cmyk
THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA
WEATHER
Max: 37OC
Min: 28OC
Rainfall: Nil
ASTROGUIDE
Sarvari: Chithirai 12
Tithi: Thuvithiyai/ Thrithiyai
Star: Krithigai
Rahukalam:
9 am to 10.30 am
Yamagandam:
1.30 pm to 3 pm
PRAYERS
Fajar: 4.39 am
Zohar: 12.13 pm
Asar: 3.13 pm
Maghrib: 6.23 pm
Isha: 7.36 pm
SUNSET TODAY 6.23 PM
SUNRISE TOMORROW 5.51 AM
MOONRISE TODAY 7.22 AM
MOONSET TOMORROW 8.19 PM
CORONA
C UNT
CASES DEATHS
(+1,395) (+59)
24,434 780
covid19india.org
STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS
(+72)
TN: 1,755 22
WORLD CONFIRMED CASES
27,99,642
DEATHS
1,95,114
COUNTRIES,
210
AREAS WITH
CASES
worldometers.info
Four trainee soldier
craftsmen test +ve
for coronavirus
Ahmedabad: Four soldier
craftsmen undergoing train-
ing at the Military Station in
Vadodara have tested posi-
tive for coronavirus, officials
said on Friday. This is the first
instance in Gujarat where
members of the armed forces
have been found to be infect-
ed with coronavirus, which
has claimed over 100 lives in
the state so far.
Pakistan extends
coronavirus
lockdown till May 9
Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday
extended the partial lockdown
imposed in the country by
another two weeks as the
number of people affected by
the deadly virus rose to over
11,000. About 79 per cent of
the total coronavirus cases in
Pakistan are now locally trans-
mitted, health authorities said.
COUNTER POINT
News portal founder arrested in Kovai
Coimbatore, April 24: The
founder of an English news
portal has been arrested here
on charges of carrying ‘false’
and ‘provocative’ reports ag-
ainst the local administration
and government over Covid-
19 relief works, police said on
Friday. Andrew Sam Rajap-
andian, who runs ‘Simplicity’
portal, was arrested Thurs-
day on a complaint from a
city corporation official and
produced before a magistrate
who remanded him to judi-
cial custody, they said.
Coimbatore CPI-M MP P. R.
Natarajan condemned the
arrest of Pandiarajan. Journ-
alists associations of Coimba-
Post selfies wearing masks on
social media: Vijayakanth
deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle
Civil curfew for 4 days in 3 TN cities: CM
■ Begins on Sunday ■ Chennai, Kovai and Madurai to shut ■Hotpsot containment
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Tamil Nadu on Friday
imposed tighter lockdown
measures as part of Covid-
19 corornavirus contain-
ment, by deciding to
enforce ‘total civil curfew’
in major cities including
Chennai, Coimbatore and
Madurai for four days from
Sunday April 26 to
Wednesday April 29.
Chief Minister, Mr
Edappadi K. Palaniswami
decided on these select, but
more tougher measures
after a review meeting on
the overall coronavirus
prevalence situation in the
State with top officials and
experts here today.
As per the decisions
announced under the
National Disaster
Management Act, 2005, the
civil curfew will be in full
force in the cities of
Chennai, Coimbatore and
Madurai for four days
(April 26 to April 29) from 6
am to 9 pm daily.
In the smaller municipal
corporations of Tirupur and
Salem, the civil curfew will
be fully implemented from 6
am to 9 pm daily for three
days from Sunday April 26
to Tuesday, April 28, an offi-
cial release here said.
The review meeting fou-
nd it necessary to make the
lockdown rules implemen-
tation more rigorous in the
above mentioned densely
populated urban clusters
including the three major
cities in Tamil Nadu, as
they faced the risk of the
coronavirus infections
surging in the coming
days.
The meeting noted that
the spread of Covid-19,
novel coronavirus has
been contained to a signifi-
cant extent in the rural
parts of Tamil Nadu, but
the pattern was different in
the major cities and two of
the smaller cities including
Tirupur and Salem. The
decisions were taken on
Freezing of DA
insensitive,
inhumane: Cong
New Delhi, April 24:
Noting that it was "insensi-
tive and inhumane" to
freeze dearness allowance,
the Congress on Friday
said instead of ‘hurting’ the
middle-class employees
and pensioners, the govern-
ment should shelve bullet
train and Central Vista
redevelopment projects to
save money for the coron-
avirus fight.
“It is an insensitive and
inhumane decision of the
government to cut DA of
central employees, pen-
sioners and jawans who are
serving the public while
fighting coronavirus,
instead of suspending the
bullet train project and the
Central Vista beautifica-
tion project of lakhs of
crores (of rupees),”
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi said in a tweet in
Hindi. — PTI
tore and Tirupur were among
those who condemned the
arrest, saying it was against
freedom of the Press.
Police said a cases was regis-
tered against the portal Wed-
nesday under Indian Penal
Code Sections 189 (Threat of
injury to public servant) 505
(i) (statements conducing to
public mischief) and Sec.3 of
the Epidemic Diseases Act on
Wednesday. Earlier, a jour-
nalist and a photographer of
the portal were questioned
for over four hours in connec-
tion with the case, police said.
According to the FIR, the
portal had carried reports
that government healthcare
The essential ser-
vices exempted from
the purview of the
‘total civil curfew’ in
the above five urban
clusters include hos-
pitals, testing labs,
pharmacies, besides
essentials related
to health like
ambulance
— K. PALANISWAMI,
Chief minister
the basis of advice by the
medical and public health
experts, Mr Palaniswami
said.
The essential services
exempted from the
purview of the ‘total civil
curfew’ in the above five
urban clusters include hos-
pitals, testing labs, phar-
macies, besides essentials
related to health like ambu-
lance, Mr Palaniswami
said.
Government departments
dealing with essential func-
tions including the
Secretariat in Chennai,
departments of Health and
Family Welfare, Public
Health, Police, Revenue
and Disaster Management,
Electricity, Aavin (milk
processing apex coopera-
tive society), local bodies
and water supply will func-
tion, but with restricted
number of employees.
Central government
offices, banks and other
essential services under the
Central government may
function with one-third of
the staff, even as ‘Amma
canteens’ and ‘ATMs’ “will
function as usual,” Palanis-
wami said. The other per-
mitted activities during this
total curfew period include:
Homes for children, aged,
destitute, physically-dis-
abled and community
kitchens organised by
Social Welfare department
■ P2
and local bodies.
Central Covid team
for 3 more states
DC CORRESPONDENT
with agency inputs
NEW DELHI, APRIL 24
The government
announced on Friday that
four Inter-Ministerial
Central Teams (IMCT) are
being rushed to three more
states — Gujarat,
Telangana and Tamil
Nadu — where the situa-
tion is “especially serious”
in major hotspot districts
or emerging hotspots.
The teams, which will
focus on Ahmedabad and
Surat in Gujarat,
Hyderabad in Telangana
and Chennai in Tamil
Nadu, will access compli-
ance and implementation
of lockdown measures as
per the revised consolidat-
ed guidelines, prepared-
ness of health infrastruc-
ture, safety of health pro-
fessionals and conditions
professionals and workers
involved in the fight against
coronavirus were not given
proper food and employees
under Public Distribution Sy-
stem were siphoning off the
relief fund meant for the poor.
The portal was also posting
these “totally false” reports in
various social media, includ-
ing Twitter, WhatsApp and
Facebook, against the govern-
ment which was "struggling
to fight" the coronavirus
spread.
These reports were ‘pro-
vocative’ and can turn the wo-
rkers against the government
and upset the entire PDS
activities, it added. — PTI
CHENNAI I SATURDAY 25 I APRIL 2020
STATE | 3
After the district administration officials announced that people travelling in vehicles
should get QR code stickers, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Madurai
Collectorate without following social distancing on Friday. This was one of the reasons
for the government strategy change in calling for total civil curfew. — K. MANIKANDAN
Villages teach us to be
self-reliant, says Modi
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, APRIL 24
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi told sarpanches and
other panchayat leaders
on Friday that the coron-
avirus pandemic had
taught India to be “self-
reliant and self-sufficient”
and not to look for solu-
tions abroad, and stressed
that every village, district
and state should be able to
provide for its basic
needs.
Praising people for their
grit in fighting the Covid-
19 outbreak, the PM
praised rural India for
defining social distancing
in simple terms – “Do Gaz
Ki Doori” — to make peo-
ple understand its impor-
tance. “The collective
● The home ministry
official added that
all the central teams
have sent their rec-
ommendations to
the state govern-
ments
of relief camps for labour
and poor people.
The ministry of home
affairs said in a statement
on Friday, ”The situation
is especially serious in
major hotspot districts or
emerging hotspots like
Ahmedabad and Surat
(Gujarat), Thane (Ma-
harashtra), Hyderabad
(Telangana), and Chennai
(Tamil Nadu).”
The home ministry
added that in some of the
districts in the country, a
number of violations of the
lockdown measures have
been reported.
Trump suggests injecting disinfectant to fight Covid
Washington, April 24:
President Donald Trump
has suggested the possibili-
ty of studying injecting dis-
infectants into Covid-19
patients or bringing UV
light ‘inside’ their bodies to
kill the deadly virus, draw-
ing immediate flak from
American health experts
who urged people not to lis-
ten to such ‘dangerous’
advice.
Launching a new scientif-
ic study conducted by his
department, Homeland
Security for Science and
Technology Under Secre-
tary Bill Bryan on
Thursday said the coron-
avirus dies at a much more
Johnson set to return
to office soon
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi interacts with
‘Sarpanches’ from across
the country via video con-
ferencing in New Delhi,
Friday. — PTI
power of villages is help-
ing the country move for-
ward”, Mr Modi said,
adding that the skills and
knowledge of people were
put to the test during a cri-
DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE
Biden backs mail
votes for Prez
polls in Nov.
Atlanta: Presumptive
Democratic presidential
nominee Joe Biden is
calling on Congress to
provide enough money
for every state to allow
voters to cast a ballot by
mail this November
amid the Coronavirus
pandemic.In making
that pitch during an
online fundraiser on
Thursday night, Biden
blasted President Don-
ald Trump for working
to block emergency
funding for the cash-
strapped US Postal
Service.■ P5
rapid pace when exposed to
sunlight and humidity.
“The virus dies the quick-
est in direct sunlight.
Isopropyl alcohol will kill
the virus in 30 seconds,” he
told White House reporters
in the presence of President
Trump at his daily briefing
on the Covid-19 situation in
the country.
Bryan’s remarks left
Trump wondering if there
was a possibility of inject-
ing the chemical into a per-
son infected with Covid-19
as a deterrent to the virus.
“I see the disinfectant that
knocks it out in a minute,
one minute...And is there a
way we can do something
WORLD | 5
Vol. 16 No. 29 Established 1938
sis, and India’s villages
had showed their best to
fight the pandemic.
“With its simple mantra
of Do Gaz Ki Doori (keep-
ing two-yard distance),
rural India has showcased
the best of their princi-
ples, traditional values to
fight the coronavirus,” Mr
Modi said during a video
conference with panchay-
at heads to mark
Panchayati Raj Divas.
The prime minister also
interacted with a cross-
section of the partici-
pants. “Covid-19 is a huge
crisis for the world, but
the people of India have
shown grit. We are fight-
ing this and moving ahead
with new ideas to tackle
the virus,” Mr Modi
asserted.
SC grants swift three-week
relief from arrest for Arnab
New Delhi, April 24: In a
relief to Republic TV edi-
tor-in-chief Arnab Gosw-
ami, the Supreme Court on
Friday protected him for
three weeks from any coer-
cive action in FIR lodged
against him for making
alleged defamatory state-
ments against Congress
Chief Sonia Gandhi he
made in the news shows on
the recent Palghar mob-
lynching of three persons
including two sadhus in
Maharashtra.
Except for one FIR lodged
in Nagpur city against
Goswami, the top court
stayed further proceedings
in three FIRs and 11 com-
plaints lodged in different
States including Chhattis-
garh, Maharashtra, Madh-
ya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Telangana, Uttar Pradesh
and Jharkhand.
like that by injection
inside, or almost a clean-
ing? Because you see it gets
inside the lungs and it does
a tremendous number on
the lungs, so it would be
interesting to check that,”
the US president told
reporters at the press brief-
SPORT | 8
Sachin turns 47,
wishes pour
Spike and recovery
highest on day 31
New Delhi, April 24: In the
biggest spike in coronavirus
infection on a single day,
India on Friday recorded
1,752 fresh cases taking the
total number of infected peo-
ple to 23,452 even as dou-
bling rate of the disease
improved to 10 days from 7.5
reported earlier this week,
according to the health min-
istry.
The death toll from the
infection rose to 723 with 37
fatalities reported since
Thursday evening, said an
official, adding about 20.52
per cent of the infected peo-
ple have recovered so far.
At a daily media briefing,
Director of National Centre
for Disease Control S.K.
Singh said around 9.45 lakh
suspected coronavirus cases
have been under surveil-
lance and their samples are
being collected upon detec-
tion of symptoms of the
infection.
Niti Ayog member V.K.
Paul, chairman of an
empowered group on Covid-
19, said India would have
recorded around one lakh
cases of the infection by now
if Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had not taken the
“timely step” step of enforc-
ing a nationwide lockdown
from March 25. The officials
said the outbreak of the pan-
demic has been “under con-
trol” in India largely due to a
robust surveillance network
along with implementation
of the lockdown and other
containment measures.
Out of the total 1,752 new
cases, Maharashtra report-
ed the highest number of 778
new infections followed by
Gujarat with 217 cases and
Madhya Pradesh with 157
cases, according to govern-
ment data. — PTI
It said in the interest of
ensuring the fair adminis-
tration of criminal justice
there is a need to ensure
that the process does not
assume the character of a
vexatious exercise by the
institution of multifarious
complaints founded on the
same cause in multiple
States.
A bench of Justices D.Y.
Chandrachud and M.R.
Shah, which conducted the
hearing through video
conferencing said, “Save
and except for FIR No …
dated April 22, 2020, regis-
tered at police station
ing.
Trump also raised the
possibility of using light to
combat the deadly viral
infection.
“So, supposing we hit the
body with a tremendous
(force), whether it’s ultravi-
olet or just very powerful
light — and I think you said
that hasn’t been checked
but you’re going to test it.
And then I said supposing
you brought the light
inside the body, which you
can do either through the
skin or in some other way.
And I think you said you’re
going to test that, too.
Sounds interesting,” Tru-
mp said to Bryan.
cmyk
| 8 PAGES| `3.00
Out of the total 1,752
●
new cases,
Maharashtra reported
778 new infections fol-
lowed by Gujarat with
217 cases and MP with
157 cases, according to
government data
TN, Chennai see
curve go up again
with fresh cases
D SEKAR |
M.R. VENKATESH | DC
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Amid a sudden spurt in
Covid-19 positive cases in
Chennai, accounting for 52
of the 72 new individuals
testing positive and two
more deaths in Tamil Nadu
on Friday, an experts team
from the Union Home
Ministry will reach
Chennai on Friday night to
take stock of the situation.
With today’s count, the
total number of positive
coronavirus cases in Tamil
Nadu shot up to a new high
of 1,755, and the overall
death toll is up to 22.
In a sudden development,
over 200 priests and offi-
cials of the Meenakshi
Amman temple in Madurai
down south, were asked to
take a Covid-19 test, after
the 72-year-old mother of a
senior temple priest suc-
cumbed to the coronavirus
at the Rajaji Government
Hospital there, sources
said. The second death was
that of a 67-year-old male
patient at Rajiv Gandhi
■ P3
GH.
Sadar, district Nagpur
City, Maharashtra, all fur-
ther proceedings arising
out of and emanating from
the remaining FIRs and
complaints listed out…of
the petition shall remain
stayed, until further
orders”.
Goswami has said in his
plea that the FIRs which
have been already regis-
tered, and the ones which
are anticipated, are in
relation to the broadcasts
aired on Republic TV on
April 16, and R. Bharat on
April 21, which were in
connection with the com-
ments given by a member
of Congress in relation to
India's Covid-19 testing
measures and the unfortu-
nate lynching of three
individuals (including 2
sadhus/priests) in Palghar
on April 16. — PTI
Trump’s incredulous
remarks prompted sharp
criticism from health
experts who warned people
against injecting or ingest-
ing disinfectants, which
are highly toxic.
“My concern is that peo-
ple will die. People will
think this is a good id-
ea...This is not willy-nilly,
off-the-cuff, maybe-this-
will-work advice. This is
dangerous,” Craig Spen-
cer, director of global
health in emergency medi-
cine at New York-
Presbyterian/ Columbia
University Medical
Center, told The
Washington Post. – PTI
 cmyk
WEATHER
Max: 37OC
Min: 28OC
Rainfall: Nil
ASTROGUIDE
Sarvari: Chithirai 12
Tithi: Thuvithiyai/ Thrithiyai
Star: Krithigai
Rahukalam:
9 am to 10.30 am
Yamagandam:
1.30 pm to 3 pm
PRAYERS
Fajar: 4.39 am
Zohar: 12.13 pm
Asar: 3.13 pm
Maghrib: 6.23 pm
Isha: 7.36 pm
SUNSET TODAY 6.23 PM
SUNRISE TOMORROW 5.51 AM
MOONRISE TODAY 7.22 AM
MOONSET TOMORROW 8.19 PM
CORONA
C UNT
CASES DEATHS
(+1,395) (+59)
24,434 780
covid19india.org
STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS
(+72)
TN: 1,755 22
WORLD CONFIRMED CASES
27,99,642
DEATHS
1,95,114
COUNTRIES,
210
AREAS WITH
CASES
worldometers.info
Four trainee soldier
craftsmen test +ve
for coronavirus
Ahmedabad: Four soldier
craftsmen undergoing train-
ing at the Military Station in
Vadodara have tested posi-
tive for coronavirus, officials
said on Friday. This is the first
instance in Gujarat where
members of the armed forces
have been found to be infect-
ed with coronavirus, which
has claimed over 100 lives in
the state so far.
Pakistan extends
coronavirus
lockdown till May 9
Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday
extended the partial lockdown
imposed in the country by
another two weeks as the
number of people affected by
the deadly virus rose to over
11,000. About 79 per cent of
the total coronavirus cases in
Pakistan are now locally trans-
mitted, health authorities said.
COUNTER POINT
News portal founder arrested in Kovai
Coimbatore, April 24: The
founder of an English news
portal has been arrested here
on charges of carrying ‘false’
and ‘provocative’ reports ag-
ainst the local administration
and government over Covid-
19 relief works, police said on
Friday. Andrew Sam Rajap-
andian, who runs ‘Simplicity’
portal, was arrested Thurs-
day on a complaint from a
city corporation official and
produced before a magistrate
who remanded him to judi-
cial custody, they said.
Coimbatore CPI-M MP P. R.
Natarajan condemned the
arrest of Pandiarajan. Journ-
alists associations of Coimba-
Post selfies wearing masks on
social media: Vijayakanth
deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle
Civil curfew for 4 days in 3 TN cities: CM
■ Begins on Sunday ■ Chennai, Kovai and Madurai to shut ■Hotpsot containment
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Tamil Nadu on Friday
imposed tighter lockdown
measures as part of Covid-
19 corornavirus contain-
ment, by deciding to
enforce ‘total civil curfew’
in major cities including
Chennai, Coimbatore and
Madurai for four days from
Sunday April 26 to
Wednesday April 29.
Chief Minister, Mr
Edappadi K. Palaniswami
decided on these select, but
more tougher measures
after a review meeting on
the overall coronavirus
prevalence situation in the
State with top officials and
experts here today.
As per the decisions
announced under the
National Disaster
Management Act, 2005, the
civil curfew will be in full
force in the cities of
Chennai, Coimbatore and
Madurai for four days
(April 26 to April 29) from 6
am to 9 pm daily.
In the smaller municipal
corporations of Tirupur and
Salem, the civil curfew will
be fully implemented from 6
am to 9 pm daily for three
days from Sunday April 26
to Tuesday, April 28, an offi-
cial release here said.
The review meeting fou-
nd it necessary to make the
lockdown rules implemen-
tation more rigorous in the
above mentioned densely
populated urban clusters
including the three major
cities in Tamil Nadu, as
they faced the risk of the
coronavirus infections
surging in the coming
days.
The meeting noted that
the spread of Covid-19,
novel coronavirus has
been contained to a signifi-
cant extent in the rural
parts of Tamil Nadu, but
the pattern was different in
the major cities and two of
the smaller cities including
Tirupur and Salem. The
decisions were taken on
Freezing of DA
insensitive,
inhumane: Cong
New Delhi, April 24:
Noting that it was "insensi-
tive and inhumane" to
freeze dearness allowance,
the Congress on Friday
said instead of ‘hurting’ the
middle-class employees
and pensioners, the govern-
ment should shelve bullet
train and Central Vista
redevelopment projects to
save money for the coron-
avirus fight.
“It is an insensitive and
inhumane decision of the
government to cut DA of
central employees, pen-
sioners and jawans who are
serving the public while
fighting coronavirus,
instead of suspending the
bullet train project and the
Central Vista beautifica-
tion project of lakhs of
crores (of rupees),”
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi said in a tweet in
Hindi. — PTI
tore and Tirupur were among
those who condemned the
arrest, saying it was against
freedom of the Press.
Police said a cases was regis-
tered against the portal Wed-
nesday under Indian Penal
Code Sections 189 (Threat of
injury to public servant) 505
(i) (statements conducing to
public mischief) and Sec.3 of
the Epidemic Diseases Act on
Wednesday. Earlier, a jour-
nalist and a photographer of
the portal were questioned
for over four hours in connec-
tion with the case, police said.
According to the FIR, the
portal had carried reports
that government healthcare
THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA
The essential ser-
vices exempted from
the purview of the
‘total civil curfew’ in
the above five urban
clusters include hos-
pitals, testing labs,
pharmacies, besides
essentials related
to health like
ambulance
— K. PALANISWAMI,
Chief minister
the basis of advice by the
medical and public health
experts, Mr Palaniswami
said.
The essential services
exempted from the
purview of the ‘total civil
curfew’ in the above five
urban clusters include hos-
pitals, testing labs, phar-
macies, besides essentials
related to health like ambu-
lance, Mr Palaniswami
said.
Government departments
dealing with essential func-
tions including the
Secretariat in Chennai,
departments of Health and
Family Welfare, Public
Health, Police, Revenue
and Disaster Management,
Electricity, Aavin (milk
processing apex coopera-
tive society), local bodies
and water supply will func-
tion, but with restricted
number of employees.
Central government
offices, banks and other
essential services under the
Central government may
function with one-third of
the staff, even as ‘Amma
canteens’ and ‘ATMs’ “will
function as usual,” Palanis-
wami said. The other per-
mitted activities during this
total curfew period include:
Homes for children, aged,
destitute, physically-dis-
abled and community
kitchens organised by
Social Welfare department
■ P2
and local bodies.
Central Covid team
for 3 more states
DC CORRESPONDENT
with agency inputs
NEW DELHI, APRIL 24
The government
announced on Friday that
four Inter-Ministerial
Central Teams (IMCT) are
being rushed to three more
states — Gujarat,
Telangana and Tamil
Nadu — where the situa-
tion is “especially serious”
in major hotspot districts
or emerging hotspots.
The teams, which will
focus on Ahmedabad and
Surat in Gujarat,
Hyderabad in Telangana
and Chennai in Tamil
Nadu, will access compli-
ance and implementation
of lockdown measures as
per the revised consolidat-
ed guidelines, prepared-
ness of health infrastruc-
ture, safety of health pro-
fessionals and conditions
professionals and workers
involved in the fight against
coronavirus were not given
proper food and employees
under Public Distribution Sy-
stem were siphoning off the
relief fund meant for the poor.
The portal was also posting
these “totally false” reports in
various social media, includ-
ing Twitter, WhatsApp and
Facebook, against the govern-
ment which was "struggling
to fight" the coronavirus
spread.
These reports were ‘pro-
vocative’ and can turn the wo-
rkers against the government
and upset the entire PDS
activities, it added. — PTI
CHENNAI I SATURDAY 25 I APRIL 2020
STATE | 3
After the district administration officials announced that people travelling in vehicles
should get QR code stickers, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Madurai
Collectorate without following social distancing on Friday. This was one of the reasons
for the government strategy change in calling for total civil curfew. — K. MANIKANDAN
Villages teach us to be
self-reliant, says Modi
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, APRIL 24
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi told sarpanches and
other panchayat leaders
on Friday that the coron-
avirus pandemic had
taught India to be “self-
reliant and self-sufficient”
and not to look for solu-
tions abroad, and stressed
that every village, district
and state should be able to
provide for its basic
needs.
Praising people for their
grit in fighting the Covid-
19 outbreak, the PM
praised rural India for
defining social distancing
in simple terms – “Do Gaz
Ki Doori” — to make peo-
ple understand its impor-
tance. “The collective
● The home ministry
official added that
all the central teams
have sent their rec-
ommendations to
the state govern-
ments
of relief camps for labour
and poor people.
The ministry of home
affairs said in a statement
on Friday, ”The situation
is especially serious in
major hotspot districts or
emerging hotspots like
Ahmedabad and Surat
(Gujarat), Thane (Ma-
harashtra), Hyderabad
(Telangana), and Chennai
(Tamil Nadu).”
The home ministry
added that in some of the
districts in the country, a
number of violations of the
lockdown measures have
been reported.
Trump suggests injecting disinfectant to fight Covid
Washington, April 24:
President Donald Trump
has suggested the possibili-
ty of studying injecting dis-
infectants into Covid-19
patients or bringing UV
light ‘inside’ their bodies to
kill the deadly virus, draw-
ing immediate flak from
American health experts
who urged people not to lis-
ten to such ‘dangerous’
advice.
Launching a new scientif-
ic study conducted by his
department, Homeland
Security for Science and
Technology Under Secre-
tary Bill Bryan on
Thursday said the coron-
avirus dies at a much more
Johnson set to return
to office soon
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi interacts with
‘Sarpanches’ from across
the country via video con-
ferencing in New Delhi,
Friday. — PTI
power of villages is help-
ing the country move for-
ward”, Mr Modi said,
adding that the skills and
knowledge of people were
put to the test during a cri-
DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE
Biden backs mail
votes for Prez
polls in Nov.
Atlanta: Presumptive
Democratic presidential
nominee Joe Biden is
calling on Congress to
provide enough money
for every state to allow
voters to cast a ballot by
mail this November
amid the Coronavirus
pandemic.In making
that pitch during an
online fundraiser on
Thursday night, Biden
blasted President Don-
ald Trump for working
to block emergency
funding for the cash-
strapped US Postal
Service.■ P5
rapid pace when exposed to
sunlight and humidity.
“The virus dies the quick-
est in direct sunlight.
Isopropyl alcohol will kill
the virus in 30 seconds,” he
told White House reporters
in the presence of President
Trump at his daily briefing
on the Covid-19 situation in
the country.
Bryan’s remarks left
Trump wondering if there
was a possibility of inject-
ing the chemical into a per-
son infected with Covid-19
as a deterrent to the virus.
“I see the disinfectant that
knocks it out in a minute,
one minute...And is there a
way we can do something
WORLD | 5
Vol. 16 No. 29 Established 1938
sis, and India’s villages
had showed their best to
fight the pandemic.
“With its simple mantra
of Do Gaz Ki Doori (keep-
ing two-yard distance),
rural India has showcased
the best of their princi-
ples, traditional values to
fight the coronavirus,” Mr
Modi said during a video
conference with panchay-
at heads to mark
Panchayati Raj Divas.
The prime minister also
interacted with a cross-
section of the partici-
pants. “Covid-19 is a huge
crisis for the world, but
the people of India have
shown grit. We are fight-
ing this and moving ahead
with new ideas to tackle
the virus,” Mr Modi
asserted.
SC grants swift three-week
relief from arrest for Arnab
New Delhi, April 24: In a
relief to Republic TV edi-
tor-in-chief Arnab Gosw-
ami, the Supreme Court on
Friday protected him for
three weeks from any coer-
cive action in FIR lodged
against him for making
alleged defamatory state-
ments against Congress
Chief Sonia Gandhi he
made in the news shows on
the recent Palghar mob-
lynching of three persons
including two sadhus in
Maharashtra.
Except for one FIR lodged
in Nagpur city against
Goswami, the top court
stayed further proceedings
in three FIRs and 11 com-
plaints lodged in different
States including Chhattis-
garh, Maharashtra, Madh-
ya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Telangana, Uttar Pradesh
and Jharkhand.
like that by injection
inside, or almost a clean-
ing? Because you see it gets
inside the lungs and it does
a tremendous number on
the lungs, so it would be
interesting to check that,”
the US president told
reporters at the press brief-
SPORT | 8
Sachin turns 47,
wishes pour
Spike and recovery
highest on day 31
New Delhi, April 24: In the
biggest spike in coronavirus
infection on a single day,
India on Friday recorded
1,752 fresh cases taking the
total number of infected peo-
ple to 23,452 even as dou-
bling rate of the disease
improved to 10 days from 7.5
reported earlier this week,
according to the health min-
istry.
The death toll from the
infection rose to 723 with 37
fatalities reported since
Thursday evening, said an
official, adding about 20.52
per cent of the infected peo-
ple have recovered so far.
At a daily media briefing,
Director of National Centre
for Disease Control S.K.
Singh said around 9.45 lakh
suspected coronavirus cases
have been under surveil-
lance and their samples are
being collected upon detec-
tion of symptoms of the
infection.
Niti Ayog member V.K.
Paul, chairman of an
empowered group on Covid-
19, said India would have
recorded around one lakh
cases of the infection by now
if Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had not taken the
“timely step” step of enforc-
ing a nationwide lockdown
from March 25. The officials
said the outbreak of the pan-
demic has been “under con-
trol” in India largely due to a
robust surveillance network
along with implementation
of the lockdown and other
containment measures.
Out of the total 1,752 new
cases, Maharashtra report-
ed the highest number of 778
new infections followed by
Gujarat with 217 cases and
Madhya Pradesh with 157
cases, according to govern-
ment data. — PTI
It said in the interest of
ensuring the fair adminis-
tration of criminal justice
there is a need to ensure
that the process does not
assume the character of a
vexatious exercise by the
institution of multifarious
complaints founded on the
same cause in multiple
States.
A bench of Justices D.Y.
Chandrachud and M.R.
Shah, which conducted the
hearing through video
conferencing said, “Save
and except for FIR No …
dated April 22, 2020, regis-
tered at police station
ing.
Trump also raised the
possibility of using light to
combat the deadly viral
infection.
“So, supposing we hit the
body with a tremendous
(force), whether it’s ultravi-
olet or just very powerful
light — and I think you said
that hasn’t been checked
but you’re going to test it.
And then I said supposing
you brought the light
inside the body, which you
can do either through the
skin or in some other way.
And I think you said you’re
going to test that, too.
Sounds interesting,” Tru-
mp said to Bryan.
cmyk
| 8 PAGES| `3.00
Out of the total 1,752
●
new cases,
Maharashtra reported
778 new infections fol-
lowed by Gujarat with
217 cases and MP with
157 cases, according to
government data
TN, Chennai see
curve go up again
with fresh cases
D SEKAR |
M.R. VENKATESH | DC
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Amid a sudden spurt in
Covid-19 positive cases in
Chennai, accounting for 52
of the 72 new individuals
testing positive and two
more deaths in Tamil Nadu
on Friday, an experts team
from the Union Home
Ministry will reach
Chennai on Friday night to
take stock of the situation.
With today’s count, the
total number of positive
coronavirus cases in Tamil
Nadu shot up to a new high
of 1,755, and the overall
death toll is up to 22.
In a sudden development,
over 200 priests and offi-
cials of the Meenakshi
Amman temple in Madurai
down south, were asked to
take a Covid-19 test, after
the 72-year-old mother of a
senior temple priest suc-
cumbed to the coronavirus
at the Rajaji Government
Hospital there, sources
said. The second death was
that of a 67-year-old male
patient at Rajiv Gandhi
■ P3
GH.
Sadar, district Nagpur
City, Maharashtra, all fur-
ther proceedings arising
out of and emanating from
the remaining FIRs and
complaints listed out…of
the petition shall remain
stayed, until further
orders”.
Goswami has said in his
plea that the FIRs which
have been already regis-
tered, and the ones which
are anticipated, are in
relation to the broadcasts
aired on Republic TV on
April 16, and R. Bharat on
April 21, which were in
connection with the com-
ments given by a member
of Congress in relation to
India's Covid-19 testing
measures and the unfortu-
nate lynching of three
individuals (including 2
sadhus/priests) in Palghar
on April 16. — PTI
Trump’s incredulous
remarks prompted sharp
criticism from health
experts who warned people
against injecting or ingest-
ing disinfectants, which
are highly toxic.
“My concern is that peo-
ple will die. People will
think this is a good id-
ea...This is not willy-nilly,
off-the-cuff, maybe-this-
will-work advice. This is
dangerous,” Craig Spen-
cer, director of global
health in emergency medi-
cine at New York-
Presbyterian/ Columbia
University Medical
Center, told The
Washington Post. – PTI
 CITY
DECCAN CHRONICLE | SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020 | CHENNAI
pg 2

