’ˆ˝%! ˇ ˜ ˙ ˆ - The Pioneer...2020/05/11 · start more special services on new routes,...

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The speed of coronavirusspurt in India, both in terms

of duration of doubling of casesas well as ratio of growth overa period of one month, couldprovide little comfort despitereassuring claims by officialsand experts. The country hassurpassed the global averageand raced ahead of some of theworst-affected nations by a bigmargin on both these counts.

In one month, India saw a

nine-time rise in the number ofcases, going up from 6,700cases on April 9 to 63,000 pluscases on May 9. In the sameduration, the worldwide countrose from 1,600,590 to4,098,288 cases, which amountsto a near 2.5-time rise.

The USA saw a similar 2.5-time growth with cases risingfrom 4,29,000 to 10,29,494between April 9 and May 9.

India has surpassed someof the other worst-affectedcountries such as France,Italy, Spain Germany, China,

and Canada, Turkey and Iranwith even much fastermomentum.

With its doubling speedof 11 days, India now trailsonly Russia in terms of ratioof growth over a period ofone month among 13 worst

affected countries.In aggregate terms the

world’s doubling up speed isconsistent at 22-24 days, where-as the USA, France, Italy,Germany, Canada, Spain,Turkey and Iran are taking any-where between 24 to 39 days todouble up.

On May 9, the worldwidecount of positive cases stood at4,115,559. In reaching herefrom the halfway mark of2,057,779, it took 24 days — thenumber stood at 2,076,503 onApril 16. The global rate ofdoubling has been nearly con-sistent in the last one monthwith average daily addition ofbetween 75,000 to 95,000 newcases. One third of these casesare reported from the USAalone on daily basis.

The USA has also con-tributed more than 25 per centof the total global cases.

The USA’s May 9 tally oftotal cases stood at 13,47,318,where it reached after doublingup from 6,52,476 on April 15in 24 days. In the same periodbetween March 21 and April15, the USA raced from 5,600to 65,246 cases, registering a12-time growth.

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After months of lull on theLine of Actual Control

(LAC), the Indian and Chinesearmies were involved in twoface-offs in the last few days.On Saturday, soldiers of boththe sides came to blows inSikkim while a similar tensesituation was resolved at thelocal level earlier last week inLadakh region.

The entire 4,000 km oddlong LAC was devoid of anyserious stand-offs since the73-day long such incident inDoklam near Sikkim in 2017.The two armies backed offafter intervention at the high-est political and diplomaticlevels from two countries.

The face-off in Naku La, ata height of more than 16,000feet near North Sikkim tookplace on Saturday afternoon,sources said here on Sunday.

There were more than 150soldiers from both the sidesand some of them tradedblows, it was learnt. A minorscuffle also broke out before thesituation was brought undercontrol, officials said. The

Naku La is a pass in NorthSikkim at 5,000 metres.

The Indian Army latersaid, “Aggressive behaviour bythe two sides resulted in minorinjuries to troops.

The two sides disengagedafter dialogue and interactionat local level. Temporary andshort duration face-offs

between border guardingtroops do occur as boundariesare not resolved.”

Officials also said troopsresolve such issues mutually asper established protocols.Unconfirmed reports said atleast three Indians and seven toeight Chinese soldiers wereinjured in the scuffle.

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Aweek ahead of the sched-uled expiry of the extend-

ed lockdown on May 17, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willhold a meeting on Mondaythrough video conferencingwith all the Chief Ministers to assess the situation and road ahead.

The meeting is convened at3 pm and the main agenda isexpected to be on the opening up of public transportand the dilution of currentlockdown norms.

Modi on Sunday eveninghad consultation with keyMinisters in the Cabinet andsenior officials in the empow-ered group of officers. TheCabinet Secretary also con-vened meeting of all Chief Secretaries and HealthSecretaries to assess the present situation.

This will be the fifth meet-ing of the Prime Minister with the Chief Ministers sincethe outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

The Prime Minister’sOffice took to Twitter to sharethe information that he wouldhold the meeting via video-conference around 3 pm.

“PM Narendra Modi tohold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief

Ministers tomorrow (Monday)afternoon at 3 pm,” PMO Indiatweeted.

Sources in theGovernment said the focus ofthe meeting would be onboosting economic activitiesand pushing efforts to convert“red” zones with high Covid-19 case load into “orange” or“green” zones.

Several States have recent-ly relaxed labour laws to pumpup industrial activities with staggered shifts or limit-ed staff as a fresh spike in coro-navirus cases could undo thegains so far.

Monday’s meeting couldalso discuss further relaxationsas part of a graded exit from thelockdown but all restrictionsare unlikely to be withdrawn inone go, the sources suggested.

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India reported more than4,000 new cases for the first

time in a single day on Sundaywith Maharashtra adding 1,942new cases and Tamil Naduchipping in with 669 new cases,taking the total count to 67,044cases and 2,207 deaths, includ-ing 111 on Sunday.

Total cases in Maharashtramounted to 22,171 including53 deaths.

Maharashtra is followedby Gujarat with around 8,195cases and nearly 500 deaths.The State reported 398 casesand 23 deaths on Sunday.

State like Bihar and Odisha

have registered significant rise due to infection detected among migrant workersreturning home.

Delhi, with nearly 7,000cases and 73 deaths, has slippedto the fourth spot. Delhi added383 cases and five deaths onSunday.

Tamil Nadu has nowbecome the third worst coron-avirus-hit State, surpassingDelhi after reporting over 7,200 cases.

In Tamil Nadu, the bulk ofcases were reported fromChennai, where the vegetableand fruit wholesale market atKoyembedu was declared ahotspot. More than 1,500 pos-

itive cases were found to belinked to the market. Of thetotal cases in Tamil Nadu,1,824 patients have recoveredand 44 have died.

Rajasthan added 106 newcases to reach a total 3,814 casesand 2 more deaths to total 108deaths, while Madhya Pradeshreported 157 new cases for totalof 3,614 and a high deathcount of 215.

UP reported total 3,373cases including 79 deaths ofwhich 5 died on Sunday.

West Bengal reported 153new cases, taking the total to1,939. With 14 deaths report-ed in the last 24 hours, thedeath toll rose to 113 in Bengal.23 new cases of Covid-19 werereported from Haryana.

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Even as Indore in MadhyaPradesh continues to be

among the country’s most wor-risome coronavirus hotpots,the temple city Ujjain is mak-ing health officials uneasy asthe latter’s death rate from theinfection as on Sunday stood ata whopping 19 per cent, farhigher than the 3.35 per centnational average.Ujjain, famousfor the Mahakal Temple and acity with seven lakh inhabi-tants, has seen 45 of 237 Covid-19 patients succumbing to theinfection, the death rate beinga shade below 19 per cent at18.9 per cent, as per official data.Among those whohave died are a police inspec-tor and a BJP corporator, lead-ing to major political partiespointing out to the city’s creakyhealth infrastructure, and theShivraj Singh Chouhan gov-ernment responding by shunt-ing out the district collectorand the superintendent ofpolice.

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The Indian Railways willgradually restart passen-

ger train operations from May12, initially with 15 pairs of trains, the national transportersaid on Sunday.

These trains will be run asspecial trains from New Delhistation connecting Dibrugarh,Agartala, Howrah, Patna,Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar,

Secunderabad, Bengaluru,Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram,Madgaon, Mumbai Central,Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

All passenger train ser-vices were suspended due to alockdown announced onMarch 25.

After the resumption ofthese 15 services, railways willstart more special services onnew routes, based on the avail-able coaches after reserving

20,000 coaches for Covid-19care centres and adequatenumber of coaches beingreserved to enable operation ofup to 300 trains everyday as“Shramik Special” for strandedmigrants.

Booking for reservation inthese trains will start at 4 pmon May 11 and will be availableonly on the IRCTC website(https://www.Irctc.Co.In/).

Ticket booking counters at

railway stations will remainclosed and no counter tickets(including platform tickets)will be issued, it said. Only pas-sengers with valid confirmedtickets will be allowed to enterrailway stations.

It will be mandatory forpassengers to wear face coverand undergo screening atdeparture and only asympto-matic passengers will beallowed to board the trains.

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Amid the rising coronavirus cases in the country, CabinetSecretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday held a video conference

with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of all States and Union Territories to oversee the steps taken to curb the spreadin the country and sought cooperation of the State Governmentsin running special trains for transportation of stranded migrant workers from different States to their respective nativedestinations.

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The dwellers of a tiny hut-ment located off the IIT-

Bombay campus at Powai innorth-east Mumbai were in fora surprise as a large spotteddeer — apparently after beingchased by a leopard from thenearby Sanjay Gandhi NationalPark — crashed through theirroof and landed in their housein the early hours of Sunday.

In what virtually came as abolt from the blue, the deer

crash-landed into the one roomhouse of one Mrs Sunita Singhin Hanuman Tekdi slum colonylocated on the neighbourhoodof IIT-Bombay campus, whichis on the periphery of theSanjay Gandhi National Park.

As the forest officials sur-mised later in the morning, thedeer might have run for its lifeafter being chased from anearby hillock of the SanjayGandhi National Park, andcrashed into hutment throughthe roof.

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About 1234 migrant labour-ers returned in a special

train from Gujarat at Tatangarrailway station on Sundayevening.

About 95 per cent workerswere residents of various vil-lages in West Singhbhum dis-trict.

The administration hadmade arrangements for 40buses to help the returneesreach their respective vil-lages.

Several help desks andkiosks have been made at therailway station to guide theworkers returning to their vil-lage.

A team of 17 doctors

examined those returned.The workers were advised

for home quarantine for next14 days.

The police force wereinstructed to make all neces-sary arrangements and pre-cautions for the return jour-ney of migrant workers in thecity amid coronavirus out-break and the subsequentlockdown.

“A team under policeofficers have been deployedto convey the message to themigrant workers. All districtpolice chiefs have beeninstructed to keep policeteams in standby in case alaw and order situation aris-es

"We are appealing to allthose returning is to listen tothe district authorities.

There should not be anyproblems. Everyone whoreturned, will be sent to theirvillages,” said the official.

About a month into lock-down, the home ministry hasrelaxed lockdown measures toallow movement of migrantworkers across states but withstrict health protocols. Listingthe conditions, the ministrysaid all states and union terri-tories should designate nodalauthorities and develop stan-dard protocols for receivingand sending such strandedpersons.

Those returned on a spe-cial train returned on a specialbus to the city in the eveningand after collection of theirswabs at Loyola School inBistupur they were sent tohome quarantine.

The workers, who returnedhome were in a mood to goback home. "We are really veryhappy to return home. Thiscoronavirus lockdown has notonly denied us work but alsoseparated us from our family,"said one worker.

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In this hour of crisis caused byCovid-19 virus, incessant

rains have added to the woes offarmers in State. The vegetablegrowers have become one ofthe biggest victims of the rainand lockdown around the StateCapital.

With comparatively cheap-er rates for yields and scarcityof buyers in the local market,the farmers have had to faceconsiderable financial loss.Some of them are facing atough time in getting at leastthe amount they invested inagriculture, sources said.

Kishore Sahu, a farmerfrom Deori village of Nagdiblock, cultivated cabbage,French beans and peas at a costof Rs 90 thousand in about 3.2acres of land.

The rain completelydecomposed cabbage crop,most of the French beanseedlings were damaged andthe peas suffered heavy damagewhile bearing fruit. Sahu saidthat he earned only Rs 24thousand and lost 2.50 lakh.

"The waste crop was fed to thecow due to lack of demand inmarket.

At present, Cabbage andHot Corn have been planted in50 - 50 decimals.

Now insects have infestedcorn crops due to continuousrains and despite sprayingmedicines, the insects are notbeing controlled,” he said.“Twenty other farmers of the

village are facing a similar cri-sis. Farmers started cultivatingGinger, Gandhari and GreenSpinach," he added.

Another farmer from PiskaNagri Village of Nagri Block,Bajrang Sahu, cultivatedCauliflower, Cabbage and BitterGourd at a cost of Rs 45,000 inabout 1.2 acres.

"The incessant rainscaused a lot of damage to the

Bitter Gourd crops. There wasa good crop of Cauliflower andCabbage, but due to scarcity ofbuyers in the market, it was notsold even to get capital," headded.

Since third week of Aprilwhen lockdown-2 wasannounced farmers are facinghuge problem to bring theirproduce in the markets andrains have added to their woes.

Rajendra Mahato, a farmerof Kudlatoli village, investedabout 65,000 capital in thecultivation of Cabbage, Frenchbean, Carrots and Peas in 1.2acres of land.

"The rain caused somedamage to vegetable crops. Butdue to lack of market in thelock-down, the sale of vegeta-bles only fetched Rs 18,000,"said Mahto.

Now it seems impossible tocontinue the work of farmingwithout capital after loss, headded.

Deori Village PanchayatMukhiya, Manju Kachhap, saidthat the quality and produc-tivity of vegetable crops hasincreased under the guidance

of the Birsa AgriculturalUniversity (BAU) scientistsand the Department ofAgriculture. "But the rain andCorona virus have increasedthe concern of the farmers. Thefarmers of the area havebecome financially weak due tothese calamities.

Farmers have no capitalfor farming and it is becomingdifficult to run a family's liveli-hood. Initiative is needed tomaintain the morale of thefarmers," she added.

BAU Dean AgricultureDr MS Yadav said that in viewof the disaster almost everyyear, farmers will have to cul-tivate vegetable crops alongwith food grains, pulses andoil seeds in multi-crop farm-ing. "Multi-level farming sys-tem and integrated farmingsystem will have to be adopt-ed.

The farmers should insuretheir crops. By strengtheningthe market management andsetting up cold storage and pro-cessing units in the blocks,solutions to farmer problemscan be possible," he added.

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Amigrant labourer fromHazaribag district tested

positive for coronavirus inState on Sunday. With thedetection of new case the num-ber of corona cases in state hasgone up to 157. According tohealth department, the youthwho hails from Barakathablock of district had returnedto Hazaribag from Maharashtrafew days back. The man alongwith four others (residents ofGiridih) had come toJharkhand few days back.

The detection of new casesand its trend is alarming as inpast few days, cases of coronain migrant workers has gone

up. Last week, twenty-twomigrant workers who returnedto Jharkhand were tested coro-na positive in the highest sin-gle-day tally of Covid 19 casesin eastern state. Out of 22cases, 20 cases were detectedfrom Garhwa and who fromKoderma districts on Fridayevening.

The 20 who tested positivefor the Sars-CoV-2 virus inGarwha had returned fromSurat in Gujarat and have beenquarantined in an under-con-struction prison.

Also, on Saturday eveninga clash erupted between vil-lagers and police team atAadhori village underBansidhar police station area ofGarhwa district. A team of dis-trict administration and localpolice had gone to village forcorona test of people who hadreturn from Surat in Gujarat.However, the villagers were

not cooperating and adamantof not going to hospital for testwhich resulted in scufflebetween villagers and cops.However, the matter wasresolved after senior policeand administrative officials

intervened.Meanwhile, the return of

migrant workers, patients andstudents stranded at differentparts of country is going on. OnSunday, the second specialtrain ferrying stranded patients

and their attendants at Vellorereached Hatia.

The train from Vellorehaving 22 coaches ferried 1138passengers mostly patients andtheir caregivers who had gonefor treatment at ChristianMedical College (CMC),Vellore. This is the secondtrain to reach Hatia fromVellore as on Friday first trainfrom Vellore reached Hatia.Also, around 1000 migrantworkers from Bangalore andother districts of Karnataka alsoreached Hatia.

Sources said that in pastfew week more than 25000people mostly migrant workers,students, patients stranded atdifferent parts of country havereturned back to their homestate. A health departmentofficial requesting anonymitysaid, “Those migrant workers,patients or students are return-ing back through arrangements

made by state government theyare thoroughly checked. Themigrant workers have to under-go thermal scanners and othertest. Also in state they are kepton 14 days quarantine period.However, the risk is from suchpeople who are returning backwithout any norms or guide-lines.”

Meanwhile, in positive notefor fourth consecutive days nocorona case was reported fromHindpiri which has become ashotspot of Covid 19 inJharkhand. Out of 93 cases inRanchi, 53 people have recov-ered and discharged from state,while two persons have diedfrom disease in State Capital.

Pan-state out of total 157cases, the number of personswho have recovered and dis-charged from State has gone upto 78, while number of activecase is 56, while three personshave died from disease.

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COVID-19 has affected themajority of the population

across the world directly orindirectly. Till date, in India,more than 2100 people havelost their lives, while the rest areliving their lives in fear, uncer-tainty and social and financialinsecurity.

The economy of the coun-try is crumpling with eachpassing day. The pandemic isthrowing new challenges forboth the government and itspeople further complicatingIndia's economic slowdown.

The Centre for MonitoringIndian Economy (CMIE) statesthat the unemployment rate inIndia has soared further to27.11 per cent for the weekending 3rd May - which wasunder seven per cent in mid-March.

In the future, there will beless opportunities to earn con-sidering the present scenario ofthe country. The manufactur-ing and services sectors will

take time to return to their pre-vious output potential. Thecentral government made anappeal, a few days ago, to theemployers to pay salaries andwages to their employees andworkers during the period oflockdown.

The Employees ProvidentFund Organization (EPFO)and Employees State InsuranceCorporation (ESIC) had beenasked to collect data on joblosses, salary cuts and delayedpayments so that it could bereviewed by the PrimeMinister’s Office once the datawas collected. Regardless of thisfact, many corporate housesand industries did not waiteven for a month and begancutting the pay of its employ-ees in the range of 10-50 per-cent.

There were airlines thatadvised their staff to take com-pulsory no-pay leave of one tothree days, depending onemployment grades (three daysfor senior-most employees).For the sake of retention of

jobs, India's manufacturingcompanies decided to cut somefixed percentage from theirsalary if their production doesnot start on time when theunits are allowed to function.Companies for their own sur-vival are bound to cut thecosts in many ways. Direct cut

in salaries of employees orsending them for indefiniteleave without pay are someexamples.

The intake of freshersmay also be kept on hold tillthe situation improves. Asper the market survey, 39%people are facing salary cuts

while 15% are set to lose theirjobs. The story doesn’t endthere: the Government ofKerala, on 28th April 2020,promulgated an ordinance tooverride the High Court stayon deferment of the paymentof salary of governmentemployees for six days every

month from April to August2020.

It means, one monthsalary of all the state govern-ment employees will bedeferred in five instalments.

Worst affected are the peo-ple in the unorganised sector.Once the business of variousestablishments stopped, thesense of insecurity spread allaround.

The daily earners, byvirtue of their understandingand emotional links with theirnative places, started to movewith little savings and food. Inrising temperatures, they keptwalking with their small chil-dren and families. narrating apersonal experience, on May9th, 2020, my husband wasallowed to drive down fromRanchi to Noida where I wasstaying alone for the pastfifty-one days.

All along the 1250 kilo-meters I requested him totake notes on what he saw onthe road, so that I could pendown his feelings about how

he felt when he saw migrantworkers and their familieswalking to their homesdrenched in sweat. Some peo-ple were walking in groupswhile some alone. Most ofthem carried heavy bags ontheir shoulder and head.

There were little childrenhappily walking with theirhand clasped to their parentsnot realising how grueling thejourney was.

A few parents carried theiryoung children in their armstoo. There were even peopleseen cycling from one state toanother.

With limited food andwater, limited amenities themigrant worker crisis has puta question on the country’sability to protect its citizens.Not that the government hasfailed to take initiative toprotect their people.

There are special trainsintroduced to ferry migrantsstranded in Covid-19 lock-down. Since May 1st, about 302Shramik Special Trains have

ferried around three lakh pas-sengers home from differentmajor cities to most of theplaces in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand,West Bengal and Odisha. Butthere are many who still remainunaware of the initiatives beingtaken by the government.

The big questions willalways remain, when will theyreturn or will they return at allafter the situation improves.

If not, this will affect theinfrastructure and agriculturesector leading to increasedpoverty and unemployment inthe country.

Need of the hour is tothink and act on ways andmeans to revive the country’seconomy for the bettermentof its people. There needs tobe a well-thought out planwith adequate focus on socialwelfare, industrial revivaland economic stimulus oncethe pandemic s tar ts torecede.

The author is ResearchFellow, Indian Council ofWorld Affairs, Delhi

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Sixty-one more people testedpositive for COVID-19 in

Punjab on Sunday, taking thenumber of confirmed cases inthe state to 1,823.

Of the fresh cases, 35 are inRupnagar, eight each inAmritsar and Fatehgarh Sahib,seven in Mohali and one eachin Amritsar, Kapurthala andPatiala, as per a medical bul-letin issued here.

With nine more patientsdischarged from hospitals, thenumber of those cured of theinfection rises to 166 in thestate. Five patients in Jalandhar,two in Mohali and one each inMansa and Pathankot weredischarged after being declaredfully cured, the bulletin said.

Amritsar continued to topthe COVID-19 tally in thestate with 295 cases, followed

by Jalandhar (175), Tarn Taran(157), Ludhiana (125),Gurdaspur (116), SBS Nagar(103), Mohali (102), Patiala(97), Hoshiarpur (90), Sangrur(88), Muktsar (65), Moga (57),Rupnagar (55), Faridkot (44),Ferozepur (43), Bathinda (40),Fazilka (39), Fatehgarh Sahib(36), Pathankot (29),Kapurthala (25), Barnala (21)and Mansa with 20 cases, as perthe bulletin.

