· delhi, the government has provided lunch and dinner to 6 lakh people across delhi. ˜...

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday asked

the States to prepare a commonexit strategy for phase-wisereturn of normalcy after thelockdown period suggestingthat “testing, tracing, isolationand quarantine” should remain“focus areas in next few weeks”.

In a video interaction withChief Ministers to discuss waysto contain Covid-19, Modiasked States not to abruptly endlockdown from April 15, but todo it in a phase-wise manner asper the situation in respectiveStates. He also asked CMs toreach out to community lead-ers and social welfare organi-sations, adopt community-approach. He asked the Statesto brainstorm and send sug-gestions for the exit strategy.

The Prime Minister saidconsidering that this is thetime to harvest crops, theGovernment has given somerelaxation from lockdown butit is necessary to continuouslymonitor and maintain socialdistancing as much as possible.

The Prime Ministerthanked the States for sup-

porting the decision of lock-down due to which India hasachieved some success in lim-iting the spread of COVID-19.He praised all the States sayingthey worked together as a teamto check the spread of thevirus. West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeskipped the event and wasrepresented by the State ChiefSecretary.

“Samuhikta hamari shaktihai”, the PM told ChiefMinisters saying along with thefront-line health workers, para-medical staff, NCC, NSS,NGOs and public spirited peo-ple should make a force togeth-er to win the battle againstcoronavirus which he hinted isnot going to end soon.

He forewarned that theglobal situation remained farfrom satisfactory and informedabout speculation of a possiblesecond wave of spread of thevirus in some countries. Modisought all States to maintain“peace and harmony” in theirrespective areas and appealedto all men of “faith and reli-gion” to be together and followthe norm of “social distancing”to shut the virus out.

“Priority should be tobreak the chain of transmis-sion”, Modi told the CMs.

The Prime Minister said inthe next few weeks, testing,tracing, isolation and quaran-tine should remain focus areas.He highlighted the necessity ofmaintaining the supply ofessential medical products,availability of raw material forthe manufacture of medicinesand medical equipment.

This was for the secondtime the Prime Minister held avideo conference with the ChiefMinisters after the spread ofcoronavirus, and the first afterthe 21-day lockdown cameinto force. On March 20 also hehad interacted with the CMs.The lockdown was enforced onMarch 24.

The Chief Ministers saidthey have enhanced surveil-lance, stepped up contact trac-ing, set up dedicated Covid19hospitals, ICUs, relief and foodcamps for migrant workersand provided psychologicalsupport system to those affect-ed by the virus.

The Chief Ministers alsomentioned their efforts of iden-tifying and quarantining sus-

pect cases arising fromNizamuddin Markaz and con-taining community transmis-sion.

The Prime Minister out-lined that the common goal forthe country is to ensure mini-mum loss of life.

Highlighting the necessityof maintaining supply of essen-tial medical products, avail-ability of raw material for man-ufacture of medicines andmedical equipment, Modi saidit is necessary to ensure avail-ability of separate, dedicatedhospital facilities for COVID-19 patients.

Underscoring the impor-tance of coordinated actionand the need to avoid overlapsin efforts of stakeholders, thePrime Minister talked aboutthe need of setting up crisismanagement groups at dis-trict level and appointment ofDistrict Surveillance Officers.

The Prime Minister saiddata must be taken from theaccredited labs for testing —this will ensure congruence indata of district, State andCentre. He said it is necessaryto ensure staggered release offunds to the beneficiaries under

PM Garib Kalyan Yojana toavoid crowding at banks.

He asked States to think ofother platforms for procuringgrains apart from APMC, andexplore the possibility of cre-ating pooling platforms forrural areas, like that in ridesharing apps, which can beused for this purpose.

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The Delhi Government willtransfer �5,000 in the bank

account of each of auto, taxiand e-rickshaw drivers of thenational Capital, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said onThursday. However, he addedthat the process of moneytransfer may take at least aweek as the Government hasno bank account details of theintended beneficiaries.

Assuring them about fundtransfer, Kejriwal said, “You allare my brothers, please havefaith and patience.”

The Delhi Governmenthas already provided the assis-tance of �5,000 each to over35,000 construction workers inthe city. Widening its reach tothe poor and daily wagers inDelhi, the Government hasprovided lunch and dinner to6 lakh people across Delhi.

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The coronavirus outbreakcould disrupt global food

supply chains and send pricessoaring. According to theWorld Health Organization(WHO), the United NationsFood and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) and theWorld Trade Organization(WTO), there is a serious riskof food shortages globally inApril and May due to large-scale lockdowns, shortage ofagricultural labourers duringharvest season and disruptionin food supply chain due tomeasures taken byGovernments to stem thespread of coronavirus.

India has enough stock totide over the coronavirus out-break while the Ministry ofAgriculture has asked farmersto delay the harvest till April 20due to the lockdown.

Expressing concerns in ajoint statement, the WTO, FAOand WHO said uncertainty

about food availability canspark a wave of export restric-tions, creating a shortage in theglobal market. The FAO saiddisruptions to food supplycould occur during April and

May if authorities fail to man-age the continuing coronavirusoutbreak properly.

“As the world is witnessinga lockdown in most parts of it,the food supply chain has suf-

fered a severe disruption. Thisis also aggravated by panicbuying and hoarding of essen-tials, which has demonstratedthe fragility of supply chains inmany countries,” the FAO said.

The FAO said the worldrisks a “looming food crisis”unless measures are taken fastto protect the most vulnerable,keep global food supply chainsalive and mitigate the pan-demic’s impacts across the foodsystem.

“Harvests have been goodand staple crops remain indemand, but a shortage of fieldworkers brought on by thepandemic and a move towardsprotectionism — tariffs andexport bans — could lead toproblems in the coming weeks.Food processors, who handlethe vast majority of agriculturalproducts, could also be pre-vented from processing thefarm products,” it said.

Panic-buying by peoplehas already demonstrated thefragility of supply chains assupermarket shelves have beenemptied in many countries. Ifagriculture workers are legallyunable to harvest crops, itcould cause a lapse in food flow.

Continued on Page 2

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Doctors from across thecountry have sought pro-

tection from Union HomeMinister Amit Shah after theywere attacked and pelted withstones in Indore, Hyderabad,Bengaluru when they went tolocate people reportedly infect-ed with coronavirus.

A few days ago also whendoctors in Delhi were threat-ened by landlords they hadsought similar protection fromthe Home Minister.

Two women doctors wereinjured in Indore when a 5-member team of health officialswas pelted with stones inTaatpatti Bakhal area onWednesday while they weretrying to trace a person whohad come into contact with aCOVID-19 patient, police said.

A case has been registeredand seven people were arrest-ed, police said, as Indore col-lector Manish Singh warnedthat the district administration

will not tolerate such incidentsand misbehaviour.

Relatives of a 49-year-oldcoronavirus patient who died ata Government hospital inHyderabad assaulted the dutydoctor and the staff allegingnegligence, police said.

Continued on Page 2

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The number of Covid-19positive cases around the

world has raced near the 1 mil-lion mark, with the UnitedStates topping the list withdeath toll crossing 5,000 andthe number of infections surg-ing past 200,000 on Thursdayeven as the US grappled withan unprecedented health crisis,including a huge shortage ofmedical supplies and protectiveequipment.

In death toll count, Italyhas remained number one with13,915 lives lost to the pan-demic coronavirus, followed bySpain with over 10,000 deaths.

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Overworked medical pro-fessionals and paramedics

across the country are bearingthe brunt of Covid-19 as theywage frontline battle againstthe deadly virus.

According to sources inthe Government, around 50members of medical staff,including doctors, nurse andparamedics, across the coun-try have tested positive forcoronavirus.

Some had contracted thevirus while treating thepatients, a few of them hadtravelled abroad where theygot the disease.

“The infected medicalstaff have been isolated andgetting requisite treatment,”said the sources while raisingconcern that, “If the doctorsare going to fall sick, theentire effort of preventingspreading of COVID-19 willfail in the country.”

On Thursday, a residentdoctor from AIIMS, Delhitested positive for the disease,said sources in the hospital.

Continued on Page 2

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The Civil Aviation Ministryon Thursday said domes-

tic flight resumption is expect-ed after the 21-day nationwidelockdown is over on April 14while permission to restartinternational flights will begiven on a case to case basisonly after assessing the coron-avirus (COVID-19) in the

country.Responding to a question

from reporters at a virtualPress conference, Civil

Aviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri on Thursday said,“There is a lockdown till mid-April. After that, flights fromany country will be allowed tocome to India only after a secu-rity assessment is made.”

Regarding resumption ofdomestic flights, Puri said heis optimistic that the lock-down would not be extended.

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As the number of coron-avirus positive cases raced

towards 2,500 mark, with near-ly 400 of them linked toTablighi Jamaat gathering inDelhi, the Government onThursday said it has identified20 existing and 22 potentialhotspots of Covid-19 in thecountry.

The Government will alsoconduct more tests by chang-ing its testing protocol even asit maintained that there is noevidence of widespread com-munity transmission and thatcontainment strategy willrequire large human resource.

Union Health MinistryJoint Secretary Lav Agarwalsaid that tests to identify newcases is in progress, as atten-dees from the NizamuddinMarkaz in Delhi had sincemoved to States across thecountry.

Tamil Nadu has reported173 positive cases and their epi-demiological linkage traced tothe Nizamuddin meet.Agarwal said, “As many as 328new positive cases and 12deaths have been reportedsince Wednesday. A total of 151patients have recovered.”

The Ministry of HomeAffairs said of 2,000 personsevacuated from the TablighiJamaat headquarters in Delhi,1,804 were quarantined and

334 admitted to hospitals.The number of coron-

avirus cases in India crossed2,400 as 2,069 confirmed caseswere reported across the coun-try till Thursday. Additionally,there have been 156 patientswho have recovered and 53patients who have succumbedto the infection. The totalactive cases are 1,860.

Agarwal said order hadbeen placed for over 1 crorepersonal protective equipment(PPE), with stepped up domes-tic production of N-95 masks.

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New Delhi: Two people evac-uated from NizamuddinMarkaz of Tablighi Jamaat dieddue to coronavirus onThursday, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said. In a dig-ital press conference, he said ofthe 2,346 people evacuatedfrom the Markaz, 108 havetested positive for coronavirus.

New Delhi: About 9,000Tablighi Jamaat members andtheir primary contacts havebeen quarantined till now inthe country after theGovernment undertook “mas-sive efforts” as part of steps tocheck the spread of the novelcoronavirus, a senior HomeMinistry official said.

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Aday after testing positive,Padma Shri awardee and

Golden Temple's formerHazuri Raagi Nirmal Singh,62, died from coronavirus inAmritsar on Thursday at 4.30am, taking Punjab's deathtally to five.

The fifth corona positivepatient succumbed to thedeadly virus on the day theState recorded anotherCOVID-19 case fromHoshiarpur. With this, thetotal positive cases havereached 47, out of which 41are active cases while onepatient has recovered.

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New Delhi: The Government on Thursday blacklisted 960 for-eigners and cancelled their visas after finding they wereinvolved in Tablighi Jamaat activities violating their visa condi-tions. The Union Home Minister’s Office asked the Delhi Policeand police chiefs of other States, where these foreigners are cur-rently living, to take legal action under the Foreigners Act andthe Disaster Management Act.

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New Delhi: The health ofGanga River has seen signifi-cant improvement sinceenforcement of the nationwidelockdown that has led to reduc-tion in dumping of industrialwaste into it, experts have said.

India has been placedunder a three-week lockdownsince March 24 with its 1.3 bil-lion people instructed to stayhome in view of the coron-avirus outbreak, which hasclaimed 50 lives so far andinfected over 1,965 people inthe country.

The Ganga river water wasfound to be suitable forbathing at most monitoringcentres, the Central PollutionControl Board data showed.

According to the real timewater monitoring data of theCPCB, out of the 36 monitor-ing units placed at variouspoints of the Ganga river, thewater quality around 27 pointswas suitable for bathing andpropagation of wildlife andfisheries.

The parameters that themonitoring stations monitoronline are dissolved oxygen(more than 6 mg/litre), bio-chemical oxygen demand (lessthan 2 mg/litre), total coliformlevels (5000 per 100 ml) andpH (range between 6.5 and 8.5)

to assess the health of theriver.

Earlier, other than stretch-es in Uttarakhand and a cou-ple of places as the river entersUttar Pradesh, the river waterwas found to be unfit forbathing the whole way till itdrains into the Bay of Bengal inWest Bengal.

Experts said the waterquality of Ganga river hasimproved since the enforce-ment of the lockdown, espe-cially around the industrialclusters.

Environmentalist ManojMisra said it is a very good timefor the CPCB to study the levelof pollution coming from theindustry.

"The improvement that isvisible needs to be validatedwith proper data. It is very goodtime for CPCB to study thelevel of pollution coming fromthe industry. It is a very goodtime to set up a baseline," hesaid.

Environmentalist VikrantTongad said the improvementhas been specially seen in theindustrial clusters which usedto see huge pollution level dueto dumping by industries.

Tongad said the improve-ment has been seen aroundGanga in Kanpur, an industri-

al town, from where hugeindustrial waste is generatedand thrown into rivers.

"The improvement in thequality of water has also beenobserved in Ganga''s tributarieslike Hindon and Yamuna," hesaid. While the domestic sew-erage has not reduced, indus-trial effluent has nearly finishedand that is why the water qual-ity has improved, he said,adding that the water quality isexpected to further improve inthe coming days till the enforce-ment of lockdown. Bhim SinghRawat, environmentalist andAssociate Coordinator SouthAsia Network on Dams, Rivers,People (SANDRP), saidimprovements have also beenseen in Ganga around Mathura.

"The organic pollutionlevel still gets diluted in theriver but it is the chemical pol-lution by industries thatdestroys river''s self cleansingproperties. The self-cleansingproperties have improved dueto which the water quality hasimproved," he said.

Himanshu Thakkar, envi-ronmental activist and waterexpert, coordinator of SouthAsia Network of Dams, Rivers& People (SANDRP), said theimprovement is a temporaryrespite. PTI

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Chandigarh: In what is likelyto set alarm bells ringing for thehealth authorities, the HaryanaGovernment on Thursday saidfive people who came to theState after attending theTablighi Jamaat's congregationin New Delhi' last month havetested positive for coronavirus.

Haryana Health MinisterAnil Vij said two of the infect-ed patients were traced toAmbala while three in Palwaltested positive for coronavirus.

Later in the day, ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattartold Prime Minister NarendraModi during a videoconfer-encing that the count of thosewho attended the TablighiJamaat's congregation andcame to Haryana afterwardshas shot up to 1,277.

He said the number alsoincluded 107 foreigners and thejamaat returnees were traced tofive districts in the state.

About the foreigners,Khattar said their passportshave been confiscated andFIRs registered for various vio-lations, a state governmentstatement said.

He said samples of all 107foreigners have been sent fortesting and reports were await-ed.

Vij said these foreignerswere from Bangladesh,Malaysia, South Africa, Nepaland Sri Lanka.

He said a majority were ontourist visas. All had concealedinformation regarding theirtravel details within the coun-try and action as per law isbeing contemplated againstthem, he said.

Asked if the foreigners willbe deported, Vij, who is alsoHaryana's Home Minister,replied, "We cannot do so tillthey test negative."

All those who had been

traced to the state so far arefrom outside Haryana, he said.

"We do not exactly knowwho all they have met. Thereis a possibility that some ofthem may have infected otherswho in turn unknowingly maybe carriers," he said.

Asked how many of thesecould have entered the stateafter the lockdown, Vij said,"This information is beinggathered. In every district, theyhave an in-charge and we aretrying to gather more details."

Health teams are at theirjob after the Haryana Policetraced the congregation atten-dees in several districts such asAmbala, Palwal, Gurgaon andFaridabad.

All 107 foreigners hadbeen kept in isolation whilesamples of several others sus-pected cases have so far beensent for testing and all are beingquarantined, Vij said. PTI

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Mumbai: Thanks to the alert-ness shown by Maharashtrashome department, a congrega-tion similar to the one held inDelhi’s Nizamuddin, now linkedto COVID-19 spread, was avert-ed near here following with-drawal of permission for theMarch event, Minister AnilDeshmukh said on Thursday.

A two-day mega religiousprogramme was planned inVasai, on outskirts of Mumbai,but the home departmentdenied permission for it after ini-tially giving the go-ahead.

An official statement, quot-ing Home Minister Deshmukh,said an outfit, ShamimEducation and Welfare Society,had formally sought permissionfrom the department for organ-ising a programme, TablighiIjtema, near Diwanman villagein West Vasai on March 14-15.

The society, while seekingpermission, had conveyed to thedepartment that around 50,000devotees would attend the eventin which the Quran was to berecited besides offering ofnamaz.

The police, in a letter datedFebruary 5, had informed thesociety about granting permis-sion for the event.

In the meantime,Deshmukh said COVID 19cases were being reported in thecountry and the state, and sev-eral people were quarantined,while suspects were being treat-ed.

The department reconsid-ered granting permission to theVasai event amid such a situationgiven that coming together of50,000 people would have beendetrimental to controlling thespread, the release said. PTI

,�#�� )�� Shimla: Three people who

attended the Tablighi Jamaat'scongregation in New Delhi lastmonth and came to HimachalPradesh tested positive forcoronavirus, taking the totalnumber of patients to six in thestate.

Additional Chief Secretary(Health) RD Dhiman saidthey had returned to Una dis-trict after attending the con-gregation last month.

They are being sent toTanda's Dr Rajendra PrasadGovernment Medical College(RPGMC) for treatment, hesaid. The official said the peo-ple who came in their contactare being traced. A total of 27samples were taken for testingon Thursday, of which threefrom Una were found positive,whereas samples of one personhave been taken again, Dhimansaid, adding that the remaining23 were negative. PTI

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From Page 1Puri also said Indians

who are stranded in severalforeign countries will have towait till April 15 to return toIndia, suggesting that flightstaking foreign nationals totheir countries from Indiawill not bring back any pas-sengers. India has allowedcountries like the US, the UKand Germany to conduct spe-cial flights during the lock-down to take their citizensback home. Air India hasalso extended its services tocountries such as Germany,the UK and France to facili-tate return of their citizens.

International flights toIndia were banned from

March 23 and domestic flightswere also suspended fromMarch 25 after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced a21-day lockdown for Indiauntil April 14. As per a DGCAorder, the Government hadbarred all scheduled interna-tional passenger aircraft todepart for India after 5.30 amof March 22 and had giventhem travel time of 20 hours.

Terming the situationarising due to the spread ofnovel coronavirus as“unprecedented,” Puri saidthe airlines and airports areworking in innovative wayswhether it is about handlingthousands of

passengers at airportsbefore lockdown or trans-porting cargo material duringlockdown.

From Page1Though the source of his

infection is not yet known, thedoctor does not have any for-eign travel history. The medicfrom the PhysiologyDepartment is the seventh doc-tor in Delhi to get COVID-19.

Just a day ago, two residentdoctors of Safdarjung Hospitalin the national Capital testedpositive for COVID-19.

One of them, who is part ofthe team treating COVID-19patients at the hospital, isbelieved to have contracted thedisease during the course of

duty. The female resident doc-tor, a third-year post-graduatestudent of the biochemistrydepartment, who has testedpositive for the novel coron-avirus, had recently travelledabroad.

Doctors at SafdarjungHospital also questioned theGovernment’s move to set upthe Covid-19 ward within thepremises of the hospital itself.

“Other patients are alsocoming at the emergency, leav-ing them exposed to those hav-ing Covid-19,” a doctors said onthe condition of anonymity. In

Jammu & Kashmir, two doctorshave been put under homequarantine.

It adds to the worries whenhealthcare professionals includ-ing doctors catch the viruswhile performing their duties,said Dr GS Grewal, formerPunjab Medical CouncilPresident. In Uttar Pradesh’sLucknow too, a 25-year-oldjunior resident doctor testedpositive for Covid-19. InRajasthan, too, a doctor at a pri-vate hospital tested positive forthe virus. In Kerala, 25 doctorswere quarantined after one of

their colleagues tested positive.The Covid-19 is showing nosign of decline, posing anunprecedented medical chal-lenge for the health workers -that of keeping the patientsinfection free - and strugglingwith traditionally and limitedpersonnel protection equip-ments such as masks, PPEs,sanitisers and gloves.

There has been numerouscomplaints of the shortage aswell the poor quality of themedical gear being made avail-able to the doctors in someStates.

A doctor said that person-al protection equipment (PPE)was indispensable when isola-tion wards are activated withCOVID-19 positive cases.

“We need to have doubleprotection all over the body.Hands should have doublegloves and eyes with goggles. “Aprotective shield is must tocover the portion between neckand shoulder which is availablewith PPE. We need at least fivePPEs a day at every isolationward,” he said.

There have been reports ofdoctors and health workers in

Kolkata being forced to useraincoats in the absence of pro-tective gowns, gloves. Doctorsfrom across the country had afew days ago had taken tosocial media to highlight thelack of protective gear such asmasks, overalls. The WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)had early last month highlight-ed the growing shortage ofPPEs across the world, which itsaid endangered doctors andfrontline healthcare workers. Ithas asked the Governments tostep up the manufacturing ofessential gear.

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From Page 1“As of now, disruptions are

minimal as food supplies havebeen adequate. But price spikesare more likely for highervalue products like meat andperishable commodities ratherthan for major staples whichare still in adequate supply,”said the FAO.

Kazakhstan, for instance,according to a report fromBloomberg, has bannedexports of wheat flour, ofwhich it is one of the world’sbiggest sources, as well asrestrictions on buckwheat andvegetables including onions,carrots and potatoes.

Vietnam, the world’s thirdbiggest rice exporter, has tem-porarily suspended rice exportcontracts. Russia, the world’sbiggest wheat exporter, mayalso threaten to restrictexports, as it has done before,and the position of the US isin doubt given DonaldTrump’s eagerness for a tradewar in other commodities.

