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The end of the extendedlockdown has began to

look like a possibility with theCentre on Wednesday disclos-ing that road public transportservices may resume soon.

The Government is for-mulating guidelines for safeusage of different transportmodes adhering to social dis-tancing norms to check thespread of coronavirus.

While addressing mem-bers of Bus and Car OperatorsConfederation of India, UnionTransport Minister NitinGadkari said, “TheGovernment will soon makeefforts to start bus services onthe basis of certain guidelines.We need to start transport atsome level, because people arestranded in several places.”

Gadkari said the openingof transport and highways willgo a long way in instillingconfidence among the publicand cautioned towards main-taining social distancing andadopting all safety measureslike hand wash, sanitising, facemasks, etc, while operatingbuses and cars.

On demand of a bailout forpassenger transport industry,Gadkari said the Governmentis fully aware of their problemsand will fully support them tomitigate their issues.

He said he is in regulartouch with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,who are working overtime touplift the economy during

these difficult days of Covid-19pandemic.

The Minister also askedinvestors and the industry toconvert the coronavirus-induced crisis into an oppor-tunity by occupying largerglobal market.

“Economy is facing crisisdue to coronavirus outbreak...We should treat it as blessing indisguise as no one wants to dealwith China. Japan’s PrimeMinister is facilitating industrythere to do investment out ofChina... It is a chance to boostIndian economy,” the Ministersaid.

He said Indian industryshould grasp this opportunityto invite those foreign compa-nies to invest in them in India.He expressed confidence thatthe country and its industrywill together win both the bat-tles — the one with coron-avirus, and the one with eco-nomic slowdown.

Responding to concernsraised by the operators, the

Minister said his Ministry islooking at adopting the Londonmodel of public transport,where Government funding isminimal and private invest-ment is promoted.

He also pointed outtowards the poor standards ofIndian bus and truck bodieswhich he said are functional foronly 5-7 years, whereas theEuropean models last for up to15 years.

Gadkari emphasised uponadopting good practices from

European operators, which willalso be economically viablefor indigenous industry in thelonger run.

The Minister said he isaware of the tight financial con-dition of the Indian marketduring the ongoing pandemic.But, he said all stakeholders willhave to work together to com-bat it.

Members of the confeder-ation made suggestions forimproving the condition ofpublic transport which includ-

ed extending interest paymentexemptions, restarting publictransport, extending age lifelimit, deferring state taxes,extending Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSME)benefits, extending insurancepolicy validity, etc.

The Minister also said theinsurance sector should comeforward to help as it has ben-efitted due to less accidentsduring the lockdown. He fur-ther said work on many high-way projects has resumed.

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Riyaz Naikoo, one of the topcommanders of Hizbul

Mujahideen, a pro-Pakistanbanned terror outfit in KashmirValley, was killed along withone of his close aides inBeighpora area of SouthKashmir’s Pulwama district onWednesday.

Naikoo was an A++ cate-gory terrorist and carried areward of �12 lakh on hishead. In 2019, Naikoo hadalso figured on the list of mostwanted terrorists prepared bythe Ministry of Home Affairs.

Two other local terroristswere killed in a separateencounter with the joint teamsof security forces in SharshaliKhrew area of Awantipora,taking the tally of killed ter-rorists since January 2020 to 67.

As stone-pelters as usualtried to scuttle the encounter,a few of them were injured inpolice action, but there was noofficial confirmation about thenature of injuries.

Confirming the identity ofthe terrorists killed inBeighpora area, InspectorGeneral of Police, Kashmirrange, Vijay Kumar toldreporters, “The slain terroristwas identified as HizbulMujahideen’s chief operationalcommander Riyaz Naikoo”.

Police spokesman inSrinagar said, in Sharshaliencounter, 2 terrorists ofLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) werekilled.

“In the second operation inBeighpora village ofAwantipora, a top terroristcommander was trapped alongwith his accomplice. The oper-ation was launched last eveningand contact was establishedwith hiding terrorists in themorning on Wednesday. Inthis encounter, two terroristswere killed. One of the terror-ists has been identified as RiyazNaikoo. He was the chief oper-ational commander of the HMoutfit in Kashmir,” thespokesman said. Following hiselimination in the six-hourlong operation, widespreadincidents of stone-pelting werereported from Beighpora,Gulzarpora, Ghat Tokna andMalangpora prompting theauthorities to suspend mobileinternet and voice calling facil-ities of private networks acrossthe Kashmir valley.

Continued on Page 6

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India’s Covid-19 countcrossed half-lakh mark on

Wednesday as the country reg-istered 3,050 fresh cases of viralinfection, taking the tally to52,559. The death toll from thevirus also surged to 1,785 withMaharashtra again topping thelist of the worst-affected States.

However, the total recoverynumber is 15,257, and activecases 35,762.

Maharashtra’s tally spikedto 16,758 after detection of1,233 new cases — highest ina day so far while 34 deaths onWednesday took toll to 651.

Tamil Nadu reported 771positive cases taking the tally to4,829 while Gujarat reported6,680 after the day’s addition of380 cases even as 25 morepatients died. The total deathcount in Gujarat stands at 298.Delhi has 5,110 cases, includ-ing 65 fatalities.

Uttar Pradesh added 118

more cases to be just two shortof 3,000 with a death count of60. Madhya Pradesh report-ed 89 cases for a tally 3,138.

The Ministry of HomeAffairs secretary Ajay Bhalla onWednesday wrote to WestBengal Chief Secretary RajivSinha saying the coronavirustesting in the State was very lowand the mortality rate washigher than any other State.

Continued on Page 6

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Serious concern about datasecurity breach of Aarogya

Setu App was raised after aFrench hacker Robert Baptiste,who goes by Elliot Alderson onTwitter claimed a potentialsecurity issue in the app,prompting the Government toissue clarification that there wasno security vulnerability inthe contact tracing app.

Responding to clarifica-tion, Alderson tweeted, “I willcome back to you tomorrow.The challenge by the hacker hasput the Government machin-ery in a fix and given ammu-nitions to the Opposition par-ties amid Covid lockdown.

The app with about 9.08crore users as of now has beenthe most downloaded app onPlay Store. It did not take longfor the tweet to catch the eye ofAarogya Setu App team which

contacted Alderson shortly andtried to fix the loopholes.

Congress leader RahulGandhi, the Software FreedomLaw Centre, India (SFLC.in)and the Internet FreedomFoundation (IFF), have raisedquestion on Aarogya Setu App.

After Alderson’s tweet, sev-eral people have expressed pri-vacy and security concernsover the app, which has beenmade mandatory for all publicand private sector employees,as well as those in coronaviruscontainment areas. His tweetscreated a flutter on Twitter,with several people asking himquestions about the allegedsecurity issue. One Twitteruser asked if Alderson believed

the issue was intentional anddone by design, to which hereplied in the affirmative.

Soon after the ModiGovernment rejected the claim,Alderson tweeted that five peo-ple felt unwell at the PMO; twounwell at the Army headquar-ters; one infected people at theIndian Parliament and threeinfected at the home office.“Basically, I was able to see ifsomeone was sick at the PMOor the Indian Parliament. I wasable to see if someone was sickin a specific house if I wanted,”he tweeted.

Meanwhile, rejectingcharges by the Opposition thatthe Aarogya Setu app breach-es privacy, Union IT MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad has assert-ed that the platform is“absolutely robust, safe andsecure” in terms of privacy.

“This is a technologicalinvention of India — Ministryof Electronics and InformationTechnology, our scientists, NIC,Niti Aayog and some private(entities) — whereby it is a per-fectly accountable platform tohelp in the fight against Covid-19,” Prasad said.

Continued on Page 6

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Several State Governments,including Chhattisgarh,

Punjab and West Bengal, havedecided to allow home deliveryof liquor via the online sale toavoid the chaos witnessed infront of liquor shops during thelast three days.

Officials said the PunjabGovernment has allowedamendment in the Excise Actin order to allow home deliv-ery of liquor in a bid to ensurethat social distancing norms arenot violated amid curfew and

Covid-19 lockdown. Punjabgenerates �6,000 crore annual-ly from liquor.

Similarly, the MamtaBanerjee Government hasallowed amendments in theState Excise Act, permittinghome delivery of liquor. Bengalgets �11,000 crore revenuefrom liquor sale every year.

The ChhattisgarhGovernment has set upChhattisgarh State Marketing

Corporation Limited to deliv-er liquor at home in greenzones. A customer can order upto 5,000 ml of liquor at a timefor home delivery and thedelivery charge will be �120,”the release stated. ExceptRaipur and Korba districts,the remaining 26 districts of theState are in green zones.

According to a survey byLocal Circles, a social mediaand community platform,around 52 per cent consumerswant liquor to be delivered athome in red zones.

The Confederation ofIndian Alcoholic BeverageCompanies director generalVinod Giri urged the StateGovernments to give permis-sion for token system throughwhich liquor can be sold and itwill also be better crowd man-agement.

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About 10,000 migrant work-ers from Dhanbad in

Jharkhand were caught in ahapless situation in Karnatakawhen the State Governmentcancelled three trains that wereto carry them back to theirnative places on Wednesday.The Karnataka Governmentdecided to stop them fromgoing back after a meetingbetween Chief Minister BSYediyurappa and propertybuilders a day before.

The logic of “revivingeconomy” in the State seemedto have prevailed over the BJPGovernment in cancelling thespecial trains, which wasstrongly criticised by theOpposition Congress. The State

Government was holdingworkers as “captive” and treat-ing them like “bonded labour-ers”, alleged the Congress.

The All India CentralCouncil of Trade Unions (AIC-CTU) termed the move a vio-lation of the fundamental rightof the freedom of movementand one that promoted forcedlabour. AICCTU has movedthe Karnataka High Courtseeking relief to migrant work-ers who are left stranded afterthe Karnataka Government’ssudden move.

The plea states the stand ofthe State Government is in vio-lation of the fundamental rightsof the workers protected underArticles 19 (1)(d) and Article14 of the Constitution of India.

Continued on Page 6

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Ahmedabad: To control thespread of coronavirus in theworst-hit Ahmedabad city, civicauthorities on Wednesdayordered the closure of all theshops except those selling milkand medicines for a week, trig-gering panic buying of groceryitems and vegetables.

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Faced with a sharp decline inrevenue collection due to

the nation-wide lockdown tocontain the spread of coron-avirus, the Yogi Adityanathgovernment on Wednesdayhiked the tax on all categoriesof alcohol, both country liquorand Indian-Made ForeignLiquor (IMFL), beer and wine.

The government alsoannounced to hike the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on petroland diesel to partly shore up itsexchequer.

The upward revision oftax on these two commoditiesis expected to bring addition-al revenues of �4,420 crore toUP during the 2020-21 finan-cial year.

With the hike in tax, theprice of petrol will increase by�2 per litre while the dieselprice will go up by �1 per litre.

Petrol in the state will nowcost �73.91 per litre and diesel�63.86 per litre.

The prices of 180 ml liquorbottles are being increased by�10 in the economy and medi-um category while the 500 mlpack will cost �20 more in boththe segments. Those buyinglarger packs will pay �30 moreper bottle .

In the regular and premi-um category of liquor, theprices are being increased by�20 for 180 ml pack, �30 for500 ml pack and �50 for larg-er packs.

The prices of importedliquor, however, will be muchhigher with 180 ml pack cost-

ing an additional �100, the 500ml pack priced at an addition-al �200 and the larger pack anadditional �400 per bottle.

Since petrol and diesel areout of the purview of Goodsand Services Tax (GST), statesenjoy considerable leverage inimposing such taxes at thelocal level. The decision tohike the VAT was taken in themeeting of the state cabinetheld here on Wednesday. It waschaired by Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

Finance Minister SureshKhanna later told the mediathat following the lockdown inMarch and April, the financialsituation of the state had comeunder stress owing to fallingrevenue collection, especiallystate taxes.

He said that the hike intaxes would fetch additional�2,350 crore through liquorand �2,070 crore through theincrease in VAT on petroleumproducts.

Khanna said that liquorshops had been opened as thelong spell of the lockdown hadtriggered the manufacture andsale of illicit liquor and it wasimportant to prevent the threatto the public health.

He said that 80,020 litres ofillicit liquor had been seizedduring the lockdown periodbesides 499 outlets. The num-ber of those arrested was 3,627,he added.

The liquor sale that openedon Monday saw huge crowdsand the sales clocked a record�100-crore on day one.

The minister said that

against the tax demand of�12,141 crore in April 2020, thetax collection was mere �1,178crore, which was a massive dipin net collections and thismade the overall financial sit-uation tight for the state.

