplineandsacrificefromthepeople,whileofferingnomeasurestoalleviatedistressofthosewhohavelosttheirdignityandlivelihoods

DURING THE TESTING times of COVID-19,Indiahasbecomeasymbolof resilienceandhope in theworld. India has shown that de-spitearelativelylowliteracyrateandpoverty,itsuniquediversityisitsstrength.Thenation’scollective resolve to fight this disease is visi-ble in the efforts of themillion-plus real-lifeheroescladinwhitecoatsandkhakiuniforms:Theworldhaswitnessed thepower of a bil-lion-pluspeopleworkingwithsingle-mindeddetermination to defeat the coronavirus. Tobesure, it isnomeanfeatthatwithapopula-tionthatisapproximatelyfourtimesthesizeof the US, the number of reported cases inIndia isonlytwopercentthatof theUS.PrimeMinisterNarendraModiaddressed

thenationonApril14,astheguardian-in-chiefofthecountryandhisaddresshadapowerfulunderlyingmessage of unity andoptimism.His indomitable spiritwas evidentwhenhedecidedtoextendthelockdowntillMay3andsharedasetofsevenguidelineswithcitizens,includingurgingthemtotakecareoftheeld-erly, wear protective face masks andstrengthenimmunity.Hesoundedoptimisticthatasacountry,wewillprevail.It isModi’sability totakeboldandtimely

decisions that has ensured India is far betterprepared thanmost other countries to fightthis dreadful pandemic. Fromhis address, itwas clear that though the lockdownhas an

economiccost,savinghumanlivesandensur-ing thewelfare of the poor and farmers re-mainshistoppriority.He reminded India that this fight against

the pandemic is not about religion. It willnever be about beingHinduorMuslim. It isalsonotaboutbeingaBJPsupporteroranon-BJP supporter. This fight is about “oneness”.The onlyway India candefeat and eradicateCOVID-19isbybeingunited.India is lucky to have a strong, decisive

leader likeModi at the helm.He could fore-see the ramifications of not implementing acomplete lockdownintimeandtooktheex-traordinary decision to call for a nationwidelockdownonMarch24,whentherewerere-portedlyonly550COVID-19positivepatientsin the country. A leader is onewho inspireshis team,andModihasdonejust that.Tothecreditof thecentral government, ithasbeenproactive rather than reactive in curbing themenaceofCOVID-19.HomeMinisterAmitShahismicro-man-

aging the deployment of the security forcesto ensure there is no problempertaining topublicorderandsafety.HealthMinisterHarshVardhanisalsoleadingfromthefrontandhasbeeninstrumentalinensuringthatdecisionstakenby the government are effectively im-plemented.He is to be credited for ensuringthatstategovernmentsaremadeequalpartic-

ipants in any government initiative and thattheirdemandsareeffectivelymet.The resources of the government during

thischallengingtimearelimited,butthewillto reach the poor andmarginalised is not:FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman en-sured — through a timely package of Rs1,70,000crore—that farmersget theirKisanSammanNidhi instalmentearly,womengetthree free gas cylinders under the UjjwalaYojanaandRs500intheirJanDhanaccounts.Thepooraregettingfreerationsothatnoonesleepswithoutfood.RailwayMinisterPiyushGoyalwasquicktoimplementthenovelideaof converting railway coaches into isolationwards, thus adding to themuch-needed ca-pacityby80,000.When the government felt that there

mightbeashortageof PPEkits, theveryeffi-cientandperseveringSmritiIrani,Unionmin-ister for textiles and Women & ChildDevelopment,workedtirelesslytoensurethatwehaveenoughstockoftherequiredPPEkitsby encouraging Indian companies tomanu-facturethesame.Bearinginmindtheneedforahigherrate

oftesting,thegovernmenthasaccelerateditspace andhas conducted tests for over threelakhpatients.Somecriticsblamethegovern-ment for a low level of per capita testing ascomparedtoothercountries,butthenaysay-

ers ignore the lowper capita fatality rate inIndia. In India, deaths per onemillion of thepopulationreportedlystandsataverylow0.2ascomparedtomuchhigherratesofdeathintheUS, Spain, Italy, France and theUK. ThegovernmentisalsoencouragingIndiancom-panies to produce testing kits indigenously,andtheresultshavebeenencouragingsofar.Anappealearliermadebytheprimemin-

ister for the“janatacurfew”andthe taali ba-jao-thalibajao(clapyourhands-plates)eventwasalsowell-received—itgavecitizensase-nseofpurposeinthisfightagainstCOVID-19.Modi is providing succour and relief not

justtoIndiabutalsotodevelopednationslikethe US by providing themwith themuch-neededdrug,Hydroxychloroquine.Asagloballeader,thePMtooktheinitiativeandgavedi-rectiontothediscussionsonfightingthepan-demiconforumslikeSAARCandG20.India iswell-positionedtoovercomethis

pandemic, and theonlywaywecanwin theCOVID-19 war is by strictly adhering toLockdown2.0.It isimperativethateveryciti-zen comes forward to fulfil his/her duty un-dertheConstitutionofIndia.Withourcollec-tiveeffort,“we,thePeople”ofIndiawillsurelysetanexamplefortheworldtoemulate.

Thewriter isasenioradvocateandnationalspokespersonoftheBJP

Setting an example in a crisisIndiaisshowingthatlimitedresourceswillnotholditbackfromtakingonCovid

Gaurav Bhatia

300,000 TOLL EXPECTED IN AFRICA: UNThe COVID-19 pandemic will likely kill at least

300,000 Africans and risks pushing 29 million intoextreme poverty, the U.N. Economic Commission for

Africa (UNECA) said on Friday, calling for a$100 billion safety net for the continent10

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

JAPAN

Avoidgoingout:PMAbeissuesstarkestappealTokyo: Japanese PrimeMinisterShinzoAbemadeaforcefulappealonFridaytostayindoorstoavoidfur-ther coronavirus conta-gion, in his starkest re-marks since the crisisbegan. New cases hit adaily record in thecapital,Tokyo,beforethespeechinwhichAbesaidthisweek’snationwideexpansionofastate of emergencywasprompted partly by fearmedicalservicescouldfailin rural areas home tomany elderly. “Pleaseavoid going out,” Abesaid,addingreductionsinperson-to-personcontactin Tokyo and Osaka, twoofthehardest-hitregions,were still well short oftargeted levels.

ShinzoAbe

PANDEMICWATCH

SINGAPORE

623newcases,foreignworkersworst-affectedSingapore: Singapore onFriday reported 623newcases of coronavirus, in-creasingthetotalnumberof infectionsto5,050withmost of the cases linkedto packed dormitorieshousing foreignworkers,manyof themIndianna-tionals. The Ministry ofHealth (MOH) releasingthe preliminary figuressaid the new casesweremostlyof foreignworkersindormitories.Thenum-ber of cases fromdormi-toriesforhousingforeignworkers have increased70-fold to 2,689 as ofThursday from just 38cases reported beforeApril 3.

INDONESIA

MostreportedviruscasesinsoutheastAsiaJakarta: Indonesia re-portedonFriday407newcoronavirus cases, takingthe total number to5,923and surpassing thePhilippinesasthecountrywith thehighest numberof infections in SoutheastAsia. The announcementcame a day after anIndonesianofficialsaidthenumber of cases couldreach106,000by Julyandfollowscriticismthatalowrate of testinghashiddentheextentof thespreadofthevirus.Indonesiahasac-celerated testing andAchmadYurianto,ahealthministry official, said onFriday 42,000 tests hadbeenperformed.

