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- RYP DN/34/2013-2015
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?=B =4F34;78 exponential. Our effort is to
take advanced steps.”
early 20 per cent of the “A total of 8,356 positive

  Covid-19 positive cases
need ICU support in the coun-
cases have been reported in the
country. At least 909 new cases

 
 try. This has put acute pressure
on the health officials to
and 34 deaths have been record-
ed in 24 hours. A good news is
mobilise ventilators and other that 74 people have been cured
   life-saving support equipment. in the last 24 hours taking the
Addressing the daily Press total number of cured people to
   briefing here on Sunday, Union 716. Total 273 deaths have been
Health Ministry Joint Secretary reported so far.”


 Lav Agarwal said that on March About the preparations,
29, India had 979 positive cases Agarwal said the Government
  and 196 needed critical care and
?=B =4F34;78
ll eyes will be on Prime
A Minister Narendra Modi
when he outlines various
aspects that will regulate the
two-week extension of the
ongoing lockdown as agreed in
the meeting with Chief
Ministers on Saturday.
Now that the two-week
extension is a mere formality,
people will anxiously wait for
the PM’s announcement to see
what sort of sectoral “opening
up”, if any, is facilitated by the
Government to keep the econ-
omy going. Opening up farm
sectors to allow harvesting and
storage of standing crops and
incentivising sowing could fig-
ure in the PM’s speech. There
is also speculation about lim-
ited opening up of civil aviation
in some sector as well.
A positive interpretation of
E^[d]cTTabSXbcaXQdcTUaTTU^^Sc^_^^a_T^_[TSdaX]VP[^RZS^f]c^_aTeT]ccWT
b_aTPS^UcWT]TfR^a^]PeXadbX]cWT3fPaZPPaTP^U=Tf3T[WX^]Bd]SPh
has led to optimism that the
second phase of the lockdown
may witness graded opening up
of activities in other sectors
such as construction, road and
industrial activities. Thw
Government has already
allowed fishing activities on the
sea side in certain States.
The Prime Minister has
already suggested specific
measures for agriculture and
allied sector, including the
modification of Agriculture
Produce Market Committee
(APMC) laws to facilitate sale
of farm produce. He said the
crisis was an opportunity to
become self-reliant and turn
the nation into an economic
On Saturday while inter-
acting with Chief Ministers via
video conferencing in his third
such meeting, Modi hinted at
the need to strike a balance
between saving lives and reviv-
ing economic activity.
Suggestion to a phased open-
ing of air service is also under-
stood to have been given but
health experts have apparent-
ly not approved it.
It is understood that while
senior officials agree on the
importance of the lockdown to  CWTRdaaT]cbXcdPcX^]PRa^bbcWTV[^QTSdTc^2>E83 (_P]ST\XR
save Indian lives, they want
economic activity to be revived
as ports are jammed with con-  0"!hTPa^[S\P]fW^fPbd]STa^QbTaePcX^]U^aR^a^]PeXadb^]
tainers and major port cities
such as Mumbai and Chennai
0S^Rc^aPc5[d2^a]TaX]2WPaPZ?P[XZP7^b_XcP[ has identified 14 institutes,
oxygen. That time, 41,900 ded- including AIIMS and
icated Covid beds were avail- NIMHANS, to mentor medical
able in 163 State-run hospitals. colleges and expand Covid-19
“On April 4, when we testing capacity.
0?
required 580 beds, we had
67,500 beds, on April 9, 1,100
Agarwal said as on Sunday
India has 8,356 positive cases
need oxygen support and crit-
ical care treatment, and we have
and number can be exponen-
tial. Our effort is to take
Agarwal said AIIMS Delhi
is now equipped with 250 beds
beds were required but there and of these 20 per cent cases 1,05,000 dedicated Covid beds advanced steps, he said. including 50 ICU beds, and
were 8,5000 beds available in need ICU support. “That available in the country in 601 India, which is into the high dependent units attached
the country,” he said. means today 1,671 patients hospitals. This figure is impor- world’s biggest lockdown to with beds, and 70 ventilators.
tant to show that the combat spreading of the high- In Safdarjung Hospital, one
B834;867CB Government is planning things
in advance and is over pre-
ly contagious pathogen, on
Sunday reported an increase of
complete block has been con-
verted into Covid block and has
 CWT0iPS_da\P]SXcWT[PaVTbcfW^[TbP[TUadXcP]SeTVTcPQ[T\PaZTcX]
cWTR^d]cahWPbSTRXSTSc^X]ca^SdRT^SSTeT]ad[TbUa^\<^]SPhc^ pared, he said. 909 cases, taking the country’s 500 beds. “We have provided
\PX]cPX]b^RXP[SXbcP]RX]VX]cWTfPZT^UcWTR^a^]PeXadb^dcQaTPZ8c In addition, the total number of coronavirus 1,680 beds to Andhra Pradesh.
WPbP[b^QTT]STRXSTSc^bcPVVTacX\X]Vb¯%P\c^ P\U^abP[T^U Government is also increasing cases to 8,356 by Sunday morn- As on today there were 148
eTVTcPQ[TbP]S!_\c^%_\U^abP[T^UUadXcb¯PccWT\P]SX the number of dedicated Covid ing. The number rose to 900 ventilators available, we pro-
hospitals and isolation facilities plus by late in the evening and vided 444 additional ventila-
 FXcW²a^cXP]SRWdc]Th³[XUTX]7X]SdaTUdVTTRP\_V^Tb^]fXcW^dc\dRW as per the evolving situations States were still reporting. tors. One special medical offi-
WT[_Ua^\^dcbXST)BXccX]V]TPacWT\dSbc^eTX]WTa\PZTbWXUcbT\X_dZZP and precautionary measures Agarwal said, “This is a cer is appointed in every
W^dbT^]cWTQP]Zb^UcWTHP\d]PAP]X3PbXbf^]STaX]VfWPcXUcWT because this is a pandemic pandemic and numbers can be State.”
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! "  #"
_aXePcTR^[[TVTfWTaTWTfPb_dcX]`dPaP]cX]T^UUXRXP[bbPXS7XbcTbc
his remark “Jaan bhi, jahan bhi” powerhouse. are hit by the pandemic. aTbd[cbfTaTPfPXcTSbPXS3XbcaXRc<PVXbcaPcTBdWPb;H
!$$
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n what is turning out to be a
Iauthorities,
nightmare for the health
15 more persons
tested positive for coronavirus
in Mumbai’s Dharavi on
Sunday, taking the total num-
ber of infected cases to 43 in
Asia’s largest slum.
Of the 15 new infected per-
sons, nine have been quaran-
tined at the Rajiv Gandhi
Sports Complex. “All these
nine cases are high-risks con-
tacts of Social Nagar patient
who died at KEM Hospital and
those who tested positive in
Madina Nagar. Four new pos-
itive cases have been reported
in Shastri Nagar, while two per-
sons have tested positive in
Janata Cooperative Housing
society,” a Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC)
official from G/North Ward in
north central Mumbai said.
Of the new cases, two are
women aged 20 and 24 years.
The remaining 13 are male
patients in the age group of 18
years and 66 years.
There have been four
Covid-19 deaths in the most
densely populated slum. Of
the fatalities, two deaths have
been reported from Dr Baliga
Nagar, while one person suc-
cumbed to Covid-19 in Social
Nagar. The remaining one
death has been reported from
Kalayanwadi.
<PWX\3WPaPeX<TSXRP[?aPRcXcX^]Tab´0bb^RXPcX^]\T\QTabfTPaX]V_a^cTRcXeT
bdXcbbRaTT]aTbXST]cb^UPW^dbX]Vb^RXTchX]<d\QPX^]Bd]SPh
The break-up of 43 infect-
ed cases reported so far includ-
ed: Five cases from Dr Baliga
Nagar, two cases from Vaibhav
Apartments, nine cases from
Mukund Nagar, two cases from
?C8
Madina Nagar, five cases from
Muslim Nagar, 6 cases from
Social Nagar, four cases from
Janata Housing Society, two
cases from Kalaynwadi and
one case each from Dhanwada
Chawl, PMGP colony,
Murugan Chawl and Rajiv
Gandhi chawl.
Not wanting to take any
chances, health workers con-
ducted door-to-door screening
of all the Dharavi residents.
Simultaneously, a team of local
private doctors of Dharavi and
BMC medical staff checked the
temperature and enquired the
residents about their travel
history. Over 150 doctors,
working under the auspices of
Indian Medical Council and
Maharashtra Medical Council,
have been assisting the BMC in
the screening drive.
The medical teams will
report to the BMC on the
number of persons who have
shown symptoms for coron-
avirus. “All those who have
symptoms are being kept in
quarantine,” a BMC officer
said.
M ahavir Enclave in
zones, areas where movement
of people is strictly prohibited.
Areas which are seen as high-
In both these areas, the
Government will launch a mas-
sive sanitisation drive to min-
Southwest Delhi was on
Sunday identified as the new
risk zones are being classified
as orange.
imise spread of the infection.
Continued on Page 2
COVID-19 hotspot by the
Delhi Government, which
ordered its sealing. It has taken
the total number of such zones
in the city to 34, an official said.
On Sunday, the total num-
ber of COVID-19 cases in the
national Capital climbed to
1,154, with 166 fresh cases
and five deaths being reported
in a day.
A Government order
expanding the list of contain-
ment zones came hours after
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
announced the city
Government’s decision to seal
every locality that reports a
Covid-19 case.
The Delhi Government’s
“Operation SHIELD” will come
into force in these areas.
All the containment zones ?^[XRT_Tab^]]T[_Pca^[Pc1Q[^RZ^U9PWP]VXa_daXPaTPX]=Tf3T[WX^]Bd]SPh ?C8
have been classified as red

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?=B 270=3860A7?0C80;0
group of “Nihangs” (Sikhs
A armed with traditional
weapons and dressed in loose
blue top) chopped off an police
officer’s hand and injured three
other Punjab Policemen after
being stopped from violating
the lockdown in Patiala district,
triggering a police operation in
which shots were fired and 11
people arrested at a gurdwara.
In a latenight information,
doctors at the Chandigarh’s
PGIMER reattached the 50-
year-old ASI’s hand after an
over seven-hour long surgery,
officials said.
As many 11 people, includ-
ing a woman, were arrested
from a local Gurdwara after
exchange of fire in connection
with the attack on the police
party at Patiala vegetable mar-
ket in the morning, where the
group fled after the 6.15 am
incident in Sanaur town.
One of the arrested men
suffered gunshot wound, while
a mandi official was also hurt
earlier. “We have recovered
arms, C39 lakh cash, tradi-
tional arms like irons rods,
khanda, bhaale (javelin), and
cannabis during the raid on
the gurudwara. Weapons,
including guns and petrol
bombs, have also been recov-
ered from the hideout,” said
Patiala’s Senior Superintendent
of Police (SSP) Mandeep Singh
Sidhu.
Video clips regarding the
incident have been doing the
rounds on the social media,
attracting criticism from all
over the country, cutting
across party lines.
Strongly condemning the
attack, Chief Minister Captain
Amarinder Singh has warned
that anyone violating the cur-
few, imposed in the State since
March 23 to check the spread
of Covid-19 pandemic, would
be strictly dealt with.
R_eZ4`gZU`aW`c#Tc^Rd\d
0A270=09H>C8 =4F34;78
A round 88,000 Self Help
Group (SHGs) women
across the countr y have
emerged as community war-
riors to help contain the spread
of deadly Covid-19. These
“unsung” warriors are doing
their bits by producing masks,
Personnel Protection
Equipment (PPE) and lakhs of
litres of hand sanitisers day and
night for frontline staff as well
as countless citizens.
Some of them have also
produced liquid soaps to help
in keeping hand hygiene as the
country grapples to check the
deadly contagion. There are
approximately 690 lakh women
members of around 63 lakh Self
Help Groups (SHGs) across the
country.
As the masks are the first
line of defence against COVID-
19 and the Government has
made mandatory wearing
masks in public places, 78,373
SHG members under the
Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-
National Rural Livelihoods
Mission (DAY-NRLM) of the
Union Ministry of Rural
Development have taken upon
themselves to produce 1.96
crore masks besides other safe-
ty gears.
These are various cate-
gories of masks, including 2-3
ply woven and non-woven sur-
gical masks, cotton masks etc,
which adhere to the advisories
of Union Health Ministry and
Ministry of Consumers’ Affairs.
SHG members have now the first to respond and have
also started making PPE like produced about 78,000 masks
aprons, gowns, face shields etc, since March 22, 2020.
said an official from the Union These masks were being
Rural Development Ministry. sold at the premises of various
“Around 78,373 SHG district collectorates and sub-
members are presently involved sidised medical stores at an
in manufacturing of masks. affordable price of Rs 10,” said
Jharkhand SHGs were among the officer.

20?BD;4
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[fdee`e`aa]V>A 8`ge+4`_X BC055A4?>AC4A=4F34;78

medium-intensity earthquake shook

?=B =4F34;78
fter weeks of ceasefire on
A political front, the
Congress on Sunday went on
offensive against the Modi
Government , accusing it of
delaying the nationwide lock-
down just to topple the Madhya
Pradesh Government.
Former Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Kamal Nath
alleged that senior party leader
Rahul Gandhi at various plat-
forms including social media
had indicated the threat posed
by Covid-19 early February
onwards, but the BJP-led
Centre’s entire machinery and
energy was dedicated to push
MP into political crisis.
One-and-a-half-year-old
Kamal Nath Government had
to make way for Shivraj Singh
Chouhan after several
Congress MLAs defected to the
BJP last month when senior
Congress leader Jyotiraditya
Scindia quit the grand old
party to join the BJP.
“Madhya Pradesh is the
only State which has no Health
Minister and no
Home Minister...Shivraj Singh
Chouhan took oath as Chief
Minister on March 23, and the
lockdown began a day later,”
Nath said at an AICC media
briefing. “Rahul ji had on
February 2 drawn the attention
of the Government to
the threat posed by coron-
avirus.
However, the Centre
delayed action because it was
more interested in toppling
the Government in Madhya
Pradesh,” he said.
A Delhi-NCR on Sunday at 5.45 pm. The
3.5 magnitude tremor with epicentre locat-
ed at Latitude 28.7N and Longitude 77.2E at
a depth of 8 kilometre in Northeast Delhi
prompted panic-stricken people to rush
out of their homes.
“The earthquake’s epicentre was in
Wazirabad in Northeast Delhi at the depth
of 8 kilometres,” said JL Gautam, Head
(Operations), National Centre for Seismology
(NCS). The tremors were also felt in neigh-
bouring Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad.
There was no immediate report of any dam-
age. An earthquake of magnitude 2.8 had hit
the national capital in 2004.
Another quake of magnitude 3.4 was
9P\\d)?PZXbcP]R^]cX]dTS
d]_a^e^ZTSbWT[[X]V^]U^afPaS
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recorded in the city in 2001. bca^]VP]STUUTRcXeTaTcP[XPcX^]
Soon after the earthquake, humour took QhcWT8]SXP]0a\hPSTUT]RT
the stage on social media with people. b_^ZTb\P]bPXSCWTRa^bb
Joining other tweeples was Delhi’s Deputy Q^aSTaUXaX]VfPbbcX[[V^X]V^]
Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. PRR^aSX]Vc^[PcTbcaT_^acb
“Wasn’t coronavirus enough that an ?PZXbcP]WPbaT_TPcTS[heX^[PcTS
earthquake had to occur too,” Sisodia tweet- RTPbTUXaTU^aPfTTZ
ed in Hindi.
A08?DAk<>=30H k0?A8; "!! ]PcX^]!
4feeZ_XRTc`ddaRcej]Z_Vd]VRUVcdT`_UV^_ReeRT\`_T`ad
?=B 270=3860A7
utting across party lines,
C political leaders on Sunday
condemned the brutal attack
on the Punjab police by a
group of nihangs in Patiala
while seeking strict action
against the perpetrators of the
crime.
In a shocking incident on
Sunday morning, an officer’s
hand was chopped off with a
sword and two other Punjab
policemen injured when a
group of nihangs attacked them
after being asked to show cur-
few passes at a vegetable mar-
ket in Patiala district.
Eleven people, including
five attackers, were arrested
hours later after an exchange of
fire at a gurdwara where the
group fled after the 6.15 am
incident in Sanaur town.
Reacting to the incident,
the Chief Minister Capt
Amarinder Singh asked police
to take strict action against law-
breakers. “Police Party on Naka
2P_cP__TP[b_T^_[Tc^bcPhX]S^^ab 7_fdS\QY]cU^_eWX 7PahP]P2<X]cTaPRcbfXcW
^]1PXbPZWXST[XeTa0aSPbUa^\W^\T cd_S[_V`b_dUSdYfU aTR^eTaTS2^eXS (_PcXT]cb
?=B 270=3860A7
unjab Chief Minister Capt
P Amarinder on Sunday
appealed to the people to pray
(deliver ardas) at 11 am on
Monday, on the occasion of
Baisakhi, from their homes
for the State’s victory over the
deadly Covid-19 enemy, for the
protection of their children
and the future generations.
Capt Amarinder, in a
Baisakhi eve message to the
people of Punjab, said that
this was a different Baisakhi in
view of the coronavirus pan-
demic as a result of which peo-
ple could not go out to celebrate
the festival with traditional
fervor, in large congregations.
“It is necessary for all to
stay at home, in this difficult
time, and observe the occasion
with prayers for the total elim-
ination of Covid-19 from the
state,” he said.
“Let us pray to Wahe Guru
to keep us, and our Punjab, in
the Charhdi Kala, to keep us
safe and happy always,” urged
the Chief Minister, pointing out
that even the Akal Takht and
SGPC had appealed to the
people not to congregate or
gather outside to celebrate
duty was attacked today in
which one ASI's hand was cut
off and 6 were injured. Police
cornered the culprits and have
taken them into custody. Have
given instructions to the
@PunjabPoliceInd to deal with
anyone breaking the law in
strictest possible manner,” the
CM tweeted.
Akali stalwart and former
Chief Minister Parkash Singh
Badal too condemned the
attack, saying, “There is no
place for violence in a civilized
society.”
Badal said that the police
throughout the country have
been performing a difficult
task most selflessly. The five-
time CM urged the people to
cooperate with the Centre and
the State Government against
the coronavirus outbreak.
Describing the incident as
barbaric, Shiromani Akali Dal
chief Sukhbir Singh Badal
sought action against “those
who break the law”.
“The barbaric attack on
Baisakhi this year.
Expressing the hope and
confidence that Punjab would
be victorious over pandemic,
Capt Amarinder appealed to
the people to do their duty in
this battle, just as lakhs of
frontline warriors were doing
to keep them safe and protect-
ed.
He thanked the doctors,
nurses, paramedical staff, other
health and sanitation workers,
the police, the revenue staff, the
religious organizations, the
NGOs and everyone else
engaged in fighting the battle
at the frontline, putting their
own lives on the line.
He also thanked the SSPs
and the DCs for managing the
situation so effectively and effi-
ciently, and expressed the con-
fidence that they would all con-
tinue to work relentlessly even
in the coming days in the inter-
est of Punjab and its people.
Pointing to the global
Covid-19 crisis, the Chief
Minister said that the situation
was relatively better in Punjab,
and in fact across India, due to
the early lockdown or curfew
and its strict enforcement. It
was important to continue
with these stringent and diffi-
C02:;8=62>A>=0E8ADB
cops by anti-social elements at
Subji Mandi in Patiala is con-
demnable. All necessary steps
should be taken to maintain
law and order and everyone
should cooperate with author-
ities. Those taking law into
their own hands like this
should be dealt with severely,”
Sukhbir tweeted.
Flaying the brutal attack,
the Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee pres-
ident Gobind Singh Longowal
asked the people to follow the
curfew restrictions.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
state unit chief and Sangrur MP
Bhagwant Mann demanded
“strictest action” against the
accused.
Senior advocate and AAP’s
former Dakha MLA HS
Phoolka sought “exemplary
punishment” for the accused.
“As culprits are arrested now,
file charge sheet in two days
and request court to complete
trial within a week. It’s attempt
to murder with injury, life
cult measures, despite the
inconvenience and frustration
being caused to everyone, he
added.
Underlining the need to
continue with such strict
restrictions, he cited various
studies or research papers,
models or expert opinion to
stress that if we do not imple-
ment the lockdown in the
coming days, the situation
could get out of control.
“The numbers being pro-
jected by all these experts etc in
the absence of isolation or
lockdown are scary,” he point-
ed out.
Though there were some
problems with the supply chain
at the beginning of clamp-
down, things were now on
track and would improve fur-
ther in the coming days, said
the Chief Minister, assuring
every person in the State of his
government’s full support in
this hour of crisis.
He promised the migrant
labourers and other poor or
needy people that his govern-
ment will continue to take
care of them, and ensure that
not a single one of them will go
hungry, till the Covid-19 crisis
ends.
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imprisonment is maximum
punishment. Culprits should be
awarded life imprisonment to
send a message,” he tweeted.
Union Minister Harsimrat
Kaur Badal also demanded
strict time-bound action
against the accused and urged
people to cooperate with the
authorities amid the lockdown.
UaeY`]U^dY^CdQdU
?=B 270=3860A7
mid surge in Covid-19 pos-
A itive cases in the State,
Haryana Government on
Sunday claimed that there is an
adequate stock of essential pro-
tective equipments available in
hospitals and medical colleges to
effectively combat the novel
corona virus.
The protective equipments
include 3-ply masks, hand san-
itizers, hydroxychloroquine 200
mg tablets, N95 Masks, PPE kits
and VTM media available in
hospitals and medical colleges to
effectively combat the novel
Coronavirus.
The State Government’s
claims also came after a media
report where the resident doctors
working at the ESIC Medical
College and Hospital in
Faridabad had stated that per-
sonal protective equipment
(PPE) has not been provided to
them. The doctors, who had
declared a symbolic indefinite
strike in protest are reportedly
providing treatment to the
patients while wearing black
bands.
“The shocking #attack on cops
by anti- social elements at Sabji
Mandi in #Patiala has shaken
everyone. Strict time bound
action & punishment should be
given to these goons. I appeal
to everyone to cooperate with
the civil & police admn in these
difficult times,” she tweeted.
Condemning the inhuman
attack, another Union Minister
Hardeep Singh Puri demanded
an “exemplary punishment”
for the members of a Sikh sect
saying that “such criminals and
anarchists” should be brought
to justice at the earliest.
“The inhuman attack on
policemen in Patiala needs to
be condemned in the strongest
of terms. Such criminals and
anarchists should be brought to
justice at the earliest. They
deserve exemplary punish-
ment,” he tweeted.
THREE CASES REGISTRED
Three separate cases —
one regarding the attack on
police party at Sabzi Mandi,
Notably, 16 new cases were
tested positive for Covid-19 in
Haryana on Sunday, taking the
total tally to 181 in the State.
An official spokesman of
Haryana Government said that
Haryana Medical Services
Corporation Limited (HMSCL)
has been supplying stocks to dif-
ferent hospitals as well as gov-
ernment medical colleges in the
State. It has also been decided
by Chief Minister Manohar
Lalthat private medical colleges
can also procure supplies from
HMSCL.
As on April 12, the
spokesman said that the stock of
21,458 PPE kits, 62,599 N95
masks, 8,414 VTM vials
10,25,718 gloves, 10,64,929 triple
layer mask and 47,430 hand san-
itizer are available in all district
hospitals. Apart from this, the
stock of essential medical sup-
plies available with medical col-
leges for COVID-19 included
12,961 PPE kits, 55,142 N-95
masks, 7,81,555 triple layer mask,
25608.62 liters of sanitizer, 2 062
VTM, 8,78,617 gloves and
3,90,392 Hydroxychloroquine
tablets.
second regarding Gurudwara
incident, and third under
Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances
(NDPS) Act — have been reg-
istered against the accused.
The first has been regis-
tered at Sadar Patiala police sta-
tion for attempt to murder,
grievous hurt, rioting, attack on
public servant under the Indian
penal Code (IPC), and also
under provisions of the
Disaster Management Act,
2005 against Balwinder Singh,
Jagmeet Singh, Bant Singh and
Nirbhav Singh.
The second case has been
registered against 11 persons,
including the woman, at
Passiana police station for
attempt to murder, attack on
police Party, 54 DMA Act
2005, Sections 3, 4 Explosives
Act, sections 13,16,18,20 of
UAPA Act 1967, Sections 25,
54, 59 Arms Act.
Another case under NDPS
Act was registered for recovery
of five to six bags of poppy husk
?=B 270=3860A7
H aryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal on Sunday
said that about 25,000 people
have been kept under surveil-
lance and samples of around
3900 people have been sent for
testing for coronavirus so
far.
He said that all types of
necessary arrangements have
been made by the State
Government to fight this pan-
demic.
As a result of these arrange-
ments, positive patients who
after getting treatment in the
hospitals, have returned to
their homes after full
recovery.
Such people are a source of
positive energy and inspiration
for all of us, said the Chief
Minister while interacting with
the people about the present
situation of Covid-19 in the
State during the 'Haryana Aaj'
program.
He appealed to the people
of the state that they have to
keep their spirits high to fight
the Covid-19 battle
The Chief Minister said
that the arrangements being
and other drugs from Khichri
Sahib Complex, Balbera, where
the Nihangs were living. Their
property will also be attached
on account of the recovery of
commercial quantity of drugs.
SEVERED HAND OF
POLICE OFFICER RE-
IMPLANTED
After nearly eight hours of
surgery, a team of doctors at the
PGI on Sunday successfully re-
implanted the left hand of
Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI)
of Punjab Police that was
chopped off in a clash by
Nihang Sikhs in Patiala.
The 50-year-old patient
had an amputation through the
proximal wrist of left hand, the
PGI said in a statement.
The reimplantation was
started around 10 a.m. after ini-
tial preparation of the amputat-
ed part. Both radial and ulnar
arteries, the vena comitantes and
an extra dorsal vein were anas-
tomosed (reconnection of blood
verssels). All the flexors and
made to fight the coronavirus
in Haryana were better than the
other States.
He interacted live with five
people and their families, who
have now returned to their
homes after recovery. The
Chief Minister congratulated
them for their victory and
asked them to share their sto-
ries of survival and their hos-
pital experiences.
Manju, who has recovered
from the virus after getting
treatment from PGIMS
Rothak, said that on March 23,
she was tested positive and after
that she was admitted in the
hospital for 10 days and had
now returned home.
She said that firstly there
was nervousness in her mind
but then the treatment and
humane behaviour of the doc-
tors towards her helped a lot in
her recovery.
Similarly, Kapil Chopra, a
resident of Gurugram, shared
that on March 22-23, he had
fever and was admitted to pri-
vate hospital, while on April, 2
he was tested positive for
Covid-19 after undergoing test
for pneumonia.
He said that after being
extensor tendons were repaired,
the statement said.
All the nerves at the wrist
required bony fixation done
using three K-wires. The approx-
imate time taken was about 7.5
hours. The PGI said this was
technically very complex and
challenging surgery, which was
successfully done. It was evalu-
ated at the end of surgery that
hand is viable, warm with good
circulation, it added.
After a phone call from
Director General of Police
Dinkar Gupta, PGI Director
Jagat Ram activated the emer-
gency team at Advanced
Trauma centre and he gave the
responsibility to Ramesh
Sharma, Head Department of
Plastic Surgery, for hand re-
implantation.
The surgery team com-
prised Sunil Gaba, Jerry R.
John, Suraj Nair, Mayank,
Chandra, Shubendu, Ankur,
Abhishek and Purnima, while
the nursing team comprised
Arvind, Sneha and Arsh.
treated for almost two and
half weeks, he got discharged
on Sunday morning only.
The Chief Minister also
spoke to Amrit Pal Singh, a res-
ident of Faridabad and Manu,
a resident of Gurugram, who
were hospitalized at Safdarganj
Hospital, Delhi.
He appealed to the people
to have a sympathetic behav-
iour towards those who have
recovered from Covid-19 and
have returned to their
homes.
Manohar Lal further said
that during the lockdown peri-
od the economic condition of
the people has been affected,
whether it is farmer, labourer
or small shopkeeper.
He appealed to the people
that we have to think how to
help such people to recover
from their economic
crisis. The State Government is
making all out efforts in this
direction, he added.
The Chief Minister said
that those who are living in
their homes during the lock-
down period and living in
quarantine should also utilize
this time wisely and infuse new
positive energy.