Thirty-one fatalities havebeen recorded so far, while twopatients are critical and onventilator support, the bulletinstated.

A total of 40,962 sampleshave been taken so far fortesting in the state. Reports of3,845 samples are awaited.There are 1,626 active cases inthe state as of now, the bulletinsaid.

HARYANA REPORTS 28FRESH CASES WITHTOTAL AT 703

With 28 fresh Coronaviruscases in Haryana on Sunday,the total tally now stood at 703in the state.

Out of 28 fresh cases, 11were reported from Sonepat, 7from Faridabad, 3 fromBhiwani, 2 from Panchkula, 1each from Nuh, Palwal, Rohtak,Charkhi Dadri and Kaithal,according to the state HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.

The total active COVID-19patients in the state are 393while 300 patients have beencured and discharged fromhospitals, as per the state’shealth bulletin.

The worst-affected districtsof the state with the maximumnumber of positive cases areGurugram with 142 cases,

Sonepat with 100 cases andFaridabad with 95 cases. Asmany as 56983 samples havebeen tested so far, of which51046 have tested negative.However, the report of 5234samples is awaited, the bulletinstated.

The COVID-19 positiverate stood at 1.36 percent,recovery rate at 42.67 percentand doubling rate ofCoronavirus cases at 9 days onSunday in Haryana.

A spokesman of the StateGovernment said that morethan 43.80 lakh persons havealready downloaded AarogyaSetu App in Haryana. And,more than 390 mobile healthteams were formed to checkhealth status regarding SARI,ILI etc in the state.

Haryana has 26, 125 bed-ded quarantine facilities indedicated COVID Care

Centers and 8,751 isolationbeds are available in dedicatedCOVID hospitals and in ded-icated COVID Health Centers,the spokesman added.

In a bid to contain thespread of Coronavirus,Haryana Government hadallowed State and Chandigarhgovernment offices to functionwith 100 percent workingstrength of Group A and B offi-cers and 33 percent workingstrength of Group C (exceptjunior engineers) and Demployees on May 3.

WITH 4 FRESH CASES,CHANDIGARH TALLY IS174

Four fresh cases ofCOVID-19 (Coronavirus) werereported on Sunday, takingthe total count in Chandigarhto 174.

Three fresh cases were

from the Bapu Dham colony,Sector 26 here, which has now110 infected persons and onefrom Sector 40 till the evening.

The number of fatalitiesstands at three in the city now.The test results of a 62-year-oldmale resident of Bapu Dhamcolony, who died at theGovernment Medical Collegeand Hospital, Sector32, onSaturday, also came back pos-itive.

“A 62 years old male resi-dent of Bapu Dham colonySector 26 who had been report-ed as positive for Coronavirushad expired on Saturday atGMCH 32. He was admitted atGMCH 32 with complaints ofloose stools on May 7,” statedChandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening healthbulletin.

“The person was a patientof heart disease. He suffered

from a cardiac arrest threeyears back for which he hadundergone angioplasty andangiography. His sample forCOVID-19 was taken atGMCH 32 and was found to becontaminated initially.Subsequently one more samplewas taken after death whichwas reported as positive forCoronavirus,” it stated.

The three fresh cases ofCoronavirus included a 5 yearsold boy, 11 years old male and45 years old male. All are res-idents of Bapu Dham colony.

“5 years old boy is a fami-ly contact of already diagnosedpositive case. 45 years old maleis a community contact ofalready diagnosed positive casein the area He has two familycontacts and 28 communitycontacts. The 11 years old maleis also a community contact ofalready diagnosed positive

patient,” the bulletin stated.21 cases were reported

from the BDC on Saturday,making it the steepest single-day spike in Chandigarh.Earlier, it was on May 1 thatChandigarh had witnessed 14cases in a day.

The city has 147 activecases, 24 have recovered fromthe virus while three deathshave been reported so far.

The recovery rate hasdeclined to 13 percent in thecity, lower than the nationalaverage of around 30 percent.2142 samples have been testedso far in the city.

Report of 20 samples wasawaited till the filing of thisstory. Among the six contain-ment zones of the city, the BDCcontributes the highest (110)cases, followed by Sector 30-B,from where 21 infections havebeen reported.

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About 68,000 such migrantworkers have been sent

back to their home states freeof cost through various trainsand buses from Haryana.

“The State Government,led by Chief Minister ManoharLal, in its commitment to sendwilling migrant workers to theirhome states is providing freetransport facility through 5000buses and 100 ‘Special Shramiktrains’ for them to reach theirstates in a safe and systematicmanner,” said an officialspokesman.He said that afterthe announcement made byChief Minister Manohar Lal tosend every migrant labourerand agricultural labourer backto their home states, 68000such migrants have been sent totheir homes states

As many as 6000 migrant

labourers have returned totheir homes states through 200buses to western Uttar Pradeshand other states and more than3600 migrant labourersthrough three trains to Biharand Madhya Pradesh, he said.

The spokesman informedthat till date, through morethan 1100 buses carryingmigrant workers have beensent to various states, 890 buseshas been sent to Uttar Pradesh,152 buses to Rajasthan, 44buses to Madhya Pradesh, 9buses each to Punjab, andUttarakhand and 2 buses havebeen sent to Himachal Pradesh.

He further informed thattill date through a total of 14‘Special Shramik trains’ migrantworkers have departed to Biharand Madhya Pradesh, out ofwhich 10 trains were departedto Bihar and 4 trains to MadhyaPradesh.

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The apprehension of thehealth department and

concerned citizens that thereturning migrants could bringnovel coronavirus (COVID-19) to the areas of Uttarakhandwhich hitherto have remainedfree from the dreaded virus isproving true.

On Sunday, one personwho had recently returnedfrom COVID-19 infestedGujarat to his village in moun-tainous district of Uttarkashiwas found positive for the dis-ease. The district like othermountainous districts of theState was so far free from thevirus and has been placed inthe green zone.

A day earlier, four persons,the migrants who had camefrom Uttar Pradesh (UP) werefound infected with theCOVID-19 in Udham SinghNagar district which was alsoin green zone.

The person found positivefor COVID-19 in Uttarkashi isa 32-year- old youth fromDunda block. He along with

three others had come onmotorcycles from Surat inGujarat on May 8. His samplewas taken on May 8 by healthdepartment when he showedsome symptoms of the disease.The sample was declared pos-itive on Sunday by the lab ofAIIMS, Rishikesh.

A shocked district health

department has now sent fivepeople who had came into hiscontact into quarantine and istracing other contact history ofthis youth.

With this new case,Uttarakhand now has 68 casesof the disease out of which 46patients have recovered anddischarged from the hospitals.

The additional secretary,state health department, YugalKishore Pant reports of 331samples were received by thehealth department on Sundayand out of them one was foundpositive for COVID-19.

He said that the state nowhas 21 active cases of the dis-ease out of total 68 positive

cases so far. Pant said thatreports of 194 samples are stillawaited by the department.On Sunday, a total of 187 sam-ples were collected for COVID-19 testing. The authoritieshave so far taken swab samplesof 9668 suspected patients forCOVID-19 test. Out of thetotal samples taken, 0.75 per-cent samples have been foundpositive for the disease. Therate of recovery from theCOVID-19 in the state is 67.65percent.

A total of 14624 personsare kept in home quarantinewhile 2514 are in facility quar-antine. A total of 1264979 peo-ple have so far downloaded the‘Aarogya Setu App’ on theirsmart phones. Out of the 21active cases in the state, UdhamSingh Nagar district now hashighest nine cases followed byDehradun district which haseight active cases. Haridwardistrict has two active caseswhile Nainital and Uttarkashidistricts have one active casenow. The doubling rate in thestate in the last seven days is 39days.

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After a long gap, the CT scanfacility would soon start at

Government Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospital. Anew Coronary CTAngiography machine is beinginstalled in the department ofradiology of the GDMC andthe machine would start isoperation in two weeks. Theprincipal of the GDMC, DrAshutosh Sayana said that 64slice machine is highlyadvanced and apart from CT,it would also be used for doingangiography and other diag-nostic process. He said that theworks like space selection andpower supply for the machinehas been completed.

It is worth mentioninghere that this important radiodiagnostic machine of thebiggest Government hospital ofthe state is non-functionalfrom February 2019. In its vis-its to GDMC, the teams ofMedical Council of India(MCI) had expressed annoy-

ance over the absence of CTscan facility in the hospital.

Interestingly the GDMChas also started a diplomacourse in radio diagnosis andconsidering the patient loadin the hospital at least twosuch machines are neededhere.

The old CT scan machinewas installed in the hospital inthe year 2004 and as per normsit should have been replacedafter ten years. However thismachine was used beyond itsterm due to which it becameprone to repeated malfunc-tioning. When this machinebecome non functional in

February 2019, the stateadministration finally accept-ed the long standing demandof the GDMC hospital toreplace this machine with amore advanced one.

More than 50 CT scanswere done by the lone machinedaily when it was operationaland in absence of this facilitythe patients are forced to visitexpensive private hospitals anddiagnostic centres to get the CTdone. In absence of CT scanfacility, the doctors in somecases were advising MRI scansfor the patients resulting inextra load on the MRImachine.

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The first of the special trainsto bring migrants from

Uttarakhand back to the Statewill depart from Surat inGujarat early on Mondaymorning. Informing about thison Sunday, the Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawatthanked the Union RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal for facil-itating the special trains.

Rawat informed that thefirst train bringing backmigrants to Uttarakhand willdepart from Surat at 4 AM onMonday and arrive atKathgodam. This train willtransport migrants belonging

to the Kumaon region.Similarly, another train willdepart from Surat to Haridwaron May 12. The timing of thistrain is not yet finalised but isexpected to be scheduled soon,said the CM. Addressing thosereturning to their native statethe CM wished them goodhealth and asked them tomaintain all the necessary pre-cautions for their own healthand that of those around them.He also thanked the local socialworkers who had helped inmaking various arrangementsfor migrants fromUttarakhand.Earlier, while

addressing the media, cabinetminister and State governmentspokesman Madan Kaushikhad said that about five specialtrains to bring back migrantsfrom Uttarakhand are expect-ed to be finalised in the nextcouple of days. It will berecalled that the State govern-ment had already deposited Rs50 lakh advance with theRailways to bring back itsnatives to the state. The Stategovernment has already statedthat the migrants returning inthe trains will not have to payfor the journey which will bepaid for by the govt.

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Children are getting easilyirritated spending more

time indoors during the lock-down and thus to make themstay at home for over a monthnow is a challenge, State theirparents. While sharing theexperience of managing theirkids during the lockdown, localparents told The Pioneer aboutthe ways in which they are try-ing to make the lives of theirkids easy.

“Children get fed up easi-ly than adults when they areput under restrictions. Schoolsand other classes used to keepthem occupied but now they donot know what to do with theirfree time. Therefore, in the firstweek of the lockdown, Ienrolled my children in someonline classes. My daughterlikes dance so I have enrolled

her in a two-month dancecourse besides enrolling my sonin coding classes. Also, theirmobile phones also keep thembusy. Not an ideal situation butwhat else can we do," said alocal teacher BidhisthaChakrobarty.

According to Ladpur resi-dent Preetika Gairola, “Initiallywe all were very excited tospend time with each otherduring the lockdown.

But when I and my hus-band got busy with work fromhome later, our children start-

ed to seek our attention bydoing things like fighting witheach other continuously orcompelling us to take them out-side.

Therefore, we made atimetable for them and it tookme a couple of days to make

them follow it. A proper sched-ule during the lockdown is cur-rently helping us to manage ourchildren. The internet is alsoplaying a huge role in keepingthem occupied."

However, there are someparents who are not strug-gling to keep their childrenoccupied during the lockdown."I understand that many peo-ple are having difficulties intackling with their kids duringthe lockdown. But it is thank-fully not same for me as I livein a joint family. There areseven children in our familywith eight adults so it is lessstressful than in a smaller fam-ily. Our children remain quiteoccupied the whole day. Ofcourse, they cause annoyance attimes but it is still manageable.I think it is a perk of living ina joint family," said homemak-er Shanti Singh.

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With thousands ofmigrants returning to

their native villages from var-ious States, Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat talkedto district Panchayat chair-persons on the phone andenquired about their condition.He also sought feedback fromthem on the efforts beingundertaken by the districtadministration to prevent thespread of COVID-19.

Rawat said that a largenumber of migrants fromUttarakhand are being broughtback from various States withmany of them having beenbrought back so far.

The State Government isobserving all the medicalnorms in this process.

The migrants are beingsent to their destination in thestate only after proper screen-

ing.Those who

are not display-ing any symp-toms are toremain underhome quaran-tine. GramPradhans havebeen authorisedto ensure thatthis is strictlyfollowed.

R a w a trequested thed i s t r i c tPanchayat headsto also keep aneye to check whether thosereturning to the state are prop-erly observing quarantine.They should inform the gov-ernment immediately in case ofany problem.

The CM said that migrantUttarakhandis are to bebrought back considering the

problems they are facing.However, it must also beensured that COVID-19 con-tagion does not spread further.While the governmentmachinery is doing the need-ful, the cooperation of thelocal public representatives isalso necessary, he added.

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Out of about 1.80 lakhmigrants registered for

returning to Uttarakhand,about 30,000 have beenbrought back till Sundayevening. Though there is arisk factor bringing backmigrants from other States,their return has to be facilitat-ed. Apart from this, intensivecare units (ICUs) have been setup in 11 of the State’s districtsand the same in the remainingtwo districts will also be estab-lished soon, said CabinetMinister and State Governmentspokesman Madan Kaushik.

Addressing the media hereon Sunday, Kaushik said thatabout 1.80 lakh migrants hadregistered to return toUttarakhand. Out of these,23,794 had been brought backby Saturday night and thenumber would increase to30,000 by Sunday evening.

He said that though thereis some risk in bringing backmigrants to the state from out-side, the return has to be facil-itated as one does not leave a

family member stranded.About five special trains areexpected to operate in thecoming days from various partsof India bringing back strand-ed Uttarakhandis. Thosereturning to the state areundergoing proper screeningand other precautions which iswhy it is taking some time forthem to depart towards theirhome districts after returningto the state. Apart from this, outof 21,717 persons from otherstates stranded in Uttarakhandwho had registered to return totheir home states, 6,378 personshave been sent back to theirstates

Regarding the medicalfacilities in the state, Kaushiksaid that presently there arefour laboratories testing sam-ples for COVID-19. Whereas

there were ICUs in only threedistricts in 2017, ICUs havenow been established in 11 dis-tricts and will start functioningsoon in the two remainingdistricts- Almora andBageshwar. Further, a govern-ment order has also beenpassed to provide benefit ofAyushman Bharat and AtalAyushman Uttarakhand Yojanato government employees andpensioners in the state.

To tackle the situationresulting from the COVID-19pandemic, Rs 85 crore hasbeen released from the StateDisaster Relief Fund. Fromthis sum, Rs five crore each hasbeen provided to the districtsfor measures to ensure protec-tion from COVID-19 while Rs20 crore has been released tothe Medical Education depart-ment for strengtheningCOVID-19 notified hospitalsand arrangement of necessaryequipment. Apart from this, Rs10 crore has been released tothe Medical Education depart-ment from the CM relief fundto strengthen the governmentmedical colleges.

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People who recently returnedfrom other states and do

not want to get quarantined attheir homes can stay in thequarantine centres establishedby the district administration.However, the demand forcooked food packets hasdeclined by 30 per cent in theDehradun district since theadministration provided somelockdown relaxations in thedistrict.

According to theDehradun Chief DevelopmentOfficer (CDO) NitikaKhandelwal, the administrationmostly provides food packets todaily wage workers andmigrants. "Since some have

started working, they do notrequire cooked food packetsanymore. Many workers fromshelter homes and quarantinecentres have also returned totheir respective districts due towhich the requirement of foodpackets has declined.

There are only about 70per cent people now who arebeing delivered the cookedfood packets," informedKhandelwal.

However, she added thatthe requirement of ration kitsis about the same as beforebecause there are still manypeople who depend on districtadministration for their fooditems to cook their meals.

Meanwhile, many migrantshave been returning in recent

days from other States to theirhomes in Dehradun.Reportedly, many families areconcerned that the return oftheir family members fromoutside can increase the risk ofCOVID-19 infection.

Talking about this,Khandelwal stated that thosewho do not want to go homedue to safety concerns of theirfamily members can stay in thequarantine centres set up by thedistrict administration.

"There are all the facilitiesprovided by the administrationin the institutional quarantinecentres for people.

Anyone who wants to staywillingly can stay here for theirquarantine period," added theCDO.

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Though the West BengalGovernment has allegedly

not been prompt in ensuringthe return of its stranded resi-dents from Haridwar, about150 Bengalis departed for theirhome State in buses on Sunday.They were permitted to leaveby the local administrationwith e-passes. Meanwhile,Cabinet Minister and StateGovernment spokesmanMadan Kaushik said thatUttarakhand Government hadrepeatedly contacted the WestBengal Government to facili-tate the return of Bengalisstranded in Haridwar.However, the StateGovernment had not receivedany response from WestBengal, he said.

About 900 residents ofWest Bengal have been strand-ed in Haridwar for about 50days due to the lockdown.

They have been makingconsistent attempts to return to

their home state but wereunable to do so. Their patiencegave way after May 3, whenthey staged a protest demon-stration accusing the WestBengal government of remain-ing apathetic towards theircondition and not facilitating

their return efficiently.Devashish Dhar from West

Bengal said that theUttarakhand government andlocal administration had pro-vided a lot of support to theBengalis stranded in Haridwar.If the West Bengal government

had also worked in a similarmanner, the stranded Bengaliswould have been home bynow, he said before boardingthe bus out of Haridwar.Another person boarding thebus to West Bengal said thatthey had been informed that

their home state would allowthem entry on the basis of thee-pass. They would have tospend some time under quar-antine. Stating that theUttarakhand government hadsupported the strandedBengalis considerably, he saidthat the government of hishome state had provided onlya little cooperation. Meanwhile,Haridwar city magistrateJagdish Lal said that about 150people have been allowed todepart for West Bengal. Thisprocess will continue, he added.

Earlier, addressing mediapersons in Dehradun, cabinetminister Madan Kaushik saidthat repeated communicationssent to the West Bengal gov-ernment regarding the returnof its stranded residents inHaridwar had not received anyresponse. He said that theBengalis stranded in Haridwarwere under considerable stressand were being provided nec-essary facilities and even coun-seling to handle the situation.

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The Sri Dev SumanUttarakhand (SDSU)

University has given finaltouches to preparations toensure transparency in affilia-tion to colleges. The universi-ty has created a web portal foraffiliation to colleges in the2020-21 academic session.After a trial, the web portal willbe formally launched. The uni-versity officials state that facil-itating online process for col-leges seeking affiliation with theuniversity will prevent anyanomalies and ensure trans-parency.

It should be mentionedhere that 114 private collegesand 53 Government collegesare affiliated to the SDSUUniversity. Till now, the collegerepresentatives had to makevisits to the university office foraffiliation. In some cases theprivate colleges used to alleged-ly indulge in anomalies due tolack of transparency. The uni-versity vice chancellor PPDhyani had decided to put inplace an online application

process for affiliation. The uni-versity’s web portal is nowready and preparations arenow underway to conduct atrial of this portal.

This portal will facilitateonline affiliation for all collegesin the coming academic ses-sion. In addition to securingthe affiliation online, the col-lege will be able to grant admis-sions to students only afterwritten permission from theuniversity.

The university vice chan-cellor PP Dhyani said that theweb portal is now ready inorder to ensure transparency inthe process. A trial of the por-tal will be conducted and anygaps found will be redressed.

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Reaching out to the littoralcountries located on the

rim of the strategically impor-tant Indian Ocean, India hasdispatched its warship to sup-ply essential items to at leastfive countries in the backdropof the coronavirus pandemic.The ship INS Kesari set sail onSunday as part of ‘MissionSagar’ and this effort is in linewith India’s role as the firstresponder in the region.

Giving details of thedeployment, officials said herethe countries which will get theitems include Maldives,Mauritius, Seychelles,Madagascar and Comoros. Theship is carrying food Items,COVID related medicinesincluding HCQ Tablets andSpecial Ayurvedic Medicines

with Medical Assistance Teams.The deployment is in con-

sonance with Prime MinistersNarendra Modi’s vision ofSecurity and Growth for All inthe Region (SAGAR) andhighlights the importanceaccorded by India to rela-tions with her neighbouringcountries and furtherstrengthens the existing bond.

The operation is beingprogressed in close coordina-tion with the Ministries ofDefence and External Affairs,and other agencies of the gov-ernment, officials said here.

As part of Mission Sagar,INS Kesari would enter thePort of Male in Republic ofMaldives, to provide them600 tons of food provisions.India and Maldives are closemaritime neighbours withstrong and extremely cordial

defence and diplomatic rela-tions.

This even as INS Jalashwareached Kochi, Kerala onSunday with 698 Indian evac-uees from Maldives, anotherIndian Navy warship INSMagar reached Male, capital ofMaldives on Sunday to bringout 200 more Indians. Theywill be ferried to Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu. Both the war-ships are deployed for therescue effort codenamed‘Operation Samudra Setu.’

INS Magar has made allnecessary logistic, medicaland administrative prepara-tions at her base port Kochi tocomfortably accommodatecivilians before setting sailtowards Maldives.

