12
T he country saw a big spike in number of positive cases on Thursday with the total count crossing 6,650 and death toll breaching 200 mark. With States still reporting the numbers at the time of writ- ing this report, Thursday could see the biggest one-day jump since the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Maharashtra may have recorded both the highest number of positive cases and deaths, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State Gujarat has record- ed the highest mortality rate. The total count is based on figures tallied from States till late in the evening. As many as 25 persons on Thursday succumbed to Covid-19 in Maharashtra tak- ing the total number of deaths to 97 in the State, while an alarming 229 persons tested positive for coronavirus in a single day. Overall, it has reported more than 1,450 cases. Maharashtra appeared to be peaking in terms of the spread of coronavirus, as the pandemic shocked the State health authorities by claiming 25 lives. Pune accounted for a maximum 14 deaths, while there were nine deaths in Mumbai. Malegaon and Ratnagiri reported one death each. Tamil Nadu added 96 new cases on Thursday to reach a total of 834 followed by Delhi with 51 new cases and total of 720. Telangana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh were all in the 400-plus bracket while Andhra Pradesh and Kerala added 15 and 12 cases respectively. While AP had 363 cases Kerala had 357 positive cases. Gujarat reported as many as 56 new cases on Thursday while Chhattisgarh suddenly saw addition of nine new cases to the existing one active case. Bihar and Jharkhand where the number of positive cases were low till now have also come into the grip of the deadly virus, reporting 12 and nine new cases respectively. Uttar Pradesh too painted grim picture with 49 new cases till late evening taking the total tally to 410. On Wednesday, the Yogi Government in Uttar Pradesh decided to strengthen restrictions on movement in 105 hotspots of the Covid-19 disease in 15 districts, pro- hibiting people in these places from stepping out of their houses to buy even grocery and other essential items. Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad are among the districts where the restrictions have come into effect till April 15 morning. Similarly, cases in Punjab witnessed northward move- ment, adding 24 new cases to its Covid kitty of 130 positive cases. The ICMR said that 1,30,000 samples have been tested so far. Out of these 5,734 samples tested positive till date. Positivity rate ranges between 3-5 per cent in the last 1-1.5 months. It has not increased substantially, said a senior scientist from the ICMR. Meanwhile, the analysis of the death rate showed some interesting findings. Till April 8, Maharashtra reported 72 deaths and 1,135 cases, which worked out to a mortality rate of 6.34 per cent, which incidentally is the third highest in the country, accord- ing to an analytical report released by the Medical Education and Drugs Department. T he Government on Thursday geared up for a long battle against coronavirus and put in place a five-year 15,000-crore plan to ramp up its health infrastructure to deal with the crisis. This will be 100 per cent Centrally-funded scheme to strengthen national and State- level health systems. The COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package will be implemented in three phases from January 2020 to June 2020, from July 2020 to March 2021 and from April 2021 to March 2024. This fund will be divided among all States and Union Territories. The Central Government aims to arm States with ade- quate Covid-19 dedicated hos- pitals, isolation wards, person- al protection equipment (PPE) in the first phase of the three- phase funding project from January 2020 to March 2024. The fund will be utilised for immediate COVID-19 Emergency Response (amount of 7,774 crores) and rest for medium-term support (1-4 years) to be provided under mission mode approach. “The project will be imple- mented with the objectives of emergency COVID-19 response, strengthening nation- al and State systems, procure- ment of essential medical equipment and drugs, strength- ening of surveillance including setting up of laboratories and bio-security preparedness,” the Health Ministry said in a letter to the States and UTs. The letter stated that the Union Ministry will release the funds immediately for the implementation of the plan. The Union Health Ministry has already disbursed 4,113 crore to all the States and UTs for dealing with the emergency COVID response. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had late last month said that it will be used for treating coro- navirus patients and strength- ening the medical infrastruc- ture such as rapidly ramping up the number of corona testing facilities, PPE, isolation beds, ICU beds, ventilators and other essential equipment. On its part, the Centre on Thursday said that there were enough PPEs and Hydroxychloroquine tablets in India. Addressing the daily presser, Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Aggarwal said the fear around the dearth of PPEs was unfounded and mis- guided. He said contrary to popu- lar belief, PPE does not only mean overall covers, “It’s a mix of components. Only in high-risk areas, the whole com- ponent is used while in other places, N95 masks and gloves were sufficient.” F ollowing the complete restrictions on the move- ment in hotspots across the national Capital to stop the COVID-19 spread, the resi- dents in these areas found it difficult to get essential items such as milk, vegetable and other household commodities. As the Delhi Police increased its vigil across the 21 hotspots in the city since Wednesday night, there was chaos like situation, before people could really come to terms with the fact that they are not supposed to venture out of their homes under any cir- cumstances. However after the initial panic, it seems the people realised that this the new nor- mal for a few days. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced “Operation SHIELD” in 21 containment zones and warned of strict action against those misbe- having with healthcare per- sonnel in the city. O disha has become the first State in the country to extend the 21-day lockdown — which was scheduled to end on April 14 — till April 30 to end the Covid-19 crisis. The Naveen Patnaik Government on Thursday announced the decision even as the Centre weighs the propos- al by many States to expand the duration of the shutdown. The CM also declared schools and other educational institutions will remain closed till June 17. “We have decided to extend the lockdown till April 30. We will also recommend to the Government of India to extend the national lockdown up to 30th April, Patnaik said in a video message soon after the Cabinet meeting he held with five senior ministers through video- conferencing. Odisha has recorded 44 positive cases of coronavirus so far and one death from the dis- ease. A ccording to news reports, about 150 members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family have contracted the coron- avirus. Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulziz al Saud, the Governor of Riyadh and a nephew of King Salman, was confirmed to have tested pos- itive by two doctors, a person close to the family told The New York Times. King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) have retreated into iso- lation to avoid the outbreak. Doctors at an elite hospital that treats royals are preparing 500 more beds for an expect- ed influx of patients. “Directives are to be ready for VIPs from around the country,” the operators of the elite facility, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, wrote in a “high alert” sent out electron- ically on Tuesday to senior doc- tors and later obtained by the Times. “We don’t know how many cases we will get but high alert,” said the message, which instructed “all chronic patients to be moved out ASAP” and only “top urgent cases” will be accepted, according to the newspaper. The alert added any infect- ed staff members will now be treated at a less elite hospital to save room for royals. There are thousands of Saudi princes. Many travel reg- ularly to Europe and some are believed to have contracted the virus abroad and brought it back to Saudi Arabia, the report said. F armers in Delhi and the neighbouring States are at their wits’ end as the lockdown and labour shortage have made it difficult for them to start har- vesting the Rabi crop. Exemption for agricultural operation by the State Governments has come to their rescue in this situation. Farmers in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh said their crops are ripe to be harvested but there is shortage of labour- ers, harvesting machines and even there are no adathis (mid- dlemen) in Anaj Mandi. The lockdown also led to an unprecedented exodus of workers from their places of work, to their homes in far- flung villages across the coun- try. The Pioneer visited villages in Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and bordering vil- lages of Delhi, where farmers rued that the shortage of labour and the lockdown has crippled the wholesale market. Some farmers harvested wheat in March, but most of them harvest their crops by mid-April to May first week. W hile epidemiologists and micro bacterium spe- cialists are working round- the-clock all over the world to develop a medicine for COVID-19, Veda Patha Shalas (schools teaching Vedas and Upanishads) in Tamil Nadu vil- lages echo with recitation of Dhanvantari mantras (shlokas invoking Lord Dhanvantari, believed to be an incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu) to ward off the disease and save mankind. Children in the age group of 8-15, who study Vedas in Kumbakonam’s Veda Path Shala in Kathira Mangalam village, wake up early morning, finish their morning ablution and commence reciting the Dhanvantari mantra hundreds of thousands times. More than the songs of the cuckoos, what wakes up the villagers each morning is “Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Dhanvantarye Amritakalasha Hastaya…” the recitation of the time-tested Dhanvantari mahamantra, the famous shlo- ka from Vedic times. The shloka is recited by the students of Vedic science and they have only one prayer to make to the Maker: “Save the world and save the lives from this pandemic.” Not only in Veda Patha Shalas in Tamil Nadu villages but even in far away the United States of America, one can hear the chanting of Dhanvantari mantra. Dr Rekha Sreekanth, paramedical scien- tist, begins her day reciting the Dhanvantari mantra by joining the deeparadhana in the tem- ple in her native place through facebook daily. “We have face- book live from our temple at deeparadhana time (doesn’t show the sanctum sanctorum) but we have that feeling of vis- iting the temple and then the priest chants it,” she said over telephone from Houston. Dr R Krishnamurthi Sastry, Mahamahopadhyaya and a scholar who has been honoured by the President of India, told The Pioneer that Dhanvantari himself is the embodiment of medicine and has the power to remove all dis- eases. “If children in the age group of 8-15, which is the period of innocence, collec- tively recite this shloka, it will have the power to remove not only COVID-19 but any dis- ease. Otherwise this ritual would not have been there. Recitation of Dhanvantari mahamantra and Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra have been around for centuries,” said the Mahamahopadhyaya, widely respected scholar in Tamil Nadu. Yet another proof of the influence of the movement of stars and planets on the well- being of the world was point- ed out by Thantric and Vedic scholar Parappanangadi Unnikrishna Panikkar. He quoted from Western publica- tions, especially from a book authored by Barbara Tuchman, the Pulitzer prize winning his- torian who had found that the Bubonic Plague (1346-1353) which had claimed nearly 200 million people in Eurasia was the fallout of the conjunction of the planets Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the house of the Aquarius. “This is not the claim of the author but what was found out by the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris in 1348,” said Panikkar. W ith the Election Commission of India having postponed the impend- ing elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from MLA con- stituency owing to the lock- down, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has taken to the Governor’s nomination route to become an MLC before the end of the stipulated six-month deadline for him to get elected to either of the Houses of State Legislature. Uddhav, who was sworn in as the CM on November 28 last year, will in the normal course have to get elected to either of the Houses on or before April 28. Gurugram: The Gurugram district witnessed its first coro- navirus death on Thursday as a 75-year-old Italian national died during treatment at the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. This is the first death of a foreign national in the city due to COVID-19. With this, the number of deaths due to coronavirus in Haryana has increased to 2. Mumbai: Alarm bells started ringing in Maharashtra, as Mumbai’s populated Dharavi locality reported third Covid death and 14 positive pan- demic cases, even as the police and health authorities began enforcing the lockdown mea- sures strictly in Asia’s largest slum. A 70-year-old woman from Kalyanwadi in Dharavi died of Covid-19 earlier in the day, taking the number of deaths to three. T o check the growing covid19 spread in Madhya Pradesh, the State Government has on Thursday announced 46 corona hot spots in 15 dis- tricts. These areas would total- ly be sealed. Besides, Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain have been placed under total lockdown till fur- ther orders and borders of these areas have been sealed. None would be allowed to enter or leave these places. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan added that in case of death of any outsider, the last rites would be per- formed in the city itself. Out of these hot spots, eight are in Jabalpur, six in Gwalior, five in Khargone, one each at Morena, Betul, Sheopur, Raisen and Dhar. Five hot spots have been noti- fied at Barwani, two at Vidisha, five at Chhindwara, three at Hoshangabad, two at Khandwa and four at Dewas. All these areas have report- ed positive cases of covid19. Besides, Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain should be put under complete lockdown, keeping it’s border sealed, ordered CM Chouhan. District administrations should ensure supply of essen- tials in these hot spots, ordered Chouhan. In these hot spots, services of all government departments should be availed for corona prevention. The Chief Minister has urged the state denizens to wear masks at public places. Health dept has issued warn- ing of legal action for those who don’t put on masks at pub- lic places. He also ordered FIRs on those who hide corona symp- toms and warned of legal action on those who obstruct people engaged in corona con- trol. With fresh 22 cases, the number of positive cases rose to 235 in Indore and the same was 98 in Bhopal. Numbers of deaths has risen to 23 in Indore. The total number positive cases surged to 427 in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1: + 6 - 1˚6 ˛˚˛˚7 1˛ 1 ˚ ˜ $ˇ$%˛ˆ˚˜ ˙#˚ $&$’(˛%ˆ˛€¦ · interesting findings. Till April 8, Maharashtra reported 72 deaths and 1,135 cases, which worked out to

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The country saw a big spikein number of positive cases

on Thursday with the totalcount crossing 6,650 and deathtoll breaching 200 mark.

With States still reportingthe numbers at the time of writ-ing this report, Thursday couldsee the biggest one-day jumpsince the coronavirus outbreakin the country. Maharashtramay have recorded both thehighest number of positivecases and deaths, but PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’shome State Gujarat has record-ed the highest mortality rate.

The total count is based onfigures tallied from States tilllate in the evening.

As many as 25 persons onThursday succumbed toCovid-19 in Maharashtra tak-ing the total number of deathsto 97 in the State, while analarming 229 persons testedpositive for coronavirus in asingle day. Overall, it hasreported more than 1,450 cases.

Maharashtra appeared tobe peaking in terms of thespread of coronavirus, as thepandemic shocked the Statehealth authorities by claiming25 lives. Pune accounted for amaximum 14 deaths, whilethere were nine deaths inMumbai. Malegaon andRatnagiri reported one deatheach.

Tamil Nadu added 96 newcases on Thursday to reach a

total of 834 followed by Delhiwith 51 new cases and total of720. Telangana, Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh were all in the400-plus bracket while AndhraPradesh and Kerala added 15and 12 cases respectively. WhileAP had 363 cases Kerala had357 positive cases.

Gujarat reported as manyas 56 new cases on Thursdaywhile Chhattisgarh suddenlysaw addition of nine new casesto the existing one active case.Bihar and Jharkhand where thenumber of positive cases werelow till now have also comeinto the grip of the deadly virus,reporting 12 and nine newcases respectively.

Uttar Pradesh too paintedgrim picture with 49 new casestill late evening taking the totaltally to 410. On Wednesday, theYogi Government in UttarPradesh decided to strengthenrestrictions on movement in105 hotspots of the Covid-19disease in 15 districts, pro-hibiting people in these placesfrom stepping out of theirhouses to buy even grocery andother essential items. GautamBuddh Nagar and Ghaziabadare among the districts wherethe restrictions have come intoeffect till April 15 morning.

Similarly, cases in Punjabwitnessed northward move-ment, adding 24 new cases toits Covid kitty of 130 positivecases.

The ICMR said that1,30,000 samples have beentested so far. Out of these5,734 samples tested positive till

date. Positivity rate rangesbetween 3-5 per cent in the last1-1.5 months. It has notincreased substantially, said asenior scientist from the ICMR.

Meanwhile, the analysis ofthe death rate showed someinteresting findings.

Till April 8, Maharashtrareported 72 deaths and 1,135cases, which worked out to amortality rate of 6.34 per cent,which incidentally is the thirdhighest in the country, accord-ing to an analytical reportreleased by the MedicalEducation and DrugsDepartment.

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The Government onThursday geared up for a

long battle against coronavirusand put in place a five-year�15,000-crore plan to rampup its health infrastructure todeal with the crisis.

This will be 100 per centCentrally-funded scheme tostrengthen national and State-level health systems. TheCOVID-19 EmergencyResponse and Health SystemPreparedness Package will beimplemented in three phasesfrom January 2020 to June2020, from July 2020 to March2021 and from April 2021 toMarch 2024. This fund will bedivided among all States andUnion Territories.

The Central Governmentaims to arm States with ade-quate Covid-19 dedicated hos-pitals, isolation wards, person-al protection equipment (PPE)in the first phase of the three-phase funding project fromJanuary 2020 to March 2024.The fund will be utilised forimmediate COVID-19Emergency Response (amountof �7,774 crores) and rest formedium-term support (1-4years) to be provided under

mission mode approach.“The project will be imple-

mented with the objectives ofemergency COVID-19response, strengthening nation-al and State systems, procure-ment of essential medicalequipment and drugs, strength-ening of surveillance includingsetting up of laboratories andbio-security preparedness,” theHealth Ministry said in a letterto the States and UTs.

The letter stated that theUnion Ministry will releasethe funds immediately for theimplementation of the plan.

The Union HealthMinistry has already disbursed�4,113 crore to all the Statesand UTs for dealing with theemergency COVID response.Prime Minister Narendra Modihad late last month said that itwill be used for treating coro-

navirus patients and strength-ening the medical infrastruc-ture such as rapidly ramping upthe number of corona testingfacilities, PPE, isolation beds,ICU beds, ventilators and otheressential equipment.

On its part, the Centre onThursday said that there wereenough PPEs andHydroxychloroquine tablets inIndia. Addressing the dailypresser, Health Ministry’s JointSecretary Lav Aggarwal saidthe fear around the dearth ofPPEs was unfounded and mis-guided.

He said contrary to popu-lar belief, PPE does not onlymean overall covers, “It’s amix of components. Only inhigh-risk areas, the whole com-ponent is used while in otherplaces, N95 masks and gloveswere sufficient.”

�+���� �/�+�� 234$356�

Following the completerestrictions on the move-

ment in hotspots across thenational Capital to stop theCOVID-19 spread, the resi-dents in these areas found itdifficult to get essential itemssuch as milk, vegetable andother household commodities.

As the Delhi Policeincreased its vigil across the 21hotspots in the city since

Wednesday night, there waschaos like situation, beforepeople could really come toterms with the fact that they arenot supposed to venture out oftheir homes under any cir-cumstances.

However after the initialpanic, it seems the peoplerealised that this the new nor-mal for a few days.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Thursdayannounced “OperationSHIELD” in 21 containmentzones and warned of strictaction against those misbe-having with healthcare per-sonnel in the city.

���� 1681/23.4/0

Odisha has become the firstState in the country to

extend the 21-day lockdown —which was scheduled to end onApril 14 — till April 30 to endthe Covid-19 crisis.

The Naveen PatnaikGovernment on Thursdayannounced the decision even asthe Centre weighs the propos-al by many States to expand theduration of the shutdown.

The CM also declaredschools and other educationalinstitutions will remain closedtill June 17.

“We have decided toextend the lockdown till April30. We will also recommend tothe Government of India toextend the national lockdownup to 30th April,

Patnaik said in a videomessage soon after the Cabinetmeeting he held with fivesenior ministers through video-conferencing.

Odisha has recorded 44positive cases of coronavirus sofar and one death from the dis-ease.

����-�� 2349:0-

According to news reports,about 150 members of

Saudi Arabia’s royal familyhave contracted the coron-avirus.

Prince Faisal bin Bandarbin Abdulziz al Saud, theGovernor of Riyadh and anephew of King Salman, wasconfirmed to have tested pos-itive by two doctors, a personclose to the family told TheNew York Times.

King Salman and CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman(MBS) have retreated into iso-lation to avoid the outbreak.

Doctors at an elite hospitalthat treats royals are preparing500 more beds for an expect-ed influx of patients.

“Directives are to be readyfor VIPs from around thecountry,” the operators of theelite facility, the King FaisalSpecialist Hospital, wrote in a“high alert” sent out electron-ically on Tuesday to senior doc-tors and later obtained by theTimes.

“We don’t know how manycases we will get but highalert,” said the message, which

instructed “all chronic patientsto be moved out ASAP” andonly “top urgent cases” will beaccepted, according to thenewspaper.

The alert added any infect-ed staff members will now betreated at a less elite hospital tosave room for royals.

There are thousands ofSaudi princes. Many travel reg-ularly to Europe and some arebelieved to have contractedthe virus abroad and brought itback to Saudi Arabia, the reportsaid.

�+�/+������+.�+��� �/�+�� 234$356�

Farmers in Delhi and theneighbouring States are at

their wits’ end as the lockdownand labour shortage have madeit difficult for them to start har-vesting the Rabi crop.Exemption for agriculturaloperation by the StateGovernments has come to theirrescue in this situation.

Farmers in Delhi, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh said theircrops are ripe to be harvestedbut there is shortage of labour-ers, harvesting machines andeven there are no adathis (mid-dlemen) in Anaj Mandi.

The lockdown also led toan unprecedented exodus ofworkers from their places ofwork, to their homes in far-flung villages across the coun-try.

The Pioneer visited villagesin Haryana, Western UttarPradesh and bordering vil-lages of Delhi, where farmersrued that the shortage of labourand the lockdown has crippledthe wholesale market.

Some farmers harvestedwheat in March, but most ofthem harvest their crops bymid-April to May first week.

/� ���+� ��� -:;6�

While epidemiologists andmicro bacterium spe-

cialists are working round-the-clock all over the world todevelop a medicine forCOVID-19, Veda Patha Shalas(schools teaching Vedas andUpanishads) in Tamil Nadu vil-lages echo with recitation ofDhanvantari mantras (shlokasinvoking Lord Dhanvantari,believed to be an incarnation ofLord Mahavishnu) to ward offthe disease and save mankind.

Children in the age groupof 8-15, who study Vedas inKumbakonam’s Veda PathShala in Kathira Mangalamvillage, wake up early morning,finish their morning ablutionand commence reciting theDhanvantari mantra hundredsof thousands times. More thanthe songs of the cuckoos, whatwakes up the villagers eachmorning is “Om NamoBhagavate Vasudevaya

Dhanvantarye AmritakalashaHastaya…” the recitation of thetime-tested Dhanvantarimahamantra, the famous shlo-ka from Vedic times.

The shloka is recited by thestudents of Vedic science andthey have only one prayer tomake to the Maker: “Save theworld and save the lives from

this pandemic.”Not only in Veda Patha

Shalas in Tamil Nadu villagesbut even in far away the UnitedStates of America, one canhear the chanting ofDhanvantari mantra. Dr RekhaSreekanth, paramedical scien-tist, begins her day reciting theDhanvantari mantra by joining

the deeparadhana in the tem-ple in her native place throughfacebook daily. “We have face-book live from our temple atdeeparadhana time (doesn’tshow the sanctum sanctorum)but we have that feeling of vis-iting the temple and then thepriest chants it,” she said overtelephone from Houston.

Dr R KrishnamurthiSastry, Mahamahopadhyayaand a scholar who has beenhonoured by the President ofIndia, told The Pioneer thatDhanvantari himself is theembodiment of medicine andhas the power to remove all dis-eases.

“If children in the agegroup of 8-15, which is theperiod of innocence, collec-tively recite this shloka, it willhave the power to remove notonly COVID-19 but any dis-ease. Otherwise this ritualwould not have been there.Recitation of Dhanvantarimahamantra and Maha

Mrityunjaya Mantra have beenaround for centuries,” said theMahamahopadhyaya, widelyrespected scholar in TamilNadu.

Yet another proof of theinfluence of the movement ofstars and planets on the well-being of the world was point-ed out by Thantric and Vedicscholar ParappanangadiUnnikrishna Panikkar. Hequoted from Western publica-tions, especially from a bookauthored by Barbara Tuchman,the Pulitzer prize winning his-torian who had found that theBubonic Plague (1346-1353)which had claimed nearly 200million people in Eurasia wasthe fallout of the conjunction ofthe planets Saturn, Jupiter andMars in the house of theAquarius.

