On April 14, 2020 Mr. NarendraModi, Prime Minister of Indiaaddressed the nation to announce

that the lockdown in the country will be

extended to May 3, 2020 in view of theneed to stop the spread of Corona virus.Such a decision was expected and largelywelcomed despite the economic hardshipit entails for the country, particularly forthe poor. contd on Page 2

www.theindianpanorama.news VOL 14 ISSUE 16 ● NEW YORK / DALLAS ● APR 17 - 23, 2020 ● ENQUIRIES: 646-247-9458

# 1 Indian American Weekly: Since 2006

KEEP SAFE ● Follow President Trump's

Guidelines on Coronavirus● Observe Social Distancing ● Wash Hands Frequently ● No Panic Buying● No Price Gouging

KEEP AMERICA SAFE

AMERICA UNITED

AGAINSTCOVID-19

By SandeepChakravorty

Indian-American attorney RaviBatra accuses China of

creating COVID-19 in a Lab

Urges Trump to SeekCompensation from China

NEW YORK (TIP): Alleging thatcoronavirus was genetically-engineeredin a Wuhan lab, an Indian-Americansurvivor of the deadly virus has urgedPresident Donald Trump to seekcompensation from China, running intotrillions of dollars, for the thousands ofdeaths and harming the Americaneconomy. contd on Page 6

HAPPY RAMADAN

Governor Cuomo extends lockdown of State until May 15

Says, 'Our goal is that the "new normal" will be a better New York'NEW YORK(TIP): New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on

Thursday, April 16, extended the state's lockdown foranother month, keeping schools and nonessentialbusinesses closed until at least May 15. The news cameafter the governor announced that the daily death toll,along with hospitalization and intensive care unitadmissions, have decreased. While about 2,000 peoplereceived a COVID-19 diagnosis in the state onWednesday, that number has decreased. The numbers ofpeople being sent to ICUs and requiring ventilators are

contd on Page 32

Appreciating New Yorkers, Cuomo said, 'I trust New Yorkers,you know. I believe if the facts are presented to the people of

the state, New Yorkers will do the right thing.

India’s Governance Response to Covid-19Government of India is acutelyaware of the need to balanceour central concern about thewelfare of our citizens with ourglobal responsibilities.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modiannounced, April 14, extension of the

coronavirus lockdown till May 3

2 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020NY/NJ/CT

India’s Governance Response to Covid-19contd from page 1

There is national consensus that lockdown and socialdistancing is the only effective way to prevent the spread ofthe virus and also reduce the burden on the healthcaresystem.

However, India's anti-corona virus strategies are notlimited to the lockdown. In fact a layered and multi-stakeholder, multi-pronged strategy is in place providing agovernance response in India to the COVID-19 pandemic. Itis noteworthy that India, a country of 1.3 billion, has beenable to limit the number of deaths to 420 in the period sinceJanuary 30, 2020 when the first case was detected to April16, 2020 when we go to press. Reported cases in India aremuch lower than the global incidence rate. The pandemichas also been contained geographically with negligible"community" transmission.

Prime Minister Modi has led a pandemic response thatis historic in its ambition and complexity. Technology andadministrative methods are supplemented by thestrengths of our collective consciousness and our ancientphilosophy. It is a sui generis crisis managementoperation. The strategy leverages the deep reservoir ofnational resolve to confront the current challenge as onenation and one people. It is being conducted in ademocratic setting. Parliament has debated this crisisextensively. Prime Minister has also consulted and soughtinputs from the entire political spectrum. The Union andState executives have mobilized and are working as anintegrated unit. Prime Minister manages the effort at thehighest political and executive level. A Group of Ministers,Committee of Secretaries and Empowered Groups providepolitical leadership and operational direction. At theoperational level, Cabinet Secretary and Health Secretaryare coordinating in real-time, through multiplevideoconferences, a system-wide response that is beingharmonized across all of India's 728 districts. The decisiveIndian response was initiated much before WHO declaredCOVID 19 to be "Public Health Emergency of InternationalConcern" on January 30, 2020 and before the firstconfirmed COVID positive case was reported, also onJanuary 30, 2020. This was a day before Italy saw its firstcase on January 31. By that time, surveillance andscreening of passengers had commenced in India andStates had been alerted. The crisis management systemhad started operating at full speed. Let us examine in detailthese strategies.

LOCKDOWN

The whole country had been placed under a lockdownsince March 25 for 21 days. The lockdown which wasintended to break the transmission through socialdistancing met with unprecedented and voluntarynationwide response. As we all know prior to thelockdown, on March 19, the nation had placed itself undera "Janata" or people's curfew. The extent of the lockdownand the compliance it has received are unique. It was anIndia specific crisis response measure tailored to Indianconditions and has demonstrated results. Governments,central and states, have used this period to trace andisolate positive cases and their contacts. The graph ofCOVID 19 cases is flattening. Cases are doubling in 7 days.Projections of the trajectories the pandemic would havetaken had there been no lockdown or only a partiallockdown are frightening (please see the graph).

The lockdown was not the beginning but the logicalcontinuation of a strategy. Surveillance at points of entry

(airports, major and minor ports, land borders) wasinitiated on January 17, 2020. Visa and travel restrictionswere imposed on foreign nationals on February 5. All visaswere suspended on March 11 and incoming flights weresuspended from March 19. Incoming passengers wereplaced under daily surveillance through the IntegratedDisease Surveillance Program (IDSP) Network andmonitored through a national online portal. The portalaggregates data and maintains a log of all communitycontacts of positive cases. 621,000 passengers weremonitored and not a single positive case in this universehas been able to mix with the general population.

MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS The lockdown is accompanied by a nationwide effort to

enhance medical preparedness. A network of labs acrossthe country has been set up to facilitate early and timelysample testing. 223 labs are operational. State NodalOfficers have been appointed and specific labs have beendesignated for States. A national Hospital preparednesseffort is underway to ensure availability of beds. Healthfacilities of the Defence, Labour, Railways, Home(paramilitary forces) and Steel Ministries and otherCentral and State government Institutions can be enlistedto augment hospital capacity if required. Currently thereare 1,71,415 isolation beds available in Govt. Sector (with 2-3 Stadiums on stand-by in West Bengal), in addition 24,383beds are available through Army, Para-Military forces,Railways and Labour Ministries. Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPEs), ventilators, essential drugs and otherconsumables are being stockpiled and buffer stocks arebeing constantly monitored.

Guidelines on every aspect of COVID-19 managementhave been widely disseminated. Medical and paramedicalpersonnel and Rapid Response Teams nationwide arereceiving orientation on infection prevention, clinicalmanagement and protocols etc. Videoconferences are heldregularly between central and state authorities to reviewstatus. A massive contact tracing operation is continuingon a nationwide scale to pre-empt transmission. A publichealth communication exercise has been in operationsince January 2020. Social media platforms and webpagesof Government are pushing out information about basicpreventive steps. TV & Radio channels were mobilized andan advertisement campaign launched.

Aarogya Setu (https://www.mygov.in/aarogya-setu-app/), a mobile app has been developed by the Governmentof India to connect essential health services with thepeople of India in our combined fight against COVID-19.The App is aimed at augmenting the initiatives of theGovernment particularly the Department of Health, inproactively reaching out to and informing the users of theapp regarding risks, best practices and relevant advisoriespertaining to the containment of COVID-19.

MIGRATION OF WORKERS

As expected, the lockdown produced a number ofchallenges. A movement of migrant labor occurred duringthe initial period of the lockdown. A national effort waslaunched to mitigate the hardship faced by them. Adetailed protocol was evolved to manage the migrants, andguidelines were issued to ensure essential supplies,rations and food packets for them. Relief camps providingfood and shelter were organized on an unprecedented scalewithin days. This massive administrative effort across anumber of states established more than 27,000 camps and

shelters housing 1.25 million individuals. An additional360,000 workers have been provided shelter by industry. 7.5million individuals are being fed through this network ofcamps and shelters plus another 19,460 foodcamps/distribution points. The public health aspect ofthis movement has not been neglected and the camps havebeen linked to a network of quarantine facilities andtesting laboratories. The nationwide response to assistthese workers and their families highlighted the popularunderstanding of the rationale behind the lockdown.

MITIGATION MEASURES Prime Ministers Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) was

launched to mitigate the hardships being faced by the poorand disadvantaged. It attempts to create a security netparticularly for the disadvantaged sections of society thatare worst affected in such situations. Senior citizens,widows, the physically challenged, women, workers andothers who are most vulnerable have been identified. Foodsupplies, cooking gas, financial support and other forms ofsupport are being delivered on nationwide basis. Thisenormous exercise involves a financial outlay of INR170,000 crore/ USD 22 billion. Disbursal has commencedand the support is reaching those who need it the most.The management of essential services for the generalpopulation is a very high priority and is being constantlymonitored.

INTERNATIONAL ASPECTSThis is a global pandemic and requires a global response.

Prime Minister Modi has led the SAARC initiative and isalso actively involved in G-20 wide coordination. TheMinistry of External Affairs (MEA) has created a COVIDcell and is actively coordinating the global response. It ismonitoring the condition of stranded Indians on a regularbasis. A global procurement and supply chain supporteffort has been launched to enhance our medicalpreparedness. More than 4000 requests from 63countries/regions for medicines like paracetamol havebeen cleared on humanitarian grounds. It is part of India'sefforts to contribute to the global efforts to combat theCovid-19 pandemic. It is also a symbol of our solidaritytowards all the countries who require these medicinesduring this hour of need. MEA has also coordinatedinward and outward evacuations on a massive scale. It isalso important to note that evacuation is possible onlyunder very special conditions and for a limited number ofpeople. For some countries such as USA, evacuation is nota readily feasible option due to the large number of peopleinvolved as well as the risks posed by international travel.

India's Embassy in Washington and Consulates in fivecities including New York are actively involved insupporting the members of Indian community who arefacing difficulty due to the lockdown in India andsuspension of flights. The Consulate General of India inNew York has created a special facility in its Pramit webapplication for addressing the needs of people(www.indiainnewyork.gov.in). We have been able to assistin a wide range of situations including support foraccommodation, food, medicines and even personalcounseling. In this we are receiving valuable support fromcommunity organizations. As people are doing their bit bystaying at home, we are doing our bit by taking ourprogramming and events directly to their homes byinnovative use of social media tools such as Facebook andTwitter. I would encourage readers to like our Facebookpage (@indiainnewyork) so that they remain virtuallyconnected while being socially distant.

Government of India is acutely aware of the need tobalance our central concern about the welfare of ourcitizens with our global responsibilities. India is a majorsource of pharmaceuticals. We are committed to actingresponsibly during this crisis. There is no outright ban onexports of critical drugs and requests are being examinedand responded to appropriately. Several consignments ofcritical medicines have been cleared and dispatched to theUnited States. Cooperation between Indian and USscientific organizations is also going ahead on how tomitigate and combat the virus. In a tragic way this crisishas brought us together and we see much greater India-USstrategic and economic cooperation in a post-Covid world.

Lockdown

Migrant laborers in thousands gathered in Delhi to go back totheir native places

I.S. SALUJA

MUMBAI/ NEW YORK(TIP): Film, television andtheatre actor RanjitChowdhry passed away inMumbai on Wednesday,April 15 at the age of 65.

Ranjit was the son ofMumbai theatreheavyweight PearlPadamsee and thestepson of ad filmmaverick, AlyquePadamsee, also remembered for playingMA?Jinnah in Ben Kingsley's Gandhi.

According to a report in Pinkvilla, Ranithad moved to the US in 1980 and beenactive as a writer and actor there too.Ranjit is best remembered for playingJagan Gupta in Hrithikesh Mukherjee'siconic film, Khubsoorat. The song SaareNiyam Tod Do, where he featuresalongside Rekha, is still fondly

remembered by all.

During that period heworked in films such BasuChatterjee's KhattaMeetha and Baaton Mein.After moving to the US,Ranjit worked in a numberof US?shows, the mostfamous being The Office.He appeared as Vikram. Hreportedly also wrote thescreenplay for DeeptaMehta's Sam & Me, for

which he also found an honorable mentionat the Cannes Film Festival.

I got an opportunity to work with him inTirlok Malik's film 'On Golden Years' . Ihave lost a friend and mentor.

Tirlok Malik and the entire cast of 'OnGolden Years' mourned the passing awayof the great artist.

We will miss you. RIP.

3THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 NY/NJ/CT

New Jersey Hard Hit by Covid-19 with more than 3,500 Deaths

Schools to Remain Closed through May 15TRENTON , NJ (TIP): New Jersey

has been hard hit by the novelcoronavirus with more than 3,500deaths and 75,000 COVID-19 cases. Thedeath toll from COVID-19 complicationsrose to at least 3,518, after 362 new caseswere reported Thursday, April 16.Reported deaths have increased by over1,000 since Easter.

Gov. Phil Murphy said COVID-19 hasnow claimed more New Jerseyans thandied fighting in World War 1. Murphysaid that his state has tested the fourthmost total people of any state with atleast 77,317 people testing positive forthe novel coronavirus as of Thursday.Thousands of new cases have beenannounced on many days.

The Governor announced that allschools in the state will remain closedthrough at least Friday, May 15.Governor Murphy also announced thatthe New Jersey Housing and MortgageFinance Agency has unanimously votedto suspend rent increases at all eligibleproperties within the Agency'sportfolio, which includes 36,000 rentalunits across the state.

"Many New Jerseyans are now facingthe difficult financial realities ofunemployment and a loss of income dueto COVID-19," said Governor Murphy."With this action, thousands of low- and

moderate-income families, who havebeen among the most-economicallyimpacted during this crisis, will nothave to fear a rent increase."

The suspension of rent increases willremain in place until the termination of

Executive Order 103. Thereafter, eligibleproperties in the Agency's portfolioseeking rent increases of up to 1.4%may do so only after 30-day notice isprovided to NJHMFA and residents.Any request in excess of this amount

must first be reviewed and approved byNJHMFA staff.

NJ Attorney General Gurbir S.Grewal announced April 15 that theNew Jersey Division of ConsumerAffairs has issued approximately 514cease-and-desist letters and 89subpoenas to businesses reported byconsumers to have engaged in pricegouging or other consumer protectionviolations related to the COVID-19pandemic.

The Division's open cases includeinvestigations of brick-and-mortarretailers in New Jersey, companies fromother States that are accused ofincreasing prices for New Jerseyconsumers, and sellers located in NewJersey who have been accused ofraising their prices on onlinemarketplaces.

To date, the Division has logged a totalof 2,978 complaints related to theCOVID-19 emergency against about1,800 business locations. Approximately90 percent of the complaints involveprice increase on items includingsurgical masks, hand sanitizers,disinfectant sprays and wipes, food,bottled water, and other items indemand by consumers concerned aboutprotecting their health and maintainingenough supplies for their homes.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker tour the field hospital inEdison, N.J. on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.

Picture / courtesy Office of the Attorney General

Nassau County Witnesses a drop inCoronavirus hospitalization

MINEOLA, NY (TIP): NassauCounty continued to witness a welcomea drop in the number of peoplehospitalized for coronavirus. Thenumber of deaths also dropped,signaling the beginning of the flatteningof the curve.

According to Nassau CountyExecutive Laura Curran, as of April 16,the county has 27,772 confirmed cases ofthe coronavirus, an increase of 1.052.That's a smaller increase than theprevious day, when nearly 1,500 newcases were reported.

There were 52 deaths reported , April15, bringing the county's total to 1,109.But that is also a smaller increase thanprevious days.

According to Curran, there arecurrently 2,419 coronavirus patients inNassau's 11 hospitals - a decrease of 58.There were 235 people discharged, April15.

"We stayed home, we did the rightthing, and we flattened the curve,"Curran said. "And that's thanks toeveryone in Nassau County."

The consensus among officials is thatit seems New York has reached the apexof its cases of the coronavirus. The statehas seen a plateau, with the number ofhospitalizations statewide actuallydropping slightly.

The death rate in the state is alsoslowing. According to Gov. Andrew

Cuomo, 606 people died on April 15,which is nearly 150 less than the daybefore. So far, the virus has claimed thelives of 12,192 New Yorkers.

The state's focus is starting to moveonto how, and when, to allow businessesto reopen. Cuomo said it would mostlikely be a phased reopening, with moreessential businesses reopening beforeothers.

There will also be a discussion on howbusinesses reopen, Cuomo said, andwhat new practices will be in place.Some companies may have to continueallowing employees to work from home,and others will have to figure out how towork social distancing into theirbusiness models.

Still, the governor extended, April 16,the stay-home order to May 15, keepingNew York on lockdown for anothermonth, at least.

Nassau CountyExecutive

Laura Curran:"We stayed

home, we didthe right thing,

and weflattened thecurve. And

that's thanks toeveryone in

NassauCounty."

OBITUARY

IN MEMORIAM Mr. Avneet Singh

The death of Mr. Avneet Singh son of Mr JayJasbirSingh and Mrs. Lovely Kaur has sentshock waves in the community in Long Island.

Mr. Singh was sick for some time and washospitalized. He died on April 16,2020.

Many individuals and organizations havemourned the death of the promising youngman. Indian American Forum led by itschairman Bobby Kalotee and The IndianPanorama sent in their condolences to theeditor to be passed on to the bereaved family.

May the dear departedsoul Rest In Peace!

Actor and Writer Ranjit Chowdhry dies at 65

Ranjit Chowdhry in his younger days

4 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020INDIANS ABROAD

Four Indian Techies Named 2020 IBM Fellows

NEW YORK (TIP): Four Indianorigin techies are among the best andbrightest of IBM's global workforcethis year- the IBM Fellows 2020. Eachyear, IBM honors its top technologistsas IBM Fellows. This year's 12 new IBMFellows come from Asia, the Americasand Europe. They have worked acrossmultiple business units to assist ourclients in their digital transformationsand migrations to AI and Cloud. Thesenew IBM Fellows also have energizedthe company's internal businesspractices, and have helped to establishand maintain IBM's reputation as theworld's responsible-and dependable-steward of technology.

The four Indians are - AjayApte,Distinguished Engineer, IBMCloud, Kailash Gopalakrishnan, IBMDistinguished Research Staff Member,

Senior Manager of AcceleratorArchitectures and Machine Learning,Shalini Kapoor, DistinguishedEngineer, Director-Watson IoT India,IBM Cognitive Applications, andRanjan Sinha, Vice President andChief Technology Officer for the IBMGlobal Chief Data Office

After 20 years of working across abroad portfolio of IBM productsincluding middleware and containers,Ajay had earned 30 IBM patents and areputation as an IBMer who combinedtechnical expertise with businessimpact. Taking on a new role designingapplications for hybrid cloud forcedAjay to use everything he'd learnedabout infrastructure and the softwarethat runs on top of it-and to bring it toa critical part of the business that willdefine IBM's next era.

Since Kailash joined IBM in 2004, hisresearch has relied on the disciplinesof engineering, physics andmathematics. Over the last seven yearshe's looked for new ways to make AImore computationally efficient andconsumable.

Throughout an IBM career thatspans more than 23 years, ShaliniKapoor has personified the expression"doing well by doing good."Shalini'sjourney at IBM has includedleadership roles in Technical Sales,Research, and Development. Her manyaccomplishments include creating theWatson Internet of Things (IoT) and AILab in India Software Labs, andseeding the Global Systems IntegratorsTechnical Mission. Shalini also helpedbuild out IBM's IoT ecosystem byenlisting partners and working with

start-ups across numerous industries.She also pioneered the concept of IoTRecipes, which provides partners withstep-by-step guidance for integratingtheir offerings with IBM Watson IoTsolutions on the IBM Cloud.

As VP and CTO for the IBM GlobalChief Data Office, Ranjan Sinha is onthe front lines of the transformationaleffort to infuse artificial intelligence(AI) into real-world applications. Sinhacreated the Cognitive Enterprise DataPlatform, which helps reduce datasilos, democratize access to data,enable a self-service data-drivenculture, provide trusted data forIBMers and accelerate collaboration.To date, CEDP has empowered andenabled more than 100,000 users withenterprise data and AI.

Ajay Apte, Kailash Gopalakrishnan, Shalini Kapoor, and Ranjan Sinha have been named 2020 IBM Fellows

Four Indian-Americans Named 2020Guggenheim Fellowship Winners

NEW YORK (TIP): Four Indian-Americans have made it to the 96thGuggenheim Fellowships, the JohnSimon Guggenheim MemorialFoundation announced April 8. TheBoard of Trustees of the John SimonGuggenheim Memorial Foundationapproved the awarding of GuggenheimFellowships to a diverse group of 175writers, scholars, artists, andscientists. 2020 Fellows are drawn from53 scholarly disciplines and artistic

fields, 78 different academicinstitutions, 31 states and the Districtof Columbia, and 2 Canadianprovinces.

The four Indian -American fellowsawarded with the prestigious 2020Guggenheim Fellowships are PradeepSharma, Anderson Professor ofMechanical Engineering and Physicsat the University of Houston, KavitaRamanan, Roland George DwightRichardson University Professor of

Applied Mathematics at BrownUniversity; DIlip Da Cunha, architectand planner and teacher at HarvardUniversity and Columbia University;and Mukul Sharma, professor of EarthSciences at Dartmouth College.

Appointed on the basis of priorachievement and exceptional promise,the successful candidates were chosenthrough a rigorous peer-review processfrom almost 3,000 applicants in theFoundation's ninety-sixth competition.

Since its establishment in 1925, theJohn Simon Guggenheim MemorialFoundation has granted more than$375 million in Fellowships to over18,000 individuals, among whom arescores of Nobel laureates, FieldsMedalists, poets laureate, members ofthe national academies, winners of thePulitzer Prize, Turing Award, BancroftPrize, National Book Award, and manyother internationally recognizedhonors.

Pradeep Sharma, Kavita Ramanan, DIlip Da Cunha, and Mukul Sharma have been awarded with the prestigious 2020 Guggenheim Fellowships

5THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 INDIANS ABROAD

Six Indian Americans Included in Trump's GreatAmerican Economic Revival Team

WASHINGTON (TIP): US PresidentDonald J. Trump announced many ofthe esteemed executives, economists,scholars, and industry leaders includingsix Indian Americans who together willform various Great American EconomicRevival Industry Groups.

Sundar Pichai from Google, Satya

Nadella from Microsoft,Ajay Bangafrom Mastercard,Arvind Krishna fromIBM, Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra, andAnn Mukherjee from Pernod Ricard aresix Indian origin leaders who are part ofthe team formed to revive the USeconomy ravaged by the coronaviruspandemic.

While Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella,Arvind Krishna and Sanjay Mehrotrahave been named to the Tech Group,Ajay Bangaand Ann Mukherjee havebeen named to the Financial ServicesGroup and manufacturing Group,respectively.

"These bipartisan groups of

American leaders will work togetherwith the White House to chart the pathforward toward a future of unparalleledAmerican prosperity. The health andwealth of America is the primary goal,and these groups will produce a moreindependent, self-sufficient, andresilient Nation", said the White House.

While Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Arvind Krishna and Sanjay Mehrotra have been named to the Tech Group, Ajay Banga and Ann Mukherjee have been named to the Financial Services Group andmanufacturing Group, respectively

Indian American Singer Anuradha Palakurthi Releases Song for Doctors

Combating CoronavirusBOSTON (TIP): Indian American

Singer Anuradha Palakurthi releaseda video song to pay tribute to doctorswho are combating Coronavirus andputting their lives on the line to savelives of people during the COVID-19pandemic.

Titled "Rukta Hi Naheen Tu KahinHaar Ke", the song was produced byBoston-based Juju Productions withina week-from idea to its final release.Sung by Ms. Palakurthi, the lyric wascomposed by Boston poet andscriptwriter Sunayana Kachroo.Music was composed by KamleshBhadkamkar, Mixed and Mastered byVijay Dayal in Mumbai. Nikhil Joshimade the Video.

"I don't think they have worked sofast on any project so far. The urgencyand gravity were significant enoughfor the entire team," Ms. Palakurthitold INDIA New England News.

Given the urgency of the COVID-19pandemic and so many doctors ofIndian-origin on the frontline,Palakurthi got inspired by theirdedication and service.

"So many Indian families in theUnited States have at least one doctor inthem. I had to bring their contributionto the forefront in the USA. They are theones who are in close quarters with realdanger. They are the first responderswho are putting their lives on the line tosave lives," said Ms. Palakurthi. "Somehave sadly lost their lives too in thisbattle. Only true heroes in war do that.Coming from a gold star family, I feelstrongly about soldiers and theirsacrifices."

