journalism of couragebombaychamber.com/admin/uploaded/news block/20052020-bcci... · 2020-05-20 ·...

Dear friends & fellow members,

Government/Municipal Hospitals, a lot of members have come forward.

the below mentioned Government/Municipal Hospitals on one hand & their empanelled vendors on the other to ensure that the right & much needed equipment & consumables were delivered to these hospitals.

List of hospitals facilitated by the Chamber:

As the COVID-19 cases are only increasing, we would once again request our esteemed members to continue contributing in every possible way.

NEFT Details: : Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Bank Name : State Bank of India Bank Address : Horniman Circle, Mumbai Main Branch, Mumbai Samachar Marg,FortAccount Type : Current AccountAccount No. : 10996680930IFSC Code : SBIN0000300 In order to continue serving our members, Bombay Chamber has been regularly uploading its website with information on

Government/other Regulatory Authorities on COVID-19, including relating to employment.

On behalf of the Bombay Chamber team, I wish you and your families a stay safe during the lock-in.

Warm Regards,V. S. ParthasarathyPresident-Bombay Chamber of Commerce & IndustryPresident-Mobility Service Sector, Mahindra Group & Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd

Hospital Type Description (* in process) Cost/Value B.Y.L. Nair Hospital Consumable *3 Ply Surgical Mask `12.8 lakhs

PPE kits Equipment *ICU Beds

JJ Hospital Consumable 3 Ply Surgical Mask & Face Shields `17.1 lakhsSanitizer

Equipment Mobile Digital X-rayKasturba Hospital Consumable 3 Ply Surgical Mask & Face Shields `15.4 lakhs

SanitizerEquipment Auto Bio Chemistry Analyzer

*CoagulometerKEM Hospital Consumable PPE kits `2.8 lakhsSion Hospital Consumable PPE kits `2.8 lakhs NMMC Vashi Hospital Consumable 3 Ply Surgical Mask & Face Shields `10.9 lakhs

PPE kitsSanitizer

Equipment*Video Laryngoscope

Total ` Lakhs (approx.) `61.8 lakhs

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

`̀ 110 per kilo

`̀ 138 per kilo

`̀ 171 per kilo

`̀ 50 per Dozen

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY19

AT THE epicentre of Covid-19pandemicinIndia,MaharashtraonTuesday reclassified its lock-down zones, easing curbs for alarge part of the state. The re-visedguidelineswillkickinfromMay22.Asperthelatestdemarcation,

Mumbaiand17othermunicipalcorporations areas – includingPune, Solapur, Aurangabad,Malegaon,Nashik,Dhule,Jalgaon,Akola andAmravati –which to-gether account for 34,383 cases,will remain in the red zone. Therest of the state has now beentaggedas“non-redzones”whereeconomic activities can resumeinabigway.Even within the Mumbai

MetropolitanRegion (MMR), ar-eas outsidemunicipal corpora-tionareas,arenolongerintheredzone andwill see resumption ofeconomicactivities.Chief SecretaryAjoyMehta’s

ordersimilarlystatedthat locali-tiesoutsidethemunicipalcorpo-ration areas of Pune, Solapur,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

RED ZONESALLOWED

Liquorshops,restaurantsonlyforhomedeliveryFour-wheelerswithtwopassengers(essentialservices)

■Two-wheelerswithnopillionrider (essentialservices)■E-commerce(all items)■Courierandpostalservices■Urban insituconstruction■Essentialservicesshops■Non-essentialshops&mallsopenfrom9amto5pm,butonlyformaintenancework

NOTALLOWEDMetro,schools,colleges,hotels,privateoffices■Anyactivity in

containmentzones■Religiousgatherings,spa,saloons,swimmingpools■Rickshaws,taxis,app-basedrides

Maharashtra’s hotspotsdown to Mumbai, areasunder 17 civic bodies

Hundredsofmigrantworkers turnedupatBandraTerminus inMumbaiTuesdayfollowingrumours thatRailwayswouldrunanadditional traintonorth India.GaneshShirsekar PAGE3

PAGE1ANCHOR In Mumbai slums, signs of exodus: locked doors, empty lanes

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

FINANCINGTHESTIMULIBYCHRISTOPHEJAFFRELOTANDVIHANGJUMLEPAGE10

ONCASHTRANSFERS,SAYSGOVTTHOUGHTABOUT IT

SUNNYVERMA&PVAIDYANATHANIYERNEWDELHI,MAY19

TWODAYSafterannouncingthefifth and final tranche of the Rs20lakhcroreAtmaNirbharpack-age, Union Finance MinisterNirmalaSitharamanTuesday,re-sponding to a question on thepossibilityofdeficitmonetisation(in simple terms, printing cur-rency),saidthatshehadanopenmind. And that shewould seri-

ouslybeginworkonexpenditurerationalisation given that thegovernment’srevenueislikelytobe severely hit because of thepandemicandthe lockdown.“I have to be ready (going

ahead)...because no one knowshow this is going to turn out,howthisisgoingtoend,howthisis going to withdraw. So obvi-ously I have to be ready, I can’tfinishmy story with these an-nouncements,”SitharamantoldThe Indian Express in an inter-view. She was responding to a

questiononwhetherthegovern-mentwaspreservingthespend-ing firepower for future.She said given the nature of

the pandemic, she had to bereadyat all timesbecausemorethan10monthswereleftforthefinancial year2020-21 toclose.When asked if deficit mon-

etisation was on her table,Sitharaman said: “... I have keptmyself open, aswe go, we haveto see how things develop. Doyouordoesanyoneforthatmat-ter knowhow this pandemic is

going to pan out? Or has itstarted retracting... Then can Iguess it will be all over byDecember, then there is a pointinmesayingthatall right,nowIhavetothinkabout that.Butwedon’tevenknowif ithasstartedretractingyetandwehave10fullmonthstogo.So IhavetowatchasIgoandbereadyforanything.So I have said this now, I amreadyingmyself foranything.”In an earlier interview to

Cogencis,awireagency,onAprilCONTINUEDONPAGE2

SC extendsprotection forArnab, rejectsCBI probe pleaANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI,MAY19

“INDIA’S FREEDOMSwill restsafe as long as journalists canspeaktruthtopowerwithoutbe-ingchilledbyathreatofreprisal”and “free citizens cannot existwhenthenewsmediaischainedto adhere to one position,” theSupremeCourtsaidonTuesday.The court confirmed its in-

terimorderquashingallbutoneFIR against Republic TV Editor-in-Chief ArnabGoswami over aTVshowonApril21,whereinhequestioned Congress presidentSonia Gandhi over the lynchingof twosadhusandtheirdriver inPalghar inMaharashtra.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Chinese bringmore boats tolake in Ladakh,Indians a roadSUSHANTSINGHNEWDELHI,MAY19

TWOWEEKS after Indian andChinese troops came to blowsnearPangongTso,a lakeineast-ern Ladakh, the Chinese havesteppeduppatrolsanddeployedmoreboatsonthelake.Theyarealso objecting to Indian con-struction of a vehicle track, andpatrolsbeyondacertainpoint.The tensions in Ladakh, offi-

cials said, canworsen the situa-tionelsewherealongtheLineofActualControl.ThenumberofChinesepatrol

boats, sources told The IndianExpress,havegoneupthreetimes— they had earlier been usingonly three boats. The IndianArmyalsohas a similar numberof boats todominate the45-kmlongwesternportionof the lakewhich isunder Indiancontrol.“Nearlyone-thirdofChinese

transgressions in the westernsector (of the LAC) happen inPangongTso.Notonlyhavetheysubstantiallyincreasedthenum-berofboatsonthelake,theirpa-trollingbehaviourisincreasingly

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

DEEPTIMANTIWARY,AVISHEKGDASTIDAR&SANTOSHSINGHNEWDELHI, PATNA,MAY19

ASTHECentrepushedtooperatemore ‘ShramikSpecial’ trains forstrandedmigrantworkers, theBihar government said onTuesdaythatitwouldbringbackover 20 lakhmigrants, in about800trains,overthenextfewdays.“From now on, 100 specials

trainswillrundailytobringbackmigrantstoBihar.Afteranagree-ment between Bihar and theCentral government, altogether800 trainswill operate to bringback over 20 lakh migrants,”Bihar Deputy Chief MinisterSushilKumarModi tweeted.Since the beginning of the

lockdown, over 8 lakhmigrantworkershave returned toBihar.State government officials have

saidtheydon’thaveadequatefa-cilities for testing or quarantin-ingsuchhugenumbers.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SHAJUPHILIP&ABANTIKAGHOSHTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,NEWDELHI,MAY19

AFTER A lull of nearly threeweeks,Keralaadded139Covid-19 cases in the last 10 days butthe government has ruled outcommunity spread of the virusbased on random testing doneon5,630samples,ofwhichonlyfour testedpositive.After his daily reviewmeet-

ing, Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan told themedia that thestate had tested 5,630 samples

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,MAY19

HIZBUL MUJAHIDEEN com-mander Junaid Sehrai, son ofseparatist leader MohammadAshraf Sehrai, and an associatewere killed in a gunbattle withpoliceandparamilitaryforcesinSrinagaronTuesday.His killing is the secondma-

jorsetback for theHizbwithinafortnight — its operations chiefRiyazAhmadNaikoo,oneof themost wanted militants in theValley,was killed in a gunbattlewith security forces in SouthKashmironMay6.J&KDGPDilbag Singh told a

press conference: “Junaid wasthedivisionalcommanderoftheHizbulMujahideen. Hewas as-

signed the task of heading thecentralKashmirareas.”“He would hold meetings

with theyouthand lure themtomilitancy.Hewaswantedinmul-tiplecriminalcases,”Singhsaid.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Housesdamagedingun-fight indowntownSrinagarTuesday. ShuaibMasoodi

LOCKDOWNDAY

56

CONCERNODISHA: Growingat a fast rate.

Doubling time lessthan six days.

CAUTIONMADHYA

PRADESH: Slowgrowth rate, buttest numbers low.

A GLIMMERTRIPURA: No newcases for 3 days.Spread in BSF

camp under control.

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Gujarat■Delhi■TamilNadu■Rajasthan■WestBengal

TOTALCASES35,05811,74610,55411,7605,3942,825

DOUBLINGRATE**12.1115.4715.2312.7314.9815.68

SURGEIN24HRS2,005366500536304148

7-DAYAVG.GROWTH*

5.94%4.66%4.73%5.65%4.81%4.59%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:1,01,139

RECOVERED:39,173 |DEATHS:3,163TESTS:24,04,267 |DOUBLINGRATE: 13.75**

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

BasedondailydatabyCentre, ICMR, stategovernments

THOUGHTABOUTBIGGERCASHTRANSFERSBUTFORHOWMANY,HOWMUCH?NIRMALA SITHARAMANUNIONFINANCEMINISTER

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

P8

Westartedrationalising

expenditure prior toCovid, and even bythat time,wewerelooking at the economy.It neededmore push,we could see the greenshoots but still you hadto do a lotmore. Now Iwill be doing it all themore seriously.

Toomanyunknowns, I have to be ready, I can’tfinishmystorywith these announcements: FMSitharamansayssheisopentodeficitmonetisation,won’thazardguessonwheregrowthisheaded

Another setback for Hizb:Junaid, son of a separatist,killed in Srinagar gunbattle

BESIDESTHErisingnum-bersofCovidcasesandthehighpositivityrateamongreturningmi-grants,statessuchasBiharandUPfaceanotherchal-lenge:shortageofhealth-carehumanresources.Thesestatesareamongsevenwherethenumbersofhealthcarepersonnelperlakhpopulationarelowerthantheall-Indianumberof333,dataoncovidwarriors.gov.inshow.

Highcaseload,poorhealth infraE●EX

PLAINED

Only four of 5,630 randomsamples positive in Kerala;India tests a lakh in a day

Bihar says 20 lakh toreturn, Centre plansShramik train surge

KAVITHAIYER&SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,MAY19

ACROSSMUMBAI’Sdenseshan-tytowns, where the relentlessstreams of walking migrantworkersoriginate, theexodus isbeginningtoleavewhatwillbealastingmarkformonthstocome.There are padlocks on un-

steady doors, threadbare bed-ding rolls stacked behind thedownedshuttersofsweatshops,and a sudden hush in the alley-ways. Unofficial estimates pegthe number of working classMumbaikars who have left the

city since the imposition of thelockdown — either on foot orhitching rides or aboard busesand the Railways’ specialShramik trains—at6 to8 lakh.That is only a fraction of the

financial capital’s slumpopula-tion of over 60 lakh—but thereare, for the first timeever, entirelanes of empty homes in theslums. As the exodus continuesatthestartof thefourthphaseofthe lockdown, the silence in thegulleys of Dharavi, Mandala,ShivajiNagar, ShastriNagar, andMalvanicoulddeepen.“About a quarter of the peo-

plehaveleft,or20percentinanycase,” saysMohammedUmarof

JantaNagarand IndiraNagar, to-gether comprisingabout22,000homes in the eastern suburb ofGovandi.“Thenakaswherework-ersgatheredoftenevenafter thelockdownwasimposedarenowcompletelysilent,”hesays.The ‘naka-workers’, called

thus for the road corners fromwherelabourcontractorscollectthem,aredaily-wage labourers.“Some cried for days before fi-nallyleaving,pennilessanddes-perate,”Umaradds.In Shastri Nagar of Bandra

West and in Dhorwada inDharavi, too, the locked roomsstand out. The lanes of theseslums are far from empty

though,with population densi-ties among the highest any-where in theworld.“There are four factories in

my lane, and about 80 to 100people have left from these fac-tories alone,” says Gulzar Khan,a trader of denim goods inDharavi. The units, tiny spaceswithsewingmachines linedup,weregarmentanddenimgoodssweatshopsduring theday, anddormitoriesbynight.Kalamuddin, another resi-

dent of Dharavi, says the ‘bissis’or mess arrangements, whereworkerscouldeattwiceadayathomes in the locality at a fixedmonthly rate, had to close op-

erations, directly impactingfood availability for tens ofthousandsof singlemenwork-ing in the slum’s dozens of in-dustries. “They’ve all left. Afterall,howlongcantheylineupforfood?”According to Kalamuddin,

nearly70to80percentof thosewholeftfromDharavi,asprawl-ing slumof nearly 8.5 lakhpeo-ple packed into a geographicalarea of 2.4 sq km, were singlemen of all ages, with impover-ished families in Bihar, UttarPradesh, and Jharkhand.Just outside the slum, near

Sion station and alongWesternCONTINUEDONPAGE2

Themigrantexodus fromMumbaiandThane,mainly toUP,MadhyaPradesh,andBihar,hasbeenmassive.Deepak Joshi

AASHISHAARYAN&PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,MAY19

IT’SNOTjustlayoffsandreducedoperations.Frombankstostart-ups, the nearly three-month-long Covid lockdown, and thepush for employees to workfromhome, is forcingCorporateIndia to vacate commerciallyleasedspaces, too.Food-techplatformZomato,

whichrecentlyasked13percentof itsworkforcetosearchfornewjobs,hasalsodecidedtoshut125ofover150officesworldwide.Itsrival Swiggy has decided to layoff 1,100 people, in addition toscaling down on kitchen facili-tiesandoffice infrastructure.Private-sector lender

IndusIndBank is learnt tohavevacatedoneof itsprominently-located leased office spaces inMumbai, with plans to bring

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Lockdown squeeze, work-from-home:several companies vacate office space

Co-workingspacessuchasthis inDelhi, areemptyingout. For representationonly

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DecodingthenumbersofCOVID-19NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

In today’sepisodeof3Thingswelookatdecodingthemanydatapoints thathaveemergedduringtheCOVID-19pandemicandtheproblemsMumbai faces indealingwiththepandemic

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IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

MaharashtraAurangabad, Malegaon,

Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akolaand Amravati now fall in thenon-redzonecategory.Maharashtra has so far seen

37,136 cases and 1,325 deaths.On May 17, the Union HomeMinistry, while announcingrules for the fourthphaseof thelockdown, had given states thepower to delineate red, green,andorangezonesasper thesit-uation in their respectiveareas.But as far as resumption of

activities isconcerned, thestategovernmenthasdecidedagainstmakinganydistinctionbetweenorange and green zones. Theyhave together been clubbed asnon-redzones.OnMay2,whenthenotifica-

tion was issued for lockdown3.0, 14 districts inMaharashtrawere categorised as red zones.Of these, Nagpur, Yavatmal,SataraandPalghar(withtheex-ceptionofVasai-VirarMunicipalCorporationarea)districtshavenowbeenexcludedfromthelist.In Pune district, the Pimpri-Chinchwad MunicipalCorporation has also been ex-cluded fromtheredzone.With this, barringMumbai

and 17 other civic body areas,lockdowncurbs have consider-ablybeenliftedacrossthestate.While retaining most of thecurbs in red zones, the govern-menthasalsopermittede-com-merceoperatorstodelivernon-essential goods.In the non-red zones, the

government has permitted allmarkets and shops to remainopen from 9 pm to 5 pm. “Thetime slot has been imposed toensurestaggeringofthecrowd,”said a senior official. Intra-dis-trict bus transport can also re-sumewith50percentcapacity.Mehta’s order, however,

stated that an independent or-derregardinginter-districttravelwould laterbe issued. “Aplan isbeing readied. It will soon besent for the chief minister’s ap-proval. One option is to permitinter-district travel only be-tween non-red zones with 50percentcapacity.Butwithmanypeople in the red zones travel-ling to their native villageswithin the statewithout beingeffectivelymonitored, an alter-nate plan of allowing limitednumber of services even fromred zones is under considera-tion,” saida source in the trans-portdepartment.Further, all forms of private

transport – two-wheelers,three-wheelers(rickshaws),andfour-wheelers–havebeenper-mitted.While only personwillbeallowedto travelonabikeorascooter,rickshawandcarswillbe permitted to ferry two per-sonsbesides thedriver.All public open spaces, in-

cluding sports complexes andstadia,canremainopenforindi-vidual exercises in non-redzones, but no group activity orspectators will be allowed.Mehta has specifically directedcollectorsandcivicchiefsnot tomake changes to these guide-lineswithouthisapproval.“Theideaistohaveauniform

exitplan.Inthelastphase,somedistrictcollectorsandmunicipalcommissionershadunilaterallytakendecisions regardingwhattoallowandwhatnottointheirregions,” saidanofficial.AspertheCentre’sdirectives,

a night curfewwill be in placeacrossMaharashtra,prohibitingmovement of individuals be-tween7pmand7am.Most of the curbs will con-

tinue in the red zones. Butwiththemonsoon approaching, thegovernmenthaspermittedpub-lic and private pre-monsoonworkseven in redzones.While the government had

previouslypermittedrestartingconstructionwork only in caseofexistingprojectswherework-erswereavailable, thisriderhasnow been lifted. “All construc-tionsitescannowremainopen,”

an official said. From Tuesday,the government has alsorestartedregistrarofficesforreg-istration of property transac-tions.Shops, malls, private offices

will remain shut in the redzones,but thestatehaspermit-ted these establishments toopenshuttersfrom9amto5pmfor the “purpose of upkeep ormaintenance of material, plantandmachinery, furniture pro-tectionandotherpre-monsoonactivities”. Even housing soci-etieshavebeenpermittedtoun-dertakepre-monsoonworks.Taxiandrickshawscontinue

to remain prohibited in redzones, while private cars canferry only two people besidesthedriver for essential services.Governmentoffices in redzonewill also be permitted to per-formonlyat5percentcapacity,while these can resume at 100percentcapacityelsewhere.Futher, the government has

directedallemployerstoensurethat Aarogya Setu App is in-stalledbyall employees.The Brihanmumbai

Municipal Corporation is yet tocomeoutwith its set of regula-tionstoregulatethefunctioningof shops inMumbai.

GunbattlePolice sources said theyhad

been tracking Junaid for sometime now, and the efforts wereintensified after the killing ofNaikoo.Thirty-year-old Junaid,

sources said,movedtoSrinagarfromSouthKashmir recently totryandsetupaHizbbase.On Monday night, a joint

team of J&K Police SpecialOperationsGroupandCRPFcor-donedoff theNawakadalneigh-bourhoodinoldSrinagarfollow-ing intelligence about thepresence of Junaid and anothermilitant in thearea.Themilitants,policesources

said,openedfirewhenthe jointteam approached the housewhere they had taken shelter.Therewasapauseinthegunbat-tle, but it resumed Tuesdaymorning. Security forces laterblewupthehouse—theadjoin-inghousestooweredamaged—andthebodiesof Junaidandhisassociate, Tariq Ahmad Sheikhof Pulwama,were recovered.At least four personnel, in-

cluding three of the CRPF,wereinjured in theoperation.Junaid’s father is separatist

leader Mohammad AshrafSehrai who heads the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, foundedbySyedAliShahGeelani.InMarch 2018, five days af-

ter his father took over as chiefof Tehreek-e-Hurriyat fromGeelani, Junaid joined themili-tant ranks.

ArnabRuling on a clutch of peti-

tions, a Bench of Justices D YChandrachudandMRShahsaid“all other FIRs in respect of thesameincidentconstituteaclearabuse of process andmust bequashed”.The SC said Goswami could

approachtheHighCourttoavailof further remedies, and ex-tended the protection from ar-rest for threemoreweeks.The court said that “Article

32 of the Constitution consti-tutesarecognitionof theconsti-tutionaldutyentrusted”init“toprotect the fundamental rightsof citizens” andadded that “theexerciseof journalistic freedomliesatthecoreofspeechandex-pression protected by Article19(1)(a)”.“The petitioner is a media

journalist.Theairingofviewsontelevisionshowswhichhehostsis in the exercise of his funda-mental right to speech and ex-pressionunderArticle19(1)(a)”,theBenchsaid.The Bench, however, added

that“theexerciseof that funda-mentalright isnotabsoluteandisanswerabletothelegalregimeenacted with reference to the

provisionsofArticle19(2).Buttoallowajournalisttobesubjectedtomultiple complaints and tothepursuitof remediestravers-ingmultiplestatesandjurisdic-tions when facedwith succes-siveFIRsandcomplaintsbearingthe same foundation has a sti-flingeffectontheexerciseofthatfreedom”.“This”, itsaid“willeffectively

destroy the freedomof the citi-zentoknowoftheaffairsofgov-ernance in the nation and theright of the journalist to ensurean informedsociety”.ThecourtrecalledIsraelihis-

torian Yuval Noah Harari’swords that “questions you can-notanswerareusuallyfarbetterfor you than answers you can-notquestion”.The court said that any rea-

sonable restriction on funda-mental rights “must comportwith the proportionality stan-dard, of which one componentis that the measure adoptedmust be the least restrictivemeasure to effectively achievethe legitimatestateaim”.The court turned down

Goswami’s plea toquasha sub-sequent FIR in connectionwithanotherTVshowonApril29,re-garding his comments on themigrant commotion outsideBandrastationonApril 14.Goswami had sought trans-

ferof theprobetoCBIstatinghewas interrogated for nearly 12hours, that theCFOof thechan-nel was also questioned, andthat irrelevant questions wereput to them.Healso contendedthatsincehehadlevelledallega-tions against the state govern-ment’s failure to adequatelyprobe the Palghar case, therewas a conflict of interest in al-lowingMumbaiPoliceto inves-tigate thecase.But the court said that the

“power”totransferaninvestiga-tion to CBI is “extraordinary”,and is to be used “sparingly...inexceptional circumstances”.

Ladakhmore aggressive. It is not ahealthy thing when you con-siderwhathasbeengoingonintheFingerAreasincelateApril,”sources said.Themountainson the lake’s

northern bank jut forward inmajor spurs, which the Armycalls Fingers. India claims theLAC is co-terminuswith Finger8, while the Chinese claim thattheLACpassesthroughFinger2.Theareabetweenthetwodiffer-ing perceptions is the territorywhichbotharmies try todomi-natethroughregularpatrolling.While there have been ten-

sions about the limits of pa-trolling by the two sides on thenorthernbanksof PangongTso,sourcessaidtheChinese“force-fully insisted a couple of daysbackthattheIndianpatrolsstopatFinger2”.Since the Indians physically

control the area up to Finger 4,this was a “provocativemove”by the Chinese following the“disengagement” after a physi-cal altercation between troopsofbothsidesnearFinger5onthenightofMay5-6.The Chinese, sources said,

havebeenobjectingtoconstruc-tionofavehicletrackbyIndiansin thesamearea.WhileChinesesoldierspatrol

theareainlightvehiclesonamo-torable roadbuilt in 1999whenIndiawasbusyevictingPakistanisfrom the Kargil heights, Indiansoldiers patrol on foot till theirperceptionof theLAC.“Yes, tensions have been

high.Wearedoingconstructionin our area. Also, the Chineseroad is rather narrow and hasvery few turning points. So,whenourpatrolschallengetheirpatrols andask themtogobackfrom our area, they physicallycannotturntheirvehiclesanditleads to more acrimony,”sources said.“There is a situation on the

LAC in the Hot Springs sector,

whichisanITBPsector.AnArmycompany hadmoved closer toPP14 and PP15 in 2015 after aminor incident, but this has al-ways been a settled area be-tween us and the Chinese. It isworthconsideringif theChineseposture there is linked to inci-dents at Pangong Tso, just asDepsangwas linked toChumarin2013,” sources said.InNewDelhi, Armyofficers,

however, maintained that theincidents in Pangong Tso are“typical LAC activitywitnessedduring summermonths”when“some newunits have been in-ducted”and“operationalfamil-iarisation and occupation ofwinter-vacated posts” takeplace. They called these inci-dents “localised” in nature dueto “different perception of theLACbythe twosides”.

Office spacedown lease-rents. Health andwellness platform Curefit, too,laid off around 800 employeesandpermanentlyclosedanum-berofitscentrestomanagecosts.According to a survey by IT

sectorindustrybodyNASSCOM,30-40% of over 250 start-upshave either temporarily haltedoperationsorareclosingdown.Zomato CEO Deepinder

Goyalwrote inane-mail sent toemployees that other thanpay-roll,thecompany’sbiggestrecur-ringexpensewasrealestate.Hesaidthecompanyhasdecidedtomake partial or full work fromhomea“permanent feature”.“The management has re-

alisedthatworkfromhomeisaneasily workable solution andthus office spaces is one areawhere costs could be cut. So anumber of office spaceswill nolonger be retained,” a companyexecutivetoldTheIndianExpress.When contacted, Zomato de-clinedtocommentontheissue.Swiggy,too,pointedoutthat

ithadalreadybeguntheprocessofscalingdownitskitchenfacil-

ities temporarily or perma-nently.SwiggyCEOSriharshaMajety

wroteinanemailtoemployees:“Identifyandsignificantlyreduceevery single indirect cost likehubs, office infrastructure, etc...it is one of the areaswherewefeelthecutismostprudentgivenitdoesn’taffectcustomerorem-ployeeexperience.”Bengaluru-based business-

to-businessonlinemarketplaceUdaanislearnttohavelaidoffasmany as 2,000 contractual em-ployees from sales, marketing,anddailyoperationsteams.Thecompany is also learnt to havesuspended its operations andvacated some of the officespaces it had leased on flexiblepaymentsmodels.Similarly, a Pune-based

cloudkitchencompanyhasshutdownor scaledbackmost of itsbackroomstoresandaskedem-ployeesattheselocationstotakeunpaid leave until further in-structions.The net absorption of office

spacesinIndia,whichwitnesseda steep on-year fall in January-March2020—thefirstfall inthemetricobservedsincethesameperiod in 2017 following de-monetisation—isexpectedtobehit further by significantlyscaled-downoperations intechcompaniesandtheshifttowardsworking fromhome.A number of companies in

the IT services sector,whichac-counts for the highest share incommercial leasing across thecountry,haveadoptedthework-from-home policy as a part oftheir business continuityplans.Some smaller companies andstart-ups have also reducedphysicalinfrastructureasopera-tionshaveshrunk.Some of the larger IT sector

firms are also looking at imple-mentingwork from home as along-termpolicy.NASSCOMhascalled for companies tooperatewith 15-20 per centworkforce

till June-Julyevenafterthelock-downisover.Additionally, co-working

spacesarealsoassessingthesit-uationontheaccountthatwhiletheconceptof increasedremoteworkingmayprovebeneficialinthelongerrun,socialdistancingand the threat of sharingwork-spaces with unknown peoplecoulddrivedowndemand.“Most corporates would

avoid capital expenditures andlook to co-working facilities toexpand their business. The cur-rentsituationwillalsoseelargerenterprises seeking smallerspaces to ensure synergisedbusiness continuity in the nearfuture,” saidManasMehrotra,co-founder and chairman ofBengaluru-based co-workingspace315WorkAvenue.Alok Kumar, co-founder of

Patna-based Work StudioCoworking, said: “Since co-workingstudiosareahighoper-atingexpenseaffair,thesustain-ability period is very less. Oneadvantagewhichwe have seenduringthelockdownperiod,andexpect to have in the days tocome, is thatwehavebeenget-tingalotof inquiryfromcompa-nieswhichhavedecidedtoshiftout of fixed rental and leasingspaces into amore flexible setup. The second is that once thelockdownends,individualswhohave been asked towork fromhome or remote locations willprefertoworkinanofficeset-upwheretheycanplugandplayasthere is a lot of disturbance in ahomeset-up.”

Mumbai’s slumsExpress Highway and theDharavi-Sion Link Road, smallgroups of men can still be seenwalkingortryingtoboardabustoThanecity, fromwherebusestoother statesaredeparting.“Onereasonwhyentirelanes

are emptying out is that theneighbours often all belong tooneregion,andtheywouldhaveleft together,” says ShwetaDamle of Habitats andLivelihoodWelfare Association(HALWA),whichwrote toChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray onApril15,askingthestategovern-menttohelpdaily-wagelabour-ers, head-loaders, constructionworkers,streetvendors,domes-ticworkers,securityguards,andsmall-scale manufacturingworkers in recycling, scrap andgarment industries. They rec-ommended assistance, includ-ing groceries and wage assis-tance to help these workerssurvivethelockdown.“Nowthepoor feel forced to travel homein unsafe conditions with nowork, no pay, nomeans to sur-vive,”Damlesays.Inhisaddress to thestateon

Monday, the Chief Minister re-quested workers, especially“sonsof thesoil”fromotherdis-tricts of Maharashtra, to defertheirdeparture.In Thakkar Bappa Colony in

Kurla (West), residents said atleast 800 families had left sinceMarch-end.Mostresidentsherework in the footwear industry,making rubber andplastic slip-pers. Predominantly fromRajasthan, theseworkers havelivedhere foroveradecade.“Many began leaving as

therewasnoworkandhencenoway of paying rent for thesemonths. A few families soldwhatever footwear theyhadal-readymade, through their con-tacts or on the roadside,” saysGuman Chauhan, a resident ofthecolony.Chauhan’sroomisownedby

arelativeandso, therehasbeennodemandforrentsofar.“Manyofmyfriendswho left said theywill seehowthesituationplaysout in the next fewmonths. Afewsaid that itmaybebetter tofindwork closer home. If theyfind work in manufacturingunitsinRajasthan,theywillstayback,”Chauhansays.In Jogeshwari’s Shastri

Nagar, too, residentssaythat insomechawls,asmanyasonein

threehomesisempty. “Usually,there is a crowd around thevegetable or fruit seller or neartheshopsonthemainroad.Thenumbers have gone down.There is clearly more space towalk,”says Jogeshwari residentJagdish Kumar Yadav. He addsthat those who own homeshavenot takenall theirbelong-ings or sold their rooms, indi-cating an imminent return.Some left when a few Covidcases were reported close totheir livingquarters.