“This is not the claim of theauthor but what was found outby the Medical Faculty of theUniversity of Paris in 1348,”said Panikkar.

���� *8*1/�

With the ElectionCommission of India

having postponed the impend-ing elections to theMaharashtra LegislativeCouncil from MLA con-stituency owing to the lock-down, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayhas taken to the Governor’snomination route to becomean MLC before the end of thestipulated six-month deadlinefor him to get elected to eitherof the Houses of StateLegislature.

Uddhav, who was sworn inas the CM on November 28last year, will in the normalcourse have to get elected toeither of the Houses on orbefore April 28.

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!���"�������"��#����������������� ��"���� ( ���� �� �������)����!)������ ������ ��� ���� ���� ���)*!�

Gurugram: The Gurugramdistrict witnessed its first coro-navirus death on Thursday asa 75-year-old Italian nationaldied during treatment at theMedanta Hospital inGurugram. This is the firstdeath of a foreign national inthe city due to COVID-19.With this, the number of deathsdue to coronavirus in Haryanahas increased to 2.

Mumbai: Alarm bells startedringing in Maharashtra, asMumbai’s populated Dharavilocality reported third Coviddeath and 14 positive pan-demic cases, even as the policeand health authorities beganenforcing the lockdown mea-sures strictly in Asia’s largestslum. A 70-year-old womanfrom Kalyanwadi in Dharavidied of Covid-19 earlier in theday, taking the number ofdeaths to three.

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To check the growingcovid19 spread in Madhya

Pradesh, the State Governmenthas on Thursday announced46 corona hot spots in 15 dis-tricts. These areas would total-ly be sealed.

Besides, Bhopal, Indoreand Ujjain have been placedunder total lockdown till fur-ther orders and borders ofthese areas have been sealed.None would be allowed toenter or leave these places.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan added that incase of death of any outsider,the last rites would be per-formed in the city itself.

Out of these hot spots,eight are in Jabalpur, six inGwalior, five in Khargone, oneeach at Morena, Betul,Sheopur, Raisen and Dhar.Five hot spots have been noti-fied at Barwani, two at Vidisha,five at Chhindwara, three atHoshangabad, two at Khandwaand four at Dewas.

All these areas have report-ed positive cases of covid19.

Besides, Bhopal, Indore andUjjain should be put undercomplete lockdown, keepingit’s border sealed, ordered CMChouhan.

District administrationsshould ensure supply of essen-tials in these hot spots, orderedChouhan. In these hot spots,services of all governmentdepartments should be availedfor corona prevention.

The Chief Minister hasurged the state denizens towear masks at public places.Health dept has issued warn-ing of legal action for thosewho don’t put on masks at pub-lic places.

He also ordered FIRs onthose who hide corona symp-toms and warned of legalaction on those who obstructpeople engaged in corona con-trol.

With fresh 22 cases, thenumber of positive cases roseto 235 in Indore and the samewas 98 in Bhopal. Numbers ofdeaths has risen to 23 in Indore.The total number positive casessurged to 427 in MadhyaPradesh on Thursday.

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The Indian Council forCultural Relations (ICCR)

is celebrated its 70thFoundation Day on Thursday.However, the grand celebra-tions planned earlier are nowpostponed by a year in thewake of Covid-19.

“ICCR is all about culti-vating an enlightened under-standing of Indian culture andwhen the entire Global com-munity is facing an unprece-dented challenge, feeling lone-ly and disconnected, the mes-sage of Indian philosophy i.e.Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam orthe world is a family hasbecome more relevant thananytime in the past.""Even inthis lockdown situation, ICCRis conducting e-tutorials inYoga, classical dances and even

Hindi and Sanskrit. We areworking with a ‘show must goon spirit’.

A Global Art Competitionon the theme of facing the chal-lenge of Covid-19 unitedly hasalready been announced andthrough many such pro-grammes we will rise to theoccasion”, ICCR PresidentVinay Sahasrabuddhe said inhis Message on this occasion.

ICCR was founded in1950 by India's first EducationMinister, Maulana Abul KalamAzad, with the objective of fos-tering and strengthening cul-tural relations and mutualunderstanding between Indiaand the world, and to promotecultural exchanges with othercountries and people.

During the last sevendecades, the functioning ofICCR as an institution hasacquired newer dimensionstowards promotion of India’scultural heritage and hasemerged as the ‘soft power’ armof the Ministry of ExternalAffairs through an array ofwell-designed and targetedprogrammes.

A wide-range of ICCR’scultural, academic and intel-lectual exchanges and promo-

tion of India’s culture abroadencompass various outreachactivities through its 39 culturalcentres abroad and 19 RegionalOffices within India,

including Indian art, histo-ry, oral traditions, dance, music,yoga, languages, food, festivalsand contemporary issues. Major

programmes under the ambit ofICCR being conducted for thelarger objective of creating anenlightened understanding ofIndian culture amongst theglobal community.

The Indian Council forCultural Relations (ICCR) iscelebrated its 70th FoundationDay on Thursday. However, thegrand celebrations plannedearlier are now postponed by ayear in the wake of Covid-19.“ICCR is all about cultivatingan enlightened understandingof Indian culture and when theentire Global community is fac-ing an unprecedented chal-

lenge, feeling lonely and dis-connected, the message ofIndian philosophy i.e.

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakamor the world is a family hasbecome more relevant thananytime in the past.""Even inthis lockdown situation, ICCRis conducting e-tutorials in

Yoga, classical dances and evenHindi and Sanskrit.

We are working with a‘show must go on spirit’. AGlobal Art Competition onthe theme of facing the chal-lenge of Covid-19 unitedly hasalready been announced andthrough many such pro-grammes we will rise to theoccasion”, ICCR PresidentVinay Sahasrabuddhe said inhis Message on this occasion.

ICCR was founded in1950 by India's first EducationMinister, Maulana Abul KalamAzad, with the objective of fos-tering and strengthening cul-

tural relations and mutualunderstanding between Indiaand the world, and to promotecultural exchanges with othercountries and people.

During the last sevendecades, the functioning ofICCR as an institution hasacquired newer dimensionstowards promotion of India’scultural heritage and hasemerged as the ‘soft power’ armof the Ministry of ExternalAffairs through an array ofwell-designed and targetedprogrammes.

A wide-range of ICCR’scultural, academic and intel-lectual exchanges and promo-tion of India’s culture abroadencompass various outreachactivities through its 39 culturalcentres abroad and 19 RegionalOffices within India,

including Indian art, his-tory, oral traditions, dance,music, yoga, languages, food,festivals and contemporaryissues.

Major programmes underthe ambit of ICCR being con-ducted for the larger objectiveof creating an enlightenedunderstanding of Indian cul-ture amongst the global com-munity.

������� ������� 16:</5

Chief Secretary Iqbal SinghBains vide a letter sent to

all the DivisionalCommissioners and Collectorsof the state has directed themthat the boundaries of theContainment Area andDistricts be sealed effectively.

The vigilance should beincreased on the boundaries ofthe affected districts and themovement of people should bestrictly restricted.

In order to prevent move-ment of people from theContainment Area, it should becordoned off with barricading.

Bains has asked the districtcollectors to seal the contain-ment area effectively. Makearrangements for the deliveryof necessary items at thedoorstep of the people living inthe containment areas.

The people of these areasshould be allowed to go to hos-pitals in case of an emergencymedical requirement. In con-text to the management in

containments areas, actionshould be taken as per theguidelines issued in this regard.

The movement of trafficfrom the boundaries of the dis-trict to other districts should becontrolled more effectively.

Bains said that large dis-tricts like Bhopal, Indore,Ujjain, etc. need to secure theborders of their cities, so thatpeople coming from otherrural areas of the district can beprotected from Coronavirusinfection.

������� ������� 16:</5

The Bhopal Branch ofInstitute of Chartered

Accountants of India hasorganized a Live Webinarseries on “Bank Audit” for itsMembers.

The Live webinar Serieswill be conducted for FiveDays. On Thursday webinarwas joined by 250 members.

The said Webinar con-ducted over the ApplicationZoom, Members Login withtheir Meeting ID andPassword on the l inkhttps://chat.whatsapp.com/DeglYIQfQHL23ufAEJROQk.On Thursday,

CA Lokesh Gupta fromNew Delhi tells about thevarious norms of IRAC andImpact of COVID 19 on thevarious circulars floated byCentral Government on BankAudit.

Further he elaborated hispresentation he pointed outthat whenever when to clas-sify an account into a NPAaccount. Loan A/c (DL orTL)- Interest and/or install-

ment of principal remainOVERDUE (when not paidon the due date fixed by theBank) for a period of morethan 90 Days.

He further highlightedon the Agricultural Advances.As per the extant norms,advances granted for agri-cultural purposes are treatedas NPA where interest and/orinstalment of principalremain unpaid after it has

become due for two harvestseasons but for a period notexceeding two half years.

He focused on theRestructuring of Accounts.This amount, even if overduefor a period of 90 days ormore, will not make otherfunded facilities provided tothe client,

NPA on account of theprinciple of borrower-wiseasset classification, thoughsuch receivable overdue for 90days or more shall be classi-fied as NPA, as per the extantIncome Recognition

The said webinar wasattended in the Guidance ofCA Zuber Ullah Khan,Chairman, Bhopal Branch.The webinar was conductedby the CA Pradeep Mutreja ,Secretary Bhopal Branch.Along with this CA SamankMohabe, Treasurer, BhopalBranch, CA Anshul Agarwal,Vice Chairman, CA AnkurJain, Chairman CicasaBhopal, CA Mayank Agarwal,ECM, and CA AdityaShrivastava, ECM was alsopresent in webinar.

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������� ������� 16:</5

After making arrange-ments of staying away

from home for 2100 policepersonnel to avoid spreadinginfection to their familymembers ASP Zone 4 DineshKaushal took stock ofarrangements of stay andfood at places engaged for1200 police personnel of dis-trict police and discussedissues faced by police per-sonnel who are staying atthese facilities on Thursday.

All police stations arebeing alerted and social dis-tance is also compulsorilybeing followed by duty-bound employees in police

stations and police forcesengaged in checking at vari-ous places.

Taking precautionary stepfor containing Coronavirusinfect ion pol ice forcedeployed in the field seniorpolice officers have takendecision for arrangement ofshelter and food for around1200 pol ice personneldeployed in the state capitalin hotels and lodges to pro-tect their families fromCoronavirus infection.

At present 4000 person-nel including Special ArmedForces are deployed in thestate capita l to f ightCoronavirus pandemic and tostop spreading infection tothe families of the policepersonnel.

Bhopal IG Upendra Jainhas alerted all police stationsto follow orders as the num-ber of infected police per-sonnel remains unclear andever y policeman shouldmaintain social distancingwithout fail.

Superintendent of PoliceHQ Dharamveer Yadav said

that 1200 police personnel ofdistrict police from all policestations and traffic policestation would be providedwith stay and food at hotelsand lodges so that any infec-tion from them would nottransmit to their family mem-bers.

The reserve force policepersonnel are already stayingat bunkers which was pre-cautionary step to containCoronavirus infect ionspreading in their families.

Under the arrangement21 hotels, two marriage hallsand one lodge has beenbooked for these police per-sonnel.

The police personnelwould stay in these places andwould not return to theirhouses and meet familymembers which is meant fortheir safety.In the past fourdays 7 police personnel andone CSP has been tested pos-itive for Coronavirus afterwhich the police departmentstarted to screen all staffsposted at their respectivepolice stations and outposts.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has directed that

Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain withmore Corona infections in areasshould be total sealed. In otherdistricts also, the infected areasshould be completely sealed.The district administrationshould ensure the supply ofessential commodities in theseareas. No person will be able togo in and out from these areas.

Services of all governmentdepartments and theirresources should be taken inCorona related work. The ChiefMinister was reviewing thesituation and control arrange-ments of the corona in the statewith senior officials today.

Chief Minister Chouhanhas urged the people of thestate that every person shouldcome out of the house wear-ing a mask to avoid infection.He said that homemademasks can also be used.

Chouhan said that noperson should hide Corona

disease. Also inform aboutwho all he has come in con-tact with. He said that Coronais death if you hide it and lifeif you inform about it.

The Chief Minister direct-ed that an FIR should be reg-istered against the person whohides it and after treatment,punitive action should be takenagainst him. Chouhan saidthat strict action should betaken against whoever misbe-haves with those engaged inCorona control work.

The Chief Ministerdirected that there should bea good system of health checkof the workers who have comefrom outside the State andreturned to the State.

He said that a migrantlabourer who came to MadhyaPradesh from another state hastested Corona positive inGwalior. Special vigilanceshould be taken in this case.

During the review, it wastold that 14 districts of the statehave been affected by the Coronavirus so far. The number of

Corona positive in Indore is 170,96 in Bhopal, 13 in Ujjain, 12 inKhargone and 12 in Morena.Chouhan directed that the test-ing capacity of Corona should beincreased. Chief Secretary ShriIqbal Singh Bains said that ourcapacity has increased to 788 perday, which will reach 1000 bycoming April 10.

The number of testinglabs is 7, one lakh testing kitshave been ordered. We cur-rently have 29,380 PPE pests.The number of N95 masks is1 lakh 40 thousand and thenumber of three layer masksis 7.50 lakh.

The Chief Ministerdirected that the best treat-ment regime should beensured for the Coronapatients, so that the death ratecan be minimised.

Officials said that at pre-sent Corona death rate in thestate ranges from 7:00 to 7:30percent. Instructions havebeen given to follow theGovernment of India guide-lines for treatment.

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Senior Congress leader andformer Madhya Pradesh

Minister Hazarilal Raghuwanshidied on Thursday following aprolonged illness, family sourcessaid.

He was 93 and is survivedby his wife, five sons and twodaughters, they said.A native ofSeoni Malwa town inHoshangabad district,Raghuwanshi was a five-timeMLA from the Assembly con-stituency and also served as aminister in various Congress-ledgovernments in the state, theparty sources said.The seniorleader was elected as an MLA for

the firsttime in1977 andhe alsoserved asa deputyspeaker inthe stateAssemblyf r o m2003-2008.Former chief minis-ters Kamal Nath and DigvijaySingh expressed their deep con-dolences over the veteranleader's death.

Raghuwanshi's last rites willbe performed on the banks ofNarmada river near Seoni-Malwa on Friday, the sourcesadded.

������� ����� � 16:</5

Taking cognizance of dis-ruption in essential supplies

of goods due to stopping andchecking of transportationvehicles ADG Tele communi-cations has issued orders toDIG Bhopal and Indore andSuperintendent of Police of alldistricts for non-stopping oftransportation vehiclesinvolved in essential supplies ofgoods.

The aim of the issued order

is to maintain essential suppliesof goods for people in theongoing Coronavirus pan-demic.At the time of emer-gency situations maintainingsupplies of essential goodssmoothly is hardest task and atpresent in the Coronaviruspandemic vehicles engaged inthe transportation of goodsare stopped to check spread ofCoronavirus.He has said thatthe police officers should beinstructed to follow theseinstructions seriously.

In the instructions issuedby the Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, telecommu-nication, it has been clarifiedthat if a vehicle engaged intransport of essential com-modities is stopped on its routeto destination the driver cancomplain to on Dial-100. Such

complaints will be redressedimmediately following the pre-scribed procedure.

He has instructed theSuperintendents of Police thatthe information of Dial-100service should be widely pub-licised regarding redressal ofsuch complaints, so that thedriver can register a complaintin case of any problems facedcreating delay in the delivery ofessential supplies of goods.

Additional DirectorGeneral of Police,Telecommunication hasinstructed to deploy officers ofthe rank of AdditionalSuperintendent of Police levelofficers as Nodal Officers at thedistrict level for quick redres-sal of vehicles related to trans-portation of essential com-modities.

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Bhojpuri Ekta Manch is dis-tributing food items to the

needy people of the city. Afterthe lockdown, the organisationis distributing food items in dif-ferent areas of the city

On Thursday, President ofBhojpuri Ekta Manch, KunwarPrasad told that the BhojpuriEkta Manch Bhopal providedassistance to the handicappedpeople in the surrounding areasof Air Port Road Gandhi NagarBhopal. Food items are beingdistributed in collaboration

with few common people aswell. As there is a nationwidelockdown due to the severeoutbreak of Coronavirus, a lotof youngsters are extendingtheir helping hands to the

needy and poor people of thecity. The group took up the ini-tiative and distributed foodpackets in different areas of thecity on Thursday.

With the nationwide lock-down, many families are facingthe issue of food storage.Various organizations areworking to reach out to thepoor families. The group dis-tributed Food packets consid-er of Wheat, Rice, edible oil,soap, salt to needy in andaround Bhopal. Around 50 t0100 food packages reached invarious parts of Bhopal.

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Ajunior doctor pursuingpost-graduation got frac-

ture in his hand while anothersustained minor injuries afterpolice assaulted them on theirway back to home near AIIMSBhopal under Baghsewaniapolice station area onWednesday.

A complaint was lodged byDr. Yuvraj and Dr. Rituparnapursuing PG from ForensicMedicine Department afterthey were beaten by police

with the Baghsewania police.Dr Yuvraj was rushed to AIIMSwhere it was found that hishand right hand sustained frac-ture.

In his complaint victimstated that at around 6.30 in theevening they were on their wayback home when they stoppedby police and before they couldprovide ID card they started tobeat them.

SHO of Baghsewaniapolice station Salil Sharma saidthat the Yuvraj had gone to thevegetable market at Pipaliawithout mask and on the infor-mation of market been openwhen police reached they triedto disperse people and close theshops in which Yuvraj wasinjured.

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Page 3: + 6 - 1˚6 ˛˚˛˚7 1˛ 1 ˚ ˜ $ˇ$%˛ˆ˚˜ ˙#˚ $&$’(˛%ˆ˛€¦ · interesting findings. Till April 8, Maharashtra reported 72 deaths and 1,135 cases, which worked out to

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Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan on

Wednesday launched the“Top Parent”, a mobile applaunched by the Departmentof School Education inMantralaya to help students

continue to study in an inter-esting manner at home.Chouhan sent the first what-sapp message to the studentsthrough “Digi Lap – AapkiPadhai Aapke Ghar'.

Chief Minister Chouhanspoke to Shri SudhakarParashar, teacher of School ofExcellence, Bhopal and twoschool children of KagadipuraDhar and their guardian,Radha Rani, via mobile.

Chouhan informed themthat now they will be provid-ed with teaching material onmobile, so that students can

easily study in an interestingway. The students thanked theChief Minister addressinghim as Mamaji. PraisingChouhan, the students saidthat they are getting lessonsthrough stories and incidentsfrom 11:00 am to 12:00 pmdaily through radio pro-gramme.

Now the complete studymaterial will also be availablethrough the mobile app andwhatsapp group. ChiefMinister Chouhan informedthat through the “Digi Lap –Aapki Padhai Aapke Ghar”

scheme, such students whohave Android mobile phones,study material of subjectsincluding English, Hindi,Mathematics and Science etc.of Class Ist to XIIth can beobtained on whatsapp onmobile phone.

There will also be manyinteresting videos in it. In thisprogramme, more than25,000 teachers, students etc.have been connected throughwhatsapp group.

The Chief Minister saidthat through the 'Top Parent'app, parents will be able to

provide their children withimportant information aboutthe country and the world.

At the same time, theywill get the information asregard to children's progresson the app through continu-ous report cards. Studentswill be able to learn the basicskills of mathematics throughthis app.

Along with this, childrenwill also be able improvetheir English language. Thisapp is free and can be down-loaded by l inking toBit.ly/topparent.

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A20-year-old farmer waselectrocuted at his farms at

Damila village in Nazeerabadpolice station area onThursday.According to thepolice, deceased RameshGurjar was rushed to hospitalafter he was electrocuted whiletrying to connect wires foroperating thresher at his farmin the afternoon.

The incident took placewhen the farmer had gone tohis farms and got electrocutedwhen he was connecting wiresfor operating thresher. Thewheat crop was scheduled to beyielded and

Police were informed andon the receipt of the informa-tion police team reached thespot and started investigation.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem. The policehave registered a case undersection 174 of the CrPC andhave started further investiga-

tion At the moment it could notbe ascertained that thedeceased was electrocuted dueto his mistake or negligence ofanyone else and it would beinvestigated. A case of deathcaused due to negligence wouldbe registered if it found in theinvestigation.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-oldmarried woman died undersuspicious circumstances onThursday after she was taken tohospital.

Police said that thedeceased identified as RamanBai was suffering from illnessand was rushed to hospital andwhere she died during treat-ment.

Body was sent for the postmortem. The police have reg-istered a case under section 174of the CrPC and have startedfurther investigation.The postmortem report is awaited. Thepolice said that the deceasedwas suffering for past few daysand she had not died ofCoronavirus.

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To prevent the growinginfection of corona, all the

police stations are regularlybeing senitised. Due to theincrease in the number ofcoronas positive in somepolicemen and family mem-bers and the number of infect-ed people in the city constant-ly, all the police stations, guardcenters, control rooms etc.offices of the district in collab-oration with the municipalcorporation and the policestaff are regularly sanitizedunder the guidance of seniorofficials.

Special ‘social distancing’ isbeing followed by vehiclechecking and duty staff inpolice stations. Social dis-tance is also compulsorily beingfollowed by duty-boundemployees in police stationsand police forces engaged inchecking at various places.Intensive checking of districtboundaries and sensitivity ofvehicles being carried within

the city. In order to strictly fol-low the rules of lock down forprevention of corona virus,checking of vehicles and sus-pects is being done with intensemeasures and sensitivity bybarricading the boundaries ofthe district and within the city.

During this time, strictinstructions are being given bythe police to stay in the housethat they should not leavehome unnecessarily, otherwiselegal action will be takenagainst them under Section 188IPC.

Apart from this, trafficpolicemen are intercepting thetraffic movement at variousplaces and interrogating themand taking legal action.Dronecameras are being used in var-ious police station areas likeTalaiya, Kohefija,Hanumanganj, Cholamandirand Shahjahanabad, etc. tokeep the people vigilant in theslums and sensitive areas andto strictly maintain the lock-down and maintain social dis-tancing.

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Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan was pre-

sented with a cheque of Rseleven lakh by the formerMinister Jayant Malaiya forthe Prime Minister and ChiefMinister Relief Fund.

Malaiya handed over Rsfive lakh cheque from hispersonal account and Rs sixlakh cheque on behalf of hisfather Shri Vijay KumarMalaiya.

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The Haryana Governmenton Thursday announced

to pay double salary to doc-tors, nurses, paramedical staffand others who are at theforefront of the fight againstcoronavirus.