As of April 9, more than 200 doctorsand nurses have died battlingCoronavirus worldwide, according tonews reports.

Ms. Palakurthi said that the ideaabout the music video formed in herhead on April 3rd.

"I contacted Sunayana to brainstorma bit about lyrics etc. We wanted towrite and make something new, but Idecided to pick an existing song andchange the lyrics," said Ms. Palakurthi."Sunayana did an exceptional job. Thenext step was to contact my trustedmusicians Kamlesh Bhadkamkar andVijay Dayal in Mumbai and we weregood to go from then on."

Ms. Palakurthi said that NikhilJoshi in Mumbai compiled all thephotos that were sent him from Bostonand worked non-stop 12 straight hourson it.

"It was quite a task to explain myvision to him in 36 hours. But the realhelp came from some friends who aredoctors. They did their best under thecircumstances. I wish I had morefaces, but I guess asking them to sendphotos of themselves in thesepressing times was a bit much," saidMs. Palakurthi.

Ms. Palakurthi said that she is veryhumbled to dedicate this song todoctors, nurses and healthcareworkers in the United States andaround the world.

"I think it's a humble tributecompared to what they are doingevery day. There should have been atleast a hundred more faces in themusic video. We personally know 100

such families and could not get theirpictures."

Ms. Kachroo said that Ms.Palakurthi had given her a brief onthe purpose of the song and thereference song as well.

"While the purpose of the originalsong is to inspire people to reach to agoal," Ms. Kachroo said. "This songis to honor the resilience and theunwavering commitment of themedics and researchers to go beyondtheir job profiles and stand-up tothis disease with their relentlessservice."

Earlier this year, Ms. Palakurthi's"Jaan Meri" song from her Jaan Merialbum won the prestigiousIndependent Music Category's BestSong of the Year Award at the RadioMirchi Music Awards, the Indianequivalent of the Grammys. Two ofthe top five nominees for the best songof the year for the Radio Mirchi MusicAwards in the Non-Film/ Independentcategory were from Jaan Meri Album.

Ms. Palakurthi has been recognizedas the top-rated singer of Indianorigin by industry legends. She hasperformed live with Bollywoodsingers like Kumar Sanu, SureshWadkar, Deepak Pandit and BappiLahiri across the United States.Anuradha has recorded a duet withHariharan for Ekal Vidyalaya -composed by guitarist Prasanna withdrummer Sivamani and a group of 14multiple-Grammy winning musiciansfrom across the globe. She sings in sixIndian languages and has recordedplayback for South Indian films.

Ms. Palakurthi has been recognized as thetop-rated singer of Indian origin by industry

legends

6 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020NY/NJ/CT

Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra accusesChina of creating COVID-19 in a Lab

contd from page 1"The unleashing of global death and suffering with

the coronavirus, a plague upon all of us, is worse thanPearl Harbor, and given its deception, and later, cover-up, lack any semblance of Honor," Indian-Americanattorney Ravi Batra said in a letter to the president.

"On the established rules of law, China is at leastguilty of negligence in proximately causing a worldpandemic, where nearly two million people havesuffered its pain and suffering, and nearly 122,000 soulshave lost their lives and left their families damaged andfractured," he said in a letter dated April 14.

China owes us civil compensation - at least fornegligence - a fair and reasonable amount, "which Irecommend match our standard for 9/11, but no lessthan $USD1 million dollars for every American whotested positive for Coronavirus, $5 million for everyAmerican who died, and $100,000 for every Americanwho has to be 'locked down'," he said.

"I recommend, given the cover-up, which exacerbatedthe injury, pain and suffering globally, as well asavoidable deaths, that China's ownership of debts inevery country - for example the USD1.2T in China'sownership of our T-Bills - be cancelled," Batra said.

In his letter, Batra charged China with hiding theactual source of coronavirus.

The Indian Panorama was sent a copy of the openletter addressed to President Donald J. Trump, SpeakerNancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader AddisonMitchell McConnell, Jr. with copies to Sen. ChuckSchumer, Leader Kevin McCarthy, Chairman Eliot L.Engel, Ranker McCall,Chair Carolyn B. Maloney,Ranker Jim Jordan, Chairman-Senator Risch, Ranker-Senator Bob Menandez, Secretary Pompeo, SecretaryEsper, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, andA.G. Tish James.

Here is the text of the letter. "Honorable Messrs Trump, Pelosi, andMcConnell:

Let me begin with three obvious facts: first, theChinese civilization is a great one, with manysuperlative contribution to humanity, including, empirebuilding, martial arts, gun powder, tea, and perhaps,best of all, Confucius (who famously said: May you livein boring times); second, I am a Blessed survivor ofCoronavirus, that at 104.3 fever, when I was on fire for 2-3 days, I was at the surreal edge between live and death,where I could calmly talk to God to allow me to live so Imay serve and protect my family and serve the GreaterGood. In my personal and intimate experience, I labeledCovid19 as a Trojan Horse, as it obviously has a veryfriendly "handshake" with every host's auto immunesystem to gain entry, before turning to destroy one'sWalls of Troy; and third, today the known globalCovid19 cases are 1,945,055, with 121,897 global deaths,total US cases of 584,073 with 23,700 deaths, and NewYork, our epicenter, nearly 11,000 New Yorker have died.As a disclaimer, I am an American first, a registeredDemocrat second, and I voted for Donald J. Trump in2016. I applaud the President for standing up to China'sunfair trade with us, and I am most troubled with her24/7 global efforts to gain military and economicsuperiority on land, air, water and space, well beyondOBOR, and her continuing and enhanced misbehaviorin South China Sea. Finally, yesterday, I specificallytweeted to dear Amb. Zhang Jun, China's PR, and to herbilateral Ambassador Cui - as "fairness, respect andpersonal honor requires me to invite you to respond tomy Tweets I've made re China, WHO and Covid19."Unlike, on April 4, 2020, when PR Zhang and Irespectfully conversed on Twitter, albeit, about theserious need for China to disclose the "Raw Truth"about Covid19, China's distinguished diplomats

incredulously maintained "radio silence," when beingforthcoming was what was required - both as a duty, andas reciprocal honor.

Recently, on April 9, 2020, House Oversight andReform's Ranker Jim Jordon, and his colleagues, sent agentle letter to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, DG,of the WHO. I join in said letter, albeit, I would not havebeen so gentle to a dishonest fiduciary, whosemisconduct proximately caused the world's publichealth to lay in ruins and the world's economies wereset adrift from both fiscal and monetary policies.

WHO breached its fiduciary-forensic duties owed tothe world, as it dishonestly enjoyed being China's lapdog and purposefully issued false statements anddelayed declaring a pandemic so as to create aconfusing record for nations' leaders, reasonablycausing miscalculation. I had in days prior to Rep.Jordan's letter, called for an amendment to the UNCharter, to do away with the moth-balled TrusteeshipCouncil and to replace it with a new Public HealthUNSC, but named "UN Pandemic Council," with 12Permanent Members and 9 or 13 Rotating Members,charged with Responsibility to Protect, a sovereignty-piercing power, and have OPCW, as well as areconstituted WHO, albeit, re-named, and then report toit. I am happy to say, Philippines Foreign Minister, dearTeddy Locsin has publicly - on Twitter - approved myproposal, and other nations' PermanentRepresentatives have expressed interest in alsosupporting such a change to surgically remove thecorruption-cancer and establish "clean margins" forhonest fiduciary-forensics to protect the global PublicHealth.

It is a curious fact, that where-ever we have cut backin our contributions at the UN and her "organs," Chinafor merely giving UN the funding-shortfall we created,has become the "cherry on top" of all such organs. Thisis wrong, and an insult to our mammoth contributionsstill being contributed, but, incredulously, taken forgranted. The WHO ought to be defrocked and defunded,while its function - only vital if the forensics are doneconsistent to high fiduciary duties - and then, it too, asreconstituted, report to the new proposed UN PandemicCouncil.

The role and function of the United Nations is vitaland important as ever, as the UNSC, charged withpreventing WWIII has handsomely succeeded, even asthe weeds of local and regional wars have mushroomed.UN is celebrating its 75th Anniversary. Perfect time forsome "spring-cleaning," and re-calibration to achievenecessary reforms to better effectuate the high ideals ofthe UN Charter. It is, after all, a paraphrased amalgamof our Declaration of Independence and our cherishedConstitution, to help form a more perfect world.

Coronavirus - as a matter of biochemistry (see, "1stdocumentary movie on the origins of CCP virus -Tracking Down the Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus"(The 1st Documentary)http://youtu.be/Gdd7dtDaYmM).

I rely upon this cited evidence, see below, as itcredibly shows, and I credit it, that the "story of the

Wuhan Seafood Market" is a pretext and an elegantcover-up, which is exposed as such with biochemistry:China denied there was any "human-to-human"transmission. Well, we know that to be a Big Lie, as weare all under a Lockdown to prevent "communityspread," i.e. human-to-human transmission. Jon Cohenwrote in the Journal Science, "Wuhan seafood marketmay not be the source of novel virus spreadingglobally." In a paper entitled, The clinical features ofpatients with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China,published in The Lancet, whose first author HuangChaolin, Deputy Director of Jin Yin-Tan Hospital, andDr. Sean Lin, who said:I. Symptom onset of the First Patient is on

December 1, [2019] had NO relation to theHuanan Seafood market;

II. No epidemiological link was found between thefirst patient and later cases;

III. On December 10, [2019], there were 3 morecases, 2 cases of the 3 cases had NO relation tothe Huanan Seafood Market;

IV. Since December 15 [2019], a cluster of caseswith a history of seafood market exposure havebeen reported;

V. NO one sells BATS at the Wuhanan SeafoodMarket and NO BATS have been found.

Judy A. Mikovits PhD, Molecular Biologist, FormerDirector of Lab of Antiviral Mechanisms NCI said:There were no bats, and the idea of the spread so fastthrough the population is highly unlikely andimprobable.

There were 99 confirmed cases at Jin Yin-TanHospital, of which 50 had NO exposure to WuhananSeafood Market.

45 of the 425 confirmed cases before January 22 [2020],had NO contact with the Wuhanan Seafood market,albeit, the secondary source of a virus appears to bemushrooming and over-shadowing (cover-up) theoriginal breach of the original virus.

Daniel Lucey, an epidemiologist at the University ofGeorgetown said the First case would have beeninfected by the virus already in November [2019] - if notearlier because there is an incubation time betweeninfection and symptoms surfacing. [Means WuhananSeafood Market is a secondary source, not the primarysource, and as a result of "community spread," at best,or a separate virus introduced to cover up the earlierone, at worst].

Gordan Chang, Asian Affairs Expert, and columnist,said: We know that Beijing for six (6) weeks inDecember [2019] and January [2020] suppressedinformation, before acknowledging on January 20th,and they then started a campaign of suppression ofinformation, and on January 26th created a panel, andit was very heavy with propaganda officials. Indeed, thevice chairman of the group is the Communist Party'spropaganda czar. The Communist Party Group imposeda false diagnostic criteria, starting with - must havecontact with Wuhanan Seafood market, knowing a solidone-third of the cases had ZERO contact with WuhananSeafood Market. Thank God, they didn't impose a Bat-Bite requirement for their investigation. Hence, it wasthe start of an organized cover-up, and to mislead theworld as to what China was really up to.

Gen. Robert Spalding, Senior Fellow HudsonInstitute, and former NSC Senior Strategy Director, wasin China when SARS happened. Same playbook.

Critical Evidence - The Mysterious Gene Sequence(from the 1st Documentary):

The coronavirus, aka "2019-n-CoV" - has a 100% aminoacid similarity in the nsp7 and E proteins with "Bat-SL-CoVZC45" and "Bat-SL-CoVZXC21, but worst of all, the"2019-n-CoV" - has a reversed-engineered and grafted-onin a lab of the natural-to-bats "receptor-binding"domain structure, the "mushrooms" on the surface, of

cond on Page 7

Wuhan Seafood Market

7THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 NY/NJ/CT

the "SARS-CoV" - i.e. a transplantation of the SpikeGlycoprotein(S), the natural "mushroom" on the surfaceof "SARS-CoV" is in a lab geneticallyadded/spliced/grafted onto o "2019-n-CoV" - which Ihave, from personal experience, called a Trojan Horseto have a friendly "handshake," is in fact accuratebiochemically - as the "receptor-binding" unlocks thehuman cell, and enters the human body much easier!The SARS' "Bat-SL-CoVZc45" and "Bat-SL-CoVZXC21" -with its natural Bat-based "mushrooms" on the surface- did not enter humans.

CDC's Error: Curiously, the CDC.Gov site publishesthe January 29, 2020 article in The Lancet - which getsinto the genome characteristics of the subjectcoronavirus, aka "2019-n-coV" aka "2019-nCov," at

(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/genomic-characterization-of-2019-nCoV-Lancet-1-29-2020.pdf ), which states the predicatefindings, as

"The ten genome sequences of 2019-nCoV obtainedfrom the nine patients were extremely similar,exhibiting more than 99·98% sequence identity.Notably, 2019-nCoV was closely related (with 88%identity) to two bat-derived severe acute respiratorysyndrome (SARS)-like coronaviruses, bat-SL-CoVZC45and bat-SL-CoVZXC21, collected in 2018 in Zhoushan,eastern China, but were more distant from SARS-CoV(about 79%) and MERS-CoV (about 50%). Phylogeneticanalysis revealed that 2019-nCoV fell within thesubgenus Sarbecovirus of the genus Betacoronavirus,with a relatively long branch length to its closestrelatives bat-SL-CoVZC45 and bat-SL-CoVZXC21, andwas genetically distinct from SARS-CoV. Notably,homology modelling revealed that 2019-nCoV had asimilar receptor-binding domain structure to that ofSARS-CoV, despite amino acid variation at some keyresidues."

Despite finding that 2019-n-CoV had these "receptor-binding," which is not natural, but was reverseengineered, like the WHO misleading the world, issuedan "interpretation" that ignores the non-naturaladdition of these Spike Glycoprotein to Coronavirus!

Edgar Allan Poe: Purloined LetterI well recall the famous American mystery writer,

Edgar Allan Poe, who in his "Purloined Letter" - has thesubject letter hiding in "plain sight" in a letter box onthe desk, while everyone is looking for secretcompartments. Here, the first case had NO exposure toWuhanan Seafood Market, and there are NO bats at saidmarket. Hence, Wuhanan is secondary source, aftercommunity spread, and can be ignored and discarded asa "cover up." The actual and original source of thecoronavirus is therefore elsewhere. That is anundeniable fact, well capable of meeting even thecriminal standard of proof - "beyond a reasonabledoubt." I, therefore charge China with hiding the actualsource of coronavirus, and ignore the fraudulentassertion by the Chinese Communist Party PropagandaCzar that Wuhanan Seafood Market, with zero Bats, hasany value to getting to the source, or finding the mostprecious item right now across the world: the mosteffective vaccine to this plague from China. China, itappears, is following an old playbook it developed inSARS outbreak

The question, then arises: where, oh where, didCoronavirus come from?

The answer, given the reverse-engineered receptor-binding, my "Trojan Horse" element, which makes thisvirus so contagious, since it took a natural element inthe two SARS virus, and spliced it on to Covid19 tounlock human auto-immune system/defense.

Why did China allow its citizens to travel the worldafter November 2019, when she knew there werecoroanvirus (with artificial receptor-binding) cases,which had nothing to do with Wuhanan SeafoodMarket? Was this negligence? Was this intentional? Icannot prove intent, but negligence, is overwhelming.

China had a duty to tell the WHO, and the world (not,do a "hit & run"):

The International Health Regulations (2005) are

internationally binding rules upon member-states,which obligate them in handling public health issues,especially, for highly transmissible diseases. Ironically,they were adopted after the 2003 SARS outbreak inChina - and then too, China was criticized for notpromptly disclosing - what I have demanded - the "RawTruth." These rules are enforced by the WHO, China'sLap Dog, and thru the ICJ. Among the Rules violated byChina include, WHO's Article 6 (Not notifying WHO ofa Public Health Emergency - in November 2019), article7 (Un-timely information-sharing during anemergency), Article 64 (not providing timelyepidemiological reports - the core violation, givenChina's active cover-up, and even substituting WuhananSeafood Market as a false source), and finally, violatingthe anti-corruption regulation, Article 37 (seeking toinfluence the WHO DG Dr. Ghebreysus, and staff - WHOhas played well as a lap dog, and hence, China hasviolated this Article).

Pearl Harbor - FDR:"A Day That Will Live in Infamy" - when Kamikaze

Pilots of the Imperial Forces of Japan hit us onDecember 7, 1941 in a sneak attack, but in broaddaylight, their attack started at 7:55 am and lasted till9:00am, a little over an hour, causing, according to theNational Park Service, 1998 Navy personnel, 109Marines, 233 Army personnel and 48 civilians killed atPearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941; a total of 2388Americans killed. Still, the Japanese airmen wereenemy combatants, and died in service to theirEmperor - until General Douglas MacArthur had himabdicate divinity on the deck of the USS Missouri. Here,however, China used - negligently or heaven forbid,intentionally, her everyday unwitting citizen-touristsand businessmen, contaminated with Coronavirus, tospread the deadly and lab-engineered plague of deathand destruction, and then covered it up and went 'radiosilent." China is criminally guilty at least of a "Hit andRun." If our Government was to find out that we werePearl Harbored, even more sneakily than on December7, 941, then China must lose her UNSC Permanent Seat,and give the world $100 Trillion in reparations, anddisband her military.

Rule of Law in our Rules-based world - TheStandard of Proof and Permitted Inferences:

I honor the established standard of proof, andpermitted inference - Civilly, when only compensationis due, the standard is "mere preponderance of theevidence," and a "negative inference' is charged, when aparty who ought to speak up or produce documents, butdoesn't, such party is presumed to be hiding"inculpatory" evidence of said party's guilt. My near 10-day Tweets in seeking to honesty crack the Coronaviruscase - based upon reliable evidence - and a specifictweet, predicated upon fairness, respect and personalhonor, to Ambassadors Zhang and Cui, including, evena tagging of "@China_mfa," sadly, did not cause atsunami of facts and documents showing China'sinnocence to come my way today.

Instead, China has "closed" and "covered up" tighterthan a drum used in parades. This behavior violates acore "duty" to speak up, let alone help find the bestCoronvirus vaccine. Accordingly, on the establishedrules of law, China is at least guilty of negligence inproximately causing a world pandemic, where nearly 2million people have suffered it's pain and suffering, andnearly 122,000 souls have lost their lives and left theirfamilies damaged and fractured. A simple example: atrucking delivery service has two trucks, one that is aflat-bed, and the other, which is a closed truck-container. The Owner directs the driver to use the flat-bed truck, load it up with boxes, and then strap themdown tightly. The driver, on the road, hits a few bumps,does a few hard brakes, and the next thing you know, ashe is going around a turn his load becomes loose andshoots across the highway. The cars behind while tryingto avoid being "shot at" by the bouncing boxes, crashinto each other or the road divider, many sufferinginjuries, and some even dying. A lawfully negligentdriver would stop his truck, get out, and try to help, orat least call 911 for ambulance and police. China didn't

do that. China kept driving, and when asked, toldfalsehoods to deceive. Hence, under established laws,China is at least guilty of a "Hit & Run," which is acrime.

Additional facts: China has cancelled approximately 8 million cell

phones in the last 3-4 months - each Chinese citizen isauthenticated by their government by their cell phone.Unless you are dead, you don't cancel your cell phone.This suggests that China's coronavirus death toll farexceeds its official number of a mere 3,300. SincePresident trump has sought to impose fair tradebetween us, China's FDI in the United States hasdropped from over $45 Billion to just over $5 Billion.This shrinking footprint suggests evasion of expectedsanctions for bad acts.

Recommendations and Conclusions to POTUSand U.S. Congress:

As I respectfully told China's distinguished ForeignMinster Wang three years ago in 2017 at the UNGA,China is inviting a Little War now, or a Big War later -and I prefer a Little War now. He responded, "No War;No War.". The unleashing of global death and sufferingwith the coronavirus, a plague upon all of us, is worsethan Pearl Harbor, and given its deception, and later,cover-up, lack any semblance of Honor.

Respectfully,

/s/

Ravi Batra"

(Ravi Batra is an attorney based inNew York. He can be reached at

ravi@ravibatralaw.com)

cond from Page 6

1. China owes us civil compensation - atleast for negligence, which has beenproven the legal standard - in a fair andreasonable amount, which I recommendmatch our standard for 9/11, but no lessthan $1 million dollars for everyAmerican who tested positive forCoronavirus, $5 million for everyAmerican who died, and $100,000 forevery American who has to be "lockeddown." Every other nation can negotiate- using our good offices of SecretaryPompeo - for their fair and reasonablesettlement;

2. China owes criminal "hit & run"sanctions: I recommend, given thecover-up, which exacerbated the injury,pain and suffering globally, as well asavoidable deaths, that China'sownership of debts in every country - forexample the $1.2T in China's ownershipof our T-Bills - be cancelled. As a furtherexample, it means Sri Lanka's $9 B debtis cancelled, and she gets her largestport back. Furthermore, China mustvacate Mischief Reef, and stop allaggression, such as blocking "freedomof navigation," or just a few days ago,ramming a Vietnamese fishing boat, witheight fishermen fishing in Vietnamesewaters. This outlaw behavior coupledwith aggressive and active attempts tobuy military enhancing capacities muststop.

It may be accepted thatwaiting to restart all

sectors of the economysimultaneously willunnecessarily keep

some sectors shut thatactually can be

reengineered to openwithout much further

delay.

America should restart itseconomy and other operations bymitigating risk and making sure

that it is done right to be able to succeedatthe effort. While playing safe anddelaying it beyond May 2020 may soundlike the appropriate step to take, weshould also know that it brings with it aloss of about two trillion dollars and aconsequential setback worth severaltrillion dollars more every month. Onthe other hand, restarting America earlymay bring the risk of extending themisery due to COVID-19. There is no wayto come to an optimized solution to thisproblem. It will have to be made by gutsand appetite for risk-taking. We have tocarefully look at several pro and conaspects and decide.

Restarting the economy would beespecially important because someestimates tell us that the effect ofcoronavirus could hang on until August2020 or even later. A shutdown of thatmagnitude no economywill be able tohandle. Moreover, some say thatcoronavirus would come back with aneven greater vengeance as cold seasonreturns in the fall. The economy has tobe ready to cope with that if it doesindeed happen. In fact, the longer theU.S. economy remains in this dormantstate, the longer it will need to getrestarted, harder to bring it back to itspast size and the greater irreparableharm it will cause.

To restart the economy, we will look atthe type of operations deployed for

product and service transformation.There arecertain operations that arelarge, both in terms of the size ofemployment and contribution to thegross domestic product. This listincludesbusinesses such as restaurant,retail, sports and entertainment,education and training, and travel andtourism that can be restarted withproper and careful reconfiguration,adaptation of technology, redesignand/or creative reinventing of theirprocesses, workflows, and scheduling.Their restart can be begunin a matter ofweeks.

We can formulate standards ofoperating for thoselarge organizationsthat have more machine and technologyinterface and reduced humaninteractions. Such outfits includemanufacturing, service processing,fulfillment centers, etc.The restart ofthesebusinesses will depend on how sooneachof them comes up to thesestandards.

Taking the calculated risk ofrestarting this economy that had beenwillfully put to sleep rather than shutdown because of an external one-timemishap will be unavoidable. It will haveto be woken up with whims, such aspresidential or gubernatorial executiveorders . The alternative in the form ofslower legislative processes will likelycausea long-lasting recession ordepression or deep depression, as someare stating.

Moreover, no matter when we restartthe economy, given the politically ultra-divided America and the anxiety overthe upcoming presidential election,opposition to any proposal to restart isbound to be there. That is why, we have tomove fast and devise a scheme to openthe economy and begin the restarting inweeks rather than months. It may beaccepted that waiting to restart allsectors of the economy simultaneouslywill unnecessarily keep some sectorsshut that actually can be reengineered toopen without much further delay.

Utilizing the countrywide statebystateand countybycounty data on coronavirusalready collected by the White House, we

can sectorize our economy and get whatcan be started within weeks bypresidential order and what will needcongressional action. The latter willhave to be started soon and completed onan expedited basis.

Operations that need longer will berestarted applying science, engineeringand technology. Our effort should be toredesign human and machineinteractions, human-to-human contacts,and group interfaces, all with the goal tomitigate the risk of any second or laterlegs of COVID-19. We should also work toadapt and design or redesigntechnologies, operations, andcommunication systems for keepingworkers safe from all similarcommunicable diseases. This should alsomake the companies become even moreproductive.

