BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD.
| ESTABLISHED 1838
DAY
LOCKDOWN 10
K’taka-Kerala
border row: SC
calls for talks
T he SC has asked the Un-
ion health secretary to
hold talks with her counter-
parts in Karnataka and Ke-
rala to find a solution to the
row over Karnataka sealing
the border and Kerala HC
calling for its opening so pe-
ople from Kasargod, a Co-
vid-19 hub, can get treatme-
nt in Mangaluru. P 6
IIT-B nodal body
in Covid-19 fight
T he government will set
up a Centre for Augmen-
ting War With Covid-19 Heal-
th Crisis at Rs 56 crore to su-
pport innovations and start-
ups to address the new chall-
enge. IIT Bombay will be the
implementing agency .P 4
BOMBAY TIMES
O wing to the extraordinary
situation arising out
of the Covid-19 pandemic,
Bombay Times will temporarily
appear within the main
edition of The Times of India.
However, it will retain its
distinctive identity and
unique brand of storytelling.
To get your daily dose of your
favourite entertainment and
lifestyle coverage,
please turn to P 13 & 14
Darjeeling tea
first flush lost
T he entire lot of the expen-
sive and exportable Da-
rjeeling first flush leaves ha-
ve withered away— a first in
its history— due to the lockd-
own. The 2nd flush too may
be lost. The tea industry fea-
rs Rs 1,500 crore loss. P 11
Record 8,000
tests in a day
R eiterating that testing for
Covid-19 will be criteria-
and need-based, the Centre
said 8,000 samples were tes-
ted on Thursday, the most in
a day so far. It said testing
cannot be a “confidence buil-
ding” measure. P 5
10 Wockhardt
nurses test +ve
W ockhardt Hospital in
Mumbai Central has
suspended all non-emergen-
cy services after 10 nurses te-
sted positive. Their union
has alleged that lack of prep-
aredness on the hospital’s
part led to the situation. P 2
Ensure distribution
of papers: Ex-CM
P rithviraj Chavan has ur-
ged the CM to take steps
for distribution of newspa-
pers. “Provide security to dis-
tributors and vendors if nee-
ded”, he said, pointing out that
a majority of the population is
dependent on papers. P 3
WATCH OUT FOR TODAY’S
QUESTIONS ON E6<:(
Times Interact | P 4
Commercial lessees Users struggle to repair
ask for rent waiver or buy key tech goods
Namita Devidayal &
Nauzer K Bharucha TNN
Mumbai: Last week, a Mum-
bai-based landlady decided
to write to her two commerci-
al tenants and waive their
rent for the months of March
and April. On a much larger
scale, Lodha Group announ-
ced a full waiver for its retail
partners who rent spaces in
its properties until the go-
vernment lifts the lockdown.
Not all landlords, though,
have taken action to mitigate
the suffering of small busi-
nesses as a result of the pan-
demic.
But commercial tenants
contend they could invoke a
provision in their rental
contracts that would absolve
them from paying rent. The
MUMBAI | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 | PAGES 14
Australian PM Scott Morrison urges
WHO and UN to act against China’s wet
markets. Meanwhile, Shenzhen has
become the first Chinese city to ban the
sale and consumption of dog & cat meat
Death toll rises by 15, over 500 At 9pm on Sunday, switch
new cases for 2nd straight day off lights, light diyas: PM
647 Cases In 2 SEARCH FOR TABLIGHI CHIEF CONTINUES
Days Linked To
Jamaat Meet
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
I
ndia reported 15 Covid-19 de-
aths on Friday — the highest
single-day death count since
the outbreak of the pandemic
in the country — taking the toll
to 85, even as the number of co-
ronavirus cases crossed the
3,000-mark at 3,082 with more
than 500 new cases being repor-
ted from the states for the se-
cond straight day.
The toll included six deaths
in Maharashtra, two each in
Delhi and Telangana, and one
each in Andhra, MP, Haryana,
Karnataka and Gujarat.
At 502, the number of con-
firmed cases on Friday was on-
ly a shade lower than the pre-
FULL COVERAGE: P 2-12
vious day’s figure of 544, which
is the highest single-day count
so far. At least 280 of the day’s
confirmed cases being those of
Tablighi Jamaat delegates who
attended the Nizamuddin
congregation or their contacts.
Health ministry officials
said at least 647 of Covid-19 ca-
ses in the last two days reported
from 14 states and Union terri-
tories are linked to the Jamaat
meet and indicated that the
event lent a major blow to the
gains made from lockdown and
social distancing measures.
“If we see the rise in cases
in the last few days, it has pri-
marily been due to an increase
at a particular level,” health
ministry joint secretary Lav
Agarwal said in an apparent re-
ference to the TJ congregation.
TN sees 102 new cases, P 6
Taj hotels in city to
host docs, nurses
on Covid-19 duty
Reeba Zachariah &
Sumitra Debroy TNN
Mumbai: Barely months
back, the iconic Taj Mahal Pa-
lace, the country’s first luxury
hotel situated along the Gate-
way of India, was throbbing
with guests who had flown in
from all over the world for the
holiday season. Now, its orna-
te interiors are hosting a seri-
es of call rooms for physicians.
With guests emptying out
following a travel ban and the
government looking to ex-
pand facilities to combat the
coronavirus pandemic, the
management has opened the
doors of the swank property
to house medical staff and ea-
se the pressure on the over-
burdened public health ma-
chinery. Hospital workers in
south Mumbai will now be
provided accommodation in
the hotel’s well-appointed ro-
oms so they can cut down on
commute time, rest close to
their place of work, and not
fear spreading the contagion
among family members.
It is not the first time that
the Taj Mahal Palace, owned
Commercial tenants cite a
provision in their rental
contracts called a “force
majeure” event or an “act of
God”. It refers to an unnatural
event such as a tsunami, an
earthquake, a war, or a riot.
However, some lawyers say
coronavirus is not a general
immunity from discharging
contractual obligations
provision, referred to as a
“force majeure” event or an
“act of God” usually refers to
an unnatural event such as a
tsunami, an earthquake, a
war, a riot or such other event
that prevents the parties
from continuing their cont-
ractual provisions.
Many options in BKC, P 4
PRICE ` 7.00 ALONG WITH MUMBAI MIRROR OR THE ECONOMIC TIMES OR MAHARASHTRA TIMES *
New York reports deadliest day with
562 deaths, with cases having
surpassed China. Spain reports over
900 fatalities in 24 hours. Britain sees
its highest single-day death toll: 684
➤ Delhi Police ask Tablighi
Jamaat to report source of
funding for HQ, and list members
The surroundings of the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in
Nizamuddin wore a deserted look on Friday with only security
personnel on vigil after the area was evacuated and sanitised
May extend lockdown, says health
min; state sees 67 new cases, toll 26
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: On a day 67 Covid
-19 cases were reported in
the state, of which 80% or 53
cases were from the Mumbai
Metropolitan Region (MMR)
and 43 from within the city
itself, health minister Rajesh
Tope said the nationwide lock-
down, which ends on April 14,
may be extended in some
parts of Maharashtra, especi-
ally in cities like Mumbai
where the number of cases is
high. Tope said this was his
personal opinion.
The state also confirmed
six deaths—four from the
Built in 1903, the Taj
Mahal Palace was
used as a hospital,
providing 600 beds,
during World War I
by Indian Hotels Company
(IHCL), has provided back-up
for healthcare. During World
War I, it was used as a hospi-
tal, providing 600 beds. Built
in 1903, the Palace, with 285 ro-
oms and nine restaurants, is
India’s first luxury hotel. An
architectural gem, its design
is an amalgamation of Greco-
Roman, Islamic and Gothic
styles topped by a red-tiled
Florentine dome, sitting 240
feet above street level.
Long commutes for docs, P 4
Pankaj Doval &
Manoj Badgeri TNN
New Delhi/Mumbai: The
Sampats, an ailing elderly cou-
ple from Thane, are facing the
lockdown heat, quite literally,
after their air conditioning
unit suddenly conked off. The
Ratnam family from Malad is
in a similar predicament after
their TV and microwave stop-
ped working last week.
Thousands of families acr-
oss the nation are facing a hard
time due to their gadgets malf-
unctioning at the ‘wrong time’.
With lockdowns in place, neit-
her can anyone take a dama-
ged good to a repair shop nor
can a technician come home.
It’s not only household go-
ods that are causing distress.
With work from home beco-
INDIA’S LARGEST ENGLISH NEWSPAPER
Nearly 4 billion Air India shuts its booking Singapore PM Lee Hsien
people on the planet window until April 30. It will Loong announces month-
— half of humanity review its decision as per long lockdown beginning
— are under some sort the situation. Vistara says it April 7. All offices except
of order to stay home will take bookings from Apr 15 essential services to close
‘Display Resolve, We are confined to our own homes, but
But Don’t Breach none of us is alone. The collective strength
of 130 crore Indians is with each one
Lakshman Rekha’ of us... This Sunday, on April 5, turn
TIMES NEWS NETWORK off all the lights in your homes, stand
New Delhi: About halfway
at your doors or in your balconies,
who attended the meet between and light candles or diyas, torches
through the 21-day national
March 11 and March 13
lockdown, PM Modi called for or mobile flashlights for 9 minutes...
➤ Search continues for TJ chief
a nine-minute blackout at 9 no one must assemble or gather
Maulana Saad Kandhalwi and pm on Sunday and urged peo-
group’s 6 core members, who ple to use candles, diyas and
anywhere while participating in
cops suspect might also have this programme
shown symptoms and been put
mobile torchlights to demon-
strate solidarity and reitera- —PM Narendra Modi
under observation te a collective resolve to beat
➤ At AIIMS Jhajjar, a total of 91 back the challenge posed by
Address real issues, says oppn
people have tested positive for
Covid-19 so far
the Covid-19 pandemic.
The PM’s brief video mes-
sage telecast on Friday morn- E xpressing deep disappoint-
ment with the PM’s mess-
ing the spread of Covid-19. Co-
ngress MP Shashi Tharoor tw-
➤ In first such instance, 5 ing aimed to keep public mo- age, opposition parties said he eeted, “Just a feel-good mom-
TJ members admitted in a Gzb rale up, with Modi emphasis- did not address the “real issu- ent curated by India’s Photo
hospital booked under NSA ing collective action and urg- es” of livelihood that citizens -Op PM”. Trinamool Congress
for indecent behaviour and ing people to stay the course. are concerned about and mea- MP Mahua Moitra tweeted,
harassment of nurses Reaching out to people chafi- sures to quell worries regard- “Get real Mr Modi”. P 6
➤ About 650 officials involved ng at confinement and mono-
in the operation to evacuate the tony, he said, “We are confi- each one of us.” fected, our poor brothers and
markaz in Nizamuddin area sent ned to our own homes, and
may be getting assailed by do-
He added, “Amidst the da-
rkness spread by the pandem-
sisters, from despair to hope
and from uncertainty to cert-
to 14-day quarantine
ubts as to how one can win
this fight. But none of us is al-
ic, we must continuously pr-
ogress towards light and ho-
ainty. We must defeat the de-
ep darkness of the crisis.”
one. The collective strength
of 130 crore Indians is with
pe. We must continuously str-
ive to take those of us most af- ‘Social distancing’, P 6
Let vendors with CORONA COUNT: 562 TO 3,082 IN
10 DAYS OF LOCKDOWN
Desperate Worli kolis ID cards sell 3000 New cases Total cases 3,082
600
take sea route to Mahim 544
essentials: Govt 502
W ith Worli Koliwada se-
aled since Tuesday
Tablighi outbreak
2500 500
418
and essentials running out,
a group of desperate fisher- T he Union urban affairs
ministry has advised
states to allow street vendo- 2000
Lockdown begins 400
men sneaked out in boats (in
pic) to Mahim on Friday to rs with valid identity cards
315
300
to sell essential items during
get supplies from their rela-
tives. However, they were st- the lockdown, reports Di-
1500
200
pak Dash. The move would
opped at Mahim beach and
sent back, empty handed. P 2 not only save the livelihood
of the vendors and facilitate
1000
64
94 80
130
132
179
100
126
Mumbai metropolitan region, tact with a bunch that had supplies at doorstep, but al- 562
500 0
taking the toll to 26. It has also attended the Tablighi Ja- so prevent crowding in mar-
emerged that the 56-year-old maat congregation in Delhi. kets, serving the need of so- 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3
from Dharavi who died on cial distancing to check Co- March April
Source: Reports from state authorities
Wednesday had come in con- State tally now at 490, P 4 vid-19 spread. P 5
Attacks on
doctors: Centre
www.radiomirchi.com
talks tough; MP,
UP invoke NSA
New Delhi: Expressing co-
ncern over misbehaviour
and attacks on medical staff
engaged in tracking and tre-
ating Covid-19 patients, the
Centre on Friday asked sta-
TUNE IN
tes to take stern action. At
least two states, MP and UP,
have booked offenders un-
der the National Security
Act, reports Sushmi Dey.
ACID
The Centre’s directions
came after incidents were
reported from across the co-
untry of doctors and health-
LET OUR RJS
care workers being attacked
and quarantined Tablighi
Jamaat members misbeha-
ving with nursing staff and
BREAK THE
impeding screening proces-
ses in Ghaziabad.
Union health minister
Harsh Vardhan urged pati-
BOREDOM OF
ents and their families not
to create hurdles. “They are
our corona warriors who
are continuously serving
the country to control and
THIS
contain the pandemic,” Va-
rdhan said.
The home ministry as-
ked states to deal with such
LOCKDOW N.
cases sternly. TNN
Nurses harassed, P 6
Everything's changed, except how
you keep yourself entertained!
Your favourite RJs are here for you
with the very best in entertainment.
LOCKDOWN BLUES So tune in and tune out boredom!
➤ ‘Non-essential’ gadgets
like laptops, printers,
refrigerators, ACs,
smartphones have become
essential as people work
from home
➤ Purchase & repairs of
gadgets hit due to lockdown
➤ Not only residential areas,
but even hospitals and govt
offices finding it difficult to
repair or replenish items
ming the norm in the era of so-
cial distancing, many services
that were broadly seen as
“non-essential” till some time
back, are now defining the
new-age work culture.
0 amazon alexa
Necessity now, P 11 Live Radio Also Available On gaa )Q
1
1