Chief Minister Manoharttar made the announcementafter a meeting with civil sur-geons, Indian MedicalAssociation chiefs from var-ious districts in the state, dis-trict ayurvedic officers andothers through video confer-encing.

“All those connected inthis fight against coronavirus-- be it doctors, nurses, para-medical staff, class IV staff,ambulance staff, testing labstaff, their salary will be dou-bled,” he said.“Till the timethe coronavirus period lasts,all the staffers who are direct-ly involved in treatment ortaking care of COVIDpatients, their salary will bedoubled,” he said.

Earl ier, Khattar hadannounced that doctors, nurs-

es, paramedics and other staffwould get ex gratia benefits ofRs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh, Rs 20lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respec-tively if they were not coveredunder the new insurancecover announced by theCentre. Describing the doc-tors as “next to god”, thechief minister said they arefighting this battle like sol-diers and risking their lives tosave humanity.

Assuring people thateveryone involved in the fightagainst COVID-19 was doingtheir best, he said, “This is notthe time to fear, but to filleveryone with ''josh'' (highspirit). We have to work as ateam, not only health officialsbut those from police, foodand supplies, panchayati rajdepartment, volunteers, allare together in this fight.”

Haryana has so far report-ed 156 coronavirus cases withtwo deaths.Home MinisterAnil Vij said everyone wastogether in this war againstvirus.

“Our war heroes or coro-na warriors are fighting this

battle with full might. We willwin this battle,” he said.

Vij said the spike in coro-navirus cases was due to alarge number of TablighiJamaat members testing pos-itive. “We want to assure thepeople of Haryana that wewill succeed in our fightagainst the virus.

It is the result of ourstrict vigil and managementthat we have cases under con-trol despite a large number ofpeople returning from abroadin recent times. Had there notbeen a spike in cases due toTablighi Jamaat members, wewould have controlled it effec-tively,” he said.

“Those who came fromabroad numbered more than15,000. In Haryana, there are134 active coronaviruspatients, out of which 106 arethe Tablighi Jamaat mem-bers.” the Home minister said.Vij said a decision was takenthat all coronavirus patientswill be treated in 14 COVID-19 dedicated facilities.

He said initially therewere some difficulties per-

taining to availability of per-sonal protective equipment,but now sufficient PPEs, N-95masks, triple layer masks,ventilators, testing labs, anddrugs were available.

Health Secretary RajeevArora said over the next fewdays reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) testing will be car-ried out and in non-affecteddistricts 125 such samplesper district will be taken,

while in worst affecteddistricts l ike Faridabad,Gurugram, Palwal and Nuh,450 samples will be collected.By April 14, Haryana intendsto collect nearly Rs 6,500samples, he said. Besides,rapid diagnostic kits will beused in hotspots where morethan 15 cases have beenreported.

Arora informed that con-tainment zones have beendeclared at various placesacross the state, including 36villages in Nuh, 9 in Palwal,three villages and colonies ofSonipat, 13 in Faridabad, onein Charkhi Dadri and three in

Panchkula.

3 FRESH COVID-19CASES, TOTAL RISES TO156 IN HRY

While dozens of COVID-19 cases were reported inHaryana over the past fewdays, there were only threefresh cases in the state onThursday that took the totalnumber of coronaviruspatients to 156, according tothe state health departmentbulletin.While two cases werereported from Panchkula,Kaithal district reported onecase, as per the health depart-ment bulletin.

Health Minister Anil Vijsaid there are 134 active coro-navirus patients in the stateout of which 106 are theTablighi Jamaat members."We want to assure people ofHaryana that we will succeedin our fight against the virus.

It is the result of our strictvigil and management that wehad cases under controldespite a large number ofpeople returning from abroad

in recent times. Had the spikein cases not been because ofTablighi Jamaat members, wewould have controlled it effec-tively," Vij said. He said thosewho came from abroad num-bered more than 15,000 andthey were quarantined to stopthe disease from spreading.

On April 8, Haryana hadreported 24 fresh cases and aday earlier 33 new cases werereported.

At present, there are 136active COVID-19 cases inthe state, while 18 patientshave been discharged aftertreatment. The state hasrecorded two COVID-19-related deaths. Reports ofpending samples increasedfrom 612 a day earlier to 791on Thursday.

Among the total coron-avirus cases reported inHaryana, 10 are foreignnationals while 61 are fromother states, as per the healthdepartment. The worst-affected districts of the stateare Gurugram (32), Nuh (38cases) , Palwal (28) andFaridabad (28).

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Himachal Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur on Thursday

said the State government wouldprovide all possible help to thepharma companies in Baddi,Barotiwala and Nalagarh area toensure smooth manufacturing ofvarious life saving drugs includ-ing hydroxychloroquine.

Interacting with the repre-sentatives of major pharma com-panies like Cadila, Dr. Reddys,Alchemist and Torrent throughvideo conferencing from Shimla,Thakur said the StateGovernment would take all nec-essary steps for smooth move-ment of workforce besidesstrengthening the supply chainof raw material and medicinesfrom the pharma companies.

The chief minister said suf-ficient number of trucks wouldbe provided to facilitate trans-portation of medicines fromthese companies and also appre-ciated the efforts of the pharmaindustry for resuming produc-tion in majority of their units.Hesaid that about 250 pharmaunits have resumed productionin the area, adding that most ofthese companies were meeting

out worldwide demand ofhydroxychloroquine medicine,in wake of coronavirus pan-demic. The representatives ofthe various Pharma companiesappreciated the steps taken bythe State Government to facili-tate them to start their opera-tions.Chief Secretary AnilKhachi and other senior officersattended the meeting.

CHIEF MINISTERLAUNCHES WEB PORTALTO CHECK FAKE NEWS

Chief Minister Jai RamThakur launched a web portalhere for uploading informationof fake and unverified newsrelated to COVID-19 so thatappropriate action could betaken to check such news. Webportal could be accessed athttp://fakenews.hp.gov.in.

After the launch, he saidinformation of the person pro-viding information in this regardwould be kept confidential.Provision of many security fea-tures like OTP etc. has beenmade in this web portal toensure that such information isnot provided by any anony-mous person, he added. Apartfrom this, people can give infor-

mation about fake and unverifiedinformation circulating in mediarelated to COVID-19 on e-mail:[email protected] orwhatsapp number 9816323469.

The Chief Minister saidnewspapers, television newschannels and digital/social mediawere making significant contri-bution in dissemination of fac-tual information related toCOVID-19. Due to this, thepeople of the state are gettingcorrect information about thisepidemic, he added. He said ithas been noticed news media,especially some social mediaplatforms, were circulatingunverified information related toCOVID-19, thus creating panicin the public.

Thakur urged all mediaplatforms and all the stakehold-ers not to spread rumors andunverified news and to cooper-ate with the Government inproviding the verified informa-tion to the people so that wetogether could fight to preventspread of this epidemic in thestate. Principal Secretary to theChief Minister Sanjay Kundu,Secretary Information andPublic Relations Rajneesh andDirector Harbans Singh Brasconwere also present on occasion.

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At least nine fresh cases ofCOVID-19 were reported

in Jharkhand on Thursday,and one of them –a septuage-narian man from Bokaro–died, health officials said. TheState on Thursday witnessedthe highest surge in the num-ber of cases in a day since thefirst case reported from Ranchion March 31, they added.

Out of the nine fresh cases,five were reported from theState capital's Hindpiri locali-ty –a closely-packed compoundthat has turned into a hotspotof Coronavirus in the capital,said health officials. All of thefive new patients came in directcontact with a 54-year-oldwoman, who tested COVID-19positive earlier this week, offi-cials said.

"Test results of nine sus-pects came out positive today(Thursday). Five of them arefrom Hindpiri in Ranchi," saidHealth Secretary Nitin MadanKulkarni. "A 75-year-old manfrom Bokaro, who tested pos-itive, died this morning," headded. Kulkarni, however, saidthat the deceased had a histo-ry of cardiac problems and was

also asthmatic. He got admit-ted in Bokaro Hospital for car-diac issues and was tested forCOVID-19 as a part of theStandard Operating Procedure."It is difficult to ascertain howhe may have contracted thevirus. He has no recent travelhistory," Kulkarni said.

According to a reportreleased by National HealthMission (NHM), only three of24 districts in Jharkhand havebeen affected by Coronavirusso far. There are as many as 12active cases of Coronavirus inJharkhand, and seven of themare from Ranchi, four fromBokaro and one fromHazaribag, the report said.

While the number of caseshas tripled in a day here, noneof the patients have recoveredfrom the disease. All of themare undergoing treatment atGovernment Hospitals. A 22-year-old Malaysian woman,who attended the TablighiJamaat congregation in NewDelhi, was the first suspect totest positive in Jharkhand.

She was apprehendedalong with 17 other foreign

nationals from a Mosque inHindpiri last month. Sincethen, cases of Coronavirus inRanchi have only been report-ed from Hindpiri. TheGovernment has sealed thelocality in order to prevent thespread of the virus in otherparts of the city, and severalhundred families living in thelocality are being screened forsymptoms every day.

Meanwhile, the Bokarolocality where the 75-year-olddeceased lived has been sealedsince his death. Positive caseshave been reported from Dalaltola Mohalla in Gomia block.The area turned into a fortresson Thursday with security per-sonnel maintaining a vigil onall the entry and exit points.

The residents of Gomiaand Tenughat have also lockedthemselves at home. Suspectsare being continuouslyscreened here. The entire areawas sanitised on Thursday. Allthe three fresh cases from thedistrict, including two chil-dren, were admitted in theisolation ward of BokaroGeneral Hospital.

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Chief Minister HemantSoren will interact with all

the MLAs and MPs of theState on Friday through videoconferencing to discuss thepresent crisis arising in theState due to Coronavirus.

He has directed the DeputyCommissioners of all the dis-tricts to ensure seamless con-duct of the video conferencingat the Jharnet Centre in the dis-trict and social distancingnorms should be strictlyadhered to during this period.

The CM will also hold anall party meeting ahead of thevideo conferencing with MPsand MLAs at the State secre-tariat, mainly to get suggestionsfrom representatives of allpolitical parties to fight the epi-demic in the State.

The Chief Minister willalso hold a crucial Cabinetmeeting on April 12, where

important decisions pertainingto COVID-19 crisis are likely.Meanwhile, the CM said onThursday that the number ofCoronavirus positive cases hasgone up in the State. “This isthe time to be vigilant andstrictly follow governmentinstructions.

The people of the Stateshould not pay any heed torumours. The State govern-ment is in touch with theCentral government to over-come the resource shortage.You all stay home and staysafe,” he said.

In another development,following the CM's request, theChief Minister of Tamil Naduhas extended assistance to 25labourers of Garhwa. TheGreater Chennai Co-opera-tion has organized a medicalcamp for these labourers bychecking their health and pro-viding food and essential facil-ities.

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The Char Dham shrines willbe reopened as per the

schedule but the form of this pil-grimage will be finalised as perthe directions of the Central gov-ernment considering the situa-tion in India and abroad. TheState’s Tourism and Cultureminister Satpal Maharaj said thiswhile having detailed telephon-ic discussions with office bear-ers of the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS)regarding efforts to tackle the sit-uation resulting from spread ofnovel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The telephonic delibera-tions on Thursday went on forabout 90 minutes during whichthe RSS office bearers sharedtheir experiences and sugges-tions for tackling the pandem-ic.It is pertinent to mentionhere that the Char Dham shrinesare slated to be reopened laterthis month.

However, considering therestrictions in place for con-tainment of spread of COVID-19, the state government willfinaliseform of this pilgrimage asper Central government direc-tions on basis of national andinternational situation.

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No new case of the novelCoronavirus (COVID-19)

was detected by the state healthdepartment in Uttarakhandon Thursday. The state alreadyhas 35 positive cases ofCOVID-19, out of whom fivepatients have recuperated fromthe disease and have been dis-charged from the hospitals.

Addressing media personson Thursday, the additionalsecretary of medical healthand family welfare department,Yugal Kishore Pant said that atpresent 30 patients of the dis-ease are undergoing treatmentin different hospitals of thestate and all of them are out ofdanger. He added that none ofthe COVID-19 patients is onventilator.

He said that the state has8451 Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE) kits whichare adequate. “On Wednesdaywe had 7900 PPE kits and29000 N-95 masks whereason Thursday we have 8451 PPEkits and 32249 N 95 masks.

We are continuously get-ting fresh supplies of boththese items and they are beingconsumed simultaneously,’’ hesaid.

He added that reports of 46suspected patients of the dis-ease were received by thedepartment on Thursday andall of them were found negativefor the disease.

He said that reports of 261samples are still awaited. Pantadded that a total of 1531swab samples of suspectedpatients have so far been takenfor COVID-19 test.OnThursday, samples of 156 sus-pected patients was taken andsent to the lab for test.

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Page 4: + 6 - 1˚6 ˛˚˛˚7 1˛ 1 ˚ ˜ $ˇ$%˛ˆ˚˜ ˙#˚ $&$’(˛%ˆ˛€¦ · interesting findings. Till April 8, Maharashtra reported 72 deaths and 1,135 cases, which worked out to

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday assured

all countries that India will helpthem in this hour of crisis.

In response to USPresident Donald Trumpthanking him for allowingexport of the hydroxychloro-quine drug to his country, thePrime Minister said, “Timeslike these bring friends closer.The India-US Partnership isstronger than ever. India shalldo everything possible to helphumanity”.

Thanking India and Modi,the US President said India'shelp during this crisis will notbe forgotten. "Extraordinarytimes require even closer coop-eration between friends.Thank you India and theIndian people for the decisionon HCQ. Will not be forgotten!Thank you Prime Minister@NarendraModi for yourstrong leadership in helping notjust India, but humanity, in thisfight!" Trump tweeted onWednesday. He later describedPM Modi as "terrific" for allow-ing the export of the key drug.

Trump had earlier said theUS too would retaliate if Indiacontinues with its export ban.

Brazil President JairBolsonaro also thanked Indiaand Modi for allowing theexport of the life-saving drugbeing used to treat Covid-19patients.

In his address to his nationon Wednesday, Bolsonarothanked Modi and the peopleof India for the "timely help tothe people of Brazil." He said:"We have more good news. Asan outcome of my direct con-versation with Prime Ministerof India, we will receive, bySaturday, raw materials tocontinue production ofhydroxychloroquine so we cantreat patients of COVID-19 aswell as of lupus, malaria, andarthritis. I thank PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andthe people of India for such

timely help to the people ofBrazil."

Earlier, while making therequest for freeing up the banon the drug, the BarzilianPresident had also referred toepic Ramayana. “Just as LordHanuman brought the holymedicine (Sanjeevani) fromthe Himalayas to save the lifeof Lord Rama's brotherLakshmana..." his letter said.

He has been criticised bysome for downplaying theseverity of the COVID-19 out-break and has sometimesreferred to the virus as a "lit-tle flu". His country now hasmore than 15,000 cases and127 deaths.

India is one of the biggestproducers of this anti-malar-

ia drug and more than 30countries including the USwere urging New Delhi toease the restrictions imposedon March 25 on its export.

The US's Food and DrugAdministration has identitifiedthis drug as a treatment optionagainst the COVID-19 virus.

Bolsonaro, who was thechief guest for India's RepublicDay celebrations this year, January, spoke to Modilast week to discuss theCOVID-19 pandemic. ThePrime Minister assured allpossible support to the peopleof Brazil.

India manufacturesaround 70 per cent (approxi-mately 20 crore tablets of 200mg each) of the world's

supply and, on March 25,banned export until domesticreserves are considered suffi-cient.

The ban was lifted withthe Indian government sayingit will allow the export "inview of the humanitarianaspects of the pandemic".Trump responded onWednesday: "Thank you Indiaand the Indian people... Willnot be forgotten".

The United States is nowthe epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic with nearly fourlakh active cases and nearly15,000 deaths. Trump in thelast few days has claimed thathydrooxychloroqunine willbe the “game changer” infighting the pandemic.

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Even as India is trying tomove at a fast pace to

jointly fight the coronaviruspandemic in the South Asianregion, Pakistan is trying toundermine New Delhi’s effortsin this regard by makingefforts to bring the coron-avirus-related interactionsunder the formal South AsianAssociation for RegionalC o o p e r a t i o n ( S A A R C )umbrella by seeking to involveits secretariat. This attempt isto get free hand to blockIndia's initiatives.

Red flagging this devel-opment, Government sourcessaid here on Thursday theactivities undertaken by theSSARC countries in the recentdays after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi held videoconference with heads of all

the States of this associationwere under extraordinary cir-cumstances to deal with chal-lenge. These endeavours weremoving in a result-orientedmanner without being boundby any procedural formalitieswhich could prove to be con-straints.

Sources said Pakistan'sefforts to bring COVID-19related interactions underthe formal SAARC umbrellawas an attempt to get freehand to block all initiativesand proposals by India byusing the SAARC charterprovisions and rules of pro-cedure including applicationof principle of consensus forthe drafting of agenda, out-come document, concur-rence of all member states foreach and every thing everystep of the way.

Sources said keepingcontrol of the activities that

emerged from Modi's videoconference of March 15 hashelped India move muchfaster and without any hin-drances. India had describedthese activities as beingstand-alone and outside the"SAARC calendar ofapproved activities", theysaid.

"We regard the presentactivities as events underextraordinary Covid-19 cir-cumstances focussed only tojointly dealing with the chal-lenge in the SAARC region ina result-oriented way, withoutbeing bound by any proce-dural formalities that couldprove to be constraints," asource said. Pakistan onWednesday did not take partin SAARC trade officials dis-cussion saying such activitiescould only be effective ifspearheaded by the SAARCSecretariat.

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The Covid-19lockdown has

taken a toll on reg-istration of freshcases by the pre-mier anti-corrup-tion agency,Central Bureau ofI n v e s t i g a t i o n(CBI), which hasnot lodged a single FIR sinceMarch 20.

Sources said the agency isfunctioning from a pool ofskeletal staff due to preventivemeasures like work from homeand social distancing.

So only matters of urgencylike filing of chargesheets inpressing cases before relevantcourts are being taken up amida slew of restrictions across thecountry to beat the spread of thepandemic, they pointed out.

In view of the restrictionsthat also involve checks onmovement of personnel besidesminimal attendance of staff atagency offices across the coun-try, even questioning of suspectsand accused are being under-taken sparingly, said an official.

On the CBI’s official web-site, the new FIRs were postedlast on March 20 and thereafter,not a single case has beenuploaded.

As per a Supreme Courtdirective, the new FIRs are sup-posed to be uploaded on theagency’s official website within24 hours and those of secretivenature and with bearing onongoing probe need to be post-ed within 72 hours.

Sources said in the givenscenario it will be difficult forthe agency to file chargesheetsin the stipulated 90-day periodin special crimes under theIndian Penal Code and withinthe requisite 60-day limit for fil-ing chargesheets in anti-cor-ruption cases under thePrevention of Corruption Act.

Once the lockdown andrelated restrictions are liftedpost-containment of the viraldisease that has hit almost eachand every country around theglobe, it will be difficult for thesleuths to wrap up probe andthe agency may be bound toseek extensions from relatedcourts to pursue the investiga-tion, another official said.

Processing of LettersRogatory (judicial requests) andnotices under the Interpol havealso been hit due to the Covid-related containment measures,leading to delays in wrapping upprobe in certain cases, anotherofficial said.

As per the prevailinginstructions, non-essential staffbarely visit the agency head-quarters here and some of themattend their offices barely oncea week, added a source.

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The Government hasallowed makers of indus-

trial oxygen to manufactureoxygen for medical use to helpcombat the scourge of Covid-19.

Subsequently, the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) has directed statelicensing authorities (SLAs) tourgently grant permission tomanufacturers of industrialoxygen to manufacture oxygenprovided they meet certainparameters.

Supplemental oxygen ther-apy is a part of the clinical man-agement of COVID-19. It is theuse of oxygen as a medicaltreatment. This also includessupplementing oxygen for lowblood oxygen, carbon monox-ide toxicity, cluster headachesand to maintain enough oxy-gen while inhaled anestheticsare given.

According to the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO),although the majority of peo-ple with COVID-19 haveuncomplicated or mild illness

(81%), some will develop severeillness requiring oxygen ther-apy (14%) and approximately5% will require intensive careunit treatment. Of those criti-cally ill, most will requiremechanical ventilation. Themost common diagnosis insevere COVID-19 patients issvere pneumonia.

The move to give nod foroxygen manufacture for ther-apeutic purpose followed afterthe All India Industrial GasesManufacturers’ Association(AIIGMA) proposed such arequest.

As per the DCGI directiveissued recently, “it has beendecided in public interest thatthe premises which are havingfacility to manufacture indus-trial oxygen should be grantedmanufacturing license to man-ufacture oxygen for medicaluse within 24 hours of the sub-mission of application and feesas per the Drugs and Cosmetics(D&C) Act.

“An undertaking needs tobe furnished in writing tomanufacture medical oxygen incompliance with standards pre-

scribed in IndianPharmacopoeia and labelingrequirement as per the D&CAct and Rules.

“SLAs are requested to takeaction in public interest togrant permission to manufac-turers of industrial oxygen tomanufacture oxygen for med-ical use in light of COVID 19,”DCGI stated.

According to healthexperts, oxygen therapy is like-ly to be the single most effec-tive supportive measure inCOVID-19 patients in criticalstage. Children with emer-gency signs (obstructed orabsent breathing, severe respi-ratory distress, central cyanosis,shock, coma or convulsions)should receive oxygen therapyduring resuscitation.

The expert said that duringthe ongoing COVID19 pan-demic, ventilator support willbe required for about 5-8 percent of patients with symptomswhereas a large number wouldrequire Oxygen support. Theexisting facilities are not ade-quate to cater for such largerequirements.

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The Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs (MoHUA)

has launched a revised versionof Swachchhata App to handlequeries specific to COVID-19.

According to Secretary,MoHUA, Durga ShankarMishra, the new version wouldhandle the request for Fogging/Sanitation, violation ofQuarantine, violation ofLockdown, report suspectedcases of COVID-19, request forfood, shelter, medicine, assis-tance for COVID-19 patienttransport & waste pickup fromQuarantined Areas. “These arein addition to the existing cate-gories on the App & citizens maycontinue to post grievances ineither of the categories,” he said.

The Swachhata-MoHUAApp, a highly popular grievanceredressal tool for

citizens under the ambit ofthe Swachh Bharat Mission(Urban) already has over 1.7Crore+ urban users across thecountry, the Ministry said in astatement on Friday.

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Drones are playing a keyrole in India’s fight against

the Covid-19 pandemic, espe-cially for sanitising crowdedplaces, narrow stretches andmarket areas besides, of course,carrying out surveillance ofpublic to ensure adherence oflockdown orders.