Australia, which is a netfood exporter, is already facingdifficulty keeping food onstore shelves, as panic buyingin the face of the pandemic has

increased demand, socialresearch house McCrindlesaid. India already has a bufferstock of 30 lakh tonnes ofsugar, which the Governmentis planning to raise to 40 lakhtonnes this fiscal. In the casesof pulses, the Ministry of Foodand Consumer Affairs hasbeen trying since December tooffload 8.47 lakh tonnes fromits buffer stock of pulses.

The UN Committee onWorld Food Security soundedan even stronger warning that“disruptions at borders and insupply chains may cause anecho in the food system withpotentially disastrous effects”.In another report the “WorldEconomic Situation andProspects: April 2020”, theUnited Nations Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs(UNDESA), said the globaleconomy could shrink byalmost one per cent in 2020, asa result of the COVID-19pandemic. According to theupdate, the COVID-19 pan-demic could cause globalGross Domestic Product toshrink by 0.9 per cent in 2020,instead of growing 2.5 per centas originally projected.

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New Delhi: The NationalCommission for Women hasreceived over 250 complaintssince the country-wide lock-down was imposed to controlthe spread of coronavirus, out ofwhich 69 are cases of domesticviolence which indicates analarming rise in such cases, itschairperson Rekha Sharma saidon Thursday.

Since March 24, a total of257 complaints related to vari-ous offences against womenwere received, out of which 69were of domestic violence, shesaid. State-wise analysis of thedata showed that the maxi-mum number of complaintswere received from UttarPradesh (90), followed by Delhi(37).

Thirty domestic violencecomplaints were receivedbetween March 2 and March 8,while 58 such complaints werereceived between March 23 and30, according to the data.

Complaints of other crimeslike rape or attempt to rape anddowry harassment saw a slightreduction in the mentionedperiod, the NCW data showed.

Sharma said the number ofdomestic violence cases must bemuch higher but the women arescared to complain due to con-stant presence of their abuser athome.

She said from March 24 till

April 1, the NCW has received69 domestic violence complaintsand it is increasing by the day.

"Women are not approach-ing the police because theythink that if they take her hus-band away, the in-laws will tor-ture her. Because of the lock-down, women are not able toreach out to the police. Theydon't even want to go to thepolice because they are afraidthat once their husband comesout of the police station, he willagain torture her and she can'teven move out," she said.

"Earlier women could go totheir parents' place but now theyare unable to reach. The NCWis in touch with these com-plainants," she added. Womenrights activists said they havealso received numerous com-plaints of domestic violencefrom women since the enforce-ment of the lockdown. ActivistKavita Krishnan, also the sec-retary of All India ProgressiveWomen's Association, said vul-nerable women could havemoved to safer places if the gov-ernment had given some warn-ing of the lockdown.

"All the women (domesticviolence victims) who contact-ed me said had they known(about the lockdown), theywould have tried to get out ear-lier and be somewhere safer,"she said. PTI

From Page 1The official said that domes-

tic manufacturing of N95 maskshas been stepped up amid theongoing crisis.

Suggesting that it is bracingfor a large human resources to bat-tle the disease, a document fromthe Ministry said that “Althoughthere is no evidence of widespreadcommunity transmission, 20 exist-ing and 22 potential hotspotshave been identified. The con-tainment measures to break thecycle of transmission and clinicalmanagement of those affectedwould require large humanresources.”

The Ministry said that

enhanced deployment of humanresources is required in clinicalmanagement, surveillance, psy-cho-social care, management ofquarantine after, isolation facilities,logistics and supply chain.

It said that human resourcespooled from various sources willbe assigned for such roles. “Suchidentified HR needs to be trainedonline using online training pro-grammes developed by theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare (MOHFW),” it stated.

Each State has been directedto identify and designate a nodalofficer for training. The officer willcoordinate all training activities inthe State.

For COVID-19 management,the district administration willalso pool-in the requisite humanresources.

“Such pooled humanresources would stay in the con-tainment zone till the containmentoperations are over,” the Ministerfurther added in the document.

The advisory added, “For iso-lation areas, in addition to train-ing all hospital staff, dentists andAYUSH practitioners availableshould also be trained. Retireddoctors and other healthcare pro-fessionals should be identified towork in non-Covid areas.” It stat-ed quarantine facilities are meantto house asymptomatic cases andthe number identified and trainedmanpower should be equal to thenumber of COVID-19 warriors.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah who was presentalong with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh talked aboutthe need to implement lockdown more strictly in someStates and the importance of effective district levelimplementation of the guidelines issued by the Centre.

The Union Health Secretary apprised the dignitariesof the rise in number of cases in India, spread of casesfrom Nizamuddin Markaz, preparations to tackle med-ical cases arising out of further spread of the virus andneed to break transmission chain in the districts withhigh number of confirmed cases.

The Defence Minister, the Health Minister, thePrincipal Secretary, the Cabinet Secretary, the HomeSecretary and the DG ICMR also participated in theinteraction. Along with the Chief Ministers, theHealth Minister, the Chief Secretary, the HomeSecretary and the Health Secretary of the respectiveStates also attended the video conference.

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From Page 1Telangana Director General

of Police M Mahendar Reddyasserted that strong action willbe taken against the culprits andnecessary measures will be putin place to provide protectionto all the doctors and para-medics treating COVID-19patients.

In Bihar, police and med-ical personnel were attacked bylocals in Munger town whenthey visited a locality to collectsamples from people suspectedto have contracted coronavirus.

Stones were thrown at thequick response team (QRT),comprising policemen and anambulance carrying medicalpersonnel, when they visitedthe Hazratganj locality late onWednesday, said the SHO ofQasim Bazar police stationShailesh Kumar.

The stone-pelting left apolice jeep badly damaged andthe situation was brought undercontrol by use of force, headded.

Female social workers inBengaluru and a man inMumbai were gheraoed andassaulted in separate incidentslinked to the survey of peoplewho attended the recentNizamuddin Tablighi Jamaatcongregation in Delhi, thebiggest COVID-19 hotspot inIndia, said police officials from

the two cities.According to reports from

State capitals, there also havebeen cases of policemen beingattacked while trying to enforcethe 21-day lockdown whichentered the ninth day onThursday and while keepingsurveillance on people underhome quarantine.

In Bengaluru, communityhealth workers engaged in con-ducting coronavirus survey incertain minority dominatedareas were allegedly manhan-dled on Thursday, promptingthe Karnataka Government toissue a stern warning to theoffenders.

The workers under theaegis of Accredited SocialHealth Activist (ASHA) alongwith health officials were con-ducting a door-to-door surveyin the minority dominatedareas in view of the virusspreading through those whoreturned to Karnataka afterattending the Tablighi event.

A visibly upset Asha work-er, Krishnaveni in a video mes-sage which has gone viral,alleged that a group of healthworkers who had gone toHegde Nagar in the city were'gheraoed' by some residents,their mobile phones snatchedand all of them abused. "Theysnatched our bags and mobilephones. They did not let us

make a phone call. I have beenworking for the past five yearsbut never ever faced a situationlike this," she said.

Condemning the incident,Health Minister B Sriramulushared the video on his Twitterhandle and said, "The doctors,nurses and health workers whotoil day and night are likeGods. Respect them. Will notsit idle if they are attacked?Beware!"

In Maharashtra, a man wasassaulted by a group in Solapurdistrict for allegedly informinga village official about thosewho attended the Tablighi gath-ering in Delhi. The 56-year-oldman had informed the 'gram-sevak' of Pimpri village aboutseven locals who attended theTablighi meet and also insistedthat they be tested for coron-avirus, police said. In UttarPradesh, jawan Shailendraalong with three others stormedinto the house in Alipur villageof one Vinay Yadav, who hadincluded his name and that ofhis family in the list of peoplewho had returned from Kolkatarecently.

As the jawan startedassaulting Yadav, his brotherDinesh and sister-in lawSandhya rushed to his rescue.Shailendra opened fire killingthe 36-year-old Sandhya onthe spot, police said. In Delhi,Resident Doctors Association ofAIIMS, wrote a letter to theHome Minister, over the attackson doctors in Hyderabad and

other places.The RDA has demanded

filing of criminal cases againstthe perpetrators according tothe law besides deployment ofCRPF to ensure doctors are ableto work safely. Further, thedoctors have also sought pro-vision of Personal ProtectionEquipment (PPE) to all healthcare providers.

The Association alsosought assurance from theHome Minister/Chief Ministeron this issue and address theissue on an emergency basisand revert back at the earliest.

"We appreciate your effortsto allay the anxiety whenapproached on the issue ofostracisation of doctors. Wewould like to bring to your kindnotice the recent assault on doc-tors treating COVID-19patients at Gandhi Hospital,Hyderabad on Thursday. It isextremely disheartening toknow that such events contin-ue unabated even when thiscountry is going through thismassive. Such actions woulddestroy the morale of frontlinehealthcare workersdeployed insuchtesting situation," readsthe letter of the RDA, AIIMS.

The president ofTelangana junior doctors asso-ciation (T-JUDA) Dr KUNVishnu has written a letterregarding the same with thesedemands including registra-tion of cases against the cul-prits, deployment of CRPFand provision of PPE.

�� === From Page 1"Singh died of sudden cardiac

arrest at Amritsar's GovernmentMedical College during theambrosial moments of AmritVela on Thursday…His risk fac-tor increased due to his bronchialasthma. He had tested positive forCovid-19," tweeted the StateSpecial Chief Secretary, PunjabDisaster Management (COVID-19), KBS Sidhu, while confirmingthe news of Singh's death.

The Health Department offi-cials maintained that he was puton ventilator late on Wednesdayafter his condition worsened.

The "Gurbani" exponent, whowas awarded the Padma Shri in2009, had recently returned fromabroad and was admitted to GuruNanak Dev Hospital after hecomplained of breathlessness anddizziness on March 30.

Meanwhile, police havesealed the area around Singh's res-idence to check the spread of theinfection. The GMC test reportshave cleared that six out of ninepersons - family and members ofa jatha, the immediate contacts ofSingh have tested negative forcoronavirus. However, they wouldbe kept under observation. TheAdministration has also sealedShaheed Udham Singh Nagarand Tej chowk areas inSultanwind area where Khalsaresided. The Health Departmenthas also home quarantined fourdoctors who attended to Khalsawhile reports were awaited.

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AResident Doctor posted inthe All India Institute of

Medical Sciences has testedpositive for coronavirus infec-tion, a senior AIIMS doctorconfirmed on Thursday.

The Resident Doctor isposted in the PhysiologyDepartment and has since beenkept in a private ward. His fam-ily members too will bescreened.

Other doctors who came incontact with the patient are alsobeing traced.

A doctor in Delhi StateCancer Institute had testedpositive on Wednesday, apartfrom two Resident Doctors inSafdarjung Hospital.

One of the Safdarjung doc-tors is a male posted in thecorona unit whereas the other

is a female who is BiochemistryDepartment with foreign trav-el history.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said onThursday that there were 152corona positive cases in the citytill Wednesday evening, includ-ing 53 from the Tablighi Jamaatheadquarters in Nizamuddinarea. The 32 new cases includ-ed 29 from the Tablighi fol-lowers.

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More than 170 cases wereregistered and 3,663 peo-

ple detained on Thursday forviolating Government ordersduring the coronavirus lock-down, Delhi police said onThursday.

According to the datashared by the police, 174 caseswere registered under section188 (for disobedience to orderduly promulgated by publicservant) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) till 5 PM.

“A total of 3,663 people havebeen detained under section 65(persons bound to comply withreasonable directions of policeofficers) and 443 vehicles havebeen impounded under section66 of the Delhi Police Act,” saidpolice adding that a total of1,327 movement passes havebeen issued on Thursday.

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Astudent of the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity was stopped by the JNU

security as he wanted to go oustide onWednesday night. He allegedly threatenedthe JNU security staff that he will cough onthem and spread corona.

Pranav Menon, a student of the Centrefor the Study of Law and Governance, hada letter of permission from the warden butthe security guards were not satisfied andclaimed that they could not verify its legit-imacy. A scuffle broke out in no time. Thestudent alleged that the guards took him totheir station and tharshed him. He was latertaken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre fortreatment.

Sources said that he had cough andminor fever and was given treatment bydoctors inside JNU.

When he was stopped by the guards, he

allegedly threatened guards that he willspread coronavirus.

A video of the incident is going viralon the social media. Meanwhile, JNURegistrar said, a handful of JawaharlalNehru University students have beenrepeatedly seen violating the guidelinesissued by the Government and adminis-tration. These students have been directlyand indirectly encouraged/supported by afew faculty members.

Those who have been indulging inactivities endangering health and safety ofJNU campus residents are cautioned not torepeat such acts. Strict action will be takenagainst violators, registrar added.

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In order to ensure the timelydelivery of essential com-

modities for citizens and goodsthat is vital for energy andinfrastructure sector, IndianRailways has maintained itsfreight corridors fully func-tional and has been successfulin meeting the needs of boththe households sector andindustry by ensuring availabil-ity of essential commoditiesthrough its freight servicesduring the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19.

During last three daysRailways has delivered 7195wagons of food grains, 64567wagons of coal, 3314 wagons ofsteel and 3838 wagons of petro-

leum. A total 143458 wagons offreight were loaded in the lastthree days.

“On 1st April 2020, total545 rakes/54177 wagons wereloaded out of which 328rakes/17805 wagons wereloaded for essential commodi-ties. This includes 54 rakesand 2343 wagons of food grains,five rakes and 210 wagons ofsugar, 1 rake and 42 wagons offruits & vegetables, 244 rakesand 14078 wagons of coal, and24 rakes and 1132 wagons ofpetroleum products. Amongloading of other importantcommodities, were 16 rakes and685 wagons of steel and 17 rakesand 761 wagons of fertilizer,”the railways said in a statement.

Similarly, on 30th a total

726 rakes and 37526 wagonswere loaded out of which 466rakes and 25617 wagons wereloaded for essential commodi-ties (One wagon contains 58-60 ton consignment), it satd.Also, on 31 March. A total of1005 rakes and 51755 wagonswere loaded out of which 598rakes and 33265 wagons wereloaded for essential commodi-ties.

Issues which were earlierbeing faced by Railways atmany terminal points in load-ing and unloading operationsare being effectively resolved.Indian Railways along withMinistry of Home affairs iskeeping in touch with StateGovernments to sort out anysuch operational issue.

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�� 89��8:��

The Delhi Congress is pro-viding cooked food to

thousands of needy and home-less people across the cityunder “Congress Ke Rasoi”programme launched by partypresident Chaudhary AnilKumar.

Kumar said that DelhiPradesh Congress Committeehas set up 25 kitchens all over

Delhi to provide cooked foodto poor people on daily basisduring lock down. He visitedmany areas across the cityand himself distributed thefood for the poor and needypeople.

Delhi Pradesh CongressCommittee has alreadylaunched Pradesh ControlRoom numbers 011-43534325and 9625777907 for the help ofthe people during lock-down.

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An isolation ward containingsix beds has been set up at

NDMC-run Charak PalikaHospital in Moti Bagh for coro-navirus (COVID-19) patients.The civic body has also kept 156beds on standby to tackle anyunprecedented situation.

In view of the corona viruspandemic, NDMC has kept sixbeds in isolation ward speciallycreated for any emergency at thehospital, a senior NDMC officialsaid.

The official said that thecivic body has also equippedCharak Palika Hospital withthree ventilators and four mon-itor beds. There are also six bedsof high dependency Unit(HDU) category available inthe hospital, he said.

Paramedical staff such asnurses, technicians, ward boysetc is doing round the clock theirduties, he said, adding thatambulance services are out-sourced and put on standby atCharak Palika Hospital, NDMCheadquarter and MaternityHospital to deal with any emer-gency situation.

“Medicines and other emer-gency drugs are available forcasualty and indoor patients inadequate quantities. All 13 allo-pathic dispensaries are alsoopened between 8.30 am to 4

pm for the general public to availany medical facility, he said.

The civic body has alreadyconverted 240 EWS (EconomicWeaker Section) flats atBakkarwala into isolation wardfor people suspected of coron-avirus infection at a mosque inNizamuddin. It had also carriedout a massive sanitation drivearound flats at Bakkarwala.

NDMC, in order to fightagainst the corona virus crisiskeep sanitizing identified veg-etable markets, mother dairiesbooths, taxi stands, bus stands,health care centers, institution-al and residential colonies areasof the New Delhi such asChankyapuri, Khan Market ,Laxmibai Nagar , C - Hexagonarea near India Gate , Moti Bagh, Sarojini Nagar and other res-idential colonies, he added.

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As many as 772 vehicles wereimpounded and nearly

2,730 challans issued by theGurugram police till April 1 torestrict the movement of peopleso as to ensure social distancingand lockdown.

The Gurugram police hasalso registered around 145 casesand 202 people arrested forviolating Government ordersduring the coronavirus lock-down.

On March 22, when theentire nation was observing theJanta Curfew, police actedagainst several autorickshaws forcarrying passengers. On March23, section 144 was imposed fol-lowed by a complete lockdown.

So far police have actedagainst buses, autorickshaws,cabs and pickups van for carry-ing people, while six shopkeep-ers were booked for hoardingand black marketing. Some peo-ple from Shikanderpur villagewere booked for gathering at aplace.

During this period trafficpolice issued nearly 2,730 chal-lans worth more than Rs 1.5crores. “People are cooperatingto ensure lockdown, but insome cases people were foundviolating the norms and actionwere taken against them inaccordance with the law,” saidGurugram police commission-er Muhammad Akil adding thatthey are trying to cause mini-mum discomfort to residents

but at the same time violation oflockdown will not be tolerated.

He said check post has beeninstalled across the city to ensurelockdown. “People involved withmanufacturing and supplies ofessential goods are exempted.Authorities are also issuingmovement pass,” said policechief adding that movement ofvehicles has reduced to around2%. The movement of the roadhas further reduced after sealingborder, migrants workers arebeing diverted to governmentshelter homes.

To ensure minimum incon-venience to people, the policehave allowed movement of peo-ple linked online delivery apps,technical people related to main-tenance of societies and housesand house maids.

Authorities are runningmobile shops to supply groceriesand vegetables to ensure doorstep supplies of essentials.

“The Gurugram Policealong with all its resources havealready been deployed at everyplace in the district during lock-down and every efforts arebeing made by the Police to helpthe people. A several policeunits are also providing fooditems like daily meals to thelaborers and poor people to fightbattle against the deadly virus,”said Akil.

The Gurugram police com-missioner has already formed aspecial task force (STF) to mon-itor and protect the isolationcenters prescribed for treatmentof Corona infected patients.

�� 89��8:��

South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) has

deployed drones to spray dis-infectant at virus-hitNizamuddin.

A senior SDMC officialsaid the civic body used thedrone to spray one per centsodium hypochlorite solutionto disinfect Nizamuddin andthe surrounding areas. “Wealso deployed two fire tendersfor spraying the solution in thearea of Nizamuddin Basti ,Nizamuddin West colony andabove Markaj building for ade-quate sanitization and disin-fection,” he said.

“The drones with a capac-ity of holding over five litres ofliquid, was used to bring downhuman contact to avoid infec-

tion among sanitation staffs,” headded.

A team of four publichealth field workers with powersprayers wearing full body PPE(Hazmat suit) sanitized MarkazHouse from inside and disin-fected all the eight floors includ-ing the basement after thebuilding was vacated, he added.

The official further saidthat the SDMC also deployed40 teams dedicated for sprayingthe solution with shouldermounted knapsack pumps innarrow streets and localitieswhereas accessibility for tractoror truck based spraying is notpossible.

Apart from this, four trac-tor driven tankers were alsodeployed to spray disinfectantareas accessible by roads, hesaid, adding that besides the

civic body also launched anawareness campaigns to awarepeople by using public addresssystem in the Nizamuddinlocalities.

SDMC have also startedground level monitoring on acontinuous basis to assess theground reality so that it candeploy more manpower andmachinery at Corona affectedareas

The civic body has speedup sanitising the area afternews of a sudden outbreakand detection of multiple coro-navirus cases at the Delhi-based headquarters of TablighiJamaat in Nizamuddin came inlight that was attended by thou-sands of followers includingJ&K, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, and the Andamanand Nicobar islands.

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The Special Cell of DelhiPolice has arrested a 35-

year-old scholar of Jamia MiliaIslamia for allegedly hatchinga conspiracy to incite com-munal riots in North-eastDelhi.

The man identified asMeeran Haider (35), a PhDstudent at Jamia, is also thepresident of Rashtriya JanataDal (RJD) youth wing's Delhiunit.

According to police, onWednesday at 10 am, Haiderwas called for interrogation bythe Special Cell at their LodhiColony office and was subse-quently arrested.

Just after the arrest, Rajya

Sabha MP and RJD leaderManoj Jha tweeted, “DelhiPolice called him for investi-gation and then receivedorders from above and arrest-ed Meeran Haider, who hasbeen helping people during thetime of coronavirus outbreak.

Chhatra RJD unit of JNU

also demanded the release ofHaider and said the policeshould become 'people-friend-ly' and not scare people.

Meanwhile, the JamiaCoordination Committee(JCC), a group comprisingstudents and alumni from theUniversity, condemned the

arrest and demanded hisimmediate release.

“The country is facing amassive health crisis, however,the state machinery is busyharassing and framing stu-dent activists in false cases tosuppress voices of dissent,”said members of JCC.

The JCC member furthersaid that Haider was diligent-ly working to provide ration tothe needy during the lock-down. “The JCC demands thathe must be immediatelyreleased as all charges againsthim are baseless,” they said.

In February, the north-east part of the national capi-tal was rocked with violencewhich claimed at least 53 livesand over 300 injured.