( #%[PZWaTbXST]cbbRaTT]TSX]DCcX[[Bd]SPh Cf^\^aT

?=B 270=3860A7 medical teams are not using ating important offices only the UT officers to maintain the _^bXcXeTRPbTb

  ) A
?=B 270=3860A7
aryana Home Minister
H Anil Vij on Sunday said
that wearing of face masks has
been made compulsory while
stepping outside homes in the
state during the lockdown and
anybody found violating the
orders will face action as per
law.
“I have issued orders with
immediate effect that anyone
who ventures outside home will
have to wear a mask. Anyone
violating the orders will face
action,” Vij, who is also the
Health Minister, said.
Those found violating the
instructions will be punishable
under Section 188 (disobedi-
ence to order duly promulgat-
ed by public servant) of the IPC
and the police authorities are
empowered to take action
against the violators, he
said.“People can wear a mask
or cover their face with cloth,
scarves etc,” he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar too had
appealed to people across the
state to wear masks whenever
they venture out.
Notably, Haryana has wit-
nessed a spike in number of
Covid-19 cases in the past few
days and the total number of
such cases on Sunday rose to
179 including five health pro-
fessionals with a doctor and
two nurses among them.The
worst affected districts of the
state with maximum number of
positive cases are Nuh (45),
Gurugram (32), Faridabad (31)
and Palwal (29).
As many as 261 contain-
ment and buffer zones have
been set up across the state
including those falling in the
four worst affected districts.
These zones will be complete-
ly sealed as no movement of
people inside these zones will
be allowed as a measure to
check the spread of infection,
he said.
Vij has maintained that
the spike in positive cases was
due to a number of Tablighi
Jamaat members testing posi-
tive. On Sunday, he said that
“107 Tablighi Jamaat mem-
bers” are among those who
have tested Covid-19 positive.
With a majority of private
clinics closed these days, Vij
urged doctors to keep the
establishments open in such
difficult times. “I am appeal-
ing to private doctors. During
these difficult times, they
should open their clinics in the
state. Over 70 per cent of them
have closed their clinics.
Whether government or pri-
vate doctors, both will have to
discharge their duties," he
said.
“There are many people
who suffer from ailments like
diabetes, heart and kidney dis-
ease and other major and
minor ailments for which they
used to consult private doctors
too. Many people have com-
plained that they are unable to
access the private doctors as
they have shut down their clin-
ics,” he pointed out.
The Government was
making an appeal to these
doctors to open their clinics
and provide their services, the
minister said.
He said the Government
can make the doctors to open
their clinics by invoking pro-
visions of the Epidemic
Diseases Act and the Disaster
Management Act. Yet, for the
moment we want to request
them that they should open
clinics on their own, Vij
said.
The minister, meanwhile,
praised the way safai karam-
charis (sanitary workers) are
carrying out sanitisation work
across the state to minimise
chances of any infection in the
wake of Covid-19 outbreak.
The Minister also sought to
assure that there were sufficient
stocks of personal protection
equipment (PPE) needed by
doctors, nurses and paramed-
ical staff in government hospi-
tals.
s many as 4.6 lakh resi-
dents have been covered
till Sunday under the ongoing
door to door screening for
coronavirus symptoms in the
city.
“4,64,600 persons have
been covered in the city so far.
On Sunday, 64,061 persons
were screened by 67 medical
teams of GMSH- Sector 16 in
areas like Milk Colony, Dhanas,
EWS Dhanas, Sector 20 and
Sector 30,” said UT Adviser
Manoj Parida.
He said that the entire city
could be covered within a peri-
od of 10 days.
Chandigarh has an esti-
mated population of 12 lakh.
On a question that the
%]TfRPbTbX]7PahP]PcPZTcP[[hc^ '
?=B 270=3860A7
ixteen persons were tested
SHaryana
positive for Covid-19 in
on Sunday, taking
the total tally to 181 in the
State.
Among the fresh cases
reported on Sunday, seven of
the total 16 fresh cases were
from the worst-hit Nuh district.
Kurukshetra district, which
had so far remained
Covid-19 free, reported two
cases.
Among other districts,
Yamunanagar reported three
cases, Faridabad two cases
while Jind and Karnal report-
ed one case each.
Out of total positive cases,
the total number of active
Covid-19 cases in the State now
stands at 149, as per the State
Health Department's daily bul-
letin. 30 people have been dis-
charged from the hospital after
recovery. The State has record-
ed two Covid-19 related deaths
so far.
Among the total coron-
avirus cases reported in
any equipment and only
inquiring about symptoms of
Covid-19 in the residents, the
Adviser said that this is pre-
liminary screening and resi-
dents should be honest about
any symptoms of the virus.
Every suspect case will be
taken to the hospital for testing,
he added
He also informed that
IMTECH Chandigarh has also
started testing samples for
coronavirus in the city.
Parida further said that
the Administration is waiting
for detailed orders from
Central Government regarding
functioning of offices. The
union territory of Chandigarh
will follow the Central
Government pattern for oper-
Haryana, 10 are foreign nation-
als while 64 are from other
states, as per the bulletin. The
worst affected districts of the
state with maximum number of
positive cases are Nuh (45),
Gurugram (32), Faridabad (31)
and Palwal (29).
A day before, Haryana
Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar had said that four dis-
tricts including Gurugram,
which have reported the max-
imum number of coronavirus
cases will be declared "red
zones", meaning stricter restric-
with skeleton staff from April
14 onwards.
Curfew was imposed in
Chandigarh on March 24 (12
am) till April 14 to ensure
social distancing and combat
the spread of Covid-19.
However, curfew relaxation
from 11 am to 3 pm was
allowed from March 27
onwards by the UT
Administration to facilitate the
residents to buy essential items
in the city.
Chandigarh has so far
reported 21 positive coron-
avirus cases, out of which seven
have recovered.
Meanwhile, Punjab
Governor and UT
Administrator VP Singh
Badnore on Sunday directed
tions will placed in the areas to
check the spread of the
virus.
The four districts -
Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh
and Palwal- account for more
than 100 cases out of the 181
cases reported in the state.
Many areas in these districts
have already been declared
containment zones.
As per the state’s bulletin,
out of total 181 confirmed
cases, 10 are foreign nationals
i.e. 6 are from Sri Lanka, 1 each
from Nepal, Thailand,
supply lines of essential com-
modities at all costs.
During his daily review
meeting, the Administrator
also said that adequate stock of
vegetables, medicines, essential
items are available and people
should not resort to unneces-
sary over-purchasing.
The Administrator was
apprized that the
Administration continued its
strict implementation of curfew
orders in the city with police
intensifying checking of the
borders and apprehending peo-
ple roaming outdoors without
passes. Action was also taken
against the people, who did not
wear masks in public places.
Four people were arrested on
Sunday in this regard.
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Indonesia and South Africa
and 64 are from other states (11
Uttar Pradesh, 10 Himachal
Pradesh, 7 Tamilnadu, 4 West
Bengal, 5 Kerala, 8 Bihar, 2
Telangana, 2 Andhra Pradesh,
1 Punjab, 1 Karnataka, 1
Chennai, 1 Assam, 2 Madhya
Pradesh, 6 Maharashtra and 3
Jammu & Kashmir)
As many as 3903 samples
have been tested so far, out of
which 2513 have tested nega-
tive. However, report of 1209
samples is still
pending.
aT_^acTSX]
2WP]SXVPaW
Chandigarh: Two more fresh
cases of Covid-19 have been
reported in Chandigarh on
Sunday, taking the total number
of positive cases to 21.
The two positive cases are 55
years old woman (mother-in-
law) and 8 years old girl (daugh-
ter), both relatives of 40 years old
male resident of Sector 37, who
was tested positive for Covid-19
on Friday last.
The Sector 37 male resident
has four household contacts
which include wife, mother, an
8 years old daughter and a 20
days old baby who was born at
Santokh Nursing Home on
March 20.
“Out of four household con-
tacts, two are tested positive for
Covid-19, one is tested negative
while another one has been re-
sampled for the testing,” said a
senior UT officer.
He said that 55 years old
woman, who is a resident of
Delhi and is mother-in-law of
positive case of Sector 37 male,
was visiting Chandigarh to take
care of her daughter who was
been tested positive and her 8
years old granddaughter has
also been tested positive for
coronavirus.
“During contact tracing
process, 114 contacts have been
traced so far. Out of these four
are household contacts and 110
are community contacts (pri-
mary, secondary and remote
contacts). Out of 110 community
contacts, three primary con-
tacts have been sampled and all
these three are negative. Two
more primary community con-
tacts are being sampled for test-
ing,” he added.
Till Sunday evening,
Chandigarh has so far reported
21 positive Coronavirus cases,
out of which seven have recov-
ered. PNS
RAIPUR | MONDAY | APRIL 13, 2020
chhattisgarh 03

Chhattisgarh’s 63 cases of
Lockdown exit as per Central Covid-19 active jaundice being
govt’s guidelines: CM
STAFF REPORTER n
cases rise to 21 treated in Raipur
Of the total 31 positive cases detected so
STAFF REPORTER n
RAIPUR
round the clock to create
awareness among the people
to drink boiled water and

far, 21 were linked to Tablighi Jamaat anAonslaught

RAIPUR
C hhattisgarh Chief
Minister Bhupesh Baghel
announced on Sunday that a
decision for lifting lockdown
would be taken in the state as
per the guidelines of the cen-
tral government.
Baghel held a lengthy
discussion with his
ministerial colleagues and top
officials through a video-con-
ferencing and sought sugges-
tions from them how to deal
with coronavirus pandemic.
He heaped praise on
government officials for
doing `excellent job’ so far
in handling the pandemic
in the state. He also took
review of medical equip-
ments and facilities such as
corona testing kits, face
masks, PPE Kit, gloves,
sanitizers, ventilators, iso-
lation wards and quaran-
tine centres available in
the state.
Baghel expressed satisfac-
tion about the successful
implementation of lockdown
across the state and added
that it helped to contain
spread of the pandemic.
Baghel directed officials
to ensure that poor persons
should not suffer any hard-
ships during the lockdown
period and also ensure supply
of enough food grains to them
at doorsteps.
Meanwhile, the number
of total active Covid-19 cases
in state has gone up to 21.
A total of 31 Covid-19
positive cases were detected
in state till now and 10 of
them had been cured and dis-
charged from the hospital.
STAFF REPORTER n
RAIPUR
T hirteen new cases of
Covid-19 were detected
in state in past 24 hours, a
government official said on
Sunday.
After seven cases detect-
ed late Saturday night, six
new cases Covid-19 positive
came to fore in the state on
Sunday. All the thirteen new
part from Covid-19, cap-
ital city Raipur is facing
of jaundice with
cases belonged to Tablighi
Jamaat and all are residents
of a same locality at
Katghora in Korba district.
The number of total
active Covid-19 cases in state
has now gone up to 21.
A total of 31 Covid-19
positive cases were detected
in state till now and 10 of
them had been cured and
discharged from the
hospital.
more than 63 patients admit-
ted for treatment, out of total
190 cases detected, officials
said on Sunday.
Apart from testing people
for the Covid-19, the city
health department and
Raipur Municipal
Corporation (RMC) are coor-
dinating to test the people in
the affected areas for jaundice
also to provide treatment, a
top official said.
According to state nodal
officer for Raipur division for
Covid-19, Dr Subash Pandey,
more than 63 people with
jaundice, have been admitted
in hospitals until Sunday.
The most affected areas
are Idgahbhata, Sweeper
Colony, Mangal Bazaar, and
Changorabhata among oth-
ers, he said.
The RMC and health
department are working
take of proper food.
The RMC is working to
ensure pure drinking water
supply after treating the water
and also distributing chlorine
tablets and sanitizing the
affected areas.
Meanwhile, directive has
been given to repair of the
pumps and replace of old
pipelines, said Dr Pandey.
He added that generally
during the summer months,
complaints of jaundice are
reported and the health
department has been put on
alert. A probe report has con-
firmed that Hepatitis A and
Hepatitis E are prevalent and
most of the patients are
undergoing treatment at the
district hospital, he said.
Dr Pandey further said
that after the symptoms of
jaundice like vomiting, loose
motion and others were
reported, all steps are being
taken to provide relief to the
residents.

Free blood testing camps for jaundice Singhdeo takes stock of

STAFF REPORTER n Subash Pandey and urban

Ambedkar hospital
RAIPUR programme managers are vis-
iting the affected city neigh-

R aipur district’s chief med-

ical and health officer
(CMHO) Dr Meera Baghel
bourhoods, the CMHO said.

said that free health camps,
free blood testing of residents
in city neighbourhoods that
have been hit by jaundice are
being carried out and free
medicine is being distributed.
The CMHO said the
medical facilities were being
provided under the urban
health programme in the
jaundice affected city neigh-
bourhoods.
ANM and mitanins are
holding door to door visits to
identify the patients along
with creating awareness
among the residents about
clean drinking water and tak-
ing proper food.
These apart, free blood
tests are being conducted at
the district hospital and urban
primary health centres and
medicine being distributed,
the CMHO said.
Meanwhile, Director
Epidemic Dr RR Sahani held a
meeting with senior health
officials to review the status of
jaundice infection in Raipur
district.
Divisional joint director
health services, Raipur, Dr
camps
Officials said three testing
were held at
Daldalseoni, Amapara,
Moreshwar Rao Gendre ward
Shivanagar, Changorabhat
and Atri neighbourhoods of
the city.
More than 188 people
suspected with jaundice, were
tested and 86 samples were
taken, Sahani said and added
that 44 people with severe
symptoms of the water-borne
disease, have been admitted to
the district hospital.
Sahani further said that
people should boil water for
20 minutes and cool it before
consuming it.
People can also purify
water by adding a chlorine
tablet to 20 litre of water and
drink it only after 30 minutes.
STAFF REPORTER n
RAIPUR
P ublic Health and Family
Welfare minister
T. Singhdeo on Sunday
inspected the arrangements
being made for transforming
Chhattisgarh’s biggest hospital
Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar
Memorial Medical College
Hospital, Raipur to COVID-
19 treatment hospital.
He directed the officials
to complete the work at the
earliest. The hospital will have
500-bed facilities for treat-
ment of COVID-19 patients.
Minister also sought
details of the different
medical departments being
shifted from the hospital
premises. Health minister also
inspected the Neo-natal care
unit and delivery ward, which
is being temporarily shifted to
District Hospital Pandri.
Interacting with patients,
he urged them to adopt all the
preventive measures as per
the protocol for coronavirus.
Minister also inspected the
ICU arrangement at first floor
and the under-construction iso-
lation ward and ICU being con-
structed through modification.
During the interaction
with workers engaged in con-
struction of ICU, he directed
them to keep social distance
along with taking all neces-
sary precautionary measures.
Medical College Dean Dr
Vishnu Dutt, Ambedkar
Hospital Superintendent Dr
Vineet Jain and Anatomy
HoD Dr Manik Chaterjee
were present on the occasion.

Kaushik seeks monetary

hike for medical staff Working from home? Follow these tips to avoid neck, back pain
RAIPUR/New Delhi (IANS) other diseases like your calcium intake right," Singh People can also do a plank and
cervical pain, back- said. a child's pose to gain strength for

A s many people are working

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR
medical staff is selflessly serving
the patients with utmost dedica-
from home during the
COVID-19 lockdown without a
proper desk, they could be sitting
in the wrong posture for hours
which can lead to pain in the neck
and lower back.
Health experts have suggested
that simple tips like not taking
their laptop to bed, taking ade-
ache, arthritis etc.,"
Monu Singh, Senior
Consultant in
Subhash Jangid, Director and
Unit Head, Bone & Joint Institute,
Fortis Memorial Research Institute
the back.
The doctor added that dancing
is a great way of staying active and
Orthopaedics at in Gurugram has advised people to keeping the family bond strong.
N a r a y a n a do neck stretching exercises and Alternatively, one can do skip-
Superspeciality keep the neck and back muscles ping, Zumba, yoga or pilates or
Hospital, Gurugram, strong in this period of lockdown. floor exercises.
told IANS. "People with cervical issues "Stand or walk around while
"As people are should avoid any heavy weights," talking over the phone, rather than
not going out daily Jangid said. sitting down," the doctor said.

L eader of Opposition in
Chhattisgarh Assembly and
BJP leader Dharamlal Kaushik
in a letter to Public Health and
Family Welfare minster TS
Singhdeo has urged him to
hike the wages of all health
department cadres involved in
dealing with coronavirus epi-
demic in the state.
Citing the number of
increasing cases of coronavirus in
Chhattisgarh, Kaushik stated that
tion.
“So, it the duty of all of us
to hike the wages of all the gov-
ernment staff involved in
fighting the epidemic, it will
help to boost their morale’’
said Kaushik.
He added all other
attached government employ-
ees should also be covered
under the insurance so that
their family feels financially
protected.
quate breaks and having a healthy
diet can help you avoid these prob-
lems.
People should be extra careful
not to fall sick during this period as
the work from home mode and
closure of gyms have disrupted
physical activity schedules of
many, the experts said.
"We should keep in mind that
this lockdown period is for our
safety from a disease, and doesn't
allow us to be careless and invite
for office now, it has
definitely broken their physical
activity schedule including walk-
ing, gymming and to balance that
schedule they should take out at
least one hour everyday for routine
exercise and other physical activi-
ties which can be done at home like
yoga and other free hand exercis-
es," he said.
The doctor suggested that
while working from home people
should use a table and chair, keep
their back straight and posture
right.
They should keep taking ade-
quate breaks to avoid sitting for too
long in front of a laptop or any
screen for that matter, he said,
adding that diet is extremely
important in these times of
restricted activity.
"Avoid snacking, don't keep
munching unhealthy food, add
more fruits and fibres to your daily
meal with plenty of fluids and keep
"For people with back prob-
lems, you can walk in your home.
Make a schedule, fix a time and
walk at a length for half-hour to
stay active. In case you do not have
ample space for a walk, take out
your yoga mat or a bedsheet, you
can do pilates or soft yoga poses to
improve your core strength and
stability," he said.
Some such exercises are - chair
stand, single leg raise, heel raise,
front plank on table.
According to Viju Thomas
(PT), Head Of Department,
Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
Department, Sri Balaji Action
Medical Institute in New Delhi,
people who are working from
home need to be more careful.
"Do 'Surya Namaskar' every
morning and walk in your room. If
one is already on therapy then be
in contact with your physiothera-
pist and keep taking advice to fol-
low," said Thomas.