Cities big or small likeMadurai, Noida, Jaipur, Raipur,Warangal, Guwahati, Chennai,Bengaluru and Mumbaiamong several others areputting the drones to good use.

The drones apart, accord-ing to the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs (MoHUA),several cities have also come upwith disinfection tunnel orcabin for disinfection of pub-lic places using sodiumhypochlorite.

With drones are beingviewed as tools to limit humanexposure, several smart citieshave decided to use the flyingmachines to disinfect the pub-lic spaces in the situationwhere human access gets dif-ficult.

As per the informationprovided by the MoHUA,Chennai, Guwahati, Bengaluruand Raipur have decided to usedrone to disinfect the publicplaces where human accessgets difficult. In Coimbatore,authorities used drones to ster-ilise public spaces.

Earlier, these drones wereused to spray disinfectants onfarmlands. China and Australiahave used drones to disinfectthe streets, shopping malls,and playgrounds to combatthe coronavirus outbreak.

The drones apart, accord-ing to the MoHUA, Mysoreand Tiruppur, have installed adisinfection tunnel/chambersat the entry gate of vegetablewholesale market which is nowreplicated in numerous cities attheir agricultural/ vegetablemarkets. Modeled on this, var-ious establishments entrusted

with provision of essential ser-vices are deploying the disin-fection chambers. In Amritsar,sanitisation of whole city isunder way using chemicals asspecified. Help from firebrigade is taken for such sprays.

To facilitate availability ofessential supplies such as freshvegetables the agricultural mar-kets have been made opera-tional in cities and hand-wash-ing facilities are being provid-ed at vegetable markets andother public places, theMinistry said.

In Patna, authorities haveensured disinfection of all pub-lic places in the city usingJetting Machines since 24March 2020. “Sanitization of allthe public utility buildings suchas banks, hospitals, etc. has beenundertaken. Bihar State RoadTransport Corporation buseswere sanitised by PatnaMunicipal Corporation. Thisstep has been taken as a pre-cautionary measure againstcorona virus outbreak.” theministry said in a statement.

According to the MoHUA,Rajkot uses high-clearanceboom sprayers for disinfectionof public streets and publicplaces. Soon 14 more suchmachines to cover all 18 wardsof the City.

Authorities in Guwahatiare using anti-bacterial sprayseven as many as 1,200 work-ers are assigned duty, door-to-door garbage collection.Authorities in Dharamshalaare using fire tenders forspraying sodium hypochlo-rite (bleach) solution for com-prehensive disinfection ofpublic places. In Ranchi, onepercent hypochlorite solutionis used for sanitization ofwhole city using foggingmachines.

A solution with 5 percentLizol is being applied in pub-lic places, markets, schools,roads, using 7 numbers of JetRoding Machines twice ondaily basis in Madurai.

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The CPI(M)’s trade unionwing, CITU, on Thursday

urged the Union Ministry ofLabour and Employment tointervene in the matter of ille-gal retrenchments and salarycuts in the InformationTechnology (IT) and IT-enabled services sector inBengaluru and Kolkata, in vio-lation of the strict guidelines ofthe Ministry issued in view ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to the Secretaryof the Ministry of Labour andEmployment, CITU generalsecretary Tapan Sen submittedthe list of around 20 companieswhich terminated the employ-ees during the pandemic.

“In Bengaluru, Travel PDCo terminated one employee,Parallel Wireless in Bengaluruterminated 15 employees,Chumbak Design Private Ltdterminated 247 employeesthrough forced resignation,Hula Infotainment terminated30 employees, M/s Hem & RAT terminated 4 employees, M/sMistefa terminated 60 employ-ees through forced resignation,IVT Co terminated 22 employ-ees, M/s Flying Out terminat-

ed 90 employees and M/sTimken and M/s Classlap IndiaPvt Ltd invoked a 50% salarycut while not paying the Marchsalary to all the employees yet.

“In M/s ErevmaxTechnologies, 80 per centemployees were sent on forcedunpaid leave which tantamountto wage cut. M/s Soumak,PICON, EEMDEE DigitronicsPvt Ltd and Pace ComputerService have invoked wage cuton all the employees,” said Senasking the Ministry to takestrict action against these com-panies for violating the ordersissued by the Government. Hesaid certain IT companies inChennai are also terminatingemployees through forced res-ignations.

The CITU leader alsoreminded the Labour Ministrythat there was no action takenagainst on the similar retrench-ment incidents by certainCentral government PSUs andbanks. “All my previous four let-ters to you cited specificinstances of violations of yourdirective/advisory by way of ter-mination of employment ofcontract/casual workers inBanks in West Bengal, BorderRoads Organisation and HydroPower Project in Jammu &Kashmir, nonpayment of wagesin Jute Mills and Tea Gardensin West Bengal, requesting yourcorrective intervention toenforce the directive/advisoryissued by your office only to allconcerned,” said Sen.

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BJP president JP Nadda onThursday asked BJP’s

North, South and Centralzone States unit to implementfive points suggested by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi thatincludes feeding poor affect-ed by the lockdown, con-tributing to PM Cares fundand distributing face masks.

Nadda held five separatemeetings here with the BJPstate chiefs, district and man-dal heads and reviewed party’srelief work in the light ofcoronavirus spread, said aBJP statement. The interaction was done throughaudio conferencing.

The States and citieswhich came under reviewincluded Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Puducherry, Maharashtra,Mumbai, Goa, Daman andDiu, Dadar Nagar Haveli,Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammua n dKashmir, Himachal Pradesh,Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh,Delhi, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh.

Nadda said PrimeMinister is leading the globalcorona battle with a messageof ‘vasudev Kutumbkum’.

He asked party workersand leaders to implement five-point suggestions of Modiwhich include feeding poor,each worker making 40 peo-ple contribute to PM Caresfund, installation of ‘Aroygyaapp’ and making and distri-bution of face masks.

Nadda lauded the exampleset by 60-year-old DevikaBhandari of Uttarakhand whohe said had donated her life-time savings to PM caresfund.

The work of some of thestate units towards the con-tainment of coronavirus wasbeing done for the second orthird time, BJP said.

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Admitting that farmers arefacing shortage of labour-

ers at the time of harvesting ofrabi crops, the Centre hasasked the State Governments toissue necessary instructions tofacilitate selling of produce byfarmers at their doorsteps andalso to ensure smooth inter-State and intra-State move-ment of machines used for har-vesting and sowing, such ascombine harvesters. The direc-tive is meant to achieve twoobjectives - to decongest man-dis in the wake of the coron-avirus pandemic, and to allowfarmers to sell their products atremunerative prices by allow-ing aggregators to source itdirectly from them.

The ministry has alsoissued an order increasing pro-curement from 25 quintals perday per farmer to 40 quintalsper day per farmers

Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar, who held a video con-

ference with State agricultureministers and other State offi-cials, also informed them thatthe kharif national conferencewill be held on April 16through video conferencing.During the discussion, variousissues relating to harvest pro-curement, availability of inputs,credit, insurance and inter-State movement of agricultureproduce came up. While someof these issues were solvedimmediately, other issuesrequiring deliberations werenoted with the assurance to theStates that they would belooked into and necessaryaction would be taken in duecourse.

At the meeting, states havestated theat acute scarcity oflabour has posed a seriouschallenge to crop procurementand is threatening to leave alasting impact on agriculture asit will delay the harvest ofwinter-sown crops, particular-ly wheat, and is delaying theplanting of the next crop. Apartfrom procurement, planting

of cotton and summer ‘moong’pulses is a challenge for farm-ers in Madhya Pradesh, UP,

Haryana, Punjab andRajasthan because of concernsof labour shortage as well asavailability of fertilisers andseeds.

Sources said that theCentre also the States to issueauthorisation letters to com-panies and organisations hav-ing a nationwide supply chainof essential goods, allowingthem to issue regional passesfor easy movement of criticalstaff and workers to maintaintheir supply chain.

The video conferenceassumes importance as quickand effective policy responses

a r erequired tobe taken asf a r m e r sprepare forthe kharif(summer)season dur-ing the timeof lock-

down. Kharif sowing beginswith the onset of the June-September south-west mon-soon.

In a statement, the agri-culture ministry said thatKharif National Conferencewill be held on April 16, 2020,through video conferencing.

A decision in this regardwas taken after reviewing therelief measures taken for farm-ers with state agriculture min-isters and senior officialsthrough a video conferenceon Wednesday.

Normally, about 106 mil-lion hectares are planted dur-ing the kharif crop season.While the onset of monsoonkick-starts sowing in June,

which continues through mid-July, harvesting of crops beginsby October.

Besides holding the kharifconference, Tomar in the meet-ing asked State Governments tosensitise field agencies aboutexemptions given to the farm-related activities and allowmovement of farm produce,farming products, fertilisersand farm implements andmachinery.

In the meeting, the crucialissues related to farming oper-ations and harvesting, agri-culture marketing and mandioperations, procurement atminimum support price(MSP), provision of inputs(seeds and fertilisers), andissues related to logistics andmovement of agriculture andhorticulture produce were dis-cussed.

Tomar also appreciated theproactive steps taken by theState Governments to ensureagriculture activities even dur-ing the challenging time of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

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The Supreme Court askedthe Centre and the Jammu

and Kashmir administration onThursday to respond to a pleaseeking directions to them torestore 4G internet in theUnion Territory in view of theprevailing COVID-19 pan-demic.

A bench of Justices N VRamana, R Subhash Reddyand B R Gavai issued noticesto them and sought their replywithin a week on the plea filedby 'Foundation for MediaProfessionals' which hasassailed an order of the J&Kadministration on March 26that restricted to the internetspeed to 2G only in the UT.

Senior advocate HuzefaAhmadi, appearing for thepetitioner, contended that inview of the ongoing lockdown

it is very necessary to enhancethe technology and connec-tivity in the Union Territory.

He said that the virtualclasses of students, whoseschools are shut due to thelockdown, can only be donethrough enhancement of tech-nology and better connectiv-ity.

The bench said it is issu-ing notice which may beserved through e-mail onstanding counsel of theJammu and Kashmir admin-istration and the Centre.

The plea filed throughadvocate Shadan Farasat,while seeking restoration of4G internet services, allegedthat the action of theGovernment was violative ofArticles 14 (right to equality),19 (freedom of speech) and 21(right to l i fe) of theConstitution.

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Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami cautioned on

Thursday there is every possi-bility of Tamil Nadu progress-ing to Stage 3 of COVID-19from its present status of Stage2. This means that the Statefaces the danger of communitytransmission of the virus whichmay force the administration toresort to extreme measures likeextending the lockdown dura-tion which was supposed to beover by April 15.

Palaniswami was address-ing the media on Thursdayafter presiding over the meetingof the task force constituted bythe State Government to mon-itor control and prevent thespreading of corona virus. Thedecision would be taken only onthe basis of the severity of thespread of the pandemic.

The spread has beenincreasing day by day. Everyother day, Corona virus spreadhas been on the rise, ”said thechief minister while asked aboutthe possibility of extending theshut down.

Beela Rajesh, secretary,health and family welfare, in herdaily media briefing said thatthe number of persons testedpositive for corona virus inTamil Nadu stood at 834 onThursday evening.

“Thursday saw 96 personstesting positive for corona virus.Out of this, 84 are from the sin-gle source event (TablighiJamaat conference held inDelhi),” said Rajesh. This meansthat 763 out of the 834 coronavirus positive cases are from sin-gle source event.

“We have details of 1480

persons from the State whoattended the congregation andreturned. Efforts are on to traceall of them.

As on Thursday , full-fled-fged containment activities arehappening in 34 districts. Wehave screened a population of58 lakh till date,” said the sec-retary.

Alarmed over the spurt inthe number of persons testedpositive for corona virus, theGovernment has ordered theprocurement of 4,00,000 rapidtest kits which would give thetest results in 30 minutes while

the test kits in service talk aminimum of six hours. This wasdisclosed by the chief ministerwhile speaking to reportersafter meeting the task forcecommittee members. Since theState is not showing any signs ofreduction in the corona cases,there has been a demand fromall sections in the society for theextension of the lock-downperiod.

While Governments ofUttar Pradesh and Telanganahas asked the Centre to extendthe 21-day national lock downby another fortnight, veteran

medical scientist Prof B MHegde and the DMK, TamilNadu’s main Opposition partydemanded that the lock downperiod be extended by ‘at least’one month.

Prof Hegde, a medical sci-entist with four FRCP degrees(Fellow of the Royal College ofPhysicians) from Royal Collegesof Physicians in London,Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublinsaid that the situation in thecountry because of corona virusis a serious matter of concernwhich could be addressed onlyby a total shut down. “This is an

extra ordinary situation andneeds an extra ordinaryresponse. Shut down and socialdistancing are the best optionsbecause we do not have anymedicines available to treat theCOVID-19 disease,” Prof Hegdetold The Pioneer.

Prof Hegde, who was hon-ored by the President of Indiawith Padma Bhushan is a vet-eran of many a medical war,notably the one against theH5N2 pandemic flu whichclaimed hundreds of lives inLondon said that it was possi-ble to contain the corona virus

with effective measures likesocial distancing and shut down.

Dr Gautham Sigamani,orthopaedics surgeon andmember of parliament fromTamil Nadu said it was the 21-day lock down announced bythe Government of India whichprevented the spread of coro-na virus from reaching analarming situation.

“I would like to see thenational lock down extended atleast by another 30 days becausehuman lives are more importantthan other factors,” said DrSigamani.

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With coronavirus cases spi-raling up rapidly espe-

cially in Kashmir Valley, theGovernment agencies onground zero are leaving nostone unturned to track downcontact persons of positivecases and conduct door todoor testing of suspected casesacross areas, which have beendeclared red zones.

Meanwhile, 24 newCOVID-19 cases were detectedin Jammu&Kashmir onThursday, taking the total num-ber of infected persons to 184.Late Wednesday night, Jammuregion reported its firstCoronavirus casualty taking thetotal death toll due to Covid-19to four. Three deaths were ear-lier reported from Kashmir.

In another related devel-opment, Lt Governor, UnionTerritory of Jammu andKashmir, Girish ChanderMurmu Thursday said, 80,000Rapid testing kits are expectedto arrive in Jammu andKashmir soon to carry outscreening of suspected cases inmost affected areas. He madethis announcement in an exclu-sive interview to a local news

channel.On the other hand, gov-

ernment spokesman RohitKansal Thursday said, "thetotal number of cases in theUnion Territory has risen to184, out of which 152 are inKashmir and 32 in Jammu". Hesaid all the fresh cases werecontacts of the already positivepatients.

“The increase in detectionof positive cases in the UnionTerritory is a result of aggres-sive testing,” he added.

The number of positivecases has been steadily increas-ing in the valley over the pastone week.

The officials said aggressivecontact tracing of the newcases has been started whilesome new areas have beendeclared red zones in Srinagarfollowing the detection of freshcases. In Jammu region as well,efforts are on to track downcontacts of positive cases. Sincemajority of cases had a histo-ry of attending religious con-gregation in Nizamuddin thegovernment agencies havesealed down affected areasacross different residential areasto prevent further spread ofcoronavirus.

Srinagar: Spread of coron-avirus in the Srinagar districtwas described as alarming bythe administration, here onThursday.

Addressing the media,Srinagar District MagistrateShahid Iqbal Choudharytermed the coronavirus sce-nario worrisome but alsoassured that the administrationwas doing its best to contain theinfection.

"There are 14 red zones,here. We have 1,000 teams

with 4,000 people on job inthese zones. We have to ensurethat there is no leakage fromthe red zones. 800-900 peoplewho hid their travel history hadbeen traced by control roomthrough crowd-sourcing ofinformation and were quaran-tined or put under isolation,"Choudhary said.

He urged people to coop-erate in contact tracing andreveal travel history voluntar-ily. "Our fight is not onlyagainst coronavirus outbreak.

We are also focusing onpatients suffering from otherterminal illnesses," he said.

Denying any shortage ofmedicines, Choudhary said,two aircrafts full of drugsarrived on April 6 and 7 andone more was expected onThursday.

"We will ensure to get therequired medicine from anyplace across the country. Wehave stock of life-saving drugsfor 6 weeks. We are open toinspection if anybody has

doubt," he said.As doctors and para-med-

ical staff were risking theirlives in the line of duty, suppliesof PPE kits and masks werebeing streamlined. "During thelockdown, 9,000 counter trans-actions and 19,000 ATM trans-actions are happening a day," hesaid.

SSP Srinagar HaseebMughal told the media, aerialsurveillance were being con-ducted through drones andCCTVs were being monitored.

"Deployment on ground is alsothere," Mughal said.

"This is not usual law andorder lockdown, but 24x7lockdown. Don't come out inthe evening like you did duringother days.

"Passes will be valid fromthe place of stay to the place ofwork from now onwards. Theinter-district movement has tobe restricted. Family andfriends would not be enter-tained on one pass," the SSPsaid. IANS

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Alarm bells started ringingin Maharashtra medical

circles on Thursday, asMumbai’s Dharavi localityreported third Covid-19 deathand 14 positive pandemiccases, even as the police andhealth authorities beganenforcing the lockdown mea-sures strictly in Asia’s largestslum.

A 70-year-old womanfrom Kalyanwadi in Dharavilocality died of Coronavirusearlier in the day, taking thenumber of deaths to three.

A high-risk patient, thedeceased woman had beenundergoing treatment at theKEM Hospital. Her familymembers had been home-

quarantined. “The swab sam-ples of the family members ofthe deceased, her neighboursand those with whom shehad come in contact withhave been sent for clinicalanalysis,” a senior BMC offi-cial said.

The first Covid-19 deathhad taken place on April 1, a56-year-old resident ofDharavi’s Shahunagar area,succumbed to the pandemic.On Tuesday, a 64-year-oldpatient, who had been hospi-talised with fever, cough andbreathlessness on Tuesday,succumbed on the same day.His death was confirmed bythe BMC on Wednesday.

In an update released onThursday, the BMC con-firmed the third death in

Dharavi – of a 70 year-oldwoman – and said that thetotal number of infected caseshad risen to 14 in the largestslum.

The infected cases thathave been reported so farincluded: four cases from DrBaliga Nagar where one per-son died and three persons arehospitalised, the death of a 35-year-old male doctor fromVaibhav Apartment, two cases– that of men aged 49 yearsand 25 years – from MukundNagar, the case of a 21-yearyoungster from MadinaNagar, the case of a 35 yearman from Dhanwada Chawlwho lives in Wadala hosteland that of a 50-year-oldwoman from Muslim Nagar.

Meanwhile, following thetotal lockdown, there hasbeen no moment of people onthe roads, while all shops andestablishments, fruit/vegetablemarkets or vendors, hawkers,etc, have been shut down,

barring medical stores inDharavi.

In an effort to reduceinconvenience to the localresidents, the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC), plans to roll out ascheme for doorstep deliveryof essentials in the comingdays.

State Education MinisterVarsha Gaikwad, who repre-sents Dharavi constituency,had – along with HealthMinister Rajesh Tope -- visit-ed hospitals and quarantinecentres in her constituency onWednesday to take stock ofthe situation there.

Talking to media personsafter she attended a StateCabinet meeting earlier inthe day, Gaikwad said: “Wehave requested HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh toinstruct the local police offi-cials to enforce the lockdownstrictly in Dharavi to preventthe spread of Coronavirus. We

have also requested the gov-ernment to provide more ven-tilators for the local hospitalsand speed up the process ofmaking available test reportsof those who are in quaran-tine. This is essential becausemore and more cases comingto hospitals”.

Meanwhile, the BMCauthorities have identified 10hotspots within Dharavi ,which is spread over 240-hectare area, and are main-taining vigilance on mattersrelating to health in the area.There are 60,000 to 70,000families (more three lakh peo-ple) in Dharavi.

Dharavi has several busi-ness units -- right from textilesto pottery to fabrication toleather industry. Plastic recy-cling and garbage segrega-tion too is done here. Mainlya hub of cottage industries, ithas an estimated 5,000 busi-ness entities and 15,000 sin-gle-room factories.

Lakhimpur: A 48-year-oldman and his 25-year-old sonwere shot dead on Wednesdaywhen they were on way to pur-chase grain in Mankipura vil-lage under Fardana police sta-tion of the district.

According to the police,Ramesh Shukla, his son BholuShukla, along with a friend wereon way to purchase grain inMankipura village when uniden-tified persons shot at them.

The assailants also stabbedBholu with sharp object afteropening fire. Bholu died on thespot. The father succumbed toinjuries at a hospital.

Station House Officer ofFardana police station VimalGautam said, "The deceasedhad enmity with someone andthe family is suspecting theirrole. Ramesh was also accusedof murder some years ago, buthe was acquitted."

Four days ago a man wasshot dead in Allahabad. IANS

Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanon Thursday said 12 new coro-navirus positive cases werereported, taking the total num-ber presently under treatmentto 258.

The number of cumulativecases, including those treatedand cured, now stands at 357.

Two deaths had beenreported previously, but those

patients had other seriousunderlying ailments.

"Today there are 1,36,195people under observation at

homes and 723 at various hos-pitals in the state," said Vijayan.

He also said that eight for-eign tourists have completelyrecovered and have been dis-charged.

Meanwhile, the police reg-istered 2,206 cases, recordedthe arrest of 2,166 people andseized 1,450 vehicles for vio-lating curfew norms.

IANS

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Eleven people —including asenior Government doctor

— have tested positive for thecoronavirus in the past 24hours taking the total numberof affected patients in Bengal to83 Chief Minister MamataBanerjee said on Thursdayurging the pharmaceuticalcompanies of the State toexplore possibilities of pro-ducing hydroxychloroquine,the much sought after drug tominimise the effects of thedreaded corona infection.

In what sent the medicalcircle and the State adminis-tration to a tizzy the superin-tendant of Howrah districtgeneral hospital was onThursday admitted to the MRBangur hospital after he testedpositive for the virus, sourcessaid adding all the medicalstaff, including other doctors,with whom the senior doctorheld meetings in the past a fewdays were being quarantined.

Close watch was also beingkept on the District Magistrate,Commissioner of Police andother senior officials of the dis-trict administration with whomthe stated doctors held meetingin the past a few days, insiderssaid. The Chief Minister whoheld a meeting with all the rel-evant people including the rep-resentatives of various indus-tries said the State had tested1,886 people for the virus outof whom 83 have tested posi-tive. Three out of them werereleased on Thursday.

About 4,700 people havebeen put under governmentquarantine, she said adding55,172 people were underobservation. The Governmenthad set up 562 qurantine cen-tres and 61 designated hospi-tals Banerjee said. Amongthose placed under quarantinewere about 200 people whoreturned to Kolkata afterattending the Tablighi Jamaatprogramme in Delhi'sNizamuddin area from wherea gush of Corona cases spread

all over India in the past morethan a week or so, sources said.