RUSSIA

Putinwarnsof‘veryhighrisks’Moscow:RussiasaidFridayit had recorded 32,008coronavirus cases, includ-ingarecord4,070inthelast24 hours, as PresidentVladimir Putinwarnedof"veryhigh" risks, particu-larly in the ill-equippedprovinces.Official figuresshowedmore thanhalf ofthenewcaseswere regis-tered inMoscowand thesurroundingregion.So far273 deaths have beenrecordedinRussia,includ-ing41inthe last24hours.Speakingduringatelevisedvideo-conferencewithre-gionalgovernors,Putinsaidthat"theriskssurroundingtheepidemic's spreadarestill very high, not just inMoscowbutinmanyotherRussianregions."

PETERBAKER&MICHAELDSHEARWASHINGTON,APRIL 17

PRESIDENTDONALDTrumptoldthe nation’s governors onThursday that they could beginreopening businesses, restau-rantsandotherelementsofdailylife by May 1 or earlier if theywanted to, but abandoned histhreat to use what he hadclaimedwashisabsoluteauthor-ity to imposehiswillonthem.On a daywhen the nation’s

death toll from the coronavirusincreasedbymorethan2,000foratotalover30,000,thepresidentreleased a set of nonbindingguidelinesthatenvisionedaslowreturn towork and school overweeksormonths.Basedoneachstate’sconditions, theguidelinesin effect guarantee that anyrestoration of American societywilltakeplaceonapatchworkba-sisratherthanonaone-size-fits-allprescriptionfromWashingtonthat some of the governors hadfearedinrecentdays.“We are not opening all at

once, but one careful step at atime,”Trumptoldreportersdur-

ingabriefingattheWhiteHouse.Trumpessentiallygavecover

tomainly Republican governorsof states in the South andWestthathavenotbeenashardhitbythepandemictobeginreopeningsooner. The president, who haspreviouslysaidthatasmanyas29states could reopen soon, toldgovernorsonaconferencecallbe-forehisannouncementthatsomeof themwere“invery,verygoodshape” and couldmove further

andfastertoresumingeconomicandsocialactivities.If theyfollowtheguidelines,

NewYorkandotherstates intheNortheast, as well as states inthe Midwest and West, thathave seen large outbreakswould remain shuttered forweeks until new cases of thevirus and death tolls fall andhospital capacity is restored.The guidelines envision pro-

ceedingwithoutthecomprehen-

sive testing program thatmanypublichealthexpertshavesoughtandopenedthepresidenttocrit-icismthatinhiseagernesstostartrebuildingacrateredeconomy,hemay have encouraged somestates tomove too quickly andleave themselves exposed to asecondwaveof thecoronavirus.Speaker Nancy Pelosi dis-

missedtheguidelinesevenasshepushed for more testing. “TheWhiteHouse’s vagueand incon-

sistentdocumentdoesnothingtomakeupforthepresident’sfailureto listento thescientistsandpro-duceanddistributenationalrapidtesting,”shesaidinastatement.Thedocumentprovidedgen-

eral guidance and did not con-frontdifficultquestions, includ-ing how to finance the billionsnecessaryforexpandedtesting;when the ban on internationaltravel from Europe and else-wherewouldbe lifted.NYT

The linetoenterastore inHarlem,NewYork. AP

REUTERS& AFPBEIJING/SHANGHAI, APRIL 17

NEARLY1,300 peoplewhodiedofthecoronavirusintheChinesecity ofWuhan, or half the total,were not counted in death tollsbecause of lapses, state mediasaid on Friday, but Beijing dis-missed claims that there hadbeenanykindof cover-up.The central city where the

outbreakemerged late last yearadded 1,290more fatalities tothe2,579previouslycountedasofThursday,reflectingincorrectreporting,delaysandomissions,accordingtoalocalgovernmenttask force. Reflecting the addi-tional deaths inWuhan, Chinarevised its national death tolllateronFridayupto4,632.The revision follows wide-

spreadspeculationthatWuhan’sdeath toll was significantlyhigher than reported. Rumoursofmorevictimswerefuelledforweeksbypicturesof longqueuesof family members waiting tocollect ashes of cremated rela-tivesandreportsof thousandsofurns stacked at a funeral homewaiting tobe filled.President Donald Trump on

FridaysaidChina’srealdeathtollwas "farhigher," evenafter offi-cials issued thenewcount."China has just announced

adoublinginthenumberoftheirdeathsfromtheInvisibleEnemy.It is far higher than that and farhigher than the US, not evenclose!"Trumptweeted.Suspicion thatChinahasnot

beentransparentabouttheout-breakhas risen in recentdays.

PARENTS NOT ALLOWED INSIDE, TEACHERS CAN’T GATHER IN STAFF ROOM, SMALL PLAY GROUPS

In Denmark, the rarest of sights: Classrooms full of childrenPATRICKKINGSLEYLOGUMKLOSTER,APRIL 17

THECLUSTERofredbrickbuild-ingsinaremotepartofsouthernDenmark looks unremarkablefromtheoutside, but thisweek,its classrooms housed some oftherarestpeopleduringthepan-demic inEurope.Schoolchildren.OnWednesday, 350 pupils

returned to classes at theLogumklosterDistrictSchoolforthe first time in a month, asDenmarkbecamethefirstcoun-try in theWesternworld to re-open itselementaryschools.“It isanewworld,”saidTanja

Linnet,theschool’sheadteacher,aspupilsarrivedThursdaymorn-ing.“Weusedtomakeplansforiftherewas a terrorist attack here—butnever thiskindof attack.”Byallowinghundredsof chil-

dren to congregateonceagainatthousands of schools acrossDenmark, the government hastaken the boldest step towardsomethingresemblingnormallife,inameasurethatwillbewatchedcarefullyaroundtheworld.“That’s the dilemma of the

whole world,” said FinnChristensen,theschool’sdeputyhead. “Whentoopenup?”For thechildren themselves,

theirreturnwasoftensimplyanexciting experience, after a

monthcoopedupathome.“It is so nice to seemy best

friendagain!”saidMajaPetersen,a7-year-old firstgrader.

Tostopthespreadofinfection,parentsweren’t allowed inside.Teachers couldn’t gather in thestaffroom.Thechildreneachnowhad their owndesks,maroonedtwoyardsaway fromtheirnear-estneighbour.Duringrecess,theycould play only in small groups.Andby the time the school shutagain at 2 pm, they had allwashedtheirhandsat leastonceanhourforthepastsixhours.“We usually jump and hug

and fight and give each otherhighfives,”saidZakariasAl-Tibi,10,pointingdolefullyathisbestfriend, Jannik. “But we can’t dothatanymore.”InLogumkloster,wherethere

have been no known victims of

thevirus,onlya fewparentsde-cidedagainstsendingtheirchil-dren back to school. But severalwereconflictedabout it.“Ourfirstreactionwas:Isn’tit

tooearly?”saidCynthiaPaulsen,acleanerwhose14-year-oldson,Arthur, was among those re-quested to return thisweek. “Isthis the right thing?”But by and large, parents at