E-readership on the rise as publishers feel Covid-19 heat

BY SIDDHI JAIN (IANS) our e-books," Usha Jha, VP been quick in launching currently closed as a result of relevant and helps them stay
(Sales), Speaking Tiger, told social media and online cam- the lockdown. We believe positive; be less anxious and

W ith limited opportuni-

ties for physical book
sales, publishers across the
world looking to meet targets
with e-books.
"The COVID-19 impact
is (affecting) and will affect
book industry as well.
Books are never treated as
essential items, which they
should be, during the lock-
down to engage people
while they are at home. E-
books are likely to see a
spike in sales, but that is
still a tiny fraction of the
total market. But at this
time, we are trying to use
different platforms to sell
IANS.
As per Speaking Tiger's
VP Publishing, Renuka
Chatterjee , it's not so much
the absence of physical book
launches, promotions and
author tours - which in any
case have limited benefits in
relation to the costs involved -
but the fact that bookshops
are closed, distributors are not
taking orders, and people
simply can't go to a bookstore
to buy books."
Adding, "From that per-
spective, e-readership should
certainly see a rise. We may
also have to focus more on
digital and e-books in the
immediate future, to min-
imise printing costs and
recover some of the losses
we've made in this period,"
Chatterjee added.
Most publishers have
paigns to promote reading
among children and adults.
Penguin Random House
India and Momspresso's
Facebook is hosting a chil-
dren's author every evening
for storytelling sessions till
mid-April.
As far as academic pub-
lishers are concerned, schools
and colleges are closed due to
the COVID-19 and while
studying might have not come
to a stand still, sale of school
books certainly has.
"Promotions surely have
slowed down since the pri-
mary target market for us is
the college libraries, which are
there is going to be a short
term impact on business with
orders being delayed, deferred
or cancelled. But in the medi-
um term we don't think edu-
cation as a whole will suffer or
be allowed to suffer," said
Aarti David, Director
Publishing, SAGE India.
For their reader base, the
publishers believe that many
of those who may not have
picked up a book normally,
will probably do so now, as
there's a limit to how much
you can binge-watch OTT
and TV shows.
"One can only motivate
readers to read content that is
be able to cope at this totally
unprecedented time. In
today's situation there is lim-
ited access to physical copies
and if we do need content, the
easiest way is to read it
online," David added.
How can the government
help? Reducing or removing
taxation on broadband con-
nections; on paper used for
printing books and journals;
on freelance service providers
such as language editors,
translators, project managers,
data analysts; and on hosting
services that cater to academ-
ic or school content, among
others.
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A094B7:D<0A =4F34;78
he Opposition has criti-
T cised the Centre for sus-
pending the Member of
Parliament Local Area
Development (MPLAD)
scheme for two years, but an
analysis of the scheme reveals
that over the years the trend of
Parliamentarians failing to use
the fund optimally for their
constituencies has been con-
tinuing.
As on March 4, 2020, the
Ministr y of Statistics &
Programme Implementation
data shows the unspent
amount to be C5,275.24 crore.
In fact, the data shows
that the unspent money under
the MPLAD Scheme rose by a
whopping 214.63 per cent
between the 15th and the 16th
Lok Sabha. And when com-
pared with the 14th Lok Sabha,
this rise is even greater —
885.47 per cent.
When taken Statewise col-
lectively, Uttar Pradesh has an
unspent amount of C354.58
crore out of the total C14,440
crore released between 2014
and 2019 while Assam has left
only C53 crore of the total
amount of C 257 crore released.
Maharashtra has C185
crore unspent from the total of
C774 crore released and
Andhra Pradesh has an
unspent amount of C 80 crore
of the total amount of
C375crore released. If
Karnataka has unspent fund of
C106.71 cr out of C452 cr
released, then Punjab has
unspent amount of C63.54 cr of
the total amount of C260 cr
released.
Delhi has an unspent
amount of C41.38 crore of the
total C80 cr released while
Madhya
80B>UUXRTab
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?=B =4F34;78?0C=0
he IAS Officers
T Association, Bihar Branch,
has contributed C10 lakh to the
Chief Minister's Relief Fund
(CMRF), in support of the
fight against Covid-19.
Earlier, C5 lakh had been
given by the Association for
this purpose to the CMRF
making the total contribution
of C15 lakh by the Association
to the CMRF.
Dipak Kumar Singh, the
Secretary of the Bihar Branch,
said that contributions from
more members are still being
collected, and the Association
would give further amount in
the coming days.
Singh, currently Principal
Secretary Environment in
Bihar Government, further
said that apart from contribut-
ing through the Association,
the IAS officers of the State are
also assisting people in distress
in their personal capacity as
well as through NGOs and
Alumni Associations of their
respective schools and col-
leges.
<86A0=C;01>DA4AB7>DB430CA4;84520<?B
7^\T<X]XbcahPbZTSP[[BcPcTb
c^bcaXRc[hR^\_[hfXcWB2^aSTab
T administration on Sunday
?=B =4F34;78
nion Home Ministry on
U Sunday asked all States to
strictly comply with the
Supreme Court’s orders on the
welfare of migrant labourers
housed at relief camps.
Citing the Supreme Court’s
directions, the Ministry told
the States to ensure the role of
trained counselors and com-
munity leaders from all reli-
gions to boost the morale of
the migrant labourers during
the crisis period apart from the
regular logistics of the camps.
The Home Ministry also
told the States to strictly adhere
to the Health Ministry direc-
tive of service of psychological
counseling and implementa-
tion of all medical facilities to
the displaced migrant labour.
"The Court directed that
adequate medical facilities
Pradesh has C112.68 cr.
Kerala and Gujarat have C72.38
cr and C88.78 cr of unspent
funds.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who represents Varanasi
constituency, has C2.67crore
unspent fund out of the C15
crore released under this head
while the data shows former
Congress president Rahul
Gandhi, who represented
Amethi, having C4.58 crore
unspent out of C12.50 crore
released under the MPLADS
between 2014 and 2019.
Similarly, Congress inter-
im president Sonia Gandhi
has also an unspent amount of
C4.64 crore out of the C17.50
crore released during the same
period.
The Centre, however, has
defended the unspent funds. It
recently informed the
Parliament that unspent bal-
ance is not an unused fund as
it also includes the funds in
pipeline for implementation of
ongoing works.
Nevertheless, unspent
funds have been in thousands
of crores this last few years.
Unspent amount under the
scheme was C 4,103.97 crore on
March 31, 2019; C4,877.71
crore on March 31, 2018 and
C5,029.31 crore on March 31,
2017.
And as for the year 2020-
21, an allocation of C1,518 cr
had already been made before
the Centre suspended the
scheme to keep its finances for
the fight against Covid-19. Of
this, an amount of C1,432 cr
was left unspent.
Prime Minister Modi has
suspended the MPLADS fund
for two years 2020-21 and
2021-22 to use a fund of
C7,880 crore thus saved to
manage the challenges and
?<DHQT]TUXRXPaXTbdbX]V$ZVR^^ZX]VVPb :EB^][X]TR[PbbTbUa^\2[PbbTbE8c^E888Ua^\<^]
Rh[X]STabc^VTcTXVWcUaTTaTUX[[bX]"\^]cWb
?=B =4F34;78
radhan Mantri Ujjwala
P Yojana (PMUY) benefi-
ciaries using five kg cooking
gas cylinders will be entitled
to eight free refills in three
months due to the nationwide
lockdown to combat the
spread of coronavirus out-
break. According to the
Ministry of Petroleum and
Natural Gas on Sunday said
PMUY beneficiaries have
received 85 lakh cooking gas
cylinders in April 2020.
According to centre’s relief
package, free LPG Refills are
to be provided to Ujjwala
beneficiaries over the period
of three months, from April to
June 2020. Those who are
using small cylinders will get
eight free cylinders in three
months – April, May and June
– under the Pradhan Mantri
Garib Kalyan Yojana
(PMGKY). The demand for
LPG by PMUY consumers
increased in the country after
the centre announced free
LPG cylinder refills for them
under the PMGKY,” the min-
istry said.
“As on date, oil marketing
besides proper arrangements
for food, clean drinking water
and sanitation be ensured for
migrant workers at relief
camps/shelters across the
country. Further, trained coun-
sellors and/ or community
group leaders belonging to all
faiths should visit the relief
camps/ shelter homes and deal
with any consternation that the
migrants might be going
through.
“The Court also observed
that the anxiety and fear of the
migrants should be under-
stood by the police and other
authorities, and that they
should deal with the migrants
in a humane manner. Further,
the State Governments/ UTs
should endeavour to engage
volunteers along with the
police to supervise the welfare
activities of the migrants,” said
MHA reiterating the States to
followup the regular direc-
adverse impact on the econo-
my due to the spread of coro-
navirus outbreak.
There are 543 MPs in Lok
Sabha and 245 MPs in the
Rajya Sabha, which means
788 Parliamentarians in all.
Each MP gets C5 crore per
annum as MPLAD and for
two years, which works out to
be nearly C 7,880 crores.
As per the latest informa-
tion available with the
Parliament secretariat, a total
of 355 MPs of 779 MPs (of the
total 788) have contributed a
total of C365 crore from their
MPLADS towards tackling
exigencies in India emerging
from the effect of the pan-
demic.
Earlier this week, Rajya
Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah
Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker
Om Birla had asked MPs to
contribute C1 crore from their
MPLADS to the PM CARES
Fund. They had also asked
MPs to contribute a month’s
salary to the PM CARES Fund.
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi had offered her entire
MPLADS fund for the welfare
of the people of Rae Bareli in
fighting the coronavirus out-
break as per the requirement
of the constituency. Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi allocat-
ed C2.66 crore from his
MPLADS money to fight
coronavirus in his constituen-
cy.
Balashowry, YSR Congress
MP from Machlipatnam, has
contributed the highest of Rs
4 crore of his MPLAD fund to
the Andhra CM Relief Fund
while Samajwadi Party leader
Mulayam Singh Yadav has
donated C25 lakh of his
MPLAD fund for purchasing
sanitisers and masks in
Mainpuri.
companies (OMCs) have ini-
tiated transfer of C5,606 crore
into 7.15 crore PMUY bene-
ficiary accounts for availing
free delivery of LPG cylinder
under the PMGKY.
Booking of 1.26 crore
cylinders has been done in
this month by the beneficia-
ries, out of which about 85
lakh cylinders have been
delivered to PMUY benefi-
ciaries,” an official statement
said.
“There are 27.87 crore
active LPG consumers in the
country, with the PMUY ben-
eficiaries accounting for over
8 crore. Since the lockdown,
50 to 60 lakh cylinders are
being delivered daily in the
country… Even in these try-
ing times, the waiting period
for cylinders at most of the
places is less than two days,”
the statement said.
tions of Union Health
Ministry.
The government had told
the Supreme Court that almost
a third of the migrants return-
ing to their home towns and
villages could be infected with
the novel coronavirus. As
many as 21,000 relief camps
have been set up by states and
UTs to house more than 6.5
lakh migrants, as per the
Ministry of Home Affairs.
Following the Supreme
Court directives, the Health
Ministry also called for pro-
viding a social protection to
migrant workers, saying they
are prone to social, psycho-
logical and emotional trauma
in lockdown situations.
But with just around
15,000 trained counsellors and
psychiatrists in the country, the
Government has a mammoth
task at its hand to implement
the Supreme Court order.
?=B =4F34;78
raving the threat of falling
B prey to coronavirus and
the harsh winters, the Border
Roads Organisation (BRO)
personnel have opened the
strategic Srinagar-Leh high-
way. This road connects
Ladakh to the rest of the world
and was blocked by snow for
the last four months, thereby,
virtually cutting Ladakh from
other regions of the country.
Incidentally, snowfall this win-
ter was more than previous 60
years thereby making it more
difficult for the BRO to clear it.
Giving details here about
traffic resuming on this criti-
cally important road, defence
ministry official said here on
Sunday nearly 18 tankers and
other essential commodities
were initially allowed to move
towards Leh from Zozilla pass
at 11,500 feet. This was man-
aged despite fresh snowfall in
the pass, they added.
The 425-km road from
Srinagar to Leh was closed
since December last year due to
heavy snowfall at Zojila pass.
As per the directions from
Divisional Commissioner
Ladakh, there was an emergent
need for stockpiling essential
commodities in the Union
Territory of Ladakh. Keeping
that in mind the team of
Project Beacon and Project
Vijayak cleared fresh snow
around Zojilla and made the
“From Mountainous ter-
rain to backwaters, hamlets in
deserts to habitations in
forests, these Corona war-
riors are steadfast in their
duties and ensuring timely
delivery. Even in these trying
times, the waiting period for
cylinders at most of the places
is less than 2 days. Oil mar-
keting companies- IOCL,
BPCL and HPCL have
announced an
ex-gratia amount of C5
lakh each, as a one-time spe-
cial measure, in the unfortu-
nate case of demise of per-
sonnel like Show-room Staff,
Godown-keepers, Mechanics
and Delivery boys, attending
duty in the LPG distributor-
ship chain, due to the infec-
tion and impact of Covid-19,”
it said.
PMUY was launched by
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on May 1, 2016 in Ballia
(Uttar Pradesh) to provide
free cooking gas connections
to 50 million poor house-
holds. Later, the target was
raised to 80 million house-
holds, which was achieved
six months in advance on
September 7, 2019.
0VaXRd[cdaT^_bc^R^]cX]dTX]R^]ca^[[TS\P]]TaX]9:)0S\X]
?C8 90<<D
he Jammu and Kashmir
directed for continuation of
agriculture operations in a
controller manner besides
allowing bi-annual movement
of nomadic tribes in "small
groups at a slow pace".
However, the administra-
tion directed the deputy com-
missioners and district police
heads for strict implementation
of restrictions in all the 77
COVID-19 'Red Zones' across
the Union Territory.
Chief Secretary B V R
Subrahmanyam passed the
directions at a high-level meet-
ing which was convened here
to discuss the strategy to be
adopted for containment of
COVID-19 keeping in view the
recent spurt in positive cases,
an official spokesperson said.
A total of 224 perople – 180
in Kashmir and 44 in Jammu -
- had tested positive for coro-
navirus till Saturday evening.
Of them, four had died includ-
ing three in the valley and one
in Jammu.
To ensure that the rural
road motorable.
Snowfall of this year had
broken records of the last six
decades. The snow clearance
operations were undertaken
by project Beacon of BRO
from Gagangir to zero point
and the same was done by pro-
ject Vijayak from Drass
towards zero point, officials
said while elaborating upon the
challenges faced by the BRO to
finish this task.
This road sustains local
population in Ladakh and
beyond besides provide all the
all-important support to the
troops deployed on the Line of
Actual Control(LAC) facing
China and Line of
Control(LOC) with Pakistan.
During the winter months,
when this road is closed every
year, supplies are maintained by
air.
In a related development,
notwithstanding the threat of
COVID-19, the BRO person-
nel are working relentlessly to
completely replace Daporijo
bridge (430 feet Multi-Span
Bailey Bridge), the only lifeline
of Upper Subansiri district,
Arunachal Pradesh to restore
Lines of Communication for all
451 villages and security forces
located along the LAC. The
armed forces have also acti-
vated isolation wards near the
LAC and the LOC to deal
with any case of the pandem-
ic.
Giving details of the BRO
?=B =4F34;78
Ithernclassroom
view of the suspension of
classes until fur-
notice due to the coron-
avirus crisis, the Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)
Delhi Region has taken sever-
al initiatives for taking learning
to the students through the
online method at its schools
from Monday.
The KVS in a statement
said the the HRD Ministry is
committed to ensure safety and
academic welfare of students
across the country and that
KVS Delhi Region is all set to
begin online live classes from
classes VI to VIII from Monday,
whereas online live classes for
classes IX to XII is already in
progress through various online
platforms.
HRD Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal Nishank last week
had sought suggestions from
educationists on how to devel-
op and have a sound online
education ecosystem in the
country in the wake of closure
of schools and academic insti-
tutions. The HRD Ministry
has launched Bharat Padhe
Online portal where sugges-
tions have been sought in this
regard.
economy is not affected,
Subrahmanyam directed the
DCs and SSPs to coordinate
with Secretary Agriculture for
smooth continuation of agri-
cultural and allied operations
by the farmers in their districts.
He asked for proper regu-
lation of food grain mandis and
also to notify temporary man-
dis, in addition to the already
notified mandis, to avoid large
gatherings of persons at one
place.
Regarding the movement
of Bakarwal community from
Jammu towards higher reach-
X]?^ac1[PXac^QPX[^dc[PQ^daTab
?=B =4F34;78
eaching out to those in
R need during the Covid-19
crisis, the Navy through its
Naval Air Station (NAS)
Utkrosh and Material
Organisation (Port Blair) car-
ried out food distribution in
Port Blair.
The naval station organ-
ised food distribution camp for
155 labourers working for the
infrastructural development
of the Air Station. The labour-
ers are presently staying in the
vicinity of the Air Station.
A team visited the Vanvasi
Kalyan Ashram and distrib-
uted cooked meals and dry
provisions for the children
and staff. Vanvasi Kalyan
Ashram is a non-profit organ-
isation providing food and
shelter to adivasi children.
The organisation has a unit
operating at Port Blair hous-
ing around 38 children. The
organisation also provides
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undertaking the mission to
construct the bridge, officials
said more than 100 personnel
of 23 BRTF/Project Arunank,
on special request from the
local administration, is work-
ing in full swing in spite of the
"While online live classes
for classes VI to VIII will start
from Monday, KVS Delhi
Region has already started the
online live classes for IX to XII
on Facebook and YouTube.
Huge response has been
received from the students and
parents as there are approxi-
mately 90,000 views and 40,000
comments in two days of run-
ning the classes.
"There are 13,343 sub-
scribers on YouTube channel of
Delhi Region. A team of teach-
ers across all streams and class-
es was chosen to begin these
live interactive classes. A
timetable was framed for all
subjects and shared with the
students through the
WhatsApp school groups and
YouTube. Specific instructions
regarding these live classes were
es of Kashmir in search of
greener pastures for their ani-
mals, the chief secretary direct-
ed DCs and SSPs to allow
their movement in a regulated
manner.
“Only small groups at a
slow pace should be allowed to
move,” he said.
To control the spread of
coronavirus, he stressed on
proper regulation in Red Zones
and a complete lockdown in
the identified areas.
"District administration,
in close coordination with dis-
trict police, should ensure that
lodging facility to poor adivasi
families visiting Port Blair for
medical treatment. The team
also sensitised the children
and staff about the COVID-19
and the precautions to be
exercised during lockdown to
avoid spread of the pandem-
ic, according to navy officials
here on Sunday
This apart, the in-house
designed and manufactured
‘Portable Mutlifeed Oxygen
Manifold’ by Naval
dilapidated state of the existing
bridge.
They said the BRO is com-
mitted to opening this vital line
of communication by planned
date, with all necessary pre-
cautionary measures. This
bridge will ensure uninter-
rupted supplies like food and
ammunition to the soldiers
deployed on the LAC besides
catering to the needs of the
local population, sources said.
The BRO is the lead con-
struction agency to build strate-
gically important roads all
along the LOC and LAC in
inhospitable terrain and
inclement weather. At present,
the BRO is entrusted with the
responsibility of constructing
given to the principals of KVS
Delhi Region, who then shared
the same with the teachers and
students," KVS Commissioner
Santosh Kumar Mal said.
A playlist has also been cre-
ated on the YouTube for the stu-
dents to view these lessons, class
and subject-wise.
At present, the teachers are
preparing lessons using differ-
ent software like power point
windows, movie makers and
screen recorder etc to create
educational videos. These
Power point presentations are
created with audio narrations
and converted to video formats.
Then these lectures are
uploaded on a dedicated
YouTube channel.Teachers are
also providing questions for
homework, assignments and
send to the students using dif-
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there is zero movement of
people," he added.
Subrahmanyam further
directed the officials to under-
take door-to-door surveys and
extensive fumigation in all the
Red Zones besides early
issuance of operational guide-
lines for management of the
Red Zones by the Health
Department so that chances of
further spread of virus are
minimised.
However, essential supplies
are to be ensured in the Red
Zones and DCs should plan the
deliveries so that people do not
face any inconvenience, he
added.
Dockyard, Visakhapatnam
was handed over to the
Visakhapatnam Collector.
The entire set up uses an
industrial 6-way radial head-
er to enable one jumbo size
Oxygen Bottle to supply
Oxygen to six patients con-
currently. While five sets
were handed over to the
Collector, balance 20 sets are
planned to be progressively
supplied over within the next
two weeks.
72 strategic roads mostly in
states having the LAC facing
China.
Given this backdrop, the
BRO in the northern part of the
country is presently engaged in
snow clearance operations on
Manali - Leh axis, day and
night despite inclement weath-
er and COVID 19 threat to pro-
vide relief to Lahaul valley and
Ladakh in an earlier time
frame. Presently, Rohtang Pass
and Baralachala Pass are being
cleared by four snow clearance
teams. This is the first time,
BRO personnel were inducted
by air to Sarchu to carry out
snow clearance of mighty
Baralachala Pass from Sarchu
side.
ferent apps/software like
Google Form, Kahoot.com (For
MCQ), Hot potatoes and
Quizzes.com. Students are lik-
ing this type of assignments as
they are different from the reg-
ular Homework and are less
time consuming and challeng-
ing.
The HRD Minister on
Sunday launched another web-
portal YUKTI (Young India
Combating COVID with
Knowledge, Technology and
Innovation) to monitor and
record the efforts and initiatives
of MHRD which have been
taken in the wake of COVID-
19.
The portal intends to cover
the different dimensions of
COVID-19 challenges in a very
holistic and comprehensive
way.
Speaking on the occasion
Nishank said that in the wake
of COVID-19 threat, our pri-
mary aim is to keep our acad-
emic community healthy, both
physically & mentally and to
enable a continuous high-qual-
ity learning environment for
learners.
"The portal is an effort of
HRD Ministry to achieve this
goal in these difficult times,"
said the Ministry official.


