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A fter a week-long “strict enforcement” of the lock- down post-April 14, the Government is set to relax activities in some sectors on Monday though no relaxation would be given in the contain- ment zones and e-commerce companies will not be allowed to sell non-essential com- modities. A day ahead of the reopen- ing of the agriculture, industry and construction sectors in “Green Zones” (non-hotspot zones), the Home Ministry on Sunday paved the way for migrant workers and labourers to return to their place of work in cities, given they do not show any symptoms of coronavirus. Though migrants will be allowed to return to their places of work in cities, which are non-containment zones, State borders will remain closed for any movement. The Government’s deci- sion comes in the wake of thou- sands of workers being strand- ed across the country, along State border lines, since the national lockdown was imposed on March 25. The Government had first imposed a nationwide lock- down for 21 days till April 14, and then extended it to May 3 in the wake of rising number of Covid-19 cases in the coun- try. The Home Ministry’s deci- sion to reverse its decision on sale of non-essential items through e-commerce platform is a U-turn on its April 15 cir- cular. “In this regard I would like to clarify that while oper- ations of e-commerce for non- essential goods stand prohibit- ed, they will continue to oper- ate for essential goods as has been allowed earlier and con- tinue to be allowed under clause 13(i) of these guidelines,” said Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter to all States, changing provisions on Clause 14(v) which allowed transport of vehicles related to e-commerce. The Clause 14(v) gave permission to all vehicles transporting of e-commerce goods, while Clause 13(i) gave only sale of essential com- modities. This loophole in the April 15 MHA guidelines may be misused by e-commerce companies, alleged trade bod- ies. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) peti- tioned to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A day after Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri advised airlines to open bookings only after the Government takes a decision on resuming passenger flight services, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Sunday directed all airliners to refrain from booking of tickets. In a circular issued on Sunday, the DGCA said that decision has not been taken to commence the domestic /inter- national flights from May 4. In view of this, all airliners are hereby directed to refrain from booking tickets. Further, air- lines may note that they shall be given sufficient notice and time for restarting the opera- tions, the circular read. The circular said that there was no directions/clearance which allows the airlines to start ticket booking for the journey from May 4 onwards. All Indian airlines, includ- ing Vistara and AirAsia India, are currently taking bookings on select flights from May 4. On Saturday night, Puri said on Twitter the Government has not taken any decision to open domestic or international flight operations so far. All domestic and international commercial passenger flight operations have been suspended during the lockdown period. W ith no sign of abatement in Covid-19 cases which crossed 17,200 marks on Sunday, the Government has decided not to allow non- essential services from Monday in the containment areas in designated ‘hotspots’ districts where rate of doubling of coro- navirus cases is less than four days, against the national aver- age of six days. The move aims to curb the spread of the virus which has taken its toll on 556 lives so far. Luv Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said at a Press briefing here that “From tonight, there will be no relax- ation in containment areas in hotspot districts. Stricter mea- sures could be taken.” He said there will be a strict parameter control in the con- tainment zones, under which no services other than essential services will be allowed. According to the Health Ministry guidelines, hotspot or red zones are the areas where “there are a large number of Covid-19 cases or where dou- bling rates of cases is less than four days.” In these hotspots, the local administration delineates con- tainment and buffer zones to control the disease spread. With 1,324 fresh cases regis- tered in the last 24 hours, the total number of novel coron- avirus count in India crossed more than 17,000 to reach 17,200 confirmed cases so far and death toll to 556, accord- ing to the Government data. Alluding to the areas where there will be selective relaxation, the Joint Secretary said, “Areas outside the con- tainment zones, States and districts have to ensure that the measures related to lock- down are followed. Social dis- tancing SOPs and preparato- ry actions in offices, work- places, factories or establish- ments are taken.” S ix foreign tourists who tried to sit out the coronavirus pandemic in a cave in Rishikesh have been sent to quarantine at an ashram in the town after they run out of money, police said Sunday. The four men and two women — from France, the United States, Ukraine, Turkey and Nepal — had been living in the cave near Rishikesh in Uttarakhand since March 24, police inspector Rajendra Singh Kathait told AFP. They have now been moved to Swarg Ashram, Rishikesh where they will be quarantined for 14 days, although none have shown coronavirus symptoms. “Before the lockdown began, they were living in a hotel in the Muni Ki Reti region but they moved to the cave after they ran out of money,” Kathait said. “However, they had saved some money to buy food and other supplies.” The Nepali man had been helping the group buy essential items, Kathait added. About 700 foreign tourists remain in Rishikesh, according to the Uttarakhand’s tourism department, and the Government has launched the website “Stranded in India” to help travellers from abroad. The Rishikesh town was made famous by the Fab Four, who came to Rishikesh in 1968 looking for refuge from Beatlemania, for spiritual enlightenment and to immerse themselves in Indian culture. Numerous governments, including Germany, the US and Britain, have chartered flights to take their nationals home from India. The world’s second-most populous nation of 1.3 billion people has reported more than 15,700 coronavirus cases including 507 deaths from the disease. P osts by celebrities in the vir- tual world during lock- down are landing them in major controversy. If actor Ajaz Khan was arrested on Saturday for a controversial Facebook post, actress Kangana Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel’s twitter account has been suspended. Wrestler Babita Phogat is in soup over her unsavoury tweet against Muslims with badminton star Jwala Gutta and actor Swara Bhaskar slam- ming her. In the midst of all this, a man has been arrested in Gujarat for a controversial post. Khan had reportedly said in a Facebook live session that, “If an ant dies, a Muslim is responsible, if an elephant dies, a Muslim is responsible. If there is an earthquake in Delhi, a Muslim is responsible, i.e. a Muslim is responsible for any incident. But have you ever thought who is responsible for this conspiracy?” Supporters of Khan are campaigning on twitter for his release. Besides, several celebrities on social media have demanded a similar action against Phogat and Chandel for their com- munal remarks. Earlier wrestler turned politician Phogat sparked a row with her tweets that coro- navirus is the second biggest problem in India and that uncivilised Jamaati are India’s number one enemy. She went to the extent of com- paring them with “pigs.” But no action has been taken against her. Badminton player Gutta and boxer and Congress leader Vijender Singh have urged Phogat to take back her con- troversial views. Vijender also reacted on the backlash for the wrestler with hashtags like #SuspendBabitaPhogat trend- ing on Twitter. He wrote on the Twitter that there was no religion in the world that gives one the per- mission to show enmity towards another religion. Defending her tweets on Tablighi Jamaat, Phogat said she stands by her tweet and she wrote nothing wrong. Phogat also said she is not ‘Zaira Wasim’, and would not get bogged down by any kind of threat. Mumbai: Maharashtra Government has announced that the State, which is hit badly by the coronavirurs, will open up limited business activities in green and orange zones from April 20. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday that despite resumption of business activities in certain pockets, the borders of the districts will be sealed and e production work in indus- tries/businesses falling in the green zone will be allowed. Green zones are areas where no coronavirus case has been reported. Orange zones are areas where coronavirus has been reported in a limited area. Maharashtra is the worst-hit Indian State from Covid-19 outbreak with 4,200 con- firmed cases. Mumbai: IT and ITeS providers can work at 50 per cent strength from April 20, according to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Majority of the IT companies had asked their employees to work from home during the lockdown. “Digital economy is critical to the services sector and is important for national growth. Accordingly, e-commerce oper- ations, operations of IT and IT- enabled services, data and call centres for Government activ- ities, and online teaching and distance learning are all per- mitted activities now,” the Government said. A mid the coronavirus upsurge in Maharashtra, a major political controversy broke out on Sunday, as the ruling Shiv Sena launched a sharp attack against Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for his “failure” to act on the State Cabinet’s recommendation to nominate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a mem- ber of the State Legislative Council by saying “Raj Bhavan should not become centre for political conspiracy”. In normal course, the Governor has to go by the rec- ommendation of the State Cabinet without any undue delay. Kohsyari’s failure to nominate Uddhav has sur- prised many in the State polit- ical circles and that too at a time when the State is passing through a coronavirus crisis. The Governor has given no indication that he would go by the recommendation made by the State Cabinet on April 9 to nominate Uddhav as a Member of Legislative Council from one of the two vacant slots. Uddhav took up the reins as the Chief Minister on November 28, 2019 and needs to become a member of the either House, Assembly or Council, before six months, May 27, as prescribed under Article 164 (4). If Uddhav fails to get the nomination, he will have to resign from his post. In that scenario, it will be up to the Governor to invite Uddhav to take oath as the Chief Minister once again. Once Uddhav is sworn into the office as the Chief Minister, he will have anoth- er six months to get elected to either of the Houses. Subsequently, Uddhav’s other Ministers will have to be once again administered oath of office by the Governor. If any- thing, he will be at the mercy of the Governor. More than anything else, the Government re-formation exercise — which will take at least three to four days — will affect the MVA Government’s ongoing efforts to combat coranavirus situation in the State. An angry Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut lashed out at Koshyari through two tweets — one in Marathi and another in English. In a tweet that he put out first in Marathi, Raut said, “Raj Bhavans should not become dirty den for politics. I am sud- denly reminded of a ‘shameless’ late Andhra Pradesh Governor Ramlal. This clue is enough for those who can understand”. T he Delhi Government is not going to relax the lock- down for at least a week as the Covid-19 spread appears to have gained pace in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. Asserting that the deci- sion has been taken to save lives, Kejriwal said even though Delhi accounts for 2 per cent of India’s population, the cases account for 12 per cent of the total cases in the country. Delhi has 77 containment zones, with 2 more added on Sunday, which have been sealed. Citing instances of asymp- tomatic people testing positive for the virus, Kejriwal said out of 736 samples collected recent- ly, 186 were found infected by Covid-19 and the people did not know they were carrying the virus. “When we talked to one of them, he said he was engaged in serving food at a Government-run centre. I have ordered for rapid testing of all those who visited the centre,” the CM said during a video conference. Kejriwal said Delhi paid the price for the markaz event where thousands of Tablighi Jamaat followers attended an event during the lockdown. Kejriwal, however, assured the situation is under control and his Government will reassess it after a week to see what relaxations can be given. An order by Chief Secretary Vijay Dev said the administra- tion will review the situation on April 27. The decision to prolong the restrictions came a day after the Delhi Government added eight new containment zones, increasing their total to 77, and as the number of Covid-19 cases neared 1,900 in the city. Detailed report on P3

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After a week-long “strictenforcement” of the lock-

down post-April 14, theGovernment is set to relaxactivities in some sectors onMonday though no relaxationwould be given in the contain-ment zones and e-commercecompanies will not be allowedto sell non-essential com-modities.

A day ahead of the reopen-ing of the agriculture, industryand construction sectors in“Green Zones” (non-hotspotzones), the Home Ministry onSunday paved the way formigrant workers and labourersto return to their place of workin cities, given they do not showany symptoms of coronavirus.

Though migrants will beallowed to return to their placesof work in cities, which arenon-containment zones, State

borders will remain closed forany movement.

The Government’s deci-sion comes in the wake of thou-sands of workers being strand-ed across the country, alongState border lines, since thenational lockdown wasimposed on March 25.

The Government had firstimposed a nationwide lock-down for 21 days till April 14,and then extended it to May 3in the wake of rising numberof Covid-19 cases in the coun-try.

The Home Ministry’s deci-sion to reverse its decision onsale of non-essential itemsthrough e-commerce platformis a U-turn on its April 15 cir-cular. “In this regard I wouldlike to clarify that while oper-ations of e-commerce for non-essential goods stand prohibit-ed, they will continue to oper-

ate for essential goods as hasbeen allowed earlier and con-tinue to be allowed under clause13(i) of these guidelines,” saidHome Secretary Ajay Bhalla ina letter to all States, changing

provisions on Clause 14(v)which allowed transport ofvehicles related to e-commerce.

The Clause 14(v) gavepermission to all vehiclestransporting of e-commercegoods, while Clause 13(i) gaveonly sale of essential com-modities. This loophole in theApril 15 MHA guidelines maybe misused by e-commercecompanies, alleged trade bod-ies. The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) peti-tioned to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

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Aday after Union CivilAviation Minister Hardeep

Singh Puri advised airlines toopen bookings only after theGovernment takes a decisionon resuming passenger flightservices, the Director Generalof Civil Aviation (DGCA) onSunday directed all airliners torefrain from booking of tickets.

In a circular issued onSunday, the DGCA said thatdecision has not been taken tocommence the domestic /inter-national flights from May 4. Inview of this, all airliners arehereby directed to refrain frombooking tickets. Further, air-

lines may note that they shallbe given sufficient notice andtime for restarting the opera-tions, the circular read.

The circular said that therewas no directions/clearancewhich allows the airlines tostart ticket booking for thejourney from May 4 onwards.

All Indian airlines, includ-ing Vistara and AirAsia India,are currently taking bookingson select flights from May 4.On Saturday night, Puri said onTwitter the Government hasnot taken any decision to opendomestic or international flightoperations so far. All domesticand international commercialpassenger flight operationshave been suspended duringthe lockdown period.

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With no sign of abatementin Covid-19 cases which

crossed 17,200 marks onSunday, the Government hasdecided not to allow non-essential services from Mondayin the containment areas indesignated ‘hotspots’ districtswhere rate of doubling of coro-navirus cases is less than fourdays, against the national aver-age of six days.

The move aims to curb thespread of the virus which hastaken its toll on 556 lives so far.Luv Agarwal, Joint Secretary,Union Health Ministry, said ata Press briefing here that “Fromtonight, there will be no relax-ation in containment areas inhotspot districts. Stricter mea-sures could be taken.”

He said there will be a strictparameter control in the con-

tainment zones, under whichno services other than essentialservices will be allowed.

According to the HealthMinistry guidelines, hotspot orred zones are the areas where“there are a large number ofCovid-19 cases or where dou-bling rates of cases is less thanfour days.”

In these hotspots, the localadministration delineates con-tainment and buffer zones tocontrol the disease spread.With 1,324 fresh cases regis-tered in the last 24 hours, thetotal number of novel coron-

avirus count in India crossedmore than 17,000 to reach17,200 confirmed cases so farand death toll to 556, accord-ing to the Government data.

Alluding to the areaswhere there will be selectiverelaxation, the Joint Secretarysaid, “Areas outside the con-tainment zones, States anddistricts have to ensure thatthe measures related to lock-down are followed. Social dis-tancing SOPs and preparato-ry actions in offices, work-places, factories or establish-ments are taken.”

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Six foreign tourists who triedto sit out the coronavirus

pandemic in a cave inRishikesh have been sent toquarantine at an ashram in thetown after they run out ofmoney, police said Sunday.

The four men and twowomen — from France, theUnited States, Ukraine, Turkeyand Nepal — had been livingin the cave near Rishikesh inUttarakhand since March 24,police inspector RajendraSingh Kathait told AFP.

They have now beenmoved to Swarg Ashram,Rishikesh where they will bequarantined for 14 days,although none have showncoronavirus symptoms.

“Before the lockdownbegan, they were living in ahotel in the Muni Ki Retiregion but they moved to thecave after they ran out ofmoney,” Kathait said.

“However, they had saved

some money to buy food andother supplies.”

The Nepali man had beenhelping the group buy essentialitems, Kathait added.

About 700 foreign touristsremain in Rishikesh, accordingto the Uttarakhand’s tourismdepartment, and theGovernment has launched thewebsite “Stranded in India” tohelp travellers from abroad.

The Rishikesh town wasmade famous by the Fab Four,who came to Rishikesh in 1968looking for refuge fromBeatlemania, for spiritualenlightenment and to immersethemselves in Indian culture.

Numerous governments,including Germany, the USand Britain, have charteredflights to take their nationalshome from India.

The world’s second-mostpopulous nation of 1.3 billionpeople has reported more than15,700 coronavirus casesincluding 507 deaths from thedisease.

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Posts by celebrities in the vir-tual world during lock-

down are landing them inmajor controversy. If actor AjazKhan was arrested on Saturdayfor a controversial Facebookpost, actress Kangana Ranaut’ssister Rangoli Chandel’s twitteraccount has been suspended.

Wrestler Babita Phogat isin soup over her unsavourytweet against Muslims withbadminton star Jwala Guttaand actor Swara Bhaskar slam-ming her. In the midst of allthis, a man has been arrested inGujarat for a controversial post.

Khan had reportedly saidin a Facebook live session that,“If an ant dies, a Muslim isresponsible, if an elephant dies,a Muslim is responsible. If

there is an earthquake in Delhi,a Muslim is responsible, i.e. aMuslim is responsible for anyincident. But have you everthought who is responsible forthis conspiracy?”

Supporters of Khan arecampaigning on twitterfor his release.

Besides, severalcelebrities on socialmedia have demanded

a similar action against Phogatand Chandel for their com-munal remarks.

Earlier wrestler turnedpolitician Phogat sparked arow with her tweets that coro-navirus is the second biggest

problem in India and thatuncivilised Jamaati are

India’s number one enemy.She went to the extent of com-

paring them with “pigs.” But

no action has been takenagainst her.

Badminton player Guttaand boxer and Congress leaderVijender Singh have urgedPhogat to take back her con-troversial views.

Vijender also reacted onthe backlash for the wrestlerwith hashtags like#SuspendBabitaPhogat trend-ing on Twitter.

He wrote on the Twitterthat there was no religion in theworld that gives one the per-mission to show enmitytowards another religion.

Defending her tweets onTablighi Jamaat, Phogat saidshe stands by her tweet and shewrote nothing wrong. Phogatalso said she is not ‘Zaira Wasim’,and would not get bogged downby any kind of threat.

Mumbai: MaharashtraGovernment has announcedthat the State, which is hitbadly by the coronavirurs,will open up limited businessactivities in green and orangezones from April 20.

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray said on Sundaythat despite resumption ofbusiness activities in certainpockets, the borders of thedistricts will be sealed and e

production work in indus-tries/businesses falling in thegreen zone will be allowed.

Green zones are areaswhere no coronavirus case hasbeen reported.

Orange zones are areaswhere coronavirus has beenreported in a limited area.Maharashtra is the worst-hitIndian State from Covid-19outbreak with 4,200 con-firmed cases.

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Mumbai: IT and ITeSproviders can work at 50 percent strength from April 20,according to the guidelinesissued by the Ministry of HomeAffairs. Majority of the ITcompanies had asked theiremployees to work from homeduring the lockdown.

“Digital economy is criticalto the services sector and isimportant for national growth.Accordingly, e-commerce oper-ations, operations of IT and IT-enabled services, data and callcentres for Government activ-ities, and online teaching anddistance learning are all per-mitted activities now,” theGovernment said.

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Amid the coronavirusupsurge in Maharashtra, a

major political controversybroke out on Sunday, as theruling Shiv Sena launched asharp attack against GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari for his“failure” to act on the StateCabinet’s recommendation tonominate Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray as a mem-ber of the State LegislativeCouncil by saying “Raj Bhavanshould not become centre forpolitical conspiracy”.

In normal course, theGovernor has to go by the rec-ommendation of the StateCabinet without any unduedelay. Kohsyari’s failure tonominate Uddhav has sur-prised many in the State polit-ical circles and that too at atime when the State is passingthrough a coronavirus crisis.

The Governor has given noindication that he would go bythe recommendation made bythe State Cabinet on April 9 tonominate Uddhav as a Memberof Legislative Council fromone of the two vacant slots.

Uddhav took up the reinsas the Chief Minister onNovember 28, 2019 and needsto become a member of theeither House, Assembly orCouncil, before six months,May 27, as prescribed underArticle 164 (4).

If Uddhav fails to get thenomination, he will have toresign from his post. In thatscenario, it will be up to theGovernor to invite Uddhav totake oath as the Chief Ministeronce again.

Once Uddhav is sworninto the office as the ChiefMinister, he will have anoth-er six months to get elected toeither of the Houses.

Subsequently, Uddhav’s otherMinisters will have to be onceagain administered oath ofoffice by the Governor. If any-thing, he will be at the mercyof the Governor.

More than anything else,the Government re-formationexercise — which will take atleast three to four days — willaffect the MVA Government’songoing efforts to combatcoranavirus situation in theState. An angry Shiv Senaspokesperson and MP SanjayRaut lashed out at Koshyarithrough two tweets — one inMarathi and another inEnglish.

In a tweet that he put outfirst in Marathi, Raut said, “RajBhavans should not becomedirty den for politics. I am sud-denly reminded of a ‘shameless’late Andhra Pradesh GovernorRamlal. This clue is enough forthose who can understand”.

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The Delhi Government isnot going to relax the lock-

down for at least a week as theCovid-19 spread appears tohave gained pace in Delhi,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalsaid on Sunday.

Asserting that the deci-sion has been taken to savelives, Kejriwal said even thoughDelhi accounts for 2 per cent ofIndia’s population, the casesaccount for 12 per cent of thetotal cases in the country. Delhihas 77 containment zones, with2 more added on Sunday,which have been sealed.

Citing instances of asymp-tomatic people testing positivefor the virus, Kejriwal said outof 736 samples collected recent-ly, 186 were found infected byCovid-19 and the people didnot know they were carryingthe virus. “When we talked toone of them, he said he wasengaged in serving food at aGovernment-run centre. I haveordered for rapid testing of all

those who visited the centre,”the CM said during a videoconference.

Kejriwal said Delhi paidthe price for the markaz eventwhere thousands of TablighiJamaat followers attended anevent during the lockdown.

Kejriwal, however, assuredthe situation is under controland his Government willreassess it after a week to seewhat relaxations can be given.An order by Chief SecretaryVijay Dev said the administra-tion will review the situation on April 27.

The decision to prolong therestrictions came a day after theDelhi Government added eightnew containment zones,increasing their total to 77, andas the number of Covid-19cases neared 1,900 in the city.

Detailed report on P3

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Keeping in view theCOVID-19 pandemic sit-

uation in the State, HaryanaGovernment has decided to re-employ the retiredGovernment doctors below theage of 69 years on contractualbasis for one year againstvacant posts.

The Chief MinisterManohar Lal has approved aproposal in this regard, said aspokesman of Haryana HealthDepartment.

He said that the maximumage for applying has been fixedas 69 years so that the doctorscould serve the Departmentupto 70 years. The respectiveCivil Surgeons will be autho-rized to engage these doctors attheir level, he added.

Giving details about fillingup the vacant posts in various

medical institutes, thespokesman said that the StateGovernment has granted per-mission to the Directors ofGovernment Medical Collegesnamely Kalpana ChawlaGovernment Medical CollegeKarnal, BPS GovernmentMedical College, KhanpurKalan, Sonipat and ShaheedHasan Khan Mewati,Government Medical College,Nalhar, Nuh to fill up 197vacant posts of faculty oncontractual basis from theretired doctors upto the age of70 years for one year or till theregular incumbent joins,whichever is earlier for theeffective management ofCOVID-19 pandemic in thestate.

While 13 posts ofProfessor, 29 posts of AssociateProfessor and 54 posts ofAssistant Professor would be

filled up inKalpana ChawlaG ov e r n m e ntMedical CollegeKarnal, 8 postsof ProfessorSuper Speciality,7 posts ofA s s o c i a t eProfessor SuperSpeciality, 8posts ofA s s i s t a n tProfessor SuperSpeciality, 9 posts of ProfessorSpeciality, 15 posts of AssociateProfessor Speciality and 10posts of Assistant ProfessorSpeciality would be filled up inBPS Government MedicalCollege, Khanpur Kalan,Sonipat. Apart from this, 10posts of Professor, 19 posts ofAssociate Professor and 15posts of Assistant Professorwould be filled up in Shaheed

Hasan Khan Mewati,Government Medical College,Nalhar, Nuh, the spokesmansaid.