He added that the state wasleft with no option but toexplore additional sources ofrevenue to fill the gap.

“We have not increasedthe diesel prices beyond Re 1per litre as it is commonly usedin the state farm, transport andindustrial sectors,” Khannaadded

During the last fiscal, thetotal consumption of petrol anddiesel in UP stood at 470 crorelitre and 1,130 crore litre,respectively.

Recently, the chief ministerhad asked officials to find waysto increase the state’s revenueto cope up with the drastic fallin tax collection owing to thelockdown. It was expected thatthe state would hike in liquorand petrol prices.

Besides the hike in taxes,the state government has takenmeasures to curtail expendi-ture. On April 25, the state gov-ernment had announced toput on hold for one year asmany as six allowances payableto different categories of offi-cers and employees in the cur-rent financial year.

The government had alsodecided to freeze the dearnessallowance (DA) up to June 30,2021. The two measures willlead to a saving of about�12,000 crore till June-endnext year.

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Lucknow (PNS): The Uttar Pradesh governmenthas brought an ordinance under which damaging pub-lic and private property during protests will be a cog-nisable offence. Besides, guidelines have been issuedto ease labour laws to speed up industrial activity.

The decision was approved in the cabinet meet-ing held through video conference here on Wednesday.

The government spokesman said here onWednesday that the ordinance, the Uttar PradeshPublic and Private Property Damage RealisationOrdinance, 2020, was approved by the state cabinet andit would be sent to Governor Anandiben Patel for herassent. Under this ordinance, the cost of damage toany property, public or private, by protesters would berealised from them.

“To assess the damage, a claim tribunal will be con-stituted for which new guidelines and provisions havebeen added to the law,” the spokesman said.

The cabinet also approved proposal to easelabour laws to speed up industrial activity in the state.

“Because of lockdown, industrial production hascome to a standstill in Uttar Pradesh. With an aim togive impetus to industrial activity, the government hasdecided to ease labour norms for next three years,” thespokesman said.

He said for this the cabinet had approved the UPLabour Law Relaxation Ordinance, 2020 under whichindustries would be liable to get concessions in labourlaws for different sectors.

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The Uttar Pradesh government onWednesday approved an ordi-

nance providing for stringent pun-ishment for attacks on corona war-riors and violation of EpidemicDiseases Act.

The ordinance provides forstringent action against those attack-ing corona warriors, including doc-tors, paramedics, sanitation workersand police personnel, and misbehav-ing with them.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath held a cabinet meetingthrough video conferencing andit gave its nod for the UttarPradesh Public Health and EpidemicDiseases Control Ordinance,2020.

The ordinance will now be sentto Governor Anandiben Patel forapproval.

Parliamentary Affairs MinisterSuresh Khanna said the new law pro-vides for imprisonment rangingfrom six months to seven years andfine ranging from �50,000 to �5 lakhfor assault on or misbehaviour withhealth workers, paramedics andhealth workers, police personnel,sanitation workers and any corona

warriors deployed by the govern-ment.

“There will also be strong actionagainst spitting on corona warriors,throwing filth on them, and violat-ing the isolation norms during thequarantine, and also against thosewho incite people to attack or mis-behave with the corona warriors,” he

said.In all, the cabinet approved 10

proposals.As per the provisions of the ordi-

nance, people escaping from quar-antine centres would be punishedwith one to three years of jail and fineup to �1 lakh. Similar would be thepunishment for fleeing from hospi-

tal.Stringent punishment has been

provided for concealing the coron-avirus illness. “For hiding the illness,there is a punishment of one to threeyears of jail and fine up to �1 lakh.If a COVID-19 patient travels in apublic transport, he/she could besent to jail for three years and

slapped a fine up to �2 lakh,” Khannasaid.

Under the new law, a state leveldisaster control authority would beformed under the chairmanship ofthe chief minister with the chief sec-retary and other officials as itsmembers.

In every district, a three-mem-

ber district level authority would beconstituted under the chairman-ship of the district magistrate.

The state authority will advisethe government in matters related toepidemic prevention and control,while the district authority willcoordinate the activities of variousdepartments in the district.

Recently, the Union govern-ment had amended the EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897 through anordinance to safeguard the coronawarriors in the country with provi-sion of jail and fine against theoffenders.

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Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathpaid tribute to CRPF jawanAshwini Kumar Yadav for hissupreme sacrifice at Handwara inJammu and Kashmir and said theentire nation was proud of his mar-tyrdom.

He announced ex gratia of �50lakh for the martyr’s wife and par-ents.

Also, a member of the martyr’sfamily will be given a governmentjob and the village road will benamed after him.

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The Uttar Pradesh government, in amajor agriculture marketing reform

for eliminating multi-layer of middle-men and for promoting ‘farm to fork’,denotified 46 fruits and vegetablesfrom the provisions of the UPAgricultural Produce MarketingCommittee Act. The amendment willenable the farmers to sell the produce,which are mostly cash crops, directly tothe consumers and traders outside themandi yard without paying the mandifee. The farmers can now sell these 46agri commodities directly to the foodprocessing units and consumers at thefarm itself.

The farmers can also sell their pro-duce through the digital platform –eNAM. The traders of these 46 fruits andvegetables will also be freed from pay-ing the mandi fee. The Yogi Adityanath

cabinet approved the draft ordinance forthe amendment to the UPAPMC Act onWednesday. UP government had ear-lier amended the APMC Act in 2018,providing for the establishment of agri-culture mandis by the private sector.

With the proposed amendment inthe Mandi Act, Uttar Pradesh willbecome the frontline state in implement-ing reforms in agriculture marketing andpromoting the ease of doing business(EODB) in agri marketing.

The amendment to the Act wasprompted by the COVID-19 pandem-ic as it will help in reducing crowed offarmers, traders and retailers in fruit andvegetable mandis across the state. Thecabinet approved the amendment toSection 7 (2) B of the UP Rajya KrishiUtpadan Mandi Samiti Act, enabling thelicensed traders to directly purchase the46 agri commodities from the farmersoutside the mandi yard. The warehous-

es, silos and cold storages will be desig-nated as sub-mandi yard and traders willhave to pay only the user charges. Thetraders will also be given unified licenceto purchase these 46 commoditiesdirectly from the farmers anywhere inthe state outside the mandi yard.

Agriculture Minister Surya PratapShahi said that the amendment to theMandi Act would go a long way in dou-bling the income of the farmers asdesired by Prime Minister NarendraModi. While outlining an ambitiouspost-pandemic agenda for agriculturalreform, the prime minister on May 3 hadasked his top ministers and bureaucratsto start working on a new set of reformsto cut down archaic regulations, raisefarm-gate prices, unify domestic marketsas well as integrate the farm economyinto global value chains. These have beendemands by key farmer groups as wellas a range of economists and agricultur-

al experts over the years.The big focus of the Centre is on

new ideas to intervene in the agriculturemarketing system so as to make themfreer. Despite several model laws at thefederal level — which serve as guidancefor states — trade in agricultural com-modities remains fettered by state-spe-cific legislations, which prevent farmersfrom freely accessing food markets.

The Indian agricultural market isfragmented. Each state has distinctregulations. Restrictions on where farm-ers can sell and to whom, as mandatedby the Agricultural Produce MarketCommittee Acts, in various states, con-tinue to thwart farm trade. The coron-avirus pandemic has pressured farmincomes, upending the farm-to-forksupply chain, despite many exemptionsto the farm sector announced by theCentre. A nation-wide curfew caughtfarmers by surprise on March 24.

During its the initial days, labour short-age and empty wholesale markets ledfarmers to dump new harvest, especial-ly perishables. Although agricultureaccounts for 16.5% of India’s grossdomestic product (GDP), nearly half thepopulation in the country depends ona farm-based income, underscoring thesector’s importance for livelihoods.

The APMC Act ushered in duringthe 1960s – each state has its own law— requires farmers to only sell tolicensed middlemen in notified markets,usually in the same area as the farmer,rather than directly to buyers elsewhere.These rules were meant to protectfarmers from being forced into distressselling. But over time, they have spawnedlayers of intermediaries, spanning thefarm-to-fork supply chain. This resultsin a large ‘price spread’ or the fragmen-tation of profit shares due to the pres-ence of many middlemen.

Lucknow (PNS): Two incidents of ‘honourkilling’ were reported from Hardoi and Sultanpuron Wednesday. In Hardoi, the cops of the Shahabadpolice station on Wednesday learnt that a family liv-ing in Kalaghara area had killed their daughter anddumped her body to conceal crime.

The girl was killed as she was having an affairand the family members were against it. When thepolice grilled the girl’s grandfather, Lalaram, fatherRajeev, mother Sridevi, uncles Aditya aka Pappu and

Kunwar Pal, they confessed to the crime. They alsotold the police that Harinam Singh, a resident ofNarhai, gave his vehicle to carry the body for bur-ial. A case was registered and the body buried onthe banks of a local river was exhumed and sent forpost-mortem. In another case of suspected honourkilling Sultanpur police found an 18-year-old girlBindu, a resident of Vaini hamlet of Lambuwa, bru-tally hacked to death under mysterious circum-stances.

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While he served patients, a‘coronavirus warrior’

waited helplessly as his three-year-old son fought for his lifein another hospital, a battlewhich he eventually lost.

Manish Kumar (27), award boy in city’s LokbandhuHospital, could not even per-form the last r ites ofhis son due to medical proto-cols and watchedfrom a distance as his familymembers completed the ritu-als.

On Saturday night, hewas serving patients at an iso-lation ward in the Level-2government COVID-19 hos-pital, when he got a franticcall that his son, Harshit, washaving difficulty in breathingand also had a stomachache.

“When I got the call, Ibecame restless but could notleave the hospital immediate-ly. My family members took

my son to the King George’sMedical University. They keptsending me his pictures onWhatsApp. At about 2 am heleft the world, leaving all of usbehind,” said Manish as hewept while narrating theepisode to PTI.

“I wanted to see my sonbut decided not to tell my col-

leagues as I did notwant to leave mypatients to fend for them-selves. But noticingthe frequent calls I wasgett ing and seeing mycondition, they realised some-thing is wrong andasked me to leave,” he said.

Manish, taking all neces-

sary precautions, reachedKGMU, where his son’s bodylay.

He, however, did notenter inside and kept waitingfor his son to come out, notalive and kicking, but lifelessand motionless.

“I saw him from a dis-tance as my family memberstook him home and I fol-lowed them on my bike. Iwanted to embrace my sonand hold him as I could notaccept that he is no more,” hesaid.

Even in grief, he chosenot to step into his house toprotect his family from pos-sible coronavirus infection.

“I did not enter my houseand sat on the verandah nearthe gate. Next day, he wascremated by family membersas I could not even touch hisbody as advised by my seniorsto avoid any infection,” hesaid.

As a number of people are

involved in a cremation, histouching the body could havecreated problems for others,he said.

Manish said that now heonly has fond memories of hisson in the form of somevideos and pictures on hismobile.

When asked when he willbe joining duty, he said, “Verysoon.”

“At present I am spendingtime consoling my wife, thattoo maintaining a safe dis-tance. I am not entering homeand spending time on veran-dah. I will resume my dutiesin day or two. Patients arewaiting to be attended. I willfind solace in serving them,”he said.

The state capital has wit-nessed 242 coronavirus casestill Tuesday of which 161have been treated and dis-charged while one died. Thereare 80 active cases undergo-ing treatment as of now.

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Aditya Singh, a class X stu-dent of City Montessori School,Gomti NagarCampus I,has secured100 per centmarks inScience inInternationalBenchmarkTest (IBT),getting thetop rankglobally andbringing laurels for the institu-tion. IBT is organised by theAustralian Council forEducational Research (ACER)once a year in many countries.In India, thousands of studentsof several noted schools tookIBT in which Aditya secured 100per cent marks in Science amidsttough competition.

CMS will honour Adityawith a cash prize of Rs 50,000 forhis achievement.

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The Uttar Pradesh governmentclaimed that 70 special trains

were being deployed to ferry80,000 migrant workers from dif-ferent parts of the country to theirnative districts in UP.

Additional Chief SecretaryAwanish Awasthi said here onWednesday said that migrantworkers from across the countrywere reaching Uttar Pradesh inlarge numbers by special trains.

Awasthi said that the stategovernment had made arrange-ments for over 70 special trains toferry around 80,000 migrantworkers from different states out

of which 19 trains had alreadyarrived and nine more werereaching different cities in thestates by Wednesday night.