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
DAILY PROGRESS OF COVID-19 CASES
Source: Maharashtra Public Cases analysed as of 9am, April 3.
Health Department’s Report Total cases in state as of
of Covid-19 Cases 10pm, Friday | 490
3 4
11 11
4 5
0 1
Mar 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Desperate for essentials, kolis from Returning Tablighis stayed in
Worli breach seal & set sail for Mahim 2nd flat of dead Dharavi man
Sujit Mahamulkar &
Richa Pinto TNN
Mumbai: Desperate times call
for desperate measures. With
the sealed Worli Koliwada fast
running out of essentials, a
group of fishermen on Thurs-
day sneaked out in boats to Ma-
him to get supplies from their
relatives. But when they lan-
ded at Mahim beach, they were
stopped from proceeding furt-
her and forced to return emp-
ty-handed.
While Worli is roughly four
kms from Mahim by road, the
same journey traversing the
bay is shorter. The seaborne
mission, however, ended in fai-
lure. “As soon as the breach
was brought to my notice, I rus-
hed to Mahim to inform the fis-
herfolk about the grave conse-
quences of allowing their rela-
tives from Worli Koliwada into
the area,” said Mahim corpo-
rator Milind Vaidya from Shiv
Sena. “...these are crucial ti-
mes and allowing anyone who
may be a high-risk contact of a
Covid-19 patient could spell dis-
aster for Mahim. We need to co-
operate with the authorities
and understand why they are
placing these restrictions.”
A sombre mood prevailed
`50L IF CORONA KILLS COP ON DUTY: PAWAR
P
olicemen in protective gear conduct a
nakabandi on the Western Express
Highway near Kandivli on Friday.
While enforcing the lockdown came news of
deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar announc-
ing that Rs 50 lakh will be given to the family
of policemen who contract Covid-19 while
on duty and succumb to it. Pawar, also the fi-
nance minister, added the government will
take full care of the family of any policeman
Covid-19 exposes satellite
cities’ poor health set-ups
TEAM TOI
L
ess than 50km from the
BMC headquarters near
CSMT, Covid-19 infection
has exposed inadequate he-
althcare facilities in the satelli-
te cities. Be it Vashi, Thane, Ka-
lyan or Mira-Bhayander, pati-
ents have had to trudge to Kas-
turba Hospital,
Chinckpokli, for a free Co-
near
vid-19 test.
In fact, BMC officials said a
third of the patients who rush
to BMC’s hospitals for Covid
tests and are placed under qua-
rantine and isolation facilities,
hail from its adjoining sub-
urbs/corporations. BMC’s he-
althcare infrastructure is
stretched further as a result,
said BMC health officials.
Plans for quarantine and
isolation beds are only now be-
ing firmed up. Consider the
Mira-Bhayander stretch,
which has six positive cases —
three of them are at Kasturba,
two at Kokilaben (Andheri)
and one at Pandit Bhimsen
Joshi (Tembha) civic hospital
in Bhayander. In Palghar dis-
trict, of the 11 cases, seven are
at Kasturba, two at private ho-
spitals in Vasai-Virar region
and one at Palghar primary he-
alth centre.
After discussions in Kaly-
an, urban development mini-
ster Eknath Shinde said, “It
has been decided that to avoid
sending patients to Mumbai
for testing and treatment in co-
ming days, doctors in Kalyan
will collect swabs of patients
and send them to Kasturba for
23
2 2 3 5
11 10 10
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
CORDONED OFF SINCE 3 DAYS
A video grab of Worli fisherfolk landing at Mahim beach
Worli Koliwada and its
adjoining areas sealed on
Tuesday after one Covid-19
death and rise in positive cases
Over 30,000 live in
Worli Koliwada, one of
the most crowded
clusters in the city
over Worli Koliwada on Friday
following the death of a local le-
ader, Moreshwar Koli. While
fisherfolk claimed he had died
due to coronavirus, assistant
municipal commissioner of G-
South ward Sharad Ughade sa-
id they had no information to
substantiate it. Harishchand-
ra Nakhwa, a local, said: “Koli
was on the frontline of several
who contracts the infection while on duty.
“Police personnel are coming to work de-
spite risk to their lives, all necessary precau-
tions are being taken for them,” said Pawar.
Government also decided that staff of po-
lice, public health, medical education and
other departments at the forefront of the
fight against the pandemic will be paid their
remaining salaries on priority; their salary
payments had been partly deferred
S V D Savarkar hospital in Mulund (East) now has 30 isolation beds
5 hosps to treat senior citizens with Covid
B MC earmarked Kasturba, St George, SevenHills, Nanavati and
Saifee hospitals for treatment of senior citizens and other referred
patients who test positive for Covid-19. Senior citizens are most
vulnerable and have accounted for over 70% deaths in the city. It said
the hospitals have manpower and infrastructure to handle severe
cases. For asymptomatic patients aged below 60, maternity hospitals
in Nagpada and behind Lilavati, PWD guest house in Andheri (W),
diagnostic centre (Punjabi Galli), MCMCR (Powai), urban health centre
(Shivaji Nagar) and M G Hall (opp Bandra Talao) have been designated.
BMC also readied 186 more isolation beds at 5 civic hospitals. TNN
testing.’’ Further treatment
will be done at isolation wards
in Kalyan-Dombivli, he said.
The only government faci-
lity for testing in satellite cities
is one newly set up at Thane ci-
vil hospital. Private testing fa-
cilities are only available in
certain sections of Navi Mum-
bai and Thane. People in Navi
Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander
belt and Vasai-Virar Munici-
pal Corporation limits or Palg-
har have to depend on Kastur-
ba hospital for swab tests.
KDMC has tied up with Ne-
on multispecialty hospital, a
private hospital in Dombivli
TIMES CITY
Maharashtra
15 12
20
27
22
17
2 Age
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
15
positive cases so far
—10 from Koliwada, 3 Janata
Colony, 2 in Adarsh Nagar
160 high- and low-risk
contacts of 15 patients
identified, shifted to
quarantine facility at
M A Podar Hospital
causes like the fight against
the coastal road reclamation.
Due to the lockdown, we have
no option but grieve at home.”
Worli Koliwada has been
sealed since Tuesday after a
Covid-19 death and number of
positive cases touching 15. The
police have barricaded the la-
ne leading to Koliwada, also
known as Worli village, and on-
(East), for a 40-bedded isolation
facility.
Thembha hospital will reo-
pen next week as a Covid-19-on-
ly hospital. Private hospitals
such as Bhakti Vedanta and
Wockhardt in Mira Road have
isolation wards.
KDMC, which has 21positi-
ve patients in Kalyan-Dombiv-
li stretch, has decided to prepa-
re 500 isolation beds across five
hospitals. PCMC has reserved
a sub-district hospital in Pan-
vel for Covid-19 treatment.
(With inputs from Sandhya
Nair, Pradeep Gupta, George
Mendonca & Umesh K Parida)
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
100 PATIENTS* BY
88 HEALTH STATUS
Critical: 9
3%
Symptomatic:
15
42
13%
Apr 1 Apr 2 Apr 3
*Analysis available for 333 patients
ly vehicles bringing in essenti-
al items, like groceries and ve-
getables, are allowed entry. But
locals claimed that the few
shops that are open are run-
ning out of stock. They comp-
lained that essential items, like
milk, are not being delivered
home as promised, medicines
and health services are unavai-
lable, and ATMs not dispen-
sing cash. S Kamble, a resident
of the nearby Worli BDD
chawl, said he was not allowed
to deliver the grocery items he
had got for his daughter who li-
ves in Koliwada with her hus-
band and year-old child.
A koli, who did not want to
be identified, said her 17-year-
old son had fever on Thursday,
but no medicines or doctor was
available. “Finally, I asked poli-
ce for help and a health worker
took my son to the Prabhadevi
health centre,” said the wo-
man, who is the neighbour of
some of the Covid-19 patients.
Another local Sachin Ga-
wane said: “Koliwada is not
like a Kashmir to put such
harsh restrictions.” He appea-
led to CM Uddhav Thackeray
and local MLA Aaditya Thack-
eray to ensure adequate essen-
tial services for the 30,000 peo-
ple living in the area.
292 teams will
go door-to-door
in affected
areas of city
Sujit.Mahamulkar
@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: In keeping with the
Centre’s directives, the state
health department has crea-
ted a ‘Cluster Containment
Action Plan’ to curb Covid-19
cases. The department has
formed 2,455 teams in 18 dis-
tricts, including 292 in Mum-
bai.The teams had examined
over 9.25 lakh citizens till
Thursday.
According to the depart-
ment, the plan is being imple-
mented in areas with at least
three to four cases. After a ba-
sic survey of the number of
households and population,
teams spread out for door-to-
door surveys in a three-km ra-
dius of the spot where cases
have been found. Teams equ-
ipped with protective gear
will conduct the survey bet-
ween 8 am and 4 pm and record
information about those suf-
fering from ailments like cold,
cough, fever or respiratory is-
sues. Anyone with Covid-19
symptoms will be referred for
further tests and treatment,
while others in the area will be
monitored on a day-to-day ba-
sis for 14 days.
Over 1,000
Tablighis
traced, 738
quarantined
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai/Nagpur: The state
authorities have traced 1,033 of
the 1,225 people from Maha-
rashtra who had attended the
Tablighi Jamaat congregation
in Delhi, health minister Ra-
jesh Tope said. Of these, 738 ha-
ve been quarantined.
Reports on 33,among the 197
who were traced as they had
left a digital footprint in a 3km
radius of the markaz, have co-
me negative.
Bureaucrats said the state
is using technology to trace the
location of persons linked to
the religious gathering in Del-
hi. On the basis of information
submitted by the Union mini-
stry of home affairs, the DGP
submitted the list of partici-
pants to collectors across the
state. Ratnagiri collector Lax-
minarayan found that two per-
sons were from Ratnagiri.
From their cell numbers and
phone records, the collector fo-
und they are staying in Jalgaon
and he informed Jalgaon col-
lector Avinash Dhakne. “We to-
ok help of mobile firms and fo-
und out their exact locations,”
Dhakne told TOI.
MORTALITY BY AGE GROUP (yrs)
Highest mortality is among patients aged 81-90
Dead: 15 4% years, 67% of whom have died. In contrast, no
deaths reported in 1-30 years age range
Discharged:
42
1.5 3
13%
10
Asymptomatic: 225
67% 31-40 41-50 51-60
Richa Pinto & Bhavika Jain
Mumbai: The 56-year-old
man from Dharavi claimed
by Covid-19 on Wednesday
had come in contact with a
bunch of people who had at-
tended the religious congre-
gation of the Tablighi Jama-
at at Nizamuddin in Delhi in
mid-March.
Five women who arrived
in the city on March 22 from
the Tablighi Jamaat Mar-
kaz, where over 13,000 had
congregated and to which a
few hundred positive cases
have been linked so far, stay-
ed in a flat owned by the dece-
ased in the same locality, sa-
id authorities.
While their male part-
ners stayed at Jamia Masjid
in Shahu Nagar of Dharavi,
the women stayed at the flat
owned by the deceased in Dr
Baliga Nagar, said a munici-
pal official.
“It has been found that
the deceased spent time with
all these persons during the-
ir stay in Mumbai before
they left on March 24 for Koz-
hikode,” the official said.
It was learnt that the poli-
ce planned to get hold of the
call data records of the dece-
ased as his family was not co-
operating in sharing details
on the people he might have
met over the past two weeks.
The deceased had tested
positive for Covid-19 on the
day of his death, following
which the BMC began tra-
cing his contacts to establish
how many persons might ha-
ve caught the coronavirus
and to understand the source
of his infection.
BMC officials said they
were awaiting the test results
of the 15 high-risk contacts of
the deceased to know if he
might have infected any one
from his family.
Locals said the area had
turned subdued following the
death. Abdul Hakim Hashmi,
a resident, said containment
zones had been marked, but
since residents had small li-
ving small spaces there, they
would step out occasionally.
In the case of the 35-year-
old surgeon from Dharavi
who tested positive for Co-
vid-19, the BMC zeroed down
on 25 of his high-risk con-
tacts, all from his family and
those living in his society.
The doctor, working with
Wockhart Hospital, had no fo-
reign travel history but had
travelled to Rajasthan in the
first week of March. Officials
suspected the doctor contrac-
ted the virus at work. Vaibhav
Society, where the doctor li-
ves, has over 50 flats and was
sealed by the BMC on Thurs-
day evening.
Society members said ent-
ry and exit to the building had
Careless Wockhardt compromised 10
nurses, says union; hosp refutes charges
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Lack of prepared-
ness to tackle the epidemic
has led to 10 nurses at Wock-
hardt Hospital in Mumbai
Central contracting the infec-
tion, claimed a family mem-
ber of one of the nurses on
Friday. In a letter circulated
widely by the United Nurses
Association (UNA), the out-
break was blamed on the ho-
spital’s failure to segregate
suspected or Covid-19 cases,
an inability to provide perso-
nal protective equipment
(PPE) and delay in quaranti-
ning and testing of nurses.
The hospital has suspend-
ed all non-emergency servic-
es. Hospital sources said alm-
ost all 265 nurses are under
observation to contain furt-
her spread. They have also be-
en started on preventive me-
dicine, hydroxychloroquine.
It is suspected a patient,
who came with symptoms of
heart attack and later tested
positive, was the source. The
hospital maintains the man,
who succumbed to Covid-19,
developed symptoms after fo-
ur days of treatment.
The letter marked to chief
ministers of Maharashtra
STATE TALLY Aurangabad Buldhana Yavatmal Nagpur 16
As of 10pm, Friday 3 5 1 4
1 Gondia 1
Jalgaon 1 1 Washim
Nashik 1
Thane 55 3
Ahmednagar 2O
Mumbai Pune 70 2
Osmanabad 1
Death rate (%) 278 Patient from
19 deaths Gujarat in Mum 1
Satara 3
67
22 33 Ratnagiri 2
Sangli 25
CASES 490
61-70 71-80 81-90 Sindhudurg 1 Kolhapur 2
DEATHS 26
Pics: S L Shanth Kumar, Sanjay Hadkar, Uma Kadam, KK Choudhary, Anil Shinde, Swapnil Shejwal
TNN
3 VICTIMS FROM SLUM-DOMINATED AREA
2days to 14 days
Disinfectant is sprayed in Dharavi, a densely packed area of slums, buildings and businesses, on Friday
CASE 1: DEATH CASE 2: POSITIVE CASE 3: POSITIVE
When | April 1 When | April 2 When | April 2 evening
Age | 56 Age | 52 Age | 35
Occupation | Ran garment Occupation | Municipal sweeper Occupation | Surgeon at
unit in Dharavi in Dharavi Wockhardt
Contact history | Came in Contact history | Not established yet, Contact history |
contact with people back but he’s resident of Worli (Jijamata Not established, but
from Tablighi Jamaat Markaz Nagar). Worli has had 15 positive Wockhardt has had
Hospital | Sion (died in fever
cases and a death
Hospital | Seven Hills
positive cases
ward) Hospital | Raheja
After Dombivli, Kalyan sealed
as cases rise to 21 in twin city
Pradeep Gupta from Peru and instead of staying in home qua-
rantine, travelled to work in local train for six
Kalyan: Two days after banning movement of days before he was tested positive. The Kalyan
all non-emergency, non-essential private vehi- patient, said officials, was a “victim of com-
cles in Dombivli, the Kalyan-Dombivli Muni- munity spread” as he did not have any inter-
cipal Corporation on Friday evening locked national travel history. He had recently visi-
down Kalyan too. ted his hometown in Jalgaon and returned ho-
The decision to seal off Kalyan, both east me on March 6.
and west, was taken by the municipal commis- On Wednesday, Dombivli, both east and
sioner, Vijay Suryawanshi, after two more po- west, was blocked from all sides and police-
sitive cases of coronavirus infection were de- men were deployed at access points after a rise
tected in the twin city of Kalyan-Dombivli, ta- in new cases. Only vehicles used for emergen-
king the total to 21. cy and essential services were let in or out.
The two new patients were a 28-year-old Cops were seen stopping and warning those
man from Dombivli (East) and a 66-year-old on the road against stepping out of the area.
man from Chikanghar in Kalyan (West). The KDMC has appealed to residents in the
According to officials, the Dombivli youth, sealed areas to order grocery and vegetables
who hails from Aayre village, had got infected online on the mobile app it has launched. Civic
after coming into contact with Dombivli’s officials said its volunteers will deliver the or-
first coronavirus patient, who had returned dered items at their doorstep.
been restricted and they were doctor and neighbours were dent said. “He got himself tes-
told that essential supplies taken,” yet another resident ted on his own and got admit-
like milk and vegetables wo- said. “People living in the ne- ted as soon as the reports we-
uld be made available to arby flats have been asked to re positive. That was a very
them. go into home quarantine.” responsible thing to do.”
Another resident said on-
ly milk had been made avai-
lable so far and there were no
instructions on how other es-
The doctor has a flat taken
on rent in the housing society
from where the 56-year-old
businessman tested positive
Residents said they were
worried after the positive ca-
ses. “So far these cases are
from buildings and contact
sentials would be provided. and died. tracing can be done, so the si-
“The BMC team visited “The doctor had self-isola- tuation is still under cont-
the building and samples of ted for a few days as he was rol,” said a health staffer
the family members of the showing symptoms,” a resi- from the BMC.
THE TOLL ON
In a serious allegation, the
union said: “One nurse who
HEALTHCARE was directly exposed to a Cov-
id-19 case was on duty till
DOCTORS SICK April 1, while another who de-
Cardiac surgeon veloped symptoms had to re-
from Saifee main on duty till she fell very
sick. Nurses with symptoms
His urologist
father dies
were transported in the same
bus as other nurses.” A civic
team visited the hospital on
Malad GP
Thursday and put quaranti-
Nursing home ne seals on their hands.
owner from Worli A hospital source refuted
the charges, saying till the pa-
Andheri doctor
tient started showing symp-
Kalina doctor NURSES & STAFFERS HOSPITALS HIT toms and tested positive, they
who treated man had no option but to continue
back from Italy
A 35-year-old
10 nurses from
Wockhardt
Breach Candy |
Jaslok | Saifee |
Wockhardt | Parsee
treating him. “The first Co-
vid-19 positive case got admit-
ted on March 27. The state-
surgeon from
Wockhardt; stays
6 nurses in
Jaslok
General Hospital
ICU of Bhabha
ments are baseless and do not
reflect the facts. We are provi-
in Dharavi A technician Hospital sealed ding appropriate PPE and
prophylactic medication for
and Kerala — since many uld be fellow nurses. our hospital staff,” said the
nurses are from there — alle- “Eight to twelve nurses st- hospital in a release.
ged that suspected Covid-19 ay in one flat and they should Incidentally, the hospital
patients were kept in the ge- have been promptly quaran- has recorded three coronavir-
neral ICU and attended by tined. However, the hospital us deaths so far. A surgeon
nurses without PPEs. On not only failed to inform them working there too has tested
March 28, two nurses who on time, they continued to put positive. Officials said he had
had attended to the patient some of them on duties,” said suspected he was infected and
who tested positive. The Jibin T C, president, UNA had called the BMC helpline.
union claims the hospital (Maharashtra). Subsequent- Oficials said Jaslok Hospital
didn’t expedite tracing con- ly, eight more nurses tested too has 10 Covid-19-positive
tacts of the nurses, which wo- positive. staffers, including six nurses.
 THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
State 423 Cases*
*Number of cases
analysed. Total cases in
state as of Friday evening:
490
Source: Maharashtra Public
Health Department’s report
of Covid-19 cases
As of 9am, April 3
Empty racks greet Mumbaikars in Maha tally more than
grocery shops as supply chain snaps doubles to 490 in 4 days;
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Vegetables, groce-
ry items and packaged goods
continue to remain in short
supply across the city, for-
cing many shops to roll down
their shutters for a few days
or operate short hours.
The state insists that
supplies are arriving in the
wholesale market at APMC
Vashi. Yet retail markets re-
main bereft. Principal secre-
tary Anoop Kumar, who is
overseeing APMC, said that
supply lines of vegetables
and fruits were running
smoothly state-wide.
On Friday, APMC recei-
ved 557 trucks of fruits and
vegetables of which 194 went
to the city. However, officials
accept that individual locali-
ties may face shortage as the
distribution network within
Mumbai has been disrupted
after key vegetable markets
like Dadar were closed down
by the BMC.
Provision stores across
Bandra, Sion, Worli, Andhe-
ri, Malad, Mulund and Tha-
ne are unable to replenish
basic items like rice, dal, flo-
Lockdown may A DEVICE TO KEEP MED WORKERS SAFE
go in phases in Ifrobots
South Korea has
helping at TRIAL
state: Minister id-19 test centres,
drive-through Cov-
Vaibhav.Ganjapure
@timesgroup.com
Nagpur: Home minister Anil
Deshmukh on Friday said the
state government could conti-
nue with the lockdown in are-
as with a large number of Co-
vid-19 cases even after the
Centre lifted the restrictions.
“Even if the Centre lifted
its restrictions, the state has
Vehicles to be seized
if used for no reason
H ome minister Anil
Deshmukh on Friday
warned that vehicles would be
seized if people are found
driving on the roads without a
reason. “ If they (people) do not
listen, we have no choice left,”
he said. TNN
the powers to continue with
these. If restrictions are eased
simultaneously, people will
again crowd at places. The on-
ly solution is to open up areas
phasewise. For example, in
Mumbai, the government wo-
uld lift restrictions in Worli
and then Dadar and then in
other areas,” Deshmukh said.
He said restrictions would
be eased only after consulta-
tion with police commissio-
ners, collectors and other aut-
horities. “There’s still a long
way to go. We can’t say anyt-
hing at the moment,” he said.
Power supply
foreman is
BEST’s first
positive case
Somit.Sen@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: A BEST employee has
tested positive for Covid-19—the
first case for the undertaking.
Officials have stepped up preca-
utionary measures, especially
for the 5,500 drivers and conduc-
tors who ferry essential staffers.
The man works as a foreman
in BEST’s power supply divisi-
on. “The employee was on leave
on March 18 and 19 when he trav-
elled to his native place. He resu-
med duty on March 20 at Huta-
tma Chowk receiving station.
On Saturday (March 21), he re-
ported on duty at the transport
training centre building in Wa-
dala depot and thereafter did not
come to work,” said BEST spoke-
sperson Manoj Varade.
The man got admitted to a
hospital near Tilak Nagar sta-
tion on March 26, said sources.
His samples sent for a test came
positive on Thursday. On Friday,
BEST was asked to contact all
his colleagues. They have been
told to quarantine themselves at
home. A senior official has been
appointed to monitor over pho-
ne the quarantined staffers.
“The man’s condition is stable,
according to his family,” said
Varade.
SAMPLES TESTED IN
MAHARASHTRA: 10,615
NEGATIVE
RESULTS
97%
A shopper goes through near-empty shelves at a supermarket at Sion
ur, noodles, biscuits, let alo-
ne cleaning fluid and disin-
fectants.
King’s Circle resident
Nikhil Desai said stores in
Matunga and Dadar TT had
shut down fearing threat of
infection. “The smallest gro-
cery operates only one day a
week, that too by prior noti-
ce,” he said.
Two stores in Pali Mar-
ket, Bandra, closed as shel-
ves emptied out. The supply
chain has virtually snapped
with shopkeepers complai-
ning that they are forced to
Mumbai may soon
get special units
to ensure that
swabs of corona
suspects are taken
in a way that en-
sures healthcare
workers’ safety
THE UNIT
Called SAFEST Box,
where SAFEST stands
for Safe Assessment,
Fast Evaluation, FUNCTIONING
Swab Test Has holes fitted with gloves
Can be placed
at public spaces or
to allow sample collection in a
sealed environment
mounted
on special
vehicles
to conduct
tests
City has most cases as we’ve tested
10,000. Kerala tested 8K: BMC chief
M
umbai’s civic chief
Praveen Pardeshi
told Vijay V Singh
and Sumitra DebRoy on
Friday that the city is repor-
ting more cases because of
large-scale testing and stra-
tegies like large-scale conta-
inment will break the chain
of transmission. Excerpts
from an interview:
Q: Mumbai now accounts for
a majority of cases in Maha-
rashtra. What is the situation
on the ground and how are
you dealing with it?
A: For a city of 12 million, we
have 278 cases. The reason
we have maximum cases is
we are testing a lot. Till date,
we have tested over 10,000
samples, including people
from MMR. Compared to
that, only 1,200 tests were car-
ried out in the rest of Maha-
rashtra. Mumbai’s figures
are comparable with an enti-
CM banks on consultations to deal with crisis
Prafulla.Marpakwar
@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: CM Uddhav Thack-
eray has depended on consul-
tations with senior bureau-
crats and public health ex-
perts as the state has fought to
curb coronavirus cases. And
over the past fortnight, he has
addressed the state regularly
to allay people’s concerns.
On February 8, Thackeray
held his first meeting on the
subject with senior bureau-
crats led by chief secretary
Ajoy Mehta and experts in the
field of public health. Mehta
was told to draft a comprehen-
sive roadmap for tackling the
crisis and ensure that in the
event some cases were detec-
POSITIVE
RESULTS
3%
drive to distant locations to
pick up consignments since
there is no one to deliver go-
ods. These shopkeepers are
hiring small tempos to fetch
goods. They also complain of
police personnel seeking bri-
bes to let them travel.
At Evershine Nagar, Ma-
lad (West), too, one grocery
store shut due to lack of
supplies. The owner of anot-
her shop Shivam Stores fears
he will have to follow suit.
“Tempos have stopped co-
ming from Vashi. Loaders
are scarce too. I will run out
An innovation,
the unit will soon
undergo a trial at the
civic-run Kasturba
Hospital
worker) is within a safe space
Dr Swapneil Parikh | BOX’S INVENTOR
Box has special air
flow system to prevent
healthcare worker from personal protective equipment
getting exposed to Dr Jayanti Shastri | MOLECULAR TEST LAB,
Covid-19 suspect KASTURBA HOSPITAL
re state like Kerala that has
tested around 8,000 samples.
Testing is the only way to win
this battle. We also had many
enter the city between
March 10-16 sans screening.
Q: How has aggressive tes-
ting helped?
A: Through more testing, we
are able to detect a person
much before he becomes a
full-blown case and starts
INTERVIEW
spreading the infection. We
are able to put him in isola-
tion. Otherwise he would ha-
ve affected many more.
Q: What is the BMC’s strategy
now that Covid-19 has rea-
ched slums?
A: Our biggest challenge in-
deed is congestion and densi-
ty of population. We have,
therefore, decided to move
ted in the state, stringent mea-
sures were taken to curb the
spread. Besides Mehta, the
meeting was attended by pub-
lic health secretary Pradeep
Vyas, medical education se-
cretary Sanjay Mukherjee, di-
rector of medical education T
P Lahane, the CM’s principal
secretaries Bhushan Gagrani
and Vikas Kharge and BMC
commissioner Praveen Par-
deshi.
In the first meeting, re-
sponsibilities were also assig-
ned to all bureaucrats, divisio-
nal commissioners and dis-
trict collectors across the sta-
te. This was followed by a
series of interactions with
PM Narendra Modi, senior
bureaucrats of the ministry of
TIMES CITY | VIRUS WATCH
TESTS
Govt labs
7,906 Total
10,873
Pvt labs
2,967
of staples like dal, rice and
flour soon,” Shivam K said.
Some shops in Mulund
function till 2pm. Hardik Go-
ri of Siddhivinayak Provi-
sions said, “All of us shop ow-
ners have decided to work li-
mited hours as supplies are
erratic. Also, we are at risk
with several customers arri-
ving throughout the day.”
In Sion’s Pratiksha Na-
gar, several chemist shops
are shut while milk booths,
groceries, chicken shops and
vegetable markets operate
only till noon.
Some shopkeepers said
police were not allowing
them to operate. A team of po-
lice personnel is camping ne-
ar the Sundar Vihar hotel ro-
und-the-clock.
On Thursday, a police te-
am was seen making anno-
uncements from a car asking
people to go home.
However, Veeresh Prab-
hu, additional police com-
missioner, denied the crack-
down. He said, “There is no
order to shut essential servi-
ces. Shop owners are wor-
king short hours because
they don’t have manpower.”
SAFEST Box is a reversal
of sorts as the (healthcare
This is a safer option con-
sidering the shortage of
around 5,000 high-risk con-
tacts of positive patients to
civic facilities, unlike our
previous strategy of home-
quarantining them. Almost
1,000 have already been mo-
ved from home to institutio-
nal quarantine. BMC has re-
adied 10,000 rooms to accom-
modate families. The areas
will be spacious and have ac-
cess to clean bathrooms.
Q: Is this the strategy around
Worli-Koliwada that has
emerged as a hotbed of cases?
A: We have moved around
273 high-risk contacts from G
South ward to BMC premi-
ses. If any of them show
symptoms, they will be ad-
mitted to hospitals. Also, we
are no longer convincing pe-
ople. Now we are using force.
Q: Questions have been raised
about BMC’s contact tracing.
Has it been efficient?
public health as well as Udd-
hav’s cabinet colleagues led
by deputy chief minister Ajit
Pawar and health minister
Rajesh Tope.
For securing permission
for setting up new testing
centres or procuring additio-
nal equipment and ventila-
2,12,695 83,712 1,10,574
2 2 12
3,540 11,327 8,380
US New York Italy
over 50% cases in city
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: State health mini-
ster Rajesh Tope said the deci-
sion on lifting the lockdown
would take into account the
number of cases invarious citi-
es. “Lockdown in cities like
Mumbai may not be lifted
completely on April 14. It may
be extended by a few weeks,” he
noted.
The state on Friday recor-
ded six deaths, taking the toll to
26. The state tally reached 490
cases, of which over 50% cases
(278) are from Mumbai. The tal-
ly has more than doubled in fo-
ur days. The number of positi-
ve cases on March 30 were 220,
with 10 deaths.
Of six new deaths reported
by the state on Friday, four were
from MMR and one each from
Pune and Jalgaon. Of these six
deaths, four were earlier repor-
ted by TOI. The ones not repor-
ted were one from Jalgaon and
one from Badlapur.
Eleven CISF personnel pos-
ted at Mumbai airport have tes-
ted positive. It has also emerged
the 56-year-old from Dharavi
claimed by Covid-19 had come
in contact with people who had
attended the Tablighi Jamaat
congregation in Delhi. Five wo-
men who arrived in the city on
March 22 from the meet had sta-
yed in his flat.
The Jalgaon patient who di-
ed on Friday was a 63-year-old
man who was in contact with
other positive patients in Jalga-
on. He was a diabetic, had hy-
pertension and had been opera-
ted for angioplasty a month
ago. The death reported from
Badlapur was of a woman ad-
mitted in a private hospital.
She had been bedridden for a
while with complications like
hypertension and a fractured
spine; shehad no travel history.
Among other deaths repor-
ted by the state on Friday was
that of a 68-year-old Vasai man
with no travel history, who died
at a private hospital in Nalaso-
para on Thursday. He was ad-
mitted to a private clinic on
March 29 after he complained
of chest pain. Residents of the
building where he lived have
been home-quarantined and
A: We have dedicated teams
working aggressively to re-
ach every possible contact.
So far we have reached out to
almost 4 lakh people. For in-
stance, of the 28 suspects on
Thursday, we contacted 475,
of which 22 came positive.
Q: Are there enough ventila-
tors?
A: We have enough ventila-
tors and have ordered 50 mo-
re, which we will get soon.
The CM spoke to industri-
alists and they are going to
increase production of PPEs
and ventilators for us. The
Reliance group has assured
is it will ramp up production.
Q: We have also had the hig-
hest deaths in the state. What
does it tell us?
A: Deaths have mostly been
in the age-group of 60 and
above. Out fatality rate is
around 4%.
tors and ensuring coordina-
tion with private hospitals in
Mumbai and across the state,
responsibility was fixed on in-
dividual bureaucrats. Sour-
ces said Thackeray monitored
whether the tasks had been
completed. Thackeray’s first
call in the mornings has been
to Mehta, followed by interac-
tions with all those involved
in the process.
When the proposal of a sta-
tewide lockdown and stop-
ping of suburban rail net-
work was placed before cabi-
net, it was abandoned after
Mehta submitted closure of
the network should be the last
resort. Thackeray felt that bet-
ter sense would prevail and
people would stay at home and
HOW MUMBAI & MAHA COMPARE WITH COUNTRY & WORLD
Confirmed Covid-19 cases
6,836
4 2,069
1,771
17
1 5
257
Thailand Brazil
Shoppers throng a vegetable market at Somaiya Ground in Sion
Six more CISF guards from
Kalamboli camp test positive
O f the 146 CISF personnel quarantined at the MGM hospital in
Kamothe, six tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. On
Thursday, five CISF guards had tested positive and are being treated
at Kasturba hospital. The total number of positive cases in the
Panvel City area is 15, which includes the 11CISF personnel from the
Kalamboli camp.
Dr Balaji Phalke of MGM hospital Kamothe said, “The six Covid-19
positive patients have been kept at an isolation ward at MGM
hospital, Kamothe, where they are being treated as per the
guidelines of ministry of health and family welfare and WHO. A team
of experts are treating the positive patients as per standard
operating procedures. The remaining 140 CISF guards have tested
negative and are asymptomatic. They will be kept at our institutional
quarantine facility for 14 days.” — George Mendonca
the area sealed off. The other
deaths previously reported by
TOI were of a 62-year-old Saki
Naka man who died at home on
Tuesday. The man had a histo-
ry of cough, fever and gastritis.
Another death was of a 65-year-
old Malwani resident who had
a history of kidney problems.
He passed away at theTrauma
Care Hospital in Jogeshwari.
Mumbai on Friday repor-
ted 43 cases, which included 14
cases tested positive between
March 24 and 30.
A young couple from MHB
colony in Gorai, Borivli, tested
positive on Friday, triggering
panic in the colony housing ne-
arly 80 families. The wife sho-
wed symptoms of Covid-19, af-
ter which she underwent a seri-
es of tests at a private clinic.
The civic authorities sent her
and the husband to Bhabha ho-
Donate in
phases, blood
donors told
Yogita.Rao@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: While other states
and regions are facing an acu-
te shortage of blood, Mum-
bai's blood banks are adequa-
tely stocked for this month.
With elective surgeries put on
hold and fewer emergencies
(like accidents) reported, the
requirement of blood has
dropped by almost 50% in the
city. In fact, many centres ha-
ve reported an excess stock
and are concerned about un-
der-utilization.
Officials and activists ha-
ve appealed to the citizens to
donate blood in staggered
phases to avoid a shortage
post April.
Since blood units are being
used mostly for chronic ail-
ments such as thalassemia
and sickle-cell anaemia, the
State’s Blood Transfusion Co-
uncil has now asked the cent-
res to hold camps only as per
their requirement.
if they did not, there would be
no option but to shut the sub-
urban network. Later he took
stern decisions as things did
not change as expected.
Hours before the PM anno-
unced the nationwide lock-
down, Uddhav addressed the
state and has since addressed
the state almost every day for
five to ten minutes mainly to
restore the confidence of the
people, to tell them that the go-
vernment is doing all it can
and to assuage their worries.
Through the crisis, Vyas
and Mukherjee, as doctors,
and Lahane, as former dean of
JJ Hospital, have provided in-
puts to Mehta who in turn has
briefed the CM on measures to
be taken.
3
Fatality rate Tests per million
Source: BMC. Data compiled for
Covid-19 cases till April 1
3
335 235 265
1
36 4
51 658 200
India Maharashtra Mumbai Kerala
‘Take urgent
steps to resume
newspaper
distribution’
Prafulla.Marpakwar
@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Senior Congress lea-
der and former CM Prithviraj
Chavan on Friday urged chief
minister Uddhav Thackeray to
take immediate steps for distri-
bution of newspapers so that pe-
ople receive information on the
status of Covid-19.
“The public perception is
that the state government has
restrained vendors from delive-
ring newspapers at residences.
This perception must be remo-
ved as early as possible. Less
than 15% of the population in the
state has Internet access. Under
such circumstances, people are
dependent only on daily newspa-
pers,’’ Chavan said in a letter to
Thackeray. Chavan said the go-
vernment should immediately
initiate dialogue with distribu-
tors and vendors and ensure
newspapers reach the doorsteps
of people as early as possible. “If
there is a need, provide security
to the distributors and vendors.
The government can also rope in
volunteers and resume newspa-
per distribution.’’
HAPPAIMES
ft
=
Knowledge is Safety!
Read the paper to enhance
spital, said former corporator your awareness and safety
Shivanand Shetty. The area has during these times.
been sealed off.
Healthcare vouchers
Afamily of three, including
to be won daily.
a child, in Charkop were found Convert points to
to be suspects. A BEST employ- 5X TIMESPOINTS
ee has been detected positive, for assured rewards.
ringing alarm bells for the un-
Weekly Points Bonanza!
dertaking, and officials have
Weekly draws for 12000
stepped up precautionary mea-
sures especially for 5,500 dri- TIMESPOINTS,every Sunday.
TXC c apply Participation vrind 9w: 7 to 11AM
vers and conductors who ferry
essential services staffers daily. 1 1
Around 10 new cases were
detected from outside of Mum-
bai. After a 66-year-old man
from Kalyan was found positi-
ve, the health team from KDMC
on Friday sent his five family
members for a test.
V. > hi
Meanwhile, state home mi-
nister Anil Deshmukh on Fri-
day said vehicles found plying
Stay Safe Tip!
on the roads without any rea-
Cover flexe d el bow
son will be seized.
while sneezina and I
GOVERNMENT O F INDIA
MINISTRY OF POWER
NOTICE FOR EXTENSION OF LAST DATE
OF RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS
In reference to the advertisement for the posts of Chairman, Member
(Technical) and Member (Finance) in Damodar Valley Corporation
(DVC) published in the weekly Employment News dated 14.03.2020,
the last date of receipt of applications has been extended up to
24.04 .2020. Detailed Vacancy Circular dated 24.02.2020 is available
on the websites of Ministry of Power (www.powermin .nic. in) and
Damodar Valley Corporation (www.dvc .gov.in).
Shc-
(R K Das)
INF/25/Recruitl20-21 Under Secretary to the Government of India
INTERVIEW FOR
PARA-MEDICAL CATEGORIES
Central Railway, Mumbai Division will be conducting Recorded
WhatsApp conference call interv iew for filling-up the posts in
Para-Medical categories in Group 'C' on full-time contract basis.
This scheme will be valid fora period of Three Months.
Schedule of sending application on designated email id &
Recorded WhatsApp conference call interv iew of selected
candidates.
Date of Date and time of
sending the Recorded WhatsApp Interv iew
application conference for the
on designated call interv iew of Post
email id selected candidates
09.04.2020 Staff
06.04.2020
(10:00 Hrs. to 18:00 Hrs) Nurse
09.04.2020 Health
06.04.2020
(10:00 Hrs. to 18:00 Hrs) Inspector
09 .04.2020
06.04.2020 (10:00 Hrs. to 18:00 Hrs) Pharmacist
09.04.2020 Hospital
06.04 .2020
(10:00 Hrs. to 18:00 Hrs ) Attendent
House keeping
09.04.2020 Assistant
06.04 .2020
(10:00 Hrs. to 18:00 Hrs) (Safaiwala)
Venue : Date of sending application on designated email id
06.04.2020 Email id- srdpo@bb.railnet .gov.in & Date of
Recorded WhatsApp conference call interv iew of selected
candidates 09.04 .2020 Mobile No. 8828119604
Recorded WhatsApp conference call Interview will be
conducted on next day, if not completed on the assigned date.
For more details visit the following website:-
1) www .cr.indianrailways .gov.in - About us - Division
-* Mumbai -4 Personnel.
2) www .cr.indianrailways .gov.in - News & Recruitment
- )[Recruitment-)Notifications.
CENTRAL RAILWAY
www.cr .indianrailways.gov.in
Fj Q c e n t r a lr ai l w a y i n d i al "o L Centra R a i lw a y
 4 TIMES CITY | VIRUS WATCH THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

I I t I I 1 1

C5 gaana TQI qp v' F I T P A SS

6 months I worth 7599 12 months I worth 3999 12 months I wort h 35OO 3 months I wort h 31,279 4

PM’s ‘light lamps’ CR’s 1st Kalyan-Howrah parcel All cops must be
MAKE YOUR
on field, not in OWN MASK
plea shows casual train gets a poor response court, says HC AT HOME
approach: Oppn ManthanK.Mehta
Mumbai: During the Covid-19
lockdown when “anti-social
elements” are seen loitering,
WHY WEAR A MASK?
z Masks lower the chances
Prafulla.Marpakwar revenue minister and state
@timesgroup.com
10K TO BE HOUSED, FED AT NESCO HALLS it is “absolutely essential”
that the entire police force is
of coronavirus entering the
respiratory system through
@timesgroup.com Congress president Balasaheb Mumbai: Central Railway’s on the field, rather than in co-
droplets still in the air from
Thorat said. Thorat said the plan to run parcel trains has urt to answer to pleas for regu-
an infected person
Mumbai: Shiv Sena, Congress PM is expected to take firm po- elicited a poor response as the lar bail, said Bombay high co-
and NCP on Friday criticized licy decisions. “Medical profes- first one carried barely 2.4 urt on Friday. z Analyses show that if 50%
Prime Minister Modi for ur- sionals, social workers, para- tonnes of goods against a ca- While citing a Rajasthan of the population were to
ging people to switch off elec- medical staff, law- enforcing pacity of 400 tonnes. HC order, the Bombay HC said wear masks, only 50% would
tricity and light lamps and agencies are working round The first train departed the “release of an accused or be infected. Once 80% wear
candles and flash mobile pho- the clock for the people by put- from Kalyan to Sankrail in convict at the cost of br- a mask, the outbreak can be
ne torches to put up a symbolic ting their lives at risk. The need Howrah on April 2. eaching the order of lockdo- stopped immediately
show of the country’s collecti- of the hour is to stand firmly A senior official said, “The wn and at the cost of risking li-
ve spirit to defeat the outbreak. behind these people and give Union government clarified ves of many cannot be consid- THINGS YOU WILL NEED
In a tweet, Raut, said, them confidence. All efforts that there is no restriction on ered to fall within the categ- 100% cotton
“When people were asked to should be made to ensure venti- movement of essential and ory of ‘extreme urgent’ mat-
material or
clap, they crowded the roads lators, medicines, personal non-essential commodities. ter.’’ The court adjourned one
a men’s cotton
and beat drums. I just hope now protection equipment and But the lockdown in the state is such plea to a regular bench
funds are available. But the PM
handkerchief
they don’t burn down their so severe that people are un- when it resumes normal hou-
own houses.” He further said, is treating the crisis as an able to reach parcel offices at rs after the lockdown is lifted. Two rubber bands
“Sir ‘diya to jalayenge’ but plea- event,” he noted. stations to book parcels.” “Unless an extreme emer-
se tell us what the government NCP leader and housing Another official said, “We gent case is made out, they STEP 1
is doing to improve the condi- minister Jeetendra Awhad sa- will have to work with the state cannot be asked to spend their Fold handkerchief
tion.” id the PM’s message was “quite government to make this sys- time defending regular bail from one side to
The Congress and NCP alle- disappointing.” “I am not stu- tem work. Either some pass applications,” said Justice A
little above middle of cloth
ged there was complete lack of
seriousness in the PM’s appro-
pid, I will not switch off lights,”
Awhad said. Energy minister
can be issued to those who
want to deliver, or a home pick- T he state has taken over two halls of Nesco
grounds at Goregaon (E) to shelter around
10,0000 in need of food and shelter during the
It would be the largest site in the city for such
activity, he said. Nesco Ltd chairman Sumant
Patel said they are coordinating with BMC and
M Badar in an order. HC noted
boundaries of almost all dis- STEP 2
ach. “Coronavirus is gripping Nitin Raut of Congress said up service can be made availa- tricts are sealed, “hence even Fold over other
the country, the PM needs to get the switching-off of lights on ble.” lockdown, said cabinet minister Aslam Shaikh. police to use around 2 lakh sq ft of space. TNN if a prisoner is released on ba- edge to go above first fold
serious at least now. It is not the April 5 could lead to a multi-sta- People can send any parcel, il, it may not be possible for
job of the PM to ask people to te grid failure and push the sta- including medicines and food ment by road transport has luggage van. Four services are stations to deliver and pick up him to reach his destination STEP 3
clap and light candles. More se- te into darkness. He said if that to individuals or firms. The come to a standstill. planned between Kalyan and packages. Two services are without risking his life due to Fold again
rious efforts are needed to tack- happens, hospitals and essenti- concept of a parcel train was The parcel trains run with Sankrail, of which one depart- planned between Kalyan and the outbreak of Covid-19. — evenly from middle
le the unprecedented crisis,” als will be hit. brought into practice as move- 20 coaches and one guard-cum- ed on Thursday. They halt at 12 Changsari. Swati Deshpande
STEP 4
Take rubber band and tie on
TIMES inter : _.
To book your advertisement ,
call 9278812222 Spl court rejects IIT-B to get `56cr centre to find Officials sure left of cloth. Tie
other side with

Rana Kapoor’s of power grid, another rubber band. Ensure

50 innovations against virus

area in middle is big enough
to cover mouth and nose
interim bail plea but Raut not STEP 5
Take one edge
DATEY lands make farmers
legally. Sell Agriculture land
Mumbai: A special lockdown court on
Friday rejected Yes Bank promoter Rana
Kapoor’s interim bail sought citing the co-
Chethan.Kumar
@timesgroup.com
vid-19 as a pandemic globally
that has jolted countries
across the world to take im-
for sanitizers, disinfectants,
diagnostics, therapeutics, in-
formatics and other interven-
so confident of cloth on side of band and
fold over it. Do for
in Karjat-Raigad. Give advice j ;11
I'll: 4 1. 1
both sides

on phone on payment. www. A leading India- based Mines and
dateylands.com, 9324371568 Minerals company, with its mining
o p e r a t i o n s in South A m e r i c a ,
Africa , Middle East , and India is
c u r r e n t l y ha v i n g t h e b e l o w
TO BOOK AN mentioned minera ls / ores , which
areavai lable in hi nv o l u m e s
ADVERTISEMENT
IN THIS SECTION
CALL:
KUNAL SAMTANI For our Mining & Trading
operations, we are also looking
9322348803 for experienced:
VIJAY IIURSIJA 1. Managers / Heads with
minerals trading experience
9819464634 2. Digital Marketing Managers
ADHIJEET MISHRA
3. Trade Finance Managers
4. Consultants / Agents who can
represent us in their markets
7710888884
O O
Book your
ronavirus pandemic and his ailments.
The court said Kapoor’s health report
did not show him suffering from any life-
threatening disease. “The jail authority is
in a position to look after the Covid-19
emergency. The applicant (Kapoor) was
arrested on March 8, and the investigation
is at the initial stage. So, ...considering the
prevailing situation, there is no need to
consider the application at this juncture,”
special judge PR Sitre said. The plea sub-
mitted by Kapoor’s lawyer Subhash Jad-
hav, had cited his various ailments, inclu-
ding a chronic immunodeficiency synd-
rome that he said caused recurrent lung,
sinus and skin infections. Special counsel
for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Su-
nil Gonsalves, opposed the plea.
Kapoor has been lodged at Taloja jail
since he was sent to judicial custody on
March 20. The ED has alleged that loans of
A
Rs 56-crore Centre for
Augmenting WAR with
Covid-19 Health Crisis
(CAWACH) which will scout,
evaluate and support innova-
tions and start-ups that add-
ress Covid-19 challenges has
been approved by the Depart-
ment of Science and Techno-
logy (DST).
The Society for Innova-
tion and Entrepreneurship
(SINE), a techno business in-
cubator at IIT-B backed by
DST will be the implementing
agency of CAWACH, which
will come up in IIT-B.
“Given the impact of Co-
Taj hospitality to help cut long
mediate actions and scale up
responses to detect, treat and
reduce transmission to save
people’s lives, DST is playing
a critical role to pace up Indi-
a’s efforts to fight the crisis,”
the DST said on Friday.
The Centre’s mandate will
be to extend timely support to
potential startups by way of
financial aid for innovations
eployable within 6 months.
CAWACH will identify up
to 50 innovations and star-
tups in the area of novel, low
cost, safe and effective venti-
lators, respiratory aids, pro-
tective gears, novel solutions
tions to control Covid-19. It
will provide access to pan-In-
dia networks for testing, trial
and market deployment of
products and solutions in are-
as of priority for Covid-19 so-
lutions.
“CAWACH programme is
focused on leveraging the yo-
uth, intelligence and extraor-
dinary innovative potential
of our technology incubators
and startups and empowe-
ring them for scale-up to spee-
dily address the multi-dimen-
sional challenges of Co-
vid-19,” DST secretary Profes-
sor Ashutosh Sharma said.
Somit.Sen@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Some thermal po-
STEP 6
Take one fold
wer generation plants in the
state may reduce their load on and insert
Sunday in accordance with in- into the
structions from the state load other fold
despatch centre to ensure sta-
bility of the national grid du-
ring the nine-minute nation-
wide blackout at 9 pm called
Masks are effective
by Prime MInister Narendra
Modi in a televised message only when used in
on Friday. combination with frequent
State energy minister Ni- hand-cleaning with
tin Raut, though, sounded a alcohol-based hand rub
word of caution, saying that
or soap and water. If you
the switching off of lights co- wear a mask, then you
uld lead to a multi-state grid
must know how to use it
failure and push the state into
darkness. He said that if that and dispose of it properly

Newspaper Ads
over Rs 20,000 crore sanctioned during Ka- happened hospitals and es- —World Health Organization
poor’s tenure at the bank have turned into sential services would be hit
Source: Office of Principal Scientific

commutes for doctors, nurses

non-performing assets and quid pro quo hard during the battle against
Advisor, Government of India
in just 3 easy steps diversion was suspected. He was first ar- teh ccoronavirus. Raut said
Io on to
rested on allegations of receiving a kick- that it took about 12-16 hours to

