BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD.
| ESTABLISHED 1838 | NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
Prez Trump says there are 72
active trials going on in the US
as the country is working on
dozens of therapies & making
good progress on Covid vaccines
Pak removes
nearly 4k names
P
from terror list
akistan has quietly remo-
ved almost 3,800 names
from its terror watch list, ra-
ising concerns that impor-
tant terrorists are being pro-
tected despite the country
being on the FATF’s enhan-
ced grey list, according to a
US risk compliance compa-
ny. The latest list includes
JuD chief Hafiz Saeed (No.
1069) and Jaish chief Maso-
od Azhar (No. 1635). P11
CAA case: Umar
Khalid under lens
A separate FIR has been
filed by Delhi police spe-
cial cell to probe the “larger
conspiracy” behind the
riots in northeast Delhi. Po-
lice have invoked the string-
ent UAPA apart from IPC
sections. Former JNU stu-
dent Umar Khalid is under
lens in this FIR for his anti-
CAA “hate speeches”. P7
Shivraj gets a
M
‘Covid cabinet’
P CM Shivraj Singh Ch-
ouhan on Tuesday na-
med five MLAs, two of them
Scindia loyalists who played
a key role in toppling the Co-
ngress government, as his
first cabinet ministers. No
portfolios have been alloca-
ted yet. The five have been
put in charge to manage the
fightback against Covid. P 8
LOCKDOWN
DAY
28
HDFC cuts rate,
home loans set
to be cheaper
H DFC has reduced its pri-
me lending rate by 15 ba-
sis points with effect from
Wednesday. The change will
benefit all HDFC retail home
loan customers, the compa-
ny said in a regulatory filing
on Tuesday. Post the reduc-
tion, rates will range betwe-
en 7.85% and 8.15%for salari-
ed class borrowers.
2nd MP police
officer dies
Y ashwant Pal (59), a poli-
ce inspector from Ujja-
in, died of Covid-19 in Indo-
re on Tuesday, two days af-
ter another inspector from
Indore passed away. Pal had
been working in the Amber
Colony containment area.
Local authorities are now
testing all police personnel
deployed on Covid-19 duty.
SC: It’s for govt
to act on crisis
T he SC on Tuesday refu-
sed to pass orders on pe-
titions seeking exemption
of face masks and hand sa-
nitisers from GST and pro-
viding free treatment, and
also said it would not get in-
to the budgetary domain of
the Centre by directing it to
pay basic minimum wages
to migrant workers.
Aerosol levels dip
in north India
N asa satellite sensors have
observed “aerosol levels
at a 20-year low for this time
of year in north India” due to
closure of factories and rest-
ricted vehicular and avia-
tion traffic. Aerosols are tiny
solid and liquid particles, su-
spended in air, that reduce
visibility and can damage
human lungs and heart. P 9
5 accused +ve,
73 cops isolated
A t least five of the 17 people
arrested for allegedly at-
tacking a team of health staff
and cops in Moradabad on
April 15 have tested positive
for Covid-19. Around 73 cops
in the Nagphani police sta-
tion have now been quaran-
tined after coming in contact
with the accused while ar-
resting them. P 9
Turn to Page 3
Raj stops rapid tests, ICMR Trump vows immigration
halt,
asks other states to pause Cites Corona
Complaints Of
Misleading &
Flawed Results
Sushmi Dey & Indrani Bagchi
New Delhi: With states comp-
laining that the recently acqu-
ired rapid testing kits were de-
livering misleading and inac-
curate results, the Indian Co-
uncil of Medical Research
(ICMR) on Tuesday advised
all states to stop using the anti-
FULL COVERAGE: P 2-14
body test for Covid-19 for two
days until its teams investiga-
ted the functioning of the kits.
The council said it was in-
vestigating the issue as some
states had reported huge vari-
ations — ranging between 6%
and 71% — in test results from
rapid kits which it said was
unacceptable and may need to
India 17th nation to hit 20k
cases; death toll crosses 600
DurgeshNandan.Jha
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: India became the
world’s 17th country to record
20,000 Covid-19 cases, crossing
the grim milestone on a day
when Maharashtra, Rajast-
han and West Bengal recorded
their biggest single-day rise in
infections. There was a spike
in deaths as well, with 49 on Tu-
esday, taking the toll to 645.
The number of cases stood
at 20,083 late on Tuesday, as per
reports from states, having ri-
sen by 1,493 during the day —
the second highest rise after
1,613 cases on Sunday. Over a
third of the new cases, 552, ca-
me from Maharashtra, which
equalled its previous record
high. Mumbai alone reported
419 cases and 12 deaths. Nearly
25% of people tested since
April 1at Mumbai’s Dharavi
turned out corona positive.
Guj has 2000+ cases, P 10
Govt-Bengal spat
over central
teams escalates
T he simmering tension
between the Centre and
the West Bengal government
on the issue of tackling Co-
vid-19 flared into a full-blown
war on Tuesday, a day after
the “unannounced” landing
of central officials in Kolka-
ta and Jalpaiguri to assess
the ground situation.
While the Centre alleged
the state had restrained the
teams from making spot vi-
sits and interacting with he-
alth professionals, CM Ma-
mata Banerjee sent a letter to
PM Modi to bring the issue of
the teams “breaking federal
norms” to his notice.
MHA spokesperson P S
Srivastava said the state’s
actions amounted to obs-
tructing the implementa-
tion of an order issued un-
der the Disaster Manage-
ment Act. The Act empo-
wers the Centre to deploy
military in a state to enforce
such an order. P 8
Microbreweries froth as 1 lakh litres
of fresh beer heads for drains in NCR
Amin.Ali@timesgroup.com
A
s the lockdown ticks
away, thousands of litres
of fresh beer at the
NCR’s microbreweries is going
down the drain. Lalit Ahlawat
of Striker and Soi 7 has drai-
ned 5,000 litres from his Cyber-
Hub outlet, Inderjeet Singh
Banga, promoter of Prankster,
another 3,000 litres. Between
them, the NCR’s 50-odd micro-
breweries are staring at a loss
of over 1lakh litres.
Unlike bottled beer, fresh
beer has a short shelf life. Is-
han Grover, a brewery consul-
tant, says the costs of keeping
beer fresh add up quickly as
the plant has to be maintained
WHO says all available evidence
suggests the novel coronavirus
originated in animals in China late
last year and was not manipulated
or produced in a laboratory
visa
hopes to be hit
REPORTS OF CHINESE KITS BEING FAULTY
➤ Decision after reports of
kits, sourced from 3 companies
based in China, being faulty
➤ ICMR starts investigation
after states report wide
variation in results
➤ To send 8 teams to validate
kits; issue fresh advisory
➤ In the first batch, some
300,000 kits arrived close to
two weeks after they were due
➤ In all, 650,000 kits are to be
Epidemic could peak in
India by mid-May: Study, P 8
be replaced, which will be a
setback to the government's
plan to use rapid tests for sur-
veillance and tracking trends,
though not for diagnostics.
On Tuesday morning, Ra-
jasthan — the first state in the
country to conduct rapid
tests for Covid-19 — decided to
stop using the kit any further
RATE OF SPREAD FALLING...
No. of cases based
on log table
100,000
Cumulative Cases Of Covid-19 Infections In India
ay
d
very
10,000
ays
ble e
2d
ry
s dou
1000
Eve
Case
100
10
1
March 1 March 8
...BUT NUMBER OF NEW CASES RISING
2,000
1,500
1,000
598
500
0
April 8
12-yr-old walks 100km to
reach home, dies, P 8
Fear at Azadpur mandi
as trader dies of Covid
Atul.Mathur@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Fear spread
among thousands of workers
at Asia’s biggest wholesale
market (mandi) for farm pro-
duce in north Delhi’s Azad-
pur after a vegetable dealer
there died of the Covid-19 in-
fection on Tuesday.
Officials said Bhola Dutt,
57, was admitted to a private
hospital on Friday with fever.
3 more red zones, orange
zones too rise to 180, P 3
He tested positive for coronavi-
rus on Sunday. Sources said
the body of a daily-wage wor-
ker was also found in the man-
di but the cause of death could
not be ascertained.
District magistrate (north)
Deepak Shinde said a team had
been deployed to trace the peo-
ple who came in contact with
Dutt in the last few days.
Not happy with curbs, P 7
ALLOW HOME DELIVERY: BREWERS
➤ With lockdown in effect,
NCR’s 50-odd microbreweries
are dumping thousands of
litres of fresh beer
➤ When lockdown was
announced four weeks ago,
most breweries were filled to
capacity and have been
maintaining stock since
➤ Maintaining stock entails
additional electricity and
manpower costs
at a specific temperature and
monitored daily.
When the lockdown was
announced four weeks ago,
most breweries were filled to
PAGES 16 | CAPITAL | INVITATION PRICE ` 4.50; ` 7.00 WITH ET OR `8.50 (``7.00 IN FARIDABAD & GREATER DELHI EDITION) WITH NBT
Worldwide death toll crosses
175,600.
With 43,200 deaths, the US has the
highest mortality rate, followed by
Italy with 24,648 deaths & Spain 21,282
delivered; more to be made
domestically in collaboration
with foreign firms. Some orders
placed with other countries too
STATES THAT HAVE
PUT TESTS ON HOLD
Rajasthan, Maharashtra,
West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil
Nadu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,
Karnataka, Assam, Haryana
STATES YET TO BEGIN TESTING
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala
AIIMS to use robots for
minimal contact, P 2
as it was found that the re-
sults were inaccurate and did
not correlate with the results
of the polymerase chain reac-
tion (PCR) test. This also trig-
gered a reaction across the co-
untry with many other states
discontinuing the testing.
Testing rate dropped, P 10
s na’s outburst over the
ay
d
y5
ys
er 20,083
da
Ev
y3
er
Ev
ys
0 da
ry 1
Eve
Currently, India’s
doubling rate is 8 days
March 15 March 22 March 29 April 12 April 21
1,613 1,493
April 19 April 21
Source: State govts
After 12 days, Bhilwara
reports 5 fresh cases, P 10
Employee of ration
shop tests positive
D ays after the father of a
food & supplies officer
died in Hari Nagar, a helper
at a fair price shop in north
Delhi’s Roop Nagar has tes-
ted positive. While his con-
tacts were being traced, the
shop and the areas around it
had been sealed. More than
1,600 ration card holders are
assigned to this shop. P 3
Prez House, LS sectt
staffers test +ve
R ashtrapati Bhavan and
Lok Sabha came under
the coronavirus cloud after a
family member of an emplo-
yee in the President’s secre-
tariat and a senior housekee-
ping staffer of the Lok Sabha
secretariat tested positive.
Nearly 115 houses inside Prez
Estate have been isolated. P 7
➤ Brewers stand to lose not
only the cost of production but
also licence fee and duty they
have paid in advance
➤ Want govt to allow home
delivery and defer duties,
licence fee & taxes for 6 mths
capacity and have been main-
taining their stock since. Ho-
wever, it’s beginning to look
like a lost cause, brewers say.
With social distancing and fe-
INDIA’S LARGEST ENGLISH NEWSPAPER
Centre says 1.24 crore corona Pakistan PM Imran Khan may be
warriors are available now in the
country & portal covidwarriors.gov.in
tested for the coronavirus or asked
to go into isolation after well-known
has been created as a master database of philanthropist Faisal Edhi, who met
healthcare professionals and volunteers him, tests positive for Covid-19
FOREIGN-BORN TOP 3 COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
INDIVIDUALS IN US FOR H-1B VISA
Delhi got 42k kits, Attack, Need 2010 2018 % increase Country New Visas Extensions
puts tests on hold To Protect Jobs 2.7 India 67,815 2,08,608
1.8 50% (63%) (81%)
D elhi, which got 42,000 kits,
on Tuesday put the rapid Chidanand.Rajghatta
India
2.9
China 15,165 (14%) 19,312 (8%)
antibody test on hold for two @timesgroup.com China 2.2 32% Canada 2,226 (2%) 1,532 (0.6%)
days. The government had
planned to intensify testing Washington: US President Figures in million
Figures for FY ended Sep 30, 2017 Source: USCIS
in the containment zones. On Donald Trump announced on FOREIGN-BORN BECOMING US FOREIGN-BORN GETTING
the first day, 72 people in the Monday night that he will CITIZENS (% of total) GREEN CARDS (% of total)
containment zone of Nabi sign an executive order to Country 2017 2018 2019 Country 2017 2018 2019
Karim were tested and all re-
sults were negative. P 2
“temporarily suspend” im-
migration into the United Sta-
Mexico 16.8 17.3 14.6 Mexico 15.1 14.8 15.1
tes, citing “the attack from the
Invisible Enemy, as well as the India 7.2 6.9 7.5 China 6.3 5.9 6.0
TN kits from China co
with poor record in UK
need to protect the jobs of our
GREAT American Citizens.”
The cryptic tweet convul-
China 5.3 5.2 4.7 India 5.4 5.5 5.2
Source: US Department of Homeland Security Source: US Department of Homeland Security
T amil Nadu, which had dis-
tributed 34,000 rapid test
kits across the state before
sed prospective immigrants
and immigrant families in the
US and immigrant hopefuls
of more than three million gu-
est workers and students —
zone – graduating students
applying for H-1B visas, and
the ICMR advisory, had pro- and asylum-seekers across nearly a million from India — H-1B visa holders waiting for
cured the kits from Guangz- the world who aspire for the with its vague opacity. Accor- their permanent residency
hou Wondfo BioTech Limi- American dream, making the ding to the US Citizenship green cards to be processed.
ted, a Chinese firm which has country the most powerful de- and Immigration Services, Trump's tweet did not provide
had a poor record in the UK. mographic magnet in the nearly three out of four details on when the suspen-
That country is trying to re- world. The US admits about 1.1 current H-1B visa holders sion would go into effect or
turn the kits. P 10 million legal immigrants into (approximately 310,000 out how long it would last.
the country every year, more
than any other country. About
of 420,000) are from India.
Some reports said admini-
Although the tweet indica-
ted the order he is considering
Changes in FDI
rules don’t
600,000 are new arrivals and
about 500,000 are status ad-
justments of people already in
the country.
stration officials are still wor-
king on the order and it will
exempt those who are already
in the US. But it was not clear
would be temporary, critics
saw the move as part of a gra-
dual tightening of legal im-
migration into the country to
violate treaties:
The announcement also
threw into turmoil the alrea-
dy-fraught careers and lives
what would happen to the
hundreds of thousands who
are already in the processing
freeze demographic changes.
Trump bid to distract, P 11
India to China
Sidhartha@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: A day after Chi-
Noida ‘shuts’ Delhi Movement of
vehicles on NHs
border, no passage
up by 60-100%
change in foreign direct in-
vestment policy, India on
now without passes
Tuesday hit back at its ne- New Delhi: Vehicular move-
ighbour, saying the amend- ment on many stretches of
ment did not violate any the national highways linki-
ng major urban centres in-
Anindya Chattopadhyay
Arunachal included in creased by more than 60%,
updated China map and in some cases nearly do-
ubled, on Monday, compared
C hina has included parts
of Arunachal Pradesh
with the daily average duri-
ng the past month. After 25
within its boundaries, an up-
dated version issued by Sky
days, tolling on the NHs resu-
med as economic activities
Map showed. Sky Map is ope- restarted in a graded way.
rated by a unit under Be- The traffic flow on the
ijing’s National Surveying Gurgaon-Jaipur NH stretch
and Mapping Geographic In- increased by more than 95%
formation Bureau. China on Monday, reports Dipak
continues to consider Aru- Dash. The three toll plazas
nachal a part of Tibet. P 10 on this stretch registered
20,000 passenger cars during
global commitment as it did the day compared with the
Commuters argued with cops in Ghazipur on NH-9 Tuesday, claiming
not bar investments from average traffic of 10,300 du-
they were unaware Ghaziabad’s border with Delhi had been sealed
across the border but only
mandated prior screening Shalabh, Avishek Kumar Dubey so far, but the Noida admini-
ring the previous days.
of proposals.
Besides, sources poin-
& Aditya Dev TNN stration now insists no move-
ment will be allowed without
E-way bills dip, P 10
ted to a host of Chinese poli- Noida/Ghaziabad: The Noi- passes or authorisation. An
States can have
cies to argue that Beijing
had a chequered record in
following “discriminatory”
da administration on Tues-
day virtually sealed the city’s
borders with Delhi by annou-
exception has been made for
vehicles carrying essential
food items, ambulances and
own academic
foreign policies against
overseas entities.
ncing a bar on all traffic to
and from the capital, keeping
the door ajar for only those
government officials—un-
der-secretaries and above—
who can show I-cards and pas-
calendar: Min
Goods trade not hit, P 10
engaged in essential services
but with a stricter protocol.
ses. Since the order came late
in the night, leaving hund- U nion HRD minister Ra-
mesh Pokhriyal said sta-
Where this order is more reds engaged in essential ser- tes can develop their own
16 foreigners stringent than the lockdown
curbs is it makes production
vices who may have IDs but
not passes or authorisation
academic calendar and as-
sessment schedule and choo-
held in UP, 619 of passes or authorisation,
even by essential service pro-
with no scope of getting one,
Wednesday may be chaotic at
se when to have their sum-
mer break depending on the
jailed in country viders and journalists man-
datory to be allowed to pass.
the Delhi-Noida borders. locally prevalent situation.
In an interview to TOI’s
Chaos, arguments, P 3
S ixteen foreigners were
arrested in Prayagraj la-
Identity cards have sufficed Manash Gohain, the mini-
ster said CBSE will assess
WHEN OIL GOES BELOW $0
te on Monday under vario- the loss of instructional time
us sections of the IPC, Epi- due to the lockdown for a pro-
demic Diseases Act and the portionate reduction in cur-
Foreigners Act (for viola- riculum load for board ex-
ting visa rules), taking the
US crude price has hit 80 73.6 Petrol ( /litre) 69.6 ams 2021. He said the number
total number of foreign na- sub-zero and Brent is 70
of hits on key online educa-
tionals arrested in the co-
untry since the outbreak of
at an 18-year low. But
India, the world’s
60 66.6
Diesel ( /litre) 62.3 tional portals in higher edu-
cation has gone up five times
50 58.3
Covid-19 to at least 619. third-largest oil Price on ICE since the lockdown. The text-
Barring a few, all those 40 books for the session 2020-21
importer, has much to Brent ($/bbl)
arrested are linked to Tab-
lighi Jamaat’s congregation
gain though there will 30
21.5
are printed and will be distri-
buted as soon as schools reo-
be pain for producers 20
in Delhi last month. A pro-
fessor of Allahabad Univer-
such as ONGC Jan 30
2020
April 21 pens, Pokhriyal said. P10
sity, too, was arrested. P 9
What is WTI and where is it
consumed?
Donald Trump’s differences
with several governors,
Shops selling
➤ West Texas Intermediary
is an easy-to-process crude
produced from onland fields in
the Permian basin of the US
increasing pressure on storage
How is WTI different
from Brent?
fans, edu books
can open: Govt
➤ It is consumed by US
refiners. As such, it is
vulnerabe to availability
of storage space
➤ Brent is water-borne oil
produced off the UK coast
from a depth of 500 metres.
➤ It is the benchmark for two-
W ith summer setting in,
the Centre on Monday
allowed shops selling electr-
ar of the virus, the chances of ic fans to reopen. Revising its
customers coming back after
Why did WTI price crash
thirds of the global oil trade
and is more prone
guidelines on ‘exempted cat-
the lockdown look dim. And egory’, the home ministry al-
the owners’ big hope — per-
below zero? to be affected by any
so allowed stores selling edu-
➤ US is running short of geopolitical tensions
mission to home deliver be-
er— hasn’t materialised.
storage because while the
Does India buy WTI?
cational books to operate.
Under agricultural and
Covid-19 pandemic sapped
Grover says they expected
the state government to per-
mit home delivery of fresh be-
demand, producers continued
to pump oil
➤ India does not buy WTI,
though it imports small
horticulture activities, the
Centre allowed operating
facilities for export and im-
➤ Tuesday was the last day quantities of US shale oil
er in ‘growlers’—ceramic or for settling deals for April but ➤ Brent, on the other hand, port, such as inspection and
glass jugs—as is the case there were no takers for oil makes up about 27% of India’s treatment facilities for se-
abroad. “Everyone talks abo- and traders had absolutely oil purchase, the rest being eds and horticulture produ-
ut home delivery for restau- no space left to store the Dubai-Oman grades of crude ce. Research establish-
rants but brewery owners are contracted quantities ments dealing with agricul-
staring at a huge loss. Even How does WTI’s price ture and horticulture acti-
the excise department is only Why does WTI still remain impact India? vities can function. Inter
talking about opening liquor in the negative? ➤ It doesn’t unless Brent also and intra-state movement
shops that have products ➤ Because traders are unsure moves due to common reasons of planting materials and
with a longer shelf life.” the economy would reopen such as geopolitical tensions honey bee colonies, honey
anytime soon due to President or major supply disruptions and other beehive products
Seek relief on taxes, P4 is now allowed. TNN
REPORT ON PAGE 13
2 TIMES CITY | LOCKDOWN-DAY 28
Khari Baoli
Over 1cr people will AIIMS to use robots for minimal contact
get free rations: CM
2k Food Coupons To Each MLA, MP For Distribution
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Over one crore
people who have been hit by
the extended lockdown will
be given free rations by Delhi
government. On Tuesday,
chief minister Arvind Kejri-
wal said 2,000 food coupons
will be given to each MLA and
MP for distribution of ration
among the needy who don’t
have any identity documents
in their constituencies.
Around 71 lakh public dis-
tribution system (PDS) benefi-
ciaries and 30 lakh people who
have applied for ration cards
online are being provided free
rations. Since a large number
of people are unemployed, the
CM said that when the distri-
bution of rations for the
month of May begins at the
end of April, people will also
be given a kit containing es-
sential items like salt, chick-
peas, sugar, turmeric, edible
oil, soap, spices and daliya.
Many people, particularly
migrant labourers who had
come to the city for a few
months to earn money, have
got stuck due to the lockdown.
“To ensure free rations to such
people, Delhi government has
decided to give 2,000 food cou-
pons to each MLA and MP
across all political parties.
Each coupon will entitle the
holder to get 5kg free rations.
The MPs and MLAs can give
these coupons to people who
do not have a ration card or
any ID proof,” said Kejriwal.
Sixty new ambulances have
been ordered to cater to the ri-
sing number of Covid-19 positi-
ve cases.
An analysis of the Covid-19
deaths has revealed that 80%
In war zone, docs battle sweat, hunger, fear Rapid antibody tests Medical staff
Sidhartha.Roy
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: “My biggest fear,
more than dying, is that my
body will be disowned after I
die,” said Dr Sumit Kumar
(name changed) who is deplo-
yed in the Covid-19 ward of
one of the biggest govern-
ment hospitals in the city. “In
this war, we are the warriors
and before we fight the disea-
se, we win over our fears
first,” he added.
Kumar’s hospital, like
many others in the capital, is
divided into different zones.
Entering the “Red Zone” is
nothing short of entering a
war zone. “This is where Co-
vid-19 positive patients are
treated. The zone has a diffe-
rent aura that is hard to desc-
ribe. There is, of course, app-
rehension in your mind as
you get into Personal Protec-
tive Equipment (PPE) in the
docking area,” he said.
While the PPE is the pri-
mary armour, wearing it for
the entire shift has its own
challenges. Doctors said that
wearing multiple layers of
9 more cops
test positive
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Nine cops tested
tested positive for the novel
coronavirus on Tuesday, of
which six were from Jahang-
irpuri police station who were
deployed in containment zone
near B and C block, while
three were from from Nabi Ka-
rim police station in central
Delhi, taking the total to 24.
Of the six cases in Jahang-
irpuri police station, two are
ASI and four others are cons-
tables. The wife of the ASI has
also tested positive.
So far, 160 policemen from
Chandni Mahal and Nabi Ka-
rim stations have tested for the
virus, of which 128 tested nega-
tive and the reports of the re-
maining are awaited. Even of-
ficers who were asymptomatic
have been tested and advised
to stay indoors.
HELPING IN COVID FIGHT
Robot 1 Robot 2
SUCCOUR FOR NEEDY
➤ Delhi govt to give 2,000 food
coupons to each Delhi MLA & MP
➤ MLAs, MPs to distribute ration
to the poor, who don’t have
proper identity cards
➤ Free ration to be given to over
KIT OF ESSENTIAL
ITEMS TO HAVE
1 litre refined oil
1kg chhola chana
1kg sugar
1kg salt
200g haldi powder
200g dhania
powder
200g chilli powder
2 soap bars of
60-75g
Free ration being distributed at Shakarpur
Testing centre for scribes to open today
A fter a few journalists tested positive for the novel coronavirus in
Maharashtra and Chennai, Delhi government on Tuesday
decided to conduct similar tests in the capital as well. A separate
corona testing centre for journalists will be established, CM Arvind
Kejriwal said. “We have received reports that in many states
journalists have tested positive. They are working in the frontline, and
I salute their courage. This is the time when people need proper
information, and by risking their lives, journalists are working round
the clock. On requests from some of them , from Wednesday we are
opening a centre where any of them can visit for tests,” he said. TNN
patients were above 50 years
old. “This shows that senior ci-
tizens are more at risk. We also
found that 83% of the decea-
sed patients had co-morbiditi-
es, like diabetes, hyperten-
sion, kidney disease, cancer,
etc,” the CM said, urging peo-
ple to take care of the elderly.
The volume of rations was
also increased by the govern-
ment after the lockdown. “We
have given 7.5kg free ration
this month to 71 lakh ration
seek parity
SOLDIERING ON: Doctors say wearing multiple layers of protective
gear makes breathing difficult and, with the temperature rising, it
becomes extremely uncomfortable and leaves them sweating
protective gear makes breat-
hing difficult and, with the
temperature rising, it beco-
mes extremely uncomfortab-
le and leaves them sweating.
This is because air-conditio-
ning is not being used in these
wards to avoid spread of novel
coronavirus. For the entire
shift ranging between 8 and 12
Social scare: Hair-raising tales grow to great lengths
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Locked in at home
without access to a barber, crick-
eter Virat Kohli got his locks
trimmed by his wife, Anushka
Sharma. But there are some
men who are letting their hair
and whiskers run wild.
#Quarantinehair is a rioto-
us story of its own on social me-
dia, as people share posts of the-
ir attempts to groom themsel-
ves. “My wife is dying to try out
her hair cutting skills learnt
from YouTube on me, but that’s
a high-risk option. Maybe I’ll
stick with overgrown hair,” sa-
id Rohan Mehta, a business-
man. “Buzzers are selling like
hot cakes in the Defence Colony
market,” he added.
Beauty and wellness have
been a booming business and
huge employers in India in the
last decade, estimated at over Rs
Sukhdev Vihar
Photo: Sanjeev Rastogi
1 crore people (71 lakh ration card
holders, 30 lakh who have applied online)
➤ Along with ration for the
month of May, one food kit
containing essential items to
be given to all
card holders and 5kg to 10 lakh
non-PDS beneficiaries. We ha-
ve received nearly 38 lakh app-
lications from non-ration card
holders. Around 2 crore people
reside in Delhi and we will be
giving free rations to half the
population,” Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, in a review
meeting on Tuesday, LG Anil
Baijal asked officials to ensu-
re effective management of
containment zones, food cent-
res and night shelters.
hours, doctors can’t eat, drink
or use the washroom.
“There is a crunch of resi-
dent doctors and our shifts
are of 14 hours at night and 10
hours in the day. PPEs are
short and we have been asked
to use them judiciously,” said
a resident doctor of another
hospital. “Also, doctors are
80,370 crore in 2018 according to
KPMG. But salons are likely to
be hit hard by the lockdown.
While those with shorter hair
find themselves looking be-
draggled, people who colour the-
ir locks are now conscious of
their natural roots peeking out.
Those on social media are con-
cerned about keeping up appea-
rances and DIY styling solu-
tions like “sock curls” are ma-
king waves these days.
“I’ve been using wax strips
for my upper lip and tweezing my
eyebrows a little, just enough not
to show a unibrow in my work vi-
deo conferences,” said Anjali
Singh, a corporate lawyer. Her fri-
end, Antara Gopinath, also a cor-
porate lawyer, got a little too relax-
ed about her appearance in her
work con-calls. It ended in a joke
among her colleagues.
There are different levels of
investment in one’s looks. Whi-
WHEN THE EARTH STOOD STILL
Defence Colony
DurgeshNandan.Jha
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The All India In-
stitute of Medical Sciences is
planning to deploy robots at its
Covid-19 facilities in Delhi and
Jhajjar, thus reducing the risk
of infection to humans. The
mechanised helps will be tried
out for two purposes: contact-
less monitoring of the admit-
ted patients and for disinfec-
ting and sanitising the rooms
without human intervention.
Consumer robotics firm
Milagrow, which has supplied
the two robots for the Covid-19
facility set up at AIIMS Trau-
ma Centre, said the first robot,
Humanoid ELF, is designed to
look like a human being. Mi-
lagrow founder chairman Ra-
jeev Karwal told TOI, “This ro-
bot has a 3D camera that can re-
cord and transmit video from
the isolation ward. This will
help in routine surveillance.
The doctors can also interact
with patients via the robot.”
Humanoid ELF is 92cm
tally, has a battery life of
eight hours and can moved
about 2.9km per hour. It has
more than 60 sensors, a 3D
Doctors to light candles to protest mob attack
DurgeshNandan.Jha
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Doctors have de-
cided to light candles at
home and on hospital premi-
ses as a symbol of protest and
vigil on Wednesday, on the
call issued by Indian Medical
Association (IMA).
The immediate trigger for
this action, IMA office-be-
arers said, was denial of ho-
nourable burial for a doctor
who had died of Covid-19 in
Chennai on Sunday. A mob at-
tacked the ambulance carry-
ing the mortal remains of Dr
Simon Hercules – a Chennai-
based neurosurgeon – who di-
not only facing bad behavio-
ur from the public, but are al-
so barred from talking about
their problems,” he added.
Dr Chhavi Gupta, spoke-
sperson of Rajiv Gandhi Super
Speciality Hospital, said that
while it’s not easy working in a
PPE, it provides much-needed
safety to doctors. “While wea-
ring PPE, we have to assume
that we are infected from outsi-
de and act accordingly. An av-
erage PPE costs about Rs 1,000
and we can’t put the burden on
the exchequer by changing it
frequently. Wearing it feels like
putting on bulletproof armo-
ur,” she said.
Gupta added, “We are stay-
ing in hotels despite having
our homes and families here.
Delhi government has provi-
ded accommodation to doc-
tors in four and five-star ho-
tels and nurses and other staff
has been put up in two and
three-star hotels. While trea-
ting Covid-19 patients, we for-
get everything and just focus
on our duty. It’s a pandemic.
When there is a war going on,
we shouldn’t be going home.”
Dr Piyush Singh of Hindu
le some women are in-between
chemical peels and facial injec-
table sessions, there are others
who have never bothered with
any professional upkeep. Many
middle-class women fall some-
where in between and are mis-
sing their regular fix of threa-
ding, waxing or a mani-pedi.
“Getting my hair washed
and dried at a salon was a sign
of my economic independen-
ce,” said lawyer Talish Ray. “No
more of that, for now. That’s
not the worst. My nine-year-old
daughter asked me if suddenly
sprouting hair on my upper lip
and chin meant I was hitting
puberty,” she laughed.
Kabir Mathur, who works at
a think-tank, is pleased with his
decision to shave his head as he
“had been losing hair anyway”.
Aditya Sengupta, a communica-
tions professional, said he “star-
ted to grow a lockdown beard for
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
Photos: Sanjay Sekhri, Rajesh Mehta
Near India Gate
company called Hi Tech Ro-
botic Systemz will be similar-
ly employed at AIIMS’ Jhaj-
jar facility, where 68 Covid-19
patients are admitted at the
moment. They can be put to
Looks like a Looks like a small weighing machine
use serving food and medici-
nes to patients, officials said.
Countries such as the Uni-
human being ted States, China and Italy ha-
Powered
Can
navigate
ve successfully implemented
artificial intelligence-led ro-
by artificial and sanitise bots at health facilities to mi-
intelligence nimise human presence in
floors
treating Covid-19 patients.
Fitted with 3D without In India, some hospitals in
camera, which any human Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil
can be used intervention Nadu have deployed robotic
technology for conducting tri-
to monitor als on surveillance and actions
patients and such as delivery of food and
even interact medicines to patients. The doc-
with them tors involved with the experi-
ment said this could reduce the
remotely with
risk of viral transmission
no person-to- among healthcare workers.
person contact “Also, if routine surveillance
can be done via robots, we may
be able to cut down on use of
and HD camera each and a gate and sanitise the floors wit- cific needs,” he elaborated. personal protective equipment
10.1-inch display screen. hout human intervention. Ad- AIIMS officials confir- kits, which are available in li-
Karwal said the other robot ditionally, the robot can do zo- med that these robots will be mited numbers, and make
being deployed in the institute ning, virtual blocking of put to the test at the hospital. them available for healthcare
is called iMap 9. “It is a floor dis-
infecting robot that can navi-
avoidable areas and sequential
cleaning of zones based on spe-
Another set of robots de-
veloped by a Gurgaon-based
workers entering the Covid-19
wards,” one of the doctors said.
ed due to cardiac arrest after The association said that discriminate against the he-
battling novel coronavirus. IMA SAYS all doctors in the country will althcare workers.
“The man saved (1000s) of li- sport black badges on Thurs- Institute director Dr Ran-
ves and was the head of a hospi- If the government fails day as a mark of protest. deep Guleria said discrimina-
tal doing complex neurosurge- to enact a law on Meanwhile, to instil confi- tion against healthcare wor-
ries. You all treated him worse violence against dence among the healthcare kers was driven mainly by fear
than a street dog. No hashtags doctors and hospitals, workers working at AIIMS, a than any scientific evidence.
will change the way doctors fe- IMA will observe a group of doctors from the ho- “It takes more than half
el right now, no clanging of ‘Black Day’ on Thursday spital has made a music video. an hour for a doctor to remove
pots,” tweeted one doctor. “We have included faculty, re- all protective gear they use
Dr Vinay Aggarwal, mem- sidents and nurses in this vi- while managing Covid-19 po-
ber of IMA’s taskforce on Co- ment of a central law through deo,” said one of the doctors. sitive patients. So, by the time
vid-19, said the candlelight pro- an ordinance for the protection He added: “This is meant to a doctor comes out of active
test will be held at 9 pm. “Many of healthcare professionals. “If aware our colleagues who are duty into the community, the
nurses and other healthcare the government fails to enact a anxious about the dangers of chances of infection from a
workers, who are angry with law on violence against doc- dealing with an infection like healthcare professional are
discrimination being meted tors and hospitals even after a Covid-19 on safety measures.” nil,” Dr Kaushik Sinha Deb,
out to healthcare professio- white alert (candlelight vigil), On Monday, AIIMS admi- associate professor in the
nals, will also join in,” he said. the IMA will observe a ‘Black nistration had released a vi- psychiatry department, ex-
IMA is demanding enact- Day’ on Thursday,” it said. deo appealing to people to not plained in the video.
Rao Hospital said, “The soci-
ety has to understand that if
we stop, who will treat pati-
ents? That is why we need a
on hold for two days TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Delhi govern-
central protection Act. We TIMES NEWS NETWORK in the containment zone of ment has issued a new order
need the right equipment to Nabi Karim in Central dis- for providing accommodation
fight the war and work witho- New Delhi: A day after its trict were tested and all re- to doctors, nurses, parame-
ut any fear factor. I’m living launch, Delhi government on sults were negative. An offici- dics and support staff of dedi-
separately and avoiding con- Tuesday put the rapid antibo- al said the tests were conduc- cated Covid-19 hospitals.
tact with my family mem- dy test on hold for two days as ted at three locations — Nabi The order stated that the
bers. The biggest problem reports from across the co- Karim, Hauz Qazi and Sadar support staff would be accom-
doctors fighting against Co- untry allegedly showed huge Bazaar — in the district befo- modated in dharmashalas, pa-
vid-19 is the behaviour of peo- variations between its re the order was issu- ramedics and nurses would
ple, like being asked to vacate results and those of the ed. The tests were yet get hotel accommodation (ca-
rented accommodation.”
Delhi Medical Council
member and former president
more elaborate RT-
PCR tests.
The Indian Council
7 5 to start in the other
districts due to logis-
tical reasons.
tegory not defined), while the
doctors would be made to stay
in four to five star hotels. The
of Delhi Medical Association of Medical Research CASES The rapid testing decision, however, did not go
Dr Harish Gupta said the situ- (ICMR) has asked the REPORTED kits, which detects down well with the nurses and
ation has improved now. “The states to stop using the IN THE the body’s response to support staff, who are deman-
PAST 24
government took a tough stan- kits. Delhi was given novel coronavirus in ding parity in facilities.
HOURS
ce and chief secretaries of all 42,000 kits and the go- less than 30 minutes, “This is the time for buil-
states were asked to take ac- vernment planned to will be positive only if ding spirit. Such action bre-
tion. Following this, some intensify testing in the Co- antibodies have been genera- aks that instead. The support
landlords were arrested. Peo- vid-19 containment zones. As ted. But this usually takes ov- staff serving in Covid-19
ple have now realised that they on Tuesday, the capital has 87 er a week from the date the bo- wards are putting their
can’t misbehave with health- such pockets. dy is attacked by the virus. lives at risk too. They sho-
care professionals,” he added. A government official sa- The RT-PCR test detects the uldn’t be demoralised by be-
“People now have to reali- id an email had been sent to virus but takes more time. ing asked to put up in dharms-
se that the only vaccine aga- the district medical officers The number of Covid-19 halas while others working
inst Covid-19 at the moment is asking them to put all rapid patients in the capital rose with them stay in hotels,”
wearing masks and maintai- tests on hold. The RT-PCR to 2,156 on Tuesday with 75 ca- said Leeladhar Ramchanda-
ning social distancing,” Dr tests will, however, continue. ses being reported in the ni, secretary general, Delhi
Harish said. On the first day, 72 people past 24 hours. Nurses Federation (DNF).
Arya Praharaj
fun. But it has grown out of cont- themselves radical buzz cuts.
rol and I don’t want to use a trim- For those who don’t have to
mer in case it gets clogged”. For socialise, it means no judg-
some men, ear and nose hair ment. Shiuli Sen, a designer, sa-
presents a new challenge. id, “It’s actually pretty libera-
Video conferences have ting to not care about how you
brought a new level of scrutiny look. Yesterday, I looked at the
to each others’ looks, said Gopi- hair on my legs and thought I’m
nath. Some people aren’t aware practically on a desert island, so
of this, so they look sloppy and why should I shave it? Why do
recline in funny ways. She and women even do it when it has a
her colleagues had to turn off biological right to be there?”
their cameras to giggle when “I’ve never coloured my ha-
their boss, who had a social en- ir, but my short hair does need a
gagement later on the House- trim. Someone on Facebook sa-
party app, “showed up with id my hair looked great,” said
slick spiked hair, like a party lo- Chinna Dua, a retired radiolo-
ok from the late 90s”. gist. She believes in looking go-
“People can buy hair dye, od, wearing a nice sari every-
but it’s hard for those with day. “We are not in national mo-
highlights or complicated co- urning and life hasn’t stopped.
lour like caramel or honey,” Looking after one’s appearance
said Amrita Jain, a fashion can give oneself and others a
entrepreneur. Some people sense of positivity,” she added.
are experimenting with long- (Some names
er hair, others are giving have been changed)
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI *
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020 TIMES CITY | LOCKDOWN-DAY 28 3