They would be paid remu-neration as last pay drawnminus pension. The Director,PGIMS, Rohtak has also beenpermitted to fill up posts oncontractual basis as per theapproval of the StateGovernment, he added.

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At least seven more COVID-19 cases came to fore in

Jharkhand on Sunday, takingthe total count of Coronaviruscases in State to 41, health offi-cials said.

Confirming the sevencases, state health secretaryDr Nitin Madan Kulkarni said,"Seven new cases of COVID-9have been reported. Five caseshave been reported fromHindpiri, the epicentre of thepandemic in State. One casehas been reported from Bero inRanchi district while othercase has been reported fromSimdega.”

With Sunday's findings,the number of positive cases inSimdega has increased to two.

Last week a youth fromSimdega was tested postive.

Sources said that the emer-gence of new cases in Bero andSimdega is cause of concern forState government as both thecases have been reported fromrural areas. Sources said thatthree cases –two in Ranchi andone in Bero—have links withTablighi Jamaat, however thedistrict administration is yet togive an official confirmation onthis. Ranchi SDM LokeshMishra said, "The administra-tion is enquiring about thelinks of these persons withJammat." On Sunday 93 sam-ples were tested in first slot outof which 89 cases were foundto be negative, four cases werefound positive.

The four cases which werefound in the first half of Sundayare of varied age group. Sourcessaid the man who tested posi-tive in Bero is 52-year-old,Simdega youth is 17-year-oldwhile two cases which wererecovered from state capital arein age group of 24 and 42 yearsrespectively. The remaining

three were reportedin late evening.

The first case ofCOVID-19 wasreported on March31, after a Malaysianwoman was testedpositive. The womanhad reached Ranchifrom Delhi afterattending the TablighiJamaat ( religiousconvention). Sincethe recovery of firstcase in Hindpiri areawhere the womanwas hiding, Hindpiriarea has emerged asepicentre ofCoronavirus.

On April 2, a pos-itive case was report-ed from Vishnugarhin Hazaribag followedby cases in Bokaro and otherparts of state, but the Hindpiriarea still accounts for nearlysixty per cent cases inJharkhand. Ranchi Hindpiri ishotspot with maximum 21cases. The district wise figuresare Ranchi 22, nine from

Bokaro, two from Hazaribag,two from Simdega, one fromDhanbad, Giridih, Koderma.

The district administra-tion has taken several measuresto check the spread of diseasein Hindpiri area. The entirearea has been sealed since the

recovery of cases in the area.The district administration ismaking door to door deliveryof foodgrains and medicines.The administration hasassigned the job of delivery offoodgrains to volunteers. ainsto volunteers.

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Central Coalfields Ltd(CCL),a subsidiary of Coal India

has set up dedicated helplinenumbers (0651-2365999, 0651-2361013, 0651-2360606) sothat any needy person stayingin command areas of theCompany can make calls dur-ing the lockdown and theCompany will extend all pos-sible support to them includingarranging food grains packetand medical advice.

CCL, under the leadershipof its Chairman-cum-Managing Director, GopalSingh is not only motivatingthe employees and stakehold-ers to play significant role in theCountry’s fight against theCorona virus pandemic butensuring that no one shouldsleep hungry in commandareas of the Company duringlockdown. CCL CMD CCLSingh has been in touch withArea General Mangers throughvideo conference and other

means of communication. Hehas issued necessary instruc-tion that the employees musttake all preventive measureslike wearing hand gloves, maskand others while performingduties at work place and whilecoming to home. Singh saidthat it is important to preventoneself from this deadly virusso that he or she does not trans-mit to other healthy individualand then only family, society,Jharkhand and our theCountry could overcome fromthis unprecedented crisis.

CCL is ensuring in itscommand areas that no onesleeps hungry during the exer-cise to check the spread ofCorona virus during lockdown.“We are distributing food pack-ets comprising essential itemslike rice, pulses, spices etc in allareas with support of districtadministration to ensure noone sleeps empty stomach dur-ing lockdown,” Singh said. Hefurther added that the coalfamily has become a soldier in

this corona war and workinglike every other citizen of thiscountry to fight against theCorona virus.

The ongoing 21-day lock-down has extended till May, 3.During the first phase of 21-daylockdown, CCL has performedexemplary work and itsemployees worked as “frontlinewarriors” and distributed foodpackets in command areas ofthe Company, which is spreadout in eight districts ofJharkhand- Ranchi, Ramgarh,Hazaribagh, Latehar, Palamu,Chatra, Giridih and Bokaro-by adhering norms of main-taining social distancing andother advisories issued by gov-ernment from time to time.

PM Narendra Modi andCM, Jharkand Hemant Sorenare monitoring the situationvery minutely to fight againstthe Corona virus pandemic,taking with them all the stake-holders and the people at largewith objective to break thechain of Corona transmission.

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Punjab Government hasannounced to relax lock-

down measures from April 20while declaring more goods asessential including the sale ofair-conditioners, air-coolers,fans and their repair shopsamid approaching summer,besides permitting sand andgravel mining and stone crush-ing as part of construction-related activities, along with

allowing operation of bookshops, among others fromMonday.

In line with the Centre’sguidelines, the state would alsoallow industrial activity in ruralareas, provided that operatorsof industries, employing 10 ormore persons, should make allarrangements for the stay ortransport of workers.

As per new orders issuedby the state Home Department,‘dhabas’ have also been allowedto remain open but they willserve only packed food.

At the same time, it hasbeen clarified that any activityin the containment zoneswould continue to be banned.

The State Government hasauthorized the DeputyCommissioners or DistrictMagistrates to exercise duediligence in regulating tim-ings of various establishmentsincluding industries and other

permitted activity dependingupon local requirements andnorms of social distancing.

The trigger for establishinga containment zone is the dis-covery of two or more con-firmed cases of COVID-19 ina locality. The zone is to be set-up by district authorities (DC,SSP, and CS) based on thenumber of cases, their geo-graphical distribution, and fea-sibility of sealing the area.

The containment zone canaccordingly be starting from alocality to a colony, sector (vil-lage), single or multiple wardsor the entire city itself, thespokesperson said adding thatthe guidelines dated April 15,2020, would be applicable onlyoutside the containment zonewhich may not be confusedwith hot-spot, red zone etc.

These set of directions havebeen issued for the implemen-tation of the Central

Government’s revised COVID-19 containment guidelinesfrom April 20, 2020.

In the state, Mohali,Jalandhar, SBS Nagar(Nawanshahr), and Pathankotdistricts have been declared ascoronavirus hotspots, and withPatiala also reporting 15 casesin a day, it is also expected tofigure in the red zone.

“The state will follow com-plete curfew till May 3, 2020,and the prevailing practice ofrequiring a curfew pass formovement during curfew shallcontinue,” said the officialspokesperson.

Spokesperson said that theState Government has alsoallowed industrial activity onthe condition of due arrange-ments of stay in factory ortransport of workers to betaken care of by the operator,involving employment of 10 ormore persons. The prevailing

practice of requiring a curfewpass for movement during cur-few shall continue.

Construction-related activ-ities like stone crushers, sandand gravel mining have beenpermitted. Even though it is notspecifically mentioned in the(Centre’s) guidelines, it isimplied that the related activ-ities in terms of stone crushers,mining of sand and gravel andits transport, sale outlets ofcement, steel etc, are also to bepermitted. Their workingnorms can be regulated, as perinstructions.

The Centre in its revisedguidelines to states for con-tainment of COVID-19 hasallowed construction of roads,irrigation projects, buildings,water supply and sanitation,renewable energy projects, con-tinuation of works in con-struction projects within themunicipal limits.

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With 18 fresh cases,Haryana’s COVID-19

tally jumped to 250 on Sunday.Nine new positive cases

were reported from Faridabad,four each from Gurugram andAmbala and one from Bhiwani.

“The Coronavirus countrose to 250 in Haryana with 18more people, including a jailwarder and a health worker,testing positive for the infectionon Sunday,” according to thestate Health Department’sevening bulletin.

The jail warden posted inGurugram’s Bhondsi jail testedpositive for the infection afterhe returned from leave. Thewarden was on leave sinceApril 9 and had visited hishometown in Bhiwani district.

He was tested for the infec-tion when he showed its symp-toms on joining duty.

An auxiliary nurse midwife(ANM) who worked in a con-

tainment zone in Ambala wasalso tested positive for theinfection.

Ambala chief medical offi-cer Dr Kuldeep Singh said theother three patients from thedistrict were members of a fam-ily which lived at Sahjadpur vil-lage near Ambala City.

He said they were takingtreatment from a Panchkuladoctor, who had earlier failedto inform the authorities abouta Coronavirus positive woman,whose eight members of fam-ily also tested positive for thedisease a few days ago.

The Ambala authoritieshave collected the list of allthose who had got themselvestreated from the doctor.

According to the state’shealth bulletin, the total activeCOVID-19 patients in the stateare 144 while 104 patients havebeen cured and dischargedfrom hospitals.

The state has so far record-ed two Coronavirus deaths.

The worst-affected districtsof the state with the maximumnumber of positive cases areNuh with 57 cases, Faridabadwith 42 cases, Gurugram with36 cases and Palwal with 34.

As many as 12,687 sampleshave been tested so far, ofwhich 10,230 have tested neg-ative. However, the report of2,221 samples is awaited.

The total number of casesincludes 24 foreign nationals, ofwhich 14 were the Italiantourists.

Thirteen of them were dis-charged while one elderlywoman in the group hadpassed away recently eventhough she had recovered fromthe infection.

The other 10 foreignnationals found infected withthe virus are from countries SriLanka, Nepal, Thailand, SouthAfrica and Indonesia while 64are from other states, the bul-letin stated.

Meanwhile, Health

Minister Anil Vij said 19,663teams have been constituted forthe door-to-door screening ofpeople.

“If anyone shows COVID-19 symptoms like fever, cough,cold, their samples will betaken,” he said.

To stop the spread ofCOVID-19, containmentorders have already beenissued by concerned DistrictMagistrates or DeputyCommissioners in 39 villagesor colonies in Nuh, 17 villagesin Palwal, 8 villages in Sonepat,5 villages in Karnal, 13 villagesin Faridabad, 2 villages inBhiwani, 4 villages in CharkhiDadri, 18 villages inGurugram, 1 village in Jind, 2villages in Fatehabad, 1 villagein Panipat, 1 village in Kaithal,1 village in Jhajjar, 3 villages inPanchkula, 2 villages in Sirsa,1 village in Hisar, 19 villages inAmbala, 2 villages in YamunaNagar and 1 Sector inKurukshetra.

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Punjab on Sunday registereda jump of 10 more cases,

including a month old baby ofNayagaon’s PGI employeealready tested positive, takingthe state’s tally to 244. Out of 10fresh cases, six were reportedfrom Jalandhar and four fromSAS Nagar (Mohali) district.

With four new cases fromNayagaon, the total number ofpatients in Mohali is 61 with 53active cases and two deaths.Mohali district has the highestnumber of cases in the state.

Among the cases reportedon Sunday include 26-year-oldwife of PGI employee, hismonth-old baby girl, his 60-year-old mother, and a 19-year-old boy — all relatives ofa sanitation worker working atPGI’s COVID ward, who wasamong two people on PGI’spayroll to be diagnosed withthe infection on April 17.

While the wife and daugh-ter have been admitted to thePGI, the other two positivecases are currently at GianSagar Hospital.

“Four more of the imme-diate family of PGI employee(from COVID ward who test-ed positive on April 17 and isin PGI isolation since) fromNayagaon, also tested posi-tive,” said Mohali DeputyCommissioner Girish Dayalan.

Dayalan said that the “exten-sive contact tracing and sam-pling procedure regarding coro-na virus would continue with thesame pace as before because itis very important to identify thesource of the problem to have aproper real time assessment”.

So far, a total of 919 sam-ples have been tested in Mohalidistrict and a whopping 838have been found negative. As ofnow, 640 people are placedunder quarantine while a totalof 1,874 people have success-

fully undergone the quarantineperiod in the district.

Notably, Mohali, withhighest number of cases inPunjab, is listed in the red zonealong with three other districts— Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, andPathankot.In Jalandhar, the sixnew cases were tested positive,including five from the contactsof the employee of a leadingvernacular daily newspaper,who had tested positive earli-er. All five are also the news-paper employees. The sixthcase is reported from BastiDanishmanda, from where aprevious positive case hadcome. With this, the district’stally has reached 47.

Jalandhar Civil SurgeonGurinder Kaur Chawla saidthat of the total 54 samples sentfor examination to Amritsarlaboratory on Saturdayevening, six tested positivewhile reports of remaining 48suspects are awaited.

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The Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad(ABAP) has strongly condemned the

lynching of two Sadhus and their driverat Palghar in Maharashtra on April 16.

Demanding a high level inquiy andstern action against the culprits in thiscase, the ABAP general secretary HariGiri said that if this is not done, a majorprotest will be staged after the lockdownis lifted.

Meanwhile, the Sri Panch DashnamJuna Akhada to which the murdered sad-hus- Kalpavriksh Giri (70) and SushilGiri (35) belonged has written to theUnion Home minister Amit Shah andMaharashtra chief minister UddhavThackeray expressing anger at the lynch-ing of the two sadhus and a driver atPalghar.

The Akhada has demanded strictaction against the culprits. Copies of theletter have also been sent to the

Uttarakhand chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat and his Uttar Pradesh coun-terpart Yogi Adityanath.

The letter sent to the MaharashtraCM by the Juna Akhada head MahantPrem Giri and ABAP general secretaryHari Giri strongly condemns the lynch-ing, calls for a high level inquiry into theincident and strict action against the cul-prits.

Expressing shock at the lynching, theABAP general secretary Hari Giri saidthat the police had reached the site andhad taken the sadhus and driver into cus-tody.

He questioned under whose pressuredid the police let the mob lynch the sad-hus and their driver.

He warned that if a high levelinquiry and stern action against the cul-prits is not taken, members of the reli-gious fraternity will stage a major protestdemonstration after the lockdown is lifted.

����� 9����"��

To deal with the adverseimpact on economic activ-

ities caused by COVID-19pandemic, HaryanaGovernment has finalised asystem for starting uninter-rupted operation of industriesand other establishments in thestate beginning from April 20.

The plan has been pre-pared as per consolidatedrevised guidelines issued by theGovernment of India, said anofficial spokesman.

He said that as per theguidelines, in the state to obtainpermission to resume opera-tions and apply for passes, theapplicant shall apply on SARALHaryana portal. Further, thepasses for the interstate move-ment of vehicles shall beapplied on government of Indiaportal for e-pass.

The spokesman said thatopening of shops or dhabas onhighways and movement of selfemployed individuals will bestrictly governed by theMinistry of Home Affairsguidelines.

He said that in view ofapproaching summer seasonand new academic session,distribution of books by bookshops to school and college stu-dents and sale of Air condi-tioners, Air coolers, Fans andtheir repair shops may be treat-ed as essential goods or servicesand allowed to remain openand operate outside contain-

ment zone.However, the District

Magistrates can fix the timingsof various establishments,industries, and other permittedactivities depending upon thelocal requirements, thespokesman added.

The spokesman furthersaid that for carrying out theoperations of industries andother establishments,Committees will be constitut-ed at block level, town level andcity level to scrutinize andapprove application. In ruralareas, a committee of SDM,DSP, BDPO and AssistantLabour Commissioner and inthe urban areas a committee ofSDM, DSP, EO or Secretary ofMunicipal Corporation andAssistant Labor Commissionerwill issue the passes for indus-tries and other establishmentshaving up to 25 people, he said.

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Punjab Government has extendedthe suspension period of tolling

operations at all State Toll Plazas tillMay 3.“On March 27, the tollingoperations were seized till earlier setlimit of lockdown. But now, the tollplazas will remain closed till May 3 asthe nationwide lockdown has also beenextended to control the spread of coro-navirus,” said the state Public WorksDepartment Minister Vijay InderSingla on Sunday.

The decision would ensure hasslefree movement of emergency vehiclesin the State, said Singla adding that asmany as 23 toll plazas were operationalunder the State Government in Punjab.

“However, the toll plazas under theNational Highways Authority of India(NHAI) will be resuming toll collec-tion from April 20 onwards followingthe orders of Union Governmentwhere commuters will have to pay thetax,” he said. Minister said thatbesides providing free passage, toll

plazas operational under StateGovernment will continue providinglangar (free food) to drivers till May 3.“The roadside dhabas and restaurantsare shut due to lockdown, but the StateGovernment ensured availability ofcooked meal to the drivers of the emer-gency supply vehicles,” he said. CHECK DISTANCE FROM NEAR-EST COVID POSITIVE ON COVAAPP

A unique in-built feature in COVAApp is helping the people of Punjab staysafe, by allowing them to check distancefrom nearest COVID-19 positive person.That is not all! The app also alerts theDistrict Administration if a quarantinedpatient or suspect moves beyond 100meters of her or his base location.While the feature is helping authoritiesenforce quarantine restrictions, it is alsoenabling the people to keep themselvesand their family members or friends etcsafe through a self-control mechanism.By geo-tagging the positive patients, theApp helps District Administration tracelocations that positive individual has vis-

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In the last couple of decadesglobal warming and conse-

quential ecological problemshave been at the centre stage ofall climate change discourse.Even if in varying degrees, alldeveloped and developingnations are bearing the impactof globally rising decadal tem-peratures. Due to the increas-ing anomalies in weather cyclesglobally, nations are negotiat-ing possibilities of maximumreduction in green house gasemissions.

A higher concentration ofgreen house gases in the

atmosphere has been linked tomelting of glaciers, recurrentflooding, droughts, forest firesand resulting population dis-placement. However there isan important yet often neglect-ed aspect of this global climatecrisis. Thus is the prospect ofnew and deadlier epidemicswhich have been emanating inthe last few years. A greaterthreat is that such challenginginfectious diseases could onlyproliferate in complexity andnumber in the coming years.The two most critical areas

which can have a potentialimpact on human health incontemporary world are - cli-mate change and solid wastemanagement. Both are alsointricately linked to one anoth-er.

The pandemic of Covid- 19which the world is currentlyconfronting, is a grim instanceof how a rapidly contaminatingecosystem is more susceptibleto unprecedented humanhealth problems.

It becomes indispensabletherefore that all health risksassociated with faulty wastemanagement are eliminated.The present crisis is only awarning to the many more epi-demics which can arise due tolacunae in effective waste dis-posal mechanisms.

At the same time it is alsoa reminder of the need tobuild better resilience in theface of such natural disastersshould they recur in the future.

Most Asian countiesincluding India are experienc-ing a demographic trend,where population is becomingrapidly urbanised.

In fact half of the world’smega cities are presently foundin Asia. With a haphazard andrapid urban growth, a pletho-ra of infrastructural -econom-ic problems have come up too.The highly industrialised citiesdespite being engines of eco-nomic growth have alsobecome massive generators ofsolid waste.

The very relationship

between solid waste and cli-matic problems lays in thefaulty and non systematic man-ner in which the former is dealtwith. Most of the urbanisedmetropolitans in India areseething under this viciouscycle of waste mismanagementand environmental degrada-tion. Only a partial chunk ofthe total urban waste beinggenerated is collected by the

municipal authorities and eventhis waste is dumped in dumpsites and landfills.

In fact the waste sector isan identifiable contributor tothe total green house gas emis-sions in India. The emissions inmunicipal solid waste sectorcan be attributed to the burn-ing of waste and decaying inthe dumping sites. Such activ-ities lead to the emitting of car-

bon di oxide as well asmethane. The sudden rise inmany lung disorders in India inpast few years can be attributedto crippling levels of particulatematter pollution in India.

Leachate percolation fromlandfills into the ground wateris also a major source of pol-lution. The metal residues pre-sent in leachate enter the foodchain as ground water is oftenused for drinking and irrigationpurposes.

This poses a serious pub-lic health hazard. The landfillshave also been reported to bea breeding ground for diseasehosting organisms. Thus aclean and better organisedwaste management system hasto be implemented with coop-eration from various sections inthe community. At individuallevel proper segregation as wellas minimisation of waste arepractices which can go a longrun in reducing the menace. Acritical aspect of disease pre-vention during the present cri-sis is ensuring the safety ofwaste collecting personnel.

Despite all preventive

measures being implementedby the Government, the threatof further spread of the Covid-19 disease cannot be com-pletely ruled out.

As communities are prac-ticing social distancing andobserving the lockdown regu-lations, the dependence on fewessential services is indispens-able. Facilities like municipalwaste collection have to be car-ried out compulsorily for theupkeep and hygiene mainte-nance of the community.

As the waste collectionpersonnel are risking their livesin disposing their duties, it alsobecomes the duty of all the cit-izens to facilitate their work byextending utmost cooperation.Any careless disposal of med-ical waste can be a potentialsource of COVID-19 infec-tion to the municipal workersand rag-pickers.

People must be educated todispose off their gloves, tissues,sanitiser bottles and usedmasks into separate bags.Besides, people must also seg-regate their household wasteinto different categories like -

organic, dry and bio medicalwaste.

Such a segregation ofwaste at source will automati-cally reduce the need formunicipal workers to touchand separate waste manually,thereby ensuring their safetyfurther.

Thus by making informedchoices and by ensuring ourcooperation to theGovernment we can preventthe dreaded Covid-19 fromspreading its wings further.

Climate change and mis-managed waste are the mosttangible caused of communi-cable diseases. So real resistanceand resilience can be achievedby an overhauling of our wastemanagement systems and mit-igating other major causes ofecological pollution.

As we fight the Covid-19pandemic, hoping to recoverfrom its clutches soon, wemust be futuristic by learningto treat our ecology with careand respect which it deserves.

(The author is a retiredcivil servant)

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The State Commission forProtection of Child Rights

(SCPCR) will issue an adviso-ry to the UttarakhandGovernment about the privateschools purportedly pressuris-ing parents to submit theschool fees of their childrenduring the lockdown. Severalparents have complained toSCPCR about the schools pres-surising them to pay the schoolfees including the charges forthe facilities which are noteven being utilised by stu-dents.

Even before the imple-mentation of lockdown, vari-ous schools were already notoperating due to concernscaused by novel Coronavirus(COVID-19) spread. Thoughmany of the schools are report-edly facilitating online classes,they are also continuously pres-surising parents to deposit theschool fees including variousother charges.

"My two children study in

seventh standard. Last week,the school mailed us asking usto deposit three months fee thatincluded transportationcharges, lab charges, sportsfees and others. The school ishardly providing a one houronline class per day since thelockdown implementation. It istotally unfair to demand sucha hefty amount just for onehour online class," saidHaldwani resident SandhyaDwivedy. According to Rajpurresident Harish Bhandari, “I

am quite furious that our stategovernment has not issued anystrict orders to stop suchharassment by school admin-istration.

We are getting thereminders from school todeposit the fees of my threekids every day. I work in Delhibut since the implementation oflockdown I have been here andwithout any pay I cannotdeposit three months fee thatinclude all the unnecessarycharges.”

On this issue, the chair-person of SCPCR Usha Negiopined that when everyone inthe country is trying to helpothers in every possible way,some schools are still thinkingabout making money.