Train surgeEarlier in theday, theCentre

madeitclearthattheconsentofstates and Union territories(UTs) would no longer be re-quired for running the ShramikSpecials.The Railways also an-

nounced that 200 regular non-AC trains would operate dailyfromJune1,asperthetimetable.While the routes are still beingfinalised, it is likely that thesetrains will run between citieswith largemigrant populationssuch as Surat, Ahmedabad,Delhi,andHyderabad,andstatessuchasUttarPradeshandBiharwhicharehometomostofthesemigrantworkers.When the Shramik Specials

startedonMay1, theguidelinessaid theywould operate at the“request”, and with the “con-sent”, of the “receiving state”,and therewould be no stops inbetween.But in its new SOPs (stan-

dard operating procedures)sent to the states, theMinistryofHomeAffairs (MHA)hassaidthe “movement of ShramikSpecial trains shall be permit-ted by Ministry of Railways inconsultation with Ministry ofHomeAffairs”.Thetrainsched-ule, including stops and desti-nations, shall be finalised bythe Ministry of Railways,“based on the requirements ofstates/ UTs”.Theroleof thestatesandUTs

hasbeen limited todesignatingnodal authorities andmakingarrangements for receiving orsending themigrantworkers.The decision comes in the

backdropof theCentre’sallega-tionthatsomeOpposition-ruledstates were not allowingmoretrains to run. “Within the nexttwo days, Indian Railways willdouble the number of ShramikSpecialTrainsto400perday.Allmigrants are requested to staywheretheyare, IndianRailwayswill get them back home overthe next few days,” RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal tweetedatnight.The Railways said it has run

over 1,600 Shramik Specials sofar — UP received the mosttrains, and Gujarat sent out themost. The Centre’s decision islikelytoprecipitateanewflash-pointwiththestates,asmanyofthemarestrugglingwiththein-flux of migrants —many fromorangeor redzones incities.Sourcessaidthedecisionfol-

lows ameeting betweenHomeSecretary Ajay Bhalla andRailway Board Chairman V KYadavonMonday.Denying that the states had

no role in the process now, anMHAofficial said: “Without ac-tivecoordinationbetweensend-ingandreceivingstatesandwithRailways, how can this set-upfunction? States have to proac-tively requisition trains, basedon inputs fromdistrict authori-ties.Only then,Railwayscanal-locate more trains. Moreover,sending and receiving stateshavetoagreeamongthemselveshowmanypeopletheycansendandreceive.”ButaMinistryofRailwaysof-

ficialsaidtheunderstandingwasthattheMHAwouldjusthavetobe “intimated” about the run-ningof the trains. “Thiswill en-able us to scale up our opera-tions of the Shramik trainssignificantly,” theofficial said.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

27, Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernorShaktikantaDas toohad said that the central bankhad not taken a view yet onmonetisation of deficit. “Wewill deal with it keeping inview the operational realities,the need to preserve thestrength of the RBI’s balancesheet, andmost importantly,the goal of macroeconomicstability, our primary man-date,”Dashadsaid.Deficitmonetisationsimply

meansthattheReserveBankofIndiadirectlyfundstheCentralgovernment’s deficit. Until1997, the government used tosell securities — ad hocTreasury-Bills—directlytotheRBI,andnottofinancialmarketparticipants. This allowed thegovernment to technicallyprintequivalentamountofcur-rencytomeetitsbudgetdeficit.Whileseveralresearchout-

fits like NCAER and GoldmanSachshaveprojectedtheecon-omy to contract this financialyear,Sitharamansaid,as faras

herministrywasconcerned, itwas too early tomake an as-sessment.“It’stooearlyformetoeven

hazard a guess. We have satover to talk about verymanythings,thiswasalsosomethingwhich(cameupfordiscussion).I can’t (make an assessmentnow), I presented a Budget inFebruary,noteventwomonthsago.Many assumptions ofmybudget are now going to bequestioned, resetetc.”The FinanceMinister said

shehadtoalreadyresetthegov-ernment’sborrowingschedule.“So it’snotpossible, itwon’tbesensibleformetoevenmakeanassessment, saying this iswheretheeconomyisgoingtobe, this is the extent towhichtheeconomywill contract.No,not now. I would rather keepmyselfopenandseehowthingsgoandmake the assessment abit later,”shesaid.Responding to criticism

that the fiscal relief extendedby the government was too

low (The Indian Express esti-mated it at less than 1.1 percentofGDP),Sitharamansaid,“Everybodyhasarighttomakean assessment. I have not hidanything from the public, Ihave said this is how I havedonemywork, how it’s beingspread, this is the liquidity,Now if there are expectationsthat from the budget what isyour outlay — letme tell you,this is Government of India,Ministry of Finance, dealingwithpublicmoney. Isthisevergoing to hidden from any-body?”To a question on why the

government did not considermakinglargercashtransfers—say around Rs 3,000 - to mi-grants toalleviate thedistress,theFinanceMinistersaid,“Iamnot objecting to this sugges-tion. I repeatmyanswer,yes itwas a suggestion we haveheard,wehavetakenthat intoaccount, we have thoughtabout it and in a way by ex-tendingthebankstoreachoutfirstwithoutadditionalcollat-eral for every small unit, letthemrefuse(totake)itbutyou

approach to give, automatic isthe word I use, what is thataimedat? It is aimedat givingsomemoneytomeetthefixedcost, it isaimedatgivingsomemoneytomakesurethatsomepayment for the wages aremade. So that’swhatwehavedone. I have made sure thatbanks will extend. Yes it’s aloan, it’s a credit, yes, it’s not agrant. But that’s where I amasking,grantsforhowmany,ofhowmuch?”Withtaxrevenuesseverely

under strain due to the sharpcontraction, Sitharaman said,shewould train her attentionon cutting non-essential ex-penditure.“Westartedthatex-ercise prior to Covid, becauseat that time the FinanceCommissionwas speaking tous(informally)thatcanyoura-tionalise it, and even by thattime,wewerelookingatecon-omy. It neededmore push, itwas slowing down, we couldsee the green shoots but stillyou had to do a lot more.Wehad started that exercise. Yes,now I will be doing it all themoreseriously,” shesaid.

aspartofsentinelsurveillance—amethodof randomtestingwheresampleswerecollectedfrom asymptomatic healthworkers,theelderly,thoseun-der quarantine, truck driversand traders in markets, andprimary and secondary casesof positive cases, among oth-ers. Samples were also col-lected from areas where nopositive cases were reported.Of the total samples, fourtestedpositive,5,340returnednegative and results areawaited for the rest.“Wehavesucceededinper-

fectlyimplementingquarantineandsocialdistancingrulesandpeople have been obeying di-rectionsonmask-wearing,”thechiefministersaid.Thenextroundoftestingas

part of sentinel surveillance,with samples taken fromdis-tricts,beganonMonday.The results of Kerala’s ran-

dom testing came on a dayIndia’snovelcoronaviruscountcrossedtheone-lakhmark,anda day after a record 1,08,233samplesweretestedacrossthecountry. So far, 24,25,742 sam-pleshavebeentested.TheUnionMinistryofHealthalsosaidthecountry’sCovidfatalityrateisfarbelowtheglobalaverage.

So far, 39,174patientshavebeen cured of COVID-19 —2,350 in the last 24 hours —making it a recovery rate of38.73%. “In termsof casemor-talityperlakhpopulation,Indiahasso farabout0.2deathsperlakh population vis-a-vis ap-proximately 4.1 deaths perlakh population for theworldasawhole. Indiacurrentlyhas58,802 active cases. These areallunderactivemedicalsuper-vision.Of theactivecases,onlyapproximately 2.9% of thecases are in ICU,” the HealthMinistry said inastatement.Kerala has so far reported

642cases,withasuddenspikeinthe last10tendaysbeingat-

tributed to arrivals from theMiddle East and those fromotherstates.OnMay8,thestateonlyhad16activecases,butthefigureroseto142onMay19.Saying the situation has

changed from earlier, whenmostofthecasesweretracedtothosewith international travelhistory,StateHealthMinisterKK Shailaja said: “Now they arecoming from highly infectedplaces, including hotspots inother states. Thepresent spurtincaseswasexpectedwiththereturn of expats and thosestranded in other states. Thevirus load is very high amongthosewho returned from in-fectedareas.’’

I have to be ready: FM

Kerala

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheCity



CHAOS PREVAILED outside theBandraTerminusonTuesdayaf-ternoonafterhundredsofmigrantworkers turnedup following ru-mours that the Railways wasplanningtorunanadditionaltraintonorthIndialaterintheday.The local police, however, al-

lowedonly1,700oftheregisteredmigrants to enter the stationpremises,whowerethenallowedtoboardtheShramikspecialtrain

thatwastoleaveforBihar.The rest were turned away

withtheassurancethatadditionaltrainswouldberuninthecomingfewdays.Around 3,000migrants – as

perunoffficialestimates–clutch-ing their belongings, walked toBandraTerminusfromacrossthecity around 9 am. The Bihar-bound train, scheduled to leavearound12pm, finally left at 1.30pm with 1,700 migrants whowereregisteredtoundertakethejourney. The rest were turnedaway.

Around 3 pm, another 400-oddmigrantsreachedthestation–one-and-a-half hours after theonly train scheduled for the dayfromthestationhadleft.Themi-grantsassembledafterhearingru-mours that another trainwouldleaveintheevening.Deputy Commissioner of

Police (Zone VIII) ManjunathSinge, however, put thenumberofmigrants gathering at the sta-tion in themorning to around1,400.“Around1,300to1,400peo-ple had gathered on the flyovernear Bandra Terminus at 9 am.

Another 300 to 400 peoplecrowdedthestationagainat3pm.We assured them that specialtrainswere being run every dayandthattheywouldbeinformedof theirdateofdeparturesoon.”Singe added that despite

Shramik special train schedulesbeingwidelycirculated,rumourswere being spreadof additionalservices. “People living in theslumsnearBandraTerminushadtoldtheirrelativesandfriendsliv-ing inother parts of the city thatan additional trainwould leavethe station on Tuesday evening.

Thesepeople,whoarealldesper-ate to gobackhome, had stayedthenightnearthestation,”hesaid.Those turnedbackbythepo-

licehadcomefromDharavi,KurlaandSakiNaka areas amongoth-ers,saidSinge.An officer from the

GovernmentRailwayPolice(GRP)said: “Many migrant workerswereunder the impression thattheRailwayshasscheduledanad-ditional train on Tuesday to getthem back home for Eid,” saidRavindra Sengaonkar,MumbaiGRPCommissioner.

SAGARRAJPUTMUMBAI,MAY19

WITHCORONAVIRUScasesinthedepartment increases, theMumbai Police has written toMunicipal Commissioner IqbalSinghChahal seekingdedicatedambulances for its personnel ineachof thecity’s13zones. So far,656policemenhave testedposi-tive for the virus ofwhomeighthavesuccumbedtothedisease.The letter, signed by Joint

Commissioner of Police (admin-istration) Nawal Bajaj, was sentMonday after the Covid-19helpline number, set up by theMumbaiPolice forailingperson-nel, receivednumerous requestsforambulances,officialssaid.ApoliceofficersaidtheCovid-

19helplinereceivesabout50callseveryday,ofwhichalmost15-20calls are fromapolicemanwith

symptomsoftheinfection.Atleast20callsareforanambulance,theofficersaid.Whencontacted,Bajajconfirmedthattheletterhasbeensenttotheciviccommissioner.Thedepartmenthastwoded-

icatedambulances,butwithcoro-naviruscasessteadily increasing,police officials say these were

provingwoefullyinadequate.“Weare not able to serve our police-menwith just two ambulances.Todaywehad43cases.Ifoneam-bulancegoestoattendapatient,ittakesmorethanthreehourstopick anddrophimat a hospitalduringwhich theotherpatientsandtheir familymembersareathighrisk,”saidanofficer.These two ambulances are

usually placed in Marol andNaigaon.TheambulanceinMarollooks after patients in thewestandnorthregions,whiletheoneatNaigaonlooksafterthepolice-menincentralandsouthareas.The city has been facing a

huge shortage of ambulancesamid the pandemic,which hasfurther increased response timein attending to Covid-19 andother patients. Currently, theMaharashtra EmergencyAmbulanceService(MEMS)thatruns108toll-freehelpline,hasal-

located66ambulancesforCovid-19patientsand30ambulancesforotherpatientsinthecity.

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,MAY19

ANEWnursingstationwithglasswindows in eachward, a newlyconstructeddonninganddoffingarea for doctors andnurseswithabathroomrightnext to it, acof-fin room, anoxygen tankwith acapacity of 5,000 litres, and twoupcomingwards equippedwith70ventilatorsthatwillstartfunc-tioningin10days.Injustamonth,the city’s St George’s hospital,housedinaheritagebuilding,hastransformeditselfintoadedicatedinfectiousdiseasehospitaltocatertocriticalCovid-19patients.In the comingdays, thehos-

pital’s bed capacity will be in-creased from100 to 242, as thegovernment attempts to plug ashortageof ICUbeds.Thehospitalhadstartedfunc-

tioningasaCovid-19facilitysinceMarch27.StateofficialssaidtheyhadfirstdecidedtoconvertJJhos-pital’s skindepartment and laterGokuldas Tejpal hospital into acoronavirus facility. Eventually,they decided on St George’s.However, the heritage structure

requiredmajoralterations.Aseriesof recommendations

by a seven-member infectioncontrolcommitteethatvisitedthebuilding includedseparateentryandexit forpatientsandmedicalstaffineachward,asealednursingstation thatwouldallownursingstaff tosit inaward,creatingironor aluminium walls betweenwardsandoutercorridorstolimitinterfacewithpatientsandsepa-ratedonninganddoffingareaout-side everywardwherepersonalprotectiveequipment(PPE)could

beworn and removed, followedbyshoweringfacilities.Thehospital beganconstruc-

tionaroundthesametimeaspa-tients started getting admitted.Within the firstweek, a patientsuccumbed. Panic-stricken, sev-eralclassIVemployeesrefusedtoreport towork, so did construc-tionworkers.“Webegantrainingforstaffers

on how to wear a PPE, how tomaintaindistancewhileworkingin Covid-19 wards. All thathelped,” a residentmedical offi-

cersaid.Labourersfromthepub-lic works department (PWD)were also assured that disinfec-tionwouldbeundertakenthriceadaywheretheywork.Whenworkerswould set up

thealuminiumandglassnursingstationinaward,itspatientsweremovedtoanother.Whilethedon-ninganddoffingareaandawash-roomarestillunderconstruction,aluminium walls have beenerected to create cubicles for pa-tients that will separate themfrom staff. Eachward has threenurses, who go to the isolationward in turns to limit theirexposure.Theinfectionprotocolsystem

seemstohaveworked.Sofar,fivenursesandtwodoctorshavebeeninfectedasopposedtoover50in-fected staffers at Sion, Bhatia,WockhardtandJaslokhospitalsinMumbai.Intheinitialdays,thehospital

had recorded a high number ofdeaths. “We realisedmost pa-tientsbecomebreathlessandre-quireoxygensupport,”aresidentmedicalofficersaid.A5,000-litrecapacity oxygen tank was in-stalled to supply to each bed.Wardsweremodified, andelec-

tricconnectionswereinstalledtofixICUbeds.Thereare30ICUs,in-cluding nine for children. Twonewwardsarebeingpreparedtohave 70more ICUs. The oxygensupport hashelped reducemor-tality in critical cases and in-creasedrecovery,adoctorsaid.TillMay17, a total of 337pa-

tientshadbeenadmittedtohos-pital of whom86 died and 103weredischarged.Thehospitalalsohas 10 dialysis machinesfor Covid-19patientswith renalsupport.Mostpatientscomeafterthey

arereferredtobyotherhospitals.A huge hall serves as awaitingareawherewhitecolouredsquareboxes havebeenpainted for pa-tientstostandandobservesocialdistancing.“Duringthe2008ter-ror attack, I remember counting86bodieshereinthishall,”med-icalofficerDrGokulBholesaid.Two contact-less Covid-19

testingboothshavebeeninstalledtotestsuspectedcases,however,adisinfectiontunnelsetupnearthecasualtywardbecamedefunctaf-teraweek.The hospital received Rs 20

crorefromthePMReliefFund,be-sidesdonations,officialssaid.

SANDEEPASHAR&TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,MAY19

SEVENTY-FOURPRIVATEhospi-talsregisteredascharitabletrustsinMumbai have 1,738 beds be-tween them that are devoted tothepoor.Butaccordingtothelat-estupdatesavailablewiththeof-fice of the state CharityCommissioner, 1,540or roughly89percentremainunoccupied.At a time when Mumbai’s

publichospitalsareoverburdenedamidtheCovid-19crisis,thecity’sposhprivatehospitals are failingto fill thebedsearmarkedfor thepoor. “These hospitals weregrantedlandatcheapratesandof-fered various concessions basedonaclearunderstandingthattheywouldtreatcharitycasesaswell.When the city is grapplingwithanunprecedentedpublic healthcrisis, theyneedtoheldaccount-able for these beds. If not now,when?” asked former publichealthministerSureshShetty.TillMondayevening,only198

patientswereoccupyingsuchre-

servedbedsinthesehospitals,re-vealedthedata.Of them,165pa-tientshadbeenofferedfreetreat-ment and33hadbeenadmittedonconcessionbasis.“TheCharityCommissionerhadissuednoticesto someof thehospitals just be-forethestatewentintolockdown.But therehasn’tbeendrastic im-provement,”saidaseniorofficial.Anofficial in thecommissioner’soffice,meanwhile, complainedthatthehospitalswerealsoflout-ing thenormthat requires themtoupdatethebedavailabilityonareal-timebasis.Between them, these 74pri-

vatehospitals – including all theposhhospitalsinMumbai–haveatotaloperationalbedstrengthof8,690.Aspernorms,1,738ofthesearedevotedtothepoor.Data further showedthat the

occupancyrate ispooreronsuchbedsincharitablehospitalsinthesuburbs,whencomparedtoonesintheislandcity.Recordsshowedthat676ofthe730reservedbeds,roughly93percent,inthe35suchhospitals in themorepopulatedsuburbsofMumbaiwerelyingva-cant. In the island city, thenum-berswere only slightly better –

with 864 of 1,008 beds (86 percent)stillunoccupied.Dr Sudhakar Shinde, Chief

ExecutiveOfficer of StateHealthAssuranceSociety,said:“Thegov-ernment iswilling to address allissues facedbyprivatehospitals.But they should implement thenormsorfaceaction.”Under Section 41AA of the

Bombay Public Charitable TrustAct (1950), all suchhospitals arelegallyobligedtoreserveafifthofthe total number of operationalbeds for the underprivileged.Patientsfromfamilieswithanan-nual income less thanRs85,000are eligible for free treatment,while thoseearningbelowRs1.6lakhreceiveaconcessionof50percent.TheCharityCommissioner’srecordsshowthatamongthema-jor privatehospitals, Bhatia hos-pital had 16 vacant beds in thefree-bedcategoryofatotal20.All20beds in the categorywereva-cant in Breach Candy. LilavatiHospital,similarly,hadall30bedsvacant and inNanavatiHospital,34outof35freebedswerevacant.But private hospitals argued

theywerealsoinafixduetostaffshortageandlackofinfrastructure

todealwithCovid-19cases.Somesaid the initial hurdle they facedwas seeing their staffers get in-fectedwithCovid-19andtheirfa-cilitiesbeingsealedoff.DrRBDastur,medical direc-

torofBhatiaHospital,said,“Wedonot have the required staff tomakeallthebedsfunctionalinthehospitalrightnow.Ifwegetmorenurses,we canmakemorebedsfunctional.”He said eight nurseshadquit and twoothers had leftwithout notice to return to theirnativeplacesamidthepandemic.Several other hospitals also

complainedofnursesquittingasa reason to kept only a limitednumber of beds functional. “Weallwant to cooperate.We’ve al-readygivenanassurance (to thegovernment) to increase thenumberof operational beds andICUs,” said Dr V Ravishankar,medical director of LilavatiHospital. “There are challenges.Hospitalsareslowlytryingtoscaleupcapacity,”headded.Shetty, however, demanded

thatthese20percentcharitybedsshouldbe takenoverby thegov-ernmentiftheprivatehospitalsdonotfill theseupurgently.

89 per cent of beds in Mumbai’scharity hospitals remain unoccupied

LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI,MAY19

MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONERISChahalhasinstructedthatforevery Covid-19 patient, BMC’scontact-tracersmust identify atleast 10 high-risk and low-riskcontacts.Chahal’sordercameaf-ter his visit to M-east ward(Govandi, Mankhurd), a Covid-19 hotspot with dense popula-tion,onSunday.Thecivicbodyisunder fire forpoor contact trac-ing ratio and for not shiftingthem into institutional quaran-tine facilities.Mumbai has over21,100 Covid-19 caseswith thedeath toll at750.TheMay17order states that

allwardofficersshouldmaintainaveragequarantineratioof1:10across the city in congested ar-eas,especiallyslumsandchawls,where people only have accesstocommontoilets. The10high-andlow-riskcontactshavetobethen transferred to quarantinefacilities.Earlier,thecentralgov-ernment’s inter-ministerialteam, during its visit to the city,hadexpressedunhappinessoverthe contact tracing ratio andnumber of high and low riskcontacts put up in institutionalfacilities.The city’s average rates for

quarantining is about 2.5 to 3persons foreveryCovid-19pos-itive patient. The central teamhad asked BMC to scale it up to10, especially in slums, as thespreadof infectionrateishighindensely populated areas. Thefirst order by Chahal, who re-cently took over as BMC com-

missioner, was to get the civicbody to scale it up to 1:6.“However, finding that manyslum areas are still seeing highinfection rates, Chahal has or-deredanincreaseincontacttrac-ingtoputabout10highandlowrisk contacts in institutionalquarantinefacilities,“saidasen-iorofficial fromBMC.Thecity’shotspotsforCovid-

19includeareassuchasGovandi,Dharavi, Worli, Andheri,Chembur, Bandra east andBhandup, which have denseslums and chawls,where aboutsix to seven residents live insmall 10 by 10 houses and usepublic toilets.According to theBMC, so far

35,263people are being kept ininstitutionalquarantinefacilities.InDharavi,about5,000peo-

plearekept inquarantineindif-ferent places. Following the or-ders, ward officers have startedextensive contact tracing to im-provetheratio.“Wehavealreadystarted increasing tracing ofnumbers of high risk and lowriskcontactsofpositivepatients.Weare trying to tracemoreandmore peoplewith our availablemanpower,” said Dr PrithivirajChouhan, Assistant MunicipalCommissioner, M-west ward(Chembur).

100 more ICUs, new donning, doffing areas for staff:St George’s converts into infectious disease hospital

BANDRATERMINUS

Crowd gathers at station over additional train rumours

AnewlyreadiedwardforCovid-19patients.

TWOARRESTEDOVER‘SAMOSAPARTY’Mumbai: Pant Nagar policeMondayarrestedtwopersonsafter a case was registeredagainstmembersofahousingsociety in Ghatkopar for al-legedly organising a “samosaparty” on its premises.According to police, somemembers of Kukreja Palacehousing society gathered onthebuildingcompoundforthepartyMonday. Photographsandvideosoftheparty,prohib-ited during the lockdown,shared on the social mediashowedthatmorethan15peo-plehadgatheredon theocca-sionandwereservedsnacks.Apersonwas also seenplayingguitarinoneofthevideos.ENS

MANTRALAYA STAFFTOHELP POLICEMumbai: To help the over-stretchedpoliceforcedealwiththemigrantcrisis,thestategov-ernmentTuesdayissuedanor-ders stating1,421Mantralayastafferswouldbedeployedatvariouspolice stations. Aspertheorder, issuedbytheHomedepartment,thesestafferswillbe immediately relieved fromtheircurrentdutiesandputondeputationatpolicestationstohelpwith thedocumentationoflabourersandstrandedpeo-plewaiting to return to theirnativestates. Thestategovern-rmthas appointed a commit-teeunderIPSofficerandHomedepartment’s PrincipalSecretaryAmitabhGupta, forhelping the police and mi-grantssortoutthepaperworkandhelp the latter travel backhome. ENS

CORONAWATCH

Mumbai:Eightpoliceperson-nel including the operator ofDCPzoneXI,anACP-rankoffi-cer and a sub-inspector at-tached to SamtaNagar policestationhavetestedpositiveforthecoronavirusandareunder-going treatment at separatehospitals. The S-I’s wife andtwochildrenhave also testedpositive, the results of ACP’swifearestillawaited. ENS

8COPS TEST POSITIVE

City police writes to civic chief, seeksdedicated ambulances in all 13 zones

AccordingtotheBMC,sofar35,263peoplearebeingkept ininstitutionalquarantinefacilities

ForeveryCovidpatient, trace10highand low-riskcontacts:Chahal


THEOUTBREAK Maharashtra


CORONAWATCH

HCseeks responseonpleasonhealthstatusof prisonersMumbai: The BombayHighCourt on Tuesday directedthe state government to filewithinaweekacomprehen-sive response to the pleasraisingconcernsoverseveralinmates and jail staff beingtested positive for Covid-19andseekingvariousreliefstoprisoners across jails inMaharashtra, including di-rectionstoprovideinforma-tion on the health andCovid-19 status of all in-mates to their familymem-bersand lawyers.Adivisionbench of Chief JusticeDipankarDattaandJusticeSS Shinde heard the pleasTuesdaythroughvideocon-ference. “The report (re-sponse) ought to indicatethenamesandparticularsofundertrial prisoners/ con-victs who have been testedand found to be Covid-19positive,”thecourtsaid.ENS

PIL seekscaponN95price,HCseeksCentre’s responseMumbai: The BombayHighCourt on Tuesday directedthe Centre to respond to aPILseekingacaponthepriceof N95 masks. PetitionersSucheta Dalal and AnjaliDamaniastatedthatthoughN95masks have been de-claredasessentialcommod-ity under EssentialCommoditiesAct,profiteer-ing and hoarding continuesin the stateandsought fromthe court’s directions to thegovernments to ensure fairpricing of themasks. A divi-sion bench of Chief JusticeDipankarDattaand JusticeSS Shinde heard the PILthrough video conferenceand directed AdditionalSolicitor General Anil Singhtotakeinstructionsfromthecentral government and in-formthecourtduringitsnexthearingonMay22.ENS

Residents of housingsocieties bookedMumbai: Around 60 resi-dentsofhousingsocietiesinGhatkopar (West) werebooked by the police onTuesdayforallegedlyoppos-ing the settingupof aquar-antinecentreinahostelneartheir residences.While thelocalMLA, corporator, BMCofficials and police tried toexplainthattheyhadnorea-son to fear, the residentscameouton the road toop-pose the move. DeputyCommissioner of Police(Zone7)PSDahiyasaid,“Wehave registered FIR against50to60peoplewhotooktothe roadwithout followingsocial distancing norms.” Ahostel on fifth and seventhfloors of HinduMahasabhahospitalwastobeconvertedintoaquarantinecentre.ENS

Emptyvegetablemarket inNaviMumbaionTuesday.AmitChakravarty

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENAGPUR,MUMBAI,MAY19

THREEMIGRANTlabourersanda bus driverwere killed and 26othersinjuredaftertheirvehiclehitastationarytruckinnearArnitownofYavatmaldistrictaround4amonTuesday.The accident took place

when the Maharashtra StateRoad Transport Corporation(MSRTC) bus, carrying 30 mi-grants from Solapur to Nagpur,rammed into a parked truck,loadedwith road constructionmaterial, from behind, DeputySuperintendent of Police,Yavatmal,UdaysinhChandelsaid.“All themigrantswere to be

takentotheMaharashtraborder,fromwhere theywere to headfurthertotheirrespectivestates.Most of them belong to

Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand,”Chandelsaid,addingthatfourofthe injuredwere inseriouscon-dition and have been admittedto Yavatmal GovernmentMedicalCollege.Identity of the disease was

yet tobeestablished,hesaid.

Pvt bus rams intobridge on highway

Aprivatebus,ferryingatleast20migrants fromNaviMumbaito Ahmednagarwithout neces-sarypolicepermission,rammedinto the boundary wall of theAiroli bridge near the EasternExpressHighwayinMulund,po-lice said. While no casualtieswere reported in the incidentthattookplacearound10.30pmMonday, theNavghar police ar-rested the bus driver, owner ofthe travel agency, Virendra

Travels, and an agent for violat-inglockdownprocedures,anof-ficialsaid.Headdedthatthemi-grant labourerswere later sentback toAiroli.Senior Inspector of Navghar

police, P Suryavanshi, said thebusdriverapparentlydidnotseethe boundarywall of the Airolibridge and rammed the vehicleintoit.“Asaresultofthejerk,oneof the migrants sustained in-juries,”Suryavanshisaid,addingthat a local resident had alertedthe police control room aboutthe incident followingwhich apatrol van from the localNavghar police station reachedthespot.“Asthemigrantsdidnothavetherequiredpolicepermis-sion to go to Ahmednagar, weasked them to return to Airoli,”the senior inspector said. Headdedthearrestedaccusedwerelater releasedonbail.

3 labourers, driver killed as busrams into truck in Yavatmal

NON-AGRICULTURALSTATEUNIVERSITIES

Minister’s U-turn:Sawant urges UGCto cancel final examsABHAGORADIAMUMBAI,MAY19

DAYS AFTER Higher andTechnical Education MinisterUdaySamantannouncedthatfi-nal-year and final semester ex-ams for non-agricultural stateuniversity studentswill be heldin July, theminister has done aU-turn by writing to theUniversity Grants Commission(UGC) about the government'sdifficulty in conducting the ex-ams in view of the extension ofthe lockdown and the risk itposes to thestudents.The letter dated May 17 to

the UGC chairman stated, "Inview of Covid-19 pandemic sit-uation in Maharashtra, as perrecommendationsof state levelcommittee,conductingexamsofapproximately 8 lakh to10 lakhstudents from all acrossMaharashtraandIndia,bymain-taining all safety protocols,seemsverychallengingandmayendanger the safety and healthof the students. Hence, I am oftheopinionthattheterminal(fi-nal)examinationsshouldnotbeconducted thisyear."Theminister requested the

UGC to consider promoting un-dergraduate and postgraduatestudents of final year withoutconducting exams, while alsoseekingguidelineson the issue.Themove comes days after

Tourism Minister AadityaThackerayurgedUGCChairmanDPSinghtocancelfinal-yearandfinalsemesterexams."Final-yearstudents are under tremendousstress as to how to face exams

with the health risk they pose.WerequestUGCtoconsidercan-cellingall exams, including finalsemester,"hehadtweeted.BasedonUGCguidelinesand

recommendations of a state-levelcommittee,SawanthadonMay8announcedthatexamsforfinal-yearaswellasfinalsemes-ter for graduate andpostgradu-atestudents innon-agriculturalstate universities will be con-ducted between July 1 and July30. All other students of stateuniversities and affiliated col-legeswillbepromotedbasedontheir previous semester’s per-formanceandmarksobtainedinthesemester’s internal exams.Students' organisations had

pointed out that theminister'smovewasill-founded,asUGCinitsguidelineshasnotmadecon-ductingexamsforfinalyearandfinalsemesterstudentsmanda-tory. Point 5 of the UGC guide-lines had stated: “For immedi-ate/yearexams, theuniversitiesmay conduct examinations, af-termakingacomprehensiveas-sessment of their level of pre-paredness, residential status ofthe students, status of Covid-19pandemicspreadindifferentre-gions/stateandother factors.”MaharashtraStudentsUnion

president Siddharth Ingle said,"Don't knowwhy theministerhaswrittentotheUGCwhened-ucationisastatesubject.UGChasnotmandated the states to con-duct exams, and the liberty hasbeengiventostateuniversities.”When contacted, an official

fromUGC said there is no com-pusliononstates toconduct theexams.

Relaxations not enough to restart industries: PawarEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY19

INAmeetingwithChiefMinisterUddhav Thackeray on Tuesday,NCP chief Sharad Pawar ex-pressed concern that the relax-ations that thestatehadgrantedduring the lockdown was notenough to help kickstart indus-triesinMaharashtra.Healsosaidthat the government needed toworkoutanactionplantoaccom-modate the unemployed youth

ofthestateintheindustrialsector.“Therelaxations thatarebe-

ing granted are not enough.Since the labourers have re-turnedtotheirnativeplacesbothwithinandoutsidethestate,fac-tories are not able to start theiroperations.We need to plan toseehowthelabourerscanreturnto work. Also, an action planshould be prepared to accom-modate the unemployed youthof the state,” Pawar said duringdiscussionswithUddhavonthetheCovid-19situation.

The meeting was also at-tendedbyDeputyChiefMinisterAjit Pawar, Revenue MinisterBalasaheb Thorat, IndustriesMinister Subhash Desai andTransport Minister Anil Parabamong others. Pawar furthersaid that previously, incentiveschemeswere implemented toencourage industries to set upunitsinbackwardandunderde-veloped areas of the state. “Onthese lines, the state shouldcomeoutwithapolicywithnewincentives,”headded.