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In wake of coronavirus out-break, Jamia Millia Ismalia on

Thursday said the universitywill remain closed till April 14.

According to notificationissued on Thursday, the uni-versity shall remain closed tillApril 14 except for essential ser-vices like medical, water, san-itation, where minimum oper-ational staff shall be deputed onrotational basis.

“The University will organ-ise a seven-session JMI-OnlineFaculty Development for thebenefit of all faculty membersof the university. The aminis-

tration will evolve and facilitatealternative ways of engagingwith students through onlineteaching-learning process,” stat-ed the notification.

“All faculty members areadvised to use interactive toolsextensively like SWAYAM inaddition to Skype, Webcast,Google Hangouts, and GoogleChats to engage students foronline teaching and evaluation.The University library hasenabled remote access to a

wide variety of Subscribed andOpen Educational Resource,”stated the notification.

“Students staying back inthe hostels to be looked after interms of essential messing,care, hygiene and medicalcounselling. The CounsellingCentre has been activated todeal with the distressed causedby COVID-19 including tele-counselling services for stu-dents and staff members,” stat-ed the notification.

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The Delhi Police onThursday continued their

search to nab Maulana Saad,the head of Markaz TablighiJammat in New Delhi’sNizamuddin area, after anoth-er audio clip of him surfacedonline on Wednesday. In theaudio clip, Maulana Saad isheard saying that he is in self-isolation as advised by doctorsand he also asks his followersto take precautions and sup-port Government to tackle thecoronavirus.

Meanwhile, a senior policeofficial said that they haveinitiated a manhunt. “Policeteams are looking for MualanaSaad , who police suspect ishiding in Delhi and NationalCapital region (NCR).

Earlier, police had recov-ered an audio clip, which isbelieved to be recorded onMarch 18, in which MaulanaSaad can be heard saying thatthere was no better place to diethan in a mosque. “Leavingmosques would bring no good.Do not leave mosques even iftrusted doctors ask you to,”said Saad in the audio clipping.

On Tuesday, a FirstInformation Report (FIR) wasfiled against seven peopleincluding Maulana Saad,

Zeeshan, Mufti Shehzad, MSaifi, Younus, MohammedSalman and MohammedAshraf.

The police have registeredthe FIR under sections of theEpidemic Disease Act andother sections of the IPC, fornot following governmentorders on the management ofthe Markaz in relation to asocial, political or religiousgathering.

Meanwhile, the DelhiChief Minister, ArvindKejriwal said that two peoplewho were evacuated fromNizamuddin markaz died inhospital on Thursday. “Whilethe 2,346 people evacuatedfrom the Markaz, 108 havetested positive for coronavirus,”said the Chief Minister.

However, the number ofCOVID-19 cases in the nation-

al capital may rise in the com-ing days as the government hasdecided to test all those whowere evacuated from theMarkaz,” said Kejriwal.

“The virus has not startedspreading among the people inthe national capital. A total of2,943 people, including 1,810from Markaz, have been quar-antined by the government, hesaid, adding that 21,307 havebeen directed for self quaran-tine at their homes,” saidKejriwal.

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Two coronavirus positivepatients, who were part of

the Tablighi jamaat atNizamuddin, died onThursday. With many TablighiJamaat patients showing signsof resistance and misbehavingwith doctors and health work-ers and the fresh incident ofIndore where they were chasedand attacked, doctors in Delhihave sought protection.

Heeding to their request ofpersonal safety, the DelhiGovernment on Thursday

wrote to Commissioner ofPolice for the deployment ofadequate police force in hos-pitals and quarantine facilitiesin Delhi. Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal wrote a letter to DelhiPolice Commissioner to postadditional forces at hospitals tosecure the medical profession-als.

Kejriwal was concernedabout the safety and security ofdoctors and tshe paramedicswho are treating Covid-19patients, especially thosebrought from Tablighi Jamaat'sNizamuddin Markaz.

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The Congress on Thursdayhit out at the Modi

Government saying that theunplanned nationwide 21-daylockdown due to the coron-avirus scare has led to a com-plete chaos and panic across allwalks of life.

Addressing party leaders atthe Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC) meet,which was held via video con-ferencing, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi said theunplanned lockdown hasresulted in harassment of lakhsof migrants across the country.

“The 21-day lockdown wasnecessary but implemented inan unplanned manner. Thisunplanned lockdown hascaused harassment to lakhs ofmigrant workers,” Sonia said.

Sonia also called on theModi Government to providepersonal protection equipment(PPE) to doctors, nurses andmedical staff. The Governmentmust publish details of desig-nated hospitals, number ofbeds, quarantine and testingfacilities and medical supplies,she said.

The Congress also stressedon the need to support the agri-culture sector which is suffer-

ing due to the lockdown. Easerestrictions on farmers for har-vesting. Farmers must be pro-vided fertilzers and pesticidesand access to easy lines ofcredit, the Congress interimchief said.

Sonia also urged the Centreto prepare and publish aCommon Minimum ReliefProgramme for the middleclass.

During the CWC meet,Sonia called upon the Congressgovernments, frontal organi-sations, leaders and workers tooffer help to those who are atextreme risk. She urged theCongress chief ministers to

call for better coordinationand funds from the Centre,including early distribution ofstates’ share of GST, for effec-tively combating Covid-19.

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh said that nonrelease of State’s share of �5,000crore by the government ofIndia is a hindrance in the fightagainst Covid-19 and he hastaken up the matter with theUnion Finance Minister.

Chhattisgarh CM BhupeshBhagel said, “The CongressGovernment in the State hasgiven 10 kgs of ration free to allthe families under the PDS sys-tem. Food to all children in

anganwadis is being sent totheir home. However, the GSTshare of over �2,000 crore hasnot been released by the gov-ernment of India.”

Former party presidentRahul Gandhi, who also tookpart in the CWC, lashed out atthe the Modi Government overthe exodus of migrants in thecountry.

“We have looked at Covid-19 for two months sinceFebruary and have spoken toexperts. No country in theworld has attempted a lock-down with huge migrantlabour without arranging fortheir stay, food and ration and

pushing them back home,”Rahul said.

Priyanka Gandhi, who isalso the in-charge for UttarPradesh, took on the YogiAdityanath-led government,saying that the state has facedthe maximum brunt of lock-down.

“Instead of supportingthose returning home, thepolice and administration inUP are thrashing them. People are now being quaran-tined in inhuman conditions and sprayed withinsecticides,” Priyanka said asshe urged for more testing forcoronavirus.

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Persons with disabilities(PwDs) across the States are

having tough times in manag-ing day-to-day affairs in theabsence of caregivers as well asessential supplies and medicalaid because of the lockdownimposed to curb spread of thecoronavirus.

This, despite clear guide-lines from the Centre to theStates issued late last monththat they should ensure that thesector has smooth access toessential support services,including caregiver support,supplies and medical aid attheir doorstep, pointed outArman Ali, Executive Director,National Centre for Promotionof Employment for DisabledPeople (NCPEDP).

He said, “Our helpline73039 44839 set up to provide

guidance to the PwDs has beenkeep on buzzing with requestsand complaints since its launchon March 29.”

For instance, many peoplewith Thalassemia have com-plained of facing difficulty inblood transfusion as limitedblood is available in hospitals.Many private hospitals haveceased to deliver their ser-vices. For persons who do nothave private transportation,arranging transportation forbasic health services is a majortask.

“We got a call from a PwDfrom Nagpur in Maharashtra,that he has not been able to

take his pregnant wife to thehospital as there is no trans-portation available due to thelockdown, while, the StateGovernment is yet to ensureration for PwDs on urgentbasis.”

Ali explained that itbecomes difficult for PwDswho have mobility issues tostep out for buying essentials.Also, the extra pension of�1,000 announced by FinanceMinister Sitharaman in hereconomic package is yet toreach to the intended benefi-ciaries, he said.

Moreover, in view of therising prices of essential com-modities, this amount is farfrom sufficient. Just recently,Shakunthla Gamlin, UnionSecretary(DPwDs), followingcomplaints from the sector,asked the States to ensure easyaccessibility of the caregivers to

the PwDs by issuing them e-passes on priority basis.

“One key reason for thegap is that DisabilityCommissioners have been des-ignated as nodal officers underthe central guidelines, but inmany States DisabilityCommissioners have either notbeen appointed, are hard toreach, or are unresponsive,”said Ali.

However, some States havestarted taking disabled-friend-ly steps, though more are need-ed. Karnataka and Assam havedeveloped videos and circulat-ed information on Covid19while Uttarakhand has facili-tated easy movement of care-givers, as well as any assistancerequired by PwDS in terms offood, medicines or counselling.States like Maharashtra andTamil Nadu too have set upseparate helpline numbers.

On their part, Jharkhandand Delhi Governments haveissued special e-passes specif-ic for PwDs while for peoplewith hearing impairment, statessuch as Tamil Nadu, Punjaband Karnataka have enactedvideo conferencing facilitieswith sign language interpreters.

To ensure that daily wagerswith disabilities should notsuffer due to the lockdown,Family of Disabled (FoD), anNGO has launched fund rais-ing initiative.

“These are the people, whodespite of their disabilities weremaking both the ends meet andwere leading a respectable life.We hope these unfortunatecircumstances won’t last longand contribution from goodSamaritans will help in re-establishing them in theirrespective trades,” Preeti fromthe FoD said.

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The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday clarified that the apprehen-sions raised by certain quarters and some political parties about the Covid-

19-specific relief fund – PM-CARES Fund – was totally wrong and foreign con-tributions were allowed to facilitate the contributions from individuals, NRIs, per-sons of Indian origin and organisations based abroad.

The Fund is formed as a Trust for specific purpose to deal the Corona crisisand separate from the usual PM’s Relief Fund, which is general purpose in nature,PMO officials said adding that Government is not accepting aide from foreignGovernments.

“There has been a lot of misinformation on the news of PM CARES fundaccepting foreign donations. What has been announced is that PM CARES fundwill simply accept donations and contributions from individuals and organisationswho are based in foreign countries. This is consistent with India’s policy with respectto PMNRF. PMNRF has also received foreign contributions as a public trust since2011,” they said.

The officials said that it was wrong to compare the objection of certainOpposition States’ demand to receive aides from foreign Governments during 2018natural calamities. As a policy for the past decade, Government is not acceptingany foreign Government aides. There was a protest after it was said the KeralaGovernment was banned from accepting UAE’s aide during the worst floods in2018. Later, it was found that there was no offer from UAE. The PM-CARES Fundhas been created as a special trust to deal the Corona crisis and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is the Chairman of the trust with Home, Finance and DefenceMinisters as members. In line with the existing policy, the Government is com-mitted to meeting the requirements for relief and rehabilitation through domes-tic efforts. Contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and the Chief Minister’sRelief Fund from NRIs, PIOs and international entities such as foundations would,however, be welcome, they added. While declaring the formation of the Fund, Modisaid that many persons are interested in offering contributions to Government inits fight with Covid19 crisis.

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As the country is waging awar against the coronavirus

pandemic, the Government hasroped in the well-trained 15lakh strong National CadetCorps (NCC) and ex-service-men to augment resources.Veterans are already helpinglocal authorities in some Statesin collecting data from villagesand assisting the police inmaintaining order, and theirinvolvement will only increasein the coming days given theirpan-India presence.

Highlighting these pointshere on Thursday, DefenceMinistry officials said the NCChas offered a helping hand tocivilian authorities in the coun-try’s fight against COVID-19 byextending the services of cadetsunder ‘Exercise NCC Yogdaan’.It has issued guidelines fortemporary employment of itscadets to augment relief effortsand functioning of variousagencies involved in battling thepandemic.

The tasks envisaged forNCC cadets include, manningof helpline and call centres, dis-tribution of relief materials,community assistance, datamanagement and queue & traf-fic management. According tothe guidelines, cadets shouldnot be employed in handling of

law and order situation or foractive military duties or at hotspots.

Only Senior Division vol-unteer cadets above 18 years ofage will be employed. Theyshould be employed in smallcohesive groups of eight to 20under the supervision ofPermanent Instructor Staffor/and an Associate NCCOfficer, officials said.

Moreover, for employmentof volunteer cadets, state gov-ernments have to send the req-uisition through State NCCDirectorates. Details will becoordinated atD i r e c t o r a t e / G r o u pHeadquarters/Unit level withstate government/local civilauthority. Before the cadets aredeployed for the duty, groundconditions and laid downrequirements are to be ensured.

The NCC, which operatesunder defence ministry, is thelargest uniformed youth organ-isation of the country and hasbeen engaged in conductingvarious social service and com-munity development activities.The NCC cadets have beencontributing to the nationalcause during natural calamitieslike floods and cyclone since itsinception.

As regards mobilizing ex-servicemen, they said RajyaSainik Boards, Zila Sainik

Boards are playing a dynamicrole in identifying and mobil-ising maximum veterans toassist the state and districtadministration in performingpublic outreach activities suchas contact tracing, communitysurveillance, management ofquarantine facilities or any suchtasks assigned to them.

Citing some instances, theysaid in Punjab, an organisationcalled ‘Guardians ofGovernance’, comprising 4,200ex-servicemen are assisting indata collection from all the vil-lages. The ChhattisgarhGovernment has employedsome retired soldiers to assistthe police.

�� 89��8:��

World Health Organisation(WHO) chief Tedros

Adhanom Ghebreyesus onThursday praised Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for announcing$24 billion relief package envis-aging provision for food rations,cash transfers and free cookinggas amid the lockdown imposedto contain the coronavirus.

Taking to twitter to expresshis appreciation, he noted thatsteps like lockdown can lead todire consequences for the poorand vulnerable section of thesociety. It is, however, importantthat they are assured food andshelter. “Countries are askingpeople to #stayhome and shut-ting down population movementto limit #COVID19 transmis-sion. These steps can have unin-

tended consequences for thepoorest and most vulnerable,”Ghebreyesus twitted.

“My appreciation to PrimeMinister @narendramodi forannouncing a $24 billion pack-age to support Flag of India’s vul-nerable populations during#COVID19 crisis, including freefood rations for 800 million dis-advantaged people, cash transfersto 204 million poor women, freecooking gas for 80 million house-holds,” Ghebreyesus added inanother tweet.

He further said that manydeveloping countries may strug-gle to implement social welfareprograms upto this scale.

The WHO chief said thatcountries are asking people tostay homes and shutting downpopulation movement to limitCOVID19 transmission. These

steps can have unintended con-sequences for the poorest andmost vulnerable. I call on coun-tries to ensure these populationshave food and life essentialsduring the crisis, he added.

“Broad and expedited agree-ment on debt relief is essential toenable them to care for their peo-ple and avoid economic collapse.#Solidarity,” he tweeted.

The Modi Government lastweek announced $24 billion fis-cal stimulus package to help thepoor tackle the financial diffi-culties arising from the 21-daylockdown. Under the relief pack-age under PM Gareeb KalyanScheme , direct cash transfers(under the DBT or Direct BenefitTransfer scheme) and food secu-rity-related steps are being doledout aiming giving relief to thepoor workers.

�� 89��8:��

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu has put on hold

the oath-taking of 37 newly-electedmembers till the lockdown in view ofthe coronavirus outbreak is over.

Some of the prominent memberselected unopposed to the RajyaSabha and waiting to take oath are -- Deputy Chairman Harivansh,Sharad Pawar, Ramdas Athawale,Premchand Gupta, B Kalita,Deepender Singh Hooda,Thambidurai, GK Vasan, TiruchySiva, K Keshava Rao, Dinesh Trivediand Priyanka Chaturvedi.

Fifty-five vacancies were due toarise in the Rajya Sabha from 17 statesbetween April 3 and 13, againstwhich 37 members have alreadybeen elected unopposed.

“The newly-elected members ofRajya Sabha are advised to wait forsubscribing oath or affirmation till thelockdown period is over,” an adviso-ry from the Rajya Sabha chairman tothe newly-elected members said.

Naidu said in the context of thenationwide travel restrictions onaccount of the lockdown, the newly-elected members of the Upper Houseof Parliament were informed that

there was no immediate requirementof taking oath.

While seven Rajya Sabha seatsare falling vacant from Maharashtra,six are falling vacant from TamilNadu, five each from West Bengaland Bihar, four each from AndhraPradesh, Gujarat and Odisha, threeeach from Assam, MP and Rajasthan,two each from Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Haryana and Telangana,and one each from HimachalPradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya.The newly-elected members of the RSare entitled to all perks from the dayof notification of their election, offi-cials said.

A member elected to the RajyaSabha is entitled to make and sub-scribe the prescribed oath or affir-mation and take his seat in theHouse only upon the commence-

ment of his term of office under therelevant provisions of theRepresentation of the People Act,1951.

However, the Constitution(Article 99) and Rule 5 of the Rulesof Procedure and Conduct ofBusiness in Rajya Sabha do not pre-scribe any time limit within which anewly-elected member has to sub-scribe the oath or affirmation.

A new member is, however, notentitled to sit, participate and vote inthe House or in a committee until hehas subscribed the oath or affirma-tion, according to rules.

“In view of the present lockdownin the country, neither the RajyaSabha nor any of its Committees islikely to meet till the lockdown peri-od is over,” the advisory said.

It also said that according to therelevant provisions of the Salary,Allowances and Pension of Membersof Parliament Act 1954, a newly-elect-ed member is entitled to all facilities,perks and privileges that are availableto the members of Parliament fromthe date of commencement of histerm of office, which is the date ofnotification of his election to the RajyaSabha by the Ministry of Law andJustice.

�� 89��8:��

The Government on Thursdaydirected States and Union

Territories to book people whoviolate lockdown rules or peddle“fake news” on the coronaviruspandemic under relevant provi-sions of the Indian Penal Code andthe Disaster Management Act,2005.

Union Home Secretary AjayBhalla wrote to all chief secretariesof the states and union territoriessaying the lockdown measuresissued on March 24 clearly men-tion that “any person violatingthese containment measures willbe liable to be proceeded againstas per the provisions of Section 51to 60 of the Disaster ManagementAct, 2005, besides legal actionunder Section 188 of the IPC”.

According to the laws, anyonewho obstructs any governmentofficer or refuses to comply withany direction given by or onbehalf of the government shall onconviction be punishable withimprisonment for a term whichmay extend to one year or withfine, or with both.

And if such obstruction orrefusal to comply with directions

results in loss of lives or imminentdanger thereof, shall on convictionbe punishable with imprison-ment for a term which may extendto two years.

Bhalla also asked States andUnion Territories to take stringentaction to prevent ‘fake news’ onCoronavirus pandemic. Section 54of the Disaster Management Act,2005, envisages one to two yearimprisonment and fines for thosecreating panic and spreadingwrong information.

The SC, while hearing to awrit petition, had taken seriousnote of the panic created by fakenews leading to mass movementof migrant labourers and untoldsuffering to these people. It hasbeen communicated to theStates/UTs that the Governmentof India is creating a web-portal forpeople to verify facts and unver-ified news promptly. States/UTshave been requested to create asimilar mechanism at their levelfor issues relating to them,” saidHome Ministry in a statement.

The MHA also asked theStates/UTs to inform the districtauthorities about the provisions ofDM Act to curb the spread of fakenews which is creating panic.

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Shortly after the Congress’attack, the Modi

Government on Thursdayretaliated with Union HomeMinister Amit Shah andInformation and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekaraccusing the Opposition partyof indulging in “petty politics”at a time of crisis and when thePM’s efforts are being laudedglobally.

Shah said while the worldis lauding Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s leadershipand bold decisions in contain-ing the spread of virus, theopposition leaders are busyflaying their own government.“Under PM Narendra Modi’sleadership, India’s efforts tofight Coronavirus are beinglauded domestically and glob-ally. 130 crore Indians are unit-ed to defeat COVID-19. Yet,Congress is playing petty pol-itics. High time they think ofnational interest and stop mis-leading people,” the HomeMinister tweeted.

Shah’s remark comes in the

wake of the Congress criticis-ing the Modi government fornot effectively fighting theCovid-19 menace.

At the Congress WorkingCommittee meeting today, topCongress leaders discussed thesituation arising out of thecoronavirus outbreak and crit-icised the Centre for unplannedimplementation of the lock-down. Party chief Sonia Gandhisaid that the unplanned lock-down has caused chaos andpain to millions of migrantworkers.

For his part, Javadekartermed Congress presidentSonia Gandhi’s criticism of theCentre as “unfortunate” and anunnecessary politicisation ofthe crisis. Javadekar said thePrime Minister is taking every-one along in his handling of thesituation, and his measures,including the nationwide lock-down, have “received” praisefrom the world in an apparentreference to World HealthOrganisation chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus prais-ing Modi for his efforts to helppoor amid the lockdown.

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New Delhi: Pitching in for the nationaleffort to fight coronavirus pandemic, theNavy has designed and developed its ownhandheld temperature sensor costing�1,000. The temperature gun is manu-factured through in-house resources ofNaval Dockyard, Mumbai. If need, theNavy will ramp up production of theseguns.

At present, these sensors, which are afraction of the cost of temperature guns inthe market, are used for screening of largenumber of personnel at the entry gates of

the dockyard reducing the load on thesecurity sentries at the gate.

The 285- year- old Naval Dockyard(ND) of Western Naval Command (WNC)has an average influx of around 20,000 per-sonnel entering its premises every day. Inview of COVID-19, initial screening ofthese personnel entering the dockyard wasessential to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the yard and the Western Fleet.The most preliminary method to screena probable patient is to check for body tem-perature by a non-contact means.

Since the outbreak, the non-contactthermometers or temperature guns havebecome scarce in the market and are beingsold at a very high cost. To overcome thescarcity and requirement of large numbers,ND (Mumbai) has designed and developedits own handheld IR based temperaturesensor with accuracy of 0.02 deg Celsius.The non-contact thermometer has anInfrared sensor and an LED display inte-grated with a microcontroller which runson a 9V battery, navy officials said here onThursday.