F
back of Rs 600 crore for extending loan-in-
vestment to scam-tainted DHFL. TNN From P 1 400-bed isolation facility, said en facing resistance from the-
service one power station in
case of an issue due to the Notice to state
doctors have been allocated ir families or housing societi- switching off of lights.
from your
HC hears 1st ‘urgent on prisoners
I
n addition to the Palace, rooms in the Taj hotels since es. “Many have told my fami- “We should all think about
,uo or i. IHCL has kept its other fo- Tuesday. “Many staffers used ly that I should stop coming to all this and keep lights that are

matter’ via videocon,

ur hotels in the city at the
disposal of doctors and nur-
to come from far off suburbs
like Kalyan and Virar. The
work or stay elsewhere, they
are afraid I could bring the in-
required on and then light
lamps and candles as sugges- B ombay HC court Auranga-
bad bench on Friday direc-

-1
I 7 ' i I F ses on Covid-19 duty. An IHCL commute was taking over 2-3 fection home. Our neighbo- ted by the PM,” he said. ted notices, returnable by
executive said a wing of the hours,” he said. A nurse told urs have distanced themsel- Modi urged citizens to shi- April 8, to the state and others
releases a ship Ginger hotel in Andheri East
has also been offered as a qua-
TOI that for the 7am shift, she
had to leave her house in Va-
ves,” said a resident doctor.
Dr Balkrishna Adsul of
ne a lamp, candle, mobile
flashlight or torch in the dark
over a petition challenging
“arbitrary norms” set up by a
Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com rantine centre.. sai around 4-4.30am and walk Cooper Hospital said hotel on Sunday in a figurative dis- high-powered committee for
Staff of K B Bhabha Ho- for at least two kilometres to stay has also been extended to pelling of the darkness spread extending interim bail relief
Mumbai: At its first hearing of urgent spital in Bandra has checked reach the designated pick-up medical personnel with elder- by the coronavirus. Officials to undertrials to decongest ja-

t 6
matters via video-conference (VC) du-
ring the Covid-19 lockdown on Friday,
Bombay high court directed the release
of an arrested offshore supply vessel.
The dispute over bunker dues to the fuel
supplier ended with the vessel’s Indian
owners paying over Rs 1 crore to ensure
its release through consent terms.
TO PLACE HC is considering setting up such a
VC facility on a long-term basis.
At the 20-minute VC hearing, conve-
in at the near-by Taj Lands
End. Many said it was getting
difficult to walk all the way to
the highway or bus stops
which are pick-up points for
transporting staff home.
Dr Mohan Joshi, who is
managing the Sevenhills Ho-
spital in Marol which has a
No lockdown
point. A BEST bus would drop
her to KEM Hospital, Parel.
“It’s not only the walk. The
bus gets overcrowded and
there is no way to practise so-
cial distancing,” she said.
Doctors working in desig-
nated Covid-19 screening or
isolation centres have also be-
‘Parties must work out rental issue’
ly parents and young child-
ren at home. “It will ensure
that doctors can interact and
have means of social commu-
nication,” he said.
Besides a free stay, IHCL
has been distributing packed
meals to staff of Kasturba,
KEM and Sion hospitals.
said there was no cause to fear ils in the state in the wake of
a grid collapse. "The hydro po- Covid-19. TNN
wer plants will be used to
ramp back the load on the grid
as soon as the blackout period Stranded Dutch
is over so that there is quick
restarting and the situation is
back to normal,” a govern-
home, dog waits
ment official said.
F ive Dutch tourists stranded
during the lockdown flew
back on Thursday in a flight ch-

AN ANNOUNC EMENT
ned by Justice Anil Menon, advocates
Ashwini Sinha for the bunker (marine
and diesel oil used as fuel by vessel)
supplier and Rishi Murarka for the ves-
IN THIS SECTION sel owner, argued from their residences.
artered by Germany. Their dog,
Jam, will stay at a shelter in
for packaging From P 1 normal business.” said sources. In Santacruz, it
Malad for some more months
as it wasn’t allowed on the fli-
for essentials
Senior advocate Vikram occupies a space in a building ght. The group plans to fetch it

S
It went smoothly, with no technical uch contractual duties co- Nankani said ,coronavirus is owned by a Hindi film actor in October. They left their Land
glitch or breaks, they said later when uld include occupation of not an immunity from cont- and has informed him it will Cruiser at a customs warehou-

CALL : contacted.
The vessel was arrested on March 17
after a maritime claim was made by the
JAI SARSAR
supplier under Admiralty Act. A ship’s
release is generally viewed as a matter
of urgency and this vessel was perfor-
986750547 2
ming offshore support near Bombay
High to oil rigs and other offshore in-
stallations.
HC had begun VC facility From
April 1 with Justice Menon designated
to take extremely urgent civil and cri-
minal matters till April 7, for two hours
a day, and Justice Gautam Patel for the
next seven days, till April 14. HC reques-
ted Maharashtra government to release
finance for these measures. Some lawy-
ers requested that VC be used for judici-
al proceedings during the lockdown.
WEATHER
Readers are recommended to make appropriate
Colaba Santacruz
34.1° /
enquires and seek appropriate advice before 32.6°/
TTTY s sending money, incurring any expenses , acting on
medical recommendations or entering into any
24° 24°
commitment in relation to any advertisement Sunrise: Sunday: 0629 hrs
published in this publication . The Times Of India
Sunset: Saturday: 1853 hrs
Group doesn't vouch for any claims made by the
Advertisers of products and services. The Printer , Forecast: Sky is likely to be mainly clear. Maximum
Publisher . Editor, and Owners of The Times Of India & minimum temperatures would be around 35°C &
Group publications shall not be held liable for any 25°C respectively.
consequences , in the event such claims arenot Relative humidity: Colaba 82%, Santacruz 55%
honoured bytheAdvertlsers.
VijayV.Singh@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: The state govern-
ment issued a clarification on
Friday to ensure availability
of packaging material for es-
sential goods and for smooth
functioning of production
units which cannot be closed,
such as steel and rubber.
An earlier government or-
der had exempted these indu-
stries from the lockdown, sta-
ted the government’s earlier
order. But they were still fa-
cing difficulties due to confu-
sion and strict conditions im-
posed by the local administra-
tion. Officials said although
industries involved in provi-
ding essential services were
allowed to operate, their sup-
port and allied industries we-
re unable to do so.
On Friday, Ajoy Mehta, ch-
ief secretary of Maharashtra,
issued a clarification. It stat-
ed: “All the necessary packagi-
ng units required for industri-
al units of 8(A) are allowed to
operate.” (With Bhavika Jain)
premises, delivery of go-
ods, payment for services and
other such acts for which the
contract has been entered.
“The occurrence should be
such an event which complete-
ly frustrates and makes impos-
sible the performance of the
contract,” said lawyer Naheed
Carrimjee, who has been guid-
ing clients on this matter over
the past week. “For example,
keeping your office open or de-
livering non-essential goods in
India today has become an un-
lawful and impossible act.”
“Remedies available to lan-
dlords and tenants arising fr-
om the shutdown would prim-
arily depend on the contract
between the parties or the le-
gal relationship of the parti-
es—whether they are landlord
-tenant, licensor-licensee or
lessor-lessee,” said lawyer Su-
dip Mullick, partner, Khaitan
& Co. “However, on a practical
note, parties should work to-
gether to find a solution that is
win-win for both. Inflexibility
would delay walking back to
ractual obligations. “In other
words, payment of rent may be
deferred to a later date but the
liability is not extinguished.”
Not surprisingly, a number
of commercial establishments
have started writing to their
landlords asking for a waiver.
WeWork India, a co-working
firm, has sought a cut in rents
across the country. A spoke-
sperson refused to comment.
Last month, Shoppers St-
FINANCIAL JAM
op, the department store cha-
in, told its landlords it would
not pay licence fees and other
charges till premises reopen. It
wrote to the landlord, Y J Real-
ty and Aviation, part of the D B
Group, that it would not pay its
licence fee for three months for
the 60,000 square feet it occupi-
es at Dynamix Mall in Juhu.
An international coffee ch-
ain which has 61 branches in
Mumbai—and pays rents from
Rs 5 lakh to 10 lakh each—has
written to its landlords as well,
not pay rent, sources added.
Lodha Group announced
full waiver for its retail partne-
rs last week. “Retail partners,
who are renting spaces in Lod-
ha’s retail properties, are ex-
empted from paying rent since
March 15 until the government
permits reopening of retail
operations. Maintenance cha-
rges will be reduced as per ac-
tual expenses during this pe-
riod,” said a spokesperson.
At Bandra-Kurla Complex,
home to the city’s most expen-
sive office spaces rented for Rs
225 to Rs 250 a sq ft a month,
landlords say they expect to
hear from tenants . A BKC buil-
ding, on an average, fetches Rs
10-15 crore a month as rent.
“We will have to negotiate the
lease rentals for the lockdown
period. Several options can be
offered, including deferred pa-
yment,” said a builder. One sa-
id many expats who leased his
flats for Rs 5-6 lakh a month, le-
ft India before the lockdown.
“They haven’t written to me
about negotiating the rent.”
se to be shippped later. TNN
Man beats friend
to death, arrested
A fight over money led a 39-
year-old drug addict to beat
his 20-year-old friend to death
on the Ghatkopar FOB late on
Thursday night. Amit Sagar
was arrested for the murder of
Ghatkopar resident Sachin Aa-
gale, who was also a drug user.
They argued when Sagar forcib-
ly took money from Aagale. TNN
Two held for `2.5L
gold jewellery theft
C rime branch unit 9 on
Thursday arrested two yo-
uths for stealing gold ornaments
worth Rs 2.5 lakh from three ho-
uses in Bandra a day ago. The or-
naments were recovered from
history-sheeters Salman Shaikh
(21) and Irfan Shaikh (19). The
two had been externed from city
limits under the MPDA. TNN