The NCP chief also said thattheministersandofficialsshouldstart attending offices to instilconfidence among the peoplethat thesituation is returningtonormal.“Transportserviceshavebeen disrupted due to the lock-down.We need to take gradualsteps to restart road transportand a time-bound plan shouldbechalkedouttorestoreairandrail services,”hesuggested.Pawaralsosuggestedthatthe

governmentshouldensureeffec-tive communication on lock-

down relaxations and createmore awareness on preventivemeasures.“Thesituationwillbe-come normal by relaxing lock-downnorms.Forthis,thegovern-ment, on a daily basis, shouldprovideinformationaboutthere-laxationstothepeople.Shops,of-fices andprivate establishmentsshouldbeopenedinphases.”He suggested a study group

or committee be set up to taketimelymeasures to ensure thatstudents, teachers and educa-tional institutesdonot suffer.

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,MAY19

STATINGTHAT‘needof thehouristofightthediseaseandnotthepersonnel involved in fightingthe disease,’ the Maharashtragovernment told the BombayHighCourt that any restrictionsimposed onmovement of em-ployees involved in essentialservices can lead to severe im-pedimentsinrenderingmedicalservices, those related toCovid-19 aswell as those unrelated tothedisease.Ensuringunhinderedmove-

mentofallsuchmedicalprofes-

sionals is essential formeetingthe public health requirementsandsavingpreciouslives, itsaid.Thestategovernmentwasre-

spondingtoaPIL,movedbyVasaibusinessman Charan RavindraBhatt, through advocate UdayWarunjikar, that stated that 47peoplefromthedistrict,involvedinessential services,havetestedpositive since they travel tohotspotsinMumbai.Itisbecom-ingthemaincauseforthespreadofCovid-19inPalghar,whichhasreported136casesand10deathstill May 1, the plea said, addingthat the state should either pro-videthemtemporaryaccommo-dationinMumbaiorstopcalling

themforduty.The government’s reply fur-

ther stated, “It is necessary topoint out that personnel whotravel toMumbaialsofollowre-quired guidelines such as socialdistancing,useofmasks,sanitis-ers etc to prevent themselvesfromgetting infected. The needof thehouristofightthediseaseand not the personnel involvedin fighting thediseases.”A division bench of Chief

Justice Dipankar Datta andJustice A A Sayed on May 15asked the state to file a detailedreply byMay 20 after govern-ment pleader PriyabhushanKakadeopposed thePIL.

OnMay18,thestatethroughSubhash Umaranikar, DeputySecretary (Relief), DisasterManagementdepartment, filedan affidavit in reply to the PIL. Itstated,“Giventhesheernumberof employeesworking in emer-gency services such asmedicalservices,police,fireservices,dis-astermanagement etc,whoareliving in suburbsofMumbai in-cludingVirar, it isnotpracticallypossible to arrange for the ac-commodations of all the saidpersonsinMumbai,especiallyincurrent pandemic scenario.Makingsuchanarrangementforemployeeswill putmore stressonalreadystressedmachinery.”

Curbs on movement of essential staff canhamper services for patients: Govt to HC


THE STATE government’s re-mapping ofmunicipal corpora-tions and districts into “redzones”and“non-redzones”overtheearlierred,orangeandgreenzoneswas done on the basis oftwo factors — death count anddoubling rate over a seven-dayperiod,officials said.Working on these two crite-

ria,therevisedlockdownguide-lines issued by the state onTuesday has categorised all themunicipal corporations inMumbai Metropolitan Region,includingBMC,andthemunici-pal corporations of Pune,Solapur,Aurangabad,Malegaon,Nashik, Dhule, Jalgoan, Akolaand Amravati as red zones. Therestofthestateisanon-redzone,which includes orange andgreenzones.Chief Secretary AjoyMehta,

inhisorder,said,“Aftercontem-plating delineation parametersrecommended by Governmentof India and the existing healthinfrastructureandotherrelevantconsiderations”, the state has

beencategorised in twozones.Officials said that based on

parameters laid down by theUnion HealthMinistry, factorssuch as active Covid-19 cases,doubling and fatality rates andcases per lakh populationweretaken into considerationwhilecategorising areas into red andnon-redzones.“All cities with a doubling

ratecalculatedoveraseven-dayperiodof less than14,andmorethan 15 active cases per lakhpopulationwere categorised inthe red zone. As for case fatalityrate, all thosewhere itwasoversix per cent were consideredcritical. Most of the cities to beincluded in the red zone haveover 200 active cases,” saidan official, adding that the test-ingratiowasalsoconsideredfortheclassification.Some of the cities and dis-

tricts that have been excludedfromtheredzoneincludePimpriChinchwad and NagpurMunicipal Corporations andNanded, Satara, Yavatmaland Palghar districts, whichwere earlier categorized asred zone on April 30 by theUniongovernment.

How govt mappedred, non-red zones

Govt to fix charges for 80% reserved beds in pvt hospitalsTABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,MAY19

THESTATEgovernment is set tofixchargesforintensivecareunittreatment for those sufferingfromcancer,Covid-19andotherdiseases in 80 per cent of thebeds it has reserved in privatehospitals.Anotification, follow-ingthefirstnotificationreleasedonthe issueonApril 30, is set tobereleasedonWednesday.

AcrossMumbai, thegovern-ment hopes to acquire around6,000 beds in private hospitalsthisway. Patientswould be ad-mitted for thesebeds throughacentralisedportal system.In the amended notification

set to released, oncosurgerycharges will fixed as per TataMemorialhospitalcharges.“Wewill fix thechargesafterconsid-ering costs related to infectioncontrol, consultancy and nurs-ing. Hospitals can charge sepa-rately for PPE (personal protec-

tiveequipment),”anofficialsaid,adding that if the cost of PPE isRs 100, the hospital cannotcharge a patient more thanRs110.“Privatehospitalswillhaveto

followGIPSA(GeneralInsurancePublic Sector Association) ratesforthese80percentbeds.ThosenotpartofGIPSAwill followthestate rate chart,” Public HealthMinisterRajeshTopesaid.SeveralhospitalsinMumbai,

which are not part of GIPSA –whichfixesratesforprivatehos-

pitals – will have to follow therates prepared by the govern-ment. According to the govern-ment rates, PPE cannot bechargedatmorethan10percentabove the procurement cost.Also, cost of dialysis has beenfixed at Rs 2,500, bilateral kneereplacement at Rs 2.4 lakh,cataractatRs25,000andnormaldeliveryatRs75,000.Officials said the move to

control80percentofthebedsintheprivate sectorwill solve twoproblems–provide thegovern-

mentmore beds for severely illCovid-19 patients and thosewith other illnesses, while alsogivingthepooraccesstoprivatehealthcareduringapandemic.Dr Gautam Bhansali, a con-

sultant with Bombay hospitalwhohasbeencoordinatingwiththe state on behalf of privatehospitals, saidof the80percentof the beds, while 2,600 bedsand471ICUswillcatertoCovid-19 patients, 3,000 beds willbe used by those with otherillnesses.


AT LEAST 76more people suc-cumbedtoCovid-19onTuesday,takingthetollacrossMaharashtrato1,325.Thisisthehighestsingle-day spike indeaths the statehaswitnessedsofar.Across Maharashtra 2,127

new caseswere recorded, with1,411inMumbaialone.Thestatecount of infections has risen to37,136with1,325deaths.Theto-tal number of cases inMumbaistandat22,746with800deaths.The state on Tuesday also

recordedthehighestnumberofdischarges from hospitals in adaywith 1,202 people recover-ing fully and going home. InMumbai,600patientsweredis-charged, but for every one bedthat gets vacated due to full re-covery or death, two new pa-tientsare inqueue,dataof freshcases showed.Of the 76 people who suc-

cumbed to Covid-19, 32 died inthe last 24 hours. Among them,22were fromMumbai, 15 fromThane, two fromAkola and oneeachinBuldhana,Dhule,Nagpur,Nashik and Pune. WhileMumbai’s total toll has touched800,Thanehaswitnessedasud-denjumpto33deaths.Puneac-countsfor207deaths,Malegaon34andNaviMumbai24.Districts like Gondia,

Chandrapur,Gadchiroli,Wardha,Washim, Latur and Parbhanihavereportedlessthanfivecases.As on Tuesday, there are 26,164activecasesacross thestate.State Health Secretary Dr

Pradeep Vyas said the doublingrate — days taken for the num-ber of cases to double — is ex-pected to improve slowly to 14days for Mumbai. “We haveenoughbedsforactiveCovid-19cases,”hesaid.Data from Brihanmumbai

Municipal Corporation showsthat from 1,960 beds in dedi-cated Covid-19 hospitals for se-verely ill patients, Mumbai hasexpanded to 3,657 beds in justpublic sector hospitals. Privatehospitals currently contributeanother1,400beds.Thereare38hospitals admitting critically illCovid-19patientsasof now.For moderately ill patients,

there are 1,100 beds across 19hospitals. “Wewill have 10,000beds by May end for severelyandmoderately ill patients,” aBMC official said. The intensivecare unit strength is also set torisefrom535to1,000bedsinthecomingdays, theofficial added.In Mumbai, asymptomatic

patients have started observinghome isolation if they have ac-cess to a separate toilet. “Wewant to appeal to the people tonotpanic, not stigmatiseCovid-19patients.Manypeoplearere-covering fast,” said Tope. HeaddedthatthestatetaskforceonCovid-19will studyAyushmin-istryguidelines todraft aproto-colforboostingimmunityusinghomeopathy and Ayurvedicmedicines.

Numberofdeaths 1,325

Totalnumberofpeopledischarged 9,639

Numberofpeopletested2.93 lakh

Totalnumberquarantinedinhospitals, institutions,govtbuildings: 21,150

Numberofnewcases 2,127

TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRA

37,136

■CasesregisteredunderSection188(Violatinganorderissuedbyapublicservant)of IPC:780 (1,10,920)

■Personswhoviolatedquarantine:0 (680)

■Phonecallsmadeto100onCOVID-19:1,392 (94,998)

■Numberof infectedpolicepersonnel:55 (1,328)

■Casesof illegaltransport:0 (1,317)

■Arrests:15 (20,926)

■Vehiclesseized:346 (59,709)

■Fines imposed:RS4.20LAKH (Rs4.53cr)

NUMBERWATCH

*Figures in red are fromMay19; inbracket total so far

2,127 freshcases in state,76 deaths

1,972 Indiansarrivedin stateunderVandeBharatMissionMumbai:Atotalof1,972Indiansstranded abroad flew in toMaharashtra fromvariouspartsof theworld in 13 flights oper-atedaspartof theVandeBharatMission. Of the total 1,972 citi-zens, all of whomare under in-stitutional quarantine in hotelsinthecity,822arefromMumbai,1,025 from other parts ofMaharashtraand125fromotherstates. The citizens had arrivedfrom cities like London (653),Singapore (243), Manila (150),SanFransisco(107),Dhaka(107),New York (208), Kuala Lumpur(201),Chicago(195),Kuwait(2),Addis Ababa (78), Kabul (12),Muscat (16).

ENS

THE MAHATMA GANDHI MEMORIAL HOSPITAL,DR.S.S. RAO ROAD, PAREL, MUMBAI-12.

Telephone No.24140769APPLICATIONS are invited for the post ofADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER from retired officers oncontract basis for MGM Hospital, a Trust Hospital underESI Scheme with 100% Grant-in-Aid.

An application should be emailed [email protected] within 10 days from thepublication of this advertisement with full bio-data of thecandidate along with relevant supportive documents.

Sd/-Medical Superintendent.

No. of posts : OneAge limit : Upto 65 years and can be relaxed upto 69

years depending upon qualification andexperience.

Qualification : Graduate from Recognized University.Preference will be given to LawGraduate/ Post Graduate.

Experience : Minimum 5-10 years in AdministrationDepartment/ Establishment Section inState/ Central/ Semi-Government. Heshould be well conversant with variouscivil services rules, knowledge ofcomputer operating and Marathilanguage.

Nature ofwork

: Establishment of “A” to “D” Cadre,implementation of Roaster, handlingcourt cases related to hospital,disciplinary proceeding & any other workallotted by Medical Superintendent etc.

Salary : As per G.R. dtd.17.12.2016 of GeneralAdmn. Department, Govt. ofMaharashtra. Preference will be given tothe retired govt. servants.


Telephone No.24140769APPLICATIONS are invited for the post of PERSONNELCUM LABOUR OFFICER from retired officers on contractbasis for MGM Hospital, a Trust Hospital under ESI Schemewith 100% Grant-in-Aid.



No. of posts : 01 (One)Age limit : Upto 65 years and can be relaxed upto 69



Experience : 5-10 years in Administrative work onsame post or equivalent post.

Nature ofwork

: Conducting disciplinary/ departmentalenquiries, Supervision of Nursing School& Any other work entrusted by MedicalSuperintendent.



Telephone No.24140769APPLICATIONS are invited for the post of JR. PERSONNELOFFICER from retired officers on contract basis for MGMHospital, a Trust Hospital under ESI Scheme with 100%Grant-in-Aid.





Qualification : Graduate from Recognized University.Preference will be given to Law Graduate/ Post Graduate.

Experience : Minimum 3-5 years in Administrativework on same post or equivalent post.

Nature ofwork

: Supervision of Class IV Establishment &All Asst. Stewards, Any other workentrusted by Medical Superintendent.



Telephone No.24140769APPLICATIONS are invited for the post of JR.ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER from retired officers oncontract basis for MGM Hospital, a Trust Hospital underESI Scheme with 100% Grant-in-Aid.






Experience : Minimum 3-5 years in Administrativework on same post or equivalent post.

Nature ofwork

: Supervision of Class I, II, IIIEstablishments, Legal Matters,Liasoning with Advocates, Attendingcourt cases & Any other work entrustedby higher authority.


[erpeerDeeÙeheerDeej 2020-21/110

Government of IndiaMinistry of Consumer Affairs, Food and

Public DistributionDepartment of Food and Public Distribution

VACANCYAPPLICATIONS are invited for filling up the postof Chairperson in the Warehousing Developmentand Regulatory Authority (WDRA), set up byGovernment of India under the provisions of theWarehousing (Development and Regulation) Act,2007. The vacancy circular with details regardingpay, eligibility criteria, age limit, tenure etc. andapplication proforma is placed on the website of thisDepartment. i.e. http:dfpd.nic.in. Applicants mustsend their application through proper channel alongwith supporting documents, so as to reach theundersigned (Room No. 165, Krishi Bhawan, NewDelhi) with in 45 days from the date of publicationin the employment News (published in theEmployment News/ Rojgar Samachar on16.05.2020) i. e. by 29th June, 2020 till 5 P. M.

Nandita Gupta, Joint Secretarydavp 08109/11/0001/2021


MAHARASHTRA


MAYURAJANWALKARMUMBAI,MAY19

SHAHIDA SHAIKH, a domesticworkerfromBhagatSinghNagarinGoregaon,saysmanyinherlo-cality are without ration cardsand have been without worksince the lockdown. “I just go toa mosque because somebodycomes there to distribute foodpackets.Thefoodbeingsuppliedthrough corporators has notreached us. It is becoming diffi-cult because now we have toworry about where the nextmealcomesfromeveryday.”Even as the lockdown en-

tered its fourth phase, the sightofmanypeopleaskingformate-rialhelponthestreets,especiallyoutside grocery stores pleadingwithwell-to-doshopperstobuythem flour, rice ormilk packets,toohasnotbeenuncommon.Evenasthousandsofmigrant

workers leave the city, workersin the unorganised sector, whohavemade this city their homefordecades,stareatmoreweeksof nowages, dwindling savingsandtheresultantdependenceonthe administration, or charityfromstrangersforessentialslike

foodandgroceries.BabliRawat, thegeneral sec-

retary of GharkamgarMolkarniSangathana (GMS), said thatfrom areas like Aarey, BhagatSingh Nagar in Goregaon andAmbujWadi inMalad, she hasdrawn up a list of 450 peoplewhohavebeenreceivingnofoodordry rations fromanyauthori-ties.Shesaidamongthoseonthelist fromAarey Colony,Malvaniand Goregaon were womenworking as domestic help andsome men working as daily-wageworkers.EknathMane, president of

GMS, said that many womenwhoworkedasdomesticwork-ers have nowbecome depend-ent on the government for sup-plies and there are no specialschemes catering to thesewomen, many of whom havefound it difficult to collect theirpayfromtheiremployers.“Mostwomenwere paid for

the month of March but noteveryoneissurethattheywillgetpaid for April. For example, onewomanhasbeenworkinginthesame house for 27 years. Shecalled and asked if she can getpaid for April and shewas toldthat as they have been doing all

the housework, what shouldtheypayher for,”Manesaid.Rawatsaid thatmuchbefore

theCovid-19outbreak,inadriveheld by GMS, asmany as 2,500women had opened bank ac-counts.Attheirlastmembershiprenewal, GMShad 3,500mem-bers.“Manywomenhadopenedregular bank accounts but veryfew had opened Jan Dhan ac-counts.ThosewhohadJanDhanaccountshavereceivedRs500intheiraccounts,” saidRawat.The control room set up by

the state government’s labourdepartment receives anaverageof about 100 calls per day, saidDevelopment Commissioner(Unorganised labour) PankajKumar. Most of these calls, hesaid, pertain to non-payment ofwagesinwhichcasesthedepart-mentintervenes.However,thesecallshavebeenfromboththeor-ganisedandunorganisedsectors.Kumarsaidthestategovern-

ment has so far paid Rs 2,000each to 12 lakh constructionworkers in thestate.Kumarsaidthatifanamountisfixedforeco-nomic relief in the unorganisedsector,itwillcaterto122occupa-tions that fall under it, includingdomesticworkers.

BJP corporator fromMumbadevi Atul Shah said thatamong people who had nowcometorelyoneitherthecorpo-ration, state government orNGOs for food included variousgroups, including strandedlabourers, painters, electricians,loaders and a small number oftaxidrivers.However,economistsarestill

hopingthatthepandemicshockthathastakenawaypeople’sjobsand incomes in one stroke, willnot pull people below thepoverty line, or that if that hap-pens, itcouldberectified.AbhayPethe,professorofeconomicsatMumbai University, said theproblemmay be temporary. Hesaidtheeconomicreliefpackagesannounced by the Centre aregoodforlaterstagesofeconomicrevivalbut fornowthestateandlocal governments need tohaveresources“hereandnow”.“I think this is a temporary

problem. This may be longerthan expected and during thattimeyoumayfindanincreaseinreportedpovertybut,if Indiacanmanage its macroeconomicswell, wewill be able to bouncebackstrongerwithinacoupleofyears.”

Headded,“Inurbanareas,thewaywemeasure poverty as in-comepoverty,isneververyhigh.It is about 3-5 per cent. The realproblemisvulnerabilityandthehealth outcome. The realmeas-ures should be multi-dimen-sional poverty that we need tomeasure.Andifwemeasurethat,wewill find an increase. Theremay be a small jerk because ofwhathashappenedbutonasus-tained basis, we still have thatkind of poverty andwe need tochangeourstrategyandstarttak-ing into account things otherthanincome.”Pethesaid that if thegovern-

ment had data about migrantworkers—theplaces theycamefrom,where theywork, wherethey are located — even localward offices would have beenable to helpwith resources anddistribution of food packets. “InMumbai, density of populationisnottherootcause,itistheden-sitythatisnotwell-managed.Weshould not drawwrong conclu-sions.Going forwardwehave tomanageoururbandensitieswell,weshouldhaveproperdataandempoweredlocalgovernancesotheycantake immediate, emer-gencymeasures,” saidPethe.

With no wages and savings, more workersrely on administration, charity for food

Mumbai: Navi Mumbai wasamong thesix cities across India,whichwereonTuesdayawardedthe“five-stargarbagefree”tagbytheUniongovernment. The ‘StarRatingProtocol’waslaunchedbytheCentre in January2018 to in-stitutionalise amechanism forcitiestoachieve“garbagefree”sta-tus, and to motivate cities toachievehigherdegreesofcleanli-

ness.TheratingswerereleasedonTuesday by Hardeep S Puri,MinisterofStateforHousingandUrbanAffairs.Theothercitiesthatwerecertifiedasfive-starincludedAmbikapur,Rajkot,Surat,Mysuruand Indore. Asmanyas34othercities and towns acrossMaharashtra were given the‘three-star’ tag while 15 weregiventhe‘one-star’ tag. ENS

Mumbai: The BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)will issue showcausenotice toacontractor for reportedly hiringchildlabourersforcleaninganul-lahinAndheriEast.Civicofficialssaidthatpenaltywillbeimposedon the contractor for engagingchildrenforthework.Theactioncomesafteracity-

based NGO, WatchdogFoundation,allegedthatchildrenhadbeenhired for desilting andcleaning theKrishnaNagar nul-lah near St John the EvangelistChurchinMarol.According to theNGO, these

childrenwerereportedlymadetocleanthefilthwithbarehands.Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of

Watchdog Foundation, said, “Iwas really appalled to see theworking conditions of threemi-norchildren,whowereseencar-ryingthefilthwithbarehandsin

plasticghamela(plasticbin)andstoring it on road adjoining thenullah,”Chief Engineer, Storm

Water Drain department,Sanjay Jadhav, said, “Our engi-neerconcernedhasvisitedthespot after the complaint. Wewill issueshow causenoticetocon-tractor.”Due to a

shortage oflabourersamid thecoronaviruspandemic,thecivicbodyis rushing tofinishthepre-monsoonworks, likenullah clean-ing. ENS


RESPONDING TO pleas from ahospitalityassociation,thestateExcise department on Tuesdayallowedhotels, barsandrestau-rants to sell their stocks of per-ishable foreign liquor to wineshops.In an order issued by

PrincipalSecretary(Excise)ValsaNairSingh,thedepartmentper-mitted establishments holdingFL3 licences to sell stocksof im-ported beer and wine to wineshops. However, the establish-mentswillhavetoapplyforspe-cial transport passes from localauthorities inorder tocompletethesetransactions.However,un-der the lockdown rules, hotels,bars and restaurants are stillbarred from selling liquor tovalid permit holders for con-sumptiononpremises.Theexemptionfromthelock-

downrules,whichhaveorderedbars,hotelsandrestaurantstore-main shut, will remain in forceuntil the lockdownendsoruntilstocks last, states theorder.Singh said that the exemp-

tionwasaimedatensuring thatstocksofperishableliquordonotexpire.“Wearetryingtomakeiteasier for establishments to selltheir stocks,” shesaid.However, Gurbaxish Singh

Kohli,presidentof theHotelandRestaurant Association ofWestern India (HRAWI), de-scribed the order as “illogical”.“Whywouldwineshopswanttobuy liquor from us when theyhave greater sales thanwe do?WewillhavetosellourstockstothematMRPor less,”hesaid.Kohli added that establish-

mentswouldbereluctant togetinto the process of applying fortransportpasses.“Thisorderisaknee-jerk reaction to what wehad asked for.Wewill write tothe Excise department askingwhatthisordermeans,”hesaid.

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR,MAY19

ANEWpreyandpredatorestima-tion in Tadoba Andhari TigerReserve(TATR)inChandrapurdis-tricthasfoundthepresenceof115tigersand151leopardsinsidethe1,727sqkmofthecoreandbufferareasof thereservein2019.The estimationwas done as

partofthe‘Long-termmonitoringof tigers, co-predators andpreyspecies in TATR’. Asmany as 88tigershavebeenindividuallycap-turedintrapcamerapictures,thereportstates.Italsomentionsthatthe leopard population in TATRwas151.Although the tiger numbers

appear to be up as compared to2018, the population densityshowsadeclinefrom5.51to5.23per 100 sq km. Explaining thedensity drop, Bilal Habib, seniorscientistfromWildlifeInstituteofIndia (WII) and co-author of thereport, said, “Actually, we havecovered about 300 sq km areamorein2019thanin2018.So,wehaveseenthisincrease.”Headded:“If youextrapolate

thetigerdensityfigureof2018onthe entire area of TATR, youwillget thesamenumberof tigersas2019for2018too.”N R Praveen, TATR Field

Director,said,“Itonlymeansthatthese 29 tigersmayhave beenthere last year toobut sincewecouldn’tcovertheentirearea,wecouldn’t establish their pres-ence.”TheTATRcomprises 625 sq

km core and 1,127 sq km ofbuffer. The estimation exercisewas carried out in 1,700 sq kmarea, excluding humanhabita-

tion and inaccessible areas thistime, by both scientific capture-markrecaptureandcameratrapmethods. The estimation, how-ever,alsoshowsthat themargin

of error inthenumbercount in2018wasplus-minus3.5,whichincreased to plus-minus 12.42in 2019. Explaining the differ-ence, Habib said, “It is becausetherearemanytigersthatkeepshiftingplacesandrarelycomein trap camera images. That’swhythistime,themarginofer-rorwashigh.”In addition to 115 tigers in

TATR, the territorial forest ofChandrapurhasabout75tigers.The Forest DevelopmentCorporation of Maharashtra(FDCM)areas in thedistrict toohave a good number of tigers.The overall tiger count inChandrapur district alone ismore than200,which is abouttwo-thirdofthetotalnumberoftigersinthestate.

Mumbai: Six persons have beenbooked for allegedlyassaultingathief and stripping him on theroadinSiononMonday.TheWadala TTpolice station

said the thiefwas savedby a so-cialworker.Theincidentallegedlytook place around 2.30 pmMonday, when RajkumarChintalafoundhiscellphonehadbeen stolen from his house atPartikshaNagarinSion.“Chintala had kept the cell-

phonenearhiswindow,whentheaccusedflickedit,”saidanofficer.Minutes later,whenChintala re-alised that his phone has beenstolen,hesteppedouttolookforit.InnearbyKokriAagar,heallegedlysawtheaccusedwithhis phone.“He confronted the accused andaskedhimtoreturnthecellphone.

As theman refused, claiming itwashisphone,Chintalacalledhisfriends. The men assaultedChintala andalso strippedof hisclothesontheroad,”saidtheoffi-cer. After a social worker cameacross thegathering inPratikshaNagar,he intervenedandofferedthe accusedhis clothes. “He alsotookhimtothepolicestation,”theofficer said, adding that Chintalaand five others, who assaultedhim,werealsobroughttothepo-licestation.While themanwas booked

for theft, a casewas registeredagainst the six others on chargesofrioting,assaultandwrongfulre-strain. “While themanhasbeenarrested, the six personswereservednoticesandallowedtogo,”saidtheofficer. ENS

Airports Economic RegulatoryAuthority of India

(A Statutory Body of the Government of India)AERA Building, Administrative Complex,

Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi- 110003Ph. : 24695044-47, Fax : 24695048, Website :

http://aera.gov.in

VACANCY NOTICEAIRPORTS Economic Regulatory Authority,invites applications from eligible candidates forfilling up posts of - Under Secertary (Policy &Statistics) (01 no.), Bench Officer (01 no.),Assistant (01 no.), Personal Assistant (01 No.) andStenographer (05 nos.), in New Delhi ondeputation basis. Details are available on AERA'swebsite http://aera.gov.in. Last date for receipt ofapplications through proper channel is 29.06.2020till 5.30 pm. Corrigendum, if any, in this regardwould be published only on AERA's Website.

DAVP03112/11/0001/2021 Director (P&S), AERA

Excise deptallows hotels,bars to sell stocksof foreign liquorto wine shops

Navi Mumbai among Centre’s‘five-star garbage-free’ cities

Presence of 115 tigers, 151 leopards in TATR: ReportPREY,PREDATORESTIMATION

Nagpur:Inyetanothertigerat-tack, a 63-year-old woman,LeelabaiJeevtode,fromKolaravillagewas killed by a tiger inthe core area of TATR onTuesdaymorningwhen shewent there to collect tenduleaves. This is the second fataltigerattackonhumansinTATRcoresinceMarch16.“Theareaofthetwoattacks

isthesame.Soit’s likelythatit

isthesametiger,”Praveensaid.The area has three sub-

adult tiger siblings, who aretrying to establish their terri-tories, according to Praveen.With this, the totalnumberofhuman deaths due to big catattacks in Vidarbha this year,so far, has nowgoneup to 21.Twelve of these have hap-pened during the lockdownperiod. ENS

TIGER KILLS63-YEAR-OLDWOMAN

Mumbai: Civic body to issuenotice to contractor for hiringminors for cleaning nullah

Six booked for assaulting,stripping ‘thief’: Police

SCREENINGON:AspecialhealthcampforCovid-19testswasorganisedforMumbaiFireBrigadepersonnelatDadar, inMumbaionTuesday.GaneshShirsekar

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020

POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE OF MEDICALEDUCATION & RESEARCH, CHANDIGARH

Tender Notice No. PI(EP)/20-21/01 Phone No. 0712-2756469Sealed tenders are invited from the firms on the prescribed form for outsourcing of

Photocopier work against tender No. 1-1. The firm can offer their minimum rates as perterms & conditions contained in the Tender Form:-

Tender list can also be downloaded from website: www.pgimer.edu.in and Tender Formwith specifications can be downloaded from website www.eprocure.gov.in Cost of Tenderis Rs. 200/- (non-refundable) which can deposited in the shape of Demand Draft in favourof Director, PGIMER, Chandigarh. Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) must be in the form ofFDR/TDR valid for a period of one year from any scheduled bank in the name of Director,PGIMER, Chandigarh. EMD in any other form will not be accepted. Tender can be droppedin the tender box placed in the Procurement Branch (Import) manually by 2.30 P.M. on orbefore the date mentioned against respective item. The tender shall be opened on thesame date at 03.00 P.M. in the presence of the authorized intending tenders. Tender notsubmitted on the prescribed form, not accompanied with valid Earnest Money and tendercost shall be summarily rejected straightway. The undersigned reserves the right to acceptor reject any or all the tenders received without assigning any reason thereof. For moredetails contract: 0172-2756469 at Procurement Branch (Import).NOTE: If any of the tender opening date happens to be a holiday in PGIMER, Chandigarh,then the same shall be opened on next full working day.330/PGI

Sr. Item Name Quantity EMD Due & OpeningNo. Date

1. Photocopier Machine on Contractual Basis 03 No’s Rs. 20,000/- 10.06.2020

PROFESSOR IN-CHARGE (EP)

DIPR/ 1846 /Tender/2020

TAMILNADU NEWSPRINT AND PAPERS LIMITED

TNPL - Maker of bagasse based eco-friendly Paper

Kagithapuram-639 136, Karur Dist, Tamil Nadu.E-mail: [email protected] , web: www.tnpl.com

Phone No. 04324-277 001 (10 lines), Extn: 4402/4568

NOTICE INVITING BIDsFor Design, Engineering, Manufacture, supply and Erection of

Live Deck Wood Log Feeding system for Chipper HouseBidders may request the tender document at the aboveaddress by post/mail. Detailed NIB may be viewed in websites:www.tenders.tn.gov.in / www.tnpl.comDate of issue of Bid Document : 20th May, 2020.Due date for submission : 10th June, 2020.

TThhee IInnddiiaann EXPRESS

BUSINESSPOULTRY

VENCOBBVENCOBB Ex-FarmYesterday’s price inPune Rs. 110/-.Suggested Retail Priceis Rs. 128/-

0070701559

Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it is not possible toverify its contents. The IndianExpress (P.) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamage incurred as a resultof transactions withcompanies, associations orindividuals advertising in itsnewspapers or Publications.We therefore recommendthat readers make necessaryinquiries before sending anymonies or entering into anyagreements with advertisersor otherwise acting on anadvertisement in any mannerwhatsoever.

''IMPORTANT''

Mail ID: - [email protected]

GOVERNMENT OF ODISHAOFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER,

NORTHERN (R&B) CIRCLE: SAMBALPURe - Procurement

BID IDENTIFICATION No SENC(R&B) /01/ 2020-21No. 1375 Dtd. 15.05.2020

1. The Superintending Engineer, Northern (R&B) Circle, Sambalpuron behalf of Governor of Odisha invites Percentage Rate bids indouble cover system in ONLINE MODE for the construction of Roadworks and Building works as detailed in the DTCN from the eligibleclass of contractors.