The ship will evacuateIndian citizens while ensuringall precautions related toCOVID-19 including socialdistancing norms are fol-lowed. An entirely separatesection of the ship with essen-tial facilities like food andwashrooms has been preparedto accommodate the evac-uees and a separate mess hasbeen allotted for women,infants and senior citizens.Additional precautions havebeen taken by dividing theevacuees into groups to avoidcrowding at common areaslike dining hall and bath-rooms.

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The ITBP onSunday reported

56 fresh Covid-19cases followed by 18cases each in BSF andCISF besides twoinfected persons inCRPF. With the 56new infections inthese Forces, the total numberof infected persons in theparamilitary ranks rose to 752on Sunday from 653 onSaturday.

With the latest additions ofcoronavirus infection in itsranks, the tally of the patientsrose to 276 in the BSF whichcontinues to be the worst hitparamilitary by the viral pan-demic.

While 16 cases were report-ed from Tripura, two were test-ed positive for Covid-19 in thenational capital in the BorderSecurity Force (BSF), officialssaid.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) contracted two positive cases onSunday taking the tally ofinfected persons to 236.

The CRPF has the secondhighest number of positivecases followed by ITBP whichhas reported156 cases so far.

In the CRPF, there are 233active cases with two patients

recovering from the disease and a Sub Inspector suc-cumbing to the viral infection.

With 18 new positive cases,the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)has 66 corona virus infectedpersons.

The number of coronavirus infections in the SashastraSeema Bal (SSB) rose to 18from the last count of 13 posi-tive cases last week.

Paramilitary officials saidthe personnel have contracted the infections most-l yduring frontline duty alongwith the local police for enforc-ing lockdown and social mea-sures as part of theGovernment's efforts to breakthe chain of spread of the dis-ease.

The Forces have under-scored that all safety protocolsare being strictly followed bythe personnel during deployment with civil police.

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These are tough times. As theCovid-19 crisis looms to

new proportions brining theworld to standstill, leavingmany shelter-less and joblesswhile disrupting medical aid tomany patients, a diverse lot ofindividuals and organisationsare working silently to helpsuch vulnerable groups acrossthe country, reinforcing thefaith that not all is lost.

About 1,586 kilometersaway from the national capital,Mohammed Shujatulah ofHumanity First Foundationspends his days distributingfood to the needy outside hos-pitals, orphanages and railwaystations in Hyderabad.Shujatulah relies on crowd fund-ing and individual donations tosponsor his charity work.

Similarly, many NGOs likeKAB Welfare Foundation andBlood on Demand helpline(9266666666) from Giving isLiving Foundation have beenholding blood donation campsin Delhi and NCR region toensure that patients sufferingfrom Thalassemia and otherblood disorders do not have toface difficulties in Covid-times.Blood transfusion is the maintreatment for the persons afflict-ed with blood disorder.

Their representatives feltthat at this time when there is

huge shortage of blood due tolockdown following restrictionon movement and donorsscared of going hospitals amidCovid-19 scare, there should bea centralised venue like IndianRed Cross Society where donorscan donate the blood and hos-pitals including those in privatesector collect the blood.

GS Kapoor, Director ofGiving is Living Foundationcalled for uniform blood pro-cessing and other charges as has been done in thecase with the test for Covid-19test. Why should there be vari-ation for such an important lifesaving product? he asked.

On the other hand, TheHans Foundation, a public char-itable trust which provides funding support toNGOs in the country has beenreaching out to lakhs ofmigrants, poor, sick and homeless and hungry people

through its more than 350NGOs in 26 states and unionterritories particularly in ruralIndia.

On its part, Smile Train, theworld's largest cleft organization,recently launched a digital cam-paign in India titled,#EndTheStigma, to createawareness around the stigmaassociated with COVID-19while members of Inner WheelDistrict 301, New Delhi, abranch of International InnerWheel, a global NGO has comeforward to distribute packedfood for 5 000 people at differ-ent slum areas in Delhi.

Then there are stories, ofchildren donating their piggybanks for purchase of facemasks and sanitisers, and forfeeding masses who live onstreet, and of groups of young volunteers distributingfood and masks to needy, of oldmen donating their life savingstowards improving health careinfrastructure.

There are about 92,000NGOs and many more indi-viduals, some acknowleged byauthorities but most of themworking anonymously, whoare trying to comfort millionsbattling pandemic and penury.

Individually, these striv-ings may not count much. Yeteach one of them affirm thecommitment to healing theocean of humanity called India.

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Netizens trolled RadioPakistan on Sunday after it

committed a major gaffe in itsbid to get even with India.

After IndianMeteorological Department(IMD) and Doordarshan start-ed to include the Gilgit-Baltistan region andMuzaffarabad in their weatherforecasts, Radio Pakistan tweet-ed with maximum and mini-mum temperatures in Ladakh,albeit with a major error.

In a series of tweets, RadioPakistan provided the weatherdetails for all the regions in Indiaoccupied Jammu and Kashmir.But in one tweet, a major goof-up attracted many Twitter users."In Ladakh maximum temper-ature is -4 degree centigrade andminimum temperature is-1degree centigrade," the tweetread.

Social media users werequick to point out the mix-up ofthe words ‘maximum’ and ‘min-imum’ by Radio Pakistan’sTwitter handle. Twitter userssoon pointed out that -4 degreecentigrade was actually lowerthan -1 degree centigrade andcannot be the ‘maximum’ tem-perature.

“This is the result when

math teachers are part time sui-cide bombers and terrorists,”wrote one of tweeter user.

One twitter user comment-ed “India started WeatherForecast of Bangladesh in 1970& one year later East Pakistanbecame History & Bangladeshwas born. History will repeatitself in PoK & Gilgit Baltistan.Pak army start preparing fromtoday itself”.

One user pointed that thepeople in Pakistan did not knowthe difference between the max-imum and minimum. Anotheruser advised Pakistan to follow

India correctly, even if theyintended to follow the countryblindly.

"In #Ladakh, maximumtemperature is -4 degree centi-grade and minimum tempera-ture is -1 degree centigrade," readthe tweet. Another tweeted“India started Weather Forecastof Bangladesh in 1970 & one yearlater East Pakistan becameHistory & Bangladesh was born.History will repeat itself in PoK& Gilgit Baltistan. Pakarmy startpreparing from today itself ’.

One Twitter user said, “It'shigh time for you to engage

yourself in Education andschooling rather than militancy.See your officials don't evenunderstand what's Max andwhat's Low.” Another tweeted,"Wrong... max should be -1 andminimum should be -4." "Yetweet padh ke Pakistan ki max-imum aukat aur minimum IQpata chal gayi..(After reading thetweet one gets to know Pakistan'smaximum status and minimumIQ)," read another tweet.Another tweeted, “This is whathappens when you divert all themoney to terrorism from edu-cation.” "RIP common sense!!! -

4 max and - 1 min??? Kon se golese Science padhe ho???" anoth-er Twitter user wrote.

Radio Pakistan's tweetaimed at levelling scores withIndia triggered a flurry of funnyposts with some using memesfeaturing Pakistan's founderMuhammad Ali Jinnah's photo.

Many others, with theirtweets, schooled Pakistan to notcopy their "daddy" - a referenceused by many trolls since thecountry was born out of India in1947.

The IMD move to includePoK, Gilgit and Baltistan andMuzaffrabad in the JammuKashmir sub division comesdays after the Pakistan SupremeCourt’s decision to allow theIslamabad to amend a 2018administrative order to conductgeneral elections in the region.The move came close on theheels of Pakistan SupremeCourt's decision to let its gov-ernment hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan. India had lodged aprotest with Pakistan, askingIslamabad to immediately vacateall areas under its illegal occu-pation. The Gilgit-BaltistanOrder of 2018 provided foradministrative changes, includ-ing authorizing the PrimeMinister of Pakistan to legislateon an array of subjects.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Sunday said that north-west,eastern and southern Statesare likely to get rainfall, thun-derstorm and hailstorms withstrong winds in the next fourdays due to western distur-bances and convergence ofmoist easterly and southwest-erly winds in the lower levels.The present weather conditionsis likely to stay for a few moredays and will delay the onset ofthe heat wave. In the past oneand half month, unexpectedrainfall and thunderstorm havedamaged 25-30 percent rabiand horticulture crops acrossIndia.

According to the IMD,northwest and north easternstates including Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,Jammu Kashmir, Gilgit,Baltistan, Muzaffarabad,Himachal Pradesh andUttrakhand witnessed squallywinds with widespread rainfall,thundershowers and hailstormson Sunday. “The presentweather conditions over NorthWest and central India will

remain till May 14. TheWestern Disturbance is likely tomove further northeastwardsand interact with the low-levelcirculation and easterlies overnorthwestern parts of Indiacausing increase of moistureincursion in the region. Thisfeature likely to cause isolatedto scattered rain/thunder-showers over WesternHimalayan Region and plainsof northwest India mainly dur-ing May 10-14,”the IMD said.

“Due to trough/wind dis-continuity, isolated to scat-tered rain/thundershowers verylikely over central & southpeninsular India during thenext 5 days,” it said.

The North West, Central,North-East and Southern statesare also predicted to receiverainfall in the next four days.

According to Dr KuldeepSrivastava, the head of theregional forecasting centre ofthe IMD, said it was a result ofa fresh western disturbanceand this condition is likely tostay for a few more days andwill delay the onset of the heatwave. The IMD has earlierpredicted thunderstormsaccompanied with lightning,

hail and gusty winds (30-40kmph) at isolated places inparts of northwest India.

The IMD in its weathersummary and forecast bulletinpredicted isolated to scatteredrain/thundershowers, due tothe Western Disturbance, overWestern Himalayan region andplains of northwest India main-ly between May 10 and 14 withpeak activities on May 10. Thenorth eastern and eastern mayalso receive scattered rain-fall/strong winds/hailstorms inthe next four days due to con-vergence of moist southwest-erly winds in the lower levels.

“The Western Disturbancelikely to move further northeastwards and interact with the lowlevel circulation and easterliesover northwestern parts ofIndia causing increase of mois-ture incursion in the region,”the IMD bulletin read.

The IMD predicted thun-derstorm accompanied withlightning and gusty winds(speed reaching 30-40 kmph)at isolated places over Jammu& Kashmir, Ladakh, and Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad inPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) till May 14.

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Playing a major role in thenational effort to fight

COVID-19, Hyderabad-basedDefence Research andDevelopment’s (DRDO) pre-mier lab, Research CentreImarat (RCI), has developed anautomated contact-less ultra-violet (UVC) sanitisation cab-inet, called Defence ResearchUltraviolet Sanitiser (DRUVS).It has been designed to sanitisemobile phones, iPads, laptops,currency notes, cheque leafs,challans, passbooks, paper,envelopes, etc.

The DRUVS cabinet is hav-ing contactless operation whichis very important to contain thespread of virus. The proximitysensor switches, clubbed withdrawer opening and closingmechanism, makes its opera-

tion automatic and contactless.It provides 360 degree exposureof UVC to the objects placedinside the cabinet. Once thesanitisation is done, the systemgoes in sleep mode hence theoperator need not wait or standnear the device.

The RCI has also developedan automated UVC currencysanitising device, calledNOTESCLEAN. Bundles ofcurrency notes can be sanitisedusing DRUVS, however, disin-fection of each currency notesusing it will be a time-con-suming process. For that pur-pose, a sanitising techniquehas been developed, where onehas to just place the loose cur-rency notes at the input slot ofthe device. It picks the notes oneby one and makes them passthrough a series of UVC lampsfor complete disinfection.

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In the backdrop of the Vizag gastragedy, National Disaster

Management Authority(NDMA) has issued new safetyguidelines to factories insistingfor test or trial runs to avoidindustrial disasters in the units.The NDMA under Union HomeMinistry insisted that no unitsshould go for full fledged scaleof production at least for sevendays and test or trial run shouldbe conducted to check the safe-ty of plants. The detailed guide-line directed all manufacturingunits must conduct safety checksand trial runs and test the plantsand machinery to avoid leaks orblasts in the units.

The NDMA also directed aseries of pandemic prevention inwork places such as 24-hoursanitisation of premises, tem-perature check of all employeestwice daily, providing face

shields, masks and PPEs (per-sonal protective equipment),creating physical distancing byerecting barriers on work floorsand dining facilities and ensur-ing no sharing of tools etc. Theauthority also directed the fac-tories to make financial provi-sions for checking the health careof the workers.

The guidelines say,“Factories need to maintain asanitisation routine every two-three hours especially in thecommon areas that includelunch rooms and common tableswhich will have to be wiped cleanwith disinfectants after every sin-gle use.” This has to be done evenin case of accommodation, theyadd. Apart from two temperaturechecks a day, the guidelines haveasked factories to ensure work-ers showing symptoms do notreport to work and there are pro-visions for hand sanitisers, glovesand mask for all.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Sunday said that he is

hopeful that Parliament’sMonsoon Session could beheld on time, despite theCovid-19 crisis. The MonsoonSession normally begins in thelast week of June or in the firstweek of July. "Despite COVID-19 crisis, I am hopeful that ses-sion could be held on time. Butit will also depend on the situ-ation prevailing at that time,"Birla told PTI

Last year, the MonsoonSession ran between June 20 andAugust 7. The Speaker under-lined that it was a testing timedue to the COVID-19 crisis, butexpressed hope that the session

could be held as per normalschedule. Asked whether it willbe possible to hold the session ifthere are strict social-distancingnorms still in place in June-July,Birla said a way out could befound when that situation comes.

Few days ago Birla met VicePresident and Rajya SabhaChairperson Venkaiah Naiduand discussed on using videoconference methods in the panelmeetings of Parliament. Birla, onwhose initiative a control roomwas set up in Lok Sabha and stateassemblies for better coordina-tion between states in helpingpeople, said this experimentturned out to be very successfulas elected representatives fromdifferent States got in touchwith each other and helped peo-

ple from their respective con-stituencies who are stuck inother places.

"MPs cutting across partylines reached out to people andhelped them during this pan-demic-forced lockdown. They

should be praised and I thankthem," he said. In the wake of theCOVID-19 pandemic, theBudget session had to be endedprematurely on March 23, over10 days ahead of its last sched-uled sitting on April 3.

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Restaurants and hotelsacross the country have

urged the State Governmentsto allow them to sell the liquoramid coronavirus lockdown.The move comes at a timewhen several state govern-ments have allowed the sale ofretail alcohol with some guide-lines. In its appeal to the stategovernments, the Restaurantsand hotels have stated thatthere is a stockpile of around�3,000 crore lying with them.Last week, the Supreme Courtalso advised the state govern-ments to consider the onlinesale or non-direct contact andhome delivery of the same.

National RestaurantAssociation of India (NRAI)President Anurag Katriar saidon one hand we are sittingwith expensive liquor inven-tory and on the other hand, weare cash starved. "We requestevery state Government toallow us an opportunity to sellour liquor stocks, preferablythrough home delivery model.

"This will help us depleteour stocks, raise some moneyto take care of urgent peopleneeds and will still be compli-ant to social distancing norms.We understand that this mayrequire some amendments tothe law but I am sure it can becarried out under the currentextraordinary circumstances,"

Katriar said. In similar vein, The Beer

Cafe founder and CEO RahulSingh said liquor sales in Indiatake place through threelicenced verticals -- retail,horeca (hotels, restaurants andcatering) and canteen storesdepartment.

The total horeca licencedplaces are around 30,000 in thecountry and "at any giventime, the stock in hand wouldbe for 1 month. Which meansthat due to lockdown, thetotal unsold inventory lying atvarious horeca outlets acrossIndia would be around Rs3,000 crore," he added.

While retail sales of liquorare opening, the service indus-

try continues to be in limbo,he said.

"What we are asking thestate governments is simple.All we are asking is to allow usto sell our stock on a tempo-rary basis. We would like tosell our stock," Singh said.Every country in the worldhas done this and it is alsoneeded to be done here, headded.

"At least allow us to sellthis stock that is with us ofaround �3,000 crore and getliquidity to pay wages andFovernment should maketemporary amendments tothe rules. It will also ease thequeues at the retail outlets," headded.

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Tamil Nadu Government’s decision torelax lockdown regulations from

Monday morning suffered a setback asthe State registered 669 new cases ofcoronavirus positive patients on Sunday.The addition of the 669 new entrants tothe pandemic table took the number ofpersons tested positive in the State to7,204. The last nine days saw the num-ber of covid-19 patients in the Stategoing up from 2526 (May 1) to 7,204,an increase of 4,678.

A medial bulletin issued by theTamil Nadu Government on Sundaysaid the the number of fatalities rose to47 as three more persons succumbed tothe pandemic. Chennai with 509 coro-navirus cases led the tally on Sunday andthe number of patients in the metrop-olis went up to 3,839, the highest in theState.

But what is of concern to commu-nity health specialists in Chennai andthe remaining parts of the State is themove by the Government to relax thelockdown restrictions and allow theopening of business and commercialestablishments all over barring thecontainment regions.

The Koyambedu Fruits andVegetable Market, spread across an areaof 65 acres has been shut down and allthe shops were shifted to Thirumazhisaioutside the Greater Chennai MunicipalCorporation. Only wholesale traderswould be allowed to operate from thenew premises, according to theGovernment release.

Dr K Kolandaswamy, former direc-tor of public health and preventive med-icine, Government of Tamil nadu who

is working as an advisor to the StateGovernmet, told The Pioneer that therewas no need to panic over the increas-ing numbers. “This is bound to happenand we are seeing is the impact of ourcarelessness towards hygiene and san-itation in the past. You can see that vil-lages where people observed cleanlinessand sanitation are absolutely free of thispandemic. The increase in the numberof coronavirus cases will continue forsome more time but what we need iscourage and the flexibility to observe therestrictions,” said Dr Kolandaswamy.

The Tamil Nadu Government aspart of its efforts to fight the pandem-ic and revive the ailing economy has setup a 24-member committee of expertsheaded by former Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernor C Rangarajan to assess theimmediate and medium term impact ofthe covid-19 pandemic on the State’seconomy. The 88-year-old economistand his colleagues in the committee hasbeen asked by chief minister EdappadiPalaniswamy to suggest means toimprove the tax-GSDP (Gross StateDomestic Product) ratio, diversifyingrevenue sources and re-prioritizingexpenditure. Tamil Nadu Governmentis strategizing ways and means to woothe US and European companies whoare quitting China to set up manufac-turing plants in the State.

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Kerala’s seesaw battle withcoronavirus saw the pan-

demic getting an upperhand onSunday as seven persons test-ed positive for the pandemic.The new cases of covid-19were reported from the districtsof Wynadu (3), Thrissur (2) ,Ernakulam and Malappuram(one each). K K Shylaja, KeralaMinister for Health, told a TVchannel later in the eveningthat three of the seven freshcases were from the expatriateswho reached the State onThursday.

The details of the status ofcovid cases in the State was dis-closed through a press releaseby the Kerala Government asthe daily media briefing bychief minister Pinarayi Vijayanwas called off in the lastminute.

The release stated that 26,712 persons are under obser-

vation in the State as onSunday. Out of this, 26,350were under house observationwhile the rests have been hos-pitalized.

The Vande Bharat AirIndia flight which was to bringback 181 expatriates fromDoha was cancelled in the lastminute. The flight was expect-ed to land inThiruvananthapuram airport at10 pm but the onward flight toDoha was not given permissionby the Qatar Interior Ministryto land in that country, accord-ing to Gopalakrishnan, districtc o l l e c t o r ,Thiruvananathapuram.

“We do not know the rea-sons for denial of permissionfor the Air India flight by theauthorities in Qatar. But thepassengers who had bookedtheir tickets in this flight wouldbe brought back on Tuesday,”said Gopalakrishnan. Besidespassengers from the southern

districts of Kerala, many per-sons hailing from Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Maharashtrahad booked their tickets in thisflight.

Though the speciallytrained pilots and cabin crewfor the flight had boarded theaircraft at Kozhikode airport bySunday noon, they were calledback as the authorities in Qatardenied permission to the air-craft to land in Doha.

Notwithstanding setbackslike the return of coronavirusand the cancellation of theflight from Doha on Sunday,the State administration isgoing ahead with preparationsto receive and take care of allthe expatriates who are comingback.

Many private collegebuildings have been convertedinto temporary quarantine sta-tions by modernizing and san-itizing them to receive theWest Asian returnees.

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Aphysicist based in Kerala’sKayamkulam has brought

to life the age-old adage‘Necessity is the Mother ofInvention’. Rest and recupera-tion are two words which arealien to Dr M G Gireeshan, aPhD in electronics who worksas the vice-principal ofPerumbavoor’s Jai BharatCollege. There are more than200 technology driven inno-vations and inventions, manywith patents, to his credit.Some of his inventions includethe technology to prevent videopiracy and the automatic sys-tem to guard un-manned levelcrossings at railway tracks.

Though the national lock-down due to coronavirus pan-demic forced Gireeshan to stayat home, 200 km away from hisworkplace, he did not sit idle.In addition to extending helpto his father P M GopalaMenon, a well known tantricscholar in the State, during hispujas, Dr.Gireeshan immersedhimself in finding out a tech-nology to beat the coronavirus

using the medium of electron-ics. The end result is a path-breaking instrument, whichmay send chill down the spineof law breakers.