Mega Cash Transfer In Battle Covid-19
`30,000cr For Jan Dhan A/cs,
`5,000cr For Ujjwala Scheme
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi/ Mumbai: The
government on Friday laun-
ched one of the largest-ever
cash transfer schemes, inclu-
ding the deposit of over Rs
30,000 crore into the account of
women Jan Dhan account hol-
ders as well as Rs 5,000 crore
into the linked accounts of
eight crore poor households
with LPG connections provi-
ded under ‘Ujjwala’.
On Day One of the PM Jan
Dhan transfer scheme, Rs 500
was deposited into the acco-
unts of four crore women,
with the government orde-
ring banks to ensure that the
dormant accounts were reac-
tivated to ensure that no bene-
ficiary was left out. The mega
exercise, which will see depo-
sits based on the last digit of
the account number, saw seve-
ral thousand account holders
visit their bank branches and
nearest ATMs, although busi-
Let identified street vendors
sell essential items: Centre
Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The urban affairs
ministry has advised state go-
vernments to allow identified
street vendors to sell essential
items during the lockdown, a
move which would not only
save their livelihood and
facilitate supplies virtually
at doorstep, but also prevent
crowding in markets and
thus serve the dire need of so-
cial distancing to check Co-
vid-19 spread.
There are about 18 lakh
identified street vendors
across the country and almost
13 lakh of them have valid
identity cards.
Sources said the ministry
issued the advisory after the
pan-Indian urban vendors’ as-
sociation approached it citing
the plight of street vendors af-
ter loss of livelihood due to the
nationwide lockdown in the
wake of coronavirus spread.
Tweeting the letter sent to
states, Union housing urban
affairs minister Hardeep
Singh Puri said, “In order to
ensure the livelihood of street
vendors and encourage home
delivery of essential items, we
World Bank rushes
in $1bn for India
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi:In the largest-ever
loan for the country’s health
sector, the World Bank on Fri-
day fast-tracked a $1billion as-
sistance for India which will
help the country to bolster its
fight against the Covid-19 pan-
demic and shore up medical
infrastructure.
FUNDING WILL COVER
ALL STATES & UTS
The World Bank’s India
Covid-19 Emergency Response
and Health Systems Prepared-
ness Project to help India pre-
vent, detect, and respond to the
pandemic and strengthen its
public health preparedness.
This new support will cov-
er all states and union territo-
ries across India and address
GOVERNMENT OF GOA,
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER ,
WORKS DIVISION VII (NH), P.W.D.,
PANAJI - GOA.
NOTICE INVITING e-TENDER
No. F-15/2019-20/ WD VII (NH)/ PWD/ASW/32
Online e-tender are invited on behalf of Governor of Goa from the eligible bidders
for the work detailed below by the Executive Engineer, National Highway P_W.D
Panaj i Goa,
Sr. Name of Work
No,
1. Periodical Renewal 2019.20 - As , 74 ,97, 149,97
Providing hot mix carpet along
existing road from Ch. km.
5241700 to Ch. km. 526/200
on NH-17 (New NH-66) in
the State of Goa. (2nd Cal
Period of Document Download (Date & Time) :-31/0312020 to 13/04/2020 upto
17.30 Hrs
Bid Submission End date & Time:-15/04/2020 upto 17.30 Hr
Document in original submission date :- 16/04/2020 upto 11.00 hrs
Technical Bid Opening Date & Time: 16/04/2020 ( at 11.30 hrs)
Technical Bid Opening place: Superintending Engineer Circle
IX(NH), P.W.D.Aftinho Panaji Goa.
Detailed NIT Bid Documents (corrigenduniAddendum i
Government of India Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORT& H) through
website www.eoracure.gov.in
Note: Right is reserved to reject any or all tenders without assigning any reason
thereof.
RS MP DIGVIJAYA SINGH ALLEGES PESKY CALLS FROM
‘RUSSIAN NUMBERS’, SWITCHES OFF MOBILE PHONE
ness correspondents have be-
en pressed into service to en-
sure door-step delivery of be-
nefits. All accounts are to get
the funds by April 9.
While banks said that they
had made all the arrange-
ments for orderly withdrawal,
there were instances of over-
crowding. Some branches al-
so faced pressure because it
coincided with pensioners co-
ming to collect their pension.
Similarly, the transfer of
funds for purchase of three
free cooking gas cylinders for
April has begun. State-run fu-
el retailers will transfer funds
by the fourth of May and June
as advance so that beneficiari-
es can buy LPG cylinders un-
der a Rs 1.7 lakh-crore relief
package for the poor, which in-
cludes free cooking gas cylin-
der for three months. The Ujj-
wala consumers will have the
option of getting three regu-
lar refills of 14.2 kg or up to
eight cylinders of 5 kg, com-
DOORSTEP SUPPLIES
➤ Vendors will be allowed
to sell specific items, not any
cooked food
➤ They will have to keep
their carts clean and follow
social distancing norms
➤ Odisha and Bihar have
announced one-time financial
help of 3,000 to each vendor
➤ UP, Rajasthan & Tamil
Nadu have given one-time
aid of 1,000 per vendor
have issued an advisory that
street vendors carrying valid
identity card/ certificate of
vending, may be allowed to sell
essentials like groceries, fru-
its and vegetables.”
The minister told TOI that
the call has to be taken by the
local authorities and the Cent-
re has issued the advisory to
protect the interests of ven-
dors. “We have specifically sa-
id that identified vendors sho-
uld be allowed to carry on the-
ir business of selling essential
items subject to restrictions
by the district authorities.”
Currently, only six states
and UTs, including Bihar,
the needs of infected people,
at-risk populations, medical
and emergency personnel, ser-
vice providers, medical and
testing facilities, and national
and animal health agencies.
The project will immedi-
ately enable the government
to scale-up efforts to limit hu-
man-to-human transmission,
including reducing local
transmission of cases and
containing the epidemic from
progressing further.
In parallel, interventions
to strengthen the health syst-
em will be rolled out to impro-
ve the country’s capacity to re-
spond to Covid-19 epidemic
and be better prepared to resp-
ond to emerging disease outbr-
eaks, including transmission
between humans and anima-
ls, the World Bank said.
Full report on www.toi.in
Date: 31/03/2020
Estimated cost (Inclusive of Bid Security
GST and all other taxes )
As, 1,50
Lakhs
f any) are available at
Sd/-
Executive Engineer
WDVII (NH), P.W,D,, Panaji - Goa
TIMES NATION THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
PM MODI, ISRAELI COUNTERPART BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
DISCUSS WAYS TO COMBAT CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
ANTIVIRUS
COVID-19 HAS BECOME AN INFODEMIC OF FAKE NEWS ON
SOCIAL MEDIA. TOI HELPS YOU ZAP THE TRENDING LIES
Govt grants `17,000cr How not to
inoculate yourself
Blood group A
not at higher risk
to states to tackle crisis A vaccine against Covid-19 is still
many months away, and in the
interim some people are counting
I f you’re blood group A,
you have probably heard
that you are more likely to
TIMES NEWS NETWORK first instalment of SDRMF for on vitamin C, bananas and even catch the virus. Don’t lose
the year 2020-21, amounting to their daily tipple to keep the virus sleep over it. The claim
New Delhi: The Centre on Fri- Rs 11,092 crore, with a view to at bay, but Berlin district mayor was based on a
day released Rs 17,287 crore to augment funds available with Stephan von Dassel went too far small sample of
different states to augment the state governments,” the ho- when he tried to ‘immunise’ patients in Wuhan
their financial resources to me ministry said in a release. himself by contracting the disease and Shenzhen in
combat the coronavirus crisis. With a view to make availa- from his sick partner. The 53-year- China. Nor has it been
MASK ON FACE, PRAYER ON LIPS: In Kolkata on Friday While the home ministry ble additional funds to the old soon regretted his decision. He reviewed by other
approved advance release of states for taking preventive had thought he would be “a bit scientists. Chinese
monly known as ‘Chhotua’. sehold goes without food du- Rs 11,092 crore to all states un- and mitigation measures for sick for three days and then I’ll be scientists who analysed
Ujjwala has established it- ring the lockdown or thereaf- der the State Disaster Risk containment of Covid-19, the immune,” but he was ill for much data from another group of
self as a major vehicle of soci- ter till livelihoods are Management Fund (SDRMF), Centre on March 14 had made a longer and the experience “was a patients in Shenzhen did
al change and will again emer- restored. In case a Ujjwala in line with the assurance giv- special dispensation for utili-
lot worse than I imagined.” Don’t not find blood group A to
ge as a key player in India’s consumer does not take all the en by PM Narendra Modi to sation of State Disaster Re-
trifle with corona. be more corona-prone.
fight against coronavirus, oil three cylinders by June, she chief ministers on Thursday, sponse Fund (SDRF).
minister Dharmendra Prad- can use the money to buy a re- the finance ministry said Rs “Central government is
han told the ground leaders fill anytime till March 2021. 6,195 crore was transferred on sensitive to the need for provid- DID YOU KNOW?
implementing the scheme as Pradhan told these officers account of “revenue deficit ing food and shelter to home- 6ft or 27ft: How close is too close?
he started a series of interacti- of IndianOil, HPCL and BPCL grants”, which were part of the less people including migrant
ve sessions through video-
conference with over 700 ‘dis-
to ensure delivery of the ‘free’
LPG cylinders to Ujjwala con-
15th Finance Commission rec-
ommendations for 14 states, in-
labourers, who are stranded
due to lockdown measures. Ac- U ntil last week, the accepted social-distancing advice was to
stay at least 6 feet away from others. Then, MIT associate
professor Lydia Bourouiba, who has studied cough
trict nodal officers (DNOs)’ sumers without affecting the cluding Andhra Pradesh, Ker- cordingly on March 28, the cen-
The free cylinder, together overall supply rate. The three ala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and tral government allowed state and sneeze trajectories for years, said droplets
with more foodgrains provi- government fuel retailers are West Bengal. governments to use SDRF for from your mouth and nose can shoot up to 27 feet.
ded under the package, is ex- delivering 60 lakh cylinders “The central government this purpose also,” the MHA More than the length of most drawing rooms. But
pected to ensure no poor hou- daily, or 15% more than usual. released in advance its share of said on Friday. other experts say, if cough droplets really flew
that far, many more people would be sick by now.
What should you do? Stay at home, and when you need to go out,
8,000 samples
tested on Thu,
A day in the life of keep as far away from others as you can. Farther is safer.
Centre again urges states to
highest in a day a Corona warrior help farmers harvest crops
Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com TIMES NEWS NETWORK Vishwa.Mohan@timesgroup.com The home ministry on
Friday issued addendum,
New Delhi: The government on Bhopal: The real onslaught of New Delhi: Amid hardship expanding the list of exemp-
Friday stuck to its stand that tes- the virus has not even begun. to farmers during lock- tions by inclduing operati-
ting for Covid-19 will be criteria But the drill to keep himself, down, the Union home min- ons of shops of agricultural
based even as it said 8,000 sam- his co-workers and family safe istry on Friday reminded machinery, their spare parts
ples were tested on Thursday, is still the same. Meet pulmo- the states of its last week’s (supply chain) and repair.
most in a day so far. The Centre nologist Dr Parag Sharma, order allowing exemptions Additionally, the truck
held that its strategy is need ba- who has separate entry and ex- to farmers for carrying out repair shops on highways
sed and testing can’t be a “confi- it points to his own house. Has harvest operations and and tea industry, including
dence building” measure. not come in close contact with movement of their produce plantations with maximum
The government is, however, his parents and has not hugged to agri markets. These ex- 50 workers, are also being
taking steps to ramp up Covid-19 his daughter for three weeks! Away from home and working at emptions are crucial to exempted during the lock-
Tirupur collector K Vijaikathikeyan
testing in hotspots and high-risk This is a life that many of the the frontline of the war against maintain supply chain in down period .
has launched 24 mobile vegetable
zones. “Testing cannot be a con- Covid-19 warriors like Dr Shar- virus, police personnel, doctors, coming days. Full report on www.toi.in
vending vans in the city on Friday
fidence building measure alone ma have adopted to stay safe. nurses, and other medical staff
Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajast- and that too when testing kits In the wake of the pandem- applaud each other as a mark of
han and Tamil Nadu, have gi- gratitude in Bhopal on Friday
MAHARASHTRA STATE
are going to be limited,” health ic, an average day is filled with
ven one-time financial help to ministry joint secretary Lav meetings, patients and train- Govt web portal
street vendors. Odisha and Bi- Agarwal said on Friday. Cur- ing of staff, for a time when the solider on the frontline, his for farmers gets PHARMACY COUNCIL
4th Flee, IS,., ON-it . ISIS Resp ihl Gepeel,
har have announced one-time rently there are 182 labs across number of Covid-19 patients family is proud and yet the LOS Rsed , MJmd WM, M.eMi - 400000
financial assistance of Rs the country providing diagnosis will test Hamidia hospital’s emotion of the war with Cov- new features Notice regarding postponement of Election
3,000 to each vendor while UP, for Covid-19. mettle, said Dr Sharma. He al- id-19 that is to come takes a toll.
to Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council
Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan ha-
ve announced one-time assi-
stance of Rs 1,000 per vendor.
He added the government is
testing samples in hotspot zones
and in the areas where there are
so leads the Covid-19 test force
for Bhopal that has been set up
at Gandhi Medical College .
“I use separate utensils and
eat in my room. Upon entry to
the house, I first take a shower
U nion agriculture minis-
try has launched new
features at National Agric-
All the stakeholders are hereby informed
that the Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council
Electi on program as per Rule 7 of the
Sources said as per the ad- more cases. Besides, hospitali- Almost all the members in and only then interact with my ulture Market (e-NAM) Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council Rules
1969, notified in the official gazelle dated 2nd
visory, the vendors cannot sell sed cases of Severe Acute Respi- his household have sworn to family,” explained the doctor, web platform to reduce fa- March 2020 and subsequently published in
any cooked food and they will ratory Illness and influenza-like the Hippocratic Oath. who reaches the hospital at 8.30 rmers’ need to physically newspapers is postponed due to outbreak of
be allowed to sell only specific illness are also being picked up While Dr Sharma’s par- am and there is no fixed time come to wholesale ‘mand- Corona vim pandemic , till further date to be
notified duly lt may also be noted that due to the
items during lockdown besi- for testing. ents are renowned practitio- for return. Once the number of is’ for selling their produce prevailing lockdown/ curfew situation in the
des ensuring that their carts Dr Manoj Muhekar of ICMR ners, his wife is a dermatolo- cases increase, each medical at a time when there is state this notice regarding postponement of the
are clean and they maintain said guidelines on a rapid diag- gist. That said, the family is staff will work for seven days critical need to decongest election program sholl be notified in gazelle in
due courseof time.
personal hygiene and follow nostic test for coronavirusis lik- more than aware of the risks non-stop on a rotation basis. agri markets to effectively Shc-
social distancing norms. ely to be released on Saturday. and challenges he faces. Like a Full report on www.toi.in fight Covid-19. TNN 04/ 04/ 2020 M. R. Patil.
Mumbai Returning Officer
Jurists’ council moves UN rights
body, seeks damages from China NOTICE
w"Arilld W .1
4 '
Chennai: The London-head-
quartered International Coun-
cil of Jurists has moved the
unleashing Covid-19.
The council wants the
UNHRC to inquire and direct
"All the tenders issued by CIL and its Subsidiaries for
procurement of Goods, Works and Services are available
on websites of Coal India Ltd. www.coalindia .in/respective
Subsidiary Company (CCL, www.centralcoalfields.in), CIL
Central Railway will run following parcel trains between Kalyan -
Sankrail I Changsari for sending essential commodities like
medical,food , etc., All these trains will run with 20 VPU coaches
United Nations Human Rights China to “adequately compen- e-procurement portal https:// coalindiatenders .nic.in and and one Guard cum Luggage Van. Frequency may be increased
Council, seeking an unspecifi- sate the international commu- Central Public Procurement Portal https :// eprocure .gov.in if there is increase in demand. The details are as under:
ed amount as reparations from nity and member states, parti- in addition , procurement is also done through GeM port al
China for having caused “serio- cularly India, for surreptitious- https ://gem.gov.in"
us physical, psychological, eco- ly developing a biological wea-
nomic and social harm” to pon capable of mass KALYAN SANKRAIL
member nations by allegedly destruction”. TNN 00101 at 20.30 hrs on at 12.00 hrs
9.4.2020 on Third day
F-2'W
0I MODERN COACH FACTORY , RAEBARELI SANKRAIL KALYAN
LLr j
CHHA7TISGARH TOURISM BOA RD 00102 at 22.00 hrs on at 18.00 hrs
INVITATION FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
13.4.2020 on Third day
Modern Coach Factory (MCFj. Raebareli is a Production Unit under Ministry of
Chhatfisgarh 492006 Railways having latest state of art manufacturing facilities for producing world Halts : Igatpuri , Nashik Road , Manmad , Jalgaon, Bhusaval ,
71 OT114224600 ,4224611, F: 077140664M class Railway coaches
In view of Covid- 19 Pandemic MCF is exploring the possibility to collaborate
Badnera , Nagpur , Durg, Bilaspur , Jharsuguda , Rourkela ,
with established Ventilator manufacturers byoffer ing its component manufacturing Tatanagar.
NOTICE INVITING TENDER and a s s em b l y c a p a c i t y to ra m p up m a n u f a c t ur in g of v e n t i l a t o r s in the c o u n t r y
NIT No. 01/ADVENTURE/CTB/2020, Raipur, Dated:03.04.2020 w i t h an objective to i n c r e a s e the a v a i l a b i l i t y of v e n t i l at o r s to d e a l w i t h c r i s i s
The list of resources (Machinery and Plant , Infrastructure) available w ith MCF
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATION FOR SELECTION OF AN AGENCY FOR .
is a v a i l a b l e at www mcf.indianrailways gov.in .
I n t e r e s t e d M a n u f a c t u r e r s of V e n t i l a t o r s are r e q u e s t e d to v s i t KALYAN CHANGSARI
PROCUREMENT & SUPPLY OF TRIPLE DECK CRUISE BOAT WITH
www.mcf . indianrailways .gov. in , download ANNEXURE -MCF-EOI and submit 00103 at 20.30 his on at 12.00 hrs
ACCOMMODATION , AC RESTAURANT AND TOURIST WEATHER DECK ALONG duly filled in a o n g with attachments. if any, by e m a l to coemcfrblla'a mail .com
WITH MS PONTOON AT DIFFERENT WATERBODIES IN CHHATTISGARH 7.4.2020 on 10.04.2020
r r r
Pre-Bid Queries Submission --12,00 hrs on 04/05/2020 In case of any queries , please contact Mr. A.K . Singh , Chief Plant Engineer CHANGSARI KALYAN
Last Date & Time for bid submission --15.00 hrs on 22/05/2020. (Mechanical ), MCF. Contact no. 7318060407 00104 at 23.30 hrs on at 20.00 hrs
Date and time of Opening : - 22/05/2020 upto 15.30 hrs Serving Customers With a Smile 10.4.2020 on 13.04.2020
The details of applications and terms and conditions are available on the Halts: Igatpuri , Nashik Road , Manmad , Jalgaon, Bhusaval ,
website www.tourism .ca.aov,in Any amendment/modification in the Badnera , Nagpur , Durg, Bilaspur , Jharsuguda , Rourkela ,
tender document , will only be uploaded on the website and shall not be Tatanagar, Sankrail , Battanagar , Dankuni , Malda Town , New
published in any newspaper, Bongaigaon.
Managing Director
GURU HARGOBIND THERMAL PLANT, LEHRA MOHABBAT
Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, Raipur
DISTT. BATHINDA (PUNJAB) - 151 111 Parcel train will leave Kalyan at 09.00 hrs and arrive Hazrat
11 11, e-tendering website- htt p ://eproc.punjab .gov.in
NOTICE INVITING TENDER
Nizamuddin at 15 .40 hrs next day. In return it will leave Hazrat
Nizamuddin at 00.30 hrs and arrive Kalyan at 07.10 hrs next
(Through E-tendering) day.
Tender Enquiry No, -7/MMIVCHP/EMC-421/GHTP/2020Dt , 03/04/2020
Halts: lgatpuri , Nashik Road , Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval.
E-tenders are invited from reputed and registered firms / contractors for the
following work:- More halts can be provided if parties come forward with
CORRIGENDUM NO. 2 demands.
E-Tender No. RRBCHENNAI - CEN01-2019-ECA Short Description Of Work
In case full parcel train Is loaded by a party at originating
Name of work : Engaging Exam Conducting (ECA) for conducting CHP-GHTP STAGE-I (2x210MW) & STAGE41 (2X250 MW) Breakdown,
point the train can reach parcels quickly to destination. If
Shutdown , Preventive & Routine Maintenance of electrical system as per
multiple stages of Computer Based Test, Computer Based Aptitude/ full parcel train load is offered by a party for any destination ,
Tender Specifications under Coal Handling Plant / Electrical Maintenance
Typing Skill Test, Document Verification and all other related services in Cell on lump sum basis at GHTP. Central Railway will work probatively to provide the service.
connection with Centralized Employment Notice (CEN) No.01/2019 for
EMD: Minimum Rs. 2,16,0001,
These serv ices are valid upto journey commencing on
Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) all over India.
Last Date & Time for bid submission 04/05/2020 upto 11:00 hrs.
14/04/2020.
In view of preventive measures to be taken to contain the
spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the 21 days Date & Time of opening of Fee stage bid 05/05/2020 upto 12:00 hrs.
lockdown period announced by Government of India until Detailed NIT and tender specification can be downloaded from PSPCL web-
site httn //eoroc-ouniab.aov.in from dated 04/04/2020 onwards. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Mumbai - 8828119950
14.04 .2020, the date of Pre-Bid Conference , Closing and Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Bhusaval - 7219611950
Opening dates of bids/offers which were indicated vide Note:
1. The prospective bidders can obtain clarification regarding tender speci- Senior Divisional Commerical Manager, Nagpur 72196 12950
Corrigendum I are hereby revised further and the fresh dates
fications from this office. For registration of digital signatures and upload- Deputy Chief Commercial Manager , Frei ght Services - 8828110963
will be intimated on (REPS website in due course. No further ing of tender , information may be sought from httoJ/e ro iab.gov.in
newspaper advertisement will be released in this regard. 2. It is informed that in case the tender process is not completed due to any
Assistant Commercial Manager, Freight Services - 8828110983
You may logon to www .ireps .gov.in for any further revision in reason no corrigendum will be published in newspapers. Detail regard- Chief Commercial Inspector , Freight Services - 7972279217
dates/updates. Depending on the prevalent situation , the ing corrigendum may be seen on PSPCL official website i.e.
Pre-Bid Conference may be held through video conferencing, hltps:// pspcLin, CENTRAL RAILWAY
Dy. Chief Engineer, www.cr.indianrailways.gov.in
if required.
Mechanical Mtc. Circle-11, O&M,
All otherterms and conditions of this E-Tenderwill remain the same. GHTP2212020 GHTP , PSPCL, Lehra Mohabbat ,
[10 centralrailway india 1 1 11Central Railway ron °
04.04.2020 Chairman/RRB/Chennai DPR/Pb.: 708-C Distt. Bathinda (Pb.)-151111. All India Passenger H*Ipline 138 1 Security Helpline 182
 6 TIMES NATION | Lockdown-Day 10
Air India not
taking new
bookings for
flights in April
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Air India has stop-
ped taking bookings for both do-
mestic and international flights
in April and is accepting selling
tickets for flights May1onwards.
Senior airline officials say they
are awaiting a government deci-
sion on whether the lockdown
ends on 11.59 pm of April 14, or is
extended, to decide on resuming
sale for April flights. AI stopped
taking bookings for this month
since Thursday.
Wuhan & IC 814 heroes
among 61 pilots ‘rested’
T wo pilots who have been in the
news are among 61senior
crew members whose
post-retirement contracts have
been “temporarily suspended” by
Air India earlier this week as part
of cost-saving measures to
minimise the impact of the
coronavirus pandemic that
brutally hit the country’s aviation
sector, reports Saurabh Sinha.
The “temporarily suspended”
pilots include captain Devi Sharan
and captain S H Reza. Sharan had
operated the Indian Airlines’ flight
IC 814 in December 1999 that was
hijacked from Kathmandu. Reza
operated the first of the two
special jumbo jets sent to Wuhan
on January 31and February 1to fly
out stranded Indians from the
coronavirus hotspot in China.
Other Indian carriers like In-
diGo and SpiceJet are selling
tickets for domestic flights on
and after April 15 while interna-
tional flights on offer are from
May 1. International travel will
begin in phases after the lock-
down is lifted, depending on
what the situation in other
countries is.
An AI official said: “If we ac-
cept bookings for flights and
there are very poor passenger
loads for some flights (of April),
then it may not be commercially
viable to operate those flights.”
OTHER TOP STORIES
LeT module busted
in J&K, 7 arrested
S ecurity forces on Friday busted
aLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
module in Handwara town in
south Kashmir’s Kupwara district
and arrested four terrorists and
three overground workers of the
proscribed outfit. During
searches, cops seized a sizeable
amount of arms and ammunition,
besides several LeT letter pads
from them. On Friday, police
carried out raids in Kupwara and
Baramulla districts and arrested
the OGWs. Police learnt that the
LeT affiliates were motivating the
youth of the area to join militancy.
6 jawans hurt in Pak
shelling along LoC
S ix security force personnel
were injured in firing and
shelling by Pakistani troops along
the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri
and Poonch districts of Jammu
and Kashmir on Friday, officials
said. The Pakistani troops fired
mortar shells in Sunderbani
sector early Friday morning, they
added. The injured have been
hospitalised, they said. In
evening, Pakistani troops initiated
ceasefire violation along the LoC
in Poonch district, sources said.
Two men mauled to
death by tiger in UP
T wo men were mauled to death
by a tiger in the vicinity of
Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, an official
said on Friday. The incident
happened in Richhaula Chowki of
Gajraula area in the district on
Thursday night when Ninder
Singh (50) and his help Dorilal (28)
were sleeping on their agricultural
field, Pilibhit Tiger Reserve Deputy
Director Naveen Khandelwal said.
The tiger also dragged them for
over 500 metres, he said.
Tamil Nadu reports 102 PM stresses on collective will to fight pandemic
fresh cases, Delhi has 93 I
 From P 1
W
e are dealing with in-
fectious disease
management and
one slip or failure to comply
with the rules takes us back
and all our efforts are was-
ted,” he added.
The positive cases linked
to Jamaat were reported from
Delhi, Telangana, Karnata-
ka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand,
UP, Andaman and Nicobar,
Assam, Himachal Pradesh,
Haryana, Jammu and Kash-
mir and Jharkhand.
The highest number of ca-
Cops attacked for objecting to Lack of ‘proper’
mosque crowds in UP towns gear puts frontline
Anuja Jaiswal &
Faiz Siddiqui TNN workers at risk
Agra/Kanpur: A police
team patrolling in a minority-
dominated area of Aligarh
was allegedly pelted with
stones when it objected to a
group of 25 people offering
prayer in a mosque on Thurs-
day night, even as the country
was observing a lockdown.
The cleric of the mosque
and two other persons were
later arrested and sent to jail,
police said.
According to police, a
group of 25 people was found
offering ‘namaz’ at Takia
mosque in Aligarh’s Banna
Devi area by a patrolling
team. When the policemen
advised them to disperse and
offer the prayers at their
homes to maintain social dis-
tance, stones were hurled at
them, an officer said.
30% of districts Covid-hit as
virus moves to hinterland
Chethan.Kumar
@timesgroup.com
M
anaging Covid-19 will
be more challenging
for authorities as
SARS-CoV-2, which is the vi-
rus causing it, has spread to
30% of the country’s dis-
tricts, reaching the hinter-
land in many states.
Union ministry of health
data shows that the govern-
ment has been able to ascer-
tain cases in 211 of 720 dis-
tricts in the country, with
some big states reporting
more than 60% of districts as
infected while many have
more than 30%. This number
is likely to increase as the
ministry has only accounted
for district-reporting of 1,965
positive cases, while the total
number in India is over 2,000.
Experts say the contin-
uing spread in the hinterland
could hamper efforts to curb
the spread of the coronavi-
rus as they may face shortag-
es of testing kits and lack of
medical facilities, among
other challenges.
“The endeavour is to con-
tain the spread in districts
that have already reported.
The lockdown helped to an
extent, although initial
movement of people hurt
us,” a senior official in the
Karnataka government said.
As per district-wise pro-
jections by Prof Santosh An-
MP slaps NSA on 4
for assaulting docs
 From P 1
S
tates have been asked to
take strict action against
such people and ensure
safety of healthcare work-
ers,” Punya Salila Srivastava,
joint secretary in MHA, said.
In MP, four offenders identi-
fied in the stoning of doctors
in Indore were charged under
NSA after CM Shivraj Singh
Chouhan warned that the ad-
ministration would not be
found wanting. Late on Fri-
day, six more suspects were
arrested, taking the number
of those held to 13.
The health ministry is
particularly concerned about
the safety of healthcare work-
ers following reports from
states including UP, Maha-
rashtra, MP, Karnataka, Bi-
har and West Bengal where
instances of misconduct and
violence against healthcare
workers have emerged.
In Indore, Munger (Bihar)
and Bengaluru, people at-
tacked healthcare workers
O n the “we-are-in-this-togeth-
ses on Friday was reported
from Tamil Nadu – 102. As ma-
ny as 100 of these are linked to
the Nizamuddin congrega-
tion. Of the total 80 cases re-
ported by Telangana (five of
them were reported late
Thursday night), 78 were lin-
ked to TJ while 42 of UP’s 48
cases were linked to the Niza-
muddin meet.
Delhi reported 93 cases,
though 52 of these included
Jamaat delegates admitted at
Jhajjar which TOI had repor-
ted a day earlier.
Telangana reported 80 ca-
ses in the last 24 hours – its
highest single day tally since
Nizamuddin meet attendees
being taken to a quarantine
facility in Ahmedabad on Friday
Circle officer Pankaj Sri-
vastava told TOI, “Two police-
men were injured.”
In Kannauj, too, a group of
namazis, who had gathered at
a house in Qaziyan locality to
offer Friday prayers defying
lockdown norms, attacked
and injured police and local
intelligence unit personnel
CORONA TENTACLES
TOTAL DISTRICTS
DISTS WITH COVID
Tamil Nadu
Maha*
Karnataka
J&K 9
14
WB
Telangana
Rajasthan
9
12
11
Punjab 7 22
Delhi 11 11
Kerala 14 14
*Some more districts may get added; Source: Ministry of health & family welfare
sumali of the Jawaharlal
Nehru Centre for Advanced
Scientific Research and
Aloke Kumar of IISc, India
may require more than 16,000
respiratory pumps and near-
ly 5,000 ventilators to treat pa-
tients by April-end.
The health ministry says
there are more than 6,000
ventilators and over 2,000
ICU beds will be ready across
more than 100 dedicated Co-
vid-19 treatment facilities,
but most are in district head-
quarters or big cities.
Among the 17 states and
one Union Territory that
have more than 20 districts, 11
have more than 20% of dis-
when the latter visited locali-
ties to collect samples from
people suspected to have con-
tracted coronavirus. In West
Bengal, there were clashes
between police and locals at a
few places when the latter
prevented health workers
from collecting samples for
Covid-19.
Doctors from various hos-
pitals in Delhi raised con-
cerns about Tablighi mem-
bers impeding their work and
threatening to infect them.
“We are scared of performing
our duties,” a senior resident
doctor from Delhi’s LNJP
Hospital said.
In Indore, four of the sev-
en suspects arrested on
Thursday for attacking doc-
tors during screening have
been booked under NSA.
CM Chouhan said in a vid-
eo statement, “ Attacking
doctors and paramedical
staff will not be tolerated at
any cost. Strict action will be
taken under NSA.”
Full report on www.toi.in
the outbreak of the disease.
With two deaths reported on
Friday, the toll in the state has
gone up to 11. However, with 25
deaths and 490 confirmed ca-
ses, Maharashtra continues
to top the chart.
The southern states and
Delhi are the worst affected
by the Jamaat meet. While 116
of the total 229 cases in Te-
langana are linked to the
event, in the neighbouring
Telugu state of Andhra Pra-
desh, 140 of the total 161 cases
are linked to the congrega-
tion. In Tamil Nadu, of the to-
tal 411 cases, 364 are linked to
the Tablighi meet.
MHA starts blacklisting proceedings
against 360 foreign Tablighi members
T he home ministry has initiated blacklisting proceedings against
360 more foreign Tablighi Jamaat members who have already
left India after allegedly carrying out “missionary” activities while
here on ‘tourist’ visas, reports Bharti Jain. The action — which will
debar them from entry into India for the next two years — comes a
day after home minister Amit Shah announced the government’s
decision to blacklist and cancel tourist visas of 960 foreign Tablighi
Jamaat workers found involved in proselytising activities here in
violation of their visa conditions. The 960 people — who belong to
more than 41countries — will also face legal action by the police of
respective states where they are present, under the Foreigners Act
and the Disaster Management Act.
when they told the gathering
to vacate the premises.
Similarly, in Palia town of
Lakhimpur district, some de-
votees misbehaved with cops
when they were questioned
about offering Friday prayers
in groups at a mosque.
On Wednesday, a sub-in-
spector and a police constable
% OF
COVID DISTS
23 37 62
19 36 52
20
30 47
45
23
33
39
36
33
33
32
ALL INDIA*
100
211 (29.3%)
720 100
tricts affected. Tamil Nadu
has reported cases from 62%
of 37 districts, Maharashtra
from 52% of 36 districts and
Karnataka from 47% of
30 districts.
Toby Simon of thinktank
Synergia Foundation said:
“Local authorities have to re-
view preparedness, identify
gaps and strengthen core ca-
pacities in surveillance and
isolation, while prioritising
testing and supporting the
healthcare system. Risk
communication is critical as
a large part of the population
may be illiterate and unable
to comprehend the dangers
posed by this virus.”
Govt agrees to submit status report on
migrant workers to SC, but slams PILs
Dhananjay.Mahapatra
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The Centre on
Friday agreed to submit a sta-
tus report on migrant workers
to the Supreme Court by April
7 but slammed three rights ac-
tivists for filing “frivolous
PILs for gaining cheap publi-
city to serve their ulterior mo-
tive” without making any
contribution to the efforts by
governments, NGOs and pub-
lic spirited citizens to contain
the spread of Covid-19.
Activists Harsh Mandher,
Anjali Bharadwaj and Swami
Agnivesh, through counsel
Prashant Bhushan and Colin
Gonsalves, sought immediate
payment of minimum wages
to all migrant workers. They
also questioned the Arvind
Kejriwal government’s claim
of feeding six lakh poor, desti-
tute and migrant workers in
Delhi, citing media reports to
allege that several were going
 From P 1
er” video message on the
ninth day of the lockdown,
the PM focused on the impor-
tance of the power of the collec-
tive as well as the need to dem-
onstrate it for the battle against
the pandemic. Referring to the
massive response to his call for
solidarity for doctors, para-
medics and others on the fron-
tline, he said, “On March 22, the
country realised that we are
united in this fight. It is impor-
tant that in this long fight, we
continue to feel and experience
the power of the collective in its
colossal splendour. It renews
the spirit, sketches out the ob-
jective and lights up the path to
achieve it.”
“And that is why, this Sun-
Full story on www.toi.in
were injured after being at-
tacked by a group of villagers
in Muzaffarnagar.
Against the backdrop of
such attacks, UP CM Yogi Ad-
ityanath has now directed po-
lice to take strict action under
the National Security Act,
against those who target po-
licemen and other officials.
3 Odisha cities
shut after spurt
in cases, 1 with
Tablighi link
Ashok.Pradhan
@timesgroup.com
Bhubaneswar: Odisha on Fri-
day shut three cities – Bhubanes-
war, Cuttack and Bhadrak – for
48 hours starting 8pm after one
among four new Covid-19 cases
reported during the day was lin-
ked to the Tablighi Jamaat cong-
regation in Delhi that has emer-
ged as the source of many new
infections across several states
in the country.
Barring hospitals and se-
lect medicine stores, everyt-
hing in these three cities will
remain shut till 8pm on Sun-
day. The government’s order
mentions that even shops sel-
ling essentials, which had be-
en exempted from the natio-
nal 21-day lockdown, can’t
open during this period.
“The precautionary measu-
re has been taken to prevent
community spread of the virus
because these places have repor-
ted all the (nine) cases in Odis-
ha,” chief secretary Asit Tripat-
hy said.
Appealing to the people to co-
operate, CM Naveen Patnaik sa-
id, “These 48 hours are crucial.
Our officials will trace the con-
tacts of those who have tested
positive, a key step in containing
the spread of Covid-19. We have
to make some sacrifices for the
welfare of our families and fri-
ends, and bear the hardship cau-
sed by the shutdown.”
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta
said courts were being used by
petitioners for cheap publicity
hungry in the national capital
and wondered what could be
the condition of migrant wor-
kers put up in shelter homes in
various states.
Solicitor general Tushar
Mehta agreed to file a status
report by April 7, but said such
“frivolous” PILs distracted
top officials in states from the-
ir work of supervising efforts
to contain spread of Covid-19
as they needed to take out time
to sit with lawyers to prepare
responses to such PILs.
He said constitutional co-
Ram
day, on April 5, we must all to-
gether challenge the darkness
spread by the corona crisis, in-
troducing it to the power of
light. On this April 5, we must
awaken the superpower of 130
crore Indians. We must take the
super resolve of 130 crore Indi-
ans to greater heights,” he said.
Like in his previous ad-
dresses on the coronavirus sit-
uation, the PM underlined the
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
M
any doctors, nurses
and other medical
staff who are at the
forefront of the country’s
fight against the Covid-19
pandemic have reportedly
contracted the virus.
Health workers say lack
of “proper” protective gear
has exposed them to the per-
ils of their profession and
made them susceptible to
the viral attack.
A semi-retired 85-year-
old urologist and his 53-year-
old cardiac surgeon son
were among the first to test
positive in Mumbai. The oc-
togenarian died . Across the
city, five more doctors have
now tested positive for coro-
navirus. Nurses, however,
seem to be affected more,
with 11 reporting positive so
far. The nurses associations
have been complaining that
unavailability of personal
protective equipment (PPE)
was responsible for it. An of-
ficial at a private hospital
said not every staffer can be
given a PPE since it was not
recommended by WHO. “No
hospital has that kind of
stocks. PPEs are in short
Noida residents panic
as realtors offer space
for quarantine units
Sharmila.Bhowmick
@timesgroup.com
Noida: A proposal by real-
tors’ body Naredco to offer
space in two housing pro-
jects in Noida for Covid-19
quarantine wards has met
with incredulity from resi-
dents’ associations, which
said the move caused alarm
among people living there.
The Noida administra-
tion said it has been recei-
ving offers of help from seve-
ral quarters, but there were
strict public health proto-
cols around setting up qua-
rantine facilities and not all
venues were conducive for
such a setup. Health depart-
ment officials ruled out set-
ting up quarantine centres
at any place where people li-
ve close by.
The Naredco proposal sa-
id two developers, Super-
tech and Antriksh, had offe-
Stay on Raj HC order
not to list bail pleas
during lockdown
T he Supreme Court on Friday
stayed Rajasthan high court
order for not listing of cases
pertaining to bail and
suspension of sentence during
the lockdown period. A single
judge bench of the HC had on
March 31said that bail pleas are
not extremely urgent matters
which needed to be heard
during lockdown and directed
its registry not to list those
cases during this period. TNN
urts were being misused by
these petitioners to gain che-
ap publicity. “In the midst of a
war-like exercise, it will be un-
wise to waste government of-
ficials’ precious time in prepa-
ring replies to these PILs. It co-
uld be better utilised in moni-
toring ground level activities.
Address real issues, says oppn after PM’s plea
pposition parties ranging from Congress, Trinamool Congress,
Left, NCP and Shiv Sena expressed deep disappointment with
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a show of
solidarity on Sunday saying he did not address “real
issues” of livelihood that citizens are concerned
about and measures to quell worries regarding the
spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Calling him a “sho-
wman”, some leaders referred to Modi’s request to
light lamps on Sunday as a gimmick. Senior Congr-
ess MPs Shashi Tharoor and P Chidambaram and the party’s leader
in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury hit out at the PM for failing to
“ease people’s pain” at this juncture when coronavirus related fears
and financial discomfort were growing across classes. Tharoor
tweeted, “Listened to the Pradhan Showman. Nothing about how to
ease people’s pain, their burdens, their financial anxieties... Just a
feel-good moment curated by India’s Photo-Op Prime Minister.” TNN
need for social distancing and
being at home, saying it was the
only “Ram baan (Ram’s ar-
row)” to defeat the spread of
the disease. He stressed that
IN DEEP CRISIS
supply and overpriced,”
he said.
In Rajasthan’s Bhilwara,
18 doctors and nurses tested
positive. A doctor and two
nurses in Haryana have
been found Covid-positive.
On March 31, a nursing offi-
cer at PGI, Chandigarh, who
was on duty in the same
emergency ward in which a
Covid-19 patient was being
treated and died later, tested
positive.“Compared to pre-
vious weeks, the supply of
PPEs have been better. We
are able to procure 20-30
PPEs per hospital (private)
per day in Bengaluru, if
need be. However, it is still a
matter of concern,” said R
Ravindra, president of the
Private Hospitals and Nurs-
ing Homes Association.
Full report on www.toi.in
red 400-bed and 100-bed faci-
lities, respectively, as part of
a corporate social responsi-
bility (CSR) initiative — Su-
pertech at UpCountry on the
Yamuna Expressway and
Antriksh at its Golf View
projects in Noida’s Sector 78.
Residents were furious.
“The builders should have
taken permission of resi-
dents before making the of-
fer. What sort of quarantine
exercise is it when you are
actually bringing infected
people close to apartments
that are already occupied?”
asked Shweta Bharti, gene-
ral secretary of the Noida
Extension Flat Owners Wel-
fare Association (Nefowa)
and resident of Golf View I.
Golf View is part of the
densely populated 7x sec-
tors. “We will raise our voice
through social media and
flag it to the chief minister,”
Bharti said.
SC asks Centre
to end K’taka,
Kerala deadlock
Dhananjay.Mahapatra
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Friday asked the
Union health secretary to
hold consultations with her
counterparts in Karnataka
and Kerala to find a solution
to the deadlock arising from
Karnataka’s decision to seal
its borders with Kerala and
the latter’s HC asking the
Centre to intervene and open
the border to help patients
from Kasargod district to re-
ach hospitals in Mangaluru.
However, it told the coun-
sel for Kerala not to precipi-
tate the matter till April 7,
when the case will be taken
up for further hearing.
Full report on www.toi.in
halting the pandemic was ev-
eryone’s fight and would need
continued adherence to the
lockdown norms. “You don’t
have to come out on the roads
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
VIRAL WATCH
Quest for haircut
A
lands 5 in Guj lockup
barber took a snip at revenge
as he landed five people in
police net by standing them up for
haircuts after he agreed to style
their hair, called them outside his
locked shop only to alert cops
about illegal gathering violating
the lockdown norms. The five
from Gandhinagar’s Santej were
booked by police on Thursday for
gathering outside the barber’s
shop . The cops had found the five
waiting for a haircut and booked
them. Cops said one of the five
had a scuffle with the barber in
past. Holding a grudge, the barber
took his revenge when the time
was ripe .
Twins named ‘Corona’
& ‘Covid’ in C’garh
A Raipur-based couple names
their newborn twins, a girl
and a boy, Corona and Covid.
Born during lockdown, Raipur
twins named ‘Corona’ and
‘Covid’. For the couple the words
symbolise triumph over
hardships as the twins were born
during the ongoing nationwide
lockdown on the intervening
night of March 26-27. “When the
hospital staff also started calling
the babies as Corona and Covid,
we finally decided to name them
after the pandemic,” their
mother, Preeti Varma (27) said.
The couple, however, said they
might change the names later.
Govt raps TikTok over
misleading posts
T he government has
reprimanded popular
Chinese video app TikTok, asking
it to take action against
misleading and false content
posted by people from a
community making light of the
advisory regarding
social-distancing to check the
spread of coronavirus, reports
Pankaj Doval. Telecom secretary
Anshu Prakash is understood to
have given a dressing down to
the top officials from TikTok
India and conveyed the
government’s displeasure over
the objectionable content,
sources said.
MP IAS officer in touch
with 126 tests positive
A n IAS officer with the MP
health department tested
positive for Covid-19 on Friday. He
was on duty till Wednesday and
attended all the meetings of the
department and was in direct
contact with 126 people. By Friday
evening, samples of around 120
health department staff and
officers had been taken for
Covid-19 test, say sources. The
reports are expected by Saturday.
The officer had attended several
meetings at the highest level.
Why pay `4k per Covid
test, asks T’gana HC
S topping short of calling the
bluff of both Telangana and
central governments, the high
court on Friday wondered why
Rs 4,500 is collected from people
to conduct a coronavirus test and
also sought to know why the
governments are not making the
test free for people. Further, the
court asked the governments as
to why they had allowed private
facilities to charge the sum.
and in streets. Social distanc-
ing norms are to be observed
under all circumstances as it
is our only option, the perfect
option, against the virus,”
he said. “Turn off all the lights
in your homes, stand at your
doors or in your balconies, and
light candles or diyas, torches
or mobile flashlights for nine
minutes,” Modi exhorted.
The PM’s address was, how-
ever, criticised by opposition
leaders, who alleged too many
overlaps of the numeral 9 was
inspired by Hindu astrology
and that his remarks lacked
any substantial assurances.
“However, I have one more
prayer in this regard, that no
one must assemble or gather
anywhere... One must never
cross the ‘lakshman rekha’ of
social distancing,” Modi said.
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 TIMES EVOKE 7

How we made the Making this a

‘never again’
coronavirus pandemic moment
‘E
volved’. For centuries now, we
humans have prided ourselves on
being the most ‘evolved’ species. It may have started with a bat in a cave. But human activity set it loose Steve Osofsky is Jay Hyman Professor
On having superior intelligence which
gained us mastery over the natural world. David Quammen that some of them are uniquely other words, this Wuhan emer- abundance, that power and the of Wildlife Health and Health Policy at

But such ‘mastery’ has actually meant a
callousness towards nature and its multi-
ple beings. Considering other species ‘in-
ferior’ beings, humans have exploited them
as a captive resource, assuming they exist
only to serve us. Such exploitation comes
with an astonishingly normalised brutal-
T
suited to cause human pandemics. gency is no novel event. It’s part consequent ecological disturbanc- Cornell University’s College of Veterinary
he latest new virus that In a 2017 paper, they set out of a sequence of related contin- es is increasing viral exchanges
has captured the world’s how they had found coronavi- gencies that will stretch for- — first from animal to human, Medicine. He led the drafting of the 2004
horrified attention is ruses in multiple individuals of ward into the future as long as then human to human, some- Manhattan Principles on ‘One World,
known as “nCoV-2019.” four different species of bats, in- current circumstances persist. times on a pandemic scale. One Health’. Writing for Times Evoke,
The name, picked by the Chinese cluding one called the intermedi- Current circumstances in- We invade tropical forests and
scientists who identified the virus, ate horseshoe bat, because of the clude a perilous trade in wildlife other wild landscapes, which har- Osofsky discusses how to prevent the next pandemic:

ity. We have grown unseeing to the anguish
of the animals and birds used in indus-
trial farming, in fashion, in hermetic labo-
ratories and chaotic wet markets, where
thousands of illegally captured wild ani-
mals and birds are tormented, then merci-
lessly killed. It is almost as if we humans
believe the well-being of these beings
doesn’t matter. All that matters is us.
But that is erroneous, for the truth
is, our well-being depends deeply on the
well-being of animals, birds and nature
as a whole. When different species live
harmoniously in their natural habitats,
there exist powerful barriers between
us and deadly, unknown pathogens. De-
stroying the distances nature planned
between species means opening our
doors to such deadly diseases, other-
wise kept away by nature’s fortifica-
tions — its hills and jungles, deserts and
oceans, its icy glaciers and lush rain-
forests. When we pollute and destroy
these natural environs, and cruelly
force their animals and birds into our
habitations, we think we are satiating
is short for “novel coronavirus of
2019”. It reflects the fact that the
virus was first recognised to have
infected humans late last year —
in a seafood and live-animal mar-
ket in Wuhan — and that it be-
longs to the coronavirus family, a
notorious group. The SARS epi-
demic of 2002-3, which infected
8,098 people worldwide, killing
774, was caused by a coronavirus.
So was the MERS outbreak that
began in 2012 and still lingers.
Despite the new virus’s name
though, nCoV-2019 isn’t as novel
as you might think. Something
like it was found years ago, in a
cave in Yunnan, a province rough-
ly 1,000 miles southwest of Wu-
han, by perspicacious researchers
who noted its existence with con-
cern. The fast spread of nCoV-2019
is startling — but not unforesee-
able. That the virus emerged from
a nonhuman animal, probably a
bat, and possibly after passing
A
half-oval flap of skin protruding for food, with supply chains bour so many species of animals
like a saucer around its nostrils. stretching through Asia, Africa, and plants — and within those s I write this, no one enhance my own species’ con-
The genome of that virus is 96% the United States and elsewhere. creatures, so many unknown vi- knows how long our cern for the rest of life on Earth,
identical to the Wuhan virus. And That trade has now been outlawed ruses. We cut the trees; we kill the lives will remain in perhaps a tiny, invisible virus
those two constitute a pair distinct in China, on a temporary basis; but animals or cage them and send the upside-down state will be what actually (hopefully)
from other known coronaviruses, it was outlawed also during SARS, them to markets. We disrupt eco- we find ourselves in. As a wild- tips the scales towards a critical
including the one that causes mass of global understanding
SARS. In this sense, nCoV-2019 is of the fact that our own health
novel — and possibly is intimately tied to how we
even more dangerous CAGED TOGETHER: Wet treat the natural world. For-
to humans than the markets bring diverse ests, freshwater systems,
other coronaviruses. animals and birds, from oceans, grasslands and the bio-
Peter Daszak, the ducks to hens and wild diversity within them support
president of EcoHealth birds of prey, in proximity, humanity with clean air, clean
Alliance, a private re- causing the transfer of water, a climate stabilising
search organisation dangerous pathogens mechanism and healthy food.
that focuses on the con- Thus, whether we talk about
nections between human and mitigating the global climate
wildlife health, is one of Shi’s crisis or preventing the next
long-time partners. “We’ve been pandemic, we need to redefine
raising the flag on these viruses our relationships with wild
for 15 years,” he told me. “Ever nature and our fellow species
since SARS.” During the second at this critical juncture in the
study, the field team took blood history of human civilisation.
samples from many Yunnanese Like the SARS coronavirus
people, about 400 of whom lived behind 2003’s outbreak, severe
Getty Images

our ‘evolved’ requirements. But, in fact,
we are only inviting catastrophe home.
This current crisis now offers us a
huge opportunity — to think of our be-
haviour and to genuinely evolve. We must
take this opportunity to learn living far
more sustainable lives. To abjure cruelty
to Earth’s many species. And to give na-
ture the respect it is so richly owed. We
must reorient our consciousness to en-
rich, and not exploit, the natural world,
and to enhance, not end, our fellow spe-
cies’ well-being. Times Evoke presents
diverse aspects of such holistic planetary
health, global experts suggesting ways we
can all improve our contributions to na-
ture. Doing so can give us a second chance
— one where we are truly evolved.
through another creature, may
seem spooky — yet, it is utterly
unsurprising to scientists.
One such scientist is Zheng-Li
Shi, of the Wuhan Institute of Vi-
rology, a senior author of the draft
paper that gave nCoV-2019 its
name. It was Shi and her collabo-
rators who, in 2005, showed that
the SARS pathogen was a bat
virus that had spilled over into
people. Shi and her colleagues
have been tracing coronaviruses
in bats since then, warning
FOREWARNED: The consumption of
civets, possibly infected by bats,
caused 2002-03’s SARS outbreak
near the cave. Roughly 3% of
them carried antibodies
against SARS-related coronavi-
ruses. “We don’t know if they
were exposed as children or
adults,” Daszak said. “But what
it tells you is that these viruses
are making the jump, repeat-
edly, from bats to humans.” In
then allowed to resume — with
bats, civets, porcupines, turtles,
bamboo rats, many kinds of birds
and other animals piled together
in markets such as the one in Wu-
han. Current circumstances also
include 7.6 billion hungry humans:
some impoverished and desperate
for protein; some affluent and em-
powered to travel every which
way by airplane. These factors
are unprecedented. No large-
bodied animal has ever been
nearly so abundant as humans are
now. And one consequence of that
systems, and we shake viruses
loose from their natural hosts.
When that happens, they need a
new host. Often, we are it.
We are faced with two mortal
challenges. Short ter m: We
must do everything we can to
contain and extinguish this
nCoV-2019 outbreak. Long term:
We must remember, when the
dust settles, that nCoV-2019 was
not a novel event that befell us.
It was — it is — part of a pattern
of choices that we humans are
making. THE NEW YORK TIMES
life veterinarian focused on
how the health of wildlife, the
health of domestic animals,
and our own health are all in-
extricably linked together and
with the health of our envi-
ronment, I want my fellow
global citizens to know that
the coronavirus pandemic
was preventable. It was not a
surprise. It was predictable,
and it was predicted.
And while the human suf-
fering we are seeing is hor-
rific, what perhaps saddens
me most is that we did not have
to get to this point. For decades
acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
almost surely came from bats
and got to humans via the Wu-
han “wet market”. Such mar-
kets often feature domestic and
wild animal species — a mix of
creatures from land and sea
across the world — all crowded
together (with the pathogens
they carry) for sale for human
consumption. Many of the
wildlife-related supply chains
feeding these markets are ille-
gal — and many are leading to
the extinction of a wide range
of wildlife species in high culi-
nary and/or cultural demand.
For decades, the conserva-
tion community tried extreme-