SHORT
Karur Vysa Bank
TAKES World Zero Shadow Day No takers, fall in
donates `1 crore
to CM’s Fund prices: Flowers wilt
DC CORRESPONDENT
KARUR, APRIL 24 ■ Koyambedu flower traders face loss
The Karur Vysya Bank has T.SUDHEESH,| DC
donated a sum of `1 crore to CHENNAI, APRIL 24
the Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister’s Public Relief Fund The Koyambedu flower
to support the government’s market, since the lock-
initiatives for the prevention down, looks empty. But if
of Covid-19 pandemic. you take a stroll through
A bank release said here the market these days, you
today that this is a part of the will stumble upon heaps
Bank’s Corporate Social of unsold flowers dumped
Responsibility initiatives. in every part of the mar-
The demand draft for the ket, either bundled in
amount was handed over by plastic covers or left in the
bank’s president & chief oper- open. Customers who had
ating officer J. Natarajan, to once made a beeline to
transport minister M. R. these flower vendors, are
Vijayabhaskar, here. now rarely seen in Asia’s
biggest markets.
Demand The flower market,
which used to get at least

to release news 30 truckloads of flowers in

the post-pandemic era,
Unsold flowers dumped in Koyambedu.

portal founder While a traffic cop advises people against venturing out during lockdown, our photographer captured Zero now ends up in just 8 to 10 A mother of two little are currently facing a loss
Shadow Day on Poonamallee high road in the city on Friday. With sun exactly overhead, it casts almost no shadow lorries, each lorry carry- sons, Adivi said, “There of up to `2 lakh a tonne.
of objects on the ground. — DC ing five tones of flowers, was no other means for Transportation is a major
DC CORRESPONDENT since there are no takers. her to make ends meet. issue in bringing flowers
CHENNAI, APRIL 24 A flower vendor, Radha, The sale took a huge hit to the market. Flowers

Leaders cutting across party

lines demanded the immediate
‘Lab technicians not qualified to take samples’ earns only a pittance of
`200 as the lockdown has
ruined her business,
since all worship centres
are closed and functions
including weddings
used to come from And-
hra, Karnataka and some
parts of Tamil Nadu. Now
release of Andrew Sam pushing her family to dropped. vehicles from Tamil Nadu
DC CORRESPONDENT
Blood banks can function
Rajapandian, founder of news extreme penury. She sold People who used to buy supply flowers. It is not an
portal, ‘SimpliCity’ in CHENNAI, APRIL 24 flowers for `600 every day 10 kg of flowers daily, have essential commodity like
Coimbatore for carrying in the post-corona market. cut down their purchase the vegetables and fruits.