2. No of works = 7 (Seven) (Roads-6 nos and Buildings-1 Nos.)3. Tender Cost: Rs. 10,000/-4. Class of contractor: "B" Class , "A" Class , "Special" & "Super"

Class.5. Date & Time of available in web site & receipt of Bids From

30.05.2020 to 17.00 Hours of 16.06.2020.6. Date of opening of Technical Bid 17.06.2020 at 11.00 Hours.7. The Bidders have to participate in ONLINE bidding only. Further

details can be seen from the website www.tendersodisha.gov.in.8. Any corrigendum / Addendum will be displayed in the website

www.tendersodisha.gov.in.Sd/-

Superintending EngineerNorthern (R&B) Circle, Sambalpur

OIPR-34035/11/0001/2021

B-12

GOVERNMENT OF ODISHAOFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER

JEYPORE (R&B) CIRCLE, JEYPOREINVITATIONS FOR BIDS (IFB)

Bid Identification No. S.E.J.C (R&B)- 03/2020-21No. 1887 Date. 15.05.2020

1. Name of the work: BUILDING WORKS2. Total No. of Works: 03 (Three) Nos.3. Estimated cost: Rs. 184.85 Lakhs to 424.89 Lakhs.4. Period of completion: 09 (Nine) Months to 11 (Eleven)

Months.5. Bid Cost: Rs. 10,000/- Each6. Class of Contractor: "B" ,"A" & "Special" Class7. Date & time of availability of From 10.00 hours of 27.05.2020 to

bid document in the portal: 17.00 hours of 11.06.20208. Last date / Time for receipt 17.00 hours of 11.06.2020

of bids in the Portal:9. Opening date of Bid: 10.00 hours of 12.06.202010. Name and address of the Superintending Engineer Jeypore

Officer Inviting Bid: (R&B) Circle, Jeypore

Further details can be seen from the e-procurement portalhttps://tendersodisha.gov.in Any addendum / corrigendum / cancellationof tender can also be seen in the said website only.

Sd/-Superintending Engineer

Jeypore (R&B) Circle, Jeypore

OIPR-34108/11/0003/2021

B-11

DIPR/1845/Tender/2020

TAMILNADU NEWSPRINT AND PAPERS LIMITEDKAGITHAPURAM - 639 136, KARUR DIST. TAMIL NADU

Phone: 04324-277 001 (10 LINES) E-mail: [email protected] /[email protected] / [email protected] /

[email protected] INVITING TENDER

Tender No. Material Description Due date202113000481 Imported Burnt Lime for PCC 08.06.2020202133000077 Imported Limestone - Cement Plant 04.06.2020202113000470 Cationic Starch (In Jumbo Bags) 04.06.2020

202113000455

Maize Based Native Starch (In Jumbo Bags) ForTNPL Unit-1 & Unit-2 02.06.2020

202113000525 Liquid Chlorine 06.06.2020202113000527 Hydrogen Peroxide 50% 10.06.2020202113000528 Sodium Hydrosulphite 12.06.2020

202133000038 Gypsum 03.06.2020

Detailed requirements, period, terms & condition, Quantity,TenderFee, Enlistment Fee/ EMD, etc. are available in tender document atour websites: www.tnpl.com / www.tenders.tn.gov.in


GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADUPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

BUILDING ORGANISATIONTender Extension Notice No.6/VLR-CLE/2020-2021 /

Dated : 18.05.2020The Sealed Tenders invited by the Superintending Engineer,

PWD., Buildings (C&M) Circle, Vellore-1, in the Short Time TenderNotice No.3 / VLR-CLE / 2020-2021 / Dated : 05.05.2020 for thework is extended upto 29.05.2020 upto 3.00 PM due toAdministrative Reason. The tenders will be opened by theSuperintending Engineer on the same day at 3.30 PM. The tenderschedule can be downloaded upto 28.05.2020 upto 5.45 PM.

Superintending Engineer, PWD.,Buildings (C&M) Circle, Vellore - 1.DIPR / 1837/ TENDER / 2020

DIPR/1843/Tender/2020

TAMILNADU NEWSPRINT AND PAPERS LIMITEDUnit-1 : KAGITHAPURAM - 639 136, KARUR DIST. TAMIL NADU

Phone: 04324-277 001 (10 LINES) E-mail: [email protected] /[email protected]

Unit-2: Mondipatti - 621306, Trichy District, Tamil NaduPh:04332-265102 - Email: [email protected]

NOTICE INVITING TENDERsTender No. Description Due date

202113000482

Enlistment of vendors/contractors forExecution of Farm Forestry & CaptivePlantations and Felling & Transportation ofPulpwood from Farmers field to TNPL Unit-1during 2020-21

03.06.2020

202113000538

Transportation of Imported Coal from VOCPort, Turicorin to TNPLUnit-1 at kagithapuram 26.05.2020

202113000618

Transportation of Paper Reels / Bundles /Boxes from TNPL Unit-1 at kagithapuram tovarious branches / destinations throughoutIndia

05.06.2020

202123000063

Carrying Out of Line Weeding, Prunning andSaucer Formation in Plantation Area at TNPLUnit-2, Trichy

04.06.2020

202123000064

Handling of Imported Pulp and WetlappedPulp in stores at TNPL Unit-2, Trichy 05.06.2020

202123000115 Coal Handling Works at TNPL Unit-2, Trichy 06.06.2020

Terms& condition, Specifications, Qty., Tender Fee, EMDare availablein Tender document at our websites: www.tenders.tn.gov.in &www.tnpl.com


OFFICE OF CHIEF ENGINEER/METERINGRegd. Office: PSEB H.O., The Mall, Patiala - 147001

C-3, SHAKTI VIHAR, PSPCL, PATIALA, PUNJAB-147001Tel. No. 0175-2218871, Fax: 0175-2200284, E-mail: [email protected]

CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813. Registration Number: 33813website: www.pspcl.in, E-tendering Page: https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

NOTICE INVITING TENDER

Tender Specification No.

Short Description

Last Date of Downloading of TenderDocuments

Last Date of Bid Submission

Bid Opening (Part-I & II)

Intending Officer and Contact No.

MQP-159/2020-21/PR

On-site Testing of EHT (66KV) connec-tions covering Energy Meters andCT/PT Units using NABL accreditedMobile Laboratory.

18.06.2020 till 11.00 Hrs.

19.06.2020 till 11.00 hrs.

26.06.2020 at 11.30 Hrs.

SE/HMC, PSPCL, Patiala96461-18774

Detailed NIT and set of specification/tender documents can only be down-loaded from website https://eproc.punjab.gov.in. Tender ID is2020_POWER_47533_1.

NOTE: Corrigendum, if any after the publication of this tender enquiry shall onlybe uploaded on site and will not be published in newspapers.

Sd/-DY CE/HMC,

PSPCL, Patiala.C-874/PB

C-159/2020

6


THEOUTBREAK Nation


GUJARAT, WHICH got its firstCovid case as late at March 19,nowreports the secondhighestmortality rate in the country. InaninterviewwithLEENAMISRAand PARIMAL DABHI, ChiefMinisterVIJAY RUPANI speaksaboutthestate’sstrategytocon-tain the spread of the virus andefforts tohelpmigrantworkers.

Gujarathasstartedrushingmigrantstotheirhomestateswithouttestingthematsheltersorlabourcolonies.Willthisnotposearisktothedestinationstates?The rescue work in the

MachhuDamfloods inMorbi in1979mademeunderstandwhatacrisismeansforthepoorandde-privedsections.Theexperienceof1979hasbecomeatouchstoneformetotakenecessaryactionwithutmostempathy.Thisistheprimereasonwhymygovernmentisfa-cilitating the return journey oflakhs of migrantworkers fromGujarat.Westronglybelievetheyshouldbewiththeirnearanddearonesamidthecrisis,whichiswhywedecided to operate Shramiktrains in close coordinationwiththecentralgovernment.They undergo a health

checkup before they leaveGujarat and when they entertheir home states. My govern-menthasenabledthemtoreachtheirhomeswithutmostdignityand care. We have providedbusestohelpthemreachtherail-way station. The buses and thetrains followall safetyprotocols.We provide them food andwa-terduringthe journey.

Migrantsarethebackboneofthestate’sindustry.CouldthestategovernmentnothaveengagedtheminCovid-relatedjobssotheycouldstaybackwithdignity?As I said, it is not about em-

ployment but about ensuringsafetyamidacrisis.Alltasksasso-ciated with Covid-19 requiresome form of specialisation.Moreover, Gujarat has amplemedicalstaffatitsdisposal.We ensured their safety by

puttinguplabourcampsatacostofRs40crore.Mygovernmenthasbeen successful in providingwagesofmorethanRs1,000croretolabourers(includingmigrants)and ensuring they are not fired.

We initiated Anna BrahmaYojana for providing free food-grainstoallmigrantworkersandnon-rationcardholders,andfoodpackets to all those withoutcookingfacilities.After April 20, more than 7

lakh workers have been em-ployed inmore than 45,000 in-dustrial units and more than30,000 labourers at around700privateconstructionsites.

Isthestatejustifiedinhavingmigrantspayfortheirtickets?Wearenot charging for tick-

etsoranyfacilityprovidedtomi-grantworkersduringthejourney.

Inspiteof threestrictlyimplementedlockdowns,casesinthestatehaveseenasteadyrise.WhyhasGujaratnotbeenabletoflattenthecurve?ThebattleagainstCovid-19is

along-drawnprocess...Thestategovernment has done intensivetestingacrossGujarat. So far,wehave testedmore than1.27 lakhpeoplewith a daily capacity of3,000. I amhappy to share thattherecoveryratehasriseninthelast 10 days to 40.62% andmorethan4,000peoplehavebeendis-chargedduringthesameperiod.We will witness a flatteningcurve very soon, not just inGujaratbut in India.

TocontainvirusspreadinthewalledareasofAhmedabad,theauthoritiesrampeduptestingandpoliceandcivicauthoritieswerepressedintoseekingoutTablighis.Doyou

think,intheprocess,thosenowcalled‘superspreaders’wereignored?ItisunfortunatethatTablighis

notonlyhidtheirtravelhistorybutalso keptmeeting people in theold city area, which is denselypopulated...We respondedwithaggressive surveillance, testingandidentificationofinfectedpeo-ple,followedbytheirisolationandtreatment.Later,westartedlarge-scaletestingofvegetablevendorsand grocery shop owners inAhmedabad,SuratandVadodara.More than18,000 super-spread-ers have been tested inAhmedabad alone and 9,000morewillbetested.

WouldyoublameonlytheTablighisforthespikeincasesinGujarat?Thereisnodoubtalargenum-

ber of cases in Ahmedabademergeddue toTablighi Jamaat.Datashowedthatalargeofnum-ber cases registered inAhmedabadweredirectlylinkedtoit.Statisticsshowthat80%ofthecases inAhmedabad originatedfrom 20% area of the city.However, another aspect of theriseincasesisourincreaseintest-ingcapacity.

CoronavirushitmanyotherstatesinIndiabeforeitcametoGujarat.DoyouthinkGujaratreactedlatetopreparecapacitiesandcontainmentstrategy?Wetooktherightstepsatthe

right time. The Centre andmygovernmentworkedinsynctode-visewaysbasedonourdemogra-phyandsocio-economic status. Iam happy with the proactivemeasures adoptedby theCentreandmygovernment,beitscreen-ingof passengers before the firstCovid-19 case inGujarat, or con-struction of dedicatedhospitalswithinaweek,orprovisionofsuf-ficientmedicinesandequipmentlikeventilators,masks, sanitisersortestingmorepeopleeveryday;wehaveprogressedwitheffectivemicro-planning and manage-ment at every stage. This is theprime reasonwhy thedischargeratehasrisento40%comparedto18%tendaysago...

TherewasasenseofconfusioninGujarateverytimetheCentreputoutguidelinesfor

easingthelockdown.Couldthestatehavedonebetter,givenitsadvantageasthehomestateofthePrimeMinisterandHomeMinister?Thereisnodiscrepancyinim-

plementing and enforcing theguidelines issuedby theCentre.Theprimeaimof theCentredur-ingthepandemichasbeensavinglives and livelihoods.While theformerwasensuredwith imple-mentation of successive lock-downs, the latterwasaneffort torestore normalcy and bring theeconomyback on track.We re-sumedAPMCs, industrial unitsoutsidemunicipallimitsandcon-tainmentzonesandexportunitswithincitylimitsbutoutsidecon-tainmentzonesinApril.Toensureemployment for the poor, westartedthethirdphaseofSujalamSufalamJalAbhiyanfromApril20.We ensured uninterrupted

supply of essential items. Themodel of cooperative federalismhasstrengthenedunderthelead-ershipof NarendraModiji. Beingthe home state of the PrimeMinister and Home Minister,Gujarat has benefitted im-mensely.Wekeep seeking theirguidancefromtimetotime.

WheredoyouseetheGujarat’seconomybyDiwalithisyear?Wearehopeful that the state

willshowitsentrepreneurialspirittoshapethevibrantandresilienteconomythistimeaswell.Gujaratisopen to investmentsandtradeinapost-Covid-19world.Around33,000hectares of land is avail-ableforindustrialuse.Mygovern-ment has decided toprovide for‘PlugandProduce’facilitythroughaGIS-basedlandbanksystem.Processapprovals fornewin-

dustries that wish to establishthemselvesinGujaratwillbehun-dredpercentonline.They will get land within

sevendaysandnecessarypermis-sionswithin 15days of applica-tion.TheCentrehasenvisionedtocontactembassiesandindustriesof foreignnations in order to es-tablishtheirunitsinGujarat.Newunitswillbeprovidedrelief fromall related industrial Acts andnorms for 1,200 days. The stategovernmentwillalsofacilitatefor-eign industries in finding jointventurepartnersinthestate.

FULLINTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

WITH

VIJAYRUPANIGUJARATCHIEFMINISTER


‘Mygovt enabledmigrants toreachhomewith dignity, care’

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA,MAY19

NINEMIGRANTworkersreturn-ingfromWestBengaltotheirvil-lages in East Champaran andWest Champaran districts ofBiharwerekilledwhenthetruckthey were travelling on over-turned at Naugachhia inBhagalpurlateonMondaynight.Only three of the victims havebeenidentifiedso far.Policehaveidentifiedsixofthe

victims asMohammedHashimfromChitpuri Jamunia village inWest Champaran,MohammedRustumfromSitanivillageinEastChamparan, Gulshan, also fromSitani village, Shoukat Ali fromPaharpur village in EastChamparan, andZalimMianandNoorHoda fromVishunpura inWest Champaran. All of themweredailywagelabourers.According to police, themi-

grantworkers had left for their

homesonbicycles,butmanagedtohitcharideonthetruckcarry-ingironpoles.Theywerecrushedunder the poleswhen the truckoverturnedaftercollidingwithabus, also carrying migrantlabourers from Darbhanga toBanka,policesaid.Five passengers of the bus

were injured inthemishap.Naugachhiapolicestationin-

spectorRSKushwaha said, "Wehave identifiedsixpersons fromtheir Aadhaar cards and in-formed East Champaran andWestChamparanpolice to tracetheir familymembers and sendthem.Wecan identify theothervictimsthroughthem."Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

hasexpressedgriefovertheinci-dent and announced an ex-gra-tiaofRs4lakhforthekinofeachof thevictims, anofficial releasesaid. Leader of Opposition inBiharAssemblyTejashwiPrasadYadav termed the accident“heart-rending”.

Bihar: Nine migrantworkers on wayhome killed in mishap

Rescuepersonnelat thesiteof theaccidentonTuesday.PTI

300 nurses leaveKolkata hospitals,go back to ManipurATRIMITRAKOLKATA,MAY19

AROUND300nursesworking inKolkatahavegonebackhome toManipur, saying theywere com-pelledtoworkwithoutpayorpro-tective gear and that theywereheckled.According to the Health

Department,around6,500nurseswork in private hospitals inKolkataanditssuburbs.Eightypercent of them—more than5,000— hail from other states.Approximately 500nurses havenowgonetotheirhomestates,in-cluding300fromManipur.Martina (27), a resident of

Thoubal district inManipur, re-signedandreachedherstatetwodays ago. She told The IndianExpress, “We came to Kolkata towork. But, after the pandemic,the situation changed. Our hos-pitalwasclosedonApril13.Afterthat we did not get salary. Wewere also heckled. Our apart-mentsecurityguardsandneigh-bours called us ‘corona’ or‘Chinese’. We did not get foodfrom the nearby shop. We in-formed the hospital authoritiesand local administrationbutgotnohelp.”Anothernurse, a 29-year-old

working in a state government-runhospitalinNorthKolkata,said,“Someofmy friends have gonebacktoManipur.Ourfamiliesareverytense,andwantustoreturn.Wearedoingour jobs. If youare

repeatedly humiliated, howcanyouwork?”TheorganisationManipurisin

Kolkata(MIK)hasraisedtheseis-sueswithKolkata’shospitalsandadministration.MIK presidentKshetrimayum ShyamkeshoSingh said, “There are several is-sueslikesecurity,socialostracism,low or no salary, food shortageduringquarantine,workingenvi-ronment,personalsafetyandse-curity,landlordandaccommoda-tion, mental health anddepression...”Hospitaladministrationssaid

therewere serious concerns re-gardingthestate’shealthcaresys-tem.“Weapprehendtherewillbea significant crisis, asmore andmorenursesareleaving.Sinceoc-cupancyislowacrossallhospitals,we canmanage now. But onceplannedsurgeriesrestart,wewillfeel the pinch,” Rupak Barua,GroupCEO,AMRIHospitals, andvice-president of Association ofHospitalsofEasternIndia,said.Anothertopofficialofaprivate

hospital said, “There has alwaysbeenashortageofnursesinWestBengalduetolackofnursingcol-leges...We have beenmore de-pendent on nurses from otherstates,particularlyfromManipur,Tripura and otherNortheasternstates,alongwithKerala.”Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjeesaid,“Wewilltrainlocalsforsevendaystogivesaline,oxy-gensupportorchecktemperatureto helpwith the crisis. Howwillhospitalsworkifnursesleave?”

‘NOPAY,HECKLING’

GARGIVERMABAGHNADIGAON,MAY19

“KAHAAN TAK jaaoge? Ranchichhoddohame.RaipuryaBilaspurbhi chalega,” RamdevYadav (26)asksthedriversoftrucks,tempos,andcarswaitingon thehighwayattheborderofChhattisgarhandMaharashtra.Also at the border, in

Baghnadigaon village inChhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaondis-trict,some140kmfromthecapi-talRaipur,standabout50busesatatemporarystation,mobilisedbythestategovernmenttoferrymi-grantworkers coming into thestate. There aren’t enoughbuses—andnoneareheadedtowhereYadavwantstogo.The temporary bus station is

packedwithpeople, all tiredanddesperate togethome.Therearearguments, and frequent angryoutbursts. The authorities claimto have facilitated the journeyhomeof thousandsoverthepastfewdays—severalofthoseatthebusstation,however,complainofhaving been made to wait forhoursbeforebeingputintoabus,onlytoputinanotherhourslater.The border district has been

facing a massive load of mi-grants, and the systemis clearlyoverwhelmed.Thestategovern-ment has announced it wouldbring back nearly 3 lakh mi-grants,andpromisedthemslip-pers, should they want them,alongwithother basic facilities.The government is also helpingmigrants fromother stateswhoare passing through, but the lo-

gistics are challenging,Rajnandgaon Collector J PMaurya said. “States likeJharkhand andBihar don’twantto take theirmigrantsback.Theyaskus toquarantine them first. Ihave quarantined more than

26,000people andmore are re-turning. It is harassment of themachinery. So,we canonlydropmigrantstoborders,”hesaid.Yadav, his eyes bloodshot,

lookedforsomewatertodrinkonMonday afternoon. “We were

givenpacketsof bread,butnoth-ingmore,”hesays.He belongs toHazaribagh in

Jharkhand,Yadavsaid.HesaidheworkedinahotelnearKarlacave,aBuddhistsite60kmfromPune.TheMaharashtra state trans-

portcorporationbuseshavebeencoming till Baghnadigaon, drop-pingoffthousands.AnantGadgil,a bus driver fromPune, said hemade two such trips. “Spendingthree days on the road, I get onedayoff,andIstartagain,”hesaid.Apart from the red

Maharashtra buses, peoplehavebeencomingbyothervehiclesaswell. “Several people either poolin resources andbook a vehicle,take lifts...We give them somesupplies, register the group, andsend themahead,” a police con-stableonduty,said.

The constableswork shifts ofeighthourseachdaily,maintain-ingorder, and flaggingdownve-hiclesthatmightgivepeoplelifts.As the numbers ofmigrants

kept increasing, local authoritiescontactedYumetta Foundation,oneof thesocialorganisations inthearea.Policereachedouttooneof itsmembers, Dr Priyadarsh,who works at the ShaheedHospital in Rajnandgaon. OnMonday, Dr Priyadarsh and hisfriendsarrangedforsixbusesafterraisingRs1.5lakh,toferrypeopletoJharkhandandOdisha.But some likeRamdevYadav

still neededhelp. He ultimatelymanaged to climbon to a trailertruck carrying sugar to Bilaspuralongwith15others.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Waves of migrants throng village on Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border

Chhattisgarhsays itwillhelp3lakhgethome.GargiVerma

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,MAY19

APOLICE line in southKashmirhas emergedas thenewCovid-19hotspot in theValleywith78policepersonnel—postedattheAnantnag District Police Lines(DPL)—testingpositive.Officials are perturbed as

manyof thosewhotestedposi-tivewerepostedatthemessandclothing stores or manned thegates. Ithasalsotriggeredpanicamong residents who fear theinfection may spread to otherpartsof thedistrictasthepolicehaveunhinderedaccesstopeo-ple’s houses during search op-erationsandareattheforefrontof anti-militancy operationsthathave recently intensified.Whileofficialsattributedthe

surgetoaggressivecontacttrac-ing and testing, police sourcessaid there was no immediatecontact tracing and quarantin-ing of the suspected cases evenafter a Special Police Officertested positive twoweeks agowhen health officialswere car-rying out contact tracing of atraveller from Jammu. Only afew police personnel were ini-tiallyputunderquarantine.“There is one SPO who has

acted as a super spreader. TheSPO’sbrotherhadtravelledfromJammu and he was positive,”said Dr Peerzada Farhat, NodalOfficer (Contact Tracing). “Thesuddensurgeyousee is a resultof our aggressive contacttracing.”During a screening last

Wednesday, eight personnel atthe DPL, which has district po-lice and Armed Police reservebattalionpersonnel, testedpos-itive.Another14testedpositivethe next daywith a senior offi-cerof thearmedpolicerequest-ing another screening — 55testedpositiveonMonday.Anantnag’s Chief Medical

Officer (CMO) Dr MukhtarAhmadsaidthewifeofapolice-manfromJammualsotravelledto Srinagar and tested positive.“I think she has a bigger role inthe spread of the infection. Herfather has also tested positive,”DrAhmadsaid.A senior police officer said,

“Therearereportsofpolicemenfound positive from all acrossKashmir. But in other districts,this has been controlled very

well andthecaseshaven’tbeenallowed to go beyond five orsix…But inAnantnag,wesee ithas gone almost out of control.It needs to be probedwhat ledto this suddensurgeandwherethe district administrationshowed laxity.”Anantnag was the last dis-

trict in J&K to report its firstCovid-19infectiononApril16. Itnowhas thehighest number ofcases in J&K, with 236 testingpositiveso far.“Police are present every-

where.Whenwearestoppedata checkpoint for frisking or ourhouse is searched, how do weknow that thepoliceman is notinfected?” said a resident ofAnantnag.Anantnag SP Sandeep

Chaudhary said the develop-mentwillnotaffect lawandor-deroranti-militancyoperations.“The 18 cases from district po-liceare linkedtomanpowerde-ployed in DPL. The 55 cases arefrom IR 11 Armed Battalionwhich is a separate unit,” hesaid.“Theanti-militancyopera-tional units of police and thosewhodealwithlawandorderarenot linked to these cases. Itwon’t have any impact onroutinepolicing.”On alleged laxity in contact

tracing, the SP said, “The firstlink to DPL emerged onMay 3and samplingof the contacts ofthat civilianwasdone thesameday. The results of that groupcame onMay 6. Results for thegroup came negative exceptone. As per the retest protocol,re-sampling of the group wasdone onMay 8 and 11 and re-sultsonMay13showedpositivefor thegroup.”Chaudhary said “on their

contact tracing, sampling wasdone onMay 14 and results re-ceivedonMay17 showedposi-tive for13persons”.“The entire contact trail for

districtpolicewastraced,testedand sent to Covid facility. ThesamplingforIR11Armedbattal-ionwasdoneonMay16and55resultsfromthatunitcamepos-itive,” he said. “All the police-men,who testedpositive,wereimmediately transferred toCovid facility provided by thedistrict administration. Duringthis contact tracing and testingexercise,more than250police-menwere tested.”

78 positive, Anantnagpolice line emergesas coronavirus hotspot

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI,MAY19

WHILE RISING Covid cases andthehighpositivityrateamongre-turningmigrants pose a chal-lenge tostates suchasBiharandUttarPradesh,whatmightexac-erbate theproblem is the short-age of healthcare human re-sources inthesestates.Ananalysis of data available

oncovidwarriors.gov.in—apor-tal launchedbythegovernmentto bring healthcare profession-als,volunteersandNGOswork-ing on Covid-19 on the sameplatform—showsthat theratioofhealthcarepersonnel suchasdoctors,nursesandpharmacistsis333perlakhpopulationinthecountry.However,thisratioislowerin

states such as Uttar Pradesh(133), Bihar (157), Jammu andKashmir (167), West Bengal

(256), Madhya Pradesh (281),Telangana (283) and Rajasthan(322),allofwhichhavereportedmore than 1,000 confirmedCovid cases each until May 18.Amongotherstatesthathave

reportedover1,000cases,seven— Gujarat (416), Maharashtra(524), Tamil Nadu (527),Karnataka (564), Punjab (583),Delhi (593)andAndhraPradesh(616)—have ahigher ratio than

the national average of health-careprofessionals per lakhpop-ulation.About 45.81 lakh healthcare

personnel, including 9.27 lakhregistered MBBS doctors and17.48 lakh nurses, have beenlinked through the Covidwar-riorsportal.ThelistalsoincludesMBBS interns, Auxiliary NurseMidwives,dentists,pharmacists,AYUSH practitioners, AYUSHdoctors and teaching faculty,dental faculty, physiotherapists,optometrists,psychologists,res-piratory therapists, physicians,andoccupational therapists.The portal has also listed

about 93.49 auxiliary resourcepersonnel such as rural and ur-ban ASHAworkers, ex-service-men, panchayat secretaries,MGNREGA sewaks, NCC volun-teers, etc.—essentially boots onthe ground, peoplewho can beenlistedtocarryoutsurveillanceandsecurityoperations.

An analysis of data on thewebsite shows that the ratio oftheseauxiliaryresourceperson-nel is only 682 per lakh popula-tion in the country. It is evenlower in Delhi (340), Gujarat(445),Bihar(447),UttarPradesh(459),Rajasthan(538),Telangana(565), Maharashtra (593), andTamilNadu (660).OnlyMadhyaPradesh (710), Andhra Pradesh(721), Karnataka (734), WestBengal (817),Punjab(1,099)andJammu & Kashmir (1099) areabovethenationalaverage.The government had called

upon professionals and volun-teers working on the coron-avirus outbreak to get them-selves linked on the Covidwarriors portal.InhisMannKiBaatradioad-

dress on April 26, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadtalked about the platform aspart of the government’s Covidmanagement plan.

In states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, twinchallenge: High case load, not enough facilities

Ananalysisofdataavailableoncovidwarriors.gov.inshowsthat theratioofhealthcarepersonnelsuchasdoctors,nursesandpharmacists is333per lakhpopulationinthecountry

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI,MAY19

AFTERAnearly two-monthhia-tus, Delhi’s public transport, in-cluding DTC and cluster buses,stuttered to life Tuesday. Thenumberof busesaswell ascom-muterswerescantonmostroutes—except theoneshaving termi-nalstopsinplacesborderingUttarPradesh, inter-state terminalssuchasAnandVihar,andrailwaystations.Most buses on these routes

had20passengers— the ceilingfixed by the city’s transport de-partmenttoensuresocialdistanc-ing— indicating thatmigrantswerehoping the vehicleswoulddropthematapoint fromwheretheycouldtakeatrainorbusbackhome.Busesheadedtoterminalssuch as Mehrauli or YamunaVihar, however, were largelyempty.Around 2.30 pm, The Indian

Express found several busesdes-tinedforAnandViharbeingmadeto turn away fromSaraiKaleKhan,againforcingmi-grant workers to deboard andheadtowardstheGhaziabadbor-deronfoot.“SunahaiCongressnekuchbus

lagayi hai border par, shayad gharjaane komil jaye (wehaveheardthat the Congress has arrangedbusesat theborders,perhapswewill get a ride home),” saidAmardeepRam,headedtoBihar’sBegusaraidistrict.He,alongwithagroupofsixworkers, leftashoe

makingunitatKarolBagh,wheretheywere employed before thelockdown,andboardedaDTCbusto Anand Vihar, before beingaskedbytrafficpoliceatSaraiKaleKhan.“Wehavenotbeenpaidforthe

last twomonths. Sowe finallyheadedout,hopingtocatchatrainorbustillBegusaraiafterreachingthe UP border,” said RavinderYadav, a youngmember of thegroup.Ontheissueofmigrantswant-

ing to go home, Chief MinisterArvindKejriwal told ABPNews:“The system and governmentsacrosstheboardreactedlate.Wehaveso far sentmigrantsback in59 trains, and12more trains areto leaveonTuesday.However, sofar around4 lakhmigrants haveregisteredtogoback,outofwhichabout2lakheacharefromUPandBihar.So,running10,12,15trainswon’t do anymore. I have re-questedofficialsintheUniongov-ernment to run 100, 50 trains adayforthenext4-5days.Wewillsend back people with properarrangements, food, social dis-tancinganddignity.”DeputyCMManishSisodiasaidsofar65,000migrants havebeen sent back inShramikspecialtrainsandbuses.

DELHIUNLOCKS

As buses startplying, migrantstry to leave again,stopped again

DeputyCMManishSisodiasaidsofar65,000migrantshavebeensentbackinspecial trainsandbuses

SUNNYVERMA&PVAIDYANATHANIYERNEWDELHI,MAY19

SeveralprojectionshavebeenmadeoncontractionoftheIndianeconomythisyear.Whatistheassessmentofthefinanceministryanditseconomicdivision?It’stooearlyformetomakean

(assessment), it’stooearlyformeto evenhazard a guess.Wehavesatdowntotalkaboutverymanythings, thiswas also somethingwhich(cameupfordiscussion). Ipresented aBudget in February,not even twomonths ago.Manyassumptions of my Budget arenowgoingtobequestioned,resetetc. I have already resetmybor-rowingschedule. Itwon’tbesen-sible forme to evenmakeanas-sessmentsayingthisiswheretheeconomyisgoingtobe,thisistheextenttowhichtheeconomywillcontract. No, not now. I wouldrather keepmyself openand seehowthings go andmake the as-sessmentabit later.

ManycalculationssuggestthefiscalcostoftheRs20lakhcrorepackageislessthan2%ofGDP.IsitsufficienttototackletheeconomicslumpresultingfromCovid-19?First of all, I amnot going to

questionordisputeorarguevari-ousassessmentswhicharecom-ing. I havenothidanything fromthepublic,IhavesaidthisishowIhavedonemywork,howit’s be-ing spread, this is the liquidity. Ihavelaiditbeforeeverybody.Nowifyouwantmetotellyoutheout-layfromtheBudget,letmetellyouthis is Government of India,MinistryofFinance,dealingwithpublicmoney.Iwillhavetostandup inParliament and say, some-time—andIwilldoit—butatthisstagewhat is it thatyouwant? Isthemoney going to the place towhere it should actually go, is itgoingontime,lookatallthat.Nowif thequestionistellmethefiscaldeficit or could you spend onlythis much from your entireBudget? You are at liberty to dothat.Iamnotcriticising,question-ing, objecting to anyone doingtheirassessments,pleasegoaboutit.Ihaveheardalotofsuggestions,and I have said this even earlier.Thesuggestionshavecomefromsomanypeople, experts, econo-mists, students, former officials.Wehavetakenall theseintocog-nisanceandstudiedtheseatvar-

ious levels — departments, fi-nanceministry, PMO—andwehave come outwith this (pack-age).Iamnotdisputinganyofthesuggestions,butafterhavingdonethatextensive,andinfact,anopenexercise,wehave comeupwiththis.

YouareperhapsthefirstFinanceMinistertofacethiskindofcrisis,whichalsohasseriouseconomicimplications.ManyeconomistshavesuggestedthatawaytodealwithsituationistheReserveBankofIndiamonetisingthegovernment’sdeficittogivespendingpower.Hasthegovernmentdiscussedthis

proposal?As I said I have heard every

suggestion. I said till the level ofthe PrimeMinister, suggestionshave been heard, andwe havecomeupwiththis.