Logumkloster have been wonover by the careful way thatLinnet,theheadteacher,andherstaff have refitted the school atjust a fewfranticdays’notice.Theschool’s floorshavebeen

covered with new markings,showing pupils how far aparttheyhavetostand.Handwashing

has become apart of the schoolroutine — the first stop for allpupils at the start of every day,and thenon thehour thereafter.Tea ladies have the new task oftouringtheschoolwithdisinfec-tant,cleaningeachdoorhandleatleasttwiceduringschoolhours.Despite her earlier misgiv-

ings, Paulsen sent Arthur toschool onWednesday, after be-ing persuaded by a phone callfromArthur’steacherandacon-versationwithArthurhimself.“He’s happy to be back,” she

said. “We’rehappyhe’sback.”“Things have to start some-

where,” she added. “And wehave to trust in thegovernmentandtheschool.” NYT

Childrencheckthedistancebetweenthemselves.NYT

BACK TO A DIFFERENT WORLDUSastronautsAndrewMorgan(left), JessicaMeir (right)andRussiancosmonautOlegSkripochkasit inchairs shortlyafterthe landingof theRussianSoyuzMS-15spacecapsulenearDzhezkazgan,Kazakhstan,onFriday.The InternationalSpaceStationcrewhas landedsafelyaftermorethan200days inspace.AP

Residentspassbypropagandaposters inWuhan.AP

DAVIDDKIRKPATRICK&JANEBRADLEYLONDON,APRIL 17

THE TWO Chinese companieswere offering a risky proposi-tion: twomillionhome test kitssaid to detect antibodies for thecoronavirus forat least $20mil-lion, take itor leave it.Theaskingpricewashigh,the

technologywas unproven andthemoney had to be paid up-front.Andthebuyerwouldbere-quired topickup thecrate loadsoftestkitsfromafacilityinChina.Yet British officials took the

deal,accordingtoaseniorcivilser-vant involved, then confidentlypromisedtestswouldbeavailableat pharmacies in as little as twoweeks.“Assimpleasapregnancytest,”gushedPrimeMinisterBorisJohnson.“Ithasthepotentialtobeatotalgamechanger.”There was one problem,

however.Thetestsdidnotwork.

Foundtobeinsufficientlyac-curatebya laboratoryatOxfordUniversity,halfamilliontestsarenow gathering dust in storage.Another 1.5million bought at asimilarpricefromothersourceshavealsogoneunused.“They might perhaps have

slightly jumped the gun,” saidProfessor Peter Openshaw ofImperialCollegeLondon.A spokesperson from the

DepartmentofHealthandSocialCaresaidthegovernmenthador-dered the smallest number oftestsallowedbysellersandthatitwould try to recover themoney,withoutspecifyinghow. NYT

ANISURRAHMANDHAKA,APRIL 17

BANGLADESHHAS declared itsentire territory to be exposed toCOVID-19risksas thepandemicspread to various parts of thecountry, which recorded thehighest single day coronavirusdeathsonFridaywith15morefa-talities,takingthedeathtollto75.The entire Bangladesh has

beendeclaredasariskyareaun-der the Infectious Disease(Prevention, Control andElimination)Act,2018,accordingto an order issued by the direc-torate general of health services(DGHS)onThursdaynight.PTI

Inagrimassessmentofthe impactofCOVID-19onchildren, theUNhassaidthe loomingglobalrecessioncouldcausehundredsof thousandsof additionalchilddeaths thisyear

Economic Impact42-66millionchildrencouldfall intoextremepovertyasaresultofthepandemicthisyear

386millionchildrenalready inextremepoverty in2019

2-3yearsofprogressinreducing infantmortalitywillbereversed

3MainDangers■ Infectionwiththevirus itself■The immediatesocioeconomic impactsofmeasures tostopvirustransmissionandendthepandemic■Thepotential longer-termeffectsofdelayedimplementationoftheSustainableDevelopmentGoals

Learning Crisis188countrieshaveimposedcountrywideschoolclosures

1.5billionchildrenandyouthaffectedbysuchclosures

CHILDDEATHSTOSEESPIKE: U.N.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: SUINGCHINAWashington:TwoUSlawmak-ers announced to introduce alegislationintheCongressthatwouldallowAmericanstosueChinainthefederalcourttore-cover damages for death, in-jury, and economic harmcausedbythepandemic.The legislation, if passed

and signed into law, wouldamendtheForeignSovereignImmunities Act to create anarrow exception for dam-ages caused by China's han-dlingof theoutbreak.The bill makes clear that

thatcoveringupthevirusandcausing it to spread faster orfurther than it otherwisewouldhavecanbeconsidereda tortiousact. It alsogives theUS a powerful tool to getChinatopayforthedamageithascaused."Bysilencingdoctorsand

journalistswhotriedtowarnthe world about the coron-avirus, the ChineseCommunist Party allowedthe virus to spread quicklyaround the globe," a law-maker said. PTI

UK paid $20 million for ‘gamechanger’ tests — they didn’t work

Simpleasapregnancytest, theUKPMhadearliersaid

Entire nation atrisk: Bangla govt

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIALAHORE,APRIL 17

THE FAISALABAD chief ofTablighiJamaathasdiedofcoro-navirusevenasthenumberof itsinfectedmembers crossed the1,100mark in Pakistan's PunjabprovinceonFriday.Maulana Suhaib Rumi, 69,

Faisalabad chapter head ofTablighi Jamaat died of COVID-19onThursday.“Theelderlypreacherhadat-

tendedtheTablighigatheringinLahore's Raiwind last month.Fivemembers of his family, in-cluding two grandchildren, arealso infectedwithcoronavirus,”Deputy Commissioner ofFaisalabadMuhammadAlisaid.His family members have

been kept in an isolation centreinFaisalabad,some150kmaway.According to the Punjab

health department, over 1,100Tablighi Jamaatmembers havebeen tested positive for coron-avirus in theprovince.A large number of preachers

whohad attended amajor con-

gregation in earlyMarch in itsheadquartersinLahorewerelatertrackeddownacrossthecountryandplacedinquarantinecentres.

Curb outbreak duringRamadan: ImranPakistan Prime Minister

ImranKhanhasaskedthecoun-try's lead agency in the fightagainst the pandemic to takemeasures to copewith the dis-ease during Ramadan as thenumber of COVID-19 casescrossed7,000.Khan was on Thursday ad-

dressingameetingoftheNationalCommandandOperationCentre(NCOC),whichhasbeen formedtotakeunanimousdecisiononallissuesrelatedtothecoronavirus.Itbecameoperational earlier thismonth. “HeorderedcompilationofaccuratedataaboutCOVID-19patients and the number ofdeaths,”officials said.Pakistan is planning to con-

ductover20,000COVID-19testsdailyby theendofApril as sixtyper centof newcasesaredue tolocal transmission, a senioroffi-cial saidonFriday.

Tablighi Jamaat’sFaisalabad chief diesof COVID-19 in Pak

THE REVISION in tollcomes even as China isfacing a tough stancefrom a number of coun-triesregardingitsactionsin the early stages of thepandemic. The US, UKand Australia are amongthosetohaveflaggedthisrecently. Now, as Chinalooksthroughitsdataandmakes updates, it alsofacesthechallengeofen-suringthatsuchrevisionsare not seen as evidenceof a “cover-up”. This, ex-pertssaid,will likelyplayaroleinitsglobalstrategy.