as usual, clarifies TN govt

reports on some alleged defi-
ciencies in the relief work
against coronavirus.
DMK president M. K. Stalin,
in a statement on Friday,
accused state minister for
municipal administration S. P.
Velumani of misusing his
power in the arrested of the
news portal founder.
Stalin also said that the defi-
ciencies in the cornona relief
work were pointed out by
DMK MLA, Karthick, and
were published in the news
report in the web magazine.
Among the allegations in the
report was that the sanitary
staff, working since 5.30 am,
were not being served food till
11 am.
Calling the arrest as an anti-
democratic act, Stalin wanted
Rajapandian to be released
immediately.
AMMK leader and MLA TTV
Dhinakaran urged the police
to give up the action against
the news portal founder. He
said, in a tweet, arresting
someone for pointing out mis-
takes will have adverse effects
in a democracy.
Makkal Needhi Maiyam
founder Kamal Haasan urged
the government not to paral-
yse the fourth pillar of democ-
racy.
A petition has been filed
in the Madras high court
to restrain authorities
from insisting the lab
technicians from taking
the throat swab (oropha-
ryngeal) and nasal swab
(nasopharyngeal swab)
samples from Covid-19
patients in isolation wards
in the state of Tamil
Nadu.
A division bench com-
prising Justices
M.Sathyanarayanan and
M.Nirmal Kumar, before
whom the petition filed by
the Tamil Nadu
Government Medical
Laboratory Technicians’
Association represented
by its state secretary
A.Gopinathan, came up
for hearing, adjourned it
to May 13.
In his petition,
Gopinathan also sought a
direction to the authori-
ties to deploy the ENT spe-
cialist doctors and post-
graduate training doctors
to take the said related
samples i.e., throat swab
(oropharyngeal) and nasal
swab (nasopharyngeal
swab) in hospitals from
the Covid-19 patients in
the isolation wards in the
entire state of Tamil Nadu
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
The Tamil Nadu gov-
ernment on Friday clari-
fied that blood banks in
government hospitals
can function as usual,
and there was no imped-
iment to people volun-
tarily donating blood at
the ‘blood donating
camps’ that are organ-
ised by the respective
district administrations.
Despite the lockdown
rules to fight Covid-19
extended up to May 3,
key components of our
strategy to combat this
outbreak was contract
tracing and collecting of
throat swab (oroharyn-
geal) and nasal swab
(nasopharyngeal swab)
samples of potentially
infected persons. It was
utmost urgent need of
trained and qualified per-
sons to collect the throat
swab and nasal swab and
the number of such per-
sons needs to be augment-
ed significantly. The said
samples can be collected
‘blood banks’ have been
exempted as an essential
service. Apart from
needs of Covid-19 corona
patients, other cate-
gories of patients like
Thalassemia patients
and pregnant women
who need blood at the
time of child delivery
will also have to be
borne in mind, an offi-
cial release said.
The Tamil Nadu Aids
Control Society and the
Tamil Nadu State Blood
Transfustion Council
support 90 blood banks
of medical education
directing him to issue nec-
essary instructions to all
the microbiology depart-
ments to the medical col-
lege hospitals concerned.
The Union government
also issued guidelines in
respect of qualified per-
sons to collect samples
throat swab and nasal
swab to test the said
Covid-19. However, the
authorities were directing
the lab technicians to col-
lect the samples in the iso-
lation ward from the
“We sell flowers here till 1 to two kgs despite fall in We are permitted to sell
pm. since early morning. price. We sell jasmine for flowers to help the farm-
Usual retailers do not `120 a kg instead of nor- ers. Authorities have now
in government hospitals come here to buy flowers, mal ` 200 a kg. Similarly, allowed us to sell it till 1
to help collect blood and there is a huge fall in Paneer Rose is priced at am. But, time has to be
from donors all through the number of customers `20 a kg, Marigold at ` 60, extended till the evening.
the year. On an average, who used to buy large Lilly at `30, and Kasturi at “Residents are also hesi-
the state requires 33,000 quantity of flowers from `50. At this rate, we can- tant to leave their homes
units per month, it said. us. We have no option but not manage even trans- as cops stop people on
Hence, to keep the to dump it, as its shelf life portation charges. Some bikes,” said Arul
number of blood units at lasts not more than a day. days, we sell flowers for Viswsam, president of the
a sufficient level at all You can see the entire throwaway prices.” association.
hospitals for treatment market has become dump- According to an estima- According to him, of the
of other diseases or med- yard of unsold flowers,” tion of the Koyambedu 50 tonnes brought to the
ical conditions as well, she said. Wholesale Flower market in a day, about 10
people could continue to The tale of Adivi, anoth- Merchants Welfare to 15 tonnes are being
donate blood at these er vendor, is no different. Association, traders here dumped as waste.
blood banks keeping
Covid-19 social distance
norms in view, the
release added.
cannot find out how and
where from the samples of
Covid-19 could be collect-
ed from the human body.
However, for the past one
and half months, all the
higher officials, were
directing the lab techni-
cians to collect the sam-
ples from the Covid-19
patients. The lab techni-
cians have not studied
anatomy and physiology
and they have studied
about the pathology,
microbiology and bio-
chemistry and they had

HCL sets up as per the letter and guide-

lines issued by the Union
only through the trained
health care worker partic-
Covid-19 patients, he
added.
experience only in the
said particular subjects.

disaster mgmt data

and Tamil Nadu govern- ularly ENT specialist doc- He contended that all the Therefore, directing the
tors and PG training doc- lab technicians have com- lab technicians to take
EFFIGY IN CITY
ments to control the pan-

analytics centre
New Delhi: IT group HCL on
Friday said it has partnered the
Tamil Nadu government to set
up a Disaster Management-
Data Analytics Centre to
strengthen the state’s disaster
management efforts amid the
Covid-19 pandemic. The Noida-
based group is also helping to
improve and expand the state’s
disaster management helpline
(1070) through technological
upgradation, manpower assis-
tance and effective reporting
mechanisms, a statement said.
The Disaster Management
Centre of the Tamil Nadu gov-
ernment (in Chepauk, Chennai)
is responsible for the overall
management of disasters
across the entire state.
The Disaster Management-
Data Analytics Centre will help
capture data trends from across
all districts of Tamil Nadu in
real time and display them live
to inform the government’s
demic corona virus by tak-
ing effective steps.
He said the entire coun-
try was in the midst of an
unprecedented outbreak
of Covid-19 and one of the
tors who have studied
anatomy and physiology.
In this regard, the director
of public health and pre-
ventive medicine has writ-
ten a letter to the director
pleted the higher second-
ary course along with 2
years diploma in medical
laboratory technology and
they have not studied
about the ENT and they
samples from Covid-19
patients would result in so
many complications
including wrong results
and may result in spread
of coronavirus, he added.
NII-T donates 3D printed
face shields to Tiruchy GH
R. VALAYAPATHY | DC
TIRUCHY, APRIL 24
The National Institute of
Technology (NIT-T) here
on Friday donated as
many as 100 "reusable 3D
printed face shields"
developed by the Institute
to the health staff work-
ing to fight Covid-19 coro-
navirus at the Mahatma
Gandhi Memorial
A coronavirus effigy put up in the city on Friday.
● The administra-
tion has been
reaching out to help
migrant workers
and destitute in
particular in the
district by supplying
these dry rations
prevent infectious
droplets from entering the
Vanitha.
Meanwhile, Tiruchy col-
lector S. Sivarasu said the
district administration
has received 36,100-kg of
rice, 3,661-kg of toor dal,
4,582-kg of edible oil and
7,938-kg of wheat flour so
far as donation from phi-
lanthropists for supply to
the needy in the wake of
Covid-19 pandemic. The
administration has been
—DC
MRF TO GIVE
`25 CR TO PM
CARES FUND
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
The Board of MRF
Limited has committed
to spend a sum of `25
crores to support vari-
ous initiatives to
address the exigencies
arising out of the Covid
pandemic.
The support would be

HEALTH DRINK
future decisions on degree of Government Hospital eyes, nose and the mouth reaching out to help in the form of contribu-
response needed for each dis- (MGMGH) here. of the patients. Dr M migrant workers and des- tion to the PM Cares
trict and, also for graded relax- The NII-T director, Dr Duraiselvan, dean (plan- titute in particular in the Fund at the Central
ation of the current lockdown Mini Shaji Thomas said ning and development), district by supplying level, support to various
to resume economic activities, that the printed masks are NIT-T handed over the 3D these dry rations during state governments
Kabasura kudineer being distributed to those coming to an Amma canteen in the transparent screens that printed face shields to the the lockdown period, he where the company’s
city on Friday. —DC cover the face and help MGMGH dean, Dr K said. factories are located and
also direct district level
projects undertaken to

Online classes discriminatory, say activists

provide relief in various
STRICT ACTION WILL BE TAKEN forms including provid-
ing medicines, personal

A. ARUL PALANI | DC
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Education activists have
demanded the Central gov-
ernment to withdraw its
notification allowing univer-
sities and colleges to con-
duct online classes during
the nationwide lockdown
across the country, as it was
discriminatory and affected
the students.
The State Platform for
Common School System –
Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), an
organization of educational
activists, stated that the
Union Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) in its order
No. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated
April 15, 2020, issued consol-
idated revised guidelines on
the measures to be taken by
ministries, departments of
Central and State govern-
ment regarding online
teaching and distance learn-
ing. However, these estab-
lishments are expected to
maintain academic schedule
through online teaching.
Following this, AICTE said
that online classes for the
current semester would be
continued during the
extended lockdown, and
UGC held it was necessary
to continue with the teach-
ing - learning process.
General secretary, SPCSS-
TN, P.B. Prince Gajendra
Babu, said online teaching
during pandemic is discrim-
inatory and market-orient-
ed. MHA guidelines are
purely an administrative
exercise. AICTE and UGC
have issued their guidelines
in accordance to MHA
guidelines, and states and
the Union Territories (UTs)
have acted upon the MHA
guidelines.
Several universities have
announced the process of
online teaching – learning.
Some have declared that end
semester exams would be
held during the lockdown
period, a few others have
declared that they have
already concluded them, and
still a few more have
declared that exams would
be conducted in the begin-
ning of the next academic
year.
Babu said, “Education is a
social activity and learning
is not a possibility without
human interaction. As such,
social contact is essential for
learning and development of
learners. Education cannot
be confined to merely text
books or study material
available online or online
teaching. Online courses are
purely market driven con-
cepts to facilitate the
investor earn maximum
profit with little investment.
Without engaging a local
teacher, without spending
any money in a respective
country, an institution can
earn as much as possible by
mere advertisement.”
The government passed
the order succumbing to
pressure of General
Agreement on Trade in
Service (GATS) under World
Trade Organisation (WTO),
which demands ‘cross bor-
der supply’, which means
online course trade / learn-
ing across countries. The
pandemic situation is being
utilized to exploit students
through online courses. The
target group is first getting
introduced online. The offer
of free online courses is
nothing but a bait, waiting
for a larger catch later.
Therefore, suitable meas-
ures should be taken to curb
such large-scale trade domi-
nation in education by
traders from both within
and outside the country.
All universities and col-
leges should be directed to
conduct regular classes for
certain days to complete
their classroom teaching
after the lockdown is over,
and subsequently conduct
the end semester exams,
added Gajendra Babu.
AGAINST VIOLATORS, SAYS CM
FROM P1
Mr Palaniswami said
NGOs seeking to reach
out to the poor and down-
trodden people may con-
tinue with their social
services after getting per-
mission from the con-
cerned officials.
Wholesale markets inc-
luding Koyembedu Vege-
tables and Fruits market
will be strictly regulated,
while ‘mobile shops’
alone will be permitted
to take vegetables and
fruits to the people at
their doorsteps for sale.
The other regular gro-
cery stores will not be
permitted to be open dur-
ing these four days in the
three major cities and for
three days in Tirupur
and Salem.
Sub-Registrar offices
will not be allowed to
function during these
four/three days respec-
tively, he said, adding,
during the ‘total curfew
period’, the restrictions
already in force in the
various ‘containment
zones’ will be more rigor-
ously implemented to
stop the spread of Covid-
19. Stating that people’s
movement in the ‘con-
tainment zones’ will be
completely stopped,
besides vehicular move-
ment, Mr. Palaniswami
said strict action will be
taken against the viola-
tors.
He urged the people’s
cooperation to join the
government’s efforts
to contain the virus
spread.
protective equipment for
medical and relief per-
sonnel and also weaker
sections of society, sani-
tisation of areas, distri-
bution of essentials to
migrant labour and to
local community, among
others. The company’s
management team will
be working with district
level authorities to roll
the relief activities that
are being supported
directly.
● Kerala Chief
Minister Pinarayi
Vijayan announced
that the Regional
Cancer Centre
here has started a
cancer treatment
centre at
Kanyakumari dt
 STATE
DECCAN CHRONICLE | SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020 | CHENNAI
pg 3

SHORT
Cops awareness
TAKES
Stalin indulging in vendetta, says OPS
skit on ‘boys in DC CORRESPONDENT it in my Budget speech but installment.

ambulance’
WITH AGENCY INPUTS
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
also replied in detail in the
(state) Assembly.
There would be another
13 installments which the Take care of TN Tablighi
goes viral
And Stalin goes about state would receive the
Deputy Chief Minister O. saying that the state gov- total amount.

Tirupur: A coronavirus
awareness skit enacted by
police here in which three
teenagers on a scooter fun ride
end up in an ambulance carry-
ing a Covid-19 patient has
attracted eyeballs and gone
viral on the social media.
The skit, captured on camera
and peppered with sound-
track, funny punch dialogues
of ace Tamil film comedian
Vadivelu and the babble of a
boy seeking his mother in the
background,was an instant hit
with social media users. The
boy's chatter is popular in
social media. The 3.35 minute
clip was produced to drive
home the importance of stay-
ing at home, and wearing
masks in case of venturing out
only for essential, unavoidable
purposes.
In the clip, two police officers
on duty at an arterial road
here intercept three boys on a
scooter. While one of the offi-
cers ask why three people were
going on a two-wheeler and
that too without masks, anoth-
er lady official tells them "do
you know what will happen if
you venture out without a
mask?"
The three teenagers are then
led to a nearby ambulance and
informed that a man reclining
inside the vehicle with a pro-
tective gear was a coronavirus
positive patient.
Alarmed, the boys refuse to
get inside the vehicle, but are
forced to get in. Once inside,
the trio looks agitated due to
an apprehension that they
may get infected and plead
with the man to not get any-
where near them and hurried-
ly try to wear masks. One of
them succeeds in getting out of
the vehicle through the win-
dow and the two others contin-
Panneerselvam on Friday
lashed out at DMK chief
M. K. Stalin for attempting
to fault the AIADMK gov-
ernment on the issue of
obtaining central funds
and said the Leader of
Opposition was indulging
in "vendetta" for political
gains.
"At a time when the
Amma government is
focussed on fighting the
dreaded cronavirus and
involving in measures
aimed at saving lives,
Stalin is indulging in
vendetta seeking political
Post selfies wearing masks
on social media: Vijayakanth
DC CORRESPONDENT
WITH AGENCY INPUTS
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
With the lockdown being
enforced for nearly a
month and increase in
coronavirus cases, DMDK
founder president
Vijayakanth has urged
people and his party work-
ers to join together in the
battle against the virus,
by posting their selfies
wearing masks, on the
social media.
"With the lockdown in
force since a month and
extended till May 3, people
and also party members
should create awareness
on the importance of
wearing masks during
this crucial phase, to con-
tain the spread of the
gains," Panneerselvam
said and claimed that the
DMK leader was "unable
to digest" the growing pop-
ularity of the AIADMK
government.
"The Governor had
already explained the
state’s fiscal position with
regard to obtaining funds
from the Centre and I had
not only mentioned about
virus.
Wear masks, take a selfie
and post it on your social
media accounts, including
Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter and share it on
Whatsapp, Vijayakanth,
who had earlier this
month called upon his
partymen to distribute
ernment had received
only Rs1,928 crore.
But, this sum in fact is
the first installment of a
total of Rs 32,849 crore
allotted to Tamil Nadu by
the 15thFinance
C o m m i s s i o n , "
Panneerselvam said in a
statement.
A total of Rs 32,849 crore
would be received by the
state from the central gov-
ernment as part of the tax
devolution during 2020-21
fiscal and the Rs 1,928
crore which was received
recently was only the first
masks, gloves and hand
sanitiser to police and cor-
poration workers, said.
These photos (with the
masks) could be made as
DP in their Whatsapp
account, he said in a state-
ment here on Friday. He
even shared his photo
wearing a mask.
Vijayakanth had recent-
ly offered his Andal
Alagar Engineering
College and DMDK party
office, to the state govern-
ment, to be used as special
Covid- 9 hospitals to treat
the infected.
Also, he created a sensa-
tion when he along with
his wife Premalatha, wore
masks and solemnised the
marriage of a party func-
tionary at Saidapet here
last month.
"This has been possibly
only due to the efforts of
Chief Minister Edappadi
K. Palaniswami, who
while visiting New Delhi,
raised the issue with the
15th Finance Commission.
He asked the commis-
sion to consider 1971 popu-
lation as its terms of ref-
erence instead of the 2011
population," the Deputy
Chief Minister said and
added that the issue was
raised at several meetings
too, during commission
chairman N. K. Singh’s
visit to Chennai.
Walk in and undergo test
Members of public coming forward to undergo RT-PCR test at Alandur.
pilgrims: CM to Kejriwal
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Chief Minister Edappadi
K. Palaniswami has urged
his Delhi state counter-
part Aravind Kejriwal to
take care of the medical
needs of pilgrims from
Tamil Nadu who attend-
ed the Tablighi Jamaat
meet in New Delhi last
month and who have
been quarantined or
admitted to various hos-
pitals there in wake of
Covid-19.
In a letter to Kejriwal
on Friday, Palaniswami
said that there are 559
such pilgrims from
Tamil Nadu who have
been expressing their
grievances to the Tamil
Nadu Resident
Commissioner in Delhi,
regarding their condi-
tions of stay and not
—DC
being provided timely
meals, etc.
Palaniswami urged
Kejriwal to instruct the
authorities concerned to
extend the best possible
care for the quaran-
tined/hospitalised indi-
viduals and also provide
necessary medical assis-
tance to them, particu-
larly to those who are
suffering from co-morbid
conditions.
WAIVE TOLL FEE
HIKE: THANJAI
CHAMBER
DC CORRESPONDENT
THANJAVUR, APRIL 24:
Expressing anguish over
hike in toll fee at this
time of pandemic, the
chamber of commerce
and industry, Thanjavur
has appealed to govern-
ment to waive tolls till
lockdown period is over
as vehicles carry essen-
tial goods.
In a letter sent to both
central and state govern-
ments through twitter,
the chamber also
appealed to Tangedco to
waive the fixed demand
charges for HT con-
sumers. The HT con-
sumers have to pay fixed
demand charges
whether they consume
power or not. Now due to
lockdown, very very low
consumption is being
made, it pointed out.