“Around 38 more specialtrains are lined up out of whichnine from Punjab, two fromTelangana, one from Karnatakawere slated to come. Over 13trains would come from Gujaratand 11 from Maharashtra,” hesaid.

Awasthi said that the UPgovernment was also in touchwith the governments of Kerala,Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand andChhattisgarh to bring migrantlabourers by train.

He said that all the migrant

workers coming by trains werereaching their native districts bybuses and were being thorough-ly checked at all the points. Hesaid these workers would remainin home quarantine for 14 days,and later allowed to move if theydid not show any symptoms.

“Besides, over 30,000 workersfrom Haryana are slated to reachUP by buses. Around 10,000workers would be exchanged withRajasthan,” Awasthi said.

He also said that ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hadordered opening of books and sta-tionery shops in the orange andgreen zones with immediateeffect.

The following are the provisions of Uttar Pradesh Public Health andEpidemic Diseases Control Ordinance, 2020

� Violation of quarantine rules shall be punishable with 1 to 3 yearsof imprisonment and fine ranging from �10,000 to �1 lakh.

� Imprisonment of 1 to 3 years and fine ranging from �10,000 to �1 lakhagainst those who escape from hospital.

� One to three years of imprisonment for obscene and indecent con-duct and fine ranging from �50,000 to �1 lakh.

� If any COVID-19 patient hides himself/herself, then he/she may facepunishment of 1 to 3 years, and a fine ranging from �50,000 to �1 lakh

� If any COVID-19 patient intentionally travels by public transport, itwill invite imprisonment of one to three years and fine ranging from�50,000 to �2 lakh.

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Lucknow (PNS): Householdarticles and food stuff weredamaged in a fire which brokeout due to leakage in a gascylinder at a house inPriyadarshini Nagar Colonyin Madiaon on Wednesday.However, no casualty wasreported in the incident. Thehouse belongs to AshokPandey, a class IV employee ina private school. He got the gascylinder under Union govern-ment’s Ujjwala scheme a weekago. His wife Rekha was cook-ing under the tin shed whiletheir children Ayush (14) andAyushi (7) were playing in aroom.

All of a sudden, there wasa leakage in the gas cylinderand the fire broke out soonafterwards. All of them scam-

pered to safety and later, policewere informed. However, thethe flames started leaping highand the cylinder exploded.

Meanwhile, eight persons,including three women, werebooked for indulging in abrawl and violating lockdownin Madiaon on Wednesday. Ateam of police patrolling in thearea reached the scene onbeing informed. The policesaid they tried their best tobring the situation under con-trol, but to no avail. Later, thepolice lodged an FIR againstMohammed Arif, MohammedAsif, Mohammed Kalim,Ayesha, Qadirun Nisa,Mohammed Riaz, MohammedShadab and Shafiqun Nisa.Police said the group foughtover a land dispute.

Lucknow (PNS): The Vice-Chancellor of LucknowUniversity on Wednesday con-stituted a committee forsmooth conduct of the exam-inations. A meeting under thechairmanship of LU VC AKRai was held through video-conferencing.

All deans of faculties, headsof departments attended themeeting and apprised the VCabout the progress of courses.Media spokesperson said itwas also decided that from theend of lockdown and initiationof public transport to the timebetween the start of examina-tions, there would be about 15-20 days of time in which thesyllabus of all the subjectswould be completed and vari-ous course-related problems ofthe students could be resolved.

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District Magistrate AbhishekPrakash carried out an

inspection of ChaudharyCharan Singh InternationalAirport on Wednesday toreview arrangements for thearrival of 200 passengers to beevacuated from Sharjah onMay 9. Senior officials of theAirport Authority of Indiawere also present at the time ofinspection. Issuing directions,the DM said yellow stripsshould be stuck on the floor tohelp maintain social distancingand medical teams be presentat the time of the arrival of pas-sengers for proper medicalscreening. He directedLucknow MunicipalCorporation to carry out sani-tisation of the entire airportpremises. He said arrange-ments of food would also bemade for the passengers.

Meanwhile, the lockdownhas had a major impact on therevenue of the airport. A seniorofficial of the Airport Authorityof India said that flight opera-

tions, which had started gettingaffected itself before the lock-down was announced, hadcome to a naught after the sus-pension from March 25 morn-ing. There have been mainte-nance costs but no income, hepointed out.

“We get income primarilyfrom two sources — aeronau-tical and non- aeronauticalcharges. In terms of aeronau-tical charges, all the planeswhich operate from this airportpay route navigation facilitycharges, passenger servicescharges, landing charges, devel-opment fund charges, andparking charges at the rate of Rs50,000 per flight per operation.In the best of our months tillJanuary, there were approxi-mately 60 such flights per day.It was our income through thescheduled flights and in case ofnon-scheduled flights, theearnings were roughly Rs onelakh per month,” he elaborat-ed. The non-aeronauticalcharges include rents from avariety of sources.

“We used to receive over Rs

1.25 crore from shops, Rs onecrore from retail every month,Rs 50 lakh per month as park-ing charges and Rs 5 lakh permonth from visitors to the air-port,” he added. He pointed outthat they would earn Rs onecrore through advertisements.

He said till January, theoperations were normal but inthe month of February, theoperations took a normal dipbecause of the examinations inschools, but it was in Marchwhen the coronavirus scarespread and the passengers start-ed decreasing.

“In the last week before theoperations were shut down onMarch 25 morning, the flightswitnessed only one-third of thenormal capacity of passengersand they were mainly thosewho were rushing back to theirhometowns,” he added.

He said that the footfalls atthe Airport during regular dayswere around 16,000 per daywith four airlines operating,taking the passengers to over30 destinations across thecountry.

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Seven persons tested posi-tive for coronavirus on

Wednesday, including sixfrom the hotspot inKaiserbagh vegetable marketand one from Para police sta-tion area. Chief medical offi-cer Narendra Agarwal saidthose who tested positive fromKaiserbagh included four menand two women. Most ofthose who tested positive werethe contacts of a woman of thesame area who had testedpositive earlier. “They live inthe upper portion of the samehouse where the womanresides,” he said. He addedthat with these six fresh cases,as many as 14 persons fromKaiserbagh vegetable markethad tested positive.

The patient detected inPara is a pregnant womanfrom Kanpur, who was foundroaming around on the streetsof the city and was taken tothe Asha Jyoti Kendra.

“We have shifted her toLok Bandhu Hospital and 14from the police staff who hadaccompanied her to Asha JyotiKendra have been sent tohome quarantine,” he said.Eight out of the 14 werefemale constables who hadaccompanied the woman.

Meanwhile, Mandi secre-tary Sanjay Singh said thatlooking into the increasingnumber of cases in Kaiserbaghmarket, they had already start-ed sample collection from themandi on Sitapur road.

“Fifteen samples havealready been collected andwe would request the CMO tocarry out sample collectionfrom Dubagga mandi as well,”he said. He added that theywere ensuring social distanc-ing at both the mandis with noentry of a person withoutmask al lowed. He saidarrangements had also beenmade for thermal scanning.“We have already changedthe timings of the sale of veg-etables to 11-5 am and fruitsfrom 8 am to 12 pm. Melonsand dates will be sold fromnoon to 4 pm. This is how we

have managed the crowds,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, the CMOteams carried out awarenessprogrammes at Madheganj,Nai Basti Iradatnagar, ValmikiColony, Mashalchi Tola andMehndiganj.

Meanwhile, mediaspokesperson of SGPGI saidthat two Covid-19 patientswho tested negative were dis-charged from the hospital.She said SGPGI director RKDhiman gifted them a bou-quet of flowers before sendingthem off and they wereadvised home quarantine.

State surveillance officerVikasendu Agarwal said thatfor the second consecutiveday, the number of patientsdischarged (143) in the statewas more than the number of new cases detected in the state. He said that 143patients had been discharged,taking the total number ofpatients who had recoveredto 1,130. “All the patientsfrom Mau and Azamgarhdistricts have recovered andthey have been discharged. Asmany as 118 new patientshave been confirmed as pos-

itive, taking the total numberof cases in UP to 2,998,” hesaid. He added that over1,09,888 tests had been con-ducted in the state so far.Sixty deaths have been

reported, including two inGhaziabad, one each inPrayagraj, Etah, Mainpuri,Jhansi , Bijnore, KanpurDehat, Amroha, Bareilly,Basti, Bulandshahr Lucknow

and Varanasi , e ight inMeerut, seven in Moradabad,three in Firozabad, 16 inAgra, five in Kanpur Nagar,two in Aligarh, and four inMathura.

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Atotal of 163 coronaviruspatients had recovered and

78 were under treatment inLucknow as on Wednesdayafternoon, indicating that dou-ble the number of patients haverecovered in the state capital.KGMU Vice-Chancellor DrMLB Bhatt said it was a majorrelief. Lucknow is apparently ina fairly good position even as nofresh cases were reported onMay 4, he said.

However, he said that withthe gradual de-escalation inlockdown conditions, theCovid-19 spread was bound toincrease. “The partial lockdownwill have its impact but it will alldepend on how meticulouspeople are in ensuring socialdistancing and other preventivemeasures,” he added. Chief

medical officer NarendraAgarwal said one has to waitand watch.

Meanwhile, the KGMUVice-Chancellor said that thepatient who had been adminis-tered plasma therapy wasimproving, but was still onventilator. He added that theplasma therapy was effective toa great extent. “At the time whenthe plasma therapy was given tothe patient, his condition wasdeteriorating at such a fast ratethat he could not have survived.It was necessary to give himplasma therapy, otherwise hewould have succumbed,” headded.

Meanwhile, director ofIntegral Hospital MN Siddiquisaid that all 47 patients who hadbeen admitted to Integral CovidHospital on April 17 recoveredand were discharged on

Wednesday. There were 10female and 37 male patientsadmitted to the hospital. Theyoungest was a 5-month-oldpatient and the oldest a 65-year-old. They were accommodatedin two wards of the hospital.“The patients were interrogat-ed for any other co-morbidityso that other ailments could notbe left unattended. A team oftrained and experienced doc-tors, nurses and paramedicskept a constant vigil on the con-dition of patients,” he said. Headded that specific treatment,as planned by the healthauthorities, was given to allpatients. “The patients weresubjected to repeated testing toevaluate their recovery progress.The tests were conducted twiceand the results were rewardingas 47 cases turned out to benegative.

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Aman killed his wife beforehanging himself to death,

leaving their children crying, athis house in Thakurganj. Policesaid they suspected that theman took the extreme stepdoubting his wife’s loyalty, andinvestigation was underway toconfirm the same.

As per reports, Gajendra ofAgra, along with his wife Rubiand children Vanshika (7) andKavya (3), was living in a rent-ed accommodation in BarauraHusainbadi locality in Balaganjarea of the locality. He workedas a tiler to make ends meet forthe family. Around 10:30 am onWednesday, his landlord NoorMohammed heard Gajendra’schildren cry and he reached theroom. He repeatedly knockedthe doors but there was noresponse from inside.

Noor Mohammed rushedto Balaganj police outpost andinformed the cops that histenant was not opening thedoors and something waswrong. A team of policereached the scene and knockedthe doors. Gajendra’s elderdaughter Vanshika opened thedoors and the cops wereshocked to see Gajendra hang-ing from the ceiling with a ropetied around his neck. His wifeRubi was lying on a bed unre-sponsive. The cops broughtdown Gajendra and he and hiswife were rushed to a hospitalwhere both were declaredbrought dead. The Thakurganj

SHO said that prima facie, itappeared that Gajendra stran-gled Rubi to death and thenended his life. He said sub-inspector Vijay Kumar hadbeen tasked with probing thecase. Preliminary investigationrevealed that Gajendra hadtaken the room on rent sixmonths ago and he was out ofjob these days due to lockdown.The landlord and neighbourssaid the couple used to fightover some personal issues offand on. “The fight between thecouple escalated after Gajendrawent out of job during lock-down,” they pointed out.