Onmonetisationofdeficitspecifically,whatisyourview?No,atthisstage,Ican’tsayany-

thing. I have said in sevenhoursoverfourdays(whileannouncingAtmanirbhar Bharat package)everythingthatIhadtoelaborateon. So if I haveput this (package)forward, there are ever somanythatIhaveleftout.DoIanswerforwhatIhaveputoutordoIanswerfor ever somany that I have nottakenonboard,howeverworthythey are. Thosewhichwere nottakenonboard, arenotnotwor-thyofconsideration,theyarewor-

thy.ButIhavecomeupwiththis.

Inarecentinterview,theRBIGovernorsaidithadnotclosedtheoptionofmonetisation.Sodoesthatremainunderconsiderationofthegovernment?ThatiswhyIamsayingIhave

keptmyself open, aswe gowehave to seehow things develop.Do you or does anyone for thatmatterknowhowthispandemicis going to pan out? Can I guessthat it will be all over byDecember?Thenthere is apointinme saying that alright, now Ihave to think about that. Butwedon’t evenknow if it has startedretractingyetandwehavetenfullmonths to go. So I have towatch

as Igoandbeready foranything.SoIhavesaidthisnow,Iamready-ingmyself foranything.

Isthegovernmentpreservingthespendingfirepowerforfuturebecausewedon’tknowforhowlongthepandemicwilllast?I kept saying that I have tobe

readyevenas I gobecauseknowone knows how this is going toturnout,howthisisgoingtoend,howthis isgoingtowithdraw.Soobviously,Ihavetobeready,Ican’tfinishmy storywith these an-nouncements.

Withthislargeinfluxofmigrantsbackhome,itwillpushupdemandforworksunderMGNREGA.IsRs40,000croreincreaseinallocationsufficienttomeetthispentupdemand?Allofushavetobeconcerned,

what is going to be enough, areyou spending enough, are youtaking enough care. Absolutelyright for you to ask this and thatwillbemyconcerntoo.Butwhatis going to be enough (is notknown). What is going to beenough, even if I know, let’s notsimplify the complexity of theproblem…becausethedisplace-ment and the type of displace-ment and thenotional cost of it,the uncertainty it will lead toabouthow, and if at all,will theycomeback.Andiftheydon’tcomeback,theyarethere—aplacefromwhere theychose tocometo thecity for jobs—what are the op-

tions available? Therefore, thekindof uncertainty this itself hascreated, is something you can’tgauge. And if you can’t gauge, ifpeopleinthegroundcan’tgauge,andbasedonthatifIhavetomakemyassumptions,whatisenough?I don’t want to sound as if I amwardingoff an answer, but hon-estlyIamconfessingatthisstage,Idon’tthinkanygovernmenthasanidea.NeitherthestatesnortheCentre,orevencountriesabroad.

Doesn'tthisexposethesystem'sinabilitytocomprehendtheproblemsthatmigrantsface?Allofus,theCentre,statesand

local bodies should now realisethat we should document thepresenceofmigrants at the levelof thesmallestunit, localbodyormunicipalward. If there are tenmigrantsworking inmyward, Ishouldknow.Thedatashouldbethere, the company should give

the data to the local body, thereshould be a documentation onhowmanyandfromwhere,noth-ingmore,where isheemployed,becauseultimately,theemployertogetherwiththegovernmenthasto be responsible, we can’t just(washourhandsoff).

Inrecentannouncements,youarguedforgreaterentryofprivatesectorincoalminingandapolicyonPublicSectorEnterpriseswhichencouragesprivateplayersinmostsectors.Inthislight,doesthegovernmentalsoplantoprivatiserailwaysandpublicsectorbanks?No.If IhadsomethingIwould

have announced it. I don’t haveanything.Ofcourse,intheBudgetspeechifIhavesaidanythingthatwill getaddedtowhat Ihavean-nouncednow.

Thereisalsoastrongandforcefulargumentthathighercashtransfersof—sayaroundRs3,000amonth—couldhavebeenmadetothemigrants,equivalenttowages/incomethattheyhavelostduringthelockdown?Iamnotobjectingtothissug-

gestion.Irepeatmyanswer,yesitwasa suggestionwehaveheard,wehave taken that into account,wehavethoughtaboutit.Inawayby extending thebanks to reachoutfirstwithoutadditionalcollat-eral foreverysmallunit, letthemrefuse (to take) it, but you ap-proach to give. Automatic is thewordIuse,whatisthataimedat?It isaimedatgivingsomemoneytomeet the fixedcost, it isaimedat giving somemoney tomakesure that somepayment for thewages aremade. So that’swhatwehavedone. I havemade surethat bankswill extend the loan.Yes, it’sa loan, it’sacredit.Yes, it’snotagrant.Butthat’swhereIamasking, grants for howmany, ofhowmuch?

ManyhaveappreciatedtheguaranteeonMSMEloansbutmanysectorslikeaviation,tourism,hospitality,whichrequireddirectsupporthavebeenleftout.Hundredper cent guarantee

and I repeat for stressed, forNPAandforviablerunningunitswhichhad to shutdownbecauseof thelockdown—all three. I havenotexcludedanyof theMSMEs andwehavealsowidenedthedefini-tion.SowhenIgobackto talkingabout this, is that sector specific,no.And I can’t imagineanybusi-ness, doing its business 100percentwith itsmoneywithout thebankinvolvement.Banksareinvolvedinfunding

everybody. Somyassumption iswhen I have saidMSMEswith awideneddefinition,stressedNPAsandviable,willgettheassistancewiththegovernmentgivingguar-antee,sothatthebankerdoesnotworry because that’s a genuineworrythatthebankerhas.Youareaskingmetogivemoreloans,youare askingmenow togive addi-tional loans,what if thedecisiongoeswrong,meaningIgenuinelygive it, that firm isunable to sur-vive, it collapses in spite of thismoney,will Ibeheldresponsiblefor the lossofmoney.That’swhywehavesaid100percentguaran-tee,thegovernmentstandsguar-antee,giveit, Iamnotpullingyouupnorwill I blame thebusinesswhich has collapsed because itcouldnotsurvive.SoIamnotquestioningacom-

mercialdecision,onthecontrary,

I amguaranteeing it, I amaskingthebanksdon’taskforadditionalcollateral, if he’s doing businesswithyou,doit,giveit.

Couldthishavebeenextendedtolargerenterprises?Banks also have an assess-

mentof largerenterprisesandtoalargeextentbetweenthemboththere is a clear understandingofwhatlevelofassets,securitiesandworthiness,andthereforethereisnever a hesitation in decisionmaking.ThereisahesitationmorewiththeMSMEs.

Youhaveincreasedtheborrowinglimitofstatesbutmademuchofitconditionalonasetofreformsbeingimplemented.IsitpossiblethattheCentreborrowsfundsandon-lendstostatesloweringtheircosts?Bond yields are very high,

that’saproblemformetoo.Yieldsbeinghigh isgoing tohitme too.Youcansuggestthat,butwehavechosentodothis(increasestates’borrowing limit) becausemanystatesdidn’t evenuse their 3percent (of GDP) limit fully,when itwasallnormallastyear.Now nothing is normal, I

agree.Andnowevenastheyhavenot utilisedmajority of the limitthattheycanutiliseinthefirsthalf.In the first half, let’s assume that50 per cent of the 3 per cent ofGSDP is what you borrow, wehavealreadyallowed themtogoup to 75 per cent. Second, evenfromthat first half total that you

canborrow, if that total is 100 inthe first half, youhavedoneonly14 per cent of it, the rest 86 percentisstillavailable.Butstillchiefministerswerewriting, state fi-nanceministerswerewriting(forahigherborrowinglimit)andwereadilysaidgoaheadwithit—0.5percentextraborrowinguncon-ditional. Butwhat is the kind ofcondition(fortheremainingbor-rowing limit)wehaveput,andisitafigmentofourimagination?Itis somethingwhich the FinanceCommissionhas recommended.If all of us are talking aboutmi-grantworkers now, actually thisproblem would be less, if thecountry had One Ration OneNationcard.Andthat’swhatIamaskingyoutodonow,makesurethatyourrationshopshaveswipemachines,makesurethatyourra-tionshopsaredigitised,makesurethat anyone using the smartphonecanwithdrawasmuchashewantsprovidedthathisfamilyhas not utilised it fully. Second,whatamIaskingthem,dopowerdistributionreforms.IamgivenRs90,000crore,IamnotsayingIamdoingthemafavour,butinmanystates farmers have been givenfreeelectricity,andnotwithstand-ing theUDAY scheme, I am stillfacing this problem. So I amsay-ingplease reformtheseand takeanother 0.5% (of GSDP as extraborrowing). But, no, no, howcanyouputacondition?HaveIaskedyoutodosomethingwhichisun-known, totally new?Weare liv-ingwiththisproblemfor30years,power distribution. AndModisarkar, between2014 and2019,cameupwith theUDAYschemetoreformit. It isnotnew.

Inthefirsttwomonths,theCentretoohastakenabighitinitsrevenues.Inthislight,areyoulookingatexpenditurecuts?Onnon-essential items?We

startedthatexercisepriortoCovid,because at that time theFinanceCommissionwas speaking tous(informally) that can you ratio-naliseit,andevenbythattime,wewerelookingattheeconomy,andunderstooditneedsmorepush.Itwasslowingdown,wecould

see thegreenshootsbut still youhad to do a lot more. We hadstarted that exercise. Yes, now Iwilldoingitallthemoreseriously.

TheBudgetandnow,whathaschangedintermsofyourfunctioning,thechallenges,thistransitionhappeningduringthelockdown?I had an excellent support of

thePrimeMinister,unbelievable.HeworkedasmuchasaFinanceMinister should do in intensity,going intothedepths.AsaPrimeMinister,hecouldhavetaskedallofusandsaidcomeandreporttome.Buthedidall thathimself, sobeginthere,downwards,excellentteamof people aroundministry,so theyall togetherworkedon it,it’snotmebeingalone.

GiventhatDelhihasbeenahotspot,howdidyoucopewithCovidpersonally,especiallywithyourmotherathome?Itwas really reallyworrying.

My daughterwas like, becauseyougooutandcomeback,makesure,standoutsidethere,andputdettolwateronyour feet, soap inyourhands,removeyourchappal,andall that.Butbecauseshewasmoreworried about them, theelderlyathome.Thatwastheini-tial (reaction)when everythingwas,ohno,youhavetobecareful.Even newspapers, people saiddon’t touchit.Well, itwasn’t trueatall.

WITH

NIRMALASITHARAMAN

UNIONFINANCEMINISTER


I had an excellent support of the PrimeMinister, unbelievable. Heworked asmuch as a FinanceMinister should doin intensity... As a PM, he could havetasked all of us and said come and

report tome. But he did all that himself


EXPRESS INTERVIEWNirmalaSitharaman


‘Thought about it (bigger cash transfers),but grant for how many, of how much?’FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamansaysall suggestionswereheardtill the levelof thePrimeMinisterbefore thepackagewas finalised

PremNathPandey

I have saidMSMEswith awideneddefinition, stressedNPAs and viable,

will get the assistancewith thegovernment giving guarantee, so that

the banker does notworry because that’sa genuineworry that the banker has

Now if youwantme to tell you theoutlay from the Budget, letme tell youthis is Government of India,Ministryof Finance, dealing with publicmoney. Iwill have to stand up in Parliament and

say, sometime—and Iwill do it

OTHERTOP STORIES

SANTANUCHOWDHURY&ESHAROYDIGHA,NEWDELHI,MAY19

WESTBENGALscrambledtoevac-uate around3 lakhpeople fromcoastal and low-lying areas toshelters as Cyclone Amphan—movingataspeedof18km/hr—is expected tomake landfall be-tweenWest Bengal’s Digha andHatiya islands in Bangladesh on

Wednesdayandpushup the sealevel. Indianmeteorological offi-cialssaidCycloneAmphan,whichhas nowweakened fromSuperCyclone to an Extremely SevereCyclonic Storm,will haveawindspeedrangingbetween155–165km/hrwhenitmakes landfallonWednesday.Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjeesaid:“Allprecautionarymeasures arebeing taken... I hada word with Union Home

Minister Amit Shah... At least 3lakhpeoplehavebeenevacuatedfromthreecoastaldistrictsof thestateandmovedtoreliefshelters.”Banerjeesaidshewill ask the

ministrynot to runanyShramikSpecial trains to bring backmi-grant labourers to the state tillThursdaymorning.Thestatehastwin challenges at hand – a cy-clone and a pandemic. DirectorGeneral of National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) S N

PradhansaidNDRFteamsarepre-paredtodealwiththedual chal-lenge. Cyclone shelters, whichusually have a capacity tohouse1,000evacueeseach,willnowbeholdingmuchless,Pradhansaid.West Bengal’s disasterman-

agement minister Javed Khansaid:“Theevacueeshavebeenputupatcycloneshelters,schoolsandcolleges.Our experience in tack-ling cyclone Fani andBulbul lastyearwillbeputtogooduse.”

Amphan set for landfall today, Bengal govt evacuates 3 lakhEXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,NEWDELHI,MAY19

ENDINGAday of war of words,exchange of letters, and tradingof allegations between theCongress and the YogiAdityanath government overPriyankaGandhiVadra'soffer toarrange1,000buses to ferrymi-grantworkers stranded at UttarPradesh's border areas to their

homedistricts,anFIRwaslodgedagainststateCongresschiefAjayKumar Lallu and Priyanka's pri-vatesecretarySandeepSinghonchargesof cheatingandforgery.The FIR was registered at

Lucknow'sHazratganjpolicesta-tiononTuesdayevening,evenasthe buses remained stranded atUP-Rajasthan border near Agrauntil late.The two are accused of al-

legedlymisleading the govern-

ment for furnishingwrong de-tails about the buses, as alsomaking false statements.The FIR has been lodged by

Lucknow's Regional TransportOfficer R P Dwivedi, who con-ducted inquiry on the list of1,000buses.Dwivediverifiedthebus numbers provided andfound 100 vehicles were regis-tered in the name of auto-rick-shawsorgoodcarrier, truckandambulance, etc, theFIRstates.

Data for 70 buses was notfound,and fitnesscertificatesof59vehicleshadexpired,itstates.The row began Monday

night after Priyanka's office re-ceiveda letter atmidnight fromUP Additional Chief SecretaryAwanishKumarAwasthi,askingthat the buses, alongwith theirfitnesscertificatesanddrivingli-cencesofdrivers,behandedoverto the administration atLucknowby10amFriday.

UP FIR against state Congress chief, Priyanka aide

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

124,603Iran

225,886Italy

177,289Germany

247,709United Kingdom

180,051France

231,606Spain

1,510,988US

257,396Brazil

150,593Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 4,836,329 DEATHCOUNT:320,335

THEWORLD

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonMay19

299,941Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 1,01,139 (3,163 DEATHS)

35,058Maharashtra

11,760 Tamil Nadu

5,507Rajasthan

1,980 Punjab

5,236MP

4,605 UP

10,054 Delhi

11,745Gujarat

2,825West Bengal

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to [email protected]

2,474Andhra Pradesh

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,May19.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.39,174PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN32STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

SEEMACHISHTINEWDELHI,MAY19

The plight of migrants leaving thecities has been visible on streets allover India. Now, a new study haslooked what is happening to poor,non-migranturbanworkers.The study, aworkingpaperby re-

searchers from the University ofChicago and theUniversity of BritishColumbia,covered1,392individualsin Delhi, in slums andunauthorised colonies,and found 9 out of 10people reporting thattheir weekly incomeshadfallentozero.The study, con-

ducted over sevenweeksofthelockdown,found that intra-citymovement, mappedusingFacebookmobil-ity data, dropped by80%,immediatelyafterthefirstlockdownwasannouncedonMarch 24. It arrived at three broadconclusions. First, the lockdown re-sulted in significant economic costs,with income falling by 57% and daysworkedfalling73%.Second, the lock-down resulted in “widespread com-pliancewithpublichealthdirectives:mask usage rose by 73 percentagepoints (pp); time spent indoors in-creasedby51pp;smokingdecreasedby 13pp; andhand-washing rose by10 pp.” Third, the economic impacts

ofthelockdownweresomewhatmit-igatedbygovernmentfoodassistance,butabout64%ofthesamplecouldnotaccess these.“Evenfornon-migrantworkers in

Delhi, the lockdownhas been devas-tating economically. But it alsobroughtaboutamassivechangeinbe-haviour.Peoplestartedwearingmasksmore, they stayed indoors and so-cialisedless,theywashedtheirhandsmoreregularly,therewereevenfewerreportsofsmoking.Thesehabitsare

crucial for limiting thespread and the healthimpacts of the virus,”said Dr Ken Lee,Executive Director ofthe Energy PolicyInstitute at theUniversityofChicagoinIndia (EPIC India) andthe lead author of thestudy. But, the re-searchers added, “con-cerns remain aboutmental health, supply

chains, and personal savings, againstthebackdropofarisinginfectionrate.Moreover, it remains to be seenwhether public health compliancewill persist, as the novelty, fear, andmediacoverageofCOVID-19subside”.Thestudy observesthat“thereare

relatively high rates of mental andemotionalwell-being problems, on-going challenges in food supplychains, in terms of higher prices andlowerquantities,anddwindlinglevelsof reportedsavings”.

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

How lockdown has impactednon-migrant poor in Delhi

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 33ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 107Bihar 1391Chandigarh 196Chhattisgarh 93DadarNagarHaveli 1Goa 38Haryana 928HimachalPradesh 90JammuandKashmir 1289Jharkhand 223Karnataka 1246Kerala 630Ladakh 43Manipur 7Meghalaya 13Mizoram 1Odisha 876Puducherry 18Telengana 1597Tripura 167Uttarakhand 93

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI,MAY19

ONMONDAY,USstockmarketswentsoaringonthebackofpromisingresults fromavac-cine against novel coronavirus disease(Covid-19)developedbyUSpharmaceuticalcompanyModerna. A look at the mRNA-1273vaccine andhowmuch somuchhopehasbeenpinnedon it:

What ismRNA-1273?It istheworkingnameofModerna’svac-

cine,whichiscurrentlyinPhase1clinicaltri-als under the aegis of the US NationalInstitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID),apartoftheUSNationalInstitutesofHealth (NIH) and led by Dr Anthony Fauci.ThemRNA in the namemeansmessengerRNA,which carries the genetic formula forthe coding of a specific protein. In this vac-cine,theparticularmRNAusedcodesforthemost distinguishing feature of the SARS-CoV2—thespikeprotein—whichisalsotheappendage that the virus uses to enter thecell andreplicate.Thevaccine,wheninjectedintoaperson,

codes for thespikeprotein.Thusevenwith-outtheintroductionofanattenuated(recog-nisablebutnotharmful)virusintothebody,thebodylearnswhattheviruslookslikeandarms itself with the antibodies that are re-quired toactagainst it.

Whatarethepromisingresults?ModernahasannouncedthatthemRNA,

onenteringthebody,hadmanagedtoshowa degree of immune response in the firsteightpatients. TalZaks,Modernachiefmed-ical officer, told The Financial Times that theresultsshowedthatevenlowerdoseselicitedan “immune response of the magnitudecaused by natural infection”. “These datasubstantiateourbelief thatmRNA-1273hasthe potential to prevent Covid-19 disease,”he said. Among the side-effects that werenotedwere chills and a little redness in theplacewhere the injectionhadbeengiven.The participants received two doses of

the vaccine; different doses were used totest thepotencyof the vaccine. Twoweeksafter the second dose, even those on thelowest dose showed enough antibodies toraisehopesofbeingabletothwartaninfec-tion. Itwasthesamelevelofprotectionthatpeoplewhohaverecovered fromthe infec-tionshow.Thegroupthatgotahigherdosehadhigher levels.

Arethesethefinal resultsof thetrialbeforethevaccine isavailable?Far from it. The trialswere kicked off on

March16whenthefirstparticipantwasen-rolled, and the resultsModerna is currentlyciting are only from eight patients. This iswhat theNIHstatement said thatday: “Theopen-label trialwill enroll 45 healthy adultvolunteers ages18 to55years over approx-imately 6 weeks. The first participant re-ceived the investigationalvaccine today.”Whiletheinitialresultshaveraisedhope,

it is importanttounderstandthattheactualvaccine may still be some time away andthentherearemanufacturingcapacityissuesto dealwith before the entireworld can re-alisticallyhope tobenefit fromit.

What isnext, then?OnMay7, thecompanyannounced that

it has received regulatory clearance for thePhase II trial that would involve a muchlarger sample size. “The imminent Phase 2study start is a crucial step forward as wecontinue to advance the clinical develop-mentofmRNA-1273,ourvaccinecandidateagainstSARS-CoV-2.WiththegoalofstartingthemRNA-1273pivotal Phase3 studyearlythis summer,Moderna is nowpreparing topotentially have its first BLA approved assoonas2021.Weareacceleratingmanufac-

turing scale-up and our partnership withLonzaputsus inaposition tomakeanddis-tributeasmanyvaccinedosesofmRNA-1273aspossible,shoulditprovetobesafeandef-fective,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’sChief ExecutiveOfficer.He added: “We also are continuing to

progress our development pipeline and in-vest inour future.WeareverypleasedwithVertex’s decision, based on our preclinicalprogress, to extend our strategic collabora-tionworking to develop the technology toallowfordeliveryofmRNAin the lung.”

Whencanthevaccineberealisticallyexpectedtobeavailable?According to a current report filed by

Moderna with the US Securities andExchange Commission, a “...commercially-availablevaccine isnot likely tobeavailablefor at least 12-18months, it is possible thatunder emergency use, a vaccine could beavailabletosomepeople,possiblyincludinghealthcareprofessionals, inthefallof2020”.There are just concerns about the avail-

ability pricing etc of a vaccine that is beingdeveloped at such breakneck speed. Theway the company is going about testing,many experts say, is the right way to pro-ceedbecausethedevelopmentof avaccineis a long and painstaking process that canfalter andcollapseat any step.Then there is also the issue of effective-

ness, or how the vaccine performs in real-life conditionsagainst theefficacy—whichis performance in ideal conditions, andwhich iswhat trials judge.

Will thisvaccinereachIndiaatall?That is onmost people’s minds as the

country crossed 1 lakh cases on Tuesday.There are philanthropic organisations thatwork on vaccines and soften the financialblow for countries with limited resources.These include the likes of the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation and GAVI—TheVaccine Alliancewhich have beenworkingvery closelywith the Government of Indiaonimmunisation.Whetherthatwillhappenfor the Covid vaccine, as andwhen it is de-veloped, it is abit tooearly topredict.Moderna,meanwhile, is working on its

manufacturing capacity. “Moderna has al-ready started to prepare for rapid accelera-tion of its manufacturing capabilities thatcould allow for the futuremanufacture ofmillionsof doses shouldmRNA-1273proveto be safe and of expected benefit. We areworking around-the-clock tomake sure avaccineisavailableasquicklyandasbroadlyas possible. Wewill continue to work to-gether,withgovernment, industryandotherthird parties to enable the best chance forsuccess,”Modernasayson itswebsite.

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,MAY19

INAgrowing list of global trials on the effi-cacy of tuberculosis vaccines in preventingCovid-19,oneisanupcoming10-monthtrialbeing conducted by the Indian Council ofMedicalResearch(ICMR)ontheBCGvaccine.

What is theBCGvaccine?Short forBacillusCalmette-Guérin, BCG

isavaccinethatusesaliveattenuatedstrain(potencyofthepathogenartificiallydisabled,butidentifyingcharactersretained)derivedfromanisolateofMycobacteriumbovis.Ithasbeen used across theworld, including inIndiafordecades,againsttuberculosis.India, like many other Asian, African,

and Latin American countries, has a cur-rentnationalBCGvaccinationpolicyforallat birth. Countries that have terminatedtheirpoliciesoronly recommendthevac-cine for specific groups are mostly in

EuropeandNorthAmerica.In India, 91.9 per cent of children be-

tween the ages of 12 and 23months havereceived the vaccine, according to theNational Family Health Survey. Outside ofsomeNortheasternstates,almostallstateshave above a 90% BCG vaccination rate.According to the National Health Profile,India has a production capacity of 2,800lakhBCGvaccinedoses.

Whatwill theupcomingstudy lookat?Itwill focusonthevaccine’spotential in

reducing the chance of Covid-19 deathamong thosewho are above age 60.Withnew finalised details of this study, resultscould be seen as early asMarch 2021, saidlead ICMRscientist SumanKanungo.The studywill cover 1,450 elderly peo-

pleinsixredandorangezones:KingEdwardMemorial (KEM) Hospital, Mumbai; AllIndia InstituteofMedical Sciences (AIIMS),NewDelhi; National Institute for Researchin Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai; National

Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH),Ahmedabad; National Institute inEnvironmentalHealth(NIREH),Bhopal;andNational Institute for ImplementationResearch onNon-Communicable Diseases(NIIRNCD), Jodhpur.Withpaperworkinprocess,therecruit-

ment should take fourmonths while thefollow-upresultswilltakesixmonthsafterthat, said Kanungo. The studywill be con-ducted inconjunctionwithNIRT.Inmid-April, ICMR’s head of epidemi-

ology R R Gangakhedkar had said ICMRwouldnotrecommendtheBCGvaccineun-til “definitiveresults” fromastudyshowedpossible anti-Covid immunity. Kanungosaid “the studywill initiate as the paper-work is on.We should have results in 10months”. Outside of ICMR’s studies, insti-tutional-level trials in Rohtak, Pune,Visakhapatnam,andBhubaneswararealsoassessing thepotential.

What isknownaboutthisvaccine’s

actioninCovidpatients?TheBCGvaccinehasbeenstudiedinre-

search on Covid around theworld. A pre-print, population-level study byNewYorkresearchers onMarch 28 suggested thatcountrieswithlowervaccinationandwith-outuniversalBCGvaccination(suchasItalyandUS)sawhigherCovid-19fatalities.Thestudy compared this pattern to countriessuchasSouthKoreaandJapan,whichhavestandingpolicieson the topic.“Whilethesedatacouldindeedsuggest

aprotectiveeffectofBCGvaccination,suchstudies cannot provide definitive proof ofcausality,owingtoseveralinherentbiases,”scientists wrote in an article inNature onApril27.“Notwithstandingtheseissues,thelinktoBCGandCOVID-19fromthesestud-ies is intriguing... A possible explanation isthat children who have been vaccinatedwith BCG are less susceptible to infectionwithSARS-CoV-2andsothereislessspreadof thevirus toolder populations, althoughthiswouldneedtobedemonstrated.”

Areothercountries lookingintothis?Yes. TheWorld Health Organization

(WHO) has initiated trials to ascertain thepotentialvaccine,buthasnotrecommendedit for Covid-19 prevention. Studies are on-going in Australia, the Netherlands,Germany, the US, and several other coun-tries. An article in The Lancet on April 30,whoseauthors includedtheWHODirectorGeneral, stated: “BCG vaccine has beenshown to reduce the severity of infectionsbyother viruseswith (a similar SARS-CoV-2)structure incontrolledtrials.”Arecentstudyinthe JournalofAmerican

Medical Association found no effectivenessofBCGvaccinesinIsrael,whichusedtohaveauniversalpolicyandthenshiftedin1982toonlyvaccinate immigrants.

Whatother ICMRstudiesareongoing?Onestudyseekstoassesstheincidenceof

Covid-19amongsthealthcareworkerswhoweretakingtheantimalarialdrughydroxy-chloroquine(HCQ)aswellasanysideeffects

fromthedrug’suse.Resultswillbeavailablebytheendof July, saidKanungo.Also, ICMRhasbeenacceptingapplicationsnationwidetostudytheeffectivenessofplasmatherapy,which injects antibodies froma recoveredpatient intoaseverely illpatient.In theHCQstudy, researchers are look-

ing at 1,200 to 1,500 healthcare workerswhodonothaveCovid-19 to findouthowmany who have taken the drug developCovid-19,comparedtothosewhohavenot.Begunthismonth,thestudyhastakenplacein five sites: AIIMS Bhubaneswar, AIIMSJodhpur, AIIMS Patna, Apollo Hospital inChennai,MaulanaAzadMedicalCollege inDelhi,andSirGangaRamHospital inDelhi.Kanungo said ICMR intends to recruit atleast twomorehospitals.OnMarch 23, the Covid-19 National

TaskforcehadrecommendedtheuseofHCQas a prophylaxis (protective and preventa-tive) against Covid-19 infection for asymp-tomatic healthcareworkers and asympto-matichouseholdcontactsofpositivecases.

Moderna vaccine’s progressSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

Phase1trial resultsof thevaccine,mRNA-1273,havebeenfoundpromising.Alookatwhatthevaccine iscomposedofandhowitworks,whatthetrialsshowed,andwhatarethemanystagesthatremain

TB vaccine as anti-Covid candidate: what ICMRwill study in BCG trial

E EXPLAINED TheOutbreak

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020 @ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like explained, pleasewrite to [email protected]

Avoulnteerreceivesashot inthe first-phasetrialofModerna’spotentialvaccine inSeattle.AP File

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI,MAY19

EVERYTIMETHEREhasbeennewsaboutapotentialnewvaccineagainstCovid-19,hopes have risen around theworld. Butsomehavealsotakenarealisticapproach.SuchasBritishPMBorisJohnson,aCovid-19survivorhimself,whohaswritteninTheMail:“Thereremainsaverylongwaytogo,and Imust be frank that a vaccinemightnotcometofruition...Weneedtofindnewwaystocontrolthevirus.”

A series of stagesDevelopment of a vaccine is a long

processthatcanfalteratanystep.Thereisalso the issueof effectiveness—howthevaccine performs in real-life conditionsagainst efficacy,which is performance inidealconditionsduringtrials.Onceacandidateisidenti-

fied, its safety and efficacyhave to be tested over threephases, as per protocols. Afourth stage involves collec-tionandanalysisofpost-marketingdata.For Covid-19, there are over 100 vac-

cines being developed across theworldnow,somefromscratch,somefromexist-ingmoleculesdevelopedforotherdiseases.

Oxford UniversityLastmonth, theUniversity of Oxford

announced it is ready to trial its vaccinecandidate, ChAdOx1nCoV-19,developedfromthecommoncoldviruswhosesafetyin humans is already established.“ChAdOx1nCoV-19 ismade fromavirus(ChAdOx1),whichisaweakenedversionofa common cold virus (adenovirus) thatcausesinfectionsinchimpanzees,thathasbeengenetically changed so that it is im-possible for it togrowinhumans.Geneticmaterialhasbeenadded to theChAdOx1construct, that is used tomake proteinsfrom the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2)called Spike glycoprotein (S),” theUniversityannouncedlastmonth.Thispro-teinisfoundonthesurfaceofSARS-CoV-2.Last week, a paper, not yet peer-re-

viewed,gaveouttheresultsofthevaccinetrial inmacaques:“Weobservedasignif-icantlyreducedviralloadinbronchoalve-

olarlavagefluidandrespiratorytracttissueof vaccinated animals challengedwithSARS-CoV-2 comparedwith control ani-mals,andnopneumoniawasobservedinvaccinated rhesusmacaques.” In otherwords, thevaccinedidnotprevent infec-tionbut itdidpreventpneumonia.

CanSino BiologicsHong Kong-listed firm CanSino

Biologicsistestingavaccine.Itannouncedlast week that Phase 1 trials have beencleared and the vaccine ismoving intoPhase2“basedon thepreliminary safetydataofthePhaseIclinicaltrial”.Theresultsof that trial have not beenmade public.This too is an adenovirus-based vaccine.The double-blind, placebo-controlledstudyin500healthypatientswillbedonein associationwith researchers from theAcademy of MilitaryMedical Sciences’

InstituteofBiotechnology.The National Research

Council of Canadahas said itwouldworkwith the com-pany for development of itsvaccine,Ad5-nCoV,inCanada.

Anothercompany,Sinovac,backedbytheChinesegovernment, isworkingonavaccine,andplanstoproduce100millionshotsayear,newsreportssaid.

Imperial College LondonTheUKgovernment is funding a vac-

cine effort at Imperial College London.ProfessorRobinShattock,HeadofMucosalInfection and Immunity in the UKDepartmentofMedicine,andhisteamde-velopedthevaccinewithin14daysofget-ting the gene sequence of the virus fromChina.Itisnotbeingtestedinanimals.Theresearchersplantomovetohumantrialssoon and Professor Shattock has beenquotedassayingthatthevaccinecouldbeavailablesometimenextyear.