Indian diaspora collects $1mn

ue to jump and scream.
Towards the end of the clip,
the lady officer tells people
that they 'intercepted the three
boys' who were roaming
around. She asks them why
they did not wear masks. Only
after they were sent inside the
ambulance, they realised the
importance of wearing masks
and staying home to prevent
the spread of coronavirus, she
says in the video and appeals
to people to stay at home. The
officer also makes it clear that
the man inside the ambulance
was not a COVID-19 patient
and the three teenagers appear
with masks. A police official
said the skit was an effort to
spread awareness about coron-
avirus and encourage people
to not venture out of their
homes. —PTI
Jipmer to test
suspected MP
TNCC poser on
rapid test kits
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
TNCC president K. S.
Alagiri has sought an
explanation from Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
on the country importing
Rapid Test kits to test
coronavirus infection
from a private firm in
China after many coun-
tries had rejected the
products in view of its
substandard quality.
In a statement on
Friday, Alagiri wondered
who was responsible for
the faux pas – the ICMR
or the Union health min-
istry – and blamed it on
the Prime Minister him-
self for nothing moves in
New Delhi without his
knowledge.
He pointed out that the
price of the Chinese kits
were much higher than
those procured by the
Chhattisgarh govern-
ment from a South
Korean firm.
Since complaints have
been raised over the
accuracy of the results
shown by the imported
kits, Alagiri urged the
government not to use
the kits for carrying out
tests.
San Francisco, April 24:
Indiaspora’s “ChaloGive
for COVID-19” initiative to
fight hunger reached its
initial goal of $1 million in
just ten days from launch
with an outpouring of
support from the diaspora
community in the US. The
donations are providing
relief directly to vulnera-
ble populations affected
most by the coronavirus
pandemic in India and
US.
The contributions are
channelled through two
organisations, Feeding
America in the U.S. and
Goonj in India. Feeding
America has secured 4.7
million meals in the U.S.
through the initiative, as
each $1 contributed
The chamber also
appealed to government
to consider opening of
retail outlets like con-
sumer durables, IT hard-
● One of the donations that helped Indiaspora
cross the $1 million threshold came from Bay-
area based volunteer group Aram Sei. "Our
Indiaspora also added
new partnerships for the
ChaloGive campaign. In
addition to former
ware, apparel and cloth-
ing in graded exit policy
as these are goods are
labour intensive and
team is proud to support the ChaloGive PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, keeping them closed for
fundraiser initiative that helps us make a direct noted philanthropists long will threaten their
Rohini and Nandan very survival. The
impact to those in need," said Sangeetha Nilekani, former U.S.
chamber also alleged
Lakshminarayanan Surgeon General Vivek that some private banks
secures 10 meals through One of the donations Murthy and actor Nandita have charged interest on
Feeding America’s net- that helped Indiaspora Das, all existing loan and cash credit
work of 200 food banks. cross the $1 million “ChaloGive for COVID-19” account for March
Goonj, which is using threshold came from Bay- Ambassadors, Indiaspora despite the moratorium
the funds to provide food, area based volunteer announced the addition of ordered by central gov-
dry ration and hygiene group Aram Sei. “Our GiveIndia CEO Atul ernment. They should
kits to displaced migrant team of twelve members Satija, and Raj and be stopped from doing
laborers in parts of 18 is proud to support the Aradhana (Anna) Asava, so, lest small enterprises
states in India, has been ChaloGive fundraiser ini- the pioneers of the will be affected.
able to provide sustenance tiative that helps us make “HungerMitao” (wipe out
for more than 1 lakh a direct impact to those in hunger) movement in ● Pondy CM playing
migrants and their fami- need,” said Sangeetha America, who have helped politics by
lies. Each $20 contributed
to Goonj feeds a family of
Lakshminarayanan,
President and Founder of
rally the diaspora commu-
nity to reach the $1 mil- making untrue
allegations: LG Bedi
four for 7-10 days. Aram Sei. lion mark.

patients’ samples
Puducherry: The Madhya
Pradesh government has sent to
Centrally administered Jipmer
HELPING HAND Meenakshi temple disinfected
FROM P 1
here for testing 1,500 samples of
suspected Covid-19 patients from The Madurai death
that state. The samples were prompted the temple and
brought on Friday to Jipmer by public health authorities
a special chartered flight. to disinfect the massive
A spokesman of the hospital temple complex with a liq-
told PTI that the tests would be uid sanitizer, sources said,
done and as soon as it is com- adding, Madurai district
pleted the results would be com- reported four positive
municated to Madhya Pradesh Covid-19 cases today after
government. The Union health Coimbatore, which con-
ministry has designed Jipmer as firmed seven cases on a
a Covid hospital. A source said single day, six of them
the institution provides testing being policemen. In
services for Covid-19 by real- greater Chennai alone, the
time polymerace chain reaction total number of persons
for Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. testing positive has hit a
It is also a mentor institute for new high of 452.
around 70 hospitals and institu- Considering the surge in
tions in Puducherry, TN. positive cases in Chennai,
— PTI Coimbatore and Madurai,
Workers loading medicine from the drug warehouse of Tamil Nadu Medical the government today
Services Corporation Ltd at KK Nagar on Friday. —DC decided to go for a "com-
plete lockdown" in the cor-
poration limits of these
three big cities for four
days from Sunday. Chief
Secretary K Shanmugam,
in his order, said while
print and electronic media
have been allowed, IT sec-
tor staff may continue to
work from home till May
3. The restrictions in the
containment zones in
these cities will be intensi-
fied, besides at Salem and
Tirupur.
To study the sudden
surge in positive cases in
Chennai, an experts team
being deputed by the
Home Ministry will reach
here tonight and they will
review the entire situation
on Saturday with officials
and medical experts,
including the implementa-
tion of Covid-19 contain-
ment measures so far.
In a related development
a private trust hospital,
the Andhra Mahila Sabha
hospital, was compelled to
shut on Friday as a pre-
cautionary step after two
doctors there had tested
positive for the coron-
avirus, sources added.
AAVIN’s TIE-UP WITH
ZOMATO, DUNZO
The government pushed and ‘DUNZO’ to enable
the dates further for hand- milk and other dairy prod-
ing over of tokens to all ucts served to customers
rice card holders in the at their doorsteps, based
State at their residences to on online orders.
recevie their second bas- Since the lockdown,
ket of essential items free Aavin’s per day milk sales
as a lockdown period in Tamil Nadu has shot up
relief to May 2- May 3. to 24.50 lakh litres per day
The apex milk coopera- from 22.50 lakh litres per
tive society, ‘Aavin’ has day, the apex cooperative’s
tied up with ‘ZOMATO’ managing director said.

No ride, no penny for Rameswaram horse cart driver
SP. LOGANATHAN | DC
RAMESWARAM, APRIL 24
Is it yet another case of
putting the cart before
the horse?
Health, surely yes. But
how can it be sustained
without incomes?
It is this painful dilem-
ma that stares at most
daily-wage earners of
one kind or other, in the
wake of the nationwide
lockdown as part of the
Covid-19 new coron-
avirus containment
measures.
The case of 65-year-old
Subramanian, the lone
horse cart driver in the
island-town of
Rameswaram is no dif-
ferent, in a way sad with
no income amid a civil
curfew.
“I’ve been a horse cart
driver here in
Rameswaram for the last
40 years. There were 300
of us before the bridge
was built. Today it’s just
me,” he sighs.
Subramaniam studied
till Class four at a school
in Dhanushkodi. After
being displaced by the
1964 devastating
Cyclone, he ended up
working in a canteen
and later joined the
bandwagon of horse cart
drivers. “We belong to
Dhanushkodi, but our
ancestors did not prac-
tise fishing,” he
explains.
The bridge that
Subramaniam was refer-
ring to is the Indira
Gandhi Road Bridge,
built in 1988, parallel to
the Pamban railway
bridge, which connects
the town of Mandapam
in mainland India to
Pamban Island and
Rameswaram. After the
construction of the road
bridge, transportation
shifted mainly to auto
rickshaws and cars.
Not only due to the
road bridge, but many
people also quit horse
cart riding since there
were no mechanics who
could work on horse
carts anymore. The
mechanics opted for
other jobs related to the
roadway bridge.
Subramaniam has
gone in for newer wheels
and also made many
changes to his cart since
the time he purchased it.
He also changes his
horse every two years at
a cost of Rs 10,000-
Rs.15,000. This has
TRIBUTE TO COVID WARRIORS
AND RAILWAYS
helped him stay in busi- is around Rs 100-150
ness. For the first ten daily. He says, “People
days he trains the horse. who find it interesting
Till the training is com- get on for a ride.” He
plete, he does not use the pays Rs 1,000 as
cart for commercial pur- tax/license every year, in
poses. order to park his cart at
He calls his horse Raja. the railway station.
He names every horse he Well-versed in Hindi by
rides. “It creates a now, Subramaniam says
bond,” says Subrama- he learnt the language
niam. Raja’s fodder costs because many north
him Rs 150 daily. Indian tourists have
The horse cart driver’s started coming to
day begins at 4 am, when Rameswaram in recent
the first train arrives at times. The number of
the Rameswaram rail- people visiting
way station. He works Rameswaram has
till 1 in the afternoon. increased but the num- A huge road painting created by Scouters &
“After that, I have a ber of horse carts has
Rovers of Netaji Scout Group/ Southern Railway
heavy lunch and then come down to one, he
take a nap,” he says. rues. in front of Egmore metro railway station to
Ferrying passengers In this curfew period, honour Covid warriors and Indian Railways.
only up to a limited dis- the lone horse cart driv- —DC
tance, Subramaniam er of Rameswaram has
charges Rs 50 per ride for neither any ride nor a
four people. His income single penny.
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020
SHORTTAKES
TERRORIST HIDEOUT
BUSTED IN DODA,
NONE ARRESTED
Bhadarwah/Jammu, April
24: Security forces busted a
terrorist hideout in Jammu
and Kashmir's Doda district
on Friday evening and recov-
ered a huge cache of arms and
ammunition, a senior police
officer said.
The hideout in Doda's
Gouria-Gundana forest was
unearthed during a joint
search operation carried out
by district police and troops
from 10 Rashtriya Rifles per-
sonnel on the basis of specific
information, Senior
Superintendent of Police
(SSP) Mumtaz Ahmed said.
The seized arms and ammu-
nition include two AK-47
assault guns, two AK maga-
zines, one Chinese pistol, 580
AK rounds, three Chinese
hand grenades and one pistol
magazine, he said.
Most of the items had gath-
ered rust, indicating that it is
an old hideout that was used
by terrorists who operated in
the district over a decade ago,
the SSP said.
No arrests have been made
yet, Mr Ahmed said.
A case has been registered at
the Doda police station under
Section 13 of the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act
and the Arms Act. Further
investigation is underway, he
said.
● The seized arms and
ammunition include two
AK-47 assault guns,
two AK magazines, one
Chinese pistol, 580 AK
rounds, three Chinese
hand grenades.
WITHDRAW CASES
AGAINST SCRIBES IN
J&K: PRESS CLUB
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, APRIL 24
The Press Club of India has
rallied behind the journalists
facing action in Jammu and
Kashmir saying it is all too
easy to treat a criticism as
anti-national activity intended
to comfort the enemy.
A statement issued on Friday
said, “Events of the past week
underline the fact that the new
norm in Kashmir is for the
police to call journalists to
police stations in connection
with their published reports,
photographs, or their social
media posts, and to file FIRs
against journalists.”
“A case under the draconian
Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act has been filed
against a young photo-journal-
ist. The correspondent of a
prominent national daily has
had a case registered against
him for reporting that the
police buried bodies of two
men killed in an encounter
when the family of at least one
of them was ready to identify
the alleged terrorist. Another
journalist is being sought to be
prosecuted for his social
media output where he ques-
tions current methods against
the media.”
“All this is very surprising.
Under the normal rules and
practices of a democracy, per-
ceived news errors are dealt
with through official denials
or writing a letter to the editor.
The Cyber Police appear to
be super-active in the Valley,
parsing every word written
and then summoning journal-
ists to the police station. We
demand that the Governor’s
administration devise open
and transparent norms to
address perceived questions
relating to journalists’ posts
on social media. Currently, it
is all too easy to treat a criti-
cism as anti-national activity
intended to comfort the enemy.
“We demand that the criminal
cases registered against jour-
nalists be withdrawn right
away,” the statement added.
COVID | IMPACT
224 detainees released from detention centres
MANOJ ANAND | DC
GUWAHATI, APRIL 24
After the direction of the
Supreme Court, at least 224
detainees who were
declared foreigners have
been released from six
detention centres in
Assam.
Inspector General of jail
Dasarath Das told this
newspaper that 224
detainees of the total
declared foreigners lodged
in six detention centres at
Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh,
Silchar, Kokrajhar and
Goalpara, were released
following the direction of
Migrants will be brought home: Yogi
Labourers who have completed 14-day quarantine to be brought back in a phased manner
Lucknow, April 24: The
Uttar Pradesh government
will bring back labourers
stranded in other states
because of the coron-
avirus-forced lockdown,
Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath said on Friday,
and directed officials to
prepare an action plan in
this regard.
At a review meeting with
senior officers here,
Adityananth asked them
to prepare a list of people
stuck in other states and
have completed 14-day
quarantine there so that
they can return home in a
phased manner.
“Uttar Pradesh will
bring back its labourers
Locals commute in a crowded boat across Mahananda in Katihar on Friday during the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of
Coronavirus.
Under pressure, Bengal Covid patients in
revises Covid toll to 18 AP to cross 1000
RAJIB CHOWDHURI | DC
KOLKATA, APRIL 24
Buckling under the
Opposition’s pressure of
allegations of the Covid-
19 death toll cover-up in
West Bengal, the Mamata
Banerjee government on
Friday put the statewide
figure to 18 from 15 while
revealing of 39 more
deaths in which the dead-
ly virus was “incidental
finding.”
State health department
advisor Dr. B.R. Satpati
stated, “The expert com-
mittee for conducting
audit into the death of
Covid-19 patients which
was set up on April 3 has,
till this date, examined 57
cases of death of persons
who had tested positive
for Covid-19. This
Committee examined all
the relevant documents
including Bed-Head-
Ticket, treatment history,
Laboratory investigation
reports, death certificates
and other documents by
the hospitals concerned.
The committee has found
that 18 deaths were due to
Covid-19 infections. The
remaining 39 deaths were
due to severe co-morbid
conditions which were the
immediate cause of death,
and Covid-19 was the inci-
The detainees were declared foreigners and had been in Assam for two years
the Supreme Court. ● THE SC also lowered
Relaxing its earlier condi- the personal bond amount
tions in view of the coron-
avirus pandemic, the
from `1 lakh to `5,000
Supreme Court in a fresh while reducing the mini-
order on April 14 had mum period of detention
directed the release of from three years to two
those detainees who were years.
declared foreigners and
have been lodged in the ● THE DETAINEES were
detention centres of Assam lodged in six detention
for two years or more. centres at Tezpur, Jorhat,
A bench of Chief Justice Dibrugarh, Silchar,
S.A. Bobde and Justices Kokrajhar and Goalpara.
L.N. Rao and M.
Shantanagoudar, referring reducing the minimum
to the top court’s May 10, period of detention from
2019 order, also lowered the three years to two years.
personal bond amount Earlier, the top court had
from `1 lakh to `5,000 while imposed certain conditions
● THE CHIEF MINISTER
directs officials to prepare
a list of people stuck in
other states
stuck in other states.
“The labourers who have
completed 14-day quaran-
tine there should be
brought back in a phased
manner,” an official
release quoted the Chief
Minister as saying.
“The labourers, after
being brought up to UP
border by the states con-
cerned after screening and
testing, will be sent to
their villages. But first,
they will be kept in quar-
antine in their districts for
14 days. For this, arrange-
dental finding.”
He then listed a series of
ailments as “co-morbid”
conditions which, health
department sources said,
prompted the panel not to
certify the deaths due to
Covid-19 although the
patients were earlier
detected with the deadly
virus in “incidental find-
ing.”
The development came
after Apurva Chandra,
leader of the two visiting
Inter-Ministerial Central
teams, sought to know
from state chief secretary
Rajiva Sinha about the
formation, purpose and
functions of the health
experts committee, specif-
ically to ascertain the
cause of deaths of the
infected patients.
“The principal secretary
(health) in his presenta-
tion on April 23 gave some
reasons for establishment
of the committee of doc-
tors and also mentioned
that if a Covid patient
dies in a road accident, he
can not be said to have
died of Covid. The IMCT
did not find the reasoning
convincing as there is no
comparison between a
road death and a death in
a hospital due to disease.
The IMCT also seeks
interaction with this com-
while directing the release
of such detainees includ-
ing that they should have
spent more than three
years in detention, and
were to be released upon
furnishing a bond of
`1 lakh along with two
sureties.
The April 14 order had
come
application filed by Justice
for Liberty Initiative, a
Assam-based
Charitable Trust, seeking
the release of detainees
lodged in six Assam deten-
tion centres in view of
coronavirus pandemic.
The IG prison said that
ments should be made and
the places should be sani-
tised,” the chief minister
said.
Those who have complet-
ed 14-day quarantine in
the state should be sent
home with ration and
`1,000, he said.
A decision has been
taken to send two senior
officers to districts which
have 20 or more coron-
avirus cases.
These officers will camp
there for a week and
ensure that lockdown is
strictly followed,
Adityanath said at the
review meeting.
Stressing that spread of
infections in hospitals and
mittee to understand their
methodology,” Chandra
wrote in his letter to
Sinha.
Meanwhile, rebutting
West Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata
Banerjee’s accusations,
Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar tore into the
Trinamul Congress supre-
mo on 37 counts in his sec-
ond letter to her within 24
hours of the attack. He
also ruled out of weaken-
ing ‘Consti-tutional
morality’ or crossing
‘Lakshman Rekha.’
Dhankhar told Banerjee,
“In the state as a farsight-
ed move all political par-
ties have pledged unquali-
fied support to the govern-
ment. Time also
for you to shun politics. I
can figure out that your
entire strategy is crafted
to deliberately divert peo-
ple’s attention from your
abject failure in combat-
ing and containing
Coronavirus in West
Bengal. Your appease-
ment of the minority com-
munity was so explicit
and awkward that as
regards a question about
the Nizamuddin incident
by a journalist, your reac-
tion was “Do not ask com-
munal questions.” This is
most unfortunate.”
they have also released
1,900 Undertrial prisoners
and 15 convicts from 31
jails of the state.
Informing that the under-
trials were released after
the high-power committee
headed by a justice of the
Gauhati
reviewed the situation of
on intervention the jails in the wake of
Covid-19 pandemic and
lockdown, Das said that 15
Public convicts were released on
parole.
Out of the 1,900 inmates,
243 inmates were released
from Guwahati central jail,
51 from Tezpur central jail,
89 from Silchar, 161 from
Cannot bring back students
medical centres should be
prevented, the chief min-
ister said personal protec-
tive equipment kits, N-95
masks and sanitisers
should be made available
to check this.
He said that the “identifi-
from Kota, Bihar govt tells HC
cation of hotspots” and NAYEAR AZAD | DC
policy regarding it is prov- PATNA, APRIL 24
ing effective and this
“Uttar Pradesh model” is The Bihar government
becoming popular in the has informed the Patna
country. High Court that it cannot
“It should be ensured bring back students who
that public movement is are stuck in Rajasthan’s
totally restricted in Kota due to lockdown.
hotspot areas and, The state government,
only medical teams and however, clarified that
sanitisation workers efforts are being made to
should visit,” Adityanath extend all possible support
said. — PTI to students stranded
— PTI
N. VAMSI SRINIVAS I and Vizianagaram
DC have shown exemplary
VIJAYAWADA. APRIL 24 efficiency to prevent
coronavirus from
Andhra Pradesh has entering their dis-
almost touched the tricts.
1,000-mark in terms of With the date for the
Covid 19 positive cases lifting of lockdown is
in just six weeks after nearing, there was no
the first positive case sign of flattening of
reported in Nellore on the infection curve in
March 12. the state in the near
In addition to 955 future. Authorities ha-
cases officially decla- ve been urging the
red as positive by state government to
Friday morning, there form back-up teams
are at least 30 pre- and relieve the stre-
sumptive positive ssed-out health work-
cases reported in the ers. With 22 health care
rapid testing, and the personnel getting
samples will be tested infected with the virus,
again using RT-PCR the officials have high-
method for the final lighted the need for
confirmation. providing them a bet-
Kurnool and Guntur ter protective gear.
continued to be the The Covid 19 data of
hotbeds of coronavirus the state available with
infection with 27 and Deccan Chronicle
11 cases respectively showed that the cumu-
reported from these lative recovery rate in
two districts. A total of the last six weeks is 18
62 new cases were per cent as against 20
reported on Friday
morning. Krishna too
contributed to the tally
with 14 cases.
per cent national aver-
age while the fatality
rate is 3.03 per cent,
which is just a notch
Political interference
and goof-up by local
administrations led to
chaos in districts like
below the national
average of 3.08 per
cent. Of the 54,338 peo-
ple tested so far, 955
Kurnool, Guntur and
Anantapur, while offi-
cials in Srikakulam
have been found posi-
tive for the Covid-19
disease.
Dibrugarh, 89 from Jorhat
and 75 from Nagaon cen-
tral jail. Several hundred
undertrial prisoners were
released from various dis-
trict jails for which a crite-
ria was prepared by the
apex court which had
High Court asked states to form the
high-power committee to
review situation and
release the prisoners.
Sources said that some of
the prisoners could not be
released as they were from
other states and districts
and in view the lockdown,
they were not in position to
reach their respective
homes.
outside Bihar as per the
guidelines issued by
the ministry of home
affairs.
The matter was heard in
the High Court through
video-conferencing where
the government responded
to the notice issued by the
Registrar General after a
petition was filed by advo-
cate Ajay Thakur regard-
ing the issue.
“The Bihar government
4-MONTH-OLD
WITH COVID
DIES IN KERALA
GILVESTER ASSARY | DC
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
APRIL 24
A four-month-old baby, who
had tested positive for
Covid–19, died at the
Kozhikode Government
Medical College on Friday.
According to the doctors,
the baby had congenital
heart ailments. The health
officials have not yet been
able to find out as to how
she contracted the virus.
The test results of her par-
ents are expected to be out
soon.
Meanwhile, five doctors
of a hospital which treated
the baby have been quaran-
tined. Health minister K.K.
Shailaja said though all
efforts were made to save
the baby but due to congen-
ital heart complications
her condition kept deterio-
rating leading to death.
She said the baby’s last
rites will be conducted
complying with protocol
laid down for Covid-19. The
child was admitted to the
isolation ward of the
Women and Child wing of
the hospital.
The baby tested positive
for SARS Cov-2 on April 22.
Earlier, one of the relatives
of the baby who returned
from abroad, had tested
positive for Covid-19.The
relative who has now been
cured of the infection, did
not have ny direct contact
with the child.
The baby was referred to
the medical college from a
private hospital in Manj-
eri. This is the third Covid-
19 death in Kerala. The fir-
st death was reported on
March 28 in Ernakulam di-
strict when 69-year-old m-
an who returned from Du-
bai, died at the Ernakulam
Medical College. On March
21, a 68 year old man with
no travel history , succum-
bed to ailments at the Tri-
vandrum Medical College.
While three positive
cases were reported, 15
recovered from the infec-
tion, said Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan at a press
conference after presiding
over a high level review
meeting. All three cases
are from Kasargod and
they contracted the infec-
tion through contact.
The state currently has
116 active cases, 21, 243
under home quarantine
and 452 in hospitals.
Kannur has highest num-
ber of Covid–19 cases at 56
while Kasargod has 18.
Tharoor blames
Centre for faulty
rapid test kits
New Delhi, April 24: Senior
Congress leader Shashi
Tharoor on Friday attacked
the government over reports
of India getting faulty rapid
antibody test kits from China
and asserted that the answer
to the problem lies in indige-
nous development of test kits
as done by countries like the
US, South Korea and
Germany.
India’s apex medical resea-
rch body ICMR on Tuesday
advised states to stop using
the rapid antibody test kits
till it examines their quality
in the wake of complaints
that they are not fully effec-
tive. Last week, India pro-
cured five lakh rapid anti-
body test kits from two
Chinese firms and they were
distributed to several states
reporting rising cases of the
coronavirus infection.
Reacting to the reports of
faulty test kits, Dr Tharoor
said he read comments on
pg 4
is extremely sensitive
towards the plight of stu-
dents stranded outside the
state.
The Bihar government
in coordination with other
state governments is try-
ing to extend all possible
help as per the guidelines
issued by ministry of
home affairs, government
of India,” principal secre-
tary Pratyaya Amrit said
in a letter.
HC TIGHTENS NORMS
IN KERALA’S DEAL
WITH US IT FIRM
DC CORRESPONDENT
KOCHI, APRIL 24
In a major relief to the Kerala
government, the High Court on
Friday declined to scrap the
deal it had entered with a US-
based IT firm to collate and
analyse data related to patients
and suspected patients infected
with Coronavirus 19 but
imposed stringent conditions
in going ahead with the proj-
ect.
The court ordered the state
government to anonymise the
data it has collected and hand
it over to the IT firm.
In an interim order on a plea
seeking to quash of the state
government's contract with
Sprinklr, a division bench
restraining the IT firm from
any act of breaching the confi-
dentiality of data provided by
the Kerala government. It also
asked the company not to deal
with the data directly or indi-
rectly in conflict with the deal
signed between the state
government and the IT firm.
The court also restrained
Sprinklr from using the name
or logo of the state government
for its promotional purposes.
It directed the state govern-
ment to take informed consent
from individuals before allow-
ing a third party foreign com-
pany to process their data.
Earlier, the Kerala govern-
ment had filed a statement in
the High Court, rejecting
charges of illegality in its IT
contract with the firm for pro-
cessing data related to COVID-
19 patients and contended that
initiation of penal action for
breach would fall within the
ambit of Indian IT Act.
The Centre had also filed a
preliminary statement in con-
nection with the case, saying
sharing of sensitive data, espe-
cially of health related infor-
mation of large number of peo-
ple, is to be resorted to in a
very careful manner. In his
plea, petitioner Balu
Gopalakrishnan had said the
only concern is whether the
data stored in the web server of
company is safe and whether it
can be used by the company for
monetary gains.
● The Kerala government
had filed a statement in
the High Court, rejecting
charges of illegality in its
IT contract with the firm
for processing data related
to COVID-19 patients and
contended that initiation of
penal action for breach
would fall within the ambit
of Indian IT Act.
social media over the issue
stating that what can the
Modi government do about it
as other countries also had
the same experience. “Yes,
that’s exactly the point. How
smart is a government if it
does not learn from the mis-
takes of other governments.
Isn’t it foolishness to make
the same mistake at the cost
of public health and money?”
Tharoor said in a series of
tweets.
The EU Medicine Agency’s
guidelines, on par with the
US Centers for Disease
Control and Preventions,
require that rapid tests be 80
per cent accurate and the
Chinese kits bought by India
have shown an average of five
per cent accuracy, which is
the lowest by their own stan-
dards, he said.
Noting that China said that
the kits should be procured
from authorised manufactur-
ers.
 WORLD
DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020
pg 5