Chaos, arguments at border with UP Three more red zones Tablighi Jamaat: Cops
probe travel agents’ role
in list, total now 87 New Delhi: Police were probing
the role of two travel agents who
New Delhi: Three new areas were added to the list of fled during the raid at Alami
Many Claim They Were Stopped By Men In Uniform Despite Having Valid Passes
Anindya Chattopadhyay
containment zones on Tuesday, as the government
ramped up screening and testing of people. Gali No. 2,
Markaz building during Tablighi
Jamaat’s meet. They had helped in
Continued from P1 in Delhi,” he said. “Ever since the 3 and 4 in Devli Extension under south district, H.No. booking train tickets for those who
GHAZIPUR BORDER lockdown was announced, I was be- F-138 and F-139 in Gali No. 1in Harsh Vihar of Hari Na- left the event midway. TNN

T
he Noida district informa- ing allowed to go after showing my gar Extension, southeast district, and H.No 300 in Ga-
tion officer (DIO) said jour- ID card. But not today.” li No. 3 to H.No 739/16 on Krishna Puri Main Road in
nalists could travel to Delhi Singh said the cops had clear- Mandawali of east district were declared the new con-
using their identity cards on ly misunderstood the DM’s order. tainment zones, taking the total number to 87. HAPPAIMES
Wednesday but would need a DIO “I called up the DM but he didn’t Apart from the containment or red zones, the
authorisation from Thursday. respond. Then I spoke to the SSP, number of orange zones (buffer zones) also increa-
In another part of NCR, Gha- who said he couldn’t do much as sed in the city. According to sources, the number of o
i =
ziabad issued a similarly stringent the order had been passed by the orange zone rose to 180 on Tuesday, which was 110 last
order late on Monday. It led to a day DM. After arguing for almost an week. In the orange zones — usually areas surroun- Knowledge is Safety!
of commotion at the Delhi-Ghazia- hour, I got a green signal from my ding the containment zones — there are comparati- Read the paper to enhance
bad border with long traffic hold- office. For that, I had to call up the vely less restrictions. The authorities earmark your awareness and safety
ups and many associated with es- joint secretary of the health de- orange zones to facilitate carrying out of extensive during these times.
sential services, including a Delhi partment,” Singh added. sanitisation and surveillance. TNN Healthcare vouchers
quarantine inspection committee Rajesh Katarina, a corpora- to be won daily.

Online
member, being stopped. The Gha- tion official, had to wait for two Convert points to
ziabad administration clarified lat- hours before being allowed to go. 5X TIMESPOINTS
er it had asked Delhi government to Neha Singh, an employee with for assured rewards.
issue passes to its staff, without the Delhi health department, said
video classes Weekly Points Bonanza!

which they won’t be allowed to trav-
el. However, essential service pro-
viders and journalists living in
Ghaziabad will not need passes and
can continue to travel on the basis
issue only limited passes,” Gha-
ziabad district magistrate Ajay
Shankar Pandey told TOI.
Noida officials said the deci-
to show authorisation. Noida’s chi-
ef medical officer will verify the
names of doctors and paramedical
staff working in the city, and Delhi
ing essential goods between Noi-
da and Delhi. “However, these ve-
hicles will be seized in case driv-
ers or owners end up violating
CAT 2020 ,
she was returning home to Vaish-
Weekly draws for 4000
ali after night shift but was stuck
at UP Gate for almost four hours. for TIMESPOINTS,every Sunday.
T&C5 appl Participation vrind Dw: 7 to 11AM
Delhi Police blamed their co-
1 1
unterparts in Ghaziabad for the
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of their identity cards, the adminis-
tration said, clearing the air after
police enforced a near-total ban on
travel between the two cities.
“The aim is to stop the spread
sion to close the borders had been
taken as the source of 15 Covid-19
infections in the city had been tra-
ced to Delhi. “Those having medi-
cal emergency would be allowed,
government has been requested to
prepare a list of government and
private doctors and medical staff
required to work in the capital.
Noida police commissioner Alok
lockdown guidelines,” he said.
On Tuesday, over 1,000 police-
men from Delhi and Ghaziabad
camped at UP Gate to manage the
situation. Manish Pratap Singh, an
Tal 7,000/,
confusion, saying they were not
informed about the directive.
Delhi chief secretary Vijay Dev
said the movement of people from on CAT 20 course fee
both sides would be restricted to "
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of the virus in the district. There
are six reported cases of Covid-19
(in Ghaziabad) where the persons
contracted the disease in Delhi.
We have spoken to Delhi govern-
ment officials and those from the
home ministry and told them to
apart from the ones who are ex-
empted. But identity cards along
with the authorisation letter fr-
om the competent authority will
have to be produced,” said Noida
district magistrate Suhas LY.
Even doctors will be required
Singh said, “We will check every-
one’s credentials before allowing
them to the other side. Both the
DND and Mayur Vihar routes are
going to be under strict vigil.”
The Noida DM clarified that
police won’t stop vehicles carry-
Indirapuram resident and member
of the Delhi state-level quarantine
inspection committee, was among
those who were stopped at the bor-
der. “My office is in Karkardooma. I
was supposed to go for an inspec-
tion of several quarantine centres
ensure the lockdown protocol was
strictly followed. “We are going to
make it stricter along with Harya-
na and Uttar Pradesh govern-
ments. It is our shared priority in
line with the orders of the Union
home secretary,” Dev said.
T
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Log onto www.t4o.in/enroll

Employee of ration shop in north SWAMI RAMA HIMALAYAN UNIVERSITY

Delhi found Covid-19 positive
Atul.Mathur@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Days after the father of a fo-
od and supplies officer died of Covid-19
in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar area, a helper
at a fair price shop in north Delhi has tes-
ted positive for the the novel coronavirus
infection in the capital.
The department staff and the people
managing 2,000-odd fair price shops have
been working on the frontline to provide
dry ration to over 17 lakh beneficiary fa-
milies under the public distribution sy-
stem (PDS) and lakhs of others who have
applied for the same during the lock-
down period.
The helper of the fair price shop in
north Delhi’s Roop Nagar reportedly got
himself tested at a private facility on Sun-
day after he developed some symptoms of
Covid-19. The test reports confirmed the
infection on Monday and he has been ad-
mitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
District magistrate (Central) Nidhi
Srivastava said that while his contacts
were being traced, the shop and the
areas around it had been sealed. More
than 1,600 ration card holders are
assigned to this shop. The helper carries
out clerical responsibilities and closely
interacted with a large number of bene-
ficiaries and a few department officials
in the last few days, said a source.
RATION BODY OFFICIAL SAYS
He must have got infected at
least a week earlier. The shops
at the time witnessed huge rush
of beneficiaries queuing up for
their quota of wheat and rice
“He must have got infected at le-
ast a week earlier. The fair price shops at
the time witnessed huge rush of benefi-
ciaries queuing up for their quota of
wheat and rice. He might have passed on
infection to many others,” said Saurabh
Gupta, secretary of the Delhi Sarkari Ra-
tion Dealers Association.
Though the food and supplies inspec-
tor whose father died of Covid-19 last we-
ek has tested negative for the virus, he
moved around at several shops and
schools under his jurisdiction to moni-
tor the distribution of ration. More than
700 people had been told to go into
quarantine after that incident.
Delhi food and supplies commissio-
ner Ankita Mishra Bundela said her de-
partment was quite “careful and vigi-
lant”. “Everyone has been asked to
strictly observe social distancing
norms. Though the food inspector has
been tested negative for Covid-19, his
first contacts have been advised to stay
in home isolation,” Bundela said,
adding that masks and sanitisers had
been provided to all officials and fair
price shop staff.
PDS Welfare Association president
Shailender Kumar, however, alleged that
all shops hadn’t got masks and saniti-
sers. He also demanded that the families
of those working at ration shops should
also be given a compensation of Rs 1 cro-
re by Delhi government in case he dies of
Covid-19. “The government should also
bear all treatment costs,” Kumar said.
(Estd. under section 2(f) of UGC Act, 1956 & enacted vide Govt. of Uttarakhand Act No.12 of 2013)
Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun-248016 (Uttarakhand)
Phone +91-0135-2471600, 2471158 www.srhu.edu.in
NOTICE FOR ADMISSION INTO
P.G. MEDICAL (MD/MS) PROGRAMMES FOR ACADEMIC SESSION 2020-2021 AT
HIMALAYAN INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL 1 1
It is hereby informed that for the academic session 2020-2021 admissions to all Post Graduate Medical
(MD/MS) courses conducted at Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, a constituent college of the
University, shall only be made based on the merit of NEET (PG)-2020 through common counselling
conducted by the State agency, i.e. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Uttarakhand Medical Education
University (HNBUMU), Dehradun. HNBUMU has since opened registration process for admission throug h
common counselling. Interested candidates may visit HNBUMU website www.hnbumu.ac.in for reg istration
and other details.
For details of Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences , kindly visit the University website www.srhu .edu.in
Public, in general, is informed that Swami Rama Himalayan University or its constituent college, Himalayan
Institute of Medical Sciences , have never authorized/solicited any person(s) or any agent(s) for admissions in
any of the programmes / courses offered by the University and/or its constituent college referred herein above.
Therefore, public is cautioned to be aware of unscrupulous person(s)/agent(s)/advert isements. None of the
Authority(ies) shall be responsible if students/ wards are cheated on this account.
Registrar

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Wear it to stand as one.
Wear it to show your support.
Wear it because you care.
' Wear it because you dare.
1 ( I I
Wear it to fight.
To defend.
To protect.

I
Wear it to encourage.
I I
To encourage your country.
Every country man, woman and child.
Every caste, creed and religion.

11 _ , Wear it whenever you ste p out of home.

Everywhere, every time.
Clean it regularly.

oil_
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f ' i CA
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CHANGE 8egins Here
4 TIMES CITY | LOCKDOWN-DAY 28
With humans inside nests, 3k herons mate in freedom As corona fears
Jasjeev.Gandhiok
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Last week, there
was news of almost a quarter
more than the usual number of
the lesser flamingo painting
the creeks of Navi Mumbai
Pink. The colour of the season
in Delhi is grey.
A large num-
2 0 ber of birds,
among them
the white and
DECIBEL IS grey black-
THE NOISE crowned night
LEVEL FINE heron, have
FOR BIRDS made nests on
the banks of
the Yamuna.
Officials of the Yamuna Biodi-
versity Park put the number
of the heron nests at 3,000 at
the least, and said that the anti-
Covid lockdown was positively
influencing the influx of
migrant birds as well as the
success rate of their breeding.
Docking stations
for sanitation staff
N Corpn Starts First Facility At Jahangirpuri
Paras.Singh@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The North Delhi
Municipal Corporation has
decided to set up a docking
station for its every Covid-19
containment zone, which will
act as a mini-war room for
the sanitation staff working
in that area. The first centre
has started functioning at
B block in Jahangirpuri that
has six containment zones.
A docking station will be set
up at a school or a community
centre nearest to a containment
area provided that the facility is
not being used for any other
activity such as food or ration
distribution, said an official.
Sanitation workers will
report here and prepare for
disinfection activities. “Each
station will be equipped with
fresh supplies, disinfectants,
PPE kits, and resting and trai-
ning areas for field workers,”
the civic official explained.
The decision was taken af-
ter it was noticed that these wor-
kers were facing trouble while
spending gruelling hours in
PPE suits in high-risk areas
with no space for changing clot-
hes or discarding the kits, he
clarified. Standing committee
chairman Jai Prakash said the
workers would return to these
Brewers seek relief on
taxes to tide over crisis
Continued from P1
W
hile brewery consult-
ant Ishan Grover still
hopes to save some of
his fresh brew, Lalit Ahlawat
of Striker and Soi says he
dumped his because of the
additional electricity and
manpower costs. “We had a
choice between losing our
beer or losing money to keep
it. We drained it out on the
fourth day of the lockdown.”
The brewers stand to lose
not only the cost of production
but also the licence fee and du-
ty they have paid in advance.
Banga, who heads the Guru-
gram chapter of National Res-
TIMES int er . To book yo
jobs
APES Kidney Care Pvt Ltd is
looking out for Dialysis
T e c h n i c i a n for its v a r i o u s
d i a l y s i s C e n t r e s in Delhi.
Candidates having experience
of 1 to 3 years are requested to
send their CV ' s o n
hrCapexkidneycare .cotn.
Book your
Recruitment
ads
Fu aay weIFl wll-
Lalft:
9891789316
ers are recommended to make appropriate
res and see k appropriate advice before
d ing
in g money, incurring any expenses , acting on
cal recommendations or entering into any
itment in relation to any
1.
nshed in this pubication . The
p doesn't vouch for any claims made by the
rtisers of products and serv ices . The Printer,
sher, Editor , and Owners of The Times Of India
p publicat ons shall not be held liable for any
eq uelces n the event such c l a m s a'e not
honoired b y tne A d v e r stirs
RECLAIMING THEIR WORLD: Black-crowned night heron and Little egret at Yamuna Biodiversity Park
The light grey and white
heron with a slash of slate
across its head — a migrant
that becomes a resident bird in
the Yamuna Biodiversity Park
in the summer months — usu-
ally nests from March to May,
favouring the forest of wetland
reeds (phragmites) and Tama-
SAFETY NET IN RED ZONES: Sanitation workers will report at
these facilities and prepare for disinfection activities
centres after duty to remove
PPEs and sanitise themselves.
Additional commissioner
Dr Rashmi Singh said the sta-
tions would ensure safety of
the foot soldiers working for
others on the ground. “The Ja-
hangirpuri centre is the first
such facility in the country. It
will be strengthened with inter-
ventions like training and sen-
sitisation sessions,” she said.
Each docking station will
have multiple areas managed
by the sanitation and the pub-
lic health departments. These
include changing rooms, dis-
infection places, used equip-
ment disposal area and medi-
cal check-up zone. Food will al-
taurant Association of India
(NRAI), has written to the state
excise department to defer the
renewal of licences due in
April. He says a microbrewery
licence costs lakhs per month.
“Our operations are totally
shut, but if the duties, licence
fee and taxes can be deferred
for six months, we might
be able to support our staff
with salaries,” said Banga,
stressing the need for support
from the authorities. “Even
after the lockdown, we would
request the state governments
to charge us quarterly
fees rather than an annual
payment, as most outlets will
take a long time to recover.”
advve en2
cal ;
2
tender &
notices
INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK
Regional Office ,
Rachna Building, 11 " Floor,
Rajendra Place , 2 Pusa Road ,
New Delhi - 110 008
Phone: 011-25713555
NOTICE
All customers are hereby
informed that our Tolstoy
M a r g b r a n c h ( Branch
code : 0531) business
except that of locker, will be
merged with Janpath branch
(Branch code : 0065) w.e.f.
08.05.2020. The Locker
units of the branch will be
shifted to Gole Market
branch ( Branch Code :0840).
It may also be noted that if the
lock down is extended after
03.05.2020 , Merging of the
branch and shifting of lockers
will be delayed accordingly.
Janpathbranch address:
Indian Overseas Bank ,
F- 47, 1st Floor, Malhotra
Building , Connaug ht Place,
New Delhi-110001
Cxole Market branch address:
Indian Overseas Bank ,
I .
L
98, Bangla Sahib Marg ,Opposite
kaleva sweet , Gole Market ,
New Delhi-110001
Chief Regional Manager
advertisement
Times Of India
, .
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
the area during the week to
check on the nesting. “We esti-
mate there are over 3,000 nests
at the heronry here, though
the number could actually be
bite, a Ramzan
close to 5,000,” said Khudsar.
Also present are the purple
sunbird, little egret, little cor-
morant and the grey heron. “We
are recording a lot of shikras to-
like no other Anindya Chattopadhyay
o,”said Khudsar, talking of the
falcon-like but smaller raptor.
After the breeding gro-
unds of the black-crowned
night heron were destroyed a
decade ago, the park develo-
ped a nesting site for the speci-
es in 2003. Large numbers
now come and leave Delhi in
rix shrubs along the 1.8km Khudsar was clear that a re- more easily, ” the expert said. September, dispersing to dif-
stretch of the river in north duction in noise pollution He added that absence of ferent locations across the co-
Delhi. Faiyaz Khudsar, scien- across the city was helping the human interference in the bio- untry. “This is perhaps their
tist in-charge at the biodiversi- birds mate. “Noise level of over diversity park has meant grass largest congregation ever in
ty park, explained that lack 20 decibels hurts birds. With has grown more luxuriantly Delhi,” said a delighted Khud-
of human activity, including little to no noise at this time, the than usual and there is no mo- sar. “It will be interesting to
at the park which has been birds’ vocalisation and mating vement or sound inside the see how other birding hots- THAT EMPTY FEELING
shut down for the lockdown pe- calls are not distorted. This park to disturb the avian speci- pots in Delhi and NCR are
riod, is helping the birds nest. helps them discover partners es. A couple of officials visit faring during the lockdown.” Mohammad.Ibrar where they can serve one meal a
@timesgroup.com day to feed the poor. The concept
Corona warriors to focus
of Ramzan is to feed the needy,”
New Delhi: This Ramzan, the said entrepreneur Bilal Zaidi.
hustle and bustle in the markets The Imam of the Mughal-
with food joints busy doling out era Fatehpuri mosque in
savouries are going to be mis- Chandni Chowk, Mufti Muqar-
on elders with ailments sing, all thanks to the lock- ram, has been issuing video
Atul.Mathur@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: With more than 50
government on Tuesday re-
vealed that of 47 Covid-19 re-
lated deaths in Delhi, 25 were
sanitation staff, police’s beat
constable and a civil defence
volunteer as members.
down. While the month of pray-
er and community gathering
will begin on April 24 or 25, rest-
rictions will remain till May 3.
Muslim organisations, cle-
messages to people. “We know
this Ramzan will be different.
There won’t be celebrations
that people are used to seeing.
At this crucial juncture, I would
per cent of people dying of Co-
vid-19 in Delhi aged above 60
aged above 60. A staggering
88% (22 of 25) of them had co-
“The teams will call up
each senior citizen in the
rics and scholars have issued
statements asking people to stay
suggest that Muslims should
stay at home and pray and be re-
years, Delhi government has morbidities or serious health area under their jurisdic- at home, be responsible, avoid sponsible citizens in this fight
decided to prepare a separate conditions. As on April 20, tions and ask them about the- cash transactions on Zakat (cha- against Corona,” he added.
list of those who already have about 20% (408) of 2,145 Covid ir health. The names of those rity), avoid throwing Iftar parti- The Imam suggested that
severe medical conditions. positive cases were aged abo- who have any health issues es and venturing out for the spe- since Muslims stay awake till
Senior Delhi government ve 60, while 344 were between have to be marked separately cial night prayer of Taraweeh. dawn for Sehri, there could be a
officials said the teams of co- the age group of 50 and 59. and their details passed on to Many campaigns on the need provision for them to buy essen-
rona warriors have been as- the respective district ma- for charity have started on soci- tials from stores late at night.
ked to call up every 60+ person gistrates and the health de- al media asking people to spend “Many Muslims will be asleep
living in their area and “red- AN OFFICIAL SAYS partment,” CFWCST state co- more on feeding the poor, while in the morning and may not be
flag” those who have pre-exis- ordinator Sanjay Goel said. hoping that by Eid the situation able to procure what they need.
The teams will call up
ting ailments such as diabe- Each team, said officials, improves. People are being as- Ihope the situation in the count-
tes, cancer, heart and respira- each senior citizen has about 500 houses under ked to celebrate Ramzan by ry improves by Eid,” he added.
tory ailments among others. in their respective its jurisdiction. They have being a “minimal Muslim” and For many, Ramzan is all abo-
They added that the names of areas and ask them been asked to call up or avoid spending time outside. ut eating out and feasting thro-
the redflagged persons will be about their health visit at least 50 houses a day. Ovais Sultan Khan, a hu- ugh the night. Akram Qureshi,
shared with the district ma- The contact details of each man rights activist who is a part owner of Al Jawahar restau-
gistrates of the area and person living in a particular of the campaign, said, “Ram- rant in Old Delhi and president
the health department to en- The job to identify and area are already available zan is a month of piety and pra- of Matia Mahal Shopkeepers’
so be provided to the staff en- sure that their samples are redflag senior citizens with with the respective BLOs. yer, and part of that is serving Association, said, “The charm
tering the containment zones. collected on priority when pre-existing ailments has The teams will also visit humanity. People should take of Old Delhi won’t be there this
All equipment used during the rapid anti-body tests as been assigned to the 13,750 the houses and ask the all precautions and show com- time. Since the country is going
a drive will be sanitised at the well as random RT-PCR tests ‘Corona Foot Warriors Con- elderly about their well-be- passion to others while mainta- through a crisis, we won’t
docking stations, an official sa- are started in their locality. tainment and Surveillance ing and requirement of es- ining social distancing.” decorate the market this year.”
id. Sanitation inspectors will be According to an estimate, Teams’ (CFWCST). Formed sential commodities. In case “We have not seen a chal- Earlier this week, minori-
responsible for safe disposal of there are about 19 lakh people at the polling station level, they suspect a resident ha- lenge of this scale. This is the ti- ty affairs minister Mukhtar
used masks, gloves and PPE kits aged above 60 years in the city each team has booth-level ving corona symptoms, the me for humanity to come toget- Abbas Naqvi appealed to Mus-
as biomedical waste. Each dock- of over 20 million people. officer (BLO), ASHA/angan- teams will alert the DM office her. Ramzan is an opportunity lims to strictly follow social
ing station will work under The data shared by Delhi wadi worker, civic agency’s and the health department. for all and not just Muslims distancing during Ramzan.
the supervision of the respecti-
ve zonal deputy health officer.
Meanwhile, the corpora-
tion’s Hindu Rao Hospital on
Tuesday got 400 PPE kits as
donation from the Indra-
TESTING TIMES FOR THIS LAB TECHNICIAN
prastha Vishwa Hindu Paris-
had and will soon get two ven-
Mohsin Ahmed Khan Risks His Life Every Day To Collect Samples Of Covid-19 Suspects In Containment Zones
Photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay
tilators from the Prayas Fo- Ritam.Halder@timesgroup.com cal laboratory technology, was in
undation, an official said. the narrow bylanes of Pulbangash,
New Delhi: For Mohsin Ahmed Nabi Karim, Chandni Mahal and
Viral video: No Khan, it has become a ritual to put
his phone into a plastic pouch at 8.30
in the morning and sanitise it with an
nearby areas with his associates.
The central district is a Covid-19
hotspot and has, till date, seven
neglect, says alcohol swab at 6 in the evening. This containment zones. These are Sa-
LNJP panel
Karol Bagh resident, who is on duty
collecting test samples of Covid sus-
pects in the high-risk
dar Bazaar, Chandni Mahal, Nabi
Karim, Balaji Apartment in Sant
Nagar, Bara Hindu
containment zones Rao, Nawabganj and
New Delhi: A fact-finding co- in Delhi’s central dis- Oberoi Apartments.
mmittee of Lok Nayak Hospi- trict, does not want to “Sampling is be-
tal on Tuesday said in its re- bring home the life- ing done in the vul-
port that a viral video in whi- threatening virus. nerable areas and the volume of
ch a daughter and the wife of It was earlier a door-to-door exer- collection of samples has been in-
a person admitted there so- cise but for the past couple of days creased. Testing is a crucial element
ught help from the authoriti- the laboratory technician has been in fighting the novel coronavirus,”
es, does not appear to be “in- going around on a mobile testing the 36-year-old says. “We even took are tested for infection. After that, stepping forward to be tested. But isn’t
grained in facts” and seems to van, the only one operating in the samples of the cops at Chandni Ma- people showing symptoms of the it scary for him and his colleagues to
be out of “emotional distress”. city. “The van is fully sanitised and hal police station in the interiors of respiratory disease are tested. The be present in these high-risk sealed
On Monday morning, the those sitting inside don’t need pro- Ajmeri Gate and Daryaganj.” samples collected are sent to the zones? Pat comes the reply: “We can’t
daughter and the wife of a per- tective gear,” Khan reveals. He explained that a survey was National Institute of Biologicals in afford to be scared. Like army person-
son infected with Covid-19 had The 36-year-old, who in the pre- being carried out first. Then people Noida at the end of each day. nel doing what they have to with guns,
sought help in the video post- lockdown days was posted at a Delhi who have come in direct contact According to Khan, people are we, the health sena, too, are carrying
ed on social media, stating government dispensary on Chame- with a corona-positive individual more aware now and are themselves out our responsibilities to our coun-
he was suffering from high fe- leon Road in Karol Bagh, does not try and fellow beings.”
ver and the hospital was not need to be reminded to call his wife Khan is now looking forward to his
taking care of him. The video just before he reaches home. “She From doctors, nurses, bankers to milkmen and two-week rota ending. He will have to
went viral and the government keeps a bucket outside for me to security guards , there are many frontline warriors go into 14-day mandatory quarantine.
stepped in to provide help. wash my clothes and to take a bath,” who are battling it out daily to ensure we are safe “Ramazan starts on April 25-26, so my
“In view of the paucity of ti- Khan says. “I also keep my distance and taken care of during the lockdown. We salute all duty routine has been accordingly
from my 62-year-old mother. The these real, unsung heroes arranged,” he explains with a smile.
me and different shift duties of
the officers involved in battling elderly are more vulnerable to the “The officers and doctors in the health
the pandemic, the committee virus and I might be a carrier. It is If you know of #LockdownHeroes whose stories you would like to share please department are understanding. It’s a
members feel the allegations painful but necessary.” log on to www.toilockdownheroes.com. We will seek to get in touch and tough job, especially now, and it helps
levelled against the hospital do On Sunday and Monday, Khan, feature select stories in The Times of India newspaper when your colleagues and superiors
consider these little things.”
not appear to be ingrained in who holds a BSc degree in medi-
facts,” the report stated. TNN
Woman sanitation
ttiiCNUUR COURAGE.
worker tests +ve
Vibha.Sharma@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: A 35-year-old woman contractual sanita-
tion staff member working in Kailash Nagar ward tes-
ted positive for novel coronavirus on Monday. She was
admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital. Her family members
The silent joy of remembering a loved one. blamed it on lack of personal protection equipment.
The moments you shared together.
. Little moments that make life beautiful.
On Monday, the central government had issued
an advisory to all states for ensuring the health and sa-
Share them. With Friends. Relatives. Neighbours. fety of sanitation workers during Covid-19, asking
Colleagues. With all those whose lives the departed Soul has
touched. Because while life goes on,when you
them to draw up clear standard operating procedures
for their work protocol through the lockdown period.
share memories , they stay on forever .
“The staff workers are not provided gloves and masks
Total which is why they are more at risk. My wife was diagno-
Publications outlay sed early because we immediately took her for the test
veoro
The Times of India Delhi/NCR 5.600
after she complained of fever on April 16. But she is not
TOI+NBT(Del hi/NCR) 8 .800
getting proper facility at the hospital,” claimed her hus-
TOI+ET(De lhi/NCR) 6 .600
Mwmum 10 1 .,
Please call Vinod: 9958992088, Swarup: 9873886880 band who also works as a sanitation staffer with DUSIB.
.
Sanitation unions have claimed that unlike health wor-
v inod dhawan@timesgroup com , swarup .dutta@timesgroup.com
Booking office: 011-49378353 , 011-49378370
kers, they are not covered under the Centre’s insurance
scheme. On Monday, former mayor and standing commit-
timesinteract .delhi@ timesgroup.com For any information call tee member Narendra Chawla wrote to additional secreta-
Swarup:9873886880
ry, ministry of health and family welfare on this issue.
You can also call our 24x 7 helpline number 9278812222
Meanwhile, family members of another woman sanita-
Toll Free Number 1800 120 5474.
Vinod:9958992088 tion staff, who was working with East Delhi Municipal Cor-
poration and died on Sunday, have claimed that she was co-
rona positive. However, EDMC officials said that nothing
Published for the Proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., by Rajeev Yadav at Times House, 7,Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi -110002 and printed by him at Times Of India Press, 13, Site IV, Industrial Area, Sahibabad (UP), Dainik Jagran Press, Plot NO. C2/2-1, Selaqui Industrial
was clear as of now and the lady might have died of heart at-
Area, Dehradun(UTTARAKHAND) and Dainik Jagran Press , Biharman Nagla, Pilibhit Bypass Road, Bareilly (UP) and Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. Plot No. 7-8, Sector M-11, Transport Hub, Industrial Model Township, Manesar, Haryana-122051. Regd . Office,: Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji Road, tack. TOI tried contacting LNJP director (ENT) on this is-
Mumbai-400001. Editor (Delhi Market) : Diwakar Asthana – responsible for selection of news under PRB Act, @ All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of Publisher is prohibited
RNI NO : 508/57
Air Charge : Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Nagpur & via Rs.5.00, Leh Rs.2.00,. Price in Nepal : NEP Rs.15.00 sue, but he was not available for comment. The 52-year-old
Made in New Delhi
Volume 71 No. 96. sanitation worker, Daya, was a resident of Nandnagri area.
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
Pallavi.chakravorty
@timesgroup.com
K
enny Basumatary
has started a
new campaign on
Wishberry to fund
his latest film Local Ut-
paat. This is the Assamese
filmmaker’s fourth film as
a director and like one of
his previous films — Local
Kung-Fu 2 – is being fund-
ed through crowdfunding.
“My first film was made
with a budget of `90,000
but for my second film I
needed more money to
give it a wider release.
One of my friends told
me about crowdfunding
and I met the team from
Wishberry. The campaign
helped me raise ` 8.9 lakh
and plan my film on a big-
ger scale,” he said.
Globally, the crowd-
funding market has shown
steady growth after the
2008 financial crisis in
response to the difficul-
ties faced by early-stage
enterprises attempting to
generate funding. Today,
as per Statista, the glob-
al transaction value in the
crowdfunding segment
amounts to $8,537.3 mn
in 2020 (till first quarter),
the highest being reached
in China — $7,049 mn.
India, at $1.8 mn, has the
potential to go a long way.
In fact, according to the
World Bank Crowdfunding
Report 2019, the develop-
ing world has the ability
to deploy up to $96 billion
a year by 2025 in crowd-
*V]PKZJLUHYPV^OLUWLVWSL^PSSILTVYL
cautious about shelling out a big amount,
JYV^KM\UKPUNJHUILL_WSVYLKIL[[LY
ANSHUKILA DUBEY, Co-Founder & COO,
Wishberry
www. re pu bl ic.co/lwo r ld-o n h ine
"ZZZ/ .ZZ
5
CONSUMER CONNECT INITIATIVE
funding investments. three-month moratorium, crowdfunding has come are more for investors,”
THRIVE WITH
One of the biggest ad- which allows repayments up in a big way. It allowed said Alex Fedosseev, CEO
vantage of crowdfunding to begin only after the said for accredited online plat- & Founder, 1World Online.
is division of risk which time and Koronafree loans forms to act as facilitators Back home, players
allows investors to park — targeting borrowers of equity investment op- such as Catapooolt, Ket-
THE CROWD
small amounts of money. from districts unaffected portunities between start- to, Kickstarter and many
Primarily, there are three by COVID-19 or with less ups and non-accredited others have helped sev-
types of crowdfunding: Do- than 10 confirmed cases,” investors and prompted eral startups and small
nation-based — where the said Rajat Gandhi, Found- players like Republic — an businesses raise funds.
investors or contributors er & CEO, Faircent. RBI equity investing platform Last year, Amazon India
are promised no financial regulations doesn’t allow for startups – to come into launched an initiative
returns as these cam- NBFC-p2p platforms to play. The platform which called Amazon Wings to
paigns are mostly cause- guarantee any return to allows a minimum invest- help its sellers raise funds
based; Debt-based — this investors but Faircent ment of $10 has gained through Ketto. Through
method promises the con- claims to provide a return lot of traction since being the initiative, the company
tributors their money back of 12-28 per cent to its in- founded in 2016. “India aims to help small sell-
with interest. It is also vestors. could unleash huge driv- ers with early-stage ideas
called ‘peer-to-peer (p2p)’ In the US, rewards-based ing force for economic raise funds for product
lending; Equity-based – in platforms like Indiegogo boost (especially after development. Catapooolt’s
this type of funding con- and Kickstarter got the the Covid-19 impact) if it CEO and Co-founder,
tributors acquire equity early attention but after makes equity fundraising Shabir Momin, believes
shares in exchange for the JOBS Act (Jumpstart legal. The true potential the time is perfect to val-
capital receiving return Our Business Startups of crowdfunding can only idate ideas and jump to
Act) of 2012, equity-based be realised when returns execution. “Adaptation is
key to survival and in the
current situation crowd-
R OW D F funding offers an oppor-
Crowdfunding may emerge as a great form of alternative F C
UN tunity of micro investment
IMPRESSIVE
NUMBERS SLUKPUNPU[OLWVZ[*V]PK ZJLUHYPV0[»Z[PTL^LRUV^OV^ O with potential good re-
S
D
China tops the list of turns,” he said.
PE
IN
countries in achieving on their investment as undermined. “Even though or special access to the Crowdfunding can be
the maximum transac- well as a share of the prof- it’s a tough situation, we project they funded (invite especially useful during
G
TY
tion value for crowd- its. They are also entitled are still getting donations to film premiers), limited medical emergencies,
funding projects to a dividend. In India, for daily wage workers edition merchandise, ex- particularly due to plat-
in the world
equity-crowdfunding is working in the film and perience in the making of forms such as Milaap.
deemed illegal while a p2p TV industry. In the post the project, etc. The platform that has
THE TOP 5 lending platform can oper- Covid-scenario, when peo- Some like Faircent, a so far helped raise more
All number in US$
ate only after obtaining a ple will be more cautious p2p lending platform, than ` 800 crore believes
Source: Statista Certificate of Registration about shelling out a big have launched initiatives in being the last layer of
from the RBI. amount, crowdfunding can to help borrowers meet social security for indi-
782M
As per Statista, the be explored extensively by their short-term cash- viduals facing crisis. In
7,049M
global crowdfunding mar- people in need of funds,” flow requirements. The a bid to support more
100M
ket size by 2025 can be said Anshukila Dubey, RBI-registered platform Covid-19 initiatives, the
86M
47M
India 1.8M
$28.8 billion. That esti- Co-Founder & COO, Wish- has till date dispersed company has decided
mate may change in the berry – a reward-based more than Rs 200 crore to waive off the five per
China
US
UK
France
Canada
post Covid-19 situation crowdfunding platform worth of loans since cent fee that it charges
but nevertheless the po- for creative artists. The founded in 2014. “We have DONATION-BASED DEBT-BASED on funds raised through
tential of this form of al- platform gives intangible introduced Anti-lockdown where investors or con- promises contributors its platform. “Our prelim-
ternative lending can’t be rewards such as early bird loans — loans with a tributors are promised no their money back with inary theme of fund rais-
financial returns as these interest. Also called ing was for food followed
campaigns are mostly ‘peer-to-peer (p2p)’
by funds for protective
cause-based lending
We are getting lot of donations for >LVWLYH[LH[PU[LYLZ[ equipment for healthcare
daily wage workers working in the rates starting from 12-28 workers. From where we
ÄSTHUK;=PUK\Z[Y`0U[OLWVZ[ WLYJLU[WH3LUKLYZ[Y` see it, in the next phase,
HUKJYLH[LHKP]LYZPÄLKWVY[MVSPV micro and small busi-
of loans and majority of them earn nesses will need funding
HTPUPT\TVMWLYJLU[YL[\YU EQUITY-BASED support as a stimulus to
start their businesses
RAJAT GANDHI, Founder & CEO, contributors acquire equity shares in exchange for
post lockdown,” said Ma-
Faircent capital receiving return on their investment as well as a
yukh Choudhury, CEO and
share of profits. They are also entitled to a dividend
co-founder, Milaap.
1W O R L D
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6 http://www.tenders.indiatimes.com BUSINESS BY BIDS THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