In another incident, a 22-year-old air-conditionermechanic ended his life at hishouse in Ekta Nagar locality ofThakurganj some time onTuesday night. Reports saidVirendra Rajput had dinnerwith his family on Tuesdaybefore going to sleep on the topfloor of his house. Around5:30 am on Wednesday, hisbrother Mahendra woke upand went to the staircase wherehe found Virendra hangingwith a bedsheet tied around hisneck. Mahendra called thepolice and a team reached thescene for investigation. Thepolice said a tripod was alsofound on the stairs. “Virendramay have stood on the tripodto hang himself when otherfamily members were asleep,”the police said, adding that thebody had been sent for autop-sy. Besides, a 35-year-old ACmechanic, Awadhesh Kumar

Chauhan, died after he sufferedan electric shock while work-ing at a flat in a residentialapartment in Jankipuram onWednesday evening. He, alongwith his helper Arjun, hadgone to attend the service callto the flat of Rahul Srivastava.Police said Awadhesh wasrushed to a hospital where hewas declared brought dead.Awadhesh, who was a native ofDeoria, was staying at a housein Kalyanpur. He is survivedwith wife Sunita and two chil-dren. In another incident, a 27-year-old woman, identified asShabina, ended her life at hershanty in Jankipuram (Sector8) on Wednesday evening.Police said she was found hang-ing from a bamboo shaft witha dupatta tied around her neck.It surfaced that her husbandBashir is presently stuck inSitapur due to lockdown.

������ �� A 20-year-old vegetable

vendor died after being hit bya speeding unidentified vehiclenear a petrol pump on Kursiroad in Gudamba onWednesday morning. Reportssaid the victim, identified asSandeep Lodhi of Dasauli vil-lage in the area, suffered griev-ous injuries and was rushed toa hospital where he wasdeclared brought dead. Doctorssaid blood loss due to injuriesclaimed his life. The body wassent for autopsy and a case wasregistered on the complaint ofhis brother Santosh.

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The increase in the prices ofpetrol and diesel by the UP

government has not gone downwell with the consumers, espe-cially in view of the currentCovid-19 crisis. The govern-ment increased the cost ofpetrol by Rs 2 and that of dieselby Re 1 per litre on Wednesday.

People said it would be anadded burden for them in thesetimes when they were alreadyfacing problems like job lossesand a decreasing power tospend. They also said it wouldreflect in the increased prices ofessential commodities andtransportation. AbhishekSrivastava, who is a student, saidit was not the right time to

announce fuel price hike.“Agreed that the use of petrolwill be less with most of the peo-ple working from home duringlockdown, but the increase willnot gel with the youths. Manyof those in private companieshave lost their jobs and othersare struggling with their prepa-rations for competitive exami-nations and do not want addedburden on their parents.Besides, with the increase inpetrol and diesel prices, theprices of other commodities willalso escalate along with that oftransportation,” he said. DeveshSaxena, who works in a privatecompany, said the governmentwas trying to get some revenuethrough fuel price hike but itwas bad for the consumers.

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The Uttar Pradesh StateEntrance Examination

(UPSEE) conducted by Dr APJAbdul Kalam TechnicalUniversity (AKTU) will beheld on August 2 with all pre-cautions. The examination isheld for admission to engineer-ing institutes of the state.AKTU media spokespersonAshish Mishra said 24 studentswould be seated in a classroomand proper social distancingmeasures would be ensuredduring the conduct of theexam. “The students will becalled early so that social dis-tancing can be ensured andproper sanitisation of class-rooms will also be carriedout,” he said.

Meanwhile, AKTU hasemerged as a hub of digitaleducation under the leadershipof Vice-Chancellor VinayKumar Pathak. The technicaluniversity has successfully useddigital education as a tool dur-ing lockdown with conceptslike virtual classrooms amongothers. Around 80 hours ofeducational audio-visual mate-rial has been prepared in theAryabhata Educational Studiolocated in the university cam-pus. Various educational insti-tutions and boards are benefit-ing from the educational stu-dio of the university.

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Opening of liquor sale start-ed showing its ill-effects

with two persons reportedlybeing killed in Farrukhabadand Meerut, respectively, andloots being reported fromGhaziabad and Banda. Oneyouth drowned in Etawah whilebathing in an inebriated state. InFarrukhabad, a man battered hiswife to death for not giving himher earrings so that he couldpurchase liquor.

Prashant, a resident ofBamruliya hamlet of Nawabganjin Farrukhabad, lives with hiswife Lakshmi (30) and twochildren —5-year-old son Dev

and 3-year-old daughter Pavitra.On Monday, he asked his wifeto give him some money to buyliquor and abused her after sherefused to do so. On Tuesdaynight, Prashant returned homein inebriated state and asked hiswife to give him her earrings sohe could sell them to purchaseliquor. When she refused to doso, he brutally battered her todeath and escaped.

Reports said that when thewoman’s father ShivanandMishra, a resident of Ikoniya inEtah, arrived with his family,they were attacked by Prashant’sfamily members. Police claimedto have registered a case andlaunched a hunt for Prashant.

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In the preview of COVID-19situation, Carpet Export

Promotion Council (CEPC)organised two meetingsthrough video conferencingrecently to discuss the virtualfairs as an alternative to thephysical fairs for ensuring busi-ness continuity. Representativesof M/s Falcon Pvt. Ltd gave itspresentation on the virtual fairplatform. ‘The biggest chal-lenge in the times to come isthat no overseas buyer will beready to fly. Therefore, it isimportant to look for alterna-tives to the physical fairs, saidCEPC Chairman Siddh NathSingh, inviting all the memberspresent in the meetings to seehow virtual fairs are conduct-

ed and give their suggestions.Sooraj Dhawan of Falcon

in his presentation covered abrief overview showing howexhibitors/buyers will registerthemselves on the virtual plat-form. He also informed that theplatform provides features ofshort-listing products,exhibitors and also supportsvideo meetings with exhibitors.‘The exhibitors can uploadcompany brochures, productvideos and high-resolutionproduct pictures, he said,informing that in case anexhibitor requires help in cre-ating company brochures, anagency led by Nihar can pro-vide its services.

During the meetings, someof the members raised concernson the security of the platform

and wanted to know how safethe data will be.

The agency clarified thatthe entire platform is GDPRcompliant and all security mea-sures related to exhibitor’sproduct data, buyers’ interac-tions, and details of buyers vis-iting the booths will be totallyencrypted and safe and will bevisible only to the exhibitor.Some of the members enquiredthat why the individual web-sites of member exportersshould not be promoted ratherthan a single virtual fair plat-form. The agency responded bysaying that the platform is anamalgamation of all membersand a single place to attract thebuyers which will fetch muchbetter results.

Many members also

enquired about the possibilityof adding the functionality ofe-commerce to the virtual fairplatform.

Chairman mentioned thatthe platform can be evolved atlater stage to include the capa-bilities of e-commerce. Somemembers asked if there is a pro-vision of integrating socialmedia handles and their web-sites with their exhibitor pro-file on the virtual fair platform.The agency clarified that thereis a feature and it can be inte-grated.

At last, Chairman said thatanother meeting will be sched-uled with the buying agents andpossibly some buyers next weekand their feedback will be alsobe taken into account in decid-ing the way forward.

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As many as nine moreCOVID-19 cases have

been found in the district onWednesday and with this con-tinuous surge, the number ofcorona patients has increasedto 77. Out of these new ninepositive patients, two are relat-ed to an old COVID-19 patientfrom hotspot Madanpura. Theyare his son and daughter-in-law. Six patients are related toa patient from Jaitpura area andout of them two are his broth-ers, two wives of brothers,nephew and niece. The rest ofone positive corona patient isone who has already beenadmitted to Sir SundarlalHospital (SSH) in BanarasHindu University (BHU) andshe is a resident of Lallapuraarea.

According to the DistrictMagistrate (DM) Kaushal RajSharma, as per all the reportsreceived from KGMULucknow and BHU Varanasi,these nine new positive patientshave been detected. He

informed that on Monday last,as many as 171 samples weresent to KGMU for testing andout of them the reports of 162have been received, while thesame of nine are awaited. Asper the reports, all the samplesreceived from the persons ofcontact tracing from hotspotsSujabad, Shivaji Nagar, GolaCholapura, Jagular Hartirath,Badi Piyari, Kashipura andSeer Govardhan were foundnegative. Besides, the reports of51 health employees being keptin passive quarantine at L-2Facility were also found nega-tive.

Meanwhile, Chief MedicalOfficer (CMO) Dr VB Singhhas informed that second fol-low-up reports of existing 11corona patients being treated atPt. Deen Dayal Upadhya(DDU) Hospital received fromKGMU which included threepositive and eight negative.One negative patient is fromGhazipur, while seven are fromVaranasi. Among these sevenfour are from hotspotMadanpura and three from

Pitarkunda. With this, thenumber of active patients in thecity has declined to 56. Out of77 patients, 20 have been dis-charged and one has died.

As all the patients are fromthe existing hotspot areas, thereis no change in the number ofhotspots which remained 22.Out of 25, three have alreadycome into green zone as nonew cases were found fromthere during the 28 days. Theyare Bajardiha, Lohta andGangapura. In the existingsealed hotspots, tight securitycontinued to be made andthese hotspots are Madanpura,Revari Talab, Pitarkunda,Nakkhighat, Habibpura,Madauli, Kashipura, Seer, SaptSagar, Chanduwa, Arjunpur,Hartirath Maidagin, ChotiPiyari, Mehmoorganj,Mukimganj, Kazipura Khurd,Lalpur, Jai Prakash Nagar, BagBariyar Singh, Jaitpura, Sujabadand Cholapur.

Out of these, the most sen-sitive area is Madanpura whereseveral new cases are still beingfound. Besides, good number

of cases has also been seenfrom Revari Talab, Pitarkundaand Jaitpura areas.

After almost the end of onemonth of lockdown, the sharphike in number of positivecases has started being seen inthe city since April 24 as priorto that there were just 19 casesand during the last two weeks,the number has jumped upfour times, raising alarm to all.Though the nationwide lock-down was imposed fromMarch 25, in Varanasi, thesame was effective since March22 when the nation hadobserved ‘Janata Curfew’. It issurprising that despite suchdeteriorating situation, in manymarkets shocking rush of peo-ple are being seen. Such rushwas seen at many places evenon Wednesday inVisheshwarganj, Pandariba andsome others.

Earlier, the district policearrested 58 persons underSection 151 CrPC and tookaction against 27 under Section51 of Disaster ManagementAct.

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Diesel Locomotive Works(DLW) has developed a

remote controlled trolley calledMedbot for its hospital. It hastested its new innovative trol-ley to serve isolated patients inthe hospitals. This trolley hasbeen designed and manufac-tured in-house by LocoDivision and it is equipped withremote controlled device hav-ing facility of one way commu-nication with remote camera.With this, DLW has shownexemplary work during lock-down by manufacturing thisdevice in order to fight againstCOVID-19.

This trolley can carry med-icines, water, food, bed sheetsetc. to the patients maintainingsocial distancing betweenpatients and medical staff. Thetrolley is being furtherimproved so that it can alsofacilitate two way communica-tions between the relatives and

the patients through mobileapp.

Meanwhile, MalviyaCentre for InnovationIncubation andEntrepreneurship (MCIIE),Indian Institute of Technology,Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) has developed a kiosk onrequest of medical superinten-dent (MS), Sir SundarlalHospital (SSH), BHU, especial-ly to collect swab sample of thecorona/SARS patients. Giving

this information, coordinatorof the centre Prof PK Mishrasaid ‘the COVID-19 pandem-ic has caused terrible situationaround the world and copingup with the impacts of this pan-demic is not easy. Consideringthe present scenario, we shouldnow accept the fact that gettingrid of pandemic would be achallenging task. Therefore,we should get used to livingwith this disease and protect-ing ourselves from it.’

According to him, thekiosk is quite safe for collectingsamples because it provides suf-ficient space for the sample col-lector/doctor to collect theswab sample and also pro-vides turbulence free air withproper air pressure and venti-lation in the chamber whichreduces the chance of samplecollector/doctor getting affect-ed by virus. Prof Mishra saidthat positive pressure is main-tained inside the chamber byfeeding air from the ceiling andoutside air is prevented fromentering the chamber. He saidthat for better decontaminationof the chamber, a sterlisationmist is released from time totime.

Prof Mishra said that thiskiosk also prevents the disper-sal of virus through windbecause while collecting swabsamples sometimes patientsneezes or coughs but the windshield prevents such an acci-dental contamination.

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Prayagraj Junction becamethe first station in Indian

Railways to handle 4 incomingShramik special trains in lessthan 8 hours time.

Total 9,278 personsbrought in eight Shramik spe-cial trains 47 other throughpassing trains operated byNorth Central Railway (NCR).

In the ongoing 3rd lock-down effective till May 17 allregular passenger and subur-ban trains are completely sus-pended and only with priorconsent of state governments,Shramik special trains are run-ning to clear pre identifiedmigrants from fixed origination

point to single destination sta-tion.