‘Pangolins are shy, elusive creatures — and possibly

now, many of my colleagues
and I, working at the intersec-
tion of wildlife conservation
and public health, have been
warning that human behav-
ly hard to stop this trade, with-
out success — the demand and
profits were too high, and
world leaders never seemed to
feel that the costs to global bio-

the most trafficked animals in the world’ iours, in terms of how we in-
teract with the natural world,
were greatly increasing the
risk of a pandemic.
diversity mattered all that
much. But now, we have per-
haps the most obvious, and
most personally palpable, ex-
Dan Challender of the department of zoology at Oxford University and termites. We don’t know how I want people to know that ample of some of the real costs
long pangolins live in the wild, but a the majority of emerging vi- of the insidious global wildlife
is Chair of the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group. Speaking to Chinese pangolin in Taipei Zoo lived ruses come from wildlife — not trade, in the form of a public
Times Evoke, Challender explained why pangolins are the world’s most to be more than 20 years old. to blame wildlife or create a health tragedy and associated
There are eight species of
backlash against wild crea- trillion-dollar economic losses.
trafficked animals — and the dangers of consuming this shy creature: pangolins. Four in Asia — the
What role could the pangolin have tures. I would argue for the op- This is not some theoretical
Chinese, Sunda, Philippine and
Getty Images played in the transmission of the Cov- posite in fact — what we need concern: every one of us is ex-
Why are pangolins so severely threat- Indian pangolins — are listed by id-19 coronavirus from the animal could be described as ‘behav- periencing this first-hand.
ened? NO ESCAPE: IUCN as ‘critically endangered’. The world to human beings? ioural distancing’. While there While we missed our
Pangolins have been consumed by Tragically, the four African species — the ground Since the outbreak of Covid-19, are literally hundreds of chance to stop SARS,
people either for their meat, or the pangolin can’t pangolin, white-bellied, black- pangolins have been associated with
use of their scales, or both. Since the just curl up bellied and giant pangolin — are the virus because researchers at a THEIR LAST SONG:
early 20th century, they have also been and hide listed as ‘vulnerable’ Chinese university suggested that Hunted as food
in commercial, international trade. Experts estimate that the Chinese pangolins were an intermediate host in East Asia,
During the mid-late 20th century, pangolin has become ‘functionally for the virus passing from other wild- passerines
this mainly involved commercial extinct’ while Sunda pangolins have life species to humans. This hasn’t or perching
trade in their skins — most of shrunk by 80% and Philippine and been proven yet, and the role of pan- songbirds
which was destined to the US for Indian pangolins by 50% golins in the Covid-19 outbreak re- face
the manufacture of leather prod- mains unclear. extinction
ucts (e.g., boots). This was supple- Across East Asia, people believe However, it is known that the today
mented by high volumes of illegal pangolin scales can cure ailments animals host various strains of
trade, mainly between Southeast like rheumatism, skin diseases and coronaviruses. The association of Getty Images

Asia and China. Since around 2008,
intercontinental trafficking of pan-
golins, from Africa to Asia, involv-
ing almost exclusively their scales,
has emerged, further threatening
African pangolins. Some estimates
suggest that pangolins are the most
trafficked wild mammals in the
world in terms of the number of
individual animals involved.
Could you tell us the journey of a traf-
ficked pangolin?
Pangolins are protected species in
most of Africa and Asia — harvesting
them is typically prohibited. They’re
poached in large numbers. Research
indicates that local use in Central
Africa alone involves between 4,00,000
and 2.7 million pangolins annually.
Typically, pangolins are plucked
from the forest easily because once
they are found, they will likely be
curled up into a ball. They can be eas-
ily placed in a sack. In parts of Indo-
nesia, they will be killed and the
bodies dipped in boiling water, so
their scales can easily be peeled off.
They will then be eviscerated, vacu-
um-packed and frozen for shipping.
Since 2000, there have many instanc-
es of trade like this, with thousands
of frozen Sunda pangolins seized in
shipping containers from Indonesia
to Vietnam or China.
Can you tell us about pangolins?
Pangolins are mammals, indeed
the world’s only truly scaly mam-
mals. They are covered in overlap-
infertility. Pangolin meat is also
seen as a prestige symbol
Conservationists estimate the
price of live pangolins has increased
to $350 per 500 grams while scales
can fetch over $600 per kilo
Research: National Geographic, World Wildlife Fund,
Reuters, The New York Times, science direct.com
ping scales made of keratin (the
same protein as human fingernails)
and range in size up to that of a large
dog. They tend to be shy, elusive ani-
mals. They occur across a range of
habitats, from tropical and subtropi-
cal forests to palm plantations, savan-
nah woodland and grassland. They
are habitat generalists, provided
there is an adequate prey base of ants
pangolins with Covid-19 could po-
tentially deter people from eating
the animals because they may fear
contracting the virus — alterna-
tively, it may also mean that people
persecute pangolins because of the
perceived risk. Conservationists
should monitor this situation.
What can ordinary people do to protect
pangolins?
People can do lots. They can raise
awareness of these amazing species
among their friends, families and
social networks, donate to organisa-
tions leading the way in conserving
pangolins — or even take up the
charge and make a career out of con-
serving pangolins through research
or conservation work.
thousands of viruses in mam-
mals alone, there are only three
ways we, through our own be-
haviours, invite them into hu-
manity’s living room — we eat
or trade the body parts of wild
animals; we capture and mix
wild species together to trade
them in markets; we destroy
wild nature at a dizzying pace
(think deforestation), greatly
enhancing our encounter rates
with new pathogens along the
way. Our species pillages nature
and our fellow species as if
there were no tomorrow. And
with no lack of irony, it actu-
ally feels like that day has come.
While I have spent my ca-
reer trying to think of ways to
and now SARS-CoV-2, from
emerging, how many more
times must humanity allow
this cycle to repeat? It’s time
for markets selling wildlife
(especially bats, primates and
rodents) to be deemed totally
unacceptable for humanity. It’s
time for us to adopt some be-
havioural distancing when it
comes to wild nature. While
conservation arguments and
moral suasion attempts failed
for decades, the pandemic cri-
sis every one of us is now living
in makes the way forward crys-
tal clear. It’s not too soon to
make this a “never again” mo-
ment. The very good news is
that we can — and we must.

‘Eating animals is degrading and damaging — it yields a bitter harvest’
Mark Rowlands is professor of philosophy at the University of Miami. Author of books
like The Philosopher and The Wolf and Animals Like Us, Rowlands is renowned for
his research on the consciousness and rights of animals. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das
at Times Evoke, Rowlands discussed the implications of humans consuming animals,
for the planet, for animals — and for our own moral selves:
By assuming that animals are not sentient cognitive dissonance allows us to do really
beings and have no meaningful emotions, bad things to animals. And to each other.
are humans evading an ethical truth?
We know that animals experience emo- Is there an ethical degradation when human
tions. We have so much evidence for this beings consume animals?
now, it can no longer be doubted. Neuro- Yes. This is a way of thinking about
science has added to morality known as virtue ethics. Eating
our understanding in animals is not a virtuous thing to do. It
recent decades. This involves the opposite of virtue — vice.
resulted in the 2012 This is not to say that people who eat
Cambridge Declara- animals are bad people. But I do think that
tion on Conscious- when we eat animals, we are doing some-
ness, where the thing that is ethically degrading to us in
world’s leading neuro- the sense that it is the opposite of virtuous
scientists concluded: — it is morally vicious behaviour.
“The weight of evi-
dence indicates that humans are not What do you say to those arguing that
unique in possessing the neurological nature has laid out a food chain and human
substrates that generate consciousness. beings are simply following this?
Nonhuman animals, including all mam- There is no such thing as a food chain
mals and birds, and many other crea- laid out for us by nature which we have to
tures, including octopuses, also possess follow. The food chain for us is whatever
these neurological substrates.” we decide to make it. We don’t have to eat
However, we humans have a genuine animals because we have excellent stores
talent for ignoring inconvenient facts. This of protein and other essential nutrients
in the form of vegetables, legumes, nuts,
fruits, etc. You have known this in India
long before we worked it out in the West.
Eating animals is not a necessity — it’s a
habit. That is the one crucial difference
between us and other animals — a carni-
vore must eat other animals, or it will die.
We don’t have to eat other animals. We can
live just fine without doing so.
I think people must be made to under-
stand how much they’re being damaged
themselves by eating animals. In addition
to being one of the most important drivers
of individual health problems like heart
disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, our
habit of eating animals is driving some of
the most significant environmental prob-
lems we face. Eating animals is largely
responsible for the vast swathes of defor-
estation blighting the planet. Most defor-
ested land is used either for grazing the
animals we eat or for growing crops to
feed these animals. If the United States
— the most energy-hungry society in the
history of the world — were to reforest
such land, it would almost entirely offset
its carbon footprint. This deforestation is
also the principal driver of the mass ex-
tinction of species we are witnessing. And
one should hardly forget that the Covid-19
virus that is sweeping the planet today is
ultimately the result of this habit of eat-
ing meat — just like all the major disease
outbreaks of the past century.
What goes around comes around. Eat-
Getty Images
ligent. But a cheetah is faster. We want to
say that intelligence is more important
than speed. But by what standards could
we make that claim? For us, being smart
is important because that lets
PERHAPS IT TOO us do what we want to do. But
PRAYS: Scientific for a cheetah, being fast is
research shows important because it allows
animals are it to do what it needs to do.
sentient, feeling I suspect that what peo-
beings. What about ple really have in mind when
human beings? they talk of ‘human distinc-
tiveness’ is power — we can
do what we want to animals
and they cannot fight back. So, this idea
is really an expression of the notion that
‘might is right’. And that is not a very
convincing moral principle, as Plato, in
The Republic, showed long ago.
Has human cruelty towards animals in-
creased in recent years?
In one sense, yes. The vast mechanisa-
tion of the death industry — the raising,
ing animals is a bad habit — and one that slaughtering and distribution of animals
yields a bitter harvest. for food — has removed the suffering of
animals from our sight. They live miser-
Some quarters argue that humans are the able lives and die horrific deaths. But we
most distinctive species and must be rarely get to see this and so, we are spared
‘served’ by animals. Is this a sound idea? the burden of guilt and of facing up to
All species are distinctive. There is no what we do. This is a kind of dispassion-
real sense to ideas of ‘superiority’ and ate callousness that is positively chilling.
‘inferiority’ in the natural world. We think It might merit the label ‘inhuman’ — if
we are better because we are more intel- only humans were better.
8 COMFORTING THE AFFLICTED AFFLICTING THE COMFORTABLE
THE TIMES OF INDIA
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

A thought for today

The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place
Coronavirus And The Media
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW In times of crisis, a democracy needs a free press more than ever
Sadanand Dhume as a profession seems to have lost much

Viral Mistrust
of its moral sheen. As politics becomes
Should the government more tribal, the temptation to shut down
have the power to curb critics rather than engage with them
the media in the face grows stronger.
Public health workers must be protected of a pandemic? As the
casualty count from the
This impulse may be explicable, but
it’s also incredibly foolish. At the
coronavirus grows, this moment, Indians should not worry that

R
eports of doctors, nurses and health workers facing attacks
is a question India faces. The answer: journalists are too pesky, but that they
and hostility while at the frontlines of India’s efforts to contain preventing journalists from reporting aren’t pesky enough. In a democracy,
the novel coronavirus outbreak reveal a frightening divide. inconvenient facts may comfort a the best way to solve a problem is to make
Their selfless service in the cause of public health at much risk to government that fears criticism, but it noise about it. When you silence the
personal well-being demands utmost cooperation, kindness and a makes the public less safe. media you silence the noise that leads to
spirit of volunteerism from citizens. Untoward incidents have been In an established democracy like problems getting fixed.
reported from Indore against two women doctors, Bengaluru against the United States, this would be too If you take another look at the US,
banal to bear repeating. India, however, you see a country consumed not with
Asha workers, Tughlaqabad in Delhi by Nizamuddin Markaz is passing through uncertain times. burnishing its global image but with
evacuees, Hyderabad, Munger in Bihar, and North 24 Parganas in Earlier this week, the Modi govern- solving its people’s problems. The heroic
Bengal. Most of these health workers were out doing contact ment approached the Supreme Court efforts underway – to build ventilators,
tracing, conducting screenings, collecting swab samples or treating in an attempt to “prevent fake and and procure masks and protective gear
Covid-19 positive patients. inaccurate reporting whether intended for healthcare workers – would not have
Admittedly, there is much stigma or not” which could “cause panic in the kicked into gear without the efforts of an
society”. This followed reports of aggressive media tuned to pointing out
around being detected with the coronavirus migrant workers in the thousands problems. Trump may not like this, but
and facing quarantines. For this reason streaming out of cities on foot amidst he’s powerless to prevent it.
many people are averse to getting them- the country’s 21 day lockdown to slow By contrast, we have no idea what is

selves tested. There is also considerable the spread of the virus.
misinformation being spread about the While urging the media to “maintain
virus and against health workers and a strong sense of responsibility”, the
Supreme Court wisely declined to interfere
government. The fears and mistrust render with a free discussion of the pandemic.
health workers particularly vulnerable. Nonetheless, the government’s move
Yet it is unconscionable that some citizens raises an issue worth discussing. In a
fail to see they are carrying out necessary tasks to check the spread of time of fear and foreboding, might it
disease. Bridging this chasm requires hard measures such as lodging make sense to rein in journalists?
cases against rumour mongers, but also stepping up localised commu- The crisis unfolding in the US
informs this debate. News channels
nication with communities, colonies, mohallas and their leaders. around the world flash deficiencies in
With WhatsApp becoming the most preferred mode of dissemina- America’s battle against the virus daily.
ting fake news, countering misinformation has become harder. The If you are not hiding in a cave, you
difficulty in distributing newspapers during this time is also contribu- probably know that the US faces a
ting to drying up one vital channel of accurate information in many shortage of N-95 masks and protective
areas. The Asha worker attacked in Bengaluru couldn’t comprehend equipment for doctors and nurses.
Experts debate whether the country’s
why she would be attacked in a locality she was visiting for years. This is testing effort is robust enough. Reporters
the grip that fear, panic and hate induced by fake news is beginning to uncover terrifying tales of trauma and
have on citizens. Authorities need to fine tune communication strategies despair in hospitals. Each day the toll
and win over those swayed by false narratives or social indoctrination. mounts – more than a thousand people
Lifting health workers’ morale is critical to the Covid-19 fight. died just on Thursday.
To those with an authoritarian bent,
the US comes across as chaotic and
of tough government measures and
intrusive technology. Indeed, after setting
off the wildfire raging across the world
China is now busy playing global fire-
fighter by sending doctors and medical
equipment abroad. Their leaders do
this without any worries about pesky
reporters poking holes in their claims.
In the freedom of its media India,
like many countries, falls somewhere in
between the US and China. India is not
an authoritarian country, but it is
increasingly a democracy with quasi-
authoritarian characteristics. The
prime minister hands down pronounce-
ments from up high. No reporter dares to
interrogate him the way their American
counterparts grill President Donald
Trump almost every day. If you point out
weaknesses in India’s fight against the
virus – for instance, relatively sparse
testing – a social media lynch mob
Uday Deb
The panic in society that any
government rightly fears,
would be much worse without
trusted facts to counter it
man’s stick, the reporter’s pen is part of
the problem. They expect journalists to
act as cheerleaders for the government,
taking each claimed success in the fight
against the virus at face value, posing no
awkward questions, keeping public
morale high by downplaying gloomy
prognoses. In this view, the media’s role is
not to question the government, but to
work shoulder to shoulder with it at a
time of crisis.
That the idea of the media as a lapdog
rather than a watchdog would appeal to
those in power should come as no surprise.
really going on in China. Have about
3,300 people died there as reported, or is
the true number ten times larger? What
if, hypothetically, the real number of
deaths was 330,000? Perhaps this news
would eventually become known to the
world, like the horrors of Mao Zedong’s
Great Leap Forward and Cultural
Revolution ultimately came to light.
But would they be known to the average
Chinese citizen? Not likely.
Imagine, for a moment, a raging pan-
demic in India without credible journa-
lists to verify the facts. Rumours would
become the only information available.
Amidst the uncertainty, fears would
grow. The panic in society that any
government rightly fears, would be much
worse without trusted facts to counter it.
Everyone should wish India well in
its war against coronavirus. But if the
media is doing its job properly expect a
diet of gloom and doom, not of sunny
optimism and good cheer. Leave that to
party spokespersons, or their equivalents

Family Time
unprepared. Contrast this with China, immediately descends upon you. But in these uncertain times this appears masquerading as journalists.
which claims to have contained the For those who believe the current to appeal to many ordinary Indians as The writer is a resident fellow at the Ame-
spread of the virus with a combination situation demands more of the police- well. In the public imagination, journalism rican Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC

Can there be too much of a good thing?

Condemn the Tablighi Jamaat event, without
T
he big, fat Indian weddings have gone comatose. But for those
already married the 21-day lockdown can test the joys of
togetherness. If both the blessed couple are professionals
now working from home whether they like it or not, but one loves it
and the other hates it, do they have heated arguments about this?
having to resort to any whataboutery
Afterwards there would be no escaping to office or club, park or mall. Indrajit.Hazra@timesgroup.com allowed only on March 16. True, and her London-returned
Add children to this pressure cooker and is it like Adele set fire to the congregation was held ultimately tested Covid-19 posi-
I would have more than a week before GoI tive son – and, at the same time,
the rain? The forced integration of home and work life amplified by
said a plague o’ had announced a nationwide horrified at social distancing
the forced exit of all household help means your both your lockdown. True, that the day thrown to the winds by migrant
chores get super multiplied. The meetings go on, houses, except after the PM announced national workers thronging at bus
the Excel sheets, the endless emails and so forth. for the fact that lockdown on March 24 evening, stations, or the recklessness
But now you have also got to home school as well it’s too Shake- Tablighi organisers had filed of the Tablighi organisers,
as entertain the kids, do the dishes and laundry, spearean – and that mentioning an official application to attendees, Delhi and central
a contagious disease even as a transfer the remaining thou- government (in that order)
water the plants, clean the bathrooms, mop the
metaphor is quite wrong in sand odd people who had stayed exemplify our social and societal
floors, not to mention breakfast, lunch, dinner – these pandemic times. But the back ‘stranded’ at the venue disregard for anyone outside
that endlessly hungry cycle. Without a fair division latest round of whataboutery in Nizamuddin, which the our familial Lakshman rekha.
of labour the fight-o-meter is likely to go ape. over a Tablighi Jamaat event in authorities ‘mulled over’. The notion that our ardour
Of course there are the enviable families which which some 3,400 people had for law is inversely proportional
are turning dross to gold. There are husbands who are finding gathered on March 10-13 in to its proximity from our
Delhi’s Nizamuddin comes at a Highlighting this ‘precious bunch’ holds true for
cooking the chillest form of self-care, children who are loving having
time when pitching one act of or singer Kanika Kapoor number (only among those crime and corruption. So, this
the parents all to themselves, wives who are discovering heroic idiocy against another as religious event may, attending a party in a Lucknow identified) being found latest avatar of selective outrage
reserves of empathy and Zen. They may not be on the same page on some puerile form of defence/ indeed, add fuel to the hotel after declining to Covid-19 positive across India involving flouting self-quaran-
every aspect of the coronavirus mode of living. But their differences counterattack is as pointless as mention her Britain-returned and, therefore, carriers of the tine is hardly surprising.
become a store of varied strengths – their collective resilience. arguing the illegality of the
Islamophobic fire. But travel history, or UP CM Yogi virus – is certainly damning But what makes this beyond
migration of people from one that is a separate battle Adityanath cocking a snook at all gatherings that put others the scope of the traditional
state – or, for that matter, against bigotry to fight the PM’s appeal to maintain a at risk. ‘But they also did it! Why

George Orwell lives from one country – to another

during lockdown.
That the Tablighi Jamaat
event – even as it took place
But the fact that such a
non-ticketed (and, therefore,
virtually impossible to trace
national lockdown less than 12
hours after the PM had made it
by leading a religious gathe-
ring in Ayodhya, or crowds
Highlighting this religious
event may, indeed, add fuel to
the Islamophobic fire. But that
is a separate battle against
are you picking on us?’ whata-
boutery is that this pandemic is
truly ‘secular’ – the potential
perpetrator and the potential
In the heroic recounting of China’s fight against before the nation was locked for testing) gathering was held thronging to celebrate Rang bigotry to fight. To stave off victim are rolled into one
“devil” coronavirus, facts are obliterated down – was dangerous, stupid
and unconscionable in the face
showcases not just the criminal
dimwittery that religions
Panchami in Nashik on March
13, or devotees thronging
condemning this particular
religious congregation is
transmitter-transmitted jitter-
bug.
Nayan Chanda of the Covid-19 epidemic goes sometimes possess, but also that temples on Ram Navami on to pussyfoot condemnation Which is why, without fol-
without question. To find some of civil society and people for Thursday in Kolkata, even as against all such (religious or ding oneself into multiple folds
As George Orwell wrote in 1984, the keyword is: black is white. kind of anti-Muslim plot in whom religions are tailored. VHP and other ‘usual suspects’ non-religious) gatherings in of politico-moral relativism,
It’s not China which gifted the deadly novel coronavirus to the castigating such criminal irre- It is enough for the Tablighi had cancelled commemorative these virulent times. not only should the Tablighi
world. It’s China that has emerged as the heroic world leader in sponsibility is to be a professio- gathering to be castigated wit- rallies across the state…. The double standards of Jamaat event be condemned, but
stopping the pandemic in its tracks and has bought the planet nal Hindutva ghoul collector. hout having to constantly add a Damning the Tablighi event people wanting to have their it must be roundly denounced
precious time to get ready to fight the virus. Chinese television True, the Delhi government litany of equally irresponsible – not because of some anti- loved ones ‘home’ irrespective to condemn all gatherings and
is showing an endless loop of Chinese doctors and medical had announced that no religious, gatherings like pilgrims visiting Muslim conspiracy, but because of quarantine or lockdown – as actions of every hue, kind
supplies being rushed to virus ravaged Italy and Iran, and receiving warm social, political gatherings of the Venkateswara Temple in attendees at the event have is the case in Kolkata, involving a and community pathology. A
thanks from countries around the world. Welcome to the latest edition of more than 50 people would be Tirupati right up to March 17, already died and a growing state government bureaucrat plague o’ all such houses.
Chinese propaganda blitz to claim the leadership role abandoned by “America
First” president Donald Trump.
A believer in the strategy ‘offence is the best defence’, China has employed
dilbert Sacredspace
its formidable propaganda machinery to rewrite history as it happens. Well
established facts like the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan’s wet market Patience Is Good
or its claiming the first known casualty on November 17 last year – full 44 days
before China informed WHO about an unidentified virus – have been erased. In Patience is better than wisdom:
the heroic recounting of China’s fight against the “devil” (that’s how Chinese an ounce of patience is worth a
leader Xi Jinping described the virus) it all began on January 23 when the pound of brains. All men praise
leader took the draconian action of quarantining the entire Wuhan city of patience, but few enough can
11million. No mention is made of the lost precious weeks when the government
silenced whistleblowers, hid news of the outbreak allowing tens of thousands
practise it; it is a medicine which
of Wuhan residents, many of them infected, to stream out to other parts of the is good for all diseases… but not
country and to foreign destinations. The result of that lethal deception came every garden grows the herbs
days later in the explosion of the pandemic across the globe. There’s no excuse to make it with.
for the callousness displayed by the US and other procrastinating governments
in allowing the pandemic to spread. But it’s rich for China to claim leadership Charles H Spurgeon
in fighting the disease. Only weeks earlier it condemned countries for blocking
visitors from China as racist.

Corona Is Here, But Where Is Karuna?

While China clearly wants to deflect focus from its
globaleye responsibility by its propaganda campaign the objective is
not just defensive. It’s an attempt to turn adversity into
opportunity. In an unusual move for a foreign ministry official, a senior
Chinese spokesman has advanced a conspiracy theory accusing the US of Karan Singh exploitation of nature, the cruel destruc- desperately trying to walk hundreds of dharma sadhanam’ – the body alone is
being responsible for releasing the deadly virus. Even the Beijing- tion of millions of plant, insect and kilometers to get back to their villages the foundation for all dharmas. Unless

T
friendly WHO which has lavished praise on China for its bold measures and he grave crisis that has developed
“transparency” has called such assertions dangerous. But that has not worldwide due to the spread of a
dampened China’s push towards an alternative narrative. tiny, invisible virus, reminds
With China seemingly recovering from the pandemic it wants to cast itself as a me of the samudra manthan story, the
responsible world leader eager to help humanity. It helps to prepare the ground for mythological churning of the milky
its role in the devastated post-corona world. As China had stepped forward in 2008 ocean. Continuous churning went on for
to take advantage of the economic devastation wrought by the Great Recession, it centuries, in which devas and asuras,
hopes its apparent success in curbing the corona threat will open up new both participated in the hope that great
opportunities to push its agenda of domination. As a country now accounting gifts would emerge. Instead, suddenly, a
for 16% of world GDP it’s in a position to transform its pandemic fighting success dark and deadly poison, the garala,
into a leadership role claiming superiority for its authoritarian system. emerged and spread worldwide. Devas
While boasting about its success China is also using all its international tools and asuras fled in terror, and it was only
to block scrutiny and create goodwill. President Xi has taken unusual steps like when Shiva, Karunavataram, the
calling leaders of France, Germany, Italy and even the Spanish king to offer help. incarnation of compassion, collected the
While Italian leaders – Italy’s the only EU country to have signed up with the Belt poison in his hands and swallowed it,
and Road Initiative – have expressed gratitude, complaints have come from Italy thus containing it in his own throat
and Turkey about defective Chinese medical supplies. Meanwhile China as the which turned blue (hence his name
current rotating chair of the Security Council has blocked attempts to hold a Neelkanth) that the churning continued
council meeting to discuss the corona issue because apparently this public health and great gifts began to appear.
issue didn’t fall in the ambit of geopolitics. Such a meeting would have brought If we consider the violent churning
world spotlight on Chinese responsibility for the pandemic. But as China is the that the human race has indulged in over
heroic defender of world health why bother? George Orwell lives. the last few centuries – the ruthless
animal species, pollution of air, earth and
oceans, the unsustainable high protein
diets and consumption of strange ani-
mals and reptiles – it has, at last, thrown
up a new garala that threatens the very
existence of the human race. Perhaps
this is nature’s way of telling us to
slow down worldwide for a
while so as to enable her to
regenerate, which she seems
to be doing rapidly, during
the human lockdown period.
To expect Shiva to appear
once again and contain this
poison is, to say the least,
unrealistic; nonetheless, we urgently
need the compassion he embodied so that
together, we can meet this challenge. This
must extend not only to victims of the
virus but to those millions whose lives
have been uprooted in the process.
The sight of lakhs of migrant workers
was heartrending. Have we seen a
countervailing upsurge of compassion?
Shakespeare’s immortal words in The
Merchant of Venice are apt: “The quality
of mercy is not strain’d, / It droppeth as
the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the
place beneath : it is twice blest / It
blesses him that gives and him
that takes.”
That is the karuna we
need. The present crisis has
taught us that firstly, despite
attempts by several world
leaders, notably President
Trump, to trash globalisation,
the fact remains that in any major world-
wide crisis we will all sink or swim
together. The ancient Indic ideal of
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam remains valid.
Secondly, it shows that our basic
health infrastructure remains woefully
inadequate. ‘Sharir madhyam khalu
we triple the percentage of GDP that is
at present allotted to health and educa-
tion, we will never be able to safeguard
the welfare of the weaker and most
vulnerable sections of society.
A restructuring of our national
priorities is long overdue.
Thirdly, this crisis has given us the
opportunity to stay home, look within
and develop our intellectual and spiritual
capacities, regardless of which religion
we may belong to. We have to find within
ourselves, springs of compassion –
karuna – that alone will be able to
confront this deadly Corona challenge.
We do not need large congregations; just
quiet prayer and meditation are much
more effective. As the Upanishad says,
“Within the furthest golden sheath
resides the immortal Brahmn. That,
effulgent, light of lights, that is what the
knowers of the Atman know.”
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
Why Covid Strikes In Clusters
By Friday night, India had counted more than 640 coronavirus cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat centre in New Delhi,
sending officials scrambling to trace contacts and isolate those showing symptoms. Linked to the Nizamuddin centre
are a fourth of the 2,540 cases in the country, with fears that many more infections will appear as part of the chain.
The outbreak is ruthless in how it spreads through clusters, and there are instances from all across the world
HOW CLUSTER TRANSMISSION
POSES A MAJOR RISK MAJOR CLUSTERS
Instances from around the world show that
a disease like Covid-19 can rip through
AROUND THE WORLD
groups living in close and frequent
contact, like in homes, hospitals and
hotels. Some factors that may make
cluster transmissions tricky were laid
out in two Lancet studies
The novel coronavirus is also seen as
able to spread when the carrier isn’t
showing any symptoms. So, people may
unwittingly interact with persons who may be
potentially carrying the disease
Based on a study for Singapore, only two of
“425 close contacts identified by contact tracing
developed Covid-19 (that is, most cases
identified in the clusters did not transmit the
SARS-CoV-2 virus to their close contacts)”. But is
TIMES
Knowing who and where an infection
came from is key to containing the
virus. Identifying clusters, some of
which can be termed ‘superspreading
events’, can help governments direct
resources towards the worst hit
regions. A look at some of the
major clusters around the world
and where they began
HOSPITALS
ITALY
Lombardy region became Italy’s
largest cluster after a 38-year-old
TRENDS 9
How empty are
our cities during
the lockdown?
Data from Google shows people moving from one place to another
has fallen sharply since January, whether that’s due to lockdowns
or people taking precautions. Trips to malls and grocery stores and
commutes to work have seen massive declines, and movement
around residential areas has shot up
Mar 22 Mobility in India saw a sharp decline when PM Modi
announced the ‘janata curfew’ and the subsequent lockdown
RETAIL & RECREATION GROCERY & PHARMACY
IN INDIA, COVID-19
MARKETS
CHINA
MOVING TO THE
HINTERLAND
77% 65%
➤ It’s important to prevent cluster
Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in
spread now since the virus appears
Wuhan was the first known cluster of the
to be moving from the urban areas
novel coronavirus. Two-thirds of the
into the hinterlands, where crowded
first 41 people hospitalised reported Though grocery stores and
habitations are lacking in adequate With malls, movie theatres and
exposure to the market pharmacies — deemed
medical infrastructure dine-in restaurants shut as a
➤ About a third of districts are now
result of the lockdown, footfall essential businesses — have
has seen a massive dropoff remained open, many are
hit by Covid-19, and experts say this operating for limited hours
HOTELS could hamper efforts to curb the and restricting the number of
SINGAPORE spread, considering the shortage of PARKS people allowed at once.

pointed to the “hypothesis that a few spreading man, then asymptomatic, had visited
events can result in clusters of transmission…” a hospital for a checkup and
led an active social life till he
HOW CLUSTERS SPREAD: developed more severe symptoms.
PATIENT 31 & SOUTH KOREA He had met a friend who had
returned from China and later
57%
testing kits and lack of medical
Seven of more than 100 people at Dwindling supplies for
facilities, among other issues
an international business meeting in certain goods and in some
a Singapore hotel in January tested areas has also contributed
positive after the event. More than
The endeavour is to
contain the spread in
90 attendees had left Singapore and districts that have already TRANSIT STATIONS

71%
In the four weeks between South Korea’s travelled to countries including France, reported (cases) and not allow it to
first case – a 35-year-old Chinese woman tested positive along UK, South Korea and Malaysia. At least increase. The lockdown has helped
who flew in from Wuhan to Incheon and was with his wife 10 cases across three countries The late winter would have
us to an extent in doing that,
isolated upon entry — and when ‘Patient 31’ were linked directly to a British man seen an increase in visitors to
although initial movement of people
was identified, South Korea had seen only about who first went on holiday to parks and public landmarks
from one district to another hurt us
a handful of cases. But by mid-March, one France before returning before the summer hit, but the
—A SENIOR OFFICIAL WITH THE
church service that Patient 31 had attended AUSTRIA home KARNATAKA GOVERNMENT outbreak restricted such trips
before testing positive had accounted for PLACES OF A ski resort in Ischgl is With most forms of public
at least 60% of all cases in the country WORSHIP the source of more than 600 SOME OF THE TOP STATES IN CASES &
WORK PLACES transport closed, it’s no
While it’s not clear how or where Patient 31 infections in the country and SHARE OF THE DISTRICTS AFFECTED surprise the crowds have

47%
FRANCE disappeared from metro
became infected, she travelled to crowded possibly twice as many abroad,
A Christian Open Door megachurch stations and bus stands
places in Daegu, and to the capital Seoul, Austrian officials said on MAHARASHTRA 52%
attended services twice at the Shincheonji event, attended by hundreds from April 2. Hundreds of tourists
around the world, sparked France’s
Church of Jesus, and went to a buffet lunch
outbreak on February 18. A
from Germany, Norway,
TAMIL NADU 62%
RESIDENTIAL