�� 89��8:��

After CISF and BSF, theCRPF has now been hit by

COVID-19 bug as a ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) hastested positive for Coronavirus.

Following the develop-ment, eight others who werestaying at a Transit OfficersMess in Pushp Vihar herewhere the CMO was infectedwere quarantined at a CRPFquarantine facility at Narela inthe national capital.

A Liaison Officer of SeniorSecurity Advisor K VijayKumar has also been quaran-tined and the Mess has beenclosed.

“It is intimated that DrDeepak, CMO of CH(Composite Hospital), NewDelhi (presently attached withof ADG, Medical, CAPF, resid-ing at Room No 103 (of)Transit Officers Mess, Saket,New Delhi complained ofbreathing problems, dry cough,continued fever etc and same

was telephonically informed toDr Manish, SMO of Dett(Detachment) Hospital,Northern Sector Staff Camp on30.03.2020. Accordingly, DrManish, SMO has arranged DrDeepak’s corona investigationat nearby Lal Path Lab on31.03.2020. Dr Deepak, CMOhas undergone corona investi-gation on the same day and hisreport received today i.e.02.04.2020 stated him to beCovid-19 positive,” reads aninternal CRPF circular.

The circular further said,“Accordingly, Dr Deepak,CMO, is shifted in isolationward at AIIMS, Jhajjar,Haryana. More details follow.”

The circular also directedthat Transit Officers Mess,Saket be sanitised, workingstaff and gusts/officers livingthere be put on quarantineimmediately. Confirmation inthis regard be communicatedto all concerned immediately.

Others at the Mess havebeen identified as Assistant

Commandant P Raja (GroupCentre, Hyderabad) who wasLiaison Officer of SeniorSecurity Advisor of MHA, SmtTejaswita, AssistantCommandant, 84 Battalion,Vinod Pathak, DeputyCommandant, RAF and PMRaju, Assistant Commandant,Training.

Constable Amit Kumar,Constable (Cook) DhooraramSai and Rajkumar Paswan havealso been identified as living inthe Mess.

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Spirit of tipplers in Kerala gotdampened as the Kerala

High Court played spoilsportby staying the StateGovernment order of autho-rising the Excise Department tosupply liquor on receipt ofprescription by doctors.

Last week saw the KeralaGovernment led by PinarayiVijayan coming to the rescueof tipplers who were in a fix fol-lowing the downing of shuttersof BEVCO (Kerala StateBeverages Corporation), themonopoly retail and wholesaleliquor traders.

The BEVCO shut down thecounters because of the CoronaVirus scare and the 21-daynational lock down declared bythe Prime Minister lastWednesday.

With 40 per cent of thepopulation in the State addict-ed to alcohol, the tipplers werein for an uncertain future in thebackdrop of the shut down.

The serpentine queues infront of the BEVCO countersare the only places in the Statewhere one will see disciplinedcrowds.

To circumvent the shut

down, the Department ofExcise came out with a solu-tion; the BEVCO staff wouldhome-deliver three liters ofspirit (mainly rum and brandy,the favorite drinks of Kerala’sveteran alcoholics) providedthey submit prescriptions frommedical doctors stating that thebearer is not in a position tosurvive without liquor.

The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) as well asassociations of governmentdoctors expressed their dis-pleasure over the Governmentmove to make liquor availableat doorsteps through prescrip-tions.

“The only option availableis to subject the alcoholics todeaddiction treatments andmake them come out of thedrinking habit. Nowhere inthe world liquor is suppliedbased on medical prescrip-tions,” said the doctors.

The Pioneer had quoted DrCV Krishnaswamy, eminentphysician of Tamil Nadu whosaw nothing wrong in doctorsprescribing liquor as a sup-pressant to persons addicted toalcohol. “Deaddiction treat-ment is a long drawn outprocess and till then we have to

sustain the life of the alcoholics. There were reports that

seven persons committed sui-cide in Kerala because of theirfailure to get the usual quota ofspirit,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.

But the Kerala High Courton Thursday stayed theGovernment order for threemonths. “It is not the respon-sibility of the government tomake liquor available to thepeople. Doctors need not issueprescriptions to alcoholics tohelp them procure liquor fromBEVCO outlets,” said aDivision Bench consisting of AK Jayasankaran Nambiar andShaji P Chaly.

But a former chief of TamilNadu Police told The Pioneerthat there were instances in thepast when liquor was madeavailable to alcoholics based onmedical prescriptions.

“During the days whenprohibition was in place in theState, we used to get liquor andthat too original foreign brandsfrom star hotels and clubs withprescriptions issued by doctors.There was nothing illegal in it,” said the former chief who isknown for his uncompromis-ing stance against law breakers.

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Three days after a senior doctorserving in the Microbiology

department of GovernmentMedical College hospital in Jammutested positive for Covid-19, hiswife, father and a domestic helpalso tested positive late Wednesdayevening.

Without wasting time, all threewere rushed to the isolation wardof the GMC, Jammu from theirquarantine centre late in the night.Two other patients, who testedpositive, were brought to the iso-lation ward from Udhampur.These two had tested positiveafter coming in contact with thepositive cases in their neighbour-hood.

In Jammu, shortly before thefamily of the senior doctor wasshifted to the isolation ward of theGMC, his wife, herself a doctor,alleged ill treatment at the handsof the government authorities.

A Video clipping of her state-ment also went viral on varioussocial media platforms where shewas seen questioning the con-cerned authorities while sharingordeal of her family members, keptin the quarantine.

She alleged for three daysthey have been quarantined but noauthority informed them abouttheir test reports. "I received a callfrom my husband that all three ofus have been tested positive", sheis heard saying in her recordedstatement.

"The authorities here are noteven treating us like humanbeings. They have stationed anambulance outside the quarantinecentre and we have been told toboard the ambulance". "We areasking them where we shouldleave mother of the senior doctor.what if she suffers an heart attack.My husband is already hospi-talised and his father( a retiredpolice officers) has also tested pos-

itive.What if something goeswrong, who will be held account-able for all this"

She alleged her husband con-tracted virus due to sheer negli-gence on the part of the hospitalauthorities as they had failed toprovide him personnel protectionequipment. "On our part we tookall the precautions, even then weare tested positive and it is allbecause of the negligence on thepart of the hospital authorities",she alleged.

Official sources in the GMCrevealed the doctors were forcedto compromise their own safety asthey were only handed over facemasks and gloves in the name ofPPE's. The team of doctors, work-ing at the collection centre, werenot provided with proper safetykits, claimed colleagues of thesenior doctor who tested positive.

In her statement, wife of thedoctor also claimed, "My husband

was not provided with personalprotection equipment (PPE) whilehe was on duty". Family membersclaimed they were hurt afterattempts were made to run vilifi-cation campaign by the GMCauthorities claiming the doctor wasnot part of the coronavirus testingteam.

However, the duty roaster ofthe GMC, Jammu clearly mentionsname of the assistant professor onthe duty sheet. He was on dutybetween March 13- March 19along with three others in theMicrobiology department for col-lection of samples of coronaviruspatients.

The doctor was tested positiveon March 30. ,According to offi-cial sources, "the staff membersstationed at the GMC,Microbiology lab were also quar-antined as per the standard oper-ating procedure".

According to the daily bul-letin, so far a total number of 70

cases have tested positive inJammu and Kashmir. The totalactive cases at present are 65. Outof this, 50 are from Kashmir divi-sion and 15 from Jammu. Twopatients have died so far andthree patients have been dis-charged after they recovered fully.

More than three dozen villagesacross nine districts of Jammu andKashmir have already beendeclared 'red zones by the gov-ernment, thoroughly restrictingmovement of people from oneplace to another.

At present, 65 patients havebeen kept in hospital isolation, 622under hospital quarantine, and4109 under home surveillance.Out of 1084 samples, 1010 havetested negative.

The government has alsoidentified over 2000 contact per-sons of all the positive cases andhave decided to test each one ofthem to prevent spread of Covid19in Jammu and Kashmir.

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With 75 new patients test-ing positive for corona

virus on Thursday, the numberof patients admitted to varioushospitals in Tamil Nadubecause of the pandemic shotup to 309. This was stated byBeela Rajesh, Secretary, Health,Government of Tamil Nadu.

Her disclosure that all the75 patients tested positive forcorona virus on Thursday werethe returnees from the inter-national religious congrega-tion held recently in NewDelhi. “Till date we have test-ed 1103 delegates who had par-ticipated in the congregation.Efforts are in full swing to tracethe missing delegates and weare confident of doing it in thenext couple of days. The ChiefMinister himself has appealedto the people who attended theDelhi meeting to subject them-selves for Covid 19 tests,” saidthe Health Secretary.

Elsewhere in the State therewere reports that the revenue

and local body officials whowent to the residences of someof the Delhi returnees cameunder attack. Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswamy, alongwith Health Minister Dr VijayaBaskar and senior bureaucratstook part in a video confer-encing with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdaymorning. The Public relationsDepartment in a release said the

Chief Minister explained thesteps taken by his administra-tion to check the spread of theCorona Virus. Meanwhile, theIntegral Coach Factory atPerambur, a Chennai suburband the Golden Rock RailwayGarage, Tiruchirappalli are busyrenovating and refurbishing473 railway coaches to be used

as quarantine/isolation wardsfor corona patients. Three-tierrailway bogies are refitted withtoilets and bathrooms, newcontrol panels and beds toaccommodate corona patientsin the eventuality of the hospi-tals falling short of beds.

Bogies which have com-pleted 20 years of service are

being refitted and transformedinto quarantine coaches ,according to a release bySouthern Railway.Bamboo/khus mats would beaffixed or pasted on roof andeach side of coach above andbelow windows to shield effectof heat inside the coach. Allmiddle berths would beremoved to make space for thequarantined persons.

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Of the 391 Tablighi Jamaatmembers identified to

have participated in NewDelhi's Nizamuddin mosquefrom Karnataka in March, 11tested positive for coronavirusso far, said State Chief MinisterBS Yediyurappa onThursday.

"We have identified 391Tablighis in the State who wentto Nizamuddin mosque inMarch. Of them, 91 from Bidarin the state's northern regionwere tested and 11 of themreported positive and 80 tested negative," Yediyurappatold reporters here.Bidar is about 690 kmnorth of Bengaluru in thesouthern State.

The State health depart-ment has kept the remainingTablighis under home andinstitutional quarantine acrossthe state for check-up andobservation.

"Efforts are on to traceother Tablighis, their primaryand secondary contacts, asthey might have gone on returnfrom Nizamuddin to other dis-tricts for religious activities

and stranded due to lock-down," said the ChiefMinister.

The State Government hasalso directed the districtadministration to trace, isolateand quarantine the remainingTabligbis who are yet to reportto the health department fortesting.

"About 30 Tablighis iden-tified in Bengaluru tested neg-ative for Covid-19. The remain-ing have also been tested andtheir results are awaited,"Yediyurappa added.

With the 21-day lockdownin force since March 25 to April14, Chief Minister appealed toall religious leaders to cooper-ate with the state in creatingawareness of the virus falloutwithin their community andhelp his government in locat-ing other Tablighis.

Meanwhile, state healthcommissioner P.K. Pandey toldIANS that about 1,000 peopleacross the state were under thescanner to find out if they camein contact with the Tablighiswho returned fromNizamuddin or their primarycontacts.

Jaipur: Fifteen new coronapositive cases were reported inRajasthan on Thursday, takingthe total number of such casesto 133 in the State, said healthofficials.

Three new cases werereported from Udaipur,Dholpur, and Bharatpur whichtill now had no such case, saidHealth Minister RaghuSharma.

Additional Chief SecretaryRohit Kumar Singh said:"Jaipur reported seven newcases, Jodhpur three,Jhunjhunu one, Udaipur two,Dholpur one and Bharatpurone. In the morning, membersof Tablighi Jamaat were foundpositive each in Jhunjhunu,Bharatpur and Dholpur.

Jaipur now has the highest41 corona patients in the State,followed by Bhilwara with 26,Jhunjhunu nine, Pali one,Pratapgarh two, Sikar one,Jodhpur 11, Dungarpur three,Churu eight, Ajmer five, Alwar

three, Tonk four, Bharatpurone, Dholpur one and Udaipurtwo. Besides, there are 18 evac-uees -- nine from Jaisalmer andnine from Jodhpur and twofrom Italy.

A total of 21 patients havesince tested negative and 11discharged till date. Along with14 Tablighi Jamaat memberswho tested positive earlier, thetotal count in the State comesto 133, said Singh.

Of the two fresh positivecases reported in the last fewhours, one is a 26-year-oldwoman from Jodhpur withtravel history to Ahmedabad.Another is a 16-year-old boyfrom Udaipur with travel his-tory to Indore, Singhsaid. IANS

Lucknow: The number ofcorona positive cases in UttarPradesh is now 121. Seventeenpatients have been completelycured.

The Additional ChiefSecretary (ACS) home, AvanishAwasthi, said on Thursday thatsamples of 429 people whoattended Tablighi Jamaat eventin Delhi have been sent for test-ing.

"The cases are not risingexponentially, as only 8 caseshave been reported sinceWednesday," he said.

The ACS said that so far,1,172 persons who had come toUP on tourist visas have beenidentified, of which 884 hadbeen quarantined.

Two persons who attendedthe Jamaat have tested coronapositive in Meerut andGhazipur. IANS

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State Government agenciestended to come out with

conflicting assertions on thenumber of corona infectionsand resultant deaths in Bengaleven as the political oppositioncalled the State’s “tendency tohide facts” as “suicidal.”

While the designatedexpert committee of doctors onThursday told in a media brief-ing that the total number ofcorona infections in the Statehad gone up to 53 with 16 newcases reported in the last 24hours at a subsequent press con-ference State Chief SecretaryRajiva Sinha provided “clarifi-cations” capping the number ofactive Corona cases to 34.

Earlier at 4 pm thespokesperson of the expertcommittee of the HealthMinistry said: “the total num-ber people tested till date is 763and the number of cases foundpositive is, 53 out which 3 havebeen cured.” He also said that“in the past 24 hours there havebeen 16 positive cases,” adding“the total number of patientssuccumbing to the disease is 7… out of which 4 persons haveexpired in the past 24 hours.” Atotal number of three patientshave been cured and dischargedfrom the hospitals he said.

However two hours later at

a subsequent media confer-ence the Chief Secretary mak-ing “some clarifications,” — onthe statement issued by theHealth Department — said that4 out of the 7 cases of claimedCorona related deaths “Co-morbidity — like kidney andother ailments — was presentand it is not clear whether theydied due to the viral attack.” Hesaid that the pathological sam-ples of all the patients had test-ed positive for Corona notwith-standing the fact that they hadcome to the hospital for treat-ing other ailments.

The Chief Secretary alsosaid the samples of 9 otherpatients had reported negativein second test and so theyshould be taken out of the totalnumber 53 patients given by theHealth Department experts.

“Out of the remaining casesthree have died of confirmedCorona infection and anotherthree have been released whichbrings the total number ofactive cases to 34,” Sinha saidreminding “out of the totalnumber of reported cases thereare 20 patients from five fami-lies.” There was no point in pro-viding inflated numbers “sothat there is panic in the soci-ety,” he said.

Reacting strongly to theconflicting reports emanatingfrom two agencies of the

Government BJP State presi-dent Dilip Ghosh on Thursdayaccused the Government ofsuppressing facts.

“We have reports that theGovernment is hiding factsand in a bid to do so theCorona patients are being keptwith other patients in generalward which is dangerous,”Ghosh said adding “not only thedoctors and the health staff arebeing given substandard pro-tection gear but also the hospi-tals are not testing the patientswho are going with specificcomplaints.”

Elsewhere in a relateddevelopment BengalGovernment has decided topromote all the students tillstandard VIII to the next classconsidering the gravity of thesituation emerging in the wakeof Corona outbreak.

State Education MinisterPartha Chatterjee said the“Education Department waspassing on instruction to theschools (state-run and state-aided) to fully enforce the ''nodetention'' policy in all institu-tions for those studying up tothe eighth standard, in view ofthe present situation.

The Government had ear-lier ordered the closure of alleducational institutions fromMarch 16 till further decisions.

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The Election Commission of India(EC) on Thursday extended the

deadline for submission of commentsand suggestions by the public on theproposed changes in electoral man-agement from March 31 to April 30 dueto coronavirus outbreak and the nation-wide lockdown. In its statement, the ECsaid: “Some representations have been-received to extend the deadline in viewof the current situation of lockdownmeasures to contain Covid-19 in thecountry.

The Commission has consideredthe same and extended the deadline ofreceiving comments to April 30,2020”.The EC had set up nine workinggroups after the 2019 LokSabhaelections to give recommenda-tions on various aspects of conductin-gelections. On March 7, it invitedcomments from citizens andstake-holders on the draft recommendations,

which included exploring new votingmethods and online versions of voterID cards.

The working group recommenda-tion was to start online registrationfa-cilities at the school or college-level forall prospective votersat 17 years of ageso they can be enrolled in the electoralroll assoon as they become eligible at18. The ECI also recommended four-cut-off dates in a year to enroll as avoter. Currently, January 1 isthe qual-ifying date so those who turn 18 afterthat date are noteligible to vote thewhole year. The EC has proposedJanuary 1, April1, July 1 and October1 as the qualifying dates, while theLawMinistry has suggested two dates —January 1 and July 1. For politicalpar-ties, the recommendations includedonline nomination of candidatesand acap on the spending allowed by parties.Currently, individualcandidates areallowed a limited expenditure on cam-paigning.

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The Ministry of Agriculture on Thursdaylaunched new features in electronic

agriculture market platform (e-NAM),enabling direct trading from warehousesas well as collection centres of farmers pro-ducers organisations (FPOs) as part of itseffort to decongest wholesale marketsamid coronavirus threat.

"Union Agriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar launched two newfeatures ofNational Agriculture Market (e-NAM)Platform to strengthenagriculture mar-keting by farmers which will reduce theirneed tophysically come to wholesale man-dis for selling their harvestedproduce," anofficial statement said.

The features have been launched at thetime when there is a criticalneed to decon-gest mandis to effectively fight againstCOVID-19, it added.The first one, ware-houses-based trading modules in e-NAMsoftware willfacilitate trade from ware-houses as per the e-NWR (electronicne-

gotiable warehouse receipt).The other oneis FPO trading module in e-NAM whereby FPOs can tradetheir produce from theircollection centre without bringing thep-roduce to APMC. "In addition to facilitateinter-mandi and inter-state trade at thisjuncture, enhanced version of the logisticmodule has been releasedwhereby aggre-gators of transport logistic platform haveon boardedwhich helps users to availtrackable transport facilities fortransport-ing their produce," the statement said.

Speaking on the occasion, Tomar reit-erated that e-NAM was launched on14April 2016 as a pan India electronic tradeportal linking APMCsacross thestates.Already 585 mandis in 16 States andtwo Union Territories have been integrat-ed on e-NAM portal.He also said the e-NAM will be soon expanded to cover anadditional 415 mandis, which will take thetotal number of e-NAM mandis to 1,000.Tomar highlighted that the e-NAM pro-vides for contactless remotebidding andmobile-based payment system.

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The coronavirus situation wors-ened in Maharashtra on

Thursday, as the pandemic tollrose from 16 to 19 and 81 morepersons tested positive for Covid-19 taking the total infected num-ber of infected persons in the stateto 416.

On a day when theMaharashtra Governmentdeclared 30 government hospitalsin the state as designated hospi-tals for coronavirus treatment, thepandemic claimed three morelives taking the toll to 19 in theState.

The details of the latestCoronavirus deaths were awaitedtill late in the evening.

Of the 81 positive cases,Mumbai accounted for a maxi-mum of 57 cases, while there werenine cases in Ahmednagar, sixcases in Pune, three cases inPimpri-Chinchwad, five cases in

Thane and one case in Thane.With the latest positive cases,

the total number of infected casesin Maharashtra shot up from 335on Wednesday to 416 onThursday. According to a medicalbulletin issued by the State PublicHealth department, 42 personshave fully recovered from Covid-19 and have been dischargedfrom various hospitals so far.

What has put the state healthauthorities is the fact that two per-sons from Mumbai’s Dharavi,which is Asia’s largest slum havetested positive for theCovid-19.

Of the two infected casesreported from Dharavi, one is a56-year-old man – who with nohistory of international travel --tested positive for Covid-19 onWednesday, while the second oneis a 52-year-old sanitationdepartment worker of theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC).

Unconfirmed reports hadsaid on Wednesday night that 56-year-old man, who is resident ofDharavi’s Shahunagar area suc-cumbed to the pandemic.However, there was no officialconfirmation from the BMCabout this death.

Sources said that the BMCsanitation department worker,who tested positive for Covid-19,is a resident of Worli area insouth-central Mumbai. He hadbeen posted on sanitation duty atDharavi. After he was admittedto hospital where tested positivefor Coronavirus, seven of hisfamily members have been homequarantined.

Following reports of positivecases from Dharavi, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) sealed off theentire building No. 9 in PunjabiCamp, Sion-Koliwada area OnThursday.

Meanwhile, State Health

Minister Rajesh Tope said that asmany as 1,400 persons had attend-ed the Tablighi Jamaat event inDelhi's Nizammudin, which hasnow become hotbed for Covid-19.“We have identified them. We arein the process of tracking andquarantining them,” he said.

“The Covid-19 test results of46 persons who returned from theevent have proved negative, whilethe reports of the remaining threeare awaited,” the minister said.

Releasing the list of 30 hos-pitals across the state which havebeen designated as theCoronavirus treatment hospitals,Tope said: “For designating gov-ernment as Coronavirus hospitals,we have come out with a notifi-cation. Together, these designat-ed hospitals have a total bedcapacity of 2305.