Emphasising on sparing
medical professionals, the chief
secretary directed the DCs not
to involve doctors and other
staff for survey related work as
they have to perform medical
duties and instead utilise other
staff for such exercises.
He also asked them to pro-
mote usage of 'Aarogya Setu'
app as an essential tool in the
fight against COVID-19, the
spokesperson said.
With regard to the imme-
diate need of capacity enhance-
ment, the chief secretary direct-
ed all DCs to increase the
number of isolation and quar-
antine beds.
A08?DAk<>=30H k0?A8; "!!
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UXeTRWX[SaT]
25>71<<9;5<ID?=1;5=1C;=1>41D?BI
B0D60AB4=6D?C0 :>;:0C0
engal Governor Jagdeep
B Dhankhar has advised the
Trinamool Congress
Government not to politicise
the battle against corona.
Referring to the Union Home
Ministry’s letter to the State
Government warning it against
slack enforcement of lock-
down in selected areas the
Governor on Sunday said that
none should use the grim sit-
uation to play politics.
“The Home Ministry had
earlier written a letter where it
raised the issue of how the
lockdown is being diluted in
certain areas … where no
social distancing is being main-
tained and where religious
congregations are being
allowed to take place. This can
aggravate the situation,” the
Governor said adding this was
no time to politicise things.
Apparently referring to
the administration’s green sig-
nal to only the Trinamool
Congress’ workers to distribute
relief disallowing members of
other parties from joining the
relief work the Governor said,
“this is not a time to do poli-
tics particularly when the sit-
uation is so grim … the relief
=QXQ7_fdR__[c!%&
materials should be distributed
by the Government agencies
and not political workers…
This will only lead to politi-
cization of the matter and the
real purpose will be defeated.”
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee had made a snappish
remark on Saturday while
referring to the Home
Ministry’s letter when she said
that “you all know by men-
tioning the areas where the
lockdown is allegedly not being
implemented properly Delhi
wants to pinpoint a particular
group of population … But I
want to tell them that we are
fighting against a deadly virus
and not a communal virus. I
will not allow any communal
politics here.”
The letter from Delhi had
alleged that “people have been
thronging in complete viola-
tion of social distancing
norms...” mentioning specific
areas like Maniktala, Narkel
Danga, Rajabazaar, Topsia,
Metiaburz, Gardenreach,
Ekbalpur Ulta Danga.
Incidentally all of these areas
are dominated by the people of
minority community.
Apart from Dhankhar the
Left Front also attacked the
State Government for not fol-
lowing the ICMR norms inso-
far as conducting maximum
tests are concerned. State
CPI(M) secretary and party
politburo member Suryakanto
Mishra on Sunday said that
“not only that adequate num-
ber of tests are not being done
but also in many cases the
deaths are being ascribed to co-
morbidity reasons which is
highly fallacious.”
Himself a doctor and a for-
mer Health Minister of the
State, Mishra said that “any
casualty irrespective of co-
morbidity reasons should be
listed as corona death if the vic-
tim had contracted the disease
otherwise the seriousness of
the situation will be lost on the
people.” Apart from conduct-
ing tests the Government
should also come out with their
data which will help the
researchers to handle the cri-
sis in better manner, he main-
tained.
Meanwhile, the Bengal
Government is planning to
make wearing masks manda-
tory in the State. According to
sources, the Government will
soon come out with orders
making masks mandatory for
the people who comeout in the
streets.
!6%
C=A067D=0C70 <D<108
he Indian Hotels Company Limited
T (IHCL)—which manages the Taj
group of hotels – on Sunday admitted
that an unspecified number of employ-
ees have tested positive and have been
duly hospitalised.
Amid reports that six employees of
Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in south
Mumbai have tested positive for Covid-
19, the IHCL in a statement issued here
said: “Approximately 500 of our
employees who are at work in our
Mumbai hotels have been tested to
date. Those who have tested positive
mostly were asymptomatic showing
absolutely no signs of illness. However,
staff testing positive and symptomatic
were duly hospitalized and others
who were in contact with them have
immediately been put in
quarantine”.
The IHCL said that the others who
had come in contact with those who
have tested positive have been quar-
antined in accordance with World
Health Organization (WHO) norms
and guidelines issued by the local
Government authorities”
“Taj Mahal Palace and Tower does
not have any guests at the current time
and only very minimal staff in areas
like housekeeping, security, mainte-
nance and staff dining are present to
ensure the upkeep and maintenance of
the hotel,” an IHCL spokesperson
said.
“The safety of our associates and
their families remain paramount dur-
ing these unprecedented times. We
remain committed to operating under
all the guidelines of the WHO,
Governmental agencies and other reg-
ulatory bodies,” the IHCL spokesper-
son said.
“In keeping with our values of
being a responsible company and as a
matter of abundant precaution, we have
been proactively ramping up testing
criteria for our employees, especially
those who are in the front lines at these
times,” the spokesperson said
“IHCL has been supporting the
Government with various humanitar-
ian initiatives by offering its hotels to
the medical fraternity, health workers,
supporting certain states with quar-
antine facilities and also providing
almost 4 lakh meals till date to Doctors,
health workers and migrant workers.
The President, Taj Lands End, Taj
Santacruz and Ginger Andheri are also
hosting the medical fraternity in close
cooperation with BMC,” the IHCL
statement said.
Earlier, reports in a section of
media quoting the doctors at the
Bombay Hospital that six hospitalised
patients were the employees of Taj
Mahal Palace Hotel in south Mumbai.
The doctors said that the condition of
the hospitalised employees was
“stable”.
X]c^aXeTaX]D?
CWTf^\P]WPb
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80=B 1703>78DCC0A
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IhernSunday,
a shocking incident on
a woman threw
five children into the
Ganga river in Jeghangirabad
in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi
district.
As soon as the police
were informed, senior police
officials reached the spot and
divers were pressed into ser-
vice to locate the children.
The woman has been
arrested and police officials
said that she seemed mental-
ly unsound.
Sources, meanwhile, said
that the woman had earlier
said that she and her children
were not getting food in the
lockdown and money inflow
had stopped because she was
a daily wage earner.
"Our priority is to rescue
the children as soon as pos-
sible, We will carry out other
investigations later," said a
police official.
< 
FTfTaT[dRZh_^[XRTeP]RP\Tc^^daaTbRdT
fXcW^dcP]hST[PhTeT]PccWXb^SSW^daAPYdUPcWTa
c^[S\TSXP_Tab^]b^dcbXSTWXbW^\T^]Bd]SPh
?=B 90<<D
A pregnant woman late Saturday night deliv-
ered a baby girl in a running Police con-
trol room (PCR) van of Channi Himmat police
station before reaching a nearby hospital.
According to police, a SOS call was received
by them past midnight to shift a pregnant
woman to a nearby hospital.
Responding quickly, the police team reached
the spot and picked three members including
couple and a professional mid-wife. While they
were enroute, pregnant woman delivered a baby
girl in the running PCR van near railway sta-
tion. After the delivery, the couple requested the
police team to drop them home.
"We were lucky, police van came to our res-
cue without any delay even at his odd hour, Raju,
proud father told media persons outside his
home on Sunday. His wife Sonia, said she would
name her daughter 'Vaishnavi'.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of deserted
streets, thieves ran away with bottles of liquor
and cash after breaking open the rear wall of the
wine shop in Rehari area of Jammu late Saturday
night.
The shop owner claimed, in the absence of
sale register, it is difficult for him to make an
assessment about the actual losses suffered by
him. Police teams visited the area and took sam-
ples to track down the thieves in the
area.Questions were also raised over the tight
vigil maintained by the police on deserted streets
and main roads. The shop was located on the
main road near Indira Gandhi Dental college
and the office of DG Prisons.
78 7eZ*3QcUc <=,>#
 :
DQR\YWXYV_bUYW^UbcV_b " 
"!! c`bY^We`Y^  
 ?%
fY_\QdY^WfYcQbe\Uc :D<0A274;;0??0= 274==08 ber of patients getting admitted to ^UgQbUQc <>78C:0=370A8 90<<D by Government, 433 in Hospital
Quarantine, 235 in hospital isolation and
C=A067D=0C70 <D<108 iting the Tablighi Jamaat markaz hospitals with coronavirus case has 80=B  60=378=060A lady doctor and a soldier on leave 29718 under home surveillance. Besides,

he Maharashtra
T Government has booked
156 foreigners from 18 countries
for allegedly violating the visa
rules and attending the Tablighi
Jamaat event at Nizamuddin in
Delhi last month.
Announcing this, State
Home Minister Anil Deshmukh
said here on Sunday: “The
police have booked 156 for-
eigners for visa rules violations
under section 14-B of
Foreigners Act, other relevant
sections of IPC Further inves-
tigations are on”.
The section 14 (b) of the
Foreigners Act, 1946 (Penalty
for contravention of provisions
of the Act, etc) read thus:
“Whoever-- does any act in vio-
lation of the conditions of the
valid visa issued to him for his
entry and stay in India or any
part thereunder;
Deshmukh said that all
these foreigners had been grant-
ed a tourist visa for India “but
they flouted the norms by vis-
in Delhi last month”.
The 18 countries from
which they came are: Indonesia
37, Kyrgyzstan 19, Myanmar 18,
Bangladesh 13, Tanzania 11,
Philippines 10, Kazakhstan and
Ivory Coast 9 each, Malaysia 8,
Togo 6, Djibouti 5, Brunei 4,
Russia 2, USA, Benin, Iran,
Ghana and South Africa 1 each.
The Minister said that as
many as 15 offences have been
registered by police in Mumbai,
Thane, Navi Mumbai,
Amravati, Nanded, Nagpur,
Pune, Ahmednagar,
Chandrapur and Gadchiroli,
and all the foreigners are cur-
rently kept in institutional quar-
antine, he added.
The Maharashtra
Government’s stern action
against 156 foreign nationals
should be seen in the context of
its earlier decision to cancel a
two-day Tablighi Jamaat event
held along the lines of the one
held at Nizamuddin which
became hotbed for Coronavirus
cases.
A s the number of persons in the
State tested positive for coron-
avirus reached 1075 by Sunday
evening, Government of Tamil
Nadu has launched an aggressive
testing and containment pro-
gramme to restrict the disease in
stage-2 itself, according to Beela
Rajesh, Secretary, health and fam-
ily welfare department.
With 106 persons tested posi-
tive for coronavirus on Sunday, the
Government increased the number
of laboratories in the State where
the virus could be tested. “From
Sunday onwards, testing could be
done in 14 Government laborato-
ries and nine private laboratories.
The Central Government owned
JIPMER medical college and hos-
pital at Puducherry too would
serve as a center for testing samples
from Tamil Nadu,” said Beela Rajesh
, herself a medical doctor by train-
ing.
Out of the 106 persons testing
positive on Sunday, 90 are from the
single source event held at Delhi
and 16 are those who associated
with them. The spurt in the num-
forced the Government to take
some more drastic measures. On
Sunday two more persons suc-
cumbed to the dreaded virus tak-
ing the death toll in the State to 11.
The Government on Sunday
warned volunteers, NGOs and
political parties distributing cooked
foods to the homeless and needy in
violation of section 144. A
Government order in this regard
asked the concerned persons to
donate the money they spent to
Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or
hand over the food to Chennai
Corporation authorities for distri-
bution among the needy.
The disinfectant tunnels which
created a sensation all over the State
will no longer be allowed anywhere
in Tamil Nadu. The Department of
Health by a special Government
order asked the officials not to
install disinfectant tunnels citing a
world health organisation directive
which stated that such tunnels
would create a false sense of secu-
rity and people may be diverted
from handwash to disinfection
tunnel.
wenty five more positive cases
T were detected in Gujarat on
Sunday morning and one person has
died due to Covid-19, the health
authorities announced, taking the
total detected positive coronavirus
cases to 493 in the state.
Till Sunday, 23 deaths due to
coronavirus have been reported in
Gujarat.
Despite the health authorities
claims of containing the coron-
avirus spread crammed into limit-
ed pockets or hotspots, the virus
spread is springing up in new areas
in Ahmedabad as well as in other
parts of Gujarat.
On Sunday, 25 more positive
cases were detected by the health
authorities, out of which
Ahmedabad had 23. Two cases were
from Anand. Many cases were found
from areas which have not been
marked as hotspots in Ahmedabad
like Behrampura, Ghodasar, Ranip,
Maninagar. Earlier too, cases were
found from Juhapura, New Vadaj,
Dudheshwar, Manek chowk in
Ahmedabad.
A tested positive for Covid-19 along
with 19 others in Jammu & Kashmir, tak-
ing the total tally to 245 cases on Sunday.
According to official sources, a lady
doctor from Jammu, posted in
Udhampur tested positive along with one
soldier, hailing from Supwal area of
Samba,and two others from Jammu
while 17 fresh cases were detected from
Kashmir region on Sunday. Moving
swiftly, all the fresh cases were isolated
in dedicated covid hospitals in Jammu
and Srinagar and their close relatives were
quarantined and their samples were
sent for testing.
The authorities on ground zero have
tightened the grip especially in red-zones
by completely sealing the areas and
blocking entry and exit points by spread-
ing concertina wires on different
routes.
According to the daily Media Bulletin
on novel coronavirus (Covid-19), out of
245 positive cases, 235 are Active Positive,
06 have recovered and 04 have died.
Furthermore, till date 51320 travellers
and persons in contact with suspected
cases have been put under surveillance
which include 9153 persons in home
quarantine including facilities operated
11777 persons have completed their 28-
day surveillance period.
The Bulletin further said that 3355
samples have tested as negative till April
12, 2020.
Providing district-wise breakup, the
Bulletin said that Srinagar has 58 posi-
tive cases wherein 56 are Active Positive,
01 recovered and 01 has died, Bandipora
42 positive cases with 39 Active Positive,
02 recovered and 01 died, Baramulla 37
positive cases with 36 Active Positive, no
case has recovered and 01 died, Budgam
11 positive cases all of whom are Active
Positive, Pulwama 03 positive cases-all
Active Positive, Shopian and Kupwara
with 14 and 23 positive cases respectively
and all are Active Positive, and Ganderbal
and Kulgam with 05 and 04 positive cases
respectively all of whom are Active
Positive.
Similarly, Jammu has 21 positive
cases of whom 19 are Active Positive and
02 have recovered, Udhampur 19 posi-
tive cases of which 18 are Active Positive,
0 recovered and 01 died, while as Rajouri
and Samba have 03 and 04 positive cases
respectively and all are Active Positive
and the single positive case has recovered
fully in Kishtwar district.

6Qb]UbccX_e\TRUWYfU^bU\YUVVb_] FXcW!!\^aTSTPcWbc^[[Pc #(X]<PWP

\_S[T_g^d_XQbfUcdSb_`*E@3=
Lucknow: Farmers should be
given relief from the lockdown
to harvest crop, and the Uttar
Pradesh Government would
encourage institutions and
agencies to purchase food
grains directly from the grow-
ers at minimum support price
(MSP) or higher, Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath said
on Sunday.
He directed officials to
start online classes for stu-
dents of higher education, tech-
nical education, nursing and
paramedical studies, so that
their academic schedule is not
wholly disrupted.
Online counselling of stu-
dents was also discussed at a
meeting of officials chaired by
Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath. Teachers should be
trained for this. On the instruc-
tion of Adityanath, the work of
providing e-content has been
started in all universities.
Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj
University in Kanpur has
implemented e-education
smoothly according to this
order.
"At the meeting, the chief
minister said since harvesting
season is on, farmers should be
allowed to move. Apart from
Government purchasing cen-
tres, if other institutions and
agencies want to buy crops
directly from farmers, they
would be encouraged to do so
provided the price is on par
with the MSP or above,"
Additional Chief Secretary
(Home) Awanish Awasthi told
reporters here.
About arrangements made
for the Tablighi Jamaat con-
gregation members traced in
the state, he said, "Provisions to
quarantine people related to the
Tablighi Jamaat have been
made so as to stop further
spread of Covid-19. PTI
C=A067D=0C70 <D<108
n yet another biggest spike in
Iinfections
the number of deaths and
in a day, as many as
22 persons on Sunday suc-
cumbed to Covid-19 in
Maharashtra taking the total
number of deaths to 149 and
221 others tested positive for
the pandemic in the State.
On a day when the total
number of infected cases in the
State rose from 1761 to 1982,
Mumbai recorded 16 deaths,
while there were three deaths
in Pune, two in Navi Mumbai
and one in Solapur.
Mumbai, which is the most
coronavirus-affected city in
the country, has so far record-
ed 92 deaths and 1298 infect-
ed cases.
Of the 22 persons died to
Covid on Sunday, 13 were men
and 9 women. Six of those dead
were aged over 60 years, while
15 deceased were from the age
group 40 to 60 years and one
was below 40 years “Twenty out
of these 22 patients (91%) had
high-risk co-morbidities such
as diabetes, hypertension, asth-
ma and heart disease,” a med-
ical bulletin released by the
State Health Department said.
Out of 41,109 laboratory
samples, 37,964 were negative
and 1982 have been tested
positive for coronavirus until
today. As many as 217 patients
have been discharged till date
after full recovery,” the bulletin
said.
“As many as 1,247 people
are in home quarantine, while
5064 people are in institution-
al quarantine,” the bulletin
said.
Meanwhile, the state health
authorities said that they were
carrying out a thorough search
of citizens who had attended
the religious gathering at
Banglewali Masjid at
Nizamuddin last month was
underway at the level of all dis-
tricts and municipal corpora-
tions.
Of the Tablighi Jamaat
event attendees, 755 have been
tested and 37 have been found
to be positive for Covid-19.
Out of these 37, 8 are in
Latur, 7 in Yavatmal, 6 in
Buldhana, 3 in Mumbai, and 2
each in Pune, Pimpri-
Chinchwad and Ahmednagar,
and one each in Ratnagiri,
Nagpur Municipal
Corporation, Hingoli, Jalgaon,
Osmanabad, Kolhapur and
Washim. Additionally, 6 con-
tacts of these cases have been
found positive in Ahmednagar
and 1 in Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The health authorities said
that as per the guidance from
Government of India, cluster
containment action plan was
being implemented in places
where clusters of patients have
been found in the state.
“There are total 4846 sur-
veillance squads deployed
across the state and surveillance
of 17.46lakh population has
been done. Twenty six persons
the same family and their con-
tacts had been found positive
at Ismalpur in Sangli district.
Twenty four of them have been
discharged upon recovery until
now.
Thirty one surveillance
squads regularly searched
through the population of over
7,500 in the affected area in
Islampur during the last two
weeks,” the bulletin added.