America should use COVID-19experience as a way to emphasize self-dependence for the production anddistribution of all goods, services,processes, and technologies. Thisexperience has taught us that all these

are important and not just the essentialones.

We should also work to make sure thatwe bring back manufacturing to the USAand place requisite importance onresearch to help us achieve this self-dependence in an economicallycompetitive way. The White Houseshould continue to exert pressure tomake sure that American businessinvests in the goal of self-dependence.Furthermore, we should make sure thatour businesses set research anddevelopment intensity to achieve thegoal.

We should also fight COVID-19worldwide and help other countriesrestart their economies, replicating whatwe did to putthe world back to work afterthe two world wars.

( A. D. Amar, Ph.D. is Professor ofManagement at the Stillman School of

Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange,NJ 07079 (ad.amar@shu.edu). He was one ofthe three academics who endorsed Donald

Trump for president in 2015, much before theprimary elections of 2016. Later, he founded

Indian-Americans for Trump 2016, a PAC,registered to promote Trump for president)

8 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020EDITORIAL

President Donald Trump's abilityto throw a spanner in the worksis well demonstrated. As the

world, including the US, grapples witha pandemic that is as virulent as it isinfectious, the one thing that isexpected is that the world body at theforefront of tackling the crisis wouldget all the support it requires.President Trump has done preciselythe opposite by cutting the US fundingof the World Health Organisation(WHO). He blames the WHO for beinginsufficiently critical about China'searly response to coronavirus. Thecase could be argued either way, andthe WHO is no stranger to beingblamed. It was criticized for declaring

the 2009 swine flu a pandemic tooearly, and of being too late to actduring the 2014 Ebola crisis.

Since 1948, the WHO has proved itsusefulness to the world repeatedly. Ithas promoted internationalcooperation, set protocols andprocedures, and encouraged moreinteraction between nation-states onmatters of health. Indeed, the fightagainst smallpox represented asignificant success and involved activecooperation between two Cold War

adversaries, the US and the USSR.Pandemics know no national

barriers. The need for a coordinatedeffort to battle disease is so apparentthat it would not ever bear stating,except for now. The US is the WHO'slargest donor by far, contributing 10times what China does to theorganization. President Trump ispeeved with what he perceives to be apro-China tilt in the health body.Surely, the way to counter that wouldbe to honor the US' commitment.

Naturally, those who fill the pursehave a greater say than those whodon't. The world needs the WHO andinternational cooperation. It does notbehove the US to renege on itsinternational commitment, more soduring a crisis. The global nature ofthe current threat has made itimperative that leaders rise above thedemands of strident nationalism andpetty domestic politics. Those who failto do so will be judged harshly byhistory. (Tribune, India)

Unhealthy decision: US cutting WHO's funding is plain wrong

AS I SEE IT

By A. D. Amar

GUEST COMMENT

RESTARTING AMERICA

India's international response to thechallenge posed by the Covid-19pandemic has demonstrated her globalleadership as a reliable first responderto humanitarian crises.

India's international response to Covid-19 exemplifies the continued relevanceof Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, seeing theworld as one interdependent family.

The Covid-19 outbreak was termed a"public health emergency ofinternational concern" on 30 January

2020. According to the WHO, the virusoriginated in the city of Wuhan in China,from where it was transmitted by humantravelers to several countries across theworld, including India. On 26 February 2020,India supplied 15 tons of medical assistancecomprising masks, gloves and otheremergency medical equipment on an IndianAir Force special flight to Wuhan as a gestureof solidarity in confronting Covid-19.

The Director General of the WHO declaredthe global Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemicon 12 March 2020. In a statement in

Parliament the External Affairs Ministerconveyed that India had taken pro-activeaction to bring back Indian citizens from theaffected countries before restrictions oninternational air flights to India. Theseincluded three special flights to Wuhan inChina, evacuating crew and passengers froma cruise ship off Japan, and sending medicalteams to assist the repatriation of thousandsof Indian nationals stranded in Iran andItaly. As the Minister said, "exceptionalsituations require an exceptional response".

On 15 March 2020 PM Shri Narendra Moditook a major regional initiative to speak withthe leaders of all SAARC countries throughvideo conference. During this meeting, Indiaannounced five specific measures to preventsuch infections from spreading across SouthAsia.

First, the creation of a Covid-19Emergency Fund with an initial Indiancontribution of $10 million. Second, placingthe services of an Indian Rapid ResponseTeam of doctors and specialists with testingkits and equipment at the disposal of SAARCcountries. Third, training emergencyresponse teams in SAARC countries.Fourth, giving access to India's IntegratedDisease Surveillance Portal, includingtraining on how to use it. Fifth, creating acommon Research Platform to coordinate

research on epidemic diseases in the SouthAsian region, which would include commonSAARC Pandemic Protocols.

The response to the Prime Minister'sinitiative from her neighbors wasoverwhelmingly positive with contributionspledged to the Covid-19 Emergency Fund byAfghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives,Sri Lanka and Nepal by 23 March 2020. Afollow-up video conference of SAARCDirectors General of Health Services on 26March 2020 emphasized the importance ofcommunity engagement and participation toaugment the emergency measuresundertaken by the governments of SouthAsia to combat Covid-19. At the global level,in his role as the incoming Chair of the G-20in 2021, PM Shri Narendra Modi had a phoneconversation on 17 March 2020 with the G-20'scurrent Chair, Crown Prince Mohammadbin Salman of Saudi Arabia. The two leadersagreed that Saudi Arabia would convene avideo conference of G-20 leaders tocoordinate steps to counter Covid-19 andinstill confidence in the global populace. 90%of the Covid-19 cases and 88% of the deathshave been in G-20 countries, whichcomprises 80% of the world's GDP and 60%of the global population.

On 26 March 2020, the G-20 held a Summitby video conference Summit. Participants

agreed to coordinate a global response to fightthe pandemic, adopting measures tosafeguard the global economy, minimizingtrade disruption and enhancing globalcooperation. Before and after the G-20Summit, the Prime Minister of Indiaengaged in active telephone diplomacy withvarious world leaders from the fivecontinents to discuss a viable framework foreffective international cooperation to counterthe spread of Covid-19.

Two special contributions of India tothis international effort so far have beenthe supply of medicines likeparacetamol and hydroxychloroquine tohelp partner countries, including theUnited States and European Union, torespond to the pandemic, andhighlighting yoga exercises andAyurvedic remedies to mitigate Covid-19conditions. India's internationalresponse to Covid-19 exemplifies thecontinued relevance of VasudhaivaKutumbakam, seeing the world as oneinterdependent family.

(Ambassador Asoke Kumar Mukerj is a formerPermanent Representative of India to the United

Nations. The article here is originally acommentary Ambassador gave on All India Radio)

The Chinese refusal to acceptresponsibility for the impact of whattranspired in Wuhan is unfortunate, andfor many, unpardonable.

As the coronavirus poses a seriousthreat to humankind, one can begratified at some of the efforts for

globalizing the quest for a cooperativeremedy. This situation has also to beanalyzed as one looks at China's presentoutreach to cooperate with countriesranging from Italy and Spain on the onehand and to Cyprus and Pakistan on theother. China, whose actions triggered thiscrisis, appears ready to provide what everycountry now desperately needs,particularly by way of equipment andmachinery. While China's industrialprogress since the 1980s has been path-breaking, there have been complaintsabout medical and other equipment it hassupplied recently, which it will have toaddress quickly to maintain its credibilityas a reliable supplier of sophisticatedmachinery, equipment and know-how.

The Chinese refusal to acceptresponsibility for the impact of whattranspired in Wuhan is unfortunate, andfor many, unpardonable. In response to USqueries and requests for samples ofrelevant material from Wuhan, Chinaclaimed that it had 'no clear evidence ofhuman-to-human transmission'. It deniedUS experts access to Wuhan. President

Trump has faced considerable criticismthat he was 'taken for a ride' by theChinese, who stalled US efforts toascertain full facts. Wuhan is the hub ofChina's industrial, technological andeducational development. It is also a majorcenter internationally for educational andtechnological development. The tragedythat the world faces today is widely andalmost universally accepted as havingemerged from the wholesale seafoodmarket in Wuhan.

The Trump administration has beenoutraged by the absence of Chineseactions to immediately bring thesedevelopments to the notice of the world.Around 38,000 US citizens and residentswere flown back from China to majorAmerican cities like New York, LosAngeles, Chicago and San Francisco, inthe weeks following the Wuhan shutdown.This was inexplicably done withoutcomprehensive medical checks ofpassengers. The tragedy that has befallenAmericans, as their cities are ravaged andthousands have died, is the direct outcomeof these developments. China, nowconfident that it will emerge as theunquestioned No. 1 power in the world, isin no mood to express any regrets to theUS, or to the world at large. While it couldtake years for the US to recover fully, Chinaappears determined to establish itsdominance globally. It is challenging USpower by flying in 'relief supplies' acrossthe world as the US looks on. Notsurprisingly, Putin's Russia, which sharesa long common border with China, hasacted quietly, clinically and decisively todeal with the issue.

With Trump and his political associates

going ballistic over what isunquestionably Chinese responsibilityand culpability in handling the Wuhancrisis, relations between the two foremostpowers have sunk to a new low. Moreover,Trump has echoed misgivings, sharedwidely, about the role of the DirectorGeneral of the WHO, who is accused of notonly being ineffective but also is regardedas a virtual apologist for China. The UShas threatened to end all funding for theWHO, which would render theorganization dysfunctional. Rather thanshowing understanding and promotingcooperation, the US and China appeareddetermined to confront each other. Indiais, however, playing its cards carefully -indeed skillfully - to avoid getting drawninto the vortex of Sino-American rivalry.At the same time, an outraged Indianmedia is focusing on the blatant Chineseefforts to disclaim responsibility.

China also appears to have concludedthat it should not get into a position oftotally alienating India and Indian publicopinion. Following a tele-conversationwith the otherwise none-too-friendlyChinese foreign minister, Wang Yi,External Affairs Minister Jaishankarmade it clear that India was not in thebusiness of pointing fingers at China.Jaishankar merely noted that followinghis discussions with Wang Yi, both sideshad agreed to work together to combat theCovid. China and India also indicated thatthey were ready to cooperate in the G20Summit convened by Saudi Arabia.

The readiness to work together withChina evidently had an impact on China'sapproach to deal with Pakistani attemptsto raise the Kashmir issue in the UNSC

late last month. China, which was then thepresident of the UNSC, turned down arequest from Pakistan for 'urgent andappropriate action' on developments inJ&K. Islamabad claimed thesedevelopments posed 'a threat tointernational peace and security'. Thiswas a departure from Chinese policies inthe recent past on the issue. It would,however, be premature and a seriousmistake to presume what direction China'spolicies will take in coming months.

Just over a century ago, an estimated 18million Indians perished in a globalpandemic, where an estimated 50 millionperished globally. India was then underBritish rule. India today has ademocratically elected government in afederal democratic system, which isresponsive to public needs. The world hasnever been as interconnected as it is today.We will, therefore, naturally find a wayforward. But, in the meantime, it isheartening that PM Modi and hisgovernment are constantly monitoringdevelopments and reviewing theirpolicies, after extensive consultations withstate Chief Ministers. Given this welcometrend, one looks forward to India emergingfrom the crisis, with its federal institutionsand structures significantly strengthened.

(The author is Chancellor, Jammu CentralUniversity & former High Commissioner to

Pakistan )

9THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 PERSPECTIVE

By Ambassador AsokeKumar Mukerji

By G Parthasarathy

Covid reshapes global politics

India's international response to Covid-19

While it may take years for the US to recover, China set to establish dominance

In control: China is flying in 'relief supplies'across the world even as the US looks on.

10 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020SOUTH ASIA

IMF warns Pak’sbudget deficit may hit

record highISLAMABAD (TIP): The

International Monetary Fund (IMF)has warned that the cash-strappedPakistan's budget deficit is expected torise to the record level to 9.2 per cent ofthe size of national economy or Rs 4trillion in current fiscal year due to theimpact of the pandemic.

In the Middle East and Central AsiaRegional Economic Outlook (REO)Update released on Wednesday, theglobal lender urged the Pakistangovernment to ramp up spending onthe health sector that remained thelowest in the region.

Fiscal expansion is expected in allcountries as the fight against the virusand its economic effects is scaled up. Itsaid that Pakistan’s budget deficit thatin pre-COVID-19 situation had beenprojected at 7.3 per cent of grossdomestic product (GDP), may increaseto 9.2 per cent. —PTI

Malaysia reports 153new coronavirus cases

with 3 new deathsKUALA LUMPUR (TIP):Malaysia's

health ministry reported 153 newconfirmed cases of the novelcoronavirus on Sunday, raising thecumulative total to 4,683, the highest inSoutheast Asia.

The latest data includes three newdeaths, raising the total number offatalities from the outbreak to 76.

The ministry said 45% of allconfirmed cases have recovered. PTI

Pakistan bans exportof anti-malaria drugsISLAMABAD (TIP): Pakistan has

banned the export of anti-malariadrugs after several countries,including the US, started using themedicines to treat coronaviruspatients, according to a media report.

The ban, which has been imposedwith immediate effect, will remain tillthe National Coordination Comm-ittee(NCC) on COVID-19 deems necessary,according to a notification released bythe Commerce Ministry amidst a spikein the number of coronavirus cases inthe country.

On Friday, Pakistan reported 190fresh infections taking the totalnumber of COVID-19 cases in thecountry to 4,788. The death toll fromthe virus has reached 71. As many as762 have recovered while 50 were incritical condition.

This is the second time in this weekthat the Pakistan government hasbanned the export of anti-malariamedicines. The notification wasreleased to the media on Friday. Thereare approximately 20 companies,which are manufacturing anti-malariadrugs.

To restrict use of anti-malaria drugsin the domestic market, the DRAP hasalready asked medical stores to sell thedrugs on doctors’ prescriptions only. —PTI

Bangladesh coast guard rescues 396Rohingya in drifting boat; 24 dead

DHAKA (TIP): At least two dozenethnic Rohingya died on a ship thatdrifted for weeks after failing to reachMalaysia, Bangladesh coastguardofficials said on Thursday, following therescue of 396 starving survivors.

For years, Rohingya from Myanmarhave boarded boats organised bysmugglers in the hope of finding refugein Southeast Asia, usually makingvoyages during the dry season fromNovember to March, when the waters arecalm.

A human rights group said it believedmore boats carrying Rohingya, a Muslimminority group, were adrift at sea, withcoronavirus lockdowns in Malaysia andThailand making it harder for them tofind refuge.

“They were at sea for about twomonths and were starving,” aBangladesh coastguard official toldReuters in a message, adding that theship was brought to shore late onWednesday.

The 396 survivors aboard would besent to Myanmar, said the official, whorevised the number upwards from aninitial count of 382.

Video images showed a crowdcomprised mostly of women andchildren, some stick-thin and unable tostand, being helped to shore. Oneemaciated man lay on the sand.

One refugee told a reporter the grouphad been turned back from Malaysiathree times and a fight had broken outonboard between passengers and crew atone point.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar does notrecognise Rohingya as citizens, and theface severe curbs on freedom ofmovement as well as access to healthcareand education.

Myanmar denies persecutingRohingya and says they are not anindigenous ethnic group but immigrated

from South Asia, despite many beingable to trace their ancestry backcenturies.

More than a million live in refugeecamps in southern Bangladesh, themajority having been driven from homesin Myanmar after a 2017 militarycrackdown the army said was a responseto attacks by Rohingya insurgents.

Rights groups fear virus curbs acrosssoutheast Asia could trigger a repeat of a2015 crisis, when a crackdown byThailand prompted smugglers toabandon their human cargo at sea oncrowded, rickety boats.

Chris Lewa, director of the ArakanProject, said she believed several moreboats were stranded.

“Rohingya may encounter closedborders supported by a xenophobicpublic narrative,” she said in a message.

“COVID-19 cannot be used to denyaccess to territory to desperate refugeesin distress. Another maritime crisis inthe Andaman Sea, as in 2015, is

unacceptable.” Several boats were tryingto reach Malaysian shores andmonitoring had been stepped up, a policeofficial in the northwestern state ofKedah told Reuters.

A police official in southern Thailandsaid five boats carrying Rohingya hadbeen spotted off the coast of Satunprovince late on Monday. It was notpossible to independently confirm theremarks.

People were smuggled out by boat andover land, said Kyaw Hla, a Rohingyafrom Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine state,where tens of thousands of Rohingyahave been confined in camps since a boutof violence in 2012.

“Within these eight years, there hasbeen no progress, only degradation,” hesaid by telephone. “People can’t stand it.

Since we are locked up and suffocated,people try to leave, of course.”

He added, “If the coronavirus breaksout here, we’ll be as good as dead.”Reuters

Sri Lankan church ‘forgives’ Easter suicide bombersCOLOMBO (TIP): Sri Lanka's

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said onSunday that the Roman CatholicChurch had forgiven the suicidebombers who killed 279 people andwounded nearly 600 others on EasterSunday in 2019, in one of the deadliestattacks in the island nation's history.

"We offered love to the enemies whotried to destroy us. We forgave them,"Cardinal Ranjith told an Easter masswhich was broadcast from a TV studiodue to the coronavirus outbreak in thecountry.

Nine suicide bombers carried out aseries of devastating blasts that torethrough three churches and threeluxury hotels, killing 279 people andinjuring 593 others on the EasterSunday on April 21, 2019.

"The attackers may have had someanger towards Jesus, but, they causeda big damage to us Catholics andChristians. In those bomb attacks, it is

not only the Catholics who died. A lotof others — Buddhists, Hindus,Muslims, Christian also died," saidRanjith, who conducted the mass to anempty All Saints Church here thismorning.

The blasts targeted St Anthony'sChurch in Colombo, St Sebastian'sChurch in the western coastal town ofNegombo and a church in the easterntown of Batticaloa when the EasterSunday mass were in progress.

The ISIS terror group claimed theattacks, but the government blamedthe local Islamist extremist groupNational Thawheed Jammath for thebombings.

The island's Christian religiousminority marked the Easter Sundaywithout attending the traditional massas many churches remained closed dueto the coronavirus which has killed 7people and infected nearly 200 others.— PTI

THE ATTACKThe blasts targeted StAnthony’s Church in Colombo(pic), St Sebastian’s Churchin the western coastal town ofNegombo and a church in theeastern town of Batticaloawhen the Easter Sunday masswere in progress.

Three explosions werereported from the five-starhotels - the Shangri-La, theCinnamon Grand and theKingsbury in Colombo.

The ISIS terror group claimedthe attacks, but thegovernment blamed the localIslamist extremist groupNational Thawheed Jammathfor the bombings

11THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 ADVERTISEMENT

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Hindu AmericansRaise $18000 for

Pakistani ReligiousMinorities

WASHINGTON (TIP): Afterseveral media reports that NGOscoordinating activities with theGovernment of Pakistan weredenying food aid to non-Muslimsfollowing implementation of thenation's coronavirus-related travelrestrictions, the Hindu AmericanFoundation urgently partnered withthe Haray Rama Foundation in Sindhprovince to ensure food and suppliesfor religious minorities there.

In a matter of 72 hours, people fromacross the US responded to HAF'sappeal, contributing $12,000 - $6000 forPakistani Hindus denied food aid inSindh, as well as an additional $6000for Pakistani Hindu refugees living incamps in Jodhpur, India. The SindhiHindu American communitycommitted an additional $6000 inmatching funds, raising the totaldisbursement funds to $18,000.

Read full story atwww.theindianpanorama.news

12 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020US

Indian American Lawmaker Calls forUrgent Actions to Stop Spread of COVID-19WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian

American Representative Ami Bera, M.D.(CA-07) on April 15 sent a letter to Houseleadership outlining critical actionsCongress and the Administration shouldtake to halt the spread of and ultimatelydefeat COVID-19 in the United States andabroad.

"We cannot return to normal withoutthe implementation of a national testingstrategy that ensures all Americans whoneed a diagnostic test receive a test andthat we are utilizing widespread serologictesting to determine who has hadcoronavirus," said Rep. Bera. "We alsoneed a COVID Response Corps to conductwidespread testing and contacttracing.Without it, we leave our nation at risk fornew waves of the virus."

Bera is urging future COVID-19legislation include provisions to:● Develop a national testing strategy,

including ensuring states continueto have enough testing supplies

● Establish a COVID-19 ResponseCorps to conduct contract tracingand other public health activities

Rep. Bera last week urged theAdministration to create a nationaltesting strategy to address shortfalls in

COVID-19 testing. He also penned abipartisan op-ed encouraging the U.S. toestablish a COVID-19 Response Corpswith a trained, deployable workforce toaddress the urgent needs of the nationalCOVID-19 response.

Congressman Bera today also called foradditional resources to combat the virus

internationally."Diseases know no borders. Even if the

U.S. is able to contain COVID-19 here athome, we risk continued outbreaks if weare not able to contain it elsewhere. Firstand foremost, that means building onUSAID and CDC activities to strengthenthe ability of countries to prevent, detect,and respond to coronavirus. But it alsomeans thinking creatively about how tocooperate with other countries to ensurewe are resourcing both prevention andresponse and vaccine efforts, throughorganizations like CEPI. Finally, wecannot forget that coronavirus originatedin animals. We should support programslike PREDICT, implemented byuniversities like UC Davis here in theSacramento area."

Rep. Bera has been a leader in Congresson global health security. He chaired thefirst congressional hearing on thecoronavirus on Feb. 5th, sounded thealarm after the Trump Administrationdisbanded the global health securityoffice in the National Security Council in2018, and is a member on the CSISCommission on Strengthening America'sHealth Security, which in November 2019made a series of recommendations toprevent pandemics.

Rep. Bera has been a leader in Congress onglobal health security

World leaders criticize Trump's move to endWHO funding amid Coronavirus fight

Now is a time for unity," the United Nations chief said, "not a time to cut the resources of the WorldHealth Organization."

WASHINGTON (TIP): PresidentDonald Trump's move to halt funding tothe World Health Organization has beenmet with severe criticism at home andabroad, with the United Nationssecretary-general saying "now is not thetime" for such a drastic move while thecoronavirus pandemic is gripping theglobe.

Trump made the announcement, April14, pending a review of the WHO'sresponse to the initial coronavirusoutbreak in China. He claims the agencyhas been too close to Beijing and coveredup for its mistakes.

Congressional Democrats aredisputing the president's authority to dothis. Republican lawmakers are planningtheir own investigation, examining theearly response by the WHO and theChinese government.

"Now is a time for unity in the globalbattle to push the COVID-19 pandemicinto reverse, not a time to cut theresources of the World HealthOrganization, which is spearheading andcoordinating the global body's efforts,"U.N. Secretary-General AntónioGuterres said in a statement, April 14.

China expressed "deep concern" aboutTrump's announcement, its foreignministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said at

a news briefing."As the most authoritative and most

professional organization, the WorldHealth Organization has played anirreplaceable role in global public healthcrisis," Zhao said. "The decision of theU.S. will undercut the ability of the WHOand damage the global cooperation offighting the epidemic."

The European Union's foreign policychief, Josep Borrell, tweeted similar

misgivings.Josep Borrell Fontelles?@JosepBorrellFDeeply regret US decision to suspend

funding to @WHO. There is no reasonjustifying this move at a moment whentheir efforts are needed more than everto help contain & mitigate the#coronavirus pandemic. Only by joiningforces we can overcome this crisis that

knows no borders.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

Sergei Ryabkov slammed Trump's moveas "a very selfish approach." He told theTASS news agency, "We urge the UnitedStates to abandon further attacks on theWHO and pursue a responsible line."

And Moussa Faki Mahamat, thechairman of the African UnionCommission, called the decision "deeplyregrettable."

It's not just governments andinternational organizations that havelined up to express dismay at Trump'smove. Experts, entrepreneurs, andothers have also been quick to condemnthe announcement.

Microsoft founder and philanthropistBill Gates told his 50 million Twitterfollowers that halting the WHO's fundingwas "as dangerous as it sounds."

"Their work is slowing the spread ofCOVID-19 and if that work is stopped, noother organization can replace them,"Gates tweeted. "The world needs theWHO now more than ever."

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholarwith Johns Hopkins Center for HealthSecurity, told Reuters, "The move sendsthe wrong message during the middle ofa pandemic." Read fullstory at www.theindianpanorama.news

Trump accused WHO of shielding China and other mistakes. WHO chief Dr Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus regretted the decision of the president of the United States to order a halt in

funding to the agency.