According to Tope, morethan 200, including several for-eigners, are under institutionalquarantine in various parts of the

state. “We are following the com-plete protocols,” he said.

In a major initiative, the BMCcame out with a list of all its con-tainment areas in the metropolis.The areas include several resi-dential complexes which havenow been sealed with entry-exitbarred for all till the isolation peri-ods are over. On its part, the BMCis disinfecting various localitiesand housing complexes in variouspart of the metropolis.

The Maharashtra govern-ment has set up more than 3,500temporary camps for housingmigrant labourers “ In thesecamps, we will be giving themigrant labourers, accommoda-tion and other basic needs till thelockdown period is over,” a seniorofficial said.

Meanwhile, the state policehave detained around 325migrants who attempted to sneakout of Maharashtra in 4 contain-er trucks to Rajasthan.

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Among the vast numbers of pic-tures starkly reflecting the real-ity of the utter deprivationand difficulties confrontingthe migrants trying to reach the

safety of their own homes, there was onethat truly encapsulates the tragedy. It wasaptly captioned as: “Bharat meets India.”There can be no two opinions that at thistime of great peril, India once again letdown Bharat, the colloquial euphemism forthose vast numbers who inhabit the hin-terland. While the labourers may beblamed for having panicked, that would beexcusable given the limited amount ofinformation made public by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi when heannounced a nationwide lockdown for 21days on March 24.

It can be debated as to who should beblamed for this avoidable tragedy but whatcannot be disputed is the fact that theimplementation of the Prime Minister’sdirective was poorly organised with littleor no cooperation among variousMinistries or States. And for this, bureau-crats, who are the final arbitrators of howthings should proceed, must take a majorshare of the blame. The situation was nothelped in any way by Union MinisterPrakash Javadekar’s asinine tweet about theGovernment’s decision to screen theRamayana on public demand. As usual, thepolice were left to muddle through, whichby and large they did at their incompetentbest; though examples of exemplary behav-iour on the part of some personnel mustbe appreciated.

While the scale of these heart-rendingscenes is only a small fraction of whatoccurred, they are still reminiscent of thePartition and the refugee crisis. Most of uswould be aware that the communal riotsprior to the Partition left millions of peo-ple dead or homeless, forcing the minor-ity community, from both sides of thenewly demarcated borders, to migrate withwhat little they could salvage. However,what most of us would not be aware of isthe fact that former Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru and MA Jinnah movedquickly to handle this tragedy and estab-lished an ad hoc Military EvacuationOrganisation (MEO) in September 1947,under Maj Gen Chimni. The body func-tioned for just three months and did yeo-man service. It was responsible for escort-ing Muslim refugees from India to Pakistanand Hindu refugees from Pakistan toIndia. Within that period, it escorted 85lakh refugees, providing them with not justsecure passage but also arranging fortheir transportation, food, campsites andmedical support, a far cry from what wewitnessed recently. This clearly shows thelevel to which our political leadership andadministrative capabilities have sunk.

Notwithstanding the fact that a nation-wide lockdown was inevitable, given our

distinct set of challenges, if wewere to have any hope of con-trolling the virus, it still requiredimmense courage and deci-siveness on the part of thePrime Minister to have goneahead with it, at the time he did.Though, instead of just exhor-tations to follow his directions,it may have been more appro-priate to have treated his listen-ers as adults and laid out theline of thought that was guid-ing his decision-making and thelikely future course of action.

In democracies, citizensabhor autocratic behaviour andgenerally tend to show displea-sure by exhibiting disobedi-ence. That, unfortunately, alongwith ignorance on the part ofsome and a complete disregardfor social norms by those whoshould have known better,resulted in the measures beingimplemented as envisioned.

In this context, the actionof religious groups and politi-cal leaders organising largegatherings is condemnable. Inaddition, one has no choice butto cater to the average citizens’excessive reliance on fate. Thishas, in turn, rendered us morevulnerable to the onslaught ofthe virus. The fact is that evenwithout these hiccups, theGovernment already has anextremely challenging taskahead. Its response to thespread of the virus is based on

data. No matter how accurateit may be, it is a minimum oftwo weeks behind, given the lagbetween an individual becom-ing infected, the emergence ofthe symptom and the diagno-sis finally being confirmed.

Having realised that it hasnot been fully effective in pre-venting the community spreadof the virus, the Governmentnow faces the dilemma of howto proceed ahead even as thetime for the lockdown to be lift-ed approaches. Conventionalwisdom suggests theGovernment can hardly affordto do so as there’s a possibilitythat cases may spike, HongKong and Singapore beingrecent examples.

On the other hand, it alsocannot afford to let the lock-down continue indefinitelygiven the impact such an actionwould have on the country’seconomy. Thus, one reasonableoption would be for theGovernment to lift the lock-down in a graduated manner,district wise. This wouldrequire identifying “hotspots,”from where the virus seems tobe spreading, and keepingthose areas in complete isola-tion while opening up activityin other areas that appear to befree of the virus. To make thishappen, it is essential to scaleup our testing apparatus andtracking capabilities, along with

following strict isolationnorms. The fact is that till now,testing has been poorly handledby the nodal agency responsi-ble, the Indian Council ofMedical Research. This needsimmediate rectification.

Of course, there are somewho believe that for a countrywhich lost approximately sixmillion people to the Spanishflu and three million to theBengal famine, numbers meanlittle. We should, therefore, getback to business as usual andhope for the best, much in themanner in which Japan hasbeen acting till recently.

There’s also the speculationthat high temperatures mayactually impact the spread ofthe virus. A case in point isAustralia, which is in its sum-mer season and where theGovernment has been able tocontrol the spread of the virusdespite a disjointed effort inthis direction. This suggeststhat if we are willing to takesome risks, we could go withthe gradual lifting of the lock-down, increasing the pace ofopening up as ambient temper-atures rise.

Whatever decisions he maytake, Prime Minister Modifinds himself in an unenviableposition of being damned if hedoes and damned if he doesnot. There is also no gettingaway from the fact that our

administrative machinery isin a state of disrepair. Grossneglect and misgovernance ofthe past 70 years have led to thepresent situation. There’s aneed for the presentGovernment to greatly up itsgame if it is to remain in con-trol of the outcomes.

Finally, it also stands to rea-son that we cannot get back toour bad old ways. The involun-tary improvement in pollu-tion levels that have occurredbecause of the lockdown mustnot be frittered away in thename of economic progress.We must give sustainable devel-opment more than just lip ser-vice. Undoubtedly, in the longterm, we will also have toaddress the weakness in ouradministrative and police infra-structure to make them moreeffective, efficient and decen-tralised.

More importantly, we mustlook at our primary and sec-ondary education syllabi andintroduce changes that willgive much more importance todeveloping social responsibil-ity and character building.Without attention, how can weever develop responsible citi-zens in the future?

(The writer, a military vet-eran is a Consultant with ORFand a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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Sir — Over the last two days,there has been much shouting inthe media regarding the gather-ing at the Markaz building inNizamuddin. As per reports,some positive cases of COVID-19were found there, which led to thewhole debate on the gathering offoreigners in the Markaz. Beforepassing any judgment on theevent in Markaz, it is necessary toknow when and why peoplegathered there and why they didnot evacuate the place after acomplete lockdown wasannounced.

The truth is that Markaz is aplace where people from aroundthe globe come and stay. OnMarch 22, without prior notice,the countrywide lockdown wasimposed and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi asked every-body not to cross the lakshmanrekha of their homes. TheMarkaz authority also followedit, besides informing the nearestpolice station, which neglectedthe alert. If Markaz is responsi-ble for this crisis, so should thepolice.

Asim Suhail Mumbai

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Sir — Amid a nationwide lock-down ordered by theGovernment, economic activityhas been halted and stock mar-kets, too, have been battered butprices of essential commodities in

the market are on the rise. Thereason for this is irregular supplyof essentials as commodityexchanges are happening on athin volume. However, the pres-ence of black market dealingscannot be denied. In lieu of this,the Government must allow pro-ducers to sell their products

directly in the market. This willensure regular supply of theessentials and at the same timekeep a check on high prices aswell. The farmers can be issuedpasses for a limited time periodto directly sell their goods.

Navneet SethVia email

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Sir — With the number ofCOVID-19 cases and deathsincreasing rapidly, everyday lifearound the world has changeddrastically. In these times, one ofthe odd outcomes is the lack ofappreciation of teachers. Withschools shut, most parents arehome tutoring their childrenalthough schools are offeringsupport. Like so many occupa-tions, teaching requires training,skills and commitment. When wereturn to a normal life, it wouldbe good to continue to value thework that teachers do.

Dennis FitzgeraldMelbourne

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Sir — It is regretful that while well-off people coming from abroadwere not sprayed with disinfectant,migrant labourers were hoseddown with it. The poor are bear-ing the cost of the rich.

ShambhaviVia email

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The COVID-19 menace continues to expandglobally as the virus has infected 9,38,348 peo-ple till now and killed 47,286. And the num-

ber is going up by the hour. Prime Minister NarendraModi has imposed a nationwide lockdown for threeweeks in an attempt to slow the spread of theCoronavirus. Everyone, except those related to essen-tial services or facing a medical emergency, has tostay confined to their homes as social distancing isthe country’s only hope of getting through this cri-sis without major damage. Though, as of now, thenumber of reported Coronavirus infections andcasualties remains relatively low in India — around2,032 confirmed cases and 58 dead — the fear is that,should the virus hit as it has in the United States (US),Europe or Iran, it would lead to a disaster far big-ger than anywhere else because of our teeming pop-ulation and cheek by jowl existence. The Indianeconomy is large and complex and the pandemicwill have direct and indirect consequences over alonger period of time. However, as the Americanbusiness tycoon Warren Buffett once said, “A greatinvestment opportunity occurs when a marvellousbusiness encounters a one-time huge but solvableproblem.”

Governments to the rescue: Right now, thewhole world is dealing with losses, both human andeconomic because of the pandemic. However, wehumans have survived in this world despite all thenumerous disasters that have visited the planetbecause we have learnt to adapt ourselves to the envi-ronment, no matter how tough it is. In keeping withour indomitable spirit, Governments worldwide haveopened up their treasuries and announced finan-cial packages to help businesses and ordinary peo-ple tide over these tough times and make up for thefinancial losses they are experiencing due to lock-downs. While the US approved an over $2 trillionrescue plan for its people, India announced a $22.6billion (�1.70 lakh crore) package.

China has bigger problems than COVID-19:Before the Coronavirus outbreak shook the world,newspapers were flooded with news related to theUS-China trade war. The US imposed three roundsof tariffs on Chinese products last year on over $250billion worth of goods. While justifying these, USPresident Donald Trump said that he wanted to “stopthe unfair transfers of American technology andintellectual property to China” and protect jobs.

Apart from this, China is also facing anti-Government protests in Hong Kong. The agitationsstarted in June 2019 and the demonstrations,which began as a fight against a Bill that would haveallowed Hong Kong residents to be extradited to themainland, have morphed into a call for free elec-tions, which largely do not exist in China. The Billwas withdrawn later but demonstrations continuedand protesters demanded full democracy and aninquiry into police atrocities. The rallies have qui-etened considerably as most residents hunkerdown at home to avoid being sickened by theCoronavirus. However, smaller protests neverthe-less flare up now and then and arrests continue. ToBeijing, it is a direct challenge to the leadership, tan-tamount to losing control of Hong Kong, which itcan never tolerate.

An opportunity for India: Right now, the UShas more known cases of the Coronavirus than anyother country and people in general blame Chinafor the outbreak of this pandemic. Considering theimpact of the US-China trade war, the Hong Kongrevolt and the COVID-19 spread, it is likely that theUS, and the world at large, would reduce trade rela-tions with China. When it comes to choosing thebest overseas manufacturers in Asia, two countries,

India and China, are at the forefront. Bothnations have very dynamic productioncapabilities and unique economic land-scapes with proven skills, strengths andweaknesses, that make them both viablechoices. But now, India will surely have anedge over China and must make the mostof this opportunity. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s goal through the ‘Makein India’ initiative is to bring basic man-ufacturing to an economy that needs bet-ter-paying jobs. With an increasing shareof a young working population, India canachieve its full manufacturing potential asit looks to benefit from its demographicdividend and large workforce.

However, it is imperative to weigh ourchoices carefully by considering specificexternal factors that will have an impacton our supply chain. First, let’s review theeconomic landscape in India and Chinafollowed by five key factors that influencemanufacturing in these two countries.

Pricing: Purchase cost is usually themost important factor when manufactur-ing overseas. But so is quality, deliverytimes and the ease of doing business.India’s manufacturing labour is more com-petitive when compared to China. In 2014,the average cost of manufacturing labourper hour was $0.92 in India and $3.52 inChina. India has a huge number oflabourers who are skilled as well asunskilled. The skilled, educated workerslike researchers, engineers and IT profes-sionals are able to contribute cost-effec-tive development support to manufactur-ing operations.

Along with a massive workforce andan emerging supply base, India also hasaccess to natural resources needed in pro-duction. Notably, iron ore and aluminumfor engineered goods, cotton, silk and jutefor textiles and coal for power generation.

Logistics: Newer roads and highways,railways, waterways and airports giveChina an advantage from a logistics per-spective. On the other hand, India reliesheavily on a massive network and grids

of roads which are not always paved orwide enough to be able to transport prod-ucts comfortably. But, with the introduc-tion of the Goods and Services Tax(GST) E-way bill, the time for delivery ofconsignments has reduced. TheGovernment is working steadily on invest-ing in the development of railways, high-ways, ports and airports, which is expect-ed to cut back transportation time andcosts by 20 per cent.

Product expertise: China’s majoradvantage over India is its ability to scale.Beijing has created Special EconomicZones (SEZ) and industrial clusters toencourage manufacturers, suppliers andother relevant parties to be physically closeto one another. It provides higher flexibil-ity and the ability to react in case of insuf-ficient quality, non-conforming materials,or other issues. As per McKinsey, Chinesemanufacturers are five times more produc-tive than their counterparts in India.However, most Indian manufacturersuse high quality machines and tools toproduce good quality products. ManyIndian industries are well-known for thisand are considered trustworthy when itcomes to their work ethics and businessdeals. Unlike China, India does not carrythe stigma of poor-quality production.

Language skills: English is the sec-ond official language in India and exec-utives have embraced it to conduct busi-ness. In contrast to China, India incorpo-rates British customs and legal systems,ensuring a smaller culture gap that needsto be bridged. Therefore, India has a clearedge over China in soft skills.

Manufacturing processes: India’sculture, as compared to China’s, hasalways been to manufacture at a smallscale. In certain instances, to keep costslow, China is relocating production sitesto other developing countries and entre-preneurs are replacing manpower withmachines. Overall, China is maximisingits manufacturing processes, aiming to staycompetitive and delivering larger quan-

tities on tight schedules. India’s manufacturing culture of pro-

ducing at a smaller scale has at times cre-ated a poor image in the eyes of big com-panies, entrepreneurs and investors. Inaddition, India favours family and artisanalmodels which result in buyers facinggreater quality risk and production delays.

After China, India is the only coun-try in the world to match the scale of oper-ations and integrate its supply chain forglobal customers. To effectively harnessthe emerging opportunities, India needsa carefully-crafted strategy and its metic-ulous implementation at the grassrootslevel. Policymakers are far more preparedtoday than they were during the 2008 eco-nomic meltdown. Crude oil is at the low-est it has been in the last few decades, thusreducing overall costs. India has a hugedomestic market with a rapidly-increas-ing middle class and overall population.Investments in the Indian manufacturingsector have been on the rise and postCOVID-19 they would increase further.Initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and sector-specific incentives to various manufactur-ing companies aim to make the countrya global production hub.

India is already an attractive destina-tion for foreign investments in the man-ufacturing sector as several mobile phone,luxury and automobile brands, amongothers, have set up or are looking to estab-lish their production bases here. This sec-tor has the potential to rank among thetop three growth economies and manu-facturing destinations of the world.Corporations have a golden opportunityto emerge from the shadow of the servicessector and seize more of the global mar-ket. Therefore, when we think of scope,this seems to be the best time for India toachieve its dream of becoming a $5 tril-lion economy. As they say, “Victorycomes from finding opportunities inproblems.”

(The writer is an author and GST andeconomics specialist)

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As the Coronavirus pandemiccontinues to rapidly spreadacross the globe, countries have

also intensified their efforts to protecttheir people from this deadly virus. Ofcourse, human civilisation has seen sev-eral deadly contagions in the past andthe Coronavirus outbreak would alsonot be the last one. But this compre-hension does not allow us to overlooksome critical facts about the presentglobal health crisis: This is the first timein recent history when a deadly viruscould spread to almost all parts of the

world. The global economy has neverin the past faced such a critical situa-tion due to a pandemic and the inter-national community has neverappeared so helpless as it is today, espe-cially when it is equipped with a high-ly advanced healthcare system.

This, in turn, brings us to a focalquestion on the outbreak. Was it pos-sible to prevent the global spread of thiscontagion? It is certainly not easy toanswer this question but it is equallytrue that had China and the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) actedpromptly and honestly, the impact ofthis virus could have been reduced toa minimum. In this context, it needsto be recalled that while the first caseof COVID-19 was identified in Hubeiprovince on November 17, the ChineseGovernment acknowledged that therewere Coronavirus cases in Wuhan onlyat the end of December 2019. And itwas only on January 23 that Chinafinally decided to put Hubei provinceunder lockdown. Not surprisingly,

Beijing did not think it prudent toinform the WHO and other countriesof the world well in advance about theserious implication of this virus. Thewhole world came to know about thisdeadly virus only when China failed inits efforts to hide information about theCOVID-19 outbreak.

But, Taiwan, which is one of theleading countries in the health sectorand also happens to be China’s neigh-bour, did not waste a second ininforming the WHO about the possi-ble global outbreak of the Coronavirus,as it transmits from human to human.Sadly, the WHO completely ignoredTaiwan’s early warning and the move-ment of people between other coun-tries and China continued at a normalpace. Even after becoming aware of theglobal risk of the Coronavirus inDecember 2019, WTO DirectorGeneral, Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus, was busy praising China’s“commitment to transparency.”Eventually, a significant portion of cur-

tail time was already lost before theWHO got its act together andannounced on January 24 thatCOVID-19 can spread from human tohuman and as late as on March 13declared the Coronavirus a pandem-ic. As a result, China’s efforts to sup-press information about theCoronavirus and the WHO’s completefailure in its duty have so far resultedin over 9,38,348 confirmed cases and47,286 deaths worldwide.

Now, while there is a growingunderstanding among scientists anddoctors that the Coronavirus hoppedto humans from a bat and they are alsotrying to identify “patient zero” to reachthe bottom of the Coronavirus pan-demic, China appears more interestedin saving its dubious prestige in theinternational community than explain-ing the truth behind the global spreadof this virus. Undoubtedly, China’sunscrupulous behaviour has set off anugly spat between China and the US,with President Trump repeatedly call-

ing the Coronavirus the “Chinesevirus.” In retaliation, China launcheda propaganda war, saying that the viruswas planted by the American army andalso expelled US journalists. At thesame time, it is also very interesting tonote that the US and most of Europeis dependent on China for its medicalitems, including pharmaceutical ingre-dients, masks and gloves. In fact, thespread of the Coronavirus could beseen as a golden opportunity forChina to make a better trade deal withthe US. Whatever may be the possibleimpact of the COVID-19 on bilateralrelations between Beijing andWashington, the fact remains that theglobal geopolitical and economicmilieu shall not remain the same at theend of this crisis. And, certainly,China’s cosmetic efforts to extend ahelping hand to other countries in con-trolling this disease shall not removethe bloodstains from its hand.

On the other hand, sensing thegravity of the situation and realising

that no country can effectively battlean outbreak of this magnitude alone,Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiheld a meeting with the South AsianAssociation for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) member countries on March16 and an emergency fund was creat-ed with India making an initial contri-bution of $10 billion.

Soon after, member countries ofG-20 held a meeting through video-conferencing, expressing their collec-tive resolve to minimise the social andeconomic damage of the Coronaviruspandemic. In doing so, they have decid-ed to inject $5 trillion into the globaleconomy.

Another important aspect of thisG-20 meeting that has largely remainedunderemphasised is Modi’s call for theneed to strengthen and reform theWHO. The fact that its Director-General supported China’s cover-upefforts is the prime reason for the expo-nential explosion of COVID-19 acrossthe globe, because countries heavily rely

on WHO reports and trust it to warnthem of any outbreaks.

The larger question is not just whythe WHO failed in its duty but howChina succeeded in not letting theworld know the actual number ofCOVID-infected people. And alsohow it persuaded the WHO to spreadpro-China information to the interna-tional community. Of course, this is notthe first and the last time when WHOhas worked at the behest of China,especially when its DG happens to bea pro-China man.

It is a serious indication of howChina will continue to undermineglobal democratic institutions if nec-essary and corrective measures are nottaken by the world community toaddress this challenge. There is anurgent need to reform the WHO toensure that such a crisis should notoccur in future due to lack of trans-parency and ethics.

(The writer is ICSSR Post-DoctoralFellow, Pondicherry University)

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President Vladimir Putin onThursday said Russians will

continue not going to workwhile receiving pay until theend of the month to combat thecoronavirus.

“I’ve taken a decision toextend the period of non-working days until April 30,”Putin said in an address, addingthat each region can decidewhat lockdown measures areneeded. Since MondayRussians have had a period ofnational non-working dayswhen they are still entitled tofull pay in a bid to reduce trans-mission of the virus.

In his second televisedaddress on Russia’s response tothe virus, Putin said that inMoscow “so far it has not beenpossible to turn around the sit-uation despite the measures

taken by federal and cityauthorities.” The capital citywith more than 12 millioninhabitants has seen the mostcases so far.