There were many instancesof persons ordered to undergoquarantine and isolation escap-ing from the isolation wardshoodwinking the health staff aswell as police men guardingthem. Many who were senthome for quarantining toomade use of the first availableopportunity to come out of theisolation rooms much to thehorror of the health officials

and the local population. This may soon come to an

end if the technology devel-oped by Gireeshan is put intouse. Gireeshan used a a com-bination metalcraft and elec-tronics to develop a fool-proofSafety Handcuff in the form ofa bracelet which could be wornby the person who has beenasked to undergo quarantine orisolation.

If the person tries to unlockor remove the bracelet in hisbid to escape from the quar-antine room, an alarm bellwill ring in the neighbouring

houses. “This has been donetaking into account the habit ofKeralaites everywhere. Ourbest security guards are ourneighbours who keep watchfuleyes and ears to monitor anymovements in our house. Thesmall alarm system, as simpleas a calling bell, could beinstalled in the neighbouringhouses and once the alarm issounded the neighbours canalert the relations of the patientas well as the local police sta-tion. It is a wireless system,”Gireeshan told The Pioneer.

Please don’t be under theimpression that the uniquenessof the invention is over. “It ispossible for the policemen inthe control room to detect anyattempts by the quarantined

person to remove the braceletor to escape from the quaran-tine room.

The TV screen installed inthe control room or the mobilephone number attached to thecontrol room would alert thepolicemen on duty about theintention of the person,” saidGiresshan.

He said that he incurred anexpense of Rs 4,000 to developthe Safety Handcuff. Sincemedical experts, especiallycommunity medicine doctorsare of the view that the Covid-19 pandemic would be aroundfor some more time, mass scaleproduction of Safety Handcuffsis sure to being down theprices. Any takers for SafetyHandcuffs?

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Lucknow: The Yogi AdityanathGovernment in Uttar Pradesh hasdecided to provide employment to90 lakh people in Micro, Small andMedium enterprises (MSME).

At a meeting with officials inLucknow, the UP Chief Ministersaid: "It is our commitment to bringback the glory of MSME sector. Thepresent crisis due to coronavirus hasgiven us an opportunity. We are tak-ing it as a challenge to turn UttarPradesh into the hub of MSME sec-tor. Banks will give loans to everywilling entrepreneur on generousterms. This sector will provide atleast 90 lakh job opportunities."

At present there are 90 lakhMSMEs units in the state. The CMsaid rules for all types of NOCs willbe relaxed along with the environ-mental clearances for new units. Fortransparency, all certificates will beavailable in a single-window system,Adityanath said.

Uttar Pradesh has a rich histo-ry of micro, small and mediumindustries. The specific product ofevery district (one product in eachdistrict) is proof of this, he said.

Yogi said, "Entrepreneurs whoset up units in this sector will be ableto apply and get NOCs quickly.Online applications will be invitedfor loans from banks. Loans fairs willbe organised between May 12 andMay 15 in each district. Banks havebeen directed to provide loans oneasy terms."

The Chief Minister said theofficials should motivate more entre-preneurs to set up units in the state."Prepare a detailed action plan assoon as possible. Despite the reces-sion, this sector has contributed sig-nificantly to the growth of per capi-ta income of the State in the last threeyears. We will further increase theincome through this," hesaid. IANS

Bengaluru: A 56-year-old woman suc-cumbed to Covid-19 here, even as peo-ple with travel history to north Indiaspiked coronavirus cases in Karnataka,raising the tally to 848 with 54 new cases,highest single-day rise, according to anofficial on Sunday.

"Positive case number 846, a residentof Bengaluru Urban, died on Thursday.She was confirmed Covid-19 positive onSaturday," said a health official. Thewoman, who died in a private hospital,had symptoms of Severe AcuteRespiratory Infection (SARI).

This is Karnataka's 31st Covid-19death and Bengaluru Urban's seventh.

Meanwhile, in the past 24 hours,Covid-19 cases spiked in Karnataka, withseveral people from Bagalkote, Belagaviand Shivamogga testing positive aftervisiting Ahmedabad in Gujarat andAjmer in Rajasthan.

Gujarat has been badly hit by coro-navirus and is second to Maharashtra inthe number of cases. "As of 5 p.m.Sunday, cumulatively 848 Covid positivecases have been confirmed in the state.These include 31 deaths," said the offi-cial. On Sunday, 36 people were dis-

charged -- Kalaburagi (13),Chikkaballapura (4), Vijayapura (8),Belagavi, Gadag and Bagalkoe, 3 eachand Myusuru and others, 1 each.

Among the 394 active cases, 388 areisolated at designated hospitals and arestable, except six in the ICU.

Thirty-two of the new cases are menwhile 22 are women, including 15 below20. There were also seven childrenbelow 10 years of age.

Of the 53 new cases, Belagavi con-tributed 22, Shivamogga and Bagalkote,8 each, Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, 7,Kalaburagi, 4, Bengaluru Urban, 3 each,Chintamani in Chikkaballapura andDavangere, 1 each.

All eight men from Shivamogga hada travel history to Ahmedabad, seven ofwhom are from Shikaripura, hometownof Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Until Saturday, Shivamogga was agreen zone without a case, but eight newcases in the past 24 hours made it anorange zone overnight. Shivamogga is312 km northwest of Bengaluru. AllBelagavi and Bagalkote cases had a trav-el history to Ajmer. All Bhatkal caseswere contacts of earlier cases. IANS

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Andhra Pradesh's see-saw battlewith Covid-19 saw the weekend

close with 50 new cases on Sunday.The death toll further increased withone more death reported from theKurnool district. Andhra Pradesh'snodal officer reported that the cumu-lative tally of Covid-19 cases in thestate touched 1,980 by Sunday morn-ing.

Of the 8,666 samples tested, 50positive cases were detected in the 24hours ending 10 a.m., Sunday.Chittoor district reported 16 cases —

the highest numbers in AP, followedby Kurnool with 13 new cases. Sixcases were detected in the Guntur dis-trict and five cases each were report-ed from Anantapur and Nellore dis-tricts respectively. The Prakasam dis-trict had only two cases in the past 24hours while Kadapa, Krishna, andVisakhapatnam districts registeredone case each. No new cases werereported from four of the state's 13districts.

Meanwhile, the death tollincreased to 45, following the deathof one person in the Kurnool district.The preceding 24 hours also saw 38

persons discharged from hospitalsafter they were declared totally curedof Covid-19. With this, the number ofcured in the state stands at 925 peo-ple. Consequently, there are 1,010active cases in Andhra Pradesh as ofSunday. On Saturday, the state's activecases tally had dipped below the1,000-mark and with only 43 casesdetected, Andhra Pradesh had report-ed it's lowest daily tally of Covid-19cases in weeks.

Kurnool district's cumulative tallytops the state list at 553, followed byGuntur and Krishna districts with 376and 338 cases respectively. Seven of

the state's 13 districts did not reportany new cases in the last 24 hours.

The State's top Covid-19hotspotsof the Kurnool district continued totop the cumulative tally charts, with566 cases detected here till date.

Guntur's tally stands at 382,Krishna district has 339 cases andAnantapur has 107 case.

Chittoor with 112 cases andNellore with 101 cases are the latestto cross the 100-mark in terms ofcumulative numbers. With the latestupdates, six of the 13 districts havecrossed the 100-mark.

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Agra Central jail's inmate 60-year-old Virendra's death due to

Covid-19 on Saturday, has alarmedother inmates and the jail adminis-tration, which has taken a series ofsteps to halt the spread of the infec-tion.

Jail authorities have quarantined14 other inmates of his ward and 16wardens. DIG Lav Kumar has twicevisited the jail to review the condi-tions and the facilities available in thejail premises. Other prisoners are saidto be panic-stricken and havedemanded testing. Against a capac-ity of around 1,500, the jail is over-crowded with 1,943 inmates.

The deceased Virendra, servinglife sentence, had been shifted toAgra from Jhansi in December 2019.He was admitted to the SN MedicalCollege on May 3, after a brain strokedue to high blood pressure. Hisreport on May 6, confirmed he wasCovid-19 positive.

Questions doing round hereraise an accusing finger at the jailmanagement. When meetings"mulaakaat" had been discontinuedwith the prisoners, of relatives andoutsiders, how did Virendra getinfected. Possibly he caught theinfection in the hospital, but that isdiscounted as his stay was veryshort.

Lucknow: A Government doc-tor, UP's first corona patient toget plasma therapy, died onSaturday night due to kidneyinfection.

Dr Sunil Agarwal, the 58-year-old government doctor,was infected in the line ofduty. His corona test reportcame negative for the secondconsecutive time on Saturday,hours before he passed away.

Dr D. Himanshu, in-chargeinfectious disease unit, KingGeorge's Medical University(KGMU), said, "He was dia-betic and suffering from acuterespiratory syndrome. He wason ventilator throughout thetreatment and given antiviraland symptomatic treatment.Since he was critical, we triedplasma therapy on him, afterwhich the condition of hislungs improved and heart func-tioning was better. However,five days ago, he developed UTIthat was not related to Corona.The dialysis was done twice,but infection aggravated and hedied due to kidney failure."

The doctor's wife, who wasalso being treated for coron-avirus, was declared recoveredand discharged after her twoconsecutive tests came nega-tive. She was in the isolationward adjacent to the ICU

where husband was being treat-ed. Their son is a MBBS finalyear student in KGMU.

Asked about the success ofplasma therapy, Dr Himanshusaid though patients showedpositive signs after plasmatherapy, nothing conclusivecould be said at the moment.He said that clinical trials of thetherapy will continue on otherpatients to reach a conclusion.

Dr Sunil Agarwal was ananesthetist, posted in Orai inJalaun district. He was a part ofthe Covid-19 team deployed inthe Jalaun Medical College.

Chief Medical OfficerJalaun, Dr Alpana Bartariyasaid, "He was the first Coronacase in the district and we stilldo not know how he got infect-ed."Family members said DrAgarwal had fever for eightdays and difficulty in breathingsince April 16. He came toLucknow along with his wife inan ambulance on April 24.Test reports of couple con-firmed corona onApril 25. IANS

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Lucknow: A man was found dead in one of the Shramik Special trains com-ing to Lucknow from Gujarat, late on Saturday evening, police said.

He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.Superintendent of Police (SP), Railways, Saumitra Yadav said the train hadarrived from Dhola in Bhavnagar district ofGujarat. The SP said, "None of the passengers informed us of the man beingsick. When the train reached Lucknow, the police noticed a man lying life-less and rushed him to the Balarampur hospital where he was declaredbrought dead." The deceased has been identified as Kanhaiya, 30, residentof the Sitapur district.

The SP said that since all the co-passengers had left the train when thepolice found the man, no details about his illness could be ascertained fromthem. IANS

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After successfully containingthe spread of coronavirus

at least in Jammu division, theJammu & KashmirGovernment is fully geared upto receive stranded passengersvia train services at Udhampurrailway station from Monday.

Elaborate arrangements forscreening and sampling havebeen made by the governmentauthorities to ensure smoothdisbursal of passengers headingto different destinations.

Meanwhile, 26 new posi-tive cases, three from Jammudivision and 23 from Kashmirdivision were detected onSunday taking the final tally inJammu & Kashmir to 862. Outof five districts of Kashmir val-ley, Anantnag district aloneaccounted for 119 activecases.

According to the dailyMedia Bulletin on novel coro-navirus (Covid-19), out of 861positive cases, 469 are ActivePositive, 383 have recoveredand 09 have died. One morepatient,admitted in the GMChospital tested positive lateevening in Jammu. A closedoor neighbour of a familyfrom Gurah Bakshi Nagar areaalso tested positive in Jammu.Meanwhile, health audit ofJammu district has been com-pleted and a total number of14.4 lac residents were sur-veyed by the different healthdepartment teams. A totalnumber of 600 samples werecollected and four members ofa family including their driverwas tested positive. Large

number of Rohingyas, screenedduring the health audit acrossdifferent temporary camps inJammu also tested negativeduring the survey,officialsources said,

Moreover, 15 more Covid-19 patients have recovered anddischarged from various hos-pitals of Kashmir Division, thebulletin said.

District DevelopmentCommissioner, Dr PiyushSingla Sunday said, they havemade all arrangements toreceive the people of J&K whoare stranded outside and arebeing brought back to homethrough special trains and to bede-boarded at railway stationUdhampur.

The DDC informed thatmagistrates along with otherstaff members have beendeployed to receive these pas-sengers at the platform.Besides, the district adminis-tration has made a speciallydesigned app for registration ofpassengers. Data entry opera-tors have been deployed toguide the passengers aboutprocess of online registrationon App. The Nodal officer atcontrol room will get the realtime data for data base man-agement, which will facilitatethe allocation of buses foronward journey of these peo-ple to their home towns imme-diately.

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With the ruling Congress decid-ing one of its candidate from

the fray of the MaharashtraLegislative Council polls scheduledfor May 21, Maharashtra ChiefMinister and Shiv Sena presidentUddhav Thackeray is likely to getelected unopposed to the UpperHouse of the State Legislature alongwith eight other candidates in thefray.

A day after its state unitBalasaheb Thorat announced that theparty would field two candidates–Rajesh Godirao Rathod andRajeshkisho alias Papa Modi – for theMay 21 Council polls, the Congressannounced its decision to withdrawone of the two candidates from thepoll fray.

Since there are now nine candi-dates for as many seat in the StateCouncil for which the biennial elec-tions are slated for May 21, the elec-tion of Uddhav and eight other can-didates in the fray has become a fore-gone conclusion now.

Though Thorat was insistent on

contesting two seats instead of oneseat as he did not want to give oneextra seat to the BJP, the Congresshigh command directed him to fieldonly candidate to ensure that Uddhavis elected unopposed in the elections.

The Congress high commanddid not want unnecessary complica-tions which would have arisen in theevent of an election for nine seatsfrom among the ten candidates. Ifthere was an election, there was a pos-sibility of cross-voting which was notin the interest of the Shiv Sena-ledMaha Vikas Aghadi in the state.

“Elections to nine MaharashtraCouncil seats will happen unopposed.Keeping in mind ongoingCoronavirus crisis and the candida-ture of Uddhav Thackeray in the elec-tions, the Congress has withdrawnone of its candidates. We are grate-ful to State Congress presidentBalasaheb Thorat and seniorCongress leader Ashok Chavan,”Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Rauttweeted in the evening.

Uddhav, who was sworn in as thechief minister on November 28 lastyear, is not a member of either of the

Houses of the State Legislature. Asprovided under the Constitution,Uddhav will in the normal coursehave to get elected to either of theHouses on or before May 27, the six-month deadline for his becoming amember of either of the Houses.

The biennial elections to the StateLegislative Council have been neces-sitated by the retirement on April 24of nine members -- comprising fourfrom the NCP, three from the BJPand one each from the Shiv Sena andCongress.

Each party needs 29 votes toensure its candidates elected to theUpper House of the State Asssembly.

The BJP is the biggest gainerbecause of the Congress’ decision topull out one of its candidates from thefray.

Though it has a strength of 105in the 288-member State Assembly asagainst 116 votes needed for winningfour seats, the BJP had gone aheadand fielded four candidates. They are:Praveen Dhatke, Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patiol, Dr Ajit Gopchade andGopichand Paralkar as its candidatesfor the State Council polls.

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At a time when the entire worldis grappling with theCoronavirus pandemic, Chinahas ramped up its aggressiveexpansionism in the South

China Sea, raising concern not only amongits smaller neighbours but in India as well.A slew of decisions taken in recent times,like the establishment of two new districtsof Xisha and Nansha to administer the con-tested Spratly and Paracel island chains, thenaming of 80 islands and other geograph-ical features in the South China Sea andsome other immediate developments are allaimed to further consolidate claim and phys-ical control over disputed areas. Experts seethis as an attempt to impose Chinesedomestic law. This, despite the protests fromother claimants.

Certainly, with its rise as a military andeconomic power, China aims to establish fullcontrol over the waters of the South ChinaSea, reversing its commitment to peaceful-ly resolve dispute in this area with otherclaimant countries, including Taiwan,Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei.The Xi Jinping Government has alreadyextensively militarised the South China Sea.There has been increased patrolling by theChinese Coast Guard and Navy forces, sev-eral man-made islands have been developedand anti-ship cruise missiles, anti-aircraftbatteries and missile defences have beendeployed.

But to assume that China’s rise as a mil-itary and economic power alone enabled itto navigate an assertive action plan in theSouth China Sea would be wrong. Other fac-tors have pushed the region to the currentflashpoint. One that has given a boost toChina’s sinister move to make this region itsexclusive zone is the complete absence of aneffective and collective response from otherclaimant countries.

Not once did the Association ofSoutheast Asian Countries (Asean) issue astrong warning to China for trying to uni-laterally alter the geographical dynamics ofthe South China Sea. Differences among theAsean members have always been persistenton containing the rise of China. More to thepoint, since Asean works on the basis of con-sensus, China has been successful in creat-ing a divide among its member countries onthe issue of the South China Sea by provid-ing financial support to some.

Recall how Asean behaved as a deadinstitution when in 2016, China complete-ly disregarded a verdict of the internation-al tribunal, which concluded that there wasno legal basis for it to claim historic rightsto resources within the sea areas falling with-in the “nine-dash line” and accepted theclaims of the Philippines. This regionalgrouping’s record is also dismal as far as thedevelopment of a code of conduct withChina is concerned. Consider thePhilippines’s act. Instead of aggressivelymaking efforts to issue the implementation

of the 2016 decision of theinternational tribunal againstChina, it decided to compro-mise with Beijing, with theintent to attract huge financialassistance. At the same time,institutions of global gover-nance, too, failed in forcingChina to behave as a normaland responsible State.

The US’ incoherent policyis no less responsible for thecurrent impasse in the region.Both former US PresidentBarack Obama and the currentone, Donald Trump, failed todevelop a comprehensive pol-icy to address the crisis in theSouth China Sea. Thus, whileObama’s half-hearted policyof Pivot to Asia could not stopChina from developing sever-al artificial islands, Trump’strade war with China has con-sumed four years.

Consequently, his vision ofpromoting a free and openIndo-Pacific is still at the nascentstage. True, the Trump admin-istration made efforts to boostTaiwan’s military power, withthe US Navy conducting morefreedom of navigation opera-tions in the South China Seathan in the past. But these iso-lated efforts can hardly producean effective deterrence againstChina.

This is amply clear from thefact that the Xi JinpingGovernment has consolidated

its control over the strategiclocations between the Indianand Pacific Oceans throughwhich one-third of the globalmaritime trade passes everyyear. Beijing has purposefullyfollowed the policy of not allow-ing other regional littoral coun-tries to have free movement inthe South China Sea to securefull access to huge oil and gasreservoirs in the region. It is alsothreatening outsider countries,including the US, to not enterthe South China Sea. What ismore, China is doing all thesethings with complete impunity.

Interestingly, the last fewmonths have witnessed aremarkable change in the SouthChina Sea region in the sensethat a few countries —Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysiaand the Philippines — havebecome much more criticalabout Chinese activities in theregion than ever before. Inearly April, a Chinese CoastGuard vessel reportedly sank aVietnamese fishing boat off theParacel Islands in the SouthChina Sea and in a rare displayof bilateral solidarity, Manilasupported Hanoi in its protestto Beijing.

In mid-April, a Chinesesurvey ship, Haiyang Dizhi 8,with Coast Guard and mar-itime militia escorts, movedinto a region in the SouthChina Sea — proximate to

Malaysia — to disrupt a gasdrilling operation by aMalaysian oil company, leadingto a protest by Kuala Lumpur.

Undoubtedly, while therecent collective move by theseclaimant countries to pushChina on the South Chinaissue is encouraging, it is equal-ly true that unless the USadministration develops a clearplan with the backing of otherclaimant countries to normalisethe situation in the SouthChina Sea, China will contin-ue to strengthen its grip overthe region.

While Taiwan has indeedtaken a pragmatic approach todeal with the current situationby appealing to all parties toresolve the dispute with peace-ful means, the Tsai Governmentalso needs to explore all optionsto protect itself from China’saggression, especially whenBeijing’s increased involvementin the South China Sea hasalready posed a serious concernfor Taiwan.

India is unlikely to beimmune from China’s belliger-ence. Take the case of Huawei5G competition as an example.It is, thus, imperative for theNarendra Modi Government tocooperate with others to pushback Chinese tactics.

(The writer is ICSSR post-doctoral fellow, PondicherryUniversity)

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Sir — The Supreme Court’srefusal to stay the sale of liquoris disappointing. Even duringthe initial days of the lockdown,when strict restrictions were inplace, people did not follow thephysical distancing norms strict-ly. Had the guidelines been fol-lowed as they were meant to be,the country would not have seena multifold rise in the number ofcases. With the opening of liquorshops, the situation has worsened.With people forming serpentinequeues outside the shops, allsocial distancing norms werethrown out of the window. States,which had imposed prohibitoryorders earlier, too, opened theshops after raising the price of theliquor, arguing that a price risecould serve as a deterrent. But thefact is that alcoholics would stillbuy the same.

The consumption of alcoholmay also cause the pandemic tospread faster. With each passingday, the virus spread is not onlynot showing signs of abatementbut also rising alarmingly. Theworst affected, however, will bethe women, especially in poorfamilies. Besides meeting the

ever-growing demands from theirspouses to part with their meagresavings, they would have to man-age the drunken scenes and vio-lence that may invariably follow.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

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Sir — Indian industries are heav-ily dependent on manpower. Theexodus of migrant labourers fromcities to their home States is an

enormous humanitarian crisisand an impending economic dis-aster in the making.