:PadaQdbX]Tbb\P]R^\Tbc^aTbRdT^U]TTSh
:D<0A274;;0??0=
274==08
ill Saturday, sanitary work-
T ers in Tamil Nadu’s Karur
district never knew that life was
beautiful and there were kind
hearted people around. The
district is famous for banking
business as well as textile indus-
tries and daily life used to be
fast moving. But COVID-19
and corona virus turned every-
thing topsy-turvy. As the State
Government declared a total
lock-down, people in Karur
district too were left with no
other alternative but to follow
the diktat. Whatever the com-
pensation package announced
by the Government seemed
peanuts.
But there were some bright
patches during the testing
times. There emerged a person
in Karur, an apolitical, secular
and broad minded person for
whom the man and woman in
the streets were of paramount
concern. Thogai Murugan, a
54-year-old self made entre-
preneur who came up in life
through the hard way, is the
man of the hour in the district.
The sanitary workers and
casual employees in Karur
town who were left penniless
and jobless because of the lock
down were in for a surprise as
Murugan and his family mem-
bers invited them all to his
house on Saturday and per-
formed paada pooja (worship-
ping the feet) on them.
Murugan, his wife and son
washed the feet of the sanitary
workers, offered aarati and
sought the blessings of the
invitees by falling at their feet.
The icing on the cake was yet
to come. “Each of the invitees
numbering 105 was offered
cash and essential items worth
Rs 5 lakh which brought tears
in the eyes of the recipients.
The sanitary workers who are
the frontline warriors in the
battle against corona virus were
insured by us,” Murugan told
The Pioneer. He ensured that
a total of 2000 casual workers
in the city who faced bleak
future because of the lock
down got relief materials in the
form of rice and groceries.
What prompted him to
spend such big amount for
these workers? “What is the
guarantee that Ill survive this
pandemic? How many of us
will come out of this attack by
the virus for which there is no
vaccine as on today? I am not
going to take with me the
materials I had saved over the
years when my dead body is
taken to the burial ground. If
"RXeX[XP]bZX[[TSX]?PZXbcP]
bWT[[X]V^];^2X]:d_fPaP
I can save at least one life, I can
die peacefully,” said
Murugan.
He said the paada pooja
was an act of reciprocation.
“They are the real guards who
ensure our safety from the
pandemic. Can you imagine a
day in our life without their ser-
vices? This is my way of thank-
ing the real life Gods,” said
Murugan, a sworn
rationalist.
For Selvaraj and wife Rani,
the offering from Murugan
was a divine intervention. “We
were worried about how to feed
the children in these times of
lock out as there is no salary.
Here, Ayya (a word of rever-
ence) has made our Easter a
happy occasion, something
which we will remember
throughout our life,” said
Selbva, a sanitary worker.
Corona brings the good
side of life too.
<>78C:0=370A8  90<<D
hree civilians including a
T minor boy and a woman
were killed in fresh escalation
by the Pakistan Army along
the line of control in North
Kashmir's Kupwara district
on Sunday.
Heavy exchange of firing
was also reported from dif-
ferent sectors of Poonch. In
response, the Indian Army
retaliated strongly and effec-
tively. A group of local resi-
dents in forward areas of
Kupwara came out of their
homes urging Army men to
allow them to shift to safer
places before giving a befitting
reply to Pakistan.
Till the time of filing the
report, the Pakistan Army
had intensified mortar shelling
in Balakote and Mendhar sec-
tors of Poonch. Earlier, firing
was reported during day time
from Qasba, Kirni areas of
Poonch district. Large number
of villagers remained closeted
inside their houses due to
heavy shelling in the forward
areas. According to ground
reports from Keran sector,
Pakistan army targeted sever-
al civilian pockets in
Chowkibal area of Kupwara
after 4.00 p.m using heavy cal-
ibre weapons. It is after a long
gap, areas located several kilo-
metres away from the line of
control were targeted by the
Pakistan Army clearly indi-
cating their intention to fur-
ther escalate the tensions.
Several shells hit resi-
dential areas in which three
civilians were killed while sev-
eral others received injuries.
Some of the structures also
caught fire while others suf-
fered huge damages in direct
hits. Deputy Commissioner,
Kupwara Anshul Garg con-
firmed the deaths of three
civilians in the area.
Srinagar based Defence
Spokesman, Col Rajesh Kalia
said, "unprovoked ceasefire
violation was initiated by
Pakistan in Keran sector of
Kupwara at 5.00 p.m". He
said, "the Pakistan Army tar-
geted civilian population
resulting in killing of three
civilians including one woman
and a child".
Local authorities identi-
fied deceased civilians as 8-
year-old Ziyan Bashir, 17-
year-old Javid Ahmad and 35
year old Shameema Begum. In
Jammu, Defence spokesman,
Lt-Col Devender Anand said,
"Pakistan army intensified
ceasefire violations along the
LoC in Jammu &Kashmir on
Sunday". Three back to back
ceasefire violations were
reported during the day at dif-
ferent intervals.
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it will be able to bring these giants back into
the service. Airlines like Air France,
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future of these aircraft. Across the world,
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7KHLPSDFWRIWKHORFNGRZQMREOHVVQHVVDQGIXUORXJKVPHDQVWKHUHZLOOEHD nation, most planes are grounded.
The Coronavirus has hit global avia-
ODUJHUZHDNHQLQJRIGRPHVWLFGHPDQGDQGGLVUXSWLRQVLQWKHILQDQFLDOPDUNHW tion like nothing before. According to the
6RPHH[SHUWVKDYHVXJJHVWHGERUURZLQJQRWRQO\IURPWKHPDUNHWEXWNQRFN International Air Transport Association,
LQJRQWKH5%,·VGRRU7KHVHDUHLQGHHGWRXJKGHFLVLRQVWKDWUHTXLUHFROOHFWLYH airlines globally can lose passenger rev-
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enues of up to $113 billion due to this cri-
sis. Not that the tensions between India and
DOUHDG\LQLWLDWHGDFRQVXOWDWLYHSURFHVVZLWKLQGXVWU\FDSWDLQVDQGILQDQFLDOH[SHUWV Pakistan last year, which had shut all air
LQFOXGLQJKLVSUHGHFHVVRUDQGXQGRXEWHGO\DWRSHFRQRPLFEUDLQ0DQPRKDQ corridors between the two countries, can
compare or the shootdown of the
6LQJK(YHQIRUPHU5%,*RYHUQRU5DJKXUDP5DMDQKDVVXQNKLVGLIIHUHQFHVZLWK Malaysian Boeing 777 over Ukraine and
WKHSUHVHQWUHJLPHVD\LQJKHLVSUHSDUHGWRKHOSD&29,'VWUHVVHG,QGLDQHFRQ Iran’s downing of a Ukrainian aircraft. Even
RP\LIDVNHG,QIDFWMXVWOLNHFRRSHUDWLYHIHGHUDOLVPWKDWLVRQIXOOGLVSOD\,QGLD the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks was
QHHGVDFRXQFLORIHFRQRPLFZDUULRUVIRUDFRKHVLYHEDWWOHVWUDWHJ\
not so brutal. Aviation consultancy, the
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation India Pvt
Ltd (Capa India), has said that domestic air
H`^V_hRccZ`cd
passenger traffic is expected to drop from
an estimated 140 million in FY20 to
around 80-90 million in FY21 and inter-
national traffic is expected to almost halve
+
were evident during the SARS
outbreak of 2004 and the sub-
sequent spread of Avian and
Swine flu. During the spread of
such infections, air travel in and
around the East and South-east
Asia had collapsed. But because
the virulence of those viruses
was far less than the one blow-
ing like a tornado through the
aviation world today, the over-
all impact was, at best, minimal
in Europe and America.
This time around, the vir-
ulence of the disease, coupled
with the insane growth of the
aviation sector over the past
decade, is going to make the
industry suffer badly. Indeed,
aviation is a victim of its own
success as connectivity moved
from huge hubs like Beijing and
Shanghai to direct connectivi-
ty to cities like Wuhan.
Unfortunately, after
Governments hummed and
hawed for a couple of weeks
before shutting aviation down,
often delaying flight lockdowns
at the insistence of airline lob-
byists, the impact might carry
on for longer. Even if India
reopens its skies, it looks
increasingly likely that the
are still under lockdown. This
will go on for a longer period
C74E8AD;4=24>5 of time than in India. At least
as of now, some nations, such
C7438B40B4 as Singapore, are major aviation
2>D?;43F8C7C74 hubs. It is estimated that at least
200 of India’s commercial fleet
8=B0=46A>FC7>5 will not be required when
C740E80C8>= things restart. Leisure travel will
be hit hard as jobs will disap-
B42C>A>E4AC74 pear and increments will
?0BC342034F0B become a thing of the past,
resulting in lower discretionary
6>8=6C><0:4 spends.
C748=3DBCAH But the impact on interna-
tional travel is likely to be
BD554A103;H harder still. Foreign holiday
travel, particularly to hard-hit
8=34430E80C8>= tourist hubs such as Italy and
8B0E82C8<>58CB Spain, will vanish. Non-essen-
tial business travel, too, will.
>F=BD224BB0B The conference market drying
2>==42C8E8CH up will mean fewer trips to
countries like Germany and
<>E435A><7D64 even China. Airlines like
7D1B;8:414898=6 Emirates, which have gorged
themselves on Indian travellers
0=3B70=6708C> for three decades now, might
38A42C suddenly run out of the runway
as aviation will likely reform
2>==42C8E8CHC> itself in ways we cannot even
28C84B;8:4FD70= predict today.
Make no mistake, interna-
tional and domestic air travel
Government will not be able to
bail out airlines, the latter will
have to indulge in small mea-
sures to get the sector up and
running again, at least to a
decent baseline.
This is also a time when the
Government will have to sit
down with industry leaders
and figure out what it will have
to do to help the sector grow.
It needs to ponder if any pro-
tectionist moves, such as pre-
venting large numbers of
Indian travellers flying through
hubs such as Dubai and
Singapore, will be required.
At the same time, flying is
all a confidence game. By now,
ever ybody is calling the
Coronavirus a “travelling sales-
man” disease. One reason for
the dramatic growth in air
travel over the past decade has
been because of the incredible
safety record of modern civil
aviation but that confidence has
disappeared thanks to the virus.
So, how do we get that confi-
dence back? That will have to
be something the Government
will have to do alongside air-
lines. It is not just us,
Governments across the world
  "  
  from around 70 million in FY20 to 35-40 withdrawal of aviation services will recover. One reason for this will have to deal with it.
million in FY21. will only be gradually eased is because a vibrant and oper- (The writer is Managing
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claims casualties till say August. the total number of cases. Via email
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n a notification submitted to the World Trade
I Organisation (WTO) — the multilateral body
which binds member countries to a common set
of rules with regard to trade in goods and services
with “fairness” and “non-discrimination” as its
underlying principles — India has informed that the
value of its rice production during 2018-19 market-
ing year was $43.67 billion and for that, it provided
subsidies worth $5 billion. This works out to 11.4 per
cent of the value of rice production.
Under the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) of
the WTO, a developing country cannot give aggre-
gate measurement support (AMS) — an acronym for
subsidies in WTO parlance — in excess of 10 per cent
of the value of its agricultural production. The AMS
includes “product-specific” subsidies and “non-prod-
uct specific” viz. subsidies on agricultural inputs like
fertilisers, seed, irrigation and power.
The “product-specific” subsidy is excess of the
Minimum Support Price (MSP) paid to farmers over
the External Reference Price (ERP) multiplied by the
quantum of agri-produce. Whereas the MSP is taken
for that very year, say, 2018-19, the ERP is the aver-
age of the international price prevailing during 1986-
88 fixed in rupee terms. The “non-product specif-
ic” subsidies are money spent by the Government
on schemes to supply agricultural inputs at subsidised
rates. Compliance has to be ensured both for indi-
vidual crop as well as at the aggregate level. For
instance, the subsidy on rice should remain below
10 per cent of its production value. Besides, the sum
total of subsidy on all crops, say rice, wheat and coarse
cereals should not exceed 10 per cent of agri-pro-
duction value. This rules out a scenario whereby a
country gives more on one crop, say 15 per cent on
rice, and yet keeps aggregate subsidy within the 10
per cent threshold by giving less on another crop.
Since, the subsidy given to rice farmers in 2018-
19 at 11.4 per cent of production value exceeded 10
per cent, India has violated its commitment under
the WTO. The breach is open to challenge by other
members. However, it has invoked the “peace
clause” to seek immunity from action. The Indian
request will come up for consideration in the WTO
Committee on Agriculture (CoA).
So, what is the “peace clause”? Does it provide
an effective shield? Will the CoA allow its benefit?
Can India explore other options?
India runs a mammoth programme of Public
Stockholding for Food Security Purposes. Under it,
agencies of the Government viz. Food Corporation
of India (FCI) and so on, buy agri-produce from the
farmers at MSP (notified by the union) and distrib-
ute through a network of fair price shops to meet the
food security needs of India’s poor and vulnerable
population at affordable price. Since, MSP is high-
er than ERP, the excess is deemed as subsidy.
2>AA42C8=6
C740=><0;84B
8=C74
<4C7>3>;>6H
>520;2D;0C8=6
0<BB7>D;3 statement. The Government should pull
their computation) and do on. These also has been lambasting India for alleged
140CC742>A4 included establishing that subsidies are not under-reporting of its subsidies, it is out all stops to counter the American
>558=38=60 “trade distorting.” Moreover, it intended to unlikely to be a smooth sail. claim. It needs to go a step forward to even
?4A<0=4=C cover only the schemes existing at the time In a notification to the WTO in challenge the formula that got embedded
B>;DC8>=*C70C of the Bali declaration. March, 2018, India had reported AMS of in the AoA (ERP frozen at 1986-88 level
?A>24BB The peace clause was intended to be about C12,000 crore on rice or 5.45 per cent was part of the agreement).
B7>D;314 a “stop gap” arrangement that should have of production value during 2013-14, Correcting the anomalies in the
A4BDAA42C43 ended in 2017 by which time, a permanent whereas, on wheat, AMS was C5,000 methodology of calculating AMS should
0=3C0:4=C>8CB solution should have been in place. But that crore or 3.53 per cent of production value. be at the core of finding a permanent solu-
;>6820;4=3 was not to be. In December, 2014, the In a counter-claim made to the CoA (May, tion; that process should be resurrected and
WTO-General Council (GC) approved 2018), the US stated that during 2013-14, taken to its logical end. Post-correction, the
?>BC2>AA42C8>=
“extension of the peace clause till a perma- Indian AMS on rice was C1,78,000 crore, subsidy figures will automatically come to
C74BD1B83H nent solution was found.” This meant or 77 per cent of production value and on much less than 10 per cent (as in 2013-14)
586DA4BF8;; indefinite deferment of the permanent wheat, it was C96,500 crore, or 65.3 per cent or marginally higher (as in 2018-19). Small
0DC><0C820;;H solution and perpetual dependence of of production value. The gap is due to vast- variations are more likely to be condoned
2><4C><D27 developing countries on the “peace clause.” ly different methodologies used by India and even if retaliatory action is sanctioned,
;4BBC70= In the WTO-GC meeting in Geneva on and the US. that will entail much less pain. In any case,
?4A24=C July 31, 2014, India had insisted on a time- For arriving at AMS, India rightly this would be far better than letting
0B8=! " # bound action plan to find a permanent compares MRP with ERP of the same year; anomalies continue leading to inflated sub-
>A<0A68=0;;H solution, to be executed before the end of considers quantities procured for public sidy and need to take refuge under an
78674A 2014 co-terminus with approval of the stock holding; excludes price support unreliable peace clause.
0B8=! ' ( Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) — an provided to resource poor farmers who India also needs to mount a sustained
area of great importance to developed produce food mostly for self-consumption. diplomatic offensive to counter US efforts
B<0;;E0A80C8>=B countries. In December, 2014 GC even as On the other hand, the US uses ERP of at the WTO to do away with the extant
0A4<>A4;8:4;H the latter got away with the TFA, the for- over three decades back; considers even Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT)
C>142>=3>=43 mer was merely handed out a “peace quantities not procured by agencies and available to developing members which
0=34E4=85 clause” and that, too, with a plethora of rid- ignores exemption to resource-poor farm- enable less than reciprocal commitments
A4C0;80C>AH ers. ers. There are inherent flaws in the US cal- such as 10 per cent threshold for agri-sub-
02C8>=8B That the permanent solution route was culation. Relating the current MSP to inter- sidies (for developed countries, the thresh-
B0=2C8>=43 more or less closed, it was also evident from national price prevailing in 1986-88 is not old is five per cent). If, S&DT goes, India
C70CF8;;4=C08; the 10th ministerial in Nairobi (December, only illogical but is outright absurd; it will have to limit its subsidies to less than
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7KHFKDOOHQJHVDUHVRPDQ\DQGRQVRPDQ\IURQWVWKDWDQ\
JRYHUQDQFHV\VWHPZLOOILQGLWVHOIVWUHWFKHG7KHGHOLYHU\V\VWHPV
ZLOOKDYHWKHLURZQRYHUWRQHV
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3HUFHSWLRQVZLOOKDYHWRDOWHU7KHIUDPHZRUNVRIUHIHUHQFHZLOOKDYH
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WKLQNRIEHLQJ´VDIHµDWKRPH7KLVLVDQHZRYHUWRQHIRUDQH[SHUL
HQFHZKLFKLVXQLTXH,QWKHFRPPRQSDUODQFHRIKXPDQVRFLHWDO
VWUXFWXUHLWLVOLIHVW\OHVQRWRQO\IRUZRUNEXWDOVRHQWHUWDLQPHQWDQG
RIWHQRIULWXDOVWKDWQHHGDTXLFNUHORRN
Developing countries, with India leading from
the front, have consistently argued at the WTO that
since the Public Stockholding is intended to serve
the food security objective and does not cause any
distortion in international trade, subsidies given
under this programme should be exempt from com-
mitment under the AoA. The ninth WTO ministe-
rial in Bali (2013) agreed to a “peace clause” under
which “if a developing country gives AMS in excess
of 10 per cent, no member will challenge this until
2017 when WTO would look for a permanent solu-
tion to address their food security concerns”.
The peace clause came with a plethora of con-
ditions viz., submission of data on food procurement,
<D27;4BB?08= 2015) when it decided that “negotiations
on the subject shall be held in the CoA,
which will be distinct from the ongoing
agriculture negotiations under the Doha
Development Round (DDR).” The man-
date of CoA normally being routine mat-
ters, it was naive to expect from it a far-
reaching policy decision. In the 11th
WTO — ministerial held in Buenos Aires
(December 2017), the DDR was dumped.
Coming to India’s request seeking
refuge under the peace clause against
breach of subsidy ceiling, now the CoA will
examine it in the light of conditions
inevitably results in “artificially” inflated
subsidy. The benefit of MSP is not avail-
able to quantities not procured from
farmers; yet the US has included these in
its calculations.
The resource-poor farmers produce
food for their own consumption; hence,
there is no question of subsidy given to
them distorting trade. Yet, the US has not
excluded subsidy support to them from the
calculation.
In the CoA, the US is bound to stick
to its calculation and on that basis argue
that the 11.4 per cent reported by India for
five per cent. Meanwhile, the Government
should take up restructuring its subsisting
subsidy regime. Instead of subsidising agri-
inputs and MSP to farmers which are treat-
ed as “actionable” subsidies, it should con-
sider direct cash transfers to farmers sim-
ilar to developed countries of US and EU.
While, ensuring compliance with WTO
rules, this will also help in eliminating inef-
ficiencies and misuse that are germane to
present subsidy and price support regime.
A collateral gain will be by way of prun-
ing payments and helping fiscal discipline.
(The writer is a New Delhi-based pol-
7KHZULWHULVDZHOONQRZQPDQDJHPHQWFRQVXOWDQW stockholding, distribution and subsidies (including appended to it. Considering that the US 2018-19 (in case of rice) is a gross under- icy analyst)

. "  " ;  

3GYYXKZ[XTULK^VGZXOGZKYIGTHKK^VKIZKJJ[KZUZNK)UXUTG\OX[YU[ZHXKGQGTJZNK-U\ZGZGRRRK\KRYYNU[RJSGQKIUTZOTMKTI_VRGTYGTJ
VXUMXGSSKYOTVGXZOI[RGX]NKXK9ZGZKYUXRUIGRG[ZNUXOZOKYGXK[TVXKVGXKJUX[TGHRKZUGYYOYZZNKXKZ[XTOTM/TJOGTJOGYVUXG
D8?=1C=1D85G:030E8;
urrently, we are witnessing
C the pandemic of the century
and almost the whole world
is in a lockdown. The lives and liveli-
hoods of millions are in peril. Even
the so-called developed countries of
the West have been unable to con-
tain the Coronavirus. In all nations,
the worst-affected by the shut-
downs are the migrant blue collar
workers and their families as they
are the most vulnerable, unorgan-
ised and exploited.
Indians being the largest
migrant workforce in the world will
be the worst impacted. Last year, the
diaspora’s remittance was to the tune
of $80 billion but what it will be this
year is anybody’s guess. Frightening
reports have started pouring in
from different parts of the world
related to the causalities suffered by
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). As
the healthcare sector is at the fore-
front of the fight against the pan-
demic, the large number of Indian
doctors, nurses, paramedics work-
ing around the globe will be the
worst hit. Most of them are at risk
due to the non-availability or short-
age of the PPE (Personal Protective
Equipment) needed to fight the pan-
demic, even in developed nations.
Envisaging such disasters and
conflict in 2015-16, the Migrants in
Countries in Crisis (MICIC)
Initiative developed guidelines to
protect expatriates through an inclu-
sive consultative process. They pro-
vide concrete and practical guidance
to stakeholders at the local, nation-
al, regional and international levels
on how to prepare for and respond
to crises in ways that protect and
empower migrants, leverage their
capacities and help expatriates and
communities recover from crises.
The guidelines address the full
cycle, i.e, crisis preparedness, emer-
gency response and post-crisis
action.
Interventions, policies and
structures to assist and protect
immigrants during the emergency
phase of conflicts and natural dis-
asters are best set up in times of
peace, before a crisis occurs, with
expatriates being integrated into and
involved in disaster and crisis man-
agement planning. The Sendai
Framework for Action 2015-2030,
adopted at the UN World
Conference on Disaster Risk
Reduction, underlines the need for
a holistic approach to disaster risk
reduction (DRR). Unfortunately,
our preparedness in this regard for
the Indian diaspora, as we all know,
is non-existent.
Promoting, respecting and pro-
tecting the rights of immigrants at
all times to facilitate their inclusion,
mitigate their vulnerabilities,
empower them to better protect
themselves and their community in
the event of a crisis, is vital.
The following are some salient
points for dealing with this outbreak
with an earnest request for a detailed
DRR plan at all our Missions abroad
for future crisis management.
Task groups should be readied
for collecting and sharing data on
immigrants via local networks and
diaspora groups and with smart
tools such as web applications and
social media. This data should
include information on migrant
profiles (including sex, age, status
and job) and contact details. While
respecting data protection laws,
speedy procedures are required to
regulate data sharing in times of
emergency.
Emergency hotlines should be
established in all the Missions espe-
cially the Emigration Check
Required (ECR) countries with offi-
cers to handle the major regional
languages of India. Periodical advi-
sories must be released in all the
major Indian languages.
In order to provide assistance in
times of crisis, it is crucial to have
information on where migrants are
located. Mapping must be done and
should include categories for tem-
porary and permanent immigrants,
irregular undocumented residents,
students and tourists.
Creative communication chan-
nels must be used to raise awareness
and improve the integration of
irregular migrants, as they are the
worst hit.
User-friendly registration sys-
tems should be evolved for individ-
uals and groups, especially the vul-
nerable sections of the undocument-
ed or illegal immigrants.
In coordination with the gov-
ernments, lists must be prepared of
facilities where migrants could be
accommodated, like shelters, isola-
tion and quarantine areas. This
includes a special area for women
and children.
Integrating immigrants into
professional and voluntary emer-
gency and rescue services constitutes
a concrete way to better adapt com-
munication channels and services.
This must be done in a way that
takes into account language and the
culture of migrant communities
and shares knowledge between relief
services and expatriate communi-
ties. Sufficient orientation and train-
ing should be imparted to profes-
sional and voluntary emergency
and rescue workers to address the
specific needs of immigrants in
times of crisis.
Training sessions in schools or
at workplaces and booklets and
brochures also represent valuable
information sharing trajectories.
Advisories by the Missions dis-
seminating information about emer-
gency procedures and contacts to
migrants in the mother tongue is a
must.
Local administrations general-
ly work more closely with affected
populations than the Missions and
the Government and can be includ-
ed in institutional cooperation from
the beginning in order to make use
of their ability to reach out to the
affected diaspora.
To inform migrants where shel-
ters/isolation/quarantine centres are
located, awareness programmes
about consular offices and shelters
should be held.
It is also vital to coordinate with
other governments to ensure effi-
cient mass evacuation plans for
those who want to return, especial-
ly those with irregular papers or ille-
gal immigrants.
Planning for return and reinte-
gration as well as for other long-
term needs of immigrants must start
now, as essential components of
recovery plans. Mass returns of
expatriates can be expected and the
Government at all levels should
make contingency plans and pro-
grammes, in particular where States
or local authorities are unprepared
or unable to assist the returning
workforce.
(The writer is an NRI living in
Kuwait)
A08?DAk<>=30H k0?A8; "!! f^a[S'
2>E83 (>DC1A40:

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>
Rome: Billions around the
world celebrated Easter Sunday
from lockdown at home as the
The US now has the high-
est death toll and the most cases
out of any country in the world.
)   
pope urged solidarity to fight Speaking from a near-
the coronavirus pandemic and
the European death toll from
the virus topped 75,000.
empty Saint Paul’s Cathedral,
Pope Francis’ Easter Sunday
message was largely focused on

  
Unprecedented scenes of
empty churches emerged from
Italy to Panama and the
Philippines, as religious leaders
found creative ways to address
parishioners marking the holi-
day weekend from the confines
of their homes.
More than half the world —
over four billion people — are
in lockdown worldwide as gov-
ernments scramble to halt the
pandemic’s deadly march across
the globe.
The death toll from the
virus soared past 112,407 this
weekend, with more than 1.7
million reported infections
globally.
Europe is by far the hardest-
hit continent and on Sunday
marked a grave milestone with
more than 75,000 dead, accord-
ing to an AFP tally.
The United States was
quickly emerging as a hotspot as
well, and on Saturday marked its
own grim landmark: more than
20,000 dead, out of around half
a million infected.
the pandemic, offering prayers
for the ill and urging a united
European front to fight the
pandemic.
“ For many, this is an Easter
of solitude lived amid the sor-
row and hardship that the pan-
demic is causing, from physical
suffering to economic difficul-
ties,” he said, in a livestreamed
message beamed around the
world.
He called for European “
solidarity” in the face of the
virus, adding: “ After the Second
World War, this beloved conti-
nent was able to rise again.” The
pope had earlier urged creativ-
ity to mark the holy weekend —
a call that appears to have been
met by some of the world’s two
billion-plus Christians.
In Panama an archbishop
blessed his nation from a heli-
copter, while worshippers in
Spain blasted music from their
balconies and US President
Donald Trump said he would be
among those following Easter
services online. AFP
0\T\QTa^UcWTR[TaVh[^^Zb^dc^eTaT\_ch_TfbQTU^aTcWTbcPac^UP]4PbcTa<PbbPcBc?PcaXRZ´b2PcWTSaP[X]=TfH^aZ^]Bd]SPh
Cad\__[PhTSS^f]eXadbRaXbXbP\XSfPa]X]Vb
Ua^\X]cT[[XVT]RTWTP[cW^UUXRXP[b)=HC
New York: US President
Donald Trump was warned
“ An examination reveals
the president was warned about
Trump’s views were “
coloured” by long-running
Hong Kong: People in Hong
Kong thronged beaches, ferries
and outlying islands on Sunday,
many of them violating ban on
gatherings of more than four
people aimed at containing
the spread of the new coron-
avirus.
Clear blue skies lured peo-
ple to popular areas across the
territory over the long Easter
weekend and many of them
were without surgical masks.
People in the city of 7.4 million
have made a point of wearing
masks in the past months.
“ We always stay at home
and it is quite boring,” said
0?
DcZ=R_\R^R\VdTcV^ReZ`_
T`^af]d`cjW`cgZcfdUVReYd
DaRZ_¶dURZ]jgZcfd Colombo: Sri Lanka has
e`]]cZdVdRXRZ_
amended a law to make cre-
mation compulsory for those
hZeY'"*UVRU dying from the novel coron-
avirus to prevent any potential
threat despite strong opposi-
Banny Mak, 24, a local resident.
“ We are social animal(s),
we need to go out for some fun.
I think with proper protection
(for) ourselves and to protect
other people. I think it is
already ok to go out.”
Hong Kong has recorded
1,005 cases of COVID-19,
which has killed four people
in the city. It banned public
gatherings of more than four
people for 14 days from
March 29, after recording the
biggest daily increase in new
COVID-19 infections, and
later extended that restriction
until April 23. AGENCY
lating Islamic burial rites.
The process of cremation
is forbidden within Islam and
Judaism, which require mem-
bers of the faiths to be buried.
Wanniarachchi said that
3  about the potential for a pan-
demic but he repeatedly played
down the seriousness of the
the potential for a pandemic
but that internal divisions, lack
of planning and his faith in his
disputes inside the adminis-
tration over how to deal with
China and his own suspicion of
05? <03A83 tion from the Muslim com-
munity.
the body shall be burned at a
temperature between 800 to