Moscow has been underlockdown since Monday withall but essential shops closedand residents told to stay athome. “The threat remains”Putin said, with the peak of thepandemic still to come bothglobally and in Russia.Regional authorities shouldtake decisions on what needs tobe shut down based on the“objective situation” whileensuring people’s safety, Putinsaid. He said Russia will takefurther measures and it waspossible the period of non-working days could be reducedif the situation improves.

Russia currently has 3,548confirmed cases and 30 deathshave been announced.

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The worldwide race to pro-tect people against being

infected by unwitting coron-avirus carriers intensifiedThursday, pitting governmentsagainst each other as they buyprotective gear and promptingnew questions about whoshould wear masks, get tem-perature checks or even be per-mitted to go outside.

In the Chinese city ofWuhan, where the pandemicbegan in December, a greensymbol on residents’ smart-phones dictates their move-ments. Green is the “healthcode” that says a user is symp-tom-free. It’s required to board

a subway, check into a hotel orenter the central city of 11 mil-lion. Serious travel restrictionsstill exist for those who haveyellow or red symbols.

In northern Italy, the coun-try with the most virus deathsin the world at over 13,000,guards with thermometer gunsdecide who can enter super-markets. In Los Angeles, themayor has recommended thatthe city’s 4 million people wearmasks. They’re mandatory forall Israelis who leave home, aswell as customers of grocerystores in Austria and pharma-cies in Pakistan.

A top official in France’shard-hit eastern region com-plained Thursday that

American officials swooped inat a Chinese airport to spiritaway a planeload of masksthat France had ordered.

“On the tarmac, theAmericans arrive, take outcash and pay three or fourtimes more for our orders, sowe really have to fight,” Dr. JeanRottner, president of the GrandEst regional council and anemergency room physician inMulhouse, told RTL radio.

A study by researchers inSingapore estimated thataround 10% of new infectionsmay be sparked by people whocarry the virus but have nosymptoms yet or never do.

In Greece, authoritiesplaced an entire refugee camp

of 2,400 people under quaran-tine Thursday after discoveringthat a third of the 63 contactsof just one infected womantested positive — and none hadshowed symptoms.

The top US infectious dis-ease official, Dr Anthony Fauci,said medical experts are no clos-er to figuring out why someseemingly healthy people haveonly mild or no symptoms whileothers become catastrophicallysick. “I’ve been doing infectiousdiseases now for almost 50 years,and I can tell you I don’t fullyunderstand exactly what themechanism of that is,” he toldNBC’s “Today” show.

In response to the study,the U.S. Centers for Disease

Control and Preventionchanged how it defined therisks of infection, saying essen-tially that anyone may be a car-rier, whether they have symp-toms or not. But neither it northe World Health Organizationchanged their recommenda-tions that not everyone needto wear a mask.

Los Angeles Mayor EricGarcetti said even a “tucked-inbandanna” could slow thespread of the virus and remindpeople to keep their distancefrom each other.

In Japan, where masks area household staple, the gov-ernment planned to mail twogauze masks each to the coun-try’s 50 million households.

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Nine leading European uni-versity hospitals are warn-

ing they will run out of essen-tial medicines needed forCOVID-19 patients in inten-sive care in less than two weeksas they are increasingly crushedby the pandemic.

The European UniversityHospital Alliance said thatwithout countries cooperatingto ensure a steady supply ofthese drugs, doctors and nurs-es might no longer be able toprovide adequate intensive carefor people critically ill with thenew coronavirus.

In a statement publishedthis week and sent to nationalgovernments, the group saidthat aside from the need forprotective gear and ventila-tors, “the most urgent need

now is for the drugs that arenecessary for intensive carepatients.” They wrote that exist-ing stocks of muscle relaxants,sedatives and painkillers werelikely to run out in two days atthe hardest-hit hospitals, and intwo weeks at others.

Last week, Italy’s nationalpharmaceutical agency issueda formal alarm to regionalhealth authorities that therecent jump in demand forsome medicines had depletedsupplies. The agency set up aspecial email address for theregional authorities to reportany difficulties finding certaindrugs.

The shortage of such crit-ical medicines has led somehospitals to buy alternativedrugs or to try giving patientsdifferent dosages.

“It is extremely worrying

that overworked and oftenless-experienced nurses anddoctors-in-training, drafted tofill the gaps, have to use prod-ucts and dosages that they arenot used to,” the group wrote,on behalf of hospitals inAustria, Britain, France,Germany, Italy, theNetherlands, Belgium, Swedenand Spain.

A team of experts for thehospitals authority in Paris lastweek drew up a list of suggest-ed workarounds for emergencyunits to employ to try to wardoff what it identified as a“strong risk” of some sedativesand painkillers running out.The experts said that for eachprescription, medics shouldask themselves whether a drugis really necessary and if dosescan be reduced, as well as con-sider alternative drugs.

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With new coronavirus casesset to breach the 1-mil-

lion mark, the world is wit-nessing an “exponentialgrowth” which is a bad sign asthe number of deaths has morethan doubled in the past week,the World Health Organisation(WHO) warned on Thursday.

According to latest datafrom Johns Hopkins University’sCenter for Systems Science andEngineering (CSSE), there were9,86,373 lakh cases globally,with over 50,399 deaths and2,06,372 have been recovered inmore than 180 countries.

“As we enter the fourthmonth since the start of the

Covid-19 pandemic I’m deeplyconcerned about the rapidescalation and global spread ofinfection,” WHO chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus saidduring a virtual media confer-ence on Thursday.

Europe reeled from thepandemic and the US pre-pared for what PresidentDonald Trump warned wouldbe “horrific” days ahead.

The virus claimed thou-sands more lives in its relent-less march across the globe,including nearly 1,000 newdeaths in Spain, despite morethan half of the planet subject-ed to some form of lockdown.

World Health Organisationhead Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus said there hadbeen a “near exponentialgrowth” in new cases over thepast five weeks and a doublingof deaths in the past week alone.

New figures on infectionrates and virus-related deathswould show whether there weresigns the epidemic could bepeaking in Europe, where at least34,000 have died. Britain andFrance both reported their high-est daily death tolls onWednesday, but infection rates inItaly and Spain — the two coun-tries hardest hit — were slowing.

Spain said on Thursday ithad suffered a record 950 deathsin 24 hours, bringing the totalnumber of fatalities to 10,003.The number of confirmed casespassed the 1,10,000 mark, thegovernment said, although therates of both new infections anddeaths continued a downwardtrend. “The data show the curvehas stabilised” and the epidem-ic has entered a “slowdown”phase, Health Minister Salvador

Illa said.The virus has chiefly affect-

ed the elderly and those withpre-existing medical condi-tions, but recent cases havehighlighted that it can killpeople from all walks of life.

The dead have includeda 16-year-old in France, a12-year-old inBelgium and IsmailM o h a m e dAbdullah, 13, inBritain, whosefamily said the

“gentle and kind” boy had nounderlying health

issues. BritishPrime MinisterBoris Johnson,himself in isola-tion after test-ing positive,a n n o u n c e d

plans for am a s s i v e

increasein virustestinga f t e r

it emerged that just 2,000 ofhundreds of thousands of staffin the state-run National HealthService had been tested.

The United States, whichnow accounts for almost aquarter of reported globalinfections, saw its death tollpass 5,000 by the early hours ofThursday, according to a tallyby Johns Hopkins University.Among the latest known USfatalities was a six-week-oldbaby who was taken to aConnecticut hospital late last

week. “Testing confirmed lastnight that the newborn wasCOVID-19 positive,” the state’sGovernor Ned Lamont tweet-ed. “This is absolutely heart-breaking.” Trump, who wascriticised for initially playingdown the virus but has steppedup containment efforts inrecent days, warned that the sit-uation was going to get muchworse. “We’re going to have acouple of weeks, starting pret-ty much now, but especially afew days from now, that aregoing to be horrific,” he said.

“But even in the most chal-lenging of times, Americans donot despair. We do not give into fear.” More than three-quar-ters of Americans are underlockdown, including tens ofthousands of prisoners, whowere told on Wednesday theywould be confined to their cellsfor two weeks.

Officials also shuttered theGrand Canyon to preventtourists gathering there, and

New York announced that out-door basketball courts would beclosed as the city grapples withsky-rocketing infections and aseverely strained health system.

The US Labor Departmentwas due on Thursday to pro-vide weekly figures on first-time claims for unemploymentbenefits after last week’s reportshowed a record 3.3 millionfiled claims. Economists arewarning that US job lossescould surge to the previouslyunimaginable range of 10 to 20million in April.

The virus and the measurestaken to contain it have raisedfears of the worst global eco-nomic downturn since theGreat Depression of the 1930s.It has also claimed the lives ofmany high-profile figures,including on Wednesday jazzlegend Ellis Marsalis, whosefamily said the “giant of amusician and teacher” died atthe age of 85 after contractingthe virus.

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The main US disasterresponse agency has asked

the Defence Department for1,00,000 body bags as the tollmounts from the novel coron-avirus, the Pentagon said onThursday.

White House experts havesaid that US deaths from thedisease — currently at morethan 5,100 — are expected to

climb to between 100,000 and240,000, even with mitigationefforts in force.

The Pentaon said itsDefense Logistics Agency wastending to the request by the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA).

The DLA “is currentlyresponding to FEMA’s prudent planning efforts for1,00,000 pouches to addressmortuary contingencies on

behalf of state health agencies,”Pentagon spokespersonLieutenant Colonel MikeAndrews said.

With the infection rate anddeaths mounting — especiallyin New York City — PresidentDonald Trump warnedTuesday that the country canexpect “a very, very painful twoweeks.” “I want every Americanto be prepared for the hard daysthat lie ahead,” he said.

Paris: The Paris police depart-ment said on Thursday that ithad requisitioned a hall at a vastfresh food market to store thebodies of coronavirus victimsalready overwhelming funeralhomes. Police chief DidierLallement said officials neededa site large enough to handle“current and anticipated needs”as strains on funeral homes “arelikely to persist for several weeks.”

Two visitation rooms willbe set up for families to gath-er before the coffins are takento cemeteries or crematori-ums, where authorities havelimited attendance to 20 peo-ple maximum. The first coffinswill begin arriving on Friday atthe Rungis market site south ofthe capital, and families will beable to pay their respects start-ing Monday. AFP

Tehran: Iran on Thursdayreported 124 new deaths fromthe coronavirus, raising itstotal to 3,160, as PresidentHassan Rouhani warned thatthe country may still battle thepandemic for another year.

Health ministryspokesman KianoushJahanpour announced the lat-est toll in a news conferenceand confirmed 3,111 newinfections over the past 24hours, bringing Iran’s total to50,468. He said 16,711 of thosehospitalised had so far recov-ered. AFP

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Shenzhen has become thefirst Chinese city to ban the

sale and consumption of dogsand cats, a move that comesafter the coronavirus outbreakwas linked to wildlife meat,prompting authorities to banthe trade and eating of wildanimals, a media report said onThursday.

The new law will come intoforce on May 1, the BBC reportsaid. In a statement, authothor-ities in Shenzhen said that“dogs and cats as pets haveestablished a much closer rela-

tionship with humans than allother animals”, adding that theban “also responds to thedemand and spirit of humancivilization”.

In February, Chineseauthorities banned the trade and consumption of wildanimals.

The move came after itemerged that a wet market inWuhan could have been thestarting point for the outbreakof the new coronavirus, pro-viding the means for the virusto travel from animals tohumans.

News of this led the

Chinese Government to crackdown strongly on the trade andon the markets that sold suchproducts.

The coronavirus pandem-ic was still raging across theworld, posing a test for coun-tries and regions, as the glob-al number of confirmed casesincreased to 937,567, accordingto the latest update by theJohns Hopkins University’sCenter for Systems Scienceand Engineering (CSSE).

As of Thursday morning,the CSSE data showed that that global death toll stood at47,226.

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Boeing unveiled a voluntaryworker layoff programme

on Thursday, telling employeesthat it hoped to avoid “otherworkforce actions” as the avi-ation industry reels from thecoronavirus crisis.

The initiative wasannounced by Boeing ChiefExecutive David Calhoun, whosaid such belt-tightening wasneeded amid the hit to theindustry caused by the pan-demic. “It’s important that westart adjusting to our new real-ity now,” he said.

Boeing’s financial picturewas already a bit cloudy priorto the coronavirus outbreakbecause of the crisis sur-rounding the 737 MAX, whichhas been grounded for morethan a year following two fatalcrashes. But the COVID-19 cri-sis has made Boeing’s situationsignificantly worse, ground-

ing most commercial airlinetravel and putting major carri-ers in a life-or-death fight to goforward.

“When the world emergesfrom the pandemic, the size ofthe commercial market and thetypes of products and servicesour customers want and needwill likely be different,”Calhoun said.

“We will need to balancethe supply and demand accord-ingly as the industry goesthrough the recovery processfor years to come.” Calhounsaid the company would haveadditional information on theprogramme in three to fourweeks. A Boeing official saidthe company expects “severalthousand employees to take thevoluntary layoff package orretire,” adding that the compa-ny would continue to recruit insome targeted areas, includingfor defence and space programmes.

�� 89��8:��

The ongoing disruptioncaused by the spread of

Covid-19 will have a significanteconomic consequence with esti-mates suggesting that every sin-gle day of the 21-day nationwidelockdown will cost the Indianeconomy almost $4.64 billion,Acuite Ratings & Research hassaid in its latest report.

The single-day loss num-

ber will translate into a GDPloss of almost $98 billion dur-ing 21-day lockdown, the cred-it rating agency said.

“We have employed multi-ple methods to assess real GDPestimates for Q1 of FY21 andbelieve that there is a significantrisk that it may contract up to5%-6% as compared with a pre-Covid growth estimate of 5%,”Sankar Chakraborti, CEO,Acuite Ratings & Research, said.

In such a lockdown sce-nario, the most severelyimpacted sectors are trans-port, hotel, restaurant and realestate activities. According toAcuite, there would be around50% GVA (gross value added)loss in these sectors, whichaccount for around 22% inoverall GVA, in Q1 of FY21.

On the other hand, servicesexpected to see enhanced activ-ities during this crisis are com-

munication, broadcasting andhealthcare; however, at 3.5%,these sectors have a small con-tribution in the overall GVA.

The impact of the lockdownis also fairly severe on industri-al activities, which are set to wit-ness significant contraction inQ1 except in the pharmaceuti-cal, gas and electricity and med-ical devices which account foraround 5% of GVA.

Unlike the services sector,

the industry, however can man-age demand to some extent withinventory drawdowns until theresumption of production.

Karan Mehrishi, LeadEconomist of the rating agency,said: “The agricultural sector,which accounts for 15% ofGVA, is nonetheless, expectedto see continuing activity evenin the lockdown period; how-ever, the allied activities arepartly impacted as livestock

and fisheries are experiencingmute demand due to theCovid-19 concerns.”

Acuite said it would take atleast 2-3 months to restore theindustry supply chain even ifthe lockdown is limited to 21days; there are also further risksof local lockdown in differentregions in India, depending onthe extent of the outbreak andpartial disruption in econom-ic activities till H1FY19 is a

realistic scenario.It is estimated that the sec-

ond quarter may show a mod-erately positive growth of justunder 3% on the back of theexpected normalization processand some pent-up demandalthough it is also linked to theintensity of the pandemic.

On the positive side, aquick recovery in the domesticeconomic activities is likely inH2, which may in turn benefit

from the increased fiscal andmonetary measures along withlower global oil prices.

“We, therefore, believe thatthe average H2 GDP expansionmay be in the vicinity of 6.5%.Overall, a likely contraction inQ1 followed by a modest growthin Q2 will clearly have a severeimpact on India’s economic tra-jectory that has already beenunder the effect of a prolongedslowdown,” the report said.

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Testing was the solution to“unlock the puzzle” of the

novel coronavirus, said the UKPrime Minister Boris Johnson,who was currently in self-iso-lation after contracting the dis-ease which has infected 29,865people and killed 2,357 othersin the country.

“I want to say a specialword about testing, because itis so important, and as I have

said for weeks and weeks, thisis the way through,” the BBCquoted the Prime Minister assaying In a video message onTwitter on Wednesday evening.

“This is how we will unlockthe coronavirus puzzle. This ishow we will defeat it in theend.” Johnson said more coro-navirus testing would enablestaff who were self-isolating,either because they had symp-toms or shared a householdwith someone who was sick, to

know if they were safe to work.Antibody tests, which look

for signs of immunity in theblood, could also show who hadalready had coronavirus and wastherefore not at risk of beinginfected or passing the infectionon to others, the PM said.

However, these tests werenot yet ready for use and it wasnot clear when they will be.

Meanwhile, the PM’s officialspokesman said theGovernment was working with

NHS England, Public HealthEngland and other organisationsto boost test capacity with anadditional network of labs andtesting sites, the BBC reported.Also on Wednesday, YvonneDoyle, Public Health Englandmedical director, said duringDowning Street’s daily coron-avirus briefing that the “inten-tion” was for testing for frontlinestaff to increase from “thousandsto hundreds of thousands with-in the coming weeks”.

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Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on

Thursday went into isolationfor the second time in a weekafter his Health MinisterYaakov Litzman tested positivefor the novel coronavirus.

According to the PrimeMinister’s Office, Netanyahu,70, will remain in self-quaran-tine until April 8 as he had fre-quent meetings with Litzman,

reports Xinhua news agency.The move follows the rec-

ommendation of Netanyahu’spersonal doctor and guide-lines of the Health Ministry, theOffice added.

Litzman, leader of theJewish ultra-Orthodox party ofUnited Torah Judaism, was inself-isolation with his wife whohas also contracted the virus.

On Wednesday, Netanyahucompleted a two-day isolationafter one of his advisors was

diagnosed with the novel coro-navirus.

In addition, the HealthMinistry’s Director-GeneralMoshe Bar Siman Tov, who hasbeen running Israel’s efforts tohalt the rapid spread of thevirus, also went into isolationfor his contact with Litzman.

He will continue to workand coordinate the efforts froma designated facility in theSheba Hospital outside TelAviv, the Ministry said.

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More than 6.6 millionAmericans applied for

unemployment benefits lastweek — doubling a record highset just one week earlier — asign that layoffs are acceleratingin the midst of the coronavirusoutbreak. Combined with lastweek’s report that 3.3 millionpeople sought unemploymentaid two weeks ago, the USeconomy has now sufferednearly 10 million layoffs in justthe past few weeks — farexceeding the figure for any cor-responding period on record.

The stunning reportThursday from the LaborDepartment showed that jobcuts are mounting against thebackdrop of economies in theUnited States and abroad thathave almost certainly sunk intoa severe recession as businesseshave shut down across theworld. “This kind of upendingof the labor market in such ashort time is unheard of,” saidHeidi Shierholz, an economist atthe Economic Policy Institute, aprogressive think tank.

Further signs of a surgingwave of layoffs are likely in thecoming weeks. Seth Carpenter,an economist at Swiss bankUBS, estimates that about one-third of last week’s claims hadbeen delayed from the previousweek, when state offices thathandle unemployment benefitswere overwhelmed by a surgeof online and telephone claims.

Yet many of those officesare still struggling to process allthe claims they have received,suggesting more claims will bepushed into the following week.

The magnitude of the lay-offs has led many economists

to envision as many as 20 mil-lion lost jobs by the end ofApril. That would be more thandouble the 8.7 million jobs lostduring the Great Recession.The unemployment rate couldspike to as high as 15 per centthis month, above the previousrecord of 10.8 per cent set dur-ing a deep recession in 1982.

Employers are slashing theirpayrolls to try to stay afloatbecause their revenue has col-lapsed, especially at restaurants,hotels, gyms, movie theatersand other venues that depend onface-to-face interaction. Autosales have sunk, and factorieshave closed. Roughly 90 per centof the US population is nowunder stay-at-home orders,which have been imposed bymost US states.

This trend has intensifiedpressure on businesses, most ofwhich face rent, loans and otherbills that must be paid. Thereversal in the job market hasbeen dizzying. Four weeks ago,weekly unemployment claimsamounted to only 211,000, neara 50-year low. Since then, theyhave jumped 30-fold.

�� 89��8:��

The Government and theReserve Bank need to come

out with a bold and compre-hensive package to help smalland medium enterprises tideover the unprecedented crisiscreated by COVID-19, saidveteran co-operator and RBIcentral board director SatishMarathe.

Piecemeal initiatives willnot help the industry as “this isan exceptional crisis and war-rants exceptional response,”Marathe told PTI.

The coronavirus crisis islikely to end in the next threeto six months, but the industry,which bore the brunt of slow-down during 2019, will takemuch longer to recover, he said.

Referring to the recentmeasures announced by theGovernment and the RBI tomitigate the impact of the pan-demic, he said, these are only

for short term and may notyield the desired results as theproblem is severe and has beenfurther aggravated by the lock-down. There is a need for abold and comprehensive pack-age to ensure that the industry,especially unorganised sectorand MSMEs, comes back on track as quickly as pos-sible once coronavirus is con-tained and the lockdown is lift-ed, said Marathe, who is alsothe founder member ofSahakar Bharati.

In a letter written toFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, Sahakar Bharatisaid announcements made bythe government and the centralbank would make little impactboth on the borrowers andlenders. There is a need to relaxbad loan guidelines for classi-fication of non-performingassets (NPA), it said, adding thedelinquency period should beraised from 90 days to 180 days.

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All precautions are beingtaken in handling export-

import (EXIM) cargo at portsand more than 43,000 crew andpassengers have not beenallowed to disembark sinceJanuary 26, in order to preventthe spread of coronavirus, ashipping ministry official said.

“Stepping up measures tocontain the spread of deadlycoronavirus, the Government

has so far prevented over43,000 crew and passengersonboard about 1,300 shipsfrom disembarking on Indianshores and arranged for safetransport of EXIM cargo,” theofficial told PTI.