Clearly our system, theGovernment, NGOs and othersocial organisations failed toassess the problems and even

solutions for the labour crisis inthe wake of the lockdown. A con-tingency plan at the nationallevel is much needed to ensurethat daily wagers stay at theirplace of work. COVID is, after all,a temporary crisis.

Rahul JainVia email

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Corona’s privacy concerns” (May7) by Arun K Pujari. Theresponse by the Aarogya Setuteam to the claims made by ahacker, who pointed out majorsecurity flaws in the app, does notseem to be trustworthy. Thetruth about the app being used forsurveillance is not known. What,however, is sure is that India doesneed to strengthen data protec-tion and privacy laws. Already,fears were rife that like China, theGovernment may use this app forsurveillance. The Governmentmust not be allowed to take a stepin that direction.

PriyankaVia email

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The country is under lockdown since March 25and all economic activity, especially industri-al production, has halted since then. The

Government has wisely extended some exemptionsin this new phase of the lockdown to bring the econ-omy back on track. The 733 districts of India arebroadly divided into Red, Orange and GreenZones. This zone classification is dynamic and willdetermine the kind of restrictions placed on themovement of people and goods.

However, the uneven growth pattern of Indiahas hurt us like never before. About 70 per cent ofthe population of India now stays in relatively safezones i.e. they are either located in the Green orOrange Zone but only 46 per cent of employmentactivity can start effectively. The rest 54 per centemployment is at risk due to different forms of restric-tions. Like in Mumbai and Pune, factories are closedand may remain shut till the end of May. Closingfactories in the Red Zone will affect productioncapacities of Orange and Green Zone factories andproduction houses as MSMEs (Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises) are dependent on locally-pro-duced raw materials. Allowing factories to operatein Red Zones, even at a lower scale, is going to helpbut it runs under huge production risk and carriesthe risk of spreading the Coronavirus.

So what went wrong with our developmentstrategy? Well spread out economic activity wouldhave improved the employment figure by up to 65-70 per cent, which would mean more breathing spacefor MSMEs. Not only that, spatial inequality hasresulted in other serious consequences. Due touneven opportunity available at the local level, a mas-sive number of people have to migrate for employ-ment, education and living. The Economic Surveyof India 2017 estimates that the magnitude of inter-State migration was close to nine million annuallybetween 2011 and 2016, while census 2011 puts thenumber of internal migrants in the country (interand intra-State movement) at a staggering 139 mil-lion. Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar are the biggestsource States, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Punjab,Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and theUnion Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The major destination States are Delhi,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradeshand Kerala. The industrial progress of a State, nodoubt broadly depends on natural resources,improved social and physical infrastructure, avail-ability of skilled human capital and existence of apotential market. All these factors cumulatively cre-ate a business environment that attracts new indus-try and investment. We have no control over the dis-tribution of natural resources but an important obser-vation is that endowed States hardly make their pres-ence felt in the upper quartile of the growth table.Instead, medium-grade States, with a developedtransport, logistic and law and order machinery,excel.

The variation in industrialisation has existed inIndia since colonial times. States like Maharashtra,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, due to theirproximity to resources and other factors, used toattract most of the investment and therefore indus-tries. A major portion of the hinterland hasremained neglected since then. Metropolis districtdata show that between 1953 and March 1961, ofthe 4,971 industrial licences granted in the countryabout 36 per cent went to the three industrial metrop-olises — Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Nearly 21.5

per cent of all licences in India went toBombay and 56 per cent of all licenseswere given to firms located in the threeleading States: Maharashtra, West Bengaland Tamil Nadu.

During the late 60s and 70s, a spurtin public sector investment took place toimprove regional disparity. Several instru-ments to achieve balanced regional indus-trialisation were instituted. Industriallicencing was used to draw huge invest-ments in areas lagging behind. Large pub-lic sector projects were located in backwardStates like Bihar, Odisha and MadhyaPradesh. Industrial estates or growthcentres were identified for infrastructuredevelopment. Incentives were alsoannounced for private investments inbackward districts. Several studies haveshown that despite the widely-prevalentregional disparity in industrial develop-ment, spatial concentration has beendeclining since 1970. After a gradual shiftfrom the more regulated policy to the mar-ket-oriented neo-liberal economy, thetendency for this level of concentration tofall has become stagnant.

More recently, the allotment of SpecialEconomic Zones (SEZs) tends to reflectthe level of investment disparity. TheseSEZs are expected to create employmentthrough backward and forward linkageeffects and act as a stimulus for the back-ward regions of India. In 2004-05, theshare of the four most industrialised States(Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat andMaharashtra) in total approvals was 49.5per cent. While Andhra Pradesh, Keralaand Haryana accounted for another 34.4per cent of total approvals. Thus sevenStates accounted for 80.6 per cent ofapprovals. On the other hand, industrial-ly-backward States of Bihar and theNorth-East did not have a single approval.

The allocation of active SEZs is stillthe same now. States like West Bengal,Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh hadsingle-digit allocation in 2020, even after

15 years of the SEZ policy. SEZs could havebeen a tool to unshackle the growth poten-tial of backward areas but failed to take off.

Economic disparity is visible at both,the State and district level. For example,in Maharashtra, industries/employmentare typically concentrated in the Mumbaiand Pune cluster; so are the SEZs.Mumbai, Thane and Pune constituteabout 45 per cent, 52 per cent and 66 percent of the total MSMEs, registered fac-tories and SEZs respectively inMaharashtra. These figures inevitablysuggest how bad other districts are interms of economic activity and infrastruc-ture. This shows simple negligence andincompetency at the local level.

The presence of natural resources maybe God’s gift but not physical and socialinfrastructure. The local administrationand age-old hierarchical posting protocolshould be blamed for this inefficiency.Most inexperienced Government staffacross all levels and all Governmentdepartments are sent to the most challeng-ing district of every State. As soon as theylearn to deal or navigate the system theyare transferred to a better region. The resultis that some districts have become infor-mal training centres for our administra-tion. This vicious circle needs to be bro-ken and the most experienced employeesin every department need to be posted tothe most challenging areas.

The pandemic has revealed the vul-nerabilities of the clustered developmentagenda. Huge resources are wasted some-times restricting migrants or otherwise,trying to start factories in Red Zones.These could have been used for more pro-ductive purposes and things could havebeen much better if we were self-sufficientlocally. Nevertheless, it is an opportunityto address the spatial variation amongStates and prepare a holistic developmentplan. We need to develop a sense of self-reliance not only for basic amenities orfacilities but it should be the core of our

lifestyle. In coming days, policymakersshould think on these lines and preparea comprehensive policy directive to allowequal access to all; irrespective of theirgeopolitical position.

India is going to get huge foreigninvestments in coming days because of thechanging geopolitical situation. We mustuse this opportunity to spread economicactivities more evenly. Central and StateGovernments must work together tourgently change their existing administra-tive protocols to allow wider access tolocals in decision-making.

Technology is a great way to removelocational barriers. Steps for setting up anew business should be mandatorilymade online. This will ensure that deci-sions will be independent of applicant andapprover biases. Though this is the needof the hour because of social distancing butit should be the norm rather than a one-time measure. Set up a clearing house atthe State and district level for a SingleWindow Clearance System, online appli-cation for electricity connection, digitisa-tion of land records and online paymentservice for registration under various taxesand so on. These steps significantly cut thetime required to start a business as well asimplement Government infrastructureprojects. Give more power to the localadministrations and digitally-enable them.Services like land allocation, electricity andfire clearances should be time-bound inall districts. Land procurement is the sin-gle-most important barrier for setting upany business establishment; unless it’s donethrough a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).Land records need to be digitised, well-accessed and clear. The local administra-tion plays a critical role in this process andthus, needs to be evaluated regularly.Problem spots should be improved andmust not be used as a punishment post-ing.

(The writer is Fellow, IndiaDevelopment Foundation)

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In 2006, I was invited for lunch bya close relative, Yawar, at his spa-cious bungalow in Karachi’s posh

DHA area. When I arrived, I foundhim sitting with a dozen or so seri-ous-looking gentlemen in his draw-ing room. After getting up to greetme, Yawar quietly apologised, sayingthat since he was the chairman of thearea’s residents committee, he couldnot decline a request by other mem-bers for an urgent meeting.

In fact, out of politeness and alsoto keep me occupied, he asked me toattend the meeting too.

The matter being discussed hadto do with some members demand-ing that the monthly committeemeetings be held at a fixed venueinstead of at their homes as thisinconvenienced the families of themembers.

Various options were being airedin this regard. The Golf Club, theCreek Club, the Karachi Gymkhanaand so on, until one Zahoor sahibsuggested that the committee startholding its meetings at the area’smosque every third Friday of themonth, after the jumma namaz(Friday prayer) was over.

Instantly a consensus wasreached. Well, almost. Because threemen remained conspicuously silent.Finally, one of them, Munawwarsahib, a man who owned a chain ofutility stores across the country,spoke, “Friends, how do you plan toget Henry sahib and Anosh sahib intothe mosque?”

Both Henry and Anosh, whowere members of the committee,were non-Muslims. While Henrysahib was a Christian, Anosh sahibwas a Parsi. That’s why both the men

had kept quiet, too.An awkward silence descended

upon the room. My relative sudden-ly turned towards me and asked,“Nadeem, what do you think? Wouldit be possible?”

Taken aback, I just shrugged myshoulders: “I’m not very good at thesethings, but since these two gentlemenare residents of the area and ...”

Zahoor sahib cut me off: “We canask Imam sahib!”

Now, apparently, this “Imamsahib” was not the Imam of themosque but an aged person who wastreated as a religious scholar by theresidents. He and his wife deliveredreligious lectures to the men andwomen of the area every threemonths or so.

“Friends, why are you complicat-ing matters for Anosh sahib andHenry sahib? Why create an issue?We can meet somewhere else, unlesswe are looking to get some extrablessings from the Almighty by hav-ing our committee meetings at amosque,” Munawwar said.

This did not go down well withZahoor. “Munawwar, you hardly

come to the mosque. Maybe ourmeetings will be able to make youcome and pray there more often...”

There was laughter all round. Butnone from Anosh or Henry.

“If I may,” I politely interrupted,“why not ask Henry sahib and Anoshsahib?”

Munawar agreed: “Absolutely!They contribute to the funds of thecommittee as much as any one of us.And they have a vote too.”

Unfortunately, this suggestionseemed to have made Henry sahiband Anosh sahib even more uncom-fortable.

“No, no, you do what you thinkis right ...” Anosh sahib said, evasive-ly.

Then Henry sahib spoke: “Youcan have the meetings there (at themosque) and can update us...”

“Thank you,” said Zahoor, “so weall agree on this then?” Some quiet-ly nodded their heads, and some soft-ly said “yes.”

But in came Munawwar again:“In that case, I suggest, the monthlymaintenance bills of Anosh sahib andHenry sahib be slightly less than

ours.”“And why so?” asked one Danish

sahib. “Because, if we use the mosquefor our meetings, the maulvi (priest)will rightly ask us to contribute to themosque’s electricity bill. That wouldbe added to our individual mainte-nance fee. Why should these two menpay additional charges if they are noteven there?” said Munawwar.

“The mosque will charge us?”asked Danish, surprised. “But wealready pay for its upkeep.”

“We can ask Imam sahib,” saidMunawwar, sarcastically. I tried mybest not to smile but no one else inthe room treated Munawwar’s com-ment as a sarcastic jab. Instead, theynow began to discuss the topic of amosque charging a fee from its fun-ders. They shared relevant quotesfrom the holy book and quotes fromImam sahib’s speeches, until Danishannounced, “We already pay for themosque! For its electricity, water,gas...”

“It has a gas connection too?”someone asked.

“Maulvi sahib and his familyhave to eat too, brother. So they cook

in the rooms where they live, con-nected to the mosque,” Zahoor sahibreplied.

So it was agreed. They wouldmeet at the mosque (and Anosh andHenry would have to pay as muchmaintenance fee as everyone else).

Years later, in 2017, I was drivingthrough another posh locality ofKarachi — Bath Island — when I sawMunawwar walking briskly on astreet. I stopped my car to say hello.“Munawwar sahib, do you recogniseme?”

“Yes, yes. I do. How are you?” hereplied.

“What are you doing here in BathIsland?” I asked.

“I now live here,” he said. “Where are you walking to so

hastily? Let me give you a lift.” Ioffered.

“No, no, it’s quite alright,” he said.“I’m just going to that mosque overthere.”

“Munawwar I grew up in thisarea. Friday prayers ended an hourago in that mosque”, I said to him.

He laughed: “No, little brother. Iam going there to attend a meeting

of our residents’ committee.”“Really?” I smiled widely, think-

ing he was joking. “Even in this area?” “Boss, this area or that, what does

it matter? People are the same every-where,” he smiled back.

“How did the mosque meetingsat DHA go?” I asked.

“Didn’t Yawar tell you?” he asked.This is what happened:

Munawwar sold his house in DHA.Since he had continued to insist onincluding Anosh and Henry in themeetings, some members of thecommittee started to suspect he wasfrom a heretical sect, although hewasn’t. Munawwar was just a right-thinking liberal hearted man. Eventhough these members were admon-ished by others for saying such spite-ful things, Munawwar left the areawith his family.

“What about here? Are there noAnosh or Henry sahibs here”, Iasked. “I’m sure there are,” he replied.“But I have learned to ignore them.I’m sure you can understand.”

Saying this, he bid me farewell,and walked away.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Ankara: Turkey’s senior citi-zens got their first chance toventure outside in seven weeksSunday under relaxed coron-avirus restrictions.

People aged 65 and over —the age group most at riskfrom the virus — were sub-jected to a stay-at-home curfewon March 21.

As part of a rolling pro-gram of reduced controls, theyare now allowed out for fourhours. People under 20, whoare also subject to a curfew, willbe allowed outside for a simi-lar period later this week.

“It’s very nice to be out ofthe house after such a longtime,” said Ethem Topaloglu,68, who wore a medical maskas he strolled in a park inAnkara, the capital.

“Although I’ve been able tosit on the balcony, it’s not thesame as walking around out-side. My neighbours have beenbringing my food and otherthings in these last weeks,” hesaid. “It’s important to stay athome and be safe but it’s verydifficult as well.”

The relaxed curfew forover 65s came during the fifthweekend of lockdowns inTurkey’s largest cities. HealthMinister Fahrettin Koca tweet-ed his thanks to the elderly fortheir “great support” in fight-ing the outbreak by staying athome and reminded them towear masks outside. Turkey hasrecorded 137,115 infections,including 3,739 deaths, accord-ing to John Hopkins University.

As the number of new

cases dropped, the govern-ment announced a “normal-ization plan” while warning oftougher measures should thenumber of infections rebound.

Entry and exit restrictionswere lifted for seven provinceswhere the outbreak has beenbrought under control. Theyremain in place for 24 otherprovinces, including Istanbuland Ankara.

Monday will see shoppingmalls, barber shops and beautysalons open up under new socialdistancing restrictions. Domesticand some international flightswill resume at the end of May.

After recording its firstcoronavirus case on March 11,Turkey shut down entertain-ment venues, sports facilitiesand imposed travel bans. AP

Washington: As PresidentDonald Trump tries to moveson from the coronavirus,Congress is rushing to fill thevoid and prepare the countryfor the long fight ahead.

Jolted by the lack of com-prehensive federal planning asstates begin to reopen, law-makers of both parties, from thesenior-most senators to thenewest House member, arejumping in to develop policiesand unleash resources to pre-vent a second wave.

In the House and Senate,lawmakers are pushing sweep-ing proposals for a nationalvirus testing strategy. One sea-soned Republican wants a war-like public health fund. A NewJersey freshman launchedneighboring colleagues on aregional bipartisan task force tohelp guide Northeastern statesback to work.

“This is going to be on us,”said Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.,a former Navy helicopter pilotin her first term in Congress.

The legislative branch isstepping up in the absence of aconsistent, convincing WhiteHouse strategy, in much theway governors have been forcedto go it alone during the nation’spandemic response.

Congress is preparing itsfifth coronavirus aid package, a

“Rooseveltian” effort, as SenateMinority Leader ChuckSchumer of New York put it. It’sa Democratic-heavy plan thatwary Republicans are watching,despite support in the party forsome provisions.

Unlike the aftermath ofthe September 11 attacks, whenPresident George W Bushcalled on Congress to create aDepartment of HomelandSecurity, or during the GreatDepression, when PresidentFranklin D Roosevelt led thenation to the New Deal, Trumpis not seeking a legacy-definingaccomplishment in the heat ofnational crisis.

Instead, Trump has turnedthe life-and-death decision-making away from the federalgovernment and onto the statesfor the next phase of theresponse. He expects governorsto arrange virus testing systemsand find their own medicalgear, saying the federal gov-ernment is a “supplier of lastresort.”

The White House coron-avirus task force has aban-doned daily briefings.

Encouraging the econom-ic rebound, Trump saidThursday he’s looking forwardto “getting on with it.”

“When the nation is in themiddle of the major, historic

crisis, the norm is that bothbranches focus on the issue,”said Julian E Zelizer, a Princetonprofessor of history and publicpolicy. “It’s not normal for thepresident to just move on.”

The administration issuedguidelines for reopening stateand local economies, butshelved a more detailed 17-pagereport from the experts at theCentres for Disease Control andPrevention.

New projections say thedeath toll could essentially dou-ble this summer, from 70,000 asof Friday to 134,000 by earlyAugust, as states loosen stay-home restrictions, according toa model from the University ofWashington.

“It is lot for Congress totake on,” Andy Slavitt, a formerfederal health official, told theHouse Energy and CommerceCommittee on Friday.

“There’s never been agreater time when Americansneed the support of Congressand their state and local lead-ers.”

As the Senate resumed thispast week while the Housestayed largely away, lawmakersdrilled into pandemic policy.

Tom Frieden, a formerCDC director, outlined a 10-point strategy in testimonybefore a House Appropriations

subcommittee.“As bad as this has been, it’s

just the beginning,” Friedenwarned of the long wait aheadfor improved treatments and aneventual vaccine.

Rep. Tom Cole ofOklahoma, the rankingRepublican on the committee,was particularly interested inFrieden’s proposal for a newpublic health fund modelled onthose Congress uses to pay the

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,separate from budget caps.

“There needs to be a wholebig plan,” said Cole.

On the other side of theCapitol, an exasperated Sen.Patty Murray, D-Wash., grilledofficials about the national test-ing strategy she has pushdsince early March. “We can’treopen our country safely,” shesaid, until tests are “are fast, free,and everywhere.” PTI

Tehran: Iran says it is ready forunconditional prisoner swaptalks with the United Statesbecause of fears that the coro-navirus could put the lives ofthe prisoners at risk, Iranianmedia reported Sunday.

An Iranian news website,Khabaronline.Ir, quotedCabinet spokesman Ali Rabieias saying there is a “readinessfor all prisoners” to be discusswithout condition.

“But the US has refused toanswer, so far,” said Rabiei. “Wehope that as the outbreak of theCovid-19 disease threatens thelives of Iranian citizens in theUS prisons, the US governmenteventually will prefer lives topolitics.”

Rabiei said Iran considersthe U.S. Government respon-sible for the health of theIranian prisoners, adding that“it seems that the U.S. Hasmore readiness to bring the sit-uation to an end.” Rabiei didnot elaborate but Iranian mediain recent months said there areseveral Iranians in US custody,including Sirous Asgari, a 60-year-old university professor.

Last week, US officials said

they were making progress inefforts to secure the release ofa detained Navy veteran inIran. But they were also push-ing back on Iranian suggestionsthat a swap was in the works forthe imprisoned IranianAmerican officials have beentrying to deport since last year.

Ken Cuccinelli, the actingdeputy Homeland Security sec-retary, said Wednesday that thecases of American detaineeMichael White in Iran andAsgari, the Iranian imprisonedin the United States, have neverbeen connected. He expressedfrustration with recent com-ments from Iranian officialsthat there may be a linkbetween the two and com-plained that Iran had beenslow to accept Asgari’s return.

White, of Imperial Beach,California, was detained in

July 2018 while visiting a girl-friend in Iran. He was con-victed of insulting Iran’ssupreme leader and postingprivate information online.

He was released fromprison in March on a medicalfurlough that required him toremain in the country. White isamong tens of thousands ofprisoners granted medical fur-loughs by Iran, which was oneof the first countries to be hithard by the spreading coron-avirus. Trump administrationofficials have repeatedly saidthey consider the release ofAmerican hostages anddetainees to be a high priority.

In December, Iran releaseda Princeton University scholarheld for three years on widelydisputed espionage charges inexchange for the release of adetained Iranian scientist.

In March, the family of for-mer FBI agent RobertLevinson, who vanished inIran 13 years ago, said they hadbeen informed by U.S. Officialsthat they had determined thatLevinson was probably dead.Officials have not said how theyreached that conclusion. AP

London: Taking a different tackthan most other nations, BritishPrime Minister Boris Johnson isexpected to extend the bulk ofthe country’s coronavirus lock-down restrictions for threeweeks or so when he speaks tothe nation Sunday evening.

Following a week of mixedmessages that started withJohnson indicating that therewill be changes to the lockdownbeginning Monday, the gov-ernment has sought to dousespeculation that they willamount to much. That’s becausethe U.K., which has recorded themost coronavirus-related deathsin Europe at 31,662, is still see-ing a relatively high number ofinfections. “Extreme caution isactually the watchword on this,”Transport Secretary GrantShapps said Saturday.