Facingtoughquestions

REALTOLLSTILLFARHIGHER: TRUMP

China admits earlylapses, Wuhan tollrevised up by 50%

UStoll crosses30,000;Trumpcriticised forpushtoresumeactivitieswithoutproper testingplan

Trump unveils plan to reopen,tells governors to call own shots

11SENSEX: 31,588.72 ▲ 986.11 NIFTY: 9,266.75 ▲ 273.95 NIKKEI: 19,897.26 ▲ 607.06 HANG SENG: 24,380.00 ▲ 373.55 FTSE: 5,824.63▲ 196.20 DAX: 10,684.09 ▲ 382.55

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`76.39

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates. *IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI, APRIL 17

RESERVE BANK of India (RBI)Governor Shaktikanta Das onFriday forecast a sharp turn-around in COVID-19-hit India’sgrowthrateto7.4percentinthenext fiscal (2021-22).For 2021, the IMF has pro-

jected sizable V-shaped recov-eries, close to 9 percentagepoints for global GDP, he said.“India is expected to post asharp turnaround and resumeits pre-COVID-19 pre-slow-down trajectory by growing at7.4 per cent in 2021- 22,” Dassaid in a media conference,forecasting a sharp economicrecovery in thenext fiscal.Economists, global banks

andratingagencieshadrecentlypredicted India togrowbelow2percentin2020.“Indiaisamongthe handful of countries that isprojected to cling on tenuouslytopositivegrowthat1.9percent(for2020).Infact,thisisthehigh-est growth rate among the G20economies,”Dassaid.On the performance of the

economy, the Governor said,“Since March 27, 2020, the

macroeconomic and financiallandscapehasdeteriorated,pre-cipitously in some areas; butlightstillshinesthroughbravelyinsomeothers.”According to him, early de-

velopments suggest that infla-tion is on a declining trajectory,havingfallenby170basispointsfrom its January 2020 peak. Intheperiodahead,inflationcouldrecedeevenfurther,barringsup-ply disruption shocks andmayevensettlewellbelowthetargetof4percentbythesecondhalfof2020-21. “Such an outlookwouldmake policy space avail-able to address the intensifica-tionofriskstogrowthandfinan-cial stability brought on by

COVID-19.Thisspaceneedstobeusedeffectivelyandintime,”Dassaid.Das said the contraction in

exports in March 2020 at 34.6per cent has turned out to bemuchmore severe thanduringthe global financial crisis. TheWorld TradeOrganization seesglobal merchandise trade con-tracting by as much as 13-32per cent in 2020. Global finan-cial markets remain volatile,and emerging marketeconomies are grappling withcapitaloutflowsandvolatileex-change rates, he said.The disruptions caused by

COVID-19 have, however,moreseverely impacted small and

mid-sizedcorporates, includingNBFCs andmicro finance insti-tutions in termsof access to liq-uidity.Das said surplus liquidity in

the banking system has in-creased sharply in thewake ofsustainedgovernmentspending.Systemicliquiditysurplus,asre-flected innet absorptionsundertheLiquidityAdjustmentFacility(LAF),averagedRs4.36lakhcroreduring the period March 27-April14,2020.TheRBIundertookthree auctions of targeted longtermrepooperations(TLTRO),in-jecting cumulatively Rs 75,041croretoeaseliquidityconstraintsin the banking system and de-stress financialmarkets.Another TLTROauctionof Rs

25,000 crorewas conducted onApril17.Inresponsetotheseauc-tions, financial conditions haveeasedconsiderably,asreflectedinthe spreads onmoneyandbondmarketinstruments,hesaid.Moreover,activityinthecor-

porate bondmarket has pickedupappreciably,withseveralcor-poratesmaking new issuances.There are also indications thatredemption pressures faced bymutual funds havemoderated,Das said.

SUNNYVERMANEWDELHI,APRIL17

MEASURESANNOUNCEDbytheReserveBankofIndia(RBI)on Fridaywouldprovide sig-nificant short-term liquiditysupporttonon-bankingfinan-cialcompanies(NBFCs),hous-ingfinancecompanies(HFCs)andmicro-financeinstitutions(MFIs), according tomarketparticipants.TheRBI’smovemandating

banks to invest funds raisedthrough targeted long-termrepooperations(TLTRO2.0)ininvestmentgradebonds,com-mercial paper, andnon-con-vertibledebenturesofNBFCs,alongsidethedecisiontopro-vide a Rs 50,000-crore refi-nancefacility,would—tosomeextent—enableNBFCstoraisefundingandrollovertheirloanobligations.Meanwhile,modifying its

earlierguidelines,thegovern-menthasallowedNBFCs,HFCsandNBFC-MFIsto start opera-tionswith“bareminimumstaff.” A sourcesaid thiswouldbe especiallybeneficial toMFIs as theycan start theirdisbursementand recovery operations,whichwerehaltedduringthelockdown,whilemanyNBFCsandHFCswereabletooperatethroughdigitalchannels.Industry sources said the

central bankhas left it to thediscretion of commercialbankswhether theywill pro-videmoratoriumon loans toNBFCs.Thisreliefwilldependuponnegotiations betweenthebanksandNBFCs.“Inorderfor NBFCs and MFIs to getenough liquidityprovisionanadditionalwindoworTLRTO2.0ofRs50,000crorewasalsoannounced exclusively forbanksinvestingininvestmentgradepaperssuchasbondandCPsissuedbyNBFCsandMFIs.Thiswill, in turn, ease the liq-uidityproblemfacedbyNBFCsandMFIs to some extent, iftheirlenderbankdoesnotpro-videmoratoriumonpaymentof instalment and interestwhich they are extending totheir customers. It is thus lefttothediscretionoftheindivid-ual bank to consider,” saidAadharHousingFinanceMDandCEODeoShankarTripathi.The refinance window

openedbytheRBIwillenableHFCstogetadditionalfundsatlowerrates.TheRBIsaiditwillprovidespecialrefinancefacil-ities for a total amount of Rs50,000croretoNationalBankfor Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD),SmallIndustriesDevelopmentBank of India (SIDBI) andNationalHousingBank(NHB)to enable them tomeet sec-toral credit needs. Thiswillcomprise Rs 25,000 crore toNABARD for refinancing re-gionalruralbanks,cooperative

banks and MFIs; Rs 15,000crore to SIDBI for on-lending/refinancing; andRs10,000 crore toNHB for sup-portingHFCs.SincetheRBIwillprovidethisrefinancingat4.4percentreporate,itisexpectedthat these entities be able tolend at a cost lower than themarketrate.“Recent measures an-

nounced by the RBI…couldprovide some solace to theNBFCs&HFCs, however, thesectorcontinuestostareatas-set side challengeswhichareexpected tomountgoing for-

ward after themoratoriumpe-riodisover,”CARERatings said in areportonFriday.The central

bank’sdecisiontocut reverse reporate—the rateatwhich RBI bor-rows short-term

fundsfrombanks—by25ba-sis points will discouragebanks fromparking surplusfundswith theRBI andchan-nelisethattowardslendingtoNBFCs’bondsandcommercialpapers,bankerssaid.“Reverse repo rate has

beencutby25bpssothatthecorridornowbecomes90bps.Thesystemhasroughly7tril-lionofexcessliquiditythatareparkedattheRBI’sreverserepowindow.Today’scutisadisin-centive to overnight invest-ments and should findwayintocredit,”saidLakshmiVilasBank’shead(treasurydepart-ment)RKGurumurthy.TheRBIhasalsoprovided

NBFCstheflexibilityregardingthe asset classification treat-mentof loanonwhichmora-toriumreliefhasbeenavailed,therebyprovidingthemsimi-larNPArelaxationaswasgiventocommercialbanks.Even for loans given by

NBFCs tocommercial real es-tatesector,theRBIhaspermit-ted that the date for com-mencement for commercialoperations (DCCO) for suchcommercialrealestateprojectsdelayedforreasonsbeyondthecontrolofpromoterscanbeex-tendedby an additional oneyear, overandabove theone-year extension permitted innormalcourse,withouttreat-ingthesameasrestructuring.Sincetherealestatesector

is oneof themost affectedbythe impact of COVID-19 andcompanies operating in thissegmentarehighlyleveraged,thiswillproviderelieftoNBFCsin termsof their exposure ofcommercial real estate facingdifficultyinrepayments.