Apart from restrictingcargo handling, and scanningpassengers and crew, the gov-ernment has prohibited entryof any international cruise ship,crew or passengers with a trav-el history to coronavirus-hitcountries post February 1,2020, to its major ports tillMarch 31.

They have not beenallowed to disembark as a pre-

cautionary measure to containany possible spread of thevirus. They were allowed toanchor at designated places, butno shore passes were issued tosuch crew and passengers postJanuary 26, the official said.

As per the guidelines of theWorld Health Organization(WHO), all passengers andcrew aboard the vessels arebeing scanned, and all neces-sary facilities are being extend-ed to them, the official said.

All required protocols arebeing followed and help isbeing provided in case of feveror sickness, the official added.

India has 12 major ports —

Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla),Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao,New Mangalore, Cochin,Chennai, Kamarajar (earlierEnnore), VO Chidambarnar,Visakhapatnam, Paradip andKolkata (including Haldia) —which handled 699.04 MT ofcargo during 2018-19.

There are about 200 non-major ports under the controlof States. The Government inFebruary had directed all 12major ports to immediatelyput in place screening, detec-tion and quarantine systemfor disembarking seafarers andcruise passengers as a preven-tive measure against the coro-

navirus outbreak.Directions had also been

issued to ports to procure N-95masks as well as thermal scan-ners to screen passengers,besides obtaining self-declara-tion from arriving crew/pas-sengers. To prevent the spreadof the deadly virus, the ministryhad said it will allow only suchinternational cruise shipswhich had intimated their callto ports by January 1, 2020.

“Only those internationalcruise ships which had plannedand intimated their call to anIndian Port not later than 1stJanuary, 2020 will be allowed tocall on such port,” it said.

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Women bank accountholders under

Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY) will start get-ting a sum of �500 per monthfrom Friday in line with the announcement madeby Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week,IBA said.

This is the first of the 3monthly instalments under thePradhan Mantri Garib KalyanYojana announced last week,the Indian Banks’ Association(IBA) said in a statement.

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The soaring demand forhand sanitisers following

the coronavirus pandemic hasmade several companies —from FMCG players such asPatanjali, Emami, RaymondConsumer Care and Dabur toliquor makers like RadicoKhaitan and Diageo — to ven-ture into manufacturing of thedisinfectant.

Recently, the Ministry ofConsumer Affairs had direct-ed State Governments to grantlicences to distilleries and sugarcompanies to manufacturehand sanitisers to preventshortage.

Besides, the ministry hadalso directed deodorant mak-ers to either manufacture orbottle hand sanitisers made bysugar companies and distil-leries, which lack capabilities topack in small units consumed

in the market.Raymond Consumer Care,

the FMCG arm of theRaymond Group, which sellspersonal grooming items suchas deodorant and perfumeunder Park Avenue brand,plans to manufacture handsanitiser and is awaiting clear-ances from the Government.

“At Raymond ConsumerCare, we intend to make a pos-itive contribution to India’sfight against COVID-19. Weare committed to creatinginnovative products that res-onate with the needs of ourconsumers and we have cur-rently developed an effectivehand sanitiser,” said RaymondConsumer Care spokesperson.

“The commercial produc-tion of hand sanitiser is cur-rently awaiting theGovernment approval and it isour endeavour to make thesame available across the coun-

try through our expansive dis-tribution network,” he added.

Baba Ramdev-led PatanjaliAyurved, which also forayedinto the hand sanitiser manu-facturing last week, claimed itis selling the item at below theprice capped by theGovernment. “We have alreadysent one million units into themarket and would soon pro-duce over one crore units tobattle the spread of Covid-19,”said Patanajali Ayurvedspokesperson SK Tijarawala.

Last month, theGovernment capped the max-imum retail price of hand sani-tiser at �100 per 200 ml bottletill June 30 this year followinga sharp rise in prices of thisproduct owing to the coron-avirus outbreak. Kolkata-basedFMCG major Emami, whichowns ‘HE’ brand of deodorants,also has plans to start manu-facturing hand sanitisers.

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New data has revealed thatalmost 9,00,000 people in

Spain have lost their jobs sincethe country imposed strictmeasures to fight the coron-avirus pandemic, another signof the economic impact of theoutbreak in Europe’s secondworst-hit country.

The data shows 898,822people have now lost theirjobs since the start of the lock-

down, including about 550,000temporary workers, the BBCreported citing the data as say-ing. Spain’s official unemploy-ment figure rose to 3.5 million,the highest level since April2017. March’s figure was thehighest monthly rise in unem-ployment ever recorded in thecountry, which already hadone of the eurozone’s highestjobless rates.

The country has alsobanned all but essential outings

and shut most businesses inmid-March. “This is anabsolutely unprecedented situ-ation,” the BBC quoted LabourMinister Yolanda Daz as sayingat a news conference. Thetourism and construction sec-tors were the hardest hit.

Meanwhile, 10,003 peoplein Spain have died from thecoronavirus as 950 new deathswere reported in the last 24hours, another daily record, theHealth Ministry said.

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Johannesburg: South AfricanDeputy President DavidMabuza has called on the worldto honour the death of inter-nationally-renowned Indian-origin virologist Gita Ramjeeby intensifying the fight againstthe COVID-19 pandemic.

Mabuza was reacting to thedeath of the 64-year-old mul-tiple-award winning SouthAfrican scientists due toCOVID-19 complications afterreturning from London, whereher two sons live.

“In (Ramjee’s) honour, weshould heed the call to flattenthe curve by strengthening ourresponses to this global pan-demic as well as continue thefight to achieve zero new HIVinfections,” Mabuza said in astatement. Mabuza hasdescribed Ramjee’s death as a“huge blow to the entirety ofthe health care sector and theglobal fight against HIV/Aids.”“In her, we have indeed lost achampion in the fight againstthe HIV epidemic, ironically atthe hands of this global pan-demic,” Mabuza said. PTI

Riyadh: Leading world crude exporter SaudiArabia on Thursday made a surprise call for ameeting of the OPEC+ oil producers to “sta-bilise the oil market” amid a price war.

“The kingdom calls for an urgent meetingof OPEC+ and a group of other countries withthe aim to try and reach a fair deal to restorebalance to the oil market,” said a statement car-ried by the Saudi Press Agency. The move fol-lowed a phone call between US PresidentDonald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince andde facto leader Mohammed bin Salman. “Thiscall comes in the framework of the kingdom’scontinued support for the global economyunder these exceptional circumstances and in

estimation of a call by US President DonaldTrump and US friends,” the statement said.

Riyadh reiterated that it had tried to reach anagreement among OPEC+ members to cut pro-duction and “secured the support of 22 countries...But failed to secure consensus”. Saudi Arabia hadblamed Russia for refusing to agree to an addi-tional output cut of 1.5 million barrels per day ontop of reduction already in place of 1.7 millionbpd. As a result, the kingdom opened its crudeoil taps, deciding to raise its production to a record12.3 per cent from April 1. It later said it will exportat least 10 million bpd in April, which will beraised to a record high 10.6 million bpd to floodthe global markets. AFP

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The sales figures for March are in,and the year-end usually used tosee a lot of deals as dealers and

manufacturers tried to clear their stocks.This March has been a bloodbaththough. With dealerships effectivelyclosed from the middle of the monthsand footfalls having dried up even ear-lier, the best that can be said about thesales figures is that they’re not pretty. Andwhere next for the industry? As long asthe lockdown continues, and we shouldbe aware that even if the lockdown is nota ‘total’ one, it might be several weeksbefore ‘business as usual’ resumes, onewill wait and have to watch to see howdemand reacts.

It is likely that newer models willcontinue to do well. But after a global cri-sis, it is human nature to hold ontoresources particularly cash so discre-tionary spends will evaporate for awhile. That said, the ‘great Coronavirusmigration of 2020’ as we will describe theevents of late last week will likely meanthat there will be a shortage of auto andtaxi drivers in many parts of the coun-try, which might actually drive more peo-ple to own personal transportation.Conversely, as the very concept of work-ing has changed, millions of office work-ers have realised that working from homeis a viable option. This will lead not onlyto an interesting situation for commer-cial real estate but also for daily com-muters. Maybe the types of cars peopleneed and want will change, smallerhatchbacks might do fine as commutercars.

That said, time and time againwhenever there has been a sustaineddownturn, it has emerged that newermodels always tend to do better thanolder ones. Expect cars like the Creta andpossibly even the new Honda City to atleast make a slight mark on sales. Oldermodels always tend to do a bit worse butwith demand changing, one expectsmodels like the Ertiga and XL6 to con-tinue to do well, or as well as one can doin the circumstances.

But let us be honest, sales will notrecover for a while. Indeed it might takeseveral months for the shocks to the sup-ply chain to recover. The migration ofworkers from factories in the industrialheartlands of the country might notimpact the car manufacturers directly, astheir line employees tend to be betterpaid. However, it will impact companiesthat make ancillaries and components.It is almost certain that even if the lock-down is lifted on April 14, it might takeweeks before internal travel restrictionsare lifted. And that assumes that demandfor products also goes back to normalquickly.

Indeed, it is in the government’sinterest, that is the central, state and localgovernments to get the economy back tonormal as quickly as possible. That willinvolve getting consumer spendinggoing. It is not of much help if interestrates go down, but consumers do not bite.Ergo, I feel that it would be in the gov-ernment’s interest to reduce excise dutiesfor cars, maybe not by much, but even

a five per cent cut would reduce pricesat least by �10 to 20,000 for hatchbacksand compact sedans. And consumers willbite if they see a good deal. I know thatreducing taxes on products like carsmight be anathema to fiscal policyexperts, but if coupled with the car com-panies offering deals, if prices go down�30,000 to 40,000 for cars, at least someconsumers will go back into show-rooms. Heck, offer a slight reduction onluxury cars as well, if demand picks upin the sector, the revenues earned fromincreased sales and more jobs will bemuch more than the revenues lost.

The auto industry does not only keepthe stomachs of automotive journalistswell-fed, a whole ecosystem that compris-es almost a fifth of the entire economydepends on it, from petrol and dieselsales, showroom staff and transporters.It is in the government’s interest to reviveit quickly and it does not need to pourmoney to do that. It needs to forego somepotential money but if a rate cut cancome with an end date, say the end ofDecember, it could provide a spur thatcould save 2020 for the automotiveindustry. Alas, if only government offi-cials and politicians thought like that, butif the economy has to pivot to job preser-vation, they will have to think in suchways. Till then stay safe, and if you havea car, do remember to start it up onceevery 10 days to ensure the battery andfuel systems stay running. Also thinkabout releasing the handbrake and usingstoppers (or bricks) for your tires.

As the deadly Coronavirus pandemicspreading rapidly, people are doing

everything to keep themselves safe butwhat about your own abode? To makeyour home Coronavirus-free, healthexperts have shared some tips such ascleaning all kitchen surfaces every timeyou finish cooking and keeping separatepairs of footwear for outdoors and indoorsto fight the virus.

According to Praveen Gupta, Directorand Head Neurology, Fortis MemorialResearch Institute in New Delhi, all sur-faces should be cleaned routinely with soapand other disinfectants available to makeyour house coronavirus proof.

“Apart from cleaning the surfaces,other objects like light switches, desk, key-boards, doorknobs, toilet, closets shouldalso be cleaned. Please make sure that youdo not touch any object while cleaningwith bare hands; gloves are necessary andmake sure to dispose of these gloves afterthe cleaning is done,” Gupta said.

In case when you are buying vegeta-bles and fruits from outside, please makesure that you clean the bag very careful-ly before entering the house. If possible,it is advisable to keep the bags outside yourhome or in a corner for at least 24 to 48hours.

“Considering coronavirus spreadsthrough droplets, please make sure to washyour vegetables and fruits in potassiumpermanganate solution or you can alsowash it with hot water as well for at least5-10 minutes,” the doctor suggested.

Stay home as much as possible butthere are times when we can’t avoid vis-its to grocery store or pharmacy at some

point. “It is advisable to avoid unnecessaryto and fro to any market area and stay inhouse. Disinfect everything you touchthoroughly and make sure that you washyour hands frequently. Also, superviseyour pets in the backyard and keep themaway from meeting or playing with otherpeople,” said Rajesh Chawla, senior con-sultant, Respiratory Medicine,Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

“Make use of hypochlorite to cleanevery corner of your house or make useof bleaching powder to clean your house,”he added.

If someone is sick at your home, pleasemake sure that a distance is maintainedfrom that person and his or her clothesshould be washed separately. “One needsto understand while performing all theabove activities, wearing gloves is neces-sary and when you are giving your clothesfor laundry, please use disposable glovesand it is preferred to wash your clothes athome only and avoid any outside contact,”Chawla said.

Dr Sudhish Sehra, HOD, InternalMedicine, Sri Balaji Action MedicalInstitute in New Delhi said that in addi-tion to frequently sanitizing your hands,keeping the house and your immediatesurroundings clean is equally important.

“Start with basic dusting while cover-ing your face with a mask/alternativeclothing such as a handkerchief, and dis-infect the furniture surfaces and the floor.Clean all kitchen surfaces every time youfinish cooking. Keep separate pairs offootwear for outdoors and indoors,” Sehrasaid.

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Indians and their love for big fat wed-dings, with a thousand guests and lav-ish spreads, is legendary. So in times

of a pandemic when it is advised to avoidlarge public gatherings and restrict trav-el, soon-to-be brides and grooms are fac-ing tough and hitherto unheard of choic-es. The lockdown has sent ripples throughthe wedding industry, from vendors, wed-ding planners and venues to guests, rel-atives and couples. A layer of caution andconcern, thicker than that of butter on dalmakhni at the banquet, has enveloped thecelebrations. And the question that we arefaced with is — even if we emerge out ofthis situation, will Indian weddings everbe the same again or will we now be morecautious of social gatherings?

46:6��3� �9Well, Indian weddings, especially

the big fat ones, aren’t just about theirvibrant dance and music, decor and lights,and dresses, it’s a lot about food, too.However, with the food industry hit badlydue to the deadly virus, experts predictthat ‘bahar ka khaana’ would mostly beavoided for a long time even if we havefought this war and emerged out of it. Sohow is it going to affect the wedding cater-ing business when ‘shaadiyon ka khaana’won’t be appealing anymore?

Karann Talwar, managing directorand the gastronome chef, Kitchen KraftLuxury Catering, points out that he hasalready faced some of the brunt. He says,“A lot of replanning and cancellation ofweddings has happened in the past onemonth. Close to half of those planning totie the knot in the coming quarter havealso postponed or cancelled their plansto the later part of the year. We had ourbookings full for March-end and the firstweek of April but we saw nine weddingbookings getting cancelled and six beingpostponed.”

He highlights that the destinationweddings have been hit the hardest withmost of them, even if planned in the nextfew months, being cancelled already. “Wehad some bookings mainly for destina-tion weddings in cities like Udaipur andJaipur. However, due to the nationwidelockdown and advisory issued by theRajasthan state, we cannot proceed fur-ther,” says he.

Looking at future prospects, he saysthat for some time, people will become

more cautious and for that, even they, asa catering industry, will also have to takemore precautions in preparing the foodas and when they get the bookings andorders for weddings now. He adds, “Wewill ensure we get our staff members andemployees vaccinated if any vaccinationis available for COVID-19. Besides this,we will only hire people who have no pre-vious history of Coronavirus or any otherform of infection, including in their fam-ilies.”

Wedding organisers might also hes-itate in laying out a large spread for theirguests at weddings since the very idea oflarge gatherings would see a scaling down.How will the luxury catering market dealwith it? Karann says, “No one everexpected such a time. Nobody imaginedthemselves to be sitting at home, doingnothing for so many days. Not just thecatering market, but all the other indus-tries are also shattered. A wedding is suchan auspicious moment where people can-not miss anyone and invite a huge list ofguests and relatives. I believe gradually,when the situation gets better, people willstart to trust and would indulge in sur-plus items in the menus. Right now, Ibelieve it is a difficult time for us but Iam sure things will be back on track forthe whole food and catering industry.”

�3�6��The pandemic has affected the beau-

ty industry drastically. It has brought amajor shift in the mindset of the con-sumers which in turn has impacted theeconomy. “We have suffered a lot of loss-es as several make up bookings have beencanceled and postponed. The pandemichas brought down the spending capaci-ty of the consumers as everyone wants tosave money for an emergency rather thanspending on luxury. Approximately 70per cent of my orders have been post-

poned to November and December andthe rest 30 per cent have been canceled.I don’t blame my clients as no one has anidea of the future,” says Agrika Kalra,celebrity make up artist. It will take a cou-ple of years for not only this industry butthe entire economy to come back to nor-mal.

However, the larger question that lieshere is — even if we emerge out of thissituation, will Indian weddings ever be thesame again as we will now be more cau-tious of public gatherings? “I doubt that.Even after emerging out of this they won’tbe the same for a couple of years as peo-ple will always have this sense of fear.They would prefer smaller weddingaffairs,” says Kalra and adds, “People won’tgo for costly outfits, makeup artists,venue, etc as they would focus on sim-ple weddings with limited people.”

�� The outbreak has sent ripples through

the fashion industry as it has escalated inthe midst of the 2020 spring-summer sea-son, causing brands and design houses toshutter their doors and postpone upcom-ing runway shows. Last month we evensaw some fashion shows getting cancelledin Paris, Milan and Italy. From vendorsto fashion designers to wedding planners,everyone is going through a tough time.

“As we all know, April, May and Juneare the months when weddings arescheduled in bulk. And now they all aregetting affected. Most of the weddings,social gatherings and events have beenalready canceled. Even the shoots havebeen canceled, this has affected oursales. The closure of malls and retail out-lets with a view to control the situationhas resulted in a substantial reduction inthe sales of domestic textiles and cloth-ing,” says Ravi Gupta, owner, GargeeDesigners.

After we emerge out of this situation,people are going to be more cautiousabout gatherings. And Indian weddingsare not a small affair. It’s like a three-daylong festival that has people of all agegroups. Ravi says, “People will be selec-tive in inviting their guests now. I don’tthink the invitees too would not take anyrisky steps of attending public gatheringin the coming months.”

The lockdown has impacted every-one’s pocket which, in turn, will impactthe shopping patterns of people. But, Ravifeels that once the cash inflow and out-flow will regularise, people will start buy-ing new things and market will witnessa positive change.

;3�3443��The sudden outbreak of the virus has

impacted the Indian global gems and jew-ellery market. If we look at the present sta-tistics, the lockdown in the metropolitanhas resulted in an additional loss of fivepercent in exports, besides a generally lowdemand due to economic slowdown.Also, as the outbreak has affected coun-tries like Japan, China, and South Korea,there is a sharp fall in demand in the glob-al market.

“As of now, we are having a 100 percent cancellation, especially for all mar-riage orders. No new orders have beenplaced and the status of the old bookingis also not clear. All the clients mentionedthat they will only be able to confirm oncethe lockdown is over and the situationgets better. Most of the marriages havebeen postponed to later this year,” saysBhuvan Goel, founder, S.KA Diamonds.

He adds that more than 60 to 70 per-cent marriages have been canceled and20 to 30 per cent have been rescheduledand 10 per cent have gone for court mar-riages and probably when things are bet-ter, they will go for some small reception

or a small family gathering. So even whenwe emerge out of this crisis, nothing iscertain about the market

“All this will result in the decline ofdemand and thus affect the business. Dueto the current situation of the jewelleryindustry, there will be a massive drop insales. I presume that there could be a 50to 70 thousand crore loss in businessactivities in the jewellery segment,” saysGoel.

Further, as we talk about rental jew-ellery options, people will be more hes-itant as there will always be a fear abouttheir hygiene.

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The global rental market was expect-ed to reach $335 billion by 2025 as itoffers the convenience of living withoutthe responsibility of maintaining orupgrading them. So will this affect therental market as hygiene issues areinvolved? Sanchit Baweja, co-founder ofStage3, feels that rentals will increase postCOVID-19 as consumption patternswould change. He shares that sustainabil-ity as a way of living and the pandemicwe are witnessing are interconnected. Weare all a part of the same planet. It is awake up call to stop overusing theresources as the threat from climatechange is as real as the pandemic. Theyear 2020 will be remembered as a turn-around point in global markets and pavethe way in reinvention of how resourcesare consumed. “With sustainability beingat the core, we expect to reach more andmore people in reinventing their fashionconsumption choices. More people willresonate with the vision of consciousconsumption and would want to reducetheir carbon footprint on the planet, andhence, explore renting outfits they hard-ly repeat,” says he.

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Last Tuesday night in Tennessee,bluegrass musicians David andVirginia Blood were busy mak-

ing sandwiches. In Pittsburgh, realestate agent Michelle Bushee was stir-ring a pot of homemade black-beanchilli in her kitchen instead of shep-herding curious buyers throughpotential dream homes. MartyPrudenti, whose nights are usuallyspent working backstage at NewYork City’s Lincoln Center, was in hisLong Island backyard grilling burg-ers for his twins. And in Texas,Babette Maxwell — who would oth-erwise have been running at least oneof her three teenage sons to sportspractices or school events — wasGoogling recipes to engineer home-made versions of her boys’ favoriteTaco Bell items.

Throughout the the globe, liveshave been radically upended by theCOVID-19 pandemic. There is worryand washing of hands. But one brightspot is emerging from self-quarantineand mandatory working from home:In this nation that so often dines outor gobbles processed food on the run,

people are suddenly cooking a wholelot more.

Before the coronavirus emerged,Kim Bierly often worked late at heroffice and then met her husband fora quick dinner at one of the restau-rants in their central Pennsylvanianeighbourhood. If they didn’t eat out,they’d reach into the refrigerator andchoose something packaged to heatup.

“I’ve always enjoyed cooking,”Bierly says. “But it was being saved forweekends. And by the time you get tothe weekend you had all the otherthings you need to do. So it would besomething quick or something pre-pared.”