Till today NCR is expect-ed to handle 47 passingthrough and have alreadybrought about 9,278 migrantsthrough 8 terminating Shramikspecial trains at Prayagraj Jn,Agra Cantt. and KanpurCentral Stations.

On Wednesday total 4trains two from Surat and oneeach from Viramgam andLudhiana were handled atPrayagraj Jn. of North CentralRailway bringing 4,454 personsbelonging to different districtsof Uttar Pradesh. This makesPrayagraj Jn. first station ofIndian Railways to handle 4incoming Shramik special

trains in span of less than 8hours on any single day afteroperation of these special trainsstarted on May 1.

Infrastructure of PrayagrajJn. created for Kumbh Mela2019 and experience of officersand staff involved in conduct ofKumbh-2019 came handy inachieving efficient handling of4 terminating trains atPrayagraj Jn.

For Kumbh-2019 four bigpassenger enclosures were con-structed at City side ofPrayagraj Junction station tohold pilgrims @ 3000 perenclosure and these enclosureswere effectively used to holdrelatively lesser number ofmigrant passengers i.e. 600 per

enclosure with adequate socialdistancing before all mandato-ry formalities related toCOVID-19 could be complet-ed and they could leave fortheir home districts inRoadways buses arranged bystate government.

All 4 passenger enclosureswere readied and used for han-dling of incoming passengerswith 2 enclosures being usedper train.

Other improved infrastruc-ture at platforms, concourse,CCTV etc and above allexperience of handlingbiggest congregation ofhuman on earth i.e. KumbhMela was the key in thisachievement.

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The first death due to coro-navirus was reported in

Prayagraj here. The COVID-19epidemic-infected civil engi-neer, resident of the Lukerganjdied late on Tuesday night atSwaroop Rani Nehru Hospital(SRNH). The patient’s lungshad stopped functioning. Evenafter being put on ventilator,doctors failed to save his life.Meanwhile, six new cases havebeen reported in Prayagraj andPratapgarh districts.

The 47-year-old civil engi-neer resident of Lukerganj wasconfirmed to be corona infect-ed on May 1. He was earlieradmitted to Level One Hospitalin Kotwa Bani CHC.Subsequently, he was admittedto SRN Hospital after his con-dition deteriorated. His wifewas also reported to be corona

positive the very next day. Hiswife is also undergoing treat-ment at SRN Hospital whereher condition was said to becritical. It is said about the civilengineer that he got infectedwhile distributing relief mate-rial to the needy. Nodal Officerof coronavirus Dr. Rishi Sahaiconfirmed the death of the civilengineer. Earlier on Tuesday,in the morning report, theyounger brother of the civilengineer, the wife of the otherbrother and mother-in-lawwere also found positive. Inthis way, four family membersare under treatment.Treatment of two is going on atCHC in Kotwa, while mother-in-law has been shifted to SRNHospital at midnight after hercondition deteriorated. OnTuesday, a 35-year-old manfrom Fatehpur Kayasthan ofKaudihar block, who returned

from Bhiwandi, Mumbai, andanother youth fromHathigawan in the same blockdriving a taxi in Delhi, werealso found to be corona posi-tive. The youth living in Delhireached the village by taxi onApril 26. The two were quar-antined at the Ramavatikaguest house. And they wereadmitted to Covid Level OneHospital in Kotwa. Accordingto the nodal officer, 15 positivecases have been reported inPrayagraj district so far.Among them Indonesian jam-mati member is also included.He is currently lodged in jailand is healthy. On the otherhand, the Udaipur policecaught a corona positive youthof Pratapgarh district who hadfled from Chandigarh. Heused to drive an auto inChandigarh. On May 2, he wasadmitted to a hospital in

Chandigarh when his condi-tion deteriorated. He escapedwith his partner on a mobikewhen the report came positive.When he reached home onTuesday evening, Pradhaninformed the police about it.CMO Dr AK Srivastavainformed that the young manhas been sent to the hospital inKotwa, Prayagraj. Five patientsare admitted in Prayagraj inthis district. On Tuesday, a casehas been filed against the coro-na positive youth and his friendfor allegedly running fromChandigarh to his village PureNewali in Pratapgarh on abike. The corona patient isaccused of hiding corona epi-demic putting lives of villagersat stake. Corona positivepatient has been admitted toCovid Hospital Kotwa Bani inPrayagraj. His accused partneris quarantined here.

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Even as 15 more persons test-ed positive for coronavirus

infection in the district, thepositive side of the continuingcorona story was the highnumber of recovery ofCOVID-19 patients and theirrelease from hospital onWednesday.

Confirming that 15 newcoronavirus positive cases hadbeen identified in the district,taking the total number ofinfected persons to 284, ChiefMedical Officer Dr AK Shuklasaid as many as 49 COVID-19patients were declared diseasefree and were released fromhospital and their place ofquarantine on Wednesday.

He added that the cause of

concern now was that majori-ty of the new cases were surfac-ing from the same familiesfrom five hotspot areas. He saidout of the 15 new cases, onewas from GSVM MedicalCollege hospital and theremaining 14 from other areas.

The CMO said that it wasevident that the infected peo-ple were not maintaining socialdistancing in their homes.

He said the five areas fromwhere family cases were emerg-ing showed that they all sharedroom and utensils as well. Hesaid it was necessary for peo-ple to maintain distance witheach other even in homes tominimise chances of gettinginfected.

Dr Shukla appealed to thepeople to understand the grav-

ity of the situation and volun-tarily maintain social distanc-ing instead of waiting for coer-cive measures.

� � ��� � ��The Ordnance Parachute

Factory sent special PersonalProtective Equipment coverallsuits and three layers surgicalmasks on the request made bythe Chief Medical Officer, DrAK Shukla. The consignmentwas handed over to the healthauthorities. There is suddenmuch demand for the PPEand cover all suits manufac-tured at OPF and demandsfrom other states have alsobeen received by the factoryauthorities. The Kanpur med-ical authorities were about tosent a bigger requisition in a

day or two to meet the increas-ing demands by the CoronaWarriors in the city.

The General Manager, DKBangotra said Gorakhpurhealth authorities had placed aspecial order for 550 PPE kitsand saild the factory staff madeit on priority. He said thewhole consignment was hand-ed over to the health authori-ties who had arrived to receivethe consignment. He said morestates were sending theirrequirement. He said OPF wasone of the oldest and finestdefence factory which hadbeen serving the country.Others present on the occasionwere Additional GM TK Saha,Works Manager, Ayesha Khan,Joint GM Vivek Gupta and sev-eral others staff members.

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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner Dr Sudhir

M Bobde directed officials tore-evaluate coronavirushotspots in the district and fixthe norms in the present situ-ation. He said areas fromwhere no new cases had cometo light in the past 21 daysshould be brought out from thehotspot zone.

He also emphasised thatonce a coronavirus positivecase was identified, the nextstep of action should be to pur-sue rapid contact testing andtracking and maintain a prop-er record. He said social dis-tancing, especially in houses,need to be observed.

Dr Bobde said in case anymember of the family wascoronavirus suspect he or sheshould maintain social dis-tancing and put oneself inquarantine. He said the onlyway to curb the spread of thevirus was social distancing andstrictly following the lock-down.

The divisional commis-sioner praised the philanthropyof Baaz Laboratories ownerand Shriram Sarjanik Samitiwho both donated � 10 lakh forPM Care and PM Relief funds,He said in the current times ofcrisis such generosity wasessential to help the suffering

mankind.

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The crowd at the liquorshops was nowhere decreasingand to top it all, the men in uni-form were turning a blind eyeto the free for all at all the liquorshops.

Since the last two days, thecrowds have been breakingthe social distancing norms,pushing and elbowing oneanother in an effort to gettheir stock of liquor. Most ofthese people were not sportingmasks.

The homeguards postedat the liquor shops were mutespectators and expressed theirhelplessness.

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The construction of over10,000 flats under the PM AvasYojana is unlikely to be com-pleted within the stipulatedtime due to non-availability oflabourers during the lockdownperiod.

At a time when the labour-ers were available, the KanpurDevelopment Authority hadno funds for the project. Butnow when KDA has received�1.38 crore from the govern-

ment on this account, it is dif-ficult to arrange the requisitenumber of labourers due toongoing lockdown. Keepingin view the shortage of labour-ers, KDA officials are doubtfulabout competition of the pro-ject by December-end.

It may be recalled thatunder the Pradhan MantriAvas Yojana, the constructionof over 10,000 flats has beensanctioned. Of these, 5,040flats are to be constructed inMahavir Nagar and theremaining in Sakra village,Jahnvi and Bhagirathi schemes.The construction work wasalso on in Mahavir Nagar.

During the lockdown, theKDA has received the thirdinstalment of Rs.1.38 crorefrom the government. Earlier,after the receipt of secondinstalment about six monthsback, the officials were eager-ly awaiting for the third instal-ment to gear up the construc-tion work. But now when thethird instalment has beenreceived, there are no labour-ers to carry out the construc-tion work.

Officials said it was veryunfortunate that even after theavailability of sufficient funds,they were unable to utilise itnow due to the lockdown.

They said only 60 per centwork was completed so farand 40 per cent was yet to be

taken up. The project is scheduled to

be completed by December2020 but following the prevail-ing uncertainty, it was unlike-ly to be completed within thestipulated time, the officials say.

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A eunuch was battered todeath behind Panki templepolice outpost late Tuesdaynight.

As police did not reach thespot despite information, theeunuch succumbed to theinjuries after some time whilethe assailants escaped. Policehave started investigation.Eunuch Kajol alias Kanhaiya(35), a native of Sirsa village ofMeja Road (Prayagraj) hadbeen living with her pupilsDharmendra and Rahul behindPanki temple police outpost forthe past 21 years.

Dharmendra said onTuesday night, when Kajol wasconsuming liquor withthree youths at his house, hehad a debate with Shilu over adispute over mobile phone. Inprotest, all the three youths,including Shilu, began to beatup Kajol.

When Kajol escapedtowards the police outpost, hewas chased and battered todeath with sticks.

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A50-year-old man was shotdead by two youths in

Nivaich village under thePailani police station onMonday night. The police saidthat two youths were in adrunken state and were fight-ing over a petty dispute for twohours. It was distributing the50-year-old man, Bahori, andwas not able to sleep. Therafterhe came out from his houseand asked them to stop quar-relling. At this the youths shothim dead with a countrymadepistol. As a result Bahori diedon the spot. On getting infor-mation AdditionalSuperintendent of Police (ASP)Banda LKB Pal had inspectedthe spot and said that FIR hadbeen registered under Section302 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) in this connection.Besides Circle Officer (CO)Sadar Ragvendra Singh hasbeen asked to deploy policeteams for conducting raids atthe hideouts of the killers andarrest them soon.

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District Magistrate AmitSingh Bansal and

Superintendent of Police (SP)Siddharth Shankar Meenainspected Rehunchi villageunder Kalinjar police stationand ordered the officials to sealits borders as one new coronapositive case was found thereon Tuesday. DM told ThePioneer that later he alongwith SP had visited Nahari vil-lage under Naraini police sta-tion and got the borders of thisvillage also sealed. DM Bansalsaid that three members of afamily had tested positive forcovid-19 on Tuesday. DM saidthat they had been kept underquarantine in GovernmentAllopathic Medical College(GAMC) Banda since April 30and were later found positiveon Tuesday. DM Bansal said

that he had got both these vil-lages sealed and the entry ofoutsiders had been complete-ly banned. Bansal said that hehad directed SDM Naraini

Vandita Srivastava to deployenough force at both the vil-lages and ensure supply ofessential commodities to thevillagers. DM Bansal said that

later they visited Kalu Kuwanlocality and Nimnipar localityin Banda city and got theselocalities sealed and askedCMO Banda Dr SantoshKumar to deploy the teams ofdoctors to start health check-up of the people at Rehunchiand Nahri villages and twolocalities of Banda city. DMsaid that containment exercisewas being done in these areaswhere corona positive caseswere reported on Tuesday. DMsaid that he had issued instruc-tions to officials to get the lock-down guidelines implementedstrictly in the entire district.DM made an appeal to the res-idents of the district to stay athome for keeping themselvessafe and healthy. Bansal saidthat SP Banda had deployed 59police teams to ensure imple-mentation of lockdown guide-lines.