TAMILNADU I PAPERS LIMITED UJVN LIMITED

Ph: 84324-277 0011(10 Lines). e-mWi:
KERALA MEDICAL SERVICES CORPORATION LTD. A gra Divsion Dated 20 .04 2020

NOTICE INVITING TENDER

2"' Corrigendum
e-Procurement Notice to E-Tender Notice No. 2020-
Tender No Material Descri ption Due Date
2020 Part - 57 Dated : 21.04.20 Tender no . 021 EE(G)/KPSITN/2020-21 March-03 dt. 21 .03.2020
202113 Bleached Chemi-Thermo Mechanical Pulp-
09.05.2020 Q UOTATION NOTICE Office of the Executive Engineer (Generation), Khodri Power Station , The closing date of E-tender no.
000079 Hardwood 83 (Qty: 4500 ADMT5%) In view of the Covid - 19 pandemic Govt. of Kerala has decided to procure antibody Dakpathar invites online bids for the following work. 2020-March-03 dt. 21.03.2020 ,
based Rapid Test Kits on an emergency basis. Online quotations are invited for the supply Design , Engineering, Supply, Installation , Testing and which was postponed and scheduled
202123 Stoneground Softwood Pulp
09,05 .2020 Commissioning of 11kv , LAVT panel of Unit 1, 2, 3 & 4 at Khodri to be closed on 24.04.2020 is
000020 (Qty: 1000 ADMT +5%) of the followin g .
power station , Khodri. now further postponed and will
Detailed terms conditions , Qty. , Tender Fee , EMD, etc. are S1. Quotation Descri ption Last date of Online
&
submission Estimated Value of work : Rs.3000000/- (GST extra). be closed now on 15.05.2020 at
available in tender document at our websites: www.tnol.com / No No. Earnest Money : Rs. 60000/- 15.00 his,
1, Antibody (IgM , I gG) based Rapid Diagnostic Test 25.04.2020 Tender Document Fee: Rs. 2360/- (GST inclusive).
Q63/ 2020 For ful details and submission of
DIPR/ 1663 / Tender/2020 Kit for COVID - 19_ 11. 0 0a - . Data of availability of Bid Document on e-Portal: 21.04.2020, 18:00 hrs.
bid, please see the Indian Railway
Quotation documents and all other information related to the bidding process can be Last Date for submission of Bid on e-Portal : 14.05.2020, 17:00 hrs.
v, ebsite "www.ireps.gov.in
downloaded from the website www, kmscl. kerala .gov . in . Last Date for submission of Hard copies: 16.05.2020, 16:00 hrs.
i.4A ii,
Sd/- Managing Director (Tender Inviting Authority)
Date of opening of tender on portal : 19.05.2020 , 12:30 hrs
For eligibility criteria and full & further details , please visit e- 64;; M
Sr. DEN-II/A gra

procurement portal "https:// uktenders .gov. in.

e-Proc urement Notice No. 04 1OCCL I2020-21 (on-l ine) 4A 1m 227 P.-i141 20042020 Executive Eng ineer (Generation)
Type of Work . - Low Height Storage Structure
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Total No of Works :- 01 (One) No. ,s
Period of completion 24 calendar months. MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS U.P. Rajya Vidyut Utpadan
Bid Amount put to Availability o Submission INDIAN RAILWAYS ORGANIZATION FOR ALTERNATE FUELS Nigam Ltd Parichha Thermal
Procurement Tender Bid Security Power Project Parichha J h a n s i .
Identification Tender of Tender
officer No (Approx
(in Rs.)
.) (in Rs.) (On -line) (On-line) Corrigendum-5 1-E-Tender-T-01/SE(HQ)/FFS
54"Y - :MN
, ,j1jjFTjWrToMT,0V
,ZT17,
Managing 28.04 .2020, 28.04.2020, CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) GLOBAL In order to develop Technical ' MI &TD/PTPP/2020-21 work of
OCCL - 10 .00 A.M to 10.00 A.M to specifications for development and manufacture of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Hy brid "Routine/preventive/breakdown
Director, OCC
Ltd.,
JGP/01/ 66 .00 Crore 66 ,00,000.00
12.05 .2020, 12.05.2020,
Date :21/4/2020 maintenance of fire detection &
2020-21 Distributed Power Rolling Stock (DPRS) with regenerative braking system, EOI
Bhubaneswar 5.30 P.M 5.30 P.M Corrigendum for Tender number 2020 UPBED 457440 1 alarm system along with del-
Date of opening of the Technical Bid: 14.05. 2020 at 12.00 Noon. (IROAF/CME(G)/FUEL CELL POWERED) invited on 03.01.2020. uge valve and control panels of
Further detail can be seen from the Govt. website The date of submission of EOI in the prescribed Format is extended from 27.04.2020 to This is for information of all the bidders that following fire fighting systems of Cable
(www.te ndersodi sha.gov. in )
27.05.2020 amendments / corrigendum are being made in the tender Gallery, Switch gear, control
Sd/- room and HFO/LDO tanks of
Managing Director PleasevisitwebsiteofiROAF https://iroaf.indianrailways.gov.in/-oIROAF Tenders-+Expression document (Ref. Tender ID No. 2020 _UPBED _457440_1)
2x110MW , PTPP , Parichha. "
of Interest . inviting online bids for supply of School Bag for students of Estimated Cost Rs. 3 , 50 ,400.
Contact person: Primary and Upper Primary schools , as per the terms and
: Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd.
*'M: Chief Mechanical Engineer/BD, conditions given in this Tender document.
00 e-bid Submission dt.: 09.05 ,20
up to 14:00 Hrs. 2- E-Tender-
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI) Indian Railways Organization forAlternate Fuels (IROAF), ST-03/CHD-IVO&MC-1I/PTPP/
(CONSULTING SERVICES-FIRM SELECTION) Due to CORONA Pandemic (Covid-1 9) Lockdown , the dates 2020-21 work of "Work of wit-
Government of India, Ministry of Railways
Country : INDIA Name of Project: MUTP III for Pre Bid Meeting, End Date of Submission , Opening of nessing of collection , prepara-
Assi gnment Title: Selection of Consultant for "TECHNICAL 4th Floor,Railway Office Complex , Tilak Bridge, New Delhi-110002 tion and analysis of coal sam-
ASSISTANCE STUDY FOR BALLAST LESS TRACK IN MUMBAI
Techincal and Financial Bids have been modified as follows:
Telephone no.:-011 -23379107 , Fax no.:- 011-23379083 ples, on behalf of power sta-
SUBURBAN AREA IN CONNECTION WITH 'MUTP - III'PROJECT. " Email: cmebdiroaf@gmail.com 987/2020 Pre Bid Meeting Date : 06 May 2020 @ 1300 hrs tion , as per scope of work/tri-
Reference No. MRVCITA1118 dated 22 .02 .2020 partite MOU signed with coal
Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd. now invites elig ible consulting Bid Submission End Date : 18 May 2020 @ 1700 hrs Companies and Third Party i.e.
firms ("Consultants ") to indicate their interest in providing the Services for CIMFR for the work of coal
Technical Bid Opening Date : 19 May 2020 @ 1200 hrs
above mentioned assignment . Interested Consultants should provide OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER (Procurement) sampling at loading end of dif-
information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and
PLANNING & PROCUREMENT WING Financial Bid Opening Date : 25 May 2020 @ 1300 hrs ferent collieries of BCCL, CCL,
relevant experience to perf orm the Services. The consulting services
All other terms and conditions as given in the tender document will NCL for Parichha TPS and
include providing "TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE STUDY FOR BALLAST KASHMIR POWER DISTRIBUTION CORPORATION LIMITED HTPS, Kasimpur." Estimated
LESS TRACK IN MUMBAI SUBURBAN AREA IN CONNECTION WITH remain the same. Visit e-procurement website www,etender .up.nic.in
'MUTP - III' PROJECT ." The estimated duration of consultancy services EXTENSION NOT ICE Director
Cost As. 13,60 ,500.00 e-bid
is 42 weeks. Detailed REOI with Draft Terms of Reference are Submission dt.: 24.04.20 up to
In view of present circumstances due to covid -19 , the last date of sale/download , Basic Education 14:00 Hrs. 3- E-Tender-T-0 1/
available on MRVC web site www .mrvc.Indlanrailways .gov.in. A
Consultant will be selected in accordance with the QCBS method set out
receipt/submission and the bid-opening of below mentioned e- NIT for the purchase of the PD-l/BTPS/2020.21 work of
in PIR. Further information can be obtained at the address below during material detailed below is extended as under:- "Supply of Medicines through
off ice hours between 10:00 hrs. to 17:00 hrs. on working days. The 1. Last Date of sale/Downloading Receipt/submission of e-Bid Documents below Local Purchase for PTPP, Pari-
corrigendum if any, will be hosted on MRVC' s website. Expression of
interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in
mentioned Tender (Extended): 30.04.2020 up to (14:00 Hrs) ,ii Cauvery Neeravari Nigama (L) chha." Estimated Cost Rs.
6 ,43,000.00 e-bid Submission
person or by email) by 30/05/2020.
Address for correspondence:
2. Submission of Hard Copy (End) Date &Time: 1.05.2020 (16:00 Hrs) in the office of Hemavathy Dam Division, Gorur- 573120 dt.: 15.05.20 up to 16:00 Hrs.
Chief Engineer Procurement and Planning wing, PDD complex Bernina Srinagar. 4-E-Tender-T-01/O&MC-II/TMD/
Bhavesh Kumar Jha , CPM-V , Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd., 2nd postponed Tender Notification on 16.04.2020 2x250MW/PTPP/2020-21 work
floor, Churchgate Railway Station Building, Church gate, Mumbai400020. 3. Commercial /Technical Bid opening of e bid Document of the Below mentioned The Calendar events of the short term Tender notificat o
Tender(Extended): 02.05.2020 up to (14:00 Hrs) of "Deputation of Junior Super-
Tele: 022-22071885 , Fax: 022-22096972 , Email: cp>m mrvc .gov.in No 19/19-20 D:28.02.2020 called by the u n d e r s i g ned visor for the work of TG Sys-
and/or cpm5mrvc@gmail .com , dycpmcivilmrvcpune ma il.com, S. NITNo. Tender ID Description of Techno- tem of unit no. 3, 4, 5 & 6,
Website : www.mrvc .indianrailwaysgov .in through E-portal has been postponed on 16.04.2020 s
No. Material Commercial Bid- PTPP , Parichha ." Estimated
rescheduled due to e-portal technical reasons. Downloadng
Opening Date Cost As. 7,08,830.00 e-bid
the tender documents through E-portal w e b s :e Submission dt.: 18.05.20 up to
1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 (Extended)
(www.eproc.karnataka.gov.in) Up to 11.05.2020 , pre bid 14:00 Hrs. 5- E-Tender-T-0 1/
n
1 SE/Proc/06/2019-20 2020_ PDD_ 91685 _ 1 Purchase of EHV 02.05.2020 SE(O&MC-V l II)/AH D-111/2x250
meeting D: 05.05.2020 , Opening of Technical bid 12.05.2020 ,
Grade Transformer 14:00 Hrs. MW/PTPP/2020-21 work of
Oil 4.30PM. Remaining conditions etc., are holds good. Fr)(
" e " P r oc u r e m e n t N o t i c e No. 02 f 0 0 0 L/ 2 0 2 0- 2 1 "Annual operation (PLC based)
further details contact in the undersigned office between & maintenance (Routine , pre-
Bid Identification No. OCCL-SGP/0 1/2020-21 The complete NIT/Tender Documents/BOQ can be downloaded from the website
10.30 AM to 5.30 PM on every working days. ventive & breakdown) of Ash
Online tender is invited on EPC Contract (Turn - Key Basis ) for the www.j ktenders .gov.in. All other terms and conditions as stipulated in the original NIT shall
Sd/- Executive Engineer , CNNL Handling system (Wet & dry)
following work: remain same. Unit no. 5&6 , 2x25OMW , PT
1. Name of Work : Execution of 6 Nos. of Lift Irrigation Schemes with Hemavathy Dam Division , Gorur , Hassan D i s t r c t
Sd/- PP, Parichha," Estimated Cost
intake point on Tel, Mahanadi , Indravati reservoir , Indravati , Ong,
As, 78 ,30 , 984.00 e-bid Submi-
Suktel river having command area between 500 He. to 2000 He. in Superintending Engineer
cluster No. XVIII in the districts of kalahandi , Bolangir and Bargarh ssion dt.: 01 .06 .20 up to 14:00
DIPK-NB-B4- Z0
(Procurement) KPDCL, Hrs_ 6- E-Tender-T-02/O&MC-
including its distribution network up to 1 He. chak having total p lanned
culturable Command Area of 9.547 Ha. on "EPC - Turn Key" basis
including power system connectivity and Operation & maintenance of
VISVESVARAYAJALA NIGAM LIMITED VIIVBMD-VVPTPP/2020-21 work
of "Round the clock preventive
Government of Jammu & Kashmir (Government of Karnataka Enterprise)
comp lete commissioned schemes for fiveyears. Office of the Executive Engineer P.H.E. Mechanical Division (North) Sopore ( V,
maintenance, up-keeping serv-
Office of The Executive Engineer. VJNL , Upper
2. Period of comp letion : 24 (Twenty four) calendar months including icing and breakdown mainte-
Short term e-Tender Bhadra Project Division No.9 Sira-572137
rainy seasons. nance of bowl mills & belt driv-
3. Date & Time of availability of bid document In the portal : From NIT No: PHE/MDNS/NITIE-02 of 2020-21 Phone: 08135-276101 E-Mail: ubpee09@gmail .com en GC feeder , seal air fan , etc
04,05.2020,10.OOA.M. to 26.05.2020 up to 5.30 P.M. For and on behalf of Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir , sealed e-tenders in two covers are No EE/VJNL/ UBP,Div-9/Sira/TankfllingiCorrir2019-20/ Date 2 0 0 4 2 : : of Unit no. 5&6 of 2x250MW ,
4. Last Date/Time for receipt of bids in the portal : 26.05.2020 up to invited from experienced , reputed and registered firms/ genuine manufacturer/authorized distnbutors/dealershvorkshop PTPP , Parichha. " Estimated
holders / SSI Unit holders for the following work: C OR RIGENDUM-4
05.30 P.M. Cost Rs_ 44,68 ,466.00 e-bid
S. Name of work Cost of Estimated Earnest Validity Position of Reference: This Office Tender notification No. EENJN.
5. Date &Time of Opening ofTechnicalBid : 28.05.2020at12.00Noon. No. tender Cost (Rs. money of offer funds Submission dt.: 14.05.20 up to
6. Name & address of the officer inviting bid : Managing Director, UBP/ D-9/Sira/Tank/tender-noti/ 11 /2019-20 Dt :19.02.2020 14:00 Hrs. 7- E-Tender-T-0 1/
document in Lacs ) (Rate in
Odisha Construction Corporation Limited. (Rate in Rs.) Rs .)
Following corrections are made in the Calendar of Events ^f BM D-I l l/PTPP/O&MC-VVO &M/
7. Seeking Clarification : 10.00 A.M. of 04.05.2020 to 03.00 P.M. of 1. Providing, fitting and installation of 5-Ton Rs. Rs . Rs. 120 Available under tender notification are published in e-portal. 2020-21 work of "Routine/
16.05.2020. capacity gantry and allied worksatWSS 300.00 5.48 11000.00 Days Languishing (1) As appeared in the corrigendum-3 of above tend 'r Preventive/Breakdown mainte-
Further details can be seen from the e-procurement portal Zaingeer Projects notification , the Calendar of Events SI. No. (D) The last da-e nance of all flushing apparatus
https ://tendersoclisha.gov.in sdi- 2. Providing, fitt ing, installation , testing and Rs . Rs. Rs. -do- -do- for submission of completed tender documents (Cover-1 & of economizer ash pan system
Managing Director commissioning of Vertical Turbine Pumping unit 1000.00 14.55 29100.00
OCCL. Bhubaneswar cover-2) through e-portal. Date: 20.04.2020 To be read a of Unit no. 3&4 of 2x210MW ,
and allied mechanical works to be carried out at
Clear Water Stage of WSS Tujar Shalpora Stage Date: 05.05.2020 & (E) Date & time of opening of Technical PTPP , Parichha. " Estimated
Government of Punjab 2nd B Bid (Cover-1) by Executive Engineer , V.J.N.L , UBP, Divisio , Cost Rs. 7,29,508.00 e-bid
3. Mechanical Works to becarriedoutatWSS Rs. Rs. Rs. -do- -do- Submission dt.: 04,05,20 up to
National Health Mission Muradpora Canal Colony (Mangnipora) 1000.00 14.70 29400.00
No.9 , Sira Date: 22 .04 .2020 after 4.30pm To be read as
13:30 Hrs. 8- Following Corri-
4. Providing, fitt ing,testing and commissioning of Rs. Rs. Rs. -do- -do-
Date: 07.05.2020 after 4.30 pm gendum of E-Tenders:- (i) E-
Sd/- Executive Engineer . VJNL .UBP, Division No.9 Sira Tender-T-01 /CSD-I I/PTPP/
Prayas Building, Sth Floor, Sector-38-B, various electrical gadgets along with allied jobs
at WSS Zaingeer.
2000.00 43.00 86000.00
2020-21 extended as follows:-
Chandigarh The tenders consisting of qualifyingleligibility criteria , technical specifications, general and commercial terms and e-bid Submission dt_ : 30.04.20
Tel. No. 0172-2688438 conditions of contract and other details can be seen/downloaded from the website https :/iiktenders .gov.in from
at 16:00 hrs_ (ii) E-Tender-T-
20-04-2020 (10:00 am).
NOTICE INVITING SHORT TERM E-TENDERS FOR The bids shall be submitted in electronic format on the website https :lljktenders.gov.in from 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1
82/O&MC-VI l l/OGD-111/2x250
SUPPLY OF OXYGEN CYLINDERS TYPE-D AND 20-04-2020 (10:00 am) to 28-04-2020 (6:55 pm). The bids uploaded on the website up to due date and time will be MW/PTPP/2019-20 extended
OXYGEN CYLINDERS TYPE-B opened on the time and dale , in the office of the Executive Engineer, P.H.E. Mechanical Division (Nort h) Sopore in
n
as follows:- e-bid Submission
presence of the bidders who wish to attend. I n case offices happen to be closed due to holiday. or any other reason , on the dt.: 09.05.20 at 14:00 hrs. (iii)
Ref No . E-Tender/Proc-Cov/2020/NHM-3 schedule dare of opening, the bids will be opened on the next working day at the scheduled lime and venue. E-Tender-T-86/O &MC-V III/
" e " P r oc u r e m e n t N o t i c e No. 03 1000L/2020 -21
The National Health Mission , Punjab (Department of Health & The complete bidding shall be online . C A M D -I I I/ 2 x 2 5 0 M W / P T E P /
SdI- Bid Identification No. OCCL-SGP/02/2020-21
Famil y Welfare , Punjab) invites online bids through No. PHE/MDNS/ DB/60 -67 2019.20 extended as follows:-
Dated : 17-04-2020 Executive Eng ineer, Online tender is invited on EPC Contract (Turn - Key Basis ) for the
www.eproc.punj ab.gov.in for the supply of Oxygen Cylinders e-bid Submission dt.: 04.05.20
r1PK- Ne-8520 P.H.E Mechanical Division (North), Sopore.
following work: at 14:00 hrs. (iv) E-Tender-T-
Type-D and Type-B in the State of Punjab. Detailed
1. Name of Work : Construction of Dharmadandinalla and Gurandinalla 8 7 / O & M C - V I I I/ C A M D-III/
requirements and terms and conditions are available in the lift project in Sonepur District with intake on Dharmadandinalla to feed
t e n d e r d o c u m e n t a v a i l a b l e on w e b s i t e
'J Own V ,An"Im,
I" .r J
to Sukha distributary near RD 31200 ft to stabilize 734 Ha. and intake
2x250MW/PTEP/2019-20 ex-
tended as follows:- e-bid Sub-
www.eproc.punjab.gov.in. 7)-q
* 0135-2726020 , 2726021 *4V * 0135-2726020 , mission dt , : 06.05.20 at 14:00
on Gurandinalla to feed to Dunguri palli Minor near RD 29000 ft to
stabilize 1078 Ha. on "EPC - Turn Key" basis including power system hrs. (v) E-Tender-T-32/CPD-IV
Closing Date & Time : 27.04.2020 up to 11:00 am. connectivity and Operation & maintenance of complete commissioned PTPP/2019-20 extended as
Opening of Online Technical : 27.04.2020 at 11:10 am. k7 /Covid-19/2020 21 /1659 R ,14 20.04.2020 schemes for fiveyears.
follows:- e-bid Submission dt.:
Bids 111gR1 2. Period of comp letion : 11 (Eleven ) calendar months including rainy 30.04.20 at 16:00 hrs. (vi) E-
seasons.
For details log onto www.eproc.punjab .gov.in . 3TsT1 1TCTZ Tif 9i i Ti =)f3 r ,q H, 1
3. Date & Time of availabilit y of bid document in the portal : From
Tender-T-08/CPD- II/PTP P/
*mT Tim 3FZ1 ftT Trf'f 4 T)tm arum i9 hi T T 1 tee T 3fT q) 1-1.11 O f ti 0
-
2020 extended as follows:- e-
Note: Any corrigendum(s) to the Tender Notice shall be 04.05.2020, 10.OOA .M. to 19.05.2020 up to 5.30 P.M.
published on the above website only. sFu AM d *4f 19idt
(
qf ul'/ If f rA l r t a 4 f Zl W 9 1 4. Last Date/Time for receipt of bids in the portal : 19.05.2020 up to
bid Submission dt.: 30.04.20 at
3TV4 0 H 4- ct -0 fN 23.04.2020 T T 05.00 aO T E-mail ID- 16:00 hrs. (vii) E-Tender-T-09/
05.30 P.M.
DPR! Ph 959-D Mission Director.
gdmcprocurementcell@gmai l.com 17 f T 1 91 ft c- 4 -0 ST T 3Tr q * q7 CPD-II/PTPP/ 2020 extended
5. Date & TIme of Opening of Technical Bid : 21.05.2020 at 12.00 Noon.
f Tef f fl t rr r mI as follows:- e-bid Submission
6. Name & address of the officer inviting bid : Manag ing Director, dt.: 30.04.20 at 16:00 hrs. (viii)
1. VTM 18. Biomedical Waste Trolley Odisha Construction Corporation Limited.
E-Tender-T-1 0/CPD-I/PTPP/
2. RNA extraction kit 19. Ergonomic Lab Chair 7. Seeking Clarification : 10.00 A.M. of 04.05.2020 to 03.00 P.M. of 2019-20 extended as follows
11.05.2020.
h > 3. Microti ps (barrier ti s 20. UV Containing garment storage e-bid Submission dt.: 11.05.20
Further details can be seen from the e-procurement portal at 16:00 hrs. (ix) E-Tender-T-
4. 1.7m1 MCT Tubes cup board
https ://tendersodisha.gov.in 35/CPD-I/PTPP/ 2019-20 ex-
5. Autoclavable Biohazard Bags (Red, 21. Stainless O.T. Trolley Managing Director
Yellow, Blue tended as follows:- e-bid Sub-
de, 7Fxrqr 6. Real Time-PCR machine
22.
23.
D.G. Set (125 KVA) OCCL, Bhubaneswar ,
mission dt,: 04.05.20 at 16:00
Deep Freezer (-86 ) hrs. (x) E-Tender-T-20/C&ID-
ci f AQ Trci3 ad
c i$TA 3 c r i 2 A X "n 7. Automated DNA/RNA extraction 24. Deep Freezer (-20) II I/O&MC-VII/PTPP/2019.20
' A l'
zf t iYfd i
, T 3 t T +t f' r -f
c f' oT + t3 1 1 tl' :T system extended as follows:- a-bid
25. Surgical Cautry Machine 1 '
8. Automated DNA/ RNA quantification
26. Bipap machine
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Submission dt.: 06.05.20 at
system n
12:00 hrs. The other terms and
:- NIT No and Date 34/20-04 -2020 System Tender No 62773 9. Static pass box
27. Central Monitoring Sy stem conditions and place of hard
Name of work Providing, Laying and jointing, testing 10. Refrigerated Centrifuge 28. Trans port Ventilator copies submission and open-
P r oc u r e m e n t N o t i c e No. O 1I000U20 2 0-21
& commissioning of 42872 mt. in length, Clear water 11. Rotars for Refri gerated Centrifu ge 29. Fluid warmer ing shall remain same/unch-
gravity main diameter from 100 to 350 mm , ISI marked 30. Body warmers
Bid Identification No. OCCL-DGP/01/ 2020.21 anged. Note:- 1_ The details of
12. Thermo mixer and attachments tender cost , earnest Money
Ductile Iron pipes class K-7 including excavation 13. Micropipettes 31. Suction machine Online tender is invited on EPC Contract (Turn - Key Basis) for the
refilling of trenches with valves , specials & all allied following work: and submission of bids/tender
14. PCR Cooler Set 32. Electronic Operating Table Extension are available in the
civil works testing and trial run for 3 (Three) months 15. Microfuge (Mini Sp in ) 33. Fumi gator
1. Name of Work : Construction of under Ground Pipe Line Irrigation
bid document uploaded on the
& operation and maintenance for 6 (Six) months System (Gravit y Flow) for 640 Ha. of CCA and Command Area
16. PCR Work Station 34. Fetal Dopp ler Development (CAD) for 1362 Ha. CCA of Sadasivpur Branch Canal of e-procurement website http://
with all labour and specials under Chotiya Group Water Rengali Right Irrigation Project in Dhenkanal district of Odisha on EPC - etender.up.nic.in. 2. The bid-
17. Eye Wash Station 35. Bio Safety cabinet
supply Scheme.(Fourth call). Probable amount of contract Turn Key basis. ders are required to be regis-
Rs. 699.00 Lacs Class of contractor Class "B" & above P 1 3TT df qF4 ate srd f T wq uz wirem f4- 2. Period of comp letion : 11 (Eleven) calendar months including rainy
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under Unified Reg istration System , E-Registration. 4th seasons. Corporation, Ashok Marg, Luc-
Equipment Make Model Basic Rate Per Quantity Estimated Warranty CMC/AMC
Call. Schedule of Date- Bid Start Date- 30.04.2020, Pre Bid Name Specification Unit (Inclusive All in Stock Time of Period Rate After
know by depositing requisite
3. Date & Time of availability of bid document In the portal : From
fees for participation in the e-
date- 11.05.2020, Bid Due Date- 20.05.2020, PHY Sub taxes ) Delivery Warranty 04.05.2020, 10.00A.M. to 19.05.2020 up to 5.30 P.M.
Tendering. The bidder must
Date- 27.05.2020, Open Date- 28.05.2020 Period 4. Last Date/Time for receipt of bids in the portal : 19.05.2020 up to also be registered with their
05.30 P.M. Digital Signature Certificate
viz- 7RM t *I WA f T 7T-,qTA1 , zTf3T, f 1. 3 T4 - wef q54 &m Of cf f ti ft t t TzF Yf f Wry vT 5. Date & Time of Opening ofTechnical Bid : 21.05.2020 at 12.00 Noon. (DSC) in the e-bidding system.
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Odisha Construction Corporation Limited.
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AT-ITS, Manag ing Director
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THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
NE riots: Cops invoke UAPA against 2
Umar Khalid Also Under Lens
For Anti-CAA ‘Hate Speeches’
Rajshekhar.Jha
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: A separate FIR has They have also been booked
been filed by Special Cell of Del- for sedition and promoting
hi Police to probe the “larger enmity between different
conspiracy” behind the riots groups on the grounds of
in northeast Delhi. Poli-
5 0
ce have invoked the
stringent Unlawful Acti-
vities Prevention Act
(UAPA), apart from IPC
PEOPLE
sections on criminal (APPROX)
conspiracy and sedition. WERE
Jamia Millia Islamia KILLED IN
students Meeran Haidar THE RIOTS
and Safoora Zargar were
first arrested by northeast dis- against Citizenship Amend-
trict police and then by Special ment Act, a senior officer said.
Cell through this FIR. Seven
others, including activists like are members of Jamia Coor-
Gulfisha and Khalid Saifi, have dination Committee (JCC),
been arrested in this case taking are in judicial custody. While
the number of accused to nine.
Quarantined cops allege lack of facilities
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Policemen qua-
rantined in the Chaudhary
Brahm Prakash Ayurvedic
Charak Sansthan in Najaf-
garh created a video message
to allege absence of basic fa-
cilities and filthy conditions
in their wards. The video clai-
med that there were 20 people
in the hall who had access to
single bathroom and nobody
was around to give medicines
or even warm water to drink.
In the video, constable Sa-
chin Tomar is seen pointing at
a fellow patient and claiming
that he had not been given me-
Corpns fine
53 for spitting
in the open
Paras.Singh@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The city may be
battling the novel coronavirus
pandemic under a strict lock-
down, but some Delhiites are
still not taking the govern-
ment’s warnings seriously and
continuing to engage in spitting
and urinating in public spaces.
While field teams from
North Delhi Municipal Corpora-
tion found 33 instances of people
spitting and urinating in public
places, South Delhi Municipal
Corporation caught 17 people en-
gaged in similar activity and is-
sued on-the-spot fine of Rs 1,000
each as per the new regulations.
The East Delhi Municipal
Corporation, meanwhile, is-
sued challans to three people
for spitting at public spaces.
All violators in south Delhi
were found in south zone, while
the rest of the three zones under
SDMC are yet to taken any ac-
tion. Data released by the civic
body showed that on Monday, fo-
ur challans each for spitting
and urinating were issued in
Greater Kailash, Vasant Kunj,
Chhatarpur and Lado Sarai.
North corporation commis-
sioner Varsha Joshi said that of
the 33 challans issued, one has
been realised while all other ha-
ve been referred to the magistra-
te for further process. She added
that vigorous publicity is being
undertaken through pamphlets
and public announcements.
Additional commissioner
Rashmi Singh said staffers ha-
ve been oriented by DCPs and
drives initiated with audio mes-
sages being relayed through
garbage collecting auto tippers.
NW Delhi locality shows
way, with help from cops
Sakshi.Chand@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Amid growing
concerns over novel coronavi-
rus spreading to a few densely
populated illegal colonies in
the national capital, develop-
ments in Shakurpur, a slum
area in northwest Delhi, offer
a ray of hope. Police have ma-
de elaborate arrangements
here to ensure that people do
not flout the lockdown norms.
From marking shops in
the area red and green and
opening them on alternate da-
ys to blocking all the interior
lanes, several plans have been
MAINTAINING SOCIAL DISTANCE
TIMES CITY | LOCKDOWN-DAY 28
File photo
Six of the nine accused,
including Haidar and Zargar,
are now booked under UAPA.
religion and rioting.
Former Jawaharlal
Nehru University stu-
dent Umar Khalid, who
is already facing trial
for sedition in the Afzal Police have filed close to 750 FIRs in connection with the riots
Guru commemoration
event of 2016, is also un- president of RJD youth
der probe in this FIR for wing’s in Delhi, Zargar is an
his hate speeches given MPhil student at Jamia and
the media coordinator of JCC.
The communal riots, which
Haider and Zargar, who broke out on February 23, led to
the deaths of over 50 people. Po-
lice in northeast district have
filed close to 750 FIRs in connec-
Haider is a PhD student and tion with the riots and have
dicines despite having high fe-
ver. “Look at all the beds. None A CONSTABLE SAYS
of us have a kettle or even sani-
tisers. They just give us a bottle None of us have a kettle
of water, that’s it,” Tomar alle- or even sanitisers. They
have just given us a
ges. He also lifts a pillow appa-
rently to show how dirty it is. bottle of water, that’s it
However, following the vi-
deo going viral, a team of doc-
tors met Tomar and the qua- mily has not been tested so far.
rantined cops and another vi- “When we ask them to test my
deo was later released in
which the constable is seen
children , they asked me to go to
a lab and pay Rs 4,500 for the
expressing satisfaction with
things. In the video, the poli-
ceman has a bottle of hand sa-
tests.” According to police, a
medical officer was later sent to
Tomar’s residence to carry out
nitiser by his side and his she- through checks on his family.
ets and pillows are changed. Deepak Purohit, DCP
Tomar grumbled that his fa- (West), said, “After admission
LOCKDOWN
DOUBTS
WRITE
TO US
To make your life easy during the coronavirus
lockdown, TOI invites its readers to send their
queries at www.toilockdownfaqs.com
We will seek answers from the police and relevant
authorities. We request you to keep your questions brief.
You may also email your queries to lockdownfaqs@timesgroup.com
Answers by Delhi Police spokesperson additional
commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa
Q I am a senior citizen with a
L CKDOWN hearing problem. I need a battery to keep my
? FAQS
device alive. Are hearing aid shops allowed to be
remain open and can I get a replacement for my battery? -Prasad M
You can check online or call them to ask if they can provide and
then call our senior citizen helpline. Our beat officer will help you.
Q My kid’s nanny used to help out with household chores. Both my
husband and I are working from home and are unable to manage
everything. The nanny works only in my house and doesn’t go to any
other house. My apartment complex has
Q I stay in Delhi banned maids from coming in. However,
and had started if self-employed people such as plumbers
working in a firm and electricians etc are allowed, can
from March 11. maids be allowed as well? Of course, all
necessary measures will be taken by us.
However, the
company has Please advise -NN
stopped functioning Maids are not allowed as of now.
due to the lockdown
and now I have no
Q I bought a house in Delhi on March
18 and planned to shift on March
job and no money 22. We packed our household items
to survive in Delhi.
but due to the lockdown, we had to
I have no food and postpone. I want to know when can we
can’t pay rent. How
get a movement pass for the same. We
can I move to my will shift early in the morning and both
hometown, Nainital
addresses are within the same district.
-Mayank Bhatt At present, we are paying both EMI and
There are rent -Neeraj Kumar
guidelines about
Shifting is not allowed as of now.
rent and it should
Q I shifted from Mumbai to Delhi on
not be forced.
Regarding food, you March 22. My truck with my belongings
can call our Covid is stuck en route. Will I be allowed to
helpline 23469526 shift to my leased accommodation in
and we will provide. Mayur Vihar now? -Rajesh Rana
No, Movement of truck is not allowed.
put in place by the authorities medical shops are open on all
to tackle the corona crisis. days of the week,” said Vijay-
The area has about 1.7 lakh anta Arya, deputy commis-
people residing in about se- sioner of police, northwest.
ven thousand houses. For mi- With the help of good
cro-level management, Sha- Samaritans, specific food dis-
kurpur slums have been divi- tribution points have been
ded into 13 blocks (A to M). identified. At Samrat Chowk,
“As many as 163 shops the cops usually close a carri-
which sell essential commo- ageway of the road so that pe-
dities have been identified. ople can collect food without
To streamline the crowd and violating the social distan-
to ensure social distancing, cing norms. Police have also
we have come up with a ‘red-
green model’ for the area.
tied up with Delhi Jal Board
to fulfil the water needs of
The shops marked as red are the residents so that they
open on odd days, and the don’t gather near any tap or
green ones on even days. The loiter around in search of it.
When the water tanker rea-
ches the area, the residents
are made to stand at least
two feet apart while they wait
to fill their pots and buckets.
“All the exit and entry ro-
utes are manned and the in-
terior lanes have been block-
ed to check the movement of
people. Everyday, a team of
police officers reaches the
area and educates the slum
dwellers about the precautio-
nary measures needed to
keep the disease at bay. Resi-
dents have been extremely
cooperative,” said an officer.
7
Prez House under Two politicians
from K’tka held
sleuth saying that the commu-
nal violence was fallout of a
“premeditated conspiracy”.
coronavirus cloud with liquor
A probe is on in Khalid’s
two extremely provocative spe-
Swati.Mathur@timesgroup.com Bhavan clarified that no emp-
loyee of the President’s secre-
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
eches in which he allegedly ap- New Delhi: Rashtrapati Bha- tariat had tested positive. New Delhi: Two Congress func-
pealed to people to block the ro- van and Lok Sabha came un- A senior housekeeping tionaries from Karnataka were
ads during the visit of US Pre- der the coronavirus cloud on staffer of the Lok Sabha secre- booked under Excise Act after
sident Donald Trump to make Tuesday after a family mem- tariat also tested positive on they were arrested for allegedly
treatment of minorities in ber of an employee in the Pre- Monday night, possibly after a carrying illegal liquor from
India an international issue. sident’s secretariat and an visit to RML Hospital earlier Gurgaon to Delhi. The cops in-
According to the latest employee of the Lok Sabha this month. The welfare de- tercepted the SUV near Rajokri
FIR, the accused were assig- secretariat tested positive for partment of the secretariat sa- border on Sunday and seized a
ned responsibilities to cong- the highly contagious virus. id the staffer, who works in Lok crate of 12 liquor bottles kept in
regate people from different Nearly 115 houses inside Sabha’s printing office on it. Youth Congress president Sri-
areas and make women and President’s Estate were put un- Gurdwara Rakabganj Road, nivas BV is the owner of the car.
children block the roads der movement restrictions had to be rushed to RML Hospi- Ramaguddu Sravan Rao,
under Jafrabad metro station and residents were asked to tal after he complained of chest who is the personal assistant to
to fuel tension in the area. stay indoors. The employee’s pain earlier in the month. Srinivas, and his associate Ma-
arrested many on charges of This was something that re- family member had come in Nearly10 days after his visit nish Basavaraj Shille were in the
murder and attempted murder. portedly triggered the riots. contact with a person from to the hospital, the employee car which was intercepted follo-
The cases are now being pro- The FIR also focuses on central Delhi who tested positi- developed symptoms of coro- wing a tip-off. While being ques-
bed by the Crime Branch. the preparations for the riots ve for the virus and later died. navirus. He tested positive on tioned, the duo told the cops that
The Special Cell’s FIR has that saw massive use of fire- While all but one of the seven Monday and is undergoing tre- they had sought permission to
been lodged on a tip-off from in- arms, Molotov cocktails, acid members of the family tested atment at Safdarjung Hospital. use the SUV to distribute relief
telligence agencies and inputs bottles, bricks and stones. All negative, Rashtrapati Bhavan Eleven members of his family material to the poor and needy.
obtained by the special branch. these things were collected in- said the entire family had been have been tested and their re- Cops are probing whether
The case has been lodged on side numerous homes and on moved to a quarantine facility sult are awaited. Nearly 16 Ty- they were carrying valid passes
the statement of a Special Cell terraces over a period of time. in Delhi’s Mandir Marg area. pe II flats where the employee failing which the duo will be boo-
As a safety measure, all 115 and his family reside have ked for lockdown violation too.
houses on the President’s Es- been put under containment. Srinivas, however, clai-
tate where the family lived ha- A Lok Sabha official told med that it was a conspiracy
ve been put on movement TOI that the employee testing to defame the party. ““Our
restriction and residents are positive did not pose any threat crime” is that food and medi-
constable Tomar remained in rus on April 17 and after pro- being provided doorstep deli- to the secretariat since the emp- cine have been provided by
touch with local officers at Ti- ving positive was admitted in very of essential commoditi- loyee had been on leave since us to lakhs of people. This
lak Nagar police station. In his the institution a day later. es, a statement by the Presi- March 23, when the nationwide will neither stop nor scare my
telephonic conversations, he Soon after, videos were also dent’s office said. Rashtrapati lockdown was announced. organisation,” he tweeted.
wished for an electric kettle for circulated by the district autho-
lukewarm water and hand sa-
nitiser, and these were provided
rities in which women patients
in wards adjacent to the police- Azadpur
to him. He was also given fruits men’s were asked questions
Niquil= *ip 1A
for personal consumption.”
Tomar claimed to TOI that
about and countered the issues
raised by constable Tomar. The traders not (An Autonomous Institute of the Depart ment of Biotechnology , Govt . of India)
the hospital staff gave the po- ayurvedic hospital is run by
licemen “amla churan twice a
day”. He reiterated there was
an autonomous body under
Delhi Government and has a
happy with Admission to the THSTWINU PhD Program for the Academic
Year 2020-2021-Monsoon Session
Recruitment Notice No. THS/RN/ 19/2020
just a single bathroom for 20-
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The police commissioner
has sent DCP (Dwarka) to the
covid curbs Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) is part of the
inter- disciplinary Biotech Science Cluster at Faridabad in the National
with three washbasins but no hospital to take stock of the si- Continued from P1 Cap ital Region. THSTI is designed to be a dynamic and interactive
hand sanitisers. Tomar was tuation and resolve issues of organization with a mission to conduct innovative translational research
across disci plines and professions to accelerate the development of
A
tested for the novel coronavi- all policemen admitted there. zadpur APMC is Asia’s
biggest wholesale mar- concepts into products to improve human health.THSTI is a recognized R&D
institute of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, offering
Judges from Delhi,
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ing through the lockdown pe-
app lying online is 20th May 2020 . For detailed advertisement visit our
riod. Spread across 78 acres,
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Chennai hear cases
more than two lakh people
visit the mandi on a usual
day. To prevent the spread of
coronavirus, the mandi offi-
Empl lState Insurance Corporation
jointly via con call
cials in the last few weeks had
taken several steps to decon- Directorate (Medical) Nolda
gest it and maintain social E.S.I.C. Model Hospital , Sector-24, Nolds (UP)-201301
distancing, with some new WALK-IN-INTERVIEW
Abhinav.Garg@timesgroup.com electricity and sanitation whe- measures kicking in on
Walk-in-Interv iew for recruitment of Senior Residents (under
re the homeless were living. Monday. However, the total residency scheme / on one year contract basis) and Full / Part
New Delhi: While video-con- It had also taken on record footfall at the market, includ-
Time Specialist (on one year contract basis), against vacant posts
ferencing became the prefer- assurance by the government ing traders, staff and labour-
in various departments is scheduled to be held on 05.05.2020 at
red mode of hearing cases by that its labour department in- ers, is still at least 50,000.
ESIC Model Hospital, Sector-24 , Noida and a panel as required
courts across India during the spected camps for construction A coronavirus out-
for further fill up of future vacancies (if any) will also be prepared.
lockdown, Delhi high court workers at Sarai Kale Khan break at Azadpur mandi is
set an interesting precedent. and was satisfied that it was be- likely to hit farmers in sev- Note:-
The bench of justices Hima ing run smoothly and contract eral parts of the country as 1. For vacancies, other details and corrigendum , if any, please
Kohli and Subramonium Pra- labourers/daily wagers were their produce is sold there. visit frequently our website www.esic.nic.in or
sad conducted hearings via vi- being supplied food and other The market caters to more www.esichospitals.gov.in. No separate notice in this regard s h a l
deo conferencing on Monday facilities on a regular basis than 70% of Delhi and be published in Newspaper. Director (Medical ), Noida
where one judge was in Delhi during the lockdown period. neighbouring towns of Ha-
and the other in Chennai. The other matter before the ryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Justice Prasad, who was re- court was a plea by a pregnant The officials at the Delhi
cently transferred to Delhi, had woman seeking to abort her fo- Agricultural Marketing
left for Chennai before the lock- etus as it suffered from several Board — the agency that
down was announced and re- abnormalities and its chances runs the mandi — said the I
mained there since. However, area from where Dutt ran
transcending distances, the Justice Prasad, who his office had been com- Office of Development Commissioner
bench heard matters after the was recently pletely sanitised and sealed. Ministry of MSME, Government of India
high court administration rea- “As per protocol, we have A-Wing, 7"' Floor, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi-110108
ched out to justice Prasad and transferred to Delhi, informed the district offi-
www.dcmsme.gov.in
ensured he could log in from had left for Chennai cials as well as the health
Chennai on the Delhi high
before the lockdown team for further action,” "Revised Notice Inviting e-Tender"
court system, as per sources. DAMB vice chairman San-
The bench took up two pe- was announced and jay Goel said. “They will pre- The schedule of tender no. 5(21)/2019-20/PMS / Evaluation dated 13.03.2020
for the same scope of work has been extended due to COVID -19 lockdown
titions on Monday in this remained there since pare the contact list and de-
as per the revised schedule for eligible Government Organizations /PSUs/
manner where lawyers and cide who needs to be tested Public partnership / Pvt limited company/Firm.
judges participated remotely. of survival after birth was ble- for the virus and who all are
One case was related to provi- ak. The court allowed the wo- required to be quarantined.” SCOPE OFWORK
ding food, water, electricity man to terminate her over 23- When asked if the Engagement of an Agency for "evaluation of the Procurement and
and sanitation to thousands of week pregnancy noting there death may impact the Marketing Support scheme "as mentioned in the tender document.
homeless persons, daily wage was a “substantial risk” that working of the mandi, Goel
workers, stranded and living the baby would, after birth, suf- said the government was Revised Schedule:
Last date & time of Submissiono(Tender :-6ei May,2020, 15:00 hrs
in the open along the banks of fer from abnormalities that wo- walking a tight rope of en-
a)
Yamuna at Kashmere Gate. uld be “seriously detrimental suring essential supplies
After hearing the counsels to its healthy and normal life.” as well as maintaining so- b) Date&time dopening d Pre.Quaifirationbid: 8e May, 2020,15:30hm
:15e May,2020, 15:30 has
for the government and peti- It noted,“the child would cial distancing at Azadpur. c) Date & time of Opening of TechnicalBid
tioner Sunil Kumar Aledia, be exposed to numerous intra The mandi traders,
the bench directed the Delhi operative and post operative however, were not happy d) Date & time of Opening of Financial Bid : 27ei May,202D,15.3D hm
government to continue with complications and if any with the measures taken e) Pre4id Meeting (Date & ran) : 0 May, 2020, 15:30 His
steps taken by it to ensure the- such problems arise, it would by the authorities to main-
re was no dearth of food, water, affect the quality of its life.” tain social distancing. Other T&C will rtsnaln the same.
DAVP 25113/11/0003/2021
TIMES ascent
(:Ov'i'.O F Bill A R
BIFI AR COMIBINE !) ENTRANCE COMPETITIVE. EXA\1I NATION BOARD
1 . k .S. tsso c iation Building , \ ta r Patna \ irp o r t , Patna-l-l .
t
1 GRADUATE MEDICAL A DMISSION COUNSELLING
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Adrt. Ao. - 13CECF.B(PGNIA(')-2112 11/113 Dated : 21.04.2021)
Important Notice regarding Preponement of Schedules of PGMAC-2020
K' .
In continuation to Advertisement No. I3CECEl3(PGMAC)-2020/0l & 2020/02 Dated : 17.04 2020 invitation for Applications
for Administrative Positions on All India Basis
it is informed to PGMAC-2020 candidates . NEET(PG ) -2020 candidates and all concerned that th e
schedules published for filling Online Application for PGMAC-2020 is hereby preponed in the li ght of
Notice Ref. No. F.No.t1-1 202 1/44/2020-2 1 MEC dt. 17. 04 2020 of office of ADG( ME). Directorate Recruitment Notice No. 01 & 02/2020 dated 13/04/2020
General of Health Services. Medical Counselling Committee. Gov ernment of India and resch eduled Applications are invited through proper channel for Registrar
acc ording ly as given below : (on deputation ) and through online mode for Assistant
Important Resched uled dates for PGDIAC-2020 : Sports Officer, Junior Finance Officer, Staff Nurse
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ai " Bank
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APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF RISK OFFICER &
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Controller of Examination Mumbai
20.04.2020 General Manager (HR)
 TIMES NATION * THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