Inovio PharmaceuticalsUS-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals is

working on a DNA vaccine candidate,INO-4800, and has got a grant from theCoalition for Epidemic PreparednessInnovations. In April it started Phase 1clinical trials. It showed encouraging re-sponse in animal studies, the companyhasclaimed.

Other candidates, and whya vaccine is still far away

REALITYCHECK

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

END OF A MONOPOLYInitiativeforAPMCreformsshouldhavecomefromstates.ButitiswelcomethatCentreisnowtakingthelead

A GRICULTUREISAstatesubjectundertheConstitution,buttheGreenRevolutionwouldn’thavehappenedwithoutthepoliticalleadershipattheCentrein1966approvingtheimportof18,000tonnesofseedsofhigh-yieldingsemi-dwarfwheatvarieties fromMexico.Thesamegoes for theNarendraModigovern-

ment’sdecisionnowtoenactaCentral lawtodismantle themonopolyof agriculturalpro-ducemarketcommittee(APMC)mandisinthewholesaletradingof farmcommodities. It’sall verywell to say that “agriculture”and“marketsand fairs” fallunder theStateListof theSeventhSchedule.However, state governmentshavedonevery little all these years to re-movebarrierstotradeinfarmproduce.Farmers,likeanybusinessmen,shouldhavethefree-domtoselltheirproducetoanyone,anywhereandanytime.This, inturn,isalsocontingentuponprocessors,traders,retailersorexportersbeingabletobuydirectlyfromthem.Unfortunately,moststateAPMClawstodaypermitfirstsaleoffarmproducetotakeplace

onlyinnotifiedmandiswithintheparticulartehsilsortalukas.Buyers,too,needtoobtainin-dividuallicensesfromeachAPMCinordertotransact.Whilesomestatesaregrantingsingleunifiedmarket licenses andallowingdirect procurement fromfarmers, even they requirepaymentofAPMCfee—whetherornottheyareusingtheinfrastructureofthelocalmandi.Effectively, then, there is nonationalmarket for agricultural commodities.Whatwehave,instead,aresome2,500marketscontrolledbycommissionagents,whomediatebetweensellersandbuyersevenwhennotrequired.Thisarrangementisanathematothespiritoflib-eralisationandalsogoesagainstArticle301oftheConstitution,whichenvisagesfreedomoftradeandcommerce“throughouttheterritoryofIndia”.Ifstateshaven’treallyfreedagricul-turalproducetradingevenwithintheirownterritories,theCentreiswellwithinitsrightstoenactalawusingtheprovisionsofentry33oftheConcurrentList.Thelatterspecificallydealswithagriculturalproduce, including“foodstuffs”,“cattlefodder”and“rawcotton”.Inanidealsituation,fromacooperativefederalismperspective,theinitiativeforAPMC

reforms should have come from the states themselves. But there have been times —whetherithadtodowiththeGreenRevolutionorthenodtoBtcottoncultivationin2002—whentheCentrehadtonecessarily takethelead.TheModigovernmentmustmakeitclear that theobjectivebehinditsproposedlawisnot todismantleAPMCs.Farmerswillcontinue to bring their produce tomandis that have good infrastructure (auction plat-forms,weighbridges,godowns,etc)andwheretheyarelikelytofindmorebuyers(AndhraPradesh’sGunturMirchiYardforchilli andtheUnjhaAPMCofGujarat for jeeraaregoodexamples).Butthatshouldbeamatterofchoice,bothforfarmersandbuyers.APMCmo-nopolyhas togo.

ONE CONFLICT LESSResolutionofstandoffbetweentopAfghanleadersisan

importantmomentamidcontinuingviolenceandpandemic

AT LEASTONEwar has ended inAfghanistanwith the agreement betweenPresidentAshraf Ghani and the rival claimant of victory in the recent par-liamentary elections, Abdullah Abdullah. It is an importantmoment. Itshows that the complex questions in a power-sharing agreement can be

resolvedwithout leavinga trail of of destruction, by simply talking, andwith somegiveandtakeonbothsides.Thelongstandoffbetweenthetwoleaders,atatimewhendemoc-racy inAfghanistanneededtoshowitsbest side,hascaused its shareof damage.It took twomonths after the Afghan election commission declared Ghani thewin-

ner.Abdullahhadcontestedanddemandedarecount.Hehadbeen firmthatunlike thelast time,whenhewaspersuadedbythenUSSecretaryof State JohnKerrytoaccept thepositionof “CEO”underGhani’spresidency, this timehewouldnotbeparty toapower-sharingdeal.Butawaywasfound,peacefully.Ghaniwillremainpresident,Abdullahgetsnoformalpositioninthegovernment,butgetstonominatehalf thecabinet,andwillalsolead the talkswith theTaliban if andwhen they takeplace, as the chairmanof theHighCouncil ofNationalReconciliation.Fornow,theGhani-Abdullahpatch-upmeansonelessconflict inAfghanistan,whena

surgeinviolencebytheTalibanandthesteadilyadvancingcoronavirushavecreatedchaoticconditions inthecountry.AsofMay19,Afghanistanhadover7,600cases.Aceasefire,hadtheTalibanagreedtoone,couldhavehelpedinformulatingabetterpublichealthresponse.Instead, thenumberofattacksandviolent incidentshasonly increasedaftertheFebruary29pactbetweentheUSandtheTalibanonthewithdrawalofUS troops.According to theUNAssistanceMission inAfghanistan, theTalibanwere responsible for208civiliancasu-alties lastmonth,25percentmore thanApril 2019,while in thesameperiod,172civiliancasualtieswere causedby theAfghan security forces, an increase of 38per cent over lastApril.Evenhealthfacilities,themostcrucialpublicgoodinthetimeofapandemic,seemnolonger off limits. Lastweek, gunmenentered amaternity hospital in Kabul andkilled 24peopleincludingnewbornbabies,mothersandhospitalstaff,andonthesameday,thesui-cide bombing at a funeral in Nangarhar, seemed like a preview of what is to follow inAfghanistan.OnTuesday, therewasanoutbreakofheavyfighting inKunduzbetweentheTalibanandtheAfghanforces. If thereisaglimmerofhopeinall this, it isnotvisibleyet.

SPIT & SHINEICCneedstofocusonthebigpictureaboutsportsandthepandemic insteadof fussingoverminorquestions

AMIDTHECORONAVIRUSpandemic, the cricket establishmenthas fired itslatestsalvo.OnMonday,thetechnicalcommitteeoftheInternationalCricketCouncilruledthatplayerscan’tusesalivaontheballanymore—anage-oldmethod to shine the ball — but can continue to use their sweat instead.

Clarityandcoherencewereneededon thebiggerplan to restart sports ina secureenvi-ronment. Other sports have been sweating over two-week lockdowns and themicro-managingneededtorepeatedlytesttheplayers,officials,broadcasters,dressing-roomat-tendantsandotherpeoplefrequentingthestadium.TrusttheInternationalCricketCouncilto fussoveraminorpointevenbefore theyannouncea largerplan to restart thegame.Individualcountriesaremakingsmall talkabout itbut theICCshouldhavetakenthe

leadbychalkingouttheroadmap. Itshouldhavecomeoutwithprotocolsrelatingtoso-cialdistancing,contact-tracing,thepersonnelallowedinsideanarena,travelandaccom-modationplansandthedetailsabout temperaturechecks,COVID-swabsandotherbio-securitymeasuresthatareneeded. Inthewordsof thestraight-talkingMichaelHolding,alegendof thegame,“Ifyou’renotconfidentof thebio-secureenvironment.thatyouarefreeof COVID-19, you shouldnotbeplaying. Then I amnot surewhyyouhave toworryabout salivaorperspiration.”There are other ethical questions. Should sport be given such a priority in a country

likeIndiawhereasymptomaticpeoplearetestedonlyif theyareindirectcontactwithpos-itivepatientsandwhere there isa lackof enoughtestingkits?With frequent testingbe-ingsuggested,woulditbefeasibletotestanestimated200-300people intheprotectivebubble of the stadium? Sports can be a soothing agent in these frayed times but thosequestionsshouldbedebatedandadetailedplanchalkedoutbeforetheICCstartsspittinginto thewindabout salivaon theball.

Financing the stimulus

Christophe Jaffrelot andVihang Jumle

TMKrishna

Governmentbanksonabiggerprivatisationprogrammetoraiseresources.Itmayneedtoexploremoreavenues

UNEQUAL SPACES, HIDDEN POWERBeing left isabout recognisingandgrapplingwithvariouskindsofmarginalisation

WHILETHERELIEFandstimuli packagean-nounced last week represents — as per thegovernment’sclaims—10percentof India’sGDP,thegovernmentisobviouslyanxioustocontain the fiscal deficit. It is apparentlyhopefulthatmoneycouldcomepartlyfroma new privatisation programme. FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman, while an-nouncing the fifth trancheof theRs20 lakhcrore stimulus package, said that privatisa-tion—apolicy thathadalreadygainedmo-mentum in the last budget (with Air IndiaandLifeInsuranceCorporationonthetopofthelist)—wouldnowbetheorderoftheday.According to the new Public SectorEnterprises Policy (PSEP), a list of strategicsectorswill be notifiedwhere therewill benomorethanfourpublicsectorenterprises.SitharamanhaspresentedthenewPSEP

as a strategicmove intended to rationalisethepublic sector.But theway India is tryingto quickly raise revenue by selling govern-ment entities, it looks like an emergencymove. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the gov-ernment needed the privatisationmoneypartlybecauseitsrevenue(fromGSTamongother things) was declining, and this voidcould only partly be filled by alternativesourcesof tax revenuessuchas thaton fuel.Today, thegovernmentneedsthismoneyinordertocontainthefiscaldeficit.So, thepri-vatisation programme has suddenly beenexpanded.WhiletheCentrehassetabudgettargetofRs2.1lakhcrorefromdisinvestmentin the current fiscal year, Rs 1.2 lakh crore isnowexpectedfromdisinvestmentincentralpublic sectorenterprises.Towardstheendof2019,thegovernment

approved the privatisation of BPCL and theShippingCorporationof India, inadditiontoselling stakes in the Container CorporationofIndia,THDCandNEEPCO.Thegovernmenthadinitiallyplannedtocompleteits“strate-gic disinvestment” in BPCL andAir India bythe end of this fiscal year. It nowwants itcompleted earlier. Some estimate that thegovernment’sdisinvestmentinBPCL,SCIandCONCOR could fetch it Rs 78,400 crore.Should India’s flyingMaharaja also find a

buyer, the government could raise over Rs1,05,000crore.Governments across theworld resort to

privatisation to fill budgetary gaps. But rev-enue fromprivatisation is a one-off benefitand generally, only profit-making units aresoldatagoodprice.Secondly,privatisationisatwo-waystreet

—itrequiresabuyerandaseller.Whowillbethe buyers?Most industrialists areworriedaboutrunningtheircurrentbusinesses.Policyuncertainty has time and again been high-lightedasahurdle indoingbusiness in Indiaand thegovernmenthasnotalleviated theirproblems. Excessive political interferencewiththeprivatesectormakesowninganex-governmententityevenriskier,especiallyif itisperceivedastoobigto fail.Ahandfulof Indiancapitalistswhoareal-

readyat thehelmof oligopoliesmaybe inaposition—financiallyandpolitically—tobuythe big PSUs. If theywere allowed to growevenmorebyacquiringpublic entities, sec-torsof theeconomywouldbeunder the in-fluenceofquasi-monopolies.Thiscouldfos-ter crony capitalismandmay even result inthemakingof oligarchs.Whereelsecanthegovernment findthe

moneyitneeds?Italreadyincreasedtheex-cisedutyonpetrolanddieselbyRs3perlitreonMarch13—thesteepesthikesince2012.The government imposed additional taxeswhileglobalcrudeoilpricesfell.Asoilpricescanonlygoupafterthelastroundofnegoti-ationsbetweenRussiaandSaudiArabia,theIndian governmentwill not be in apositiontouse this sourceof revenueagain.Such amovewould contradict the very

ideaofareliefandstimuluspackageanyway.An increase in the excise duty or taxwouldaffectpurchasingpower,when thepackageissupposedtohelpthepoorandtoboostde-mand.Evenbeforethepresentcrisis, indus-trialistscomplainedthat25percentof theirproductivecapacitywasidle.Andthat’swhytheir investment rate had never been thislow, in the21st centuryat least.Even if someprivatisationhelps India fi-

nancially, itseemsthatthecountrywillneed

toborrowmoneyithastospendforhelpingtheeconomy.Externalborrowing,however,is problematic. The onlyway governmentspay back external borrowings is bywiselyusing borrowed capital to drive high GDPgrowth and generating revenues, which isunlikelytohappenanytimesoonasareces-sion is roundthecorner.Secondly, the rupee is at its lowest level

comparedtotheUSdollarandanymorede-valuationwill only make it harder for thegovernment to pay back its debt. Since ex-ternalborrowingsmustbepaidbackinbor-rowedcurrency,exportsandforeignreserves(orgoldreserves)aregenerallytheonlytworeliableoptions(thethirdonebeingborrow-ingmoretopaybackthepreviousdebts—aslippery slope) to pay government debt.However, India should account for the in-evitable global slump in international de-mandanda consequent drop in its exports.Othercountriesmayalsomovetowards“at-manirbharta”andover-regulate imports.Lastly, Indian industries arealreadyabit

debt-laden. The risk in the banking sector,tightliquidityindebtmarkets,comparativelylowerinternationalborrowingratesandtheRBI’s ECB rationalising measures have alllikely compelled them to resort to overseasborrowing.Moreoverseasborrowing,com-binedwith the industry’s high debt status,could lead to rating agencies downgradingIndia’sinvestmentprospects—deterringfor-eign investments in theprocess.On the positive side, India’s foreign re-

servesstandatanall-timehighwhichcouldbestrategicallyusedtofinanceitsneeds.Therest may have to come from privatisation,taxation, loans andmore international aid.Already, India is receivingmore funds fromtheWorld Bank, the ADB and the JapaneseODA. Indiamayhelpothers,but itneedsaidtoo.

Jaffrelot is senior research fellowatCERI-SciencesPo/CNRS,Paris, professorof Indian

PoliticsandSociologyatKing’s IndiaInstitute, London. Jumle isaprojectofficeratTRAFFICWWFIndia.Viewsarepersonal

I AMnot aware of the reasons that pushedJaggi Vasudev to pen a column (‘I ammoreleft than you think’, Sadhguru, IE, May 15)claiming that he is “farmore left than peo-plecanimagine,butnotcrazyleft”.ButithasexposedhislackofunderstandingoftheLeft,communism,democracy,socialinequalities,citizenship, liberty, suffering, freedom,powerstructuresandoppression.HeclaimsthatIshaYogaCenterisindeed

“absolute left”, a commune. By using theterm commune, he is either confusing thereader or believes that communism flour-ishes in a commune. There aremany typesof communes and his is consumedwithintheideasofasingleindividual—himself.Hiscommune is a great exampleof KarlMarx’soften-quotedphrase, “religion is theopiumof thepeople”. Justbecauseeveryonewearssaffron orwhite, cooks, eats,washes dishesand participates in activities together, thespace does not become equal. Institutionsthat createmindless followerswho do notchallenge the power structure controllingthemcannotclaimequality.Vasudev explains in his piece: “The Isha

YogaCenter is a commune—inaway, it is acommunist arrangement.Nobody is askinghowmuch you have, your religion, caste,where you come from,who your father is.Wewilltreatyoulikewetreateveryoneelse.If you rise and show some special qualities,wewillhonour thataswell.”Being left (and this comes in so many

shades) includes recognisingandgrapplingwithissuesofreligion,caste,gender,politicaland economic marginalisation. Whichmeans, confronting and questioning all so-

cio-politicalmechanisms that enable thesediscriminatingpractices.So,byclaimingthatnobody is asked about their religion, casteetc, Vasudev is only reiterating the fact thathisCenterisaperfectexampleof theupper-casteprivilegedmilieuwheremarkersofdis-criminationarebrushedunderthecarpetbe-causeeveryoneisexpectedtotransformintothat“ideal”curatedbythesociallypowerful.Heisonlyparaphrasingtheoften-heardup-per-caste quote, “we never discuss caste orreligion in our houses”. Hemust learn thatequal opportunity occurs only when un-equalness is acknowledged and thismeansenablingandlisteningtothevoicesof thoseat the receiving end. Vasudev needs to feeluncomfortablewithhisownwords.Heclaims,“Oneaspectof thisisthatthey

(liberals)feelonlytheyshouldhavefreedomof speech and nobody else.” Odd, comingfrom this person of enormous powerwhodisdainfully trivialises pertinent questions,often laughing them off in condescension.Unlike his claim that those on the left are“just living in their own home, talking leftphilosophy”,peopleof theleftcutacrossoursocialspectrum,manybelongingtosectionsof societythatdonothaveavoice, includingdailywageworkersandagricultural labour-ers, just “ordinarypeople”.Democracyandrightsarenotwithinhis

intellectual grasp.Here is a personwhobe-lievesthatitisthejobofthecitizentosupportanygovernmentthathasbeenelectedbythemajority. Citizenry involves being activelywatchfulof thegovernment.Thisisapartic-ipatorydemocracy,wheretheroleof thecit-izen isnot just tovote, but tobeapartner in

the process of building a just society.Decisions are not only made within theprecinctsofParliament,butalsobyconsult-ingthepublic;thisisthemagnificenceofourdemocracy.To this end, protests on the streets are

central. Vasudev forgets thatwegainedourindependenceonlybecausepeoplecameoutontothestreets.HeforgetsthattheNirbhayaActandtheRTIActwerepassedbecausepeo-pleprotestedinpublicspaces.So,wewilloc-cupy public spaces, not allocated lots. Ofcourse,publicpropertycannotbedestroyed,but disruption is essential and is a positiveidea.Here isapersonwhoallowshimself tobecalleda“mystic”missingtheessenceofaphilosophical enquiry.Vasudevseemstothinkitiseasyforevery

citizen to go to court. “If you do not agreewith the law, there is a courtwhereyoucango.If itisinanywayillegal, itwillgetknockeddown.”Villagerssitonhighways,peopleop-poseCAA-NRC-NPRat ShaheenBaghwhentheirvoicesareunheardandsuppressed.Fora personwho professes concern for peopleandhassetupprocessesfor innerengineer-ing, he lacks empathy and the understand-ingof thoseonthemarginsof society.Andfinally,thispersonofspiritualitycalls

thoseintheOppositionandcitizenswhoop-pose the government “losers”. Vasudev isclearly an autocrat who considers democ-racy a veneer behindwhich control shouldremainwith thepowerful.

Thewriter isamusicianandtheauthorofSebastianAndSons:ABriefHistoryof

MrdangamMakers

Finance MinisterSitharaman has presentedthe new PSEP as a strategicmove intended to rationalisethe public sector. But the wayIndia is trying to quicklyraise revenue by sellinggovernment entities, it lookslike an emergency move.Before the COVID-19 crisis,the government needed theprivatisation money partlybecause its revenue (fromGST among other things)was declining, and this voidcould only partly be filled byalternative sources of taxrevenues such as that onfuel. Today, the governmentneeds this money in order tocontain the fiscal deficit. So,the privatisation programmehas suddenly been expanded.

Democracy and rights arenot within his intellectualgrasp. Here is a person whobelieves that it is the job ofthe citizen to support anygovernment that has beenelected by the majority.Citizenry involves beingactively watchful of thegovernment. This is aparticipatory democracy,where the role of the citizenis not just to vote, but to be apartner in the process ofbuilding a just society.Decisions are not only madewithin the precincts ofParliament, but also byconsulting the public.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020 WORDLYWISE“The slow-motion replay doesn’t showhow

fast the ballwas really travelling.”— RICHIE BENAUDTHEEDITORIALPAGE

BAHUGUNA RESIGNSHNBAHUGUNAhasresignedfromCongress-I.HealsoresignedhisLokSabhaseatwhichhehadwononthepartyticket.Answeringques-tionsat anewsconferenceafterhis resigna-tion, Bahuguna said the realman in controlof Congress-Iwas Sanjay Gandhi. In a lettertoMrsGandhionMay10—thetextofwhichwas released at the news conference —Bahugunasaid: “Theopenly talked-of dom-inationofShriSanjayGandhi,MP, ingovern-mental and organisationalmatters causesverygraveconcerninviewofhispronounce-ments, thathedoesnotadhere toany ideol-ogyandthefactthathedoesnothaveaposi-tion inthegovernmentor theparty.”

AFGHAN SOLUTIONFOREIGN SECRETARY, R D Sathe, whoreturned to Delhi after three days of vitaldiscussions with Afghan leaders, soundedsomewhat hopeful about a solution ofthe controversial Afghanistan question.While he did not disclose the details ofthe proposals he had discussed withPresident Babrak Karmal in Kabul, Sathereplied, “Yes” when asked at the airportwhethertheproblemwasnearerasolution.Sathe rushed toKabul on Friday soon aftertheKarmalregimeannounceditsproposalsseeking talks with Pakistan and Iran fora political settlement of the Afghanistanquestion.

RAJASTHAN POLLSTHOUGH THERE IS great resentment inCongress-Icirclesovertheallotmentofticketsfor the assembly elections in Rajasthan, thepartystillhasadefiniteedgeoverthesplintergroupsof theOpposition.Despite infighting,itmay bag between 110 and 120 of the 200seats.Whatever the final outcome, there isnothing to indicate that theOpposition alsohas a chance to formagovernment after theelection.RamKishoreVyas,stateCongress(I)chief — tipped for the chief ministership—originally put the figure at 130 seats. Askedagain at a recent news conference, Vyas didnot repeat the figure but only said that thepartywouldformthegovernmentinthestate.

MAY 20, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Ms Patel ought to be generous and relax the proposed restrictions. She coulddo so without incurring political cost, as polls show support to exempt lower-paid frontline migrant workers.”

— THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

STANDING NEXT TO a small, weary group inthe surreally bare forecourt of New DelhiRailway Station, Ajmeri Gate side, beside bagsof indeterminateshape,sheistheonlywoman.An official of the Delhi Police walks up to thegroup,demands:Doyouhaveany tickets foratrain?Ifyoudon’t,youarenotallowedtostandhere,youmustgo.Shedoesn’thaveaticket,shesays. She is Shabnam. Shabnamwhat? OnlyShabnam, she says with a finality that beliesthetentativenessthathoversoverthegrouponahotMondayafternoon,thestartofLockdown4.0I came this morning on a train from

Allahabad, couldn’t have stayed there anylongerwithoutwork. I amonmywaytomysister’shouse,wholivesinvillageKuchhejainBulandshahr. Or tomy other sister’s home,wholivesinFaridabad.Iamreadytogotoei-ther place if I get somemeans of transport.AnacquaintanceboughtmeanonlineticketfortheRajdhanifromAllahabadtoDelhilastnight, I thoughtIwouldfindabusfromhere,but theysaytherearenone. Ihavevery littlemoney left. In two and a half months of thelockdown I used upwhatever I had earnedand kept away. I am travelling alone, I don’tknowwhat todo.Mysonsayshecannotcomeandgetme,

hehasnovehicle.Tumdekho(youseewhatyoucando),jaisewahanseaagayiwaise(youfind theway onwards like you did this far).HisfriendinGhaziabadwillpickmeupfromhere on hismotorcycle if he can get the pa-perwork in order. I can only askmy son forhelp, or my sisters’ sons in Faridabad. Mynephew who drives an auto is trying toarrangeforanautodrivertopickmeup,takeme across to the Badarpur Border, but thebordersaresealed.Ican’taskanythingofmyfourbrothersin

Bulandshahr. I don’t talk to them since thedivorce, they did not stand byme. You canstaywithus,wewill lookafteryou,theysaid,but don’t take thematter to court. I did notlistentothem,Igotmydivorceincourt,aftertwoyearsofseparation,fourmonthsago.Myhusbandwouldbeatmeupbadly,sayhewassorry later. Par baadmein pachtaane se kya(of what use was his repentance). It was amatterof lifeanddeath, Iwassavingmylife.Onlymy sisters supportedme. Getmarriedagain, theytellme.But I feel if Imarryagain,what if he turnsout tobe likemyhusband.Maintohbawlihorahihoon(Idon’tknow

whattodo),parbehneinhihain(Ihaveonlymysisters to look to).I didnot even informmybrothers ormy

mother(myfatherisdead,hewasalabourer),whenIlefttofindajobinAllahabadfiveorsixmonths ago. I had worked earlier, too, inFaridabad, off and on, for almost 10 years,whenIlivedtherewithmyhusbandandson.In the packing section, in a company thatmade silencers formotorcycles. For the lasttwoyears,afterseparatingfrommyhusband,Ineedtoearninordertoeat, Iamonmyown.InAllahabad,myjobwascookingfoodfor

agroupof10-15labourersinCivilLines.TheygavemeRs8,000amonth, free lodgingandfood. I have bought an insurance policy formyold age, somemoney goes into that, therest helpedme through the last two and ahalf months. When I started the job inAllahabad, hisaab lagati thi (Imade calcula-tions): At the end of the year I would have

Rs 50,000-60,000, budhapemein baith kekhaoongi (will sit back inmy old age). I am35,but I feel older,mybody isbrokenbymyhusband’s beatings. My eyesight has goneweak.The labourers who employed me in

Allahabad set out for their homes on footwhenthelockdownbegan.Ihadnostrengthtowalk, andwherewould I have stayed inthe night. First I thought this corona is a lie.Thenworkstartedshuttingdown,labourbe-ganwalkinghome. Iwent to thebus stationonly to return because there was no bus,twice. Iwasrunningoutofmoney.Theytoldme, rashanbat rahahai (free rations are be-ing distributed). I did go to one place, parsharmaayi(I feltshame).Wehadtostandinline, andwhatwould Idowithonly riceandflour. I also need oil, spice and vegetables toeat.Bheeknahimaangsakte(Icannotbeg). Idon’thavearationcard,haveazerobalanceaccount. I have heard government has de-positedRs500amonthfortwomonthsnow,butIdon’thavetheaccountnumberorpass-bookwithme.TowithdrawthemoneyIwillhave togoback toBulandshahr.I asked someonewho lived nearby, give

me some money, and I will donate thatamount in your name to themasjidwhen Iamable,buthedidn’t.AnotherpersonintheneighbourhoodgavemeRs200,5kgatta,1.5kg dal. And then Rs 500more. I got Rs 200fromsomeoneelse.Now, if I couldget tothestraight road to Bulandshahr, I will discardone of my bags, walkwith the other one tomysister’shome.When I was young, my parents did not

sendmeormysisterstoschool,mybrothersstudiedabit, itwas adouble standard. I hadtowear theburqa after I gotmarried. After IseparatedfrommyhusbandIworeittohidefromhim. Hewould beatme if he somuchassawmeontheroad. I tookoff theburqainFaridabad,wherewewereinamixedneigh-bourhood. In Allahabad, I would wear theburqaoutof sharm, toavoid thecuriosityofstrangers. I love the city because it givesmetheoption towear theburqaornot to. Iwasfearful in thevillage,eventhoughmyfamilywaswithme.Thetoiletwasoutside, Ihadtocrossthecourtyardtoget to it, so Iwouldtry

and finisheverythingby10pm. Iwasafraidtoopenmydoorafterthat.Later, Iwasafraidofmyhusband.Darnahithashehermein(inthecityIfelt

no fear). In Faridabad, often after finishingwork in the company at 7pm, Iwould go tomy sister’s place, eat with her, and then gobacktomyroom.InAllahabad,Ididn’tgooutmuch,onlytotheprovisionstore,tobuyveg-etablesandtothemedicineshop.Ican’treadorwrite, if Iwent somewhere, howwould Iget back. A girl who lived nearby said shewould takeme out in her brother-in-law’scar. Shewas ina lovemarriage.Youcanbuyeverythingyouwantinthecity,evenatnight.IwantalifewhereIcanwork,tiremyselfout,sleep.Dhyanbatjaatahai(youcantakeyourmindoff your troubles).Gaaontohhameinachcha lagtahinahin

(there is nothingof thevillage that Imiss inthecity).I had never even seen the outside of a

school, how could I possibly dream.“Madam”ban jaayein, auronkopadhayein-likhayein(Iwantedtobeateacher,teachoth-ers to read andwrite).My son studied onlytillclass7or8becauseof theconstantfight-ing at home. Iwantedhim tohave a sarkarinaukri (government job). He sells phones.He should have a good life, live like a hero.He is very good looking, has a sharpmind.Afterthisisover,heshouldgotoBombay,tryhis luck inTVor film.Iamintwominds,scared,shouldImarry

again.There isamanIknowinCivil Lines inAllahabad, who says hewill marryme andfindweldingworkinNoida.IhaveheardthatinNoidayoucanfindlighterworkforhigherpay. Icoulddopackingworkagain,orsetupavegetablestall. Imightgothereaftera fewdaysatmysister’splace,oncethis isallover.I work, I earn and then it all empties out. Imustgetback towork.

Shabnam,35,born invillageTatarpur,districtBulandshahr,UP,hasoneson,18,

who liveswithhis father, avegetablevendor.She isonherway fromAllahabad,where she

workedasacook, going toFaridabad,Haryana,orBulandshahr. She spoke to

VANDITAMISHRA

AFTERIMPOSINGaunilaterallockdownwith-outpractisingcooperativefederalism—andthattoowithjustfourhours’notice—PrimeMinister Narendra Modi faces a toughHobson’schoiceasthelockdownversuslivesbinarycrossedaflashpointonMay18,theendof Lockdown3.0.HeannouncedLockdown4.0,butwithapromiseofasubstantialreduc-tioninrestrictionsandawhoppingRs20lakhcrorefiscalpackage.Sofar,thelatterhasflat-teredtodeceive,withtherealcashtransfersamountingtoroastedpeanuts.SinceMarch25,whenthenationalcur-

few commenced, the number of infectedcases has risen from560 to 1,00,000withover 3,000 dead. This government has sofarproveddisastrous.GiventheperniciousnatureofCOVID-19(asecondwaveseemsto be occurring in South Korea andGermany), it is futile to engage in thepueriledebateaboutwhetherIndiahastri-umphed.It isearlydays,thefinalscorecardwillbeonlyknownwhenavaccinearrivesandwe look back at hard data. However,twofactsare irrefutable:Humansufferinghas reached disconcerting levels and theIndianeconomyis ina free fall.Thismaybeagoodtimeforthegovern-

ment to recalibrate its COVID-19 strategy.In imposing back-to-back rigorous lock-downs, thegovernmentwasplacingall itseggs in the lockdown basket. This hasboomeranged.What, then, should be thewayoutduringLockdown4.0?First,oneshouldrecognisethattheRAG

model(red,amberandgreen)hasinherentlimitations. If Mumbai, Delhi, Pune,Ahmedabad,BengaluruandChennaiareinthe red zonewithnegligible economic ac-tivity,evenif therestofthecountrywereinthegreenzone,itwillbepreposteroustoas-sumeIndia’sGDPwillrebound.Productionis a complex process and intermediategoodsmay have several supply vendorsscattered across the country. For instance,32per cent of overall tax collections comefromMumbai. There is thus only one op-tion: Radically decontrol by removing allproscriptionsandletbusinessrecommence.Of course, the usual safeguards onmasks,sanitisers,socialdistancingandSection144will need to be strictly adhered to.Micro-targetingofhotspotsinredzoneswithquar-antine is recommended as opposed to ablanketban,whichhasprovedcounterpro-ductive. An aggressive public awarenesscampaignmustbesustained.Weshouldbeprepared for a sudden spike in cases, butthat could be temporary as people realisetheconcomitant riskof being in thepublicspace all over again. Over a 14-day cycle, adiscernible trendwill establish the cost-benefit of the lives versus livelihood argu-ment. The governmentmust trust the factthat self-preservationwill be the primor-dialobsessionforeveryindividual.Policiescan always be revised later. Butwe should

notbealarmists.Second,thegovernment’sfinancialres-

cue packagemust prioritise expenditureexpectationsonmedicalinfrastructure,di-rectcashtransfers tothepoor,agriculturallabourandcash-in-handtothelucklessmi-grants, middle-class relief on unemploy-ment allowance, EMImoratoriums, sub-stantial credit and liabilities relief to thebleeding MSME sector, among others.Extraordinarysituationsdemandextraor-dinarysolutions. Itcantakealeaf fromtheUPA’splaybookduringtheglobal financialcrisisof2008.Asthemortgagecrisisplun-dered theworldeconomy, India’sGDP fellfrom a staggering high of 9.3 per cent in2007-08 to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09, evenasinflationsky-rocketedfrom4.7percentto 8.1 per cent. It was a doublewhammy.Butthegovernmentdidnotpanic. Instead,itsfiscalandmonetarystimulus,whichwascountercyclical,resultedintheGDPbounc-ingback to8.6percent in2009-10and in-flationwaslowerat3.8percentaswell.Thekeytothedramaticturnaroundwasthefis-cal risk. The Centre’s fiscal deficit, whichwas at an all-time low of 2.5 per cent in2007-08, rose to 6 per cent in 2008-09.Economics is about trade-offs.Third, at some point, the government

willhavetobitethebulletontaxrevenuestofundthefiscaldeficit,alongwithgovern-ment borrowing andmonetising debt. Afinebalanceisneededhere.GSTisaregres-sivetax.Thegovernmentmustnotchoosethis lazy, inelastic source of revenue as itwill pauperise themiddle-class and thepoor further. The taxwrite-off to the cor-poratesectorofRs1,45,000croreinthelastfiscalyearwasthoughtlessinanaggregatedemand-starved economy. But direct taxis the government’s only alternative, in-cludingwealth tax, inheritance tax, pro-gressive taxation of the super-elites, andcuttingbackonwastefulnon-planexpen-diture. In a bear stock-market, public di-vestmentsmaynotgivecommensuratere-turns. There is littleelbowroom.Lastly, the NDA needs to formulate a

NationalExitPlan.Itsstrategyof lettingthelockdown unravel district by district,through official commandments calledguidelines,appearsthoughtless.Thegran-ularopening flexibility that thechiefmin-istersaredemandingwill leadtomorecon-fusionthanresolution.Forexample,fortheeconomy to kickstart, inter-state move-ment of goods and services has to be on aNationalE-Passthathastobehonouredbyallstates. IndiaalsoneedstolearnfromtheSikkimmodel on handling COVID-19 —both its caseloadanddeathsareatzero.Ultimately, humility is better than

hubris for governments, during crises inparticular.Thecardinalerror inthecentralgovernment’sstrategywasthatithadcon-vinced itself that it could slay the virus in21 days. Had it understood thatwith a di-ameterof60nanometers—or60billionthsof ameter—thevirus isdifferent fromtheusual suspects this government picks on,Indiawouldhavebeen inabetterplace.It issaidthat incalmwaters,everyship

hasagreatcaptain.Theacidtestforourpo-litical leadershipbeginsnow.