His comments came asBritish police warned they are“fighting a losing battle” asLondoners headed out to parks,families descended on the peb-ble beaches of Brighton insouthern England and many

drivers set out on what are con-sidered unessential journeysamid the lockdown.

“It’s vital that we don’t throwaway essentially the great workof seven weeks of peoplerespecting very impressivelythe rules and the guidelines, bythrowing it away because ithappens to be sunny outside thisweekend,” Shapps said.

“That would be absolutelytragic.” The worry is that theU.K. Lockdown, which beganMarch 23 and has clearlyreduced the transmission ofthe virus, will need to be extend-ed for longer than envisioned.

Johnson has voiced worriesof a second spike in infectionsand deaths — something thathealth experts have said isabsolutely going to happenworldwide as nations ease theirlockdowns. Johnson’sConservative Government hasalso faced wide criticism forbeing too slow to react to thepandemic and for not supplyingmedical workers with enoughprotective gear. PTI

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Taliban leaders searchedtheir ranks, including the

much-feared Haqqani net-work, and on Sunday said theyare not holding Mark RFrerichs, a Navy veteran turnedcontractor who was disap-peared in Afghanistan in lateJanuary.

“We don’t have any infor-mation about the missingAmerican,” Sohail Shaheen,Taliban’s political spokesman,told the AP in a message onSunday.

A second Taliban officialfamiliar with the talks with theUnited States said “formallyand informally” the Talibanhave notified US officials theyare not holding Frerichs. Hespoke on condition of

anonymity because he was notauthorised to speak to themedia.

Washington’s peace envoyZalmay Khalilzad, who nego-tiated a peace deal with theTaliban signed in February toallow America and NATOcountries to withdraw theirtroops and end decades ofwar, asked for Frierchs’ releaseduring his meetings this weekin the Middle Eastern State ofQatar where the Taliban main-tain a political office.

In a statement lateSaturday by the US Embassy inKabul, Khalilzad also soughtPakistan’s help in locatingFrierchs. He arrived inIslamabad on Friday fromDoha before heading next doorto India in his pursuit of a last-ing peace in Afghanistan.

Islamabad: Pakistan reported arecord number of 1,991 coro-navirus cases in a single day,taking the total number ofinfections to over 29,000, thehealth ministry said on Sundayas the country began easing themonth-long lockdown imposedto curb the spread COVID-19.

Despite a surge in the num-ber of COVID-19 infections, thefirst phase of the easing of thelockdown began on Saturday.The government announcedremoving restrictions by allow-ing more businesses to open andoperate from dawn to 5pm.

However, doctors havewarned against easing therestrictions. The Representativeof the Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA) havedemanded that the govern-ment observe the World HealthOrganization protocols andimplement a strict lockdown.

The Ministry of NationalHealth Services said that 21 newdeaths have been reported inthe last 24 hours, taking thetotal number of fatalities to 639.

A total of 8,023 peoplehave recovered so far.

Punjab registered 11,093cases, Sindh 10,771, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 4,509,Balochistan 1,935, Islamabad641, Gilgit-Baltistan 430 andPakistan-occupied Kashmir 86.

The total number of infec-tions in the country hasreached 29,465, it said.

So far, the authorities haveconducted 283,517 tests, includ-ing 13,341 in the last 24 hours.

People flocked to the mar-kets on Saturday even beforeguidelines were issued by theprovincial governments on theeasing of the lockdown.

While allowing more busi-nesses to open, the Pakistan gov-ernment asked people to strict-ly observe social distancing andavoid going out unless there isan urgent need. Meanwhile,Pakistan opened its border withAfghanistan at Chaman inBalochistan province from 8amto 5pm on Saturday to allow2,977 Afghan nationals to crossover to their country. PTI

Beijing: A Chinese city bor-dering North Korea on Sundayimposed the martial law after11 people tested coronaviruspositive, sparking fears ofrebound of the deadly virus,official media here reported.

They were infected aftercoming in contact with alaundrywoman, state-runGlobal Times reported.

Shulan city should imposemartial law in line with therequirements of highest-risklevel prevention and control,Bayin Chaolu, the secretary ofthe Jilin Provincial Committeeof the ruling CommunistParty of China, said as hepresided over an anti-epi-

demic meeting on Sunday,the paper reported.

Bayin said the clusteredinfections in Shulan pose greatdanger to the lives of thepublic and the situation isheart-breaking, exposing theshortfalls and loopholes inanti-epidemic work.

Those who failed to takeaction over the epidemic willbe held responsible, the reportsaid Shulan raised its epi-demic-response on Sunday tothe highest level, making it theonly city in China to do socurrently, after it reported 11domestically transmittedCOVID-19 cases, the reportsaid. PTI

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Washington: President DonaldTrump’s handling of the coro-navirus pandemic has been“an absolute chaotic disaster”for America, Barack Obama hassaid, the starkest assessment yetfrom the former presidentabout his successor’s “anemicand spotty” response to theglobal health crisis.

Obama slammed Trumpduring a private call on Fridaynight with people who workedfor him in the White House andacross his administration,according to US media reports.

In a 30-minute conversa-tion with members of theObama Alumni Association,the former president, aDemocrat, said the poorresponse to the coronavirusoutbreak served as a criticalreminder for why strong gov-ernment leadership is neededduring a global crisis.

During the call, Obamasaid his Republican successor’sapproach to government waspartly to blame for the USresponse to coronavirus.

Over 78,000 people havenow died in the US and thecountry has 1.2 million con-firmed cases of COVID-19 -both by far the highest in theworld.

Trump’s approach to thecoronavirus pandemic hasoscillated. In February he dis-missed it, saying it would dis-appear, but by mid-March heacknowledged its severity.

“It would have been badeven with the best of govern-ment,” Obama was quoted assaying in the call.

“It has been an absolutechaotic disaster when thatmindset of ‘what’s in it for me’and ‘to heck with everybodyelse’, when that mindset

is operationalised in ourgovernment,” Obama, who wasUS president

for two consecutive termsfrom 2009 to 2017, said.

The call was intend-ed to encourage former Obamastaffers to become

more engaged in ex-vicepresident Joe Biden’s White

House bid against Trump in theNovember presidential elec-tions, CNN reported.

“This election that’s comingup -- on every level -- is soimportant because what we’regoing to be battling is not justa particular individual or apolitical party,” Obama, whoendorsed Biden officially lastmonth, said.

“What we’re fightingagainst is these long-termtrends in which being selfish,being tribal, being divided, andseeing others as an enemy --that has become a strongerimpulse in American life.”

Obama used the strongestwords for the Trump adminis-tration’s handling of the coro-navirus crisis and its worldview,CNN noted.

“It’s part of the reason whythe response to this global cri-sis has been so anemic andspotty,” Obama commented.

The comments were firstreported by Yahoo News,which obtained an audiorecording of the call. PTI

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Washington: Three membersof the White House coron-avirus task force, including Dr.Anthony Fauci, placed them-selves in quarantine after con-tact with someone who testedpositive for COVID-19,another stark reminder thatnot even one of the nation’smost secure buildings isimmune from the virus.

Fauci, the director of theNational Institute of Allergyand Infectious Diseases and aleading member of the taskforce, has become nationallyknown for his simple and directexplanations to the public aboutthe coronavirus and COVID-

19, the disease it causes. Alsoquarantining are Dr. RobertRedfield, director of the Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention, and the commis-sioner of the Food and DrugAdministration, Stephen Hahn.

Fauci’s institute said thathe has tested negative forCOVID-19 and will continueto be tested regularly. It addedthat he is considered at “rela-tively low risk” based on thedegree of his exposure, andthat he would be “takingappropriate precautions” tomitigate the risk to personalcontacts while still carryingout his duties. PTI

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Seoul: South Korea’s presidentsays his proposal to NorthKorea on jointly tackling infec-tious diseases such as theCOVID-19 illness remainsvalid, though the North hasn’tresponded.

President Moon Jae-in toldreporters Sunday that hebelieves the North is suffering“various difficulties” over thecoronavirus pandemic.

Moon didn’t elaborate. Hisspy agency recently told law-makers the virus pandemicresulted in sharply shrinkingthe North’s external trade andcausing panic buying in

Pyongyang, the North’s capital.Moon says he’ll try to per-

suade North Korea to accepthis offers for reconciliationprojects after the pandemic isstabilized. Moon has proposedreconnecting severed railways,resuming reunions of familiessplit by war and sending SouthKorean tourists to North Korea.

North Korea has been tak-ing intense anti-virus quaran-tine steps but it has steadfast-ly claimed there hasn’t been asingle case of the coronaviruson its territory. Many foreignexperts are skeptical of theNorth’s claim. AP

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Hong Kong: Riot police inHong Kong grappled with pro-democracy protesters whogathered in shopping malls onSunday to sing, chant slogansand flash hand signs after per-mission for a Mother’s Daymarch was denied.

The incident indicated adesire on the part of some inthe pro-democracy camp torevive the protests againstHong Kong’s Beijing-backedgovernment that paralyzedparts of the semi-autonomousChinese territory for monthslast year.

With the coronavirus out-break subsiding, more peoplein Hong Kong have respondedto online calls for action,although in far smaller num-

bers than the hundreds ofthousands who marched lastyear against proposed legisla-tion that could have seen dis-sidents or criminal suspectsextradited to mainland Chinato face unfair trials and possi-ble torture.

The legislation was even-tually withdrawn, but theprotests continued, growingincreasingly violent as bothpolice and demonstratorsadopted hard-line tactics.Thousands, mainly young peo-ple, were arrested in thedemonstrations for crimesincluding rioting and possess-ing weapons.

Local media reports said atleast one person was detainedin Sunday’s action, which

attracted numerous journalistswearing high-visibility vests.

The incident followed scuf-fles Friday in Hong Kong’sLegislative Council as law-makers from opposing campscompeted to preside over ameeting to determine who hasauthority over a key committeethat scrutinizes bills.

Hong Kong’s pro-Beijingand pro-democracy lawmakershave been caught in an impasseover the delayed election of achairperson of the LegislativeCouncil’s House Committee,which reads bills and deter-mines when they can be put toa final vote. Among the billsunder consideration is one thatwould criminalise disrespect ofChina’s national anthem. AP

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Reliance Industries (RIL) hasset May 14 as the ‘record

date’ for the �53,125 crorerights issue.

“The rights issue commit-tee, constituted by the board ofdirectors of the company, has,at its meeting held today(Saturday), fixed May 14 as the‘record date’ for the purpose ofdetermining the equity share-holders entitled to receive therights entitlement in the rightsissue (eligible shareholders),”the company said in a regula-tory filing on Saturday evening.

The rights issue openingand closing dates would beinformed separately, it said.

On April 30, the RIL Board

approved the rights issue of upto �53,125 crore at �1,257 pershare. The rights entitlementratio would be one equity sharefor every 15 equity shares heldby eligible shareholders as onthe record date.

The proposed rightsissuance will be the first by RILin three decades. The issue willbe structured as partly paidshares and will enable share-holders to phase out the outlayon their investment over time.

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Reversing their two-monthselling streak, overseas

investors pumped in a net �15,958 crore in the Indian cap-ital markets in the first week ofMay.

As per latest depositoriesdata, foreign portfolio investors(FPI) infused a net �18,637crore in equities, but pulled outa net �2,679 crore from thedebt segment between May 1-8, taking the cumulative inflowto �15,958 crore.

The latest inflow comesafter two consecutive monthsof huge withdrawls. In March,FPIs had withdrawn a recordamount of over �1.1 lakhcrore on a net basis, while

�15,403 crore was pulled outin April from the domesticcapital markets (both equityand debt).

“Despite uncertaintylooming large over the severi-ty of the possible impact ofcoronavirus pandemic on theglobal as well as Indian econ-omy, FPIs surprisingly changedtheir stance this week as theyturned net buyers in the Indianmarkets,” said HimanshuSrivastava, senior analyst man-ager research, MorningstarIndia.

The recent investmentcould be attributed to Indiadoing fairly well compared tomany other countries in termsof containing COVID-19 pan-demic from spreading aggres-

sively, Srivastava said.In addition to that, mea-

sures announced by the gov-ernment and the RBI periodi-cally to revitalise the saggingeconomy would have also res-onated well with investors, headded.

However, he cautioned thatthough it is a welcome shift inFPIs’ investment pattern, itwould be premature to term itas a change in trend as thiscould be short-term buyinggiven the relatively attractivevaluations.

The growing fears of aprolonged global economicslowdown has triggered a risk-averse environment withinvestors taking flight to safe-ty, he said.

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The much-awaited vehiclescrappage policy would

help in curbing air pollution,reducing fuel consumption andcurtailing fatalities in roadaccidents, while generatingdemand for new vehicles in thecountry amid the coronaviruspandemic, industry sourcessaid.

The proposed scrappagepolicy requires support fromboth the central and state gov-ernments, an industry sourcesaid. The governments at bothlevels would need to cometogether to make this pro-gramme successful by provid-ing fiscal incentives for fleetmodernisation, another indus-try source added.

An incentive based mech-

anism will make the schemelucrative and encourage peopleto scrap their old vehicles andreplace them with new ones, headded.

When contacted over thematter, SIAM President RajanWadhera told PTI that theindustry body has been engag-ing with the Government ofIndia, requesting for an incen-tive-based scrappage policywith monetary incentives in theform of 50 per cent rebate inGST, road tax and registrationcharges.

Similarly, SIAM DirectorGeneral Rajesh Menon said anincentive based policy will helpin mitigating pollution,improving road safety and con-serving fuel.

“And more importantly inthe current context of impact

of COVID 19 on the Indianauto sector, also could kickstartdemand,” he added.

A vehicle scrappage poli-cy is in the works for some timenow. The policy aims to put acap on the life of vehicles interms of years run.

Last week, Union MinisterNitin Gadkari had said that the scheme is likely to befinalised soon to boost theautomobile sector.

The proposed policy onceapproved, will be applicable onall vehicles including two andthree-wheelers.

Earlier, the policy was sentfor a fresh round of consulta-tion with stakeholders on thedirection of the PrimeMinister’s Office. Gadakri hadearlier said that once the poli-cy is approved.

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The coronavirus lockdownhas brought a sea change in

the buying behaviour of manyIndians, such as purchasingvegetables and other consum-ables without asking for prices,far from the old habit of asking‘dhaniya’ or ‘mirchi’ free fromvendors, according to a surveyby Enormous Brands. The web-based survey, conductedbetween March 30 and April

22, took feedback from 3,737respondents in cities includingDelhi-NCR, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune andAhmedabad. It found that therehas also been a sharp increasein adoption of digital technol-ogy by older people to join thee-commerce bandwagon forordering items like milk, gro-cery and home essentials andpaying through wallets andUPI. The study also found thatCOVID–19 has helped informing an opinion for push-ing the ‘Make in India’ agenda,with 42 per cent believing that“there is an active and deliber-ate attempt by China.

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The liquor industry alongwith restaurants, bars as

well as some online food aggre-gators have urged the govern-ment to permit home deliveryof alcohol, saying this will notonly ensure social distancingbut also be a lifesaver for sec-tors ravaged by the COVID-19crisis.

The All India Brewers’Association (AIBA) has sug-gested creating a “speciallicense for private e-commercecompanies (such as Flipkart,Amazon, Grofers and others)and food delivery companies

(such as Zomato, Swiggy andothers) to take orders and ful-fil demand from the existinglicensed retailers and whole-salers in states.”

It also mooted setting upan online ordering platform forliquor, to be owned by the stateexcise departments.

Restaurants and hotels,which are sitting on a liquorstockpile of around Rs 3,000crore, are asking state govern-ments to allow them to sell thestock lying with them due tothe coronavirus lockdown. “Werequest every state govern-ment to allow us an opportu-nity to sell our liquor stocks,preferably through a homedelivery model. “This will helpus deplete our stocks, raisesome money to take care ofurgent people needs and will

still be compliant to social dis-tancing norms. We understandthat this may require someamendments to the law but Iam sure it can be carried outunder the current extraordi-nary circumstances,” NationalRestaurant Association of India(NRAI) President AnuragKatriar said.

Online food ordering plat-forms are ready to start suchservices if permitted by thegovernment. As per industrysources, discussions are under-way between various authori-ties and e-commerce playerslike Swiggy for online sales andhome delivery of liquor.

“Governments should con-sider institutionalising homedelivery as a separate channeladministered online. We willgive all necessary assistance and

cooperate fully in this,”Confederation of IndianAlcoholic Beverage Companies(CIABC) Director GeneralVinod Giri said.

“Currently, mostexercise related processes suchas approval, licensing, regis-tration, permits, EVCs etc arephysical in nature needinghuman interaction. Withtoday’s technology, a lot ofthese can be easily made onlinethus cutting down human tohuman interface. Besidesreducing virus transmissionrisks, it is also a good step for-ward against possible corrup-tion,” he added.

According to AIBA,COVID-19 has the potential todisrupt business for the rest ofthe year.”Several epidemiolo-gists predict that the pandem-

ic will come in multiple waves.Given the threat of infectionresurfacing in one part of thecountry or the other, this willlead to multiple lockdownsand disruptions for business. Inthis environment, it is imper-ative that the state excisedepartments introduce policiesthat facilitate home delivery ofbeer, wine and alcohol,” it said.

Several states allowedreopening of liquor shops withthe easing of some lockdownrestrictions from May 4.However, many places sawheavy rush and flouting ofsocial distancing norms, forc-ing authorities to close theoutlets. Some states alsoimposed additional taxes of upto 75 per cent to controldemand as well as shore uptheir depleted revenues.

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The leasing of warehousingand industrial space has

slowed down because of thenationwide lockdown butdemand may rise post-COVID-19 with expectedgrowth in e-commerce andpossible shift of manufacturingactivities from China to India,according to industry experts.

“Industrial and ware-housing is the most resilientsegment in India, which is

likely to emerge quickest andstrongest post-COVID-19,”property consultant SavillsIndia said in a report. Thedemand-supply of industrialand warehousing space isexpected to soften as comparedto previous estimates in thenear to medium term due tocoronavirus pandemic, theconsultant said.

Higher supply contractioncould lead to decrease in vacan-cies and optimum pricing, itadded.

In its report ‘India Front &Center - Production & SupplyChain’, Savills India has revisedits estimates downwards forboth absorption and new sup-ply of warehousing and logis-tics space for 2020. The pro-jection for warehousing andlogistics leasing has beenrevised to 30 million sq ftfrom 40 million sq ft earlier.Fresh supply is now estimatedat 12 million sq ft this yearfrom 42 million sq ft project-ed earlier across top eight cities

- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad,Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

When contacted, EmbassyIndustrial Parks CEO AdityaVirwani said, “Both logisticsand industrial requirementswill see an increase post-COVID. The digital shift toonline retail has been a successduring these times and that willresult in e-commerce firmsgrowing in India.”

Embassy Industrial Parkshas facilities in Maharashtra,

Tamil Nadu, Telangana andDelhi-NCR. On industrialspace, Virwani, who is alsoCOO of Embassy Group, said:“India has not been able tocompete with China and otherAsian countries with manu-facturing investments. Now isthe opportunity to capitalise onthe fear of setting up in China.”

With the right support ofthe government, Virwani saidthe industrial space can see aboom. “Our existing clients areholding off on growth in China

and looking for new markets.”Rajesh Jaggi, vice chairman -real estate, Everstone Group,said the warehousing segmentis considered as an essentialservice and has therefore large-ly not been affected due to thelockdown. Everstone group-backed IndoSpace is into devel-opment of logistic and indus-trial parks.

“Leasing activity is expect-ed to be slower in this period ascompanies will focus on main-taining efficiencies of their man-

ufacturing and supply chainprocesses, instead of new pro-curement. “While we have notexperienced significant changein demand due to COVID-19,the timelines to close a contractmay differ under current cir-cumstances,” he said. Once thelockdown period is over,manu-facturing picks up, Jaggi expectsthat sectors like pharmaceuti-cals, e-commerce,food indus-tries would ramp up their stor-age capacities in line with thedemand.

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At a time when the spread ofCOVID-19 has made

social distancing a buzzword,banks have increased theirreliance on social media toengage with their customers -- may it be for disseminatinginformation or for dispellingtheir boredom.

The Government imposeda 21-day countrywide lock-down beginning March 25 tocheck the spread of coron-

avirus, and extended it twice,prompting business entitiesincluding banks to get innov-ative on social media. Amongthe noteworthy initiatives bybanks during the lockdown,HDFC Bank came out with ascheme to help its customersfind their hidden artistic talent.

“Tired of staying homeand having nothing to do?HDFC Bank Fingage presentsThe Art Project, to give you a#BreakFromBoredom! Unlockyour creativity during the lock-

down & stand a chance to winexciting prizes!,” tweeted thebank, trying to engage its cus-tomers during the lockdown.Punjab National Bank (PNB)has come up with a contest onthe Mother’s Day with a catchyslogan, “For her, you will alwaysremain a child.” Since the lock-down has made online bankingmore vulnerable to fraudsters,several banks are regularlywarning their customersagainst possible frauds.

“Beware of fraudsters who

pose as bank officials and scampeople by gaining remoteaccess to their mobile phonescreens through an app. Informus when you identify a scam-ster through e-mail:[email protected] &[email protected],”tweeted SBI.

Similar warnings wereissued by a few other lenders.