NAQVI HITS OUT AT OIC’S ‘ISLAMOPHOBIA’ DISAPPOINTED, BUT WILL CONTINUE LEGAL
BARB, SAYS INDIA IS HEAVEN FOR MUSLIMS FIGHT AGAINST EXTRADITION, SAYS MALLYA

Social Distancing In Dharavi Bengal obstructing Centre’s

Covid-19 teams, says MHA PTI

Stopped From Disaster Mgmt

Visiting Spots, Act allows govt
Meeting Docs to call out Army
TIMES NEWS NETWORK Pradeep.Thakur@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The Centre said on
Tuesday that while Maharash-
tra and Rajasthan were fully
cooperating with inter-minist-
erial teams sent to boost anti-
Covid-19 actions, the Bengal
government had restrained
the teams sent to Kolkata and
Jalpaiguri from functioning,
1 6 escalating the political battle
with Trinamool Congress.
PHOTOS BY SL SHANTH KUMAR
Home ministry spokes-
man Punya Salila Srivastava
A boy wearing a mask looks through a window of his house in Murshidabad
quisite cooperation by the sta-
te and local authorities. In fact,
they have been specifically re-
combating the Covid-19 crisis,
you're playing with the lives of
Bengalis while your leaders
New Delhi: The Bengal admi-
nistration’s refusal to provide
assistance to the two IMCTs de-
spatched to assist the state can
have serious security implica-
tions if provisions of the Dis-
aster Management Act are ex-
amined as they empower the
Centre to deploy military or
paramilitary to enforce guide-
lines issued by the home mini-
stry in any part of the country.
Given the sensitivity of the

T
axi drivers, vada pav sellers, power loom work- said the Bengal government’s strained from making any vi- use skewed testing numbers Covid-19 situation, the Centre
ers, cooks, barbers, a chunk of the working class actions amounted to obstruc- sits, interacting with health pr- for fake propaganda.” may choose persuasion or ev-
men and women who drive the economic engine ting implementation of the ofessionals and assessing the The Centre had previously en a hard nudge rather than in-
of Mumbai in the 21st century live in 19th cen- order issued on Monday un- ground situation,” home secre- written to West Bengal poin- voke the more stringent provi-
tury Dickensian conditions in the heart of the metropolis. der the Disaster Management tary Ajay Bhalla said in a letter ting out that social distancing sions of the law. But at present,
It’s a situation Mumbai and the rest of the country had Act where state authorities to the Bengal chief secretary. was being slackly implemen- the DM Act has been invoked to
come to accept – until now, that is. Compelled to enforce a were asked to make arrange- The war of words, however, ted. CM Mamata Banerjee sa- put the country under lock-
lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus infection, ments for the IMCTs (inter- became heated with Trinamo- id the state would implement down till May 3. It overrides all
the government is faced with the ministerial central teams) to ol member Abhishek Banerjee curbs with a “human face”. In existing laws. In addition, the
impossible task of keeping Dhara- assess the ground situation. tweeting: “You cripple West its previous missive, the MHA Act’s Section 35(2)(f) empo-
vi’s teeming residents confined “It has been brought to the Bengal with faulty kits from had pointed to reports that po- wers the Centre to deploy mili-
to their airless and congest- notice of this ministry that ICMR and then send IMCTs to lice were allowing religious co- tary or any central paramilita-
A LOCKDOWN ed dwellings. With nearly both the IMCTs, at Kolkata and monitor its performance while ngregations and people were ry force, and states are bound
IN THE MOST a million packed into a Jalpaiguri, respectively, have keeping the state government thronging vegetable, fish and to comply with the directives.
2.5 sq km area – the not been provided with the re- in the dark. In the name of meat markets in several areas. Full report on www.toi.in
CROWDED population density here
2 PLACE INSIDE is three lakh per square
1 A joint family in a 8x10ft space, which doubles up as a
shop, now runs a community kitchen for an NGO 2 Migrants
from Madhya Pradesh, who make a living selling vada pav, now
MUMBAI km – all attempts at so-
cial distancing may prove
futile in one of Asia’s biggest 5
Didi hits back, says attack on federal
norms; TMC questions Centre’s intent
slums. Already, the area has
survive on food from community kitchens 3 Abdul, an out-of-work notched up 168 cases and the death toll has climbed to 11.
taxi driver, tries to engage his children with stories 4 With There are reports that in some of the most infected slum
customers keeping away, staff at a barber’s shop give themselves clusters, up to 25% of samples tested have come positive. Subhojyoti Kanjilal
a clean-up 5 A view of the narrow interior streets 6 Man on For Mumbai to get a grip on the pandemic, much will
a ledge in a multi-storeyed slum gets his moustache trimmed depend on containment strategies in shanty settlements,
the biggest being Dharavi. But here’s the catch – the eco-
Mohua.Chatterjee
@timesgroup.com Mamata takes
nomic hardships of its settlers are bound to worsen.
Abdul, a cabbie who pays a rent of Rs 1,000 and has a
New Delhi: With West Bengal
CM Mamata Banerjee viewing
the fight to
family of four daughters and a son to support, says, “My
children may end up on the streets unless I find a way to
the Centre’s move to send Co-
vid-19 teams to states as an at- Kolkata streets
get behind the wheel soon.” tack on the federal scheme of Kolkata: Bengal CM Mama-
governance, the TMC accused ta Banerjee on Tuesday drove
the Centre on Tuesday of “pla- around Kolkata, stopping at
ying politics at a time when intersections in several den-
states and the Centre are ex- sely-populated neighbourho-
pected to work together to ods to appeal to people to stay
combat coronavirus”. indoors.“The Centre has im-
Banerjee shot off a letter to posed this lockdown and we
PM Narendra Modi protesting Banerjee reaches out to Park Circus residents during her tour of Kolkata have to abide by it. I know it is
“breaking of federal norms”. causing a lot of distress but
Addressing an online press Bandopadhyay said, “Peo- this is the only way to battle
conference on Tuesday, TMC’s Unfortunately, ple want to know what the cen- this disease,” she said.
parliamentary leaders Sudip tral team is looking for, what it The Bengal government
Bandopadhyay and Derek O’ when Bengal and all has found and why it has not has been in an eye-ball-to-eye-
Brien questioned the Centre’s other states are fighting consulted with the CM or any ball confrontation with the
3 4 “intent”. “Why are opposition- coronavirus, the Centre state government official on Centre over allegations of lax-
governed states like Bengal be- their visit.” He added that the ity in enforcing the lockdown
ing put on targeted watch
is fighting the states

Epidemic could peak in

state was coordinating with and social-distancing norms.
Supplies hit, when states under BJP like
Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, or
DEREK O’BRIEN the Centre and following every The state government has
TRINAMOOL CONGRESS MEMBER guideline. “So, what happened strongly rebutted the charges,
health ministry even Tamil Nadu and Telanga-
na, governed by friendly parti-
suddenly,” he asked. Asked with chief secretary Rajiva

India by mid-May: Study

ed a lockdown when the virus whether people would suffer if Sinha saying on Tuesday that

says ban export es, with higher positive cases

are not being monitored by
the Centre,” they asked.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK of anti-TB drug “Unfortunately, when Ben-
OUTBREAK PROJECTION gal and all other states are figh-
ting coronavirus, the Centre is
was spreading, paying no heed
to TMC’s warning on social
distancing to be observed, ap-
parently to install a BJP gov-
ernment in Madhya Pradesh.”
the war against coronavirus
got caught in political wrang-
ling, he said, “Hopefully, good
sense will prevail. The Centre
will restrain itself in future
over 28,000 people had been
prosecuted and 3,100 FIRs lod-
ged in the past four weeks for
flouting lockdown rules.
Trinamool Congress se-

T
he coronavirus epi-
demic could peak in
India by the middle of
May and gradually peter
out after that, a modelling
exercise by Times Network
in partnership with global
Thousand Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com He further said, “It is a he- and will consult state govern- niors said Mamata’s drive
80 75,349 fighting the states,” O’Brien alth emergency. Let’s fight it ments for comprehensive and was a signal to the Centre that
65,601 New Delhi: The lockdown said, adding, “The Centre refu- together, not as a state or well-structured moves to fight she was not going to back
70
due to the novel coronavirus sed to call off the Budget ses- Centre. Let’s get back to poli- coronavirus and state govern- down without a fight. TNN
60 sion of Parliament and delay-
46,819 (Covid-19) outbreak has se- tics after this is over.” ments will cooperate.” Full report on www.toi.in
50 verely hampered the supply
38,534 of anti-tuberculosis (TB)
40

Shivraj gets 5 ministers, 12-yr-old walks

consulting firm Protiviti,
has predicted.
The ‘Times Fact India
Outbreak Report’ looks at
three different possibilities
and suggests that India
could see the number of cor-
onavirus cases crossing
75,000 around May 22.
The team built three mod-
els to predict the progression
of the coronavirus. Each
model provides an estimate
of how the outbreak could
unfold under different condi-
tions and provides insights
on how the government and
health infrastructure can re-
spond to the crisis.
The report used three
models: the percentage mod-
el, the time series model and
the Susceptible Exposed In-
fected Recovered (SEIR) mod-
el. The percentage model us-
es trends in the spread of the
disease in Italy and the US,
and applies them onto India
30
PROJECTED NUMBER OF CASES
20
10
0 try to recommend a ban on ex-
May 3 May 8
Projections are average of all three models
to predict its trajectory.
The time series model
takes into consideration data
across time periods in China
and South Korea, and adapts
them to India’s data. The
SEIR model is based on an es-
timation of reproduction ra-
te of the virus, which is the
average number of people
each positive person infects.
Together, the three models
provided six projections for
the outbreak and give an in-
May 14 May 22
dication of when it might be
safe to lift the lockdown.
The report also predicted
two scenarios to show when
the case tally could fall to ze-
ro. The scenarios assume the
lockdown is extended be-
yond May 3 and the repro-
duction rate of the virus is
0.8, that is, each infected per-
son spreads the disease to 0.8
other people. In the first sce-
nario, if the lockdown is ex-
tended to May 15, the case tal-
ly will fall to zero by Septem-
ber 15. In the second scena-
rio, if the lockdown is ext-
ended to May 30, cases will
drop to zero by mid-June.
Full report on www.toi.in
drugs to the central govern-
ment’s National TB Elimina-
tion Programme (NTEP),
prompting the health minis-
port of these drugs.
Leading anti-TB drugs
manufacturers Macleods and
Lupin — with factories at An-
kleshwar and Bharuch in Guj-
arat, Baddi in Himachal Pra-
desh and Daman in Daman
and Diu — have written to the
health ministry highlighting
that in view of the emergency
measures undertaken, availa-
bility of manpower and mate-
rial to the pharmaceutical in-
dustry is limited, affecting
their production capacity.
Health secretary Preeti
Sudan has written to an empo-
wered group of government
officials to direct the depart-
ment of pharmaceuticals
(DoP) and commerce ministry
to ban export of the drugs.
Full report on www.toi.in
100km to reach
allots them Covid duty
home, dies
Raipur: A 12-year-old tribal
Ashutosh.Shukla Scindia loyalists and were mi- between factions in BJP — in- girl died after walking 100km
@timesgroup.com nisters in the Kamal Nath ca- cluding Scindia’s — for plum with her family from Telanga-
binet. They played key roles in portfolios was delaying for- na to reach their native village
Bhopal: Nearly a month after the breakaway from Congress, mation of the cabinet. in Bijapur district of Bastar.
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan which led to the collapse of the Former CM Kamal Nath The family, which worked in
took oath of office, Madhya Nath government in March. said it was a “mockery of the Telangana’s chilli farms, trek-
Pradesh got a ‘covid-cabinet’, No portfolios have been people of MP”. “During this ked through difficult terrain
but still no health or allocated yet, but the time of Corona pandemic, and Maoist-dominated areas,
home minister. ministers have been BJP has made fun of the 7.5 but Jeeta Madkami died 50km
The ‘mini-cabinet’ put in charge of two crore people of the state. A ca- short of home. CM Bhupesh
has just five ministers divisions each to ma- binet has been formed after a Baghel has announced a solati-
— none with a portfo- nage the fightback month, that too with only five um of Rs 5 lakh for the family.
lio. Two of them are against Covid-19. ministers and no allocation “The child was in a group of
from the Jyotiraditya For nearly a month of department,” he tweeted. 11 people, who had gone to Te-
Scindia group. The Shivraj Singh after being sworn in as In a second tweet, Nath said: langana to pluck green chillies
chosen ones are Na- CM, Chouhan ran a “It’s clear how much internal in farms. After walking for
rottam Mishra, Kamal Patel, one-man show without a co- conflict is on in BJP. How ma- three days, she died due to elec-
Meena Singh, Tulsi Silawat uncil of ministers, triggering ny days will this government trolyte imbalance in her body,”
and Govind Singh Rajput. criticism from the opposition. run? Let’s wait and watch.” Bijapur chief medical health
Silawat and Rajput are The buzz is that a tug of war Full report on www.toi.in officer B R Pujari told TOI.