COVID-19 EFFECTRBI LIQUIDITY PUSH

INFLATIONMAYFALLBELOW4%BY2NDHALFOFYEAR:RBIGUV

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,APRIL17

WHILE INDIAgearsup topoten-tiallydealwitharisingnumberofpatientsrequiringhospitalisationduring theCOVID-19pandemic,the country’s drug regulatorhasaskedchemiststohelpensuresuf-ficientstockofmedicinesrequiredinthetreatmentofsuchcases.Thisincludes55medicineslikecertainantibiotics, nebulisers andemer-gency cardiacdrugs thatmayberequiredforCOVID-19patientsad-mittedtotheICU,accordingtoanassociation representing over 8lakhchemistsinthecountry.The association, All India

Organisation of Chemists andDruggists(AIOCD),onFridayaskeditsmemberstoensure“sufficientavailability”ofthesedrugsinphar-macies.The55drugsincludethoseto treat lowblood pressure likeadrenalineandatropine,arrhyth-miadrugamiodarone,musclere-laxantfentanyl,nebulisationmed-icationsalbutamolandantibioticslikeamoxicillin,ciprofloxacinandmetronidazole.Theassociationhasalsoasked

itsmemberstoensureavailabilityofnearly100otheressentialdrugslikeparacetamol,amoxicillin,acy-clovir,insulin,glimepirideandam-

lodipine. “At present, we havemore thanonemonth’s stock (ofallthemedicines)withourtrade,”AIOCD general secretary RajivSinghaltoldTheIndianExpress.The move comes after the

Central Drugs StandardControlOrganisationasked chemist anddruggist associations to take“proactive” steps tohelp ensureavailabilityofthesedrugswith“as-sured”qualityataffordableprices.The regulator hadalso asked

themtohelpinmonitoringstock-piling of products like sanitizersand tohelp it tightenprocedurestomonitorforanypossibleshort-agesofthesedrugsduetodisrup-tionsinglobalsupplies.Theregu-latoristryingtoensurethesedrugsareavailableataffordablepricesinthemarket and prevent black-marketing, illegal hoarding, thuscreatingartificialshortages.“Stockpiling ofmedications

can result in reducedvolumeofmedicinesinsupplychains,whichcould compromise the ability ofthehealthcaresystemtorespondtoacrisis,” stateda letterbyDrugController General of India VGSomanidatedApril 16, a copyofwhich The Indian Expresshas re-viewed.Emailqueries,callsandamessage sent to the DCGI onFriday remainedunansweredbypresstime.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,APRIL17

BUOYEDBY theReserveBankofIndia’smeasures to propup theeconomyreelingundertheimpactofCOVID-19,theSensexonFridayrallied3.2percentonwidespreadbuying support. TheBSESensexrose986points, or3.22per cent,to 31,588.72 and the Nifty50gained274pointsto9,266.75.Rebounding fromanall-time

lowhitadayearlier,therupeeset-tled 48 paise higher at 76.39againsttheUSdollaraidedbytheRBImeasuresandastrongrallyindomestic equities. The centralbankslashedreversereporateby25basispointsto3.75percentandalsoannouncedaRs50,000croreliquiditypackageforNBFCs.S Ranganathan, head of re-

search, LKPSecurities, said, “The

liquidity boostingmeasures an-nouncedbytheRBIonthebackofpositive global cues boosted themarketstodaydespiteprofitbook-ing seen in the afternoon trade.Financialsledthechargeandsev-eral heavy weights joined thepartyasthedayprogressedinan-ticipationofastimuluspackage.”RahulSharma, researchhead,

Equity99, saidworries over thescale of economic fallout due tocoronaviruspandemicwhich ledtherupeetohitafreshrecordlowof 76.87 against the dollar re-mainedthebiggestconcern.VinodNair,Headof Research

atGeojit Financial Services, said,“MarketswerebuoyantfollowingtheRBImeasurestoboostliquidityandreclassifyNPAnormsforcom-mercialbanks.Thepositiveglobalmarkets also added to thebuoy-ancy. Rate sensitive stocksman-agedtooutperform.”Meanwhile, the S&P 500

climbedclose to2percent in thefirst fewminutes of trading, fol-lowingupon3percent jumps inEuropeandrisesofnearlyasmuchinAsia.Oil prices were mixed on

Friday. Brent rose by41 cents, or1.5percent, to$28.23abarrelby1347GMT.

REUTERSBEIJING,APRIL17

CHINA’S ECONOMY shrank forthefirsttimesinceatleast1992inthefirstquarter,asthecoronavirusoutbreak paralysed productionandspending.Grossdomesticproduct(GDP)

fell6.8percentinJanuary-Marchyear-on-year,officialdatashowedonFriday.Thecontractionisalsothefirst

in the world’s second-largesteconomysinceatleast1992whenofficial quarterly GDP recordsstarted.

HARISHDAMODARAN&PARTHASARATHIBISWASNEWDELHI/PUNE,APRIL17

THEGOVERNMENTisfocussedontheharvesting andmarketingoftherabicrop,butanother,no-less-immediate challenge lies ahead:Ensuring the availability of ade-quate seed in the coming kharifplantingseason.InPunjab,Haryana, andwest

UttarPradesh,thenurserysowingofpaddystartsaftermid-Mayand,intherestofIndia,fromJune.Initsfirst long-range forecast an-nounced on April 15, the IndiaMeteorologicalDepartmentpre-dictedanormalmonsoonseason,withtotalrainfallacrossthecoun-tryat100percentof thelongpe-riodaverage(LPA).Farmers can either use new

seeds or plant grain saved frompreviousyears’ output.Given the

15-20percentyieldlossinthelat-tercase,thepreferenceisforplant-ingnewseedsevenforopen-pol-linatedvarieties(OPVs),asagainsthybrids.“Roughly40percentofIndia’s

paddyareaissownwithfreshcer-tifiedortruthfully-labelledseeds,with a replacement ratio of over

70percentinPunjabandHaryana.Also, farmerswant specific vari-eties— for example, Pusa-1509,1121and1718inbasmatiandPR-126andHKR-147innon-basmatipaddy—whose seeds they stock15-20daysbeforenurseryprepa-ration,”AKSingh,director,IndianAgricultural Research Institute(IARI),NewDelhi,said.Theproblem is ineasternUP,

Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,andMadhyaPradesh,where thenewseedrequirements forhigh-yieldingOPVs is largelymet bycompaniesbased inSouth India,suchasNuziveeduSeeds, KaveriSeeds,andassortedsmallerplay-ers.Thesecompaniesdocontractseed production mainly inTelangana(Karimnagar,Warangal,Khammam,NalgondaandMedakdistricts) and Andhra Pradesh(WestandEastGodavari,KrishnaandNelloredistricts).Thisseedhasto be processed, packaged, and

transportedtotheuserstates,wellintimefornurseryplanting.Theurgency is greater inhy-

brid seeds,which, unlikeOPVs,lose their vigour on re-planting,andhavetobeboughtafresheveryseason.Of the about108millionacresofpaddyareainthecountry,anestimated7.5millioniscoveredunderhybrids.Hybridseedpene-trationismoreinthepoorerstates,suchasJharkhand(25-30percentof paddy acreage), UP andBihar(15-20percent),andChhattisgarhandOdisha(10percent).Evenamong these states, the

penetrationishigherintheadivasibelts—35percentto40percentin southwestOdisha, and60percent to 70 per cent in northChhattisgarhandwestandsouthJharkhand.Thereason: Inrainfedconditions,per-acrepaddyyieldsare7-8quintals fromtraditionalvarietiesand13-14quintals fromimprovedOPVs,but20-plusquin-

tals fromhybrids. That yield ad-vantageislessinassuredirrigatedareassuchasPunjab,wherefarm-ersget30quintalsevenwithOPVs.“Packinganddespatcheshap-