WASHINGTON (TIP): IndianAmerican Representative RoKhanna (CA-17) said that he hasaccepted President Trump'sinvitation to serve on the WhiteHouse Coronavirus AdvisoryCouncil to fight to get working classAmericans the relief they need.

"The American people needaction, support, and direction fromthe federal government. The SmallBusiness Administration's

Paycheck Protection Program justran out of the funds to keep MainStreet afloat. Millions ofAmericans are filing forunemployment every week. That'swhy I, along with several of myDemocratic colleagues, decided toaccept President Trump'sinvitation to serve on the WhiteHouse Coronavirus AdvisoryCouncil. Though we continue toshare obvious and pronounced

disagreements, the task at hand istoo important for partisanship. Asa member of the Council, I willcontinue to fight to get workingclass Americans the relief theyneed to make it to the other side ofCOVID-19" Khanna said in astatement following the firstAdvisory Council conference callwith President Trump.

"I will call for massiveinvestment in advanced

manufacturing, in innovativescientific advancement, and insmart technology. Already, we haveseen that America was toodependent for crucial medicalequipment and electronics onChina, Germany and othernations. Like Eisenhower didduring the Cold War, we canreshape the future of Americanindustry to rebuild our economy ifwe harness the power of Americaninnovation", he further added.

Congressman Khannarepresents the 17th District ofCalifornia, which coverscommunities in Silicon Valley.

13THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 US

Indiaspora's Online COVID-19 Giving CampaignRaises Fund for Marginalized Communities

WASHINGTON, DC (TIP): Indiasporahas launched a ChaloGive for COVID-19online giving campaign to fight hungerand provide relief directly to vulnerablepopulations affected most by thecoronavirus pandemic in the UnitedStates and India.

The giving campaign has raised USD$500,000 in contributions fromIndiaspora's leadership network lastweek. The campaign continues Friday asa grassroots initiative throughIndiaspora's online giving platformChaloGive.org.

"We are facing an unprecedentedsituation due to Covid-19," said AnandRajaraman, a Silicon Valley-based serialentrepreneur and venture capitalist, andan Indiaspora Founders Circle memberwho, along with his wife KaushieAdiseshan, is a lead donor for thecampaign. "The drastic measuresnecessary to control this pandemic havecreated special challenges for vulnerablesections of society across the world,particularly in India and the US.Indiaspora has the opportunity to unitethe diaspora to quickly and decisivelyhelp in the midst of this crisis."

There has been an outpouring ofsupport from the Indian diaspora duringthis pandemic. Several community-basedorganizations are providing much-neededrelief, with CEOs, entrepreneurs,professionals from different industries,and the entire community rallying tomake contributions to various nonprofits.

One of the most pressing and urgentchallenges facing both the U.S. and Indiaright now is hunger, which is a decidingfactor in Indiaspora's new ChaloGivecampaign.

In the U.S. more than 37 million peopleface food insecurity, with food banksstruggling to meet a massive increase inneed. In India, nearly 140 million migrantworkers have been displaced and remainin dire need of food and other essentials.

"While all eyes are on frontlinehospitals, millions in America and acrossthe globe suffer silently from a growingand equally alarming epidemic of foodinsecurity as the COVID-19 crisisthreatens to push already strugglingfamilies deeper into poverty," said SejalHathi, an Indiaspora Board member andphysician at Massachusetts General

Hospital. "Now more than ever is the timefor communities like Indiaspora's to cometogether and rise to this call to feed peoplein need. I'm so proud to witness exactlythis commitment to seva."

ChaloGive for COVID-19 provides anopportunity for the Indian diaspora tomake a collective impact toward helpingmarginalized communities who havebeen disproportionately affected by theongoing crisis.

"This crisis has made it even harder forthose who were already struggling tosurvive," said Kris Gopalakrishnan,Chairman of Axilor Ventures and afounder of IT services company Infosys,who is also an Indiaspora Founders Circlemember. "Given the increasingly globalworld we are living in, India and itsdiaspora are in a unique and powerfulposition to help each other."

Partner nonprofits for ChaloGivefor COVID-19

Contributions to ChaloGive.org willmeet demand on the ground throughbeneficiary nonprofits Feeding Americaand Goonj in the United States and India,respectively.

Feeding America, which has beenproviding emergency food assistance topeople facing hunger through itsnationwide network of 200 food banks inAmerica for more than 40 years, isresponding to the new hunger crisis inthe U.S. Every dollar to Feeding Americasecures 10 meals through the food banknetwork.

"The nation and our food bank network

are facing challenges unlike anythingwe've seen in our organization's history,"said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO ofFeeding America. "We are truly gratefulto Indiaspora for its support of FeedingAmerica through the ChaloGive forCOVID-19 campaign. During this time ofuncertainty, the generous donationsderived from this effort will help bringmuch-needed food and hope to countlessfamilies facing hunger across the U.S."

In India, Goonj provides disaster relief,rehabilitation and communitydevelopment with dignity. Through theirRahat Covid-19 initiative, given theiralready pan-India network and presence,Goonj has already initiated relief work ofreaching food, dry ration and hygiene kitsto displaced migrants in parts of fourteenstates of India.

"Despite our extensive experience ofworking in disasters, the scale and stillunfolding nature of this long-taileddisaster calls for massive resourcemobilization for short-, mid- and long-term work," said Anshu Gupta, Founderof Goonj and a Magsaysay Awardee. Weare delighted to partner with Indiasporaon this campaign as an opportunity toengage the Indian-American communityand our well-wishers from across theworld in supporting their fellow citizensin this difficult hour."

Contributions given at ChaloGive.orgwill go directly toward these charities'relief funds, and are fully tax-deductiblefor U.S. taxpayers.

An additional USD $100,000 donatedonline by April 15 will be matched by

Indiaspora's members; thus, donors whogive through the platform will have theopportunity to have their impact doubled.

Ambassadors for ChaloGive forCOVID-19

High-profile ambassadors haveendorsed the ongoing campaign,including former Pepsi Chairman andCEO Indra Nooyi, and former U.S.Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, whoserve on Feeding America's Food SecurityCouncil and Board of Directors,respectively.

"This pandemic has exposed an alreadyexisting hunger crisis," said Indra Nooyi."Together, as a society we must rise to thismoment and address this great needknowing our investment in people, infamilies, and in communities will reapuntold benefits not only now but into thefuture."

"It is essential that individuals -especially vulnerable populations whoare most at risk - maintain access to foodduring this public health emergency,"said Dr. Vivek Murthy. "I proudly supportthis campaign and trust its impact will gofar to bring relief to those struggling withfood insecurity."

In India, philanthropists Rohini andNandan Nilekani and Bollywood actressNandita Das also have voiced theirsupport for the campaign.

"Goonj is just the kind of organizationwe can rely on in this double crisis ofhealth and livelihoods," said RohiniNilekani. "It has decades of experienceserving the most vulnerable whilestriving to preserve the dignity of everystakeholder, and it has time and timeagain demonstrated a scaled up, rapidresponse in the aftermath of disasters.We have been supporters of Goonj formany years. They care, and they deliver.Thank you all for your generosity andyour support."

ChaloGive for COVID-19 is the secondonline giving campaign by Indiaspora. Itsinaugural ChaloGive campaign launchedOctober 2, 2019 on the birth anniversaryof Mahatma Gandhi, from October 2-8,2019, highlighting more than 20organizations with successful trackrecords in areas of poverty alleviationand empowerment, health, andeducation.

High-profile ambassadors have endorsed the ongoing campaign, including former PepsiChairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

Indian American Congressman Appointed toWhite House Coronavirus Advisory Council

Congressman Khanna representsthe 17th District of California,which covers communities in

Silicon Valley.

14 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020INDIA

INDIA ISSUES NEWLOCKDOWN GUIDELINESISSUED: WHAT IT MEANS

NEW DELHI (TIP): The government onWednesday issued revised guideline to be followedduring the extended lockdown period till May 3.While several things have been kept suspended toprevent the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19,the government has allowed others which have adirect impact on the lives of the common people.

As per the revised guideline, all self-employedpeople like electricians, those involved in IT repairs,plumbers, motor mechanics and carpenters havebeen allowed.

The courier services and vehicles used by e-commerce operators have also been permitted by thegovernment.

Apart from these, shops (including kirana andsingle shops selling essential goods) and carts,dealing with food and groceries, hygiene items,fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, poultry,meat and fish, animal feed a fodder etc have beneallowed to operate without any restriction on timingof opening and closure.

However, these establishments have been asked tostrictly follow social distancing.

All medical establishments, including ayushcentres, labs, vet centres have also been allowed toopen in non-containment zones.

Dhabas (eateries) on the highways to have beenallowed, but with instructions to follow socialdistancing norms.

Relaxing the movement of people, the guidelinesays that private vehicles for emergency services,including medical and veterinary care and forprocuring essential commodities, will be allowed. Insuch cases, one passenger besides the private vehicledriver can be permitted in the backseat in a four-wheeler; in case of two-wheelers, however, only thedriver of the vehicle is permitted.

ARMY SUSPENDS TROOPMOVEMENT, EXERCISES TILLFURTHER ORDERS

NEW DELHI (TIP): The Indian Army hasextended the suspension of all exercises andmovement of troops till May 3.

They informed field commanders for not planninganything until further orders.

For Army men who were on temporary duty ortraining—when the lockdown was announced onMarch 23—the Railways will be running two specialtrains—only those are fit and free from COVID-19.

These special trains will meet the operationalrequirements of Northern and Eastern borders. Atrain will depart from Banglore to Jammu on April17. Another one will leave Banglore for Guwahati thenext day. Enroute, the train will stop at majormilitary stations.

The target is to ferry a hundred men, who wereunder training at Bangalore, Belgaum, Secundrabadand Gopalpur.

Meanwhile, all training activities and temporaryduties will remain suspended.

170 districts identified as Covid-19 hotspots in India

NEW DELHI (TIP): Nearly onein five districts in India is a hotspot,the Health Ministry said onWednesday, a day that saw at least1,036 COVID-19 infections.

The government said it hadclassified every district into ahotspot, potential hotspot or agreen zone. Of India’s 736 districts,170 were ‘hotspots’, defined asplaces with at least 15 confirmedinfections or where there was anexponential rise in cases. Therewere 207 ‘potential hotspots,’ LavAgrawal, Joint Secretary, Ministryof Health and Family Welfare, saidat the daily media briefing.

There were 11,439 confirmedcases and 377 deaths. A total of1,306 people have been beendischarged after recovery.

Details of these districts were notshared but in all of these places —potential or not — testing would beramped up to include checking eventhose who displayed ‘influenza-likeillnesses’ and breathlessness.

According to reports from theState Health Departments, the totalnumber of cases rose to 12,380, ofwhich 10,568 were active ones.While 422 people have died of thedisease, 1,392 have recovered.

Interactive map of confirmedcoronavirus cases in India | State-wise tracker for coronavirus cases,deaths and testing rates

Special teams had been set up totrace all contacts and to conducthouse-to-house surveys. Theseteams will include health staff,local revenue staff, corporationstaff, Red Cross and volunteergroups who have undergone anonline training course, Mr. Agrawaladded.

He said District Magistrates hadthe authority to declare regions ashotspots, and a protocol would be inplace to check how a district wasperforming in containing the

spread of the virus.“In order to break the chain of

transmission, focus needs to be oncontact tracing, monitoring andclinical management. States havebeen asked to uniformly implementthe containment plan in everydistrict across the country,” anaccompanying press statementadded.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi,while announcing extension oflockdown on Tuesday, said alldistricts would have to strictlyenforce quarantining until April 20,after which based on the‘performance’ of districts inkeeping the case count low or

halting a rapid rise in infections,restrictions would begin to beeased. Were these regions toregress, restrictions would bereimposed.

Meanwhile, Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan participated in ameeting with officials of the WorldHealth Organisation to take stockof preparedness.

Praising India’s response toCOVID-19, Regional Director, WHOSouth-East Asia Region, PoonamKhetrapal Singh, said, “Despitehuge and multiple challenges, Indiahas been demonstratingunwavering commitment in itsfight against the pandemic”.s

India’s testing strategy effective, betterthan others, says Centre

NEW DELHI (TIP): The Central government todayallayed apprehensions around low Covid-19 testing,saying that India was testing more people than othercountries to arrive at one confirmed case of the disease.

Insisting that limited testing strategy was workingwith 325 districts not reporting any Covid case so farand 27 districts in 17 states managing to remain free ofnew infections for 14 days, the Health Ministry saidIndia had been testing on an average 27 symptomaticpersons to get one Covid positive case.

“This number is much lower for other countries.While we are testing 24 people to get one positive case,Japan is testing 11.5, Italy 6.7, the US 5.3 and the UK 3.4.The test criteria we are following are the same that arefollowed by other countries. It is not correct to assumethat we are offering the tests to lesser number ofpeople,” ICMR chief epidemiologist RamanGangakhedkar said as the country’s Covid case loadsoared to 12,759 and death toll mounted to 420 onThursday with an additional 1,320 cases and 43 deathsover a single day.

So far 1,514 people have recovered showing a cure rate

of around 12 per cent as against a case fatality rate of3.3 per cent. The government today assured that theICMR had enough testing stocks for eight weeks andmore testing kits were on the way. The ICMR has in thepast 10 days ramped up testing significantly with2,90,401 total samples tested so far and 26,331 tested onThursday.

15THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 INDIA

US provides US$ 5.9 million inassistance to India to fight COVID

WASHINGTON (TIP): The US has provided nearlyUSD 5.9 million in health assistance to India tocontain the spread of COVID-19, the State Departmenthas. The amount is being used to help India hinder thespread of the disease by providing care for theaffected, disseminating essential public healthmessages to communities and strengthen case-findingand surveillance, it said on Thursday.

The assistance is also being used to mobilizeinnovative financing mechanisms for emergencypreparedness and response to this pandemic.

"This builds on a foundation of nearly USD2.8billion in total assistance, which includes more thanUSD1.4 billion in health assistance, the United Stateshas provided to India over the last 20 years," it said ina update of the US efforts in response to the COVID-19pandemic.

The State Department and the US Agency forInternational Development have now committednearly USD 508 million in emergency health,humanitarian, and economic assistance.

‘Follow curbs during Ramadan’NEW DELHI (TIP): Senior BJP leader, Union

Minister for Minority Affairs and Chairman of theCentral Waqf Council Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi todayurged the Waqf Boards and members of the Muslimcommunity to ensure strict and honestimplementation of the lockdown, curfew and socialdistancing during the holy month of Ramadanbeginning April 24 in view of the pandemic.

Interacting with the chairmen and senior officialsof more than 30 state Waqf Boards across the country,he said they should remain cautious of any fake newsand conspiracies aimed at creating misinformation.He said officials should create awareness amongpeople to offer prayers and perform other religiousrituals at home.

“The authorities have been working for the safetyand well-being of all citizens of the country withoutany discrimination. Such rumours and conspiraciescan weaken the fight against Covid. We should worktogether to win this fight against the pandemic by notfalling prey to rumours, misinformation andconspiracies,” he said.

More than seven lakh registered mosques and otherreligious and social institutions come under the stateWaqf Boards across the country.

Woman travels 2,700 km acrosssix states to meet ailing son

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (TIP): A 50-year-oldwoman travelled 2700 km in a car crisscrossing 6 statesto meet her critically ill son, a BSF jawan in Jodhpur,despite strict lockdown restrictions due to Covid-19.

The woman was accompanied by her daughter-in-law and another relative during the journey, whichthey covered in 3 days time.

Speaking to PTI from Jodhpur in Rajasthan,Sheelamma Vasan said the health condition of herson, Arun Kumar (29), who was suffering frommyositis, (inflammation of muscles), was improving.

“Due to god’s grace we have reached here withoutany problems anywhere”, she said.

The family was informed by a doctor at AIIMS inJodhpur about Arun Kumar’s condition followingwhich they decided to undertake the journey fromKerala through Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra,Gujarat to reach Rajasthan.

Thanks to the intervention of Union Minister VMuraleedharan, office of Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan and Congress leader, Oommen Chandy, thefamily could get necessary passes for the travel acrossthe states. Volunteers of Hindu help line, a VHPorganisation, helped in arranging a cab and two taxidrivers free of cost to take them to Jodhpur.

After getting necessary passes arranged byKottayam District Collector P K SudheerBabu,Sheelaamma accompanied by her daughter-in-law Parvathyand another relative set off on thejourney from Panackachira village in Koruthodupanchayat in Kottayam on April 11and reachedJodhpur on 14th, “Vishu” (Malaylam new year).

India projected to grow at1.9%, turnaround expected

next year, says RBI GovernorNEW DELHI (TIP): The Reserve

Bank of India said on Friday thateven after battered economicallydue to the Covid-19 crisis, India willcontinue to grow at 1.9 per centduring the current fiscal year.

“India is among the handful ofcountries that is projected to clingon, somewhat tenuously, to positivegrowth rate of 1.9 per cent. This isthe highest growth rate among theG-20 economies as estimated by theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF),” RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas said at a digital pressconference.

“India is expected to post a sharpturnaround and resume its pre-Covid growth trajectory by growingat 7.4 per cent in 2021-22,” he furthersaid.

He also said that India’s centralbank has been very proactive andhas been monitoring evolvingsituation very closely adding thatthere are slivers of brightness at thedomestic front among the encirclinggloom.

This was the second time that the

governor addressed the media sincethe nationwide lockdown wasimposed from March 25.

On March 27, RBI held a historicpre-term MPC (Monetary PolicyCommittee) meeting whererin therepo rate was cut by a record 75basis points. The repo rate wasreduced to a 15-year-low of 4.40 percent and was also the steepest cutsince October 2004. The same day,

the central bank cut the cashreserve ratio by 100 bps to 3 per centapart from announcing variousmeasures to boost liquidity in thesystem.

There were calls that the 75 bpscuts was not sufficient and that RBIcould go for more rate cuts andliquidity measures. Manybrokerages had said RBI could slashthe lending rates by another 100 bps.

Delhi food delivery boy tests positivefor coronavirus, 72 families quarantined

NEW DELHI (TIP): With 89people quarantined after a pizzadelivery agent tested positive forcoronavirus in south Delhi, theauthorities are considering clinicalscreening of all food deliverypersonnel in the area.

The 19-year-old tested positive forthe virus on April 14. A total of 72families whom he delivered pizza tohave been put under homequarantine, said B M Mishra,district magistrate of South Delhi.

"In view of this incident, we areconsidering that all those involvedin home delivery of food are putthrough clinical screening so thatthose showing symptoms arestopped from visiting homes,"Mishra told PTI.

The pizza delivery agent wasfeeling unwell for some timealongwith a persistent cough sincethe third week of March. Later heapproached a hospital where he wastested positive, said another official.

The 17 first line contact of theinfected man, including hiscolleagues, have been quarantinedat an institutional facility atChhatarpur, Mishra said.

The 72 people in areas of southDelhi including pockets of MalviyaNagar and Hauz Rani have notshown any symptoms of theinfection but will be tested if theydo, he said.

The officials refused to sharedetails of the people who cameunder contact with the infected man

saying it was yet to be ascertainedas to how he contracted the virusdespite not having any travelhistory or coming in contact withany known corona positive patient.

They said the booth level teamswere deputed to trace other contactsof the delivery agent.

India to export HCQ, paracetamoltablets to 55 nations

India is preparing shipments ofHydroxychloroquine (HCQ) andparacetamol tablets for 55 countries,even as the Ministry of ExternalAffairs has set about sourcingpersonal protective equipment(PPE) and testing kits from a largenumber of countries. The firstmega shipments from China andSouth Korea are expected to landlater in the night.

While the government hadcontinued to evacuate foreignersstranded in India, with severalflights leaving the country daily, ithas advised its nationals strandedabroad to stay put. India has so farsent back 35,000 foreigners from 48countries. However, for Indiansstuck abroad, sources advice"patience", by hunkering downwherever they are currently based.Indian missions will be at hand toprovide support and guidance.

The government also has no plansto bring back over 3,300 strandedIndians who have tested positive forCOVID. There is no word on the fateof the bodies of 25 Indians who havedied abroad due to the epidemic.Sources denied that the inactionwas due to the absence ofquarantine facilities.

16 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Aone-time lockdownwon’t halt the novelcoronavirus and

repeated periods of socialdistancing may berequired into 2022 toprevent hospitals frombeing overwhelmed,Harvard scientists whomodeled the pandemic’strajectory said.

Their study comes as theUS enters the peak of itsCovid-19 caseload andstates eye an eventualeasing of tough lockdownmeasures.

The Harvard team’scomputer simulation,which was published in apaper in the journalScience, assumed thatCovid-19 will becomeseasonal, like closelyrelated coronaviruses thatcause the common cold,with higher transmissionrates in colder months.

But much remainsunknown, including thelevel of immunityacquired by previousinfection and how long itlasts, the authors said.

“We found that one-timesocial distancing measuresare likely to be insufficientto maintain the incidenceof SARS-CoV-2 within thelimits of critical carecapacity in the UnitedStates,” lead authorStephen Kissler said in acall with reporters.

“What seems to benecessary in the absence ofother sorts of treatmentsare intermittent socialdistancing periods,” headded. Widespread viraltesting would be requiredin order to determinewhen the thresholds to re-trigger distancing arecrossed, said the authors.

The duration andintensity of lockdowns canbe relaxed as treatmentsand vaccines becomeavailable. But in theirabsence, on and then offdistancing would givehospitals time to increasecritical care capacity tocater for the surge in casesthat would occur when themeasures are eased.

“By permitting periodsof transmission that reachhigher prevalence thanotherwise would bepossible, they allow anaccelerated acquisition ofherd immunity,” said co-author Marc Lipsitch.

Conversely, too muchsocial distancing without

respite can be a bad thing.Under one modeledscenario “the socialdistancing was so effectivethat virtually nopopulation immunity isbuilt,” the paper said,hence the need for anintermittent approach.

The authorsacknowledged a majordrawback in their model ishow little we currentlyknow about how strong apreviously infectedperson’s immunity is andhow long it lasts.

Virus likely here to stay At present the best

guesses based on closely-related coronaviruses arethat it will confer someimmunity, for up to about ayear. There might also besome cross-protectiveimmunity against Covid-19if a person is infected by acommon cold-causingbetacoronavirus.

One thing, however, isalmost certain: the virus ishere to stay. The team saidit was highly unlikely thatimmunity will be strongenough and last longenough that Covid-19 willdie out after an initialwave, as was the case withthe SARS outbreak of 2002-2003.

99-YEAR-OLD WWII VETBEATS COVID IN BRAZIL

BRASILIA (TIP): A 99-year-old World War IIveteran in Brazil was released from hospital withmilitary honours Tuesday after recovering fromCovid-19.

Second Lieutenant Ermando Piveta, who served inthe Brazilian artillery in Africa during World War II,was brought out of the Armed Forces Hospital inBrasilia to a burst of trumpet music and applause.

Wearing an army-green side cap, he raised his armsin the air as he left the hospital after eight days as apatient.

“He won another battle, this time against the newcoronavirus. He was released from hospital the sameday Brazil is commemorating the 75th anniversary ofits troops’ successful campaign in the Battle ofMontese in Italy during World War II,” the army saidin a statement.

Piveta served in the army’s fourth artilleryregiment, which trained in Dakar in 1942, soon afterBrazil entered the war on the side of the Allies, thearmy said.

He then returned to Brazil with his regiment todefend the country from an Axis invasion that nevercame to be.

Brazil is the hardest-hit country in Latin Americain the coronavirus pandemic, with 1,532 deaths so far.

Only a COVID-19 vaccine will allowreturn to ‘normalcy’: UN chief

UNITED NATIONS (TIP): A COVID-19 vaccinemay be the only thingthat can bring back“normalcy,” UNS e c re t a r y - G e n e r a lAntonio Guterres saidon Wednesday, hopingfor just that before theend of the year.

“A safe and effectivevaccine may be theonly tool that canreturn the world to asense of ‘normalcy,’ saving millions of lives andcountless trillions of dollars,” he added during avideo conference with the 50 or so African countriesthat are members of the United Nations.

He called for its accelerated development andaccessibility to all, adding it must have a “universalglobal benefit” and “allow us to control thepandemic.” “We need an ambitious effort to ensurethat international stakeholders operate through aharmonized, integrated and leveraged approach tomaximize the speed and scale needed for the universaldeployment of such a vaccine by the end of 2020,” heinsisted.