The Chief Minister whoannounced partial opening ofthe tea industry also launchedan "App", "Sandhaney" for theAsha workers (primary healthstaff) who will now be able toupload information of newcorona suspects electronically.For the tea industry she saidonly 15 per cent of the work-ers would be allowed to workin the gardens. "The relax-ation is given in the tea indus-try where only 15 per centworkers will work on rotation,"she said.

The CM who earlier saidthat the Government had iden-tified 7-8 hotspots urged thepharmaceutical companies ofthe State to explore possibilitiesof producing the much requiredhydroxychloroquine. The muchsought after drug to fight malar-ia is considered the best possi-ble weapon to minimise theeffect of the virus. Sources saidBengal Chemicals haveapproached the Governmentseeking license to produce thedrug. "In fact we do have rawmaterials. We can produce 2.5crore tablets … if given per-mission we can start producingimmediately," a senior official ofthe company said.

Meanwhile the StateGovernment has urged the pri-vate schools to refrain from hik-ing fees considering the graveeconomic crisis the pandemichas brought in its wake.

State Education MinisterPartho Chatterjee on Thursdaysaid that he had "received a num-ber of complaints from guardiansthat a section of private schoolshas effected a steep hike in feesregardless of the hardship in thisunprecedented crisis" and urgedsuch schools to "roll back anysuch decision for the greaterinterest of the students.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi’s home State of

Gujarat has recorded the high-est mortality rate ever since theoutbreak of coronavirus in thecountry, while Maharashtra –which has accounted for high-est number of deaths andinfected cases – has relativelylesser mortality rate than itsneighbouring State.

Till April 8, Maharashtrareported 72 deaths and 1,135infected cases, which workedout to a mortality rate of 6.34per cent, which incidentally isthe third highest in the coun-try, according to an analyticalreport released by the stateMedical Education and DrugsDepartment (MEDD) here onThursday.

On the other hand, Gujaratwith 19 death and 179 infect-ed cases has topped the list witha mortality rate of 8.94 per cent,while Punjab ranks second

with eight deaths and 101infected cases has a mortalityrate of 7.92 per cent.

Kerala with just two deathsand 345 infected cases record-ed the lowest mortality rate of0.57 per cent, while Rajastanwith three deaths and 381infected cases has emergedsecond lowest in terms of mor-tality rate which is just 0.78 percent.

Tamil Nadu with eightdeaths 737 infected cases hasalso fared well by emerging asa state with third lowest mor-tality rate of 1.10 per cent.Surprisingly, Uttar Pradeshwith four deaths and fourinfected cases has done well bycoming out as a state withfourth lowest mortality figureof 1.10 per cent.

The other states whichhave succeeded in containingthe numbers deaths arisingout of Covid-19. The relative-ly low mortality rates otherstates include: Andhra Pradesh

– 1.14 per cent ( 4 deaths, 348infected cases), Delhi –1.34per cent( nine deaths,669infected cases), Telangana–1.67 per cent ( 7 deaths,427infected cases) and Haryana–2.04 per cent ( threedeaths,147 infected cases).

In the high mortality list,Madhya Pradesh with 13deaths and 229 cases hasemerged as the fourth -- 5.68per cent. Himachal Pradeshwith just one death and 18 pos-itive cases has a mortality rateof 5.55 per cent -- followed byWest Bengal with five deathsand 103 positive cases whichhas notched a mortality rate of4.85 per cent.

The Union Territory ofJammu & Kashmir with fourdeaths and 158 infected caseshas passed the muster by set-tling for a mortality rate of 2.53per cent.

Karnataka with five deathsand 181 positive cases (mor-tality rate 2.76 per cent) has

done better than West Bengalwith five death and 103 infect-ed cases has notched sixthhighest mortality rate of 4.85per cent.

Bihar with one death and38 infected cases and Odishawith one death and 42 infect-ed cases have recorded mor-tality rates of 2.63 per cent and2.38 per cent respectively.

In significant finding,north eastern states with col-lective 32 infected cases—Assam (28) and one each inManipur, Mizoram, ArunachalPradesh and Tripura — haverecorded zero mortality rate.

The other states likeUttarakhand with 33 infectedcases, Chandigarh with 18,Union Territory of Ladakhwith 14, Andabar & NicobarIslands with 11, Chhattisgarhwith 10, Goa with 7,Puducherry with 5, Jharkhandwith 4 cases have not reportedany death and their mortalityrate zero.

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Patna Medical College andHospitals Microbiology

Department head Dr SatyendraNarayan Singh has been sus-pended on the charge of dere-liction of duty in the testing ofcoronavirus samples, a healthofficial said on Thursday.

Dr Satyendra Narayan Singhalso did not allegedly coop-

erate in the testing of the sam-ples from suspected cases, thesenior officer of the HealthDepartment said.

Patna Medical College andHospitals (PMCH) is one of thefour hospitals in Bihar autho-rised to conduct tests for coro-navirus suspect cases.

As many as 51 coronaviruspositive cases have so far beenreported from the State.

Panaji: Citing the Centre's guidelines on quar-antining of seafarers, the Goa Government, hereon Thursday, refused to allow a cruise liner with600 crew — 100 of them Goans — to enter theMormugao Port, Ports Minister Michael Lobosaid. He said the vessel, MS Karnika, operated byJalesh Cruises, had arrived at the Goa port fromMauritius on Thursday and was carrying 100Goan crew members on board

"The ship will not be allowed to enter Goaport. We don't have the authority to bring the shipin. There are MHA guidelines to be followed. Theyhave to follow protocol. Their disembarkment isin Mumbai. The crew have to de-board and stayin 14-day quarantine in Mumbai first," Lobo said.

If they received Covid-19 free certificate, a buswould be sent from Goa to pick them up. Theywould again be tested for coronavirus on arrivaland would have to stay in 14-day home isolation,he said. "This is the protocol to be followed," Lobosaid. The Minister said the 100 Goan crew mem-bers mostly work as accountants, food and bev-erage specialists and floor supervisors.

"The rest of the crew are from other parts ofMaharashtra," Lobo said. IANS

Bengaluru: The KarnatakaCabinet is in favour of extend-ing the 21-day nationwide lock-down by two weeks to fight thecoronavirus scare, Chief MinisterB.S. Yediyurappa said onThursday.

"All the Ministers are infavour of continuing the lock-down for two more weeks tocontain Covid-19 spread in theState, which has recorded 191positive cases and 6 deaths tilldate," Yediyurappa told reportersafter an emergent Cabinet meet-ing here.

Though a panel of eminentdoctors on Wednesday recom-mended continuing the lock-down -- set to end on April 14 -- till April 30 only in hotspots likeBengaluru and Mysuru, theCabinet did not want to take anychance by lifting the lockdownin districts not affected by thevirus. "The lockdown shouldcontinue for two more weeks toensure that the number of coro-navirus cases do not spike as wasthe case in some states and toprevent community spread," saidYediyurappa.

The panel, headed by emi-nent doctor Devi Shetty, andC.N. Manjunath, Nagaraj, Raviand Sudarshan as members, was

set up by the state in March toassess the pandemic and advisemeasures to contain its falloutacross the southern state.

"The lockdown should notbe lifted in the hotspots orrelaxed in the districts with lessor zero cases so as to contain thevirus and control the situation,especially physical distancing,"asserted the Chief Minister.

Of the 30 districts inKarnataka, 18 districts havereported corona cases, includingtwo hotspots.

"A final decision on thelockdown will be taken onSunday or Monday after ourvideoconference with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSaturday and as per his advice forthe welfare of all," addedYediyurappa.

Modi had advised the statesto suggest if the nationwidelockdown should be extendedbeyond April 14 or eased withcurbs in areas that were free fromthe infection so far.

Though the 21-day lock-down was clamped on March 24midnight across the country,nine districts of Karnataka havebeen under shutdown sinceMarch 14 on the panel's adviceto contain the virus fallout.

In a related development, theCabinet decided to deduct 30 percent from salaries and allowancesof all legislators, amounting to Rs15.3 crore, for fiscal 2020-21through an ordinance, as theAssembly is not in session.

Governor Vajubhai Vala andYediyurappa have alreadypledged their salaries for this yearto the CM relief fund for spend-ing on tackling coronavirus.

IANS

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Panaji: Lifeguards in Goa on Thursday rescueda middle-aged Russian from a beach cave nearKeri beach, amid the 21-day lockdownimposed in the State in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a statement issued by DrishtiMarine, a private lifeguard agency appointedby the State Government to man Goa's beach-es, the Russian named Valenti (last name notknown yet), is believed to have been living inthe cave for the last several weeks.

"During a routine patrol by the lifeguardstationed at the Keri beach area, lifeguardGirish Talkar spotted a man in a small narrowcave along the shoreline. He seemed to be inobvious distress as the cave was flooding rapid-ly due to the high tide. The man also appearedto be physically challenged as he was unableto walk," the statement said. He was eventu-ally rescued with the help of a spine board andbrought out by the lifeguards. Valenti is cur-rently in shock and is being treated at thePublic Health Centre in Mapusa. Ever sincethe lockdown nearly 2000 foreigners, includ-ing hundreds of Russians, have been repatri-ated from Goa to their home countries. IANS

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Page 6: + 6 - 1˚6 ˛˚˛˚7 1˛ 1 ˚ ˜ $ˇ$%˛ˆ˚˜ ˙#˚ $&$’(˛%ˆ˛€¦ · interesting findings. Till April 8, Maharashtra reported 72 deaths and 1,135 cases, which worked out to

It has often been said, yet it bears repeat-ing: The Coronavirus epidemic will, inall probability, leave the world lookingsignificantly different from the one weinhabited prior to the outbreak of the

infection. The global nature of COVID-19has ensured that this realisation is not lim-ited to only a few but finds resonance acrossborders. India’s response to the outbreak hasbeen comparatively swift. Credit, therefore,must be given to all parties, who have fought,and continue to fight the notorious virus.

While praise is well-deserved, we mustensure that our response to this novelthreat is swift and decisive. We cannot affordto be reactive. This is where I would like todraw a distinction between “reaction” and“response.” For the purpose of this article,the latter refers to a well-calibrated decision,one that considers all factors and puts thingsinto the context while also keeping in mindthe consequences of the former. This shouldbe a decision that utilises the slow thinkingpart of our brain. A “reaction,” on the otherhand, is, as the word suggests, “reactive.” Itis our first response to the problem, wherewhat is right in front of us is the only thingwe react to. Such a “reaction” is intuitive andborn from the fast-thinking part of our brain.In this particular case of Coronavirus, thebig thing in front of us is that it is one of thebiggest pandemics of our times.

For example, our obsession with theCoronavirus and the news surrounding it isunsurprising. However, it must be put intocontext. Tuberculosis kills an estimated1,200 people per day in India. Compare thiswith the number of Coronavirus deaths,which currently is as low as 10-30 per day.However, our “reaction” to the Coronavirusis much more severe than the one to tuber-culosis. Of course, this is an oversimplifica-tion of the problem and I do not want to bemisunderstood in saying that the currentpandemic requires any less effort, vigilanceor focus. This could be a terminal mistakefor the country and we must exercise asmuch caution and care as suggested by ourleaders and healthcare professionals. Afterall, any negligence could cost the lives of sev-eral other people and we owe a duty of careto each other during these difficult times.

However, the human mind is reallystrange. We tend to focus a lot more onthings that evoke strong “reactions.” Forexample, terrorism and murders areimmense social evils. They take up a chunkof the time of television news hours, spaceof newspapers and are a hot topic for socialdiscussion. But globally, the number of peo-ple who die due to suicide in a year, is almosttwice the number who die due to homicide.Yet, we do not as yet have as frequent dis-cussions or serious debates about address-ing mental health issues. Instead, we end upfocussing more on the problem that evokesgreater emotions. We are humans, after all.

In the fight against Coronavirus though,we cannot afford the same reaction. We must

be thoughtful rather than emo-tive in our response. One aspectof the fight against COVID-19is the immediate decision toimpose a nationwide lockdown.There is no denying the fact thatthis is the only “true” way to fightthis dreaded virus at this partic-ular time. However, while imple-menting the lockdown, we can-not ignore the fact that cure runsthe risk of causing more harmthan the disease.

Over 76 per cent of Indianworkers are engaged in “vulner-able employment.” This wasstarkly visible when millions ofmigrant workers from all overthe country tried to make theirway home on foot. WhileGovernments and civil societygroups have come forward in acommendable way to help andensure that the workers do notdie due to hunger, we cannotexpect this to be a long-termsolution.

A large part of the workingforce in our country are eitherdaily wagers or contractualworkers. While even for a shortperiod of time, a lockdown ismore palpable for salary earnersand business owners, for dailywage earners, it is a daily strug-gle of life and death. Therefore,in my opinion, a complete lock-down will have the effect ofpushing the country 25 yearsback. We cannot, therefore, givein to our intuition.

We must think of morenovel and nuanced wayswhereby this problem can be

tackled. Whether it is about tar-getting specific hotspotsthrough sealing drives, as beingdone in certain parts of thenational capital by ensuringdoorstep delivery of essentials,or something else, ourapproach cannot afford to besimplistic and carte blanche.

The other thing we must dois, carry forward this delibera-tive approach, going forward.What this means is that we mustensure that Governments spendmore on healthcare and educa-tion rather than on statues. Wemust look at ways by which ourspending can be better utilisedand how social goals can beachieved more efficiently.Health, for example, has a closecausal relationship with cleanli-ness. In order to enforce clean-liness, we cannot merely rely onadvertisement campaigns orjust be content with building arecord number of toilets. Boththese measures have beenproven to not nudge the peopleto do the right thing. Instead,what has proven problematic isnot the existence of toilets inmany areas but the fact that theyare often dirty and lack properwaste disposal measures. Thisdissuades the people from usingthe toilets even if there may bemany around them.

Therefore, the focus needsto be on understanding whatare the behavioural reasonsbehind the people who do notadopt clean habits. Only afterunderstanding these cues can

an effective strategy be imple-mented. One way of ensuringthat we understand these socialbehaviour and calibrate theefficacy of our systems is byensuring that maximumamount of accurate informa-tion is at our disposal. This can-not be done solely by theGovernment.

Every Government (just asevery person) has an incentiveto show itself in the best light.Therefore, we must encouragecivil society and the media toprovide ground-level feedback.Here, too, there is a chance ofbias and fake news being circu-lated as we have seen from timeto time. Thus, any supply orencouragement of fake orunsubstantiated data must besoundly punished.

In the case of Coronavirus,just as in every sphere of ourlives, we have our blind spots,too. Unfortunately, for our elect-ed leaders, there is little scope forsuch blind spots while dealingwith a pandemic and balancingour economic interests on thesame scale. We must, therefore,be unafraid of diverse views andencourage open communica-tion. The virus does not affectjust a few of us but all of us inone way or the other. Therefore,we have little option but tocome together to try and ensurethere is some light at the end ofthis long tunnel.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and currently a member of the AAP)

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Sir — Many States are demand-ing extension of the 21-day lock-down to allay fears and to miti-gate the spread of the virus. Theimpact of the current lockdownhas been such that it has affect-ed the economy drastically,including slowing the growth,migration, closure of public trans-port and rising unemployment.The Government should make aquick decision either to lift thelockdown soon or extend thesame. This will dispel fake mes-sages and rumours now doing therounds on social media.

An early decision by theGovernment will not only helpthe citizens gear up for comingdays but also help the agencies tobe better prepared to fight thepandemic by staying abreast ofthe situation. A prompt decisionwill also help them procure nec-essary Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE) kits, ventilatorsand medical supplies, amongother things in sufficient quanti-ties if the need so arises. Timelyharvesting of the wheat crop, too,is essential for the farmers.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — Over the last few days, therehas been a demand in the mediato stretch the current lockdownperiod beyond April 14. AssamFinance Minister Himanta BiswaSarma said that everything shouldnot be opened on April 15; ratherthe lockdown should be lifted sys-

tematically and scientifically toavoid chaos. Union MinisterPrakash Javadekar, after a recentmeeting of the Cabinet, said thata decision would be taken “in thenational interest” at the right time.

India is monitoring the worldsituation to be able to fight thehighly contagious virus effec-tively. My personal opinion is that

the lockdown should be with-drawn in a phased manner. Thatis because saving lives is moreimportant than the economy.Lifting the lockdown unsystem-atically will certainly increasethe incidence of COVID-19 infec-tion. Therefore, the Governmentmust take a considered step sothat people do not face the kind

of situation many Western coun-tries are facing.

AL Nadwi Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the report,“PM, Opp concur on more lock-down” (April 9). For a change, theruling Government andOpposition parties are on thesame page in the battle againstCoronavirus. Yes, an extension ofthe lockdown will be tough formillions of Indians, especially fordaily wagers and poor people, butthe Government will have totake a hard decision in the larg-er interest of the nation.

While the Prime Ministerhas spoken to Opposition parties,economists, business tycoons andother stakeholders, State ChiefMinisters can also give feedback.A collaborative approach will beof immense help. A staggered lift-ing of the lockdown is essential.Areas not/less affected by theinfection can be opened up first.

Bal GovindNoida

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In the run-up to the announcement of a nation-wide lockdown starting from March 25, therewere several areas where the Government

failed to craft a strategy to address its possible fall-out. One such aspect that was completely ignoredwas the way to deal with incidents of domestic vio-lence (DV) against women and children in the coun-try during the 21-day shut down. The checks andbalances that needed to be in place for victims ofDV to resort to in their hour of need were unheed-ed.

The term “domestic violence” (DV) is used inmany countries to refer to intimate partner violence(IPV) but it also encompasses child or elder abuse,or abuse by any member of a household. Accordingto the World Health Organisation (WHO), one inevery three women across the globe experiencephysical and/or sexual violence by an intimate part-ner or sexual violence by any perpetrators in theirlifetime: At least 30 per cent of all women who havebeen in a relationship have experienced physicaland/or sexual violence by their intimate partner.

It has been seen that violence against womentends to increase during every type of emergency,including epidemics. So, not surprisingly it hasincreased globally during the lockdowns enforcedby governments to combat the spread of COVID-19. It is fuelled by social distancing, economic uncer-tainties and anxieties caused by the Coronaviruspandemic.

For instance, countries like China, the UnitedStates (US), the United Kingdom (UK), Brazil,Tunisia, France, Australia and many others havereported cases of increased DV/IPV. India is alsoshowing symmetrical trends, especially when it isinfamous for being the fourth-worst country (afterthe United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia)for gender equality (ranked by perception).

According to the Crime in India Report, 2018,published by the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB), every 1.7 minutes a crime was recordedagainst women in India, every 16 minutes a rapewas committed and every 4.4 minutes a child is sub-jected to domestic violence.

Within a few days of the lockdown, theNational Commission for Women (NCW) noteda rise in the number of DV/IPV complaintsreceived via e-mails. The NCW Chairpersonbelieves that the real figure is likely to be more sincethe bulk of complaints comes from women in thelower strata of society, who send their complaintsby post. In March and up to April 5, the NCWreceived 310 grievances of DV. During this period,a total of 885 complaints were received by the NCWfor other forms of violence against women (exam-ple: Bigamy/polygamy; denial of maternity bene-fits to women; dowry deaths; harassment of mar-ried women/dowry harassment; outraging themodesty of women/molestation; rape/attempt torape; right to live with dignity; sexual assault andsexual harassment). Several women’s rights organ-isations have also been receiving numerous DVcomplaints since the enforcement of the lockdown.

The number of cases reported might not be pro-portional to the actual rise in the number of DV/sex-ual abuse cases. This is because the woman/childlocked down with the abuser does not get accessto a mobile phone or the space and time, with lim-ited access to financial resources and social networksor even the courage when s/he could call up for help.In other words, all options of escape for the formerfrom their situation of despair are impaired.

Thus, the intensity of the impediments s/hewould normally face has been exacerbated by the

pandemic and the lockdown.While the NCW Chairperson has

urged women to contact the police orreach out to State Women’s Commissionsif they face DV or their children are beingabused, it must be noted that theremight be chances where the police aredelayed in such rescues. This is becausethey are already handling challenges ofenforcing the lockdown, ensuring deliv-ery of essentials to vulnerable sections andin several places assisting health workersin the discharge of their duties. Further,women have felt additionally unsafe inapproaching the police because theythink that if their husbands are arrested,they could be harassed by in-laws, or oncetheir husbands return, they or their chil-dren would be tortured even more.

With partners and children potential-ly trapped at home during the COVID-19 lockdown, the rate and intensity ofabuse could get even worse and extendto child abuse. Repeated acts of physicalviolence, such as slapping, hitting, kick-ing and beating; sexual violence, includ-ing forced sexual intercourse and otherforms of sexual coercion; emotional(psychological) abuse, such as insults,belittling, constant humiliation, intimida-tion (e.g. destroying things), threats ofharm, threats to take away children; con-trolling behaviour, including isolating aperson from family and friends; monitor-ing their movements; restricting access tofinancial resources, employment, educa-tion or medical care, often result indepression, panic attacks, other anxietydisorders and even suicides.

It often has lasting impacts on the sur-vivors as research suggests that the mem-ory of abuse persists long after the vio-lence has stopped. This often results inchronic health problems and developingrisks of many diseases that arise from pro-longed stress.

In the critical situation of trying tocombat a pandemic, an increased num-ber of women/children are faced with the

plague of DV within their households. Itmust not come as a surprise because DVtopped in the category of violence againstwomen/girls in 2018. As per the data, atotal of 89,097 cases related to crimesagainst women/girls were registeredacross India in 2018. The figures indicatethat not much has improved when com-pared to the figure of 86,001 cases regis-tered under this head in 2017. The crimerate per lakh women/girl populationwas 58.8 in 2018 in comparison to 57.9in 2017.

The National Family Health Survey(NFHS-4), 2015-16 highlighted that 30per cent of women/girls in India in theage group of 15-49 experienced physicalviolence since the age of 15.

Among married women experienc-ing physical, sexual or emotional violence,an alarming 83 per cent claimed that theirhusbands were the main perpetrators ofsuch forms of abuse, followed by abusefrom the mothers (56 per cent), fathers(33 per cent) and siblings of the husbands(27 per cent). The major crimes report-ed by women in India are — cruelty byhusband or relatives (32.6 per cent),assault on women with intent to outrageher modesty (25 per cent), kidnappingand abductions (19 per cent) and rape(11.5 per cent).

The above crime statistics are unableto capture the data on violence againstwomen in its entirety. This is primarilydue to the prevalence of orthodox socialnorms and the stigma that is placed onsurvivors of DV/sexual abuse whichleads to such cases being grossly under-reported. The report also shows thatunemployment and alcoholism of themale partner are highly associated withDV/sexual abuse on women/girls.