penfromApriltoaroundMay15-20. This time, there is shortageofboth trucks and labour at ourplants.Whileourtransportisnor-mallyby20-25-tonne trucks,wearenowalsoexploringmovementby 800-900-tonne rail rakes,” aspokesperson for Bayer Crop-SciencetoldTheIndianExpress.Seedavailabilityisaconcernin

maize,wherehybridpenetrationisabove80percent.Again,80percentoftheannualseedproductionof 1,20,000-1,30,000 tonnes(farmersplant8kgperacreatRs170-180/kg)isduringtherabisea-sondespitetwo-thirdsofthecon-sumption takingplace in kharif.Therelativelydryweather inrabi(reducingpest anddisease inci-dence) anduniformcropgrowth

possible through irrigation (themale and female plants mustfloweratthesametimeforbetterpollination)ismostconduciveforseedcultivation.Likeinhybridpaddy,70-80per

centofmaize seedproduction isin one state (AP), and the rest inTelangana and Karnataka. Andwithallofit—fromharvestingthecobs todrying, cleaning, gradingfor quality, seed treatment andpacking— going on right now,companiesarestrugglingtocom-pletedespatchesbymid-May.Thesituationissimilarinother

kharifcrops,especiallycottonandsoyabean. Farmers in Punjab,Haryana, and Rajasthan startplantingcottonfromApril15.“Theirrigated region’s seed require-mentis90lakhpackets(outof450lakh for all of India). Due to thelockdown, nothing could bemovedbytrucksfromtheproduc-ing states of Telangana, AP,

MaharashtraandGujarat.Only50lakhpacketshavearrivedbygoodstrains.Theonlybreatherwehaveisa15-daydelayinwheatharvest-ing,which shouldenable the re-mainingquantitiestocome,”saidRamKaundinya,director-general,Federation of Seed Industry ofIndia.Incottonandsoyabean,seedproductionhappensduringkharif.Whilefirmsprocurerawgrain

fromgrowersinOctober-January,theprocessing is fromFebruary,peaking inMarch. For soyabean,thatincludescertificationforphys-ical/geneticpurityandminimumgerminationbygovernmenttest-ing laboratories. Of the 12 lakhtonnes or so of soyabean seedsplantedbyfarmers,25-30percentis “certified”.Maharashtra’s agri-culture department has alreadyadvisedfarmerstoreuselastyear’sgrainratherthanbuyseeds.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

After harvesting, the next farm challenge: Seeds for kharif

Cottonseedgrowers inKrishnadistrictofAndhraPradesh.HarishDamodaran

Fuel sales slump 50% inApril; petrol down 64%India’s fuel consumption slumped by a record 50 per centin April as all petroleum products except LPG sawmassivedemand erosion following a nationwide lockdown

64%Petrol saleswere down64percent,while diesel slumpedby61 per cent, according toprovisional industry data forfuel consumption in the firsthalf of April

SILVERLININGThe only fuel that showedgrowthwas LPGas thegovernment dole of freecooking gas cylinders to poorhouseholds fired upconsumption by21 per centduringApril 1 to 15

AVIATIONTURBINEFUEL(ATF) consumption collapsedby94per cent asmost airlineshave stopped flyingTOTALDECLINE in petroleumproduct saleswas50per cent

Comparison with past year: India hadconsumed 2.4million tonnes of petrol and7.3million tonnes of diesel in April 2019

Reason: Most trucks are off-roadand Railways has stoppedplying trains

Source:PTI

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,APRIL17

FINANCE MINISTER NirmalaSitharamanFridaysaidIndiawillsoonannouncefreshreliefmeas-ures and economic stimulus tohelp thepoor and industry fighttheimpactof thepandemic.Participating in the 101st

meeting of the DevelopmentCommitteePlenaryoftheWorldBankthroughvideoconference,Sitharaman also assured theglobal community that Indiawould continue to supply criti-calmedicinestoneedycountriesfor the treatment of COVID-19patients.“The government isworking

extensivelywithstakeholdersforprovidingadditional relief in theformof humanitarianaid and toprovideeconomicstimulusinthecomingdays,”shesaid.Shealsoshareddetailsofwel-

faremeasuresannouncedbythegovernmentlastmonth.

Centre to provide morerelief, stimulus soon: FM

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, APRIL 17

THE POWER Ministry has re-leased a revised draft of theElectricity Amendment Bill2020,whichcallsforthecreationof an Electricity ContractEnforcement Authority (ECEA),proposes aNational RenewableEnergy Policy and mandatespayment security as necessaryforSchedulingofElectricityandfacilitates cross border electric-itytrade.Thedraftseeksprivati-sation of discoms (distributioncompanies) by way of sub-li-censing&franchisees.The feedback on the revised

ElectricityAmendmentBill2020hasbeensoughtwithin21days.

According to the draft, statecommissionswilldeterminetar-iff for retail sale of electricitywithout any subsidy underSection65oftheActandthetar-iff shouldreflect thecostof sup-plyofelectricityandcross-subsi-dies tobereduced.The bill proposes that the

ECEAwouldadjudicateonmat-ters regarding performance ofobligations under a contract re-lated to sale, purchase or trans-missionofelectricity. Itproposesto empower load dispatch cen-tretooverseethepaymentsecu-ritymechanismbeforeschedul-ing dispatch of electricity, andsuggested National RenewableEnergyPolicyforthepromotionof generationof electricity fromrenewablesources.

PowerMin releases revised draft ofElectricity Amendment Bill 2020

Amid pandemic, drugregulator asks chemiststo help ensure sufficientstock of 55 key medicines

■RBIGovernorShaktikantaDassaidthecontractioninexportsinMarch2020at34.6percenthasturnedouttobemuchmoreseverethanduringtheglobalfinancialcrisis

■Hesaidsurplusliquidityinthebankingsystemhas

increasedsharplyinthewakeofsustainedgovernmentspending.Systemicliquiditysurplus,asreflectedinnetabsorptionsundertheLiquidityAdjustmentFacility(LAF)averagedRs4.36lakhcroreduringtheperiodMarch27-April14,2020

‘SURPLUS LIQUIDITYHASRISENSHARPLY’

Das sees V-shaped recovery,growth rate at 7.4% in FY22

BRIEFLYTaxrefundprocessingNew Delhi: The CBIC onFriday said it hasprocessedGSTrefundsworthRs5,575crore since March 30.Separately, theCBDTsaid ithasissuedI-TrefundsworthRs5,204crore in the last 10daystosmallbusinesses.

Trairaisesint’lcallterminationlevyNewDelhi:TraionFridaysaidinternational call termina-tionchargeswillbebroughtunder forbearance butwithinprescribed rangeof35to65paise/minagainstafixedrateof30paise/minuteearlier—amoveexpectedtobenefittelcos.PTI

TheRBIonFridaysaiditwill conduct thefirstauctionunderTLTROforRs25,000croreonApril23.PTI

FIRST TRANCHEOFTLTRO2.0 AUCTIONONAPRIL 23

TLTRO 2.0, `50,000-crrefinance facility to helpNBFCs raise funds, rollover loan obligations

■ Theoverallmarketbreadthwas in favourof advances as, exceptIT, stocks frommost oftheother sectorswitnessed somepositivemomentumonvalue-buying.