22%
with a friend at a hotel before going for the Iceland, etc. are believed
test on February 17. She was declared South positive person in attendance to have been infected
Korea’s 31st confirmed case the next day spread the disease at the event — at the resort KERALA 100%
at least 2,500 cases have been
linked to the gathering DELHI 100% Most white collar professions
CASES IN CRUISE SHIPS have issued work from
SEOUL
SOUTH KOREA
(as on Mar 13) DIAMOND PRINCESS
KARNATAKA 47% home orders, though a
large section of the workforce Mobility in residential areas
CHUNGNAM About 700 of the more than J&K 45%
ELDER HOMES 3,000 passengers and crew who remains active, particularly has seen a significant bump
GYEONGBUK
JAPAN were quarantined aboard the cruise TELANGANA 36% medical professions, with most people not
DAEGU
ship have tested positive since government employees and venturing too far from their
6,000+
GYEONGNAM
An elderly daycare centre in
February. Early on, it was the W BENGAL 39% security personnel homes, except to purchase
BUSAN Nagoya became a cluster after Source: Popper.ai | Data as of March 29 groceries and other essentials
largest collection of cases outside
50 cases were traced back to it. Japan
China. The virus was able to
RAJASTHAN 33%
has the world’s oldest population and ABOUT THE DATA: Google Maps collected anonymised data to measure
Korean authorities, Reuters said, had initially the cluster highlighted the challenge spread easily as cabins aboard PUNJAB 32% where people are going and how long they stay there. The latest data is
drawn up a list of 9,300 people who had attended of protecting the elderly the ship were not compared to a baseline period of January 3 to February 4 to see how much
the two church services and found that 1,200 population, which is also equipped for isolation Compiled by Kenneth Mohanty & Anjishnu Das has changed. However, Google doesn’t recommend using the data to make
of them had complained of flu-like symptoms the most vulnerable Inputs by Chethan Kumar | Graphics: Sajeev Kumarapuram medical decisions or serve as guidance for personal travel plans. It merely
Data as of April 3 | Source: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
shows the impact of lockdowns and social distancing measures

Lockdown may lead to biggest CO2 emission fall

Experts Expect A 5% Or More Drop This Year, Something Not Seen Since The End Of World War II
Bloomberg
London/Washington: Car- structural changes so as soon 7.6% per year to give the
bon dioxide emissions could ‘Airline emission to as confinement ends, I expect world a viable chance of lim-
fall by the largest amount since
World War II this year as the
drop by 38% in 2020’ the emissions will go back
close to where they were,”
iting the rise in average glob-
al temperatures to 1.50 C.
coronavirus outbreak brings
economies to a virtual stand-
still, according to the chair of a
A irlines’ carbon emissions
could drop by more than
one-third this year as travel
said Corinne Le Quéré, a cli-
mate scientist at the Universi-
ty of East Anglia in England.
“I don’t see any way this is
good news except for proving
that humans drive greenhouse
team of scientists providing demand sinks, according to the The pattern of a swift re- gas emissions,” said Kristoph-
benchmark emissions data. Australia Institute. The bound has already begun to er Karnauskas of the Universi-
Rob Jackson, who chairs industry’s CO2 emissions play out in China, where ty of Colorado Boulder.
the Global Carbon Project, between February 1and March emissions fell by an estimat- “Even if there is a decline
said carbon output could fall 19 fell by over 10 million tonnes ed 25% as the country closed in emissions in 2020, let’s say
by over 5% year-on-year — the from the same period a year factories and put in place 10% or 20%, it’s not negligible,
first dip since a 1.4% reduction
after the 2008 financial crisis.
“I wouldn’t be shocked to
see a 5% or more drop in car-
ROAD TO CLEANER AIR
son, a professor of Earth sys-
tem science at Stanford Uni-
produced by climate re-
searchers — represents a ti-
ago,it said in a report. BLOOMBERG

ments that global emissions

must start dropping by 2020
strict measures on people’s
movement to contain the cor-
onavirus, but have since re-
turned to a normal range.
it’s important, but from a cli-
mate point of view, it would be
a small dent if emissions go
back to pre-Covid-19 crisis lev-
Tea helps cut risk of
bon dioxide emissions this
year, something not seen since
the end of World War II,” Jack-
versity in California, said.
The prediction — among a
range of new forecasts being
ny sliver of good news in the
midst of crisis: Scientists
had warned world govern-
to avoid the worst impacts of
climate change.
“This drop is not due to
A UN report had found
that emissions would have to
start falling by an average of
els in 2021,” said Pierre Frie-
dlingstein of University of
Exeter in England. REUTERS
heart ailments: Study Getty Images/iStockphoto
Nicholas Bakalar
WORDDOCTOR
Health biggest motivation COUPLE INVITES WEDDING GUESTS ON PAPER
D
rinking tea may lower
your risk of cardiovas-
Orthosomnia
AP
cular disease. Re-
for following veggie diet searchers combined data
You think you don’t sleep enough, so you from 39 observational stud-
have bought a smartwatch with a sleep New York: What motivates nonvegetarians ies involving more than 1.8
tracker. But now, you wake up in the to follow a plant-based diet? Most people who million men and women
middle of the night to check your sleep consider becoming vegetarian do so for their who drank black or green
stats. You are experiencing ‘orthosomnia’ health, say researchers, adding that, environ- tea. The review of studies is
ment and animal rights was less motivational. in Advances in Nutrition.
CUP OF LIFE?
“The most common reason people say They found that each one-
they would consider being vegetarian has cup increase in daily tea con- to moderate oxidative and in-
to do with health,” said study co-author sumption was associated flammatory stress and im-
SHORT CUTS Christopher J Hopwood, professor at the with a 2% decrease in any car- prove the function of blood
University of California, Davis in the US. diovascular event, a 4% de- vessels. These effects may
Light exercise good for stroke survivors In this study, researchers developed the
Vegetarian Eating Motives Inventory (VMI), a
crease in death from cardio-
vascular disease, a 4% lower
contribute to cardiovascular
health. According to the se-

S troke survivors who take leisurely walks or attend to non-

strenuous household chores may experience fewer physical
limitations than their more sedentary peers, according to a study.
brief and psychometrically robust measure
of the three main motives for adopting a plant-
risk of stroke and a 1.5% low-
er risk of death from any
nior author, Taylor C Wal-
lace, the principal consult-
based diet: health, the environment, and ani- cause. The effects were stron- ant of the Think Healthy
Researchers, including those from the University of Illinois in the mal rights. The results showed that the main gest in older populations. Group, a research firm, tea
US, used accelerometers to measure daily physical activity in 30 motivation for nonvegetarians to consider be- Tea contains large quan- drinkers consume, on aver-
stroke survivors for a week, assessing how much the participants ing vegetarian is health, with environmental tities of flavonoids, plant pig- age, about 20 times more fla-
moved, and how well they performed routine physical tasks. The and animal rights motives being less com- Cardboard cutouts will be the wedding guests for this couple in Michigan, US, who are set ments that have been shown vonoids than those who don’t
findings noted that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and mon. However, people who are most commit- to tie the knot on Saturday. After their wedding plans were disrupted due to the pandemic, in animal and human studies drink tea. NYT NEWS SERVICE
daily routines that keep people physically engaged in lighter ted to a vegetarian diet were most motivated a packaging company donated more than 100 cutouts to them. These will be stand-ins for
tasks contribute to better physical functioning in stroke survivors by the environment or animal rights. IANS the family and friends who will not be able to attend the ceremony

Homo erectus skull older

Quarantine may end but will we be too fat to get through the door?
Getty Images/iStockphoto
MUST FIGHT THE CRAVINGS
Paris: The coronavirus has
shaken the world like noth-
ing else. But beyond the terri-
ble toll of death, economic
devastation and fear, the vi-
rus is likely to leave another
lasting mark. It is going to
make us all fatter.
“I don’t know if we are go-
ing to come out of this experi-
ence stronger, but we will
have gotten fatter,” warned
nutritionist Beatrice de Rey-
nal, who said that was only
one thing to do — eat less.
“It is going to happen to us
all, even if we try to exercise,”
said Julian Mercier, a French
sports, health and cooking
coach. With more than a quar-
ter of humanity under lock-
down, and with many worried
they will get the virus next,
the temptation to comfort eat
was hard to resist.
By doing little or none of
the physical activity we nor-
mally do, an adult is likely to
burn off up to 400 fewer calo-
ries a day, said dietician Jen-
nifer Aubert. Which is why
we have to reduce our por-
tions and move as much as we
can — as long as it is not to the
fridge and back.
Other experts point to
people who have panic-
bought a cupboard full of
fresh food, finding them-
selves duty-bound to eat their
way through it. Being alone
and coping with the stress of
the situation, as well as wor-
ries about whether they will
have a job to go back to, can tip
people into over-eating, the
British Nutrition Founda-
tion warned.
It is advising people to em-
brace the lockdown to learn
to “put together healthy
meals” which “can be a
source of enjoyment and help
your well-being.” Not every-
one cooks, however, says Pas-
cale Hebel of the French
CREDOC research institute.
Which can lead to a heavy re-
liance on fatty and salty
ready-meals and tinned food.
Others warned against
using food as a way of sooth-
ing children forbidden to play
with friends. “To avoid prob-
lems it is easy to make spa-
ghetti bolognese that every-
one likes rather than to fight
to make them eat spinach,”
Mercier said. Experts were
unanimous that cooking for
yourself and structuring
your day with regular meals
and physical activity, were vi-
tal if we are to come out of
this in decent shape. AFP
than previously thought
Melbourne: Researchers
have unearthed the earliest
known skull of Homo erec-
tus, the first of human ances-
tors in behaviour and anato-
my, a finding that adds more
than a hundred thousand
years to the first appearance
dates of the species.
Following years of exca-
vation at the fossil-rich site
of Drimolen in South Afri-
ca, researchers including
those from the Arizona State
University recovered a skull
attributed to Homo erectus.
According to the study, pub-
lished in the journal Sci-
ence, the skull is dated to be
two million years old, mak-
ing it the most ancient fossil
Homo erectus known, and
pushing back evidence of
the first appearance of the
species by more than a
hundred thousand years.
The skull may lead to a re-
vision of our species’ evolu-
tionary history, the scien-
tists noted. PTI

PRINCE CHARLES, VIA A VIDEO LINK, OPENED A 4,000-BED
TEMPORARY HOSPITAL IN UK THAT WAS BUILT IN 9 DAYS
New York’s Covid-19 Toll Nears 9/11 Level
State Sees Biggest Daily Toll Of 500+; US May Ask All To Wear Masks
Chidanand.Rajghatta
@timesgroup.com
Washington: Amid rising
concern about the durability
and lethality of the coranavi-
rus, including its professed
ability to transmit through
even regular breathing/ex-
halation, American health
and public safety mandarins
are further tightening public
health protocols and social
distancing norms, even as
toll from the pandemic
neared 7,000 in America.
This comes as New York
state on Friday recorded more
than 500 coronavirus-related
deaths in a single day, bringing
its total to nearly 3,000, or about
the same number killed in the
US in the 9/11 attacks. The 24-
hour toll was 562, raising the
New York state total to 2,935 fa-
talities, Governor Andrew Cu-
omo said, calling it the “high-
est single increase in the num-
ber of deaths since we started”.
French coronavirus
fatalities hit 6,508
in deadliest day
F I
rance reported it’s dead-
liest day on Friday as the
number of deaths at the
country’s hospitals rose. It also
included more fatalities from
nursing homes. Still, daily in-
tensive-care admissions fell for
a fourth day, adding to signs
that lockdown measures
across Europe may be helping
US is using ‘wild
west’ methods to
grab masks: Berlin
B erlin’s top official has
accused the US of using
“wild west methods” to obt-
ain protective equipment. The
claim came after a delivery of
face masks destined for the
German capital was diverted
en route from China. “Even in
times of global crisis there
should be no wild west meth-
ods,” Andreas Geisel, interior
minister for Berlin, said. The
US is yet to respond. AP
to bring the outbreak under
control. The health ministry
reported 588 new hospital
deaths from the coronavirus on
Friday, the most yet, bringing
the figure to 5,091 since the be-
ginning of the outbreak. In ad-
dition, it reported 1,416 deaths
from nursing homes, bringing
the total number to 6,508.
Meanwhile, Spain report-
ed 932 new deaths, down
slightly from the record it hit
a day earlier. The carnage
most certainly included large
numbers of elderly who au-
thorities admit are not get-
ting access to the country's
limited breathing machines,
which are being used first on
healthier, younger patients.
More than half of Spain’s
death toll of nearly 11,000 has
come in the last seven days
Daniel Pearl murder: Bill Withers,
soul music
Pak re-arrests 4 men legend, dies
who were acquitted B
Karachi: Pakistan’s Sindh
province government on
Friday invoked the mainte-
nance of public order to
keep in jail British-born al-
Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar
Saeed Sheikh after a
court overturned his
death sentence in the
abduction and mur-
der of US journalist
Daniel Pearl in Kara-
chi in 2002. Three of
his accomplices, who
were acquitted on Thursday,
will also remain in prison.
Sheikh was sentenced to
death in 2002 for master-
minding Pearl’s murder. The
other three were sentenced
to life. On Thursday, a two-
judge Sindh high court be-
nch had found 46-year-old
Sheikh guilty of the lesser
charge of kidnapping and
commuted his death sente-
nce to seven years in prison.
AFP
Top officials at the Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention
are pushing for President Trump to
advise everyone to wear masks
when in public, arguing that doing
so will reduce the number of
people who get infected
Cuomo said the state also had
more than 10,000 new cases in a
single day, passing 1,00,000 in
confirmed infections.
New guidelines recom-
mending wearing of masks in
public places at all times are
expected anytime now, over-
riding suggestions that only
sick people are needed to wear
masks. Because of the short-
alone.
On a more hopeful note, Fri-
day marked the first time in
more than a week that the num-
ber of deaths fell from the pre-
vious day, to 932 fatalities from
950. “The increase in the num-
ber of cases today is 7%, which
confirms the reduction trend
we’ve been observing,” said
Maria Jose Rallo, the deputy
head of health emergency.
That is down from a 20% in-
crease one week ago. Global
cases of the new coronavirus
have shot past 1 million with
more than 54,000 fatalities.
Elsewhere in Europe, offi-
cials began talking tentative-
ly about how to lift lock-
downs. In the UK, health sec-
retary Matt Hancock suggest-
ed that Britons who’ve had
the virus might be issued
with a certificate, which has
already been dubbed an im-
munity passport. “We are
looking at an immunity cer-
tificate, how people who have
had the disease, have got the
antibodies and therefore have
immunity, can show that and
get back as much as possible
to normal life,” he said. Aus-
tria said it will set out a timeta-
ble next week for what could be
“a slow startup” of closed parts
of the economy. The head of
Germany’s national disease
control centre said he expects
that any easing of the coun-
try’s lockdown, which this
week was extended to April 19,
will be staggered.
Other countries went in the
opposite direction. Singapore
said it will close schools and
most workplaces for a month.
Thailand banned public gath-
erings and imposed a curfew.
Turkey has decided to seal bor-
ders of 31 cities. Russia said it
was temporarily suspending
all flights in and out of the co-
untry from midnight. AGENCIES
IN OTHER NEWS
According to the law, Sheikh
was eligible to walk free as he
had already served 18 years in
prison on the death row.
The Sindh government
acted swiftly to invoke the or-
der which allows it to
keep the four convicts
behind bars for three
months. According to a
notification issued by
the Sindh home minis-
try, the release of
Sheikh and his three
associates could jeopardise
the law and order situation in
the province, thus necessitat-
ing their continued detention.
Foreign minister Shah
Mehmood Qureshi said he
was surprised at the timing of
the verdict and added that the
order will be challenged at a
higher forum. The US had
criticised the court verdict,
terming it an “affront” to the
victims of terrorism. PTI
TIMES GLOBAL
‘Don’t use pandemic to target minorities’
G overnments and establishments across the world should not
use the coronavirus pandemic to target minorities, a key US
official said on Thursday. “We are tracking the blaming of
religious minorities for Covid-19 virus, and unfortunately, it is
happening in various places. This is wrong … Governments really
should put this down and state very clearly that this (religious
minorities) is not the source of the coronavirus,’’ Sam Brownback,
a former Senator and governor and the current US
ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, said.
Brownback’s observation was part of a broader critique of the
persecution of religious minorities across the world and the need
to release them in the time of the coronavirus pandemic because
of the conditions they are held in. He also criticised the killing of
minority Sikhs in Kabul in an attack on a gurdwara last weekand.
age of masks and the need for
higher grade N95 masks by
medical personnel, people are
being asked to wear any kind of
mask, including home-made
masks, scarves, bandannas,
handkerchiefs etc, under the
principle that something is
better than nothing.
The updated guidelines
follow research results that
FIST BUMPS & BOUNCE BACKS: Medical staff share a fist bump inside the intensive care unit of a hospital
in Bergamo. Italy’s number of new virus cases reported on Friday was slightly lower, growing by 4,585 from a
previous of 4,668. Friday was the fifth consecutive day in which the number of new cases remained within a
range of 4,050-4,782, confirming government hopes that the epidemic has hit a plateau
Oz PM urges
WHO, UN to act
against China’s
wet markets
Melbourne: Australian PM
Scott Morrison on Friday ur-
ged the WHO and the UN to act
against China’s wet markets
as they pose “great risks” to
the health and wellbeing of
the rest of the world.
A wet market in the Chine-
se city of Wuhan is believed to
be the source of the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
He stated that China-based
“wet markets were a very real
and significant problem whe-
rever they exist” in an intervi-
ew to a news channel on
Thursday. “We all know that.
And these wet markets can be
a real problem when it comes
to what can occur in those
markets. And I think from a
world health point of view,
this is something the WHO
should do something about,”
Morrison said. PTI
ill Withers, who wrote and
sang a string of soulful
songs in the 1970s that have
stood the test of
time, including
“Lean on Me”,
“Lovely Day”
and “Ain’t No
Sunshine,” has
died from heart
complications, his family said
in a statement. He was 81.
The three-time Grammy
Award winner, who withdrew
from making music in the
mid-1980s, died on Monday in
Los Angeles. Withers’ songs
during his brief career have
become the soundtracks of
countless engagements, wed-
dings and backyard parties.
“Lean on Me,” a paean to
friendship, was performed at
the inaugurations of both Ba-
rack Obama and Bill Clinton.
“Ain’t No Sunshine” and
“Lean on Me” are among Roll-
ing Stone's list of the 500 Great-
est Songs of All Time. AP
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
MANY OF YOU WAITED 34 YEARS... IT WILL BE A LITTLE LONGER:
TOM CRUISE ON ‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ DELAY DUE TO PANDEMIC
Chidanand Rajghatta
purportedly show the corona-
virus has extraordinary du-
rability and stealth features,
including ability to transmit
asymptomatically and to
stick around in the air and
surfaces longer than normal.
While a majority of infect-
ed people still appear to show
mild symptoms and its mor-
tality rate is now thought to
Curfew-like lockdown
in Pak’s Punjab, Sindh
Omer Farooq Khan TNN
Islamabad: The govern-
ments of Pakistan’s Punjab
and Sindh provinces imposed
three-hour curfew-like lock-
downs to restrict people from
attending congregational
prayers in mosques on Friday.
The latest measure was tak-
en after authorities had failed
to prevent people from going to
mosques for Friday prayers
last week. There was a com-
plete lockdown in the country
between 12 noon and 3 pm (local
time). Even grocery and chem-
ists were forced to shut down.
The cases of coronavirus in
Pakistan are mostly linked to
religious congregations. Ini-
tially, the virus was found in
Shia pilgrims who had return-
ed from Iran. Soon after, sever-
al people who came from Mec-
ca tested positive for the dis-
ease. The first virus death in
the country was of a person
Will UN Security Council
finally take up Covid-19?
General Assembly Adopts Resolution On Pandemic
Indrani.Bagchi
@timesgroup.com
T
here is renewed hope
among countries and glo-
bal civil society groups
that the UN Security Council
may at last hold discussions on
the Covid-19 pandemic now that
Dominican Republic has taken
over the presidency of the glo-
bal body from April 1. If it hap-
pens it would be the first time
the body would even talk about
the pandemic that has affected
over a million people wo-
rldwide. Failure to take up the
issue has invited criticism from
around the world that the UN
has rendered itself irrelevant.
Jose Singer, special envoy
from the Dominican Republic
to the UNSC, said earlier this
week that a special meet on
Covid-19 was being “negotia-
ted”. Singer said, “The UNSC
session on Covid-19 could hap-
pen for sure next week or befo-
be closer to 1% or even less,
the transmissibility of the vi-
rus is something that has sur-
prised scientists. A leading in-
fectious disease scientist on
Wednesday wrote to the White
House in response to its queries
that “currently available re-
search supports the possibility
that (virus) could be spread via
bioaerosols generated directly
by patients’ exhalation” — in
other words, the simple act of
breathing normally (not just
coughing or sneezing) by even
asymptomatic carriers could
transmit the virus.
“If you generate an aerosol
of the virus with no circula-
tion in a room, it’s conceivable
that if you walk through later,
you could inhale the virus. But
if you’re outside, the breeze
will likely disperse it,” Dr. Har-
vey Fineberg, chairman of a
committee with the US Nation-
al Academy of Sciences, ex-
plained in a CNN interview,
adding how long coronavirus
AFP
who had returned from Mecca.
Following Saudi and Ira-
nian links, a number of cases
were found among members of
the Tablighi Jamaat who had
attended the faction’s annual
conference in Lahore in mid-
March. Thousands of people,
including foreigners, had at-
tended the gathering which
proved to be a catalyst for the
spread of the disease within
and outside the country. Many
patients in Punjab and Islama-
bad are believed to be mem-
bers of the Tablighi Jamaat.
This has triggered con-
cern among the authorities to
restrict religious gatherings
in general, and congregation-
al prayers at mosques in par-
ticular. According to the latest
statistics shared by the gov-
ernment, Covid-19 haskilled
34 people so far and infections
on Friday rose to 2,542, the
highest so far in South Asia.
Full report on www.toi.in
re and that it has been reques-
ted by 5-6 envoys.”
China, which headed the
UNSC in March, was opposed
to the idea of a special discus-
sion on the pandemic. About 10
days ago when the Estonians
proposed a discussion, it was
blocked by China, Russia and
South Africa. Their argument
was that the pandemic was a
humanitarian issue, not a se-
curity one. Beijing was parti-
cularly opposed to any men-
tion of “transparency” in its
own handling of the epidemic.
But in the days since, every
discussion, either on Afgha-
nistan, or Syria or any security
question has included con-
cerns of the effect of the pande-
mic, said diplomatic sources.
Dominican Republic,
which has just taken over the
chair in the UNSC, is too small
and too weak to push through a
discussion on Covid-19, as are
most of the elected members
lingers in the air depends on
several factors, including how
much virus an infected indivi-
dual puts out when breathing
or talking, and also on the am-
ount of circulation in the air.
Meanwhile, wrangles
continued between the White
House and state and city offi-
cials over limited resources
even as the president contin-
ued to boast about how his
quick action on stopping
travel from China very early
helped contain the pandemic
in the US. However, data from
the US Customs and Border
Protection reported in the local
media shows that nearly 4 mil-
lion travellers entered the US
during December, January,
and February when the out-
break was taking a foothold
across the world. Of them,
759,493 people entered the U.S.
from China, while 343,402 trav-
ellers arrived from Italy, 418,848
from Spain, and about 1.9 mil-
lion more came from Britain.
Cracking The Covid Code
Vaccine created in
US works on mice.
Will it on humans?
nitial tests in mice of a po-
tential Covid-19 vaccine
delivered via a fingertip-
sized patch have shown it
can induce an immune re-
sponse against the new coro-
navirus at levels that might
prevent infection, US scien-
tists said on Thursday.
When tested in mice, the
prototype vaccine — which
the researchers have called
PittCoVacc — generated what
they described as “a surge of
antibodies” against the new
coronavirus within two we-
eks. The researchers from Un-
iversity of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine cautioned that
because the animals have not
been tracked for very long as
yet, it is too early to say wheth-
er and for how long the im-
mune response lasts. The
team said they hope to start
testing the vaccine on people
in the next few months.
The fingertip-sized patch
of 400 tiny needles, made out
of sugar and the spike pro-
tein, is designed to deliver
the spike protein pieces into
the skin, where the immune
reaction is strongest. REUTERS
Brewing of Corona
beer is halted
T he Mexican brewer of Corona
beer said on Thursday it was
suspending production because
of the health emergency in the
country over the pandemic. Gru-
po Modelo said the measure was
in line with the Mexican govern-
ment’s order to suspend all non-
essential activities until April 30.
Since the start of the virus crisis,
Corona beer has been the pun-
chline of jokes and memes. AFP
like Estonia. But what they
lack in heft, they make up for in
enthusiasm and a desire for le-
gacy (all of them are serving in
the UNSC for the first time
ever). UN secretary general
Antonio Guterres has called
for a “humanitarian ceasefire”
saying that the world should fo-
cus on fighting the virus, and
give the wars a break. That has
got very little traction, with
Russia foremost in opposing it.
Meanwhile, on Thursday,
the UN General Assembly
unanimously adopted its
first resolution on the pande-
mic, co-sponsored by India
and 187 other nations, calling
for intensified global coope-
ration to defeat the deadly di-
sease, including by exchang-
ing scientific knowledge. It
recognised the “unpreceden-
ted effects of the pandemic, in-
cluding the severe disruption
to societies and economies.”
Full report on www.toi.in
DON’T CRY BECAUSE
IT'S OVER. SMILE
BECAUSE IT HAPPENED
— DR SEUSS
TRACKING OUTBREAK
Countries Infected
United States 261,438
Italy 119,827
Spain 117,710
Germany
89,838
China 82,509
France 65,181
Iran 53,183
United Kingdom 38,688
Turkey
20,921
Turkey 19,606
Lab test shows
widely available
drug could kill
virus in 48 hrs
FDA approves 1st
antibody test in US AFP
SUPERHEROES: Covid-19
survivors like Diana Berrent are
donating blood plasma in the
hope their antibodies can be
used to help treat future victims
T he FDA has approved a new
test for coronavirus antibo-
dies, the first for use in the US.
The test looks for protective ant-
ibodies in a finger prick of blood.
It tells whether a patient has ev-
er been exposed to the virus and
now may have some immunity.
Those with immunity may be
able to go out and help shore up
the workforce. It eventually sho-
uld give scientists a better sense
of how widespread the infection
is and calculate more precisely
the death rate. Such tests are al-
ready in use in China, Singapore
and a few other countries. NYT
VIRAL NEWS
Flight service: Pizza No French ‘bac’
delivered to outback exam for first time
P izza and beer are being deliv-
ered by plane to remote
ranches in the Australian outb-
ack in an attempt to bring a slice
of cheer to those in extreme isol-
ation under the virus lockdown.
The Dunmarra Wayside Inn, a
roadside diner in Australia’s Nor-
thern Territory, used a small fix-
ed-wing aircraft for a trial run of
what it hopes will become a wee-
kly flying takeaway service. AFP
AROUND THE WORLD
LOVE BEYOND BORDER: Two octogenarian lovers, one living in
Denmark and the other in Germany, are determined to keep meeting
every day for a picnic and a chat on either side of the border, which has
been shut to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Inga Rasmussen,
85, who lives on the Danish side, met Karsten Tuechsen Hansen, 89, two
years ago. Both widowed, they quickly fell in love. Like many lovers
around the world, they face obstacles in meeting up but they are not
easily deterred. Rasmussen now drives to the border with deckchairs
and he rides there on his bicycle. Then they sit on either side of the
red-and-white barricade to munch biscuits and sip schnapps
Germans face fines
up to 500 euros for
standing too close
G ermans risk being fined up
to 500 euros ($540) for sta-
nding too close to each other
from Friday as officials crack
down on people flouting rules
Death
181
6,200
countries/
14,681 regions hit
10,935
10,76,017+
1,208 infected globally
3,326
6,518
58,004+
have died
3,294
3,611 2,25,335+
have recovered
425
Source: Johns Hopkins
591 University
A
study in Australia has
found that an anti-para-
sitic drug that is already
available across the world ki-
lls the virus within 48 hours.
Just a single dose of the
drug, Ivermectin, could stop
the new coronavirus, SARS-
CoV-2, from growing in cell cul-
ture within a timespan of just
two days, according to a state-
ment by Monash University.
Thestudy was conducted by
the university’s Biomedicine
Discovery Institute (BDI) in
Melbourne along with the Pe-
ter Doherty Institute of Infec-
tion and Immunity. “We found
that even a single dose could es-
sentially remove all viral RNA
(ribonucleic acid) by 48 hours
and that even at 24 hours there
was a really significant reduc-
tion in it,” BDI’s Kylie Wagstaff,
who led the study, said.
Ivermectin, an FDA-appro-
ved drug, has also been shown
to be effective in vitro against a
range of viruses, including HIV,
dengue, Influenza and Zika vi-
rus. Wagstaff, however, said the
tests conducted in the study
were in vitro and that human
trials needed to be conducted.
F rench high-school students
will not sit the traditional
‘baccalaureat’ (bac) exam this
summer due to the coronavirus,
the education minister said. It is
the first time since its inception
in 1808 under Napoleon Bonapa-
rte that the ‘bac’ exam will not ta-
ke place. Instead, students will
get an average score in each sub-
ject calculated from marks given
for tests the whole year. REUTERS
Reuters
brought in to control coronavi-
rus. Chancellor Angela Mer-
kel’s government has ordered
people not leave their homes
unless they have a reason such
as grocery shopping, exercise
or medical appointments.
Gatherings of more than two
people are banned and a
distance of five feet must be
kept from others at all times.
 Govt Bond Yields Have Plunged
Due To Fears Of Global Recession
Yields in govt bonds have fallen across the
world amid concerns over the economic
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Investors
have turned to bonds to hedge the economic
trauma of the coronavirus outbreak, as
global stock markets have crashed
Source: Bank of Baroda Economics Research
Tackling Virus: Govt Focuses On Moving Essentials, Cos Try To Save Jobs, But Eco May Get Hit, As Will Premium Cuppa
Govt eases rules to aid supply chain Global cos pledge
Suggests States Allow Regional Passes, Delegate Powers To Rlys, Airports
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
REMOVING HURDLES
New Delhi: Facing repeated
complaints over issue of pas-
ses for essential services, the
government on Friday eased
rules as part of its latest set of
efforts to supply goods and
services during the coronavi-
rus-induced lockdown.
In an advisory to states,
home secretary Ajay Bhalla
clarified that private labora-
tories have been exempted
from the lockdown and asked
chief secretaries to ensure
that movement of lab techni-
cians and transportation of
samples, along with opening
of temporary collection cent-
res, should not face any hurd-
les. The move will benefit a
host of private labs, which ha-
ve been roped in for coronavi-
rus-related tests as well.
RBI halves
mkt hours for
forex, Gsecs
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: The RBI has restric-
ted operating hours for all the
markets that it regulates from
10am to 2pm until April 17. The
shorter hours will not impact
retail bank customers as all
their regular banking servi-
ces — including RTGS, NEFT
and e-Kuber facilities — will
continue to be available accor-
ding to extant timings.
The move, which will re-
sult in halving the trading
hours in forex, government
securities (Gsecs) and money
markets, is expected to help
the RBI manage volatility
TILL APRIL 17
and maintain orderly condi-
tions in these markets. They
are usually operational bet-
ween 9am to 5pm. These mar-
kets include trading in com-
mercial papers and certifica-
tes of deposits.
“The unprecedented situ-
ation created by the Covid-19
outbreak has necessitated
lockdowns, work-from-home
arrangements and business
continuity plans. The resul-
tant dislocations have adver-
sely impacted the functio-
ning of financial markets,”
the RBI said.
10-yr yield up
on high govt
debt plan
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Yields in the go-
vernment bond market have
started rising again as dealers
fear an increase in govern-
ment borrowing to finance
the stimulus packages and
other expenses due to the co-
ronavirus pandemic. As a re-
sult of the extra outgo, they fe-
el the actual borrowing is lik-
ely to overshoot the planned
one, according to the calendar
announced on Tuesday, mar-
ket players said.
On Friday, the first day of
trading in the bond market
since the borrowing calendar
was announced, the bench-
mark 10-year yield shot up to
6.32% from 6.14% on Tuesday
and closed at 6.30%. Since
bond yields and their prices
are inversely related, the pri-
ces of government bonds fell
on the first day of trading in
the new fiscal.
1st flush tea wiped out, Darj may lose 2nd too
Sovon Manna &
Pinak Priya Bhattacharya
Kolkata: For the first time in
the history of the iconic Darje-
eling tea, the entire lot of the
expensive and exportable first
flush leaves withered away
amid the suspension of gar-
den operations due to the Co-
vid-19 lockdown.
Garden experts confirm
that it will take a few weeks to a
month to get the tea bushes
back in shape after re-opening
on April 15, which may also af-
fect the equally prized second
flush crop of May-June. Tea
planters in the Hills are already
grappling with losses of Rs 150-
200 crore for the erosion of the
first flush. Now, they fear a ne-
ver-seen-before liquidity crisis.
Famous for its light-colou-
red and flowery muscatel aro-
TIMES BUSINESS
10-year yield
2-year yield
*(100 basis points = 1 percentage point)
not to lay off staff
States asked The
to issue companies
authorisation can then
to companies issue
with national regional
supply chain passes
While refusing to put out
an elaborate list of food and
grocery items, the Centre has
advised states to interpret it
in a way that includes pro-
ducts that are consumed on a
day-to-day basis.
The rule of passes has be-
en eased to aid companies
that have a national supply
NBFCs write to FM for
3-month moratorium
Mayur.Shetty@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Non-banking fi-
nance companies (NBFCs)
have written to the finance
minister seeking relief un-
der the three-month morato-
rium scheme announced by
the RBI for businesses that
are hit by the Covid-19 lock-
down. While borrowers from
NBFCs can opt for a three-
month moratorium on their
loans, banks are not exten-
ding the same facility on lo-
ans to the finance companies.
While the RBI has not bar-
red banks from extending the
stay on collecting loan instal-
ments for NBFCs, the Indian
Banks Association said fi-
nance companies have been
kept out of the scheme.
The Indian Banks Associ-
ation in its FAQs for the mora-
torium said NBFCs, microfi-
nance and housing finance
companies are not being con-
sidered under the scheme.
Fitch cuts growth forecast
to 30-yr low of 2% for FY21
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Manila-ba-
sed Asian Development Bank
(ADB) has projected that Indi-
a’s GDP growth will slow to 4%
in the current financial year
(2020-21) due to a weak global
environment and continued
efforts to contain the corona-
virus outbreak in the country.
The forecast assumes that
the pandemic dissipates and
full economic activity resu-
mes from the second quarter
of FY21. ADB’s forecast is mo-
re optimistic as several rese-
arch entities, economists ha-
ve slashed the country’s
growth forecast to around 2%
to 2.5% range for the current
financial year as the pande-
mic hits growth.
Fitch Ratings has cut Indi-
a’s GDP growth forecast to a
30-year low of 2% for 2020-21,
citing the current fight aga-
inst the Covid-19 outbreak.
But it is optimistic about a
sharp rebound to 7% growth
in 2021-22. Several sectors of
the economy have been hurt
and the 21-day lockdown an-
nounced by the government
to slow down the spread of the
virus is expected to take a he-
A LOT AT STAKE FOR PLANTERS
1st flush: 25% of total
Hills crop
Quantity/yr: 2 million kg
Exported without
auction: 80%
Average value:
1,100/kg
2nd flush: 25% of
total Hills crop
ma, the Darjeeling first flush is
generally plucked during the
spring — mid-February to early
April — at an interval of not mo-
re than five days to maintain qu-
ality. The prized revenue-ear-
ning period produces about
20% of the annual output and
accounts for 35-40% of revenue.
According to Darjeeling
Tea Association (DTA) chair-
105
134
US
Railways, Private lab
ports, technicians,
airports can sample
issue passes transportation
for workers, to be exempted
key staff during lockdown
chain, since they have been
repeatedly complaining of
difficulties in obtaining them
at the district level. Bhalla no-
ted the concern in his com-
munication to the states.
As a result, states and
Union territories have been
advised to issue authorisa-
tion letters to companies
According to RBI data, bank
loans to NBFCs stand at Rs
7.03 lakh crore — an increase
of 16% over the previous year.
Credit to NBFCs is nearly 8%
of overall lending by banks.
It pointed out that the RBI
has made available financing
to banks that invested in
bonds issued by well-rated fi-
nance companies. The targe-
ted long-term repo opera-
tions allowed banks that in-
vested in debt issued by
SEEK RELIEF
NBFCs obtain cheap funds
from the RBI for three years.
“Banks will be able to sup-
ports NBFCs/MFIs/HFCs
under this window and we do
not foresee liquidity squeeze
for these financial intermedi-
aries,” the IBA said.
The Finance Industry De-
velopment Council, an asso-
ciation of finance compani-
es, in a letter to the finance
minister said NBFCs are fi-
avy toll on economic activity.
The government and RBI
have unveiled a series of mea-
sures to shield the poor and
the economy from relentless
spread of the virus.
In China, a sharp contrac-
tion in industry, services, reta-
il sales, and investment in the
first quarter due to the corona-
VIRUS IMPACT
GDP growth (%) forecast
for FY 2021
ADB 4.0
Fitch 2.0
Moody’s
OECD
SBI 2.6
Crisil 3.5
Icra
virus outbreak will pull
growth down to 2.3% this year.
Growth will rebound to an
above normal 7.3% in 2021, be-
fore reverting back to normal
growth. The latest forecast me-
ans that India will continue to
don the mantle of the fastest
growing major economy in the
world amid the Covid-19 indu-
Quantity/yr: 2mkg
Avg auction price: 700/kg
Darj loss so far: 150-250cr
Collateral damage: On
2nd flush
Last 1st flush export:
1.5mkg in 2019
Top buyers: Germany,
France, Japan, UK, US
man Binod Mohan, it is unfort-
unate that the lockdown has
coincided with “our prime
first flush plucking season”,
which generates revenue to
meet half the year’s expendi-
ture. “So, there will be econo-
mic consequences, which may
increase depending on how
long the lockdown continues.”
The planters believe that the
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
Fall in bond yields in 3 mths (in bps*)
53 60
37
China UK
with national supply chains
of essential goods, allowing
them to issue regional passes
for easy movement of staff
and workers. The Centre, ho-
wever, said the number of
such passes should be kept to
“bare minimum”.
The move will be benefici-
al to entities operating in sta-
tes such as Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Punjab in aiding the move-
ment of essentials.
Similarly, designated aut-
horities from railways, ports
and airports may be allowed
by the states and UTs to issue
passes for critical staff mem-
bers and contractual labour
engaged in loading and unlo-
ading of goods. Again, the ho-
me secretary pointed out that
this was being proposed due
to problems in getting passes.
nancial intermediaries who
borrow from banks and thro-
ugh money market instru-
ments, and has sought the
moratorium be applicable on
bank loans to NBFCs.
The council also said that
NBFCs should be allowed to
give their borrowers a few
months more than the three-
month moratorium to pay de-
ferred interest through easi-
er instalments rather than a
lump sum.Banks with a large
exposure to NBFCs say that a
moratorium might be neces-
sitated to avoid a credit freeze
to sectors that are being ser-
ved by non-banks.
In the past, there was a de-
mand from finance compani-
es to obtain direct funding
from the RBI. Bankers said
the purpose of providing in-
direct support through targe-
ted long-term repo opera-
tions was to ensure that only
the well-performing NBFCs
get the money.
ced sharp slowdown.
“The Covid-19 pandemic
jeopardises global growth
and India’s recovery. But In-
dia’s macro-economic funda-
mentals remain sound, and
we expect the economy to re-
cover strongly in the next fi-
scal year,” said ADB chief
economist Yasuyuki Sawada.
“Indian authorities have ac-
ted swiftly to shore up the eco-
nomy hit by the pandemic.
Ongoing reforms to personal
and corporate taxes and mea-
sures to strengthen agricul-
ture and the rural economy
and alleviate financial sector
stress will help accelerate In-
5.3
dia’s recovery,” he said.
5.1 Risks to the outlook are
firmly on the downside. A
prolonged pandemic would
push the global economy into
4.7 deep recession and further
slow Indian growth. Were the
virus to spread widely within
India, economic activity wo-
uld be severely constrained,
the ADB said.
Both urban and rural con-
sumption would be suppor-
ted by reduced personal inco-
me taxes and increased assi-
stance to agriculture sector
and rural areas.
industry will find it difficult
to move past the current crisis,
considering the carry-over
deficits that had resulted
from the 104-day-long Hills shut-
down in 2017. “Darjeeling tea es-
tates are yet to recover from the
blow received during the 2017
strike. The incident forced ma-
ny top global importers to drop
Darjeeling tea from their list.
Another disruption in supply
could be fatal for the variety,” sa-
id Indian Tea Exporters’ Asso-
ciation (ITEA) chairman An-
shuman Kanoria.
Goodricke MD Atul Astha-
na estimates the total loss for
the tea industry at close to Rs
1,500 crore. “Even if the gardens
open around April 15, we will lo-
se the entire crop of April. Dar-
jeeling will be the worst hit.”
Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling
produce around 353 million kg
26
43 36
India
A third change was to ease
the inter-state movement of
goods by roads. The Centre
noted that there were diffi-
culties faced by trucks on
their return journey after un-
loading goods, as they were
often stopped by local autho-
rities and the police during
the lockdown. To overcome
this issue, truck drivers will
have to produce the electro-
nic way bill issued by GST
Network, or the invoice for
easy passage.
The change in rules fol-
lows industry consultations
with commerce and industry
minister Priyush Goyal
earlier this week as well as
deliberations that depart-
ment for promotion of in-
dustry and internal trade se-
cretary Guruprasad Moha-
patra had last week.
HC tells Icra,
hold rating of
Indiabulls HF
New Delhi: The Delhi high co-
urt on Friday restrained cre-
dit rating company Icra from
making public the credit sco-
re of Indiabulls Housing Fi-
nance (IHFL) till April 6. The
interim direction by Justice
Sanjeev Sachdeva came in vi-
ew of a plea to restrain ICRA
from downgrading IHFL’s cre-
dit score for not providing so-
me information sought by the
credit rating company.
The court also issued noti-
ce to Sebi and Icra seeking the-
ir stand on IHFL’s plea by
April 6, the next date of hea-
ring. Till then the court rest-
rained Icra “from uploading
any decision with regard to
the credit rating of the petitio-
ner (IHFL)”.
The direction came on
IHFL’s plea claiming that
ICRA was threatening to go
ahead with the credit review
despite Sebi’s advisory of
March 30 relaxing compliance
with certain norms issued by
the regulator. IHFL has clai-
med that in the prevailing
emergent situation “necessa-
ry requisite details” sought by
Icra for the credit review co-
uld not be provided. AGENCIES
Sensex dives
674 points on
rising cases
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Rising fears about
the spread of the coronavirus
and its growing impact on the
global economy pulled the
sensex down by 674 points to
below the 28k mark at 27,591on
Friday. The Nifty on the NSE
also dropped 170 points to be-
low the 8,100 level at 8,084.
Additionally, since Mon-
day is a trading holiday becau-
se of Mahavir Jayanti, some
traders were unwilling to ke-
ep their speculative positions
open and sold during the day,
which aggravated the slide,
market players said. The lo-
wer closing on Friday marked
the seventh consecutive week
of slide for the indices, a first
since June 2008, a note from
Motilal Oswal Financial Ser-
vices pointed out.
In these seven weeks, the in-
dex has lost a third of its value.
Additionally, the Bank Nifty
has lost 44% over the last six
weeks, recording its biggest
six-week fall ever, the note said.
(mkg) of made tea annually and
it may come down by 45-50mkg
this year. There are 3.5 lakh la-
bourers (along with their 15
lakh direct dependents) on pay-
roll across the 290 tea gardens
(Dooars 158, Darjeeling 87 and
Terai 45) in north Bengal.
Meanwhile, the Consultati-
ve Committee of Plantation
Associations (CCPA), the lar-
gest apex body of tea associa-
tions in India, wrote to the cen-
tral government requesting a
relief package. “The industry
is facing a severe cash crunch,
impeding its ability to cope
with wage and other related
obligations of the 1.2 million
workers,” wrote Vivek Goen-
ka, the chairman of both
CCPA and ITA. He has asked
for an assistance of Rs 1,000
per week for three months for
each tea garden worker.
12 11
2
Germany +1 Japan
Some Commit For 3 Mths, Others For 1 Yr
Shilpa.Phadnis@timesgroup.com son said. SAP India is estima- a firm believer in free mar-
ted to have around 13,000 emp- kets and the process of creati-
Bengaluru: A number of glo- loyees in India. ve destruction where weaker
bal companies — most with a Morgan Stanley CEO Ja- and inefficient firms fail, re-
large presence in India — ha- mes Gorman was quoted in sulting in layoffs in those
ve assured employees that the US media as saying that firms. But the current situa-
there will be no or insignifi- employees’ jobs would be safe tion, he indicated, was diffe-
cant layoffs while the Co- this year. It has 3,300 techno- rent — a result of sensible go-
vid-19 outbreak and lock- logists in India. Salesforce vernment-mandated lock-
down continue. Some have ta- CEO Marc Benioff has pled- downs. “Large companies
ken a 90-day no-layoff pledge. ged to do no significant lay- like Google, Amazon, and
Others have put a stop to all la- offs for 90 days, and Booz Al- Walmart must take the no-co-
yoffs for this year. A few are len Hamilton till July 1. ronavirus layoff pledge and
protecting jobs by reducing Palo Alto Networks CEO use their reserves to continue
fresh hiring. Nikesh Arora tweeted his to pay employees, say, 75% of
Among them are SAP,
Morgan Stanley, Salesforce, SHIELDING EMPLOYEES
Palo Alto Networks, PayPal,
For this year No time Starbucks
Citigroup, JP Morgan, Bank
Morgan Stanley specified PayPal
of America and Booz Allen
Hamilton. Bank of America Wells Fargo Palo Alto
A JP Morgan India spoke- JP Morgan Networks
sperson said the firm recog- For 90 days Citigroup NOT APPLICABLE:
nises its people are critical to
SAP
its success. “That is why we
are consciously making deci- Salesforce
HSBC
Deutsche Bank
If there’s a serious
performance issue or a
sions designed to prevent any
new layoffs as a result of Co-
vid-19, including significant-
ly reducing hiring — in many
Booz Allen Hamilton Credit Suisse
commitment to no Covid-re-
lated layoffs “to allay con-
breach of code of conduct
the salary and guarantee full
health benefits,” he said.
cases stopping it completely cerns of our employees”. The Meanwhile, Tata Star-
— and working with local go- company has over 7,000 peo- bucks said that any of its
vernments and officials,” the ple in California, Tel Aviv and employees diagnosed with
spokesperson said. Sources India. Covid-19 would be granted pa-
have previously told TOI that Most companies have se- id leave until they recover ful-
JP Morgan has 34,000 employ- en a dramatic reduction in ly and are medically cleared
ees in India, its largest work- business because of lock- to return to work. And emplo-
force outside the US. downs around the world. yees who need to self-quaran-
SAP said it is committed That affects revenue immedi- tine will be granted an addi-
to not making significant lay- ately, but companies have to tional 14 days paid leave.
offs for 90 days. “We have our continue paying their work- Goldman Sachs will offer 10
valued employees in our he- forces even though there is days of ‘Covid-19 Family Lea-
arts and want to assure them less work, and less profit. ve’ to employees globally to
that we have their backs as we Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe care for family members, as
deal with this health crisis distinguished professor at needed, due to Covid-related
now,” a company spokesper- Tuck at Dartmouth, said he is illness or childcare needs.
EXECUTIVE DIGEST Birlas donate
Covid-19: Ex-IL&FS execs get bail `500 crore to
Mumbai: A special lockdown court on Friday granted interim
bail to former IL&FS Financial Services chief Ramesh Bawa and
VC of IL&FS, Hari Sankaran, who were arrested last year in a
fight virus
fraud case. The court granted them the relief for 75 days in TIMES NEWS NETWORK
light of the pandemic.“Considering the medical history of the
patient as well as considering the prevailing situation in the Mumbai: Aditya Birla Group
country of Covid-19, the temporary bail application is has contributed Rs 500 crore to-
allowed,” judge P R Sitre said. The interim bail was granted on wards Covid-19 relief measu-
a surety of Rs 30,000 each. TNN res, of which Rs 400 crore will
be towards the PM CARES
Fund. SBI also said it will dona-
IndusInd promoters seek stake hike te Rs 100 crore to the PM’s fund.
Mumbai: IndusInd Bank said its promoters — IndusInd
The bank’s employees will
International Holdings — have sought permission from the RBI
to increase their holding in the lender to 26% even as ratings
agency Moody’s warned of a downgrade. “On a fully diluted
contribute two days’ salary.
Of the balance of the Birla
group’s relief initiative, a
basis the promoters of the bank have a holding of 14.68%,
which is very close to the current regulatory cap of 15%,” the
bank said in a statement to stock exchanges. This comes at
grant of Rs 50 crore has been
made to Ficci-Aditya Birla
CSR Centre for Excellence,
time its shares have been hammered in the exchanges. TNN while another Rs 50 crore is
going towards supply of 1 mil-
HDFC eyes up to `7,500cr via NCDs lion N95 masks, 2.8 lakh perso-
New Delhi: Mortgage lender HDFC will raise up to Rs 7,500
nal protective equipment
(PPE) as well as ventilators.
crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis, the
Crop protection products
company said on Friday. The base issue size of non-convertible
manufacturer UPL too has
debentures (NCDs) is Rs 2,500 crore with the green shoe
pledged Rs 75 crore to the PM
option is of Rs 5,000 crore. The objective of the issue is to
augment the long-term resources, it said in a regulatory filing.
CARES Fund, in addition
to providing PPE units.Sie-
The NCDs with a coupon rate of 7.2% will be open for offer on
mens India has committed Rs
April 8 to designated persons or entities. AGENCIES
20 crore towards providing
medical equipment.
‘Non-essentials’ are now
‘absolute necessity’
 From P 1 technicians after the discharge vid-19—serves the purpose of
pipe of her washing machine creating social distancing. Ho-
R
epairs of laptops, printers, was damaged but in vain. “My wever, he rues that enforce-
refrigerators, ACs, daughter, son-in-law and grand- ment agencies are not open to
smartphones and even child have moved in with me till issuing even the bare-mini-
TV sets are an absolute necessi- the curfew lasts and the laundry mum passes.
ty when you are confined to yo- basket overflows on most mor- Vijay Kumar, director (cus-
ur house under emergency con- nings. With no chance of get- tomer support) at printer and
ditions. Even hospitals and go- ting a new discharge pipe anyti- scanner company Epson India,
vernment offices are finding it me soon, I’ve been trying to plug said while telephonic support is
difficult to repair or replace go- holes in the existing one with offered wherever its feasible, at
ods. It’s near impossible to car- cello tape,” she said. least two passes should still be
ry out any repair work swiftly In Chennai, Neelima Shar- issued to the service personnel/
without an emergency pass. ma, a home-maker whose refri- centre to manage movement in
D Vinayak, a senior profes- gerator stopped working, has cities. For critical complaints at
sional with a media company in hospitals and government offi-
the Delhi-NCR region, is extre- HOSPITALS ces, Epson said, “In such cases,
mely worried as his laptop—the we request the customer to send
only way he gets connected to HIT TOO an email or provide a pass.”
his office and manages to carry posted an appeal in the local LG Electronics has major
out his assignments from home- WhatsApp group, requesting AC deployments across hospi-
—has crashed. On contacting anyone with “even a small spa- tals, but is finding it difficult to
the manufacturer, the staff at re refrigerator to lend/lease” it get curfew passes. “We have not
the helpline tried to sort out his to her for some days. been able to carry out service in
problem over phone, but it tur- “Provision of these services a big way. For important calls,
ned out to be an issue with a spe- is an absolute essential in such we are guiding through phone.
cific part that needs replace- times. People are literally under We are facing a difficult task,
ment. “But movement of our re- house arrest and the only way and are now raising it up with
pair staff is not allowed at resi- we can drive productivity is our industry association as well
dential societies. So, we cannot through work-from-home. But as concerned state govern-
do anything,” he was told. if the repairs cannot be carried ments,” Vijay Babu, vice-presi-
Worried that he may not be out, you not only end up wasting dent for home appliances and
able to contribute to his office, crucial man hours, but it’s also a ACs at LG India, said.
he tried to buy a new laptop. loss for the country’s GDP,” Ni- Such is the scale of the
“Sorry, but there are no delive- tin Kunkolienker, president of problem that a senior employ-
ries that are happening now, IT hardware industry body MA- ee at Samsung India has been
and our retail stores are also IT, said. Kunkolienker said unable to replace the faulty
closed,” was the answer he got. that having the freedom to laptop charging cable of his fa-
Dahisar resident Neela Jos- work from remote locations- mily member.
hi has been trying to call up —home in the case of Co- (Inputs from Nitasha Natu)
 TIMES SPORT THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