Guterres said his appeal on March 25 for $2 billionin donations for a comprehensive UN humanitarianresponse to the pandemic had so far raised about 20percent of that amount.

Through the World Health Organization, the UnitedNations has been able to equip 47 African countrieswith COVID-19 tests, he said.

The UN chief also praised the efforts of severalAfrican governments to mitigate the consequences ofthe pandemic.

He cited Uganda, which has given businesses moretime to file their tax returns; Namibia, whichprovides emergency income for workers who have losttheir jobs; Cape Verde, which provides food aid; andEgypt, which has reduced taxation on industries.

On-off social distancing maybe needed until 2022,reveals Harvard study

TRACKING THE VIRUSGLOBAL INDIA

Cases2,182,197

Cases13,387

Deaths1,45,521

Deaths437

HOW TAIWAN BEATCORONAVIRUS

Aleading Taiwanese scientist has explained whythe island has dealt with coronavirus so well -and said data from China cannot be trusted.

Professor Ih-Jen Su, the former director of Taiwan'sCenters for Disease Control, explained that Taiwan hasprepared for a pandemic since the SARS outbreak of2002 which mostly affected China, Hong Kong andTaiwan.

Nursing homes were given thousands of ventilatorsand the number of intensive care beds was increasedto 10,000.

That figure is four times Australia's 2,500 beds eventhough the two countries have similar populations ofaround 25million.

To date, Taiwan has recorded only 385 cases ofCOVID-19 compared to Australia's 6,300, China's 82,000and America's 560,000.

As soon as officials heard about a mysteriouspneumonia in China in December, they startedpreparing for the worst.

Aggressive testing, contact tracing and isolation ofthe sick were set in motion and on January 2 Taiwanactivated its emergency operations centre beforebanning flights from China. Professor Su told The Agethat Taiwan has been rehearsing for a virus outbreakfor 17 years.

'We exercise hospital and control measures one totwo times a year. The most important thing is theearlier the better for control measures,' he said.

Professor Su said last month that the west wouldstruggle to contain the virus because it lacks theexperience of SARS. 'The situation in other countriesnow resembles the situation we were in during the firstfew weeks of the SARS spread in Taiwan in early 2003,'Professor Su told the Financial Times.

17THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 REELABILITIES FILM FESTIVAL

ReelAbilities Film Fest NY 2020: A Closer LookBy Mabel Pais

"A sentient being on thisbeautiful planet."- (of himself)

Oliver Sacks, neurologist, author,storyteller

The ReelAbilities Film Festival New York 2020(RFFNY2020) had its virtual run, March 31 toApril 6th. The virtual schedule is available at

reelabilities.org/newyorkThe following are highlights of some of the films

screened….

OLIVER SACKS: HIS OWN LIFE DIR. RIC BURNS | US | 115 MIN | DOCUMENTARYThe riveting and profoundly moving life and work of

Oliver Sacks, who redefined our 21st-centuryunderstanding of the brain and mind.

"A sentient being on this beautiful planet." -Oliver Sacks

"Oliver Sacks: His Own Life" explores the life andwork of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as heshares intimate details of his battles with drugaddiction, homophobia, and a medical establishmentthat accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sackswas a fearless explorer of unknown mental worlds whohelped redefine our understanding of the brain andmind, the diversity of human experience, and ourshared humanity.

On January 15th, 2015, a few weeks after completinghis autobiographical memoir, the writer andneurologist Oliver Sacks learned that the rare form ofcancer for which he had been treated nine years earlierhad returned and that he had only a few months to live.A few weeks later, he sat down with Ric Burns for aseries of marathon filmed interviews in his apartmentin New York. For eighty hours, between February andJune - surrounded by family and friends, books andminerals, notebooks from six decades of thinking andwriting about the brain - he talked about his life andwork, his dreams and fears, his abiding sense of wonderat the natural world, and the place of human beingswithin it. He spoke with astonishing candor and clear-sightedness, a profoundly gifted 81-year-old man facingdeath with remarkable courage and vitality whilefacing the end. He was determined to come to grips withwhat his life has meant and what it means to be, as heput it, "a sentient being on this beautiful planet."

Drawing on these riveting and profoundly movingreflections, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life also featuresdeeply revealing and personal interviews with familymembers, colleagues, patients and close friends. It is inpart the biography of an extraordinary physician andwriter who was dogged by his own neuroses and by therejection of his medical colleagues but nonethelessredefined for millions of readers the nature of thehuman mind, through the simple act of tellingprofoundly compassionate stories. It is also a deeplyilluminating exploration of the science of human

consciousness and the nature of subjectivity, and ameditation on the deep and intimate relation betweenart and science and storytelling.

To view a video clip of the film, visithttps://youtu.be/64PHLhAVnf4

For updates on release dates of the film, visithttps://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/oliversackshisownlif

e#playdates

CODE OF THE FREAKS, OPENING NIGHTDIR. SALOME CHASNOFF | US | 68 MIN |

DOCUMENTARY

Offend One, And You Offend Them AllTaking its title ("Code Of The Freaks") from Tod

Browning's 1932 classic film, "Freaks," this radical re-framing of how characters with disabilities arerepresented looks at a century of Hollywood favoriteswith a fresh perspective. Disability activists imagine acinematic landscape that takes people with disabilitiesseriously.

"Code of the Freaks" presents a radical re-framing ofthe use of disabled characters in film. From "The FakeBeggar" (1895), "Of Mice and Men" (1939) and "WhateverHappened to Baby Jane" (1962) to more contemporaryfilms like "Million Dollar Baby," "Forrest Gump,""Avatar," "Fences" and "Me Before You," Hollywoodcontinues to crank out all the old disability clichés andhollow inspirational narratives - what disabilityactivists call "inspiration porn" - that carry actorsstraight to the Oscars. "Code of the Freaks" countersthese formulaic entertainments with a powerfulcorrective: it dares to imagine a cinematic landscapethat centers the voices of disabled people.

"Code of the Freaks" is well timed to intervene in anemerging international conversation about inclusionand representation. Social media has elevated thedisability community's critique of Hollywood's castingdecisions and exclusion of disabled people from theindustry. "Code of the Freaks" extends the conversationbeyond the largely superficial issue of casting to thestories themselves.

In addition to better known voices, "Code of theFreaks" showcases totally new on-the- ground disabilityactivists and educators to advance a compellingargument: when it comes to disability onscreen,whether the fate of the disabled character is a miraclecure, institutionalization, death, or "overcoming," it'sall aimed at inspiring a mainstream audience.

SOCIAL MEDIAWebsite (in development):

http://codeofthefreaks.comFacebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CodeOfTheFreaks/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CodeOfTheFreaksFor updates on release dates of the film, visit

https://www.codeofthefreaks.com/screenings-1

BEDLAM, CLOSING NIGHTDIR. KENNETH PAUL ROSENBERG | US | 86 MIN |

DOCUMENTARY

An Intimate Journey Into America's MentalHealth Crisis

"BEDLAM" is a feature-length documentary, throughintimate stories of patients, families, and medicalproviders, that immerses us in the national crisissurrounding care of the seriously mentally ill.

Filmed over five years, it brings us inside one ofAmerica's busiest psychiatric emergency rooms, intojails where psychiatric patients are warehoused, and tothe homes - and homeless encampments - of mentally illmembers of our communities, where silence and shameoften compound personal suffering. The story is told inpart by director Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD, apsychiatrist, filmmaker and whose own life journey hasbeen profoundly impacted by a seriously mentally illfamily member.

Among others, featured in the film is Patrisse Cullors,co-founder of 'Black Lives Matter,' and her brotherMonte, a victim and survivor of this very brokensystem. "BEDLAM" premiered to standing ovations atthe 2019 Sundance Film Festival and will have itsbroadcast premiere on PBS's Independent Lens in April2020 and is now available to stream online at (until May13th): https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/bedlam/

About ReelAbilities Film Festival: New YorkReelAbilities Film Festival is the largest film festival

in the world dedicated to promoting awareness andappreciation of the lives, stories, and artisticexpressions of people with disabilities. Founded in NewYork in 2007 by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan,the festival presents award-winning films by and aboutpeople with disabilities. Post-screening discussions andother engaging programs bring communities virtuallytogether to explore, discuss, embrace, and celebrate thediversity of our shared human experience. The NewYork festival is the launching pad for an internationalprogram and its selections run satellite ReelAbilitiesfestivals in over 20 cities worldwide. Learn more atreelabilities.org/newyork

About the Marlene Meyerson JCC ManhattanTogether with its community, the Marlene Meyerson

JCC Manhattan creates opportunities for people toconnect, grow, and learn with progressiveprogramming within an ever-changing Jewishlandscape. The JCC events extend beyondneighborhood boundaries, reaching people at all stagesof their lives. Learn more at jcc manhattan.org.

(Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts andEntertainment, Health & Wellness, and Spirituality)

Oliver Sacks

Photo / CourtesyRFFNY-2020/CavuPictures.com A scene from "Code Of The Freaks"

Photo / Courtesy RFFNY-2020/CavuPictures.com

"Bedlam" bookcover

Photo / CourtesyRFFNY-

2020/CavuPictures.com

18 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020BOLLYWOOD

RANVEER SINGH IS JOEEXOTIC OF 'TIGER KING' INNEW MEME

Ranveer Singh is a rare Bollywood superstar wholoves sharing his own memes on a regular basis,and he has done it again!

In a new meme that he shares, the actor has turnedinto Joe Exotic from the popular Netflix series "TigerKing: Murder, Mayhem And Madness".

Amid the lockdown, Ranveer, an ardent social mediauser, took to his Instagram story to share aphotoshopped picture himself. In the image, he can beseen posing with a Tiger. His face has beenphotoshopped into the original picture of Joe Exotic,an American ZooKeeper. He captioned it: "Who didthis." "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness" ispenned and directed by Eric Goode and RebeccaChaiklin. It focuses on the life and crimes of JosephAllen Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic.He is a former country musician, Oklahomazookeeper, gun enthusiast and big-cat keeper. On thework front, Ranveer will next be seen starring ascricketer Kapil Dev in "83", Kabir Khan's account onIndia's first-ever cricket World Cup victory in 1983.

MALAIKA ARORA TREATSARJUN KAPOOR TO YUM

CHOCOLATE DESSERTArjun Kapoor shared an inside

glimpse into his romanticdiaries with girlfriend

Malaika Arora as they self-isolate attheir respective houses amid thelockdown.

Malaika, who has beenexperimenting with desserts lately--from besan laddoos to paniyaramand banana ice cream , baked achocolate walnut cake on Easter.Arjun shared a glimpse of thedessert on his Instagram story andsimply captioned it "Her", alongsideadding a pink heart emoji to thephoto.

Earlier, Arjun shared a videofrom his kitchen and called himselfa “fake baker”. The clip featured hisdog Maximus as well, with the songTune Maari Entriyaan from his filmGunday playing in the background.

“I’m sure Maximus the realGunda sang this song in his headcause it’s the first time he’s seen methe Fake Baker attempt anything inthe kitchen !!! PS - (his hips reallydon’t lie) @aliabbaszafar@ranveersingh @priyankachopra#maximusthegunda,” his captionread.

Arjun Kapoor and Malaika havebeen making the headlines for theirrelationship for a long time now.Earlier, Arjun opened up about the

same to Filmfare and said, “We’vecome out because we feel the mediahas given us dignity. There’s acertain understanding the mediahas... they’ve been respectful, kind,honest and decent about it. That is

why I felt comfortable. You recoilwhen there’s a certain ‘gandhagi’that comes with the territory. Whenpurposely people irk you by saying,writing or asking things... therehasn’t been any of that."

ADITYA NARAYAN ON STAGING WEDDINGGIMMICK WITH NEHA KAKKAR ON INDIAN IDOL

The wedding gimmick had sentviewers in a tizzy when Aditya’sparents, Udit Narayan and

Deepa Narayan Jha made anappearance on the singing realityshow and announced Neha as theirdaughter-in-law.

It was further pushed when Neha’sparents too joined them and agreed togive their daughter away to theNarayan family. Special weddingepisode promos were shot, with co-judge Vishal Dadlani officiating theceremony.

But it was later revealed that it wasall for TRPs. Aditya has nowexplained in an interview that it wasdone for additional entertainmentquotient. But don’t such gimmickstake away from the actual talentshow?

“It is part of the show, it isentertainment. No channel in thisentire country will be happy if yougive them a music show with justmusic. They will reject it. It's a TVshow. At the end of the day, people arenot watching Indian Idol just to listento music. They want to be entertained.So we try our best to keep thingswithin the parameters of, you know,not offending anybody, and try andentertain people,” Aditya said.

“Neha is obviously a beautiful,

super talented, super successfulyoung woman. We are good friends,and somebody thought of making thishappen. And we are not going to backdown on the entertainment quotientof the show just because some people

are assuming something. But wenever accepted it, we never said it washappening. It was part of the show,and if anyone asked us anything, wedenied it. We were doing ourrespective jobs,” he added.

THEATRE AND FILM ACTORRANJIT CHOWDHRY DIES

Film, TV and theatre actor Ranjit Chowdhry,son of actress Pearl Padamsee, passedaway on April 15. He was 65. In his

professional career spanning over four decades,Ranjit starred in several prominent roles infilms including Bandit Queen, Baton BatonMein, Khubsoorat, Mississippi Masala, Lonelyin America, Bollywood/ Hollywood and manyothers.

Ranjit also featured in a role in US TV seriesPrison Break in two episodes as Dr MarvinGudat and even wrote the screenplay for DeepaMehta's Sam & Me.

Deepa condoled the actor's death in a tweet asshe wrote, "Miss him - a real loss."

Actrors Poorna Jagannathan and RahulKhanna also condoled Ranjit's death on socialmedia.

As per sources, Ranjit was suffering from anailment for several months and was evenadmitted in a hospital for surgery. Unfortunately,he did not survive the procedure.

Various governments all over theworld have called uponhundreds of retired or ex-

doctors, nurses and other healthcareworkers to return to the NHS. Amongthis hallowed panoply of willingvolunteers are many well-knowncelebrities, who have either resumedtheir former healthcare jobs from theirposition in the spotlight, or have uppedtheir workload to provide all theassistance they could offer.

Singer Rita Ora and her sister Elenaare among those, who have offered tohelp support elderly through thecoronavirus pandemic and will beassisting with deliveries and reachingout to speak to lonely members ofsociety during this time of socialdistancing. Rita has praised her‘heroic’ mum Vera for inspiring her tobecome an NHS volunteer during thecoronavirus pandemic.

Another celebrity to volunteer isformer Love Island star MalinAndersson who decided to return toher job as a carer, as she explained lastweek on Twitter, “I can’t sit at home onmy own anymore knowing I havetraining within the sector. My hearthurts for them, and if I can givesomething more then what I’m doing -then I am satisfied.”

A couple of days later, Malin updatedher followers to say she’d completedher first shift. “My heart feels full. So

so full,” she wrote on Twitter.Another well-known volunteer is

British doctor and TV presenter RanjSingh, who specialises in paediatricemergency medicine, has continuedhis practise during the pandemic.

As he put it on Twitter following oneprogramme recording: “TV job done...

now off to the day job! I get a lot ofstick for working in the media.Sometimes it’s quite hurtful. But I’mbeyond proud to still be workingalongside my AWESOME NHScolleagues. We are so lucky to havethese people looking after us. So thankyou!”

RITA ORA AND OTHERCELEBS SIGN UP TO BE NHS

VOLUNTEERSTom Hanks hostscoronavirus comedy

Recovered successfully from theCovid-19 infection, actor TomHanks took a dig at himself,

admitting he had become “America’s dad”as no one wanted to come close to him.

“It is good to be here, though it also veryweird to be here hosting ‘Saturday NightLive’ at home,” Hanks said, speaking fromhis kitchen. “It is a strange time to try andbe funny, but trying to be funny is ‘SNL’swhole thing.”

Hanks sported a close-cropped haircutwhich he said was done for a movie,announced last month that he and his wifeRita Wilson tested positive for the virus.They recuperated while in Australia.

On the show, the Oscar winner said hehad to get used to learning histemperature in degrees Celsius, where 36was good but 38 was bad, “like Hollywoodtreats female actresses.”

Sounding optimistic and upbeat, theactor recognised the efforts of healthcareand service industry workers. “We’re inthis for the duration, and we will getthrough this together. We are going tothank our hospital workers, our firstresponders, and all our helpers. Thesupermarket stockers. The people whodeliver our food. The people who aremaking the takeout for us. The men andwomen who are keeping this countryrunning at a time when we need themmore than ever before,” he said.

Actor Joaquin Phoenix says hedoesn’t like to rehearse andbecause of this habit he had a

clash with Joker co-star Robert De Niro,who prefers having a read-throughwhile working on a film.

In a lengthy profile piece with GQ,Phoenix said the anxiety of notknowing helps him perform better andhence he was unwilling to join De Niroand rest of the cast for a read-through.The 45-year-old actor, who won thisyear’s best actor Oscar for hisperformance in the movie, revealed thatDe Niro even called director ToddPhillips to make sure he turns up.

“Tell him he’s an actor and he’s got tobe there. I like to hear the whole movieand we’re going to all get in a room andjust read it,” De Niro told Phillips.”Phoenix said he was adamant to giveread-through a miss and told Phillips,“There’s no f****** way I’m doing a read-through.”

However, the actor, who is also a hugefan of De Niro, attended the meeting atveteran star’s production office. Hemurmured his way through the scriptand after the meeting De Niro invitedhim to his office to talk where the twoeventually cleared the air. The actorsaid De Niro took his face into his handsand kissed him on the cheek. “It’s goingto be OK, bubbeleh,” said De Niro, who

played talk show host Murray Franklinin the film. Pheonix made a clean sweepwinning all the major awards this yearfor his portrayal of DC supervillain.

19THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 HOLLYWOOD

JOAQUIN PHOENIX AND ROBERT DE NIROBUTTED HEADS WHILE SHOOTING JOKER

AMY SCHUMER HAS CHANGED SON’SNAME, FOR A HILARIOUS REASON

American stand-up comedian-actorAmy Schumer is re-introducingher son, Gene David Fischer.

According to reports, during the 38-year-old comedian's episode of herpodcast revealed that she and husbandChris Fischer decided to give their 11-month-son a new middle name afterrealising how original it sounded.

In last May, the couple welcomed theirbaby boy with the name Gene AttellFischer - his middle name Attell as areference to fellow comedian and theactor's friend, Dave Attell.

Schumer and Fischer, however,ultimately renamed their son afternoticing his name sounded like the word"genital."

The 'I Feel Pretty' actor said in herpodcast, "So do you guys know that Gene,our baby's name is officially changed?It's now Gene David Fischer. It was GeneAttell Fischer, but we realised that we byaccident named our son 'genital.' "

Claudia O'Doherty, Schumer'slongtime friend, admitted, "My mompointed that out to me actually. My momwas like, 'Amy's called her son 'genital.'And I was like, 'What are you talkingabout?' And then, she was right."

The 'Snatched' actor further noted thatshe and her husband then realised thebaby's last name, Fischer, took things one

step further, making her son's namesound like "genital fisher."

Though, Gene's new middle name,David, now hits "two stones" as itreferences Attell's first name andSchumer's father, Gordon Schumer,whose middle name is David.

Ramadan is pronounced Ramzan inthe Subcontinent, Iran, Turkey, and theCentral Asian Republics wherever thePersian linguistic influence exists,elsewhere in the world, it is Ramadan. Inthe Arabic language, "Z" is "D" in mostwords. This article has three sections:The Spirit, Politics, and Rituals ofRamadan.

The spirit of RamadanOne's birth to the last rites of life,

every moment in between, is laden withrituals, even though some of us maydeny it. Indeed, whether we go to thegym, eat, sleep, wear clothes, drive, ortalk on the phone, we follow rituals.

Ritualssignify the milestones of ourdaily life. Every significant moment ofthe dayis a ritual. It is an unwritten wayof measuring our progression, amemory pattern to bring discipline toour actions.Trainingis necessary to dothings on time, manage personalrelationships, drive to adestination, orkeep within budget. The result ofdisciplined behavior isworthwhile formost people. When joyous, whether weare theists or not, wehave to express thatsentiment. Otherwise, a sense ofincompleteness lingers inour hearts.

Everyfaith is composed of a set ofunique rituals to bring discipline andpeace to human life. Fasting is one of thefive essential rituals that Muslimsaround the worldobserve.

Ramadanis the ninth month of theIslamiclunar calendar and observingwith a ritual precision; it isannualtraining or a refresher. It requires one toabstain from food, drink,intimacy, ill-will, ill-talk, harmful actions, and othertemptations from dawn todusk, everyday for a full month.

One has to rise above his or her baserdesires. Islam gifts this month to itsfollowers to teach discipline to bringmoderation to their daily lives.

AlthoughRamadanis popularly knownin the west for its culinary delicacies andfancy iftars(ceremonial breaking of fastat sundown), the spirit and intent ofRamadanlie in a human transformationin a month-long inner spiritual journeyoffinding oneself in tune withspirituality.

Goddoes not need the hunger or thirstof someone who hurts others, violatestheir dignity or usurps their rights saidProphet Muhammad (PBUH). Thefasting of the stomach must be matchedby the dieting of the limbs. The eyes,ears, tongue, hands, and feet all havetheir fasts to undergo. The tongue'stemptations, for example - lies,backbiting, slander, vulgarity andsenseless argumentation - must bechallenged and curbed to maintain theintegrity of the fast.

The consciousnessof behavior andvigilance over action are the most

profound dimensions offasting: thefasting of the heart focuses on theattachment to the divine. Thatis whenRamadanbecomes a source of peace andsolace, just as Christmas goes beyondtherituals to bring forth kindness,charity, and caring.

Truefasting is self-purification; fromthis comes an abundant inner life thatbrings about values such as justice,generosity, patience, kindness,forgiveness, mercy and empathy - valuesthat are indispensable for the success ofthe community.

Ramadan will come and gowith suchstealth that we cannot but be reminded ofour mortality. What is itthat we value,and why? Habits, customs, evenobsessive behavior like smokingcan becurtailed with relative ease in the face ofa higher calling.

Politics of RamadanPolitics plays a crucial role in our

Temples, Synagogues andChurches,Mosques are no different. For the moonsighting, a few scientifically-inclined-Muslims haveadopted NASA'scalculations believed to be precise.However, four differenttraditions areoperating concurrently; i) StrictlyCalendar, ii) NASA and iiiSighting withbare eyes, and iv) sighting by others inthe community.

Muslims around the world will beginfasting from Thursday, April 23, 2020, andfor a whole month after that, however, forsome of them, it will start (only) if themoon is sighted.

The traditions of RamadanIt's a celebration time when Muslims

around the world anxiously wait for thefirst moon of the ninth Lunar month toappear in the sky. The families gather intheir backyards, or get on the nearesthillock or climb on top of their homes,and wait for the pencil-thin moon toappear on the horizon, and when it does,Ramadan begins.

Right after the moon is sighted, theannouncement goes that Ramadan hasstarted.

The first evening, mosques hold"Taraweeh" prayers - in forthe next 29 to30 days, they recite a chapter each day forthe full month. Due to Corona, this year,every mosque around the world hascanceled the congregational prayers andasked to pray at home.

As the Christians do the count downfrom the first day of Christmas orHindus express devotion for each one ofthe nine days through Navaratri or theJews follow eight days of Chanukah,Jains observe eight days of Paryushan.Others follow a similar path, and theMuslims count the next 29 to 30 days witha sense of duty.

Every day, with small variations inpractices, families rise early around 4:00AM and gather up in the kitchen toparticipate in preparing and cooking.Then the family sits around, says a shortblessing, and eats the meal. Everyone hasto finish off the food and water intakefive minutes before sunrise or themorning call for prayers known as Azanor Adan.

Then everyone used to go to themosque to pray, but this year, everyone

will pray at their homes.Throughout the day, a conscious effort

is made to abstain from food, water, ortemptations that are detrimental to self-discipline. Those who do not observefasting, honor the ones who do, by noteating or drinking in their presence.

One of the most appealing aspects ofRamadan is the domino effect otherMuslims have on you to guard yourselvesagainst greed, anger, ill-will, malice,hate, jealousy, and other ills of thesociety. One feels pious during themonth. Of course, there would always asmall percentage in a group who do notreceive that wisdom.

When the time to break the fastapproaches towards the sundown,anxiety builds up, it is almost like thecountdown of seconds when the spaceshuttle takes off-Muslims attempt to bein the congregation or team up withsome. A prayer call (Azan) signifies thetime to break the fast.