In addition to the direct healththreat posed by the Coronavirus, the pan-demic and restrictions aimed at checkingits spread have heightened anxieties,right from apprehensions of catching thedisease, to financial worries, to social con-

cerns. There is also a concern thatDV/sexual abuse would further increasewith job losses and other economic pres-sures. An added challenge has been theimportance of intertwined negative psy-cho-social impact on mental health ofwomen/girls.

In the attempt to flatten the COVID-19 curve, women’s equality and physicaland mental health seem to have suffereda collateral damage. The Governmentoverlooked the need to formally integrateDV/sexual abuse and mental healthrepercussions into the public health pre-paredness and emergency response plansagainst Coronavirus. In fact, theSustainable Development Goal (SDG)that seeks to “eliminate all forms of dis-crimination and violence against womenin the public and private spheres and toundertake reforms to give them thesame rights to economic resources andaccess to property by 2030”, is being enor-mously compromised.

Members of the community must bemade aware about the increased risks towomen’s/girls health and life in the lock-down days. They must develop the ethosto condemn violence and shoulder theresponsibility of offering all possibleassistance to ensure their safety. In itsefforts against COVID-19, theGovernment must allow civil societyorganisations, counsellors, mental healthorganisations and providers to come tothe rescue of the women/girls facingDV/sexual abuse. Reaching out towomen/girls in distress and the need toaddress the various forms of violenceagainst them need to be classified as an“essential service” by the Government.Finally, the perpetrators of DV/IPV/sex-ual abuse must be brought to trial andrepeat offenders must be dealt withstrictly as per the provisions of law.

(Simi is CEO and Editorial Director,IMPRI, Balwant is Fellow at IHD, Co-Founder and Visiting Senior Fellow, IMPRIand Kumar is Director, IMPRI)

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No person shall be deprived of lifeor personal liberty exceptaccording to procedure estab-

lished by law,” says Article 21 of theIndian Constitution. The ability of ourgovernments to respond to the pan-demic must be extolled. Some heads ofStates, shedding their differences,appealed to humanity to fight united-ly against the Coronavirus.

As of now, all options are open,right from the use of ArtificialIntelligence (AI) to biotechnology towin the battle against the Coronavirus.

As the world is literally in a lockdown,Governments, right from China to theUS, are allowing private AI and dataanalytics firms to sweep through per-sonal data on phones for locations andso on. Facial recognition technology isalso deployed to search for people withCoronavirus. It is reported that com-panies like Tencent and Alibaba areworking with the Chinese Governmentto deploy these technologies andBeijing is using apps to collect travelhistory, time spent in infected placesand details of an individual’s interac-tions. So, in short, they know every per-sonal detail of an individual they wantto track, with the help of AI and apps.

In India, too, various Coronaapps are being made popular as ascreening and tracking tool.

In China, once the information iscollected, algorithms assign peoplehealth codes. These yellow, red andgreen codes notify whether one is tobe quarantined or not, whether one canuse the public transport or not. Most

of this data collection is not by choiceof the citizen. AI reports back to theGovernment if the individual hasgiven inconsistent answers or simplylied. Coercive actions follow that.The Government has superseded allprivacy conventions and is freelyallowing private companies to look intophones, computers, public cameras toachieve the results. The Chinese Statehas an extensive and often-called“Black Mirror-esque and dark” socialcredit system, which allows for mon-itoring of each action and behaviour.If the behaviour is aligned with theState, you are rewarded, otherwise youcan’t even board a train.

Looking Westward, in England SkyNews reports, “The Government isworking with mobile network O2 toanalyse anonymous smartphone loca-tion data to see whether people are fol-lowing its social distancing guidelines.”Israel is using mobile surveillance tosend users customised messages aboutwhether they are infected or not.

Social media firms like Facebook,Google and so on, are doing their bit,too, by giving Governments our data.So no matter where you are, theCoronavirus crisis has given “BigBrother” an excuse to watch you all thetime. And remember it is for “publichealth and your own good.” And ofcourse we have nothing to hide.

The stakes are getting higher as theUS-China trade wars have entered anew horizon of AI-based technology.Both nations are cognisant of the enor-mous power of AI-based surveillanceand medical technology. No friend ofthe Silicon Valley, US President DonaldTrump now has taken assistance froma company called BlueDot to create amass surveillance system to monitorpeople for COVID-19. The USGovernment last year had alreadytried to outlaw encryption and forcedFacebook to give it access to WhatsAppmessages. It is only a matter of timebefore other Silicon Valley giants likeMicrosoft and so on begin their dal-

liance with the White House to birththe most sophisticated reconnaissancesystems engineered to feed theGovernment your per-minute heartrate. Emergency legislations are intro-duced across the world to expedientdata collection and give theGovernment “war-like situation” pow-ers. In a statement, Kamran Khan ofBluedot told the media, “We know thatgovernments may not be relied uponto provide information in a timely fash-ion. This reflects the larger disbelief ingovernments and democratic institu-tions at large by this class of tech-nocrats.”

I don’t doubt the noble intentionsof our Governments and private com-panies in their efforts to controlCOVID-19 but the AI-based systemsthey are creating do force us to beg thequestion, what happens to mass sur-veillance-based systems after COVID-19 goes away? Will the mass surveil-lance, too, go away or evolve further?Can citizens of the world be certain it

won’t be misused? Coupled with 5G technology, this

system will be extremely powerful andits master will be the overlord of ourplanet. One can only think of AbrahamLincoln’s warning that, “Nearly allmen can stand adversity but if you wantto test a man’s character, give himpower.” What will happen to our lead-ers when they can pry into our lives onthe touch of a button. This system willopen up a Pandora’s box of control.People of the world must be very care-ful, for under the garb of remedies ofCOVID-19, lurks a far sinister danger.AI-based mass surveillance slithers intoour lives with our approval. As fearreigns, neighbour has already turnedagainst neighbour. People of Asiandescent are becoming Hitler’s Jews. Asnews of racial hatred is rising, we areglobally descending into chaos. Wehave to ensure the virus doesn’t aidanother holocaust of hate and fearempowered by technology. From thegas chambers to the nuclear bomb, they

were all cutting-edge science of theirtime and yet they served Satanic ends.Champions of technology and sciencelike Elon Musk and Stephen Hawkingalong with other scientists, have alreadycautioned the world against AI. In factMusk goes on to say that, “AI is moredangerous than nuclear weapons.” Weneed to curb indiscriminate use of AI-based technology, especially applica-tions that loot our privacy and rights.Democracy, privacy and humanityare threatened by private technocrat-ic tools like AI-based surveillance. Thecrisis is not an excuse to free them fromregulation, we need to have a “pre-nup-tial” agreement with these firms andtechnology.

We all agree that the Corona cri-sis must be stopped by all means nec-essary but we should be very carefulthat our remedies don’t seed the nextdisease — a mass surveillance State.

(The writer is Programme Directorfor Policy and Outreach at the NationalSeed Association of India)

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Countries that have con-ducted widespread testing

have done fairly well in the fightagainst COVID-19 and thosestruggling to contain the spreadof the pandemic may do well tofollow their lead, according toepidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo,a Senior Scholar at the JohnsHopkins Center for HealthSecurity in the US.

Rather than hoping that avaccine will soon be availableand everything will suddenlybe alright, nations affected bythe pandemic should continueto test widely, identify thosewith the disease and isolate

them, while also asking thegeneral population to contin-ue to practice social distancinguntil effective treatments areavailable, she said in an interview to JSTOR Daily,an online publication that con-textualises current events withscholarship.

In September 2019, lessthan three months before theoutbreak of COVID-19 inChina’s Wuhan area becamepublic, Nuzzo and her col-leagues published aWHO/World Bank-commis-sioned report titled“Preparedness for a High-Impact Respiratory PathogenPandemic.”

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Athree-man crew dockedsuccessfully at the

International Space StationThursday, leaving behind aplanet overwhelmed by thecoronavirus pandemic. Russianspace agency Roscosmos saidthe Soyuz MS-16 capsule“docked successfully” in a state-ment on its website.

Anatoly Ivanishin and IvanVagner of Roscosmos andNASA’s Chris Cassidy reachedthe ISS at 1413 GMT, just oversix hours after blasting offfrom the BaikonurCosmodrome, where COVID-19 caused changes to pre-launch protocol.

Usually the departing crewfaces questions from a largepress pack before being wavedoff by family and friends.

Neither was possible thistime round because of travelrestrictions imposed over thevirus, although the crew didrespond to emailed questionsfrom journalists in aWednesday press conference.

Cassidy, 50, admitted thecrew had been affected by theirfamilies not being unable to bein Baikonur, Russia’s space hubin neighbouring Kazakhstan,for their blastoff to the ISS.

“But we understand thatthe whole world is also impact-ed by the same crisis,” Cassidysaid. Astronauts routinely go

into quarantine ahead of spacemissions and give a final pressconference at Baikonur frombehind a glass wall to protectthem from infection.

That process began evenearlier than usual last month asthe trio and their reserve crewhunkered down in Russia’s StarCity training centre outsideMoscow, eschewing tradition-al pre-launch rituals and visitsto the capital.

The next crew to return toEarth from the ISS will be fly-ing to their home countries onApril 17 via Baikonur, ratherthan Karaganda in centralKazakhstan as usual, as part ofnew travel measures related tothe pandemic.

San Diego: A US Border Patrolagent wouldn’t let JackelineReyes explain why she and her 15-year-old daughterneeded asylum, pointing tothe coronavirus.

That confrontation inTexas came just days after theTrump administration quietlyshut down the nation’s asylum system for the firsttime in decades in the name ofpublic health.

“The agent told us aboutthe virus and that we couldn’tgo further, but she didn’t let usspeak or anything,” said Reyes,35, who was shuttled to acrossing March 24 in Reynosa,Mexico, a violent border city.

She tried to get home tocrime-ridden Honduras despitelearning her brother had been

killed there and her mother and7-year-old daughter had fled tothe Nicaraguan border. Butshe was stuck in Mexico as thevirus closed borders in CentralAmerica.

The US Government usedan obscure public health law tojustify one of its most aggres-sive border crackdowns ever.

People fleeing violence andpoverty to seek refuge in the USare whisked to the nearest bor-der crossing and returned toMexico without a chance toapply for asylum.

It eclipses PresidentDonald Trump’s other poli-cies to curtail immigration —which often rely on help fromMexico — by setting asidedecades-old national and inter-national laws. AP

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Iran’s supreme leader sug-gested on Thursday that mass

gatherings may be barredthrough the Muslim holymonth of Ramadan amid thecoronavirus pandemic.Meanwhile, AmnestyInternational said it believed atleast 35 Iranian prisoners werekilled by security forces amidrioting over the virus.

Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei made the com-ments in a televised address asIran prepares to restart its eco-nomic activity while sufferingone of the world’s worst out-breaks. He is also the highest-ranking official in the Muslimworld to acknowledge the holymonth of prayer and reflectionwill be disrupted by the virusand the COVID-19 illness itcauses.

“We are going to bedeprived of public gatherings ofthe month of Ramadan,”Khamenei said during a speechmarking the birth of revered9th century Shiite ImamMahdi.

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The worldwide number offatalities from the novel

coronavirus pandemic rose to92,109 on Thursday.

More than 1,555,019declared cases have been reg-istered in 192 countries and ter-ritories. Of these cases, at least345,834 are now consideredrecovered.

AMERICA’s coronavirusepicentre of New York record-ed a new single-day high of 799COVID-19 deaths onThursday but GovernorAndrew Cuomo said the rate ofhospitalisations continued tofall. Cuomo said 799 peopledied in the last 24 hours, out-doing the previous high of 779announced on Wednesday, butadded that the curve was flat-tening because of social con-finement measures.

“We had a 200-net increasein hospitalizations, which youcan see is the lowest numberwe’ve had since this nightmarestarted,” Cuomo told reporters,adding that intensive careadmissions were also at thelowest yet.

COVID-19 has killed morethan 14,800 people in theUnited States, and the numberof confirmed cases has grownto more than 432,000, accord-ing to a running tally by JohnsHopkins University.

New York is bearing thebrunt of the United States’deadly coronavirus pandemic,accounting for around half the

number of deaths across thecountry.

BRITAIN announcedanother 881 deaths of peopletesting positive for coronavirusin Thursday’s daily update,bringing the country’s totaltoll to 7,978. Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab, in charge asPrime Minister Boris Johnsonremains in intensive care bat-tling COVID-19, announcedthe figures as he warned thatthe country hadn’t “yet reachedthe peak of the virus”.

Meanwhile, British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson’s healthcontinues to improve on hisfourth day in the intensivecare unit (ICU) of a Londonhospital where he is beingtreated for the coronavirus,Downing Street said onThursday. The 55-year-old wasshifted to the ICU of St.Thomas’ Hospital in Londonon Monday night as his condi-tion worsened over 10 daysafter he had tested positive forthe coronavirus and went intoself-isolation. He has sincereceived “standard oxygentreatment” but has not beendiagnosed with pneumonia orrequired a ventilator to aid hisbreathing.

The daily death toll fromthe coronavirusfell to 683 inSPAIN on Thursday,after rising for two days,with Prime MinisterPedro Sanchez urging peo-ple to keep up the fight against

the spread of the COVID-19virus. The country, one of theworst hit by the pandemic, hasnow recorded 15,238 coroan-virus deaths. The official dailytoll was down from 757 onWednesday. However, therehas been growing speculationthat the death toll may havegrossly underestimated.Authorities in the Madridregion acknowledged onWednesday that the number ofdeaths in retirement homescould be five times as high asthat announced by health offi-cials, who have not includedalmost 3,500 deaths of peoplewho had not been tested for thevirus.

The coronavirus pandem-ic could kill between 11,000and 22,000 people in

CANADA, the Governmentprojected on Thursday. It saidthe country could see between934,000 and 1.9 million casesof COVID-19 by the time thepandemic ends, assumingCanadians observe strict socialdistancing and other safetymeasures over the next fewmonths. These are the federalGovernment’s first projectionson the pandemic’s possible tollin Canada. As of Thursdaymorning the virus had killed476 people in Canada, accord-ing to figures provided byprovincial authorities.

IRAN’s Health Ministryon Thursday said 117 newdeaths from the novel coron-avirus took the total to 4,110 inone of the countries worst hitby the pandemic. But ministryspokesman Kianoush

Jahanpour said the latest fig-ures showed there was a

downward trend in thenumber of new coron-avirus infections. “Todaywe are clearly seeing adecline in the number ofnew cases,” Jahanpoursaid in a televised newsconference. “We haveidentified 1,634 newcases, bringing the total

number of confirmedcases to 66,220.”

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One hundred Italian doctorshave died of the novel

coronavirus since the pan-demic reached theMediterranean country inFebruary, Italy’s FNOMCeOhealth association said onThursday.

“The number of doctorswho have died because ofCOVID-19 is 100 — perhapseven 101 at the moment, unfor-tunately,” a FNOMCeOspokesman told AFP.

The toll includes retireddoctors the Government begancalling in a month ago to help

fight a coronavirus that hasofficially claimed a world-top-ping 17,669 lives in Italy.

Italian media reports esti-mate that 30 nurses and nurs-ing assistance have also died ofCOVID-19.

“We can longer allow ourdoctors, our health workers, tobe sent to fight without anyprotection against the virus,”FNOMCeO president FilippoAnelli said on the association’swebsite. “It is an unfair fight.”

Rome’s ISS public healthinstitute estimates that 10 per-cent of those infected with thenovel coronavirus in Italy workin health care.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan has warned

that the situation due to coron-avirus pandemic “can furtherdeteriorate” and “hospitals maynot be able to cope” with theincreasing number of COVID-19 patients, as author-ities on Thursday reported 340new cases, taking the tally to 4,414.

The Ministry of NationalHealth Services reported thatthe number of patients inworst-hit Punjab province was2,171, Sindh 1,128, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 560, Gilgit-Baltistan 213, Balochistan 212,Islamabad 102 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 28.

According to the ministry,63 people have died due to theinfection, including five in oneday. A total of 572 people haverecovered. Thirty one peopleare in critical condition.

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China on Thursday unveileda new trial protocol war-

ranting re-testing of the recov-ered coronavirus patientsbesides intensifying the screen-ing of asymptomatic cases asconcerns grew over the secondwave of virus infections in thecountry.

The move comes a dayafter China lifted the 76-daylockdown in Wuhan, where thepandemic originated.

China’s National HealthCommission (NHC) onThursday reported 63 newconfirmed cases of the coron-avirus, including 61 imported ones taking the totalto 1,104 cases.

Two more persons werekilled due to the disease, tak-ing the death toll in the coun-try to 3,335. The overall coro-

navirus cases have reached81,865 in the country.

After nearly three monthsof grim battle against the coro-navirus, China is fast returningto normalcy with factories andbusiness humming back toactivity amid concerns overcoronavirus rebound due to asteady rise of new infections,especially coming from thou-sands of Chinese returningfrom abroad.

As the 76-day lockdown ofWuhan was lifted onWednesday, tens of thousandsof people in the city, the originpoint and epicentre for thecoronavirus pandemic, begantravelling out by road, rail andair. China on Thursday releaseda new trial protocol on recov-ered Covid-19 patients’ quar-antine which included returnvisits by doctors, re-testingand their health monitoring.

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Even as coronavirus deathsmount across Europe and

New York, the US and othercountries are starting to con-template an exit strategy andthinking about a staggered andcarefully calibrated easing ofrestrictions designed to curbthe scourge.

“To end the confinement,we’re not going to go fromblack to white; we’re going to gofrom black to gray,” top Frenchepidemiologist Jean-FrançoisDelfraissy said in a radio inter-view.

Deaths, hospitalizationsand new infections are levelingoff in places like Italy andSpain, and even New York hasseen encouraging signs amidthe gloom. At the same time,politicians and health officialswarn that the crisis is far fromover and a catastrophic secondwave could hit if countries letdown their guard too soon.

“We are flattening thecurve because we are rigorousabout social distancing,” New

York Gov. Andrew Cuomosaid. “But it’s not a time to be

complacent. It’s not a time to doanything different than we’vebeen doing.”

In a sharp reminder of thedanger, New York state onWednesday recorded its high-est one-day increase in deaths,779, for an overall death toll ofalmost 6,300.

“The bad news is actuallyterrible,” Cuomo lamented. Still,the governor said that hospital-izations are decreasing and thatmany of those now dying fell illin the outbreak’s earlier stages.

The Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention said itwas issuing new guidelines forsome workers who have beenwithin 6 feet of someone witha confirmed or suspected infec-tion to go back on the job ifthey have no symptoms. Theguidelines apply to employeesin critical fields such as healthcare and food supply andrequire they take their tem-perature beforehand, wear facemasks at all times and practicesocial distancing.

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Page 9: + 6 - 1˚6 ˛˚˛˚7 1˛ 1 ˚ ˜ $ˇ$%˛ˆ˚˜ ˙#˚ $&$’(˛%ˆ˛€¦ · interesting findings. Till April 8, Maharashtra reported 72 deaths and 1,135 cases, which worked out to

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The coronavirus outbreakhas thrown at least 16.8

million Americans onto theunemployment rolls in justthree weeks, underscoring theterrifying speed with which the crisis has broughtworld economies to a nearstandstill.

Meanwhile, world leadersand health officials are ferventlywarning that hard-won gains inthe fight against the scourgemust not be jeopardized byrelaxing social distancing dur-ing the Easter holiday.

A spike in deaths in Britainand New York and surges ofreported new infections inJapan and in India’s congestedcities make it clear the battle isfar from over.

Numbers released by the

US Government on Thursdayshowed that 6.6 million work-ers applied for unemploymentbenefits last week, on top ofmore than 10 million in the twoweeks before that.

That means more than 1 in10 American workers havebeen forced out of a job sincethe crisis took hold.

The real numbers could beeven higher because the surgeof jobless claims has over-whelmed state unemploymentoffices around the country, and some people havebeen unable to get through bytelephone or website. And still more job cuts areexpected.

The US unemploymentrate could hit 15 per cent — anumber last seen at the tail endof the Depression — when thefigures for April come out.

New Delhi: Telecom industryhas rejected Trai’s call to providetalktime credit and extendedvalidity to all pre-paid mobilephone users, saying telecos hadoffered benefits worth over�600 crore to low-income sub-scribers to stay connected dur-ing the lockdown, and extend-ing it to all pre-paid customerswas unjustified. The responsefrom COAI, whose membersinclude Bharti Airtel, Reliance

Jio and Vodafone Idea, comesjust days after Trai pulled up tel-cos on selective approach inextending validity and givingtalktime credit.

The sector regulator hadinsisted that uninterrupted ser-vices need to be ensured for allprepaid subscribers amid theongiong lockdown. Putting upa strong defense, the industryhas said that adequate measureshave already been taken to

ensure that those who genuine-ly require support due tounavailability of options torecharge are provided help totide over the situation.

COAI said in case Trai andthe Government still feel needfor extension of benefits to allprepaid feature phone sub-scribers, this should be provid-ed in form of a subsidy to tele-com sector like many otheressential services. PTI

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Amid lockdowns and glob-al slowdown adversely

impacting the economic activ-ity, the RBI on Thursdayexpressed hope that recentmonetary and fiscal measureswill mitigate the impact ofCOVID-19 on domesticdemand and spur growth oncethe normalcy is restored.

Observing that it was dif-ficult to make growth projec-tions at this point of time, theReserve Bank in its MonetaryPolicy Report said the lock-down following the outbreak ofCOVID-19 and expected con-traction in global outlookwould weigh heavily on thegrowth outlook.

It said prior to the out-break, the outlook for growthfor 2020-21 was looking up.The RBI noted that the bumperrabi harvest and higher foodprices during 2019-20 provid-ed conducive conditions for thestrengthening of rural demand,the transmission of past reduc-tions in the policy rate to banklending rates has been improv-ing, and reductions in the taxrates and measures to boostrural and infrastructurespend-

ing were directed at boostingdomestic demand more gen-erally.

“The COVID-19 pandem-ic has drastically altered thisoutlook,” the report said, andadded the global economy isexpected to slump into reces-sion in 2020, as post-COVIDprojections indicate.

The RBI added the sharpreduction in internationalcrude oil prices, if sustained,could improve the country’sterms of trade, but the gainfrom this channel is not expect-ed to offset the drag from theshutdown and loss of externaldemand. “COVID-19, theaccompanying lockdowns andthe expected contraction inglobal output in 2020 weighheavily on the growth out-look. The actual outturn woulddepend upon the speed withwhich the outbreak is con-tained and economic activityreturns to normalcy.

“Significant monetary andliquidity measures taken by theRBI and fiscal measures by thegovernment would mitigatethe adverse impact on domes-tic demand and help spur eco-nomic activity once normalcyis restored,” it said.

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The Rupee on Thursdayrecovered from record low

levels to settle 6 paise higher at76.28 against the US dollartracking gains in equity mar-kets and foreign fund inflows.