‘HURT’ BY CRITICISM, SUAREZ SAYS BARCELONA CHINA-BASED ITALIAN STAR DONADONI FEARS FOR HIS
PLAYERS WERE FIRST TO AGREE ON PAY CUT FAMILY STUCK BACK HOME IN COVID-19 HOTSPOT

‘PM agrees that we

should stay guarded’ GRASS NOT SO GREEN FOR GOATS
Cancellation Of
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Batting legend

Sachin Tendulkar was
among the 49 sportspersons
from across the country
who interacted with Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday
morning, shar-
ing experiences
of the current
lockdown, in the
wake of the Cov-
id-19 outbreak and
ways in which they’ve
been dealing with it.
“Taking care of our el-
ders who are most vulner-
able and using this time to
hear from them, their sto-
ries and experiences was
something the Prime Minis-
ter resonated with. He high-
lighted and reaffirmed my
belief that we should not let
our guard down after April
14, & how we manage that
period will be very critical,”
The consistent
message was
– we have to do this –
and so let’s develop
some positive habits to
do every day, keep our
spirits up and hopefully
we will all get better
soon.”
—VISWANATHAN ANAND,
Former chess world champ
period. We should use this time
to spend with family, exercise
and stay fit physically and
mentally. We can also utilise
the time we’re spending at
home to learn new things.”
Tendulkar said, highlight-
ing how the interaction
went. Tendulkar told the PM
that, as much as possible, he
would use the traditional
way of greeting – ‘Namaste’
– instead of shaking hands
even after the pandemic
has been overcome.
“We also spoke
about mental fitness
being as important
as physical fitness
during this phase, &
shared what I’m doing
at home to keep fit. This
is the time for our entire na-
tion to come together and
keep each other motivated.
Like team spirit wins us
games in sports, our nation
should work as one team to
overcome this,” the former
India cricketer concluded.
Union Sports and Cul-
tural Minister Kiren Rijju
was also part of the conver-
sation as were athletes from
various other sports.
The PM asked us
to convey the
benefits of various
measures to all citizens
as the message is yet to
reach everyone.”
—ANJU BOBBY GEORGE,
Athletics icon
I said that we have to
stay positive in this
—PV SINDHU,
World badminton champion
Wimbledon Reduces
Possibility Of Federer
And Williams Adding
To Their Slam Tallies
Mumbai: The cancellation of Wimble-
don this week has not only fanned the
possibility of a total tennis wipeout for
the rest of the season but may also have
put an end to the Grand Slam title chase
for both Roger Federer and Serena Wil-
liams. Wimbledon was scrapped for the
first time since World War Two on
Wednesday due to the coronavirus pan-
demic, with the suspension of profes-
sional tennis extended to July 13.
The entire claycourt and grasscourt
seasons have been cancelled, with the
four-month shutdown wreaking havoc
on the finances of the lower-tier players.
TIME RUNNING OUT
Tennis Australia head Craig Tiley
has said it would be tough for the sport
to return before 2021 while All England
Lawn Tennis Club CEO Richard Lewis
agreed that it was not unrealistic to be-
lieve tennis might be done for the year.
While 38-year-old Federer is well in-
sulated from the shutdown’s financial
fallout, it could well impact his hopes of
adding to his record haul of 20 Grand
Slam titles.
The last of Federer’s Slams came at
the 2018 Australian Open and the closest
he came to adding to his tally was last
year’s Wimbledon final.
Federer’s last match was in the Aus-
tralian Open semifinals before he under-
went keyhole surgery on his knee in
February. His next chance at a Grand
Slam would be the US Open, scheduled
in New York from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14.
The French Open, an event he has
skipped in the past, has been rearranged
from May to September — a week after
Flushing Meadows.
Australian Todd Woodbridge, a nine-
times Wimbledon doubles champion and
singles semifinalist, was unsure what
was in store for Federer if the season is
lost. “The question that Roger will have
to ask himself is how motivated is he to
come back for another year?” Wood-
bridge told Australian Associated Press
this week.
“Or has this actually helped him? But
The question that Roger will
have to ask himself is how
motivated is he to come back for
another year? Or has this actually
helped him? But the less match
play that you get in this period at
that age, it’s so much harder to
come back and recover once you
start again. It has stopped the
potential ... of Federer winning
one or two more. It becomes very
highly unlikely for him.”
— Todd Woodbridge
NINE-TIME WIMBLEDON DOUBLES CHAMPION
the less match play that you get in this
period at that age, it’s so much harder
to come back and recover once you start
again.
“It has stopped the potential ... of
Federer winning one or two more. It be-
comes very highly unlikely for him.”
While Federer has said he will still
be around for Wimbledon next year, Wil-
liams has been tight-lipped on her fu-
ture. “He shared with me that he looks
forward to participating on the grass
once again in 2021,” Tony Godsick,
Federer’s agent, said in an email to New
York Times.
TWO OF A KIND: Roger Federer is already
the all-time men’s Grand Slam record
holder with 20 titles, while Serena
Williams remains one major short of
drawing level with Australian icon
Margaret Court, who leads the Slam
tally among women with 24 titles
Will Williams ever catch Court?
The American, who turns 39 in Septem-
ber, lost in last year’s Wimbledon final
and remains one Grand Slam short of
tying Margaret Court’s record 24 major
titles. She has reached four Grand Slam
finals since giving birth to daughter
Olympia in 2017 but failed to win any
of them.
Martina Navratilova, winner of 18
Grand Slam singles titles, says the situ-
ation is not ideal for anyone but for play-
ers like Williams and Federer the clock
is ticking.
“The youngsters are missing a
chance to improve and match up against
higher-ranked players,” she said. “The
middle players are kind of stuck, and
the older players like Serena Williams
and Roger Federer, time is not their
friend.
“So they lost basically this year this
opportunity.” REUTERS
Djokovic is the ‘big
loser’ if the season
doesn’t resume
Paris: Before the season went
into cold storage, Novak Djoko-
vic had captured an eighth Aus-
tralian Open and was on an 18-0
winning streak since the turn
of the year.
Talk was of Djokovic, now a
17-time Grand Slam title win-
ner, going on to match his 2011
and 2015 seasons. In 2011, he
built a 41-match win streak be-
fore ending the year with a 70-6
record and 10 titles, including
the Australian Open, Wimble-
don and US Open crowns.
In 2015, Djokovic won the
same three Slams again out of
11 titles in a win-loss record of
UP IN THE AIR: With an 18-0
winning streak this year,
82-6. After taking the 79th title Novak Djokovic was poised
of his career in Dubai on the to dominate the season
last day of February this year, that now, some officials
the 32-year-old proclaimed: fear, may not even resume
“One of the targets is to go un-
beaten the whole season. I’m not on both tours have been affect-
kidding.” However, with the ed. The rescheduled French
French Open, which he has won Open, which is now due to start
once, and Wimbledon, where he just a week after the US Open
was the defending champion, final in New York, also clashes
respectively postponed and with six ATP and WTA events,
scrapped, has his bubble burst? some of which form part of the
“The big loser is Djokovic,” for- lucrative and high-profile Asian
mer world number one and hard-court swing.
seven-time major winner Mats The Laver Cup in Boston,
Wilander told L’Equipe. where Roger Federer is likely to
“He hasn’t lost this year yet, feature, is another direct rival
but this virus has stopped him to the Paris showpiece. Further-
in his tracks.” more, there are no guarantees
After Wimbledon was can- that the spread of the deadly
celled for the first time in 75 coronavirus will have stalled by
years on Wednesday, All Eng- the summer.
land Club chief Richard Lewis The likes of Djokovic, Feder-
was hoping for the best but fear- er and Rafael Nadal have all
ing the worst. “I don’t think it’s banked over $100 million in
unrealistic to say that there may prize money in their careers.
be no more tennis this year,” he However, the world rankings
said. “But I would like to think stretch beyond the 1,200 mark
that things will settle down so where an army of under-achiev-
that tournaments can be played ing and low-paid players barely
sooner rather than later. Who make ends meet. Currently at
knows what will happen?” 1,283 in the world is 27-year-old
The clay-court and grass- Ksenia Kolesnikova of Russia
court seasons have already been — in 2020, she has officially
binned. In all, 21 tournaments made just $68. AFP

A flip side to Corona: Longer Premier League now Mental health imp
during lockdown,
SNAPSHOTS