Tewari isanMP, lawyerand former I&Bminister. Jha isanational spokesperson

of theCongress

They told me, rashan batraha hai (free rations arebeing distributed). I did go toone place, par sharm aayi (Ifelt shame). We had to standin line, and what would I dowith only rice and flour. Ialso need oil, spice andvegetables to eat. Bheek nahimaang sakte (I cannot beg). Idon’t have a ration card, havea zero balance account. I haveheard government hasdeposited Rs 500 a monthfor two months now, but Idon’t have the accountnumber or passbook withme. To withdraw the money Iwill have to go back toBulandshahr.

Humilityover hubris

OnCovid,Centremiscalculated.Itmustnowrecalibrateitsstrategy,alloweconomytoopenup

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

EC’S RESPONSETHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘InEC’s court’ (IE, May 15). Avermentshave been made against ElectionCommission in context of a specificHighCourt judgment and someothermatters relating to elections. I wouldlike to bring facts to your notice. Inthis instantcase,assoonasthemattercame in the knowledge of the EC,it directed the government of Gujarattochargesheetandinitiatedisciplinaryproceedings against the concernedReturning officer, Dhaval JaniApril30,2019.Thepromotiongrantedto was cancelled ab-initio. OnMay 12, the ECI set up a three-mem-ber committee to examine whatfurthermeasuresandsafeguardsneedto be taken in the coming elections.Your editorial also clubbed someunrelated matters about other elec-tions like theMaharashtra LegislativeCouncil. You are aware that allRajya Sabha and other elections to beheld till April-Maywere deferreddueto theongoing lockdown.The EC announced the

Maharashtra Legislative Councilelections to meet a constitutionalrequirement. This action was consis-tentwith itspastpolicieswherebytheEC has stepped in to avert any consti-tutional crisis when warranted.Even when confronted with unfore-seensituations, theECrespondstoad-dress and correct them as quickly aspossible.

SBSharan, Spokesperson ECI

OPEN UPTHISREFERSTO theeditorial, ‘Over tothe states’ (IE, May 19). Devolution ofpowerstothestatestomanagetheex-ceptional coronavirus pandemic is astep in the right direction. However,thiscrucialdecisionshouldhavebeenimplementedmuchearlier.Thestatesare actually in a better position toun-derstand ground realities — and howtobest contendwith the crisis locally.Interstate and intrastate travel havealso been permitted. However, thisseems to have hit a roadblock sincemany states like Karnataka, havesealed their borders— and so themi-grantsarenowleftstrandedandhelp-less. Now, where do these migrantsstand?

MelvilleXD’Souza,Mumbai

Shabnam Manish Tewari andSanjay Jha

Pandemic isnotgoingtobringusan idyllicGandhianorder

“EXPERTS” LIKEme tend to use a crisis topushthetheorytheydevelopedduringtheirdoctoral research as inevitable change. It’snever really like that. Change is gradual. Itsorigin is in the present. Some innovationsarealreadythereandgetaccelerated.Othersmake a beginning given the new require-ments. Everything doesn’t change. Manypeople and their lives continueasbefore. Alittlehumilitywon’t hurtus.NGOs and other agencies have often

stressed that health is a community issueandpreventivemeasuresaremoreefficientthancurativemedicine.So,wewillgetbackto thesemodels to fight the pandemic on amore enduring basis. Wewill make someprogressanddrawupplans,but itwouldbewrongtothinkthatsuchthinkingwilldom-inate the discourse on healthcare. Big cor-porations know that there is bigmoney incurativemedicineandhealth—secondonlyto food.Wewillneedtoworkfrom“home”.The

neo-Fordist world and the decline of fac-torymassproductionwere“discovered” in

theEightiesof thelastcentury,bymyfriend,MichaelPiore,aprofessoratMIT,whowithO Sable, wrote the classic, The SecondIndustrial Divide. The book described thenewworldasonewithglobalisingcommu-nities working from home, using decen-tralised technologies, newmaterials andmodern methods of communication.Separately,Harvard’sKeynesianeconomist,AlvinHansen,was showing that therewasindeed a historical transformation under-way. Fewer people were producing more.The restof theworkerswouldbeabsorbedinhealth,educationandentertainment.Butthe Piore-Sabel argument was different. Itwas based on changes taking place inEmiglia Romana (Italy). Cottages were de-velopingfashiongarments inperimetersofaround15squaremilesandtheywerecom-petingwithFrenchdesigners. Iwaspiquedatarecent typical Italianpostingthat if youaregoingtodie,dosowithventilatorsmadeby Ferrari, face masks and corona suitsmade by Versace, Armani or other greatfashion designers from Italy. In this coun-

try,wediddiamondpolishingon thesamemodel but now harass the workers whentheywanttogohome.Wehavethehistory,theartisanalskillsandthesystemdesignersformoreofworkingfromhome.Thosewhothink that such work happens only indiamond polishing units, must go see gar-ment factories,energy-efficient“furnaces”and the works. In the best-case scenario,the redevelopment of cities will involvemohallas for suchwork in friendly,healthyenvironments.Let’s not kidourselves about this idyllic

Gandhian world. The Big Manwill be justa step behind as he is today. The Chomskyof the future will be needed to keep cri-tiquing them and s(he) will be there. TheBig Manwill develop the communicationtechnology, the materials, the systems tomakeall thishappen.At the sametime,hiscriticswillalsothrive.Asthevaccinearrives,the virus will just be a shadow andpopulations will expand.Wewill increas-ingly live in what I called the rural-urbancontinuumwe discovered and developed

in the last two decades. However, in tech-nology centres, the urban space will keepgrowing.Willwe in India feed her and then send

her to college? For then, her first child willcomelaterandthe lastchildearlierandshewillholduphalf thesky, inworkingbothathomeand in the think tanksof theBigManand big government. It won’t happen thateasily for themindset which can’t see thevirusasabiologicalphenomenon,butbringsinreligionasacauseatthedropofahat;themindsetwillnot change thateasilywhen itcomes towomen’s education.That shows you how little has changed

and I have failed as a teacher. Things willimprove, but not in the way the punditsclaim. I will be there in this column eventhen.Whatwill I (we)say?“Theanswermyfriend”,as JoanBaezsanginmycollegedayshalf a century or more ago, “is blowing inthewind”.

Thewriter, a formerUnionminister, isan economist

The pains of a new worldYoginderKAlagh

Avoicefromtheroad.Listeningtoamigrant—heropinionandideas

In the city I feel no fear...there is nothing in the village

11

CR Sasikumar

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

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●●CARINGFORHEALTHCAREWORKERS:

JOELJOSEPH

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THEOUTBREAK TheWorld


SPAIN

Govtliftsbanonflights,shipsfromItalyMadrid:Spain liftedabanondirect flightsandshipsfrom Italy but retained ablock on cruise ships anda quarantine for inboundtravellers as a surveyshowedtheoutbreakhadalso put locals off travel-ling.Areduceddeathratehas encouraged Spain,with the world’s fourthhighest case count, tobe-gineasingoneofEurope’sstrictest lockdowns. Butthe tourism-dependenteconomy is likely to havetowait until late June towelcomeholidaymakersback.MadridsurpriseditsEuropeanpartners by in-troducing a two-weekquarantine last week.FlightsfromItalyhadbeenblockedsinceMarch11.

InValencia. Reuters

PANDEMICWATCH

CANADA

ClosureofborderwithUSextendedToronto: Canada and theUShaveagreedtoextendtheir agreement to keepborder closed to non-es-sential travel till June 21.CanadianPrimeMinisterJustin Trudeau saidTuesday the border is asourceofvulnerability,sotheagreementwillbeex-tended by another 30days. The restrictionswere announced onMarch 18 and were ex-tended in April. Trudeausaid Canada's provincialleaders wanted to con-tinuethemeasures.“Thiswill keep people in bothof our countries safe."Trudeausaid.

PAKISTAN

Over1,800newCovid-19cases,36deathsIslamabad: Pakistan re-ported 1,841 new casesand 36 fatalities duringthe last 24 hours, takingthe total infections tonearly 44,000 with 939deaths, the health min-istry said on Tuesday. Ascases in Islamabadcrossed the 1,000-mark,other parts of Pakistanalsocontinuedtowitnessa surge. Till now, 17,241caseshavebeendetectedin Sindh, 15,976 inPunjab, 6,230 inKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,820 inBalochistan, 1,034 inIslamabad, 550 inGilgit-Baltistanand115 inPoK.

AGENCIESNEWYORK,MAY19

PRESIDENTDONALDTrumptoldthedirector-generaloftheWorldHealth Organisation that theUnited States would perma-nentlyendall funding to theor-ganisation if it did not “committo substantive improvementswithinthenext30days,”accord-ingtoacopyofaletterhepostedtoTwitter lateMondaynight.Inalate-night, four-pagelet-

ter tothedirectorgeneralof theWHO, Dr Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus, Trump accusedthe global health group of fail-ing to act quickly and aggres-sively enough against the virusin its early days, in effect de-nouncing the organisation forthe very missteps and failuresthat have been leveled at himandhis administration.Public health experts have

saidthepresident’spublicdenialsof thevirus’sdangersslowedtheAmerican response, which in-cludeddelayedtestingandafail-uretostockpileprotectivegear.Intheletter,thepresidentsaid

thattheWHO“belatedlydeclaredthe outbreak of a Public HealthEmergencyof Internationalcon-cernonJanuary30,”morethanamonthaftertheviruswasfirstde-tected.ButTrumpdidnotdeclareanationalemergencyuntilweekslater, despite being aware of thevirusanditsdangers.

Trump’sletteralsocontainedfalsehoodsandmisleadingstate-ments. Hewrote that theWHO“consistentlyignoredcrediblere-ports of the virus spreading inWuhan in earlyDecember 2019orevenearlier, includingreportsfromtheLancetmedicaljournal.”ButinastatementTuesday,the

Lancet pointed out the journal“publishednoreportinDecember,2019, referring to a virus or out-breakinWuhanoranywhereelseinChina”.Thejournalsaidits firstreportsabouttheviruswerepub-lishedonJanuary24,justfourdaysbeforetheWHOdeclaredaninter-

nationalemergency.OnTuesday,WHOmembers

agreedtolaunchaprobeintotheglobalresponsetothepandemic.The resolution,whichwas spon-soredbytheEuropeanUnionandsupportedbyover100countries,wasadoptedwithoutobjections.The EUonTuesdayurged all

countries to back the WHO.European Commission spokes-woman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said global coopera-tion is "the only effective andviableoptiontowinthisbattle".She said, “This is the time for

solidarity.Itisnotthetimeforfin-

gerpointingorunderminingmul-tilateralcooperation."

China hits backChina on Tuesday accusedPresidentDonaldTrumpofusingit "asan issue" toshift theblamefromhis“incompetentresponse”tocontainthevirusathome."TheUStriestouseChinaasan

issue to shift responsibility andbargainonitsinternationalobliga-tionstoWHO",whichisamiscal-culation,ChineseForeignMinistryspokesmanZhaoLijiansaid."Ittriestomisleadthepublic

to smear China and shift the

blamefromitsownincompetentresponse" to stop the spread ofthevirus in theUS,hesaid."It is futile. Currently, Covid-

19isstillspreadingintheUSandmany other places," he said,adding thatUnitedStatespoliti-cians should stop the blamegameandworkwiththeinterna-tional community to stop thespreadof thevirus.

MEANWHILE, INMICHIGAN:Peoplegather toprotestagainstastay-at-homeorder. AP

UStries touseChinaasan issuetoshift responsibilityandbargainonobligations toWHO:Beijing

PREVENTION PARADOX: CONTAINMENT SUCCESS MAKES IT HARDER TO PERSUADE PEOPLE OF THREAT

At Germany’s Covid protests: Anti-vaxxers, neo-NazisKATRINBENNHOLDBERLIN,MAY19

OUTSIDEGERMANY’SParliamentbuilding, a vegan celebrity cookgrabbedthemicandshoutedthathewas“readytodie”tostopself-servingelitesfromusingthepan-demic to topple theworldorder.Somedistance away, a group ofwomendiscussedhowBillGateswasplotting to force immunisa-tiononthepopulation.YoungsterssportingcardboardcutoutsoftheGerman constitution chanted:“End the corona dictatorship!”Fewworemasks, and those thatdid came with slogans like“Merkel’smuzzle.”Even as Germany is cele-

bratedasEurope’s foremost ex-ample of pandemic manage-

ment, an eclectic protestmove-mentthatbeganlastmonthwitha few dozen people marchingagainst coronavirus restrictionshas ballooned into more than10,000 demonstrators in citiesacross thecountry.Theonedriving forcebehind

themobilisation is the country’sfar right, particularly theAlternativeforGermanyparty,orAfD, which had beenmargin-alisedbythepandemic.Now,theAfD’sleadersseetheprotestsasafirststeptowardmovingbackintothenational conversation, usingthem to position theirmessagefor the months ahead, whenGermany must confront joblossesandabatteredeconomy.“The crisis is coming, it isn’t

here yet,” said Nicolaus Fest,headofBerlin’sAfDchapter,who

was protesting near theBrandenburg Gate on Saturday.“Sometimesoon,a lotofpeoplewill beunemployed.”Alongside anti-vaxxers, ant-

icapitalistsandordinarycitizensconcerned about job losses andsafetyatreopenednurseriesandschools, the marches have at-tracted neo-Nazis, hooligans

and, consistently, members ofthe AfD, a party best known forits noisy nationalism and anti-immigrantviews.They rarely organise the

protests. But the AfD andmoreextremefar-rightgroupsaretry-ing to capitalise on the discon-tent as they begin positioningthemselves for what may be amuchuglierpoliticalscenesomemonths from now if the econ-omy deteriorates further, asmosteconomistsexpect.Germany’s domestic intelli-

genceoffice,whichrecentlyclas-sifiedbothKubitschek’sInstitutefor State Politics and a group ofAfD politicians close to him asextremist, isworried.“Weseeatrendthatextrem-

ists, especially far-rightextrem-ists, are weaponising the

demonstrations,” ThomasHaldenwang, president of theagency, told the German news-paperWeltonSunday.“Theytoldusthisviruswasso

dangerousthatwehadtogiveupall our democratic freedoms,”said SabineMartin, amother oftwowhomarched in Berlin onSaturdayforthethirdweekendina row. “Butwe are no fools: Ourhospitalsarehalfempty.”“I’mnotafraid of this virus,” she added.“I’mafraidof therecession.”Some call it the prevention

paradox: BecauseGermanyhasbeenrelativelysuccessfulincon-taining the disease, it is becom-ing harder to persuade peoplethat thepandemic still presentsarealdanger,andeasierforcon-spiracy theorists and populiststo spinnarrativesof deceit.NYT

Aprotestbymembersof a far-rightparty inGermany. NYT

CROWD CONTROLApoliceofficerurgesmigrantswhoaretryingtogohometocelebrateEidal-Fitr, togetoff fromanovercrowdedferry,afteraboatcapsized,amidconcernsover thecoronavirusoutbreak, inMunshiganj,Bangladesh,onTuesday. Reuters

ASSOCIATEDPRESSMOSCOW,MAY19

NEWCORONAVIRUScaseshavebeen spiking in countries likeRussia,SouthAfricaandMexicoinaclearindicationthatthepan-demic is far fromover. Of them,RussiaandBrazilnowsitbehindonly the United States in thenumberof reported infections.The surges come even as

much of Asia, Europe andscores of US states have seenenough progress in their fightagainst the virus to focus onhow best to reopen theireconomies.French teachers and Thai

mall workers are among thehundreds of thousands of em-ployees back on the job withnewsafetyprecautions. Russiareported a steady rise in infec-tions Tuesday and newhotspots have emerged.Russia registered 9,263 new

cases inthe last24hours,bring-ing the total to nearly 300,000infections— about half of theminMoscow.LatinAmericahasseenmore

than483,400 confirmedcoron-avirus cases and30,900dead todate. The largest number of in-fections are in Brazil, which be-cametheworld'sthirdworst-hitcounty Monday evening withmore than 250,000 infectionsdespite limited testing.Alarmingly, some countries

haveseenencouragingsignsre-verse: Iran reported a steadydrop in new virus infectionsthrough April, only to see themriseagain inMay.Across the globe in Latin

America, intensive care units inthe Chilean capital of Santiagohavebeenbeyond90%capacityfordays. Infectionswerealsoin-creasinginpoorareasofBuenosAires, the capital of Argentina,where authorities relaxed strictlockdownmeasures lastweek.

PTI&REUTERSLONDON,MAY19

UKCHANCELLORRishiSunakonTuesday warned that Britain'seconomywas headed for a "se-vere recession" and that any re-covery from the lockdown im-pact isunlikely tobeswift."This lockdown is having a

very significant impact on oureconomy.Weare likely to faceasevere recession, the likes ofwhich we haven't seen, and of

course thatwill have an impactonemployment," saidSunak.In reference to questions

about a "bounce back" of theeconomy, the senior Cabinetminister said that amajor turn-aroundwould take time as thelockdownmeasures to controlthespreadofthedeadlyvirusareyet tobe fullyeased.Meanwhile,theUK’sCOVID-

19death toll has reachednearly43,000, underlining the coun-try’s status as the worst-hit inEurope and raisingmore ques-tionsaboutPrimeMinisterBorisJohnson’shandlingof thecrisis.Tuesday’snumbersfromthe

Office for National Statisticspainted a grim picture in carehomes, more than a third ofwhichhavebeenstrickenbythenovel coronavirus.Deaths in carehomesacross

theUKtopped10,000asofMay8, although the increase hasslowed over the last couple ofweeks.“Deathsinallsettingsin-cludingcarehomesare falling ...butwe need to do all we can tocontinuetoprotectthemostvul-nerable in our care homes,” aspokesmanfor Johnsonsaid.

Global worry asmany nations seespike in new cases

Fixsystemin30daysorelse:TrumptoWHO

ANNIEKARNI&KATIETHOMASWASHINGTON,MAY19

PRESIDENTDONALDTrumpsaidonMondaythathehadbeentak-inghydroxychloroquine,ananti-malarialdrugtheFoodandDrugAdministration warned couldcauseseriousheartproblemsforcoronavirus patients. He said hewastakingthedrugasapreven-tivemeasure and continued totestnegativeforthecoronavirus.“All I can tell you is so far I

seem to be OK,” Trump said,adding that he had been takingthe drug for about aweek and ahalf, with the approval of theWhiteHousephysician.But Trump’s announcement

surprisedmanyof his aides anddrew immediate criticism fromarangeofmedicalexperts,whowarnednotjustof thedangersitposed for thepresident’s healthbutalsoof theexample it set.“My concernwould be that

the public not hear commentsabout theuse of hydroxychloro-quineandbelievethattakingthisdrug to prevent Covid-19 infec-tion iswithout hazards. In fact,thereareserioushazards,”saidDr

Steven E Nissen, the chief aca-demicofficeroftheMillerFamilyHeart, Vascular & ThoracicInstituteattheClevelandClinic.Dr Scott Solomon, a profes-

sor of medicine at HarvardMedicalSchool,saidTrump’sde-cision to try the drugwas up tohimandhisphysician.“Butwhatis irresponsible is the examplehe is setting,”DrSolomonsaid.DrManny Alvarez, the sen-

ior managing editor for FoxNews’shealthnews, saidonairthat the president’s statementwas “highly irresponsible” andaskedwhat had changed sincestudies showed the drug hadno benefits.His announcement came

less thanamonthafter theFDAissued a safety warning aboutthe drug. NYT

USPresidentDonaldTrump

AtLeningradskyrailwaystation inMoscowonTuesday. AP

UK headed for severe recession, says Sunak

InLondononTuesday.Reuters

Taking HCQ aspreventive measure:Trump draws flak

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,MAY19

PRIME MINISTER K P Oli onTuesday reiterated that theKalapani-Limpiadhura-Lipulekarea in the trijunction of Nepal-India and China (Tibet) will bebrought back within Nepal'smapatanycost.PrimeMinisterOli saidwith

the approval of thenewmapbytheCabinet, "wewill nowbe re-lentlesslyengagingtorealisethosearea back through diplomacy"."The issuewillnot fadeawayanymore,weareleastbotheredifanyonegetsangryandwewillreclaimthatlandatanycost,"headded.A seemingly frail Oli made

his first speech in Parliamenthaltinglyafterundergoingakid-ney re-transplant twomonthsago.HepickedupthepaceafterSpeaker Agni Sapkota allowed

himtositanddeliverthespeech.OlihitoutatIndia'sstanceon

the border dispute as well as acomment by Indian army chiefManojNavaranethataprotestinNepal against India — afterDefenceMinisterRajnathSinghe-inaugurated a roadmeant toconnectMansarovarviaLipulek— may have taken place at"someone'sbehest"."Everythingwedo is self-guided”,Oli said.Hesaidhewantsacordialre-

lationshipwithIndia,butthathewouldaskit,"Seemamevajayateor satyameva jayate?"Olialsorespondedtoanalle-

gationthatChineseambassadorHouYanqihadaidedhiminsav-inghischairwhenhefacedavis-iblerevoltinhispartyearlierthismonth."Somesayaforeignam-bassadorsavedmefromfalling...it's agovernmentelectedbythepeopleofNepal, andnoonecanthrowmeout,”hesaid.

TRUMP’SATTACKSontheWHOexhibitamisunder-standing of its role andcould weaken globalhealth,healthexpertssaid.Theypointedout that theWHOhaslimitedpowers:it can only provide guid-ance and cannot enforceanything. Many nationssupported the call for aprobe into the WHO’shandling of the crisis, butdid not target the globalbody. Some bodies, liketheEU,voicedsupportfortheWHO, saying globalcooperationwas theonlyeffectivewayforward.

Consequenceofattacks

GURDIPSINGHSINGAPORE,MAY19

SINGAPOREWILLliftthe"circuitbreaker" imposedtocontrol thespread of the coronavirus fromJune1gradually in threephasesas the risk of increase in infec-tionsthroughcommunitytrans-mission remains high in thecountry,thehealthministrysaidonTuesday.The "circuit breaker"meas-

ures were first announced onApril 7 andwere further tight-ened after three weeks, withmoreworkplacesclosedandso-cial gatheringsbanned.Whileannouncingthelifting

of theCOVID-19restrictions,theMinistry of Health (MOH) andMinistry of Trade and Industry(MTI) said in a joint statementthat thecountry is likelytoseearise innewcommunitycases.As theriskof a resurgence in

community transmission re-mains high, the government inthe first phasewill resumeeco-nomicactivities.Besides the essential busi-

nesses that are already opera-tional, those thatoperate inset-tings with lower transmissionriskswill beallowedtoopen.Health Minister Gan Kim

Yong, speaking at a task forcepress conference, said that thedecision to exit the circuitbreaker is because of the lownumberof cases inthecommu-nity,andthestabilisedsituationat thedormitories. PTI

Will reclaim at any cost:Oli on contested land

Singapore toexit ‘circuitbreaker’from June 1

IN COLD NUMBERS

13%The percentage of museums around the world that may neverreopen, the UN's cultural agency has warned, as about 90 percent of them have had to close their doors due to the pandemic

13SENSEX: 30,196.17 ▲ 167.19 NIFTY: 8,879.10 ▲ 55.85 NIKKEI: 20,433.45 ▲ 299.72 HANG SENG: 24,388.13 ▲ 453.36 FTSE: 6,015.64▼ 32.95 DAX: 11,010.23 ▼ 48.64

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,MAY20,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`75.66

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsareshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates;**goldper10g, silverper1kg; IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY19

SHARESOFReliance Industries(RIL), which is opening its Rs53,125-crore rights issue onWednesday, declined 2.26 percent on the stock exchanges onTuesday, evenas theSensex rose167pointsto30,196.17.However, RIL shares,which

closedatRs883.85onMarch23,havezoomed59.32percentsincethen toRs1,408.15byTuesday inthemidstof thecoronaviruspan-demicwhiletheSensexhasrisenonly16.67percentinthesamepe-riod— from25,880.83onMarch23to30,196.17onTuesday.Aweek ago, RIL share prices

inched closer to its all-timehighvalueofRs1,617hitinDecember

2019,as it surgedtoan intra-dayhighofRs1,614evenasthemar-ketwasbatteredbythelockdownand the economic slowdowntriggeredbyCOVID-19.Thesharprise of 59 per cent in the shareprices of RIL from March 23comes amidst a volatilemarketcondition triggered by the coro-naviruspandemic.Theriseisde-spiteadecline incrudeoilpricesanddemandforrefinedproductshit RIL’s bottom line and it re-ported a 37.2 per cent fall in net

profit fortheMarchquarter.Analysts said Jio Platforms,

RIL’s subsidiary, has now raisedoverRs67,000croreover the lastonemonthat a timewhen lock-downandtheslowdownhaveledtomassive job losses and factoryclosureswhiletheservicessectorhascometoastandstill.ThefundraisingofRs110,000crore(rightsissueplus JioPlatformstakesale)willsignificantlyincreasethecom-pany’sabilitytoreduceitsdebtatatimewhenmostcorporatehavegone for threemonthsmorato-rium on loan repayments andthousandsofMSMEshavecloseddownoperations.According toMotilal Oswal

Institutional Securities,with thelatest deal (GeneralAtlantic), JioPlatformshasturnedvirtuallydebtfree. “Its current net debt now

standsatRs2800crore fromnetdebt of Rs140,000 crore in FY19andpeaknet debt of Rs 217,000crorebeforeformationoftheInvITstructure,”itsaid.Significantly,manybigcorpo-

rateshadbenefitedfromtheRBI’sliquidity infusionmove this year.TheRBIhas also admitted it andsaidsmallandmediumunitswerehitseverelybytheCOVIDdisrup-tions. “It is observed that thede-ployment of TLTRO funds so farhas largelybeen tobonds issuedbypublicsectorentitiesandlargecorporates, especially inprimaryissuances.ThedisruptionscausedbyCOVID-19have,however,moreseverelyimpactedsmallandmid-sizedcorporates,includingNBFCsandMFIs,intermsofaccesstoliq-uidity,”RBIGovernorShaktikantasaidonApril17.

`53,125-CRORERIGHTS ISSUEKICKSOFFTODAY

PRABHARAGHAVAN&SANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI,MAY19

EVEN AS a circular issued lastmonth shielded students acrossengineering,management,phar-macy and architecture, amongother fields, fromthepressureofpayingtuitionfeesamidthelock-down,medicalstudentsinprivatecollegesanddeemeduniversitieshavehadnosuchprotection.Thesestudents,manyofwhomareattheforefront of India’smedical re-sponsetotheCOVID-19pandemic,have said it isdifficult in this sce-nariotoarrangethemoney,whichstandsatanaverageofRs20lakhacrossstates.A circular issuedbyAll India

Council for Technical Education(AICTE)onApril15 instructed in-stitutesandcollegesunderittonotinsistonpaymentof fees, includ-ing admission fees, during thelockdown.Medical institutesanddeemeduniversitiescomeunderthe purview of either theUniversityGrantsCommissionorMedical Council of India anddonot have to abide byAICTE’s in-structions.A checkbyThe IndianExpressacrossseveralprivatemed-icalcollegesrevealsthat,betweenAprilandMay,someinstitutessenteitherwrittenorverbalnoticestostudentsdemandingfeepayment.Someeventhreatenedthemwithpenalties like non-payment ofmonthly stipend to their post-graduatestudents.“Whileourcollege issuedno-

tice regarding fee payment inMarch and the last date of pay-mentwasApril15,2020,studentsare receivingcalls fromtheofficetomakethefeepayment.Studentsarealsobeingtoldthatiftheydon’tmaketheirfeepayment,theywillnot receive their stipend. In anycase, I have not received my

stipend sinceDecember,” said apostgraduatestudentatChristianMedicalCollege(CMC)--Ludhiana.CMCLudhianasaidithasnoaf-

filiation toAICTEand thecircularthereforedoesnotapplytoit.Thecollege followsapolicysetbythehealthministry,whileitsdoctoralcourses are affiliated to theBabaFaridUniversityofHealthSciences.NeitherMCInorBFUHShave is-sued such instructions, so CMCLudhianahasnotdeferredseekingfees from its postgraduate,diplomaor super speciality resi-dents.CMC-Ludhianahasalsosaidthatclaimsthatithaswithheldthestipendof its studentsovernon-paymentofduesare“incorrect”.Some states like TamilNadu

havespecifiedthatprivatecollegesshouldnotcompelparentsorstu-dentstopayfeesorpendingduesduring the lockdown, but othershavenottakensuchaction.Kalinga Institute ofMedical

SciencesinBhubaneswarissuedanoticeonApril 22askingall post

graduatestudents(2018and2019batch)todepositoutstandingcol-lege andhostel dues byMay31.Thenoticebyitsprincipalanddi-rector of the institute’s school ofmedicinesaid“thismaybetreatedastoppriorityandstrictlyadheredto”. It addedthat thosewhohavepaidshouldshowtheirRTGScer-tificate andget payment receiptfrom the accounts section “toavoid any further action by themanagement.”It is not clearwhat action the

managementplanstotakeagainstthoseunable topaytheirduesbythedeadline,asemailedqueriestothe instituteonMay11anda fol-lowuponMay12remainedunan-sweredbypresstimeTuesday.“Ononehand,privatemedical

colleges are asking for fees. But,howmanyofthemhavecomefor-wardvoluntarilyandofferedtheirlarge,500-1000bedhospitals forCOVID-19?” saidWorldMedicalAssociation treasurer and IndianMedicalAssociationpastpresidentDrRavindraSWankhedkar.Somestudentssaidtheyhave

beenfindingitdifficulttoarrangethemoneytopaytheirfeesduringthelockdown.“Theyareregularlycallingmeforthefees,”saidapost-graduate student at Telangana’sMedi Citi Institute of MedicalSciences on condition ofanonymity. “No formalnoticeormail. Just callsaskingus topayassoonaspossible.”QueriestoMediCiti about this onMay11and12alsoremainedunanswered.NewstudentsadmittedforPG

courses inTelanganahave takenissuewith thestateallowing feestomore thandoubleacross cate-gories. Theyhave togivecollegesabankguaranteeforthenexttwoyears, saidDr PSVijayender, ex-chairmanof theTelanganaJuniorDoctors’Association.