Prophet Muhammad had initiated ahealthy way of breaking the fast; it wasgraduating the empty stomach withsnacks like dates, fruits, and veggies toprepare the digestive system for a fullmeal after the prayer break. The datesare the most popular item around theworld, they are chewy, meaty, and tastyafter a long day of fasting, and dates arealso a preferred item as it was for theProphet. It has the right nutrients to giveone a smooth transition from fasting allday to eating a full meal.

The breaking of fast, also known as

"Iftar," has become a community event. Itis an excellent opportunity for friends ofMuslims belonging to other faiths to hostthe Iftars. It is a way to bond, connect,and build cohesive societies.Unfortunately, this year, no one isholding the iftar parties.

President Clinton started the traditionof holding an Iftar party carried forwardby President Bush and then-PresidentObama, and they invited a few Muslimleaders from around the United States.Trump held the iftars for the MuslimAmbassadors. It is a major social eventfor the politicians, just as it is withChristmas, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, andother festivities.

At the end of the 29th or 30th day,depending on the moon sighting, NASA,or other traditions, the fasting wouldcome to an end with the celebration. It isChandni Raat or the moonlit festivities.Usually, the evening is spent on last-minute shopping.

The next day is Eid or festivity.It is asignificant event, and Muslims gather inlarge spaces and perform theirthanksgiving prayer. The traditionalgreetings are "Eid Mubarak, RamadanMubarak, or Happy Ramadan."

On this day, one formally forgives andgets forgiven and starts the year withgoodwill. Every one hugs three times; Iam your friend; you are my friend, andtogether we are friends, and together weforgive each other. It is the equivalent ofMichami Dukadam in Jainism.

Traditionally everyone in the familywears new clothing, a symbol of startingover with a clean slate. The oldest one inthe family passes on gifts and cash gifts(called Eidi) to younger members of thefamily to spend as they wish and to teachresponsibility with freedom.

It is also a time to share one's wealthwith the needy; it is like the tithe and iscalled Zakat. Every family takes out 2.5%of the value of their assets and passes onto the needy. It is an investment inhuman capital, to help uplift everyone ona level playing field to maintain asustainable good in society.

On the culinary side, it is a feast! Avariety of dishes are prepared, over theyears I have discovered that the mostcommon item around the globe is adessert made out of vermicelli's, i.e., thinhair noodles cooked in Milk with nuts,dates, honey, and other goodies, it is bothin liquid and solid formats. Of course,the Biryani is the main meal. It is a feast!

For fasting to be truly universal, itsbenefits must extend beyond thefraternal ties of Muslims and mustcontinue to forging a common humanitywith others. Fasting is meant to impart asense of what it means to be trulyhuman, and its universality is reflectedby its observance in Bahai, Buddhist,Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Sikh,Zoroastrian and other faiths.

(The author is the founder and president ofthe Center for Pluralism. He is a speaker,

thinker, author, consultant, pluralist, activist,newsmaker, and an interfaith wedding

officiant. He is committed to building cohesivesocieties and offers pluralistic solutions to the

media and the policymakers.www.TheGhousediary.com )

20 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020RAMADAN

Ramadan, everything you always wanted to know

By Mike Ghouse

Iftar at the White House with President Obama

21THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 US

Stimulus Payment

5 reasons you may not have received your stimulus money yet

Here are five reasons why you might not havereceived your money yet:

1. You didn't get a federal tax refund in 2018 or

2019

Even if you filed your 2018 or 2019 taxeselectronically, that doesn't mean the IRS can direct-deposit the money into your bank account. You musthave also received a refund in those years via directdeposit to get the money delivered automatically.

The IRS is not using bank account information it mayhave used to withdraw from your account if you owedmoney.

2. Your refund went to an old bank account

If you didn't receive a refund in 2019, or haven't filedyet, the IRS will use the bank account information usedto send a refund for the 2018 tax year.

Some people told CNN that the money was sent to anaccount they have since closed and that the bank

transferred the money back to the IRS. In that case, thepayment will likely come later by a check in the mail.

A new IRS online tool, called Get My Payment, allowsyou to input new bank account information -- but it'sonly helpful if the agency doesn't already have anaccount on file from a 2018 or 2019 tax return and hasn'tyet processed your stimulus payment.

Filing a 2019 return now, if you haven't already doneso, is the only way to update direct deposit informationthat the IRS has on file from a 2018 return. Tax Day wasmoved from the traditional April 15 to July 15 this yearto give filers more time.

3. Your refund went to a temporary account set

up by a tax preparer

You may not even realize it, but sometimes taxpreparers set up a temporary account and that's whereyour tax refund is deposited first. They take out theirfees and then transfer the remaining money into yourbank account or a debit card. Sometimes this is in theform of an advanced loan.

It may take longer for you to receive your stimulusmoney if that's the case. When stimulus payments weresent out in 2008, this glitch affected about 20 millionpeople. But they eventually received the money by apaper check.

Some people who used popular tax preparers likeTurboTax and H&R Block and received a refund on adebit card told CNN that the IRS tool could not confirmthe status of their payment when they checked thisweek. H&R Block said on its website that it is stillwaiting for answers from the IRS, but that some people

who have used its Emerald debit card will see theirstimulus money transferred there.

TurboTax said the IRS has the appropriate bankinginformation for all of its filers and that any of itscustomers who are eligible for a stimulus payment andhad their refund transferred to a debit card will receivetheir payment without delays or fees.

4. You filed a paper return in 2019

Most people file electronically, but some still send inpaper returns.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the IRS has manyemployees working remotely and has stoppedprocessing paper returns until its centers are able toreopen. If you didn't get a refund directly deposited in2018 and filed a paper return for 2019, you may bewaiting for a paper check with your stimulus money.

5. You aren't normally required to file a tax

return

There are millions of low-income people who are notnormally required to file tax returns that will have totake some action before receiving their stimulus money.

Generally, these are individuals who did not earnmore than $12,200 last year or married couples who didnot earn more than $24,400.

But they won't have to file a whole new form, asearlier guidance from the IRS suggested. Instead, itcreated an online tool for non-filers that asks for basicinformation including names, date of births, and SocialSecurity numbers for the person filing and his or herdependents. They won't have to provide any incomeinformation. (Source: CNN)

When Will I Get My CoronavirusStimulus Check?

New tool from IRS letsyou track your payment,add deposit information

WASHINGTON (TIP): TheInternal Revenue Service(IRS) has launched a newonline tool that lets you trackwhen your stimulus paymentshould arrive.

The new Get My Payment tool allows manytaxpayers to check when they can expect toreceive their payment. In addition, the tool allowstaxpayers to add direct deposit information, if itisn't already on file with the IRS.

"Get My Payment will offer people a quick andeasy way to find the status of their payment and,where possible, provide their bank accountinformation if we don't already have it," IRSCommissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement.

Although some people are not eligible for thestimulus payments, for the many who are eligible,the checks can be as high as $1,200 per individualand $2,400 per married couple filing jointly.Parents can get an additional $500 per child under17. An initial round of 80 million stimuluspayments is already hitting bank accounts viadirect deposit this week. Paper checks, for thosewho lack bank accounts or who don't haveaccount information on file with the IRS, willstart to go out in early May.How to use the Get My Payment tool

If you want to use the Get My Payment tool tosee when your check is projected to arrive, you'llneed to have your Social Security number, date ofbirth and the mailing address used on your taxreturn. Having a copy of your most recent returnwill speed the process, the IRS says.

If you want to add your bank information fordirect deposit, you'll need to know the type of

account you have (checkingor savings, for instance), youraccount number and yourbank routing number. You'llalso need your adjusted grossincome from your mostrecent tax return submitted -either 2019 or 2018 - and therefund or amount owed from

the latest filed tax return.The information from your previous year's tax

returns is a security measure to keep fraudstersfrom claiming your stimulus checks, an IRSspokesperson said. To prevent fraud, the IRS toolwon't let you change your bank information onfile with the IRS. If you have changed accountssince you filed your most recent return, thepayment will get kicked back to the IRS, whichwill then send you a paper check.

Get My Payment is updated once daily, usuallyovernight. To avoid overloading the system, theIRS says to check the tool just once a day.

If you normally aren't required to file a taxreturn, you can use a separate IRS web tool fornon-filers to register for your economic impactstimulus payment. You don't need to use the non-filer web tool if you receive Social Securityretirement benefits, survivor benefits, disability(SSDI) benefits, railroad retirement benefits orSupplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Forthose non-filers, $1,200 stimulus checks will go outautomatically based on benefit information onfile with the government.

However, non-filers such as Social Security,SSDI and SSI beneficiaries who willautomatically receive a $1,200 payment should usethe non-filer tool if they have children under 17.The non-filer tool will allow those automaticrecipients to claim an additional $500 stimuluspayment per child.

Trump proposes 3-phased countryre-opening plan

W A S H I N G T O N

(TIP): US PresidentDonald Trump hasproposed a three-phase,locally targeted plan foropening thecoronavirus-batterednation but will leave thedecision onimplementing it in thehands of the stateGovernors.

"We are opening upour great country," Trump declared on Thursday with his twohighly regarded medical advisers, Anthony Fauci and DeborahBirx at his side.

"America wants to be open, and Americans want to be open," hesaid.

The plan requires states to meet basic criteria called "gating"before Governors can move them into the three phases of openingthat takes into account the diversity of the country.

Any setback will push them back into the more rigorous earlierphase.

Trump unveiled the guidelines after a teleconference with stateGovernors where he told them: "You're going to call your ownshots." By leaving the decision to the Governors after havingasserted that he has to the authority to end the restrictionsnationwide, Trump is avoiding a show-down with recalcitrantgovernors and also making them face the consequences.

Trump's plans to restart economic and social activities in anation facing serious economic and social setbacks have met withopposition from Democrats and some public health experts whothink it is premature and could lead to coronavirus flare-ups.

Even a phased, geographically targeted plan may not mollifythem. contd on Page 32

Trump said, "We are a very large country andwe have different dynamics in the country".

22 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020WORLD

Medical examiner diesafter contracting

coronavirus from deadbody, scientists say

BANGKOK (TIP): Researchersbelieve that a medical examiner inThailand is the first person to die fromcoronavirus after contracting thedisease from a corpse.

The mysterious case is also the firstknown transmission from a dead bodyto a forensic worker, according to astudy published this week in theJournal of Forensic and LegalMedicine.

"There is low chance of forensicmedicine professionals coming intocontact with infected patients, but theycan have contact with biologicalsamples and corpses," co-authors WonSriwijitalai, of the RVT MedicalCenter in Bangkok, and VirojWiwanitkit, of China's HainanMedical University, wrote in the study.

The medical examiner, who was notidentified, worked in the Thai capital,but no details have been released aboutthe case.

The researchers said the countryhas no data on the exact number ofcorpses infected with COVID-19 sinceit's "not a routine practice" in Thailandto test for the disease after a personhas died.

"Nevertheless, infection control anduniversal precautions are necessary,"they wrote, urging medical examinersto take precautions when doing theirwork.

"Forensic professionals have to wearprotective devices including aprotective suit, gloves, goggles, cap andmask," the study says. "Thedisinfection procedure used inoperation rooms might be applied inpathology/forensic units too."

As of April 16, Thailand hasconfirmed nearly 2,700 coronavirusinfections and at least 46 deaths,according to Johns HopkinsUniversity.

Austria to test allretirees in homes

VIENNA (TIP): Austria, one of themore successful countries in Europe atflattening the curve of coronavirusinfections, plans to test everyretirement home resident as itexpands efforts to measure thepandemic's spread, its health ministersaid on Thursday. The Alpine republicacted early in its outbreak to shutschools, bars, restaurants, non-essential shops and other gatheringplaces roughly four weeks ago. It hastold the public to stay at home andwork from there if possible. So far ithas reported just 410 deaths in total,fewer than some larger countries aresuffering each day.

Russia-Europe clash over Syriachemical weapons

UNITED NATIONS (TIP): Syria’sclose ally Russia clashed with Europeannations in the UN Security Council overa report from the global chemicalweapons watchdog blaming the Syrianair force for a series of attacks usingsarin and chlorine on a rebel-held townin 2017.

Moscow dismissed it as “baseless” andthe Europeans demanded accountabilityfor the government’s action. Aninvestigative team of the Organisationfor the Prohibition of Chemical Weaponssaid in a 82-page report issued April 8that the Syrian air force dropped bombscontaining either chlorine or sarin on a

hospital and open farmland in thecentral town of Latamneh, injuring over70 persons and killing at least three — asurgeon and two others.

The exchanges between Russia and theEuropeans took place at the monthlymeeting on Syria’s chemical weapons,which was closed. Russia, Germany,Britain and Estonia distributed thestatements of their ambassadors. UNspokesman Stephane Dujarric said UNdisarmament chief Izumi Nakamitusubriefed the council, including on thefindings of the OPCW report, andstressed that they were “deeplydistressing.”

Russia’s UN Ambassador VassilyNebenzia told the council that all ofSyria’s chemical weapons weredestroyed and accused the OPCWexperts of “echoing baselessaccusations” by some unnamedcountries, “biases,” and preparing areport “without even the slightest tracesof due diligence.” Syrian authoritiesrepeatedly refused to cooperate with theinvestigation, the report said.

Germany’s deputy UN ambassadorJurgen Schulz told the council:“Accountability is essential andimpunity for these heinous crimes is notan option.” —AP

Economic pain from virus spreadingquickly as the pandemic

PARIS (TIP): Economic pain from thecoronavirus pandemic spread even morewidely on Thursday, weighing heavily onnations, businesses and ordinary peopleas countries struggled to restoreconfidence that stores, factories,airplanes and schools could reopensafely.

In France, Amazon suspendedoperations altogether after a court ruledit wasn’t doing enough to protect itsworkers in the country. The onlineretailer, which has six warehouses inFrance, said it would evaluate the courtdecision.

Cargo traffic at Europe’s massive portof Rotterdam in the Netherlands sank by9.3% in the first quarter to 112.4 millionmetric tons from the same period a yearago. “We are facing unprecedenteddisruptions,” said Allard Castelein, theport CEO, adding that he expects thesituation to get worse.

The International Monetary Fund says

fallout from what it calls the “GreatLockdown” will be the most devastatingsince the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Still, leaders are anxious to sendpeople back to work and school and torebuild economies devastated by thepandemic that has infected more than 2million people and claimed more than137,000 lives, according to a tally byJohns Hopkins University.

Yet in China and the handful ofcountries in Europe that have partiallyreopened their economies, even peoplewho still have jobs are wary of spendingmuch or going out. In nearly emptystores and streets, people eye each otherfrom a distance, their faces covered bymasks.

Some Chinese cities tried reassuringconsumers by showing officials eating inrestaurants. In Zhengzhou, Zhang Hu inis back at work but his incomeplummeted because few are buying the20-ton trucks he sells.

“I have no idea when the situation willturn better,” he said.

The US began issuing one-timepayments this week to tens of millions ofpeople as part of its $2.2 trillioncoronavirus relief package. But anotherpart of the relief package, a $350 billionpaycheck protection program aimed atsmall businesses, is running dry afterbeing open for only a matter of days.

Negotiations were accelerating inWashington over a $250 billionemergency request to help.

Even with limited testing, the US hasseen nearly 640,000 infections — morethan the next four countries put together— and leads the world with nearly 31,000deaths, according to Johns HopkinsUniversity.

Experts say the true toll of thepandemic is much higher due to limitedtesting, uneven counting of deaths andsome governments’ attempts todownplay their outbreaks. AP

23THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 WORLD

N Korean defectorwins big in S Koreanelections

SEOUL (TIP): A high-profileNorth Korean defector won aconstituency seat in the SouthKorean general elections, becomingthe first person hailing fromPyongyang to be chosen directly bySouth Korean voters as theirrepresentative.

Thae Yong-ho, a former No. 2diplomat at North Korea's Embassyin London, was elected to theNational Assembly as the mainconservative opposition UnitedFuture Party’s candidate in Seoul'ssouthern affluent district ofGangnam, Yonhap News Agencyreported on Thursday.

Thae received 58.4 per cent of thevotes cast on Wednesday in theGangnam constituency, one of theconservative party’s mainstrongholds, far ahead of hisopponent Kim Sung-gon, a four-termlawmaker from the rulingDemocratic Party who earned 39.6per cent.

Thae, who defected to the South in2016, had campaigned under adifferent name, Tae Ku-min. Thaesaid he deliberately registered thefalse name and a false date of birthwith the government after defectionso as to make it harder for the Northto track him down.

This marks the first time a NorthKorean defector has won aconstituency seat in the South’sparliament South Korea. —IANS

Virus didn’t originatein lab: China

BEIJING (TIP): China is refutingallegations that the coronaviruspandemic may have originated in alaboratory near the city of Wuhanwhere contagious samples werebeing stored.

Foreign Ministry spokesman ZhaoLijian cited the head of the WorldHealth Organization and otherunidentified medical experts assaying there was no evidence thattransmission began from the lab andthere was “no scientific basis” forsuch claims.

“Only with reasonable responsecan the international communitywin this fight,” Zhao said. “Chinawill continue to work together withother countries to help and supporteach other.” China has also stronglydenied claims it delayed reporting onthe virus outbreak in Wuhan latelast year and under-reported casenumbers, worsening the impact onthe US and other countries.

The virus is believed to haveoriginated with bats and have passedvia another animals to humans at aseafood market in Wuhan, although afirm determination has yet to bemade.

Allegations about a leak of thevirus from the lab have been made inthe US media without directevidence. —AP

Russia carried out anti-satellite missile test: US militaryWASHINGTON (TIP): Russia carried

out a test of an anti-satellite missile onWednesday, the US military said, callingit an example of the threats the UnitedStates faced in space.

The move comes as officials have saidthat space will increasingly become animportant domain for warfare, with theUS and other countries such as Russiaand China stepping up their militarypostures in low-Earth orbit and near themoon.

Experts say that anti-satellite weaponsthat shatter their targets pose a spacehazard by creating a cloud of fragmentsthat can collide with other objects,potentially setting off a chain reaction ofprojectiles through Earth orbit.

“The United States is ready and

committed to deterring aggression anddefending the nation, our allies, and USinterests from hostile acts in space,”General John Raymond, the commanderof US Space Command, said in astatement.

Raymond added that the test was proofof “Russia’s hypocritical advocacy ofouter space arms control proposals ...while clearly having no intention ofhalting their counterspace weaponsprograms.”

Russian airspace notices indicate thetest was conducted around Wednesdaymorning. It did not appear that themobile missile system was targeting anysatellites in space based on publicsatellite data, according to analysts.

The test was of Russia’s new Nudol

anti-satellite missile system, analystsprojected, launching from the PlesetskCosmodrome about 800 km (497 miles)north of Moscow.

The US military is increasinglydependent on satellites to determinewhat it does on the ground, guidingmunitions with space-based lasers andsatellites as well as using such assets tomonitor for missile launches and trackits forces.

The US and China have carried outsimilar anti-satellite tests. In March,India launched the most recent anti-satellite missile test against a satellite inlow Earth orbit, creating a field ofimpact debris whose fragments continueto orbit Earth today. Reuters

CHINA SHUTS DOWN LARGESTMAKESHIFT HOSPITAL IN WUHAN

BEIJING/WUHAN (TIP): With thenumber of coronavirus cases sharplyfalling, China on Wednesday shutdown oneof its largest makeshift field hospitals builtin just 10 days to treat the surging COVID-19 infections in Wuhan, the epicentre ofthe pandemic.

Thousands of medical workers deployedin the capital of central Hubei provincefrom across the nation also left Wuhanafter completing their mission, the officialmedia reported.

The makeshift Leishenshan (ThunderGod Mountain) Hospital ceased operationin Wuhan, capital of central China’s HubeiProvince, on Wednesday as thecoronavirus epidemic wanes, state-runXinhua news agency reported.

It was one of the two over a 1,000-bedcapacity hospitals built in 10 days inFebruary to treat the COVID-19 patientsamid a glare of national and internationalpublicity to curb the virus.

Besides the two hospitals, China alsobuilt 14 additional makeshift healthcentres to quarantine and treat the COVID-19 patients. All of them were closed downrecently. Also, the last group of medicalworkers sent to Hubei to fight the outbreakalso left Wuhan, state-run China Dailyreported on Wednesday.

China deployed 42,000 medical personnelin Hubei to deal with the outbreak whichwas first reported in Wuhan, the provincialcapital.

The government began serious action tocurb the outbreak by imposing thelockdown in Wuhan from January 23. Thelockdown was lifted on April 8.

Over 3,000 medical workers werereported to have been infected with thevirus. The hospital was closed as no newconfirmed cases of the novel coronavirusdisease were reported in the province onTuesday.

The province, however, reported onedeath, bringing the total number offatalities caused by COVID-19 to 3,222 inHubei.

The provincial health commission saidthat 32 asymptomatic cases were reportedon Tuesday in Hubei, taking the total

number to 619. All are under medicalobservation.

Asymptomatic cases are those wherepeople test positive for the virus butdevelop no symptoms such as fever, coughor sore throat. They are infectious and posea risk of spreading the disease to others.

However, increasing number of localtransmissions in the country’s northeastbordering Russia remained a concern forthe authorities following the return ofChinese nationals from there.

Health experts said that the Suifenhecity at the China-Russia border mightbecome another Wuhan amid sharpincrease of COVID-19 cases following anexodus of Chinese nationals from Russia.— PTI

Six crucial days that made a deadly difference

In the six days after Chinese officials secretly determined theylikely were facing a pandemic from Covid-19, Wuhan hosted a massbanquet for thousands of people for Lunar New Year celebrations.President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Janaury20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infectedduring almost a week of public silence.

Pompeo dials China,seeks info on Covid

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeospoke to China’s diplomat to underscorethe Trump administration’s demand for“full transparency and informationsharing” from China on the origin andspread of Covid-19.

Pompeo’s phone call to Yang Jiechi,director of the Office of Foreign Affairsof the Communist Party of China, camea day after US President Donald Trumpannounced to halt funding to the WorldHealth Organisation, alleging it hadsided with China on the coronavirusissue and mislead the world.

24 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020WOMEN

Grapes to do away with acne, skin dryness

SMOKED CHICKEN CHAATINGREDIENTS

3 pieces chicken breasts, 5 pinches salt, 5 tablespoonolive oil pomace, 1 medium onion, 1/2 small capsicum (green pepper), 1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder, 300 gmpaneer, 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves, 1/4teaspoon thymol seeds, 6 pieces mushroom, 2 slicespineapple, 2 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon lemonjuice, 1/4 teaspoon black salt, 1 teaspoon cuminpowder, 4 chilli flakes as required, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon chaat masala.

Method Wash chicken. Pat dry. Cut into 1/2 strips and then

into squares. Rub 1/2 tsp salt, pepper and redchilli flakes on it.

Place a small steel bowl or a katori in a kadhaiwith a lid. Put the chicken around the empty steelkatori. Place the coal pieces on the naked flamefor 5-7 minutes, till they turn grey and red hot atthe edges.

Pour some olive oil on the coal and coverimmediately to trap the smoke. Leave covered for10 minutes for the chicken to acquire a smokyflavour. You can smoke the paneer also in thesame way.

Marinate onion, capsicums and mushrooms inlemon juice, salt, pepper, chaat masala, cuminpowder and crushed garlic. Do not marinatepineapple. To serve, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan.Add thymol seeds and wait for it to crackle. Addthe marinated vegetables and pan fry withoutstirring much to get that charred, blackened look.Add pineapple and cook for 2-3 minutes.

While the veggies are being cooked, heat 2 tbspolive oil in another pan. Add grated garlic and stir.And then mix in smoked chicken. Cook onmedium heat, stirring continuously otherwise thechicken will stick to the pan.

Fry for 3-4 minutes without stirring much tillchicken turns whitish and light golden from allsides. Remove chicken from heat when cooked.

Mix chicken, veggies, pineapple and coriander.Serve in a platter along with some roastedalmonds (optional) along with the toppings ofyour choice.

CREATE A ROMANTICATMOSPHERE AT HOME

Although there’s no denyingthat red is the colour of love,it’s not the only hue that will

set the perfect tone for your boudoir.Texture is one of the most popularinterior trends for 2018 and willdefinitely help turn up the heat inan otherwise stark or cold space.

Keep bed linens classic white – butopt for 100% Egyptian cotton for thatluxury feel – and add texture with anarray of cushions and perhaps athrow.