IN
Inmates help to
BRIEF
combat Covid-19
Tokyo: In Japan, inmates will
be joining the fight against
the spread of the Coronavirus
from behind the bars, by mak-
ing protective gowns for med-
ical workers. Inmates will be
assigned to the production of
protective medical gowns that
are in dire shortage at many
hospitals, putting many med-
ical workers at risk and fear of
getting infected, Justice
Ministry officials said Friday.
The ministry said manufactur-
ing of protective gowns will
begin in mid-May at 41 of 75
prisons across Japan, with a
production target of 1.2 mil-
lion gowns by October, or
about 200,000 per month.
Prayer in solitude Virus pushes US
unemployment
to highest level
New York, April 24:
Unemployment in the US
is swelling to levels last
seen during the Great
Depression of the 1930s,
with one in six American
workers thrown out of a
job by the coronavirus,
according to new data
released Thursday.
In response to the deep-
ening economic crisis, the
House passed a nearly
$500 billion spending pac-
kage to help buckled busi-
● ROUGHLY 26 million
people — the population
of the 10 biggest US cities
combined — have now
filed for jobless aid in five
weeks.
the number confirmed by
lab tests. A small, prelimi-
nary statewide survey of
around 3,000 people found
that nearly 14 per cen had
antibodies showing they
had been infected, Gov.

Oz PM supports
changes to WHO
Canberra: Australia’s prime
minister says his government
will cooperate with like-
minded countries to change
the World Health Organis-
ation. Australian agrees with
the United States that the
United Nation’s agency
needs to be reviewed, but
Australia continues to sup-
port the agency’s valuable
work in the Pacific. President
Donald Trump has directed
his administration to freeze
WHO funding, claiming it
didn't deliver adequate early
reports on the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Scott
Morrison told reporters on
nesses and hospitals.
More than 4.4 million
laid-off Americans app-
lied for unemployment
benefits last week, the
government reported. In
all, roughly 26 million
people — the population
of the 10 biggest US cities
combined — have now
filed for jobless aid in five
weeks, an epic collapse
that has raised the stakes
in the debate over how
and when to ease the shut-
downs of factories and
other businesses.
In the hardest-hit corner
of the US, evidence eme-
rged that perhaps 2.7 mil-
A Palestinian Muezzin, who calls Muslims to prayer, reads the holy Quran in an almost empty mosque in Gaza City on the first Friday prayers of lion New York state resi-
the holy fasting month of Ramzan on Friday as mass prayers are suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. —AFP dents have been infected
by the virus — 10 times
Andrew Cuomo said.
Just in New York City,
with a population of 8.6
million, Health Commis-
sioner Oxiris Barbot said
as many as 1 million may
have been infected. A
near-unanimous vote sent
it to President Donald
Trump in the evening.
Anchoring the bill is the
administration’s $250 bil-
lion request to replenish a
fund to help small- and
medium-size businesses
with payroll, rent and
other expenses. Trump
said the bill “will help
small businesses to keep
millions of workers on
the payroll.” Abroad,
there was mixed news
about the epidemic. — AP

Biden backs mail votes China ‘will pay a

Friday: “What happens at
the upper echelons of these
organisations, and how they
operate, I think is in need of
change.” “Australia will con-
tinue to advocate for that

for Prez elections in Nov price’: Pompeo

change with like-minded
countries who share our
concerns,” Morrison said.

Bangladesh bans Washington, April 24: I am very confident

that the Chinese
Iftar gatherings
Blaming China for the
Coronavirus pandemic, Communist Party will pay a
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Friday
Blasts Trump for working to block emergency funding US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo said it has
price for what they did here, Boris Johnson

banned Iftar gatherings dur-
ing the holy month of
Ramzan to curb the spread
of the Coronavirus infections
as the Muslim-majority coun-
try recorded the highest sin-
gle-day spike of 503 positive
cases, increasing the total
cases to 4,689. Bangladesh’s
Ministry of Religious Affairs
in a statement said that in
order to maintain social dis-
tancing during the coron-
avirus outbreak, no individu-
als or institutions will be
allowed to arrange or partici-
pate in any gathering over
Iftar meals. The ministry said
legal action will be taken
against those who fail to
comply with the order. The
government has also decided
not to allow more than 12
people in mosques for
Ramzan evening prayers as
the Coronavirus outbreak
continues to escalate.
Atlanta, April 24:
Presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee Joe
Biden is calling on
Congress to provide
enough money for every
state to allow voters to cast
a ballot by mail this
November amid the
Coronavirus pandemic.
In making that pitch dur-
ing an online fundraiser on
Thursday night, Biden
blasted President Donald
Trump for working to block
emergency funding for the
cash-strapped US Postal
Service, which would han-
dle tens of millions of bal-
lots this fall. Biden said it’s
evidence that Trump
already is trying to “under-
mine” the election and
make it more difficult for
Americans to vote.
“We have to make it easi-
er for everybody to be able
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice
President Joe Biden.
explicit call for a national
mail election since Covid-
19 upended the 2020 cam-
paign and every aspect of
American life. The former
vice president doesn’t pro-
— AP
Postal Service. Trump,
who voted by mail in
Florida’s presidential pri-
mary last month, recently
said he believes mail vot-
ing allows voters to
to the US Postal Service,”
Biden said. “What in God’s
name was that about other
than trying to let the word
out that he's going to do all
that he can to make it very
hard for people to vote.”
Biden’s remarks suggested
that the Postal Service had
already received some tax-
payer funds.
It has not. Nonetheless,
Biden described trump's
approach as “un-Ame-
rican” and said “that's the
only way he thinks he can
possibly win.” Going fur-
ther, Biden predicted with-
out evidence that Trump
will attempt to postpone
the election altogether.
“Between he and the
Russians, there’s going to
be an attempt to interfere,”
Biden said.
“This President, mark
my words, I think he's
caused a “huge chal-
lenge” for the global as
well as the US economy
by not sharing the infor-
mation they had and the
ruling Communist Party
“will pay a price” for it.
China has come under
increasing pressure from
nations across the world,
including the US, over the
lack of transparency in
its handling of the
Coronavirus pandemic,
which has so far claimed
more than 190,870 lives
globally, with America
leading the tally with
nearly 50,000 deaths.
President Donald
Trump had said his
administration was look-
ing into reports that the
Coronavirus “escaped”
from a Wuhan virology
laboratory before it
spread to the world. “I am
certainly from the United
States. I don’t know exactly
what form that will take
— MIKE POMPEO
US Secretary of State
control the virus and
revive the American
economy.
“It’s on making sure we
keep Americans safe, take
down the health risk,
keep people healthy as we
can, and get this economy
going back,” he said. “But
I am very confident. I talk
to business people all
around the country. I talk
to ordinary citizens —
people who have put their
lives at risk over the last
weeks. They know that
this is a result of this
virus that originated in
Wuhan, China, and they
know that the Chinese
JOHNSON SET
TO RETURN TO
OFFICE SOON
London, April 24:
British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson is “on the
mend in a big way” and
preparing for his return
to full-time duties at 10
Downing Street soon,
according to reports
from his Cabinet and
government insiders on
Friday.
While a UK newspaper
report claimed that
Johnson could be back
at the helm after his
Covid-19 recovery as
early as next Monday, a
senior Cabinet minister
indicated that no deci-

Nasa develops
to vote, particularly if we pose eliminating in-person “cheat.” Separately, the going to try to kick back very confident that the government didn’t do the sion had been taken on
are still basically in the voting. administration maneu- the election somehow, Chinese Communist Pa- things it needed to do. the date of his return to

potent ventilators
Washington: Nasa engineers
have developed a new, easy-
to-build high-pressure venti-
lator tailored specifically to
treat Covid-19 patients. The
device, called VITAL (Ven-
tilator Intervention Tech-
nology Accessible Locally),
passed a critical test this
week at the Icahn School of
Medicine in New York, an
epicentre of Covid-19 in the
US, Nasa said. VITAL is
designed to treat patients
with milder symptoms, the-
reby keeping country's limit-
ed supply of traditional ven-
tilators available for patients
with more severe Covid-19
symptoms, it said. “We spe-
cialise in spacecraft, not
medical-device manufactur-
ing,” said Michael Watkins,
Director of Nasa’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
kind of lockdown circum-
stances we are in now,”
Biden told about 650
donors. “But that takes a
lot of money, and it's going
to require us to provide
money for states and insist
they provide mail-in bal-
lots.”
It’s perhaps Biden’s most
Africa dangerously behind
in global race for virus gear
Johannesburg, April 24:
As Africa braces for a
surge in Coronavirus ca-
ses, its countries are dan-
gerously behind in the
global race for scarce med-
ical equipment. Ten nati-
ons have no ventilators at
all.
But he said state and
local officials must do
more to make polling loca-
tions conform to public
health protocols, while
steering voters toward
other options. Biden chid-
ed Trump for denigrating
mail balloting and for
opposing direct aid for the
by the continent’s 1.3 bil-
lion people this year. ‘
Very few are in hand.
“We are competing with
the developed world,” said
John Nkengasong, direc-
tor of the Africa Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention.
vered to ensure that the
Postal Service got no direct
assistance in the $ 2 trillion
Coronavirus aid package.
“He’s already trying to
undermine the election
with false claims of voter
fraud and threatening to
block essential Covid assis-
tance if any extra funds go
Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent
Societies, urging an equi-
table approach to help
developing nations.
The crisis has jolted
African nations into creat-
ing a pooled purchasing
platform under the Afri-
come up with a rationale rty will pay a price for There will be a cost asso- full-time work.
why it can’t be held.” It what they did here, cer- ciated with that,” Pompeo “I spoke to him yester-
would be virtually impossi- tainly from the United asserted. day (Thursday), he’s
ble for Trump to succeed States. I don’t know exact- Pompeo said there will cheerful, and he's ebul-
with such a move. Con- ly what form that will be a time to make sure lient and he’s definitely
gress sets the Election Day take,” Pompeo said. that “we get this right” on the mend in a big
statutorily, and the Dem- However, he underlined and to make sure that the way,” said UK Health
ocratic-controlled House that the focus was not on US is not dependent on Secretary Matt Hancock.
would never agree to move China now but the US China for its pharmaceu- “When exactly he comes
it back.’’ — AP administration’s goal is to tical goods. — PTI back is a matter for him
and his doctors,” he
said. — PTI
U.S. TOLL CROSES 50,000
● The worldwide death toll from the ● Spain recorded 367 people
TOM HANKS WRITES
TO BULLIED BOY
Coronavirus pandemic crossed
1,90,000 on Friday, with nearly two-
thirds of the fatalities in Europe.
deaths from Coronavirus over the
past 24 hours, the lowest daily
number of fatalities in four weeks, NAMED ‘CORONA’
● A total of 1,90,089 people have died the government said on Friday.
and 2,698,733 been infected since the ● About 79 per cent of the total Los Angeles, April 24:
virus emerged in China in December. Hollywood veteran Tom
Coronavirus cases in Pakistan are Hanks has penned a
● The growing use of export restric- now locally transmitted, health heartfelt letter to an
tions by governments can be “danger- authorities said on Friday as the Australian boy who was
ously counterproductive” as the world number of people affected by the bullied by his peers over
deals with the pandemic, the IMF and deadly virus rose to over 11,000. his name — Corona. The
According to the Ministry of 63-year-old actor and his