Fullreportonwww.indianexpress.com

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,MAY19

WITH THE launch of its‘ChikitsaSetu’appdesignedto“train” people to break thechainof spreadof COVID-19,UttarPradeshjoinsacoupleofdozenothersstatestohaveitsown app in addition to theCentre’sAarogyaSetu,whichalsoaims to trackandcontrolthespreadofthevirus.Apart fromUttarPradesh,

several other states andmu-nicipalitieshave,overthepasttwomonths, developed theirownCOVID-19contacttracingandhomequarantineapps.Theseappshavemultiple

privacyissuesthatviolatedatasecurityparametersonseveralcounts, according to experts.Ananalysisof at least24suchstates’ apps shows most ofthesehavebeendevelopedbyprivate companies that haveunprecedentedaccesstosensi-tivepatientdatawithlittlelia-bilityincaseofabreach.“Most of these appshave

been developed by privatecompanies and theyhaveac-cesstoallthedatawhiletheli-ability provisions in case ofbreach are very vaguelyworded,sometimesevenask-ing the user to completelywavetheliabilityandaccount-abilityof the serviceproviderin case of data breach orloss,”SalmanWaris,founder&partneratTechLegisAdvocates&Solicitorssaid.A contact tracing appde-

veloped by Chennai-basedBhishmaTechnologyServicesforthestateofTamilNaduhasbeendownloadedmore than100,000 times. Thecompanywas incorporated onSeptember23,2016,andhasatleast four other firms regis-tered on the same address,withoverlappingdirectors,ac-cordingtodataavailablewiththegovernment.“These apps, they collect

dataandhavetheright tousethe same and monetize it.However, if there is a breach,theuser cannot even sue fordamages.Andthenthereisthiswhole issueof bypassing thegovernment’s ‘procurementrules’ and favoritism,”Warissaid. Detailed questionnairesent to the state governmentaswellasthecompanydidnotelicitanyresponse.Thepermissionssoughtby

themostofthesecontacttrac-ingappsandhomequarantineportals is another security is-suewhichmustbepaidatten-tionto,cyber-securityexpertssaid. “Excessive permissionsare required by applicationsthatundertaketracingandsur-veillancethroughcapturingin-formationfromdifferentinter-nal broadcasts fromcomponentsof thedevice. Insome cases, appswhich areonlyinformativeandintendedtoissueadvisorieshavesought

permissionsforlocation,pho-tos, storage and camera,” aSFLCspokespersonsaid.For example, Telangana’s

app‘T-Covid-19’developedbyQuantelaInc,aUS-basedcom-pany,aimsonlyto“providecit-izenswithpreventivecare in-formation and othergovernmentadvisories”.“However, foraninforma-

tionandadvisoryservingapp,itasksforseveralpermissionswhich include monitoringcomponents including ‘extralocationprovidercommands’whichpertainstostateofloca-tion,” legal cyber-security ad-visory group SoftwareFreedomLawCentresaid.A similarCOVID-19dash-

board, developed by theMadhya PradeshAgency forPromotion of InformationTechnologywas takendownafterRobertBaptiste,aFrenchethical hackerwhoused thepseudonymElliotAldersononTwitter,pointedoutflawsandshowedthatitviolatedtheba-sicpersonalprivacylaws.Thequarantineand infor-

mation vending apps ofPunjab andKerala, similarlyseekmoreinformationthanisnecessary for theseprogramstofunction,expertssaid.Punjab’s information

vending app ‘Cova Punjab’seekstohavefullnetworkac-cess and evenviewnetworkconnections. The app evenseeks to pairwith Bluetoothdevices in its vicinitywithoutexpressapprovalofthedeviceholder, which can be ex-tremelyproblematicandinva-sive,acyber-lawexpertsaid.“Theproblemisthatallthe

state apps areusingCentre’sAarogyaSetu frameworkandfoundation as the startingpoint.Thatwillnotbeacorrectapproach,” Supreme Courtlawyer and cyber-lawexpertPavanDuggal told The IndianExpress.Detailed questionnaire

senttobothPunjabandKeraladidnotelicitanyresponse.Despite the issuesaround

datasecurityandprivacy,mostof theappsdevelopedby thestateshavemanagedtoflyun-dertheradarastheyhavenotgainedmuchtraction,expertssaid,addingthatsincemostofthesearevoluntary innature,thereisnoobligationtodown-loadand there isno strict en-forcementofthesameeither.

COVID-19WATCHMOBILEAPPLICATIONS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY19

WITHTHECOVID-19pandemicpresenting challenges for theeconomy includinghealth, eco-nomic growth, migration andemployment, resumption ofeconomicactivityamidthepre-vailing health crisis would becrucial forthecountrytopickitspace towards a slow path togrowth.Naushad Forbes, co-chair-

manof ForbesMarshal and for-merCIIpresident,will joinanE-XPLAINED onWednesday onunderstandingCorporateIndia’schallengesandstrategiesastheyramp up capacity and navigatethenewnormal.Forbeshadearlierinaninter-

viewwith The Indian Express inApril advocated beefing up thecountry’smedicalinfrastructure,highlighting theneed for bettercoordinationbetweenstatesandCentre. Hehad also pointed out

how income transfers run theriskof leavingsomeneedyout.As a leading voice in India’s

corporate sector, Forbes, who

has a doctorate from StanfordUniversity andwhere hewas aconsultingprofessorfor15years,brings clarity and reason todis-cussions on business-govern-ment relations.AspresidentofCIIin2016-17,

Forbesworked closelywith thegovernment as it out into placetwo of the biggest reforms —GSTand IBC.With the economic growth

beingprojectedtorecordacon-traction this financial year,gradedresumptionof industrialactivitywillbecrucialforrevivalofGDPgrowthandemploymentgeneration dependent on it. Astheannouncementsmadeintherecent economic package,Atmanirbhar Bharat, outliningseveral long-termmeasures forvarioussectorsincludingpower,mining and defence come intoforce, their impact on economyalsowouldbecloselywatched.

To register, SMS– IEEXP<space> “IE”<space> “Yournameandemail ID” to56161

■ Thepermissionssoughtby themostof these contacttracing apps andhomequarantineportals is anothersecurity issuewhichmust bepaidattention to,experts said.

‘PERMISSIONSAKEY ISSUE’

Virus tracking apps:States on launching spree;privacy concerns overunfettered access raised

BRIEFLYGovtextendsdeadlineforcontractsNew Delhi: The FinanceMinistry has extended thedeadline for fulfilment ofcontractualobligationsofallgovernmentprojects,whichweredueforcompletiononorafterFebruary20,byuptosixmonths.

`6.45LcrloanssanctionedbyPSBs:FMNew Delhi: State-ownedbanks have sanctionedabout Rs 6.45 lakh croreworth loans tovarious sec-tors includingMSME, agri-culture and retail betweenMarch 1 and May 15,FinanceMinister NirmalaSitharamansaidinatweet.

ZurichAirportgetsclearanceforJewarairportNoida: Zurich AirportInternationalAGhasgotse-curity clearance from theCentrefordevelopingJewarairport in Uttar Pradesh, aseniorstategovernmentof-ficialsaidonTuesday.PTI

OommentakesoverasISApresidentNewDelhi: ArcelorMittalNipponSteelIndiaCEODilipOommenhas takenoveraspresidentoftheIndianSteelAssociation(ISA),asperare-lease.Hewasunanimouslyappointedpresident for thenexttwoyears.ENS

PRANAVMUKUL&AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,MAY19

THEMASScancellationsof com-mercialflightoperationsacrosstheworldmayhave impacted trav-ellers,butwithmostof thecoun-try’saircraftgroundedonaccountof thelockdown,there’sanunex-pectedcasualty.The IndianMeteorological

Department (IMD)has been leftdeprivedof crucialweatherdatathatitusedtoreceivefromflyingairplanes. India’s largest airlineIndiGo said Tuesday that it hadbeen collaboratingwith IMD toprovideaircraftdataonwind,hu-midity and temperature relayedby various aircraft sensors andthis relay of data has been im-pacted due to the grounding ofthefleet.IMD’sheadofclimateresearch

andservicesDSPaitoldTheIndianExpressthatthemoredatathattheorganisationhas, themoreaccu-rateisitsinitialprediction.“Thereareprivateflightswhichvoluntar-ilyputtheirsensorstomeasurethewindandtemperature.Thereareinternationallysomanyflights.Soall of themhave takeoff, cruisingand landing data, duringwhich

theykeeponmeasuringallthepa-rameters and send it to a centralsystem,whichcan receiveall thedata…Themoredatawehave,themoreaccurate the initial predic-tion is. Sothesedata includesair-craftdata,balloondata,shipdata,radarandspecialobservationssys-temsdata,togethercreateabettermodel,”Paisaid.IndiGohasalsoincorporateda

plan for its pilots to report high-levelwindand temperaturedataatdifferentstagesofaflightasde-siredbyIMDacrossallflightoper-ations. The reports by thepilotswill capture and share observa-tionsat cruisingaltitude, atmid-

wayofthedestination,atcruisingaltitudejustbeforestartofdescent,at near 10,000 feet, and at near5,000feet.“Thedata,whichisimperative

for accurate predictions ofweather, hasbeenunavailable tothe Indian MeteorologicalDepartment since amajority offlightsareoutofoperationsduetothe nationwide lockdown, cou-pledwithstaffconstraints,”IndiGosaid ina statement. Theairline iscurrently operating cargo flightsacrossthecountry.However, Pai said the prob-

lem that hit on account of theflight groundings is now beingaddressed.“Itisatemporaryphe-nomenon. Flights have startedfromsomeplacesinternationally.Flightswhicharevoluntarilytak-ing observations are still doingthat,” he said. The governmentannounced a lockdown onMarch 24, along with whichscheduledcommercialflightop-erations have been suspended.Sincethen,however,variouspri-vate airlines and Air India havebeen conducting cargo opera-tions across the country and toforeigndestinations.AirIndiahasalsostartedoper-

atingpassenger flightsunder theVandeBharatrepatriationmission.

Employees’ PF contribution can go higherthan 10%, not of employers: LabourMin

MCA to move SC forbanning IFIN auditors

‘Govt to furtherrevise criteriafor classifyingmediumenterprises’

KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,MAY19

THE MINISTRY of CorporateAffairs (MCA) and the SeriousFraudInvestigationOffice(SFIO)areintheprocessof filingaspe-cial leave petition (SLP) in theSupreme Court against aBombay High Court order,whichquashed criminal prose-cution of IL&FS FinancialServices (IFIN) auditors — BSR&Associates(aKPMG-affiliatedfirm) and Deloitte Haskins andSells, said sources.Last month, the high court

upheld theconstitutionalvalid-ity of Section 140(5) ofCompanies Act, 2013, whichdealswithremovalandbanningofauditorsforfiveyears,butsaidthe provision does not apply toauditorswhohaveresigned.Deloitte was the auditor of

IFIN till it was rotated out in fi-nancialyear2018.Subsequently,BSR&Associatestookoverastheauditorof IFINandresignedonlyin June 2019. The SFIO has ac-cusedtheauditorsofconnivanceintheIL&FSfinancial fraudcase.TheSLPwillchallengethein-

terpretationofSection140(5)bythe high court. It will contendthat the government asked theSFIO to launch prosecutionagainst the auditors within 30hoursofgettingtheSFIOinvesti-gation report, as the officers in-charge of reading the reportwere aware of the issues at IFINand had applied mind beforetaking thedecision.The petition, sources said, is

likely to point out that the highcourtdoesnothave jurisdictionto decide if therewas “applica-tionofmind” by its officers as itis a subject matter of the trialcourt.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,MAY19

THE LABOUR Ministry onTuesdaysaidemployeescancon-tributemore than thenewly setlimitof10percentofbasicwagesto their provident fund (PF) forthe next threemonths, but em-ployers don’t need tomatch thehighercontribution.

In a statement, theministrysaid, “Under the EPF Scheme,1952, anymember has the op-tion to contribute at a rate

higher than statutory rate (10per cent) and employer can re-strict his contributions 10 percent in respect of such em-ployee.”On Tuesday, theMinistry of

Labour & Employment imple-mented the decision to cut em-ployees’ provident fund (EPF)contributionsto10percentfromtheexisting12percentforthreemonthstill July.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY19

THE GOVERNMENT is not infavour of granting Goods andServices Tax (GST)waiver, ashasbeendemandedby various sec-tions of the industry. FinanceMinistryofficialssaidGSTwaiverwillhaveseriousadverseimplica-tionsonstatefinances,businesseswould suffer and consumerswouldalsobehitbypricerise.“In the past also, when the

GSTexemptiononsanitarynap-kins was allowed, it had led tosimilar hardship for domesticmanufacturers of sanitary nap-kins.Later,thedomesticindustry

complainedof adversity. SowasthecasewithGSTexemptiononPPEs,mask,etc.TheGSTexemp-tionwould leadtoblocked inputtax credit (ITC) resulting in in-creaseinthecostofmanufactur-ing and a higher price for con-sumers,”anofficialsaid.WhileGSTexemptionwould

makeoutputGSTaszero,theITCwouldnotgetutilisedandwouldget added to thecost,whichwillharm the industry and also theconsumerswhichwillnothelpinreviving the demand. Also, thecomplianceburdenisexpectedtoincrease formanufacturerswhowould be required tomaintainseparateaccounts for inputsandcapitalgoodsusedfortheproduc-

tionof theitem.Officialssaidmanymanufac-

turers, dealers, wholesalers, re-tailers have piled up inventorieswith input tax creditworth sev-eral lakh crores during the lock-downtocounterCOVID-19pan-demic and so, a waiver wouldresultinincreaseinpricesforcon-sumers.They further said the GST

waiverprovidesincentiveforim-ports, which do not have inputtaxes as compared to domesticsuppliesmakingimportedgoodscheaper than locally producedgoods.Anyfinaldecisionregard-ingchanges inratesorapossiblewaiverwill need tobeapprovedbytheGSTCouncil.

Forbes at E-XPLAINED today

NaushadForbes,co-chairman,ForbesMarshal,andformerCIIpresident.File

Therise isdespiteadecline incrudeoilpricesanddemandforrefinedproductshitRIL’sbottomline

RIL shares outperformSensex,rise59.32%fromMar23 low

‘Eightmost affected statesaccount for 60% of GDP’Eight statesmost affected by the COVID-19 pandemic account forover 60 per cent of the GDP, a report by Crisil’s researchwing said

58% of the employment inthe eight states,which includeMaharashtra, Gujarat andTamil Nadu, among others

5% estimatedGDPcontraction by analysts

Karnataka andKeralacould behurt by the restrictions oneconomic activity, where shareof industry and services ishigher, while in others likeMP,Punjab andBihar, a highershare of agriculture couldcushion the economy this year

Maharashtra, TamilNaduandGujarat, beingmostdependent on output fromindustry and services, aremorevulnerable to output losses asthey face restrictions

Source:Crisil researchwing/PTI

■AcircularissuedbytheAllIndiaCouncilforTechnicalEducation(AICTE)onApril15hadinstructedinstitutesandcollegesunderitnottoinsistonpaymentoffees,includingadmissionfees,duringthelockdown.

■MedicalinstitutesanddeemeduniversitiescomeunderthepurviewofeithertheUniversityGrantsCommissionortheMedicalCouncilofIndiaanddonothavetoabidebyAICTE’sinstructions.

UNDER UGCORMCI

Out of AICTE purview, studentsin pvt medical, deemed universitiesunder pressure to pay tuition fees

GIVENDATAfromaircraftsensorsmakeapartoftheinformationneededbyweathermen,theflightcancellationshaveforcedmeteorologicalde-partmentstorelymoreondatafromradarsandsatellites.

Relyingonradars,satellites

Curbs on flights hurt IMD’s weatherdata collection, IndiGo steps in to help

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,MAY19

DAYSAFTERchangingthedefini-tionofMSMEs, the governmenthasdecided to further revise thecriteria formediumunitsby en-hancing the investment andturnoverlimitstouptoRs50croreand Rs 200 crore respectively,MSMEMinisterNitinGadkarisaidonTuesday.“Wehave takenadecision to

raise theuptoRs20crore invest-ment (criteria) to up to 50 croreandturnover(limit)touptoRs200crore.Sowewillissueanorderforthat,”Gadkarisaid,addinghefeelsthecriteriashouldbebasedonin-vestment“or”turnoverinsteadofinvestmentandturnoverboth.

ThegovthascutEPFcontributionsto10%from12%forthreemonthstill July

Govt not in favour of GST waiver


SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Vol. LXIVNo.118

Printed for theproprietors, The IndianExpress (P) LtdbyMsVaidehiThakaratThe IndianExpressPress, PlotNo. EL-208, TTC IndustrialArea,Mahape,NaviMumbai -400710andpublished from 1st floor, ExpressTowers,NarimanPoint,Mumbai -400021.Editorial&AdministrativeOffices:ExpressTowers,NarimanPoint,Mumbai -400021. Phone:22022627/67440000. Fax:022-22835726.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Mumbai):NirupamaSubramanian.* (*Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct)Additional air surchargeof `1 .00 -Goa.Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Ltd.All

rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

Sprint legendBoltandpartnerwelcomebabygirlJamaica's Olympic sprint legend Usain Bolt has become a father for the first time after wel-coming the birth of a baby girl with partner Kasi Bennett, reports said. Jamaican PrimeMinister Andrew Holness appeared to confirm the birth of Bolt's daughter in a social mediapost. Local media reports said the couple's daughter was born on Sunday.

Whyis ICC'ssalivabanaratherinconsequentialmoveinensuringaCOVID-19safeenvironmentforcricketers?THE VIRUS causing the COVID-19 infec-

tion spreadsmainly in fourways: betweenpeoplewhoareinclosecontactwithonean-other, within about six feet; through respi-ratory droplets producedwhen an infectedpersoncoughs, sneezesoreventalks;whentheinfecteddroplets landonsurfacesorob-jectsaroundaperson.Theincubationperiodof the infection - the time between gettingthe infectionandshowingsymptomsis1to14days,andsomepeoplewiththeinfection,without showing any symptoms can con-tinue tospread thedisease.Therefore, the prohibition of saliva to

shine the ball only addresses the issue oftransmissionof thevirusthroughthesaliva.Inreality,despiteabanonsalivainplace,theviruscancontinuetotravel-unlessthechainof transmission is not broken. And asmen-tioned above, there is always a possibilitythat an asymptomatic infected player, cancontinue to spread thevirus byeither com-ing in close contact with another player(withinaboutsixfeet)orwhenanunaffectedplayertouchesasurface(aball,theboundaryrope, wicket, bottle, locker room surfaces,door knobs etc) already touched by theasymptomatic infectedplayer;also, there isa possibility that the virus can spread fromthepantry,thesupportstaff,thehotelwheretheplayersareaccommodatedorthevehicleused to ferry theplayers.

Whataboutsweat? Is itaviruscarrier?The evidence available has shown the

virus spreadsmainly through respiratorydroplets and contact routes. There is someevidence that COVID-19 infectionmay leadto intestinal infectionandbepresent in fae-ces;butWHOstatesthattherehavebeennoreports of faecal-oral transmission of theCOVID-19 virus to date. The virus does notspread through perspiration (sweat) - but

items touched bymany people (ball etc.)couldposea risk.

Shouldn't the ICChavecomeupwithtestingprotocols firstbefore thesalivaban?TheICC,oranyothersportingbody,who

wantstoresumethesportingeventsshouldhavedetailedprotocols - for socialdistanc-ing,protectiveguidelines (useofmasketc),screening & testing, self-reporting guide-lines, and protocols for holding the event.All of the guidelines have to be imple-mented in totality to ensure that there areno lapses at any stage.Yes, the testing protocol is very impor-

tant; however, simultaneously, protocol re-latedtoself-reportingisalsoverycritical foran athlete. If a player is showing any symp-toms - the sporting body should have a de-tailedprotocol onhowtheplayer reports toqualified doctors, whowill then advise theplayertoundergotestsandself-quarantine;andprotocols for theboard tonotify shouldalso be spelled out. All the instructions re-lated to the personal protective equipmentshouldalsobemadeavailabletotheplayersand support staff; also, protocols related tosocialdistancing-separatelockerrooms,ac-commodation, training facility -where themovement of outsiders is to be restrictedshouldbemadeavailable toorganisers.

What is thefirst stepbywayof testingprotocol?As there is always a possibility that a

playercanbe infectedbutremainasympto-matic-onlyusingthethermalscreeningbe-fore thestartof thegamewouldprovetobefutile.Theonlywaytoruleoutanyinfection- is testing.The ultimate fighting championship,

which resumed in the United States, hasmade itmandatory thatUFCpersonnelwillhavetoundergoboththerapidantibodytestand the RT-PCR COVID -19 test; and onlywhen they are cleared by the doctors, will

thesportspersonsbeallowedtoparticipate.However, itmustbenotedthatasperthe

ICMR guidelines, a positive antibody testwould only indicate exposure to the infec-tion - and is not recommended for diagno-sis; the antibody testwill give an indicationthat a person has been ex-posedtothevirus. If the test ispositive, thenyouwill have tocollecttheswabanddoanRNAtest using the PCR kit. Also, anegativetestdoesnotruleoutCOVID-19infection.Therefore,theantibodytest can only be used for surveillance - andthe RNA test, which is the gold standard,shouldbeusedfordiagnosis.Sincetheplay-ersareyoungandfit, there isalwaysa likeli-hood that most of them can be asympto-matic - and testing protocol should bedefinedkeeping these factors inmind.

Howimportantaresocialdistancingonandoff thefieldevenafter theplayersget tested?Intheabsenceofanytreatmentandvac-

cine,socialdistancingisthemostimportantaspect.Maintainingsocialdistancingattrain-ingfacilities, inhotels,themodeoftransport- iskey toensure that theplayersarenot in-fected. Also, each of the facilities should bevirtuallyconverted likeaquarantine facility

-where themovement of out-siders is restricted.

Aretests foolproof?The RT PCR tests are fool-

proof.However, this testhas tobe carried out by a professional lab official,and the samples have to be examined inICMRandNABL certified labs -which com-plywithbiosafetylevel2.Anylapsecouldre-sult in falsepositivityornegativity.Antibody tests are not fully reliable, es-

pecially if it is conducted immediately afterearlyexposure. The reliabilityof sucha test,in general, is seven days after the virus hasenteredthehumanbody.Thekitwillclearlysay what is the probability and at whichpoint it is definite. Therefore, it can only beused for surveillance.

Incase ifplayers,officialsandbroadcastershaveallbeentestedandtheyareput inasanitisedbio-domeduringthedurationof thegame, is thereanychanceof thevirussneakingin?It isscientificallyimpossibletofullyelim-

inate the virus in the real world. Therefore,precautions likesocialdistancinganduseofprotectiveequipmentarecrucial,evenifyouhavebeenclearedby tests.

Howoftenshouldtheplayersbetestedduringsayaone-monthlongseries?Like mentioned above the incubation

periodof thevirus is 1-14days. But thede-cisionas tohowoftena test shouldbecon-ducted, solely depends, upon the move-mentof theplayerandtheinfectedpersonshehascomeincontactwithduringtheonemonth long series. Which is why, self-re-portingby theplayerandcontact tracing isvery important.

Sinceclose-infieldersorawicket-keeperwillbe incloseproximityofbatsmen,will itbeseenasnon-complianceof socialdistancingprotocol?Yes, if theasymptoticinfectedplayersare

in close proximity, and spread the infectionandcontinuetoplay-itwillbenon-compli-anceof socialdistancingprotocol.However,if theseplayersaretestednegative,andotherobjects in the field are fully sanitised - theplayers can be in close proximity, fulfillingthe requirementsof thegame.

Howmuchdoesatestcostandwhatareits logistics?Duringapandemicasseriousasthis is itwisetousethetestingkitsor tosetupatopclass testingfacilityforsupremelyfitandyoungathletes?The entire cost of RT PCR test in India is

cappedatRs4,500.Thetestshavetobecon-ducted in BSL-2 labs, which requires infra-structure, thatcouldrun intoa fewcrores. Ifthe sports bodies have existing lab facilities-thesamecanbeupgradedforCOVID19test-ing, following the ICMR guidelines, wherethe young players are trained. However,since, playerswill beplaying indifferent lo-cations and the tests are conducted in lessthan 24 hours - transporting the sample toonededicated lab is highly impractical; it isonly practical to have a tie-upwith a diag-nostic chain, for conducting the tests.

ICC’s spit ban futile if other precautions not takenEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMAY19

SIX TEST results – out of the 748 conductedon players and staff of 19 Premier Leagueclubs–returnedpositive forcoronavirusonSunday andMonday as teamsmake an ef-fort torestart trainingwithanaimtorestarton-fieldaction in June.The six individuals, fromthree clubs,will

now isolate for the next sevendays. Squadswere set to start training fromMondaywithstrict rulessuchaspractising ingroupsof fiveand sessions lasting amaximumof 75min-utes.Therewillalsobetestingtwiceaweekaswellasadailypre-trainingquestionnaireandtemperaturechecks.“ThePremier League is providing this ag-

gregatedinformationforthepurposesofcom-petitionintegrityandtransparency,” itsaidinastatement,accordingtoBBC.“Nospecificde-tailsastoclubsorindividualswillbeprovidedbytheleagueandresultswillbemadepublicinthiswayaftereachroundof testing.”The leaguewas suspendedonMarch 13

with92fixturesstill leftinthecurrentseason.TheEPLwastryingtofollowinthefootstepsoftheBundesliga,whichresumedlastweekendbehind closeddoors. TheGermanclubs tookfiveweekstogofromnon-contacttrainingtoplayingleaguematches.ThiswouldimplythatthePremierLeaguemaybelookingatamidtolateJunerevivalof thedomesticcompetition.Someoftheplayers,however,havedecided

not to resume training.Watford captainTroyDeeney, inapodcast,spokeaboutthebreath-ing difficulties his sonwas facing and howclubsarestumblinginthedarkonthedosanddon’tsabouthowtodealwiththepandemic.“Ican’tgetahaircutuntilmid-July,butIcan

goandget in aboxwith19people and jumpforaheader. Idon’tknowhowthatworks.Noonecouldanswer thequestions,notbecausethey didn’twant to, just because they don’tknowtheinformation.”

Premier Leagueconfirms sixpositive tests

CROSSWORD4122

ACROSS1 Sharppracticeused incourt

proceedings (6)4 It comestosomethingwhen

Dad’supsetandoutof bed(4,2)

9 Inaway I spreadhopelessness (7)

10 Issueof extremeimportance(5)

11 Wrongfulwasteof labour?(5)12 Member inaneat

arrangementshowsrefinement (7)

13 He’s responsible forbusandtrain to thegolf club(5,6)

18 Far toomuchforbridgeperhaps (3,4)

20 Arch fiend?(5)22 Havingasetbackabout

work,drinks (5)23 Likeanegg, it’sblown(7)24 Possibly runandseetomake

certain (6)25 States times forcustoms(6)

DOWN1 Saucy if horsey, somemight

callheradish (6)2 Class foractors, say (5)3 It’s snappy if longdrawnout

(7)5 Putoutaplea for

employment (5)6 Onestatueoddlyplaced(7)7 Hestoleawayfromtheshore

(6)8 Aquestionof sentryduty?

(6,2,3)14 Nomortalabodecouldbeso

lumpy(7)15 Raids theentrances?

(7)16 Newhatsweputbands

round(6)17 Damseldistributesawards

(6)19 Aface-saving featureof

oldentimes (5)21 Obtainableasaconditionof

course (5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)There isnowmuchtobegainedfromatripdownmemorylane,althoughit

doesn’thavetobeeventsoflongagowhichnowpreoccupyyou.What is important iswhatyoufindwhenyouget there,probablyanemotionalcrockofgold.Anencounterwithanoldfriend isdue. It couldbetoday,but itmightbetomorrow.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Yoursocialstarsarestrong,soyoumayaswell facethefact thatthere’s little tobe

gainedfromgoingitalone.You’llbenefit farmorefromlinkingupwithlike-mindedpeopleandformingalittleteam.There’salsoachancethatachildoryoungerrelationwillcomeupwithapleasantsurprise.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Mostplanetaryactivitynowtakesplace in theupperreachesof yoursolar

chart, signifyingthatpublicpressuresshouldbemoreimportant thanpersonal. Inotherwords, socialexpectationsnowexertacrucial impactonyour thoughtsandemotions.

CANCER(June22- July23)Dreamon,especiallyif romance isonthecards. Fromtheplanetarypointof

view, therecouldbenobettertimeforadventureswith lovedones, sopleasedowhateveryoucantokeeproutinechores toaminimum.There’snothingtobegainedfrompilingupthepressure.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Mercury,VenusandMarshavereducedtheir combinedpressure.That

meansthatwhileobviousdifficultiesmayhavebeenremoved, therearestill certainhurdles toovercome,not theleastofwhich isyourcapacitytodoubtyourself.A littleextraconfidence isneeded.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)It’s timetoexploreyour feelings,whetherof guiltorresentment,hopeor

desire.Onlyby lettingyouremotionsroamandyourimaginationwanderwillyougeta truepictureofwhat it isthatyoutrulyrequire frompartnersand lovedones—andwhatyoucangive inreturn.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Pleasedonotimaginethatconditionsatworkhavebeenfinally

agreed.Thecuriouspoint is thateventhougheveryone isnowactingonwhathasbeendecided, certain ideaswill soononceagainbethrowninto themeltingpot. In fact, it couldallbeupforgrabs.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Don’t ruleout thepossibilityofenforcedchanges inyour life,but first

realise thatyouhavebroughtcurrentconditionsonyourself,andthenthatwhileVenus is sointriguinglyaligned, theoutlook isexcellent forahappyoutcome.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Youwon’t get veryfarunlessyourealisethat familymembersneed tobe

persuaded thatyouare right,and thatdomestic irritationsshouldbedealtwithnow!Youmightnotbe thecauseof somecurrentproblems,butyoucancertainlybepartofthe solution.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Circumstancesbeyondyourcontrolareabout tounmakeadecisionthatyou

thoughthadbeenfinalised.Lookuponalluncertaintyasawelcomeopportunity foryoutochangeyourmindandattitudes.What’smore,whatseems likeagood ideathisweekmightnot looksorosynext.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)It’s fair tosaythatanastrologicalperiodofgreat importance isstillwithyou,but

youmustaccept thatmajorchange isunlikely in thenearfuture. Insteadyoushouldworkwithwhathasalreadyhappened,andconsolidateallimprovements inrelationshipsso far.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Commonsensetellsyouthatyoushouldworkas fastaspossible topresent

otherpeoplewitha faitaccompli. Theywill thenbeable to jiggleaboutwiththedetails,butwithoutaffecting the finaloutcome.Oh,and if youaredealingwithpracticalmatters, call intheexperts.

SUDOKU4114

DifficultyLevel1sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4113

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.It isnot___thatamanshouldfear,butheshouldfearneverbeginningto__.-MarcusAurelius(5,..,4)

SOLUTION:EARED,LIMIT,BLADED,VANISHAnswer:Itisnotdeaththatamanshouldfear,butheshouldfearneverbeginningtolive.-MarcusAurelius

DRAEE ABDEDL

ILMIT AINSHV

SolutionsCrossword4121:Across:1Starter,5Libra,8Schoolfellows,9Largo,10Recital,11Viands,12Orange,15Nonplus,17Capes,19Spiritedreply,20Nosey,21Deserve.Down:1Sisal,2Ashardasnails,3Twofold,4Reform,5Lilac,6Blottingpaper,7Absolve,11Venison,13Records,14Ascend,16Laity,18Style.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Despiteabanonsaliva inplace, theviruscancontinuetotravel—unless thechainof transmission isnotbroken.AP

SIMPLYPUT

Merelybanningbowlers fromapplyingsaliva toshine theballmightnotbeeffectiveas testingprotocolsneed to firstbe inplacebefore resumingcricket, explainsKAUNAINSHERIFF

Thesix individuals, fromthreeclubs,willnowisolate for thenextsevendays.

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