IOC sets new date be excluded from the next

careers for busy cricketers put off indefinitely reckons Rahane

Ruchir.Mishra@timesgroup.com
Nagpur: The wheels of Indian
cricket have ground to a com-
plete halt, leaving the cricket-
ers with some much-needed
downtime to rest their weary
muscles. International crick-
et’s ceaseless toil leaves the top
players with precious little
time to recharge mentally or
physically. Even those who are
injured are looking to recover
quickly and rush back.
No wonder, then, that the
coronavirus-enforced break
has given India’s cricketers the
opportunity to spend quality
A WELCOME
BREAK?
time with family and put the
pause button on their usually
hectic touring and travelling.
For many of India’s cricketers,
this break may well turn out to
be blessing in disguise. Some of
the senior players, and those
dealing with injuries, may
even end up playing longer as a
result, feel experts and physio-
therapists.
Senior physiotherapist Dr
Ashish Agrawal, who has
worked with the National
Cricket Academy (NCA) in the
past and also been associated
with the Vidarbha Cricket As-
sociation (VCA) for a decade,
feels that the break can help
prolong careers of players.
For players like Virat Kohli, who
play all three formats and hardly
get time off, this enforced break
due to the Covid-19 pandemic
could see him come back fresher
“In the training principal,
the most neglected part is the
rest and recovery, which is of ut-
most importance in order to
perform at your peak. Other-
wise, it will lead to what we call
‘overtraining syndrome’ in
which performance deterio-
rates,” Agrawal told TOI.
Team India’s support staff
has been trying to juggle work-
loads and give players suffi-
cient breaks but that wasn’t the
case in the all-important 2019-20
season. As a result, a lot of play-
ers got injured. Rohit Sharma’s
calf injury became chronic
while Bhuvneshwar Kumar
had a series of problems, rang-
ing from his ankle and back to
sports-hernia issues.
Shikhar Dhawan also went
through a patch of bad luck
physically, suffering a thumb
fracture and then thigh and
shoulder injuries. Hardik Pan-
dya had surgery after a stress
fracture of the lower back. Pac-
er Jasprit Bumrah was injured
at the start of the South Africa
Test series last year before
making a comeback in New
Zealand, where he clearly
wasn’t at his best.
If not for the lockdown, all
the Indian players would have
been busy with the Indian Pre-
mier League (IPL) right now.
Strength and condition
coach Sudarsan VP, who has
worked with all the current In-
dian cricketers since their ju-
nior days, however had a con-
trasting opinion. “It’s good for
the cricketers to spend quality
time with family, which is ex-
tremely important. However, if
you look at the cricketing as-
pect, when they have taken a
long break and training, a lot of
de-training could also take
place,” Sudarsan said.
“Normally with any elite
athlete, if they don’t train for
more than three days their per-
formance goes down by 5 %.
With this long break, they can
extend their longevity in the
game by eliminating the break-
down due to continuous games.
But when they come back will
they have the same level of fit-
ness as before?”
However, former women’s
team fielding coach Biju Ge-
orge disagreed. “These times
you can find your core group,
from which you draw strength.
It will help Indian players pro-
long their careers,”he said.
London: The Premier
League was suspended indef-
initely on Friday following a
meeting of the 20 football
clubs where a series of finan-
cial measures were dis-
cussed amid the coronavirus
pandemic.
The English league had
given a tentative return date
of April 30 but that was
pushed back with a state-
ment saying the “2019-20 sea-
son will only return when it
is safe and appropriate to do
so” and only with the full sup-
port of government and med-
ical guidance.
“There is a combined ob-
jective for all remaining do-
mestic league and cup match-
TOUGH MEASURES
es to be played,” the league
said, “enabling us to main-
tain the integrity of each
competition.”
Teams still have nine or 10
games left to play, with Liver-
pool - the leader by 25 points -
still needing two more wins
to clinch its first title since
1990. UEFA, in a letter signed
by the European Clubs' Asso-
ciation and the European
Leagues, has urged members
not to abandon their competi-
tions. Halting leagues with-
out approval from UEFA
could see teams blocked from
qualifying for the Cham-
pions League and Europa
Reuters
With the Premier League now
suspended for an indefinite
period due to Covid-19 pandemic,
will Liverpool, who are 25 points
clear of second-placed Man City,
be declared champions?
League as they are deter-
mined based on final posi-
tions in domestic standings.
Teams ask players to take a
30 per cent salary cut
Premier League clubs will
ask players to take a combi-
nation of pay cuts and defer-
rals amounting to 30 percent
of their annual salary due to
the financial crisis caused by
the coronavirus pandemic,
the league said in a statement
on Friday.
The English top flight's
highly-paid stars have come
under increasing pressure to
take pay cuts from govern-
ment officials in recent days
after four clubs said they
would use public money to
subsidise pay for non-playing
staff. Health secretary Matt
Hancock said on Thursday
footballers should “take a pay
cut and play their part.” AFP
Mumbai: India's Test vice-
captain Ajinkya Rahane on
Friday highlighted the im-
portance of mental health
in times of distress, lauding
the Maharashtra govern-
ment for its effort in the
cause as the state and coun-
try battles the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Mental health is also
important during this lock-
down. Highly appreciate
the efforts of Maharashtra
government, BMC and
Mpower for creating a free
helpline to support people
for their mental wellbeing,”
Rahane said in a tweet. PTI
Edgbaston: From
iconic Test venue
to testing centre
Birmingham: The War-
wickshire County Cricket
Club (WCCC) on Friday an-
nounced that it is handing
over the Edgbaston stadi-
um to the government to
create a drive-through Co-
vid-19 testing station for the
National Health Services
(NHS) staff. The stadium’s
main on-site car park will
be used to regularly test the
medical staff who are work-
ing in Birmingham and the
wider West Midlands re-
gion, the club's website
said. AGENCIES
for qualification
The International Olympic
Champions League if their
domestic competitions are
ended prematurely. In a joint
letter released late on Thursday,
Committee (IOC) has issued the UEFA, the European Club Associ-
new deadline for the qual- ation (ECA), and the European
ification period which is June 29, Leagues body representing
2021. “The new qualification nearly a thousand clubs in 29
period deadline is 29 June 2021 countries, said that they were
and IFs can define their own working on the possibility of
qualification period deadlines playing on into July and August
should the deadline be prior to if need be.
this date,” the IOC said in a
statement. Village could house patients
The under-construction Athletes
SA players test negative Village for the Tokyo Olympics
All the South African players, could be used as a temporary
who returned from their in- hospital for cornoavirus patients.
complete ODI tour of India, were Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has
found to be symptom-free of been talking about the possibil-
coronavirus and those who ity of occupying the massive
underwent tests returned development on Tokyo Bay,
negative, according to the which is to house up to 11,000
team’s chief medical officer Dr Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic
Shuaib Manjra. The Proteas athletes and staff during the
completed a 14-day period of games.
self-isolation on Thursday.
IPL can surely wait: Raina
Tour de Suisse cancelled
The Tour de Suisse was can-
The IPL can celled on Friday in the face of
wait till mil- the coronavirus pandemic and
lions of lives, the organisers of June’s eight-
which are at day cycling race said they will
risk due to the not reschedule it for later in the
outbreak of year. “This is the first time since
Covid-19 the second World War that the
pandemic is “most important”, traditional event will not take
feels veteran India batsman place,” said the statement on
Suresh Raina. “Life is most the race website.
important at this point of time.
IPL can surely wait. We all need Delayed start for Pro League
to follow the government The International Hockey
guidelines on lockdown else we Federation has been forced to
all face the consequences,” extend the suspension of FIH
Raina said. Pro League’s second edition due
to the Covid-19 pandemic and
‘No idea on football restart’ now plans to hold the ties in July
Fifa boss Gianni Infantino and August, provided the
admitted that “nobody knows” current situation improves. “FIH

Azam Khan: An ‘accountant’ with an assassin’s instinct

Siddharth.Saxena@timesgroup.com Getty Images
ranging all the bits and pieces of the of Peshawar. “We are one big family — since he was demoted to ‘porter’, subse-
when football can resume
around the world, and that
when it returned it was “going
to be different”. “We all wish
and the participating National
Associations (NAs) have decid-
ed to consider the month of July
and the beginning of August
game, having everything under close brothers, uncles, cousins. And we are quently to move to the UK as coach at that we could have football 2020 to play matches,” FIH CEO
tomorrow but unfortunately it's Thierry Weil said.

T
he Covid-19 pandemic is like the
War. Among the many it
claims— jazz musicians, saxo-
phone greats, working class actors, for-
gotten sportspersons — most get re-
duced to a footnote, to be mourned
when the world begins to pick up the
pieces. So it was when news came that
TRIBUTE
Azam Khan had succumbed to the vi-
rus in a London hospital last week. He
was 95.
Azam Khan was a legend of Pakis-
tan squash, a true great in an over-
crowded array of Pakistani squash
maestros. Described as the ‘Account-
ant,’ by most estimates, Azam was the
finest ever player of the tight court and
tighter corners. But, as the old sporting
Pakistan squash great Azam Khan died
in the UK after contracting Covid-19
joke goes, he may not even have been
the best player in his own family.
A Feb 2019 article in UK-based web
magazine, DESIblitz.com quotes for-
mer international Johan Barrington
from his 1982 book, Murder in the
Squash Court: “If Hashim was the
most devastating savage of the great
Khans, and Roshan the most beautiful
stroke player, Azam would have been
the little accountant, methodically ar-
analysis, nothing out of place. He was
totally silent on court, like a little bird.”
These names were family. Hashim
Khan, was Azam’s brother, 11 years his
senior. Hashim is generally considered
as the pioneer of the sport as Pakistan
would dominate the sport for almost
nearly half a century from late 1950 on-
wards. Roshan Khan was a second cou-
sin. Roshan’s son was one Jahangir
Khan.
“There was also Mohibullah Khan
Senior, he was Hashim and Azam’s ne-
phew,” Jahangir tells TOI from Kara-
chi. “Together these four men ruled
squash in the ’50s and they laid the
groundwork for me and Jansher,” says
the man, a six-time World Champion
and record10-time British Open winner.
All hailed from the Nawa Kille
Payan village outside the garrison town
Pashtuns, we don’t leave anything eas-
ily that we get after,” laughs Jahangir of
the semi-professional era and the great
rivalry between the four. A four-time
British Open champion, Azam’s streak
from 1959 to 1962 also boasts of a wildly
one-sided 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 scoreline over
Roshan Khan for his first title.
Squash in Pakistan was a British ar-
my hand me down. Centered around
the cantonment culture in Peshawar,
the sport grew with local boys observ-
ing the officers playing the game. “They
would watch the British officers play
and carried the game to our homes, to
our villages.” Originally a tennis player,
Azam switched to squash on the advice
of his older brother. Money was meagre
and Azam Khan himself left his em-
ployment as ‘electrician’ — Rs 100 per
month — in the Pakistan Air Force
New Grampians Club. Azam’s personal
legacy continued in the form of grand-
daughter Carla who was top British pro
in the 2000s.
Despite the familial familiarity, it is
possible that Jahangir may not have felt
the need for a deeper acquaintance with
Azam. It was the other, the “outsider”,
however, who recalls Azam more fondly.
The Peshawar-born Jansher is not re-
lated to the Khans, but feels a closer af-
finity to Azam. “I learnt how to grip the
racquet from him,” he tells TOI, recall-
ing how he met Azam for the first time
in 1984 when he had come for the junior
British Open. “He always had a tip or
two.“I remember he’d told me, ‘Jansher
if you’re not 100% fit you cannot suc-
ceed in squash.’ It was a strange thing to
say because his game was tactical, but I
hung on to it all through my career.”
not possible and nobody in the
world today knows when we will NZ ‘A’ may visit in August
be able to play like before,” New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on
Infantino said. Friday decided against cancell-
ing its A team’s tour of India in
‘Finish season or miss CL’ August despite the worsening
UEFA and Europe’s top clubs pandemic, saying it is “too early
have stated their determination at this point” even as it applied
that the current football season for government wage subsidy
should be played to a conclusion scheme to assist payments to
and threatened that teams may its employees.
REGD. NO. TN/Chief PMG/398/2002
RNI NO. 1547/57 ISSN 0971-8257
No. 80 Vol. CLXXXIII Air Charge: Raipur & via Re 1.00 , Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore, Ernakulam, Trivandrum & via Rs.
2.00, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Udaipur, Vizag & via Rs. 4.00, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna & via Rs. 5.00.
International Retail Prices (Daily): Oman 350 Baizas, Singapore 4 S$.
Published for the proprietors of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., by R. Krishnamurthy, at The Times of India Building, Dr. D.N.
Road, Mumbai-400 001, Tel. No (022) 6635 3535. Fax: (022) 2273 1144 and printed by him at (1) The Times of India Subur-
ban Press, Akurli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivli (E), Mumbai-400 101. Tel No. (022) 2887 2324, 2887 2930 and
(2) The Times of India Print City, Plot No. 4, T.T.C. Industrial Area, Thane Belapur Road, Airoli, Navi Mumbai-400 708. Tel.
No. (022) 2760 9999; Fax: (022) 2760 5275. Tel. Nos. Mumbai Response (022) 6635 3636, 2273 3636, Fax: (022) 22731144,
22731401. E-Mail: toieditorial@timesgroup.com. Editor (Mumbai Market): Derick B. D’Sa - responsible for selection of
news under PRB Act © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of Publisher is pro-
hibited.
 BOMBAY TIMES, THE TIMES OF INDIA
SATURDAY APRIL 4, 2020 I ADVERTORIAL, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
LEISURE / BOMBAY TIMES 13
TOP 20 SONGS

Stop panic-buying; opt for #CORONASUTRA

Last
Week
1 1
2 4
Peak Song
Position Title
1 Dus Bahane 2.0
2 Bhankas
Album
Title
Baaghi 3
Baaghi 3
Best of Bollywood
songs and singles
for the week ending

smart rationing instead

Saptaparna.Biswas
@timesgroup.com
BUY SEASONAL AND SLIGHTLY UNRIPE VEGETABLES
The best of locked-down creativity 3 2
4 3
5 7
6 8
7 6
8 5
1 Muqabla
2 Shayad
2 Illegal Weapon 2.0
8 Do You Love Me
1 Haan Main Galat
4 Pyaar Tenu Karde Gabru
Street Dancer 3D
Love Aaj Kal
Street Dancer 3D
Baaghi 3
Love Aaj Kal
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan
April 4, 2020

If you hoard stuff and it isn’t used, it will definitely go waste. 9 9 6 Mehrama Love Aaj Kal
Chef Amandeep Singh shares, “According to the average Indian WE 10 11 9 Mere Liye Tum Kaafi Ho Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan
he COVID-19 pandemic

T has caused widespread

panic across the world
and this has resulted in people
dietary requirement, one meal needs only about 30 per cent
fruits or vegetables. The rest is carbs, proteins and fat. So, there’s
no point stocking vegetables.” He adds, “If you believe that per-
ishable items like tomatoes, bananas, green leafy vegetables, etc.
DIDN’T
TELL YOU
THIS!
11 10
12 13
13 12
14 15
4 Garmi
2 Malang Title Track
2 Sauda Khara Khara
12 Humraah
Street Dancer 3D
Malang
Good Newz
Malang
Prabhudheva in
Muqabla
stocking up way more essen- need to be stocked, I would suggest you buy slightly unripe and Muqabla
tial material than they need. 15 14 1 Dheeme Dheeme Pati Patni Aur Woh The Street Dancer 3D song, Muqabla,
firm ones. And opt for the seasonal and local fruits like chikoo,
So, instead of panic buying guava, mud apples, kairi, etc. instead of exotic ones.”
16 16 4 Don’t Be Shy Bala has been on the charts since the last 13
and hoarding stuff, here are 17 18 1 Ghungroo Song War weeks. The original Mukkala Mukkabla
was composed by AR Rahman for the
some things that will help SHOP ONCE, EAT OVER THE WEEK 18 17 1 Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare Pati Patni Aur Woh
Tamil film Kadhalan (1994). Since then,
you plan well and also Avoid stepping out every other day for grocery shopping. 19 19 1 Shaitan Ka Saala Housefull 4
it was sampled and copied multiple
ensure that those in need Instead, plan the family meals. Nutritionist Pallavi Dhoot 20 20 2 Naah Goriye Bala times. In fact, there are over 12
won’t fall short of supplies Jalan says, “It is advisable to do our essential shopping once in versions, a feat that earned Rahman
during the lockdown. 7 or 10 days. Buy a specific amount of grocery that has a mix a place in a book of records.
of items with long shelf life and perishables, as per the Source: Radio Mirchi
family’s requirement.”
SMART HACKS
5
WEEK ENDING APRIL 4, 2020
FINDING THE BEST SUBSTITUTES PEARLS
FOR RATIONING The supply of groceries has suffered and some items might not OF TOP ANGREZI
be readily available in stores. So, nutritionist Dr Avanti WISDOM
 Plan a week’s meal Deshpande recommends finding the best substitutes for meals.
chart and shop only She says, “Get non-perishable items like dals, atta and rice, American singer

Source: tumblr
once a week first. In case there is a limit on the amount you can buy, or if it’s Song Title Artiste / Band Demi Lovato’s I Love
out of stock, opt for local millets, ragi, jowar mordhan, etc., that 1 End Of Time Alan Walker, K-391, Ahirx Me, is a fun, light-
 Stick to the list, are easily available and mostly in stock.” Dr Deshpande sug- hearted and upbeat
2 Yummy Justin Bieber pop and R&B song
don’t over shop gests having more quantity of potatoes and onions that can be
3 Intentions Justin Bieber and Quavo with lyrics that
 Find local substitutes used in all meals. She also recommends reducing unnecessary mainly talk
chai breaks in the day to conserve milk. 4 Alone. Pt II Alan Walker and Ava Max
about struggles
to staples that are 5 I Love Me Demi Lovato Demi Lovato with self-image
out of stock LOCKDOWN RATION SUBSTITUTES These are Top 5 international songs. Source: Gaana.com
 Buy slightly
unripe STAPLES SUBSTITUTES
Atta and rice Millets, millet flour,
vegetables and fruits
DID YOU
M
sattu atta usic lovers remembered Nazia Hassan fondly
to make them on her 55th birth anniversary on April 3.
last longer
Vegetables

Fruits
Soya nuggets, rajma,
chhole, pulses, legumes
Dry fruits — almonds,
THE
LAST
WORD
KNOW Called the ‘Queen of Pop’, she became a
sensation with her debut song, Aap Jaisa Koi in the film
Qurbani (1980). She was the youngest to win the Filmfare
anjeer, raisins, desiccated Nazia Hassan was Best Female Playback Singer award for it in 1981.
apricots, berries only 15 when she Nazia succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 35 in the
Milk Black tea, lemon tea, sang Aap Jaisa Koi year 2000.
green tea

TIMES KAKURO LOOP THE LOOP THE DAILY CROSSWORD

Rules
■ Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal
lines, creating a single loop (Fig A).
■ Crossovers or branches are not allowed
(As shown by dotted lines in Fig B).
■ Numbers in the puzzle indicate the number of
lines that should surround it, while empty cells may (Fig A) Not allowed
(Fig B)
ENGINEERING | MANAGEMENT | MEDIA | LAW be surrounded by any number of lines.
■ You can’t draw
SUDOKU CHALLENGE lines around
zeroes.
HOW ■ Each puzzle
TO PLAY has just one
unique solution.
Fill in the grid so How to begin:
that every Example (Fig A) -
horizontal row, Begin with the
every vertical zero next to 3.
column and Since no lines can
every 3x3 box be drawn around
contains the zero, mark
digits 1-9, crosses around it,
without Level: Easy as shown. Now
repeating the 20 Note: A digit cannot appear more than once in any there is a cross in
numbers in the 12
particular digit combination. For instance in the example, one space around
same row, we cannot have the combination of 8+4+8 for 20. 3. So we know the
column or Example The numbers in the coloured squares refer to the sums three lines of 3
box.You can’t of the digits that you must fill into the empty spaces can only be drawn in the remaining three spaces. Next, these lines can only be
change the directly below or to the right of the blue square containing extended in one direction each. Continue, using the same logic.
digits already the number. For instance, in the given example, the 2 boxes below 12 must
given in the grid. contain 2 digits that add up to 12, whereas for 20, the 3 boxes placed Hints: Keep eliminating possibilities by marking crosses in spaces
Every puzzle has horizontally next to it must add up to 20. No zeroes are used here, only the digits between dots where a line isn’t possible, i.e., if you have already
one solution. one through nine. completed required lines or where a line extension may create a
Level: Medium branch or cause a deadend (Fig B)

HEALTH CAPSULE JUMBLE

GARFIELD
HI AND LOIS

circumstances may require you to

change direction.
VIRGO August 22 - September 21

Finolex
You are committed to finding an
effective way to work within the
current limitations. Today is a day for
FORTUNE an emotional breakthrough, but you
ANIMAL CRACKERS

A n u pa m V K a p p

must apply both your logic and your

intuition. It is best to catch any
ror a p p o n tm c ra c . mai t anupamvkap il@gmail.com
ARCHIE

potential problems before they even

or sms on 9822042295.
manifest. The hardest part is not
changing your plans.
BIRTHDAY TODAY LIBRA September 22 - October 22
Y our rebellious nature might ruffle some
feathers in your friend circle. But there will be no
misunderstandings to rock the boat.
You might be so impatient today that
you are unwilling to wait for some-
Tip: Your lucky colours are red and brown. one to catch up. You can easily
You share your birthday with: Robert Downey Jr exhaust others. It’s important to
listen to your heart. It is time for
you to build on what you recently
ARIES March 20 - April 18 It may be started. Circumstances require you to take
stressful as you come to grips with what’s necessary action.
PEANUTS

happening within you. You know what you SCORPIO October 23 - November 20 You
NANCY

are doing and you have a good sense of know what you must do to accomplish your
what you must do to accomplish your goals. goals but something is holding you back. Go
Pick through the noise and act on whatev- ahead and break out of your routine, but
er makes the most sense. remember there can be consequences.
TAURUS April 19 - May 19 Your best bet is SAGITTARIUS November 21-December 20
to follow that instinct and keep your feelings Your motives are now revealed, yet you don’t
to yourself for now. It is your fear of not necessarily feel vulnerable. You might not
being heard that makes you think you convince anyone of the merits of your ideas
SOLUTIONS TO GAMES/PUZZLES are being neglected. Make small changes but, at least, they will know where you stand.
SPELLATHON that will have positive long-term effects. It will be better to make adjustments later on
Today’s Ratings: 07-average TIMES SUDOKU TIMES KAKURO LOOP THE LOOP Learning will be rewarding. than letting the opportunity slip by.
THE BETTER HALF

08-good 10-outstanding GEMINI May 20 - June 20 You might get CAPRICORN December 21 - January 19
somewhat discouraged today, if your best The idea of breaking out of a restraining
intentions at work run into a lack of support situation is exciting, but it may be better to
T from others. Overcome these negative wait a while longer. You may not want to go
feelings and make an extra effort to reach but then you look at the circumstances and
R D across the chasm between you and others. realise that exposing your vulnerability is a
Y You probably won’t have time for any better option than not showing up.
extracurricular activities. AQUARIUS January 20 - February 18
H A CANCER June 21 - July 21 This is a good There are so many things going on around
day to make decisions, for your values seem you at the moment that you may find it hard
N perfectly clear to you. Combine your to focus on any one particular thing for any
JUMBLE personality with intelligence, and you will length of time. But why should that be a prob-
How many words of four or more let- be free. You are on the edge of something lem? Variety being the spice of life, it’s good
MINDBENDER
MOBBED
ters can you make from the letters Answer: When “The Godfather” premiered in 1972, theaters were — big, but you need to first move out of your that you want to try everything.
shown in today’s puzzle? In making a Jumbles: HELLO BLUFF MEADOW HARBOR fantasies and into the real world. PISCES February 19 - March 19 Your
What has the head of a horse, word, a letter can be used as many LEO July 22 - August 21 You should take attempts to make a connection will be
times as it appears in the puzzle. Each action right away, and then listen to your rewarded, even if it takes time. You may be
the tail of a monkey, word must contain the central letter. intuition. It is crucial to find a pace that quite focused on your responsibilities today.
There should be at least one seven let- SPELLATHON WHATZIT?
eyes like a chameleon, world MINDBENDER you can sustain; your best efforts may be You may feel like a bit of a loner, but that is
ter word. Plurals, foreign words and randy, tardy, tray, yard, yarn
proper names are not allowed. British dray, handy, hardy, HYDRANT, nary, It's not the end of the A male seahorse
wasted. You want to use your intensity to about to change.A disappointment can bring
and the pouch of a kangaroo? English Dictionary is used as reference. focus on something you already started, but up memories of a similar event from the past.
 Follow us on: twitter.com/BombayTimes
LAUGHING EMOJIS, facebook.com/BombayTimes SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 I Emojipedia collected
MICROBE AND instagram.com/BombayTimes ADVERTORIAL, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY and analysed over
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE I MUMBAI
FACE MASK MOST 2,00,000 tweets
POPULAR IN across languages
which referenced
CORONA TWEETS either “coronavirus”
Humour seems to be or “COVID-19”, to
helping people deal with determine the
the coronavirus pandemic most-used emojis
– at least on Twitter with the topic

Bigg Boss 13 WHILE IN BIGG BOSS, WE

HAD NO CONTACT WITH THE
WORLD, IN THE LOCKDOWN
SITUATION, YOU ARE
BUZZSTOP
CRUISE’S TOP GUN:

contestants share MAVERICK RELEASE

STAYING IN YOUR HOUSE
WITH YOUR LOVED ONES
—Sidharth Shukla PUSHED TO DEC 2020

tips to deal with

#CoronaLockdown
Tanvi.Trivedi@timesgroup.com &
Neha.Maheshwri@timesgroup.com
Sidharth Shukla

Paras Chhabra
TOM CRUISE on Friday announced that the release
of his much-awaited film, Top Gun: Maverick, has
been pushed from June to December 2020. The
57-year-old actor took to Twitter to make the
announcement. “I know many of you have waited 34

W
hile the nation is going
through a 21-day lockdown, we
spoke to some Bigg Boss 13
contestants, who were locked up inside
the house, cut off from the world
outside, for months together. Here’s
what they said about surviving this
phase of isolation...
SIDHARTH SHUKLA
It is quite easy to lose one’s sanity in
these times. Right now, people may be
getting bored and feeling lazy, which is
understandable. However, this is our
chance to prove our love not just for our
near and dear ones, but also for our
country by staying at home. In the Bigg
Boss house, the only thing that kept us
going was that we were being
entertained by each other. While in Bigg
Boss, we had no contact with the world,
in the lockdown situation, you are
staying in your house with your loved
ones. There won’t be fights... here it’s a
very different scenario and can be fun.
Also, you are not being screened all the
time! I feel it is easy to stay sane at home
and, this is our chance to be soldiers for
mankind and not let the virus spread.
RASHAMI DESAI
Yes, we were locked inside the Bigg
Boss house, but this situation is
extremely serious. Fortunately, people
have a lot of options to keep themselves
occupied, unlike the reality show. We
Hopefully, gender roles will
cease to exist and people will
learn from this phase: Onir
I
was out for a late run when the
lockdown was announced. My first
thought was for my parents, and
how I was going to keep them calm
through these three weeks. Now, my
typical day begins with planning the
meals for the day with baba and maa.
My parents are 90 and 75 years old,
respectively, and it is very important for
me to keep them actively engaged in
these days of lockdown. Like many
people of their age, they get anxious
after listening to the news, especially
about the fatalities in their age group.
Due to their increased vulnerability to
Rashami
Desai
don’t get to spend time
with ourselves when
we are working, so use
these days to pamper
yourself. Catch up on
your reading and
practise yoga and
meditation. Spend
quality time with your
Vishal
family, which we miss out
on in our busy lives. This
Aditya Singh
phase is difficult, but we can
sail through it by focusing on the
positive aspects.
VISHAL ADITYA SINGH
play the guitar by attending online
tutorials, reading poetry and watching
documentaries. Look around, and there
In the Bigg Boss house, we couldn’t are a lot of things to keep yourself
infection, I have neither stepped out of
the house, nor allowed anyone inside
since the lockdown. Our house-help has
been given leave as well.
#LifeInTheLockdown
The best way to keep them engaged is
by doing the two things Bengalis love
the most — cooking and eating! The first
two days, I prepared the dishes they
liked. Soon, baba started taking an
interest and cooking with me. Now, all of
us cook together. This has helped us
Arti
Singh
meet, see or talk to
anyone, but that’s not
the case in the real
world. At some point,
all of us have yearned
for a time when we get
to focus on ourselves.
This is the time to do
that. Also, you can
pursue your hobbies and
interests, which you
couldn’t earlier, owing to lack
of time. In my case, I am learning to
keep the negativity at bay. It is also
heart-warming to see my parents taking
care of each other. Though he can’t
stand for long, my dad prepared paayesh
(kheer) for maa one day because no
sweet was available.
Besides cooking, the most important
thing for me right now is to complete a
script that I have been working on. I
have a self-imposed deadline to finish it
before the lockdown gets over. It is a
political thriller set in Mumbai, Delhi
and Kashmir. I am also re-learning
Hindustani classical music and
doing yoga.
occupied with.
ARTI SINGH
At a time like this,
counting your
blessings really helps.
What’s most important
is to stay positive and
keep reminding yourself
that the lockdown period
will end soon. Use this time to
learn something new, or indulge in your
hobbies. For example, I love cooking and
I try a new recipe every day. The key is to
keep yourself occupied and not let
boredom set in.
SHEFALI JARIWALA
Like the Bigg Boss house, where I
followed a routine, my husband Parag
(Tyagi) and I are following a daily
schedule rather than give in to boredom
and laziness. Patience is the most
important thing right now, the way it was
Filmmaker,
Onir
My biggest takeaway from this
period is that I have learnt to value
people more. All these days of staying
away from the people who I used to
meet every day has made me
understand that I should have probably
given them more time. I wish everyone
comes out of this with more love, care
and understanding — and hopefully,
in the Bigg Boss house,
too. If we avoid going
out, we will be able to
fight this situation. My
Shefali husband and I exercise,
Jariwala meditate, pursue our
hobbies and keep away
from unnecessary
updates on social media.
PARAS CHHABRA
It feels like the Bigg Boss house was a
training ground for the situation we are
facing today. In the house, I loved to wake
up to music and start dancing. It was a
mini workout, which set the ball rolling
for the day. Whenever you dance and
exercise, you feel good. One tip I would
like to give everyone is to occupy yourself
with productive work. The lockdown has
given us an opportunity to spend time
with our family and meditate. People
should use this opportunity to the fullest
and stay indoors.
gender roles will cease to exist and
people will learn from this phase.
Once the period of social distancing is
over, the first person I would want to
meet is my friend Sanjay Suri and
have a nice coffee with his family and
my godchildren.
— As told to
Saptaparna.Biswas@timesgroup.com
years. Unfortunately, it will be a little longer. Top Gun:
Maverick will fly this December. Stay safe, everyone,”
he tweeted. — ANI
KIM AND KYLIE BREAK
SOCIAL DISTANCING
KIM KARDASHIAN WEST and KYLIE JENNER
recently broke social distancing as the duo met at
mom Kris Jenner’s “glam room” to do Kim’s hair
and make-up. In a virtual appearance on Jimmy
Fallon’s show, Kim revealed, “Kylie did my makeup
and my hair (for the show). I don’t have anyone to
do it and I’m not that good, so she did all my
make-up.” — Agencies
RACHEL BLOOM
AND DAN GREGOR
WELCOME BABY GIRL
@racheldoesstuff
RACHEL BLOOM, who was
seen in the show Crazy Ex-
Girlfriend, took to Instagram
to reveal that she gave birth
to her first child and share a
picture (left). Bloom and
husband Dan Gregor
welcomed their daughter,
with the actress noting that
she was in the NICU during
the coronavirus pandemic.
— IANS

Police go theatrical to enforce corona lockdown Niharika.Lal

@timesgroup.com

ver since the

E countrywide
lockdown
announced by
was
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi,
videos of cops taking
creative measures to ensure
people stay indoors have
flooded the internet. From
dancing, to singing, to
wearing a corona hat, police
departments across the
country are using their in- BILASPUR, CHHATTISGARH
BENGALURU house talent to create corona
anthems, puraane Hindi CHANDIGARH In this viral video, which was also shared by CHENNAI
In a video, two policemen from the Ulsoor Traffic gaane and even plays on the Vishal Bhardwaj, DSP Abhinav Upadhyay is
Station, wearing red and green masks, stop bikers on coronavirus. Their ASI Bhupinder Singh has written seen singing Ek Pyar Ka Nagma Hai with a This coronavirus-shaped helmet sure seems to be popular.
the road. They put their helmet on the bikers’ head, inspiration, it seems, has Punjabi songs on the coronavirus, twist — ‘Ghar mein hi rehna hai, baahar nahi Pictures of police inspector S Rajesh Babu of Villivakkam (a
post which other policemen start playing the conch come from Spain’s singing including Haath Nahi Milauna and jaana hai... mil ke abb humko, corona ko neighbourhood in Chennai) wearing this quirky helmet and urging
and drums as if to demonstrate ‘coronation’ of those policemen, whose video went Corona Virus Ne Att Machauni Aa. hatana hai,” he croons. people to stay at home during lockdown became quite a hit online.
who stepped out. viral about 10 days back.
In Pune, policeman PUNE The Pune Police decided
Pramod Kalamkar has given
his own twist to Lagaan’s to add music to their COCHIN SHIPYARD LIMITED
#StayHome announcements (A GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ENTERPRISE)
song, Baar Baar Haan, an
effort which received praise and made a Marathi parody No.P&A/Misc/2020 31 March 2020
from the film’s director,
Ashutosh Gowariker.
of Chale Chalo (Lagaan) to
sing on their rounds, CORRIGENDUM
Punjab Police has recreated explaining the importance of
social distancing and staying
FOR THE INFORMATION OF ALL APPLICANTS
Bari Barsi Khatan Gaya Si Refer Vacancy notification No.P&A/18(204)/2018 Vol II (A) dtd
with corona-focused lyrics home amidst the COVID-19
outbreak. They followed it up 17 February 2020 for the posts of Assistant General Manager
and can be seen performing (Mechanical ) and Deputy Manager (Safety) forCMSRU.
bhangra to it. In Noida, with a Hindi parody on the
the police are playing the tunes of Kandhon Se Milte Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and current situation prevailing
RAJKOT ‘coronavirus’ version Hain Kandhe (Lakshya). in the country, it has been decided to extend the last date of
Their Chale Chalo parody submission of App lication Online for the posts as per the
of Nana Patekar’s famous
Rajkot City Police got into the garba groove to create earned accolades from notifications referred above to 15 April 2020.
Krantiveer dialogue,
awareness about COVID-19. The video, which had 21 Lagaan director Ashutosh
shaming people who For details , please visit website www.cochinshipyard.com.
women cops doing garba, was uploaded on their social
media handle on March 30.
step out. Gowariker as well. Sd/-
CHIEF GENERAL MANAGER (HR & TRAINING)