&
  virus and focused instead on
Yangon: Myanmar’s New Year
festival of Thingyan is the
country’s biggest public holiday
— normally a week of nation-
wide celebration and water-
fights, with soaked revellers
partying late into the night.
But this year, in an echo of
cancelled Easter celebrations
elsewhere in the world, the
country’s commercial hub
Yangon is locked down, with
residents confined indoors
because of the coronavirus.
Food delivery bicycles and
rickshaws have commandeered
the city’s usually traffic-choked
streets after the Government
ordered people to stay home
unless for essential food and
healthcare needs.
By Sunday Myanmar offi-
cially had just 38 confirmed
cases — including three deaths
— but many fear the low num-
ber of tests mean the real fig-
ures are likely many times
higher. AFP
controlling the message, pro-
tecting gains in the economy
and batting away warnings
from senior officials, a lengthy
investigative report in a leading
American newspaper has said.
The report in The New
York Times revealed that there
were warnings from the intel-
ligence community, national
security aides and government
health officials about an
impending pandemic and its
consequences but Trump
played down the crisis.
own instincts led to a halting
response,” the NYT said.
The US is the worst-hit
country in the world with over
530,000 COVID-19 cases and
20,608 fatalities, according to
Johns Hopkins University data.
“ Top White House advis-
ers as well as experts deep in
the Cabinet departments and
intelligence agencies all sound-
ed alarms and urged aggressive
action to counter the threat
from the coronavirus, but
President Trump remained
slow to respond,” it said.
the motivations of officials
inside what he viewed as the “
Deep State.”
Further, recommendations
from public health officials
often competed with econom-
ic and political considerations
in internal debates, slowing
the path toward belated deci-
sions.
The NYT report said that
the National Security Council
officials received the warnings
in early January about the
potential dangers from a new
virus in Wuhan, China. PTI
Son pain’s daily death toll from
the coronavirus rose to 619
Sunday, after falling for
three straight days, the gov-
ernment said.
The country, one of the
worst hit by the pandemic, has
now recorded 16,972 deaths
from COVID-19.
The daily toll was from 510
on Saturday, compared with a
record 950 deaths as recently as
April 2. The number of con-
firmed cases rose by 4,167 to
166,019, a smaller increase
than was recorded on Saturday,
the Health Ministry said.
The Quarantine and
Prevention of Diseases
Ordinance (Chapter 222) has
been amended by a gazette
issued by Health Minister
Pavithra Wanniarachchi, the
government said.
“ .......The corpse of a
person who has died or is sus-
pected to have died of coron-
avirus shall be cremated...,”
the gazette dated April 11
states.
The move followed
protests from the island’s
Muslim community which
accused the authorities of vio-
1200 degree Celsius for a min-
imum period of 45 minutes to
one hour. He said that the cre-
mation should take place at a
cemetery or a place approved
by the authorities.
The amended law prevents
bodies being handed over to
anyone other than “ to persons
who undertake the necessary
duties of cremation” .
The attire and non-
reusable personal protective
equipment used by persons
who handle the corpse shall
also be destroyed during cre-
mation. PTI

4    "    + 
" " 
""E   " 
Beijing: Although China is
claiming success in its battle
against the coronavirus, mil-
lions have lost their jobs in the
economic fallout, throwing into
jeopardy an ambitious target to
eradicate poverty this year.
Beijing has been working
to fire up the economy again
after bringing it to a near
standstill to curb the spread of
COVID-19, but many firms
have had a bumpy restart and
workers are bearing the brunt
of the pain.
Despite being a country of
skyscrapers and high-tech
innovations, China still has
millions of people on meagre
incomes.
About 5.5 million rural
Chinese live in poverty, defined
by the government as surviving
on less than 2,300 yuan ($326)
a year. A slowing economy puts
pressure on a key Communist
Party goal to become a “ mod-
erately prosperous society” by
the end of 2020, an ambition in
place long before the virus
emerged.
It also threatens a long-held
tacit agreement between peo-
ple and party that freedoms can
be sacrificed in return for eco-
nomic progress, an under-
standing that largely forms the
basis of the authoritarian gov-
ernment’s legitimacy in the
absence of elections.
China has little in the way
of social security benefits and
workers who lose their jobs
have an inadequate safety net,
meaning mass unemployment
often brings a fear of unrest.
Official statistics show job-
less numbers have soared, with
roughly five million more peo-
ple out of work between
December and February. PTI
"
05? A><4
Itolltaly on Sunday reported its
lowest coronavirus death
in more than three weeks,
confirming trends showing
that the COVID-19 outbreak
in Europe’s worst-hit nation
had peaked.
The 431 new deaths
reported by the civil protec-
tion service were the lowest
since March 19. Italy’s death
total now stands at 19,899,
officially second behind the
United States.
+ 
London: Prime Minister Boris
Johnson on Sunday vowed that
Britain “ will defeat” the dead-
ly coronavirus, soon after he
was discharged from hospital
following week-long intensive
care treatment for the disease
that has killed over 10,000
people in the country.
Downing Street said that
Johnson left St. Thomas’
Hospital in London and will
head to his prime ministerial
residence of Chequers in
Buckinghamshire, south east
England. In a video message
recorded to mark his discharge
doctors and nurses for their
care during his week-long hos-
pitalisation and stressed that the
UK will win the “ national bat-
tle” against coronavirus
because the NHS is the “ beat-
ing heart of this country”.
“ It is the best of this coun-
try. It is unconquerable. It is
powered by love. So thank you
from me, and from all of us, to
the NHS, and let’s remember to
F<^RjSVT`^V6fc`aV¶dh`cdeYZe
4@G:5"*T`f_ecjhRc_dViaVce
follow the rules on social dis-
tancing. Stay at home, protect
our NHS — and save lives,” he
said.
As he wished the British
public a Happy Easter, Johnson
also expressed his thanks to the
many millions and millions of
people across this country
doing the right thing and going
through the hardship of self-
isolation. PTI
 !!6  as well as Easter Sunday, the 55-
year-old leader said that the UK London: The UK could end up reducing. But yes the UK is
“ will defeat this coronavirus being one of the worst-hit likely to be one of the worst if
"  ??6?
Tehran: Iran on Sunday
announced 117 new deaths from
the novel coronavirus, bringing
the overall official toll to 4,474,
even as it eased some restrictions
that had been imposed to slow
the spread of the illness.
Health ministry spokesman
Kianoush Jahanpour also told a
news conference that 1,657 new
infections had been confirmed in
the past 24 hours, taking the total
to 71,686. Iran has carried out
263,388 tests for the virus so far,
he added. Of those confirmed to
be infected with COVID-19 and
admitted to hospitals, 43,894
have recovered and been dis-
FDDfacV^V4`fcee`
charged, while 3,930 are in a crit-
ical condition. Iran announced
its first coronavirus cases on
February 19 and has so far
become the worst-hit country in
the Middle East.
The new tolls come as Iran
has started a gradual reopening
of its sanctions-hit economy.
On Saturday, it allowed small
businesses to reopen outside
the capital and this will be
extended to Tehran on April 18.
President Rouhani also
announced in a cabinet meet-
ing that an intercity travel ban
in place since last month would
be lifted on April 20. AFP
and defeat it together” .
He said: “ I have today left
hospital after a week in which
the NHS (National Health
Service) has saved my life, no
question. It’s hard to find the
words to express my debt.
“ And the reason in the end
my body did start to get enough
oxygen was because for every
second of the night they (NHS
doctors and nurses) were watch-
ing and they were thinking and
they were caring and making
the interventions I needed” .
Johnson name-checked a
ATbXST]cbfTPa\PbZbPVPX]bccWTR^a^]PeXadbPbcWThSP]RTX]P]^[S]TXVWQ^aW^^SX]FdWP]^]Bd]SPh 0? number of the “ utterly brilliant”
( E
European countries in the
coronavirus pandemic, a senior
scientific adviser to the gov-
ernment warned on Sunday.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, director
of the Wellcome Trust who
sits on the British govern-
ment’s scientific advisory
committee SAGE, said Britain
is facing the highest death toll
in the region as further waves
of the deadly virus cannot be
ruled out.
“ The numbers in the UK
have continued to go up. I do
hope we are coming close to
the number of new infections
not the worst affected country
in Europe,” Farrar told the
BBC.
As of Saturday, the death
toll in the UK stands at 9,875,
increasing rapidly day on day.
The death toll in neighbouring
European countries stands at
19,468 in Italy – among the
worst hit countries in the
world, and Germany at 2,871.
Farrar said that Germany
had introduced testing at a “
remarkable” rate which helped
it gain a “ critical six to eight
weeks” to prepare its health
system for the pandemic. PTI
  ;
YVRcRaaVR]`_RS`ceZ`_
UfcZ_XgZcfdTcZdZd
Washington: Abortion rights
advocates on Saturday called on
the US Supreme Court to
urgently intervene to force
Texas to reinstate the right to
abortion, which has been sus-
pended in the state since the
start of the novel coronavirus
pandemic.
This is the first appeal
related to COVID-19 to reach
the highest American court,
which has been operating only
in writing for nearly a month.
The Court, which legalized
abortion in 1973 in its land-
mark Roe v. Wade decision, will
have to decide whether a state
can suspend the case law in the
name of a public health emer-
gency.
This case will be a test for
the Supreme Court, which has
been profoundly reshaped
since the election of President
Donald Trump.
During his campaign, the
Republican billionaire
promised to appoint only anti-
abortion judges to the court.
Since then he has brought in
two new judges out of nine.
The petition concerns
Texas’s decision — later fol-
lowed by other conservative
states — to include abortion on
the list of “ non-emergency”
medical procedures prohibited
while the COVID-19 outbreak
continues. PTI
Tel Aviv: The coronavirus pan-
demic has forced militaries
and militias to adapt to an
invisible enemy, even as tradi-
tional conflicts grind on.
Armies have had to enforce
social distancing rules among
troops while helping with
national outbreak containment
and postponing maneuvers.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia
declared a temporary halt to
fighting in Yemen because of
the pandemic, while in Libya
and Afghanistan conflicts are
intensifying despite UN appeals
for a global cease-fire. An out-
break in poor or war-scarred
nations would be particularly
devastating.
Before the pandemic,
Israel’s military kept tabs on the
Iran-backed Hezbollah militia
in Lebanon, carried out occa-
sional airstrikes against Iran’s
military presence in Syria and
retaliated for sporadic rocket
fire from the Gaza Strip.
Now troops are being
mobilized to help police
enforce quarantines, assist the
elderly or provide child care for
health workers.
To prevent infections, the
army canceled some weekend
leave and isolated certain
groups of soldiers.
Most training exercises
have been canceled or delayed,
though the air force conduct-
ed a drill with U.S. Forces —
with each pilot isolated in his
own fighter jet.
The army chief had to self-
quarantine after coming in
contact with a virus carrier,
though he eventually tested
negative.
The conflicts on Israel’s
frontiers persist. In late March,
Syrian air defenses opened fire
on missiles allegedly launched
from Israeli warplanes.
The Israeli military said
border defense remains its top
priority.
“ Our enemies are still at
our borders and our civilians
are still within sniper or anti-
tank missile range,” said Lt.
Col. Jonathan Conricus, a mil-
itary spokesman.
The virus has spread to the
Israeli-occupied West Bank
and to Gaza, which has been
blockaded by Israel and Egypt
since the militant Hamas group
seized control in 2007.
The long-simmering
Israeli-Palestinian conflict now
exists side-by-side with efforts
to contain the outbreak.
Troops have carried out
home demolitions in the West
Bank, soldiers killed two
Palestinians in clashes and a
trickle of rockets has been
fired from Gaza.
But the virus is also open-
ing doors to limited coopera-
tion. Israel has helped deliver
test kits and other supplies to
both the West Bank and Gaza.
An Israeli-Palestinian com-
mittee is coordinating the
movement of Palestinian work-
ers and security forces in the
West Bank.
Spurred by concern over
the pandemic, the Saudi-led
coalition fighting the Iran-
backed Houthi rebels in Yemen
declared a temporary cease-fire
after five years of war.
The Houthis have dis-
missed the offer as a ploy and
clashes continue, casting doubt
over a future peace agreement.
The UN had called for an
end to escalating fighting so
authorities can confront the
coronavirus. Yemen confirmed
its first case this week, while
foreign backers Iran and Saudi
Arabia have struggled to stem
massive outbreaks.
An outbreak in Yemen,
where the conflict has devas-
tated the health care system,
could be catastrophic.
The past month has
brought more human suffering
across the country.
Ground fighting in the
north caused 270 deaths in 10
days. The Houthis fired mis-
siles at the Saudi capital,
Riyadh, triggering retaliatory
strikes on Yemen’s capital,
Sanaa. A rebel attack on the city
of Taiz, in western Yemen,
killed at least six female pris-
oners and wounded two dozen
women and children.
Even modest hopes for
peace talks in Yemen stand in
contrast to Libya, where rival
forces have ignored humani-
tarian pleas for a cease-fire,
seeking to exploit the diplo-
matic void left by the pan-
demic. Eastern-based forces
under the command of Khalifa
Hifter are escalating a year-long
siege of the capital, Tripoli,
which they want to wrest from
the U.N.-backed government.
Artillery shells crashed
through living rooms, cars, a
sea port and three hospitals
over the last month, killing at
least 16 civilians and wounding
over 30. Grad rockets struck
one of the country’s few coro-
navirus facilities, sending
shrapnel into a doctor’s leg dur-
ing surgery and forcing seri-
ously ill patients to evacuate as
the bombs fell.
Militias allied with the
Tripoli government have
expanded their use of Turkish
drones, at one point attacking an
aircraft allegedly carrying med-
ical supplies and protective gear.
In South Korea, which has man-
aged to slow the outbreak, the
military is key to containment.
More than 450 military
medical staff and 2,700 troops
have been deployed to help
with treatment at hospitals,
screening travelers, enforcing
quarantine, producing face
masks and helping trace the
contacts of virus carriers,
according to the Defense
Ministry. AP
A08?DAk<>=30H k0?A8; "!!
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he Taliban announced
T Sunday it will be releasing
20 Afghan Government pris-
oners the group has been hold-
ing, in the first phase of its
commitment under its
historic peace deal with the
United States.
The deal calls for the gov-
ernment to release 5,000
Taliban prisoners in exchange
for 1,000 government officials
held by the Taliban insurgents.
The Afghan government
released its first 100 Taliban
prisoners last week and Jawed
D2dZR^RjdVVh`cdeVT`_`^ZT &3&'
  
Faisal, a spokesman for
Afghanistan’s national securi-
ty adviser, said the government
has thus far released 300
Taliban prisoners overall from
government custody.
Suhial Shaheen, a
spokesman for the Taliban’s
political office, said in a tweet
that the first government pris-
oners will be handed over to
the International Committee of
the Red Cross in the southern
Kandahar province.
The exchanges come after
the Taliban met with the head
of US Forces in Afghanistan to
call for an end to what they say
2>E83 (>DC1A40:
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is an increase in American
attacks since a peace deal was
signed in February, allegations
the US Military denied.
On Saturday, a U.S.
Military spokesman called on
the Taliban to stop attacking
Afghan security forces whom
he said American troops would
continue to come to
their aid in accordance with the
agreement.
He spoke on condition of ?^_T5aP]RXbRT[TQaPcTb4PbcTaBd]SPh<PbbX]bXSTP]T\_chBc?TcTa´b1PbX[XRPPccWTEPcXRP]
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year war, America’s longest. TgXbcX]VWTP[cW_a^Q[T\bXcRP]RPdbT\^aTbTeTaTX[[]Tbb^aSTPcW 0?
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s the global economy goes
A through an unprecedented
tough phase amid the coron-
avirus crisis, a World Bank
report on Sunday said that
South Asia may witness its
worst economic performance
in the last 40 years.
The report also said that at
least half of the countries in the
region are likely to fall in deep
recession.
“South Asia will likely
experience the worst econom-
5XabccPbZXbc^_aT_PaT
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forecast GDP growth
for this fiscal year is in negative
spending over economic cycles,
this time consumption is falling
sharply. Moreover, supply dis-
ruptions and panic buying can
jeopardize food security. The
sudden disappearance of ser-
vice sector jobs and the rise in
food prices have created eco-
nomic hardship, especially for
people in the informal sector.”
It noted that policy makers
in South Asia are dealing with
a plethora of challenges.
The first task is to prepare
the, still underdeveloped,
health-care system for the fight
New Delhi: The MSME sector
will tide over the huge blow
caused by the lockdown, and
reduce chinese import depen-
dence by ramping up domestic
manufacturing with the gov-
ernment support, Union
Minister Nitin Gadkari has said.
In a video-conference with
PTI, the MSME minister said
the government was working on
a “war footing” to resolve issues
- like working capital crunch
and access to affordable financ-
ing - faced by the sector, as mil-
E`a`Z]ac`UfTVcd
lions of units stare at staggering
losses.
Gadkari said the commit-
tees constituted by the Prime
Minister’s Office are continu-
ously monitoring and assessing
the situation on the ground and
would suggest if and when the
lockdown can be lifted in cer-
tain sectors for normal opera-
tions to resume, and added
that “work should begin where
possible while keeping the virus
at bay”.
The MSME Minister said
8 
nearly 8-10 lakh units will be
restructured in the coming
days, asserting that owners will
have to take care of their work-
ers and put in place mechanisms
for proper sanitisation as a pre-
ventive measure once they
return to work. Gadkari also
informed that a Rs 10,000 crore
“Fund of Funds” has been
approved by the Finance
Committee and will be placed
before the Union Cabinet for
approval. This fund, he said, will
facilitate MSMEs to raise money
from the capital market, as a
portion of their equity will be
purchased by the government.
“We will encourage MSMEs to
enter the capital market and
attract foreign investments,
increase exports from the sec-
tor through large-scale pro-
duction and create jobs,” the
minister said.
He observed that the gov-
ernment was well aware of the
issues faced by micro, small and
medium enterprises, and pack-
ages announced by the Finance
Minister will set in motion a
recovery for the sector.
Gadkari said that recom-
mendations of the UK Sinha
Committee appointed by the
Reserve Bank of India will soon
be implemented.
The Minister said he has
directed district officers to go to
banks and facilitate paper work
and coordination for loans to be
cleared as fast as possible, and
a “branch-wise” monitoring
was underway to ease the cred-
it woes of the MSME sector. PTI
5H#!I 3XVXcP[_Ph\T]cX]UaP
T]PQ[Tb_a^\_cRPbW
ic performance of the last 40
years. Because of the unparal-
territory.
In a worst-case scenario,
against COVID-19. Another
immediate task is to secure e`^VVegZR   J""