S. KOREA TO Outbid by richer coun-

tries, and not receiving
“The very future of the
continent will depend on
can Union to improve neg-
otiating power.
WTO warned Friday. “We are con-
cerned by supply disruptions from the National Health Services, 13 more
patients died due to the
wife, Rita Wilson, were
among the Hollywood

PROVIDE 1M
medical gear from top aid
donor the United States,
African officials scramble
how this matter is han- Within days of its forma- growing use of export restrictions and celebrities who were diag-
dled.” Politicians instinc- tion, the AU landed more other actions that limit trade of key Coronavirus, taking the toll to 237 nosed with the Coron-
tively try to protect their than 100,000 test kits from
medical supplies and food”. and another 2,527 recovered. avirus. The couple recent-

FACE MASKS for solutions as virus

Seoul, April 24: South Korea
on Friday said it will send one
million face masks to foreign
veterans of the 1950-53 Korean
War as it expands efforts to
help other countries deal with
the Coronavirus epidemics
while its own caseload slows.
cases climb past 25,000.
Even in the best scenario,
the United Nations says 74
million test kits and 30,000
ventilators will be needed
GLOBAL | DEMO
own people and “we know
that sometimes the worst
in human behaviour
comes out,” said Simon
Missiri, Africa director
with the International
Student group Fridays for Future, attracts thousands onto streets worldwide
a German source. The
World Health Organis-
ation is pitching in, appr-
oaching manufacturers
for supplies.
— AP
● An Italian cruise ship docked in a southern Japanese port city of
ly returned to the US after
recovering from the dis-
ease. The eight-year-old
Nagasaki had 43 more new cases in an outbreak that erupted this week, boy, Corona De Vries, first
bringing the total infected to 91, local officials said Friday. wrote to Hanks, asking
the actor about his and
Wilson’s health.
He then said that he
loved his name but people
in his school are calling
Coronavirus, which made

Climate activists take global protest online

South Korean Prime
Minister Chung Sye-kyun dur-
ing a virus meeting on Friday
said the country could send
more masks overseas at a level
that doesn’t disrupt domestic
supply. South Korea since
early March has banned the
exports of masks and channe-
lled most domestically produ-
ced masks to pharmacies, wh-
ere people have been limited to
buying two masks per week.
The nationwide rationing
program was a drastic attempt
at calming public anger over
shortages and reduce hour-
longs lines that formed in
stores across the country in
previous weeks as infections
soared.
Berlin, April 24: Youth
groups are staging a long-
planned global climate
demonstration online
Friday because of restric-
tions on public protests
during the Coronavirus
pandemic.
The student group
Fridays for Future, whose
past rallies have drawn
hundreds of thousands
onto the streets world-
wide, is using a livestream
to call on world leaders to
act against global warm-
● SOME GROUPS have
found creative ways to
stage very limited demon-
strations despite the lock-
down. In Berlin, activists
placed thousands of
protest placards in front
of the German parliament.
ing. Some groups have
found creative ways to
stage very limited demon-
strations despite the lock-
down.
In Berlin, activists
placed thousands of
protest placards in front of
the German parliament.
Swedish activist Greta
Thunberg, 17, the most
prominent face of the
youth climate movement,
said Wednesday during an
online Earth Day event
that the climate crisis
“may not be as immediate
as the corona crisis but we
need to tackle this now,
otherwise it will be irre-
versible.” — AP
him “sad and angry”. In
his response, Hanks wr-
ote, “Your letter made my
wife and I feel so wonder-
ful! Thank you for being
such a good friend —
friends make friends feel
good when they are do-
wn.” “I saw you on TV, ev-
en though I was back in
the USA already — and all
healthy. Even though I
was no longer sick, get-
ting your letter made me
feel even better. You know,
you are the only person
I’ve ever known to have
the name Corona — like
the ring around the sun, a
Luisa Neubauer of Fridays for Future movement lays out protest posters for climate pro- crown,” the actor added.
tection in front the German parliament building the Reichstag in Berlin on Friday. — AP — PTI
 EDIT
DECCAN CHRONICLE | SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020 | CHENNAI
pg 6

25 APRIL 2020

The undesirable job of Subhani

saving Arnab Goswami
he alacrity with which the Supreme Court has granted Arnab

T Goswami, who heads a television station owned by a prominent ruling

party individual, reprieve from arrest for three weeks is an object les-
son in the protection of individual liberties. It would be great to see the
apex court follow its own injunction in the case of other individuals in a sim-
ilar position.
Ordinary Indians, including journalists, usually find themselves helpless in
the face of executive excess, as the judiciary remains preoccupied with other
matters. In Kashmir, to take but one example of high-handedness, the police
routinely pull in journalists for questioning and have legal provisions relating
to terrorism thrown at them. The judiciary is known to look the other way,
even when matters are brought before it, as in the recent case of a former
Union finance and home minister.
Our judicial system has a sterling history of independence as well as of cav-

Corona shock lays bare

ing in. Which prevails in the present era, when national institutions are
falling like ninepins, is being widely watched. So will be the judiciary’s con-
duct in the Goswami case.
LETTERS
The founder-editor and focal anchor of the deeply controversial television
channel, who acts as the spear for the present government and its ideological POST-VIRUS PLIGHT
confreres, and lances their critics with obsequious abandon, does make the
cut in a very broad definition of journalism. This is because unlike science or

pretensions of Indians
geography, journalism embraces a wide ambit. The editorial Time to take
However, its conventional, common sense, objectives — whose lodestar is stock after one month of
objectivity and fair play — are well understood by non-journalists. While Mr lockdown (April 24) justi-
Goswami is likely to have his fan following, his output appears to be seen by
a growing set of people as falling more appropriately in a realm that may be fiably and solicitously
indistinguishable from divisive propaganda which derives approbation from speaks for the migrant
a recently generated ecosystem sustained by the powers-that-be. Official propaganda economy cannot be con-
workers whose livelihood
The coverage of the lynching on April 16 in Maharashtra’s Palghar district sidered “sound” if there
of two saffron-wearing individuals believed to be sadhus and their driver
has sought to play are serious structural is at stake, thanks to the
called for sensitive handling. In a video clip, Maharahtra CM Uddhav up select facts to limitations. India’s GDP
Thackerary has revealed that Union home minister Amit Shah had told him
that there was no “communal” angle in the highly regrettable incident. Even
Anand K. Sahay give ordinary
Indians a sense of
per capita (the share of
GDP notionally avail-
indefinite lockdown. This
is reminiscent of the
so, the Republic Bharat television channel, the Hindi-language platform of able to each individual)
achievement, and bubonic plague in the
Republic TV, played it in a deeply polarising and disturbingly partisan politi-
cal manner, with Mr Goswami doing the anchoring. Its object seemed to be to Far & Near to buoy them with
gives the game away. It
mocks the self-adulation past smiting people by
personally traduce Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. the false feeling summoned by citing scores. Despite quaran-
It is noteworthy that in the Palghar incident the putative sadhus were that while they may total GDP figures or
tine, social distancing and
lynched by fellow Hindus. That eliminates the religious divide. Since dubi- he Covid-19 developing country they be a developing pointing to the economy

T lockdown as the only

ously manufacturing such a divide is the stock-in trade of sections of the pandemic has
media (increasingly referred to as the “godi” media or poodle media), in the exposed the
absence of that schism the anchor in question decided to strike at a well- uncertainties
known opponent of the ruling dispensation in fairly obsessive and obscene of major world
terms — no holds barred. In some quarters, language used in the programme economies, but in India
could be seen as being akin to incitement. it has laid bare many of
On the liberties question, it is important to protect even “bad journalism”, our pretensions. The
as the somnolent Press Council of India reminds us. We hold our nose and reality is sinking in
do so. slowly as hundreds of
thousands of Indians
have also “arrived” and
may now be counted
alongside those in the
big league whose wealth
we had so far envied
from afar.
The contrived gratifi-
cation took a beating
when thousands upon
thousands of the poorest
country they have
also ‘arrived’...
city. Not since the
Partition of India over 70
years ago have such
images of mass migra-
tion been seen. At least
then there may have
in terms of purchasing
power parity.
World Bank data for
measures to contain the
2018 suggests that India Covid-19 pandemic, we
ranks a lowly 139th in read reports of coron-
the world in terms of
GDP per capita, which avirus victims on a daily
stood at a measly $2,010. basis putting the govern-
In contrast, China was
around $9,000, Indonesia
ments on tenterhooks —

Grim challenges have been forced, in the

absence of governmental
support, to make do with
Indians and their fami-
lies fled India’s big cities
on foot for destinations
hundreds of kilometres
been hope in some
bosoms; now there was
only trepidation.
No tabulation is yet
$3,900 (to say nothing of
the major
economies, many of
Western

which rank behind India

collective failures of the
Centre and the State gov-
ernments guaranteed.
hirty-one days into an unprecedented lockdown amid a crisis set to short-term charity from

T change the world, it is demoralising to see the government failing to act

urgently and instead falling back on old tricks and tired measures.
On the 29th day of the lockdown, an ordinance was issued to punish attack-
private individuals and
voluntary agencies to
stave off hunger in the
away. They aimed to
head back to their vil-
lages (in Rajasthan,
available of how many
people ran away from
the cities and headed
in PPP or total GDP
terms). For perspective,
the India-China gap (one
How the governments are
going to balance the cas-
ers of health workers. The punishment entailed a maximum jail term of seven past 30-plus days, the Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, home on hearing Prime is to 4.5 approximately) cading effects post-coro-
years. That such a move became necessary was a shame, no doubt, and it dou- duration of the lock- Chhattisgarh, Jhar- Minister Narendra is similar to the India- na virus is a million-dollar
bly increases the duty of doctors not to deny treatment to patients, but will it down so far. khand, Madhya Pra- Modi’s flash announce- Afghanistan gap since
lead to better tracing of infected, that is key to containing the pandemic as the The Central govern- desh) from New Delhi, ment of a national lock- the latter’s GDP per capi- query right now.
Kerala and South Korea lessons teach us? Could the government have ment has proved itself Mumbai, Surat, Ahmed- down. But it is reason- ta stood at a meager $500 E.S. Chandrasekaran
increased the salary of the Asha worker who is paid no more than `2,000 a unwilling (and is quite abad, and many places able to assume that they in 2018.
month but faces the same stigma and violence as the doctor? These are open possibly also incapable) in Kerala and were from the vast pool While many of India’s Chennai
questions.
Also pertinently, what can explain the confusion and speaking in voices
to extend them succor
even in an hour such as
Karnataka.
These were daily
variously referred to
(with small definitional
poorest left for their vil-
lage homes on hearing APPRECIATED
when it came to partial easing of the lockdown, the second big step of the gov- this. On the ground — in income earners. When differences) as informal the PM’s instruction for APROPOS YOUR REPORT Last
ernment in fighting coronavirus? It led to the loss of four business days. Now, the districts and in the the lockdown came, they sector workers, migrant an immediate lockdown, wish of Simon Hercules to be hon-
in relief to industry owners some of whom raised concerns following circula- villages — it is the state knew they didn’t stand a labourers, or casual a very large number oured (April 23). It’s highly appreci-
tion of a WhatsApp message warning them of consequences if they resumed governments that must chance in the big city (to (non-agriculture sector) (again, no data exists) ated to note that Chief Minister
commerce and production, the government has “revised” its policy and will deal with the unprece- which they had fled from workers. According to stayed behind because Edapaddi Palaniswami had con-
not hold them responsible for any isolated case of Covid-19 found on premises. dented situation. And their impoverished vil- an ILO estimate of 2011- the government, having sented to the fulfilment of his last
Holding out this assurance in a set of reworked guidelines sent to business they are struggling. lage homes to eke out a 12, of the total labour now turned wise, wish made by Dr Simon Hercules
heads, the Union home secretary wrote to chief secretaries to allay fears. The state of their living). Dick force in India of 495 mil- blocked them from leav- who wanted a funeral as per the
This is even as information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar finances is far from sat- Whittington was not lion, the overwhelming ing. In very large mea- Christian rites. Extremely unfortu-
maintained that there had been no such directive announced in the first place. isfactory. It’s been made wanted in London any- bulk (90.7 per cent) is sure, these poorer than nate and painful that the medico
With recession knocking on the door and Fitch Ratings slashing India's worse by the Centre’s more! from this category. Ten poor people have been had lost his life treating Covid-19
growth projections in the ongoing fiscal to 0.8 per cent, this clarity is welcome, unexplained delay in For our poorest citi- years on, as a rule of sustained for the past patients and was eventually not
but why so late? And, critically, what next? Running at a fiscal deficit ready to paying the `32,000 crores zens, life is lived at the thumb, it seems plausi- month or so mostly being allowed a proper burial
touch 6.2 per cent of the GDP this year, the government has no money either owed to them as GST most basic level. If they ble that around 500 mil- through personal dona- while an unruly and heartless mob
for investment or for welfare. For its 1.3 billion population, it has a daily test- backlog, and that’s just don’t have earnings at lion Indians live day-to- tions from thousands of attacked the ambulance, health
ing capacity of 10,000. It must work within these grim parameters. one of the issues on the the end of the day, they day, which means that good samaritans and the workers as they headed to the
table. If things turn out are invited to starve. they pretty much go heroic voluntary efforts cemetery. For all the sacrifices and
DECCAN CHRONICLE poorly, it is the states And when the exodus hungry on days they of many. selfless services Dr Simon had
that will be made the fall began, it was clear to cannot earn. Having been associated made to care for every patient, he
ADITYA SINHA T. VENKATESWARULU guy, politically speak- them that they didn’t If this means that close with this effort in a tri- had been paid back with the most
Editor Printer & Publisher ing, while the good and have money for rent to half the population fling way for a while, disrespectful, uncompassionate
R. MOHAN (taken to be around 1.3 this writer can attest
Resident Editor the great at the Centre either. They were better and undeserving series of events
DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at: will probably busy them- off on the road, march- billion) is on the brink of from personal experi- by a group of people.
Chennai: SP 3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai 600032. Phones: (044) 22254747, selves with theatrics. ing in the hot sun, than anytime starvation, then ence that a week’s pack Jacquelene Netto
22254748 Such is the state of in staying back in the it is an indictment. It is of the most basic food- Chennai
Coimbatore: 77 Vivekananda Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore 641009. Phone: (0422) 2231255, 2231256 also an index of the seri- stuffs for a week for a
affairs in the world’s
Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad 500 003. Phone: (040) 27803930-4. Fax: (040)
27805256. ninth largest economy in ous structural infirmity family of six or seven WELCOME DECISION
Bengaluru: 5th Floor, BMTC Commercial Complex, 80 Ft. Road, Koramangala, Bangalore-560095. Ph: nominal GDP terms, and If things turn of India’s economy, no persons can cost any-
08043460500; Fax: 080-22960551/52/55 where between `750 to
Visakhapatnam: Survey No. 1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony,
the fifth largest in terms out poorly, it is matter how much we
have begun to praise its around `940. (And we
IT IS TRULY a welcome decision
of purchasing power par- of the Central government to hand
Visakhapatnam - 530 017. Phones: (0891) 2552333/2552334, Fax (0891) 2755285
ity, a notional landmark the states presumed strengths. speak of zero cash trans- down 7 years RI to those who hin-
Vijayawada: No. C 3 & 4, Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.). Phones: (0866)
2555284/ 2555287, Fax (0866) 2555234 reached last year when that will be made Whatever our finance fers.) That’s the scale of der and hamper the legitimate
Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry 533125. Phones: (0883) 2417208, 2417618
Anantapur: Thapovan Colony, Bangalore Bye-Pass Road, Anantapur 515004. Phones: (08554) 276903,
India pushed ahead of the fall guy, ministers since Dr the most basic effort the duties carried by out by the med-
Fax: 08554-276904
Britain and France. politically speaking, Manmohan Singh may Centre ought to have ical personnel. On the face of it, the
In recent years, official have said to shore up made. What it did, decision appears to be a bit harsh
Nellore: Survey No. 527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemudugunta Panchayat, Nellore.
Phone: (0861) 2348581/ 82, Telefax (0861) 2348580 propaganda has sought while the good and morale, and to assure instead, was to transfer a indeed but considering the grave
Karimnagar: Survey No. 1341, Vavilalapally Colony, Jagityala Road, Karimnagar 505 001. to play up these facts to the great at the foreign investors that total of `500 in every Jan situation prevailing in the country
Phone: (0878 ) 2228908; Telefax (0878) 2220433
Kochi: No. 3-B, 3rd Floor, DD TRADE TOWER, Kaloor-Kadavanthara Road, Ernakulam,
give ordinary Indians a Centre will budget deficits will be Dhan account when the the government must have found
Ph: 0484-4039408 sense of achievement, probably busy tightly managed so that storm broke. How does no alternative and a better option
and to buoy them with the country remains in this look for the world’s at this juncture than the above.
Kozhikode: No 6/1002 E, First Floor City Mall, Opp. YMCA Kannur Road, Kozhikode - 673 001
Fax : 0495 4019018 the false feeling that
themselves with investment grade, “the fifth largest economy in N. Manaswini Narayanan
Thiruvananthapuram: St Joseph Press Thycaud post, Cotton Hills, Thiruvananthapuram-14, Ph: 0471- while they may be a theatrics fundamentals” of our PPP terms? Coimbatore
2735105/6/7, Fax: 0471-4016112 Gram: CHRONICLE Postal registration no: No. H/SD-348/2006-08ss

eflecting a few decades later tual circles. His arrival at Born into a middle-class milieu 150 organised the military aspect of the formaldehyde and being put on dis-