She said that those schoolsthat run under charitable trustsand societies are also pres-surising parents for fee sub-mission when there is actuallyan opportunity to do some helpand charity. However, there aresome schools which have

waived off three month feeconsidering the current crisis,informed Negi. The SCPCRwill issue an advisory to theState Government and theEducation Department aboutschools pressurising parentsfor fee submission, said Negi.She added that no schoolwould be allowed to hike feeseven after the lockdown, orcharge for any other facilitieswhich are not currently beingused by students.

Reportedly, the PrincipalsProgressive Schools’Association (PPSA) had earli-er questioned how the schoolswould pay salaries to staff if theschool fee of three months iswaived off. Talking about this,Negi said that paying the staffdoes not mean that schools willask for unnecessary chargesduring the crisis. On beingasked about the said issue,chief education officer AshaRani Painuly stated that untilthe state administration givesany instructions, nothing canbe done by her on this matter.

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The locals of Dehradun cancomplain to or request nec-

essary assistance from theMunicipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) through thecontrol room number issued bydistrict administration—0135-2726066- as the corporation'shelpline number is not work-ing. People have been com-plaining for weeks that thehelpline number of MCD is notworking due to which severallocals are unable to complainabout various issues in theirarea during the lockdown. "Wewanted to complain about thesanitation workers in our areawho just pile up the garbagenear the colony and do not pickit up for many days. I tried tocall the helpline number andothers mentioned on the cor-poration's site but I got noresponse from there, " saidShanti Vihar resident Sunita

Vishwakarma.Talking about it, deputy

municipal commissionerRohitash Sharma said that afterthe lockdown was announceddue to novel Coronavirus(COVID-19), the MCD'shelpline number was closed. Hefurther informed that the cor-poration is getting the com-plaints through the controlroom number issued by district

administration. "We get therequests and complaints aboutcleaning or sanitation throughthe district control room num-ber. All the complaints receivedfor municipal corporation aresent to us," said Sharma. Headded that people can contactthe control room number ofdistrict administration for theirqueries or complaints regard-ing the corporation.

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Even as the health and sani-tation workers have

plunged themselves into perilby remaining at frontline of waragainst the spread of novelCoronavirus (COVID-19),irregularities have come intofore in the purchase of allimportant Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE) kits for them.In purchase of PPE, the healthdepartment and the adminis-tration of medical colleges ofthe state have flayed the normsset up by the UnionGovernment and have keptaside the orders of state admin-istration.

These irregularities got sur-faced after the doctors of the

government medical collegefound the PPE kits sub stan-dard and returned them. Aftergetting information of theirregularities, the state admin-istration has banned purchaseof PPE kits at district level. TheUttarakhand High Court (HC)has also taken cognizance of aPIL questioning the quality ofPPE kits and sought responseof officials concerned by April21.

It is learnt that the officialspurchased sub standard kitsfrom unlisted vendors andsuppliers which didn’t had thenecessary approval by autho-rised laboratories.

As per the Government ofIndia guidelines, there are onlytwo officially recognised labo-ratories for conducting tests onbody overalls (PPE) in India,the South India TextileResearch Association (SITRA),Coimbatore and Defence

Research and DevelopmentEstablishment (DRDE),Gwalior

After the enforcement ofthe nationwide lockdown by thePrime Minister Narendra Modion March 22, the central gov-ernment issued an advisory tothe states regarding PPE kit andother medical equipment need-ed in battle against COVID-19.As per the advisory, the PublicSector Undertaking, HindustanLatex Limited (HLL) was made

a nodal agency for procurementof these materials.On March 24,the secretary medical healthand family welfare, Nitesh Jhaissued orders to health depart-ment and Principals of themedical colleges and askedthem to purchase the equip-ment through HLL.

However the healthdepartment and medical col-leges ostensibly purchased substandard PPE kits for theirfrontline Corona warriorsbypassing the procedure of get-ting them through HLL.

It is learnt that at manyplaces, the health workers wereshocked to find HIV kitsinstead of PPE kits.

The HIV kits are kneelength only and are open fromback. The PPE kits on theother hand are mandated to bemade up of fluid and virusresistant material.

It has an overall, face mask,eye covers, N-95 masks, gloves,shoe cover and disposable bags.A kit once used had to be dis-carded. When The Pioneertried to contact the directorgeneral (DG) of health services,Dr Amita Upreti over phone,the call went unanswered.

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Two new patients of novelcoronavirus (COVID-19)

were reported in Uttarakhandon Sunday. These two patientsare residents of Dehradun andare reported to have come incontact with Tablighi Jamaatfollowers. With them the num-ber of COVID-19 patients inthe state increased to 44 .

Meanwhile two patients ofthe disease were dischargedfrom the hospitals after recu-perating from the dreaded dis-ease on Sunday. With them thenumber of patients who haverecovered from the disease in

the state has reached to 11.The two patients found

positive for the disease areresidents of Azad Colony inDehradun and are said to benatives of West Bengal. Both ofthem were kept in institution-al quarantine at Bidholi,Paundha since April 11. Theauthorities shifted them toGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospital aftertheir samples were found pos-itive for the disease.

The additional secretary,medical health and family wel-fare department, Yugal KishorePant said that out of 11 patientswho have been dischargedfrom hospitals so far afterrecovering from the disease,eight are from GDMC hospitaland one each from MilitaryHospital (MH) Dehradun, Basehospital Kotdwar and Basehospital Almora. He said thatall these discharged patientshave been kept under quaran-tine in their homes for 15 daysas a precautionary measure.Pant added that the work ofcontact tracing of the positive

patients is on a war footing. Heinformed that reports of 336suspected patients werereceived by the departmenton Sunday till 6.30 pm and outof them two were found posi-tive while 334 were found neg-ative for the disease. He saidthat reports of 255 samples arestill awaited. The authoritieshave so far taken swab samplesof 3344 suspected patients forCOVID-19 test. On Sunday,samples of 183 suspectedpatients were taken and sent tothe lab for test. A total of 2153

people are under institutionalquarantine while 516 suspect-ed patients are in hospital iso-lation in the state. The author-ities have kept 64004 peopleunder home quarantine in dif-ferent parts of the state.

He added that 10 COVID-19 positive patients are cur-rently admitted in GDMC hos-pital while 13 are undergoingtreatment at government med-ical college Haldwani. Sevenpatients are admitted in Melahospital, Haridwar and oneMH Dehradun.

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Following the guidelines ofthe Central Government,

Rajaji National Park has sentsamples of an elephant calf toIndian Veterinary ResearchInstitute (IVRI) Bareilly tocheck for COVID-19.According to the Rajaji direc-tor Amit Verma, one of thetrained elephants in Rajaji wassuffering for about a monthfrom elephant pox. However,considering the COVID-19pandemic, the pachyderm’ssample has been sent to IVRIfor tests as a precautionarymeasure. The samples of aleopard found dead some days

ago have also been sent to theinstitute to check for COVID-19.

It will be recalled that aftera tiger in a New York zoo hadtested positive for COVID-19earlier this month, the Ministryof Environment and Forestshad issued advisory to all statesregarding the monitoring ofwild animals in zoos and pro-tected areas for any abnormalbehaviour or symptoms of thedisease. The sample report ofthe elephant is expected onMonday.

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The State’s Tourism andIrrigation Minister Satpal

Maharaj has requested theUnion Minister of State forHome Affairs, Nityanand Raito facilitate the return of1,500 Nepali citizens strand-ed in Uttarakhand to theNepal.

Maharaj stated that he hadinformed the union minister ofstate that due to the lockdown,about 1,500 Nepali citizenshad been stranded in and

around Dharchula in the bor-der district of Pithoragarh.These Nepalis have beenstranded in Uttarakhand forquite some time.

Efforts were also made tofacilitate their entry into Nepalbut the Nepalese governmentrefused to grant entry to its cit-izens.

Maharaj said that he hadrequested the Union ministerof State for Home Affairs thatarrangements should be madeto send the stranded Nepalisback to their nation before or

after the lifting of the lock-down.

Failing this, there could bepossibility of increase risk ofcontagion in the border area ofUttarakhand.

It is worth mentioninghere that a number of Nepalismigrate to Uttarakhand towork as daily wagers andlabourers in different sectors.The local administration iscurrently taking care of thebasic requirements of thestranded Nepalis inPithoragarh district.

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With Dehradun reporting22 of the total 44

COVID-19 cases in the state sofar, the district administrationhas continued to keep morethan three lakh people undercommunity surveillance. Onthe directions of Dehradundistrict magistrate AshishKumar Srivastava, till now theteams of teachers, Asha work-ers and Anganwadi workershave done the work of com-munity surveillance of around3,85,226 people. Informing

more about the surveillance,the Dehradun ChiefDevelopment Officer (CDO)Nikita Khandelwal said thattwo types of surveillance arebeing carried out by the admin-istration.

The first type is communitysurveillance which is being

carried out by the teams ofAsha workers, Anganwadiworkers and teachers whodirectly interact with the sus-pected patients of COVID-19especially in the red zone areaslike Bhagat Singh Colony,informed Khandelwal.

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Refusing to be drawn intoany controversy against the

backdrop of the UPGovernment bringing backthousands of its students inbuses from Kota, Informationand Broadcasting Minister, onSunday, however, called forfully observing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s request topeople to stay wherever theyare. He also asserted that unlikeleaders in some other countries,who are “confused” betweenthe choices of shutdown andletting economic activities pickup, Modi is “not in two minds”about the way forward andknows what needed to be doneand when.

The Yogi AdityanathGovernment had on Saturdaysent buses to Kota in Rajasthanto bring back students from theState stuck there. This hadirked Bihar Chief MinsiterNitish Kumar who said it wasagainst the spirit of lockdown

A day before a host ofrelaxations to boost economicactivities kicked in amid thenationwide lockdown,Javadekar said that more reliefmeasures are bound to come ifIndia continues to manage thecoronavirus crisis well, assert-ing that “you cannot (have)lockdown permanently”.

When asked about the inci-dent of buses ferrying UP stu-dents, Javadekar told PTI, “Iwill not go into any particularincident but let me make itclear that the Prime Ministerhas spoken about people facinghardship when they are awayfrom home. He has advisedthem to stay wherever you are.That is the real point,”

Some Opposition leaders

have also questioned why theCentral Government is notmaking similar provisions forstranded migrant labourers toreturn to their homes.

“Our policy is stay wher-ever you are and help eachother,” Javadekar said, addingthat Modi’s appeal in thisregard should be observed 100per cent.

A member of the group ofministers to oversee the mea-sures to combat the pandem-ic, Javadekar said, “The PMgave the call of lockdown at theright time and is now partial-ly allowing economic activitywhile the lockdown continues.With such a (huge) populationwe have managed well, if thiscontinues we will get morerelief.”

While the relaxations start-ing from April 20 are primar-ily aimed at boosting the ruraleconomy, Javadekar expressedconfidence that economicactivities will start in cities aswell “sooner than later”.

“The lockdown has beenvery successfully conducted.The world is praising it becausethis is the way to fight the coro-navirus. But even after this youcannot (have) lockdown per-manently. It was needed tostart economic activity. Theworld has seen that in such apandemic the country whichsaves lives actually then getsbetter. We have saved lives andat the same time we must

start economic activity. To thatend Prime Minister has par-tially opened economic activ-ities,” he said.

To a question about RahulGandhi’s claim that the lock-down is not a solution to thepandemic, he took a dig athim, saying that the Congressleader must be “more knowl-edgable” about COVID-19than others.

“The world is praisingIndia for timely lockdown andits good implementation.Compared to what we are wit-nessing in western countries,we are doing much better,” thesenior BJP leader said, in anapparent reference to thou-sands of deaths in developedcountries like the US, Franceand Italy.

Javadekar said, the PMkept a keen eye on the COVIDspread outside India evenwhen there was not a singlecase here and would tell hiscabinet colleagues about itspotential danger and serious-ness.

India now has 700COVID-19 hospitals, over onelakh isolation beds, more than11,000 ICUs for coronaviruspatients and has begun man-ufacturing Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE), rapid testkits and masks that it did notno earlier, he added.

The Union Minister saidthe partial resumption of eco-nomic activities, including allagriculture-related work, fish-ery and dairy works besidesindustries active in rural areas,under the prescribed guide-lines, will be a good relief to therural economy. The workunder MNREGA will also startand over 13 crore families willbenefit, he stated.

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An alarming rise in asymp-tomatic persons — they do

not show noticeable symptomslike illness, but can still pass theCoronavirus to others — turn-ing out to be Covid-19 positiveis the next big concern for theGovernment, already grapplingwith an ever-increasing tally ofcases of the deadly pathogen inIndia.

On Sunday, the positivecases crossed the 16,000-markwhile the toll was nearly 550across the States.

With 186 asymptomaticcases, Delhi joined the list ofStates like Karnataka, where 60per cent of the total 315 casesare asymptomatic ones. Inworst-affected Maharashtra,the trend is more worrisomeand alarming as over 70 percent of novel coronavirus casesin the State are asymptomaticwith patients having no knowl-

edge that they were infected.Various studies using the

mathematical modelling of out-breaks in Tianjin, China, andSingapore in January andFebruary have also found sig-nificant amounts of spread bypeople who had not shown ordeveloped Covid-19 symp-toms.

The asymptomatic casescame to the fore only afterIndia started aggressive testingof all foreign-returned andthose with travel history toCovid-19-incidence regions ofthe country. Some even testedpositive way after completingthe 14-day period.

A district-wise analysis ofdata in Karnataka up to April16 shows 186 of the 315 Covid-19 patients to be asympto-matic patients.

Experts say that this trendwill add additional stress on thestate machinery, which isalready struggling to cope with

the increasing samples it has totest daily.

“If there are more asymp-tomatic cases than thosepatients with symptoms, theauthorities will not be able toneglect a large section of thepopulation, which means anadded burden on testing labs,”one of them said. An asymp-tomatic person does not shownoticeable symptoms like ill-

ness, but can still pass thevirus to others.

According to researchers,with a very high viral load intheir upper respiratory tract,such persons can shed thevirus through spitting, touch-ing their mouths or noses andthen a surface, or possiblytalking. People who don't feelill end up coughing or sneez-ing occasionally.

“We are actually dealingwith a very huge challengealong with the rest of theworld. In this particular infec-tious disease, not only peoplewho are symptomatic, but evenasymptomatic persons as acarrier may pass on the infec-tion,” Lav Agarwal, JointSecretary, Union HealthMinistry had said a few daysago.

If the asymptomatic casesare not tracked down early andsubjected to the preventive andtherapeutic interventions, thecountry might witness rapidspurt in the cases.

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray too cau-tioned that over 70 per cent ofnovel coronavirus cases report-ed in the state were asympto-matic and the patients did notknow that they were infected."70 to 75 percent positive casesare asymptomatic. At least 52 percent of the patients are in seri-

ous conditions. Many havereported in the last stage. Iwant to appeal that do not hidesymptoms," Thackeray said.

Similarly, in Tamil Nadu,which is the third worst-hitState many patients who havetested positive for COVID-19 ,were asymptomatic. So far, 15COVID-19 positive patientshave died in Tamil Nadu whilein Odisha, asymptomatic casesand discovery of coronavirusinfection in persons even afterthe 14-day quarantine or isola-tion period has added to thetrouble of the Government,underlining an urgent need toredefine efforts for containingspread of COVID-19 in theState.

While asymptomatic casesconstitute almost the bulk ofCOVID-19 cases in the State, thepattern has led to serious con-cerns over their ability to spreadthe virus in the communitywithout knowledge of them-

selves or their contacts.Health experts have called

for aggressive testing apart fromcarrying out strict containmentmeasures at places where clus-ter of positive cases has emerged.

In an article in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine,Bill Gates, co-chair of the Billand Melinda Gates Foundation,expressed concern about thespread of the disease by peoplewho haven't yet developedsymptoms, or who are only a bitsick.

"There is also strong evi-dence that it can be transmittedby people who are just mildly illor even presymptomatic. Thatmeans COVID-19 will be muchharder to contain than theMiddle East respiratory syn-drome or severe acute respira-tory syndrome (SARS), whichwere spread much less effi-ciently and only by symptomaticpeople," he said.

Others agree that people

without serious symptoms playa substantial role in the spreadof the new coronavirus.

"Asymptomatic and mildlysymptomatic transmission are amajor factor in transmission forCovid-19," said Dr. WilliamSchaffner, a professor atVanderbilt University School ofMedicine.

Also, large-scale studiesusing mathematical modellingof outbreaks in Tianjin, China,and Singapore in January andFebruary have found significantamounts of spread by peoplewho had not yet developedsymptoms.

The study shows thatbetween 48% and 66% of the 91people in the Singapore clustercontracted the infection fromsomeone who was pre-sympto-matic. Of the 135 people in theTianjin cluster, between 62% and77% caught it from someonewho was pre-symptomatic.

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Extending all out support inthe national effort to fight

coronavirus pandemic, theArmy is now managing theNarela quarantine here. It is oneof the biggest centres in thecountry to look after coronapatients and now has nearly1,300 people in its care. In asimilar endeavour, the Navy islooking after people of Karwarin Karnataka and its hospitalINS Patanjali, at present, istreating nine corona positive.

Giving details of the armyefforts, officials said here onSunday the force has taken overthe responsibility of managingthe Narela quarantine centre inDelhi during the day fromApril 16. An Army medicalteam was deployed at Narelacentre since April 01 to assistthe civil administration.

“From April 16, the Armyhas taken the initiative to man-age the facility from morning8:00 am to evening 8:00 pmrelieving the DelhiGovernment Doctors and

medical staff to manage thefacility only during the night.The Army team comprising of40 personnel which includes sixmedical officers along with 18paramedical staff have volun-teered to stay within thepremises only,” the Army said.

Presently, 932 memberswho attended a religious con-gregation in Nizamuddin areain Delhi are being taken careat the facility out of whom 367have tested COVID-19 posi-tive, the Army stated.

The inmates have beenvery cooperative and positiveto the Army medical team,thereby, facilitating smoothhandling of all medical pro-cedures, the Army said addingthere is tremendous synergywith the civil administration torun this entire facility. TheNarela centre was establishedby the Delhi Government inthe middle of March.

Narela Quarantine Centrein Delhi is amongst the largestcentres in the country formanaging the COVID sus-pects. Initially, 250 foreign

nationals arriving from friend-ly foreign countries were keptin this centre. Later an addi-tional strength of approxi-mately 1,000 more werebrought here fromNizamuddin Markaz. Theprofessional approach of theArmy Medical Team has wonthe hearts of inmates, whohave been very cooperativeand positive to the ArmyMedical Team, thereby, facil-itating smooth handling of allmedical procedures., officialssaid.

Chief of DefenceStaff(CDS)General BipinRawat had visited the campsome weeks back to boost themorale of the army team andassure the local administrationof all support by the armedforces.

Similarly, the Indian NavalHospital Patanjali at Karwarhas been at the forefront of thefight against COVID-19, bytreating the patients from theUttara Kannada district.

Acting on a request fromthe Karwar District

Administration uponannouncement of nation-widelockdown on 25 Mar 20,Patanjali was prepared in everyaspect within 24 hours toreceive the first group ofCOVID-19 positive patientson 28 Mar 2020. A team ofthree doctors, nine medicalstaff alongwith and nine sup-port staff has ensured 24 x 7care to the nine COVID-19positive patients admitted thusfar.

Out of the nine patientsadmitted at the hospital, eighthave been cured and dis-charged so far. With the dis-charge of these eight patientsover last few days, the hospi-tal is now attending to a lonepatient admitted on April 16who is also respondingfavourably to the treatment.

In view of this additionalresponsibility, INS Patanjalihas made alternate arrange-ments for routine medicalattention to the large popula-tion of service personnel andfamilies dependent on thehospital.

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The fight against coronaviruspandemic is the "biggest

invisible war" facing the human-ity and India is confronting itwith excellent synergy betweenall key organs of the nation,Defence Minister Rajnath Singhsaid on Sunday.

In an interview to PTI,Singh said a wide spectrum ofmeasures has been put in placeto insulate the three services andtheir strategic assets from thedeadly infection while keepingthem fully prepared to dealwith any possible threats includ-ing along the borders.

Singh, who is also headinga Group of Ministers onCOVID-19, said well-thought-out protocols are being imple-mented aggressively to keep theforces fighting fit so that theycontinue to play an active role indealing with the national crisis.

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Aday afters o m e

domes ofG u r d w a r aK a r t a r p u rSahib weredamaged dueto rains andstrong winds,India on Sunday askedPakistan to “urgently” repairthe damage keeping in viewthe sentiments of Sikhs.

Elaborating upon thishere, sources said India hastaken up the issue of the col-lapse of domes at GurdwaraKartarpur Sahib withPakistan. "It has been high-lighted that the damage to thestructures in the Gurdwarahave caused great consterna-tion to Sikhs. Their strongsense of faith and devotion tothe holy site must be fullyunderstood and appreciated."

"India has urged Pakistanthat in deference to the sen-timents of the Sikh commu-nity, the deficiencies whichled to the damage to thenewly constructed structuresbe urgently rectified andremedied," they said.

At least, two domes of theshrine collapsed during heavywinds and rain. Several pho-tos posted on social mediaover the weekend showed atleast two domes of theGurdwara had fallen off dur-ing heavy rains and strongwinds..

The photos were widelyshared on social media, andthe Indian side raised thedamage in a “note verbale”sent to Pakistani authorities.

The pilgrimage and reg-istration for Kartarpur SahibGurdwara was stopped onMarch 15 amid the coron-avirus pandemic.

The Government alsostopped movement of alltypes of passengers throughthe international borderpoints with Pakistan.

A total of 44,951 pilgrimstravel led through theKartarpur corridor to payobeisance at Sri KartarpurSahib Gurdwara, the finalresting place of Sikhismfounder Guru Nanak Dev,since the opening of the routein November 2019.

The Kartarpur Corridorlinks Dera Baba Sahib inGurdaspur in India andGurdwara Kartarpur Sahibin Pakistan.

It was opened onNovember 9 last year in a his-toric people-to-people initia-tive between the two coun-tries.

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The Union Health Ministryhas disapproved spraying of

chemical disinfectants on peopleto disinfect them from COVID-19, saying that it is physically andpsychologically harmful.

"Even if a person is poten-tially exposed to the Covid-19,spraying disinfectants on exter-nal parts doesn't kill the virusthat has entered your body," theMinistry said in an advisoryissued recently.

The advisory came follow-ing reports of some health work-ers in Bareilly in Uttar Pradeshusing hose pipes to douse disin-fectants on a group of migrantworkers, amid fears that a largescale movement of people fromcities to the countryside riskedspreading the coronavirus. Theincident had caught everyone'sattention when its video wentviral on social media.

To ensure that such inci-

dents are not repeated in future,the Government advisory said“Spraying individuals withchemical disinfectants is physi-cally and psychologically harm-ful. Disinfectants were chemicalsthat destroy disease causingpathogens or other harmfulmicroorganisms.”

The Ministry said sprayingof chlorine on individuals couldlead to irritation of eyes and skinand potentially gastrointestinaleffects, like nausea and vomiting."Inhalation of sodium hypochlo-rite can lead to irritation ofmucous membranes in nose,throat and respiratory tract and

may also cause bronchospasm,"it said.

Also, use of such measuresmight lead to a false sense of dis-infection and safety, it said andadded it could hamper publicobservance of hand washingand social distancing measures.

The Union Health Ministrysaid it had received many queriesregarding the efficacy of disin-fectants, like sodium hypochlo-rite, spray to disinfect people.