Martyr status for health Indian-American docs on Covid duty battle on many fronts
staff killed in line of duty Rohan.Dua@timesgroup.com that she is healthy and safe.
Like Dr Singh, the daugh-
necticut miss her homeland
more. “Sometimes, I can al-
ting Covid-19 patients.
Families of doctors in In-

Ashok.Pradhan
@timesgroup.com
Bhubaneswar: Odisha CM
Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday
announced a financial assist-
ance of Rs 50 lakh for each of
the families of health profes-
sionals who lose their lives in
the fight against Covid-19.
The government will treat
them as ‘martyrs’ and give
them state funeral, he added.
While making this announ-
cement through a video mess-
age, Naveen said anyone pre-
venting Covid workers from
discharging their duties will be
booked under the National Se-
curity Act (NSA). He said if the
deceased person was a govern-
ment employee, his or her fam-
ily will receive full salary till
the martyr’s age of retirement.
Naveen said an award will
be instituted in the name of
persons who die while on du-
ty and it will be handed out on
days of national importance.
“The state government, in
convergence with the Centre,
will ensure that Rs 50 lakh is
given for all health personnel
and members of other sup-
port services who lose their
lives in the fight,” he said.
E
very day at 7pm, when
Dr Mona Singh steps out
of the Metropolitan Ho-
spital in New York at the end of
her shift, she is greeted with
claps and cheers by local resi-
dents. The gesture — meant to
thank doctors on the frontline
of Covid-19 fight — helps her
forget, momentarily, the stress
and anxiety that are part of
her daily life now, treating pa-
tients at the coronavirus ward
in one of the worst-affected ci-
ties in the world. As she walks
home, it’s now her turn to give
a pep-talk to her parents in
Chandigarh, assuring them
ter of legendary athlete
Milkha Singh, several Indi-
an-American doctors are ai-
ding America’s fight against
the pandemic. According to
estimates, 90,000 Indian-
American doctors have sett-
led in the US over the last two
decades and now constitute
the largest ethnic group of
physicians in that ountry.
Doctors on Covid-19 duty
that TOI spoke to said they
were afraid of never seeing
their parents and friends
back home or worried about
when they would get to visit
India or get any visitors
most smell the aroma of Myso-
re Pak, the sweet delicacy from
my home state of Karnataka,”
said Dr Madhusudan who sett-
led in the US in 2000. “My shifts
are much longer than they
used to be. It’s an intense expe-
rience and sometimes it can
get overwhelming,” she said.
This Saturday, Dr Mad-
Dr Mona Singh, daughter of Milkha Singh, flanked by colleagues husdan was taken by surpri-
se when residents in her
“from home”. rathon,” said Dr Singh, an as- town of South Windsor carri-
“The key is to stay mental- sociate professor, (emergen- ed out a parade of cars outsi-
ly strong and protect yourself cy medicine), at the hospital. de her house as a show of re-
and your patients. As my fat- But knowing that it will be spect and gratitude.
her would say, we are not run- a long haul only makes Dr At least five Indian-Ame-
ning a sprint race, it’s a ma- Uma Rani Madhusdan in Con- rican doctors have died trea-
dia are worried sick. While Dr
Singh sends a photo of herself
in personal protective equip-
ment (PPE) gear to her parents
daily to allay their fears, for Dr
Devang Sanghavi, director of
medical ICU at Mayo Clinic
Florida, the day begins with
sending his health update ho-
me. “I tell my parents in Mum-
bai that I take all precautions, I
sleep in a different part of the
house since I live with my wife
and son and I eat alone. All this
bring tears to their eyes. I want
to see them but I don’t know
when that will be,” he said.
Full report on www.toi.in
 THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
69% of cases found positive
were asymptomatic: ICMR
Figure Put At
80% By Only 1
Study: Council
Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Covid-19 tests
that delivered positive results
in India so far show 69% posi-
tive cases were asymptomatic,
whereas 31% are symptomatic
representing a ratio of 2:1, the
Indian Council of Medical Re-
search (ICMR) said on Tues-
day. So far, over four lakh sam-
ples have been tested for Co-
vid-19 in India and of these
18,601were positive.
ICMR head of epidemiolo-
gy and communicable diseas-
es Dr R R Gangakhedkar said,
“There is only one study that
suggests there are 80% cases.
Secondly in case of asympto-
matic, where the symptoms
are not very clear, the chances
of patient coming and report-
ing the case too becomes low. I
am now saying for the first
time that if we look at the num-
ber of tests done, so far 31% be-
long to the symptomatic cate-
gory and the rest 69% would
WHO warns worst is yet to come,
ICMR says India is doing its best
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Indian
Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) on Tuesday said India
was doing the best possible as
per its capabilities to combat
the Covid-19 outbreak and
that one must have faith in
science which was making
fast advances towards devel-
oping a vaccine and ther-
apeutic interventions.
The comments came in the
wake of WHO director general
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreye-
sus alluding to the Spanish flu
in 1918 as a reference for the
coronavirus outbreak and say-
ing the worst was to come in
the coronavirus outbreak,
raising new alarm bells about
the pandemic just as many
countries are beginning to
ease restrictive measures.
Highlighting preventive
and pre-emptive measures
taken by the government,
ICMR’s head of epidemiolo-
Amid lockdown, aerosol
levels at 20-yr low: Nasa
Vishwa.Mohan
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Satellite data
show that the levels of aero-
sols over northern India
dropped significantly since
the Covid-19 lockdown began
in the country, said the Unit-
ed States space agency, Nasa,
on Tuesday. Aerosols are tiny
solid and liquid particles,
suspended in air, that reduce
visibility and can damage
human lungs and heart.
The Nasa satellite sen-
sors observed “aerosol lev-
els at a 20-year low for this
time of year in northern In-
dia” after just a week of re-
duced human activities
such as closure of many fac-
tories and severely reduced
vehicular and airplane traf-
CLEAN
AIR
The first five maps on right
show aerosol optical depth
(AOD) measurements over
India during the period of
March 31 to April 5 for
each year from 2016
through 2020. The sixth
map (anomaly) shows how
AOD in 2020 compared to
the average for 2016-19
*AOD is a measure of how light is
absorbed or reflected by airborne
particles as it travels through the
atmosphere
Source: Nasa Earth Observatory
Aerosol Optical Depth
over northern India
(550m)
0.8
2016-19
0.7
average
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
2016-19
0.2 range
0.1
0
January
Farmers line up their tractors carrying wheat at a wholesale market
near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday
fall under asymptomatic...we
can say that for every single
case detected there would be
about two cases that may be
termed as asymptomatic.”
Seeking to address con-
cerns over asymptomatic
cases, the health ministry said
they include those with mild
and sometimes “very mild”
symptoms and efforts are on to
identify such cases through
contact tracing and communi-
ty surveillance. Citing obser-
vations of the WHO, health
ministry joint secretary Lav
Agarwal said there are three
STATUS AS OF MONDAY
WHAT ALL STATES &
UTS HAVE ALLOWED
TO OPERATE
z RAJASTHAN: Industries,
SEZs, brick kilns
z GUJARAT (rural areas):
Agriculture, Textile, Pharma,
Chemicals, Packaging, Food
Processing, SEZs and EOU Units
z MAHARASHTRA: Partial
relaxation, industrial activity only
allowed outside municipal limits
z KERALA: Allowed several
activities in Green Zone but scaled
down relaxation later on Monday
gy and communicable diseas-
es Dr R R Gangakhedkar said
by implementing lockdown
and social distancing mea-
sures early, India had secured
dual benefits for itself. One, it
allowed time for prepared-
I have never seen aerosol values
so low in northern India at this
time of year, said a scientist
fic — a situation which al-
lowed some in Punjab to re-
port seeing a few Hima-
layan mountain ranges
with the naked eye for the
first time in many years.
The space agency, howev-
er, noted that the story in
southern India is a little hazi-
er as satellite data show that
the aerosol levels have not
2016 2017
2019 2020
Aerosol optical depth (AOD)
0.05 0.25 0.5 0.75 =>1
Lowest observations on this
date in MODIS record
February March
TIMES NATION | Lockdown-Day 28
phases : purely asymptomatic,
pre-symptomatic and symp-
tomatic, and in common par-
lance even pre-symptomatic
cases are called asymptomatic
when the symptoms are mild.
“We are working with a pre-
emptive approach while work-
ing on community surveil-
lance. If we find a so called
asymptomatic case in a field
with high risk or direct con-
tact, then we collect even that
sample for testing. In that case,
when a person has even mild
symptom, the test is positive.
This way we can timely identi-
z NO RELAXATION: Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Tamil Nadu And Telangana
z BROADLY IN LINE WITH MHA
GUIDELINES: Haryana, Himachal & Punjab
z MP: No relaxation
in Bhopal, Indore &
Ujjain; construction &
industries working in
line with MHA norms
ness, to create health infras-
tructure like hospitals to pro-
vide treatment to infected
people, and two, it helped buy
time while science is pro-
gressing fast to develop inter-
ventions to combat the dis-
yet decreased to the same ex-
tent and the levels, in fact,
seem to be slightly higher
than in the past four years. It
said though the reasons are
unclear, it could be related to
recent weather patterns,
wind or other factors.
“By all accounts, the 2020
lockdown reduced those hu-
man-made emission sourc-
es,” said a Nasa report.
“We knew we would see
changes in atmospheric com-
position in many places dur-
ing the lockdown. But I have
never seen aerosol values so
low in the Indo-Gangetic
Plain at this time of year,”
said Pawan Gupta, a Univer-
sities Space Research Associ-
ation scientist at Nasa’s Mar-
shall Space Flight Center.
Full report on www.toi.in
2018
2020 ANOMALY
AOD anomaly (vs 2016-19 avg) No Data
<=-0.5 0 >=0.5
Lockdown
begins on
March 20, 2020
2020
April
fy and reduce mortality,” Agar-
wal said. Officials said there is
a probability that there are sev-
eral asymptomatic persons
who may not know that they
carried the virus for a while,
but the numbers so far are not
seen to be so high as to repre-
sent a threat of undetected
transmission on a significant
scale. If that were to be the case,
there would be a higher num-
ber of positive cases as well
who needed medical attention.
The official also added that the
testing strategy is not static
and if more attention was
needed in the case of asympto-
matic persons, the protocols
would be revised afresh.
According to WHO, pre-
symptomatic period is the incu-
bation interval for Covid-19 —
between exposure turning into
infection and symptom onset.
This period is on average five to
six days but can be up to 14 days.
During this period, some infect-
ed persons can be contagious.
Therefore, transmission from a
pre-symptomatic case can oc-
cur before symptom onset. A
truly asymptomatic case is a
confirmed case in a person in-
fected with Covid-19 who does
not develop symptom.
Full report on www.toi.in
z WEST BENGAL: Apart
from essential goods,
facility put in place for
inustry to seek
permission to operate
z ODISHA: Limited
activity, barring two
districts of Khurda
and Bhadrak
Source: Ficci
ease which is very new.
He added that while new
drugs and vaccines are in the
pipeline, India too will benefit
from them when the lockdown
is lifted, even as cases will be in
control due to these measures.
SC leaves it
to govt to pay
migrant workers
Dhananjay.Mahapatra
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The Supreme Court
on Tuesday said it would not get
into the budgetary or financial
domain of theCentre by directing
it to pay basic minimum wages to
migrant workers during the lock-
down as demanded in PILs by
rights activists Harsh Mander,
Swami Agnivesh and others.
Another PIL sought a direc-
tion to state governments to pay
minimum wages to self-employ-
ed workers like rickshaw pullers,
auto-drivers etc. But a bench of
Justices N V Ramana, S K Kaul
and B R Gavai wondered how
courts could direct the Centre to
give money to states? “Are we ex-
perts in such matters? These are
elected governments having a
mandate to govern,” it said.
Full report on www.toi.in
Explain ban on doorstep delivery
of newspapers: PCI to Maha govt
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Press Council
of India (PCI) on Tuesday is-
sued a notice to the Maharash-
tra government over prohib-
ition of doorstep delivery of
newspapers and magazines in
the state, and sought an expla-
nation from the chief secretary.
The Maharashtra govern-
ment had on Saturday decided
to stop door-to-door delivery of
newspapers and magazines to
contain the spread of corona-
virus in the state.
A PCI statement said the
body’s chairman, Justice Chan-
dramouli K Prasad (retired)
was concerned over the Maha-
rashtra government’s order, es-
pecially since it did not adhere
to the Union government’s
March 23 directive asking all
states to ensure operational con-
tinuity of print media. Doctors
and epidemiologists have said
newspapers are an unlikely me-
dium for the spread of coronavi-
rus. The government, grappling
with fake news on social media
platforms, has also emphasised
9
On Earth Day, Times Evoke begins Evoke Inspire, a unique forum for young
readers to express their ideas on the environment and global existential issues
The current world situation offers an
opportunity to mitigate climate change
Writing for Evoke
Inspire, Siddhant
Nigam Sinha, a student
at Philips Academy
Andover, and founder
of the SUN Foundation,
discusses steps towards a
more sustainable world
I
n these trying times, our news
feeds are overwhelmed by re-
ports from around the world
of the huge costs of Covid-19.
We hear of hospitals inun-
dated with patients, health workers
facing enormous strain, individuals SMOKE SIGNALS: It’s time to heed the Earth and envision cleaner economies
battling extreme circumstances. In
the midst of this, however, one ray
of hope has emerged — not due to planned ac- the science on climate change as well,
global greenhouse gas tions but on the back and thinking of innovative solutions
emissions have declined of a global crisis, and preventative measures, based on
and air and water qual- causing unprecedent- such science.
ity has improved in mul- ed economic disrup- To stand a chance against cli-
tiple places. In India, for tion. Last month, as mate change, we need to implement
instance, a decline in
factory production, air
I N S P I R E economic activity
contracted, a record
sustainable and planned structural
changes. Importantly, we must re-
traffic and construction activity have 10 million Americans reportedly duce our reliance on coal, a major
together reduced pollution, leading to filed for unemployment benefits. In contributor to global carbon emis-
noticeably cleaner skies. Astonishing- rural and urban India, a large num- sions. In addition, we must transi-
ly, the Himalayas were recently visible ber of business owners and workers tion to environmentally-friendly
from Jalandhar, a city hundreds of kil- face sharply reduced sources of in- energy sources, such as solar power
ometres away, while numerous reports come while economists predict the or wind energy. Combating climate
indicate how rivers like the Ganga and damage caused by the corona virus change also requires multilateral ac-
Yamuna are much cleaner today. could take economies years to re- tion as emissions from any country
However, global carbon emissions cover from. Climate positives that have a global impact. Once this crisis
have seen this decline only due to the are an outcome of such emergencies, passes, restoring economic health
current pandemic. In China, as people and enormous human distress, are will be vital for all the nations of the
stayed home and factories contracted clearly not sustainable. world. But this moment gives us all
output, emissions dropped reportedly Yet, this moment offers us a chance, a chance to think of new and better
by 25%, which translates to around
200 million metric tonnes of carbon
dioxide. Some forecasts similarly sug-
gest that European emissions this year
of thinking of ways to save our world
from the impacts of climate change in
the near future. A silver lining today
is that many people around the world
methods to reorganise our econo-
mies, in a way that cleaner air and
less polluted rivers do not become a
thing of memory, but are a lasting
could also be nearly 400 million tonnes are finally turning to science and facts, positive from this experience. The
less than last year. rather than opinions or stands, for in- youth of today must inherit a world
However, seemingly positive formation on the corona virus. This where forethought, planning and
though they are, these changes are in
no way sustainable as they have come
presents an opportunity to orient more
people towards learning and trusting
global cooperation can save us from
yet another catastrophe.
619 foreigners, most tied to 2 groups clash
over TJ tip-off in
TJ, held for visa violations UP, 12 arrested
Sandeep.Rai@timesgroup.com
Kapil.Dixit@timesgroup.com
Meerut: Police in UP’s Hapur
Prayagraj: Sixteen foreign- district on Tuesday booked 14
ers were arrested on Monday people on charges of attempt to
night under various sections murder and arrested 12 of them
of the IPC, Epidemic Diseas- after a clash broke out between
es Act and the Foreigners Act two groups of different com-
(for violating visa rules), tak- munities leaving four injured.
ing the total number of for- A few locals in Sarava vil-
eign nationals arrested in lage informed authorities
the country since the out- about the return of a few Ja-
break of Covid-19 to at least maat followers to the area lead-
619. Barring a few, all those ing to tension. On Monday, a
arrested are linked to Ta- brief argument at a shop be-
blighi Jamaat’s congrega- tween people of the two groups
tion in Delhi last month. swelled into a full blown clash.
Uttar Pradesh leads the “Four people have been admit-
list with the arrest of 341for- ted to hospital and police was
eign nationals, followed by deployed to the area. In all, 14
157 in Maharashtra, 66 in Bi- people were booked under IPC
har, 34 in Karnataka and 21
in Jharkhand. Three other
sections 307 (attempt to mur-
der), 323 (voluntarily causing
states have lodged FIRs
against foreigners, but no
5 who attacked health staff, cops test +ve hurt), 147 (rioting),” said San-
jeev Suman, SP Hapur.
arrests have been made. Te-
langana has booked 88 for- A t least five of the 17 persons arrested for allegedly attacking a
team of health staff and policemen in Moradabad’s Nawab-
pura locality on April 15 have tested positive for Covid-19. Follo-
eign nationals, Tamil Nadu
72 and Madhya Pradesh 65. wing this, the entire Nagphani police station was quarantined. Govt may call
Senior superintendent of police Amit Pathak told TOI, “It is a
All the 16 foreigners ar-
rested in Prayagraj were setback to us. All policemen, including the station house officer of you for feedback
taken to the temporary iso- Nagphani, had come in contact with the accused while arresting New Delhi: The government
lation ward set up in the and shifting them to jail. They have been quarantined.” According on Tuesday said it would con-
Naini jail. Along with the to sources, at least 73 cops have been quarantined. The five duct a telephone survey to gar-
attackers, who tested positive forCovid-19 on Monday, are kept in
foreigners, a professor of Al- ner feedback from citizens on
a temporary jail set up at a public school on Delhi Road. TNN
lahabad University, too, was prevalence and distribution of
arrested for arranging ac- coronavirus symptoms and
commodation for 21 TJ dele- them are from Indonesia, have been lodged against urged people to participate in
gates and not informing po- Thailand, Malaysia, Ka- 157 foreigners for violation the exercise in good measure.
lice and administration zakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and of the Foreigners Act, in- They will be called from
about them. The professor Tajikistan. The foreigners spector general of police the number 1921, the health
had also attended the con- have been mostly booked un- Milind Bharambe told TOI. ministry said, while caution-
gregation in Nizamuddin der Section 14 (b) of the For- All of them had attended ing against pranksters calling
along with the foreigners. eigners Act, 1946 which does the congregation at Niza- from any other number on the
Around 85% of the total not allow a person visiting muddin in Delhi. They are pretext of a similar survey.
341foreigners arrested in UP India on a tourist visa to take lodged in different jails The survey will be conducted
are Bangladeshis, according part in other activities. across the state. by the National Informatics
to police records. Rest of In Maharashtra, 15 FIRs Full reports on www.toi.in Centre of the government. PTI
OTHER TOP STORIES
Inedible rice to be used for sanitisers,
says Paswan as Rahul questions move
U nion food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan
sparred with Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday after the former
Editors Guild condemns J&K for booking Congress chief attacked the government decision to make
available rice to help ethanol industry produce hand sanitisers.
journalists, says it’s ‘gross misuse of power’ Paswan questioned if the Congress leader does not want the
poor to use sanitisers and masks. He added only rice unfit for
T he Editors Guild of India on Tuesday condemned the Jammu &
Kashmir administration’s lodging of cases against two Kashmiri
journalists, Peerzada Ashiq and Masrat Zahra, for their reportage in
human consumption will be utilised for making ethanol and
hand sanitisers. “It’s a matter of shame that the Congress
leader linked the government effort to increase supply of hand
mainstream and social media, and alleged a “gross misuse of sanitisers to meet the requirement of only the rich. The
power” by the government to “strike terror into journalists”.
government focus is to make it available to all. The poor need
Referring to the move as a direct attempt to intimidate journalists them as much as the rich require them,” Paswan told TOI.
across the country, the Editors Guild said both Ashiq and Zahra should
not be harmed or harassed, and demanded the withdrawal of the peace in Valley and it would be
cases made against them. Ashiq is a correspondent with The Hindu, SC seeks J&K’s inappropriate to start 4G at this
while Zahra is a freelance photographer. “If the government has any
grievance against their reporting, there are other ways of dealing with
reply on 4G Net juncture. “Recently, a militant
was killed and nearly 500
such issues in the normal course. Merely social media posts of factual
pictures can’t attract the toughest anti-terror laws passed for
hardened terrorists. And in the case of The Hindu reporter (Ashiq), the
W ith PILs by journalists,
lawyers and an associ-
ation of private schools seeking
people attended his funeral
despite lockdown,” the AG said.
Full report on www.toi.in
correct course was to escalate the complaint to the newspaper’s 4G internet services in J&K, the
editor,” the Editors Guild of India said in a statement. TNN SC on Tuesday asked the Cen- No move to put DA hike on
tre and the UT to explain by hold, says Centre: MoS
the necessity of newspapers in notice for comments to the chief Monday why 4G services be not personnel Jitendra Singh told
disseminating reliable, fact- secretary to the government of resumed in the Valley to aid TOI there is no move to put DA
health and education sectors hike on hold. The notification
checked information to people. Maharashtra,” the PCI state-
The PCI also advised state ment said. While the Maha- during the lockdown, reports for dearness allowance
governments and administra- rashtra government has said Dhananjay Mahapatra. At- may have been somewhat
tive authorities to take neces- the production and sale of torney general K K Venugopal delayed due to preoccupation
sary measures to ensure newspapers and magazines is and solicitor general Tushar of government with the
smooth functioning of media allowed at stalls and shops es- Mehta told a bench of Justices fight against Covid-19, but
during the lockdown. “Taking tablished for the purpose, the N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy what has been cleared will
suo-motu cognisance of the is- print media has been asked to and B R Gavai that militancy be given to the central
sue, the chairman has issued a avoid home deliveries. still posed a grave threat to government employees.
 10
Six Other Ways Of
Looking At Covid-19
1 By cases per million people
Outside of the absolute numbers of cases, where India ranks
No. 17, the magnitude of the crisis has been less severe in
terms of per capita impact. As of April 21, India has about 13
cases per million as against more than 2,380 cases per million
in US. China, which has a comparable population to India’s,
had a little under 60 cases per million people
INTENSITY GREATER IN WESTERN COUNTRIES
The number of confirmed cases is lower than the number of
total cases. The main reason for this is limited testing
No data 0 5 10 50
4 By tests per confirmed case
Authorities have only one tool to establish the number of total confirmed cases: testing. But testing has been
one of the most contentious elements in countries’ response to the outbreak with several developed countries,
too, struggling to expand testing. Tests per confirmed case can indicate two things: How people have been
tested and the scale of the outbreak. In the case of Vietnam, 750 tests per confirmed case shows that either
it has conducted a lot of tests or the size of the outbreak is small. Now compare that with US, with highest
reported cases, and it is evident the rate of testing is low given the magnitude of the outbreak
LEVEL OF TESTING HIGH IN EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES
Vietnam
Taiwan
76.1 (Apr 18)
New Zealand
Australia 63.9
Russia 53
South Korea 52.4
South Africa 38.9 (Apr 18)
India 25.9 (Apr 18)
Czech Republic 25.7 (Apr 18)
Iceland 24.4 (Apr 18)
Tunisia 19 (Apr 17)
Canada 15.8
Japan 10.9
Philippines 9 (Apr 18)
Italy 7.6 (Apr 18)
Indonesia 6.8
Serbia 6.5
US 5.3 (Apr 18)
UK 3.3
Ecuador 2.1 (Apr 15)
Guj has 2,000+
cases, at second
spot after Maha
 Continued from P 1
R A
ajasthan (159) and West
Bengal (53) also saw the
sharpest spike for the re-
spective states even as the in-
fection maintained its surge
in Gujarat, where 239 more
people tested positive.
Gujarat, which has
emerged as the biggest Covid
hotspot after Maharashtra,
crossed the 2,000-mark in
number of cases and overtook
Delhi to claim the No.2 spot in
the country. Compared to 35
days taken by Maharashtra
and 45 by Delhi – only two oth-
er Indian states with more
than 2,000 cases – Gujarat re-
ach the grim milestone in 34
days. The total tally of cases in
the state now stands at 2,178.
On Tuesday, as many as 15
Covid-19 patients died in Ah-
medabad city. Two deaths
were reported in Surat and
one each from Bhavnagar and
Bharuch. Maharashtra’s
count of coronavirus cases
crossed 5,000. The state’s lat-
est and fastest addition of
1,000 cases has come in just
two days. Mumbai, which re-
corded its second highest sin-
gle-day rise in cases with 419
new detections, mainly con-
tributed to the state’s surge in
cases. Over a lakh people in
the state are now under home
or institutional quarantine.
The number of Covid-19
deaths in the country also
soared to 640 with 45 deaths be-
ing reported from various
states. Maharashtra and Guj-
arat recorded the maximum
19 deaths each, taking their re-
spective tolls to 251 and 90.
Full report on www.toi.in
TIMES SPECIAL | Virus Watch THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
Given that it is a pandemic that has struck in the big-data era, How Asymptomatic
statistical perspectives into the Covid-19 outbreak
are as numerous as they are varied and thought-
provoking. From modelling the outbreak’s trajectory
to mapping its impact, researchers have utilised
Cases Fuelled Spread
As India nears the 20,000 cases mark, a senior scientist
at Indian Council of Medical Research said as much
data to present insights for policy-makers to better as 80% of all cases could be asymptomatic — infected
address the crisis. Here are a set of charts from people not showing any signs of illness. But what is an
Our World In Data and Worldometer that offer asymptomatic case and what causes it?
different perspectives on the outbreak Pre-Symptomatic Or Asymptomatic?
WHO notes it may more often be a case of people being “pre-
symptomatic” than completely asymptomatic. ProPublica reported
2 By death rate WHO found few cases where “a patient tests positive and has zero
The percentage of people who die of Covid-19 out of the total
that are infected gives us the death rate, or the case fatality rate
3 Population distribution by age symptoms for the entire course”. People who are pre-symptomatic
show no symptoms when they test positive but develop symptoms
(CFR). Experts say that CFR does not give an accurate idea of The risk assessment for older people would suggest that countries with
later. A WHO team in China found about 75% of people who were
exactly how deadly a disease is because it relies on the number a larger share of aged people face the greater brunt of the outbreak.
early on classified as “asymptomatic” went on to develop symptoms
of confirmed cases and, with the fast-moving Covid-19, many While this assumption may not be necessarily true for Japan (with just
while a study in the Science journal said 86% of all infections in
cases are not being reported or detected. Further, the probability over 11,000 cases on Tuesday), Western European countries, which have a
China were “undocumented” prior to its lockdown.
of dying from a disease depends on factors like treatment and much higher proportion of older people as compared to the likes of India
can vary by location and demographics of the infected population and China, emerged as the epicentre of Covid-19 as it spread globally Why Some People Could Be Asymptomatic
SHARE OF THE POPULATION THAT IS 70 YEARS AND OLDER, 2015 Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and
CONFIRMED DEATHS VS CONFIRMED CASES FRANCE Prevention, said as many as 25% of people may be asymptomatic,
16% while other estimates range from 18% to 30%. It is still unclear why
14% some people exhibit symptoms while others don’t. Two theories
ITALY suggest it could be linked to an individual’s stronger innate immune
12%
response to the virus or if they are exposed to a smaller viral load.
10%
Neither theory has been proved yet.
8%
WORLD
6%
US
4%
INDIA
2% GERMANY
100 500 1,000 2,000 >5,000
Note: Data as of April 21 0%
Feb 25, Mar 11 Mar 21 Mar 31 Apr 10 Apr 19
2020
No data 0% 2% 4% 8% 12% 16% 20%
6 By recovery rate
Global recovery rate in closed cases — all the cases that have
either ended in deaths or recoveries — rose after the first wave of
infections in China, and has since flattened. As Europe and the US Only Testing Can Give A True Picture
tackle the outbreak, the recovery and death rates in closed cases Since there is asymptomatic spread and there may be people
750 (Apr 16)
will provide a clearer picture of how effective treatment measures who don’t show serious enough symptoms and yet spread
134.2 (Apr 18) the disease, it is clear why testing is such a crucial factor in
have been and how severe the disease can become
5 By GDP per capita Outcome of total closed cases (%), cumulative total deaths and
controlling the disease. In fact, ProPublica quotes a health expert
as saying that “symptomatic versus asymptomatic isn’t really the
recoveries over cumulative number of closed cases
Wealthier countries have reported both more cases and deaths. This appropriate dividing line” and that it should be “documented versus
is likely because wealthier countries are also the ones more capable GLOBAL RECOVERY RATE VS DEATH RATE undocumented infection”, that is those confirmed and those not.
of conducting testing on a larger scale. But wealthier countries were 100
also hit the hardest because their residents are likely to travel more 75
Recovery rate People May Be Most Infectious In Earliest Phase
frequently than those in poorer countries. Almost 80% of Covid-19 How infectious a person is depends on what experts describe as
cases are concentrated in high-income countries 50 the viral load of the disease carried by them. For Covid-19, studies
have found that the viral load is the highest right at the onset of the
WEALTHIER NATIONS HAVE BEEN HIT HARD 25
Death rate disease. The combination of pre-symptomatic transmission and
10,000 Spain 0 peak viral load at outset for Covid-19 “could account for the fast-
Confirmed Covid-19 cases per million people
Turkey 2 6 10 14 18 22 26 1 4 9 13 17 21 25 29 2 6 10 14 18
Switzerland
Iran Feb Mar Apr spreading nature of this epidemic”, said authors of a Lancet study.
1,000
Philippines
Brazil Russia Singapore
Australia INDIA DEATH RATE VS RECOVERY RATE How Are They Spreading Covid-19?
100 Japan 100 When doctors say this disease spreads primarily via respiratory
Thailand Recovery rate
75
droplets they don’t mean only those released while coughing or
10
India Sri Lanka sneezing. Because we can be releasing droplets while speaking,
1
50 breaking into a laugh, singing, etc. In a closed space, there is a real
Nepal risk that those droplets may hang in the air long enough to infect
25
0.1 Death rate others. Hence, the need for all to wear masks and constantly wash
0 their hands, because one may contract the virus from touching an
$1,000 $10,000 $100,000 15 18 21 24 27 1 4 7 10 13 15 19 22 25 28 31 3 6 9 12 15 18
infected surface and then touching one’s nose or mouth.
GDP per capita in 2017 Note: Data as of April 20
Feb Mar Apr
Graphic: Karthic R Iyer Source: ProPublica, Inverse, media reports
E-way bills dip:
‘States can develop academic ANTIVIRUS
20L/day in Feb, COVID-19 HAS BECOME AN INFODEMIC OF FAKE NEWS ON
SOCIAL MEDIA. TOI HELPS YOU ZAP THE TRENDING LIES
but 1L in March
calendar, alter vacation time’ Continued from P 1 No, Boris Johnson didn’t fake Covid-19
U K Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent eight days in hospital
t Bhagan toll plaza on the for Covid-19, but many who read a spoof about his infection
The lockdown period has seen a jump in popularity of on issues like academic cal- Chandigarh-Delhi high- now think he faked it. Reuters says a member of the Facebook
online learning portals, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal endar and examinations, way, the number of vehi- group ‘A Poke in the Eye With a Sharp Wit’, which mocks “those
which is likely to submit its cles increased to 5,000 on Mon- in the government of the day”, wrote that hospital doctors who
tells TOI’s Manash Gohain. He says CBSE will assess report soon. CBSE will as- day, up from 3,200 during the refused to sign the Official Secrets Act during Johnson’s stay
the loss of instructional time due to the lockdown for a sess the loss of instructional complete lockdown period. Da- there were sent on “gardening leave”. A doctor named Shirley
proportionate reduction in curriculum load for board time for proportionate re- ta with GST network on e-way Knott (Surely Not) is quoted as saying, “He had the most
exams 2021. Excerpts from the interview: duction in curriculum load bills, however, suggested that pathetic, contrived cough... I’d’ve sent him home with a packet
for board exams 2021. In ac- there was only a minor rise in of Lockets and bottle of Calcough children’s syrup.” The post
How has the MHRD han- Has online teaching cordance, course commit- traffic with the number esti- raised many laughs but also much snark. “He looks extremely
dled the lockdown period? been able to make up for tees of the board have initi- mated at 3.3 lakh nationally on well for a man who apparently has just fought for his life,”
Fulfilling the Prime Minis- the loss of classroom ated work on reduced syllab- Monday, compared to a little un- reads one of the kinder comments.
ter’s wishes, the MHRD is teaching? us in various scenarios. der 3.2 lakh on Saturday. The
working 24x7 during the lock- Number of hits on key online number of e-way bills had drop-
down period with the spirit of educational portals in high- How is MHRD harness- ped to just around one lakh
Vietnam cracks down on fake news
‘students-teachers’ safety and
learning’. In the initial period
er education like SWAYAM ,
SWAYAM Prabha, Virtual
HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ing tech to make assess-
ments 100% digital?
when the lockdown began late
last month, compared to close to A nthony George, who wrote that post, would be
in deep trouble if he lived in Vietnam, where
of lockdown we announced a Labs, FOSSEE, E–Yantra TOI INTERVIEW To assess possibility of con- 20 lakh a day in February. police are strictly enforcing the ‘Fake News, Real
plethora of measures, start- and Spoken Tutorial has ducting online exams for Trucks carrying goods that Consequences’ policy. Since April 15, hundreds
ing with the promotion policy gone up five times since the MHRD has presently not is- higher education, MHRD has attract GST and where the val- have been fined the equivalent of Rs 33,000-65,000
for students of various class- lockdown. Within a week of sued any guidelines or rec- constituted a taskforce under ue of consignment is above the for fake news and rumours. Even celebs have had to apologise.
es. We then decided to post- lockdown, there were two ommendation on early decla- UGC. We will issue guidelines prescribed value need to gener-
pone various exams. The min- times increase in the use of ration of summer vacations. based on their report. ate e-way bills. Toll operators
DIKSHA ((National Teach-
‘New FDI rule won’t
istry has set up three task However, education being a told TOI that the increase in
forces to focus on online ers Platform for India). concurrent subject, states Has this period iven India traffic flow was marginally
learning, academic calendar There have been 8.75 crore can develop their own aca- a chance to boost online more on stretches that are far
and examinations and to deal page views and 57 lakh con- demic calendar and assess- education and improve dig- away from major urban cen-
with mental health issues of
students. Following their re-
ports, respective bodies after
tent downloads in DIKSHA
since March 23rd.
ment schedule and also de-
cide on having an early or as
usual summer break de-
ital infrastructure?
For the first time we are cre-
ating a dedicated division for
tres. The NHAI is compiling the
data on traffic flow across toll
plazas to assess the situation.
impact goods trade’
due consultation with MHRD, Is the ministry thinking pending on the locally preva- online learning in MHRD, “Significant increase on some Continued from P 1
will issue appropriate guide- of advancing summer vaca- lent situation. We have also which is going to be headed stretches could be because China includes parts
of Arunachal in map
L
lines for schools, universi- tion and reducing the syl- formed a special taskforce by the additional secretary. stranded trucks have started ast week, the govern-
ties/colleges. labus for 2020-21session? under NCERT to deliberate Fullreport on www.toi.in moving,” said a toll operator. ment amended the FDI
policy to mandate that
all investment proposals from C hina has included parts of
Arunachal Pradesh within
TN got test kits from Testing rate dropped from 35,000
countries that shared a border its international boundaries,
with India would have to be an updated version issued by
cleared by the government in- Sky Map has revealed. Sky
stead of them being on the au- Map, China’s authority on
‘suspect’ Chinese co to 27,500 due to China kit fiasco tomatic route, a tool that al-
lowed entities to simply in-
form the RBI after getting the
digital maps, is constructed
and operated by a unit directly
under Beijing’s National Sur-
Ram.Sundaram Continued from P 1 tic tests,” he added. and red zones as a supple- funds into the country.
@timesgroup.com Bhilwara reports 5 Thanks to this, India’s test- ment to the polymerase tests The latest move was seen
veying and Mapping Geog-
raphic Information Bureau.
new Covid cases
I
n a tweet late on Tuesday, ing rate has dropped from that are much more reliable to be targeted at China, Recently, Sky Map users found
Chennai: Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan chief minister 35,000-odd on Monday to 27,500 but take more time as it’s are prompting it to complain that it had updated the map,
which had distributed 34,000
Covid-19 rapid test kits
across the state before the
B hilwara, acknowledged
worldwide for its ruthless
containment model, reported
Ashok Gehlot said: “I had
earlier suggested to GOI (gov-
ernment of India) that a cen-
on Tuesday as states are using
testing infrastructure for anti-
body tests. ICMR is expected to
a four-stage procedure to be
conducted in labs.
“On Monday, we received a
India had violated its commit-
ment under WTO agree-
ments. Government officials,
according to a media report .
Until now, the map of China
was based on the 1989 edition
ICMR on Tuesday gave a di- five fresh Covid-19 positive tralised mechanism with issue a detailed clarification complaint from one state however, said there was no of the Sky Map. According to a
rective to states to hold back cases on Tuesday , reports proper guidelines of quality soon. There have also been re- about less detection through concern as the move would DW news report, some users
the tests, had procured the Intishab Ali. The five cases check may be developed for the ports that the temperatures rapid antibody test kits. So we not impact goods trade and noticed Sky Map had updated
kits from a Chinese firm were reported after a gap of procurement of medical equ- needed for the rapid tests have asked around three states on the latest press note did not the information at the
which has had a poor record 12 days. The last (28th) case ipment. Unfortunately this not been observed. Tuesday and found that fall within the illustrative list “county” level. “The county
in the United Kingdom. was reported on April 9, when was not accepted. Had this sug- The kits had arrived last among positive samples of RT- under Trade Related Invest- boundaries of some counties
TN got the first batch of a teacher was found to be gestion been accepted, failure week after delays and have PCR, there is too much varia- ment Measures, which is also clearly transcend the red
kits from Guangzhou Wond- infected. Of the new cases, of Rapid Test kits could have been sourced from three firms tion in rapid antibody tests,” part of the WTO commitment. colour marked 1989 edition of
fo BioTech Limited, the two people had returned from been avoided. We have written based in China. In the first said ICMR’s head of epide- Similarly, under the ser- the national border, especially
same company from which Delhi on April 16, while two to ICMR for the same.” batch, some 3,00,000 kits ar- miology and communicable vices agreement at WTO, the in Tibet area bordering Bhutan
the United Kingdom had labourers (husband and wife) However, well-placed sour- rived close to two weeks after diseases, Dr R R Gangakhed- latest move does not automati- and India,” it said. IANS
procured 2 million kits in had been undergoing ces said the tests may not be at they were due. In all, 6,50,000 kar. “In some places, 6% to 71% cally result in any cap on equi-
the first week of March. Ac- treatment at Bhilwara district fault and might not have been are to be delivered with more of RT-PCR positive samples ty or impose any restrictions to the termination of the trea-
cording to the UK media, hospital for cough and fever correctly used. “The kits are in the pipeline by way of do- were positive,” he added. but only requires fulfilment ty. So, no retrospective action
that country is trying to re- for the past five days. The fifth not faulty,” an official familiar mestic operations in collabo- ICMR has decided to send of a different procedure. Offi- has been taken to negate exist-
turn the kits as it found is the son of a compounder at with the testing strategy said. ration with foreign firms and eight different teams for test- cials said India has not violat- ing investments and there is
many of them were not the district hospital. Officials “The use of these kits for diag- other orders that have been ing and validating the kits in ed the Bilateral Investment no violation of the respective
working efficiently. Records said they have quarantined nosis is at fault. The proper placed. The kits are being sent the field over the next two Treaties (BITs) with either BITs. The same measure was
show ICMR validated Wond- more than 100 people who test for Covid is the RT-PCR to states based on their need. days, after which it will issue China or Nepal, which have there for Pakistan and Bangla-
fo kits on April 2. Wondfo did had been in contact with the test. It is possible that states There were complaints a fresh advisory on the use of been terminated. “The provi- desh for long and without any
not respond to emails. Covid-19 patients. may have resorted to a short- from states with the kits rapid antibody test kits. sions only apply to investment challenge,” an official said.
Full report on www.toi.in Full report on www.toi.in cut in seeing them as diagnos- meant to be used in hotspots Full report on www.toi.i already made into India prior Full report in www.toi.in