“Fraudsters find new waysto target innocent people. Andthis time, they are targetingthrough banking and other

payments apps to steal yourhard-earned money. Be carefuland keep following the#PNBKaFunda to learn theways to avoid them,” PNBtweeted. Another public sectormajor Canara Bank warned itscustomers in a tweet, “Don’t gethooked by #Phishing! Alwayscheck before you click on anylinks. Be cautious about open-ing any attachments or down-loading files received viaemail/sms , if source isunknown.”

A few banks have alsocome up with ‘lockdown offers’for their customers.

HDFC Bank offered dis-count on purchase of jewelleryon Akshaya Tritya with apromise that part of the moneywould go to PM Cares Fund.

“This Akshaya Tritya, buyjewellery from the safety ofyour home, with HDFC BankCredit Cards! With every pur-chase above Rs.10,000, we willcontribute Rs. 100 to the PMCares Fund and you earn 5X

Reward Points,” HDFC Banktweeted. Union Bank of Indiahas offered discount on pur-chase of medicine.”In this dif-ficult time, it’s easy to save somecash on your pharmacy bill.Just use #UnionBankofIndiacards at your nearest ApolloPharmacy Store to get up to15% off,” UBI said in a tweet.

SBI gave a similar offer toits customers: “Get a healthcheck from the comfort ofyour home with Apollo 24/7.Earn great discounts on key lab

tests via YONO SBI app.” Somebanks are telling customershow they are tweaking servicesto suit the times. Union Bankof India informed its customersthat for the time being therewould be no charge on with-drawal of funds from ATMs ofother banks.

“To ease the lockdownburden, Debit card ATM with-drawals from any other bankATMs will be free of charge till30th June 2020,” the bank saidin a tweet.

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The State Chief Secretarieson Sunday called for step-

ping up of economic activitiesin a calibrated manner consid-ering the Covid-19 pandemic.

The demand was raised ata meeting Union CabinetSecretary Rajiv Gauba hadwith the Chief Secretaries andPrincipal Secretaries (Health)of states and Union Territories(UTs) through video link.

They shared with Gaubainformation on the situationduring the lockdown. The lock-down, enforced on March 25,was to end on April 14. It wasextended to May 3, and thenagain to May 17.

Reviewing the Covid-19situation in states and UTs, theCabinet Secretary noted thatover 350 Shramik special trainshad ferried 3.5 lakh migrantworkers. He urged them tocooperate with railways in run-ning more Shramik specialtrains.

Noting the cooperation ofstates and UTs in return ofIndians from abroad underthe Vande Bharat Mission,Gauba said movement of doc-tors, nurses and para-medicsshould be unhindered andsteps be taken to facilitate andprotect corona warriors.

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Sales of non-essential itemson e-commerce platforms in

the first week of May werelower than last year on accountof lockdown, but orders arescaling fast with people buyingapparel, smartphones andgrooming products amongother items, according toindustry executives.

E-commerce companieshave been permitted to sell allitems in orange and greenzones starting from May 4, 40 days after the nationwidelockdown was imposed onMarch 25.

In the first two phases ofthe lockdown, e-commercecompanies like Flipkart,Amazon and Snapdeal wereallowed to sell only essentialitems like grocery, medicinesand healthcare products.

Depending on the numberof cases of coronavirus infec-tions, areas have been dividedinto red, orange and greenzones.

However, in the red zonesthat include top e-commercehubs like Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Pune andHyderabad, e-commerce com-

panies can still ship only essen-tial items.

While people are goingonline to buy items like charg-ers, extension cords, notebooksand pens to facilitate workand study from home, they arealso picking up groomingproducts like trimmers, gameslike chess, monopoly andcarom, and books across gen-res, a senior industry executivesaid. The person added thatsince delivery of non-essentialsis still not allowed across thecountry, the volume is lesscompared to previous year.However, against March num-bers (pre-lockdown), thegrowth is certainly healthy.

Another challenge facingthe industry is the availabilityof limited manpower for ware-houses and delivery. “Ourorder volumes grew rapidly andswiftly reached 50 per cent ofpre-lockdown volumes withinfive days of expanded opera-tions. Compared year-on-year,the order volumes for the first9 days of May 2020 was 52 percent of volumes in the sameperiod last year,” a Snapdealspokesperson said.

The spokesperson addedthat another clear indicator of

demand was conversions (fromvisitors to buyers), which wasmore than double of pre-lock-down average and even thoughdemand estimation is a com-plex process right now due tomultiple variables, the intensi-ty and speed of demandrestoration exceeded expecta-tions.Home use category likeutensils, mixers and grinders,mops and brooms, and mos-quito nets featured high inboth search and sales.

Snapdeal gets more than 75per cent of its business fromnon-metro cities.

The spokesperson saidlocations like Panipat, Ambala,Panchkula, Amritsar in north;Udaipur, Valsad, Jamnagar andGoa in west; Coimbatore,Visakhapatnam, Pondicherry,T h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m ,Kozhikode and Tuticorin insouth, Cuttack in India andGuwahati in North-East haveemerged as current highdemand zones. An AmazonIndia spokesperson said sellerson its platform have receivedorders for smart devices, elec-tronics, kitchen appliances,clothes, toys and games andother work and study fromhome items.

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After the Government overthe weekend hiked market

borrowing by 54 per cent in thewake of the coronavirus pan-demic, calls for monetisingdebt seem to be gaining trac-tion with experts saying thatrepercussions of not spendingto support the economy will beirreparable.

Conservative monetaryeconomist and former RBIchief Raghuram Rajan, over theweekend, has also pitched formonetising public debt andhigher fiscal deficit in a ‘’mea-sured’’ manner to protect theeconomy and the poor and thevulnerable in these ‘’abnormaltimes’’.

The first such call came inearly April when KeralaFinance Minister Thomas Isaacafter the State had to pay a tadless than 9 per cent for �6,000-crore market borrowingto meet the exigencies arisingfrom the pandemic.Coronavirus has snuffed outlives of more than 2,100 peo-ple and infected nearly 63,000in India. Globally, the death tollis over 2.79 lakh and more than40 lakh have been infected.

Another solution for rais-ing funds suggested by Isaacwas to launch COVID bondswith under 5 per cent interestrate by the Centre and payingthe states from the mop-up.Isaac had said RBI should buysuch bonds from the Centre.

Many other economistshave also called for adoptingunconventional tools to helpthe poor and boost the econo-my. Monetisation is generallycentral bank printing morecurrency by expanding its bal-ance sheet.

Monetisation should not bea constraint on public spend-ing, Rajan said, adding, “thegovernment should be con-cerned about protecting theeconomy and should spendwhat is needed”.

Devendra Kumar Pant,Chief Economist at IndiaRatings, also backs the idea ofgovernment borrowing moreand supporting the economy atthe cost of fiscal prudence, say-ing the repercussions of notspending now to support thepoor and the economy will bemuch more severe andirreparable.

“The need of the hour ismoney. The Centre being the

best and the largest borrower,it has to do the heavy-lifting inthese extraordinary times andshould not be constrained bythe worries about fiscal deficitand other attendant pains.

“Money is the only neednow,” Pant told PTI withoutdirectly calling for monetisingdebt.

According to him, theCentre should bring moneyfrom wherever possible andgive to the states as loans at alower interest rate than they arebeing forced to pay now.

That Kerala, despite beingthe best performing large statein the COVID-19 fight, had topay 8.96 per cent is not some-thing that the Centre shouldignore, Pant noted.

He underlined that talkingabout fiscal prudence now willbe suicidal “as the repercus-sions of not spending now will

be so severe that it will takeyears to return to normalcy”.

Singaporean lender DBSBank’s economist Radhika Raoalso favours higher spendingand suspending the FRBM(Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management Act) goalposts given the extraordinaryrisks to growth and the needfor pump-priming the econo-my.She also expects a larger fis-cal package being offered soonas the so far given support - Rs1.7 lakh crore or 0.8 per cent ofGDP- is much smaller than theanticipated economic cost ofthe lockdown.

“The second packageshould be a combination ofhigher food and cash handoutsto the vulnerable, backstop forMSMEs, shouldering part ofthe wage burden for sallerenterprises, temporary relief totaxpayers, amongst others,” shetold PTI.

The Reserve Bank shouldcontain the borrowing costs ofthe Centre and the states byhigher bond purchases whichwill help quell bond yields, sheadded.

Rajan’s comments onmonetising deficit has cameafter the finance ministry on

May 8 decided to raise marketborrowing by 54 per cent to Rs12 lakh crore for FY21, up fromRs 7.8 lakh crore estimated inthe budget. This will take thetotal market borrowing by theCentre and the states to closeRs 24 lakh crore this fiscal.

“Monetisation will neitherbe a game-changer nor a cata-strophe, if done in a measuredway. However, the caveat- itshould be measured - is key,”Rajan said.

On fiscal deficit, which isslated to top 5 per cent this year,Rajan in his blog post said thegovernment “should also worryabout getting fiscal deficit backin shape over the mediumterm, and the more it spendsnow, the harder that will be. Butits inability to finance itself orfears of monetisation shouldnot be a constraint”.

According to Rajan, theprofessor for finance at theChicago University, large gov-ernment spending will direct-ly ignite demand which isneeded especially “in abnormaltimes like this when demand isdepressed and the environ-ment is disinflationary, andthis should not be a centralworry”.

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Germs could be anywhere —on the surfaces, in the air

and around us. Every time peo-ple cough, sneeze, shake hands,touch or spit, it is likely for germsto spread more. Clothes can beone of the biggest carriers ofgerms. Therefore, especially inthis Coronavirus-hit world, it isimportant to take necessary pre-cautions by implementing safepractices and an integral part ofit is disinfection of clothes. Hereare simple tips on keeping yourclothes germ and allergen free.

�Wash clothes with hot waterHot water helps remove

germs from the clothes. Washingclothes in hot water at 55-60

degrees not only cleans clothesbetter but also helps them get ridof being potential hosts for bac-teria. Washing machines with in-built heaters are beneficial in this

case and are equipped to givecustomised care for clothes withthe help of various multiple hotwater modes like warm, hot,allergen-free, etc.

�Use chemical disinfectantsIf the material is not resis-

tant to high temperatures,chemical disinfectants can beused. Soak and disinfect theclothes with chlorine containingbleach. Turn the clothes insideout to reduce the chances ofabrasion.

Well this comes with a dis-claimer — use laundry detergentand bleach with the help of adispenser. Chlorine bleachshould never be poured direct-ly onto clothes in a sink or wash-er because it can remove colourcompletely and dissolve thefibres. Either add the bleach toan automatic dispenser or intothe washer water before addingthe load of laundry.

�Always clean your washers

It is important to clean yourwashers occasionally as germs,bacteria and dirt can get accu-mulated at the bottom of themachine giving away foul odour.In case you are using the latestwashing machine models, theyare pre-programmed to auto-matically clean off all the impu-rities left on the inner walls ofthe tub at the time of spin dur-ing every wash cycle. If not,always run your washingmachine with a cleaner toremove any contaminants afterevery few washes.

�Dry clothes in the machinedryer

Washer dryers are designedto remove moisture from wetclothes as damp clothes canbecome a breeding ground for

germs. Therefore, ensure yourun a dry cycle of clothes in thewashing machine to aid efficientcleaning. New washingmachines have multiple levels ofdrying options to take care ofdifferent fabric types.

�Steam clean clothesSteam cleaning clothes can

also help remove bacteria fromyour clothes. It provides a gen-tle finish to them and acts as atrusted sanitiser. Realising thebenefits of steam cleaning, it isthe latest feature in washingmachines with SteamCare tech-nology that helps remove up to99 per cent bacteria and aller-gens, ensuring clean and freshclothes each time.

(The article is written onbehalf of Whirlpool, India.)

Francis Newton Souza, foundingmember of The Progressives,would have turned 96 last month.

As the world fights the COVID-19 pan-demic, it is good to look at two of hisworks that define his brilliance in con-ception and composition — Family andGolgotha at Goa. Multi-layered, filledwith dynamism, and brutally humanis-tic, Souza never stopped experimentingthroughout his six-decade career, per-petually seeking new modes and lan-guages of painterly expression.

�� In Delhi of 1998, he walked into the

Church of Redemption in Viceroy’sestate to attend the Christmas concertof the city’s oldest choir, the DelhiChristian Chorus. Dressed in a blacksuit and scarlet tie, he sat on the firstchair in the front row, agog, his mindin tune. After listening to the solo, O lit-tle Town of Bethlehem, he picked out hishandkerchief and wiped a tear. At din-ner, after the concert, he told this crit-ic.

“I didn’t care for the dogmas of thechurch but I admired the grand archi-tecture and the ritual splendour of theHoly Eucharist. As a young boy, Iwould watch the niches and grand vest-

ments of the priests. As the hymnswould waft across, my eyes would betransfixed on the wooden saints paint-ed with gold and bright colours, I

remember the smell of incense and theenormous crucifix became a permanentimprint. I would kneel and pray forhours. When the Sacristan came aroundwith the collection plate, I would dropon it with great satisfaction, the largecopper coin was given to me by mygrandmother. I felt I had paid aninstallment for the salvation of my soul.My reason for loving hymns is differ-ent from yours. You believe in God, Ilaugh at the Gods! I consider nature thehigher God!”

Today, it is his paintings of church-es priests and the eucharist table that sellin millions at auctions. From the sym-bolism of the priests, he created a riv-eting series. In a world torn by theCoronavirus, nature seems to swingSouza’s way!

�� Souza always spoke about his

upbringing as a strict Catholic. Theimpact that this had upon the artist andthe subject matter of his paintings is wellknown. His criticism of the church,clergy and the corruption of the priests,whom he created as many ‘Heads’ is notjust symbolic but prophetic and mes-merising. His many paintings anddrawings with religious Catholic con-

tent speak volumes about his deeperunderstanding of subject and politics ofthe church. We can sense his contemp-tuous and anti-clerical stances regard-ing the Catholic church and this reflect-ed an unmistakable presence of religionin his life and his art.

��G(6+*HIt was during this period in 1946

that the revolutionary Souza painted themagnificent work, Family. This workdone in impasto is one of his most sem-inal works. Painted in 1946, the yearbefore India became independent, itrepresents a significant point of inflec-tion in the definition and evolution ofmodern Indian art.

We could think of the idiom ofsocial realism very much like theMexican Revolutionaries as well asGerman Expressionist artists.

In the painting, a poor, humble fam-ily of four sits in a tiny room. This sin-gle room is evocative in the many thingsit tells us. Treatment of composition andcolour makes it a painting of stunningsplendour both in tonality and contoursof the subject. The rustic image at oncehas Catholic symbolism in the rosaryworn by the woman and the Madonnaon the wall.

�� 4 ��Souza had a nostalgic connection

with Goa. He thought of its many char-acteristics woven through his ownmemories. It seemed like a communionwith his past. This is explained best byMA Couto.

“The first 12 years of an artist’s lifeare perhaps the seedbed of his creativelife. In case of Souza, this influence maybe summarised as living rural Catholiclife as experienced in daily companion-ship with his grandmother. Her influ-ence along with the vitality of folkloregave him a sense of the animistic andspirit ridden atmosphere of fields andhome. The ritual symbols of cross, mon-strance, ciborium, on a platform thatresembles the Judaic Ark of TheCovenant, but with surfaces which aredistinctly Goan, are frequently found inSouza’s paintings and represent thepassion and dread of a heretic creedseeking legitimacy and acceptance.”

�� In that context, Golgotha in Goa,

presented in the Sotheby’s Sale, was apowerful testimony to his brilliance. Inthis early and important work, Souzaadopted the formal composition fromthe altar at Golgotha, Jerusalem — theplace where Jesus was crucified. Whenone views the image of the altar at theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre that wasbuilt at Golgotha, it is apparent thatSouza has taken this imagery as inspi-ration for this painting.

Three large sconces envelop thealtar at Golgotha and gold squares, con-taining icons and paintings, make up thebackground — all perfectly mirrored inthis painting, titled Golgotha in Goa.This designation suggests to the view-er that this painted scene is actually inGoa but is a reflection of Golgothanonetheless. Goa was at the time aPortuguese colony, where Catholicismwas the main religion so it is very like-ly that elements from the altar atGolgotha were also incorporated inchurches of Goa.

This vivid arrangement forms partof Souza’s iconic and extensive series ofpaintings, where he explored the themeof religious suffering that was so cen-tral in his childhood. His early works inparticular were characterised by thedeliberate use of powerful impasto.

Bold expressionist brushstrokesdone in the impasto style add textureand create islands of abstraction. Brightblocks of colour pop out from thesedark and deep recesses, producing amosaic-like effect.

Souza evokes the imagery and tex-tural tones of stained glass windowsdone in the Portuguese style of tradi-tional stained glass windows of oldchurches in Goa. In life and thereafter,he belongs to his beautiful hometown, Goa.

Distracted driving puts notonly drivers on the road at

risk but also passengers, cyclistsand pedestrians. In 2018, it led tothe deaths of 2,841 people, accord-ing to the most current data fromthe National Highway TrafficSafety Administration.

Holding a phone and textingare two of the most common caus-es, but eating, changing the radioor anything else that causes you tolose focus on the task of drivingcan also be considered a distrac-tion. The problem is so wide-spread that NHTSA and theCenters for Disease Control haveaddressed the issue on their web-sites.

Automakers and technologycompanies are coming out withfeatures aimed at reducing injuriesand deaths related to distracteddriving. Edmunds experts haveselected five new car technologiesdesigned to reduce distraction andhelp make you a safer driver.

DRIVER MONITORING SYS-TEMS

This is one of the latest tech-nologies to start appearing incars. BMW, Subaru and otherautomakers have installed camerasand sensors inside vehicles thatuse facial recognition technologyto identify signs of driver distrac-tion or fatigue. Some can measurehead and eye movements to makesure your eyes are up and on the

road ahead. The car will then noti-fy you to pay more attention ifnecessary.

For cars with advanced cruisecontrol systems, there are sensorsto make sure your hands are stillon the steering wheel and cameraswatching your face. Some systemswill put the control back in yourhands if you start to look down atyour phone or don’t keep yourhands on the wheel.

A slightly older variation ofthis tech are the drowsiness metresfound on vehicles from Honda,Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Thesesystems use steering inputs todetermine whether a driver is get-ting sleepy. Notifications oftentake the form of a coffee cup in thein-dash digital display to suggestthe driver stop for a break. Thesesystems won’t steer the car or lockout controls but they can serve asa reminder to pay more attention.More advanced systems can linkto a car’s navigation and suggestrest stops along the route.LANE DEPARTURE WARN-INGS

As any driving instructor will

tell you, our hands tend to followour eyes, and if you’re looking atthe scenery or down at yourphone, it can be easy to wanderout of your lane without noticing.That’s why lane-departure warn-ing systems are becoming morecommon in new vehicles.

Essentially, these systems usesensors to keep track of where thevehicle is within its lane. If a sys-tem detects that the vehicle isstraying across lane lines, it willissue a warning to the driver. Thefunctionality varies from vehicleto vehicle but common alerts are

lights in the instrument cluster, apop-up notification in a gaugecluster display or even a rumblein your seat.

LANE KEEPING ASSISTOften used as a companion to

lane departure warning, lanekeeping assist takes the extrastep of recentering the vehicle byapplying light steering correction,though it’s not what you shouldconsider self-driving. You mayfeel a light tug as the wheel turnsslightly in your hand, recenteringthe car in its lane. If you havecruise control activated, lanekeeping assist may deactivatecruise, forcing you to take morecontrol of the car. These systemsare found in late-model vehiclesfrom BMW, Cadillac, Honda andmore.

ANDROID AUTO AND APPLECARPLAY

These two smartphone inte-gration systems come in nearlyevery new vehicle on sale today.When you connect your Androidor Apple phone to the vehicle, the

system will display many of yoursmartphone’s apps in your car’sinfotainment system.

While these systems mayseem like another distraction,Android Auto and Apple CarPlaycan be beneficial. They provide areliable voice control that can readout and reply to text messages, usenavigation apps on your phoneand allow you to communicatewithout looking at your phone.They can also prevent the phonefrom being used by locking outcertain functions, including theon-screen keyboard on Androidphones.

LOCKING OUT CONTROLSMany vehicles from Mazda,

Toyota and Volkswagen still usethis older anti-distraction methodtoday. These cars will partiallylock out controls for an on-screen keyboard while the car ismoving so you can’t type in anaddress, for example. But thesefunctions can still be accessed byusing voice commands. All this isdone to prevent you from look-ing away from the road anddown at a screen for an extend-ed time.

Edmunds says: Having moretech in your car might sound likea cause for distraction but pur-chasing a vehicle with one ormore of these features can helpyou be a more focussed driver.

—AP

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In this 21st century, men and women are becomingextremely diet conscious, as a result of which, today we

see every other individual following some or other kind ofdiet pattern, be it the most popular atkins or vegan diet orthe Mediterranean diet. The list goes on and on dependingupon the goals people wish to achieve in terms of their weightloss and well-being.

In ancient times, people never worried about their dietarypatterns but today one has to match with the ever-chang-ing lifestyle where one always has to look fit and presentable.For this, there are various kinds of diets, some for losingweight, others for gaining weight, lowering cholesterol, forlongevity and for healthy life. However, while we are busyconsuming the new trends in our food patterns, none of usever thought about a unique diet method — “Spiritual Diet”.Yes, you heard it right. This is the method that’s being fol-lowed since time immemorial and is suited to all seasons.