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During a drive launched on the directionof Superintendent of Police Mahoba

Manilal Patidar the team constituted byinspector incharge, Kulpahar, AbhimanyuYadav, and the excise team jointly arresteda woman along with 15 litres of semi-man-ufactured illicit liquor on Tuesday. Accordingto a report received here, the accused iden-tified as Suman (30), wife of Lal Kabutara,a resident of Onepura Kabutaradera Jaitpurunder the Kulpahar police station of the dis-trict. Fifteen litres of semi-manufacturedillicit liquor was recovered from her pos-session. A case under Section 60 of the ExciseAct was registered against the accused. Thepolice team which made the arrest com-prised S-I Dinesh Singh and head constablesRajkumar and Suraj Singh.

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The officers and employeesof North Eastern Railway

are ensuring the constant-movement of goods and parceltrains during the ongoing lock-down implemented to checkthe spread of covid-19 infectionso that the essential materialsreached the public. TheRailway personnel are workingcautiously on their duty duringthese difficult times. Variousworks are being done by rail-waymen for prevention andtreatment of novel coronavirusinfection. Apart from it greatworks of humanitarian aid arebeing done voluntarily by therailwaymen. The NER admin-istration is honoring its rail-waymen by declaring them‘Corona Warriors of the Day’every day in order to boosttheir morale. In this sequencethree railwaymen were hon-oured on May 4, CPRO PankajKumar Singh said.

Reports said that IrshadAhmed, deployed in diesellobby, Mau, besides doing hisjob is also doing the work ofsanitising diesel lobby, Mau,and the locomotive at Mau yardin order to prevent coron-avirus. In addition he played animportant role in preparingsecurity kits to be given to locopilots and guards. In view ofthese outstanding works ofIrshad Ahmed he was hon-oured and declared as ‘Corona

Warrior of the Day’ of VaranasiDivision. Likewise AvanendraMani Tripathi, who was work-ing as the station master, Gaur,carried out the operation of

trains during this lockdownperiod. A large number ofgoods and parcel trains passthrough the station and heensured their safe operation. Inaddition he encouraged hissubordinate employees to fol-low safety standards in difficulttimes. For which AvnendraMani Tripathi was honoured bybeing declared the ‘CoronaWarrior of the Day’ ofLucknow division.

Likewise Nirdesh Kumarserving as senior section engi-neer/TRD, Farrukhabad, suc-cessfully supervised theFarrukhabad and Kannaujdepots during the nationwide

lockdown period. He gotchecking and setting of OHEdone on all turnouts andcrossovers in Patiali-Kalyanpurrail section. Nirdesh Kumar

also carried out continuoustree trimming, tower wagonchecking and foot patrollingduring the lockdown period.He was instrumental in theelectric train trial in Barrajpur-Mandhana rail section on April25 this year and in the currentcollection test conducted inKasganj-Kalyanpur rail sec-tion on April 29.

For it Nirdesh Kumar wasadjudged the ‘Corona Warriorof the Day’ of Izzatnagar divi-sion. In order to boost themorale of railway workers therailway administration willcontinue to honour them in

future too during the lockdownperiod.

The railway administra-tion is proud of such personnel.

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The in-house productionof masks and PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE)very essential tools to preventthe spread of novel coron-avirus infection was being doneon a large scale by the NorthEastern Railway (NER). About87,000 masks and 5,300 PPEhad been prepared by theNorth Eastern Railway admin-istration so far, Chief PublicRelations Officer (CPRO)Pankaj Kumar Singh said.Masks are being distributed

among employees, their fami-lies etc. The PPE kits are beingused by railway medical per-sonnel. The masks are beingmade on a large scale by vari-ous coaching depots of thethree divisions of NorthEastern Railway — Lucknow,Varanasi and Izatnagar as wellas mechanical workshops atGorakhpur and Izzatnagar. Sofar about 14,000 masks hadbeen produced by Lucknowdivision. In this sequence about19,000 masks had been madeby the Izzatnagar division andabout 23,000 by the Varanasidivision.

The mechanical workshopin Gorakhpur has made about21,000 masks and theIzzatnagar workshop morethan 10,000 thereby making asignificant contribution inpreventing Covid-19 pan-demic and its spread. PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE)is being produced at themechanical workshop inGorakhpur and Izzatnagarfactory at a rapid pace. About5,300 PPEs have been madeso far. Out of them about2,900 had been made atmechanical workshop inGorakhpur and 2,400 inmechanical workshop inIzzatnagar. It may be pointedout there that the preparationof masks and PPE was beingdone on a large scale by theNER administration from itsown resources.

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The Balua police arrested sixaccused involved in the

murder of Mahdora pradhan

Manoj Yadav on Tuesday. Theyrecovered a motorbike alongwith a pistol from their pos-session. AdditionalSuperintendent of Police (ASP)Premchandra said at PoliceLines on Tuesday that all theaccused in this connection hadbeen sent to jail. ASPPremchandra said thatMahdora pradhan ManojYadav had enmity with manypeople. He said that SantramYadav, resident of Mahdora, gotthe gram pradhan killed onApril 9 by offering Rs 2.20 lakhto killers. Those who com-mitted out the murder werePankaj Singh and Amit Singh,residents of Mahdora, MustajabKhan and Rahul Tiwari ofKamalpur, Pradeep Singh, aresident of Khadan and SonuSingh, a resident of Babhaniava.All of them arrested by theBalua police on Tuesday.

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Jalilpur village underNiyamatabad block was sani-tised in collaboration with the

team of fire brigade on Tuesday.Pradhan Vijay Chauhan, AnilRai and others were present.On the other hand, in Chakiapesticide was sprayed was donein the primary health centrepremises in the local develop-ment block and in the women’sward and Lalpur gram pan-chayat.

ADO incharge PanchayatAshok Kumar said that to pre-vent the spread novel coron-avirus infection pesticide wassprayed and sanitisation workwas done.

He said that six sprayingmachines were handed over toDiwaku gram pradhanDiwakar Maurya. The saniti-sation workers will do thework of spraying medicine inthe village. On the occasion,Dr Sujit Patel, medical officerincharge of primary healthcentre, and others were present.

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One person was attackedby a youth who had comefrom Gujarat in Gajendrapur

village under the Dhanapurpolice station on Tuesday, It islearnt that the youth attackedOmprakash Yadav and injuredhim as he feared that he hadgiven information about hisarrival at the police station. Hewas attacked with sharp-edgedweapons. According to reportsthe youth a resident of the vil-lage had returned home fromGujarat three days ago. Thelocal police station wasinformed about it by someoneat the Health department teamexamined the youth. Fearingthat information was given byOmprakash the youth and hisbrothers attacked him andinjured him. The victim hadlodged a complaint against thefour people at the local policestation in this connection. Thepolice have registered a caseagainst the four people and wastaking necessary action.

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District Supply Officer(DSO) Rakesh Tiwari said

that with the permission ofDistrict Magistrate SRajalingam kerosene andration had been allocated. Hesaid that kerosene would bedistributed along with free riceand gram from May 15.

Talking to ‘The Pioneer’ onWednesday, he said UttarPradesh government had allo-cated 2.60 lakh litres ofkerosene to the district. Thosethose ration card holders whodid not have gas and electrici-ty connections and whosenames had been displayed ondepartmental website till April23 would be given kerosene.He said that as of April 23 atotal of 3,71,300 Antyodaya andeligible household card holderfamilies have been registeredon the departmental website.Out of them there were2,50,437 card holders who didnot have electricity and gasconnections. Three litres ofkerosene would be distributedamong such Antyodaya cardholders and one litre of wouldbe distributed among such eli-gible household card holders.

District supply officer said thatthe two months’ gram andration would be distributedfree among the card holders.He clarified that that the dis-tribution of kerosene, howev-er, would not be free. DistrictSupply Officer said that thedepartment was serious aboutprevention of novel coron-avirus infection and solving theproblems of the common man.He said that instructions of thegovernment and high-levelofficials were being followed.He said that full attention wasalso being paid to all activitiesrelated to the distribution sys-tem and surprise inspectionswere being conducted at fair-price shops. Attention was also

being paid to the fact that thecommonman did not haveproblem as far as foodgrainswas concerned during the timeof crisis, he added.

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Masks were distributedamong the labourers in DeoriKhurd Gram Panchayat ofSadar Block under the jointaegis of the Yuvak Mangal Daland Yuva Bharat Trust con-ducted by Youth WelfareDepartment. They were alsomade aware about preventionof novel coronavirus infection.Teacher Umakant distributedmasks among the labourers. Hesaid that awareness was theonly way to prevent this epi-demic. He said that we allshould use masks and washhands from time to time and itwas necessary to follow socialdistancing guidelines. He saidthat it was our responsibility toremain aware and remain safeby staying at home. YuvaMangal Dal general secretaryManoj Kumar Dixit said that allthe youths were taking part inthis campaign. Ashok KumarBharti, Ramesh Yadav and oth-ers were present.

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Senior Congress leader Mumtaz Ali saidthat 940 ration kits were

distributed among the needyand poor people in Pangara,Jamuara, Ranjeetpur,Gorepurwa of Naraini vil-lages in vidhan sabha area inAliganj, Chhawani, ChunaBhatti and Khaipar area ofBanda city on Tuesday. SeniorCongress leader said that 500ration kits were distributed invillages of Naraini vidhansabha while the remaining 440ration kits were distributedamong the needy and poor indifferent areas of the city onTuesday. Those who distrib-uted these ration kits wereSaiyad Altamash, Raj KishoreMishra,Gulam Guas, BabluYadav and others. Ali said that these rationkits were being made available by formerminister and MLC Naseemuddin Siddiqui onthe instructions of national party president

Sonia Gandhi. Ali said that Siddiqui hadasked him to continue distribution of rationkits in Banda and Naraini Vidhan Sabha seats

regularly.

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A 25-year-old womanconstable sustained headinjuries when she slipped inrainy water in her house atJheel ka Purwa under Citykotwali area by on Tuesday.She was admitted to districthospital Banda where shedied. Her husband told thepolice that his wife,Rajkumari (25) was postedin Lalitpur in 2011.

She was presentlyworking in Jhansi GRP.He said that she could notgo to there due to lock-

down and was attached with GRP Banda.CO (City) Alok Mishra said that the bodyof the deceased had been sent for the postmortem examination,

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Aboy drowned in a pond inMaudaha police station on

Tuesday.According to the police,

Purushottam (12), son ofRajendra Tiwari, had gone tobathe in the pond along withhis mother in Khandeh villageunder the Maudaha police sta-tion. Suddenly his foot slippedand he went into the areawhere the water was deepwhich he drowned.

His anxious family mem-bers launched a search for himand later recovered his body inthe pond. On getting informa-tion police rushed to the spot,took his body body into cus-tody and and sent it for thepost-mortem examination.

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The personnel attached to the Golapolice station arrested a woman,

Rabia Khatoon, belonging to Udaipur vil-lage who was an accused in a dowry mur-der case on Tuesday morning. The policeproduced her in the court from where shewas sent to jail.

According to the informationreceived here, the victim identified asRajiya Khatoon, a resident of Udaipur vil-lage, had died under suspicious circum-stances on March 5.

Later father of the deceased, PawarAli, a resident of Latakna village underthe Harpur Budhat police station, had inhis complaint lodged with the police hadaccused her inlaws of harassing hisdaughter for dowry and then killing herfor it. Earlier the men in khaki had reg-istered a case against her husband,Ibrahim, father-in-law, Amin, mother-in-law Rabia and brother-in-law, Jaswal onthe basis of the complaint lodged in thisconnection. Police has already arrestedher husband and father-in-law and sentthem to jail.

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A case was registered in connectionwith the incident in which crop was setafire following a dispute between twogroups in Bhuidharpur under the Pipganjpolice station The police was investigat-ing the matter after registering a case fol-lowing complaints from both the sides.

According to information received

here, there is a dispute over the owner-ship of the village land. On Monday peo-ple belonging to one group reachedthere get the wheat harvested. It wasopposed by some people and then thefield was set on fire. According to GovindSingh, a resident of Harpur village, he hadsown wheat on the land. On complaintlodged by Govind Singh police registereda case against 12 people under varioussections, including assault, setting fieldafire etc.

On the other hand, following a com-plaint lodged by Chandrakant Prasad acase was registered against Dayashankar,Parvati and Chandrapal in this connec-tion.

Another report said that two groupsclashed a over petty in Jhungia marketunder the Gulariha police station here.On a complaint lodged by Suresh Singhfrom one side .a case was registeredagainst 11 people in this connection,

According to information received,Suresh Singh was sitting outside hishouse, when some persons came thereand started arguing with him over theissue of water. The matter soon took anugly turn and a free-for-all ensuredbetween both the sides. It is alleged thatSuresh’s son Sonu, wife, Lalita Singh, anddaughter-in-law Babita Singh too werebeaten when they rushed to spot on topacify them on hearing chaos there. In themeantime a youth whipped out a pistol,barged into the house and vandalised it.When contacted inspector Manoj Rai saidthat a case had been registered against theaccused in this connection.