SALMA HAYEK SAYS SHE WAS TOLD TO ‘SOUND DUMBER’ BY JLO SUED FOR $150,000 BY PHOTOGRAPHER FOR POSTING A
DIRECTORS WHEN SHE HAD JUST STARTED OUT AS AN ACTOR PHOTO ON HER INSTAGRAM WITHOUT TAKING PERMISSION
Covid-19 Toll Discrepancies
Add To List Of Uncertainties
As Nations Combat Covid, UN Food Agency Says World On Brink Of Hunger Pandemic
D security officials said
octors are scrambling to
treat the coronavirus,
researchers are racing
to find a vaccine, economies
are suffering, and now there is
a further element of uncer-
tainty to the outbreak that has
touched nearly every corner of
the globe: Even the death toll is
being called into question.
Increasing evidence sug-
gests there is a significant gap
between the number of con-
firmed coronavirus deaths
and the true number of fatali-
ties: At least 28,000 more peo-
ple have died during the coro-
navirus pandemic over the
last month than official counts
report. The gap was highlight-
ed in an analysis of mortality
data from 11 countries that
show far more deaths than the
average for the same period in
recent years, which include
deaths from Covid-19 and
those from other causes, po-
tentially including those who
could not be treated when hos-
pitals became overwhelmed.
The New York Times found
that in Paris alone, more than
twice as many people have died
than during the same time
frame in other years. In New
York City, the number is four
times the normal amount. The
disparities between the official
death counts and the total rise
in deaths most likely reflect
limited testing for the virus,
rather than intentional under-
counting. Officially, over
170,000 people have died world-
wide of the virus as of Tuesday.
But the differences are par-
ticularly stark in countries
that have been slow to ac-
knowledge the scope of the
Pakistan PM
to get tested
for Covid-19
Omer Farooq Khan TNN
Islamabad: PM Imran Khan
will take a test
for Covid-19
amid fears that
he may have
contracted the
novel coronavi-
rus from a phi-
lanthropist who called on him
on April 15 to donate Rs 1 crore
for the PM’s Coronavirus Relief
Fund. Neither of them wore
masks and gloves at the time of
the meeting. Faisal Edhi, chair-
man of the Karachi-based Edhi
Foundation and son of the late,
much revered philanthropist,
Abdul Sattar Edhi, tested posi-
tive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
“PM Imran Khan has agre-
ed to get tested for the coronavi-
rus after meeting with someone
(Faisal Edhi) who tested positi-
ve for the virus,” Faisal Sultan,
Khan’s personal physician, sa-
id. Mohammad Bilal, spokes-
man for the Edhi Foundation,
said Edhi took a test for Covid-19
on Sunday. “We feel he contrac-
ted the virus in Islamabad, as he
has been there for a week.
‘It’s Trump bid to distract from his Covid response’
Continued from P 1
C
ritics saw President
Trump’s immigration
move as part of a gradu-
al tightening of legal immigra-
tion into the country to freeze
demographic changes, which
many Republicans see as being
electorally disadvantageous to
them while favouring Demo-
crats. A majority of new immi-
grant citizens have a Democra-
tic persuasion and the Demo-
cratic Party itself is more di-
verse and immigrant-heavy.
Some others saw the move
as Trump playing to his white
conservative base in an effort
to distract them from the mes-
sy economic situation the US
finds itself following the coro-
navirus pandemic. “Trump
failed to take this crisis serio-
usly from day 1 and his aban-
donment of his role as presi-
dent has cost lives,” Califor-
nia Senator Kamala Harris sa-
id, adding that “he’s
shamelessly politicising this
pandemic to double down on
his anti-immigrant agenda”.
Trump did not specifically
mention the pandemic but the
assumption is that his referen-
ce to the “Invisible Enemy”
meant the coronavirus. Many
A man and his daughter walk near Eiffel Tower in Paris. France entered its 36th day of lockdown on Tuesday
problem. Istanbul, for exam-
ple, recorded about 2,100 more
deaths than expected from
March 9 through April 12 —
roughly double the number of
coronavirus deaths the gov-
ernment reported for the en-
tire country in that period.
In many European coun-
tries, recent data show 20% to
30% more people have been dy-
ing than normal. That trans-
lates to tens of thousands of
more deaths than reported.
The revelations came as
parts of Asia took steps on
Tuesday to halt renewed out-
breaks in places that were once
held up as examples of how to
effectively combat the virus.
Hong Kong, which has been
battling a second wave of infec-
China plans to give medics
Covid vaccine by 2020-end
Beijing: China plans to in-
ject its medics with corona-
virus vaccines by the end of
the year to protect and pre-
pare them to deal with any
emergency situation due to
the pandemic, while 11 new
confirmed Covid-19 cases
were reported in the coun-
try, health officials said.
China’s National Health
Commission on Tuesday said
that 11 new confirmed Co-
vid-19 cases were reported on
Monday, of which four were
imported. No death was re-
ported on Monday. Health of-
ficials apprehend a second
wave of the coronavirus at-
tack especially from hun-
dreds of Chinese nationals
returning from abroad.
Gao Fu, director of the
Chinese Centre for Disease
Control and Prevention said
in an emergency situation,
some Chinese medics would
be injected with coronavirus
vaccines. “I believe we could
come up with vaccines with
the joint efforts of everyone,”
saw the order as a ruse to shut
down immigration complete-
ly, something his far right sup-
porters have been demanding.
Others expressed concern
that Trump was unfairly ma-
ligning immigrants and dimi-
nishing their frontline role du-
ring the pandemic. In fact, so-
me reports indicate more mi-
nority and immigrant
frontline responders are dying
of coronavirus than native-
born population. “President
Trump now seeks to distract
us from his fumbled Covid-19
response by trying to put the
blame on immigrants. The
truth is many immigrants are
on our frontlines, protecting
us as doctors, nurses, health
aids, farmworkers, and restau-
rant workers,” said New York
Democrat Jerry Nadler.
Some critics also noted
that far from immigrants
bringing coronavirus to the
US, the rest of the world feared
Americans now, given that the
US has the most Covid-19 infec-
tions in the world. The US cur-
rently has more confirmed co-
ronavirus cases (800,000) and
more deaths from it (42,500)
than any other country. One
recent cartoon showed Mexi-
cans building a wall on the so-
TIMES GLOBAL
tions, on Tuesday extended a
range of social distancing mea-
sures to May 7, a day after re-
porting no new virus infecti-
ons for the first time since early
March. In Singapore, PM Lee
Hsien Loong extended a lock-
down by four weeks, until June
1, to stem a sharp rise in cases.
In Europe, Italy became
the latest to announce that it
would pull back from restric-
tions and gradually open back
up, joining a list that includes
Germany, Spain and Denma-
rk. PM Giuseppe Conte anno-
unced plans to begin easing
the country’s lockdown, likely
by May 4. Austria Chancellor
Sebastian Kurz said all shops
will be up and running in the
country at beginning of May
Coronavirus likely of animal origin,
no sign of lab manipulation: WHO
T he World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that
all available evidence suggests that the novel coronavirus
originated in bats in China late last year and it was not
manipulated or constructed in a laboratory. US President
Donald Trump said last week that his government was trying to
determine whether the virus emanated from a lab in Wuhan in
central China .“All available evidence suggests the virus has an
animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed virus in a
lab or somewhere else,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told
a Geneva news briefing. “It is probable, likely that the virus is of
animal origin.” It was not clear how the virus had jumped the
species barrier to humans but there had “certainly” been an
intermediate animal host, she added. REUTERS
he was quoted as saying by
state-run Global Times.
China has approved three
COVID-19 vaccine candi-
dates for clinical trials. An
adenovirus vector vaccine,
developed by Institute of Mil-
itary Medicine under the A-
cademy of Military Sciences,
was the first to be approved to
enter a clinical trial. The first
phase of the clinical trial was
TRACKING OUTBREAK
Countries Infected
United States 8,04,194
Spain 2,04,178
Italy 1,83,957
France 1,56,495
Germany 1,48,007
United Kingdom 1,30,164
Turkey 95,591
Iran 84,802
China 83,853
52,763
Russia
uthern border to stop Ameri-
cans. “This is really funny,
considering the corona death
rate in the US is THREE TI-
* THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
AFP
and restaurants in mid-May
In the US, some states, in-
cluding Georgia, South Caroli-
na, Tennessee, West Virginia
and Colorado, announced
plans to gradually reopen in
the coming days, despite the
concerns of health officials.
Boeing and at least one other
American heavy equipment
manufacturer resumed pro-
duction. But governors from
many other states said they
lack necessary testing supplies
and warned they could get hit
by a second wave of infections.
On Tuesday, Britain’s par-
liament agreed to move to a hy-
brid format while a lockdown
to tackle the virus outbreak
continues, with only a handful
of lawmakers attending in per-
completed at the end of
March, and the second phase
started on April 12.
It is the first Covid-19
vaccine in the world that
has entered the second
phase of clinical trial, ac-
cording to WHO. Several
countries are speeding up
vaccine, development to cut
the time span to few months
instead of several years. PTI
Death
185
43,200 countries/
21,282 regions hit
24,648
25,31,804+
20,294 infected globally
4,939
1,74,336+
17,378
have died
2,259
5,297 6,59,732+
have recovered
4,636
456
Source: Johns Hopkins
University
MES anywhere else in the
world. NOBODY is beating
down the door to come here,”
read one snarky tweet respon-
Spelling Bee, Spain’s
bull run, Oktoberfest
cancelled due to virus
S pain cancelled the Running of
the Bulls in July, the US scrap-
ped the national spelling bee in
June and Germany even called off
Oktoberfest, making it clear on
Tuesday that the effort to beat ba-
ck the coronavirus and return to
normal could be a long and disp-
iriting process. The Running of the
Bulls in Pamplona is more than
400-year-old event. It was last cal-
led off during the Spanish Civil
War in the 1930s. Whereas Scripps
National Spelling Bee has been
held since 1925 and was scrubbed
only once before — in 1943-45,
because of World War II. The can-
cellation of Oktoberfest for the fi-
rst time since W WII deals a fresh
blow to the beer industry. AP
son and more than 100 others
joining virtually. The new ar-
rangements will initially be in
place until May 12 but may have
to be renewed at that point.
Meanwhile, UN leaders
called for efforts to ensure that
all people have access to test-
ing, medical supplies, drugs
and future vaccines, especially
in developing countries. Also,
the head of the UN food agency
warned that the world is also
“on the brink of a hunger pan-
demic”. World Food Pro-
gramme executive director
David Beasley said today 821
million people go to bed hun-
gry every night all over the
world, a further 135 million peo-
ple are facing “crisis levels of
hunger or worse” NYT & AGENCIES
First at-home
virus test kit
okayed by FDA
Washington: US health regu-
lators on Tuesday okayed the
first coronavirus test that al-
lows people to collect their own
sample at home, a new appro-
ach that could help expand tes-
ting options in most states. The
test from LabCorp will initially
only be available to health care
workers and first responders.
The sample will still have to be
shipped for processing back to
LabCorp. Allowing people to
self-swab at home would help
reduce infection risks for front-
line health care workers and
help conserve protective gear.
For the home test, people
are initially screened with an
online questionnaire. If autho-
rised by a physician, LabCorp
will ship a testing kit to their
home. The kit includes cotton
swabs, a collection tube, an in-
sulated pouch and box to ship
the specimen back to LabCorp.
To take a sample, a cotton swab
is swirled in each nostril. The
test results are posted online to
a secure company website. The
company said it will make the
test available in the coming we-
eks. Each kit will cost $119. AP
ding to the US president.
Others posted memes showing
Trump’s own immigrant ori-
gins, including the fact that his
wife is an immigrant.
In any case, with few
flights into the US and no pro-
tocol about how regular travel
and tourism — much less the
immigration process — wo-
uld be resumed, no one is co-
ming into America just now
or is being processed for im-
migration, with the whole
process functionally shut
down. The state department
has suspended almost all visa
processing for weeks now. The
White House has closed both
the northern border with Ca-
nada and the southern border
with Mexico for all except es-
sential workers. Tens of thou-
sands of Mexicans commute
from across the border each
day for agriculture, construc-
tion, and manual labour, whi-
le Canada supplies the US
with healthcare workers.
Indeed, immigration forms
the backbone of the US econo-
my and constitutes the founda-
tion of the country itself. More
than a quarter of its healthca-
re workers, including doctors
and nurses, are immigrants.
Full report on www.toi.in
A PENNY SAVED IS A
PENNY EARNED
Pak removes about 3,800
names from its terror list
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
P
akistan has quietly remo-
ved almost 3,800 names
from its terror watch list,
raising concerns that top ter-
rorists are being protected by
the state despite being on the
FATF’s enhanced grey list.
The ‘Proscribed Persons
List’, Pakistan’s terrorist
watch list, had about 7,600
names, but it has been redu-
ced to almost half, according
to Castellum.AI, a US risk
compliance company. A note
by Castellum said, “Between
March 9 and March 27, Cas-
tellum AI data showed that
Pakistan removed 1,069 na-
mes from the Proscribed Per-
sons List, and that all those
names then appeared on the
country’s Denotified List, a
term used in Pakistan to sig-
nify an official removal. Sin-
ce March 27, about 800 more
names were removed from
the terrorist watch list and
placed on the Denotified
List. Since its peak, about
3,800 names were removed
from the Proscribed Persons
List, without explanation or
notification to the public.”
Contrary to reports, ho-
wever, while the latest list do-
es not include the name of 26/
11 mastermind Zaki-ur Reh-
man Lakhvi, the original list
did not either. According to
Indian security officials, Pa-
kistan never put Lakhvi’s na-
me on its proscribed list.
Both Maulana Masood Az-
har and Lakhvi are “protec-
ted” assets of the Pakistani
military-intelligence state.
The latest list includes
Reports claim Kim gravely ill;
S Korea & China cast doubt
Seoul: South Korean and
Chinese officials on Tuesday
cast doubt on reports claim-
ing North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un was ill after media
outlets said he had undergone
a cardiovascular procedure
and was in “grave danger”, as
US officials closely eyed the
reports. Daily NK, a Seoul-
based speciality website, re-
ported late on Monday, citing
one unnamed source in
North Korea, that Kim was
recovering after undergoing
the procedure on April 12.
The North Korean leader is
believed to be about 36.
“We’re monitoring these
reports very closely,” US Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s nation-
al security adviser, Robert
O’Brien, told Fox News in an
interview on Tuesday, but he
gave no other details. Two
South Korean government of-
ficials rejected an earlier CNN
report citing an unnamed US
official saying Washington
was “monitoring intelli-
gence” that Kim was in grave
danger after surgery, but they
did not elaborate on whether
Kim had undergone surgery.
The South Korean presi-
dential office said there were
no unusual signs coming from
Sikh emergency
consultant dies
of Covid, PIO doc
toll in UK now 5
Naomi Canton
London: Britain’s first Sikh
emergency consultant has died
of Covid-19, joining the list of
Indian frontline doctors and
medical staff in the UK who ha-
ve lost the battle to the infection.
Manpreet Singh Riya, 52,
who worked as an emergency
medicine consultant at Uni-
versity Hospitals of Derby
and Burton (UHDB), passed
away on April 20. Gavin Boyle,
chief executive of UHDB,
said: “Manjeet (a father of
two) was the first A&E con-
sultant from the Sikh commu-
nity in the country and was in-
strumental in building the
emergency medicine service
in Derbyshire over the past
two decades. He was a widely
respected consultant in emer-
gency medicine nationally.”
Around 100 NHS staff have
died of the novel coronavirus,
exacerbating calls for the UK
government to source morepro-
tective gear. In total, five Indian
medical practitioners have lost
their lives to Covid-19 so far.
— BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Hafiz Saeed (No. 1069) and
Azhar (No. 1635). Sources in
New Delhi said top terror le-
aders like Azhar, Lakhvi, Da-
wood Ibrahim and members
of the Haqqani Network re-
main free and active, with
not even one criminal char-
ge against them.
Until 2019, Pakistan had
told FATF that all of its about
7,600 terrorists, under Sche-
dule 4 of its Anti Terrorist
Act, were under close month-
ly monitoring of its police sta-
tions. Their bank accounts
were frozen but they were al-
lowed to earn separately.
Pakistan’s case is expected
to be reviewed by the FATF in
June, but with the Covid-19
pandemic showing no signs of
abating, it’s anyone’s guess
whether the FATF plenary
can be held then. Sources said
it could move back to Septem-
ber, which will keep Pakistan
in the enhanced grey list until
then. In the last review, Pakis-
tan was deemed to have made
progress on 14 out of 27 points
it was supposed to execute.
Sources said there conti-
nued to be 130-odd UN desig-
Several media outlets reported
that Kim Jong-un, believed to be
about 36, was in ‘grave danger’
following a cardiovascular proce-
dure on April 12. If anything were
to happen to the North Korean
leader, the line of succession is
not clear. A BBC report said
Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, would
seem the most obvious choice
the state. Bloomberg separate-
ly quoted an unnamed US offi-
cial as saying the White House
was told that Kim took a turn
for the worse after the surgery.
Kim is the unquestioned
leader of North Korea and
the sole commander of its nu-
clear arsenal. He has no clear
successor and any instability
in the country could be a ma-
jor international risk. Analy-
sts have instead focused on
Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong,
who has accompanied her
brother to meetings with the
leaders of South Korea, Chi-
na and the United States. The
AROUND THE WORLD
A police officer takes part in a dance session organised by
residents of a neighbourhood in Prestatyn, Wales, on Tuesday
UK Queen marks
low-key 94th
b’day amid curbs
B ritain’s Queen Elizabeth II
on Tuesday marked her
94th birthday
privately at
Windsor
Castle after
she had
cancelled all
forms of
public celebration amid the
coronavirus lockdown. Bucking-
ham Palace released special
images and videos on social
Contrary to reports
that Zaki-ur Rehman
Lakhvi’s name was
removed, Indian
the 26/11 mastermind’s
name was never even
included in Pakistan’s
original ‘Proscribed
Persons List’
nated terrorists, of which
Pakistan claims there are on-
ly 16 on its territory, while se-
ven are dead. Pakistan says it
has no idea of the location of
114 of them. According to In-
dian sources, Pakistan has
removed a big chunk of na-
mes from its proscribed list
because the burden of track-
ing them and acting against
them would be too much.
The Castellum note focu-
sed on a name, Zaka-ur Reh-
man, which it believed was
close enough to Zaki-ur Reh-
man. But Indian officials said
all his aliases were covered in
the UNSC designation. “In
the case of Zaka-ur-Rehman,
the difference between Zaka
and Zaki fits within the para-
meters of an accurate phone-
tic translation. Castellum al-
so searched for the Lashkar-e-
Taiba leader’s full name, Za-
ki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, on the
Pakistan Proscribed Persons
List, and he was not on it. This
means that if the removed na-
me is a false positive, that Pa-
kistan has not added the
Lashkar-e-Taiba leader to its
terrorism watch list,” it said.
state KCNA news agency
gave no indication of the
whereabouts of Kim in rou-
tine dispatches on Tuesday,
but said he had sent birthday
gifts to prominent citizens.
Speculation often surfac-
es about North Korea’s lead-
ership based on attendance at
important state events. Kim
missed the celebration of the
birthday of his late grandfa-
ther and state founder Kim Il-
sung on April 15, the country’s
most important holiday. But
he presided over a meeting on
April 11, discussing coronavi-
rus prevention and electing
his sister as an alternate
member of the political bu-
reau of the ruling Workers’
Party, according to KCNA.
An official at the Chinese
Communist Party’s Interna-
tional Liaison Department,
which deals with North Ko-
rea, expressed the belief that
Kim was not critically ill. Chi-
na is North Korea’s only major
ally. Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Geng Shuang said
Beijing was aware of reports
about Kim's health, but said it
does not know their source,
without commenting on whe-
ther it has any information
about the situation. REUTERS
AP
media to reflect the milestones
of the monarch’s reign. “The
longest reigning Monarch in
British History. Wife, mother,
grandmother and great-grand-
mother. Happy birthday, Your
Majesty,” read the Buckingham
Palace birthday message.
A US doctor self-isolates
in his kids’ treehouse
A Texas emergency room
physician has chosen a novel
place to self-isolate as he’s
treating coronavirus patients —
his children’s treehouse. He has
spent nearly three weeks in
there and often shouts down to
his kids if he needs something.
12 COMFORTING THE AFFLICTED AFFLICTING THE COMFORTABLE
THE TIMES OF INDIA
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

A thought for today

It amazes me that we are all on Twitter and Facebook.
By “we” I mean adults. We’re adults, right?
But emotionally we’re a culture of seven-year-olds
The New Untouchability Act
MARC MARON, US writer Social distancing, Madi and Aacharam in the time of coronavirus
Chidanand.Rajghatta@timesgroup.com Namaste and the Japanese Ojigi

Level The Field A series of fires in a

theatre, a nightclub, and
a school that took more
(bowing). Hopefully, neckties, those
superfluous, germ-laden accoutre-
ments, will be dispensed with next.
Madi and Aacharam: Ironically too, it
News producers can’t keep incurring the costs than a thousand lives in was two Chinese travellers, Faxian and
the United States nearly a Xuanzang, who noted and recorded social
while digital platforms drain away profits century ago generated distancing that was already prevalent in
new building codes across America. From India centuries ago. Although it eventually

R
ecall Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer who gets his friends to paint a banning use of inflammable material in devolved into the ugly practice of
fence on a sweltering summer day and walks away making them theatres, to enforcing seating capacity, untouchability and came to be inextricably
pay him the wages for their labour. Indian media companies requiring buildings to have designated linked to the loathsome caste system,
are in a similar situation with Facebook and Google. These digital egress doors and windows, mandating Faxian’s “chandalas” were largely fisher-
that exit signs be visible at all time (even men and butchers who were isolated from
platforms demand gratitude for imparting wider reach to news
when there is no electricity), lawmakers rest of the society and had to sound an
content and play deaf to sharing revenues for content produced at passed laws that reduced fire hazard and alarm if they entered the mainstream so
considerable cost. Google and Facebook don’t have to invest in news brought down the death count. that other citizens could avoid them.
gathering but can waltz away with the ad revenues and earn close to Among the simplest changes was one Xuanzang added scavengers and executio-
trillion dollar valuations while paying a pittance for journalism. The that required all exit doors in public ners to this list, all this doubtless before
Centre must take note of such brigandage, as well as of Australia’s buildings in America to swing outwards. the advent of soaps and disinfectants.
response to it forcing Google and Facebook to share online advertising Another code change mandated revolving Still, keeping a no-contact physical
doors should be flanked by at least one distance – consecrated in practices such
revenues with local media companies.
normal, outward swinging door. You see as madi and aacharam, widely prevalent
With Covid-19 sending advertising these codes at work across the world today. among Brahmins in the south – was fun-
revenues crashing, authorities must The coronavirus pandemic will likely damentally a health and hygiene issue.
urgently address the glaring asymmetry leave a lasting effect on public health In fact, even today in many traditional

between digital platforms and news out- policy, business practices, social engage-
lets. News outlets invest vast human and ment and personal behaviour, particularly
financial resources in news gathering in a country where a sneeze or a cough is
now considered more lethal than a guns-
operations, to publish a curated pool of
hot. Of course, it is entirely possible that
high quality content that is fact checked with rapidly developed therapeutics and
and meticulously edited for relevance, vaccines, it could be back to business-
brevity and style. During natural disasters, as-usual by this time next year. But right
communal riots or health emergencies now Americans are spooked.
like Covid-19, it is journalists who serve A country whose inadequacies have
citizens accurate information, even at grave personal risk. been shown up badly in the present crisis
is more likely to use this as a “sputnik
If Google and Facebook succeed in devastating the newspaper
moment” to demonstrate that
industry, it won’t be good news for democracy, public order or livelihoods. it has not lost any of its sense
Journalism offers an independent outlet for information in public
interest. It also safeguards the nation and its citizens from social media
of mission on the 50th anni- the newnormal
versary of its Apollo 13 event
fuelled misinformation that sows distrust, panic and hysteria. Digital – from recapturing its manufacturing
platforms end up enjoying the best of both worlds, monetising news mojo to setting new standards in public
while ducking accountability for fake news and viral misinformation. and private engagement, notwithstanding
the social and political discord right now.
Getting digital platforms with multinational footprints to play
Open Sesame, Exit Door Handle: Some
ball requires hardnosed negotiation. Early Spanish and French go- of the changes are already becoming
vernment attempts to force them into revenue sharing models failed. visible, and technology exists to make
Like French and Australian competition regulators, India can start them fully operational. It’s known now
by ordering digital platforms to negotiate with news producers on re- that beyond airborne transmission thro-
muneration. Australia is urgently proceeding on a legislative course ugh droplets when someone sneezes or
after a voluntary code made little headway and Covid-19 triggered clo- coughs, the next big coronavirus danger
is from surface transmission – when you
sures of several dozen newsrooms. A level playing field is needed
touch a doorknob or hard object that an
where multinational digital platforms abjure monopolistic tendenci- infected person may have landed the
es. Facebook and Google cornered nearly 70% (Rs 11,500 crore) of onli-
ne ad revenues from India in 2018-19, a market pegged at Rs 28,000 cro-
re by 2022. The Government of India must resist a digital colonisa-
tion, where the sweat and toil of Indians is drained out of the country
while local communities and businesses are destroyed.
‘We need to recognise women as independent
individuals … Review all land laws with a gender lens’
Palghar Horror Despite constitutional provisions to empower
women, one critical area where they continue
to be denied their full rights is inheritance of
Rumour mongering must be dealt with swiftly, agricultural land. Shipra Deo, director for
especially during Covid-19 lockdown Women’s Land Rights at Landesa, spoke to
Rudroneel Ghosh about it:
virus on. Human beings are instinctively
tactile. In fact, one reason for the Big
Apple’s high rate of infection could be
the number of “touches” a New Yorker
goes through in a day – from the door
handle to elevator buttons to the
mailbox to subway turnstiles to vending
machines to the inevitable handshakes,
it is one long touchy-feely day.
But motion sensitive
and voice activation techno-
logies have been around for
some time and are impro-
ving rapidly all the time. There is no
particular reason for one to touch a light
switch or door handle or elevator knob or
an ATM. The Arabs can boast that Ali
Baba cracked it centuries ago with his
“Open Sesame”, but for now the credit
goes to American companies such as
AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Apple and Google,
backed by government institutions such
as NSA, DARPA and universities such as
Carnegie Mellon. Ironically, some of the
pioneers of this technology happen to be
immigrants, notably Raj Reddy from
India and Xuedong Huang from China.
inheritance laws with respect to
agriculture land?
Yes, certainly. Haryana is a classic
example where the state assembly twice
attempted to take away the progressive
rights given to women through personal
laws such as the Hindu Succession Act. It
Uday Deb
A country whose inadequacies
have been shown up badly in
the present crisis is more likely
to use this as a “sputnik
moment” to demonstrate that it
has not lost any of its sense of
mission on the 50th anniversary
of its Apollo 13 event
At the sociological and anthropological
level, Americans are also talking of
forsaking the formal handshake – already
being eclipsed by informal high-fives,
dap (a horizontal fist bump), and the
chest bump – in an effort to make social
distancing a more permanent aspect of
life. Amid recommendations from
Anthony Fauci, the infectious diseases
pundit, that people abjure all unnecessary
physical contact, leaders of a Western
society that signed off till recently with
“hugs and kisses” (xoxo in the emoji era)
are suddenly embracing the Indian
this regressive approach?
The land reform principle popular at
the time of Independence was ‘land to the
tiller’ and lawmakers – then and now –
continue to see the tiller as male. But even
this doesn’t hold true. Statistics tell us
that women constitute around 65% of all
Indian homes, it’s normal to leave one’s
footwear outside the front door and
enter the house barefoot, and to drink
water without putting the glass or cup or
tumbler to one’s lips (holding it an inch
or two above one’s mouth).
If you have a haircut, you go straight
into a bath or shower (haircuts and
barbers, like meat and butchers, are
considered unclean); guests are always
invited to first wash up as soon as they
come in (fresh towels and dhotis are offe-
red in traditional homes); and children
playing outdoors are instructed to wash
hands, feet, and face before settling
down for homework or dinner.
For India, the pandemic offers an
opportunity to reset and restore a range of
good practices that have been forsaken in
a blind imitation of Western customs and
behaviors, including the use of toilet
paper. The Untouchability (Offences) Act
of 1955, which eventually became a Protec-
tion of Civil Rights law, was aimed at
outlawing an abhorrently discriminatory
practice. But thanks to the coronavirus,
we may be getting a new universal untou-
chability protocol – social distancing in
today’s lingo – that is healthily discrimi-
nating rather than socially prejudicial.
■ How do we get around the patriar-
chal mindset that is preventing equal
inheritance of agricultural land?
First and foremost, we need to recognise
women as independent individuals, in
word of law as well as in spirit. Today, most
land laws do not pass the test of gender