The local unit had settledat an all-time low of 76.34against the greenback onWednesday. Forex traders saidthe rupee traded in a narrowrange as gains in domesticequities supported the localunit amid lingering concernsover coronavirus outbreak inthe country.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the localcurrency opened higher at76.11, but witnessed heavyvolatility and slid to its all-timeintra-day low of 76.55 againstthe American currency. Thedomestic unit later recoveredground to settle at 76.28 againstthe greenback, up 6 paise overits previous close.

Traders said concerns overthe impact of coronavirus out-break on the domestic as wellas the global economy contin-ued to haunt investors.

“Uncertainty and fragilemarket sentiments overCOVID-19 will continue tokeep the rupee under pressure.Further pressure will comefrom the uptick in crude and

surge in the dollar index,” saidRahul Gupta, Head ofResearch- Currency, EmkayGlobal Financial Services.

Gupta added, “Also, OTCtimings have been trimmed to10AM-2PM, and it is an illiq-uid, pessimistic market at thispoint in time and won’t be sur-prised if 77.50 is breached nextweek.”

Rupee opened stronger,but pared its gains soon andmade a fresh all-time low,Devarsh Vakil Head AdvisoryHDFC Securities Research said,adding that “dollar selling fromexporters near 76.5 and foreignfund buying in domestic equi-ties for the last two days sup-ported rupee recovery throughday and rupee managed toclose near April 8 levels”.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) remained netbuyers in the capital market, asthey bought equity sharesworth Rs 1,943.41 crore onWednesday, according to pro-visional exchange data.

Meanwhile, equity bench-mark Sensex rallied over1,265 points on Thursday, ledby robust buying amid hopes ofa second stimulus packagefrom the Government. TheBSE barometer ended1,265.66 points or 4.23 percent higher at 31,159.62. TheNSE Nifty soared 363.15

points, or 4.15 per cent, to9,111.90.

On a weekly basis, the cur-rency has depreciated by 15paise. “The Indian rupee hasbeen under pressure through-out the week, hitting recordlows due to the uncertainty intrade created by Covid-19.INR hit a fresh record low of76.54/US dollar earlier today,”said Nish Bhatt, the founder &

CEO of Millwood KaneInternational.

“The unpredictability onthe Covid-19 influence meansthat the INR may come undermore pressure in the comingweeks. Most Asian currencieshave been falling due to uncer-tainty over the economic out-look, with near-zero exportsdue to the outbreak of coron-avirus,” Bhatt said.

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India’s industrial productiongrew at the fastest pace in

seven months at 4.5 per centduring February, mainly onaccount of uptick in miningand manufacturing activity aswell as power generation, offi-cial data showed on Thursday.

Factory output, as mea-sured in terms of the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP),had recorded a growth of 0.2per cent in February 2019. Ithad registered a growth of 4.9per cent in July 2019.

The production contractedby 1.4 per cent in August, 4.6in September and 6.6 per centin October last year. It grew 2.1per cent in November and 0.1per cent in December 2019 and2.1 per cent in January 2020.

Last month, provisionaldata showed IIP growth of 2per cent in January, 2020.According to a data by theNational Statistical Office(NSO), the manufacturing sec-

tor output grew at a rate of 3.2per cent in February comparedto a contraction of 0.3 per centin the same month a year ago.

Electricity generationincreased by 8.1 per cent asagainst a growth of 1.3 per centin February 2019. Mining sec-tor output surged by 10 per centcompared to a growth of 2.2 percent earlier. The IIP growth dur-ing April-February period of thelast fiscal decelerated to 0.9 percent from 4 per cent expansionin the same period of 2018-19.

The data for Februaryshowed that production of cap-ital goods, a barometer of invest-ment, shrunk by 9.7 per cent ascompared to a contraction of 9.3per cent in the correspondingmonth of the previous year. Asper use-based classification,primary good registered agrowth of 7.4 per cent, inter-mediate goods 22.4 per cent,and infrastructure/constructiongoods 0.1 per cent in February2020 as against the same peri-od a year ago.

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The year 2020 could see theworst global economic fall-

out since the Great Depressionin the 1930s with over 170countries likely to experiencenegative per capita incomegrowth due to the raging coro-navirus pandemic, IMFManaging Director KristalinaGeorgieva said on Thursday.

Georgieva made theremarks during her address on“Confronting the Crisis:Priorities for the GlobalEconomy” here ahead of nextweek’s annual Spring meeting ofthe International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the World Bank.

“Today, the world is con-fronted with a crisis like noother. COVID-19 has disrupt-ed our social and economicorder at lightning speed and ona scale that we have not seen inliving memory,” she said. The

virus is causing a tragic loss oflife, and the lockdown neededto fight it has affected billionsof people. What was normaljust a few weeks ago — goingto school, going to work, beingwith family and friends — isnow a huge risk, she said.

Observing the world is facedwith extraordinary uncertaintyabout the depth and duration ofthis crisis, she said it is alreadyclear, however, global growth willturn sharply negative in 2020. “Infact, we anticipate the worsteconomic fallout since the GreatDepression,” Georgieva said.

“Just three months ago, weexpected positive per capitaincome growth in over 160 ofour member countries in 2020.Today, that number has beenturned on its head: we nowproject that over 170 countrieswill experience negative percapita income growth this year,”she said.

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India’s GDP growth for thecurrent fiscal is expected to

slow down to 4.8 per cent, aUN report has said, warningthat the COVID-19 pandemicis expected to result in signif-icant adverse economicimpacts globally.

The UN ‘Economic andSocial Survey of Asia and thePacific (ESCAP) 2020: Towardssustainable economies’ said thatCOVID-19 is having far-reach-ing economic and social conse-quences for the region, withstrong cross-border spillovereffects through trade, tourism

and financial linkages. India’sGDP growth for the fiscal year2019-2020 was estimated at 5per cent and is forecast to slowdown to 4.8 per cent for the cur-rent fiscal 2020-21. Economicgrowth for the country couldstand at 5.1 per cent for fiscalyear 2021-22, the report said.

The report noted that theseare very preliminary forecastsbased on the data and infor-mation available up to March10. “As the COVID-19 pan-demic is still evolving rapidlyand showing no signs of abat-ing as of March 31, 2020, itsnegative impacts on econom-ic performance of countriesand territories in Asia and thePacific will likely be very sig-nificant,” a disclaimer accom-panying the GDP chart foreconomies in the Asia andPacific in the report says.

“India’s economic growthdeclined considerably by morethan the earlier estimate (5 percent in 2019 compared with pre-vious estimate of 7 per cent), asuncertainties ahead of the gen-eral election and tighter creditconditions weighed on manu-facturing activities and invest-ments. Weakness in incomegrowth and a rising unemploy-ment rate also underminedconsumer sentiment. Its exportswere affected by global tradetensions as well, while extremeweather events — especiallyrainfall — disrupted agriculturalactivities,” the ESCAP reportsaid. The report noted thatCOVID-19, first reported inChina and subsequently glob-ally, has significantly increasedthe downside risks to the Asiaand Pacific region’s near-termeconomic outlook.

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In a bid to warn customers against fraud-sters who may attempt to exploit the

EMI moratorium scheme, leading banksare reaching out to their customers to cau-tion them against ‘EMI moratoriumfrauds’ and strongly advising them not toshare sensitive information like OTP andPIN with imposters.

Over the past few days, Axis Bank,State Bank of India and other banks havesent out SMSs and e-mails to their cus-tomers informing them about new modusoperandi being adopted by fraudsters andcyber criminals, to gain access to bank-ing details.

Asking customers to protect theirfinancial details, Axis Bank said in an e-mail to customers said fraudsters havestarted a new modus operandi to gainaccess to banking details.

Imposters may contact you to helppostpone your EMI payments and requestyou to share OTP, CVV, password or PINrelated to your banking accounts, it said.

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The Association of Professional Detectives andInvestigators (APDI) has written to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, apprising him of substandard andcounterfeit products being sold to “innocent” peopleamid coronavirus lockdown.

These spurious products, the association said, poseserious health and safety challenges for the country.

“I am writing to bring to your notice the dangerof substandard counterfeit products flooding our mar-kets during the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond,potentially causing a mammoth health and safety chal-lenge,” APDI chairman K Vikram Singh said in a let-ter to Modi.

The letter stressed that these challenging times arebeing used as a potential opportunity by fraudsters,“especially counterfeiters who indulge in manufac-turing and selling spurious products to our innocentand unassuming fellow citizens”.

As per industry estimates, counterfeiting causesa loss of over �1 lakh crore annually to the Indian econ-omy. Every single successful brand is suffering fromthis menace including pharmaceuticals, FMCG, auto-motive, liquor, cement, electronics, etc. Actions of thesecounterfeiters directly pose as a health, safety and secu-rity risk to Indians.

New Delhi: India’s fuel con-sumption slumped by over 66per cent in April as a nation-wide lockdown halted eco-nomic activity and travel,which eviscerated demand.

Petrol and diesel demand isdown 66 per cent in April,while aviation turbine fuel(ATF) consumption has col-lapsed by 90 per cent as mostairlines have stopped flying,industry officials said.

India had consumed 2.4million tonnes of petrol and 7.3million tonnes of diesel inApril 2019. As much as6,45,000 tonnes of ATF wasused in that month last year.

The collapse of demand inthe world’s third-biggest con-sumer during April comes onthe back of worst fuel sales inmore than a decade recorded inMarch 2020. The country’spetroleum product consump-tion fell 17.79 per cent to 16.08million tonnes in March asdiesel, petrol and ATF demandfell, according to official datareleased here.

Diesel, the most consumedfuel in the country, sawdemand contract by 24.23 percent to 5.65 million tonnes.This is the biggest fall in diesel

consumption the country hasrecorded as most trucks wentoff-road and railways stoppedplying trains. Petrol salesdropped 16.37 per cent to 2.15million tonnes in March as the21-day nationwide lockdownenforced to prevent the spreadof COVID-19 took most carsand two-wheelers off the road.

With flights groundedsince mid-March, ATF con-sumption fell 32.4 per cent to4,84,000 tonnes.

The only fuel that showedgrowth was LPG as householdsrushed to book refills for stock-ing during the three-week lock-down period. LPG sales rose 1.9per cent to 2.3 million tonnes inMarch. This is the first estimateof total petroleum product con-sumption in the country. Thisincludes sales by both publicand private sector companies.

Previously, provisionalnumbers of the three publicsector oil marketing companies— Indian Oil Corp (IOC),Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd(BPCL) and HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)— were released that alsoshowed a 17 per cent drop inpetrol and 26 per cent slump indiesel sales in March. PTI

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Top oil producers are onThursday to discuss a pos-

sible cut in output after a col-lapse in demand due to thecoronavirus and a Saudi-Russian price war caused themarket to crash.

The teleconference sched-

uled for 1400 GMT betweenOPEC, its OPEC+ allies includ-ing Russia and other key non-members is seen as the bestchance of providing support toprices which are wallowingnear two-decade lows. Expertswarn that without concertedaction the commodity risksanother steep sell-off.

Riyadh: The Saudi-led coali-tion began a unilateral ceasefirein Yemen’s long war onThursday, saying it hoped theinitiative to prevent coron-avirus in the impoverishedcountry would lead to a widerpolitical solution.

The Iran-backed Huthirebels have not made any com-ment on the coalition’s decla-ration of a two-week pause inthe five-year conflict that tookeffect from 0900 GMT.

If the ceasefire does hold,it would be the first break-through since the warring par-ties agreed to a UN-brokeredceasefire in the port city ofHodeida during talks inSweden in late 2018.

The UAE, a key ally in thecoalition which drew down itstroops last year as the conflictbecame increasingly intractable,applauded the Saudi move as“wise and responsible”. AFP

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The Reserve Bank expectsthe value of the domestic

currency to hover around Rs 75to a dollar and Indian crudebasket to about USD 35 perbarrel during 2020-21.

The rupee came underintensified and sustaineddepreciation pressures frommid-January, reflecting a gen-eralised weakening of emergingmarket currencies amid flightsto safety, RBI said in itsMonetary Policy Report.

Taking into account thesizable two-way movementsin the nominal exchange rate

during October-December2019, RBI expects the value ofIndian rupee to be around Rs75 to a dollar.

“…the nominal exchangerate (INR vis-à-vis US dollar)exhibited sizable two-way move-ments during October-December 2019. The INR cameunder intensified and sustaineddepreciation pressures begin-ning mid-January, reflecting ageneralised weakening of emerg-ing market currencies amidstflights to safety. “Accordingly, thebaseline assumes an average ofRs 75 per US dollar to reflectthese recent developments,” saidthe RBI report.

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Juggling hectic work schedules withelderly care was always a question ofachieving a fine balance. At times you

wanted to go back home at regularintervals just to check on your eldersbecause you were anxious. It was a tus-sle to make them feel independent whileensuring that they took every medicineon time. Well, all of this overthinking hascome to a grinding halt as the world expe-riences the COVID-19 pandemic whichdemands a change in elderly care as it hasgiven rise to anxieties of an altogether dif-ferent kind.

Across the world senior citizens aremore susceptible to the Coronavirusbecause their immunity is compromisedwhich is coupled with co-morbidities andpre-existing conditions such as diabetes,hypertension and heart disease. A surveyof the Coronavirus death has a chillingreport. It says that one in every 12 elderswill die from COVID-19 if aged between70-80. This will climb up to one in sevenif aged over 80.

Suffice it to say that it is not an easytime to be a senior citizen currently. Itmay be worthwhile to take a look at dif-ferent categories of senior citizens and seehow they were leading their life before thelockdown.

There are seniors in their late 60s,early 70s who enjoy an active life. Theygo to the local shops, watch a film at thenearest cinema hall and love going to thelocal market to buy vegetables and meatand hire someone to help them bring thegroceries home. They have maids whocook, do the household chores and act ascompany. They also have relatives visit-ing them every now and then. They copewell and are not fully dependent on any-one, but they need help with daily activ-ities.

Then there are seniors who are fullydependent on people and need a supportsystem. They are not in a position to runtheir households by themselves. Typicalcases include those that are 80 years andolder, who live alone and have attendantsround-the-clock who look after thehousehold while their children live andwork in another city or are abroad.Another example is of those who live with

their families and need full time moni-toring and physical assistance because ofhealth issue, leaving them semi-bedrid-den.

It is well known that seniors aredependent on some kind of support sys-tem, whether through a personal networkof care providers — care takers, neigh-bours, family and friends, or on a profes-sional healthcare provider.

With the lockdown in place, the areaswhere they have been affected include:

Disruption of routine activities: Most ofthese elders depend on local shops andoutlets for their daily requirements rightfrom groceries to medicines. Access tobank accounts is difficult given therestrictions, long queues, hygiene issuesand their limited knowledge in manag-ing ATMs and online banking plat-forms.

Loneliness and depression: The seniorsare going through stress, anxiety and iso-lation as a result of being under lock-down. Their recreational activities usu-ally include morning and evening walksor a tea with an old friend. Low usage oftechnology by them has impacted theirdigital participation. They can’t even seekhelp from close family and friends.

Healthcare access limitations: The lock-down has affected healthcare delivery athospitals and clinics, both for chronic andacute illnesses. Purchase of medicines,ordering blood tests at home, access todoctor consultations and elective surg-eries — every aspect of healthcare hasbeen impacted as a result of lockdown.We also need to take into account that theseniors are the biggest users of these facil-ities and now they have lost access tothese.

However, with the pandemic hittingworldwide elderly care will change, giventhe need of the hour where you need tostay indoors, restrict movement andlimit outside contact. Whether the lock-down lasts for four weeks or two months,it is safe to assume that the lifestyle ofseniors, as well as their care, will changefor good. The elderly care has witnessed

a massive change as they have a higherrisk of getting infected. One needs tomaintain the continuity of care while pro-tecting them from exposure to possibleinfection. The main goal now is to cre-ate an envelope of care by a selected groupof people who can provide them all theassistance required while maintaininghygiene themselves.

Keeping these in mind, the care forelders will need to change to help themin the areas that are the most difficult, andwill now have to be solved differently.Some simple initial changes in care arerequired:

An attendant: Having a single live-inattendant who can help with daily activ-ities and provide physical assistance willhelp them in their routine activities. Thiswill help in full-time monitoring, phys-ical assistance and limits outside contact.

Home delivery: Home delivery of essen-tials is an absolute must, as it is one of themain reasons why seniors go out. Theygo to buy staples, food and medicines.While online delivery providers canprovide the basic essentials, it is better forseniors to be able to have access to localproviders who can supervise the entiredelivery process and ensure sensitivitytowards seniors, while maintaininghygiene.

Telephonic consultation with doctors:Seniors should consult their doctor oncall for basic issues or regular healthupdates. It is the best way to reach out tothem and make payments online, thusavoiding a physical visit.

It is also important to document allaspects that need to be covered during anemergency — ambulance numbers,choice of hospital for admission, identi-fication documents and funds required.All of this should be planned on a struc-tured basis. It is best to get professionalhelp for this to avoid stress or unpre-paredness at a later stage.

Most importantly, be vigilant at alltimes about hygiene for both seniors andthose living with them — washing hands,using sanitisers and maintaining social

distance, even if it is a family member.These times will also bring a new con-

versation-driven change. Earlier, most ofus did not have enough time to sit andchat with our elders or share a cup of teawith them in the evening. We don’t evenrealise the amount of care they need asthey grow old. Spending time with themnot only helps them feel better and fightloneliness but also helps us get an insightinto the past. Right from teaching us aboutour past values to becoming good humanbeings, they help us become the best ver-sions of ourself. Many of us would realisethis now as we now have enough time tocommunicate and spend time with them.

However, it might be different forthose who are not living with their par-ents or elderly loved ones. For them inter-actions with seniors would mean being intouch with them over the phone ratherthan physically meeting them. This, how-ever, may be very cold and impersonal,and there is a huge chance of home boundseniors getting depressed, especially if theyare used to an active social life where chil-dren and grandchildren visit them often.Under such circumstances, it is importantto call every day and maintain contact. Ifthey are comfortable, a Whatsapp or aSkype call, or even using Alexa to “dropin” can be helpful. It is important not tolose touch as a result of the restrictionsplaced on them. Making the seniors tech-friendly, even at a basic level, can go a verylong way. Having conversations, introduc-ing them to online recreational activitiescan actually help in combating depressionand isolation.

Our elderly care platform haslaunched three initiatives keeping socialdistancing and hygiene factors in mind.

Dare to Care: a no contact groceryand medicine delivery service at home

Talk to Me: a free call service for med-ical and psychological support and assis-tance by experts.

Happy at Home: Access to recreation-al activities through WhatsApp groupsand Zoom sessions such as crosswords,yoga, book reading, music to combat lone-liness.

(The authors are Co-CEOs at TribeCaCare, an elderly care platform).

Actor Bhumi Pednekar is an environmentallyconscious actor who wants to propagate the

idea of sustainable living and is an advocate for cli-mate change. India is in lockdown mode due to theCoronavirus crisis and the actor decided to learnthe science of hydroponics farming from her mom,Sumitra Pednekar. The mother-daughter duohave always wanted to build a garden to table con-cept of sustainable lifestyle and looks like thatdream is coming to fruition.

Bhumi shares,“My mom and Ialways wanted to havea hydroponics gardenof our own where wegrow our own vegeta-bles and can have afully sustainablelifestyle. We wanted tohave a garden to tablelifestyle at home andwe are both happywith the progress.”

The actor is alsothe brain behind hermuch-lauded onlineand offline initiativeClimate Warrior through which she is raisingawareness on how citizen of India can contributeto protect the climate.

She adds, “This quarantine has made me getinto learning the science of hydroponics and under-stand the essence of what conservation of environ-ment can truly mean. I have been working close-ly with my mom during this time. I’m proud thatour garden can now produce food for two days ofthe week. I have tried to be closer to nature dur-ing the lockdown and it has made me realise thatwe can become completely self-sustaining as a com-munity and do our best for its preservation.”

The science of soil-less gardening is calledhydroponics. It basically involves growing healthyplants without the use of a traditional soil medi-um by using a nutrient like a mineral rich watersolution instead. A plant just needs select nutrients,some water, and sunlight to grow. Such farmingreduces the use of chemicals and is a brilliant wayof cutting down soil pollution.

Mending clothes. Cutting hair.Fixing a squeaky door or a drip-

ping faucet. Baking bread.A generation or two ago, house-

hold skills like these were common,learned at home and at school. Thenit became easier to toss things outrather than fix them, quicker to callthe professionals.

Now, in an unsettling era of stay-ing at home and not knowing whatwill be available tomorrow, the oldways are being dusted off andrelearned.

Since the Coronavirus has shut-tered many small businesses that doour work and supply our things, mil-lions of people trying to stay home aredriven by necessity — or boredom —to do more cooking, cleaning, fixing,grooming and other practical skillsthemselves.

“It’s during uncertain times likethese when we take stock of all thebasic life skills we’ve forgotten or neverlearned in the first place, because theysure could come in handy right aboutnow,” says Erin Bried, a magazine edi-tor in Brooklyn and author of How toSew a Button: And Other Nifty ThingsYour Grandmother Knew.

In a dark and difficult time, it canbe an emotional lift to find thatyou’re more capable around the housethan you thought. “I accomplishedsomething real today!” MariaKernahan, a real estate agent and chil-dren’s book author, said after installinga new thermostat herself in her CastlePark, Michigan, house. She followedonline advice to figure out the wiringin the old house. Her husband, mean-while, has begun chopping wood.“We’re making this up as we goalong,” she said.

Bill Hughes, a business consultantin University Place, Washington, hadto wash some shirts and didn’t wantto put them away wrinkled. “When Iwas a graduate student, I would ironmy own shirts to save some money. Itwas tedious and I looked forward tothe day when I could afford to dropoff my shirts to be cleaned,” saysHughes, 59. He added: “Since my drycleaners is closed, I dusted off the ironand ironing board, turned on someHuey Lewis and the News and wentat it.”

Janice Simonsen, who works incorporate communications inPhiladelphia, helped sew masks formedical personnel, following instruc-tions on a YouTube video. “I haven’tpulled my sewing machine out formany years. I never really had thetime,” she says. “Those junior highsewing classes kicked back in.”

She plans to keep the machine outand try some projects, like pillow cov-ers, that she’s put off for years. “It feltgood to create something usefulagain,” says Simonsen.

Yes, you can still order takeout inmost places and call the plumber orelectrician. But more people are try-ing to do that only when absolutelyneeded. Hardware stores have seenhigh demand for home-repair andlawn tools. Social media feeds every-where are full of posts from newbiesplanting vegetable gardens, givingthemselves haircuts and baking bread.

Especially sourdough. Lots ofsourdough. YouTube has seen a spikeof more than 100 per cent in averagedaily views of videos with Cook withMe in the title since March 15 com-pared to the rest of the year, saidspokeswoman Veronica Navarrete.“We’re seeing this trend across sever-al verticals,’’ including cleaning, shesaid.