POSITIVEMARKETBREADTH

Sensex zooms 986 points on RBImove, rate sensitive stocks rally

NewDelhi:S&PGlobalRatingsFriday slashed India growthforecast for the current fiscalto 1.8 per cent, from3.5 percent estimatedearlier, on ac-countofthelockdowntocon-tainCOVID-19pandemic.PTI

S&P cuts growthforecast to 1.8%

China posts firstGDP decline onrecord as virushits economy

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, APRIL 17

THEREVENUEdepartment hasappealed to its officers todonateoneday's salary everymonth tillMarch2021toPM-CARESfundtoaid the government in its effortsagainstthepandemic.Thoseoffi-cershavingobjectionwillhavetointimate inwritingbyApril 20, acirculardatedApril17said."Anyofficerorstaffhavingob-

jection to thismay intimate theDrawing andDisbursingOfficer,Departmentof Revenue, inwrit-ingmentioninghis/heremployeecodelatestbyApril20,"itsaid.

Donate 1 day’s payto PM-CARES fundevery month tillMar ’21 : Revenuedept to officers

MIHIRVASAVDA&SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYAPRIL17

THECOVID-19-TRIGGEREDglobal slump islikely tochangecricket'spowerequations forgood.Envisagingafuturewhereonlytherichwill survive, sports business experts and thegame'sveteranadministratorsarepredictingthepermanentshrinkingofthecricketecosys-temwith an India-led coalition, thatwill in-cludeEnglandandAustralia,callingtheshots.Thismight also pave theway for the re-

turn of cricket's Big Threemodel, the once-rejectedpro-richnationrevenue-sharingfor-mula. Three years back, the idea that wasbornafterthe2008recession,wasoutvotedat the International Cricket Council (ICC).Nowwith theworld dealingwith a biggerfiscalcrisis,andthesmallernationsexpectedto increasingly depend on games againstIndia tostayafloat,BCCI'soldhandssee thisas an ideal opportunity to pocket the lion’sshareof the ICCrevenue.Director of the Centre for Eurasian Sport

Industry at Lyon-based Emlyon BusinessSchool, SimonChadwick, points out that thesituationin2020isfarworsethanthe2008re-cessionandexplainshowitwillimpactcricket.Chadwickpoints out that in 2008 “TV rightswere still being sold and sponsorship dealswerestillbeingsigned”.Ascomparedtothat,in2020“therearenogatereceipts;youdon’thaveaproductonTVandsponsorsaregoingoutofbusiness.”Explainingtheimpactofthechangingeco-

nomics on cricket, Chadwick says: “England,Australia and Indiawill become evenmorepowerful. Theywill strengthentheirpositionasleadersof thegame.”

Despondent timesVeteran SouthAfrican administrator and

former ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgatsounds a touchdespondentwhile giving thenon-Big3perspectiveonthecoronapandemic.“Itwouldbeabattleforsurvivalforweakerna-tions.Withoutenoughcashflow,somenationsmightevenstruggletomeetbasicexpenditureandunless they are providedwith support,therecouldbesomecasualties,”saysLorgat.

Chadwick, suggesting a solution, says theonuswillbeontherichernationstominimisecasualties in the cricketingworld. “There aregroundstoconcludethattherichwillgetricher,thepowerfulwillbecomemorepowerful.ButIthinkthereisabroaderquestionaboutmoral-ity:towhatextentIndia,EnglandandAustraliasee themselves as being custodians ofworldcricket.Andthisisnotjustaboutthem;it’salsoaboutpreservingtheexistingcommunity.”However, theBCCI, asof now, iskeener to

assertitssuperiorityatICCbyrevivingtheBig3model. “Of course, there has to be a newworld order in thepost-Covid cricketworld.There should be anew financialmodel thatgivesIndiaitsdue.Atthemoment,onefellow(India)earns,everybodyelsespends.Butulti-mately,therewillbeaneworderafterthispan-demic runs its course. Like (US) PresidentDonaldTrumphassaidhewillnotgivemoneytotheWHO,exactlythesamewayIndiashouldsaywewillnotgivemoneytotheICCifthenewfinancialmodel doesn’t look after our inter-ests.IthastobeonIndia’sterms.Butletusfirstgetoutofthiscoronaviruscrisis,”saidaseniorcricketofficialandaveteranatICCmeetings.

Lorgat,whofelloutwiththeIndianboardwhenhewaschiefexecutiveofCricketSouthAfrica,callsthisattitude“selfish”.“Ifrichcricketnationsask for theirpoundof fleshandwanttosettlethenew(cricket)worldorderontheirown terms, in return for their support toweaker nations, thatwouldbe a very selfishapproach.”Lorgatdoesn’twantarevivalof theBig3

powerstructure. “Ihopepost-Covidcricketdoesn’tgobacktotheBig3model.Because,youonlymakethewealthywealthierattheexpenseofmakingthepoorevenpoorer.So,you need to distribute better. You need topull your resourcesandhelp thosewhoarein need. You can’twilly-nilly provide fund-ing for anybody that doesn’t govern prop-erly, but I don’t buy the argument that theBigThree(andthetrickle-downmodel)willsolve theproblem.”Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman

EhsanMani, too, isdeadagainsttheBigThreerevival.“TheerstwhileBig3modeldidn’tben-efit smaller nations. Pakistanwas oneof thesmallest beneficiaries of the Big 3. Pakistandoesn’t get the same returnas it contributes.

InanICCevent,whenPakistanandIndiaplay,Starearnsfora10-secondslotaround$35,000-40,000.If IndiaisplayingEngland,itwouldbelessthanhalf (of thatamount).So,Pakistanismaking a huge contribution,” he observes,adding:“AnynationthatdependedontheBig3lasttimearound,nowregretsit.Alotofprom-isesweremadebutnotkept. Idon’tseearep-etitionatall.”

Body blow for smaller nationsAlthoughManisayshedoesn’tseetheBig

3dominatingthepostCovid-19cricketworld,he concedes thatweakernationswould suf-fer a body blow if theymiss out on seriesagainstIndia,EnglandandAustralia.“Ifacountrylosesbigtourslikesay,India’s

tour to another country, or England’s tour toSriLanka,orAustraliatoBangladesh,youknowtheymight reschedule it for next year, but ifthat comes at the expense of some otherscheduledtour,therippleeffectwouldbequitebig.Itmighttakeacoupleofyearstomakeupforthelosses.”AsMani points out,West Indies have al-

readymissedoutontheirdomesticseasonand

foracricketboardthatdesperatelyneedsthemoney – it earns a shade over $14million ayearfromTVrights–theconsequencescouldbedevastating.“It’s a bit too soonnow to try and gauge

whatwill happen. But I think if things aren’tresolved byAugust-September,most of thesmallercountrieswillhaveseriousproblems.WestIndiesarenowinthemiddleoftheirsea-sonandtheydon’thaveanycricket.So,theef-fectof thatmustbedevastatingonthem.ButtheSouthAsiancountries,theirseasonstartsinOctobernormally. So, theyhave a little bit oftime.Butthere’snoguaranteethatthingswillbeOK(bythen),”Manisays.Thesituationmightgetevenworseif the

ICCisforcedtocanceltheOctober-NovemberT20WorldCup inAustralia. Bya roughesti-mate,everycricketboardwill lose$7-8mil-lioninrevenueif thetournamentisnotheld.While the Big 3 can take this blow, even inthisperiodforslowdown,therestwillstrug-gle. The shortest format of the gamewascricket’s big story from the last decade, thecoming one could be about India ruling ashrunkcricketingworld.