 
leled uncertainty, this report
presents a range forecast, esti-
mating that regional growth
will fall to a range between 1.8
and 2.8 per cent in 2020, down
from 6.3 per cent projected six
months ago.
The hardest hit is the
Maldives where GDP is expect-
ed to decline by between 8.5
and 13 per cent this year, as
tourism has dried up. Also, for
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri
Lanka, the full range of their
0\XS[^RZS^f]cTP
X]SdbcahbTTZb$_TaRT]c
f^aZU^aRTX]1T]VP[VPaST]b
?C8 :>;:0C0
A day after West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee increased the limit of
the workforce in tea gardens
from 15 to 25 per cent amid
the nationwide lockdown, the
tea industry on Sunday urged
the state government to
gradually allow up to 50 per
cent of the labourers in the
plantations.
The chief minister had
first allowed the deployment of
only 15 per cent of the work-
force in the tea gardens, which
she increased to 25 per cent on
Saturday.
Welcoming the move,
Arijit Raha, secretary general
of the Indian Tea Association
(ITA) told PTI, “ The
Consultative Committee on
Plantation Associations
(CCPA) made a representation
to the government seeking to
allow flexibility in operations
within prescribed limits. The
increased deployment will
the whole region would expe-
rience a contraction of GDP, it
added. The report noted that
while normal downturns are
caused by lack of effective
demand, this crisis is caused by
supply constraints. While typ-
ically manufacturing is the
most cyclical part of the econ-
omy, this time service sectors
are hardest hit, it added.
“While usually, GDP decel-
erates faster than consumption,
as consumers smooth their
help in plucking and ancillary
activities.” ITA is a constituent
of the CCPA. “We are
hopeful that the state govern-
ment will consider the
enhancement of workforce to
50 per cent,” he said.
Rudra Chatterjee, director
of Luxmi Group, which owns
the Makaibari brand, wel-
comed the move saying it will
help them get a portion of the
first flush.
“We will get the entire sec-
ond flush, the season for
which will start from May. The
second flush will be protected.
Makaibari had fetched the
highest price in the history of
Darjeeling second flush at
USD 1850 per kg,” he said.
Chamong Tea Chairman
A Lohia said after the govern-
ment decided to allow more
workforce in the tea gardens,
the group has begun plucking
in all of its 13 gardens in
Darjeeling by following guide-
lines laid down by the admin-
istration.
caP]bUTa^U!'!$%Rad]STa
access to food and basic needs
to the most vulnerable people
in society.
Similarly, it is important to
secure other vital functions in
the economy, such as payment
systems and banking opera-
tions. This all has to be
achieved in a deteriorating
global environment, while deal-
ing with fiscal stress and prob-
lems in financial markets that
were caused by pre-existing
vulnerabilities, it said.
C$&(!Tc`cV]`dd
UfVe`TR_TV]]VU
VgV_ed_VVUX`ge
dfaa`cedRjd:6:2
New Delhi: Apex body of
exhibiting and trade show indus-
try, Indian Exhibitions Industry
Association (IEIA), on Sunday
sought an economic package
from the government, saying the
sector has suffered a loss of Rs
3,570 crore due to cancelled
events on account of coron-
avirus pandemic.
The impact of COVID-19
outbreak on exhibiting and trade
show industry has been unprece-
dented with multiple global and
national events being postponed
or cancelled in the country, IEIA
said in a statement. “...In last few
weeks more than 90 shows have
been reported to be either post-
poned or cancelled due to
COVID-19 during the time-
period, summing up to approx-
imately 15 per cent of the total
events conducted annually in the
organised sector, with a resultant
estimated loss of Rs 3,570 crore
for the entire sector and this may
increase if COVID-19 crisis
lingers on,” IEIA President S
Balasubramanian said.
gZUV`T`_WVcV_TV
Vienna: The world’s top oil-pro-
ducing countries will meet via
videoconference at 1600 GMT
on Sunday, a source close to
OPEC said, as they try to address
plummeting oil prices due to the
coronavirus crisis. The source
spoke on the condition of
anonymity, but the meeting was
confirmed by Azerbaijan. The
meeting will take place in the
framework of consultations
resulting from the meeting on
April 9 of ministers from OPEC
and non-OPEC countries,”
Azerbaijan’s energy ministry
said in a statement. It added that
the meeting would be chaired by
Saudi Energy Minister Prince
Abdulaziz bin Salman and
Russian Energy Minister
Alexander Novak. AFP
AT^_T]X]V^UDBR^d[S_a^QPQ[hbcPac]Tgc\^]cW)DBc^_S^R
Washington: America’s
reopening could probably start
at least in some ways next
month, a top member of the
White House Task Force on
coronavirus said on Sunday as
the US battles one of the worst
public health crises in a
century.
For weeks now, over 95
per cent of 330 million
American population are
under stay-at-home order and
a national emergency has been
put in place as the United
States has become the hotspot
of COVID-19.
More than 20,000
Americans have lost their lives
battling coronavirus and over
5.3 lakh have been tested pos-
itive. New York, the global
financial capital, is the epi-
center of this crisis with more
than 1.8 lakh positive cases and
New Delhi: Turning ‘crisis into
opportunity’, India needs
renewed focus on infrastruc-
ture in the wake of the damage
caused by COVID-19 and talks
are on with state governments
to re-start highway construc-
tion projects where migrant
labourers can be gainfully
employed, union minister Nitin
Gadkari said.
In a video-conference with
PTI, the road transport, high-
ways and MSME minister said
talks are on with state govern-
ments for facilitating safe return
of migrant labourers, an esti-
mated 20 lakh of whom are in
shelters pan-India.
“I had a meeting with road
sector officials. Work can be re-
started at projects with condition
that adequate measures are
8,650 deaths.
President Donald Trump
is mulling reopening the coun-
try, where in more than 17
million people have lost their
job, given that in some parts of
the country like New York,
there are signs of reduction in
new COVID-19 patients and
states like Washington and
California have successfully
flattened the curve through
strict enforcement of social
distancing measure.
With American economy
in teeters, President Trump has
described this as one of the
biggest decisions of his life that
he has ever had to make.
“I think it (reopening the
country) could probably start, at
least in some ways, maybe next
month. And, again it’s so diffi-
cult to make those kinds of pre-
dictions, because they always get
taken for safeguard against coro-
navirus. We have to follow
guidelines. At some places col-
lectors have given permission,
some not. We are doing a follow
up along with the chief secre-
taries of the states,” the minister
said. He said an estimated about
20 lakh migrant labourers are
stuck in shelters or have gone
back to villages and in view of
the Disaster Management Act
being in place, district collectors
can take a decision on it.
“As I have said and believe,
we can turn any problem into
opportunity, we need to focus on
highways building with renewed
vigour...Highways sector has
faced much obstacles due to
coronavirus. In coming years we
will have to give the highest pri-
ority to the infrastructure sector.
thrown back at you if it doesn’t
happen,” Dr Anthony Fauci,
director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases at the National Institute
of Health told CNN. During
the interview, Dr Fauci, who
is a member of the White
House Task Force on coron-
avirus, hinted that the reopen-
ing of the country could be in
phases and spread out region by
region depending on the
ground situation.
“We are hoping that, at the
end of the month, we could
look around and say, OK, is
there any element here that we
can safely and cautiously start
pulling back on? If so, do it. If
not, then just continue to hun-
ker down. And that’s what, at
least for me standpoint of the
public health aspect, that we
look at,” he said.
To accelerate the economy, infra-
structure is needed,” Gadkari
said. He said plans are afoot to
boost the highways sector. A
committee has already been set
up, he said, adding that work
needs to be commenced on a
war footing on highway projects,
including the C1 lakh crore
Delhi-Mumbai new expressway
which would usher in develop-
ment of backward and far-flung
areas of Rajasthan, Haryana,
Maharashtra, Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh. Reiterating
that the government has saved a
massive C16,000 crore on land
acquisition as it is on a new align-
ment, the minister urged com-
panies to come forward for set-
ting up manufacturing hubs and
clusters along the highway to
boost economic growth. PTI
“Other decisions are going to
have to be made at the level of
the president and the governors
about what they are going to do
with all of the information they
get. The only thing I and my col-
leagues in public health and
medicine can do is to give a pro-
jection of the kinds of things that
may or may not happen when
you make these steps,” he noted.
Responding to a question, Dr
Fauci acknowledged that things
could have been difficult in the
US had everything been shut
down from day one.
“It’s very difficult to go
back and say that. I mean,
obviously, you could logically
say, that if you had a process
that was ongoing, and you
started mitigation earlier, you
could have saved lives.
Obviously, no one is going to
deny that. PTI
?<6PaXQ:P[hP]_[P]
?C8 =4F34;78
obust digital payment
R infrastructure helped more
than 30 crore people to receive
financial assistance of `28,256
crore under Pradhan Mantri
Garib Kalyan Package
announced by Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
on March 26 to protect them
from the impact of the lock-
down, an official statement
said on Sunday.
A digital pipeline laid a few
years ago — through linking
Jan-Dhan accounts as well as
other accounts with the bene-
ficiaries’ mobile numbers and
Aadhaar Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-
Mobile (JAM) — was instru-
mental in cash transfer under
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
package amid coronavirus pan-
demic.
This infrastructure pipeline
is providing the necessary
backbone for DBT flows, adop-
tion of social security/pension
schemes, etc, the Finance
Ministry said in a statement on
Sunday.
As part of `1.70 lakh crore
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
package relief package, more
than 30 crore beneficiaries
have been given support via
direct benefit transfer through
first installment during the
last week. Two more install-
ments of cash transfer will be
done in May and June.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
Yojana (PMJDY) was launched
in August, 2014 with an aim to
provide bank accounts to
unbanked persons, it said,
adding out of around 126 crore
operative CASA accounts as on
March 20, 2020, more than 38
crore have been opened under
PMJDY.
A08?DAk<>=30H k0?A8; "!! eXePRXch 

ith nationwide lock-

W down amid
Coronavirus pandemic,
leading companies and enterpris-
the

es are seeing most of their work-

force operating remotely. Working
from home has become the new
work culture that people are fol-
1XV1aTRP[[b^[S lowing during self-quarantine.
And as it gets intensified,
bX\_[TaSPhb there are multiple ways in which
following a proper schedule could
B\Pac_W^]Tbf^d[SWPeTc^QT get tiring as well as confusing.
cWTX]eT]cX^]^UcWTcX\TbUTT[b However, one can operate success-
PRc^a0<8C0171027270= fully at home by practicing sincere
°CWTfWTT[WPbQTT]SdQQTS discipline, implementing proper
PbcWTVaTPcTbcX]eT]cX^]^U to-do lists and, above all, using
technology in the right manner.
P[[cX\T8]c^SPh³bcX\T8 There have been conversa-
f^d[SbPhcWT²b\Pac tions aplenty about the challenges
_W^]T±cWTPRc^a of working from home and at the
^_X]TS^]CfXccTa same time, without affecting pro-
8]PQ[^VT]cah ductivity. It may not be preferred,
but currently working from home
1XV1bWPaTSWXb is the need of the hour to ensure
aTPb^]b°CWT social distancing. Every cloud
b\Pac_W^]Tf^d[S has a silver lining as does this one.
WPeTc^QTcWT This current predicament gives
X]eT]cX^]^UcWT businesses, employers, and
cX\Tb8cXbad] employees a golden opportunity
to unlearn the classic operational
]X]VTeTahcWX]VX] dynamics and discover new
cWTf^a[Sc^SPh mantras.
fWPcTeTaf^d[S This is sure to be a complex

IMPORTANCE OF
fTWPeTS^]T period but overcoming these chal-
fXcW^dcXc±WT lenges will make us who we want
fa^cT to be. To do so, you need some
organising skills to maintain a
CaPeT[[X]VS^f] healthy balance between your

ROUTINE
\T\^ah[P]TcWTPRc^a personal and professional life and
bWPaTS\T\^aXTb^U keep them separate.
[P]S[X]T_W^]TbP]S
W^fcWTbTfTaTcWT :44?C7430HB2743D;4
_aX\Pah\TP]bc^c^ 0B40A;84A
While the easiest thing to
R^\\d]XRPcTfXcW do is to stay up late at night and
QTU^aTRT[[_W^]Tb get up late in the morning given
RP\TP[^]V that you are at home and you
don’t have to venture out.
However, following the old #HK0 #L7  
³7Pb\dZWXbP office schedule is more helpful
 "  " 
even while you’re at home. Get
_daT[hUXRcX^]P[ up on time, have your early
cP[T1dcTeTah morning coffee and squeeze in   
 
 
UXRcX^]P[bc^ah some me-time. Don’t forget that
working out is of utmost "
 
XbX]b_XaTSQh importance. Don’t forego the
b^\TfX[S habit and try to organise your
schedule at least for the next 24
X\PVX]PcX^]0b hours.
PfaXcTacWPcbfWPc8 Sitting on a couch or the bed
WPeTP__[XTSWTaT>]T while working might look com-
fortable at first but one needs to
RP]]TeTaX\PVX]T remember that it’s not going to be
[^^ZX]VPc0\^[?P[TZPa just one or two days of working in
the comfort of your home. Setting
^]bRaTT]P]SbPhcWPc up a workstation will not only
WTRP]WPeTPSPaZ make you more focussed but will
also help you maintain a fine line
bXST7Xb^]bRaTT] between your personal and pro-
RWPaPRcTabPaTb^ fessional spaces.
PUUPQ[TP]ST]STPaX]V for long hours continuously,
064=30?;0==8=6
7Pb\dZW XbbX\X[Pa´ A day without any set agen-
°EXa3Pb da can go haywire with you hav-
ing no clue of the to-dos. You
might have an idea as to what all
you are supposed to work on,
however, as the day progresses,
one tends to forget as assignments
keep piling. Keeping a proper to-
do-list to segregate and prioritise
what’s important and what’s not
and following it religiously will
help you plan your day better.
:44?C8<45>A1A40:B
As we are working from
home, we tend to sit on our
assignments and digital screens
which can have an adverse impact
on our body and mind. Make it a
point to take breaks in between
and get up from the workstation
for short breaks — going for a
stroll to the balcony might help.
Instead of sitting and attending
calls, you can walk while doing so
as it will help your body relax a bit.
148=2>=BC0=CC>D27
F8C7H>DAC40<
Working from home doesn’t
mean you have to work in isola-
tion or all by yourself. Ensure you
take every opportunity to engage
with your team or colleagues. Be
in constant touch with your team
via conference calls, video calls,
emails, hangout chats and more.
Check if everything is fine at your
colleagues’ ends and if the work
is going smoothly. In times like
these, we need to reach out to
each other as and when required,
too.
10;0=2414CF44=
7>DB47>;327>A4B0=3
>55824F>A:
The biggest drawback of
working from home is that peo-
ple tend to mix both their person-
al and professional lives, leaving
very little time at hand for them-
selves or their family. One can
strike the perfect balance by set-
ting a fixed time where you will
not work or sit in front of your
laptop to work. Planning your day
shouldn’t only be restricted to
your assignments and projects.
Space out your timings for lunch
and a coffee break to relax dur-
ing the day.
BC82:C>H>DA>558280;
A>DC8=4
While working from home
might now save a lot of time spent
in commuting for some people,
this shouldn’t mean that you
start working way past your
defined hours just because you
have enough time at hand. This
is the moment where you unwind
and utilise the extra time you have
by doing something you look for-
ward to before you end the day.
It could be spending quality time
with your family members, pet,
learning an art, reading a book or,
for that matter, catching up on the
series you are currently hooked
to. These activities will not only
help you to relax your mind but
also keep you fresh for the next
day.
In times of a lockdown, it is
an individual responsibility to be
self-motivated and accountable.
Begin by developing measurable
goals for work and continue to
communicate with the world via
technology — the biggest thing
keeping us sane in such ‘no-
socialisation’ times.
(The writer is SVP, Marketing,
Analytics and Direct Revenue,
ALTBalaji.)

0Rc^aB0;<0=:70=
\PX]cPX]bWXb_^bXcX^]
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bcPaaP]ZX]VbfWXRWXb
\TPbdaTS^fX]Vc^
UX[\^_T]X]VbP]S
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0
CWTPRc^aXbc^_ 1``\U7__W\U
_X]VcWT[XbcQhPWdVT
\PaVX]P]SWPb\^aTcWP]S^dQ[T d_XQb^Ucc
cWT_^X]cbPbR^\_PaTSc^cWT `X_^UcV_bfYbec
]Tgc]P\T^]cWT[XbcfWXRWXb
0ZbWPh:d\PafXcWBP[\P]Pc Y^VUSdY_^dbQS[Y^W
& '_^X]cbP]ScWT[PccTaPc''&
pple and Google fueled hopes
_^X]cb
7TXbX]P[TPVdT^UWXb^f]
A for digital technolog y’s
promise against a fast-moving,
fWT]XcR^\Tbc^WPeX]V^]T^U invisible killer, announcing a
cWTQXVVTbcUP]U^[[^fX]VbPRa^bb joint effort to help public health
agencies worldwide leverage
cWTf^a[SRdccX]VPRa^bbP[[PVT
smartphones to contain the
Va^d_bP]SVT^VaP_WhTb_TRXP[[h COVID-19 pandemic.
cWTh^d]VTaVT]TaPcX^] New software the companies
plan to add to phones would
make it easier to use bluetooth
;T]PRT[TQaPcTbcf^ wireless technology to track down
people who may have been infect-
hTPab^Ub^QaXTch ed by Coronavirus carriers. The
0Rc^a;4=03D=70<XbRT[TQaPc idea is to help national, state and
local governments roll out apps
X]Vcf^hTPab^UQTX]V°R[TP]P]S for so-called “contact tracing”
b^QTa±fXcWPaT\X]STacWPcXcXbP that will run on iPhones and
°\XaPR[T±cWPcbWTRP]³ccPZTU^a android phones alike.
VaP]cTS The technology works by har-
CWT6Xa[bRaTPc^aP]SPRc^a nessing short-range bluetooth
signals. Using the Apple-Google
aTU[TRcTSQPRZ^]WTacf^hTPab^U technology, contact-tracing apps
b^QaXTchPUcTaVXeX]V would gather a record of other
d_cWTP]cXP]gX phones with which they came into
Tch\TSXRPcX^] close proximity. Such data can be
:[^]^_X]cWa^dVW used to alert others who might
have been infected by known
P]8]bcPVaP\ carriers of the novel Coronavirus,
_^bc typically when the phones’ own-
CWT ers have installed the apps and
""hTPa agreed to share data with public-
health authorities.
^[SRT[T Developers have already cre-
QaPcTScWT ated such apps in countries
\X[Tbc^]T including Singapore and China to
QhbWPaX]V try to contain the pandemic. In
PbT[UXT^U Europe, the Czech Republic says
it will release an app after Easter.
WTabT[U Britain, Germany and Italy are
b\X[X]VPc also developing their own tracing
cWTRP\TaP tools.
PbbWT No such apps have yet been
[^^ZTSQPRZ^] announced in the United States,
but gov Gavin Newsom of
WTaY^da]ThX] California said Friday that state
cWTRP_cX^] officials have been in touch with
°8cbP\XaPR[T the companies as they look ahead
8RP]ccPZTU^a at how to reopen and lift stay-at-
VaP]cTS]^\PccTa home orders. “We were on the
phone just this morning, for
W^fWPaS8cah± example, with Apple,” he said at
bWTbPXS a news conference.
Privacy and civil liberties
C 4 2 7  C 0 ; :
activists have warned that the
apps need to be designed so gov-
ernments cannot abuse them to
track their citizens. Apple and
Google said in a rare joint
announcement that user privacy
and security are baked into the
design of their plan.
The technology might serve
as a stopgap until there is wide-
spread testing for the novel coro-
navirus, which in the US remains
limited after production problems
and limited federal coordination
of the tests’ production and dis-
tribution. “It’s not a replacement
for just having widespread testing,
which would be more accurate,”
said Tiffany Li, a visiting law pro-
fessor at Boston University who
studies privacy and technology.
“But clearly we have a huge short-
age of tests.”
Bluetooth signal tracking, as
Google and Apple plan to use it,
can protect privacy far better
than other options such as GPS or
cell-tower based location data,
which allow centralized authori-
ties access to the information.
But Li noted it could still lead
to numerous mistaken alerts —
for instance, if someone were in
full protective gear or in an adja-
cent apartment while physically
close to an infected person.
Pam Dixon, executive direc-
tor of the World Privacy Forum,
said a conversation with Apple’s
senior director for global privacy,
Jane Horvath, assured her that the
initiative will protect people’s pri-
vacy.
Sensitive information will
stay on individual phones in
encrypted form — no personally
identifiable data would be collect-
ed — and alerts would be handled
by public health agencies, not the
tech companies. It says location
data for users won’t be used and
the identity of people who may
have been infected will be protect-
ed by encryption and anony-
mous identifier beacons that
change frequently. “I think they’ve
taken care of some of the really
big problems,” Dixon said, noting
the companies say they can turn
off the system when it’s no longer
needed. “The government is not
going to have identity information
of those testing positive.”
Asked about the Google-
Apple effort at his daily news
briefing, President Donald Trump
called it “very interesting,” but
expressed concern that “a lot of
people worry about it in terms of
a person’s freedom. We’re going to
take a look at that.”
Security experts note that
technology alone cannot effective-
ly track down and identify peo-
ple who may have been infected
by COVID-19 carriers. Such
efforts will require other tools and
teams of public health care work-
ers to locate people in the physi-
cal world, they say. In South
Korea and China, such efforts
have included the use of credit-
card and public-transit records.
In general, epidemiologists
say contact tracing won’t be effec-
tive without widely available test-
ing. In the Czech Republic, the
plan is to have soldiers perform
testing; medical students have
been trained to staff call centers
for notifying people at high risk
of infection.
F 4 1 1 4 3
1>B27B
B40B>=%
%
Detective Harry Bosch will find himself at a center of the
complex murder case, a messy federal investigation and a cat-
astrophic threat to Los Angeles — the city he has pledged to
serve and protect. The series is set to release on Amazon Prime
Video on April 17.
The Czech app will use both
Bluetooth technology and geolo-
cation data from wireless carriers
and banks to create “memory
maps” that trace the movement of
infected people. That will help
them identify others they came
into close proximity with in the
five to 10 days before they tested
positive.
The hope is to quickly isolate
people who may be affected so the
virus can be contained and
restrictions on movement relaxed.
The app builds on a popular cel-
lular-location mapping app used
by one in 10 Czechs, who num-
ber 10 million.
The Google-Apple solution
will also be voluntary — or opt- C>>7
7>CC
C>7
70=3;4
in — but with far greater privacy On the shores of paradise, gorgeous singles meet and
protections, something the mingle. But there’s a twist. To win a $100,000 grand prize,
European Commission specified they’ll have to give up sex. This reality TV dating game
as a central requirement of any show, produced by Fremantle production company
such apps in a policy recommen- Talkback, releases on Netflix on April 17.
dation this week for the 27-
nation bloc.
Given the great need for effec-
tive contact-tracing — a tool epi-
demiologists have long employed
to contain infectious disease out-
breaks — Google and Apple will
roll out their changes in two
phases. In May, they will release
software that will support public-
health apps for both Android and
iOS phones. In coming months,
they will also build the function-
ality directly into the underlying
phone operating systems.
On Friday, the companies 2>>:43F
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iolence against women at any
V time is unacceptable. Amid lock-
downs imposed worldwide due
to Coronavirus pandemic, cases of
domestic violence across the globe have
seen a spike says Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, director general of the
World Health Organisation (WHO).
Asking women who are tormented to
save themselves anyway they can, he
also tweeted recently, “Sadly, there are
reports of increase in domestic violence
since the #COVID19 outbreak began.
We call on countries to include services
to #EndViolence as an essential service
that must continue during the response.
There is never any excuse for violence.”
In the UK, as reported in a nation-
al daily, more than 25 organisations,
working for domestic violence victims,
have reported an increase in their
caseload since the start of the virus
spread in the country. In India, accord-
ing to a monthly magazine, the
National Commission for Women
(NCW) has also observed more than
two-fold rise in gender-based violence
in the country during the Coronavirus
lockdown. From 116 cases in the first
week of March, the total number of
complaints by women rose to 257 in the
final week (between March 23-April 1),
out of which 69 were of domestic vio-
lence. As per Rekha Sharma, chairper-
son, NCW, the cases of domestic vio-
lence are higher in Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Haryana and Punjab. These are
the states where maximum cases have
been reported by women who could
reach NCW through different plat-
forms and narrate the torture. However,
she pointed out that the actual number
must be even larger because there
would be many women who are unable
to report because of the fear of torture
they face from their husbands and in-
laws. Well, one cannot even imagine the
rise in the total number of cases if every
woman in remote corners of India is
given easy access to report such crimes
without being scared of their harasser.
Before the lockdown, a report
released by the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) in January 2020,
revealed that domestic abuse topped
the list of violence against women in
2018. Out of the total crimes registered
under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
against women, 31.9 per cent cases reg-
istered were listed under the ‘cruelty by
husband or his relatives’. The same
report claimed Uttar Pradesh to be the
most unsafe place for women as 59,445
cases of crime were registered from the
ala, a 3-month-old black
L Lab, romped into Ufuoma
George’s life a few weeks ago,
just as she retreated into her
New York apartment in the face
of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Lala, she thought, would be
company. But she’s turned out to
be so much more. “Being alone
at home kind of is hard,” says
George, “but with a pet you have
someone to take care of, some-
one to play with you, someone
to greet you in the morning, so
it’s kind of like really calming
and comforting.”
Whether it’s a dog, a cat or,
yes, a hedgehog named Quillie
Nelson, pets are proving to be
unexpected heroes in lockdown.
They include the newly adopt-
ed and fostered like Lala; peo-
ple have flooded shelters, look-
ing for pets to fill their extra
hours at home.
Laura Evans, her husband
and their three kids brought 12-
state in 2018. Of these crimes, 2,444
were registered as dowry deaths, while
284 cases as abetment to suicide of
women in the state. The NCRB data
from 2016 to 2018 indicated that
Ghaziabad and Meerut districts in
Western UP have maximum number of
cases registered, which also included
murders of wives by husbands.
“It all starts with arguments over
petty things that soon transforms into
ideological differences that destabilis-
es the harmony between a married cou-
ple. Most men grow intolerant towards
their partner speaking against them.
They lose patience and with the objec-
tive of punishing them, they end up
killing or torturing their wives,” shares
Dr Kashika Jain, a psychologist.
According to Atul Sharma, a social
activist, the crime statistics in Western
UP are extremely frightening. “Both
police and administration have to take
serious steps to control the crime rate
<_fUXQcV_eb`Qgc
(""E 
against women. Killing of women by
their husbands and relatives is utterly
disgraceful and unacceptable,” he adds.
Another factor that has resulted in
the increase in numbers is that due to
the lockdown, both men and women
are unable to move out of their house
to find some solace away from the
monotony. Ideally, when a husband
beats his wife, the woman finds com-
fort in her parents’ home but now she
is unable to head even there. Men, on
the other hand, are facing salary cuts,
many have already lost their jobs and
are anxious about the future. As a
result, they are venting their frustration
on women.
Ayushi Jain, a social development
practitioner, says, “In dysfunctional
households, spending time outside the
house is a tried and tested method of
avoiding violence at home. On one
hand, going out allows men to take out
the ‘built up anger’, on the other, for
women, it’s a way of diffusing the inten-
sity of what they are going through by
getting in touch with the outside world,
possibly seeking support through com-
munity gathering or counselling.” She
believes that in the current situation,
the ways to vent the growing tension
are severely limited because there is
comfort, some frustrations have
surfaced with all the together-
ness. Professional dog trainer
Nicole Ellis in Los Angeles, of
the service Rover.com, said
owners should make a con-
more confrontation between the two
parties during the lockdown, which
substantially increases the violence.
Besides the NCW, many non-prof-
it organisations have intervened in the
situation and have started providing
online counselling to such cases. Many
have also issued guidelines on social
media to educate people on ways of
intervening in cases of domestic vio-
lence around them without jeopardis-
ing the life of the victim. However,
women who have absolutely no infor-
mation about how to access such plat-
forms still remain vulnerable. With the
lockdown having been further pro-
longed, the concerned authorities and
NGOs are working to help the victims
of domestic violence due to the grow-
ing need to take stronger initiatives,
especially in smaller, more staunchly
patriarchal regions like Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar.
°2WPaZWP5TPcdaTb
survived with help from her chill
lizard, who has her own emo-
tional support vest and tiny
mask. “We don’t want her catch-
ing Coronavirus,” he joked.
Aubrey Fine, a licensed psy-
On the righteous path
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A09H>68 1A07<0:D<0A =8:D=9 98
ll of us have heard the proverb, “Where there
A is a will, there is a way” often and most of us
know what it means. However, we don’t realise that
this proverb can be an important tool for self-trans-
formation. The question of one’s inner transforma-
tion is linked to their will and resoluteness of spir-
it. Hence, if one decides with a strong will not to
harbour any negative thoughts or allow oneself to
indulge in any kind of bad behaviour, one will suc-
ceed in the process of inner change. Otherwise, one
will feel demoralised and give up the effort to change
oneself.
We must know that in the process of self trans-
formation or change, the temptation to work for win-
ning tributes and laurels and to rise to fame and glory
will be strong. One will feel attracted towards the
opposite sex and this will too will exert a powerful
pull on the mind. The situation will be provocative
and one might feel cheated by as there are wordly
temptations.
This is the time
when it is essential to
stand firm and face
the storm like a rock
and tell yourself that
it is a question of
your integrity and
honour. You made a
promise to yourself
that you won’t be a
puppet or a slave of
negative habits.
Question yourself if
“Am I going to break
my promise? Am I a
person who does not
stick to his/her words or whose promise has no
value? Wouldn't it be a breach of trust? Because you
made a promise with god not to indulge in nefari-
ous acts and swore that you had given up. Does it
behove a person with self-respect to break his
promise and to do what he himself had considered
as spiritually obnoxious and morally evil?” This kind
of self-talk is helpful while one is on the path of self
transformation.
It has been observed that one of the weakness-
es that results in spiritual ruin of man is that, he post-
pones the implementation of certain decisions even
though they were made by him and are for his own
good. This happens especially if a person fails in the
initial steps of self-transformation. As a result of this,
he feels frustrated and loses his self confidence.
Having lost his will, he gives up the effort and says
to himself: “I am not giving it up forever. I will start
and fight again. But perhaps, the time has not yet
come. I will start it on some more auspicious and
memorable day.” And when that day finally comes,
he thinks that, for this day, he will start afresh. But
again there is a pitfall and then he starts all over
again. But one who is not determined to continue
against all odds, will admit his defeat again and again.
 ""   scious effort to tire out their ani- chologist and professor emeri- And, having lost his heart, will either give up the
week-old Zoe to their Bethesda,
Maryland, home after the pan-
 ; 
 