For her book, Bried interviewedwomen who had lived through theGreat Depression and impartedlessons on how to make do and get by.“I feel a new, closer connection to allof their stories now,” she says andadds: “It was a difficult time, and it leftits mark on all of them. I think thispandemic, too, will leave its mark onus much in the same way. It’s causedus all to halt our lives and reevaluate,maybe for the first time, what is trulyimportant and what we’re equipped tohandle.”

Jeanne Huntley, who taught highschool home economics for 35 yearsin Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, thinkssociety lost something importantwhen schools phased out home eco-nomics and shop classes in favor ofcomputer science, robotics and STEM.

“A lot of younger people havebeen brought up in a consumer soci-ety — ‘You don’t fix things, youreplace things,”’ she says. “Parents arebusy too, and there’s not a lot of timeto pass on those skills. But knowingyou can make things and fix thingsgives us a sense of confidence in our-selves.’’

This is not new for everyone.There’s always been a countercurrentof people yearning to get back tobasics.

The DIY movement has blos-somed in recent years, and longbefore the coronavirus “urban home-steaders” experimented with backyardchickens, homemade dyes, woodentoys and organic food. Concerns overclimate change have kickstarted astrong movement toward buyingfewer things and leaving a lighter foot-print on the environment: “Reduce,reuse, recycle.’’

Now, in a time of feared shortagesand limited mobility, this emphasis onself-sufficiency is going wider.

Sharon Bowers, co-author withher husband, David, of a book aboutlife skills called The Useful Book(Workman), embraces the trend. Butshe cautions people to be smart — andcheck out books and YouTube videosbefore plunging in.

“I’m urging you to boldly go andtry something new, but not somethingthat you know is way outside yourability. ... You could probably wire alamp, but don’t mess around with thecircuit board in your house,” she says.“If you make a mess — assuming youdon’t break something you reallyneed — you can always call the pro-fessionals when we’re out the otherside.”

Even the Bowerses, fix-it pros wholive outside Dublin, Ireland, withtheir two teenage sons, “have a plumb-ing problem that’s complicated” todeal with. “And,” she says, “we’re justgoing to have to wait.”

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A sliver of silver

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Finding good friendsand meaningful rela-tionships as an adultcan be difficult. With

our busy lives, friendshipsare not just hard to start, buthard to maintain. Goodfriendships are built on mutu-al respect, an appreciation forspending time together, andenjoying common interests.With a little work, you canfind friends as an adult.

Friendships have a hugeimpact on your health andhappiness. Good friendsrelieve stress, provide comfortand joy, prevent lonelinessand isolation, and evenstrengthen your physicalhealth. But close friendshipsdon’t just happen. Many of usstruggle to meet people anddevelop quality connections.Whatever your age or circum-stances, though, it's never toolate to make new friends,reconnect with old ones, andgreatly improve your sociallife, emotional health, andoverall well-being.

Our society tends to placean emphasis on romantic rela-tionships. We think that if wecan just find that right person,we’ll be happy and fulfilled.But research shows thatfriends are actually even moreimportant to our psychologi-cal welfare. Friends bringmore happiness into our livesthan virtually anything else.

Developing close friend-ships can also have a power-ful impact on your physicalhealth. Lack of social connec-tion can be as damaging as

smoking, drinking too much,or leading a sedentary lifestyle.Friends are even tied tolongevity.

Make a habit of puttingyourself out there in public.You never know who maybecome a friend. The randomstranger you meet on the sub-way or the person you strikeup a conversation with in abar bathroom may become alifelong pal.

Try to be more social. Ifsomeone starts talking to you,talk back. Obviously, if youfeel uncomfortable with some-one, disengage, but try to givenew interactions a chance.

If you meet someoneinteresting at, say, a coffeeshop, try exchanging numbersor social media profiles. Youcan get together with thisperson later for a drink or cof-fee. Consider trying to talk toone new person every timeyou go out.

This small goal can helpbuild comfort with meetingnew people as you practiceover time. Try, too, attendingevents with a social compo-nent — such as lectures ortown hall meetings withgroup/public participation.This can increase yourchances of finding someoneyou have interests in commonwith.

While developing andmaintaining friendships takestime and effort, good friendscan improve your mood.Spending time with happyand positive friends can ele-vate your mood and boost

your outlook.Help you to reach your

goals. Whether you're tryingto get fit, give up smoking, orotherwise improve your life,encouragement from a friendcan really boost your willpow-er and increase your chancesof success. Reduce your stressand depression. Having anactive social life can bolsteryour immune system and helpreduce isolation, a major con-tributing factor for depression.

Support you throughtough times. Even if it's justhaving someone to share yourproblems with, friends can

help you cope with serious ill-ness, the loss of a job or lovedone, the breakup of a relation-ship, or any other challengesin life.

Support you as you age. Asyou age, retirement, illness,and the death of loved onescan often leave you isolated.Having people you can turn tofor company and support canprovide purpose as you ageand be a buffer against depres-sion, disability, hardship andloss.

Boost your self-worth.Friendship is a two-way street,and the "give" side of the give-

and-take contributes to yourown sense of self-worth. Beingthere for your friends makesyou feel needed and adds pur-pose to your life. Treadingcarefully is easier said thandone. Part of a good friendshipis honesty, and sooner or laterone is forced to choosebetween being amenable andgiving a friend the honesty youthink the relationship merits.

But honesty is always arisky strategy, whether it’s ask-ing “Do you like my newdress/suit?” or “Do you like mynew girlfriend/boyfriend?”Sometimes you are forced tofind out what your friendshiprests on, and sometimes thefoundations prove insubstan-tial.

Friendships can be rootedin a number of differentimpulses. Unhealthy elementslike need, the desire for bor-rowed status, and the wish forflattery are as common as themore healthy ones like mutu-al interests, sense of humourand natural compatibility. Thehealthy and unhealthy areoften mixed together, the lat-ter concealed under the mythof “friendship”, which sug-gests, more than marriage, acertain (unrealistic) perfec-tion of sensibility.

Is there a secret to longfriendships? Simply this – anabsence of pride. Too manyfalter on stubbornness or thedetermination to hold on tooffence. Successful ones relyon humility and the recogni-tion of human fallibility. Theseare not merely useful attribut-

es. They are the heart and soulof friendship.

To meet new people andmake good friends, you’ll needto be where people are inter-acting on a social level. Thefirst step is to walk through thedoor and out into the world.When you get out to placeswhere there's a good likeli-hood of meeting and interact-ing with people in a social con-text, you've already put your-self on the right track Focus onothers, not yourself. The key toconnecting to other people isshowing interest in them.When you’re truly interestedin someone else’s thoughts,feelings, experiences, andopinions, it shows—and they’lllike you for it. You’ll make farmore friends by showing yourinterest rather than trying toget people interested in you. Ifyou’re not genuinely interest-ed in the other person, thenstop trying to connect.

Pay attention. Switch offyour smart phone, avoid otherdistractions, and make aneffort to truly listen to theother person. By paying closeattention to what they say, do,and how they interact, you’llquickly get to know them.Little things go a long way,such as remembering some-one’s preferences, the storiesthey’ve told you, and what’sgoing on in their life.

True friends know thingsabout each other: their values,struggles, goals, and interests.If you’d like to transition fromacquaintances to friends, openup to the other person.

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ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi on Thursdaysaid he hopes the clay-court season and French

Open can be played in September as tennis scram-bles to salvage a season in danger of being wiped outby the coronavirus pandemic.

“If we manage to start again in August, we’ll savethree Slams and six Masters 1000, otherwise theproblems will increase tenfold,” Gaudenzi said in aninterview with several Italian media outlets.

“We are working on the hypothesis of four weekson clay after the US Open, with Madrid and Romebefore Roland Garros.”

Tennis has been in lockdown since early lastmonth and is not scheduled to return until July 13at the earliest following the cancellation ofWimbledon for the first time since World War II.

The decision to axe the sport’s oldest and mostprestigious Grand Slam event followed the FrenchOpen’s unilateral switch from its traditional May-Juneslot to September-October.

Gaudenzi said no sanctions would be takenagainst Roland Garros for taking the decisionalone to postpone.

“Now we are working together,” Gaudenzi, whotook over as ATP chief in January, told Gazzetta DelloSport.

“Tennis needs unity, Paris acted out of fear, mak-ing a mistake. But they have recognised this.”

All this will depend on the virus which hasinfected over 1.5 million with the United States andEurope hit hard.

“We have made 50 versions of the calendar thatwe change day by day,” said Gaudenzi.

“I am confident that the season in America canbegin with the August Masters 1000 in Toronto andCincinnati and then the US Open.

“In this way three Slams and six Masters 1000would be played (there are also Shanghai and Bercy)and the season would be 70 percent safe.

“Of course, if the whole American slot were toskip, the difficulties would increase tenfold.”

Gaudenzi said the options were being examinedin conjunction with the ATP Player Council includ-ing Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

He stressed it was hoped to maintain the ATPFinals, scheduled for London in November 15-22.

“The 02 Arena is only available in the weekalready fixed. I don’t like closed doors, it’s the lastresort.”

������ Clubs outside thePremier League cannot resumetraining till “May 16 at the ear-liest” due to the coronaviruspandemic but the season can becompleted in “56 days” EnglishFootball League chairman RickParry informed them in a letter.

The 72 clubs have been kick-ing their heels since the EFL sus-pended the campaign in theChampionship, League One andTwo on March 13.

All 24 sides in theChampionship still had ninematches to play.

Some clubs in League Onehave 12 games remaining, whilein League Two, teams have eithernine or 10 matches remaining tocomplete the regular season.

However, Parry said follow-ing a EFL board meeting onThursday they were confident

once there was a resumption theleague fixtures and the promo-tion play-offs could be complet-ed within two months.

“The EFL Board determinedthat to provide a level of certain-

ty, clubs should not recommenceany training activity with playersuntil May 16 at the earliest,” Parrywrote.

“Whenever the decision istaken that it is safe to resume, we

currently estimate that theLeague will require 56 daysapproximately to complete theoutstanding matches in the sea-son (including Play-Offs).”

Parry said it is probable thematches will be played behindclosed doors due to the BritishGovernment’s social distancingmeasures.

“It is our working assump-tion at this stage that matches willbe played behind closed doorswhen we eventually return,” hesaid.

His letter also suggested thedelayed resumption of the pre-sent season could impact on thestart of the 2020/21 campaign.

“We will ensure there is asuitable break between the two,so as to allow clubs and staff suf-ficient time to regroup and pre-pare accordingly,” he said. AFP

������ Rangers stronglycriticised plans to terminate thedivisions below Premiership,warning of “severe conse-quences for the Scottish game”.

With play halted due to thecoronavirus, the ScottishProfessional Football League(SPFL) announced proposals todetermine final placings bypoints per game in leaguematches played to date by eachclub.

The resolution, to be votedon by clubs, also recommendsthe top tier remains postponedfor the time being, althoughfinal placings would be deter-mined by the same system ifthe SPFL’s board determinesmatches cannot be played.

That would see Celticcrowned champions for theninth successive season andHearts relegated, but the imme-diate impact of the plans wouldbe relegation for Partick Thistlefrom the second-tierChampionship and Stranraerfrom League One.

Steven Gerrard’s second-placed Gers, 13 points behindCeltic, said in a statement theywould oppose “in the strongestpossible terms” any attempt torailroad changes to existingrules.

They said they wouldimmediately propose a mem-ber’s resolution that wouldrelease prize money to be dis-tributed to all clubs throughoutScotland urgently.

Rangers said forcingthrough change “without duecare and attention” would havesevere consequences for theScottish game.

Partick, bottom of theChampionship, said theywould not accept the propos-al as it stood, adding it neededmore scrutiny and debate.

Dundee United would bepromoted to the Premiership ifthe resolution passed, whileRaith Rovers would move up tothe Championship and CoveRangers would join LeagueOne. AFP

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Bruno Labbadia will succeedJurgen Klinsmann as head

coach of Hertha Berlin, theBundesliga club announced onThursday, confirming earlierreports in the German media.

“With Bruno, we have someonewho knows the Bundesliga wellfrom his many years as a player anda coach and has shown that he canstabilise teams and lead them backup the table,” sporting directorMichael Preetz said.

According to newspaper Bildand football magazine Kicker, 52-year-old Labbadia will sign a con-tract until 2022 to oversee prepa-rations should the German leagueresume next month after being halt-

ed on March 13.The former Wolfsburg and

Hamburg coach will be the fourthdifferent person to occupy theHertha dugout this season, and willcharged with saving a miserableseason for the capital city club.

Hertha, who are backed by awealthy investor, are 14th in thetable, six points from the relegationplaces with nine games left.

���� For the Tour de France, oneof the last of the summer’s majorsports events still standing in theface of the coronavirus pandemic,the stop-watch is ticking.

While the Tokyo Olympics,the Euros, tennis and golf majorsand the Giro d’Italia have alreadybeen postponed or even cancelled,the Tour is still scheduled to start onJune 27.

Christian Prudhomme, theTour director, made clear thatbefore the race he wants “twomonths of exposure for the riders.”

That means training rides andraces and with most prospectivecompetitors confined, the chancesof their getting back on the road by

late April look slim.The race also needs France to

end its lockdown, not just so the rid-ers can ride but because the Tourattracts 10 to 12 million spectatorswho stand by the roads to watch.

Last week, when he announcedthe postponement of the Dauphine,an eight-day Tour warm-up stagerace in the southeast of France dueto start on May 31, Prudhommesaid: “The most important word inTour de France is France, andhealth concerns come first.”

The situation across Europesuggests that a postponement isincreasingly likely.

Prudhomme is not prepared todiscuss alternative plans in public,

but said: “As of today, the dates ofthe Tour de France are maintained.But it would be a lie to say that weare not studying other hypotheses.”

Behind the scenes, it is learnt,the organisers have sounded out

cycling teams as well as Frenchpoliticians and broadcasters abouta postponement to August.

Sports Minister RoxanaMaracineanu talked of banningspectators. But the idea seems tohave died.

The Tour is fuelled by its fansand it would be hard to prevent peo-ple coming out of their houses whenthe race passes by.

Welshman Geraint Thomas,the winner in 2018, and JulianAlaphilippe, France’s hero of the2019 Tour after wearing the leader’sjersey for 14 days, used almost iden-tical words. “Without the fans, itwouldn’t be the Tour de France,” washow Thomas put it. AFP

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The complete lack of live action due tothe COVID-19 pandemic is a “good

break” for modern cricketers spendingmost of their time on the road, feels leg-endary Pakistan batsman Zaheer Aabbas.

The international calendar, in hisplaying days, was not as crammed as it istoday.

“I think it is a good break for them.They always live on suitcases, play toomuch cricket, and rarely get time to be athome. Now they have got a chance tospend time with family,” Abbas said.

“I would suggest them to introspect,keep working on fitness and do whatev-er they were not able to because of theirbusy schedule. It will also keep themrefreshed for the future,” added the formerskipper.

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The Australian cricket team avoidsprovoking “any fight” with Virat

Kohli, concedes Test skipper Tim Painebut he also asserts that it’s a strategy tokeep the Indian captain’s bat quiet, nota ploy to save IPL contracts, as claimedby his predecessor Michael Clarke.

Paine rejected Clarke’s claims thatthere was a phase in Australian crick-et when the side “sucked up” to Kohlito land fat deals with IPL franchises.

“I certainly didn’t notice too manypeople being that nice to Virat or nottrying to get him out or anything likethat,” Paine told ESPNCricinfo.

“I’m not sure who was going easyon him; we certainly had a thingwhere we didn’t want to provoke anyfight with him because we think that’swhen he plays at his best,” he said.

India are scheduled to tourAustralia from October, 2020 toJanuary, 2021 to play four Tests, threeODIs and three T20 matches.

“Who knows what will happen thisseries and, as we saw in the documen-tary, there was still quite a lot of heatin some of those games. I certainly was-n’t holding back, but again the IPL’s nota huge draw for me at the moment, soI had nothing to lose,” Paine said.

“But anytime our guys go out andplay a Test match for Australia, they’llbe giving their absolute all and I’m pret-ty sure they’re not thinking about an

IPL contract when they’re running in,bowling to Virat.”

In November, 2018, Clarke hadslammed attempts to improveAustralian cricket’s image owing to theinfamous ball-tampering scandal, say-ing the national team “won’t win agame” by “worrying about being liked”.

Paine said verbal wars cannot winmatches unless one displays the requi-site skills on the field.

“What you say on the field is irrel-evant 99 per cent of the time,” Painesaid. “Sometimes you can get a littleinside someone’s head or something likethat, but if you’re not batting well andnot bowling well, all the talk in theworld doesn’t mean anything,” he said.

Rejecting a one-size-fits-all kind ofapproach to planning, Paine said strat-egy has to formulated keeping theopposition’s strengths in mind.

“There’s no doubt our first focus ison executing our skill and being as goodas we can possibly be in that area andthen sometimes things happen on acricket field and you’ve got to go in,you’ve got to change your tack, or you’vegot to have a few words.

“As we’ve seen the last 12 or 18months, we still do that, we still stickup for each other, we still fight as hardas any Australian team, but we’veprobably just had to move with thetimes and I’ve been really proud of theway we’ve played out cricket,” heexplained.

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South Africa’s ODI series victo-ry over Australia was the

“light at the end of the tunnel” forTeam Director Mark Boucher,who remains optimistic aboutrebuilding a strong Proteas sidedespite a tough summer.

The former wicketkeeper-batsman took over in mid-December ahead of the Englandtour which saw South Africa losea Test and T20 series whiledrawing a rain-affected ODIseries.

The Proteas then suffered ahome T20 series defeat toAustralia before a young Quintonde-Kock-led side registered a 3-0 win over Aaron Finch’s men inthe ODIs.

“If I look back over the sum-mer and reflect on the team’s per-formances and progress, especial-ly against England and Australia,I think it was quite disappointing

to be honest,” Boucher toldCricket South Africa.

“Especially against England,we didn’t perform like we want-ed to perform. In saying that Ithink we, as a new coaching staff,asked some questions and Ithink we got some answers.Some were good and some werebad.”

The 43-year-old is delightedwith the team’s performance inthe shorter formats of the gamebut reckons the Test side needsrebuilding.

“The nice thing for me aboutthe whole summer was the lightat the end of tunnel, especially inour short formats. I think wehave a lot of work to do with ourTest cricket still, there’s probablya lot of rebuilding in that respect.”

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The legendary Kapil Dev onThursday slammed Shoaib

Akhtar’s idea of a made-for-tele-vision three-match ODI seriesbetween India and Pakistan toraise funds for the COVID-19pandemic, saying “India doesn’tneed the money” and it is notworth risking lives for a cricketmatch.

Akhtar on Wednesday pro-posed a closed-door series tojointly raise funds to fight thedeadly virus both in India andPakistan. Dev said the propos-al is not feasible.

“He is entitled to his opin-ion but we don’t need to raise themoney. We have enough. For us,what is important right now isthat how our authorities worktogether to deal with this crisis.I am still seeing a lot of blamegame on television from thepoliticians and that needs tostop,” Dev said.

“Anyway, the BCCI hasdonated a hefty amount (�51crore) for the cause and is in aposition to donate much moreif the need arises. It doesn’t needto raise funds.

“The situation is unlikely toget normal anytime soon andorganising a cricket game meansputting our cricketers at riskwhich we don’t need to,” said the

World Cup-winning formercaptain.

Dev said cricket should noteven matter for at least the nextsix months.

“It is just not worth the risk.And how much money can youmake from three games? In myview, you can’t even think ofcricket for the next five to sixmonths,” he said.

Dev said the focus, at themoment, should only be on sav-ing lives and taking care of thepoor who are struggling tomake ends meet in a lockdownsituation.

“Cricket will resume whenthings get normal. The gamecan’t be bigger than the country.The pressing issue is to look afterthe poor, the hospital workers,the police and all other peoplewho are on the frontline of thiswar,” said the 61-year-old.

������+���Star India batsmanCheteshwar Pujara’s deal withGloucestershire for the first sixmatches of the County C’shiphas been cancelled due to

COVID-19 pandemic.The 32-year-old Indian,

who has scored 5840 runs at anaverage of 48.66 in 77 Tests, wassupposed to play six CountyC’ship matches for the club at thestart of the county’s first seasonback in Division One.

However, Gloucestershireon Thursday said that the dealis off now given the globalhealth crisis, which has forcedthe ECB to suspend all profes-sional cricket until May 28.

“We will also now miss theopportunity to see ChetshwarPujara play for the mighty Glosin the 2020 season which weknow our supporters were real-ly looking forward to,” the clubsaid in a statement. PTI

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������ Australian cricketershad gone “out of control” andturned “pretty average people”two-three years before the ball-tampering scandal, says formerICC Elite Panel umpire IanGould, who was the TV officialin the infamous Cape Town Testof 2018.

Gould, who retired after lastyear’s World Cup, relayed whathad been spotted on the TV —Cameron Bancroft puttingsandpaper down his trousers —to the on-field umpires.

“If you look back on it now,Australia were out of controlprobably two years, maybe threeyears, before that, but not in thissense. Maybe — behavioural,chatty, being pretty averagepeople,” Gould told the Daily

Telegraph while promoting hisautobiography Gunner — MyLife in Cricket.

The fallout of the NewlandsTest was huge.

Then captain Steve Smithand his deputy David Warnerwere slapped with a one-yearinternational ban while Bancroftwas suspended for nine monthsby Cricket Australia for theirrole in the scandal. It alsoprompted a cultural review intoAustralian cricket.

“... I didn’t realise what therepercussions would be,” Gouldsaid.

“But when it came into myearpiece I didn’t think the prime

minister of Australia was goingto come tumbling down onthese three guys. All I thought

was — Jesus, how do I put thisout to the guys on the field with-out making it an overreaction.

“It was a bit like onMastermind when the light ison top of you and you’re going— oh dear, how do I talkthrough this?”

Ball-tampering was classedas a level two offence under theICC Code of Conduct, but it hassince been elevated to a levelthree category, which carries aban of up to six Tests or 12ODIs.

Gould admitted he could-n’t quite believe what he was see-ing on TV, but said what cameout of it was good for the game,especially Australian cricket.

“When the director said,‘He’s put something down the

front of his trousers,’ I startedgiggling, because that didn’tsound quite right. Obviously,what’s come from it is for thebetterment of Australian crick-et — and cricket generally,” heobserved.

Gould said that he still hasthe balls that were used in theNewlands Test.

“If you saw the balls, youwould get it completely wrong.At the end of the day, the sand-paper didn’t get on that ball.

“They were working to getthe ball to be pristine. Oncethey’d got one side bigger andshinier, that’s when the sandpa-per was coming in.” PTI

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