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,APRIL 18,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Vol. LXIVNo. 91 Printed for the proprietors, The Indian Express (P) Ltd byMs Vaidehi Thakar at The Indian Express Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area,Mahape, NaviMumbai - 400710 and published from 1st floor, Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021. Editorial & Administrative Offices: ExpressTowers, Nariman Point,Mumbai - 400021. Phone: 22022627/67440000. Fax: 022-22835726. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor: Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Mumbai): Nirupama Subramanian.* (*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act) Additional air surcharge of `1

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CROSSWORD4095

ACROSS1 Strangely I contort inremorse(10)

6 EastEuropeannotquite inbondage(4)

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28 Hadacknowledged(5)29 Avessel thathasbeentakenoutof thewater (4)

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23 Anarticlewithmyself assubject (5)

25 Keymaterial for instrumentmakers (5)

26 Ihaveanold-fashioned image(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Watchanywild,speculativeschemes.Yours isnot theonlysignsubject to rash

influencesbut, rightnow,yourbestprofessionalprospectscomefromlong-termplanningrather thanashort-termgamble.Andwhynotsaveyoursocialenergy forself-indulgentwhimsof a low-risknature-and justenjoyyourself?

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Thegreatnews isthatcash isabout toflowin,givingyouthego-aheadfor

variousschemesandlong-awaitedpurchases.Youhavemaybetwoor threedays towaitfor theperfectalignment.Patience isavirtueyouhave inabundance,andrightnowit’soneof yourmajorstrengths.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Situationsyouthoughtyouknewinsideoutwillsuddenlyhave

excitingnewdimensions. It’soften like thatat this timeofyear,partlybecausetheplanetsbegin tostimulateyourremarkablecreativezones.Whatyou’vegot todo isdowhatyouwant,notwhatotherpeople thinkyouwant.

CANCER(June22- July23)Your faith incertainindividualsmayhavebeenshattered,butsomeone is

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LEO(July24-Aug23)It’sagoodmomenttomakeawish.Agoodninetypercentof all availablecelestial factorsare

cheeringyouoninoneformoranother.Probably thebestwaytotune into theirexpectationsisviaaspotofpositive thinking.The fact is thatevendifficultiescanworkout toyouradvantage.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)I knowwhatadoormatyoucanbe,andthatsometimesyouresent theextent

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LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Everythingseemstobeworkingout justfine,althoughIrealise that there

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SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Althoughyoumaybea littleedgy, Idon’t thinkyouhaveanythingtoworry

about justnow.Agreatmanyofyouare facingabusyday.At thevery leastyoumustworkouthowtoattaina treasuredambition.Surprisingly,someoneyoulivewithcouldbeaconsiderablehelp.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Normallyyou’re inthedrivingseat,butnowyouseemtobeapassenger,

travelling life’s transit systemasapassiveobserver. Standupforyourself andforyourrightsasneverbefore, althoughthatmightmeanthatyouhavetotakeonnewresponsibilities.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Patience, toleranceandasenseofhumourare thenecessary

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SUDOKU418

3

DifficultyLevel3sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU418

2

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Oneactof___isbetterthanonehundredsermons.-DietrichBonhoeffer(9)

SOLUTION:TEPEE,DOGIE,CAVING,BALDLYAnswer:AOneactofobedienceisbetterthanonehundredsermons.-DietrichBonhoeffer

PTEEE AGIVCN

DEGIO ALLYBD

SolutionsCrossword4094:Across:11Heretic,5Solve,8Macedonia,9Cap,10Neat,12Distaste,14Fracas,15Remiss,17Retreads,18Chit,21Use,22Animation,24Extol,25Yellout.Down:1Human,2Roc,3To-do,4Candid,5Startled,6Locksmith,7Express,11Apartment,13Baseball,14Fortune,16Oddity,19Tenet,20Mail,23Ibo.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

New jungle law: Survival of the richestTheCovid-19inducedslumpmightseeBCCIseekingalion’sshareof ICCrevenue,theBig3coalitionreturning&smallernationssuffering

LeedslegendHunterlosesbattlewithCOVID-19

London: FormerLeedsUnited andEnglanddefenderNorman 'Bites YerLegs' Hunter hasdied at 76 aftercontracting thenovelcoronavirus,

theChampionship (second-tier) clubsaid onFriday. “Normanwas taken tohospital last week after being diag-nosedwithCOVID-19anddespitecon-tinuingtobattleandthebesteffortsofNHSstaff,hesadly losthis fightearlierthismorning,"Leedssaidontheirweb-site. Huntermade726appearancesforLeeds in15yearsat theYorkshireclubandearnedhisfearsomenicknameforhis tough tackling. Hewon two top-flight league titles, an FA Cup and aLeagueCupwith Leeds andplayed intheir1975EuropeanCupfinaldefeatbyGermansideBayernMunich.Hunter, who won 28 caps for

England,wasalso the firstwinnerofthe PFA Players' Player of the Yearaward in 1974.

Lancsterminateoverseascricketers’countycontractsLondon:NewZealand'sBJWatlingandAustralia'sGlennMaxwell and JamesFaulkner will no longer play forLancashire this seasonbecauseof theimpactof thecoronavirus, theEnglishcounty said Friday. Cricket fixtures inEnglandhavebeencancelleduntilMay28due to thepandemic,with furtherdelays likely given theBritish govern-ment's announcement Thursday of afurtherthreeweeksof lockdown.Watlingwassignedfortheopening

nine County Championship gameswhilstMaxwell and Faulknerwouldhave played for Lancashire in theTwenty20 Blast competition, havingbothfeaturedinlastseason'seditionforthenorthwestcounty. AGENCIES

BRIEFLY

PRELUDE:Withmorethan70percentof ICC’s revenuecomingfromIndia,BCCIhasarguedthat itdeservesa lion's shareof theworldbody'searnings.But, the Indianboardhasfounditdifficult todevelopaconsensusonthis idea.

PAST: In2014,withNSrinivasanhelmingboththeIndiancricketboardandtheICC,threecricketsuperpowers–BCCI,CricketAustralia(CA)andEnglandandWalesCricketBoard(ECB)–combinedtodrawuptheBigThreemodelthatwasapprovedandimplementedforthe2015-2023rightscycle. TheBigThreemodelallocatedtheICCrevenuesharebasedonthecontributionof itsMembers.India,

whichcontributesover70percentoftheICCrevenue,wasprojectedtoreceive$570millionduringtheeight-yearcycle.

PRESENT:AfterShashankManoharbecametheindependentICCchairmanin2016,aprocesswasinitiatedtodismantletheBigThreemodel,bringinginamoreequitablerevenuedistributionsysteminstead.AstheCommitteeofAdministrators(CoA)tookcharge,therewasachangeinBCCI’sstand.WiththeIndianboardnolonger

pushingforasubstantialshareofthepie,theBig3financialmodelwasoutvotedbyamarginof9-1attheICC.Accordingly,theBCCI’srevenuesharewasreducedbyapproximately$170millionfromtheamountprojectedbytheBig3formula.

FUTURE:The loomingeconomicdepressionmight leadtotherevivaloftheBig3, ledby India.WithManoharunlikely toseekathirdterm,BCCI islikely tosecurethe ICCchair.TheBCCI,CAandECBhavealready joinedhandstoopposetheFutureToursProgramme(FTP) for the2023-2031cycle.Sohowcanthefinancialmodelbe

changedagain?At the ICC, regulationsmaybemadeoramendedbythe“BoardofDirectorsorbyanyCommittee,Sub-Committeeormemberof ICCManagementtowhomappropriateauthorityhasbeendelegatedbytheBoardofDirectors”.Foraspecialresolutiontopass, “morethan75percentof theaggregatenumberof votes”is required. ENS

Power code: The past, present and future

SMITH MADE PERMANENTFormer captain Graeme Smith was on Fridayappointed Cricket South Africa's permanentDirector of Cricket for a two-year term, a postwhich he held on an interim basis sinceDecember last year.