R on the events of April 1917,

British historian (and prime
minister) Winston Churchill
spoke of the Germans turning “upon
Russia the most grisly of weapons.
Mahir Ali They transported Lenin in a sealed
truck like a plague bacillus from
Switzerland to Russia.”
The Germans were keen back then
to facilitate further chaos in Russia,
as what has become known as the
First World War was about to enter
Petrograd’s Finland Station did not
merely help to change the course
Russian history. It served as the
starting point of a world-historical
transformation.
The revolution in February 1917
had taken Lenin by surprise but he
was willing to make the most of it.
He returned home by the only means
possible, incubating radical ideas
that were initially anathema even to
some of his closest comrades, all too
years ago today in Simbirsk,
Volodya was by most accounts a pre-
cociously sensitive child, radi-
calised not so much by his personal
circumstances but by the misery he
witnessed around him. As a 17-year-
old, he was traumatised by the exe-
cution of 21-year-old Sasha, his
beloved eldest brother, for
Alexander Ulyanov’s role in a plot to
assassinate tsar Alexander III.
Soviet hagiography depicts the
October Revolution and effectively
engineered a hard-won victory in
the civil war that followed.
Arguments still rage in some
spheres about whether Stalinism
was a natural outgrowth of
Leninism. They often tend to over-
look the fact that a Lenin debilitated
by an assassination attempt and at
least two subsequent strokes unsuc-
cessfully strove in his dying years to
remove Joseph Stalin from his role
play for posterity as a poster-boy for
a reality he neither envisaged nor
endorsed.
Lenin’s so-called ‘last testament’
wasn’t made publicly available in
the Soviet Union until it was includ-
ed in his collected works in the 1970s.
Given he rarely hesitated to
acknowledge his own mistakes or
resile from criticising the party that
postulated him as a father-figure, I
suspect he would have empathised

Evolution, along its denouement. Lenin, as the

Russian exile Vladimir Ilyich
Ulyanov was known among circles
many of whom were willing, in the
turbulent confusion of the times, to
operate within the bounds of the
teenage Lenin as proclaiming, with
his hand on his distraught mother’s
shoulder: “We will not follow that
as general secretary of the
Communist Party, or that he tried in
those same years to reverse some of
with Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost-
perestroika project. Gorbachev’s
“we cannot go on living like this”

with revolution,
familiar with his polemics, was an
implacable opponent of that war,
relentless in his criticism of social
democrats — not least in Germany
shaky bourgeois-democratic dispen- path.” Another possibly apocryphal the repressive policies that civil war catch cry resonates these days as a
sation that had displaced centuries account has him declaring: “I’ll exigencies had dictated. socialistic response and is trotted
of tsarist autocracy. Lenin had other make him pay for this!” What’s Perhaps he would have tried much out in so many parts of the world to
ideas, and by October they had been undoubtedly true, though, is that harder had he envisaged even in his rescue capitalism. If it is to go

is an aspect of — who had succumbed to the siren

song of nationalistic ‘patriotism’.
The kaiser’s underlings may well
Lenin’s legacy
have entertained second thoughts
about their enterprise had they even
an inkling of what their decision
would entail.
At the time, Lenin was largely an
unknown entity even among his
compatriots, at least outside intellec-
honed into the determination that
even the bourgeois phase of the post-
feudal transformation ought to be
overseen by a socialist government.
It was Lenin, and not subsequent
left-wing critics of the Soviet Union,
who coined the term ‘state capital-
ism’ — in his case not as a critique
but as a necessary concession to a
particular stage of development.
the young Vladimir’s high-school
headmaster, who admired his
pupil’s diligence, was Fyodor
Kerensky, the father of Lenin’s reac-
tionary bête noire Alexander
Kerensky in 1917.
There’s potentially another irony
of history in the fact that in that year
Lenin’s most indispensable com-
rade-in-arms was Leon Trotsky, who
most dreadful nightmares that
Stalin would go on exterminate his
closest comrades, culminating in the
assassination of Trotsky in Mexico
80 years ago. It’s safe to say that
Lenin would have been appalled by
the death cult that placed him on a
pedestal made of sand. His devoted
widow deeply resented the idea of
her husband being soaked in
beyond that, though, it must heed
Lenin’s warning against one step
forward, two steps back.
Lenin has innumerable biogra-
phers, and even the most hostile
among them tend to acknowledge
his greatness. It would be a shame to
let his legacy go to waste.
By arrangement with Dawn
 SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020 | CHENNAI
pg 7

 Franklin crisis to widen credit spread

quick Traders plan e-com platform
Debt to become as biggies integrate traders
BITES dearer for firms SANGEETHA G
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
crisis, but will be a per-
manent e-commerce plat-
form, which will digitise
INDICATORS % Amidst the standoff
between e-commerce play-
the entire trading commu-
nity,' Praveen
Sensex 31,327.22 -1.68 FALAKNAAZ SYED ers and small traders, the Khandelwal, secretary
Nifty 50 9,154.40 -1.71 MUMBAI, APRIL 24 traders are launching general of Cait, said.
S&P 500* 2,800.64 0.10 their own national e-com- Meanwhile, Amazon has
The Franklin Templeton merce marketplace while launched 'Local Shops on
Dollar (`) 76.45 -0.48 crisis is a double whammy some of the e-com giants Amazon', a programme
Pound Sterling (`) 94.07 91 -0.20 for the country's credit/ are increasingly integrat- that helps customers dis-
debt markets. Companies ing kirana stores on their cover products from local
Euro (`) 82.19 -0.048 already hit by the nation- platform. shops in their city. This is
Gold (Oz)* ($) 1,741.80 0.49 wide lockdown to contain The Department for expected to be a win-win,
the spread of Covid-19 pan- Promotion of Industry & Federation and Avana ernment has taken a U- as customers can benefit
Brent crude ($/bbl)* 21.50 0.80 demic will find it expensive Internal Trade (DPIIT) is Capital are promoting turn after coming under from access to greater
IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.167 1.735 to raise money, with the reportedly supporting this venture. Manufac- pressure from the trader selection and faster deliv-
US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 0.606 -0.982 lower rated entities getting trader body turers, distributors, body, which claims to rep- eries while local shops can
the most impacted. Confederation of All wholesalers, retailers of resent seven crore small transform themselves into
As of 8:00 PM IST According to experts, the rowers, which would result 25,000 crore it offered India Traders (Cait) in the all verticals of domestic traders. digital stores and expand
credit spread would widen in negligible collections at under its revised Targeted launch of the national e- trade and consumers will "During the current cri- their catchment area.
for all corporate bonds but least till May. Long Term Repo commerce platform. be part of the e-commerce sis, customers in tier- 2 Amazon had piloted this

Banking declared hit the lower rated compa-

nies the most.
Mihir Vora, chief invest-
ment officer at Max Life
Operations (TLTRO), indi-
cating that banks are reluc-
Various companies and
startups in the supply
platform.
The traders' decision on
and 3 cities, who are high-
ly dependent on these
programme for
months with over 5,000
six

public utility
Experts believe credit
risk funds are going to face
redemption pressure from
service till Oct. 21 investors worried about
the safety of their money
and several experts even
The government has declared expect the central bank to
banking industry as a public announce a liquidity win-
utility service for six months till dow to NBFCs and mutual
October 21 under the provisions funds similar to the one it
of the Industrial Disputes Act. had extended in 2008 at the
This bars the banking sector time of the global financial
Insurance, said, "Credit tant to lend to NBFCs. chain business are being the platform comes in the kirana stores for their local shops and retailers
spreads will further go up "This week a BBB+ rated roped in to help the local aftermath of the confu- daily supplies, are now from about 100 cities,
and make it more expen- NBFC raised Rs 25 crore kirana stores take orders sion between traders and facing challenges and to including Bengaluru,
sive for smaller and lower-
rated companies to raise
money. The low appetite for
through NCDs offering a
coupon rate as high as 12-13
per cent while we saw a
online and ensure last
mile contactless delivery.
e-commerce players over
the lockdown guidelines.
After giving verbal per-
overcome this situation,
the national e commerce
marketplace has been per-
Mumbai, Delhi,
Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur,
Ahmedabad, Coim-batore,
Accor-ding to Cait,
lower rated papers or so is AAA-rated entity raising Startup India, Invest mission to e-commerce ceived by DPIIT and Cait. Surat, Indore Lucknow,
only going to get worse. at slightly above 7 per cent, India, All-India Consumer players on delivering non- The operations will not be Saharanpur, Faridabad,
The tepid response to the both were under the Products Distri-butors essential goods, the gov- restricted to the present Kota and Varanasi.
latest round of LTRO just TLTRO," said an expert.
proves the point. We need Catching investors off
to wait and see whether guard, Franklin Templeton

Huge drop in life insurance premia in March

from strikes during the opera- crisis and then again in
tion of the law, starting from 2013 when mutual funds
April 21. In a circular dated faced a similar situation.
April 20, the Department of With banks in a risk-off
Financial Services said the mode, non-banking finance
labour ministry has declared companies (NBFCs) and
"banking industry as a public microfinance institutions
utility service" for six months. (MFIs) are currently facing
multiple challenges follow-
Printed & Published by
ing the spread of Covid-19,
T Venkateswarlu on behalf of Deccan given the stretched liquidi-
Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed & ty and frozen operations, a
Published at Deccan Chronicle Presses significant impact of the
situated at SP-3 Developed Plot, event is likely on their
Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai. asset quality in the near
Editor: T.Venkatram Reddy, RNI Reg. future. Many banks have
No. TNENG/2008/25473 Air surcharge Re remained undecided on
1. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in providing moratorium to
whole or in part without written per- such firms while the latter
mission of The Editor, Financial have already extended a
Chronicle ® is prohibited. moratorium to their bor-
mutual funds will see Mutual Fund late on
redemptions and whether Thursday announced
there is an appetite for winding up six debt
such supply." schemes, citing redemp-
Ashutosh Khajuria, exec- tion pressure and lack of
utive director at Federal liquidity in bond markets
Bank, said, "In case the due to the coronavirus pan-
Franklin Templeton inci- demic.
dent leads to more redemp- 'The negative senti-
tions in the debt scheme of ment...coupled with the
mutual funds they (funds) pessimism emanating
would be compelled to sell from the Covid-19 pandem-
their portfolio bonds. This ic, created a situation
may result in widening of where a large number of
spreads across the spec- investors started redeem-
trum. However, the lower ing from fixed income
rated bonds are likely to be funds, of which Franklin
affected the most." Templeton MF saw
The Reserve Bank of amongst the highest out-
India has received bids for flows,' according to
only about half the Rs Morningstar
SANGEETHA G
CHENNAI, APRIL 24
Life insurance companies
saw a 32 per cent decline in
new business premium in
March, though they
clocked a growth of 20 per
cent for the entire finan-
cial year. The number of
policies sold in March also
dropped by 66 per cent for
the companies.
Most companies lost part
of the year-end rush for
life policies due to the lock-
down, which was
announced on March 25.
As a result, the total new
business premium dipped
to Rs 25,409.30 crore in
March against Rs 37,459.36
crore in the same month
last year. While private life
insurers registered a
decline of 34.22 per cent in
their new premiums, Life
Ins-urance Corporation
saw a dip of 31.12 per cent,
as per the data from the
Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority.
"Many of the processes
are manual in the sale of
policies, like handing over
forms and physical trans-
portation of documents.
These get accumulated by
the month-end and year-
end and probably due to
the lockdown physical
transportation could not
have happened. There
could be business still in
the pipeline," said R. M.
Vishakha, MD and CEO of
IndiaFirst Life Insurance.
Among the large private
insurers, SBI Life's premi-
ums fell by 41.36 per cent,
ICICI Prudential by 32.26
per cent, HDFC Life by
19.26 per cent and Max Life
by 27.44 per cent.
However, for the entire
fiscal, life players grew
business by 20.60 per cent
to Rs 2.5 lakh crore from Rs
2.1 lakh crore in FY19. LIC
grew by 25.17 per cent and
private players grew by
11.64 per cent. At the end of
the fiscal, LIC had a mar-
ket share of 68.74 per cent.

COFFEE-BREAK
CALVIN AND HOBBES|Bill Watterson

Your day today By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam QUICK CROSSWORD

Aries: You’re a spendthrift; don’t get carried
away with others pushing you to spend. You’d
end up losing money. Luck brings you a win-
win situation.
Taurus: Foreign opportunities come your way.
Be quick to grab them. You’re humane and
thrive on love; there’ll be plenty of it currently. THE WIZARD OF ID|Parker and Hartsd
Career looks good.
Gemini: Past insecurities begin to disappear.
You’d emerge more confident. Fine arts pro-
fessional sign on new projects. You may con-
sider reuniting with a past love.
Cancer: Family relations feel strained.
Overindulgence in personal problems inhibits
making your mark. Enjoy romantic ecstasies
to avoid disappointments.
Leo: Friends may not help at crucial junctures.
Romance takes backseat because of other ARCHIE|Bill Henry Scarpelli & craig boldman
engagements. Convey romantic feelings, so a
trustworthy relationship grows.
Virgo: Colleagues may envy your rising popularity.
People might misunderstand your helpful nature. Use
your communication skills to ease up colleagues.
Your popularity among peers increases significantly. Across Down YESTERDAY’S ANSWER
1.Became invalid (6) 1. Heel over (4)
You share your b’day with 3. Curved support (4) 2. Social outcast (6)
Across: 1.
Trousseau, 6.
Alfredo James Pacino is an American actor and Owing, 7. Bliss, 9.
7. Father (4) 4. Mature (4) Tone, 10. Malign,
filmmaker. He is one of the performers who received 5. Recluse (6)
the Triple Crown of Acting. He is famously known for 8. Tent user (6) 12. Manual, 14. Fell,
17. Mogul,
his role in the films God Father and its sequels. 10. Showing favouritism 6. Moves out of (7) 18. Orbit, 19.
(7) 9. Starch (7) Starboard.
Libra: Enjoy your newfound respect and popularity; 13. Misdemeanour (7) 11. Clinging marine snail Down: 2. Reign, 3. BLONDIE|Dean Young and John Marshall
Urge, 4. Subway, 5.
don’t tarnish your image. Friendship bonds become 16. Grey lead alloy (6) (6) Alibi, 6. Optimum,
stronger—something you’ll remember for long. 17. Formal dance (4) 12. Petrol rating (6)
8. Singlet, 11.
Sailor, 13. Night, 15.
Celebrate your successes despite the highs and lows. 18. Prong (4) 14. Graceful bird (4) Ember, 16. Solo.
Scorpio: Encourage and appreciate your kids. 19. Only just (6) 15. Drama (4)
Your calm and determined attitude wins
everyone’s hearts. You may feel slightly Word Mine jumble
uneasy about life.
Sagittarius: Familial relationships may feel
slightly strained, with small but frequent
Y
squabbles. Beware if a loved one seems to be
in a particularly bad mood; steer clear. O T U
Capricorn: Some family members will shine
today. Today, fuss over family members who A R V N L ANDY CAPP |Reg Smythe
need a little extra attention. Show loved ones TODAY’S RATINGS: 31 AVERAGE; 34
how much you care. GOOD; 37 OUTSTANDING
Aquarius: Don’t shove work-life balance under How many words of four or more
letters can you make from the letters
the carpet; confront it. Reconciliation isn’t the shown in today’s puzzle? In making a
answer; try building harmony between the word, each letter may be used once
only. Each word must contain the
two — whether in love or married life. letter at the top of the pyramid.
There should be at least one nine
Pisces: You’ll be gentle with loved ones. Today’s letter word. Plurals, foreign words
about a positive mindset and a will to work hard. and proper names are not allowed.
You’d try to accomplish too much, too soon. Your
positive outlook ensures harmony and good your
rayon, royal, tray, truly, vary, VOLUNTARY, yarn,
cheer at home and work, helping finances too. ANSWERS: nary, navy, notary, only, outlay, ovary,