T
he horrific incident of mob lynching in Maharashtra’s Palghar
■ How are women in India could not do so because the amend- agricultural workers, but only 14% of all equality. There is a need to review all land
where two sadhus and their driver were killed by villagers on being denied their right to ment was rejected by the President operational landholders. laws with a gender lens and identify areas
suspicion of being thieves is not only a failure of law and order inherit agricultural land? of India. Another example is from In addition, many argue that because where there is either overt or covert discri-
but also exemplifies policing challenges during the nationwide lock- Most of the existing Indian laws UP, where since 2016, unmarried daughters move to other villages after mination against women. The incongru-
down. The incident was fuelled by rumours that there were bandits don’t provide equal rights to women daughters are primary heirs equi- marriage, allowing them to inherit their ences in inheritance provisions in state
on the prowl looking to take advantage of the lockdown. In fact, to inherit agricultural land. And even valent to a son, but married daughters are parents’ land will lead to fragmentation of laws need to be addressed in states.
two days before the sadhus and their driver were attacked on April 16, when there are laws that have progressive not. In effect, this means that a daughter agricultural lands. But such concerns are Legal legitimacy must essentially be
provisions in this regard, they are not effec- must choose between not raised in the case of sons who migrate accompanied with efforts to establish the so-
a couple of doctors were assaulted and held hostage in an adjoining cial legitimacy of women’s claims. Concer-
tively implemented, and women continue inheriting land from to urban areas or to other countries.
hamlet. Luckily the doctors were rescued by the police. to be denied their rights. Under the current her father and These are double standards emanating ted efforts are required to shift patriarchal
Following the lynching, the Maharashtra government has promised scheme of things, there is an overwhelming getting married. from patriarchy. The people responsible attitudes and gendered norms expressed by
action and more than 110 accused have been maze of laws that govern inheritance When we approa- for making and implementing these laws government officials, elected leaders and
arrested. Plus, a CID probe has been ordered provisions. There are personal or religious ched officials, often carry these biases. other thought leaders in the civic space.
and two policemen suspended. While rumours laws enacted at the national level, there are there was a strong ■ Could you elaborate on the ■ Could you give us examples of how
of thieves and child lifters are nothing new, they also state revenue laws enacted by each resistance to procedural impediments to women equal inheritance to agricultural
state. As per the Constitution, succession is giving married registering agricultural land even land has helped women?
get accentuated in tense situations when social In today’s world, land is one of the most
part of the concurrent list, meaning both daughters equal where this is allowed?
trust runs low. This is precisely what is happe- states and Centre can legislate on this rights. In many places where daughters can significant productive assets, and inheri-
ning in many parts of the country with even aspect. But agricultural land is a state sub- ■ Why do you inherit agricultural land as per law, tance is a central way to own it. Ownership
doctors and health workers being assaulted. ject, which takes succession of agricultural think many their names are still not entered into the of agricultural land strengthens a woman’s
The latest such assault was reported from land into the states’ domain. The north- states have records because of the responsible reve- identity as an individual and gives her the
Bengaluru when a team of health workers was western states – Punjab, Haryana, Hima- nue officials’ biases. This bias is woven strength necessary to exercise her agency.
trying to take contacts of Covid-positive patients to institutional chal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand into the social fabric, and daughters Agricultural land specifically increases
and Delhi – have the most regressive inheri- are not expected to claim their sha- her visibility and recognition as a farmer,
quarantine. Add to this fake news and misinformation circulating on which essentially means enhanced inclu-
tance provisions that explicitly prefer male re. They are subject to extreme
social media, and we are looking at a recipe for disaster. descendants over females. In these states, backlash and ostracisation if sion in the entire agriculture value chain.
For social isolation and lockdowns of this scale to work, policing even when a woman gets land, her rights they choose to assert their It increases her access to technical know-
needs to be highly efficient. People under stress need to be calmed are limited, which means she often loses claims, though many times ledge, government schemes, institutional
while those in need of immediate attention need to be helped. But the rights if she remarries or if she doesn’t women and girls them- credit, farming inputs, and market
most of all, rumour mongering needs to be nipped in the bud and cultivate land for a specific period. selves don’t know that they can linkages, and has the power to disrupt the
those responsible for spreading canards dealt with strictly. A certain ■ Is there resistance to reforming inherit and own land. cycle of poverty and exclusion.
section of politicians has been insinuating a communal angle to the
Palghar incident. This is condemnable as it can seriously undermine the dilbert Sacredspace
fight against Covid-19. Efficient policing is the only thing that stands
in the way of Covid-19 fuelled chaos. It must not be compromised. Terrible Mistake
The most alarming of all man’s

Homeward bound assaults upon the environment is

the contamination of the air, earth,
rivers, and seas with dangerous,
Because of the coronavirus lockdown, a lot of people and even lethal, materials. This
pollution has rapidly become
are making new discoveries in the places they live almost universal, and it is for the
Jug Suraiya most part irrecoverable…
and irreversible.
Bunny and i have recently discovered the small terrace
adjoining our bedroom on the first floor. It’s always been there Rachel Carson
for all the past 24 years that we’ve been living in this house, of
course, and every now and then we would look at it and wonder
what we could do with it.
For most parts of the year, Gurgaon where we live, is either
too hot or too cold for us to use the terrace as a sit-out. We could have turned it
into an extra room, but we don’t need more enclosed space. So the terrace lay
Why We Regard Earth As Our Mother
there like a fallow field, unproductive and useless. Radhanath Swami principles seem to be forgotten and there little Ravanas to becoming little gifts that God has given us and how to
Then came the coronavirus lockdown, and because of it we discovered our is wide-scale exploitation of natural Hanumans … from exploiting the earth respect those divine gifts.

I
long-neglected terrace. Unable to leave home because of the curfew, we began ndic culture and tradition venerates resources. Instead of caring about the for our own purposes to protecting and Mother Earth has a body that is very
to use our terrace for our daily evening walk of 45 minutes. Our white elephant the earth as one’s own mother. First, long term well-being of the world, the honouring the earth for divine purposes. much like our bodies. When there is a
of a terrace became a godsend. acknowledging the earth as a person environment is brazenly being destroyed There is no other permanent problem, she heals herself. But like our
Like us, a lot of people all over the world are indicates that we are not indifferent to it and serious implications of it are visible solution. All other solutions from bodies, if her body is exploited again
making all sorts of happy discoveries in their ho- but understand its needs and concerns, in the way weather patterns are environmental organisations may be and again and filled with more and more
secondopinion mes. These needn’t be as large as even a tiny and accord to it the highest respect and changing; species and habitats are good, necessary and vital, but we must toxins and is never given the time to
terrace – ours is 20 feet by 15 feet. Indeed some of honour, just as the mother is getting depleted, and more. understand that unless there is a replenish itself, then it can’t heal itself
these chance findings could be small, like a discarded, frayed rug unearthed at respected universally in all the cultures Personally, if we deal pro- change in consciousness, those and the result is serious diseases. When
random from the recesses of a cupboard and which becomes a handy yoga mat, and traditions. As a mother nourishes perly with our consciousness, solutions are not sustainable. Mother Earth gets a disease, it results in
to help keep you fit during lockdown. the child, the earth nourishes all living then we can realistically deal Years ago, i met the disasters.
It could be a book you’d bought, but forgotten to read, a DVD you’d got but never beings by providing them various with the problems of this environmental minister of It is necessary, therefore, to clean the
watched. It might be a bottle of sauce, or a jar of a condiment, you come across necessities and shelter, without world. The cause of all India. She questioned me, ecology of our consciousness, and the
while rummaging through the kitchen cabinet and which inspires a new, tasty discrimination and timelines. physical pollution is pollu- what good the mantras of simplest and most powerful agent to
twist to an old recipe to help dispel corona blues. But perhaps the best thing we The five elements – earth, air, water, ted consciousness, because sadhus were doing for the remove the pollution of our minds and
discover about our homes, which we take so much for granted that we overlook or ether and fire – are all acknowledged as our minds are polluted with environment. I replied that hearts as per age-old tradition is the
fail to appreciate about them, is how lucky we are to have a home to call our own, personalities in Indic culture, and also toxic greed which can never these mantras clean the heart. chanting of Krishna’s holy names. It can
while millions of fellow citizens live on pavements or in makeshift shanties. mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas. be satisfied. We are trying to satiate our If you clean the rivers but not hearts, then restore the love, compassion and inner
There’s an old saying, Ghar ki murgi, daal barabar, which roughly Traditionally, various rules had been greed through exploiting nature. The people will just pollute the rivers again, satisfaction that we are all longing for, it
translates as, Even something special made at home becomes ordinary. laid out for dealing with each of them in Vedic solution is to learn how to be even if you clean them hundreds of will simplify our lives and it will also help
Today that should be inverted to, Ghar ki daal, murgi barabar. order to uphold respect for them. For content and satisfied with simple things – times. We have to clean the rivers and restore the health of this planet. (The
secondopinion@timesgroup.com example, one should not pollute, that is, simple living and high thinking – to also, we have to educate people about how writer is a guru at International Society
blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi defecate in a running river. Today, these change our consciousness from being to find satisfaction in the simple, divine for Krishna Consciousness)
Bank Slippages To Rise In FY21
As Businesses Lose Revenue
Banks were expected to post an improvement in
their non-performing loans in FY21 with higher
recoveries under the insolvency process. With
8

5
TIMES BUSINESS 6
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
7
Slippage (` L cr)

5.5
Slippage Ratio

the outlook changing after Covid-19, bad loans 4.4

are set to soar again as the top lines of most 4
3.3 4.8
businesses take a hit for at least a quarter 4.2
3
Source: UBS, *Estimated FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20* FY21* FY22*

US Oil Meltdown Roils Mkts, Traders At Multi Commodity Exchange Feel The Heat, But Plunge Will Ease Import Burden

Oil in -ve zone: MCX buyers Exporters

face `410 crore fund dues
May Move Court | Sellers Gear Up To Protect Their Interest
Partha.Sinha@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: The negative clo-
sing for WTI crude on the Ny-
mex on Monday night has
caught a large number of Indi-
an buyers of crude oil cont-
racts on the MCX here on the
wrong foot. These investors are
now together expected to pay
about Rs 410 crore to the sellers.
This being a rare event
that was not anticipated, most
investors are finding it diffi-
cult to meet their obligations
to settle the trades, commodi-
ty players said. Some of the
brokers who are on the losing
side may even move court.
The situation arose becau-
se, according to MCX’s rules,
the WTI closing price for crude
oil contracts will be the official
settlement price of MCX crude
futures contracts as well. Eve-
rything was fine till 5pm on
Monday when MCX closed tra-
ding according to the truncated
trade hours due to the nation-
wide lockdown. However, abo-
ut six hours after MCX closed,
the WTI crude prices — for the
face losses
on forward
$ contracts
MARKETS REGULATOR STEPS IN
On Monday night, WTI April
crude oil contracts on Nymex
close at negative $37.6/barrel
Settlement price of
MCX crude contracts
are linked to the WTI
crude price
On Tuesday, investors
holding MCX April crude
contracts face settlement
prices deep in the red
MCX changes trading hours
Mumbai: Commodity exchanges on Tuesday said that, from
April 23, all those commodities for which the settlement price is
the price of an international exchange will continue to trade
from 9am till 11.30pm — extended from the 5pm closing now. All
other commodities will be traded between 9am and 5pm. TNN
first time in its history — ente-
red the negative territory and
closed at -$37.6 per barrel.
At Monday’s close, the
MCX crude for April was tra-
ding at Rs 965/barrel with one
lot of the contract having 100
barrels. Initially MCX, due to
some reason, announced a pro-
visional settlement price of Re
HC quashes
prosecution
of 2 former
IFIN auditors
MCX announces a
provisional price of
Re 1/contract
Investors, who were
gainers, raise issue
with Sebi. The markets
regulator steps in to
order MCX to honour
contract specifications
MCX announces final
settlement at negative `2,884
1 for its crude contracts. Howe-
ver, there was hectic lobbying
by brokers from both sides —
those who were to pay Rs 410
crore, and those who were to
get this money — throughout
Tuesday to push their case.
Finally, after Sebi inter-
vened and said that the cont-
racts’ conditions were sacro-
sanct, MCX announced the fi-
nal per contract settlement
price at a negative Rs 2,884.
There were about 11,500 lots to
be settled. At the changed sett-
lement price, and a conver-
sion rate of Rs 76-per-dollar,
the total settlement amount
that the buyers were to pay
jumped from Rs 110 crore to Rs
410 crore, market players said.
An MCX official, however,
said that the provisional price
was announced for the ease of
calculation initially since it
was for the first time the ex-
change was calculating with a
negative price. MCX officials
were confident that all the
brokers will pay up and there
was no chance of any default.
Sources said the commodi-
ties broking arm of Motilal Os-
wal group had the biggest pay-
ment obligation. A spokesper-
son for the group said total due
from the clients was about Rs
80 crore and there were no pro-
prietary positions. “But we are
confident of fully recovering
the money from clients,” the
spokesperson said.
Mayur.Shetty@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Many exporters who
have sold their anticipated dol-
lar revenues in the forward mar-
ket are staring at a crisis as they
risk losing millions. While the
dollar’s market rate has soared
compared to the rate at which
they were sold, the lockdown has
stalled exports. Small busines-
ses are worried of the cash loss
they will suffer when banks de-
bit their accounts for the diffe-
rence in the dollar rates when
they fail to deliver.
Exporters sell a large part of
their expected revenues in the
six-month or one-year forward
markets. By doing so, they are
not only guaranteed an ex-
change rate but also earn a
small premium as the dollar is
expected to be worth more in fu-
ture. Now that many export
shipments are stalled either in
factories, warehouses, in trans-
it or even at the destination port
NEW CRISIS
because of the Covid-19 lock-
down, they are not earning dol-
lars. As against the 72-levels at
which the forward contracts
WhatsApp ups
video-call user
limit to 8 from 4
Zoom, Houseparty See Spike,
So Do Desi Cos Zoho, Airmeet
Digbijay Mishra &
Madhav Chanchani TNN
Bengaluru: Popular messa-
ging application WhatsApp is
doubling the number of callers
that can participate in group
video conversations to eight
people from the existing four
as the communication mode
sees a significant uptake
across the world during lock-
downs. The update is already
available to some customers,
with a broader rollout expec-
ted in 1-2 weeks, said a source
briefed on the matter.
WhatsApp, which has over
400 million monthly active
users in India, did not respond
to an emailed query on this
matter. Earlier in the month,
WhatsApp had told TOI that it
has witnessed a rise in messa-
ging, voice and video calls in
general during the lockdown.
Earlier this month, What-
said Rahul Matthan, partner at
Trilegal, who heads technolo-
gy practice for firms.
According to Matthan, se-
curity is not a major concern
here when WhatsApp has said
its platform has end-to-end en-
cryption, meaning a third par-
ty cannot access it.
DOUBLE CAPACITY
WhatsApp is
already beta-
testing the
doubling of video-
call capacity to 8
The plan is to roll
it out for all users
within 1-2 weeks
Users must have the most
updated version of the app
for this facility to work
Monthly downloads of vi-
deo-calling application Zoom
Swati.Deshpande
@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: In a major win for
auditors BSR Associates and
Deloitte Haskins & Sells, the
Bombay high court on Tuesday
quashed their prosecution as
erstwhile auditors of the cri-
sis-ridden IL&FS Financial
Services (IFIN). The HC held
that the prosecution by the Se-
rious Fraud Investigation Offi-
ce (SFIO) was unsustainable.
But the HC, disagreeing with
auditors, upheld the constitutio-
nal validity of section 140(5) of
the Companies Act under which
the ministry of corporate affairs
(MCA) had sought a ban on the
company’s auditors for five ye-
ars. Significantly, the HC said
these provisions, which are “re-
medial and regulatory” in natu-
re, would not apply to auditors
who have already resigned.
In this case, BSR — which is
a sub-licensee of auditing giant
KPMG International and
KPMG India — had resigned as
statutory auditors of IFIN last
June, and Deloitte about a year
earlier. “CAs who defrauded the
company but have completed

ICICI’s $100m Crude crash to ease some

were struck, the greenback is
now inching towards Rs77.
The Apparel Exporters Pro-
loan at risk, motion Council (AEPC) has
sApp put new restrictions on
users who can forward messa-
ges to just one person or group
have increased 17-fold from
500,000 in February to over 8.7
million in March.
their term & left cannot be
changed and therefore not ame-
nable to section 140(5). They can
at one time once it has been pre- Similarly, Houseparty saw be tried for professional miscon-

Covid-19 pain for India

stock falls 8%
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Shares of ICICI
Bank crashed 8% on Tuesday
following news that it had a
$100-million exposure to a tra-
ding firm Hin Leong being in-
vestigated by Singapore for ir-
regularities, including hiding
its losses. The private bank on
Tuesday confirmed the expo-
sure, stating that it is taking
steps to protect its interest.
On Monday, news agencies
had reported that ICICI Bank
was making attempts to impo-
und two tankers belonging to a
unit of Hin Leong after news of
the losses emerged. The tra-
ding firm owes global banks al-
most $4 billion.
According to a court filing,
HLT’s founder and director
Lim Oon Kuin had directed his
firm not to disclose hundreds
of millions of dollars in losses
over several years.
Birla holding
Sanjay.Dutta@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Black Gold has
fallen from grace. And how!
US crude WTI sank into
negative territory for the first
time in history at -$37/barrel
and Brent, the benchmark for
two-thirds of the global oil
trade, settled at an 18-year low
of $21.5 on Tuesday, sending
traders and the global oil in-
dustry scurrying for cover.
But India, the world’s third-
largest oil importer, has much
to gain though there will be pa-
in for producers like ONGC.
The price crash has come at a
time when the country is in
lockdown mode and economic
activities remain seriously
curtailed, with the possibility
they will remain so for longer
than anticipated. The produ-
cers, however, will see return
on their big-ticket investments
turn negative without tax reli-
ef from the government.
“The crash saves India
from subsidising the exporting
countries who created the con-
ditions for the crash and are
now trying to artificially raise
it. As an economy dependent
on (oil) imports, low prices are
always good. The present situa-
tion is better because there is
no certainty that economic ac-
tivity will return to the pre-Co-
vid-19 period quickly. So cur-
rent low prices, when econo-
mic activities are muted and
may remain so, are preferable
BAD NEWS
FOR OIL COS
than, say, $50-60/barrel,” a key
government official told TOI.
Oil imports are a big drag
on the country’s finances and
cheaper oil will help reduce the
burden when the government
has to find money for fighting
Covid-19 and incentivising the
economy. “Demand will be lo-
wer this year. Lower prices will
shrink the import bill further.
So overall, as an economy, the
current price levels will help,”
he said, requesting anonymity.
The WTI crash, he said,
was purely ‘causal’ and a local
phenomenon. “Tuesday was
the last day of settlement for
April futures. When traders ne-
ither found takers nor storage
space, they didn’t know what to
do and dumped their positions.
There is limited linkage to
Brent as shipping costs have
gone up because the tankers
are being used as storage.”
Cheaper oil keeps macroe-
conomic parameters such as
CAD (current account deficit)
and inflation in the comfort zo-
ne by reducing crude import
and subsidy bills. Low oil pri-
ces will reduce input cost for
farmers who use diesel to run
farm equipment. Lower fuel
and fertiliser subsidy liabiliti-
es will free up funds for social
sector and infrastructure spen-
ding, which are expected to dri-
ve economic activity. Every
$10/ barrel fall in oil prices re-
duces import bill and CAD by
about 0.43% of the GDP.
written to the RBI, highligh- viously forwarded 5 times or active users increase about 16 duct under section 132 or under
ting the big loss that exporters more. The latest development times in the same time period. the Chartered Accountants
would suffer because of the
penalty that banks are char-
comes at a time when the home
ministry’s Cyber Coordina-
Right now, Zoom allows up to
100 participants in its basic
Act,” said the HC.
The HC also held that a “dis-
ging. “It is requested that the tion Centre said that “Zoom is a plan, while Houseparty limits qualification or debarment” un-
charges for the exchange rate not a safe platform”, advising it to eight people. der the provision is “not as a pu-
fluctuations and cancellations government employees to not Several Indian companies nishment for fraud but it is a cau-
are waived for the period of use it because of security con- offering a similar service have tion which Parliament felt ne-
which export orders have been cerns and privacy lapses. also seen a consumption spike cessary to administer to avoid
cancelled,” said AEPC chair- “With everyone locked in, in their products. Bengaluru- delays in matters of vital impor-
man A Sakthivel. there is no better time to roll based startup Airmeet, which tance”. The HC bench of Chief
According to K N Dey, foun- this out, when people are wor- does conferences online, has Justice B P Dharmadhikari and
der of United Financial Con- king from home and one wants seen time spent on its platform N R Borkar said there appeared
sultants, which advises firms to talk to people. WhatsApp’s jump from 500 minutes per day to be non-application of mind in
on forex, banks can help expor- vast majority of users are con- in February to 500,000 minutes the manner the Centre directed
ters tide over the situation by gi- sumers (individuals), while per day now. SFIO to initiate prosecution wit-
ving them 90 more days to deli- Zoom is primarily a corporate Zoho has also been seeing a hin 30 hours of a 732-page report
ver the dollars at the same price solution and its issues do have jump in downloads for its app- of the agency with 32,000 pages
as the existing forward cover. a direct impact on corporates,” lication Zoho Meeting. as annexures.
SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PARKS OF INDIA 1
(An Autonomous Society under Ministry of Electronics & 2nd Corrigendum
Information Technology, Govt.of India) To E-Tender
NOTIFICATION Notice No. 2020-March-01
dt. 03.03.2020
This is with reference to the earlier notification uploaded on STPI web portal w ,r.t. the Employment Notice no,
The closing date of all tenders , of
2(2)A/STPI-HQ/2019-20 dated 12.02.2020 for the post MTS E-IV (Scientist 'E'), MTS E-III (Scientist 'Q') & MTS E-Tender Notice No. 2020-March-C '
E-ll (Scientist'C') and 2(3)/I/STPI-HQ/2019-20 dated 15.02.2020 for the post of MTS E-I (Scientist'B'). The dates dt . 03 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 0 , w h i c h w e r e
for submission of online application & receipt of signed-in application for the above mentioned posts are hereby postponed and scheduled to be
extended as follow: closed on 24 . 04 .2020 is now furt her
Closing Date of Receipt of Online Application: 05.05.2020 postponed and will be closed on
Closing Date of Receipt of duty signed-in Application: 20.052020 15.05.2020 at 15 .00 hrs.
For full details and submission of
Closing Date of Receipt of duty signed-in Application from the remote area : 30.05.2020
However, reckoning of age as on last date of receipt of application as published earlier in the concern National
News Papers shall not be changed. The remaining conditions of the above advertisements will remain unchanged.
bid please see the Indian Railways
website www.ireps .gov . in. 341/20lA l

(Chief Administrative Officer), STPI

co Pilani to
raise `1,000cr
Oil price slide, virus spread METPrime .. DIRECTORATE OF HEALTH
SERVICES JAMMU
(Near MLA Hostal, Indira

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata/Mumbai: Pilani In-

pull sensex down 1,011 pts FromTEIEFI)OMMICTh Chowk Jammu (J&K) 180001
Email:
',,r, fft -
Phone: 0191-2546338
vestment & Industries, the hol- TIMES NEWS NETWORK shutdown due to the coronavi-
ding company of some of the VOLATILE MONTH rus pandemic is also showing Dr. SOhla . Anniac hakak
Birla group of companies, is Mumbai: The troubles in the in corporate earnings. “Post- S/o Sh. Ali Mohammad Hakak
raising Rs 1,000 crore by issu- global crude oil market and Sensex in April earnings management gui- R/o Fazul Haq Colony
ing commercial papers (CPs), the rising number of Covid-19
32,000
dance has also not given any Zakura Crossing Hazrabal ,
a type of short-term corporate cases in India unnerved Dalal clear indication about the re- Srinagar.
31,000
bonds, the company told the Street investors on Tuesday covery path,” Nair said. Go- Sub: Notice
exchanges on Tuesday. and the consequent selling ing forward, earnings of lea- Whereas, the Block Medical
30,000
According to company so- pulled down the sensex by
urces, Pilani Investment, 1,011 points, or 3.2%, to 31,637.
29,468
30,637
ding companies will to some
extent decide the market’s di-
A 'JUGAAD' THAT TURNS Officer Bhaderwah vide No.
SDHB/118-23 dated 15.04.2020 ,
controlled by Kumar Manga- Banking and financial stocks
29,000
rection, among other factors. APP BASED CABS has reported that you are on
unauthorised absence from duty
lam Birla with a 59% share- led the slide. On the NSE, the 28,000 4% The day’s losses also left
-k INTO TRAPS. w.e.f. 05.04.2020 till date, and;
holding, the fund-raising is ai- Nifty closed 280 points lower
med at investing in group at 8,981points.
investors poorer by Rs 3.3
lakh crore with BSE’s market
o Whereas , your unauthorised
27,000 Get in-depth insights into the latest absence has caused a great
companies, including to in- According to Vinod Nair, Mar 31 Source: ETIG Apr 21 capitalisation now at Rs 119.6
crease stakes in those entities. head of research, Geojit Fi- lakh crore. Meanwhile, the trends happening in the Transportation inconvenience to Public of the
a r e a as w e l l as to the
The shareholding of Pila- nancial Services, as the US the WTI crude oil futures clo- markets regulator Sebi on Tu- sector on ET Prime.
Administration, and;
ni Investment has been a mat- crude oil prices crashed, “In- sed at -$37.6/barrel, its first esday said all the public offers
ter of litigation for about two dian markets, in sync with ever negative close with sel- including IPOs that got its Whereas , under Art. 128 of
J&K CSR Vol. I absence without
decades as Birlas are at log- global markets, traded negati- lers paying the buyers to lift nod to open between March 1
leave or after end of leave
gerheads with Harsh Lodha, vely, as the extent of the im- their produce as storage capa- and September 30 this year
involves loss of appointment.
whose father was bequeathed pact of lockdowns and the glo- cities were running low. can launch the offer within
a substantial stake by a Birla bal slowdown is becoming In addition to the slide in one year of the nod, up from Now, therefore , a notice is
hereby served upon you to join
family heir. evident”. On Monday night, oil prices, the impact of the six months now.
your duty immediately at your
respective place of posting i.e.

Retailers eye revenue-share pact at malls NTPHC Gatha otherwise

disci plinary action will be initiated
against you warranted under
rules.
John Sarkar & Avik Das TNN math and thereby sustain six Dr. Renu Sharma

New Delhi/Bengaluru: In a
SEEKING RELIEF
move that could change mo-
dern retail dynamics in India,
top retail companies, inclu-
ding Future Group, Aditya
Birla, Arvind, Raymond and
Litebite Foods, are in discus-
sion with mall owners to mo-
ve into a pure revenue-share
model from a fixed-rent model
or a minimum guaranteed
rent model for nine months
starting March 1, which they
believe is critical for survival
of the retail industry.
At present, only big box
fast-fashion retailers enjoy a
revenue-share rent model in
India with malls.
be a flat percentage depen-
ding on the category of stores.
Mall owners have made
representations to the
government for relief such
as waiver of property tax,
waiver of fixed demand
charges from utility
companies’ bills,
moratorium on EMIs
without any interest
for the lockdown period
Some mall owners such
as Prestige, Brigade and Lulu
have given rent waivers to their
tenants till lockdown is in place
million jobs that this industry
generates. For that it is criti-
Director Health Services
Jammu.
ES-16607/281-85
N o ..
cal that mall owners and te- Dated : 18.04.2020
Prestige, which owns malls
nants (brands and retailers) oIPIJ-202 120
like Forum Shantiniketan, UB
are able to arrive at a mutual-
City and Forum in Bengaluru,
ly agreeable arrangement on
has waived off rental
rentals, not only for the period
for some clients
of shutdown but also thereaf-
since March 14 ter till normalcy returns,” the
letter, also signed by Jubilant Book your
Brigade, which Foods, Bata and Adidas, said.
Education ads
operates two Orion While high street land-
Malls in Bengaluru, lords such as those from New For any uue ry, call -
has decided to give Delhi’s Khan Market and
up rentals for some clients by small malls, such as, ones in
50% for the entire period Bhopal, Jaipur and Lucknow
of lockdown have taken action (revenue- ET Prime is a members only premium digital destination for business Lalit Singh :
sharing, rent waiver) retai- F
EEN F21 storytelling from The Economic Times. Experience nothing but the
while for fast food brands and
large format lifestyle stores, it
lers said big ones are yet to re-
act. Most of the large mall ow-
gold standard in business journalism. 9891789316

Around 75 retailers that
operate 200 brands have writ-
ten a letter to mall owners, se-
en by TOI, stating that reve-
nue-share percentage should
They suggested, for instance,
revenue-sharing percentage
for vanilla brands should be
10-12%, including common
area maintenance (CAM),
should be 7-8%.
“Our objective is to ensure
that all businesses in the reta-
il industry are able to survive
this pandemic and its after-
ners contacted by TOI said
they were yet to decide whet-
her to give a rent waiver for
the period of lockdown or en-
ter a revenue-sharing model.
. .
. Exclusive, in-depth insights into business
domain experts 1400+ exclusive articles
Deep dive reporting by
Spanning 17+ industries
Neeral Kumar :
Scan to reaa tre sto y Activate your 15 day free trial , visit etprime.com 9911190313