 

demic hit. The squirmy
Yorkshire terrier needs con-
stant attention, and they’re
happy to oblige. “We wanted to
bring a little light and life to our
house,” Evans said. “She’s a cud-
dly work, homework sidekick.
Everyone wants to hang with
her.”
Nancy Karan said her pet,
Shadow gets her out of her New
York apartment for quality time
with her fellow dog walkers, at
a safe distance. At night they
sleep together, “because it’s very
comforting just to have his body
on my bed.”
In Houston, Quillie Nelson
and other pets help maintain
routines for Rachael Pavlik and
mals before a Zoom meeting or
two teens. “I think having pets
during a scary time like this is
good for the whole family. It’s
good for the kids to have a sense
of normalcy and a sense of
responsibility, like they have to
get out of bed before noon to
feed their animals,” she said.
Kitty Block, president and
CEO of the Humane Society of
the United States, urged more
people to foster and adopt as the
health crisis worsens. “It frees up
space in the shelter to take
these animals in that may be dis-
placed because their family
member, their owner is ill or
financially in a troubled situa-
tion,” she said.
While many people seek
important phone call.
“We can’t blame them if
they’re like, ‘I’m bored! I’m
bored!’ and they haven’t done
anything all day. It’s not their
fault,” she said.
That doesn’t seem to be a
problem for Squiggles, a beard-
ed dragon in South Orange,
New Jersey. Dan Cohen’s 13-
year-old daughter, Julia, has
tus at California Polytechnic
State University, said the rela-
tionship is mutually beneficial
between humans and animals.
“In a time of tremendous and
unique life challenges, goodness
is still around us. When you’re
looking at souls, animals touch
human souls and humans touch
animal souls. And together
serendipity can happen.”
—AP
efforts forever or will postpone it until another aus-
picious day.
Such people get used to repeated failure and, in
the process, become weak. Let us, therefore, make
a strong affirmation and say to ourselves: ‘Even if
heavens fall, I am now not going to fall. My pledge
is tougher than steel. And I am not going to falter
and will march from great to greater heights!’ When
we work for self-change with a tenacious and deter-
mined will, only then will the society change. Apart
from this individual responsibility of self-change,
there is no other known way of worldly transfor-
mation.

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A08?DAk<>=30H k0?A8; "!! b_^ac !
Dhoni should have retired after 2019 WC: Akhtar
?C8 =4F34;78
ormer Pakistan pacer
F Shoaib Akhtar says he
cannot fathom why
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has
“dragged it for so long” as the
right time for the maverick ex-
India skipper to call it quits was
after last year’s ODI World
Cup.
Akhtar said he hopes the
38-year-old Dhoni gets a
resounding farewell despite his
resolute silence on what the
future holds.
“This guy has served to the
best of his ability. He should
leave cricket with dignity. I
don’t know why he dragged it
for so long. He should have
retired after the World Cup,”
Akhtar said from Islamabad.
“If I would have been in his
place, I would have hung up my
boots. I could have played
shorter formats for three-four
years but I left (after the 2011
WC) as I wasn’t into the game
100 per cent. So why drag?” he
asked.
Dhoni, who has not played
a competitive game since the
World Cup semifinal in July,
was preparing to make a much-
anticipated comeback with the
IPL, which is now unlikely to
<B 3W^]X[^bTbWXbfXRZTcPUcTaSXaTRcWXcUa^\:XfXUXT[STa<PacX]6d_cX[[SdaX]V! (822 F^a[S2d_UXabcbT\XUX]P[ 822CfXccTa
take place.
If he had done well in the
IPL, there was a possibility of now in a limbo but deserves a
him playing the T20 World Cup grand send-off despite the anti-
in October-November. climactic turn of events.
6D@V_b^Uhddg_iUQbc :^W[XRP]QTR^\_PaTSfXcW:P_X[)BaXZZP]cW
cX_e\TRUbUg_b[UT* 1jXQb
?C8 =4F34;78
ormer India captain-turned-administra-
F tor Mohammed Azharuddin feels that all
cricket boards should come together to
redraw the international calendar as the
COVID-19 pandemic has ensured that the
current schedule is irredeemable.
Azharuddin, who is the president of the
Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), feels
that tweaking of the Futures Tours and
Programmes (FTP) is also necessary to
accommodate IPL, which is important for
both domestic and foreign players.
“I am sure they can have a restructured
FTP for two years because of so much of
uncertainty in prevailing circumstances. I
mean you can always prepare for good times
but you can’t prepare for bad times,” the 57-
Akhtar believes Dhoni is “As a country, you should World Cup and done wonders
let him go with a lot of respect for India. He is a wonderful
and dignity. Give him a nice human being at the same time.
send off. He has won you the But right now, he seems to be
=4F 34;78) Former India opener
Krishnamachari Srikkanth feels that
current captain Virat Kohli can be com-
pared with the legendary Kapil Dev,
given both have tremendous self-belief
and never-say-die attitude.
Srikkanth was part of the squad that
Kapil led to victory in 1983 World Cup
while Kohli featured in the team that
won the 2011 edition of the showpiece.
“I’ve played along with Kapil Dev
and I’ve been the chairman of selection
committee for choosing Virat Kohli and
I can tell you, both of their attitudes are
absolutely the same,” Srikkanth said on
Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
“Both have a tremendous amount
stuck,” he said.
Akhtar said Dhoni should
have ideally retired after last
year’s 50-over World Cup.
“When he could not finish
the game in the semifinal
(against New Zealand). I felt he
should have retired but he can
only answer why he didn’t,” he
said.
“He should have played a
farewell series after the World
Cup may be and then said
goodbye in a manner befitting
his great stature.”
Talking about the Indian
team’s inability to win a global
event since the 2013 Champions
Trophy, Akhtar said Virat
Kohli’s team needs match-win-
ners in the middle-order.
“Winning tournaments is
one thing but staying at top is
another. India is still the top-
ranked Test team and is almost
among the top teams in the lim-
ited-overs format. So, we should
not base their performance
only on their showing in ICC
events.
“Of course, they should
win ICC events and they have
to. This team, when the top four
score, they win more often
than not. But if they don’t,
then it is an issue. Another thing
I noticed is that you need a
match-winner like Yuvraj
(Singh) or Dhoni in the middle-
order,” he explained.
“When we toured India in
1998, we always thought we
of self-belief and they know they only
go out with intention to win. The never-
say-die attitude in them and the aggres-
siveness makes them fantastic during
chases and the positive attitude both of
them have makes them very similar to
each other.”
On the same show, former batsman
VVS Laxman said that Kohli never lets
his guard down.
“The one thing I admire about Virat
Kohli is his intensity. One thing I was
worried about was whether he will burn
out quickly. But not even one session or
one over he lets his intensity drop and
that is really commendable,” Laxman
said. PTI EXaPc:^W[XQPcbPc]TcbbTbbX^] ?C8
would run through India after
getting the top order. There was
no match winner until Yuvraj
came in, followed by Dhoni.
“Then you started seeing
change in results. Right now, the
problem is lack of finishers,”
opined the 44-year-old.
Akhtar doesn’t see any
cricket happening for the next
six to eight months as coron-
avirus continues to wreak havoc
around the world.
But if India’s tour of
Australia takes place, Akhtar
sees all four Tests going down
the wire.
India had won their first
ever Test series in Australia early
last year. But this time, Australia
will be a different kettle of fish
in the presence of Steve Smith
and David Warner, who were
serving ball-tampering bans
when India toured last.
“Despite the loss in New
Zealand, I think India is a very,
very good team and can give a
tough time to Australia. But
again, India have to prove that
like they did the last time.
“However, I don’t see that
series happening. My assess-
ment is there won’t be any
cricket for next one year. The
T20 World Cup is not going to
happen.
“We are dealing with a pan-
demic at the moment. Any
industry, which requires crowd
gathering, is going to suffer,”
Akhtar added.
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<B[^^ZTSX]b_TRcPRd[Pac^dRW
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?C8 274==08
ahendra Singh Dhoni’s
M intensity stood out and
he looked in spectacular touch
during the IPL camp, vouched
his Chennai Super Kings
teammates, who remained
unperturbed by speculations
over their talisman’s future in
international cricket.
The three-time winners
had commenced their training
on March 2 with Dhoni join-
ing from day one, but it was
suspended on March 14 owing
to the novel coronavirus out-
break.
Leg-spinner Piyush
Chawla, who was picked by
the franchise during the auc-
tion late last year, said Dhoni
was focused and showed
match-like intensity in the
way he was batting and keep-
ing.
“Mahi bhai was absolute-
ly focused, training purpose-
fully and was looking really
good. He was showing match-
like intensity in the way he was
batting and keeping and that
was rubbing off on others,”
Chawla was quoted as saying
on the CSK website.
Karn Sharma, another leg-
gie in the squad, said the CSK
captain’s enthusiasm and
involvement were a source of
inspiration for the other mem-
bers.
“Mahi bhai was batting for
two to three hours at nets
every day, and the way he was
hitting the ball no one could
say he was returning from a
long break. The way he was
2B:CfXccTa
training was a huge motivation
for the rest of us,” he added.
“During match simula-
tions, he was very involved,
speaking to the bowlers, and
the rhythm he was in, it was a
big boost for our team,”
Sharma said.
Meanwhile the team’s
bowling coach, Lakshmipathy
Balaji, described Dhoni as a
natural athlete and that he was
clearly looking forward to the
season.
“MS is a natural athlete
and supremely fit. He didn’t
look rusty, didn’t look one bit
like he was away from the
game. He was clearly looking
forward to the season, the way
he was training, batting, keep-
ing and being involved with
the team,” Balaji added.
Team physiotherapist
Tommy Simsek said it was the
first time in about 10 years he
saw Dhoni do some wicket-
keeping training.
“For the first time in about
10 years I saw MS do some
wicketkeeping training and
that goes to show that he was
definitely keen, definitely
focused to do well this year,”
he added.
“I was worried that he
hadn’t done much for a long
time and then that he would
try and do too much, too soon
and he may get injured.
“It turned that I need not
have worried — MS being the
professional, he looked in real-
ly good shape. He said he’d
started (training) a month or
so before our fitness camp,”
Simsek said.
( 
>& 
year-old former skipper said.
“Once things settle down, we can have a
dialogue with other member nations,” he
added.
The IPL, which was scheduled to be held
from March 29-May 24, is set to be postponed
indefinitely as the country stares at a lockdown
till the end of this month.
“I think if they have to slot IPL, the whole
itinerary needs to be changed. That’s one
option or else stick to the current itinerary
with whatever gone being gone.
“But that means huge losses for all the
stakeholders and is not practical,” said
Azharuddin, whose own Association hosts
seven home games of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“Therefore, I am expecting a complete
overhaul of the FTP, if we have to fit in the
IPL. I feel all the boards will agree as every-
body is getting affected. But obviously the
BCCI gets affected more,” he added.
IPL has so much prominence because for-
eign players like Jos Buttler and Pat Cummins
have expressed their willingness to participate
?C8 =4F34;78
ngland limited-overs skip-
<^WS0iWPadSSX]_^bTbU^a_W^c^fXcWU^a\Ta8]SXP]RP_cPX]
 1228 ?aTbXST]cB^daPe6P]Vd[h ?C85X[T?XRcdaT
E per Eoin Morgan considers
2019 World Cup final as the
in the tournament at some point of the year. “most dramatic game of crick-
“No one will say no to IPL. Not even the et” that has ever been played,
foreign players. So many people thrive on IPL,” saying it helped the sport grow
he set the record straight. “outside the normal bubble”
“For a lot of our domestic guys, who are and lifted its profile.
not India regulars, let’s accept they look for- England were adjudged the
ward to the IPL.” winners of the 50-over World
However, the man who led India in three Cup last year on the basis of
editions of the 50-over World Cup, doesn’t their superior boundary count
think that the World T20 in Australia in after the epic final against New
October-November will be done away with. Zealand, and also the ensuing
“I don’t think World T20’s slot will be Super Over, ended in a tie at the
gone. It’s third week of October and if things Lord’s in London.
are okay by then, I would believe World T20 “The final was the most
will happen. dramatic game of cricket and
“This is purely my personal opinion as the best game of cricket that
you can’t tinker with a World Cup. But obvi- probably has ever been played
ously IPL will get accommodated in some- which contributes to the hype
where.” of it,” Morgan was quoted as
4]V[P]SbZX__Ta4^X]<^aVP]=I RP_cPX]:P]TFX[[XP\b^]_^bTfXcW822 F^a[S2d_
saying by Kolkata Knight
Riders official website.
It was a landmark day for
sport overall as Novak Djokovic
edged out Roger Federer in an
epic Wimbledon summit clash
some kilometres away, that’s
considered to be the longest
ever final in the history of the
prestigious tennis tournament.
“I think one of the great
things about it was on the day
of that great game of cricket
was, it’s always now associated
with the longest ever
Wimbledon final that was epic
as well,” Morgan said.
“It helped us in growing
cricket outside of the normal
bubble that we’re already in to
a different audience, and for us
at home it has lifted the profile
of the game like we’ve never
seen.”
England had crashed out in
the group stage of the 2015
World Cup and Morgan said it
was an amazing journey that
the team went through from
that embarrassing defeat to
reaching the pinnacle of world
cricket after four years.
“I think the journey we
went on is probably the most
exciting. In 2015, the embar-
rassing nature in which we
were bundled out of that World
Cup and the journey we
embarked on to try and change
the brand of cricket we played
with a new group of extremely
talented players over the course
of 4 years — it’s brilliant,” he
said.
“Just being able to impart
some of my knowledge and
experience along with some
very senior players and a group
of great support staff who
always continue to question
what we do in a good way in
order to hold us accountable. It
sort of culminated in last year’s
World Cup.”

7^SVb^]fPah^U³PacXUXRXP[´T]Sc^?;bTPb^] <^]caTP[FC0c^da]Th^UUd]cX[!! 8?;RP]QTWT[S

;>=3>=) Crystal Palace manag-
er Roy Hodgson has warned
against ‘artificial means’ of decid-
ing the Premier League.
In a statement to the
London club’s supporters, the
veteran former England manag-
er insisted there was widespread
support for playing the 2019/20
season out to a finish.
“Everyone is in total agree-
ment we need an end to this sea-
son,” wrote Hodgson.
“We don’t want artificial
means of deciding who wins the
league, who gets into the
Champions League, who gets
relegated and promoted.”
His letter came after UEFA,
European football’s governing
body, warned a failure to com-
plete domestic leagues could see
clubs excluded from continen-
tal competitions next season.
Hodgson said players who,
in common with the rest of the
British population, are current-
ly in lockdown would ideally like
three to four weeks’ preparation
before playing a match again.
But the 72-year-old added:
<>=CA40;) The Montreal WTA tourna-
ment, one of the key build-up events ahead
of the US Open, was axed on Saturday and
will not be played until 2021, officials said.
The event, scheduled for August 7-16,
had been in jeopardy after Quebec
Province requested that all sporting and
cultural events be cancelled through
August 31 as a means of slowing the spread
of the coronavirus.
“As a result of the measures imposed
by the Quebec government prohibiting
holding events until August 31, the Rogers
Cup in Montreal will postpone their
event to 2021,” said a WTA statement.
“I accept there may have to be
a squeeze on that time-frame.”
The League has been sus-
pended until April 30, with fur-
ther delays looking likely. Palace
currently safely is in mid-table,
Oly postponement blessing in disguise for Fouaad
?C8 =4F34;78
with the Eagles 12 points clear
of the relegation zone. AFP
Ithendian equestrian ace Fouaad
Mirza on Sunday said that
postponement of Tokyo
we look forward to being back in Montreal
in 2021.”
Tournament director Eugene Lapierre
said the decision was made for them.
“At the beginning of the COVID-19
crisis we were hoping that the situation
would be resolved in time to be able to host
our tournament as initially planned on the
calendar.”
It is thus with a heavy heart that we
received this news, but we understand
that this decision was necessary,” he said.
“The WTA reiterates that health and This is latest blow to tennis season
safety will always be the top priority. We which has been on ice for the last
understand this was a difficult decision and month. AFP
eventing in the 2018 Asian hurdle, he will become India’s
Games on Seigneur Medicott third equestrian participant in
while Touching Wood and
Fernhill Facetime took him
close to fulfil his Olympics
the Olympics after late Indrajit
Lamba (1996) and Imtiaz
Anees (2000).
fXcW^dcRa^fSC!
F2RP]´c)<PgfT[[
?C8 <4;1>DA=4
ustralian all-rounder Glenn
A Maxwell believes a rescheduled
IPL can be held behind closed doors
but it will be difficult to justify con-
ducting the upcoming T20 World
Cup without fans cheering from the
stands.
Both the 13th IPL and T20
World Cup are uncertain at the
moment with the worsening
COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the options for BCCI is
to host the IPL in the October-
November window if the ICC decides
to postpone the T20 World Cup
(October 18-November 15). There
has also been talks of conducting the
tournaments behind closed doors.
One of the stalwarts of T20
. ;@"  
;
E
05? <0=274BC4A
anchester United star
M Paul Pogba said he is
eager to return from a lengthy
spell on the sidelines when foot-
ball resumes following the coron-
avirus pandemic.
The World Cup winner has
been limited to just eight appear-
ances for United this season after
battling a nagging ankle injury.
“I’m already training and
touching the ball,” Pogba, who
Olympics to next year due to
hasn’t played since December 26, told
the United Podcast.
“I’ve been frustrated, a long time
ago. Now I’m almost there, so I’m just
thinking about getting back and
training fully with the team and
everything.”
“You think bad but I’ve never
had something like this in my career,
so I always take it in a good way. It
makes me more hungry to come
back and do well. And, yeah, it just
shows me as well how much I love
football.”
the COVID-19 pandemic was
a “blessing in disguise” for
him as he will get more time for
preparation.
The 28-year-old Mirza,
who won two Silver medals in
the 2018 Asian Games in
Indonesia, is currently training
in Germany.
“The postponement of
Olympics is like blessing in dis-
guise for me as it gives much
needed rest to the horses and
practice for me,” Mirza said.
"My favourite horse
Seigneur Medicott has recov-
ered from injury and I will start
training with him. Touching
Wood and Fernhill Facetime
got time to rest and they will
be fresh whenever the season
begins,” he added.
Mirza won a Silver each in
individual eventing and team
dream.
He said India has secured
a berth for the Olympics but he
wants to confirm his personal
quota for the Tokyo Games.
“For a confirmed
Olympics berth I have to com-
pete in one more event. That is
called ‘Four Star Long’. I can
complete this task in interna-
tional ‘Four Star Long’ compe-
tition. My choice of competi-
tion was to be held in
Montilibretti, Italy from April
9-12 but that got cancelled due
to Covid-19.”
If Mirza passes the last
Mirza is currently training
under the watchful eyes of
German legend Sandra
Auffarth who won a Gold
(team event) and Bronze (indi-
vidual) in 2012 London
Olympics, besides a Silver
(team event) in 2016 Rio
Games.
“I am based in Bergedorf,
North-West Germany. This
place is almost free from
Covid-19 impact and there is
some relaxation for athletes
here. With all required precau-
tions, I am continuing my
training here,” he said.
cricket, Maxwell feels if crowds
weren’t possible for either of the two
events, the IPL would be a better
option to go ahead.
“... It’s going to be hard for us to
have crowds. I think if IPL goes ahead
they can probably survive without
any crowds, but I can’t see the T20
World Cup surviving without any
people there,” Maxwell told ABC
Grandstand.
“It’s going to be hard for us to jus-
tify having a World Cup when we
can’t get people into the grounds. So
I can’t see it happening in the near
future. We’ve got to take care of every-
one’s health and wellbeing.”