The strategy seems to havegained a lot of media attentionand is also being reportedlyused at local levels in certain dis-tricts/local bodies.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday took to the

employment and business-ori-ented platform Linkedin toshare his thoughts on Covid-19saying the contagion has“changed the contours of pro-fessional life and these dayshome is the new office and inter-net is the new meeting room”.

“For the time being, officebreaks with colleagues are his-tory,” he said and went out tomaintain that he too has adapt-ed these changes. “Most meet-ings, be it with ministerial col-leagues, officials and world lead-ers, are now via video confer-encing," Modi wrote in an arti-cle, ‘Life in the era of Covid-19’,on the networking site.

“It has been a topsy-turvystart to the third decade of thiscentury. COVID-19 has broughtwith it many disruptions,” saidthe PM adding India’s energeticand innovative youth can showthe way in ensuring a healthierand prosperous future.

But at the same time, hecautioned “Covid-19 does notsee race, religion, colour, caste,creed, language or bordersbefore striking. Our responseand conduct thereafter shouldattach primacy to unity andbrotherhood”.

Modi told the young pro-fessionals that digitalization hashelped Government to reach outand deliver to common peoplein the lockdown days of Covid-19 pandemic, overcoming thebureaucratic hurdles. In orderto get ground level feedbackfrom various stakeholders, there

have been videoconferencemeetings with several sections ofsociety.

“There were extensive inter-actions with NGOs, civil societygroups and community organ-isations. There was an interac-tion with Radio Jockeys too.Besides that, I have been mak-ing numerous phone calls daily,taking feedback from differentsections of society. One is see-ing the ways through which peo-ple are continuing their work inthese times. There are a few cre-ative videos by our film starsconveying a relevant message ofstaying home. Our singers didan online concert. Chess playersplayed chess digitally andthrough that contributed to thefight against COVID-19. Quiteinnovative! The work place isgetting Digital First. And, whynot?” said Modi in a lengthy arti-cle.

He reiterated that the mosttransformational impact ofTechnology often happens in thelives of the poor. It is technolo-gy that demolishes bureaucrat-ic hierarchies, eliminates mid-dlemen and accelerates welfaremeasures, he said.

“Let me give you an exam-ple. When we got the opportu-nity to serve in 2014, we start-ed connecting Indians, especiallythe poor with their Jan DhanAccount, Aadhar & Mobilenumber. This seemingly simpleconnection has not only stoppedcorruption and rent seekingthat was going on for decades,but has also enabled theGovernment to transfer moneyat the click of a button. This clickof a button has replaced multi-

ple levels of hierarchies on thefile and also weeks of delay.

“India has perhaps thelargest such infrastructure in theworld. This infrastructure hashelped us tremendously in trans-ferring money directly andimmediately to the poor andneedy, benefiting crores of fam-ilies, during the COVID-19 sit-uation,” wrote Modi, alsoexplaining the role of Internetbrought in the education sector.

“COVID-19 has made usrealise the need to work onhealth solutions at low cost andlarge scale. We can become aguiding light for global efforts toensure the health and well beingof humanity, he said. The PrimeMinister also wrote on the needof new investment models forfarmers.

“COVID-19 does not seerace, religion, colour, caste,creed, language or border beforestriking. Our response and con-duct thereafter should attach pri-macy to unity and brother-hood. We are in this together.Unlike previous moments in his-tory, when countries or societiesfaced off against each other,today we are together facing acommon challenge. The futurewill be about togetherness andresilience,” he said urging theyoung professionals to concen-trate on fitness, Yoga and use oftraditional medicine.

“Lastly, and importantly,please download Aarogya SetuMobile App. This is a futuristicApp that leverages technology tohelp contain the possible spreadof COVID-19. More the down-loads, more its effectiveness,”Modi stressed.

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Both the Secretariats ofParliament- Lok Sabha

and Rajya Sabha- will resumework from Monday after itwas shut in the last week ofMarch in the wake of theCOVID-19 outbreak, accord-ing to an official order.

The Lok Sabha and RajyaSabha were shut on March 24after both houses wereadjourned sine die followingthe passage of the Finance Billfor 2020-21, bringing a pre-mature end to the budgetsession of Parliament, whichwas slated to conclude onApril 3.

Besides the senior level

officials, the other staff willwork on a rotational basis.

The order further saidwhile working, the secretariat staff will ensurethat social distancing normsare observed.

"File movement shall onlybe through electronic modein e-office. The only excep-tion could be urgent files for

the consideration of the LokSabha speaker or the RajyaSabha chairman," sources inParliament said.

According to an orderissued by the Lok SabhaSecretariat, it will resumework from Monday and allofficers of the joint secretaryrank and above will join office.

The same wil l be implied in the Rajya Sabha secretariat and it will have tofunction with only 33 percentwork force of the totalstrength under rotationalbasis regulations similar tothe DoPT circular for CentralGovernment off ices anddepartments.

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With all its transgressionthe sneaky coronavirus

has failed to keep politics at bayin Bengal. Even as StateGovernor Jagdeep Dhnakhargot embroiled in a twitter warwith the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment for its inept han-dling of the lockdown proto-cols, senior TMC leader SudipBandopadhyay slammed himfor his partisan ways threaten-ing to take the issue up in theLok Sabha when it opens.

“In this hour of crisis theGovernor is doing more poli-tics than the BJP … We willrequest him to conduct himselfin a more dignified mannerbefitting his high chair”Bandopadhyay said addinghow the Governor by “acting ina partisan manner is putting hisconstitutional post to disgrace.”

He said “if he does not stopacting in a politically partisanmanner then we will be forcedto raise the issue in the LokSabha when it reopens.”

Bandopadhyay was refer-ring to situations where theDhankhar was “being wrong-ly informed by the BJP leadersand making adverse commentswithout checking the truth.”

The Governor had earlieralleged that he was not beingkept in the loop about the sit-uation emerging out of thecorona outbreak. “Despite sev-eral requests and efforts made

by my office to get in touchwith the Chief Minister, RajBhavan remained ignored,” hesaid, adding “the lockdownbetween the Raj Bhavan andNabanna (state secretariat)must end during this fightagainst a pandemic.

Ruing that his office wasnot getting any input from theGovernment he said “I wouldappeal to the chief minister thatthis is not time for anyone —for the government or politicalparty to engage in theatrics. Itis time for her to adhere to theessence of the IndianConstitution and brief me,” hesaid.

The Governor later alsoexpressed concerns aboutalleged mishandling of thepublic distribution system withmany people not getting theirshare of ration.

Raj Bhavan sources alsosaid that he had expressedconcerns over how some BJPMPs like Arjun Singh, JohnBurla and Subhas Sarkar wereprevented from distributingrelief materials to thepublic.

The war of words cameamid fresh controversies overa “made up video” in which apoor man from Basihaat townin North 24 Parganas criedpleading hunger and soughturgent relief from ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee butsubsequently told the televisioncamera that he being a part-

time actor was asked by somelocal people to act like thatbefore the video was made togo viral.

The TMC promptly point-ed fingers at the BJP for themischief soon after the latterwent to town complaining howthe relief materials being sentby the Centre were being mis-appropriated by the TMCworkers.

While the Trinamool sawBJP hand in the fake video thelatter washed its hands from itbut insisted that the reliefmaterials were not reaching thetarget groups and the peopledown there were starving. Themiddle-aged ‘actor’ of the videohas since been arrested, policesaid.

Meanwhile, theGovernment on Sunday decid-ed to introduce both rapidanti-body tests and pool-test-ing in hotspot and cluster areasas well as the ten districtswhere there has been no traceof corona infection thus far.

“The pool testing whichhas been successfully done inHolland, Maharashtra,Andaman and Nicobar Islandswill now be introduced here inBengal with swabs of five per-sons will be tested with a sin-gle kit. This will not only savethe kits but also time,” said anofficial. Bengal has been underfire from critics who blamedthe State for under-testing.

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The district authorities inJammu have launched a

Covid-19 audit across differentresidential areas, categorised asred-zones to contain the fur-ther spread of the coron-avirus.

Meanwhile, a total numberof 9 fresh cases, eight fromKashmir and one from Rajouriarea of Jammu were detectedtaking the total tally of positivecases to 350 in Jammu &Kashmir. Out of these 8 cases,four positive cases were report-ed from Kupwara, one eachfrom Srinagar, Baramula,Bandipora and Kulgam. Apatient from Rajouri was

employed at a house in Shopianand had returned via Mughalroad after developing symp-toms of cough andfever.

According to officialsources, "Covid-19 audit waslaunched in Jammu to identi-fy the suspected cases onSunday". Official sources said,separate teams, comprisinghealth care workers and others,were constituted to screen res-idents in red-zone areas.

Some of the Rohingya clus-ters, located in these red-zoneswere also screened. Some of the

Rohingyas, showing symptomsof cough and fever, were shift-ed to quarantine centres wheresamples would be collected onMonday.

In addition, about onedozen Rohingyas, quarantinedin Nagotra area of Jammusince the first week of April2020 were discharged fromthese centres along with agroup of others who hadattended religious congregationin Nizamuddin in the month ofMarch.

Official sources said, "Noneof the Rohingyas or membersof the Tablighi group testedpositive and were let off afterthey completed mandatoryquarantine period".

Lucknow: Lockdown will notbe lifted in 19 districts that havereported more than ten Coronapositive cases, UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidin a meeting conductedthrough video conferencingwith all District Magistratesand police chiefs on Sundayevening.

He said that in the remain-ing districts, the DistrictMagistrates will take a decisionwhether or not to allow relax-ation in lockdown rules. Norelaxation will be permitted inthe sealed hotspots.

The district officials willwork out the modalities regard-ing opening of specified indus-tries, banks and other units inthe 56 districts that havereported less than 10 Corona

cases.The Chief Minister,

according to the governmentspokesman, asked all DistrictMagistrates to ensure that safe-ty protocols are strictly fol-lowed in their areas and socialdistancing is maintained evenin districts where lockdown islifted.

He also gave guidelinesfor factories and industrieswhere work is to resume onMonday.

The Chief Minister askedthe officials to ensure that theemployers take care of socialdistancing, sanitisers andmasks for employees.

The corona count in UttarPradesh on Sunday went up to1,084 with 115 new cases beingadded.

More than 108 coronapatients have so far been suc-cessfully treated, according tothe Health Department release.

The virus has claimed 17lives in the state so far.

Earlier in the day, the ChiefMinister had set up a five-member committee to ensureemployment opportunities forthe labourers returning to thestate from other parts of thecountry in the wake of theCorona virus lockdown.

The committee will beheaded by the AgricultureProduction Commissioner andwill include the PrincipalSecretaries of the Departmentsof Rural Development,Panchayati Raj, Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises andSkill Development. IANS

Chennai: Tamil Nadu onSunday reported a sharpincrease in the number ofCovid-19 patients with 105 per-sons diagnosed with coron-avirus infection over the past 24hours taking the total tally to1,477. After reporting lowernumbers in the last couple ofdays, the State has reported adrastic increase in the newinfection numbers. Included inthe new cases are three doctors,one police Sub-Inspector andtwo journalists.It is learnt onejournalist is working with aTamil daily and the other oneworks in a television channel.

The Government also said46 Covid-19 patients have beendischarged on Sunday across the

state taking the total number ofdischarged to 411.

It has also announcedrestarting of property registra-tion activities. According to thegovernment, only four registra-tions will be allowed in an hourand social distancing should bemaintained. The state govern-ment also said that the existinglockdown restrictions wouldcontinue in the state, till ChiefMinister K. Palaniswami decidesotherwise. The government saidthe expert committee that has setup to recommend the indus-tries/business establishmentsthat can restart operations willbe meeting later on Sunday andgive its report to Chief Ministeron Monday. IANS

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Sanitisation in Varanasi isnow being done by the

Garuda drone which hasreplaced the risky manual sani-tisation of the coronavirushotspot in Madanpura locality.

The Garuda drone carry-ing pesticides sanitised heavi-ly populated areas ofMadanpura on Sunday. It wasmonitored from Godowlia byDivisional CommissionerDeepak Agrawal.

"After Madanpura, thissanitization drone will also beused to disinfect hotspots ofBajardiha, Lohta, Nakkhighatand Gangapur," said Agrawal.

Amaravati: One more persondied of coronavirus while 44new positive cases were regis-tered in Andhra Pradesh dur-ing last 24 hours, officials onSunday.

The latest fatality wasreported from Kurnool district,taking the death toll in the stateto 17.

According to the healthdepartment, 44 tested positivesince Saturday, taking the over-all number of cases to 647.

A total of 65 patients haveso far discharged after recovery.The number of active casesstands at 565. IANS

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Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on

Sunday called upon the UttarPradesh Government toevolve a plan to help migrantworkers from the State reachtheir home.

In a video appeal, sheurged the State Governmentto set up a helpline and con-trol room to reach out to allthose migrant workers fromUP who are stranded at var-ious places.These workersare our own. It is the respon-sibility of all of us to helpthem. We cannot leave themlike this. We have to find away out," she said.

"I urge the Uttar PradeshGovernment to set up ahelpline and a control roomof 1,000 persons so that

these stranded workers canbe reached out. You have toevolve a plan to bring themback," she said.

Gandhi said she hastalked to the migrant work-ers from the northern statewho are stuck in differentplaces and are finding it dif-ficult to survive as they arenow huddled together inone room.She said themigrants are scared and wantto come back to their homesin UP, as they have no rationor cash left.

The Congress generalsecretary in-charge of UttarPradesh also lauded the state

government for bringingback stranded students fromKota in Rajasthan.

"These migrant workersare also our own. They donot have anything to eat.Helping them is also theresponsibility of the stategovernment," she said in herappeal.

Thousands of migrantworkers have been strandedat state borders and in vari-ous large towns due to thenationwide lockdownimposed to curb the spreadof coronavirus.

Metros like Delhi andMumbai had recently wit-nessed law and order issueswhen thousands of migrantworkers swarmed local busstations and railway stations,in their bid to reach theirnative places.

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The Union Home Ministry on Sundaydirected the States to maintain a register

of all migrant labourers in their camps andconduct their skill mapping to engage themin suitable sectors. The Ministry also askedthe States to create a Standard OperatingProtocol (SOP) for movement of the labour-ers within the State and made it clear therewould no movement of them outside theState.

In a detailed circular, the Home Ministryurged the States to find the skills of thesestranded labour and explore the possibilitiesof engaging them in other sectors includingMNREGA and industrial works.

“Due to the spread of COVID-19 virus,workers employed in industry, agriculture,construction and other sectors have movedfrom their respective places of work, and arehoused in relief/ shelter camps being run byState/ UT Governments. Since additional newactivities, outside the containment zones, havebeen permitted in the consolidated revisedguidelines with effect from 20th April 2020,these workers could be engaged in industri-

al, manufacturing, construction, farmingand MNREGA works,” said the circular.

“In order to facilitate their movementwithin the State/UT, the following guidelinesmay be followed: The migrant labourers cur-rently residing in relief/ shelter camps inStates/UTs should be registered with the con-cerned local Authority and their skill map-ping be carried out to find out their suitabilityfor various kinds of works. In the event, thata group of migrants wish to return to theirplaces of work, within the State where theyare presently located, they would be screenedand those who are asymptomatic would betransported to their respective places ofwork,” added the circular, reiterating thatthere shall be no movement of labour out-side the State where they are currentlylocated.

The Ministry said that during the jour-ney by bus, it would be ensured that safesocial distancing norms are followed and thebuses used for transport are sanitized as perthe guidelines of the Health authorities. Thelocal authorities shall also provide for foodand water etc., for the duration of their jour-ney, said the Home Ministry.

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Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on

Sunday assured the migrantlabourers settled in the Statethat he was in touch with theCentre and he was confidentthat in the next few days, somesolution would be found fortheir problems.

As part of the address tothe people in the state throughsocial media, Uddhav said:“The migrants living in theState are in a mood to co-oper-ate with the State Government.

They have quietened downnow. I would like to tell themonce again that we are holdingtalks with the Union govern-ment. I am confident that inthe next few days, we will finda way out of the current situa-tion”

“Please don’t worry at all.In Maharashtra, we are slowlystarting the activities. If possi-ble, I request you to come backto work. You can continue toearn living. The day the situa-tion returns to normal, I assurethat the Maharashtra govern-ment will ensure that you will

return to your native places.What we want is that whenev-er you go, you go back happi-ly to your home. Don’t goback in fear,” the Chief Ministertold the migrant labourers. Uddhav went to tellthe migrant labourers: “You tellyour family members that theMaharashtra government istaking care of well. Don’tunnecessarily think about ourwelfare.

The government there willtake care of your needs there.Please take care of your. It isonly matter of few days. I am

confident that our happy dayswill return. With these words,I would like to thank all of you”.

The chief minister’s wordsto the migrants should be seenin the light of the unrest seenamong the migrant workersacross the state in recent weeksand the assembly of hugecrowds witnessed in front ofthe Bandra railway station innorth-west Mumbai on theevening April 14, hours afterPrime Minister Narendra Modiannounced the extension oflockdown till May 3.

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Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)-Bombay start-ups have

developed several novel tech-nological weapons for front-line professionals and workers–including contactless detec-tion, hot spot monitoring andreal-time monitoring of logis-tics—to combat Covid-19effectively.

The other weapons that theIIT-Bombay have developedinclude: smart trolley for hos-pitals, rapid ambulance serviceand pregnancy care. “Most ofthese were developed withindays of the nation-wide lock-down announced by the gov-ernment,” an IIT-B spokesper-son said here on Sunday.

Two start-up companiesAugle AIand Faclon Labshavedevised solutions for detection,tracking and localization in a

densely populated city. Thetemperature sensing systemdeveloped by Augle skimsthrough hundreds of peoplemoving in public places.

Tejendu, head of their techteam, said: “We are integratingthis with our existing facialrecognition system to strength-en the safety and security inoffices, government buildings,public places, malls – any placewhere people gather in largenumbers.”

The two start-up compa-nies will also provide drone-based crowd analytics for quar-antined areas for increasing thesafety of police officials andhealth workers.

Faclon is working closelywith BMC to install automat-ic plug & play screening devicesthat can be mounted on wall ortripod. They capture thermalsnapshots of individuals andac-

tivate alarms upon detect-ingthose with fever.

A robotic smart trolleywith racks designed by thestart-up JanYu Technologiesisbeing tested in local hospitals.

Dr. Om Singh of LifecareHospital, Vasai said that thetrolley with its WiFi connect-ed tablet screen and in-builtcamera for patient interactionthrough live audio-visuals.

Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha(Retd.) tweeted about the smarttrolley for remote care forCOVID patients. These trolleyscan be remotely operated, fortaking food, medicine, clothingand other critical suppliesbetween isolation wards andsupply units.

“Our company developsrobots for hazardous work-spaces. We modified these tomeet the current requirements,and are delivering trolleys to

hospitals in Hyderabad,Lucknow and Delhi” SaiHemanth, founder of the com-pany said.

Routetomarket MediaIndia, which offers sales, dis-tribution and media manage-ment services, is manufactur-ing customisable personal pro-tection equipment (PPE) forhealthcare professionals, lawand order personnel and otherfrontline workers. Harsh, oneof the founders of R2MI, said:“We are manufacturing about5,000 PPEs per day and havepledged to donate 50% ofthem.”

Adapt Ideations providesCloud-based platforms for real-time monitoring of logisticsand delivery. They utilizedtheir network to manufactureface protection shields withBSL-2 compliance for use bydoctors, health workers and

enforcement officials.The IIT-spokesperson said:

“As of today, 200 face shieldswere donated to Thane trafficpolice,and 1250 were suppliedto Aastha Pratishthan forRatnagiri Police.More are inproduction, to meet therequests from Andhra Pradeshpolice, Telangana medicalauthorities, and Dharavi resi-dents in Mumbai”.

A PhD student Farhajoined hands with Sukanya,founder of a bioplastics start-up called Phabio, to develop acommunity engagement pro-ject. Their Spot. Corona appprovides a heat map forinformed decisions on conta-minant zones, by predicting thenumber of hidden and report-ed cases. It uses multiple sets ofdata including symptoms,detection, travel history andcontact tracing to identify

infection hotspots. Thishelps indeciding about increased tests,optimal isolation zones andlocalized lockdown.

The CareNxteam devel-oped a video series and webi-nars called ‘Don't Panic,Protect’in partnership withrenowned gynaecologists, doc-tors and counsellors. Their appis used by frontline workers tocounsel more than 10,000 preg-nant women in remote areas.

The HelpNowstart-upteam developed an app calledMedCabs, reducing the timerequired to get an ambulanceto under 15 minutes. They areaggregating ambulances, mobi-lizing Uber drivers andgivingthem AHA-certified training aswell as protective equip-ment.More than 350 such vehi-cles are currently moving onMumbai roads, and have ser-viced over 9000 calls for help.

The team launched a 24x7helpline to provide sanitizedambulances with ventilatorsfor COVID emergenciesandare helping the government tosanitize public places like CST,BKC and Dharavi.

“HelpNow was started byAditya Makkar after his fathersuffered a heart attack andwas told to wait for 45 minutesfor an ambulance; he was savedby driving to the hospital intheir own car” Dr. AparnaRao, who coordinates variouscourses offered by Desai SethiSchool for Entrepreneurship atIIT Bombay, said. More than 25start-ups including Augle,Adapt, CareNx, Faclon,HelpNow, JanYu, Phabio, R2MIand others were started byIITB students who wereinspired and empoweredthrough DSSE courses andmentoring programs.

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In a record number of Covid-19 infections reported in a

day, as many as 552 people test-ed positive for Coronavirus inMaharashtra on Sunday, takingthe total number of infectedcases to 4200, while twelvemore persons succumbed tothe pandemic in the State.

On a day whenCoronavirus claimed 12 morelives in Maharashtra, Mumbaiaccounted for six deaths, whilethere were four deaths inMalegaon and one death wasreported from Solapur andJamkhed in Ahmednagar dis-trict.

With the latest deaths, thetotal number of deaths inMaharashtra mounted 223,while the total number ofdeaths in Mumbai climbed to132.

Of those who died, fourwere men, while 8 werewomen. Six of them were agedover 60 years, five were fromthe age group 40 to 60 yearsand the remaining one wasunder 40 years of age.

While the information onco-morbidities in the fourdeceased who died inMalegaon was not available,

six out of the rest eightdeceased (75%) had high-riskco-morbidities such as dia-betes, hypertension, asthmaand heart disease.

With fresh infected cases,the total number of infectedcases in Mumbai rose to 2724.Similarly, the total number ofinfected cases in PuneMunicipal Corporationclimbed to 546, while the num-

ber of deaths stands at 49.“Out of 72,023 laboratory

samples, 67,673 were negativeand 4200 have tested positivefor coronavirus until today,” thestate health medical bulletinsaid. The state health authori-ties are implementing clustercontainment action plan isbeing implemented in placeswhere clusters of patients havebeen found in the State.

“There are 368 active con-tainment zones in the state cur-rently. Total 6359 surveillancesquads worked today across thestate and surveillance of 23.97lakh population was done,” thebulletin said.

Meanwhile, 507 patientshave been discharged till dateafter full recovery. “Currently,87,254 people are in homequarantine and 6,743 peopleare in institutional quaran-tine,” the bulletin added.

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Manavaatti (Malayalam for ‘thebride’) and Aana Mayakki (one

which makes the elephant sleep) areback in action in Kerala. No need toget confused. These are brand namesof ‘desi daaru’ or the country liquor(arrack to be precise) distilled andsold in interior Kerala for those tip-plers who could not survive withouttheir daily quota of spirits.