LASITH MALINGA RATED GREATEST BOWLER IN
IPL HISTORY BY PANEL OF FORMER PLAYERS
GALLERY
Kohli ‘howled all night’
after team rejection
New Delhi: India captain Virat Kohli
revealed on Tuesday how he “howled”
through the night after being rejected by
his state side before turning into the
world’s leading batsman. “The first time I
was rejected in the state selections, I
remember it was late at night and I just
cried,” said the 31-year-old cricket su-
perstar. “I howled till about three in the
morning and I could not believe it,” he
added. “Because I scored well, everyt-
hing was going perfectly for me. I per-
formed till I reached that stage and I was
rejected. And I kept asking my coach for
two hours, why didn’t it happen? And I
couldn’t make sense of it. But when there
is passion and commitment, that mo-
tivation comes back to you.”
Novak may reconsider stand on
corona vaccine: Novak Djokovic has
reiterated he is against taking an anti-
coronavirus vaccination if it becomes
mandatory to travel once the pandemic
subsides, but says he’s open to changing
his mind. The top-ranked Djokovic said in a
statement on Tuesday, “Personally I am
opposed to the vaccination against Co-
vid-19 in order to be able to travel. But if it
becomes compulsory, I will have to make a
decision whether to do it or not. This is my
current feeling, and I don’t know if it will
change, but it really influences my pro-
fession.” Djokovic caused a stir in a live
Facebook chat on Sunday when he said
that if a vaccination was compulsory when
the tours resume then he “wouldn’t want
to be forced by someone” to take it.
Pujara gives you an idea how much
you are drifting, says Shami: During
an Instagram live session with Bengal
batsman Manoj Tiwary, India pacer
Mohammed Shami said that Cheteshwar
Pujara plays him best in the Indian team.
“Cheteshwar Pujara plays me the best
during net sessions, he is a very dedica-
ted player, and he hates getting dis-
missed during net sessions. Whenever he
is batting, the bowler gets the idea about
how much you are drifting away from the
off stump,” Shami revealed.
Panesar picks best batsmen of his
playing days: Former England spinner
Monty Panesar dismissed Sachin Tendul-
kar four times in 11 Tests but says the
Indian legend was the best batsman he
played against alongside Sri Lanka’s
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawar-
dene. Virender Sehwag was the “most
destructive” of that era, Rahul Dravid was
‘The Wall’, but the ability to change gears
made Tendulkar the best. “Sachin was just
ruthless. Once he got in, he would look to
score big. He was on a different wave-
length once set,” Panesar said.
Corruption has deeply harmed Pak
cricket, feels Zaheer Abbas: Pakistan
batting great Zaheer Abbas says the PCB
has been “soft” in dealing with corruption
in country’s cricket which, according to
him, has been as damaging for the game
here as the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan
team. The former captain was giving his
views on the Pakistan Cricket Board’s
(PCB) recent move, asking the government
to criminalise fixing in sports. “It is the
right thing to do for the Pakistan board
because for too long, we have been soft
while dealing with corruption cases and
these have led to a string of scandals
which badly damaged our image and also
hurt our cricket’s progress,” Abbas said.
Arsenal players and staff agree to
pay cuts: Arsenal became the first Premi-
er League club to agree a coronavirus pay
cut with their players as manager Mikel
Arteta and his stars slashed their wages
by 12.5 percent on Monday. After Sout-
hampton and West Ham announced wage
deferral agreements with their players,
Arsenal went one step further by securing
the pay cut from Arteta and the first-team
squad. “We are pleased to announce that
we have reached a voluntary agreement
with our first-team players, head coach
and core coaching staff to help support
the club at this critical time,” Arsenal said
in a statement.
Ryder cup without fans under
consideration: PGA chief executive Seth
Waugh has said his organisation is study-
ing the feasibility of staging this year’s
Ryder Cup without fans in light of the
coronavirus pandemic. Waugh told New
York’s WFAN radio that while a Ryder Cup
without spectators was “hard to imagine,”
PGA officials were looking to see if the
event could be held with “virtual fans.”
This year’s Ryder Cup is due to be held at
Whistling Straits, Wisconsin from Septem-
ber 25-27.
Post-Covid world could be blessing
in disguise for Indian sports, says
Abhinav Bindra: Olympic champion
Abhinav Bindra reckons the post-Covid-19
world could be a “blessing in disguise” for
Indian sports, with an opportunity to build
local infrastructure and human resource
such as coaches and support staff in the
likely absence of foreign exposure. Bindra
was addressing the newly-appointed
assistant directors at the Sports Authority
of India (SAI) and other senior officials in a
special online session.
Liga clubs pledge 200m euros to
other sports, lower leagues: Clubs in
Spain's top two divisions have agreed to
give an additional 200 million euros ($217
million) over the next four years to boost
Spanish sports and lower league football,
La Liga said on Tuesday. Since signing a
broadcasting rights deal in 2015, La Liga
has donated 1% of its revenue to Spain's
sports ministry. It has increased this to
2.5% as part of a new agreement. AGENCIES
TIMES SPORT
Fide launches big-ticket online event; Kasparov, Anand to play
Nations Cup Will Be Held From May 5 To 10
Prasad.RS@timesgroup.com
Chennai: Chess is the only sport
witnessing uninterrupted ac-
tion despite the Covid-19 pande-
mic. Even as chess enthusiasts
are hooked online to watch the
inaugural Magnus Carlsen invi-
tational with the best players fe-
aturing in it, Fide — the game’s
governing body — has announ-
ced its first-ever major online
event. Fide and chess.com will
come together to host the Online
Nations Cup, a team competition
to be held from May 5 to 10. The
event will see six teams – China,
Europe, India, Russia, USA and a
side representing the ‘Rest of the
World’ — vying for top honours.
It is learnt that former world
champions Vladimir Kramnik
‘INDIA, OZ CAN SWAP T20 WORLD
CUP HOSTING RIGHTS’
What we do know is
that the returns from
the broadcast rights (around
events) that are generated by
the ICC are very important to
all of our counterparts around
the cricket world. So it’s
incumbent on us to do
everything possible to stage
and host the T20 World Cup.”
—Kevin Roberts
CRICKET AUSTRALIA CEO
If India and Australia come
to an agreement... in case
the curve in India
flattens out and India
and Australia swap,
so the T20 World Cup
is in India in October-
November this year
and Australia in
October-November next
year, then it (the
tournament) can happen
(this year).”
—Sunil Gavaskar
FORMER INDIA CAPTAIN
Cricket Australia
considers expanded
5-Test India series
‘Staring At Hundreds Of Millions In Losses’
Brisbane: The prospect of a five-
Test series between Australia and
India is gaining traction as crick-
et authorities contemplate ways
of making up for lost time when
the peak of the coronavirus pan-
demic passes.
Cricket Australia (CA) chief
No fans, no sport
BCCI, AIFF Not Keen To Start Events With Empty
Stands; Bhutia Lone Voice In Favour Of Resumption
Dwaipayan.Datta@timesgroup.com
Chennai: Bundesliga is likely to be
the first top-flight league which will
resume in early May in front of
empty galleries. While it is being
considered by many across the
world as the first step towards a new
reality — sports in empty stadiums
— the Indian fraternity isn’t quite
cozying up to the idea.
SPOTLIGHT
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly
made it clear that Germany and In-
dia are not the same. “The social re-
ality of Germany and India are dif-
ferent, there will be no cricket in In-
dia in the upcoming future,” Gang-
uly told TOI on Tuesday.
The former Indian captain fe-
els in the current situation, crick-
et in front of empty galleries is a
far-fetched idea. “There are too
many ifs and buts involved. More
importantly, I don’t believe in
sport when there is a minimum
risk to human life,” Ganguly ad-
ded, which all but quashes any ho-
pes of IPL anywhere in the world
in the next few months.
His former India teammate and
current CSK offie, Harbhajan
Singh, echoed his former boss when
he said top-flight cricketers in India
don’t just attract people inside the
ground. “When IPL teams travel,
there’s a huge crowd at the airports,
hotels, outside the stadium. How
are you going to stop them if you are
looking to maintain social distan-
cing. I will go to the extent of saying
that there should be no top-flight
cricket till there is a vaccine for Co-
vid 19,” Harbhajan said.
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
CANADIAN ALPHONSO DAVIES EXTENDS
CONTRACT WITH BAYERN MUNICH TILL 2025
and Garry Kasparov will capta- hing in the top-two will then play
in the Indian and European te- the final on May 10. “All games will
ams respectively. The prelimina- be played in a rapid format. Each
ry list has the likes of Viswanat- player begins the game with 25
han Anand, Alireza Firouzja in minutes on their clock, plus 10 se-
it. The composition of the teams conds of extra time added after
will be out on April 22. The tour- each move,” Sutovsky said.
nament regulations have made In their bid to ensure fair
it mandatory for every team to play, players will be observed by
include at least one female play- Fide-affiliated international ar-
er during the match. biters via a video conference
“All the top women players in call. Fie is making sure that the
the world have expressed their participants don't receive any
readiness to be part of the tour- kind of external help. Their
nament,” Emil Sutovsky, Fide’s computer, webcam, computer
director general told TOI on Tu- screen and the room in which
esday. The prize money for the they will be playing will be un-
whole event is $180,000. der supervision.
In the first stage of the compe- The entire event will be
tition, the six teams will be enga- shown live across multiple out-
ging in double round-robin clas- lets including Fide’s and
hes from May 5 to 9. Teams finis- chess.com's own channels
executive Kevin Roberts says all the Test series to five games.
options will be considered for Australia is also pushing
hosting India, the sport’s major ahead with plans to stage the T20
income generator, in December World Cup, which is slated to run
and January. That could include from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15.
playing all games between Aus- “If you contemplate the pros-
tralia and Virat Kohli’s India pect of the international season
squad in one venue and expanding in particular being affected, we
Dingko to be
air-lifted to Delhi
for treatment
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Asian Games
gold medallist boxer Dingko
Singh will be air-lifted to Del-
hi from Imphal on April 25 for
his cancer treatment at the ca-
pital’s Institute of Liver and
Biliary Sciences (ILBS) amid
the coronavirus lockdown.
Dingko
Sourav Ganguly and Bhaichung Bhutia was due to
undergo
He also felt that even if there are radiation
no crowds inside the stadium, there at the ILBS
can always be a situation where a te- but was
ammate shows symptoms. “What unable to
will you do? Ostracize him? It do- travel to
esn’t work like that” Bhajji said. the hospi-
The broadcasters, of course, wo- tal due to Dingko Singh
uldn’t mind IPL being played in the nation-
empty stadiums once things are a wide lockdown until May 3.
bit under control, but KS Viswanat-
han, the CSK CEO, feels this is pro-
bably not the time.
TIMES IMPACT
While cricket, for now, presents Help arrived for Dingko
a bleak picture, former Indian foot- after TOI exclusively publis-
ball captain Bhaichung Bhutia has hed a report in its edition da-
a different view. He feels when ted April 20 that the 41-year-
things get just a little better, top- old’s condition has worsened
flight football should start even if in the absence of specialised
fans can’t be allowed. “There’s so medical treatment as he is
less sport available live on TV. This battling a relapse of liver
may be an opportunity for Indian fo- cancer. His condition was
otball to attract more viewers.” steadily deteriorating for
He, though, was contradicted want of radiation after un-
by AIFF vice-president Subrata dergoing the complete che-
Dutta, who says that even if you al- motherapy cycle.
low only the TV crew and journa- Boxing Federation of In-
lists inside the stadium, there will dia’s (BFI) executive director
be more than a hundred people. Rajkumar Sacheti informed
“Who will guarantee that no one that Dingko’s appointment
will have any symptoms of Co- with his treating doctor has
vid19. If something happens, the been fixed for April 25 and
entire stadium will be sealed... that necessary arrange-
And don’t forget, fans are the lifeb- ments have been made for an
lood of Indian football, gate rece- air-ambulance facility on the
ipts do matter here,” Dutta said. same morning.
Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand and Alireza Firouzja
across Twitch, YouTube, Mixer,
Twitter and other international
streaming platforms.
“We will have a commentary
by chess experts that will be con-
TOI
IN LIMBO: It may be a long wait
before India’s cricketers can
celebrate the fall of a wicket again
have an issue of (losing revenue
of) hundreds of millions of dollars
on our hands, so it’s very impor-
tant to plan proactively for that,”
Roberts said during a teleconfer-
ence on Tuesday. “We’ll be doing
everything possible to launch and
stage a season in 2020-21.”
That could include a T20 World
Cup devoid of fans at games.
“What we do know is that the
bigger returns from the broadcast
rights around the event that are
generated by the ICC are very im-
portant to all of our counterparts
around the cricket world,” Rob-
erts said. “So it’s incumbent on us
to do everything possible to stage
and host the T20 World Cup.”
Roberts said Australia and
‘Feels like death is
knocking on your
door every day’
Sabi.Hussain@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: “I have seen de-
aths in my neighbourhood and
bodies being taken away by he-
alth officials. It’s scary and I fe-
ar for my own well-being,” said
Rajkumar Tiwari, his voice
trembling. Rajkumar, India’s
lone gold medal-winning ice
skater and a silver medallist in
pairs at the Special Olympics
World Winter Games 2013 in
PyeongChang, South Korea
has been living in the United
States since February 2.
Delhi-boy Rajkumar, who
hails from Paharganj's Multa-
ni Dhanda, had made a jour-
ney to the US to train at the San
Jose Shark ice rink in Fremont
city of California’s San Franci-
sco Bay area. The training was
part of his preparation for the
Oceania International Figure
Skating competition in Auck-
land in May, and later for the
World Championships in
Montreal in October. Both the-
se events have now been indefi-
nitely postponed. Rajkumar
had received a $500 scholars-
hip after completing his certifi-
cation course offered by the US
Figure Skating Association.
Rajkumar said that situa-
tion is serious in his county
Alameda – in which his city
Fremont falls – with 42 deaths
and nearly 1,200 confirmed ca-
ses (source US Public Health
Department). Santa Clara co-
unty, which is 10 miles away
from Fremont and where Raj-
kumar often goes for practice
Getty Images
ducted in multiple languages, in-
cluding English, Spanish, Russi-
an, Mandarin, French, German,
Portuguese, Italian, Turkish
and Polish,” Sutovsky said.
Gavaskar’s Unique Solution: Stage
Tournament In India This Year Instead
New Delhi: In a bid to reduce
the effect of the coronavirus cri-
sis and streamline the cricketing
calendar, former India captain
Sunil Gavaskar has come up
with an out-of-the-box solution
to the scheduling woes facing
the T20 World Cup, slated to be
held in Australia later this year.
“At the moment, as we all
know, Australia has barred for-
eigners from entering the coun-
try till the 30th of September.
The tournament is starting
from mid-October or the 3rd
week of October, so it’s looking
a bit difficult at the moment,”
Gavaskar said.
The legendary India opener
suggested that India can host the
T20 World Cup in 2020 while Aus-
tralia can host the next edition,
which is originally slated to be
held in India in 2021.
This is, of course, contin-
gent to the coronavirus threat
being controlled to some degree
in India by then. “Next year’s
T20 World Cup is in India. If it
India had a “shared desire” to
move to a five-Test series in the
future, which would put it on a
par with the biennial Ashes
games against England.
“We don’t know what prospect
there is of that next season, but
certainly with a changing land-
scape... we won’t rule out a pos-
sibility of that until we get closer
to the time,” he said, according to
the Sporting News website.
Australia and India have regu-
larly met in four-Test series but
administrators in both countries
want to expand on the growing
rivalry. Roberts said the relation-
ship between Australian officials
and the Board of Control for Crick-
et in India (BCCI) is “strong”.
Rajkumar Tiwari
at a different ice rink, has re-
ported 83 deaths and over
2,000 confirmed cases.
“It’s been a month since I
have ventured out of my flat. I
have run out of grocery stock
and managing on leftovers. I
fear that if I go out to a nearby
24x7 store, I might contract
the virus because it looks like
every other person in the US
has the symptoms. I am petri-
fied. Every day, we live in this
fear whether we’ll survive the
virus or not.
“It’s like death is knocking
on your door. Trust me, the si-
tuation is so grave that I ha-
ven’t met my Indian landlord
for nearly a week now despite
living in the same flat. We use
the kitchen separately. My fa-
mily back home is worried
about my well-being. They ha-
ve warned me against ventu-
ring out but if I don’t go to buy
essentials, how will I survive
on empty stomach? I have to
risk my life,” said the 28-year-
old, who stays in a rented ac-
commodation owned by an In-
dian couple.
Plan change helps GM Surya
escape lockdown in Germany
Kolkata: A change in plans helped
GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly escape
being trapped in Germany during
the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Ganguly was scheduled to join India
No. 1 Viswanathan Anand in the
Bundesliga chess league in
February and March. While Ganguly
skipped the league, Anand has not
being able to leave Germany since.
“I was supposed to play the
Bundesliga league on February
23-24 and stay back till March for
other meets. However, I changed
my plan in January and returned
home after the Wijk aan Zee meet in
the Netherlands,” Ganguly told TOI.
“Had I followed my original my plan,
I too would have been stranded with
Anand in Germany,” Ganguly, who
was Anand’s second in three Chess
Worlds, said. TNN
can be done... where India and
Australia come to an agree-
ment... in case the curve in In-
dia flattens out and India and
Australia swap so the T20 World
Cup is in India in October-No-
vember this year and Australia
in October-November next year,
then it (the T20 tournament)
can happen (this year itself),”
Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar also batted for the
13th edition of the Indian Pre-
mier League (IPL) to be held
just before the T20 World Cup,
so that players get enough
match practice before the multi-
national event. Due to the coro-
navirus pandemic, the cash-
rich league has been currently
postponed by the Indian cricket
board (BCCI).
“If it is going to happen that
way, then maybe what can hap-
pen is the IPL can be held just
prior to the T20 World Cup, so
that it’s enough match practice
for the players going into the T20
World Cup,” Gavaskar said. IANS
“We won’t rule anything out
in terms of the India series.
Along with the BCCI and Indian
players, we want to stage a series
that inspires the cricket world,
whether or not there are people
in the stands,” he said. “We need
to face into all possibilities. For-
tunately, we have a little bit of
time to work out scenarios.”
Roberts added that “creative
solutions” may be needed as dis-
cussions continue behind the
scenes about potential cuts to
players’ pay. Cricket Australia has
already sent home most of its ad-
ministrative staff on reduced pay,
which Roberts said was necessary
to stave off financial disaster in
case of more disruption. AGENCIES
Tokyo, IOC in
conflict over
Oly costs
Tokyo: An open conflict broke
out Tuesday between Tokyo
Olympic organizers and the
IOC over who will pay for the
unprecedented year-long post-
ponement. Tokyo spokesman
Masa Takaya said the organi-
zing committee has asked the
Switzerland-based Internatio-
nal Olympic Committee to re-
move a comment from its websi-
te suggesting that prime mini-
ster Shinzo Abe had agreed that
Japan would shoulder most of
the postponement costs.
Media reports in Japan es-
timate the year-long delay
caused by the coronavirus
pandemic will cost $2 billion
to $6 billion. Neither side has
given an official estimate, but
Tokyo CEO Toshiro Muto has
called the postponement costs
“massive.” “It’s not appropri-
ate for the prime minister’s
name to be quoted in this man-
ner,“ Takaya said on a 90-mi-
nute teleconference.
Almost all of the questions,
mostly from Japanese repor-
ters, centered on the IOC’s sta-
tement and the costs for Japan.
The IOC statement, on a page
titled “Frequently Asked Ques-
tions about Olympic Games To-
kyo 2020,” said Abe had agreed
that Japan “will continue to co-
ver the costs it would have done
under the terms of the existing
agreement for 2020, and the
IOC will continue to be respon-
sible for its share of the costs.“
Japan is officially spen-
ding $12.6 billion to organize
the Olympics, but a govern-
ment audit report says it’s at
least twice that much. AP
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL 2020 I ADVERTORIAL, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
LEISURE / DELHI TIMES DELHI TIMES, THE TIMES OF INDIA
15

This Earth Day, go sustainable with low-waste sponges

iStock
oing eco-friendly is not just
#CORONASUTRA
The best of locked-down creativity

G about opting out of plastic

bags, travelling with your
own cutlery or diligently following
TAWASHI
Here’s a way to put all your single socks (whose other halves you lost in the
wash) to use! Tawashi is a Japanese sponge that can be used to scrub uten-
the 4Rs – refuse, reduce, reuse, re- sils. Since it requires no stitching, it’s super easy to make! Here’s how you
cycle. While you may have swapped can make your own tawashi:
your shower gels for soap bars and
are using soapnut for your dishes, MATERIAL: 1 2
you can be even more sustainable by Old socks cut into rings
making another simple change – (10 rings)
switching to low-waste sponges.
A square bowl
The common loofahs and sponges
available in markets are made of 20 clothes pegs
plastic fibres, and cannot be decom- METHOD:
posed. So this Earth Day, how about ■ Clip 5 clothes pegs on
COCONUT COIR increasing your commitment to-
wards sustainability, and opting for
each of the four walls of
Made from coconut husk, these can be used to clean utensils.
or making all-natural sponges?
your bowl (pic 1). 3 4
Coconut coir/husk scrub pads are available online and at farmers’ ■ Take one sock ring and
— Anushka.Goel@timesgroup.com
markets, in various shapes to serve different purposes. You can also loop through clothes pegs on
bundle coconut fibres together and use them directly. Just shake iStock
opposite sides. Repeat until
them well to remove any tiny particles or powder, which you can you have 5 rings looped
later use for your plants, or as the dry layer in your compost. NATURAL through (pic 2).
LOOFAH ■ Next, start weaving the
Natural loofah, or luffa, remaining rings, going verti-
SILICONE SPONGE can be derived from cally this time. Attach one
Just like silicone-based zero-waste products such as men- sponge gourd end of the ring to the clothes peg, and start going
iStock strual cups, silicone sponges plants. If you have over and under the horizontal rings. With the 5
are long-lasting and access to them, let second ring, go under and over, and alternate for
durable. Handy to the vegetable dry the remaining rings (pics 3 and 4).
use, they don’t out before you pluck ■ Now, unloop rings from two adjacent clothes pegs
soak grey water it, and then peel, and loop the first over the second. Continue to remove
and hence, don’t deseed and clean it before use. You can and loop rings until you reach the last one (pic 5).
smell. These are also buy them online or at zero-waste ■ Pull at the rings to tighten them. The last ring
easily avail- and sustainable living markets. that you’re left with is your loop to hang your
able online. tawashi to dry!

TIMES HITORI LOOP THE LOOP

Rules
HOW TO PLAY ■ Connect adjacent dots with vertical or
1. A number may horizontal lines, creating a single loop
appear just (Fig A).
once in each ■ Crossovers or branches are not allowed
row or col- (As shown by dotted lines in Fig B).
umn. Elimi- ■ Numbers in the puzzle indicate the num- Not allowed
(Fig B)
ENGINEERING | MANAGEMENT | MEDIA | LAW nate repeat ber of lines that
(Fig A)

numbers by should surround THE DAILY CROSSWORD

SUDOKU CHALLENGE darkening it, while empty
Level: Medium cells. (see ex- cells may be sur-
HOW TO PLAY ample) rounded by any
2. Darkened number of lines.
Fill in the grid ■ You can’t draw
so that every cells must
never be adja- lines around ze-
horizontal row, roes.
every vertical cent in a row ■ Each puzzle has
column and or column.
just one unique
every 3x3 box 3. Unmarked
solution.
contains the cells must
wiched" How to begin: Ex-
digits 1-9, create a single ample (Fig A) - Be-
between neigh-
without continuous area, gin with the zero
repeating the bours of the
undivided by dark- next to 3. Since no
numbers in the same value can
ened cells. lines can be drawn
same row, be circled.
4. Every time you around zero, mark
column or (e.g. 6 4 6 )
darken a cell, you crosses around it,
box.You can’t 6. A "triple" is a
can automatically as shown. Now there is a cross in one space around 3. So we know the three
change the special case of
circle its vertical lines of 3 can only be drawn in the remaining three spaces. Next, these lines
digits already sandwich. Circle
and horizontal can only be extended in one direction each. Continue, using the same logic.
given in the the centre cells, Hints: Keep eliminating possibilities by marking crosses in spaces between
neighbours, which
grid. Every and darken the dots where a line isn’t possible, i.e., if you have already completed required
puzzle has means they cannot
ends. lines or where a line
one solution. be eliminated.
(e.g. 6 6 6 ) extension may create a branch or cause a deadend (Fig B)
5. Any cell "sand- Example
ANIMAL CRACKERS
PEANUTS

THE WIZARD OF ID
GARFIELD

BELIEVE IT OR NOT DENNIS THE MENACE

BEAU PEEP

ARCHIE

SCRAMBLE
BETWEEN FRIENDS

Rearrange the NPEOR HOW TO

letters in the PLAY
four word HONES Now arrange the
jumbles, one The ____ __ nev-
letters in the cir- er does harm -
letter to each cles to form the
square/circle, EITDNU Kossuth (8,4)
answer to the rid-
to make four dle or to fill in the
ordinary missing word as
words ORUKPW indicated

ARIES March 20 - April 18 Keep yourself busy and
avoid any unnecessary conflicts in order to focus on per-
sonal and professional progress. Don’t get tangled up in
SPELLATHON
Today’s Ratings:
06-average 07-good 09-outstanding MINDBENDER
T How many words of four or more letters can Question: What am I?
you make from the letters shown in today’s
L A puzzle? In making a word, a letter can be used
I stare at you, you stare at me.
I have three eyes, yet I cannot see.
U as many times as it appears in the puzzle. Each
word must contain the central letter. There Every time I blink, I give commands.
B U You do as you are told with your feet and hands
should be at least one seven letter word. Plu-
R rals, foreign words and proper names are not
allowed. British English Dictionary is used as
reference. SOLUTIONS TO GAMES/PUZZLES
TIMES SUDOKU LOOP THE LOOP TIMES HITORI
work. You may have a certain vision about how the situ- initiative to make some changes at home to ease your
ation should evolve. If someone else guides this project, stress. Moving things around, making adjustments to
you could face trouble realising this vision. your living arrangements and looking for an alternative

FinOlex
other people’s problems. Stick to what you know and fo- VIRGO August 22 - September 21 Take charge and fin- lifestyle are all favoured right now.
cus on fitness and health. ish what’s left undone. You’ll feel much better once you CAPRICORN December 21 - January 19 Engage in dis-
TAURUS April 19 - May 19 Others may seek you out have put everything in its place, whether in your personal cussions, listen carefully and find out where you stand.
FORTUNE Anu psrn V K a pl
but you do not need to take a decision right now. Flow life or professional dealings. It’s easier to move forward Let your experience guide you in a direction that will bring
with the moment. Know that when you do come to the when you have nothing holding you back. you greater happiness. Change may be difficult but the
fork in the road, you’ll figure out the best path. LIBRA September 22 - October 22 Listen, learn and results will be worthwhile.
For c, ic r t rT,P ri % « , anupamvkap il@gmail.com GEMINI May 20 - June 20 Your desire for change leads experience what life has to offer and what others have AQUARIUS January 20 - February 18 If you want
or sms cn 9822042295. to trouble. Consider the ramifications, should you make to say. Create the type of environment that you want to something done, do it yourself. Take care of your re- MINDBENDER
BIRTHDAY TODAY choices that don’t sit well with others. Take care of is- live in. Your intuition will not let you down. sponsibilities before someone complains. Expand your SCRAMBLE

Y ou will develop some common interests after A traffic light

meeting like-minded people.
Tip: Your lucky colours are blue, gold, yellow, orange
and golden brown. Your lucky gems are turquoise,
diamond, topaz and amber.
You share your birthday with: Amber Heard
sues that could slow you down. Do the work yourself.
CANCER June 21 - July 21 Reach out to a loved one at
a distance. You get great feedback from this person. If
you’re working on your own today, you’ll get a lot done.
But if you have to cooperate with others, be flexible.
SCORPIO October 23 - November 20 You often have interests and you will meet someone who motivates you Kossuth
premonitions about how a situation could unfold. If an to do what’s necessary to fulfill your dreams. WHATZIT? SPELLATHON word never does harm -
easy matter becomes difficult because someone else PISCES February 19 - March 19 Your emotional ways Telephone number tuba, TUBULAR, ultra
Answer: The unspoken
doesn’t know what they’re doing, you could get frus- and sensitivity often endear you to others. Sometimes,
united/untied, workup
abut, blur, blurt, brut, brutal, burl,
trated. Be patient and keep working. people around you don’t understand how attuned you
Words: Prone, shone,

LEO July 22 - August 21 Assume the leadership role at SAGITTARIUS November 21-December 20 Take the are, but they will. A misunderstanding can happen.
 Follow us on: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020 I ADVERTORIAL, India takes the
twitter.com/DelhiTimesTweet
facebook.com/DelhiTimesOnline
ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY PROMOTIONAL FEATURE #MaskIndia challenge
Pics: maskindia.com
instagram.com/delhi.times @PratimaPatel
@sen_sha

OF INDIA

Share a picture wearing a homemade mask on your social media handles using #MaskIndia. The best pictures will be featured in this space and on maskindia.com
Devki Bhatt

Rashami and Arhaan’s spat

takes an ugly turn as bank
statements leak online
Neha.Maheshwri @timesgroup.com

fter joining Bigg Boss as a

first marriage. After the show end-
ed, the actress minced no words in
saying that their relationship was
It showed that lakhs had been trans-
ferred to Arhaan’s (originally
Mazhar Shaikh) account while

A much-in-love couple, Rasha-

mi Desai and Arhaan Khan’s
relationship suffered a blow on the
reality show, when it was revealed
that Arhaan had a child from his
over. And now, their equation has
taken a murkier turn. Few days
back, screenshots of Rashami’s bank
statements were posted on social me-
dia, apparently by one of her fans.
Rashami was inside the BB house.
While Arhaan blames Rashami for
the ‘leaks’, she refutes the allegation.
we spoke to both of them and this is
what they had to say...

‘WHY DID ARHAAN ‘RASHAMI & I WERE IN A

TRANSFER MY MONEY BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP’
“Nobody can release the statements except Rashami
INTO HIS ACCOUNT?’ or me. Since the allegations are against me, it’s
obvious she leaked them. Half the transactions
“These transactions were made in my absence,

This lockdown has helped me

that too, without my knowledge, when I was
inside the BB house. When I came out and
learnt about it, I shared screenshots of my
personal documents and these transactions
with my accounting staff and a few others.
Why did Arhaan transfer my money into his
involving huge amounts aren’t mine. Rashami had set
up a production house, which I joined as a partner. I
also invested in it. It was a partnership between two
people, who invested their 100% in it. I have equally
invested – financially and emotionally – and want to
believe neither of us has used the other. Any transfer
of funds is either my rightful profit or return of debt.

take things slow: Taapsee

account? Also, I don’t know Also, before making such allegations, it is to be noted
the people he has that transfer of funds wouldn’t have been
transferred the funds to. possible had Rashami not given me
And I have no clue who signed cheques. She asked me
leaked the screenshots to transfer money to certain
on social media. Apart people in her absence. It
from the `15 lakh was work-related. She was
Arhaan has to pay me, aware of the transaction
Taapsee talks about her pending projects and how she’s dealing with being homebound he owes me more and I have bills to prove my
Rachana.Dubey@timesgroup.com ly for Rashmi Rocket, which is based on a when the lockdown set in... money, which he is claim. I believe this is a
(fictional) female athlete from Gujarat? It looked like we were going to have a good run refusing to return. If I curated plan to malign
Reportedly, you were planning to complete I was being coached by four trainers simulta- in the third week, too. We even planned a suc- had to leak anything, I me, as I had received
six films by year-end, including a thriller neously. One taught me how to sprint like a track cess party for it. A pandemic like this is so huge wouldn’t have waited messages warning me
in Tamil. Did you ever fear a burnout athlete and the other trained me in the gym to and life is far more important. You can always for two months after against adversities
situation? build muscles and get the ripped body of a sprint- make another movie and earn what you could- BB. I don’t want post April 15. It’s
So far, I haven’t felt a burnout, but this lockdown er. I had a nutritionist who helped me with an n’t this time. anything to do with unfortunate our
has helped me take it slow. I chose my projects organic diet plan to gain the right mass, and a Lastly, how have you been spending time in- Arhaan. The inci-
physio, who helped me stay injury-free during relationship
with a lot of excitement and love for the subject doors, given that you’re always on the move? dent is disturbing
this intensive process. All this came to a sudden My sister and I are in Mumbai, while the rest of has reached
and the people I teamed up with. When every- and has taken a
halt after two-and-a-half months. I will have to the family is in Delhi. We’re not brats, but cook- a point of
thing opens up, ideally, we’ll try and wrap up toll on me
Haseen Dilruba first because 90% of it has been restart this journey almost from scratch. ing was not something we had done while grow- no return.”
Thappad was still in theatres and picking up ing up. If I had it my way, I’d
emotionally.”
shot. The tougher part will be to reschedule
Rashmi Rocket, Shabaash have skipped it even now,
Mithu and Loop Lapeta. When but since I don’t have house-
help at this time, we have
the lockdown set in, I was a
month away from achieving
IT LOOKED LIKE THAPPAD WAS to do it. I’ve been watching
the ideal physique for Rash- GOING TO HAVE A GOOD RUN IN THE online videos for recipes, 4F ORALL
and my mother can’t wait 7c ADULTS
mi Rocket. We had to shoot in
Bhuj, but May and June will
THIRD WEEK, TOO, BUT A PANDEMIC to taste what we make. Oth-
be too hot there. So, we will LIKE THIS IS SO HUGE. YOU CAN MAKE er than that, I want to brush
have to wait for an ideal ANOTHER MOVIE AND EARN WHAT YOU up my Tamil and Telugu,

Revivifye
weather window. and read all my pending
Were you training rigorous-
COULDN’T THIS TIME scripts, too.

BUZZSTOP
JLO, ALEX WANT A STAKE
BRAD TURNS WEATHERMAN
FOR KRASINSKI’S SHOW ENHHNCE
@johnkrasinski

IN METS BASEBALL TEAM

IMM0N 1T
JENNIFER LOPEZ and ALEX
RODRIGUEZ are looking to raise
capital in an attempt to make a

MUSCLE, BONE & JOI NT

bid to purchase a stake in the

,1-0010
New York Mets, stated a
report, adding the couple’s

net worth hovers around
$700 million – not nearly
enough for them to take
control of the team, but
they could contribute
enough to become big
players in the space.
Agencies
STRENGTH
BRAD PITT treated fans to a new role when he visit-
ed John Krasinski’s Some Good News as weather- Active USFDA GRAS Approved Plant Molecules.
man. Pitt presented the news report on the series by
peeping out from his door and saying, “Looks, uh,
pretty good, yeah,” and going back inside. ANI

Dia: I hope the corona crisis makes

us understand the value of freedom moved to the co-op society I live in clean and take turns to water the garden.
4kk-

#LifeInTheLockdown
I when I was 19 and alone in this city.
But the residents made sure I nev-
er felt alone. They became my family
Recently, a few of us celebrated one mem-
ber’s 85th birthday while maintaining the
social distancing guidelines.
away from home. So when the lock- The biggest lesson I’ve
down was en- learnt is about the impor-
forced, my first tance of empathy and col-
thoughts were for laboration. Mindless con-
this family. Al- sumerism, wasteful con- . Q e\UaSerrata
most 80% resid- sumption is probably O os /4
ents are senior cit- why we are where we are `
izens, who are gen- today. I’ve started an on-
erally self-suffi- line video series to bring Y
l
cient, but in these focus on living responsi- o

times, I wanted to bly. I am the cameraper-

establish a fully son, light person, make- w.oxo swn
functional strategy up artiste, stylist – in NUfRACEUrIC AI
that gets them ever- short, a one woman
r
ything they need. army! There’s so much yd w os `
nu a\e\
Since I’m also reading, writing and ad-
part of the society’s ...doing yoga vocacy I’ve been in-
managing commit- at her home volved in that being at
tee, we’ve put to- home is not a challenge
gether a system wh- for me. I also give time
ere a vegetable and to yoga and meditation. __ i I C OMMUNITY
fruit vendor comes twice a week. The I hope this crisis makes us understand ®

o
process of getting essentials is super- the value of freedom. We need to simplify
Dia Mirza vised by us in order to ensure social dis- our lives and have empathy for people and
tancing is maintained. We keep the area the planet. — As told to Saptaparna Biswas FOR HOME DELIVERY CALL +91 9811243334 / +91 8017996673