Now working from home, she’spulling out old recipes — the kindsof things she remembers her mothermaking, like stuffed pork chops or abubbling pot of chicken and noodles.“I think we need comfort right now,”she says, “and food is comfort.”Unavoidably, these home-cookeddishes come with a side of stress. We’retrying to protect ourselves fromgerms at the grocery store, and maywonder whether supermarket shelveswill become emptier in the comingweeks. But those worries are encour-aging people to get creative by tryingnew ingredients and sharing advice onhow to use unfamiliar vegetables orcuts of meat bought out of necessity.

What can you do with the cannedfoods that have been idling since lastyear at the back of your kitchen cab-

inets? Facebook groups like PandemicPantry have sprouted up as gatheringplaces for strangers to share advice.

Michael Volpatt, owner of thegourmet Big Bottom Market inSonoma County, California, tackledthe subject of canned goods on arecent installment of the impromptucooking show he began hosting fromhis kitchen on March 14. Scrollingthrough Facebook while gatheringingredients to make himself dinnerthat night, Volpatt noticed theFacebook “Live” button on his phonescreen. With his store closed, herealised it was a way to connect withfriends and customers, and not bealone while preparing his meal. “Heyeverybody,” his first broadcast began.“I’ve never done Facebook Live before.But I figured since I’m kind of stay-ing at home and going to do somecooking later on, you’re going to joinme.”

A growing audience now watch-es and comments nightly as he pre-pares everything from his mother’smarinara sauce to pot pies madewith his Big Bottom Market biscuitmix, which appeared on Oprah’sFavorite Things list in 2016. “It’sheartwarming,” Volpatt says, “and ittakes a lot of the awkwardness of thiswhole experience away.”

Returning to old recipes andlearning new ones can be both anecessity and a welcome distractionduring this strange time. “Cookingbrings back good memories,” Bierlysays, “like standing there at the poton my stove, cooking the spaghettiand thinking of when my motherused to do that.”

Food Network presidentCourtney White says her channelhas seen a double-digit ratingsincrease in the past week, as view-ers watch marathons of comfortfood-focused shows like Guy Fieri’s“Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”FoodNetwork.com has also had adouble-digit increase in visitors andpage views, White says. And manyof the channel’s chefs have beenbroadcasting informally from theirhome kitchens via social media,while viewers pepper them withquestions in real-time.

Alone at our stoves, we’re real-ising how good it can feel to makedinner from scratch by using just afew ingredients consciously andcarefully. Families are also gettingtheir kids involved.

“Now, more than ever, we hopeyou’ll find moments of peace whengathering around the dinner table,”the co-founders of the retail chainSavory Spice wrote in a website postto their customers over the weekend.“We hope you’ll find moments of joywhen preparing food with your lit-tle ones. We hope the simplicity ofa home cooked meal is a quietreprieve from the chaos outside.”

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Just about now, you might be tiredof cooking and eating what’s in

your refrigerator. We are all usedto asking what’s for dinner? Whatare we in the mood for — pizza,sushi, Mexican? And then going toa restaurant to get it.

Now, with the Coronavirusforcing many of us to stay homemore, it’s time to look at mealtimeand cooking at home a little differ-ently. Instead of asking, ‘What I amin the mood for?’ I am lookingmore closely in my pantry and myrefrigerator and letting my ingre-dients dictate what I make.

For example, a few months ago,I was lured to purchase a big bagof mixed unsalted nuts becausethey were labeled “Omega-3 NutMix.” I thought I would eat a hand-ful of “anti-oxidants” a day for myhealth but they have gone largelyuneaten. So, this week, I mixed upmy favourite sweet and savoryspices with both brown and whitesugar and made my baked Sugarand Spice Candied Nuts. Sure, thesugar adds a few more calories butnow they are a delicious and wel-come nibble instead of sittingunused in the pantry.

Likewise, I had a head of broc-coli in the refrigerator that need-ed cooking. I couldn’t bear thethought of steamed broccoli so Idecided to roast it simply with oliveoil and kosher salt at 400 degreesFahrenheit until the tips weredeeply caramelised. Broccoli isaddictive roasted this way, as is cau-liflower, and any leftovers are deli-cious the next day with a drizzle ofbalsamic vinegar and good olive oil.

If you have a pork tenderloin anda package of bacon in your fridgeor freezer, you can make a simpletwo-ingredient main dish. Abacon-wrapped pork tenderloindresses up your pork preparationwith few ingredients and only a lit-tle more effort. If the bacon is roomtemperature, it will stick to itself asyou overlap each piece and wrapthe tenderloin. I do this with beeftenderloin as well. The smokyflavour and fat of the centre-cutbacon both protects and bastes thelean meat as it roasts. I grill mineindirectly but you can roast it in an350 degree Fahrenheit oven set ona rack in a sheet pan. When thebacon-wrapped tenderloin is done,sprinkle it with your finishing saltand carve into thick slices to enjoythe benefit of the bacon crust.

Finally, while you are cookingdinner at home, think about eachmeal in simple terms: a main(usually an animal protein, or abean or hearty vegetable dish), agreen or other non-starchy veg-etable, and a starch. That menucombination is easy enough to pre-pare and still very satisfying.During this time of uncertainty,ease and comfort are equallyimportant. If you are making a stewor a pot of gumbo that has vegeta-bles and protein in it, all you needto add is a starch like rice or fresh,hot cornbread.

And enjoy the cooking. Afriend of mine at Traeger WoodFired Grills sent an email this weekand reminded me that “good foodequals good mood.” Pass it along!

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�� International OlympicCommittee (IOC) President Thomas Bachhas thanked India’s Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for his unflinching supportto the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which hasnow been shifted to 2021 because of theglobal coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to Modi, dated April 1, Bachsaid he was “grateful” to the Indian PrimeMinister for his support to the TokyoGames during the recent G20 Leaders’Summit which was held via video confer-ence in the wake of the pandemic.

“Please accept my sincere thanks forthe support you have given to the OlympicGames Tokyo 2020, expressed in theExtraordinary G20 Leaders’ SummitStatement, commending the InternationalOlympic Committee for contributing to the

containment of the COVID-19 virus,” Bachwrote in his letter.

“I am really grateful for your supportfor the Olympic Games and their unifyingrole, which the G20 Leaders’ Summit hadalready expressed at your meeting last yearin Osaka.”

The IOC chief firmly put his supportbehind Tokyo, saying despite the pandem-ic, the Japanese city is well-prepared to hostthe quadrennial Games.

“Given the great work having beendone by our Japanese partners and friends,Tokyo is the best-ever prepared Olympiccity.”

He is confident that with the supportof the global leaders, the Tokyo Games nextyear will be a grand success.

“Thanks to the excellent and trustfulcooperation we are enjoying, like from theG20 Leaders’ Summit, we are confident thatthese Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will bea great success,” Bach said.

“Like you, we are confident that theOlympic Games 2020 will be a symbol ofhuman resilience. They will again show theunity of humanity in all our diversity bybringing together the world’s best 11,000athletes from all 206 National OlympicCommittees and the IOC Refugee OlympicTeam.”

“As humankind currently finds itself ina dark tunnel, together with our Japanesepartners and friends we want to make theseOlympic Games a light at the end of thistunnel,” he added. PTI

�� :=��=��

Former England captainMichael Vaughan feels a

shortened five-week IndianPremier League leading upto the ICC World T20 inOctober and Novembercould be a feasible solutionif the current situation, inthe wake of COVID-19pandemic, is brought undercontrol by then.

While IPL has beenpostponed till April 15,there is very little chance ofa shortened tournament inMay as it might take monthsfor normalcy to return.

“Here’s a thought .. TheIPL is played for the 5

weeks leading up to theT20 World Cup in Oz .. Allplayers use it as the greatwarm up for the WC ..

Then the WC happens .. Soimportant for the game thatthe IPL takes place but alsothe WC,” Vaughan tweeted.

However if one goes byVaughan’s suggestion, itwould mean that he isexpecting IPL in theSeptember window in thelead upto the World T20which begins in Australiaon October 18.

In September, India aresupposed to play Asia Cupin the UAE which is goingto be hosted by the PakistanCricket Board. After theAsia Cup, England are sup-posed to come to India toplay three ODIs and threeT20Is.

“September is the timewhen there is monsoon inIndia. Mumbai will beunder water, there could be

steady rain in Chennai. It isa decision that can’t betaken that lightly,” a seniorBCCI official said.

There is a suggestion todo away with the ICCWorld T20 in October-November and hand thatslot to the BCCI for con-ducting of IPL but sourcesin ICC as well as BCCI feelsthat it’s too premature tocomment at the moment.

“You don’t know thesituation tomorrow. Letthere be a sign that thecurve is flattening and nor-malcy can return. That’swhen you start discussingoptions,” the BCCI sourcesaid.

�� A6#6&��

Pakistan head coachand chief selector

Misbah-ul-Haq hasadvised Umar Akmal tochange his attitude andsaid the senior batsmanneeds to show commit-ment towards the game tobecome a regular memberof the national team.

Misbah said whilethere was no doubt aboutUmar’s potential and tal-ent as a batsman but heneeds to reassess his pri-orities as a professionalcricketer.

“If Umar thinks hecan play in the same modeas he is today, it will be dif-ficult for him. He needs toshow total commitmentand focus to become aregular member of theside,” he told reportersvia video conference.

Umar, 29, earlier thisweek submitted his replyto a show cause noticeissued to him by thePakistan Cricket Boardfor breaching clauses ofthe Anti-Corruption codewhich pertains to notreporting an approach tospot fix during thePakistan Super League 5in February.

The PCB Security andVigilance wing suspendedUmar on the first day ofthe PSL on February 20for beaching the Anti-Corruption Code and last

month issued him a showcause notice. Umar appar-ently submitted his replyby the deadline of March31 and had reportedlyadmitted he made a mis-take by not reporting theapproach.

Misbah made it clearthat Umar could still givesome years to Pakistancricket but for that hewould need to showmore commitment anddiscipline.

“He also has to workvery hard on his fitnessand show everyone he isvery much interested inplaying for a long timefor Pakistan,” Misbahsaid.

�� The crisis caused by thecoronavirus pandemic will stop the“unhealthy” inflation of player wagesand transfer fees in football, BayernMunich chairman Karl-HeinzRummenigge wrote in an editorialpublished on Thursday.

“With every crisis comes anopportunity,” Rummenigge noted inBayern’s own club magazine. “For along time we have seen unhealthy

amounts of money paid in wages andtransfer fees. The coronavirus and thecrisis it is causing will at least put anend to this idea of ‘always more,everything more expensive andquicker than before’.”

He added: “Supply and demandwill regulate the market and helpestablish a new equilibrium”.

The reigning German championsare one of the world’s richest clubs

although they have been reluctant tosplash out on the kind of transfer feespaid by other top sides in Europe.

Their record transfer fee is the 80million euros ($87.3m) spent onFrance defender Lucas Hernandezfrom Atletico Madrid last year, someway short of the world record 222million euros paid by Paris Saint-Germain to Barcelona for Neymar in2017. AFP

�� 89��8:��

Former India openerGautam Gambhir on

Thursday lashed out atthose only celebratingMS Dhoni’s six to winthe 2011 World Cup,saying it was won by theentire team and not justone hit. India lifted theWorld Cup on April 2nine years ago.

“Dhoni finishes off instyle. A magnificentstrike into the crowd!India lift the World Cupafter 28 years!” thesewere Ravi Shastri’swords after Dhoni ledIndia to a win in the2011 World Cup final atthe Wankhede Stadium

with a humongous sixoff Sri Lanka pacerNuwan Kulasekara.

With that six, Dhonihad fulfilled the long-cherished dreams of bat-ting legend SachinTendulkar, who had allthe batting records to hisname in internationalcricket except his handsat the World Cup tro-phy. The Master Blasterhad waited 22 years tolift the trophy and onApril 2, 2011, his dreamwas finally fulfilled.

E S P N C r i c i n f o ,t h e r e f o r e ,tweeted “the

shot that sentmill ions of

Indians into jubila-tion” with a photo of

the moment.Gambhir, in his

reply, said: “Just ar e m i n d e r

@ESPNcricinfo: #world-cup2011 was won by

entire India, entireIndian team & all sup-port staff. High time

you hit your obses-sion for a SIX.”

The stylishleft-hander hadscored 97 whileDhoni, who hadpromoted himselfto No 4, smashed

an unbeaten 91 asIndia won by sixwickets.

“A World Cupwon by Indians, for

India & with India!”Gambhir latertweeted.

�� 89��8:��

Pressure is buildingup on the National

Rifle Association ofIndia (NRAI) to call offthe upcoming shootingWorld Cup in NewDelhi after the cancel-lation of the Munichedition owing to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The Delhi WorldCup, originally sched-uled to be held fromMarch 15-26, was post-poned barely four daysbefore the start of theevent.

It was then decid-ed to hold the tourna-

ment in two parts —Rifle and Pistol compe-titions from May 5-12,while Shotgun compe-titions from June 2-9.

However, withthe MunichWorld Cupbeing can-c e l l e d ,sources closeto the NRAIsaid the sport’sapex body in India isalso under pressure tofollow suit, consideringthe uncertainty arisingout of the unprece-dented health crisis.

“There is pressure,especially after the can-

cellation in Munich,which was to be heldafter Delhi. Given thatlockdowns are beingenforced not just inIndia, how will the

shooters preparefor an event like aWorld Cupnow,” a sourcesaid.

“Going bythe views of many

associated with thesport in India, the writ-ing is on the wall andthe NRAI would dowell to announce itnow rather than doingit much later,” anothersource added.

�� 89��8:��

India captain Virat Kohli onThursday said he became a bet-ter person by playing Test crick-

et, calling the format a representa-tion of life where one doesn’t havethe option of quitting when thegoing gets tough.

Speaking to former Englandbatsman and IPL teammate KevinPietersen during an Instagram Live,Kohli touched upon his passion forTest cricket, the worst phase of hiscareer, how he turned into a veganand how much he is filled with grat-itude for being able to live a comfort-able life during a global crisis likeCOVID-19.

Asked which is his favourite for-mat, the Indian skipper emphatical-ly replied: “Test cricket, Test crick-et, Test cricket, Test cricket and Testcricket. I have said it five times.”

“Because it is the representationof life. Whether you get runs or not,you have to clap when others are bat-ting. You have to go back to yourroom, get up and come the next day.

“You have to follow the routinewhether you like it or not. It’s like lifewhere you don’t have the option ofnot competing. Test cricket hasmade me a better person,” saidworld’s premier batsman, who has 27hundreds and 7240 runs in 86games.

Pietersen, a superb Test batsmanhimself, lauded Kohli for trashing theidea of four-day Tests which the ICChas floated to pull in more crowds.

“I was called for a debate and Itold them that if Virat Kohli does-n’t want four day Tests, it’s not hap-

pening,” the former England captainsaid as Kohli had a hearty laugh.

His aggressive on-fielddemeanour has polarised opinionsbut the Indian skipper feels that forhim, aggression is a form of enjoy-

ment and then comes thinkingabout strategy.

“I don’t think I need to behavemyself just because I am the captain.I need to be abe to enjoy and thencomes strategy.”

But there is one guy he will neversledge in his life and that is AB deVilliers, for the simple reason thatthere is just too much of respect.

“IPL has done a lot in terms ofrespecting each other. I would never

ever be able to do it (seldging) withAB. There is a friendship that lastsmuch longer than all these things.”

In fact, asked to choose two bats-men he enjoys batting with most, DeVilliers is one of them along with for-mer skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“I enjoy batting with those whounderstand my running between thewickets. You have to understand mycalls. I have enjoyed batting with MSand with AB, we don’t even need tocall as we look at each other and weknow.”

Kohli also spoke about theIndian cricket team being one of thebest fielding sides in the world andhow he got that culture in the side.

“I was lucky to be in the centreof transition. I got to see what wewere lacking and what the world wasdoing and we needed to catch up. SoI was lucky to play with players whowere on same page,” Kohli said.

The pair also went down mem-ory lane to talk about their days play-ing together for Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB) in 2009 and 2010.

“Right from 2009-10 we hadamazing fun at RCB. We hit off wellfrom Day 1. You came in as the bigKP a star. We had a gun team withKallis, Boucher, Anil Kumble, RahulDravid,” Kohli said.

RCB have reached three finalsbut have never won an IPL. Kohli,as captain of the side, said he feelsthey deserved a title but added heis not obsessed to win one with thefranchise.

“We have reached three finalsbut haven’t won. We deserve to wina title. At RCB, we get talked aboutso much as we had stars. The more

you think (about winning theIPL), the more it keeps runningaway from you. There have beenadded pressure lately but we needto just enjoy and not take pressure.”

As he had said earlier, hewould like to play all formats till2023 and then take a call, he reit-erated that the 2014 tour ofEngland was the lowest point of hiscareer when he felt that failure wasinevitable.

“It was a phase where I felt thatthere was no chance of me gettingany runs. I would get up and go toa match knowing that I will not get

runs. To go through that feelingthat you will fail demolished me.

“I promised never to let thathappen to me again,” he said witha message for all youngsters whowant to be the next Virat Kohli.

The reason for the disaster inEngland was putting himself aheadof the team and being “obsessedabout his own game and success”and not being able to shut out thevoices who spoke about success inEngland being the ultimate Test ofa cricketer.

“Don’t be self centred,” was hismessage to the youngsters.

$��The Belgian footballleague has recommended thatthe current season be declaredfinished early due to the coro-navirus pandemic with the pre-sent table accepted as final, itsaid on Thursday, becoming thefirst European league to takesuch a measure.

The decision is set to be for-mally validated at a GeneralAssembly on April 15, meaningthat Club Brugge would bedeclared champions as theycurrently sit 15 points clear ofGent at the top of the table.

In a statement, the BelgianPro League said it was “veryunlikely” to be able to holdmatches in front of crowdsbefore June 30 and that it had“unanimously decided that itwas not desirable...to continuethe competition” after that date.

Matches behind closeddoors were “theoretically pos-sible”, but the league said it pre-ferred not to put more pressureon health services and police inthe circumstances. It thereforeagreed not to restart the seasonand “accept the current leaguetable as final”.

Belgium — whose nation-al team top the FIFA world

rankings — would become thefirst European league to takesuch a measure due to theongoing health crisis, which sawfootball across the continentgrind to a complete halt in themiddle of March.

The Belgian season stoppedwith one round of gamesremaining in the 30-match reg-ular season.

After that the league usual-ly splits up, with the top six hav-ing their points totals halvedand going on to play each otherhome and away to decide thetitle winners. AFP

�� %�� Reigning world andOlympic all-around gymnastics cham-pion Simone Biles says coping with themental strain of waiting another yearfor the Tokyo Olympics will take aheavy toll by 2021.

Biles, who turned 23 last month,told the Today show on US Olympictelecaster NBC that she expects coach-es will have her in top condition, butgetting her mind in top shape in Julya year later than planned will be dif-ficult.

“Physically I have no doubt thatmy coaches will get me back in shape,”Biles said. “But mentally going anoth-er year, I think that’s what’s going totake a toll on me and all of us, mostof the athletes.

“So we have to stay in shape men-tally as much as physically, and that willplay a big factor moving forward, lis-tening to your body and your mind.”

Biles told the Wall Street Journalshe was planning to retire after the

Tokyo Olympics this year and is play-ing next year’s Games “by ear.”

Biles won all-around, vault, floorand team Gold at the 2016 RioOlympics and owns five all-aroundworld titles among her 19 world titlessince 2013. AFP

�� Spanish footballgiants FC Barcelona couldpart ways with AntoineGriezmann in order tobring back Neymar fromPSG, according to a SkySports report.

Barelona have longwanted to bring Brazil for-ward back into their foldafter he left them to joinFrench side in 2018.

PSG value Neymar at�150m while Barca valueGriezmann at �100m, saysreport quoted by ESPNFC.

France World Cupwinner Griezmann has notbeen at his best form in hisfirst season in Spain andselling him could aid the

Lionel Messi-led side fundtheir summer spending.

Barca seem deter-mined to sell Griezmanneven if PSG don’t agree tothe deal, though the cur-

rent market might preventsuch hefty deals from hap-pening, given how manyclubs are struggling finan-cially as a result of the coro-navirus outbreak, thereport further said.

Meanwhile, Brazilianmidfielder Willian hasrevealed that he is likely toleave Chelsea this sum-mer after seven years withthe PL club.

Willian, whose con-tract with the Blues expiresin June, said he is open tooffers from other clubsafter talks about a newdeal broke down.

“I have a beautifulstory at Chelsea. I have a

great relationship with thefans and everybody at theclub. But my contract isending and it’s going to bedifficult,” the 31-year-oldwas quoted as saying byBrazilian news service Uol.

“Chelsea offered me(a contract of) two years. Iasked for three and theysaid it was impossible. Idon’t know if they canchange their mind but,with the end of my currentcontract, I’m free to nego-tiate with any team.”

Willian has made 329first-team appearances forChelsea since joining themfrom Anzhi Makhachkalain August 2013. AFP

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��$�� Ace India cricketer RohitSharma on Wednesday roastedRishabh Pant after he came to

know that the young wicketkeep-er-batsman wants to challengehim in hitting the biggest six.

During an Instagram Livesession, Jasprit Bumrah told Rohitthat Pant wants to challenge himto see who can hit the biggest sixbetween the two.

In reply, the Indian openerplayed down the challenge inhilarious manner, saying: “Meresath usko karna hai? ek saal huanahi usko cricket khelke, chhakkeka competition kar rha hai (Hewants to compete against me? Hehas played cricket for hardly ayear and wants to have a compe-tition).”

Rohit has so far hit 423 sixesin international cricket in 346matches whereas Pant has hit 47maximums in 56 games he hasplayed for India so far. IANS

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