A 200 ml measure of Manavattiwill make the tippler behave like abride! The head will bow down inshyness till it hits the chest. AanaMayakki is so lethal that a small mea-sure will put the man out of actionfor hours.

There are persons in all pan-chayats and municipalities wellversed in distilling the country liquorwith minimum raw materials andequipment. A little bit of ammoniumsulphate, used batteries, and rottenvegetables are the ingredients.

The desi daaru made a returnwith the closure of the liquor outletsin Kerala and Tamil Nadu as part ofthe national lockdown. Both theStates have fairly large number of tip-plers who did not anticipate this kindof deprivation from the authorities,according to Jose Roshan, an entre-preneur in Perumbavoor. Roshanknows the spots in the town wheredaaru is available. With more thanhundred thousand migrant labors inthe town, bootleggers are doingroaring business and the coronavirushas brought them a bonanza throughManavatti and AM.

The case in Tamil Nadu is no dif-ferent. The last two days saw policeseizing liquor stored in unauthorizedplaces in Puthukottai district anddestroying the same by pouring thespirits into deep pits much to theanguish and agony of the tipplers.Some of them were seen pleadingwith the police not to be cruel and toshow some kindness towards theiragony.

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Even after the conclusion of the firstphase of the three-week nationwidelockdown imposed by theGovernment and its further exten-sion up to May 3 to curb the spread

of Coronavirus, signs are emerging that thevirus is not going away anytime soon. Thisis grim news for the country from both thehealth and economic perspective, especiallyfor the female population, which is likely tosuffer on multiple fronts due to the spread ofthe virus and the resultant need for the peo-ple to stay indoors.

The first category of affected women arehealthcare staff, including nurses, AccreditedSocial Health Activists (ASHAs) and angan-wadi workers, who have been holding the fortagainst the disease all across the country. AGovernment of India report of 2015 revealedthat 88.9 per cent of the support and ancil-lary staff among health workers, primarilynurses, midwives and ASHAs, are female. Thisis corroborated by earlier data from the 68thround of the National Sample Survey on the“Employment and Unemployment Situationin India” (July 2011 to June 2012). With hos-pitals facing an influx of Coronavirus patientsand given the need for active contact tracingof positive cases, these workers have becomefrontline warriors in times of crisis.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)reported that globally, too, women comprisea majority of the healthcare staff, accountingfor 70 per cent of the total in 107 countries,including India. The COVID-19 outbreak isa physical and emotional nightmare for manyhealthcare workers. Eleanor Holroyd, current-ly Professor at New Zealand’s AucklandUniversity of Technology, recounts her inter-actions with student nurses when she was pro-fessor of nursing at the Chinese University ofHong Kong during the SARS epidemic in2003. A large section of these nurses experi-enced confusion, anxiety and stress from thelong days of caring for patients and seeingmany of their colleagues, too, contracting thedisease in the process. “There’s the idea thatif there’s a gap in the health system, the nurs-es will fill it. Their duty is to be ever-presentand visible, offering empathy and care… Addthat to a sick child or husband or parent andthe very uncertain nature of an epidemic, itcan be hard [for the nurse] to hold on,” saysHolroyd.

The crisis is also likely to affect womendisproportionately because of the alreadydeclining female labour force participation(FLFP) rate in India, which according to theEconomic Survey of India of 2017-18, fellfrom 36 per cent in 2005-06 to 24 per centin 2015-16. The India Human DevelopmentSurvey (IHDS), conducted in two waves in2004-05 and 2011-12, too, reported a fall inthe FLFP from 31.12 per cent in 2005 to24.77 per cent in 2012. The IHDS is a multi-topic survey jointly conducted by theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch (NCAER) and the University ofMaryland, covering 41,554 households in

1,503 villages and 971 urbanneighbourhoods across India.This survey also suggests that thedecline in FLFP could be due tothe lack of demand for femalelabour rather than that of laboursupply. The paucity of demandfor women workers could bereinforced in the comingmonths after the real impact ofthe Coronavirus becomes appar-ent in various sectors of theIndian economy.

Another category of womenlikely to be impacted by the pan-demic are salaried workers, manyof whom are currently working-from-home but could eventual-ly face the prospect of lay-offs andpay cuts once their employersreturn to the normal work rou-tine in a recessionary economy.The temporary or permanentclosure of many businesses is like-ly to have a severe adverse impacton a range of professions domi-nated by women, such as flightattendants, tour operators, salesassistants and frontline hotelstaff and cleaners.

Academics, who have stud-ied past pandemics, includingEbola, Zika, SARS, swine flu andbird flu, report their deep andpersistent effects on genderequality. According to JuliaSmith, a health policy researcherat the Simon Fraser University,Vancouver, Canada, these out-breaks affected everyone’sincomes but “men’s incomereturned to what they had made

pre-outbreak faster than women’sincome.” This outcome is com-pounded by the already-existingwage discrimination in many sec-tors. For example, in the health-care sector, overall, womenreportedly earn 11 per cent lessthan their male counterparts.Anganwadi and ASHA workersreceive salaries in the range ofmerely �3,000-4,500 per month,which is even below the mini-mum wage, without any addi-tional benefits like pension andmaternity leave. These womenmay not lose their jobs but anydecline in their family incomesdue to the pandemic will makethem an equal part of the eco-nomic crisis looming ahead.

Even women, who are out ofthe workforce and traditionallystay at home, are facing a hugechallenge emanating from thelockdown with their alreadyextensive care-giving duties mul-tiplying even further due to thereverse migration of householdservice providers like maids,cooks and nannies to their nativevillages. A 2015 survey by theOrganisation for EconomicCooperation and Developmentfound that an Indian womandoes far more “unpaid work”,almost six hours per day on anaverage, than her peers in mostother countries. The correspond-ing figure for men is just 52 min-utes per day.

In fact, as per an Oxfamreport titled, “Mind the Gap”,

released in March 2019, Indianwomen do the most unpaid careand domestic work in any coun-try, barring Kazakhstan, largelybecause patriarchal norms,which dictate tasks such ascooking, cleaning, looking afterchildren and the elderly andfetching water and firewood,have to be performed by womenalone.

Data for the first wave ofIHDS also highlights the domes-tic drudgery for women, especial-ly in rural areas. The surveyfound that women in India’s vil-lages were spending an averageof 240 minutes per week collect-ing firewood and 66 minutes perday fetching water as comparedto much lower corresponding fig-ures of 136 minutes per week and29 minutes per day, respectively,spent by men in the household.

Last but not the least is theissue of domestic abuse, the inci-dence of which is believed to goup exponentially in any kind ofcrisis, especially the current onethat mandates people to practisesocial isolation and stay at homefor sustained periods. What isworse, in a lockdown situation,women in violent relationshipsare unable to seek help as the per-petrators of the violence arealways around, whereas thosewho can help the victims areinaccessible.

The US, the UK and Chinahave witnessed a significant risein domestic violence since the

advent of the Coronavirus. InIndia, the National Commissionfor Women (NCW) reporteddouble the usual number ofdomestic abuse cases since theimposition of the lockdown.According to the NCWChairperson, Rekha Sharma, atotal of 257 complaints related tovarious offences against womenwere received during the periodMarch 24 to April 1, out of which69 complaints were related todomestic violence. The UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres has, in fact, urgedGovernments “to make the pre-vention and redress of the hor-rifying [domestic] violenceagainst women a key part of theirnational response plans forCOVID-19.”

These gender-based conse-quences of Coronavirus make itimperative for both the admin-istration and social networks toensure that the pandemic doesnot negate the gains of genderequality achieved over the pastfew decades. Diah Saminarsih,Senior Adviser on Gender andYouth to the WHO Director-General, avers that tackling thisissue will be top priority in theWHO’s forthcoming study on theconnections between gender andCOVID-19. It remains to be seenhow well women will be able toride out the Corona storm.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor at NCAER. Views expressedin this article are personal)����(��������������� ���������

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Sir — It is heartening to know thatKerala reported more recoveriesthan new cases in the past week.Out of 387 total recorded cases,218 people recovered so far. Ashort while ago, the largest num-ber of infected patients belongedto this State. But growth rate isnow completely under controland is declining rapidly.Statistically speaking, the well-being rate is about 42 per cent,which is a bit higher than in theentire country. The death rateamong the victims is also quite lowhere. This sends positive signalsthat it will be able to dip the infec-tion curve. According to theKerala administration’s statement,the State is being healed accord-ing to certain rules. Other Statesmust apply the same rules to getover this painful pandemic.

Mamun HasanAssam

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Sir — This refers to editorial,“WHO vs Trump” (April 17). It isunfortunate that US PresidentDonald Trump has halted funding

to the World Health Organistaion(WHO) over its handling of theCoronavirus pandemic. But hedoes have some justification forthis attack on the global body andits leader Tedros Adhanom, whomTrump has accused of being a

Chinese lapdog.Post this development, China

hinted that it would step up its con-tribution to the WHO. It must benoted that a lion’s share of the con-tribution to the WHO comesfrom the US and it is the largest

single Government donor in theworld. China or any other coun-try is far behind here. In this sense,he who pays the piper calls thetune. The US has been devastatedby the spread of the COVID-19pandemic and Americans are

falling dead en masse due to thisdisease. It is, therefore, natural forthe US to be offended due to theWHO’s irresponsible behaviour.

But why did China refuse todivulge details about the diseaseto the outside world even whenhundreds of its own people fellprey to the pandemic? These arequestions to which no definiteanswers have been offered byChinese authorities so far. Theworld body has to initiate a probeinto this matter.

TK NandananChennai

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Sir — Rumours are known to begreat disruptors. The COVID-19pandemic is no exception to it.Various false narratives have beenspread to tarnish the name of aparticular community. Despitediversity being India’s strength,the evil spreading on social mediaand caustic ideologies gravelydamage our syncretism. The statemust act responsibly.

Akash DhimanVia email

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In the prevailing period of uncertainty, unpre-dictability and ambiguity of every aspect ofhuman life, in fact, of life itself, is it a war that

we are fighting and what kind of a war is this? Thetraditional understanding of conflict is violent activ-ity between two or more nations or groups over aperiod of time, bringing death and destruction inits wake. The world has, however, seen other typesof battles. For instance, the war on poverty, class wars,trade wars and so on. So, is our ongoing fight forexistence against COVID-19 to be termed a war?The significance is not merely of the word but theprinciples which should govern this fight.

In the spectrum of conflict, at the lower end islow-intensity engagement and at the highest levelthere is nuclear warfare. Chemical and biologicalwarfare can also be grouped with nuclear conflict.While chemical weapons have repeatedly been usedin some conflicts in the 20th century, the use of bio-logical weapons is relatively less and mostlyunproven. But biological weapons are the easiest andcheapest to manufacture and can adversely affect theentire enemy population. (A biological weapon canbe as simple as dropping a body in the village wellor a town’s water supply.) However, possibly due tomorality aspects and more importantly, the inabil-ity to control the fallout of a biological weapon, itsuse on a large scale has been precluded, though manycountries are reported to have had biologicalweapons programmes in the past.

The present crisis would definitely fall under thecategory of biological warfare. The commencementof this war could be both, natural or man-made. Atthis point of time, due to inadequate credible infor-mation, it would be inappropriate to pronounce adecision as to who is responsible for the commence-ment of this war. However, it is of extreme impor-tance to analyse inputs when available and reach aconclusion on its genesis because, many aspects ofthe post-COVID world, including possibly the worldorder, would depend on it. If this be a biological war,we need to see the scale of it. It is perhaps the firsttime in history that the entire human race, withoutany exception, is combatting a common enemy, theCOVID-19 virus. Though there have been pan-demics in the past, like the Spanish Flu in 1918 andthe Asian Flu in 1957, a global catastrophe of thisscale is unprecedented. It is not only the sickness anddeath which the virus-affected world suffers, seem-ingly at an exorbitantly large scale, but also the eco-nomic devastation that is likely to ensue in its wakein the globalised world, which makes this crisis atruly unparalleled one. Additionally, in all previousbattles whether conventional or otherwise (war onterror, price wars and so on), there have always been“sides.” In this unprecedented situation, the entiremankind is on one side and the virus is on the other.It is therefore, a true Global War On a BiologicalThreat (GWOBT).

Considering this to be a war, the “Principles ofWar” need to be applied to defeat it. While these fun-damentals have been enunciated by different mili-tary theorists from Sun Tzu to Clausewitz and dif-ferent countries have adopted their own dictumsbased on their national and strategic requirements,it is intended to elucidate these principles which aregenerally acceptable. Let’s deliberate upon them inthe context of the GWOBT.

Selection and maintenance of aim: This is thesingle-most important maxim as all actions will

depend upon the aim selected. My expe-rience in the Siachen Glacier and otherbattle situations is that, it is necessary firstto survive to defeat the enemy. A dead manis good to nobody. In the existing situa-tion wherein no treatment is available, theaim must remain focussed on survival.

Concentration of force: Since theentire human race has one deadly enemy,all national boundaries, religions, beliefs,ethnicities, caste, creed and gender areirrelevant in this war. All efforts of thehuman race must, therefore, be concen-trated on defeating the virus. Solidarityand synergy of all resources of the worldwould be necessary to defeat this enemy,which has humbled mankind.

Administration/sustainability: Tobe able to fight the war successfully, thehuman race, especially the economicallydeprived, has to be able to sustain itselfthrough the entire period that the battleis fought. The administration has to beperfected to take care of essential needs,especially food and medical assistance.Though this is already partly visible butit has to be ensured over a long period tillit is business as usual.

Security: In military terms, it meansthat an appropriate environment must becreated and maintained, which will enablenecessary freedom of action to achieveobjectives. In the GWOBT, it wouldentail creating an overall internationalenvironment wherein those scientists, doc-tors and researchers, who are involved infinding a solution, feel fully energised andmotivated to find avaccine/solution/drug/protocol, to end thiscrisis. One of the perils identified by theUN Secretary General on April 9 was ofextremist threats, including bio-terroristattacks. Such dangers need to be dealt withthrough an effective international responseand nipped in the bud. Otherwise these

will seriously hamper our efforts at find-ing a solution.

Economy of effort: With limitedresources, especially in the less developednations and the end not clearly in sight,all efforts must be economised. This wouldbe applicable to both, employment ofmanpower as also utilising resources,including foodgrain. The inability toimplement this dictum will result in seri-ous social disturbances, which willadversely affect preventive measures tocontain the virus.

Offensive action: The key to militaryvictories lies in relentless offensive action.In the current situation, too, bold decisionsby the leadership, which are in tune withthe selected aims and based on availabledata, would be the drivers of victory.Complacency or delay in decision-mak-ing can prove catastrophic.

Flexibility: The world is mostlygroping in a relatively unknown domain.The outcome, results and impacts thatemerge in the changing situation, must befactored in by the leadership in finding theroad ahead. One example is how the ubiq-uitous anti-malaria drugHydroxychloroquine has changed theway the world is looking at possible futureprevention.

Cooperation: Partnership amongall, cutting across boundaries, political ide-ologies and religion, will hold the key toa solution. It is also very important that,post-COVID financial benefits accruingto a nation or company, must not be thekey criterion. A competition at this stagehas the potential to ruin or delay successwhereas, collaboration will speed up theprocess, which in turn can benefit allnations.

Morale: These are times which mostof the present generation would not haveever faced earlier. A positive state of mind

in this situation needs to be created. Asense of well-being, group cohesion andthe feeling that the nation is firmlybehind every individual, need to be reit-erated. An inspired leadership — at theinternational, national, State and local level— is the need of the hour.

India has a lot to contribute to theworld in the current situation. The way thesecond-most populous country on theplanet is controlling the pandemic, willdefinitely be watched globally. The lock-down decision, albeit delayed, is beingappreciated by many the world over. Thesense of discipline in most areas and a highstate of morale, despite the extended shutdown which the country can ill-affordright now due to its precarious econom-ic situation, are examples for the world tofollow.

India has also set the example of inter-national cooperation by releasing theHydroxychloroquine tablets to manynations. In the field of research and find-ing a vaccine/treatment as also finding asolution through traditional methods,India can be a world leader.

Despite all the challenges that thenation is facing today, especially the eco-nomically deprived citizens, India couldbe at the forefront in this GWOBT andthereby be an important contributor in thepost-COVID world.

As in war, leadership in all spheres andat all levels — political, judicial, executive,legislative, military and at the national,State and local levels, will be judged by themanner in which they handle the crisis.

History has also shown us that fromthe ashes of war, great economic giantshave risen. Remember Germany, Japanand more recently Vietnam?

(The writer is a retired military veteran and former Director-General

of the National Cadet Corps)

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As cases of the rapidly spread-ing Coronavirus increase,the world has come to a

standstill. COVID-19, the diseasecaused by the virus which has so farinfected over two million people andkilled 154,388, has also causedsome severe economic and socialdisruptions. Experts believe thesemay lead to political upheavalseven after the spread is somehowneutralised.

In the line of fire are regimeswho seem to be fumbling inaddressing the spread of COVID-19.Over the last two weeks, the inter-national media has specifically tar-getted the bombastic neo-populistregimes that came to power in var-ious countries after 2014.

Unable to comprehend an issuewhich does not fit their blatheringnarratives, such governments inIndia, the UK, the US, Brazil,Hungary, Philippines, Iran andPakistan are now constantly on thereceiving end of criticism. But thisdoes not mean that countries thatseem to be doing a better job of han-dling the crisis know when or howthis crisis will recede; they arebeing forced to think on their feet.Such is the elusive nature of thisvirus.

On March 12, Dr ZhongNanshan, a Chinese pulmonologistwho has been at the forefront of hiscountry’s fight against the pan-demic, told Reuters that the spreadof COVID-19 can be “contained” byJune this year but only if govern-ments continue to enforce strictsocial distancing through lock-downs.

This does not mean that even ifthe world somehow succeeds tocheck the spread in the next twomonths, everything will automati-cally return to normal. First of all,what was considered to be normal

before the outbreak will change,leading to a new normal. But eventhis won’t emerge unless an anti-COVID-19 vaccine appears.

Vaccines usually take up to 10years to develop for mass usage. Butrecent advances in virology havehelped scientists to greatly shave offyears of required testing and launchanti-viral vaccines in much shorterperiods of time.

Pharmaceutical companiesworking frantically in China,Europe, India and the US believethat an effective anti-COVID-19vaccine can appear in the next 12months. That’s still a whole year.However, the US pharmaceuticalgiant Merck was able to produce avaccine against the 1968 influenzapandemic in four months.

Vaccines have saved the humanrace on numerous occasions. Buttheir historic importance always getsdwarfed by other, more glamorousscientific feats. Human beings havebeen victims of catastrophic viralbreakouts for centuries but the firstvaccine wasn’t developed till the18th century.

In the late 18th century, aBritish doctor, Edward Jenner,noticed that those in England’s vil-lages who had contracted cowpox,became immune to smallpox. Forcenturies, smallpox had been one ofthe deadliest and most painful dis-eases that killed millions. It wascaused by a highly contagious virus.Cowpox, on the other hand, was rel-atively mild and not fatal.

In The Life and Death ofSmallpox, Ian and Jenifer Glynnwrite that Jenner drew some matterfrom a sore of a woman sufferingfrom cowpox. He then injected itinto an eight-year-old boy who hadcontracted smallpox. After severaldays, the boy recovered. Jennerthen injected the boy with mattertaken from a fresh smallpox patientto see if he had developed immuni-ty. He had. Compared to modern-day practices of lab sciences, thismethod seems rather cruel but inthe 18th century, it turned Jennerinto a celebrity.

By the 19th century, smallpoxvaccination became compulsory invarious European countries and in

some American States. Almost a 100years after Jenner’s discovery, aFrench biologist, Louis Pasteur, wassuccessful in developing a vaccineagainst another painfully fatal dis-ease, rabies. Caused by a virus thatenters the human body through aninfected animal bite, it can cause ahorrific death. In 1885, Pasteursuccessfully cured a rabies casewith a vaccine. He used the atten-uation method, in which the virusis weakened in the lab and injectedin the patient to prompt the body’simmune system to work harder.

Building on the works of Jennerand Pasteur, the 20th century saw arapid growth in the introduction ofvaccines against ailments that wereonce incurable and contagious. In1914, a vaccine against typhoidbecame common in the US; in 1921,French bacteriologists developed avaccine for TB; in 1939, US doctorsdeveloped a vaccine against whoop-ing-cough; in 1954, an anti-poliovaccine was successfully tested byAmerican scientists; in 1958, thefirst measles vaccine was intro-duced and in 1966 an anti-mumps

vaccine was launched in the US.Between the late 1960s and

1970s, robust vaccination pro-grammes were highly successful inchecking and, in some cases, erad-icating the spread of some of theworst contagious diseases known toman. However, scientists havealways been running a tricky raceagainst flu viruses because they con-tinue to mutate. This means scien-tists have to always be on their feetto readjust flu vaccines according tofresh mutations.

A problem governments havefaced in checking the spread of con-tagious diseases is the continuousexistence of “anti-vax” segments insome societies. These are groupswithin a population who are againstforced vaccination. The WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) hasdescribed them as a “threat” to pub-lic health.

The roots of this phenomenoncan be traced back to the 19th cen-tury when the British Governmentintroduced compulsory smallpoxvaccination. Some groups refused toget their children vaccinated, fear-

ing it was against their religiousbeliefs.

In 1926, newspapers in the USreported attacks on vaccinationteams in certain conservative ruralareas of the country. Even recently,anti-polio vaccination workers wereattacked in some areas of Pakistanby those who believe that polio vac-cines contain harmful chemicals.

According to a June 27, 2016article in Healthline by Dr DeborahWeatherspoon, the “anti-vax” mind-set is often the result of a mistrustof science in some groups whobelieve that pharmaceutical compa-nies are enhancing the fear of oth-erwise benign diseases to sell theirmedicines, or that such sciences areopposed to religious beliefs, or that“natural” cures through homeopa-thy or other traditional means aremore effective.

Among these are also some whoinsist that vaccines stunt the repro-ductive capabilities of men.Ironically, this perception is mostprominent in some of the world’smost densely populated regions.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Barcelona: Passengers on a lux-ury liner’s around-the-worldcruise, begun before the globewas gripped by the coronaviruspandemic, are finally approach-ing the end of their odyssey after15 weeks at sea.

The ship, the CostaDeliziosa, was heading onSunday toward a port in Spainbefore ending its journey in Italy— both countries devastated bythe coronavirus outbreak.

Costa Crociere, an Italiancruise company, said that theDeliziosa, which set sail fromVenice in early January with1,831 passengers, had no casesof COVID-19 aboard.

The Deliziosa, a nearly 300-meter (1,000-foot) vessel, willdisembark 168 Spanish passen-gers on Monday at Barcelona’s

port. Then the Deliziosa willhead to its final destination,Genoa, Italy, where it is expect-ed to let off the remaining pas-sengers, Italians and those ofother nationalities, onWednesday. A companyspokesman said a passenger leftthe ship earlier in the week inMarsala, Sicily, for health issuesand had a Covid-19 test, whichwas negative.

Being on the liner for weeksduring the pandemic “was notsurreal, it was incredible,’’ saidpassenger Carlos Paya’, wholives in Valencia, Spain, and issailing with his wife. He addedthat they have family membersin Spain. “The news that wasarriving from home was causingus all a lot of worry and grief,,”he told The Associated Press by

text message Saturday evening. “For us it was a stroke of

good luck to be where we were.”“From Perth (Australia) giventhe growth of the pandemic, andof course for those of us whohave children in Spain, we wouldhave preferred to return,” headded.