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Aman was seriously injured when hewas attacked with a spade here in

an area under the Sahajanwa police sta-tion. According to a report receivedhere, Omprakash (30) was attackedwith a spade following a dispute oversome issue in Bankatiya village underthe Sahajanwa police station area. Hewas taken to the community healthcentre (CHC) in Sahajanwa in a criti-cal state. In view of his critical condi-tion the doctors referred him to the dis-trict hospital for treatment.

According to the complaint lodgedin this connection Omprakash hadgone to the pond where a dispute arosewith Triyugi. In the meantime the mat-ter took an ugly turn when Triyugiallegedly snatched the spade of alabourer working under MahatmaGandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA) schemeand suddenly hit it hard onOmprakash’s head as a result he wasseriously injured. Police was looking forthe accused and had registered a casein this connection.

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MLA Prakash Dwivedi saidthat 250 ration kits were

distributed among the poor atSarvodaya Nagar, ShukulKuwan, Gayatri Nagar and JailRoad by the party workersunder the leadership of hisoffice incharge AnurudhaTripathi on Wednesday.

Those who distributedthese ration kits were city pres-ident, BhaeatJP Rajesh Gupta,city general Secretary, BJP,Rohit Tiwari and SantoshRajput.

Dwivedi while talking toThe Pioneer said that apartfrom them, 5,500 lunch pack-ets were distributed amongthe poor and needy in Khutla,Rahuniya, Aliganj, AtarraChungi, Khaipar, Chhoti Bazar,Niniya Mohal, Katra, KarbalaRoad, Padmakar Chauraha,Maharana Pratap Chauraha,Civil Lines, Bangalipura, PeeliKothi, Station Road, Roadwaysbus stand, Swaraj Colony, Jail

road, Muktidham Road,Jawahar Nagar, Kalu Kuwan,Gayatri Nagar, Shukul Kuwanand Sarvodaya Nagar onWednesday.

Dwivedi said that his aimwas that no one remained hun-gry in the entire Vidhan Sabhaarea. Among those who dis-tributed these packets wereRajat Seth, Santosh Gupta,Pushkar Dwivedi and others.

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About half-a- dozen peoplewere seriously injured in

road accidents in Rath. The vic-tims had been admitted to theCHC in Rath for treatment.

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Principal Professor Jamil Ahmed onbehalf of the managing committee of

Gandhi Faiz-e-Aam College, donated�2,55,847 to Chief Minister’s Distress ReliefFund. He handed over the cheque of theaforesaid amount to District MagistrateIndra Vikram Singh in the Collectorate officeon Wednesday. The DM said that the man-aging committee of Gandhi Faiz-e-AamCollege and the college family had done acommendable work by donating the amountto the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fundin this hour of crisis.

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Tamil Nadu Governmenthas no options other than

opening liquor shops in theState to tide over the econom-ic crisis caused by the coron-avirus pandemic and the resul-tant lockdown, according to atop Government official in Chennai.

All liquor shops barringthose in Chennai city wouldreopen on Thursday morningbringing cheers to the dispirit-ed tipplers in the State .

More than ten persons hadcommitted suicide during thedays when the 5,146 liquor out-lets in the State downed the

shutters. Though theGovernment hiked the prices ofliquor by Rs 10 to Rs 80 perbottle, it has not dampened thespirit of the boozing fraternityas the wait for sun to rise onThursday to queue up in frontof the liquor outlets.

Liquor is one of the mainsources of income for TamilNadu Government.

“State’s Own Tax Revenuecontributes to 60 per cent ofTamil Nadu’s monthly revenuewhich runs to Rs 10,000 crore.What the State may receive inthe month of April wouod notbe more than 20 per cent of thisamount because of the shutdown,” Prof C Murukadas, lead

economist of Tamil Nadu andadviser to the Government.

Fifty percent of the SOTR

comes from the sale of alcoholand petroleum products.

Tamil Nadu Government

holds the monopoly in liquorprocurement and sales. Allliquor outlets in the State areowned by the Government.The financial year 2017-2018saw liquor contributing Rs26,797 crore of the State’s rev-enue.

“Excise duty on manufac-ture and sale of alcohol com-prises 10 to 15 per cent of theState’s Own Tax Revenue. Stateslike Tamil Nadu impose VAT;also charge special fees onimported foreign liquor, trans-port fee and label and brandregistration fee. As liquor salesare operated by TASMAC,Tamil Nadu Governmentreceives certain amount as

sales margin. Altogether in2018-2019 , Tamail NaduGovernment’s earnings fromliquor stood at Rs 31, 157crore. This is 35 per cent of theState’s Own Tax Revenue of Rs87, 905.26 crore generated in2018-2019. The Total Revenueof Tamil Nadu in 2018-2019was Rs 2.98 lakh crore out ofwhich liquor contributed 10.45per cent. There fore TamilNadu Government cannotafford to dispense with theearnings from liquor for its dayto day functioning,” said ProfMurukadas, himself a strongproponent of prohibition.

Prof Murukadas, a widelyrespected scholar in the State

with many books to his cred-it, pointed out that Tamil Naduwas on the brink of financialcrisis mainly due to the expen-diture for containment ofCovid-29 pandemic.

“At this juncture, it is notpossible for the government todeploy the police force to detectillicit distillation. The inci-dents of suicides are on thehigh because of liquor addicts,”he pointed out.

Besides, liquor and petro-leum, the other areas fromwhich the State mobilizes rev-enue are registration of vehiclesand immovable properties.“But there are no businessactivities in the State because of

the coronavirus lockdown.Since vehicles are off the roads,there is no sale of petroleumproducts and this has taken aheavy dent on the State’s econ-omy,” pointed out ProfMurukadas.

Officials in TASMAC(Tamil Nadu State MarketingCorporation), said the distil-leries from where they procureliquor are owned by leaders ofthe DMK as well as theAIADMK. “The DMK is in theforefront opposing the gov-ernment’s move to reopen theliquor shops. But that is toimpress and convince the people in the State,” said theofficial.

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Thirty four cases of coron-avirus were detected posi-

tive, taking the total tally to 775in Jammu & Kashmir onWednesday.

Out of 34, a total numberof 32 cases were reported fromKashmir while 2 fresh caseswere detected from Jammudistrict. At present four districtsof Kashmir valley namelyBandipora, Srinagar, Anantnagand Baramulla have reportedmore than 100 positive cases.

On Wednesday,Srinagarand Anantnag districts report-ed 11 fresh cases each whileShopian reported 5 andKupwara three fresh cases.

Worried over the constantrise in number of positive cases,Deputy Commissioner, SrinagarDr Shahid Choudhary tweeted,“Each Covid+ve case confirmedin Srinagar today & yesterdaycould’ve been avoided. Mosttraced to single illegal travel.Please don’t make fatal mockeryof our efforts for your safety” InJammu, the authorities hadcompletely sealed entry andexit points of localities fromwhere fresh cases have beenreported since Monday.

According to media bul-letin, out of 775 positive cases,445 are active Positive, 322 haverecovered and 08 have died.

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to farmers, flower growers,washermen, barbers, auto-rick-shaw and taxi drivers — someof the worst-affected by theCovid-19 induced lockdown,the Karnataka Government onWednesday announced a Rs1,610 crore package.

“The state government willprovide Rs 1,610 crore com-pensation/benefit to the peoplewho are in distress due to thelockdown since March 25 andextended till May 17 to containthe coronavirus spread,” ChiefMinister B.S. Yediyurappa toldreporters here.

Among the beneficiaries ofthe package are farmers andgrowers of f lowers, vegetables and fruits, washer-men, barbers, auto-rickshawand taxi drivers who all suf-fered huge losses due to theprolonged lockdown, whichhas been extended twice sinceApril 15 and May 4.

“As growers have destroyedtheir flowers in 11,687 hectaresacross the state due to lack ofdemand during the lockdown,Rs 25,000 compensation perhectare will be given to thosewho suffered crop loss to theextent of 1 hectare,” saidYediyurappa.

A separate relief packagewill soon be announced forfarmers and growers of veg-etables and fruits, as they toosuffered huge amount of loss-es due to the lockdown, he

added.Similarly, service profes-

sionals like 2,30,000 barbersand 60,000 washermen (dho-bis) in urban and rural areas,who too have been affected bythe lockdown, will be givenone-time compensation of Rs5,000 each.

About 7,75,000 auto-rick-shaw and taxi drivers across thestate, who also lost income dueto lockdown, will be givenone-time compensation of Rs5,000 each.

“As micro, small and medi-um enterprises (MSMEs) alsoreeled under production lossover the last 42 days and willtake time to revive, monthlyfixed charges on their electric-ity bills will be waived for twomonths since April,” saidYediyurappa.

Payment of fixed chargeson power bills of large indus-tries will also be deferred with-out penalty and interest for twomonths since April.

“Incentive and concessionswill be given to consumers pay-ing bills in the stipulated time.Reduction will be given oninterest on delayed payment and adequate time forpaying balance bill payment ininstallments,” said the ChiefMinister.

Power connection will notbe disconnected till June 30 forconsumers who have not paidarrears of their electricity bills.

“Of the Rs 109 crore loan

waiver scheme announced ear-lier for handloom weavers, Rs29 crore has been paid to themand balance Rs 80 crore will bereleased soon,” Yediyurappasaid.

The 54,000 handloomweavers will also be eligible forfresh loans to resume theirbusiness. A reimbursementbenefit will be provided toweavers who repaid loan in thelast fiscal.

The Chief Minister said anew scheme “weaver sammanyojana” (nekarara sammanayojane) for the benefit of theweavers would soon beannounced.

Under the scheme, thestate government will depositRs 2,000 in the bank account ofeach handloom weaverthrough the direct benefittransfer (DBT) scheme.

“We are also transferringRs 2,000 in the bank accountsof 11.80-lakh building workersthrough the DBT,” he said.

About 15.80 lakh regis-tered building workers are reg-istered across the state, andaction has been initiated totransfer Rs 2,000 into theaccounts of the remaining 4-lakh construction workers afterverifying their bank details, headded.

The state government hasalso decided to transfer Rs3,000 more to building work-ers through DBT.

IANS

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Despite Tamil NaduGovernment’s stance that

all is well on the coronavirusfront, the number of personstested positive for Covid-19reached 4,829 by Wednesdayevening. The day saw 771 per-sons testing positive for thepandemic on Wednesday, thehighest number of personstesting positive on a singleday.

The death toll reached 35in the State while Chennai hasbecome the epicentre of thepandemic. The release issuedby the Department of Healthsaid 324 persons tested positivein Chennai making the totalnumber of Covid-19 patients inthe metropolis to 2,328.

The release further saidthat all persons tested positivewere contacts of Covid-19patients, which means all ofthem were infected frompatients suffering from thepandemic.

The number of cops work-ing in the State Police HeadQuarters who have been test-ed positive reached 13 byWednesday evening.

Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami asked the peoplenot to panic because of thespurt in the number of coron-avirus cases in the State. “This

is because of the increase in thenumber of tests being done inTamil Nadu compared to otherStates in the country. 1,88,241samples have been tested tilldate and we have 52 testingcentres in the State, the Statewith largest number of testinglabs,” said the Chief Ministerwhile speaking to reportersearlier in the day.

It was on March 7, 2020 theState confirmed the detectionof the first coronavirus patient.It took 36 days for the numberof patients with COVID-19 treach the 1000 mark.

Within the next 16 daysTamil Nadu’s coronavirus casescrossed 2000. The number shotpast the 3000 mark in five daysand by Monday evening itstood at 3,550.

It crossed the 4000 mark injust two days. As things standtoday, the number of coron-avirus patients in the State is allset to cross the 5,000 mark byThursday evening.

Medical experts and gov-ernment officials are worriedover the opening of the liquoroutlets in the State on Thursdaymorning. “It is certain that wewill see more crowd in front ofthe liquor shops and the pos-sibility of infections increasingis very high,” said a governmentdoctor who did not want hisname to be quoted.

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In yet major another spike ininfected cases in Mumbai’s

Dharavi, one person died andas many as 68 persons testedpositive for corinavirus onWednesday, taking the totalnumber of infected cases inAsia’s biggest slum to 733.

A day after as 33 more per-sons tested positive for Covid-19, Coronavirus claimed onelife taking the total number ofdeaths to 21 and left 68 othersinfected in various parts ofthis densely populated slum.