TARZAN|Edgar Rice Burroughs

T
bridge he Senior Life Master
instantly recognized
any newcomer. “Young
PHILLIP man, welcome to our hum-
ALDER ble bridge club. Have you
just moved to town?”
“Actually, I'm here for two
HE DID NOT days on business. But I'd
like to play some bridge this
SEE THE evening.”
“It is our pleasure to have
IMPENDING you, but the game doesn't
begin for an hour. Buy us a
FALL couple of drinks, then sit
here and tell me a bit about
yourself.”
When the young man
returned with the drinks, he because she was a much the scales fell from her eyes.
opened his mouth to say stronger player than he. “What weren't you think-
something, but the SLM Perhaps she had been dis- ing?” she cried. “West
beat him to the word: tracted by his muscular passed as dealer and then
We have a friendly club physique. showed up with the four top
(began the SLM). We have West cashed two top spades. How can he have
even had several marriages spades, East echoing to the heart king? Just play the
between members. And we
might have had another one
show a doubleton. Then
West shifted to the club 10.
ace and another heart.”
“I'm sorry, darling.”
but for this deal. (The SLM
passed the man a sheet of
Augustus won in hand and
ran the heart queen. But dis-
“Don't 'darling' me. Our
engagement is at an end.”
paper.)
South was Augustus
aster struck when East took
the trick and gave his part-
Masterson, playing with his
fiancee, Eleanor Weeburn-
ner a club ruff to defeat the
game. Copyright United Feature
Smythe. We were surprised Eleanor looked at her Syndicate
when they became engaged handsome partner, but then (Asia Features)
 GAMES
DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | SATURDAY | 25 APRIL 2020
SHORT TAKES
Pak pins former
captain Malik
Karachi: Former Pakistan cap-
tain Salim Malik cannot take up
any cricket activities in the
country despite a lower court
overturning the life ban
imposed on him for match-fix-
ing as he has failed to provide
to the PCB, details of a few
meetings he had in the UK.
A source in the Pakistan
Cricket Board said Malik has
still not responded to a notice
issued to him in 2013 to explain
the meetings he had after he
was banned in 2000.
“Malik, to date, has not
responded to the notice and
that is why the PCB and ICC are
not willing to give any clear
statement on why Malik is not
allowed to engage in any crick-
et activities. After the Board
banned him for life in 2000 on
the recommendations of Justice
(Retd) Qayyum judicial com-
mission, Malik had some meet-
ings in the UK, the transcripts
of which were obtained by the
ICC and which raised doubts
over the purpose of these
meetings,” the source said on
conditions of anonymity. — PTI
Match-fixers get
jail term in Spain
Madrid: A court in Spain sen-
tenced nine former soccer
executives, players, and busi-
nessmen to prison on Friday
after finding them guilty of col-
luding to fix the result of foot-
ball matches.
It is the first time someone
has been sent to prison for
match-fixing in Spain.
The investigation focused on
two matches at the end of the
2013-14 season in which
Osasuna's executives paid two
Real Betis players to influence
the outcomes.
A court in the region of
Navarra issued a sentence on
Friday that declared that for-
mer Osasuna executives paid
former Betis players Antonio
Amaya and Xabier Torres to
encourage them to beat Real
Valladolid in the penultimate
match and then lose against
Osasuna in the last match of
the season. The court sen-
tenced Amaya and Torres to
one year of prison. — AP
Child rapist
Hewitt out of jail
Johannesburg: Former tennis
champion and convicted child
rapist Bob Hewitt on Friday
walked out of jail after he was
granted parole, the South
African correctional services
ministry said.
Australia-born Hewitt was
convicted in May 2015 of raping
two girls aged 12 and 13 in the
early 1980s, and of indecently
assaulting a 17-year-old girl in
1994. He was sentenced to six
years imprisonment and has
been incarcerated at a jail in
the coastal Eastern Cape
province. Hewitt, 80, served the
minimum sentence period
required before he was consid-
ered for parole. “We can con-
firm the parole placement and
the parolee is now home,” the
ministry spokesperson
Singabakho Nxumalo said.
The disgraced former tennis
star’s previous attempts to get
his sentence reduced were
thrown out. — AFP
WADA WANTS
ANSWERS
FROM CHINA
Shanghai: The World Anti-
Doping Agency demanded
answers on Friday after reports
that Chinese swimming star Sun
Yang was called up for national
training for the Tokyo Olympics
in an apparent breach of his
doping ban.
The latest incident in the
colourful career of the three-
time Olympic champion comes
two months after he was given
an eight-year ban for refusing
to provide a doping sample.
Unless he is successful with an
appeal, the 28-year-old will not
be eligible for the Tokyo Games
in 2021 and his career is effec-
tively over. However, Chinese
media said on Thursday that
Sun had been included on a list
of swimmers called up for
national training between April
1 and June 30. — AFP
Regd. No.
TNENG/2010/35692
Printed & Published by
T. Venkateswarlu on behalf of
Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited
and Printed at
Deccan Chronicle Presses situated
at SP 3, Developed Plot, Industrial Estate,
Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.
RNI Registration No: TN ENG/2005/14987
Ph Nos: 22254747, 22254748, 22254750,
22254751
Editor: ADITYA SINHA
DOUBLE DECKER
India in driving seat for two World Cups: Rohit
New Delhi, April 24:
India limited overs vice-
captain Rohit Sharma
wants his team to win at
least two out of the next
three World Cups and says
the management is mak-
ing a conscious effort to
give young players ade-
quate chances to prove
themselves.
Rohit spoke his mind in
an Instagram live session
with former India spinner
Harbhajan Singh.
“My personal aim is that
we as a team should be
able to win at least two
World Cups out of three
coming up,” he said refer-
ring to the T20 World Cup
in 2020 and 2021 and 50-
over World Cup in 2023.
India have not won a
global event since the 2013
Champions Trophy. Rohit
had hit a record five hun-
dreds in the 2019 World
Cup but India could not go
beyond the semifinals.
“Probably, if we did not
lose wickets in the that
opening half hour
(against New Zealand), we
could have won the game.
Those 10 overs were really
important,” said Rohit,
recalling India's batting
collapse in the all-impor-
tant semifinals.
In the recent past, India
have tried many players
in the middle-order but
that department still
looks unsettled, though
Shreyas Iyer has emerged
as a solid number four.
“We keep talking about
backing players in the
team so that they can
cement their places.
There is a lot of pressure
on captain and coach to
pick the players and back
them.
“It is important to give
them enough chances. We
have heard about how
dada (Sourav Ganguly)
backed you (Harbhajan)
and Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh).
How they backed you and
then you delivered. Same
way we should do it, the
process is on. Whoever is
being backed at the
moment will get adequate
chances.”
Rohit recollected the
time when he got into the
Indian team.
“When you don't get a
consistent run, the play-
er’s confidence is hit. It
happened with me also. It
depends on the individual
how he utilises that oppor-
tunity.
“We should back the
players till the time you
are absolutely sure that he
is not in the scheme of
things in the long run,”
the vice-captain added.
— PTI
Chennai Super Kings captain M. S. Dhoni (left) and his
teammate Harbhajan Singh in this file photo.
Dhoni won’t play
for India: Bhajji
New Delhi, April 24:
Veteran off-spinner
Harbhajan Singh said he
doesn’t think Mahendra
Singh Dhoni will play for
India again, adding to the
guessing game over the
future of the superstar
former captain.
Dhoni, 38, has not
appeared for club or coun-
try since last year’s 50-
over World Cup and
India’s coronavirus lock-
down could threaten his
chances of getting back
into the national team.
The Indian Premier
League, the main plat-
form before this year's
scheduled T20 World Cup,
is likely to be truncated or
cancelled because of the
pandemic.
Harbhajan, who plays
with Dhoni at IPL side
Chennai Super Kings,
said international retire-
ment was on the cards for
Dhoni and that he was
Indian captain Virat Kohli (left) and his deputy Rohit Sharma share a light moment in this file photo.
Sachin turns 47, wishes pour
New Delhi, April 24: A
name synonymous with
most things good and per-
fect in Indian cricket,
Sachin Tendulkar on
Friday turned 47 and was
flooded with flattering
wishes from the sporting
fraternity.
The diminutive
Mumbaikar, the greatest
accumulator of runs in
the game's history, decid-
ed not to have any elabo-
rate celebrations this year
owing to the devastation
caused by the Covid-19
pandemic.
“Started my day by tak-
ing blessings from my
Mother. Sharing a photo of
Ganpati Bappa that she
gifted me. Absolutely
priceless,” he tweeted on
Friday well past after-
noon.
A former Rajya Sabha
Member of Parliament,
Tendulkar has slipped
into the retired life after
calling it quits in 2013,
offering perspective on
the game when sought
and staying busy with
social work.
“Happy birthday to the
man whose passion for the
game of cricket has
inspired many. Wishing
you an amazing year
ahead paaji,” tweeted
India captain Virat Kohli
and, like everyone else,
shared a picture with the
iconic right-hander,
increasingly being asked
about his teammate.
“It’s up to him. You need
to know whether he wants
to play for India again,”
Harbhajan said in an
online forum.
“As far as I know him, he
won’t want to wear India’s
blue jersey again. IPL he
will play, but for India I
think he had decided the
(2019) World Cup was his
last,” he added.
Dhoni, who gave up Test
cricket in 2014, started
training for the Super
Kings in March but has
not commented on his
international future.
Dhoni led India to win
the inaugural Twenty20
World Cup in 2007. He hit
a six to seal the 2011 World
Cup final victory and,
along with it, his status as
a national hero. He has
amassed 10,773 runs from
350 ODIs.
— PTI
Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (left) takes
the blessings of his mother on his 47th birthday in
Mumbai on Friday.
Not to be left behind was
his white-ball deputy
Rohit Sharma, who also
listed his favourite
Sachin humbled
me, says Saqlain
New Delhi, April 24:
Sachin Tendulkar and
Saqlain Mushtaq were
involved in umpteen
intense battles in the
1990s but one such duel
left the star Pakistan off-
spinner deeply embar-
rassed.
In one of his early bat-
tles with Tendulkar dur-
ing the Sahara Cup in
Canada, Saqlain thought
it would be a good idea to
sledge the champion bats-
man. As it panned out, the
wily off-spinner sledged to
never sledge the then
Indian captain again.
“I was new when I
sledged him for the first
time. If I recall correctly,
it was the 1997 edition.
Sachin quietly came up to
me and said ‘I never mis-
behaved with you, why
are you misbehaving with
me’? I got so embarrassed
that I did not know what
to say to him,” Saqlain
said on Tendulkar's 47th
birthday.
“He said to me ‘I rate you
high as a person and play-
er’. I was so embarrassed
that I never sledged him
again. I can’t tell you what
I said to him but I apolo-
gised to him after the
game.
“Thereafter, even when
he was smashing me all
over, I never thought of
sledging him,” recalled
the 43-year-old.
After the Sahara Cup,
which ran from 1996-98,
both were in the middle of
arguably their most mem-
orable battle during the
Chennai Test of 1999,
Tendulkar moments.
“Many happy returns of
the day to the great
man...My two best
I was new when I
sledged him for the first
time. If I recall correct-
ly, it was the 1997 edi-
tion. Sachin quietly
came up to me and said
‘I never misbehaved
with you, why are you
misbehaving with me’? I
got so embarrassed
that I did not know
what to say to him. I
never sledged him
again. I apologised to
him after the game.
— SAQLAIN
MUSHTAQ
former Pakistan
spinner
when Pakistan eked out a
12-run win despite an
“unbelievable” 136 from
Tendulkar.
Saqlain got the better of
Tendulkar in both the
innings and his match
haul of 10 wickets made
all the difference.
Tempers were running
high in that high stakes
game but even then
Saqlain said he never
tried to engage Tendulkar
verbally.
“In that 1999 Test, no
words were exchanged.
We both were determined
and focused to win the
game for our countries.
We put our heart and soul
in it (on Day Four). I con-
sider myself lucky that
my name was attached to
Sachin’s cricketing career
with that match. The only
difference that day was
that god was on my side,”
he added. — PTI
moments with him were:
1) Sharing the match win-
ning partnership at
Sydney against Australia
in the first final. 2)
Receiving my Test cap at
the Eden Gardens,” he
recalled.
Pace spearhead Jasprit
Bumrah called Tendulkar
“a true inspiration on the
cricket field and off it,
happy birthday Sachin sir,
I hope you have a great
day.” on Twitter.
The sentiment was
shared by several other
cricketers who posted
their wishes on their
respective social media
pages.
“Even though that the
battles on the cricket field
have now ceased, the
friendships will last forev-
er! Stay safe mate and
have a wonderful celebra-
tion Party popper,” tweet-
ed Brett Lee.
Ace table tennis player
A. Sharath Kamal was
also among those who
posted an elaborate mes-
sage for the maestro and
even had an interesting
proposal for him.
“To dominate a sport
consistently over a long
span of time is truly
incredible. A wonderful
role model for all young
athletes. Wishing you the
best on your birthday,
@sachin_rt,” he said.
— PTI
KOHLI, ABD TO
AUCTION GEAR,
RAISE FUNDS
New Delhi, April 24:
India skipper Virat Kohli
and former South Africa
batsman AB de Villiers
will auction their cricket-
ing gears, including the
bats with which they
scored hundreds for Royal
Challengers Bangalore
during an IPL match in
2016, to raise funds for the
fight against Covid-19
pandemic.
The items to be auc-
tioned also include their
respective gloves and
shirts from that particu-
lar game where both of
them had scored cen-
turies to power RCB to a
challenging 248 for 3
against Gujarat Lions.
RCB had won the match
by 144 runs.
“We had a few nice
knocks together. There is
a particular one in 2016
IPL against Gujarat
Lions. I got 129 and you
also got 100 right at the
end, that doesn’t happen
always when two batters
get 100s. It is a special
memory for me,” De
Villiers said during an
Instagram live chat.
RCB skipper Kohli, who
had scored 109 in that
match, said he would give
away anything for the
cause.
“It sounds amazing. I
don't think I will be able
to score that many runs
in a single season. I have
kept most of the things
from that season. For this
cause I will give anything
away,” Kohli said in
response. — PTI
pg 8
Just another day
for boxer Nadine
Washington, April 24: ● German boxer
With tears in her eyes, Nadine Apetz had
Nadine Apetz asked herself
“why not one more day?” waited four years,
The German boxer had and a ticket to the
waited four years, and a Tokyo Olympics was
ticket to the Tokyo tantalisingly close
Olympics was tantalisingly
close when the qualifying when the qualifying
tournament in London was tournament in
suspended because of the London was
coronavirus outbreak. suspended because
“One day longer and I
might have had it,” said of the coronavirus
Apetz, a 34-year-old welter- outbreak.
weight who is studying for
a doctorate in neuro- Likewise, lightweights
science. Luke McCormack of
“I was crying because I Britain and Nikolai
was so disappointed. You Terteryan of Denmark can
are so close to your biggest qualify in their next bout,
goal, and it’s all stopped,” while their welterweight
she added. twin brothers Pat
The pandemic has forced McCormack and Sebastian
many Olympic hopefuls to Terteryan can guarantee
wait it out, but the delay is spots with two more wins
particularly painful for the each.
European boxers who were The London competition
on the verge of qualifica- lasted long enough for 16
tion last month. Several boxers to qualify. Among
were only one victory them was British feather-
away. weight Peter McGrail.
The competition at the “Tokyo 2020 see ya there,”
Copper Box was suspended
after three days. A short
he wrote on Instagram, fol-
lowed by an expletive
time later, the Tokyo
Games were postponed for
about the virus.
Sixty-one European spots
one year and are now set to remain available.
open on July 23, 2021. “It was so painful for me.
They probably shouldn’t It’s difficult because we
have started it in the first have to go back to training.
place, Apetz said, citing It’s a lot of work, a lot of
public health risks.
Fighters including Apetz,
Emilie Sonvico of France
and Charley Davison of
Britain won their opening
sacrifice,” the 31-year-old
Sonvico, who like Apetz
was scheduled to fight
again on day four, said of
leaving London empty-
bouts. If they win their handed.
next one, they’ll qualify. — AP
DENMARK’S SHUTTLER
BOE HANGS HIS BOOTS
New Delhi, April 24: Denmark’s ace doubles expo-
nent Mathias Boe, a silver medallist at the 2012 London
Olympics and 2013 World Championships, called time
on his illustrious career.
In his career spanning two decades, the 39-year-old
Danish shuttler has partnered the likes of Michael
Jensen, Thomas Hovgaard and Michael Lamp, before
striking up a successful long-term combination with
Carsten Mogensen.
“Throughout my career, I have demanded of myself
that I would do everything I could to become the best
badminton player I could. But I have not been able to
do that lately. That is why it is time to stop,” Mathias
was quoted as saying by THE Badminton World
Federation (BWF).
“After announcing in February that the Thomas Cup
or Olympics would be my last tournament, I thought it
might give me the motivation to give me a 100 per cent
over the last few months, but unfortunately, it has had
the opposite effect. I have noticed that I have not been
there completely, neither for training nor for matches.
I have not had my thoughts in the right place. Mentally,
I am simply too exhausted,” he added. — PTI
Gambhir performs
final rites of help
New Delhi, April 24: Taking care of my little
India’s World Cup-winning
one can never be
former opener Gautam
Gambhir performed the
last rites of his deceased
domestic help. She was
family. Performing her
last rites was my duty.
domestic help after her
Always believed in digni-
mortal remains could not
be sent to her home in ty irrespective of caste,
creed, religion or social
Odisha due to the coron-
avirus-forced
lockdown.
national status.
— GAUTAM
Gambhir, also a Lok GAMBHIR
Sabha MP from the BJP,
posted a tribute on his
Twitter page for his
former Indian
cricketer
employee Saraswati Patra,
who was working at his
residence for the past six
She breathed her last while
undergoing treatment on
years.
“Taking care of my little
April 21.
Union Minister of
one can never be domestic Petroleum and Steel
help. She was family. Dharmendra Pradhan
Performing her last rites appreciated Gambhir.
was my duty,” he tweeted.
“Always believed in digni-
ty irrespective of caste,
creed, religion or social
“Taking care of Saraswati
throughout the course of
her illness, he also ensured
her dignity in death by per-
status. Only way to create a
better society. That’s my
idea of India! Om Shanti,”
said the 38-year-old
forming her last rites him-
self since her mortal
remains could not be sent
to her family back home in
Gambhir, who played 58 Odisha,” Pradhan, who
Tests for India between also belongs to Odisha,
2004 and 2016. tweeted.
Media reports in Odisha “His act of compassion
said the 49-year-old Patra will enliven the faith in
hailed from a village in humanity for millions of
Jajpur district. poor, who are working far
She was admitted to Sir from their home for liveli-
Ganga Ram Hospital a few hood and will garner
days ago and was battling respect from all folds of the
diabetes and high blood society,” Praddhan added.
pressure for a long period. — PTI
FIFA TO RELEASE $150M TO MEMBERS
Lausanne, April 24: FIFA will release $150 million (139
million euros) to its member football associations to help
handle financial troubles caused by the coronavirus, the
global governing body said on Friday.
FIFA said that “all operational funding” for 2019 and
2020 would be distributed amongst the 211 member asso-
ciations in the next few days “as the first step of a relief
plan to assist the football community impacted by the
Covid-19 pandemic”. Each national governing body will
receive $500,000, that FIFA says would normally be deliv-
ered “upon fulfullment of specific criteria”, but will
release those funds and any “remaining entitlement for
2019 and 2020”. — AFP