“Other passengers, on theother hand, given their old age,wanted to stay on board know-ing that the boat was safe andsecure.” French authorities hadrebuffed a request by Costa forpermission to disembark sever-al hundred passengers fromFrance and nearby countries atMarseilles. “The health situationon board the ships doesn’t pre-sent any problem for publichealth and no case of COVID-19,” Costa’s statement said. AP

Bamako: Mali was votingSunday in the final round of alegislative election that aims torevive public faith in the coun-try’s embattled institutionsdespite a bloody jihadist conflictand looming viral pandemic.

The election has beenrepeatedly delayed, and the firstround on March 29 was dis-rupted by jihadist attacks andintimidation, including the kid-napping of opposition leaderSoumaila Cisse.

“I voted. It is importantdespite the economic situation.We need new MPs to consoli-date our democracy,” MoussaDiakite, a 23-year-old student,told AFP after polls opened.Voters in the West Africannation of 19 million people arecasting their ballots in the runoff

for 147 seats in the NationalAssembly.

The country is strugglingwith an Islamist revolt that hasclaimed thousands of lives andforced hundreds of thousandsfrom their homes.

Polling stations opened at0800 GMT in the capitalBamako and also in otherprovinces hard hit by the insur-gency, and will go on until 1800GMT. The first provisionalresults will be announced at thestart of the week.

It is the country’s first par-liamentary poll since 2013 whenPresident Ibrahim BoubacarKeita’s Rally for Mali party wona big majority. Turnout in thefirst round averaged over 35 per-cent nationwide but was less than13 per cent in Bamako. AFP

Kathmandu: A 65-year-oldman in Nepal who was stayingat a mosque, where 12 Indianswere tested positive forCOVID-19, has contracted thedisease, taking the total num-ber of coronavirus cases in theHimalayan nation to 31, healthofficials said on Sunday.

Twelve Indians wereamong the 14 new coronaviruscases reported in Nepal onFriday. The Indian nationalswere staying at a mosque inTriyuga area of Udaypur dis-trict. They were quarantined ina school building after residentsinformed authorities aboutthem.

Basudev Pandey, head ofthe Epidemiology and DiseaseControl Division of the healthministry, said the man was test-ed COVID-19 positive onSaturday evening. PTI

Rome: Italians debated Sundaytheir first cautious steps out ofa coronavirus lockdown that hasleft an estimated half of theworking population seekingGovernment support.

The Mediterranean countryhas been filled with rumoursand speculation about whenpeople will finally be allowed towalk the streets freely for thefirst time since early March.

The balmy weather is nothelping government efforts tokeep everyone inside in the faceof a disease that has officiallykilled 23,227 in Italy — secondonly to the United States.

The number of daily finesfor illegal outdoor activity is ris-ing and police are setting upbarricades along roads leading

to the beaches on the westernoutskirts of Rome.

The growing sense thatweeks of confinement wereending forced an unnamedsource in Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte’s office to tellmedia that “nothing willchange”.

But some officials seem tothink that extending the strictestlockdown measures beyondtheir May 3 deadline might sim-ply not work.

The daily death rate has fall-en to half of what it was at thepeak of the crisis and people —feeling less frightened but morestir crazy — may simply startgoing out.

“We must give citizensgreater freedom of movement,”

Deputy Health MinisterPierpaolo Sileri said onSaturday.

Conte gave little of thegame away in one of his char-acteristic late-night Facebookposts on Saturday.

He said some activities willbe allowed to resume “accord-ing to a well-structured pro-gramme that balances the needto protect people’s health withthe need to resume production”.

Conte is expected to hearon Monday the conclusions ofa re-opening taskforce headedby former Vodafone chief exec-utive Vittorio Colao.

The pressure on Contefrom the leaders of Italy’s north-ern industrial heartland is alsogrowing intense. AFP

Madrid: Spain has reported itslowest daily death total for con-firmed coronavirus victims innearly a month as the countrycontains a savage outbreak thathas killed more than 20,000people there.

Spanish health officials saidSunday another 410 peoplehave died in the last 24 hours.That is the lowest daily death tollsince March 22. It takes the total

to 20,453 virus-related deathssince the start of the pandem-ic. Spain also reported 4,218confirmed new cases, pushingthe total to 195,944 — secondonly to the United States.

Top health officialFernando Simón said the latestdata gives Spain hope, addingthat it shows “the rate of conta-gion has fallen and that we areon the correct path.” AP

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson hasbegun taking charge of theGovernment even as he con-valesces at Chequers in south-east England, following hishospitalisation after testingpositive for coronavirus.

‘The Sunday Telegraph’reports that Johnson begangiving directions to his Cabinet,including to his deputy UKForeign Secretary DominicRaab, from his prime ministe-rial countryside retreat as heprepares to resume full chargein the coming days.

The 55-year-old issuedsome directives to Raab aswell as senior aides in a seriesof calls last week, followed bya three-hour meeting with hisdeputy and staff on Friday.

“He [Johnson] has hadsome contact with ministers,but mostly with his privateoffice here at Downing Street,”Robert Jenrick, UKCommunities Minister, hadtold reporters at the dailyDowning Street briefing onSaturday. PTI

Beijing: A premier Chinesevirology laboratory in Wuhan,which is in the eye of the stormfor allegedly being the source ofthe novel coronavirus, has forthe first time refuted the charge,including those of US PresidentDonald Trump, that the deadlyvirus originated from his labbefore it spread across the worldand wreaked havoc.

China has come underincreasing global pressure overlack of transparency in its han-dling of the coronavirus pan-demic, which has so far infect-ed over 2,333,160 people andclaimed more than 160,790 livesacross the world.

President Trump onSaturday said his administrationwas looking into reports that thenovel coronavirus “escaped”

from a Wuhan laboratory beforeit spread to the world.

“We’re looking at it, a lot ofpeople are looking at it. It seemsto make sense,” Trump told themedia when asked if there wasan investigation into whether thecoronavirus disease escaped

from a lab in China’s COVID-19 ground-zero city of Wuhan.

Ever since the virus came tolight in Wuhan in December lastyear, speculation has been rife onwhether the viral strain origi-nated from the Wuhan Instituteof Virology (WIV). PTI

London: Virus related deathswithin the UK’s care homes forthe elderly and vulnerable dou-bled within just one week,according to data collected andanalysed by a leading represen-tative body for the not-for-prof-it adult social care sector.

The National Care Forum(NCF) report, released onSaturday, demonstrates 2,500deaths within care homes with-in seven days, figures which itsays highlights significant flawsin the current national report-ing of coronavirus related deathtoll in the UK.

“It is hoped that this analy-sis will provide insight andimpetus for the government tobetter address the needs of thecare sector,” the NCF said.

The group’s research came

as pressure mounts on theBritish government to startcounting deaths within thewider community and carehomes to its daily hospital tollfigures, which hit 15,464 on thisweek.

Amid concerns that thenational statistics presented bythe government for coronavirusrelated mortality rates were notincorporating figures of deathswithin residential and nursinghomes, the NCF said it led anindependent benchmarkingexercise. As many as 47 of itscare provider members con-tributed to the audit, represent-ing 1,169 care services that col-lectively support 30,217 peopleacross the UK — 7.4 per cent ofthe overall residential care sec-tor population. PTI

Athens: A fire ripped throughone of Greece’s largest migrantcamps leaving widespreaddamage and many peoplehomeless after the death of anIraqi woman sparked unrest,officials said on Sunday.

The blaze late Saturday atVial camp on Chios islanddestroyed the facilities of theEuropean asylum service, acamp canteen, warehouse tentsand many housing containers,Migration Ministry SecretaryManos Logothetis told AFP.

“A large part of the camp’sadministrative services wasdestroyed,” said Logothetis,adding that no injuries werereported. The UN refugeeagency’s spokesperson inAthens Boris Cheshirkov saidthe damage is still being eval-

uated but that many camp res-idents have likely been lefthomeless.

“Authorities are still assess-ing the damages but a few hun-dred people are likely affectedbecause their shelters haveburned down. We have donat-ed tents to the authoritieswhich can quickly be put intouse and we will assist in replac-

ing the warehouse tents,” hetold AFP.

At least three vehicles out-side the camp were also gutted.

A police source in Athenssaid two Afghans and an Iraqihad been arrested in relation tothe unrest, which erupted aftera 47-year-old asylum seekerfrom Iraq died in the camp onSaturday. AFP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has warnedChina that it should face con-sequences if it was “knowing-ly responsible” for the spread ofthe novel coronavirus, uppingthe ante on Beijing over its han-dling of the COVID-19 pan-demic.

Trump, who has expresseddisappointment over China’shandling of the coronavirusdisease, alleged non-trans-parency and initial non-coop-eration from Beijing withWashington on dealing withthe crisis.

“If they were knowinglyresponsible, yeah, then thereshould be consequences. You’retalking about, you know, poten-tially lives like nobody’s seensince 1917,” he told reporters ata White House news confer-ence on Saturday.

Trump said his relationshipwith China was very good tillthe time the deadly COVID-19swept across the world.

“The relationship wasgood when we were signingthat, but then, all of a sudden,you hear about this. So, it’s abig difference. You know, thequestion was asked would yoube angry at China. Well, theanswer very well might be avery resounding yes, but itdepends,” Trump said.

The president underlinedthat there was a big differencebetween a mistake that got outof control and something donedeliberately.

“In either event, theyshould have let us go in. Youknow, we asked to go in veryearly and they didn’t want us in.

I think they knew it was some-thing bad and I think they wereembarrassed,” Trump said.

He claimed that China waspitching for former vice pres-ident Joe Biden, who is the pre-sumptive nominee of theDemocratic Party for the pres-idential election. PTI

Sydney: Australia on Sundaycalled for an independent inves-tigation into the global responseto the coronavirus pandemic,including the World HealthOrganization’s handling of thecrisis. Foreign Minister MarisePayne said the country would“insist” on a review that wouldprobe, in part, China’s early

response to the outbreak inWuhan, the city where COVID-19 emerged late last year.

“We need to know the sortsof details that an independentreview would identify for usabout the genesis of the virus,about the approaches to dealingwith it (and) addressing theopenness with which informa-

tion was shared,” she told pub-lic broadcaster ABC.

Payne said Australia sharedsimilar concerns to the UnitedStates, whose President DonaldTrump has accused the WHOof “mismanaging” the crisis andcovering up the seriousness ofChina’s outbreak before itspread. AFP

Paris: The worldwide death tollfrom the novel coronaviruspandemic rose to 160,685 onSunday, according to a tallyfrom official sources compiledby AFP.

More than 2,334,130declared cases have been regis-tered in 193 countries and ter-ritories since the epidemic firstemerged in China in December.

Of these cases, at least518,900 are now consideredrecovered.

The tallies, using data col-lected by AFP from nationalauthorities and informationfrom the World HealthOrganization (WHO), probablyreflect only a fraction of theactual number of infections.

Many countries are testingonly the most serious cases.

In the United States, nowthe worst-hit country, the deathtoll stood at 39,090 with735,287 infections. At least66,819 patients have recovered.

Italy is the next most-affectedcountry with 23,227 deathsand 175,925 confirmed infec-tions.

It is followed by Spain with20,453 fatalities and 195,944confirmed infections, Francewith 19,323 deaths and 151,793infections and Britain with15,464 deaths and 114,217cases.

China — excluding HongKong and Macau — has to datedeclared 4,632 deaths and82,735 cases.

Europe has listed 1,153,148cases and 101,493 deaths todate, the US and Canadatogether have 768,670 caseswith 40,619 deaths, Asia162,256 cases with 6,951 deaths,the Middle East 122,819 caseswith 5,559 deaths, LatinAmerica and the Caribbean98,202 cases with 4,915 deaths,Africa 21,165 cases with 1,058deaths and Oceania 7,879 caseswith 90 deaths. AFP

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Washington: President DonaldTrump has cast doubt on theaccuracy of China’s officialcoronavirus death toll, termingit “unrealistic” and claimingthat the actual number was“way ahead” of the US’ whichis not the world’s “numberone” country in terms ofCOVID-19 fatalities.

Trump’s comments havecome two days after another1,300 fatalities were added tothe official count in theChinese city of Wuhan, wherethe outbreak started inNovember last year. The revi-sion puts China’s overall deathtoll to more than 4,600.

“We are not number one;China is number one just soyou understand,” Trump toldreporters at a White Housenews conference on Saturday.

“They are way ahead of usin terms of death. It’s not evenclose,” he asserted.

According to Trump, whenhighly-developed healthcaresystems of the UK, France,Belgium, Italy and Spain hadhigh fatality rates, it was 0.33 inChina.

The president asserted thatthe actual number was muchmore than the official Chinesedeath toll figures, which he saidwere “unrealistic”.

“You know it, I know it andthey know it, but you don’twant to report it. Why? You willhave to explain that. SomedayI will explain it,” he said.

He also highlighted that ona per-capita basis, the mortal-ity rate in the US was far lowerthan other nations of WesternEurope. PTI

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Beijing/Wuhan: China hasclassified the coronavirus epi-centre Wuhan as a low-riskarea, days after it revised thecity’s death toll by 50 per cent,even as 16 new COVID-19cases were reported in thecountry, health officials said onSunday.

According to the risk cri-teria defined in a guidelineissued by China’s State Council,

cities, counties and districtswith no newly confirmed casesin the last 14 days are cate-gorised as low-risk areas.

Those with fewer than 50cases or those with over 50 butwithout a concentrated out-break are classified as mid-riskareas, and those with over 50cases as well as a concentratedoutbreak are classified as high-risk areas. PTI

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Figures from France’s mili-tary leadership show more

than half the sailors aboard thecountry’s flagship aircraft car-rier contracted the new virusas the ship traveled throughthe Mediterranean Sea, theNorth Sea and the AtlanticOcean.

A navy official says 1,046of the 1,760 people aboard theCharles de Gaulle tested pos-itive for the virus.

Navy Chief of Staff Adm.Christophe Prazuck attributedthe quick spread to the “greatpopulation density aboard theship.” Speaking Saturdayevening to Europe-1 radio,Prazuck said virus protectionmeasures weren’t followedproperly, which “did not allow

us to detect the beginning ofthe epidemic, and therefore tocontain it .” The ship is undergoing a lengthy disin-fection process since returningto its home base in Toulon lastweek.

One person who servedaboard is in intensive careand more than 20 others arehospitalised. Among thoseinfected are two U.S. Sailorsserving as part of an exchangeprogram.

Investigations are under-way into what happened, andFrench military leaders havebeen questioned in parlia-ment.

A similar outbreak on theUSS Theodore Roosevelt ledto the firing of its captain andthe resignation of the actingU.S. Navy secretary.

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Islamabad: Pakistan on Sundayreported 869 new coronaviruscases in the last 24 hours, bring-ing the number of the COVID-19 patients to 8,348 in the coun-try, officials said.

According to officials,worst-hit Punjab provincereported 3,822 cases, Sindh2,537, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa1,137, Balochistan 376, Gilgit-Baltistan 257, Islamabad 171 andPakistan-occupied Kashmir 48,taking the overall tally to 8,348.

The death toll due to thecoronavirus has risen to 168,with Sindh recording its highestnumber of nine fatalities in asingle day, they said. Pakistanhas conducted 98,522 tests,including 7,847 during the last24 hours. So far 1,868 patientshave recovered. PTI

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Rome: Italy’s official daily tollfrom the novel coronavirusedged down to 433 on Sunday,the lowest figure in one week.

The total number of deathsreported by the civil protectionservices since the start of Italy’shealth crisis in February nowstands at 23,660 -- second onlyto the United States.

Sunday’s fatalities figurewas the second lowest in onemonth.

The 3,047 new virus infec-tions represented a rise of just1.7 percent.

The new infections rate isbeing watched close by Italiangovernment as it deliberates onhow to exit a lockdownimposed over the first half ofMarch.

The current restrictionsare due to be lifted on May 4,and the government is trying todetermine which businessesto allow to resume operations,and whether to let people outof their homes. AFP

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The Ministry of Agriculture onSunday claimed that 67 per

cent of wheat crop has been har-vested. The Ministry claimed thatthere was a minimal or no disrup-tion in the harvesting rabi crop andsowing of summer crop despite thenationwide lockdown due to coro-navirus.

On the other hand, farmersfrom several states have claimed thatthey are finding difficult to harvestwheat crops due to shortage oflabours and machinery stucked instates like Gujarat and MadhyaPradesh. According to farmers, theexemption given to farm sectors and

agri machineries by the HomeMinistry, have not reached the localauthorites that’s why they have notallowed the movement of farmmachineries.

According to agriculture min-istry, of the rabi crop harvesting, outof total wheat sown in 310 lakhhectares, 63-67 percent has alreadybeen harvested in the country.“State-wise harvesting has alsoincreased and reached 90-95% inMadhya Pradesh, 80-85% inRajasthan, 60-65% in Uttar Pradesh,30-35% in Haryana and 10-15% inPunjab. Harvesting is in peak inHaryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradeshand is likely to be completed by theend of April, the ministry said.

Punjab has deployed 18000 com-bines and Haryana has deployed5000 combines for harvesting andthreshing. Rabi rice sown in 28 lakhhectares in Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka,Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu,Telangana, Tripura and West Bengalis in the initial stages of harvestingsince the grain is still in the fillingstage and harvesting times wouldvary, it said.

Of the pulses sown in 161 lakhhectare, harvesting has been com-pleted for gram, lentil, urad, moongand field pea. For sugarcane, out ofthe total sown in 54.29 lakh ha, har-vesting has been completed inMaharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat,

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana andPunjab. For the states of TamilNadu, Bihar, Haryana andUttarakhand, 92-98 per cent har-vesting has been completed. InUttar Pradesh, 75-80 per cent hasbeen completed and this will con-tinue till mid May 2020.

Amongst the oilseed crops,Rapeseed Mustard sown in 69 lakhha has been harvested in the statesof Rajasthan, UP, MP, Haryana, WB,Jharkhand, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh,Bihar, Punjab, Assam, ArunachalPradesh and UT of J&K.

Groundnut sown in 4.7 lakh ha,has been harvested to the tune of 85-90 per cent.

While Rabi crops are being

harvested, farmers have startedsowing summer crops whichincludes pulses, coarse cereals,nutri-cereals and oilseeds.

“Summer crop sowing is 36 percent higher over correspondingperiod last year as on April 17. Thetotal summer crop area hasincreased to 52.78 lakh hectaresfrom 38.64 lakh hectares as com-pared to the the correspondingperiod a year ago. The area cover-age under pulses, coarse cereals,nutria-cereals and oilseeds hasincreased to 20.05 lakh hectarefrom 14.79 lakh hectare as com-pared to last year during the corresponding period,” theMinistry said.

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The government’s U-turn onhome delivery of non-

essential items will leave con-sumers disappointed, theworld’s largest online retailerAmazon said, but the decisionwas welcomed by local kiranastore body CAIT that called itthe “most pragmatic”.

Four days after allowing e-commerce firms to also deliv-er non-essential items such aselectronic goods and ready-made garments, the govern-ment on Sunday said non-essential items will continue tobe prohibited during the lock-down period.

Commenting on the deci-sion, Amazon India said thenew guidelines will disappointconsumers whose list of essen-tials has expanded to ‘workfrom home’ and ‘study from

home’ products, as well assmall businesses, sellers andmanufacturers.

The company said it willcontinue to follow the guide-lines and deliver essential prod-ucts and work with authoritiesfor expedited processes tomake safe deliveries of priori-ty products possible.

“The new guideline willdisappoint not only the con-sumers whose list of essentialshad expanded to work fromhome and study from homeproducts but also the thou-sands of small businesses, sell-ers and manufacturers acrossthe country, who had geared upin the last 48 hours to providemillions of people with safeaccess to products,” AmazonIndia spokesperson said.

Amazon India further saidthe company hopes that “thissituation is rectified soon so

that the urgent need of con-sumers is met and that there isrevival of economic activity”.

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT), whichhad been campaigning hardagainst allowing e-commercefirms to also commence non-essential deliveries during thelockdown period, “laudedPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Home Minister Amit Shahfor the most pragmatic deci-sion” of “valuing the senti-ments of Indian traders andprotecting their business inter-ests”. Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal on his part saidthe move will “help in creatinga level-playing field for smallretailers”.

Separately, the RetailersAssociation of India (RAI) saidthe government’s home deliv-ery permissions need to bebroad based and all types of

retailers, including neighbour-hood stores, should be allowedto operate.

The retailers’ body saidallowing neighbourhood storesand large essential products’chain retailers to do homedelivery will help fulfil con-sumer needs in these tryingtimes and play a part inenhancing social distancing.

Soon after the governmenthad on April 16 announcedgraded plan to lift the lock-down by allowing all e-com-merce deliveries and move-ment of trucks, some statessuch as Maharashtra, Odishaand Rajasthan issued notifica-tions allowing non-essentialdeliveries alongside essentialones. CAIT had resented themove and said that the stategovernments were againstIndian traders and “prefer todestroy the businesses of Indian

traders at the hands of foreigne-commerce players”.

“Multinational e-com-merce players have been tryingto disrupt the businesses ofsmall Indian traders by adopt-ing unfair business practicessuch as deep discounting andpredatory pricing by control-ling inventory. Even in thelockdown period, they wouldhave adopted their vitiatedbusiness model and promote allkinds of malpractices to dam-age the foundation of Indianretail,” CAIT said in a statementon Sunday.

The home ministry onSunday issued an order sayingthe following clause — “E-commerce companies. Vehiclesused by e-commerce operatorswill be allowed to ply with nec-essary permissions” — is excluded from the guidelinesissues.

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The Finance Ministry onSunday said that the

Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) is revising the incometax return (ITR) forms for FY2019-20 (Assessment Year2020-21) which will be notifiedby the end of this month, inorder to enable income tax-payers to avail full benefits ofvarious timeline extensionsgranted due to coronaviruscrisis.

“CBDT today said that inorder to facilitate taxpayer toavail full benefits with varioustimeline extensions up to 30thJune 2020 granted by the gov-ernment, it has initiated nec-essary changes in the returnforms so that taxpayers couldtake benefits of their transac-tions carried out during theperiod from 1st April 2020 to30th June 2020 in the returnforms for FY 2019-20,” an offi-cial statement said.

The necessary modifica-tions in the return forms arebeing made to allow taxpayersto avail the benefits of theirinvestments and transactionsmade for the April-June 2020period. Once the revised formsare notified, it will furthernecessitate the consequential

changes in the software andreturn filing utility.

Thereby, the return filingutility after incorporating nec-essary changes shall be madeavailable by May 31, 2020 toavail benefits for FY 2019-20.

Due to outbreak of Covid-19, the government has extend-ed various timelines under theIncome-tax Act, 1961 videTaxation and Other Laws(Relaxation of certain provi-sions) Ordinance, 2020.

Accordingly, the time formaking investment and pay-ments for claiming deductionunder Chapter-VIA-B of IT Actwhich includes Section 80C(LIC, PPF, NSC and so on),80D (mediclaim), 80G (dona-tions), and others for FY 2019-20 has also been extended toJune 30 2020.

Further, the dates for mak-ing investment, construction orpurchase for claiming roll overbenefit in respect of capitalgains under sections 54 to sec-tion 54GB has also beenextended to June 30, 2020. So,return forms are being revisedto facilitate reporting of thetransactions of the relief peri-od, said the statement.

Generally the income-taxreturn forms are notified in thefirst week of April.