All of us forget an important fact, that, along with thegeneral principles of nutrition, appeal and pleasure, food alsohas a spiritual component. The spiritual aspects of dietincludes purchase, preparation, acceptance and eating. Wemust understand that food that is selected with care, pre-pared with love, accepted with gratitude and eaten with puri-ty becomes medicine for both,our soul and the body. Whenone cooks food without anykind of earthly desires or lust,with pure love for almighty,then the food will carry a sub-tle power that energises the souland the body. It is very impor-tant to be in a good state —clean, filled with love and in astate of earthly detachment.Only then, the food that we pre-pare will be purified, which inturn will also purify our body.As a result, our mind will be freefrom wordly desires. Nowadays,people also avoid eating onions, garlic and heavy dash ofspices which act as unnecessary stimulants for the endocrinesystem and thus, destabilise our mind.

Research of the dietary patterns of sages of India revealthat their approach towards eating was very pure, satvik andsimple as they consumed anything that was available innature. This eating pattern was based on two main princi-ples: Not causing suffering to any other living being and notdestabilising the physiological systems affecting digestive, ner-vous and endocrine systems. That’s why there were only cer-tain types of food that the saints accepted and most impor-tantly, they never over-indulged, nor allowed themselves tobe influenced by the sense of sight, smell and taste. They sim-ply followed the basic equation of “As you eat, so your mindbecomes.” This is the fundamental tenet of a spiritual diet.

Spirituality says that the type and quality of food as wellas the manner of eating, affect the state of our mind direct-ly. That is why food that has been prepared by slaughter ofanimals carries a karmic debt that becomes a burden on thehuman soul. Likewise, food or drink that have a stimulat-ing effect on the body and food that is consumed under astate of tension, anxiety, depression, anger or fear carries atoxic load that gradually results in physical disorders like acid-ity, body ache, sleeplessness, hypertension, ulcer, arterialplaques, diabetes and gallstones. So, how does one save one-self from these miseries? The answer is, simply by follow-ing spiritual diet, that includes preparing food in a medi-tative state with feelings of love and detachment simultane-ously.

An accurate spiritual diet says that it’s good to acceptfood with gratitude and not become too focussed and choosyunless there are specific health requirements. Undoubtedly,any diet that aids in good health and awareness about envi-ronment is good, but if the person following a strict dietregime becomes too fanatical and creates stress for self andothers, then the positive benefits of following the diet willautomatically be lost. So the idea should be to lead a lifewith balanced diet regime without being too fussy andspofish.

Another important aspect of satvik food is sharing. Itsalways wonderful to share meal with others, because by shar-ing, we lose our sense of attachment to food and body andovercome greed. That is why it is often said that a familythat eats together, stays together. The natural sustenance offood cooked with love is enhanced by the power of purevibrations, thereby bringing benefits on a spiritual level. So,what are you waiting for? Start following the “Spiritual Diet”by cooking food in remembrance of almighty and by addingingredients of love, bliss and power to live a happy, healthyand blissful life.

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Anu, a 32-year old married nurse,was working regularly as a front-line health worker against

COVID in her ward. In the morning,she was going through all reports andattaching the respective files of thepatients. While going through them,Anu suddenly froze for a moment; onepatient of her ward was COVID posi-tive. She was unable to process and did-n’t know how to respond. Anu was notafraid of contracting infection; shehad faced it all her life and had beentrained for same. But she was worriedabout the aftermath of being positive —home quarantine, reaction of familymembers, society and friends and somuch more.

It is easier said than done when onehas to be quarantined (especially at

home) after testing positive. Studieshave shown that majority of positivecases show no or minimal symptoms ofthe virus. This has created anxietyamong people and they fear contract-ing the virus from patients as s/hewould show no symptoms. Home quar-antined people feel anxious because ofthe reaction and anxiety of people sur-rounding them. This makes it more dif-ficult to handle. If you are someonewhose family member has tested pos-itive, let us understand how to deal withsocietal pressure and judgments.

I ��Your family member needs

support as these are challengingtimes and they might be feelinghelpless and guilty, to some extent.

You are expected to take necessaryprecautions to avoid contracting thevirus but at same time, the familymember should not feel isolated andan outcast. It’s time to step up anddefeat the virus together. To expressyour support, being with the membermatters the most. A sense ofnormalcy provided by other familymembers will give immensepsychological support to the affected.

I �� Having close contact with someone

COVID positive will cause great scruti-ny from people around; many societieshave not welcomed such families andasked them to remain in institutionalquarantine. It is traumatic to know thatpeople are not welcome in their ownhomes.

Even if any family welcomes theaffected member, the society oftenblames and treats them differently.This might create a feeling of guilt inthe affected. It is important to beempathetic towards such family and notpass on the blame to them. It is time toreassure them, give them hope and lendan emotional support. You may also berequired to defend them against otheranxious people of the society who willrush to imaginative conclusions andworst outcomes. Communicating calm-ly will help them come out of thisdespair. You are a corona warriorshielding them from negativity and pes-simism.

I ��Constantly and actively engaging

with the affected family member givesmuch required support to them.Positive affirmation, reassuring state-ments, compassionate communication,empathetic listening and active engage-ment forms road to mental healthrecovery. One may engage with theaffected in innovative ways. It is advisedto play non-contact games, have a con-versation around memories of the past,go through old photo albums andrelive joyous time spent together. Onecan also discuss non COVID relatedcurrent events. Family that stays togeth-er is happy together.

These are various strategies one canuse to help family member cope up withsocietal pressure and judgements.

(The author is the head of MedicalServices (Psychiatrist), Mpower-TheFoundation, Mumbai.)

We meet for a memorial ser-vice by video conference

because that’s how it must bedone these days. It feels strange,but there also is comfort as I scanthe faces of the many colleagueswho’ve come to celebrate the lifeof an editor and friend who suc-cumbed to the Coronavirus.Among other things, his broth-er tells us about a magazineNick created when they werekids. He called it “Ha Ha.”

I imagine Nick’s wry smile.Sometimes, amid unspeakablesorrow, there are slivers of joy.

I have clung to thosemoments, however fleeting, asthis pandemic continues to testus. A friend, a former war corre-spondent who’s seen more hor-ror than I could imagine, tells methat’s how it should be in timesof crisis. Don’t focus only on thelosses, she advises, or you’ll gocrazy.

Obsessing about the story isa hazard of our trade. Eventhough I’ve tried to stop readingnews a few hours before bedtime,

I’m often not sleeping well. Iworry about the families of thesick and dead, about those who’velost jobs — about the world intowhich one member of my ownextended family recently arrived,with another soon expected.

As a parent, I yank myself

from that rabbit hole often. I lookfor respite in the connectionand community we’re managingto create — at home and oftenfrom a distance — and evenwhen the technology that makessome of it possible is wonky ordraining.

I listen to my spouse, ateacher, taking Chicago schoolstudents on a virtual field trip toa national park in Alaska.

“Wow, look at that!” “What’sdown there?”

I stop what I’m doing andabsorb this little victory. These

middle-schoolers, not always aneasy crowd, are genuinely giddyto be doing this, some of them onChromebooks provided by theirschool so everyone can attend.

Not long after, we get thenews that Illinois schools will nothave in-person classes for the rest

of this school year. Our owneighth-grader tears up andretreats to her room. When sheand her sister abruptly left schoolseveral weeks ago, she didn’trealise it would be her last day inthe classroom with many of thekids she’s known since preschool.

Somehow, there will be aneighth-grade graduation or aparty. Or something. “But itwon’t be the same,” she laments.It’s hard to argue with that.

An hour later, she is in thekitchen making crepes. Sinceshe was tiny, she has soothed her-self by cooking, as many of us aredoing now.

We awaken to spring snow— something that I, a northernMichigan girl, enjoy more thanmost. But even I take more plea-sure in the sunny day that follows.

As my family posse bikestogether, I think about thosewho live in each home we pass.White ribbons are tied around arow of maple, linden and ashtrees as a show of support forfrontline medical workers.

Who else has no choice butto work outside the home? Whois sick? Who’s running out ofmoney? Who’s fallen into thedarkness, and who has stayedthere?

It’s difficult not to feel guiltyabout being, at least so far, amongthe lucky. But I know Nick wouldtell me to count my blessings andkeep moving. A��

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Former Pakistan fast bowlerWasim Akram might have

learnt a lot by playing Countycricket, but he feels that some-one like Jasprit Bumrah shouldgive his body ample rest, when-ever he can, rather than playingCounty cricket if such an oppor-tunity does arise in the future.

Speaking with former Indiaopener Aakash Chopra onAakashVani, Akram spoke abouthis journey in the County circuitand also said that times havechanged and the Indian teamplays round the year and it isimportant that someone likeBumrah rests his body so that hecan return to action fresh andstrong.

“Indian players play cricketround the year. Bumrah is cur-rently India’s top bowler and oneof the best in the world. I wouldalso have advised him to take rest(when there is no internationalcricket).

“As far as I am concerned, I

used to play six months forPakistan and six months forLancashire. But due to timeconstraints it becomes difficultin today’s era,” he explained.

Akram, who holds therecord for most Test wickets forPakistan, also stated he doesn’trate bowlers on their T20 perfor-mances but judges them on thebasis of their performances inthe longer formats.

He also urged youngsters tofocus more on first-class crick-et in order to make significantimprovements to their game.

“In order to hone their skillsfurther, young bowlers shouldplay more first-class cricket,”Akram said.

“T20 is amazing, good enter-tainment, fun and there is moneyand I'm all for the importance ofmoney in a sport and for theplayers.

“But I don’t judge bowlers onthe basis of their T20 perfor-mance. I do that on the basis ofseeing how they fare in longerformats,” he added.

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Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has pro-posed radical changes in the LBW laws, stat-

ing that a batsman should be given out leg beforeas long as the ball is hitting the stumps irrespec-tive of the spot of its landing and impact.

Chappell also said captains should agree onone way of working up the ball which will encour-age swing bowling, even as the ICC is consider-ing the use of artificial substances to shine the ballinstead of sweat and saliva in post COVID-19 sce-nario.

“The new lbw law should simply say: ‘Anydelivery that strikes the pad without first hittingthe bat and, in the umpire’s opinion, would go onto hit the stumps is out regardless of whether ornot a shot is attempted',” he wrote in a column forESPNcricinfo.

“Forget where the ball pitches and whether itstrikes the pad outside the line or not; if it's goingto hit the stumps, it’s out.”

The 76-year-old said the change in lbw lawwould attract expected criticism from the batsmenbut it would make the game more fair.

“There will be screams of horror - particular-ly from pampered batsmen - but there arenumerous positives this change would bring to thegame. Most important is fairness.

“If a bowler is prepared to attack the stumpsregularly, the batsman should only be able to pro-tect his wicket with the bat. The pads are there tosave the batsman from injury not dismissal.

“It would also force batsmen to seek an attack-ing method to combat a wristspinner pitching inthe rough outside the right-hander's leg stump,”said Chappell.

He cited Sachin Tendulkar's example on howhe negotiated Shane Warne’s round the wicket tac-tic during the 1997-98 Test series in India.

"Contrast Sachin Tendulkar's aggressive andsuccessful approach to Shane Warne coming roundthe wicket in Chennai in 1997-98 with a batsmanwho kicks away deliveries pitching in the roughand turning in toward the stumps. Which wouldyou rather watch?

“The current law encourages “pad play” toballs pitching outside leg while this changewould force them to use their bat. The changewould reward bowlers who attack the stumps anddecrease the need for negative wide deliveries toa packed off-side field,” he said.

Chappell said his proposed change to the lbwlaw would also cut down “frivolous” DRS chal-lenges.

“This change to the lbw law would also sim-plify umpiring and result in fewer frivolous DRSchallenges. Consequently, it would speed up agame that has slowed drastically in recent times.

“It would also make four-day Tests an evenmore viable proposition as mind-numbing hugefirst-innings totals would be virtually non-exis-

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Former India openerGautam Gambhir

doesn’t see major changesin the way cricket isplayed in the postCOVID-19 scenariobesides the ban on using

saliva on the ball.The International

Cricket Council is consid-ering legalisation of theusage of artificial sub-stances to shine the ballinstead of saliva.

“I don’t think a lot ofrules and regulations will

be changed, you canprobably have an alter-nate for the usage of sali-va - apart from that Idon’t think so manychanges will happen,”Gambhir told Star Sports.

“Players and every-one else need to live with

this virus; probably theyhave to get used to it thatthere is a virus and that itwill be around. Playersmight end up catching it,and you got to live withit.”

Though social dis-tancing is possible in

cricket to a certain extent,other sports will find ittougher when sportingaction resumes, said thesouthpaw.

“Social distancingand other rules may notbe easy for any sport tomaintain. You can still

manage to do it withcricket, but how will youdo it in football, hockeyand other sports as well.So, I think you just haveto live with it, probablythe sooner you accept it,the better it is,” Gambhirsaid.

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This year’s T20 World Cupwas a seminal event in the

women’s game as it touched achord with one and all whileattaining unprecedentedheights in increasing popular-ity, feels star Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

“Personally, it was poortiming and I would have lovedto have played in the rest of thetournament, absolutely with-out a doubt. But at the sametime, it’s not about me,” shetold Cricket Australia web-site.

“Sometimes I think about

that tournament, and particu-larly about that final, and Idon’t even think it was aboutour team. It was just about theevent, the moment in women’scricket that it created was justabsolutely incredible.Hopefully, what it does for thesport has a flow-on effect.”

Perry insisted that it didnot matter who played or whomissed in the final because itwas a huge moment forwomen’s cricket.

“And I think that wassomething the team was real-ly quick to acknowledge. Allthe past players and all theeffort that’s been put into

developing women’s cricketover the last little bit, it madethat whole tournament somuch bigger than just thetournament itself.

“It was more about thesport and women’s sport inAustralia and around theworld. We all felt like that,whether you were playing ornot. This was so much biggerthan just one game of cricketor one innings or one spell ofbowling from any one individ-ual. It was about the moment.”

“And to be part of that andstill be amongst the groupwhen that was all occurring, Ifeel very fortunate. Motty

(Australia’s coach MatthewMott) and the Australian staffcould have replaced me withanother player, but they let mestick around. That was prettycool.”

“As soon as our sights wereset on filling the MCG for thefinal, it felt like that and itpromised to be that. And wasjust about whether it was goingto pan out like that or not.

“As the tournament wenton and even in the lead-up toit in terms of the interest andscrutiny on the event, I thinkwe all knew it was going to besomething. We just didn't knowhow big it was going to be.”

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Sri Lanka captain DimuthKarunaratne heaped praise

on new coach Mickey Arthur onSunday and stated the team’s aimis to reach the top four in ICCrankings for both ODIs and Testcricket. Arthur took over as SriLanka's head coach on a two-yearcontract in December andKarunaratne said his resultsspeak for themselves.

“Mickey is a no-nonsensecool bloke with loads of experi-

ence to back him and his brand.At the international level plan-ning and role clarity is a norm.What is very important is thebelief he has instilled among usin his own and subtle way. It surehelped and the results alwaysspeak for itself,” Karunaratnetold Sri Lanka Cricket in a Q&Asession on their official websitecricket.lk.

“Rankings is the key word. I’dsay Sri Lanka needs to be in thetop four of not just ODI cricket,but Test cricket as well. That

would indirectly mean semifinal-ists to say the least and you areperhaps two games away fromthe plum. There onwards, it’s any-body’s guess and if you do well onyour day you could end up beingWorld champs,” said the 32-yearold.

Sri Lanka lost a two-Testseries in Pakistan before defeat-ing Zimbabwe at home sinceArthur’s appointment. They arecurrently ranked fifth in the for-mat.

In the ODIs, they are eighth

but managed to beat West Indies3-0 in their last series before theCOVID-19 pandemic broughtthe world to a standstill.

“The boys and the respectivesquads are enjoying their crick-et and that makes my job thatmuch easier,” he said of his role.

“If you like what you aredoing and the environment to doso is conducive, the balance atthis level of sport becomes thatmuch more beneficial. I think itspretty similar to life or managinga company.”

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Australia wicket-keeper-batsman Alex Carey said

that he can’t wait to joinDelhi Capitals for the 2020edition of the Indian PremierLeague (IPL). Carey wasbought by DC for Rs 2.4crore at the auction prior tothe 13th edition of the glitzyT20 league.

“I was really delighted tohave been picked up by theDelhi Capitals during the IPLAuction. I was over the moon,and I couldn’t stop smiling for24 hours when I heard thenews”, said Carey in anInstagram Live video chat onthe franchise’s official handle.

Carey revealed he hadmet the DC hierarchy earlier

and he also expressed hisexcitement over the prospectof playing in Delhi.

“I was fortunate enoughto have met some of the stafffrom the team including ourowner Parth Jindal. All thepeople I’ve met are amazing,

and it made me really excit-ed coming over to Delhi, andplaying some cricket,” said the28-year-old.

“At this moment, I justwant the IPL to get started,and I can't wait for our teamto build on last season's result.I believe we have an amazinggroup of players in all depart-ments and we will play somebrilliant cricket when we getthe chance,” Carey said.

IPL 2020 was originallyslated to begin from March 29but due to coronavirus pan-demic, the start date wasshifted to April 15. The tour-nament was subsequentlypostponed indefinitely by theBCCI as a precautionary mea-sure against the spread of thevirus.

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The French Tennis Federation (FFT) isconsidering holding the 2020 French

Open behind closed doors, according to fed-eration President Bernard Giudicelli. Themoving of the Grand Slam to September hadcreated controversy with a number of play-ers voicing concerns over playing a clay courttournament in the middle of the hard courtseason.

Since the postponement was announcedin March, Wimbledon was cancelled for thefirst time since the Second World War whiledoubts remain on whether the US Open willbe held.

“We haven’t ruled out any option,”Guidicelli told the French weekly Journal duDimanche.

“Roland Garros is first and foremost astory of matches and players. There is the tour-nament taking place in the stadium, and thetournament on TV screens.

“Millions of viewers around the world arewaiting. Organising it behind closed doorswould allow part of the business model — tele-vision rights (which account for more thana third of the tournament’s revenues) — to goahead. This cannot be overlooked.”

“Roland Garros is the driving force of ten-nis in France, it is what feeds the players inour ecosystem (260 million euros in revenue,or 80% of the turnover of the FFT),” he said.

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Shafiqullah Shafaq wason Sunday handed a six-

year ban from all forms ofcricket by the AfghanistanCricket Board (ACB) afterthe wicket-keeper batsmanaccepted his involvement incorrupt activities duringthe APLT20 andBangladesh Premier League(BPL).

Shafaq accepted fourcharges relating to breach ofthe ACB Anti-CorruptionCode during the inauguraledition of the AfghanistanPremier League T20 in 2018and the 2019 edition of theBPL.

“Shafaq was chargedunder breach of article 2.1.1

which is directly related to"fixing or contriving in anyway or otherwise influenc-ing improperly, or being aparty to any agreement oreffort to fix or contrive inany way" which alsoincludes deliberate under-

performance,” the ACB saidin a statement.

“The breach of article2.1.3 relates to “seeking,accepting, offering or agree-ing to accept any bribe orother Reward to (a) fix or tocontrive in any way or oth-

erwise to influence improp-erly the result, progress,conduct or any other aspectof any Domestic Match …”

The other two chargesrelate to failure to reportcorrupt approach to theanti-corruption unit.

The 30-year-old Shafaqhas played in 24 ODIs and46 T20Is. His last interna-tional appearance was in aT20 game againstBangladesh in September,2019. “Under the provi-sions of the Code, Mr.Shafaq chose to admit thecharges levied against himand agreed to the sanctionsby ACB in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hear-ing,” ACB press release stat-ed.

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The current Indian team hasgood fielders but none of themis a “complete package” like

Yuvraj Singh and he himself, reckonsMohammed Kaif.

The hero of India’s Natwest vic-tory played more than 100 ODIs, pri-marily because of his superb fielding.The superior fielding skills pro-longed his career even as his battingform declined steadily.

Asked about his take on Indianfielding compared to the times whenYuvraj Singh would man the pointand he would stand at extra cover,Kaif outlined the lacking in the cur-rent set-up.

“To be a complete package, youneed to be a good catcher, youshould be able to hit the stumpsoften, you should be able to run fast,you should have the right tech-nique to grab a movingball,” Kaif said onYouTube channel‘SportScreen’

“When wewere play-ing, mea n dYuvraj

made our mark as good fielders.Today, you will find a lot of goodfielders in the Indian team, but I ‘think there is anyone who is a com-plete package as a fielder.

“A person who can catch in theslips, who cantake a catchat short-l e g ,

can field in long-on boundary byrunning fast….That package Ithink is missing,” said Kaif, who hasalways been hailed as one of India’sbest fielders.

The 39-year-old said thatRavindra Jadeja is becoming betterwith age but India’s slip catching hasstill left a lot to be desired.

“Ravindra Jadeja is a goodfielder, in fact as he is adding on theyears, his fielding is also improving.

B u t

India’s slip fielding isn’t up toscratch.”

In the debate between ViratKohli and Rohit Sharma in whiteball cricket, Kaif said that if he hadto choose between the two had theybeen playing for different teams, hewould prefer watching the stylishMumbaikar.

“If there are two matches hap-pening in the same city simultane-ously and Virat is playing in oneand Rohit in another, then I willhead to the match featuring RohitSharma.

“No doubt, Virat has an out-standing record in Tests and whiteball cricket both, but Rohit has theelegance, so much time while fac-ing a bowler. He is one batsmanwho can smash a bowler withoutthe bowler even realising that he isunder attack.”

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