In the kitchen/dining roomFood is the way to a person’s

heart, right? But be sure to pay asmuch attention to your table settingas you do your cooking to pleaseyour loved one. An easy win is to usea quality tablecloth or runner andsplash out on some crisp linennapkins, which will give a muchmore luxurious feel than paper ones.

In the loungeA romantic setting certainly isn’t

exclusive to the bedroom, and thissetting is one to be enjoyed either onyour own or with your significantother. Layer different throws andblankets on your favourite spot onthe sofa, then bury yourself in themalong with your favourite book and adelicious hot chocolate.

For some, there’s nothing moreromantic than a relaxed setting and,as well as adding the perfect cosytouch to your lounge, a fur rug isalso a comfortable spot to unwind.Put on a fresh pair of new pyjamas,your cosiest socks and order yourfavourite pizza to chill out with theone you love.

In the bathroomThere’s (arguably) nothing nicer

than wrapping yourself in warmfluffy towels after a long, relaxingcandlelit bath – which is the perfectpreparation ahead of a romanticnight in.

Extend that comforting feeling byslipping into a luxurious bathrobe

post-soak. You’re hopefully nowbrimming with ideas of ways toenjoy a low-key but romantic

Valentine’s Day – to whatever degreeof romance suits you – in yourfavourite space at home.

FOOD CORNER

With time, the skin begins tolose its elasticity andmoisture. Prepare packs

made of grapes to combat skinproblems, says an expert. As a normal skin care

treatment, grapes are good toreduce acne.

The fruit's seeds help tostrengthen blood vessels andenhance skin elasticity.

Grape seed oil is rich inmoisturizing content and alsoprovides Vitamin C and E tothe skin.

Grapes can be mashed andapplied as a facial mask, whichhelps in peeling off the deadskin cells. Leave it on for 10 to15 minutes before washing itoff.

People with oily skin should

mash black grapes with someoil absorbent like multanimitti (Fuller's earth). To makeit in paste form, mix it wellwith drops of rose water in it.Let it stay for 15 minutes onyour face and then rinse it off.

Get facial glow back with the goodness of fruits

Orange and yoghurt pack: Havecombination skin? Take an orangeand squeeze it. Use three teaspoonof the juice and mix it with atablespoon of yoghurt. The citrusproperty of orange helps in giving arefreshing glow to the skin. Thefruit also has skin lighteningagents. It helps in improvingcomplexion as well as cleans theskin. The yoghurt maintains the

moisture level in the skin. Avocado,milk cream and honey pack: Taketwo teaspoons of honey and mashan avocado in it. Add anotherteaspoon of milk cream. All theingredients in the mask areextremely nourishing andnutritious for dry skin types.

Pomegranate, turmeric, lime,Fuller's earth, sandalwood andbanana pack: Best for normal skintype, mix half teaspoon ofpomegranate juice, mash a smallpiece of banana to give thickness tothe paste and add half teaspoon oflime juice with a pinch of turmericpowder. Further, add a pinch ofFuller's earth, and half a teaspoonof sandalwood powder. Mixeverything together and apply onthe face. It will help to clear the skinand give a healthy glow.

DR. SATISH AND GITANJLI ANAND DDRR.. SSAATTIISSHH AANNAANNDD

FFoorrmmeerr CChhaaiirrmmaann,, BBooaarrdd ooffTTrruusstteeeess,, AAAAPPII NNaattiioonnaall

EE--MMaaiill::ssaannaannddmmdd@@ggmmaaiill..ccoomm

GGIITTAANNJJLLII AANNAANNDD

FFoorrmmeerr PPrreessiiddeenntt,, IInnddiiaaAAssssoocciiaattiioonn ooff LLoonngg IIssllaanndd((IIAALLII))

EE--mmaaiill::ggiittaannjjlliiaannaanndd@@ggmmaaiill..ccoomm

PPAAGGEE SSPPOONNSSOORREEDD BBYY

CHECK YOU LUNGS’ HEALTHDURING CORONAVIRUS

Maintaining the health of your lungs is nolonger just limited to staying clear ofbreathing problems. With coronavirus

pandemic, it has become even more important to payattention to the life-giving pair within your ribs. Fromways to protect your lungs to making you aware of themistakes that are affecting them, we've got youcovered.You're not alone if, prior to the novel coronaviruspandemic, you thought only chain-smokers needed toworry about their lung health. But now, it makes senseto wonder if there's anything you can do to safeguardyour lungs from some of the symptoms associatedwith this never-before-seen strain of coronavirus, likecoughing, shortness of breath, and pneumonia.

How does coronavirus affect lung health?What does the coronavirus have to do with your

lungs, exactly? Board certified in Family Medicinepractitioner Michael Richardson, MD with OneMedical says: "When the virus enters your lungs, itcan lead to irritation of the lung lining, causing you tocough."

The virus can cause so much irritation of the lunglining that it causes pneumonia, which is when airsacs in your lungs become inflamed and may end upfilling with fluid, he says.

The more inflammation and fluid in your lungs, theharder it becomes to breathe, which can be life-threatening for those with weaker immune systems,such as the elderly and people with significant pre-existing medical conditions, he explains.

MDs' best tips for short- and long-term lung healthNo matter who you are and what your health status

is, taking care of your lungs is an important part oftaking care of your overall health and wellbeing. Withthat in mind, here's what doctors say you can do tokeep your lungs functioning optimally, during theCOVID-19 outbreak and beyond.

25THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 HEALTH

ARE YOU SLEEPING ATTHE RIGHT TIME?

You may be aware that seven toeight hours of good qualitysleep is what experts

recommend for adults. But does thatmean you can achieve these goals bysleeping at any hour of the night?Not quite.

Sleep has many benefits: itimproves memory, promotesemotional stability and rebootscellular metabolism. But going tosleep late at night, even if youcomplete the recommended hours,may not have the desired positiveeffects on your body.

With the lockdown impacting ourlifestyles, about 67 per cent ofpeople in India are now sleepingafter 11 pm. Even otherwise, a 2018study found that about 53 per cent ofIndians sleep late at night afterscrolling through social media,while 18 per cent revealed that workor finance-related issues kept themawake at night, as reported byEconomic Times. Studies, however,have argued that the timing of sleepis as important as the number ofhours you sleep.

The human brain is actuallywired to sleep after three-and-a-halfto four hours after sunset. So, if thesunset is between 6:30-7pm, you areactually wired to sleep by 10-10:30pm, the doctor emphasised. Whenlight levels drop, it stimulates thecells in the retina that signal thehypothalamus. There is a peptidecalled pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) whichmakes the SCN signal to other bodyparts by secreting melatonin, ahormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. If you start sleeping lateevery night, the body stops makingmelatonin at the right time.

Melatonin production is supposed

to start by 9 pm which then peaks by1 am. But if you get into the practiceof being awake and looking at thetelevision screen or phone till late atnight, over a period of time thebrain stops making melatonin at theright time. If this starts in youryouth, by the time you are older, youare unable to sleep even if you go tobed early.

What happens when you sleep late?

Social jetlag is correlated withobesity. So, despite good diet andexercise, people experiencing socialjetlag are at risk of becoming obese.That is because the peripheral clockin your other body systems are notin sync with the brain's clock, DrDesai explained. Thedesynchronised system of energymetabolism negatively impactpeptides in the body — leptine andghreline — that determine ourhunger and satiety. Sleepharmonises energy metabolism in

the body. So, when you sleep late atnight, it is likely to increase the riskof various disorders like diabetes,obesity, mood disorders andmemory issues in older people.

How does one correct the time of sleeping?

For this, one should try and getinto the habit of sleeping at 10:30pm and waking up at 6:30 am. Hereare some things to keep in mind toget good quality sleep at night.Besides exercising, having a regularbowel movement and an earlybreakfast are some other ways to getyour sleep cycle on track.

If you are waking up at 6:30 am,you should have breakfast by 7 am,which signals the body that the dayhas begun, thereby reinforcing thecircadian rhythm. Again, when youexercise in the evening, you feelenergetic for the next few hourswhich can delay sleep. So it isrecommended that you exercise inthe morning.

Benefits of eating a healthy breakfastBreakfast is an important meal as it provides

energy for activities that lay ahead as it fuels youfor the rest of the day. It breaks the overnight

fasting period, gives a kick start to your metabolismand helps in maintaining sugar levels.

Nowadays, working people are so busyaccommodating their daily schedules that they startignoring their health by not taking proper meals andsedentary lifestyles. For instance, having only a mug ofcoffee or tea isn't enough to recharge yourself to getgoing throughout the day. Breakfast is the first healthymeal towards benefiting your body with improvedconcentration, enhanced mood, and much more.

Importance of eating breakfastWe have a set of reasons that will persuade your

inner self to make breakfast your favourite meal:- Maintains Weight: Having nutrient dense

breakfast helps control your appetite, sugar levelsand hunger pangs. Breakfast supplies a major partof calories to your body which helps in avoidingovereating or binge eating in the next meal,improving your satiety level.

Elevates mood: A wholesome breakfast shouldoffer all the necessary nutrients that elevatesmood by releasing the happy hormones,endorphin. As your body is already in a fastingstate at night, breakfast works as a fuel to kickstart your system. Balanced energy levels make

the start of a day better and elevates moodthroughout the day.

Improves Concentration: It helps your brainreceive the much required glucose, whicheventually helps improve alertness, focus andconcentration. Have a combination of good carbs,protein, fat and micronutrients to get maximumbenefits.

Boosts Metabolism: Body is low in energy whenyou wake up in the morning. So, breakfast plays amajor role to restore the energy level and thosewho miss it develop chances to go on starvationand eventually accumulate more fat. Therefore,nutrient dense breakfast helps a body boostmetabolism for high energy levels.

26 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020SCIENCE & TECH

ZOOM BRINGS NEWPASSWORD REQUIREMENTS,LONGER MEETING IDs

Earlier this month, Zoom CEO Eric S Yuanapologised for the privacy and security issuesin the video conferencing platform. He also

announced a 90-day feature freeze for the app duringwhich time the company would focus on improvingthe security and privacy of the platform. Now, Zoomis keeping good on the promises it made.

The company has released a bunch of new featuresthat are aimed at enhancing the overall security ofthe platform. Let’s take a look at them one by one:

New password requirements: As a part of thesechanges, Zoom account users and admins will now beable to set minimum meeting password requirementsto adjust the minimum length and require letters,numbers, and special characters, or allow onlynumeric passwords.

In addition to that all free Basic account users willhave the alphanumeric password option on bydefault, Zoom wrote in a blog post.

Random meeting IDs:Zoom is introducing longermeeting IDs to enhance the security of its platform.As a part of the changes, the one-time randomlygenerated meetings IDs for newly scheduled meetingsand webinars will have 11 digits instead of 9. Users’Personal Meeting ID (PMI), on the other hand, willremain the same.

Cloud recordings: Zoom is turning on passwordprotection for all shared cloud recordings.Additionally, it is enhancing the complexity ofpasswords on users’ cloud recordings.

Zoom is also enabling the use of third partyplatforms such as Box, Dropbox and OneDrive on itsplatform. This feature had been disabled temporarily.

PUBG MOBILE ROLLS OUTARCTIC MODE IN VIKENDI

PUBG Mobile on Thursday rolled out its new‘Arctic Mode’ which is available through a newupdate on Google Play Store and App Store. As

the name suggests, this new PUBG Mobile mode iswinter-themed which is slightly weird consideringit’s summers now.

The new Arctic Mode is available via a smallupdate on Play Store for Android users, and AppStore for iOS users. Once PUBG Mobile is updated,players can find the Arctic Mode in Vikendi map.Since it’s new, Arctic Mode is also highlighted on themain page of the game.

Here, the main purpose is to survive the cold andharsh weather conditions. There will be period arcticstorms throughout the game, and players must workto keep their body temperature normal as it willgradually drop. At the same time, players will have tofight enemies on the ground as well. Use a lighter to create an indoor fire, then forage

for branches to keep the fire alive Hunt wild chickens, collect the meat and cook it

to be eaten and restore body temperature Use resources such as the heater and health

packsIn Arctic Mode, players will also be able to use

snowboards which were available in the WinterFestival. The entire area isn’t snow-covered as thereare many green patches as well. But players cansnowboard on the grass areas as well. PUBG Mobilehas also introduced remote-controlled drones whichcan be used to navigate and scout surrounding areasfor tactical damages.

IN NOT SO GOOD NEWS FOREARTH, UNUSUAL MINI-OZONE

HOLE OPENS OVER ARCTICAs the world fights the new

coronavirus pandemic,climate change is back to

threaten us as over the last month, anew unusual hole in the ozone layerhas started to form over the Arctic.

According to the European SpaceAgency, the ozone layer over theNorth Pole has been depleted plentyof times in the past.

Scientists using data from theCopernicus Sentinel-5P satellitehave noticed a strong reduction ofozone concentrations over theArctic.

Unusual atmospheric conditions,including freezing temperatures inthe stratosphere, have led ozonelevels to plummet -- causing a 'mini-hole' in the ozone layer, the ESA saidin a statement.

While the ESA scientists expect itto close up later this month, it's atroubling update on the planet'senvironmental health.

The 'ozone hole' most commonlyreferenced is the hole overAntarctica, forming each yearduring autumn.

In the past weeks, scientists fromthe German Aerospace Center(DLR) have noticed the unusuallystrong depletion of ozone over thenorthern polar regions.

Using data from the Tropomiinstrument on the CopernicusSentinel-5P satellite, they were ableto monitor this Arctic ozone holeform in the atmosphere.

"The ozone hole we observe over

the Arctic this year has a maximumextension of less than 1 million sqkm. This is small compared to theAntarctic hole, which can reach asize of around 20 to 25 million sq kmwith a normal duration of around 3to 4 months," said Diego Loyolafrom the German Aerospace Center.

Arctic temperatures do notusually plummet as low as inAntarctica. However, this year,powerful winds flowing around theNorth Pole trapped cold air withinwhat is known as the 'polar vortex' -- a circling whirlpool ofstratospheric winds.

By the end of the polar winter, thefirst sunlight over the North Poleinitiated this unusually strongozone depletion -- causing the hole

to form.However, its size is still small

compared to what can usually beobserved in the southernhemisphere, informed ESA.

Claus Zehner, ESA's CopernicusSentinel-5P mission manager, said:"The Tropomi total ozonemeasurements are extendingEurope's capability of thecontinuous global ozone monitoringfrom space since 1995. In this time,we have not witnessed an ozone holeformation of this size over theArctic." In the past, mini ozoneholes have occasionally beenspotted over the North Pole, but thedepletion over the Arctic this yearis much larger compared toprevious years.

COVID-19: Apple, Google join hands todevelop contact-tracing technology

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc'sGoogle said on Friday thatthey will work together to

create contact tracing technologythat aims to slow the spread of thecoronavirus by allowing users to optinto logging other phones they havebeen near.

The rare collaboration betweenthe two Silicon Valley companies,whose operating systems power99% of the world's smartphones,could accelerate usage of apps thataim to get potentially infectedindividuals into testing orquarantine more quickly andreliably than existing systems inmuch of the world.

Such tracing will play a vital rolein managing the virus oncelockdown orders end, health expertssay.

The planned technology alsothrows the weight of the techleaders into a global conflictbetween privacy advocates whofavor a decentralised system totrace contacts and governments inEurope and Asia pushingcentralized approaches that havetechnical weaknesses and

potentially let governments knowwith whom people associate.

"With Apple and Google, you getall the public health functions youneed with a decentralized andprivacy-friendly app," said MichaelVeale, University College Londonlegal lecturer involved in Europeancontact tracing system DP3T.

Centralized solutions such asthose proposed in Britain andGermany would no longer workunder the new technology, he said.

To be effective, the Silicon Valleysystem would require millions ofpeople to opt in the system, trustingthe technology companies’safeguards, as well as smoothoversight by public health systems.

The companies said they starteddeveloping the technology twoweeks ago to streamline technicaldifferences between Apple'siPhones and Google's Android thathad stymied the interoperation ofsome existing contact tracing apps.

REFUND TICKETS BOOKEDDURING LOCKDOWN FORTRAVEL TILL MAY 3: GOVT

MEW DELHI (TIP): A day after senior officials ofCivil Aviation Ministry held an online meeting withtop airline executives, the government announced aset of advisories for airlines to refund domestic andinternational tickets booked for the flights suspendeddue to lockdown. However, as per the advisories,airlines will be bound to provide full refunds only tothose passengers who have booked during the firstlockdown period — March 25 to April 14 — for travelbetween March 25 to May 3.

“Grievances were received from air travellersregarding refund for flights cancelled because of thenationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19. Advisorieshave been issued regarding refund for both domestic &international tickets booked for the flights suspendeddue to lockdown,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation(Independent Charge) Hardeep Puri said in a tweet.

The original proposal of the government asdiscussed during Wednesday’s meeting, was to askairlines to reduce the period of credit shell beingoffered currently against cancellation of tickets fromone year to six months and refund the unused amountafter six months.

India to fill strategic crude oil reserves by early May

NEW DELHI (TIP): India will by early May fill itsunderground strategic oil storage with cheap crudeavailable globally to shore up insurance against anysupply or price disruption, the Petroleum Ministrysaid on Wednesday.

While the 5.33 million tonne of emergency storage— enough to meet India’s oil needs for 9.5 days — wasbuilt in underground rock caverns in Mangalore andPadur in Karnataka and Visakhapatnam in AndhraPradesh by the government, state-owned oil firmshave been asked to buy oil at cheaper rates from themarket and fill them up.

The first shipload of 1 million barrels of crude oilwas brought by Indian Oil Corp (IOC) from the UAEearlier this week.

“Taking advantage of the low crude oil price, Indiais filling the strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) totheir full capacity. The first consignment of 1 millionbbls of crude procured through @IndianOilclunloaded at Mangalore SPR of @ISPRL1,” theministry said in a tweet.

G20 countries agree debt freezefor world’s poorest countries

Finance officials from the Group of 20 majoreconomies agreed on Wednesday to suspend debtservice payments for the world’s poorest

countries through the end of the year, a move quicklymatched by a group of hundreds of private creditors.

The actions to freeze both principal repayments andinterest payments will free up more than $20 billionfor the countries to spend on improving their healthsystems and fighting the coronavirus pandemic, SaudiFinance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told reportersafter a virtual meeting of G20 finance officials.

Saudi Arabia is hosting the G20 meetings this year.Wednesday’s video conference meeting of financeministers and central bank governors ran well overthe scheduled two hours, delaying news conferencesplanned by al-Jadaan and International MonetaryFund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

27THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 BIZ & FINANCE

China tries to revive economybut consumer engine sputtersBEIJING (TIP): China, where

the coronavirus pandemic startedin December, is cautiously trying toget back to business, but it’s noteasy when many millions ofworkers are wary of spending muchor even going out.

Factories and shops nationwideshut down starting in late January.Millions of families were told tostay home under unprecedentedcontrols that have been copied bythe United States, Europe and India.

The ruling Communist Party saysthe outbreak, which killed morethan 3,340 people among more than82,341 confirmed cases as ofThursday, is under control. But thedamage to Chinese lives and theeconomy is lingering.

Truck salesman Zhang Hu isliving the dilemma holding back therecovery.

The 27-year-old from the centralcity of Zhengzhou has gone back towork, but with few people looking tobuy 20-ton trucks, his income hasfallen by half. Like many millions ofothers, he is pinching pennies. “Iput off plans to change cars andspend almost nothing on eating outor entertainment,” he said.

‘I have no idea when the situationwill turn better.”

Factories reopened in March afterPresident Xi Jinping visitedWuhan, the city at the center of theoutbreak, in a sign of confidencethe virus was under control. But theconsumers whose spending propelsChina’s economic growth are still

afraid of losing their jobs orcatching the virus.

They holding onto their moneydespite official efforts to lure themback to shopping malls and autoshowrooms. Data due out Friday isexpected to show the economycontracted by up to 9% in January-March, its worst performance sincethe late 1970s.

That is a blow to automakers andother global companies that hopeChina, after leading the way into aglobal shutdown, might power arecovery from the most painfulslump since the Great Depression ofthe 1930s. “What is not fully back, oris completely missing, is thedemand,” said Louis Kuijs ofOxford Economics.

In Europe, the first tentative stepsat winding back economicallycrippling restrictions were alsorunning into resistance, asshoppers stayed away from the fewstores that were reopening andsome workers feared the newlyrestored freedoms could put theirhealth at risk.

The streets of Rome were largelydeserted despite an easing ofrestrictions this week that allowedsome businesses to reopen. InChina, e-commerce got a boost whenfamilies stuck at home boughtgroceries and other items online.But forecasters expect little to nogrowth in this year’s total spendingon clothing, food and otherconsumer goods.

Covid-19 stimulus package torevive economy could be 2%-4% of GDP: Official

NEW DELHI (TIP): Expectations for a relief and stimuluspackage for individuals and businesses rose after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi reviewed on Thursday, in a meetingwith finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the impact onthe Indian economy of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19)and the ongoing national lockdown aimed at limiting itsspread.

According to a report in HT, chief economic adviserKrishnamurthy Subramanian is putting together thepackage.

People familiar with the matter said that the stimuluswould be announced shortly, but none of the officials HTspoke to could give an exact date.

The meeting between the PM and the finance ministercomes against the backdrop of demands by industry bodiesof a package anywhere between Rs 14 lakh crore and Rs 16lakh crore to revive the economy. There’s been littleeconomic activity since the lockdown was declared on March25.

There has been some easing of restrictions since, andmore will be eased on April 20, especially for manufacturingfacilities in economic enclaves and businesses focused onrural India, but the lockdown is to continue till May 3.

Two people familiar with the matter said on condition ofanonymity that the package will cover the farm sector,micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and largebusinesses.

There could also be something in it for individualtaxpayers, said a third person, adding that the size of thepackage could be anything between 2% and 4% of the GDP.That will work out between Rs 5 lakh crore and Rs 7.5 lakhcrore. None of the three wished to be identified.

US WEEKLY JOBLESSCLAIMS TOP 5.2 MILLION IN LATEST WEEK

WASHINGTON (TIP): Another 5.2 millionmore Americans sought unemployment benefitslast week, lifting total filings for claims over thepast month above an astounding 20 million,which would underscore the deepening economicslump caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The Labor Department on Thursday said 5.245million new unemployment claims were filed lastweek, down from a slightly revised 6.615 millionthe week before.

According to a Reuters survey of economists,initial claims were expected to have fallen to5.105 million in the week ended April 11.Estimates in the survey went as high as 8 million.

The report followed dismal data on Wednesdayshowing a record drop in retail sales in Marchand the biggest decline in factory output since1946.

Economists are predicting the economy, whichthey believe is already in recession, contracted inthe first quarter at its sharpest pace since WorldWar II.

Weekly jobless claims, the most timely data onthe economy’s health, are being closely watchedfor clues on the depth of the downturn, when thewaves of layoffs may let up and when a recoverymight start.

“The decline in economic activity isbreathtaking,” said Joel Naroff, chief economistat Naroff Economics in Holland, Pennsylvania.“While we will see an initial upturn once theeconomy reopens, the strength and length of thatrecovery is not clear at all.”

28 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020ASTROLOGY

ARIES: Ganesha says the Moon will drive youto attain success or pre-eminence in the world.But please don't get arrogant in the process andfeel that you are above the law. You may get toodomineering and this is something you have tobe wary about. Try not to force your views onothers. It may be wise and in your own intereststo help others along the way.

TAURUS: Ganesha says this is aninflammable period and you will have to guardagainst excesses and becoming a law untoyourself. Do not also get into arguments. This isnot the right time for any sort of discord as itcould lead to more complications. Small issuescan escalate and get blown out of proportion. Becalm and let the moment pass, advises Ganesha.You do not need the police or the courts to sortout your life, do you?

GEMINI: You are filled with revolutionaryideas which will force a transformation of somekind in your life. You may encounter someonewho has a powerful effect upon you and showsyou a good reason to change. This person is soconvincing that you even listen to whatever issaid, you may follow orders to the letter. In amarriage or love relationship, the two of youmay disagree strongly on the management ofmoney.

CANCER: Ganesha says do not wasteprecious time fighting over joint resources. It isnot worth it. Do not make money the centraltheme of your existence, however important itis to your daily life. You learn a lot in thisperiod, says Ganesha. It may be the right timeto assert yourself in the world. You think ofseveral ideas to forge ahead. But there could besome distress too.

LEO: Ganesha says hurts of the past begin tobother you and you feel very sensitive andvulnerable. There may be new and relatedpinpricks. You are distressed, hurt, and youdistance yourself from the incident as quickly aspossible. But there is a silver lining to thismoment. If you move away and observe this hurtfrom a distance, you have an outstandingopportunity to gain new strength and confidence.