New Delhi: Protesting againstproposed resumption of toll onnational highways fromMonday, transporters’ apex bodyAIMTC on Sunday said it willadversely affect rabi crop pro-curement, adding that over 85per cent transporters are cash-starved small operators whoare not able to sustain toll fee.

The All India MotorTransport Congress (AIMTC),the apex body for transportersthat represents about 95 lakhtruckers and transport entities,sought suspension of toll till May3. After temporarily suspendingtoll collection on national high-ways across the country fromMarch 25 amid the coronaviruspandemic, the NHAI is set toresume toll collection fromMonday, a move that is beingopposed by transporters.

“As per inputs receivedfrom across the country, pro-curement of rabi crop will bedisturbed, as more than 85 percent, finance-starved smalloperators can’t sustain toll bur-den starting April 20,” All IndiaMotor Transport CongressPresident Kultaran Singh Atwalsaid seeking the PMO’s inter-vention. PTI

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Smartphone manufacturers who were takingbaby steps to adjust to the new normal were

left in lurch on Sunday after the government pro-hibited e-commerce platforms to sell non-essen-tial items from April 20. Chinese smartphone play-er Realme was all set to start online sales of itssmartphones from April 20, along with launch-ing Narzo smartphone series on April 21 throughe-commerce platforms, which was the firstlaunch post 21-day lockdown in the country.

The company told IANS that bearing in mindthe current order from the Ministry of Home Affairs

(MHA), they are further evaluating the situation.“The decision about the launch of the

much-awaited Narzo series and online sales ofour other smartphones will be made by tomor-row. People’s health comes first at realme and wewill follow the government’s directives issued inbest interests of the people,” informed a compa-ny spokesperson. The Centre allowed e-com-merce companies and the vehicles used by oper-ators of these units to supply only essential goodssubject to “necessary permission” during the lock-down period. The supply of non-essential goodsby e-commerce companies will remain prohib-ited during the 19-day lockdown ending May 3.

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The government is unlikelyto exempt GST on medical

items like ventilators, PPEs,masks, test kits and sanitisers,as it would lead to blockedinput tax credit (ITC), therebyincreasing the cost of manu-facturing and increase the pricefor consumers.

There have been demandsfrom certain sections to exemptGST on certain items like ven-tilators, personal protectiveequipment (PPEs), masks, testkits and sanitisers that areessential items for treatment ofCOVID-19 saying that GSTexemption on these itemswould lead to reduction in

prices. Currently, GST rate onventilator is 12 per cent; onmask, it is 5 per cent; on testkits, it is 12 per cent; on sani-tiser, it is 18 per cent; and onPPE, it is 5 per cent (costing upto Rs 1,000) and 12 per cent (ifthe cost is more that Rs 1,000per piece).

Sources said GST exemp-tion on such items would leadto blocked input tax credit(ITC), thereby increasing thecost of manufacturing and ahigher price for consumers.

GST exemption on suchitems would jeopardise theinterest of the industry andwould not result in any signif-icant gains to consumer, theysaid adding that in the past,

GST exemption on sanitarynapkin has led to similar situ-ation for the domestic manu-facturers.

The sources said that whileconsumers do not gain fromGST exemption on these items,the compliance burden wouldincrease for manufacturers asthey would be required tomaintain separate account ofinputs, input services and cap-ital goods used for manufactureof these items. In case, they arenot in a position to maintainseparate account, they shall berequired to reverse the inputtax credit on all inputs inputservices used in manufacture ofexempted PPE after applyingdetailed calculations.

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Insurance regulator IRDAI hasdirected insurers to take deci-

sion on health insurance claimswithin two hours, a move aimedat alleviating pressure on thecountry’s healthcare infrastruc-ture currently facing the heat of

the coronavirus outbreak. Inlight of prevailing conditionsowing to COVID-19 as also tak-ing into consideration the needfor alleviating the pressure onthe healthcare infrastructure,all the insurers shall decidehealth insurance claims expedi-tiously, it said in a circular.

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Speaker of the US House ofRepresentatives Nancy

Pelosi said on Sunday that shedoes not pay much attention tothe tweets being posted byPresident Donald Trump andaccused him of being a “poorleader.”

“Frankly, I don’t pay thatmuch attention to the presi-dent’s tweets against me. As I’vesaid, he’s a poor leader. He’salways trying to avoid respon-sibility and assign blame,”Pelosi told ABC’s This Weekduring an interview.

She was responding to aquestion about a series oftweets against her by Trump inthe last 48 hours.

In his tweets, Trump lev-elled a series of allegationsagainst the powerfulCongresswoman calling herweak and crazy, away on vaca-tion during the coronaviruscrisis. He also accused her of

costing Americans jobs byblocking new funds for thePaycheck Protection Program.

The TrumpAdministration, Pelosi alleged,has failed in the handling thecoronavirus crisis.

“If he continues to predi-cate the action that we take ona false premise, then we’re infurther danger and his earlierdelay and denial caused deaths.So it’s very important that wewalk the line that is close toevidence, data, science, as wego forward and not whimsy,magic hoax allegations andplacing blame instead of tak-ing responsibility,” she assert-ed.

“We’ll go over all of that.Except he was drawingstrength in his own view ofwhat his falsehoods were gain-ing him and we cannot — wecannot fight a pandemic. Wecannot open up to our econo-my based on falsehoods,”Pelosi said.

Appearing on “State of theUnion” on Sunday talk showon CNN, Senate MinorityLeader Chuck Schumer saidthat the economy might notopen unless there is more test-ing. “We will not be able to getthe economy going full-fledgedunless we have testing,” hesaid. “We have examples:South Korea, I think they hada case, one day, the first casewas within a day of each otherin the US and South Korea, thefirst case. But they did justwhat we’re calling for. They dida massive increase in the num-ber of tests. They did contacttracing. And now South Koreais way over the hump. We mustdo the same thing for thegood of the health of Americaand the good of the economy,”Schumer said.

The number of the coron-avirus cases in the US crossed700,000 on Friday, while over39,000 people have died fromthe disease.

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US Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin on

Sunday said that it will bemonths not years for the USeconomy, which has been bat-tered by the coronavirus pan-demic, to be back on track.

The country’s economyhas been ravaged by the chal-lenges posed by the coron-avirus crisis. More than 22million people have lost theirjobs, as the heavy job creatingsectors like travel and tourismhas come to a standstill.

Over 95 per cent of thecountry’s 330 million population are under a stay-at-home order.

The deadly virus has killedmore than 39,000 people andinfected over 740,000 in theUS, which has the highestnumber of COVID-19 casual-

ties in the world.The Trump

Administration has brought ina stimulus package worth USD2 trillion to boost the econo-my.

However, the InternationalMonetary Fund and WorldBank say that the Americaneconomy is in a recession.

Mnuchin exuded confi-dence that the economy wouldsoon be back on track in amatter of months.

“I think it will be months.I definitely don’t think it willbe years,” Mnuchin said onasked if it will be months oryears before the economy is back to the strongposition it was before the pan-demic.

Mnuchin made theremarks during his appearanceat the CNN’s State of theUnion talk show.

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US Vice President MikePence on Sunday said

President Donald Trump is“not happy” with China over itsfailure to communicate toAmerica about the beginningof the coronavirus outbreak inWuhan and his administrationwill take a closer look at thematter. Pence vowed that thecoronavirus testing in the USwill increase substantially,allowing the country toprogress according to theTrump administration’s plan togradually reopen the economy.

“It is clear to us that notonly was there a failure by theWorld Health Organization(WHO) to communicate toAmerica and the world whatwas happening in China, butalso that China was not asforthcoming as they shouldhave been with America or theworld about what was hap-pening,” he said.

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North Korea on Sunday dis-missed as “ungrounded”

President Donald Trump’s com-ment that he recently received “anice note” from the North’sleader, Kim Jong Un.

Trump said during a pressbriefing on the coronavirus pan-demic Saturday that “I receiveda nice note from him recently. Itwas a nice note. I think we’redoing fine.” Trump also defend-ed now-stalled nuclear diplo-macy with Kim, saying the USwould have been at war withNorth Korea if he had not beenelected.

The North’s ForeignMinistry said there was no let-ter addressed to Trump recent-ly by “the supreme leadership,”a reference to Kim. It said itwould examine why the USleadership released “the

ungrounded story” to the media.“The relations between the

top leaders of (North Korea) andthe US are not an issue to betaken up just for diversion norit should be misused for meet-ing selfish purposes,” the state-ment said.

Kim and Trump have metthree times and exchanged let-ters and envoys on many occa-sions since 2018, when theybegan talks on how to addressthe North Korean nuclear cri-sis. The two leaders have builtsome personal relationships,and Trump once said he andKim “fell in love.” Their nucleardiplomacy has made littleheadway since the breakdownof their second summit inVietnam in early 2019, whenTrump rebuffed Kim’s calls forsweeping sanctions relief inreturn for a partial denu-clearization step.

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Potentially dangerousCoronavirus misinformation

has spread from continent to con-tinent like the pandemic itself,forcing the world’s largest techcompanies to take unprecedentedaction to protect public health.

Facebook, Google and othershave begun using algorithms, newrules and factual warnings to knockdown harmful Coronavirus con-spiracy theories, questionable adsand unproven remedies that regu-larly crop up on their services —and which could jeopardise lives.

Health officials, critics and oth-ers who have long implored the techcompanies to step up their responseto viral falsehoods have welcomedthe new effort, saying the platformsare now working faster than ever toscrub their sites of Coronavirus mis-information. “It was definitely, with-in the companies, a shift,” said AndyPattison, manager of digital solu-tions for the World HealthOrganisation, who for nearly twoyears has urged companies likeFacebook to take more aggressiveaction against anti-vaccination mis-information. Pattison said he and histeam now directly flag misleadingCoronavirus information and, attimes, lobby for it to be removedfrom Facebook, Google andGoogle’s YouTube service.

Last month, Iranian mediareported more than 300 people haddied and 1,000 were sickened in thecountry after ingesting methanol, atoxic alcohol rumoured to be a rem-edy on social media. An Arizonaman also died after taking chloro-quine phosphate — a product thatsome mistake for the anti-malariadrug chloroquine, which PresidentDonald Trump and conservativepundits have touted as a treatmentfor COVID-19. Health officialshave warned the drug hasn’t beenproven safe or effective as a virustherapy. Days later, Twitter andFacebook began cracking down inunprecedented ways on posts pro-moting unverified treatments.

Twitter deleted a post byTrump’s personal attorney RudyGiuliani that described hydroxy-chloroqine, a cousin to chloro-quine, as “100 percent effective”against Coronavirus. The companyalso removed a tweet from FoxNews personality Laura Ingrahamtouting what she called the drug’s

“promising results.” Other widelyshared claims that hydroxychloro-quine cures COVID-19 live on. Aconservative radio host’s tweetclaiming that “All hospitals andhealth care workers are using it withtotal success” has been shared morethan 12,000 times. In what may bea first, Facebook removed a postfrom Brazilian President JairBolsanaro, who promoted hydrox-ychloroquine as “working in everyplace” to treat coronavirus. Twitteralso removed an associated video.

It has long resisted calls to factcheck or remove false claims direct-ly made by politicians, arguing thepublic should be able to see whattheir elected officials say. In thispandemic, however, the platformshave no choice but to rethink theirrules around misinformation, saidDipayan Ghosh, co-director of thePlatform Accountability Project atHarvard Kennedy School. “Thedamage to society is clear cut: it’sdeath,” Ghosh said. “They don’twant to be held responsible in anyway for perpetuating rumors thatcould lead directly to death.”

YouTube began removingvideos that claimed coronavirus

was caused by 5G wireless networkslast week. Some of the videos hadracked up hundreds of thousandsof views. Google searches for “5G”and “coronavirus” now redirectusers news videos debunking thetheory. Facebook-owned privatemessaging service WhatsApp haslimited how many chats users canforward messages to in an effort tolimit the spread of COVID-19misinformation. Since WhatsAppencrypts all messages, it can’t readthem to determine if they containmisinformation.

The pandemic has thrown upnew challenges to content moder-ation. Early on, health considera-tions forced the contractors thatemploy human moderators to sendmost of them home, where for pri-vacy reasons they couldn’t do theirjobs. Facebook eventually shiftedsome of that work to in-houseemployees and leaned more heav-ily on artificial-intelligence pro-grammes. More recently, it hasmade new arrangements for con-tract moderators to do their jobsremotely.

Meanwhile, bogus ads formasks, hand sanitiser and unregu-

lated blood tests for COVID-19 stillappear on Facebook and Google.And one North Carolina man with44,000 YouTube subscribers whocomplained that his videos promot-ing the 5G and Coronavirus theo-ry were removed is now using theplatform to hawk $99 subscriptionsto view his videos.

The tech platforms point outthey are putting facts about thevirus from news outlets, fact check-ers, and health officials in front oftheir users when their safeguardsfail.

Google “Coronavirus” andyou’ll be directed to your localhealth department. Search onTwitter for “Coronavirus hoax”and you’ll get a link to the USCenters for Disease Control andPrevention. Watch a Coronavirusconspiracy theory video onYouTube and you’ll see a label pro-moting legitimate news outlets andCOVID-19 information from theCDC hovering over it. “There’s a lotof misinformation when there is alack of good information,” saidPattison. “People will fill the voidout of fear.”

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How difficult is it to sit idle? Well,this is something that every indi-vidual in the world must have

found the answer to during lockdownsamid the Coronavirus scare. And with thenew extension order in India, people arelooking for ways to engage themselves.Since children are now involved in remotelearning, they are also looking forward toexciting and entertaining ways to keepthemselves busy. So, why not music?

In today’s digital world, distractionscome easy. Help them break free from thetentacles of boredom by encouragingthem to learn music. Lift off that clothfrom your piano or the old keyboard, askthem to play those guitar strings and handthem those drumsticks, for music will not

only keep them engrossed but will havenumerous benefits.

Even if your child doesn’t know howto play an instrument, there are numer-ous apps to assist them online. There aretutorial videos, games, and apps that willtake you from holding your instrument forthe first time to playing your favorite songs.Chordana Play, a music application sup-ported by android smartphones, is onesuch app that aids children to take three-step lessons either using the app’s keyboardor a USB-connected musical instrumentkeyboard. There is also a scoring systemthat lets one keep track of his/her progress.With such facilities at hand, it becomeseasier for you to support your child inlearning new music.

Learning music helps youngsters inseveral ways which a lot of parents mightbe unaware of. Here are a few reasons thatwould motivate both parents and childrento imbibe the benefits of this beautiful artform:

�,�$��$2$�-#�$It can be a driving force in uniting

people. Examples abound — the NationalAnthem keeps the people of a nation unit-ed while having the ability to promoteideals like peace and solidarity. It can moti-vate the the Army to face the challengesin a battlefield. A lullaby between a par-ent and child not just builds an emotion-al connect but also creates the ‘soundtrack’of life for the child. While dancers groove

to the beat of a song, rebels might have ananthem to voice their concerns.Connecting to a musical instrument leadsto lasting friendships and memories. It canbe a social glue, too, said researchers fromTokyo University of the Arts in a study.

($�"���#�?$��$��($���,��Music sensitises our brain in a way

that it breathes life in its less-active areas.It helps to improve memory, keeps themind sharp, alert and engaged. Rhythmand pitch can be expressed as mathemat-ical formulae, and musicians know thetechniques through which they producea certain sound. This not only makes themind think deeper but also empowers theability to differentiate between variousthings and sounds.

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The creativity involved in learning anart strengthens critical thinking skills inkids. Visual learning through drawing,sculpting, and painting develops visual-spatial skills. This, in turn, teaches themhow to interpret and use visual informa-tion. Additionally, sound and silence canimprove concentration, fostering betteranalytical skills in children. For instance,some digital pianos have high tone qual-ity and rhythm for the child to soak in thedifferent tune.

Effects of enhanced creativity extendto many aspects of a child’s life. Childrendevelop innovation skills when they’reencouraged to express themselves. Musicis a form of self-expression which not onlyunfolds a child’s creative side but alsoimbues him/her with the ability to takecalculated risks. Owning a creative hobbyacts as an emotional modulator thatrestores a sense of balance in our lives.

(#%$�����E,$�-���"����$��The effect of music on human stress

is spectacular, as various studies haveshown. For centuries, sound therapies havelong been popular as a way of relaxing andrestoring one’s health. Music is an easy wayto take some of the pressure off from allthe daily hassles that spike your stress leveland leave you feeling drained and anxious.Learning it early will help the child to growwith a sense of accomplishment. Playingmusic, like daily meditation or hitting thegym, increases focus and attention span.

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Fortunately, there is no shortcut toplaying a musical instrument. It takes alot of time, effort, attention and determi-nation to become competent. The processitself teaches patience and disciplinewith or without the learner realising it.

Research has shown that music offersenormous benefits to our body, mind andoverall health. At this stage of life, whereeverything has come to a standstill, it istime to take baby steps in brighteningyour child’s future and well-being byinculcating a habit of practicing music inthem.

As Plato said, “Music gives soul to theuniverse, wings to the mind, flight to theimagination.”

(The author is the head, Marketing,Casio India.)

��������A hardened mercenary’s mission becomes a soul-

searching race to survive when he’s hired to rescue a druglord’s kidnapped son in Bangladesh. Starring ChrisHemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, thethriller releases on Netflix on April 24.

������ � ���For decades, a Jewish couple ran ‘Circus of Books,’ a

porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their directordaughter captures their life and times. Produced by RyanMurphy, the documentary features interviews with LarryFlynt and Jeff Stryker. It releases on Netflix on April 22.

������ �����A cast of quirky critters and Mother Nature herself narrate

this funny sci-fi series, which peeks into the lives of Earth’s mostincredible creatures. Starring Afi Ekulona, the series, inspiredby Wired magazine’s Absurd Creature of the Week, releases onNetflix on April 22.

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We have come across several situationswhere we have to make a choice between

toleration and retaliation. For example, if wecome across a person who has no control overhis words, is uncultured, impolite, short-tem-pered and talks in an offensive manner, then whatwould we do? Well, under such a situation, a cul-tured and spiritual person would choose to tol-erate because he knows well that when toleranceis lost, temper is also lost and this means a dis-turbance of mental balance.

Hence, under such a situation, one should notfeel hurt or injured and think of taking revenge.Instead, one should pity that person and givehim/her positive vibrations of peace so thathe/she learns control their temper. This approachwould enable one to remain calm, composed anddignified. Tolerance, in such provocative situa-tions saves life. And when you add humility, ithas great value, even as a matter of policy, strat-egy or tactic. Therefore, if one loses tolerance inintense situations even for a moment, it mightcost l ives orother grave con-sequences andunpredictablerepercussions.Tolerance is notonly a high-class virtue andmoral value buta non-violentstrategy for self-defence and sur-vival and aweapon for vic-tory too.

One mustalways remem-ber that toler-ance and humil-ity can softenthe hearts of ourbitter critics and opponents while ensuringpeace of mind for us. It creates harmony and eventhe most arrogant person, at some point of time,expresses appreciation for tolerance in the faceof grave aggravation. Along with this, we shouldalso learn to forget and forgive lapses and short-comings of others in the spirit of friendliness andbrotherhood, or else we cannot have goodwill,co-operation and peace.

However, most people question as to howlong should they allow their tormentor to con-tinue with cruel acts, nefarious designs and dirtyways? Should they tolerate injustice? If they doso, wouldn’t it mean a silent consent to their acts?Wouldn’t it deprive them of justice? Also, it wouldmean their connivance in his/her acts of cruel-ty? Isn’t it a kind of self-imposed servitude, ser-vility and slavery? The answer is that we mustput forth our moral resistance and show our dis-approval through non-cooperation. Better still,we must use our skill of persuasion at appropri-ate time. We must make efforts to show the tor-mentor the real nature of his act, the evils andthe consequences that follow.

We must have the spiritual power to changehis/her heart and transform him/her into a bet-ter human being. We must try a healing touchto the mentally and morally sick person. Onemust pity him rather than lose our own moralsense and react with a feeling of rancor andvengeance. That would be our tolerance. But thequestion that ultimately comes up is whether wehave that spiritual power to transform a sinnerinto a saint? For that we must check up our spir-ituality and fill ourselves with power throughyoga and mediation. With our high spiritualpower, we can use tolerance as a tool of socialtransformation and can be god’s instruments foruplifting a man who has fallen from his seat ofmorality.

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The entire world has beenfacing an unprecedented and

difficult times due to COVID-19.Majority of the countries haveimplemented either complete orpartial lockdowns. In India, theinitial 21-day lockdown has beenextended by the government tillMay 3, keeping the safety of peo-ple in mind.

The situation isn’t new for amajority of Indian women, bothrural and urban, who are notallowed to work by their familiesor have left their careers midwayafter getting married or becom-ing mothers. However, men, inboth rural and urban settings, arefor the first time forced to stay athome for such an extended peri-od. This unusual situation wheremen are at home, has given riseto two kinds of incidences. Onone hand, increase in cases ofabuse against women and chil-dren are being reported and onthe contrary, there are othernarratives of men sharing thehousehold chores.

Men are breaking many‘patriarchal traditions’. A few areentering the kitchen and learn-ing how to cook, some are help-ing in taking care of children andelderly while others are helpingin maintaining a clean house.This lockdown has reconfirmedthe fact that the gender-based,socially constructed roles can besmashed and that too, for good.

Fathers are not meant tocontribute to the development oftheir children only financially.They must learn co-parentingand participate in the holisticdevelopment of children along

with their partners. In March, when the Corona

scare had just started rearing itshead, parents were trickling in topick up food packets for theafternoon from the Milin NagarAnganwadi Centre in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune. Children wereat home, safe and sound. RohiniChittaranjan Joshi, who has beenan anganwadi sevika for the last30 years, was elated to see fathersin the queue. According to her,

men have started being activelyinvolved in their child’s develop-ment. She has seen this changein the last two years.

“It’s actually funny becausesome of these men used to cometo this same anganwadi centre aschildren themselves,” Rohinishares. “Now that they’ve grownup into capable men, I don’t needto convince them about theimportance of nutrition andchildcare as much as I had to, 30

years ago.” Integrated Child

Development Services (ICDS) isa government programme inIndia, which provides food,preschool education, primaryhealthcare, immunisation, healthcheck-up and referral services tochildren under six years of ageand their mothers. Even thoughthe programme used to targetmothers as parents, in the lasttwo years, active efforts havebeen made to ensure that malecaretakers are involved too. ThePoshan Pakhwada’s key messagethis year was ‘Men for Nutrition— Increasing Male Involvementin Poshan Abhiyaan to ImproveNutrition Indicators’.

Through public meetings,home visits and the PoshanPakhwada celebrations, angan-wadi workers all overMaharashtra have been equip-ping fathers to interact withtheir children, break gender bar-riers and share more responsibil-ities around the household. “Idemonstrate how fathers canbanter with their child whilebathing them, washing theirhands and feeding them. These

instructions are especially wel-come by migrant families wherethe family consists of only par-ents and children. Men have totake up responsibilities,” sharesRohini.

All the anganwadi sevikas Iinteracted with mentioned thatboth fathers and grandfathers arekeen to know more about thechildren. But there are still cer-tain barriers that keep themfrom being fully involved intheir child’s formative years.Kiran Shivsharan, anotheranganwadi worker from GautamNagar, Pimpri, shares, “In mycommunity, male involvement inmeetings often deterred mothersfrom joining in. As women our-selves, we did face some hesita-tion and perhaps shyness ininteracting with men. Moreover,as my anganwadi is quite small,unlike other anganwadis inMaharashtra, both parents can-not fit in every meeting.”

It is not just women who areconstrained by the gender normsbut men are also restrained bythem and are mocked upon ifthey try to become an exception.“Men from my community start-ed getting involved by perform-ing outdoor chores like register-ing their pregnant wife with usor getting them for vaccinationand periodic visit. With regularcounselling provided by angan-wadi workers, many fathers havestarted breaking the barriers byundertaking household chores.This has become an inspirationfor many more,” says MeeraPandirkar, an anganwadi work-er in Mandangad, Ratnagiri.

Anganwadi workers all overMaharashtra have been takinginnovative steps to ensure fathers,who often come from workingclass families, are reached out tocreatively and as per their avail-ability. “I always schedule myhome visits on Thursdays. Withweekly power cuts on the sameday, it becomes easier to talk tothem,” says Kiran Shivsharan.

As fishermen in coastalMaharashtra return from seaonly in the afternoon, SunainaSotekar, anganwadi worker forValmiki Nagar, Mandangadschedules all the PoshanPakhwada events during thattime to ensure that these men getto attend the community pro-grammes. “I ensure that I keepreiterating the progress of theirchild every time a father comesto pick up. This ensures thatfathers feel more invested intheir child’s progress,” sharesMeera Pandirkar adding thatgrandfathers are also slightlyeasier target group to work with.

Meanwhile, Rohini findstechnology helpful to engagefathers. “At the end of everyPoshan Pakhwada event, whetherit is haat bazaars or palakmelawas, I send WhatsApp pho-tos to fathers’ numbers.”

With the COVID-19 pan-demic, fathers are getting moretime with their families.Hopefully, they will learn to putthese measures into practice andthus engage in co-parenting dur-ing the lockdown and will con-tinue doing so once the worldbecomes free of this virus.

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Almost for a decade I’ve dis-cussed health and yoga withsenior mainstream doctors in

India, USA and Germany. All of themagree that inner peace is essential fora healthy immune system. It is essen-tially the balance within us whichprotects and heals us. Of course, med-icines are also required when things gotoo far. Perhaps, that is why theChitrasutra (the oldest-known treatiseon art-making) says that art is the mostvaluable treasure of mankind. In thistime of COVID-19, Ajanta presents themost beautiful image of inner harmo-ny and the peace of spirit within us.This is Bodhisattava Padmapani, theBearer of the Lotus (5th century).

In the ancient tradition, suchimages were created for us to look uponthem and to awaken those qualitieswithin us. I’ve recently completed theshooting of the film Yoga for Health &

Global Harmony in India, USA,Japan, Germany,

China, Bahamas,Costa Rica,

B r a z i l ,

Colombia and Argentina. During thistime of extreme stress because of thepandemic, these are some excerpts fromthe commentary and interviews of thefilm which can be helpful for our gen-eral well-being.

It was the dawn of civilisation whenyoga was conceived 5,000 years ago inthe Indian sub-continent. By the 8th or9th centuries BCE, a collection ofbeautiful verses called the Upanishadswere composed. These verses crys-tallised deep philosophical ideas, which

would last forever. Yoga wasfundamental in

the vision of life contained in these.The three-thousand-year-old Katha

Upanishad says, “He… whose sensesare uncontrolled, who is not tranquil,whose mind is not at rest, he can neverhope to attain the true self, not eventhrough knowledge.” It also says, “Thesupreme being is formless and cannotbe discerned by the senses, hence, allknowledge of the eternal must beacquired by the more subtle faculties.These are developed only through thepurifying practice of meditation.”

In an interview in the film, DrAnanda Balayogi from Puducherry,

who is a yoga expert as well as a med-ical doctor shares, “The biggest ques-tion that is asked by the research sci-entists today is how does it happen?However, ancient rishis, who were thegreat scientists of that time, asked whoam I? Modern science has its eyes out-ward. It is always looking at someoneelse, something else or some place else.

The yoga dhristi, the yogic perspec-tive has always been inward. Lookingat one’s own self, understanding whowe are, knowing the answer to thequestion, kaun hain hum (who arewe)? If you want to go in everythinghas to be still, right from your body,emotions, mind. That is why theyoga rishis adopted still postures tostabilize the mind and went on tofinding oneself. In recent times, sci-ence and spirituality have been sepa-rated. This was not so in that era.Yoga is the challenging study of con-sciousness itself, understanding one’sbody, emotions, mind and beyond thatunderstanding one’s true self .Conquering the fretful disturbances ofthe world around, great thinkersresearched deep into the self. This wasan epic project spread over many cen-turies. A science of life was developedto help us to know ourselves better. Tohelp us attain peace and joy, which canbe found within.”

In another interview yoga expert,Minakshi Devi Bhavnani says, “Unlessone’s sole purpose of taking up scienceis to achieve liberation, to evolve one’sconsciousness to grow in spirit, I don’tthink one should use the word yoga.They can use any other name.”

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Former Australian pacerJason Gillespie was veryimpressed with Ishant

Sharma’s “thirst for knowledge”when he played English countyunder his coaching, despite beingan established international crick-eter.

Ishant, who has so far picked297 wickets from 97 Tests, playedfor Sussex in 2018 with Gillespieas the coach.

“You know what really struckme about Ishant was his thirst forknowledge, his willingness to lis-ten, ask questions, try new things,because sometimes you can getsenior players, experienced play-ers who will just go about and dotheir thing,” Gillespie said on achat-show Cow Corner Chronicles.

In fact, during the last first-class season, Ishant acknowl-edged that every one spoke abouthis problems but it was Gillespiewho provided solutions.

“They know what they needto do and that’s fine. But Ishantwas very much...He knew what heneeded to do to bowl well. He alsoknew he wanted to get better,”remarked Gillespie.

India toured England laterthat season in 2018 and Gillespiefelt Ishant was better for theexperience.

“Knowing that he had anopportunity at Sussex, knowingthat India were going to be play-ing in England, later on, I thinkhe saw it as a very good oppor-

tunity, to learn and bowl inEnglish conditions, and test him-self. Look he was fantastic with usat Sussex,” added Gillespie.

Gillespie also said that Ishantmade impact on Sussex players.

“The Sussex players were real-ly impressed with Ishant’s workethic. He fitted in really well in the

dressing room. His work ethic inthe nets, or on the track was phe-nomenal. It was really good for ouryoung seam bowlers at Sussex tosee, that this is what it takes for aTest bowler,” he added.

Gillespie, who worked withanother Test specialistCheteshwar Pujara, whom he

coached at other county sideYorkshire, also praised the latter.

“We had Pujara at Yorkshire,when I was head coach there. Weneeded a batsman in the top threewho could do a job for us insometimes challenging condi-tions, Someone with a very goodtemperament, someone whocould absorb some very goodbowling.

“Pujara fitted that bill perfect-ly. He found it a challenge, theearly season in county cricket withthe duke cricket ball movingaround in English conditions. Hefound that a challenge. I think that

was really a good test for him asa player. A good learning curvefor Cheteshwar,” said Gillespieabout Pujara’s first stint withYorkshire in 2015.

Gillespie feels the countystint helped Pujara, who hasamassed 5840 runs from 77 Tests,immensely.

“I think he grew as a player.He learnt more about his game.He adapted to conditions inEngland which can be quite chal-lenging for top three-top fourbatsmen at the best of times. So,I thought he did wonderfullywell,” Gillespie signed off.

�$%�"$(�,) Indian boxing’s High PerformanceDirector Santiago Nieva expects the nation-al camp to resume at least partially nextmonth and foresees no hiccups in fans rush-ing back to live sport in the age of social dis-tancing as he feels people always “look forrisks”.

The seasoned coach, who has been withthe Indian team since 2017, is quite optimisticof things improving by the beginning of nextmonth despite the rising COVID-19 cases.

“I think the camp will restart nextmonth. If not full strength, then at least thecore group,” he said.

The core group comprises the ones whohave already qualified for the Olympics andthose who are seen to be strong contendersto make the cut in future qualifiers.

Asked what gives him the belief thatcamps would be good to go if the nationallockdown ends, the Swede said, “That’s myhunch. Of course I can be wrong but I thinkwe will be able to restart early next month.”

“Humans have the ability to adapt to dif-ferent situations. And I think here, people arefacing up to the reality quite well even thoughit is an unprecedented crisis.”

Talking of the crisis and its impact onsports, Nieva said things would never be thesame again but asserted that people will notgive up on live sports either.

“In amateur boxing, we are used to fight-ing in empty halls, so no fan concerns for us,”he joked.

“But seriously speaking, yes, there will bemore restrictions on movement of people, thesecurity is going to be tighter, it won’t be thateasy to travel. But fans, they are going to rushback at the first opportunity,” he predicted.

“People don’t care. I think they should bemore careful but mostly they are not. Theywill come back easily because they have beenconfined at homes for too long. PTI

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni’sintelligent recruitment

policy of roping in interna-tional captains who can con-tribute stretagically, was one ofthe biggest reason for ChennaiSuper Kings’ stupendous suc-cess in IPL, feels former SouthAfrica captain Faf du Plessis.

CSK has been a part of 10out of 12 seasons of IPL andhave never finished lowerthan semi-finals or play-offs.

“A great thing that CSKhas done over the years, andthat’s credit to MS and(Stephen) Fleming the coach,is they have targeted captains— (Brendon) McCullum,myself, (Dwayne) Bravo, obvi-ously MS, (Suresh) Raina’scaptained a bit — becausethey want thinking crick-eters,” the 35-year-old toldCSK’s website.

“So, there’s a lot of leaderswithin group, that experienceof thinking cricketers is whatthey want and obviously it hasproven to be very successful,”he added.

“Chennai Super Kings isa great franchise to be a partof. MS has got such strongleadership. He leaves a mas-sive hole when he’s not on thefield,” the former SA skipperwaxed eloquent about Dhoni.

Du Plessis, who has beenpart of CSK, also spoke abouthis passion for fielding, addingthe team had a few very goodfielders.

“I love going to positionson the field where the ballgoes all the time. We arelucky at CSK that we got a fewvery good fielders. Jaddu(Ravindra Jadeja) is incredible,he has got the strongest armin world cricket. Jaddu wantsthem to try and run. He jogsto the ball because he knowsif you run, you are out,” headded.

(#�"#�)Brighton owner TonyBloom believes that relegationshould be scrapped if thePremier League season cannotbe completed, claiming itwould be “unfathomable” thata club could be doomed by “0.2points”.

Most teams in the topflight still have nine games toplay while June 30 has beenmentioned as a potential cut-off date for the season to end.

“I don’t foresee a situation,if the season’s not played out,that teams will get relegated ona points-per-game basis,”Bloom said.

“I just don’t think it’s fath-omable that a team which is notallowed to play out the seasonmay lose out on 0.2 pointsbased on this system, and alsoit does not take into account thestrength of the team you havenot played.”

If the season ended early,

Brighton would stay up as theysit two points above drop zone.

Bournemouth, Aston Villaand Norwich were in the rele-gation places when the leaguewas suspended.

“You may get a title win-ner, obviously Liverpooldeserve it, you may use thatcriteria for European qualifica-tion but I do not see how any-one can vote for that, certain-ly the per cent needed (70 percent), for teams to get relegat-ed. I really cannot foreseethat,” added Bloom. AFP

(#�"#�� H,���I)� Former ManchesterUnited and Real Madrid midfielderDavid Beckham rates Barcelona’s LionelMessi higher than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo succeeded Beckham asManchester United’s No 7 before arriv-ing at Real Madrid two years after theEngland captain left the Spanish giants.

Beckham has also experience ofplaying against a young Lionel Messi inthe latter’s initial years with Barcelona andfaced him once while he was playing forParis Saint-Germain.

“He [Messi] is alone in his class as aplayer, it is impossible that there isanother like him,” Beckham told Telam.“He, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who is notat his level, are both above the rest.”

Beckham recalled his last matchagainst Barca in 2013 Champions Leaguequarters. PSG were ahead at one stage atCamp Nou when Messi came on as a sub-stitute. Eventually, Pedro scored andBarca went through on away goals rule.

“We were leading before Messi camein, and once he came in, Barca scored,”Beckham said. He was 37 years old bythen and ended his illustrious playingcareer at the end of season but Beckhamsaid that he did not enjoy losing that tie.

“Although I enjoyed playing at thatlevel at my age, I do not like to lose. Ourteam played well. In both matches, we didthings we should be proud of. We didn’tlose against Barcelona, and that is some-thing that should motivate us,” he said.

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Bayern Munich captain andgoalkeeper Manuel Neuer

told German media onSunday he has become “irri-tated” with negotiations toextend his contract, whichhave reportedly stalled inrecent weeks.

“All talks I have had sinceI have been here have beenconfidential... nothing hasever leaked,” the 34-year-oldtold Germany’s most populardaily Bild.

“But now, details aboutthe current talks are con-stantly appearing in the media,and are often untrue. That irri-

tates me. It’s not something Iam used to at Bayern.”

The veteran goalkeeper’sunusually candid commentscome amid widespreadreports that his current con-tract negotiations have hitthe rocks.

If the talks fail, club cap-tain Neuer could be free toleave Bayern in June andattract the interest of thePremier League clubs.

Bayern have recentlyextended the contracts of for-ward Thomas Mueller andhead coach Hansi Flick, bothuntil 2023.

Neuer hailed Flick as a“super coach” and said that the

55-year-old’s extension hadconvinced him too to stay onat Bayern.

“I want to have a contractwhich is a win-win situationfor me and Bayern. I want toperform, be there for theteam... and give 100 percent,”he said.

“The conditions have tobe right (for that),” he added.

Neuer, who helpedGermany win the 2014 WorldCup title, has been namedworld goalkeeper of the yearfour times.

He has kept 191 cleansheets in 373 appearances forBayern since joining fromSchalke in 2011.

�#��$2,"$#) Real Madrid’sUruguayan midfielderFederico Valverde has cred-ited manager ZinedineZidane for giving him theself-confidence to flourishwith the Spanish giants.

After playing 25 match-es in his first full season as aReal Madrid player in 2018-19, Valverde has alreadymade 32 appearances in thiscampaign, mostly as a starter.

“He gives you confidencein a way that few other coach-es do,” Valverde said anInstagram Live.

“Everyone has greatrespect for him because, apartfrom being the manager, he’sa legend on a world scale,”Valverde said. “You have tokeep what he tells you insideyour head. Sometimes in agame he’ll tell you to changesomething or give you a sug-

gestion. Or he might criticizeyou. If he says it, you have tolisten and try to get the mostout of it.”

Valverde also praisedReal Madrid midfield col-leagues Luke Modric,Casemiro and Tony Kroos.He described Kroos as a ref-erence for all players, citingthe Germany World Cupwinner’s “admirable compo-sure” on the ball. IANS

�$�$2�)� European football’sgoverning body UEFA ismulling to continue theChampions League matches,suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on August 7-8.

According to a report onSky Sports Italia, the first of theremaining matches in theRound of 16 will be played onAugust 7 and 8 after whichthere will be matches everythree days until August 29when the final is scheduled tobe held.

The semi-final will be onAugust 18-18 and 21-22 beforethe final in Istanbul.

This would also result inthe group stage of the 2020/21season of the ChampionsLeague being postponed toOctober 20. It was initiallyrumoured that a deadline ofAugust 3 has been set for thefinal to be held but UEFA Prezdenied that. IANS

(#�"#�) Wayne Rooneymay be ManchesterUnited and England’srecord goalscorer but hestill believes he shouldhave found the back ofthe net more often dur-ing his career, eventhough he was not a nat-ural finisher.

Rooney, a teenagesensation at Everton,joined United in 2004and went on to score 253goals in 559 appearancesduring a 13-year spell forthe Old Trafford clubthat saw the Red Devilspile up the trophies.

Rooney surpassed1966 World Cup-win-ner Bobby Charlton asUnited’s all-time lead-ing scorer, just as he didfor England with a tallyof 53 goals.

Despite those fig-ures Rooney, writing inhis Sunday Times col-umn, insisted: “I’m goingto be honest — and thismight surprise you —but I’m not a naturalgoalscorer.”

The 34-year-old,now a player-coach atsecond-tier DerbyCounty, added: “I was

never a Gary Lineker or aRuud van Nistelrooy; I neverlooked at myself that way.

“I hold the goal records forManchester United andEngland and am very proudabout that — yet there havebeen better No 9s than me.

“How did I become arecord-breaker if I wasn’t a nat-ural scorer? Time,” Rooney

explained. “I played for Unitedfor 13 years, England for 15years. I had time to break thoserecords — and looking back Ishould have scored more.”

Rooney backed HarryKane to break his Englandrecord, although he would likethe Tottenham Hotspur strik-er “to stay high as that No 9”after seeing him drop deeperin during the past two seasons.

“I don’t think it will takelong for Harry Kane to claimmy England record and itwould be a proud moment forme,” Rooney said.

“I’ve never been a selfishplayer and it would be great forEngland for Harry to get there.Bobby Charlton had to wait 50years (for Rooney to break hisEngland record) — I hope it’snot so long for me.

“The United record mightlast longer simply becauseplayers don’t stay at clubs aslong as they used to. AFP

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Novak Djokovic on Saturdaysaid that he, Roger Federer

and Rafael Nadal are organising aidfor players struggling with theparalysis of the game due to thecoronavirus pandemic.

“I spoke to Roger and Rafa afew days ago,” Djokovic, the worldnumber one, said in an Instagramchat with friend and rival StanWawrinka on Saturday.

“We had a long conversationabout the near future of tennis,what is going to happen, how wecan contribute and how we canhelp especially lower-ranked play-ers, who are obviously strugglingthe most.”

“The majority of the playerswho are ranked between 200, 250in the world, and the 700th or1,000th do not have federationsupport, do not have sponsors.They are completely independentand left alone,” he said

“Guys who are ranked between200-250, especially to 700...arethinking of leaving tennis rightnow.”

He said players, the ATP and

the four Grand Slams “would allget together and will contribute toa player relief fund that ATP willdistribute.”

“It looks, hopefully, that therewill something between $3 million(2.75 million euros) and $4.5 mil-lion that is going to be distributed,”

he estimated.Djokovic said the cash could

come from the prize money for theseason-ending World Tour Finalsor the final bonus pools for topplayers.

‘FUTURE OF TENNIS’“Maybe if we don’t have any

tournaments this season, we cantake a certain percentage from ourprize money form Australian Openin January,” he said.

“These guys are the grass rootsof tennis. The future of tennis. Weneed to show them they still canrely on support of the top guys.”

According to reports in tennismedia, Djokovic, as president ofthe ATP Players' Council, whichalso includes Federer and Nadal,proposed to members that playersin the top 100 for singles and thetop 20 in doubles contributeaccording to their rankings.

The proposed scale runs from$30,000 for a top-five player to$5,000 for those between 51 and100.

That would raise approximate-ly $1 million and the ATP wouldmake a similar contribution.

,��� � �C��C�

World No 1 Novak Djokovic saidthat rival and Swiss great Roger

Federer’s ability to come up with serveand volley is somewhat underrated andnot talked about enough.

In an InstagramLive chat with for-mer world No 1 Andy Murray, Djokovicsaid that Federer is one of the most com-plete players to have ever played thegame.

“Roger. I mean he would definitelybe there. I mean he is one of the mostcomplete players ever to play the game,”said the Serb.

“We all know how great he is. I thinkit is a bit underrated. I don’t know if peo-ple really talk about his ability to comeup with serve and volley; accurate playat the most challenging times in thematch, against us (great returners).

“He was really not intimidated somuch by the return. He would place,especially on the quicker surfaces, hewould disrupt your rhythm.”

The pair have played a number ofmatches over the years that have decid-ed Grand Slam titles, the latest of whichincluded the 2020 Australian Opensemifinal and the epic 2019 Wimbledonfinal, both of which Djokovic won.

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Goa Sports MinisterManohar Ajgaonkar on

Sunday said the state govern-ment will seek clarification fromthe Indian Olympic Associationover the fate of the much-delayed 36th National Games inwake of COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreakhas brought all sporting activi-ties to a grinding halt worldwide.In India, major events like theIPL have been postponed indef-initely.

The pandemic has alsoraised doubts over the theNational Games, scheduled to beheld in the state from October20 to November 4.

Goa has reported a total ofseven positive cases, of which sixhave recovered.

“My department has writtento the Chief Minister onSaturday urging him to seekclarification from IOA over thefate of National Games,”Ajgaonkar said.

The minister said the stateis prepared to host the games,but need at least three monthsadvance notice.

“We were all set to host the

National Games in November2020. Now, with this kind of sit-uation, we are not sure what willhappen,” he said

“Our infrastructure for theGames is ready. Our grounds areready. We can host nationalgames any time. But we need tobe informed three months inadvance about the date. Somesmall time tenders needs to beadvertised.”

The minister added thatthe ongoing works on the infra-structure creation are in the finalphase and can be completedwithin a month.

Goa was earlier supposed tohost the 36th edition of theNational Games in November2018. However, the state later setaside dates for the event fromMarch 30 to April 14 last year,but then expressed its inabilityto host the Games during thatperiod owing to the general elec-tions.

Earlier this month, IOApresident Narinder Batraexpressed optimism that theNational Games will go ahead asper schedule and will provide aperfect preparatory platformfor the Tokyo Olympics-boundIndian athletes.

Ishant’s thirst for knowledge impressed Gillespie63'�1+!�-'3�1'�0/�� *0+3�*0,/� 1'!��'�'7� �?�,)�It was difficult to getboth of them out, but SachinTendulkar was a bit harder todislodge than Brian Lara, saidformer Australia pacer JasonGillespie.

The Aussie ratedTendulkar along side Lara asthe toughest batsman to dis-miss in his career.

“Two different types ofplayers, two equally difficult toget out. I always felt, Sachin wasprobably a little bit harder todislodge, in terms of getting hiswicket, but I didn’t feel hewould take you apart, in quitethe same way as Brian.

“I always felt I was in with

more of a chance to get Brianout because he was a bit moreexpansive, with his game. ButI found Sachin’s defence wasvery hard to get through,”Gillespie said.

“Look two fine players, Iam just really glad that I don’thave to bowl to them anymore.They were just far too good.

“It’s quite an honour forme to be able to sit here andtalk to you and say that Ibowled against these guys.

“It was a wonderful time tobe a cricketer, got to bowlagainst the best in the world.For me that was very satisfy-ing,” added Gillespie. IANS

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�$%�"$(�,) It is common forany captain to have afavourite player and when itcame to Mahendra SinghDhoni, it was Suresh Raina,who enjoyed unstinted back-ing from the former Indiacaptain, feels Yuvraj Singh.

One of India’s greatestlimited-overs cricketers,Yuvraj remembered howDhoni faced selection dilem-ma when he had to choosetwo out of him, Yusuf Pathanand Raina in the playing XIduring the 2011 World Cup.

“Suresh Raina had a lotof support then, because MSused to back him. Everycaptain has a favourite play-

er and I think Mahi reallybacked Raina at that time,”Yuvraj told Sports Tak.

Ultimately all three play-ers made the playing XI(although Yusuf was droppedfrom playing XI later) withYuvraj playing a pivitol rolein winning the title.

“Yusuf Pathan was alsoperforming well at that timeand even I was doing welland was also picking wickets.And Raina was not in agood touch then,” he said.

“They did not have a left-arm spinner at that time andI was picking wickets so theydid not have any choice,” headded. PTI

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Federer’s ability toserve & volley not talkedabout enough: Novak

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