VIRGO: Ganesha says this is an excellent timefor writers, filmmakers, artists andphotographers. You delve deep into the creativitywithin you and make masterpieces come alive. Youwork from the soul; there is truth and honesty andno compromises. Ganesha blesses you. There isstability in your affairs and you move ahead withbig plans. There may be a wedding in the family oran addition to it; even both.

LIBRA: Ganesha says this is an excellent timefor all kinds of mental work as you are especiallydecisive and firm. You will be in an upbeat moodand will make a positive impression on those youmeet. This influence also favours cooperativeventures and teamwork. You are good atnegotiations and sorting out differences ofopinion. There could be work-related travel tooand you make many new plans for the comingperiod as you could be signing many new deals.

SCORPIO: You are hyper-active, your energylevel is high, and you are restless to get going. Youare brimming with confidence and new ideas andwill surprise everyone with your brilliance. Thetravel continues. You are reaching out to the stars,if I may say so. There is money and honey andseveral other inducements to keep slogging away.There is love in the air and the hint of a newromance.

SAGITTARIUS: Ganesha says you check yourbalance sheets and realize that you are sittingpretty. You may visit a health spa for treatmentand recuperation. If you have been going to onein the past, it may be a good idea to check outanother one. Holistic treatments are similar in asense but different health resorts will providenew experiences. Ganesha says that all will bewell and health will not be a troublesome issue.

CAPRICORN: Ganesha says you are verysensitive and emotional now. There may bebereavement in the family and you put the blamesquarely on yourself. You are not to blame; don'tlet the guilt eat you up. Ganesha says all chronicdiseases will find a cure or will stabilize. It mayalso be a good time to go on a pilgrimage withthe family in tow. Live with gratitude and peace.Go for it, urges Ganesha.

AQUARIUS: Ganesha says you are not blame;don't let the guild eat you up. This is part andparcel of life and the grim reaper can't be keptaway; he will arrive at any time in everyone'slife. You spend time in prayer and with friendsand in reflection. Work is not on your mind now.The family is the most important thing on yourmind. You spend long moments in solitude andreflection. This too shall pass, says Ganesha.

PISCES: Ganesha says you slowly get back tothe good mood of celebrations and big plans. It ispossible now to make your ideas become areality. This is an excellent time for new businessdeals and to sign new contracts. You will dowonders with a little foresight and wisdom. Onceagain, I repeat, don't be on a solo trip. Bring theteam into your plans, at least a confidante. Letothers whet your plans too. It will help in theexecution.

Shree Ganeshaya Namah

Bejan Daruwalla is world's most famousastrologertoday. He appears regularly onworld wide TV shows. Bejan who has been aprofessor in English, hasauthored a numberof books on astrology. India'sPrime MinisterNarendra Modi , on March 29, 2012,lunchedone of Bejan's books, '2012- End oftheWorld? Bejan contributes to a number ofjournals andnewspapers in many parts of theworld which includeBerkley Communications(London) Times of India(Delhi, Mumbai,Kolkata, Chennai) and The IndianPanorama (New York and Texas). Bejan'spredictionshave mostly been correct andpeople the world overrely on his predictions.

Bejan Daruwalla is available for astrological

consultations. He can be reached at

info@bejandaruwalla.com and on phone

91-8141234275www.bejandaruwalla.com

Weekly Horoscope April 20 - April 26, 2020

The Indian Panorama brings you Weekly and Birthday Horoscope from the World's mosttrusted astrologer Bejan Daruwalla. Latest correct prediction: Modi's historic victory

April 20:Ganesha says you may feel enervatedor still seeking along or private time. But therewill be bumps and jumps in the road of dailyactivities that will require you to leave yourcocoon and take care of stuff.

April 21:The wee hours could bring nervousfidgets of confusing feelings about somethingsudden. Partners will contribute a lot of ideasas the day goes on. Your best moment is rightbefore midnight.

April 22: Bad feelings or relationship

problems in the morning could lead to retreatlater or, by the later day comes, there'll be alot to say. You may prefer confidentially if asecret is involved.

April 23:The best advice for everybody todayis, "Take cover!" Lies, suspicions, accusations,obsessive thinking, and ugly power strugglescourt the day, all involving your potent.

April 24:You're going to need more than evenlogic and intuition this morning to get pastdefensive or insecure reactions. It's not till

tonight that reason prevails again andeveryone kisses goodnight.

April 25:If you're trying to shine in your careertoday, you might have to develop a strongersense of confidence and drama. Accepting alittle help might be just what you needed.

April 26:If you've been holding things in aboutwork or health and needing time to yourself,there could be an outburst; or a decisionrequired can come suddenly or be a surprise.

Birthday Horoscope April 20 - April 26, 2020

According to the Hindu scriptures,people believe that there arenumerous Hindu deities. All

these deities are Avatars orincarnations of Lord Vishnu, LordShiva, Lord Brahma and Shakti.Moreover, we worship the particulardeity with whom we feel someconnection. As per the Agni Purana, itis believed that if you worship God asper your sun sign then it brings more ofauspiciousness in life.

When you worship a particular deityas per your sun sign, it helps to boostyour celestial energy and it also makesan impact on the deity to pacify theplanetary motions.

However, if you don't know whichGods are to be worshiped according toyour sun sign, just go through thefollowing points that will give you aclear perception about the same:

For AriesMars is the ruling planet for this sun

sign. There is an unspoken connectionbetween Lord Hanuman and the planetMars. Both are lords of the day Tuesday(Mangalvaar) in mythology andastrology respectively.. To strengthenthe planet Mars, Arians should worshipLord Hanuman.

For TaurusPlanet Venus is the master of this

zodiac. Tuarians must wear whiteclothes and perfumes. Like Librans,they should also worship GoddessLaxmi. As Venus is ruled by GoddessMahalakshmi, Taureans should offerprayers to Goddess Laxmi.

For GeminiThe governing planet for Gemini is

Mercury. The ruling God for Mercury is"Srimannarayan", hence all Geminismust worship Lord Srimannarayan forfast benefits and good fortune in theirlives.

For CancerMoon is the governing planet of

Cancer. Goddess Gauri is the ruling Godof Moon. Gauri is the personification ofpeace and compassion and, hence, ifyour sun sign is Cancer, you must offer

your prayers to this Goddess withutmost devotion to fulfill your desires.

For LeoSun is the ruling planet for Leo and

Lord Shiva is the ruling God for thisplanet. Offering water to the Sun in themorning will bring success for you.

For VirgoThose born under sign Virgo, have

their ruling planet as Mercury andtheir ruling God is LordSrimannarayan. Donating greenclothes will be beneficial for yourbusiness.

For LibraIf your sun sign is Libra, it is ruled by

Venus and the ruling deity of this

planet is Goddess Lakshmi. Thus, byworshiping Goddess Lakshmi, you canachieve good luck and wealth. Broadlyspeaking, Goddess Durga and all heravatars can be worshiped by Librans.Goddess Durga has nine main avatars.Among them Goddess Lakshmi andGoddess Santoshi are mainlyworshiped by Librans. Santoshi Mata isthe daughter of Lord Ganaesha. Thisdeity is worshiped to get peace andprosperity.

For ScorpioMars planet rules this zodiac sign

and, hence, all Scorpions shouldvenerate Lord Shiva to strengthen theirMars planet.

For SagittariusJupiter as their ruling planet, and

their ruling lord is Sri DakshinaMurthy. Sagittarians must feed yellow

colored cows with green grass.

For CapricornThe planet Mars is the ruling planet

for Capricorn. Lord Shiva is the rulingGod of this planet, hence, allCapricorns must offer their prayers toLord Shiva.

For AquariusPlanet Mars governs this zodiac sign.

Lord Shiva is the principle deity whorules Mars. Thus, if you are born underthe Aquarius sign, you must venerateLord Shiva daily by chanting hismantra with pure heart and dedication.

For PiscesPisces is also ruled by the Jupiter

planet. All Pisceans must offer theirprayers to Shri Dakhsinamurthy forbetter results.

WHICH GOD SHOULD YOUWORSHIP AS PER YOUR SUN SIGN

ARISH K. SAHANI SSeerrvviinngg SSiinnccee 11997722

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““IInnddiiaannss aalloonnee ccaann ssaavvee IInnddiiaa,, aanndd IInnddiiaa aanndd HHiinndduuiissmm aarree oonnee..””

29THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 SPIRITUALITY

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contd from page 1Governor Cuomo

extends lockdown ofState until May 15

also down significantly, Cuomo said, asis the three-day hospitalization average.

The state reported 606 deaths onWednesday - still a "staggering" numberbut a decrease from 752 on Tuesday. Ofthe deaths, 577 were in hospitals and 29were in nursing homes.

Health officials report more than214,800 cases of the coronavirus in NewYork, with more than 14,000 deaths.Across the country, nearly 640,300 casesof COVID-19 have been reported andabout 31,015 people have died.

In an effort to keep reducing theinfection rate, Cuomo is expanding hisexecutive order requiring masks inpublic. Announced on Wednesday, theorder requires people to wear somethingthat covers their noses and mouths whenin places where social distancing is notpossible.

He added to that order, stating that allriders and operators must wear acovering on private, public and for-hiretransportation. The requirement will gointo effect at 8 p.m. Friday.

With regard to lifting restrictions,Cuomo said officials must perform a riskversus reward analysis to ensure thatnormal operations can resume withoutthe infection rate increasing. New Yorkwill work with other states in the regionto coordinate a gradual reopening ofbusinesses.

State officials will work to determinewhat businesses can be reopened with a

minimal threat to public health and howthose businesses can operate in the "newnormal," ensuring safety for employeesand customers.

Cuomo said the numbers show "we cancontrol the beast" and that the mitigationefforts are working. Experts estimatethat the average number of people onesick person can infect has dropped belowone - a measure they say suggests therate of infection is stable. After Chinaimposed some of the most drasticrestrictions amid its outbreak, the ratedropped as low as 0.3.

Cuomo continued to stress theimportance of good social distancingpractices and a slow, phased reopening ofthe state. He acknowledged that therecent restrictions are some of the mostlife-changing ever implemented butinsisted they are necessary to control thepandemic.

"Of all the unique aspects of thiscrisis, the most positive and surprisingto me is how people are responding,"Cuomo said. "People are choosing to dothe right thing."

'I trust New Yorkers, you know. Ibelieve if the facts are presented to thepeople of the state, New Yorkers will dothe right thing.

'I can't put a mask on 17million people -they will decide if they'll do it. But theyhave done it because they have the facts,the information, they understand theconsequences and what they have done isworked and it has brought this stateforward and it will bring this nationforward.

'New York tough is more complex thanthe word suggests. It's smart, united,disciplined and loving. New Yorkers have

proven that time and time again, everyday, for 46 days.' (Agencies)

contd from page 2India’s Governance

Response to Covid-19I would encourage readers to like our

Facebook page (@indiainnewyork) sothat they remain virtually connectedwhile being socially distant.

Government of India is acutely awareof the need to balance our centralconcern about the welfare of our citizenswith our global responsibilities. India isa major source of pharmaceuticals. Weare committed to acting responsibly

during this crisis. There is no outrightban on exports of critical drugs andrequests are being examined andresponded to appropriately. Severalconsignments of critical medicines havebeen cleared and dispatched to theUnited States. Cooperation betweenIndian and US scientific organizations isalso going ahead on how to mitigate andcombat the virus. In a tragic way thiscrisis has brought us together and we seemuch greater India-US strategic andeconomic cooperation in a post-Covidworld.

(The author is Consul General of India in NewYork. He can be reached at Cg.newyork@mea.gov.in)

contd from page 21Trump proposes 3-phasedcountry re-opening plan

New York's Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio said thathe had told Trump and Vice President Mike Pence thatthe restrictions should be kept everywhere because theareas with low infections now could end up like his city.

Before Trump's announcement, New York's DemocratGovernor Andrew Cuomo extended the state's Stay-at-Home orders shutting down educational institutionsand non-essential businesses till May 15.

Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told herlegislators to rely on scientists and not on Trump andwarned that Americans cannot return to work safelyunless there is adequate testing.

Fauci, who is widely respected by the nation and sofar by Democrats, backed Trump calling the plan "arather robust program for re-entering into normality".

He gave the assurance that for the physicians,scientists, or public health experts involved indeveloping the plan "the predominant and completelydriving element that we put into this was the safety andthe health of the American public".

"We are a very large country and we have differentdynamics in the country," he said explaining the phasedand targeted reopening.

But he also warned: "There may be some setbacksthat we may have to pull back a little. And then goforward." Trump initially wanted to loosen therestrictions on April 12, Easter Sunday, but on theadvice of his medical experts, he held off. His nexttarget date was May 1 and he may be able to partiallymeet it.

There have been public protests in some placesagainst the lockdown.

The US has so far managed keep the infections anddeaths far below the predictions of deaths that rangedfrom 2.2 million to 240,000 to 80,000 according todifferent models and scenarios of mitigation.

So far there have been only 671,151 infections and33,268 deaths in the pandemic.

Some states have very few cases like Wyoming, amostly rural state that has recorded only 296 cases andtwo deaths, while the pandemic's epicenter New Yorkhas had 293,661 cases with 14,832 deaths as ofWednesday evening.

Because of this, Trump leaves it to the Governors todecide how to proceed based on the guidelinesdeveloped by the medical experts in conjunction withthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump said that some states already meet the gatingcriteria and can start the first phase "tomorrow".

Birx, a respected physician and epidemiologist whowon her spurs in the battle against AIDS, is the

coordinator of the White House Coronavirus TaskForce and she outlined the plan in detail.

To be gated in order to begin the phases, a state willhave to have a downward trajectory of people with bothinfluenza and COVID-19 symptoms as well those testingpositive for the disease, in addition to having adequatetesting for health care workers.

In the first phase, some of the workers can return towork in phases, with special accommodation forvulnerable people and social distancing, buttelecommuting will be the preferred method.

Vulnerable people will be under Stay-at-Home rulesand others will have to observe social distancing andgroups of more than ten will not be allowed to socialize.

Religious meetings and events like sports can takeplace under social distancing norms.

If there is no rebound and the states again meet thegating requirement like cases going down further over14 days, they can move to the second phase, whererestrictions are further loosened to allow socialize ingroups of up to 50, permit non-essential travel, andreopen schools and gyms, allow elective surgery.

After again meeting the gating criteria, states canmove to the third phase, which will allow vulnerablepeople to resume public activities, drop workplacerestrictions to allow full staffing and permit sports andother such events with limited physical distancingrequirements. (Source:IANS)

33THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 TRAVEL

Ablanket of greenery on undulatinghills; unending expanse ofplantations; pine forests with

crisscrossing rivulets and silverwaterfalls; sprawling meadows, and asalubrious, quixotic climate -- MotherNature seems to be have held nothingback when it came to blessing Peermede.

Peermede, also known as Peerumedu,lies about 915 m above sea level, and isaround 35 km from Thekkady on theKottayam route. This unspoiled andpicturesque hill station of the SahyadriRanges is a favourite haunt of manytourists to Kerala.

Years back, when the TravancoreRajas discovered this small but strikinglybeautiful locality, they fell in love with itsvelvet greenery, cascading waterfalls andmist-cloaked hilltops. They madePeermede their summer retreat andadded to the charm of the place withtheir palaces, colonial bungalows and soon.

The hill station ambiencePeermede, earlier a stopover for

tourists on their way to Thekkady, hasgrown into a tourist destination onlyrecently.

The hills of Peermede are covered insoft green grass, pine forests andplantations. Among its many attractionsare small silver waterfalls, mist-engulfedvalleys, rivulets that criss-cross theunending stretch of plantations, thelingering aroma of spices in the air andthe calming effect that the place has onthe body and the soul. If you are a touristinterested in farming and agriculture,Peermede, which has a wealth of floraincluding medicinal plants, is a greatplace to watch organic farming at closequarters.

Peermede is also a great place fortrekking - especially the Kuttikkanamregion. Kalthotti, Peeru Hills,Karandakapara, Grampi,Parunthumpara and Memala are someother places nearby that offer excellenttrekking routes. Other scenic places like

Mathai Kokka, Pattumala and theKokkad Hills are well worth visiting. Thewaterfalls in the area include Meloram,Nallathanni and Valanjanganam andthese greatly add to the value ofPeermede as a tourist destination.

Interesting sightsKuttikkanam

The town of Kuttikkanam, in thevicinity of Peermede, is a well-knownadventure sport destination providinggreat opportunities for trekking.

Kuttikkanam is at an altitude of 3,850feet from the sea-level. The beauty of theplace, the surrounding lush green hillsand the cool clime make it ideal for atranquil break. Kuttikkanam also offersbreathtaking views of the sunrise andsunset. In winter, it gets pretty cold and ifyou wander too far from youraccommodation, you could get lost in thefog.

With many professional colleges andeducational institutions coming up in thearea, Kuttikkanam is becoming a

prominent educational centre in Kerala.

Summer PalaceThe summer palace at Peermede was

built for the Travancore royal family inthe early 1900s. Though it is now in adilapidated condition, many facets of thepalace evoke a glorious past.

The smoke-stained hearth, the durbarhall, which would have witnessed many aroyal intrigue and discussion, the vastkitchen and dining area, the bedchambers and the endless corridors alltell tales of an opulent time. The palacealso has a prison cell and anunderground passage. Outside, you willfind a huge central courtyard and stables.A caretaker at the palace will show youaround the entire building.

Another landmark that has left themark of the Travancore royalty onPeermede is the Ammachikkottaram (the Maharani’s palace). Today, thiserstwhile summer residence ofMaharani Sethu Lakshmi Bai is privateproperty. The summer residence of theDewan of Travancore is also nearby.

Peeru HillsThis hill station is four km from

Peermede and a kilomrtre fromKuttikkanam. It is named after the Sufisaint, Peer Mohammed as is Peermede.The view from the top of the hills, whichis surrounded by ravines on all sides, ofthick greenery and the gushing waterfallof Valanjanganam, is absolutelyenchanting.

There is also a partially damagedmausoleum at the foot of the hills thatattracts a lot of visitors.

St. George’s CSI church, PallikkunnuPallikkunnu houses one of the oldest

churches in the high ranges of Kerala,the St. George’s CSI Church. The church,an architectural marvel in 17 acres ofland, was built by Rev. Henry BakerJunior in 1867.

The teakwood beams, majestic archesand the beautiful ceiling stand testimonyto Baker’s dedication, eye for beauty andattention to detail. The church,surrounded by cypress and pine trees,also has a beautiful bell tower. Inside,you will see an old and much-used piano.Though it was renovated in 1990, thechurch still carries an old-world charmthat attract a lot of visitors.

During the last decades of the 20thcentury, Tamil Mass was conducted atthe church for a few years, owing to arapid increase in the number ofTamilians attending the service. TheChurch Mission Society appointedNallathampi, a Tamilian, as theclergyman during that time. Mass inEnglish too was conducted forforeigners. Even now, Mass in English isconducted once a month.

Another peculiarity of the church isthat it is the resting place for the Britishplanters and other Europeans who cameto the area in the 19th and early 20thcentury. The churchyard carries manystones erected in memory of Europeanplanters. A birth and death record is keptat the church which carries the details ofmany Europeans who settled hereduring the 19th century.

PEERMEDE: AN UNSPOILEDHILL STATION OF SOUTH

Sri Lanka offers to host IPL2020, RCB coach suggests

Australia as alternativeF1 may have to slim down forraces without a crowd

Formula One could start the season behindlocked gates and without spectators due to theCOVID-19 pandemic but the glamour sport will

likely have to slim down considerably to get the greenlight to go racing.

Across Europe, bans on mass gatherings andpublic events have been extended into July andAugust even as countries begin to emerge from thestrict lockdowns that have put sporting activities onhold.

Formula One’s season remains stalled, with sevenraces postponed so far and organisers talking of areduced calendar possibly running into January. TheBBC reported on Thursday, after team bosses held anonline meeting, that the latest plan was to startbehind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and thenhold two races at Silverstone, a home venue for sevenof the 10 teams.Racefans.net suggested Silverstonecould be on for three races in four weeks and ondifferent layouts.

Formula One’s managing director Ross Brawnindicated earlier this month that radical measureswere under consideration.”We’re looking at thelogistics of a closed race, how would we get thepeople there, how would we protect them, how wouldwe make it safe, who would we allow into thepaddock,” he said.

UEFA has a plan for ChampionsLeague final in late August

UEFA is hoping the Champions League final canbe played at the end of August in Istanbul,three months after the competition’s

showpiece was due to be staged.The aim is to play the final on Saturday, Aug. 29 at

the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, a personfamiliar with the planning told The Associated Presson Thursday.

However, the person said that date is only feasibleif European leagues are able to resume playingaround July or August, an aspiration set out by UEFAin a letter sent out to clubs and national associationstwo weeks ago.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity todiscuss plans ahead of next week’s UEFA talks.

Any planning to resume competitions is still onlyaspirational as large parts of Europe remain inlockdown to contain the spread of the newcoronavirus.

Sport was largely shut down across the continent amonth ago as governments banned mass gatherings.

The Champions League final was originallyscheduled for May 30 before being postponed byUEFA on March 23.

34 THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020SPORTS

With the Indian PremierLeague (IPL) 2020 seasonhaving been postponed

indefinitely owing to the extensionof the coronavirus-inducedlockdown, one possibility beingsuggested is to hold the IPL at analternate venue. The Sri Lankacricket board has reportedlywritten to BCCI intimating them oftheir willingness to host the season.

Shammi Silva, the president ofSri Lanka’s cricket board, toldSinhala daily Lankadeepa,“Apparently it will cost the BCCIand its stakeholders more than $500million to cancel the IPL. If theyplay it in Sri Lanka, it’s easy forIndian audiences to watch thegames on TV. There’s precedent forthis because they’ve played the IPLin South Africa before. We’rewaiting for the Indian board torespond to our proposal.”

“It looks like Sri Lanka will beclear of the coronavirus beforeIndia,” Reuters quoted the cricketchief as saying.

On the other hand, Simon Katich,the head coach of Royal Challengers

Bangalore, said his team would behappy if the IPL season is shifted tocountries like Australia and SouthAfrica.

“There would be a few teams – usin particular at RCB, we’d be veryhappy for it to be played abroad,because a number of our overseasplayers are Australian and SouthAfrican, who really would enjoy

these conditions in Australia,”Katich told SEN Radio.

There have been two pastoccasions when the IPL has beenshifted out of the country. The UAEhad hosted the first two weeks ofIPL in 2014 when the Lok Sabhapolls were held in India. The 2009IPL had been moved to SouthAfrica, also due to elections.

Chelsea to provide 78,000 mealsfor medical, charity workers

LONDON (TIP): Chelsea willprovide 78,000 free meals to Britain’sNational Health Service and charitiesthat support the elderly and vulnerableduring the coronavirus crisis, thePremier League club said Thursday.

The Blues’ donation will help NHSstaff working long hours across fivehospitals.

“We are and have always beencommitted to supporting ourcommunities, especially thevulnerable, and at this time werecognise this is more important thanever,” Chelsea chairman Bruce Bucksaid.

“Our owner, Roman Abramovich, has

been instrumental in challenging us tofind ways to support those in need.”

Manchester United’s Old Traffordstadium, normally a sea of red, will belit up in blue to show support for theNHS during the pandemic.

Old Trafford was due to turn thecolour of United’s local rivalsManchester City to coincide with theweekly public “clap for carers” tributeon Thursday at 1900 GMT.

“While Old Trafford is not normallybathed in blue, it’s been organised torecognise the extraordinary efforts ofthe frontline workers battling theCOVID-19 pandemic,” United said in astatement.

CricketAustralia laysoff staff tillJune-end

Cricket Australia onThursday laid offmajority of its

staff till June 30 as itbattled a financial crisistriggered by the COVID-19 pandemic butremained hopeful of theT20 World Cup inO c t o b e r - N o v e m b e r,followed by the Indiatour being held onschedule.

The Australianfinancial year starts onJuly 1 and ends on June30, which means thatemployees have been laidoff for a period of twoand half months duringwhich it is impossible tohave any sportingactivity with no chanceof normalcy around thecorner.

“We have made thedecision during thisperiod of isolation,where activity hasnaturally been reduced,to stand down our peopleon reduced pay (with theexception of a skeletonstaff) effective 27 Aprilfor the remainder of thefinancial year,” CA saidin a statement.

35THE INDIAN PANORAMAFRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 ADVERTISEMENT

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