A maximum six positivecases were reported fromMatunga Labour camp, whilefive new infected cases eachwere recorded in transit camp,Kumbharwada, Indira Nagarand 90 feet road area. Amongthe infected persons was a 90-year-old woman fromKumbarwada. Three cases eachwere reported from 60 feetroad area and Dharavi PC.

With 68 fresh cases, thetotal number of positive caseshas risen to 733 in Dharavi.Dharavi has witnessed sub-stantial number infected casesin Dharavi for the past five days.

On Tuesday, 33 new posi-tive cases were reported fromDharavi. On Monday, therewere 42 new positive cases ofCovid-19. On May 3,Cornavirus claimed two livesand left a record day’s tally of 94others infected in this slum. OnMay 2, Dharavi recorded asmany as 89 Covid-19 positive

cases. On May 1, there were 38new cases. Earlier on April 23,one death and 25 cases hadbeen reported from Dharavi ina single day.

Dharavi is one of theCoronavirus hotspots inMumbai. Spread over 240hectare area, this slum is hometo more than 4 lakh people.Ever since first few cases ofCoronavirus were reported inthe early first week of April, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) is closelymonitoring the situation inDharavi where the healthauthorities have clamped a totallockdown.

Till Tuesday, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) screened83,500 people in Dharavi. “Tillyesterday, as many as 2380people are in institutional quar-antine, while 196 people weredischarged from various hos-pital after full cure,” a seniorBMC official said.

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“Response to Covid-19 in WestBengal is characterized by very low rateof testing in proportion to populationand very high rate of mortality of 13.2per cent by far highest of any state.

“This is reflection of poor surveil-lance, detection and testing in thestate. There is also need to increase ran-dom testing in crowded clusters,” hesaid.

Kerala has done well to flatten thecurve, with just three cases in four daysfor total count of 502. Thirty-four morecases of Covid-19 were detected in J&Kon Wednesday, taking the total numberof patients in the Union Territory to 775.

Haryana reported 555 confirmedcases so far after 46 more people test-ed positive for the novel coronavirus onWednesday. The state has reported sixdeaths till now, said Haryana HealthDepartment. Punjabwhich has seenmanyfold jump min the last one weekregistered 75 more cases to reach a totalof 1526 and death toll of 26.

Nineteen fresh cases have beendetected in Karnataka on Wednesdaytaking the total number of confirmedcases in the state to 692. This figureincludes 29 deaths, one non-COVIDdeath and 345 discharged persons.

After sixty fresh cases were report-ed in Andhra Pradesh in the past 24hours, the total confirmed cases in thestate climbed to 1,777 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) has saidthat 12,76,781 samples have been test-ed for Covid-19 across the country till9.00 am on Wednesday.

In the wake of rising cases inMaharshtra and Gujarat, Dr. HarshVardhan, Union Minister of Health helda meeting on Wednesday with NitinbhaiPatel, Dy Chief Minister and HealthMinister, Gujarat and Rajesh Tope,Health Minister of Maharashtra inpresence of Ashwini Kumar Choubey,Minister of State of Health with thesenior officials from both Centre andthe States to review the situation,actions and preparedness for manage-ment of Covid in both the States.

Dr Harsh Vardhan stressed onneed to ensure that non-Covid essen-tial services are not neglected. Also,States need to ensure that screening andtesting of Severe Acute RespiratoryInfections (SARI) / Influenza LikeIllness (ILI) cases is undertaken, whichshall help in identification of anyemerging hotspots and timely appro-

priate strategy for their management.“Aggressive behaviour change com-

munication exercise needs to be takenfor removing stigma against reportingCovid-19, which shall contributetowards timely reporting, clinical man-agement, and reduction in fatalityrates,” he stressed.

Coronavirus cases rise unabatedacross the globe with over 3 million peo-ple infected by the deadly contagion.More than 2.5 lakh people have died dueto Covid-19 across the globe while overone million patients have recoveredfrom the disease.

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Naikoo’s killing, close on the heelsof sacrifice of eight security personnelincluding a commanding officer of 21Rashtriya Rifles, is set to boost themorale of the security forces in theValley.

According to official sources, “RiyazNaikoo was trapped by the securityforces after receiving credible inputsabout his presence in his native villageof Beighpora late on Tuesday evening”.In the past, Naikoo had managed to giveslip to security forces on numerousoccasions but this time he ran out of hisluck. Instead of conducting the opera-tions in the dead of the night, the secu-rity forces waited for the first light andreportedly blasted the house whereNaikoo was hiding. Later, they recov-ered his dead body from the debris ofthe house and confirmed his elimina-tion after verifying his identity. Thesecurity forces also refused to hand overhis dead body to his family members tocontain mass assembly of locals in thearea.

According to police records, RiyazNaikoo took over the command ofHizbul Mujahideen in the Valley afterZakir Musa, the successor to the group’scommander Burhan Wani, left to formhis own terror group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in 2017.

Before joining the ranks of terroroutfit, Naikoo was working as aMathematics teacher in a local school.During sporadic protests of 2010,Naikoo was picked up by the securityforces for indulging in incidents ofstone-pelting. After he was released in2012, he started working as over groundworker and gradually become one of thekey members of the Burhan Wani’sgroup. He was tech-savvy and wasinvolved in a series of incidents ofattacks on security forces, truck drivers,

brick kiln workers and civilians. InSeptember 2018, Naikoo along with hiscadre had reportedly kidnapped fami-ly members of police officers. Later, thekidnapped relatives were exchanged ina “swap” with his detained father.

Police spokesman said, “Naikoo hadbeen continuously making audio andvideo clips and putting up on socialmedia to motivate youth to join mili-tancy and went on recruiting newboys”. He was responsible for a largenumber of innocent youths getting intomilitant ranks and indulging in seriousviolence against local population andsecurity forces, added policespokesman.

“He was a mastermind behind therevival of HM outfit in Jammu &Kashmir. He also released videos /audios on number of occasions carry-ing pro-Pakistan and separatist propa-ganda,” said police statement.

“He looted orchard owners andfarmers to collect funds for his outfit.He has also been collecting booty fromillicit cultivation of opium and ‘bhang’in South Kashmir. His outfit also figuredin narco trade case in Jammu where ahuge sum of sale proceeds was trans-ferred to one of his contacts,” thepolice statement added.

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Earlier on Tuesday, Alderson hadclaimed that “a security issue has beenfound” in the Aarogya Setu App andthat “privacy of 90 million Indians is atstake”. In a tweet, Alderson said: “Asecurity issue has been found in yourapp. The privacy of 90 million Indiansis at stake. Can you contact me in pri-vate?” In a postscript on his tweet, thehacker added that Rahul Gandhi wasright.

Elliot Alderson is the same personwho had found flaws in the Aadhar appwho exposed that Aadhaar data wasbeing accessed by third-party websites.

In a series of tweets thereafter, heclaimed that National InformaticsCentre (NIC) and the Indian ComputerEmergency Response Team (ICERT),both Government bodies, had contactedhim and he had disclosed the issue tothem. In its latest tweet, Alderson saidthat the first time he analysed the appa month ago. “With one command lineit was possible to open any internal fileof the app. It’s no more possible on thelatest version. They fixed this issuesilently,” he said.

Earlier, the Aarogya Setu team

released a point-by-point rebuttal toAlderson, who posted the document onhis Twitter timeline as well. “We dis-cussed with the hacker and were madeaware of the following... the app fetch-es user location on a few occasions,” itsaid, but added that this was by designand is clearly detailed in the privacy pol-icy.

Responding to clarification,Alderson said that the app basically saysthat there is “nothing to see here”. “Wewill see. I will come back to you tomor-row,” he wrote. He also followed up thetweet in a few hours and asked the app,“Do you know what triangulation isAarogya Setu?” He also posted a screen-shot of an error page. Later he tweetedthat the source code of Aarogya Setuneeds to be open source.

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The petition relying on newsreports states that stranded migrantworkers across the State have expressedtheir desire to return home. Further, onMay 5 members of the Union visited theBangalore International ExhibitionCentre and spoke to several of the work-ers. The workers expressed that theywished to return to their home Statesand had walked over 50 km to arrivehere.

Yediyurappa had stated after hismeeting with the builders on Tuesdaythat pandemic was in control and trav-el by workers was unnecessary as con-struction and industrial activities haverestarted in the state.

Nodal officer for Karnataka in-charge of migrants’ movement wrote tothe railways on Tuesday asking for thetrains scheduled for Wednesday to becancelled.

The State Government had request-ed for two trains each day for five daysstarting May 2 except on May 6 whenthree trains were arranged for 9am, 12noon and 3pm for going to Dhanbad.All three have been cancelled.

The Karnataka Government’s viewis that since the labourers have come toBangalore for work and the economicactivities have already started, it wouldnot serve workers purpose if they goback to their native places.

“We have sent around one lakh peo-ple in 3,500 buses and trains back totheir home towns. I have also appealedto migrant workers to stay as the con-struction work has resumed now,“Yeddyurappa told reporters onWednesday.

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The Delhi Government onWednesday ordered release

of 4,000 Tablighi Jamat mem-bers who have completed theirquarantine period in the nationCapital.

As per Home department’sorder, Minister Satyender Jainissued an order stating Tabilighimembers who are named andneeded in investigation inMarkaz incident will be sent toDelhi Police custody.

The Delhi Governmentofficials will be in constanttouch with resident commis-sioners of returnees’ respectivehome States.

According to DelhiGovernment’s data, Delhi hasaround 4,000 Tablighi mem-bers in quarantine centres. 900belong to Delhi and the rest of

them hail from southern States.Government official said,”

Around 900 belong to Delhiwhile rest are from other States.A majority of them hail fromTamil Nadu and Telangana.Delhi Government is already intouch with other State

Governments to make trans-port arrangement for theirreturn.”

Pertinently, thousands ofTablighi Jamaat members hadbeen taken out of its Markazlocates in Nizamuddin wherethey had gathered for a reli-gious congregation.

While the area becomemajor hotspot as many ofmembers were tested Covid-19positive.

The Tabilghi membersreceived criticism for allegedlytargeting health workers treat-ing/handling Coronapositivein quarantine centres.

There were allegations thatMuslims were targeted andblamed for the spread of thepandemic by some after anumber of coronavirus caseswere found linked to theTablighi event.

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The Delhi Police onWednesday said that they

have arrested the admin of theInstagram group— Bois LockerRoom— which was being usedto share obscene messages andmorphed pictures of underagedgirls on the social media site.Meanwhile, Police said thatthey have identified 27 peopleof the group and 15 of themhave been questioned so far.

Police also said that thejuveniles, who are part of thegroup, are being quizzed at theirhomes in the presence of their

parents and members of NGOs. According to a senior

police official, the 18-year-oldadmin of the group appearedfor his class 12 board exami-nations this year. "He is a stu-dent of a school in Delhi-NCR.Four group members — above18 years — have joined theprobe on Wednesday," he said.

On Monday, a juvenile,who was also a group member,was apprehended. Ten mem-bers, including minors, of theInstagram group have alsobeen identified, police said.

The minor was alsoquizzed and the devices used toengage in the offensive andvulgar communication havebeen seized from the groupmembers.

"The CyPAD unit hassought information about thealleged group and it's members

from Instagram. Their reply isawaited. The devices of theidentified members of thegroup have been seized andsent for forensic analysis," saidAnil Mittal, Additional PublicRelation Officer of Delhi Police.

"The role of other groupmembers is also being ascer-tained. The identified mem-bers, who are major, are beingexamined. The minor mem-bers of the group are beingdealt with as per the provisionsof Juvenile Justice Act," saidMittal.

However, Instagram hadearlier said it takes the issue"very seriously" and does notallow such behaviour. It hadsaid the objectionable contentfeaturing minor girls wasremoved from the platform assoon as it was made aware ofit.

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Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and

Congress chief Sonia Gandhion Wednesday questioned theModi Government's decision-making on the extended coro-navirus lockdown and soughtto know the roadmap after May17 when the deadline for thirdlockdown ends.

Both Singh and Sonia werepart of the video conferencemeeting of Chief Ministers ofCongress-ruled States. Soniaquestioned the Governmentover the criteria it adopted tojudge how long the COVID-19-induced lockdown will con-tinue.

Addressing the ChiefMinisters of States where theCongress is in power, sheasked "what after May 17?"

India has been underlockdown since March 25 tocurb the spread of the novelcoronavirus. The first andsecond phase of the lock-down was from March 25 toApril 14 and April 15 to May3, respectively. The thirdphase began from May 4 andwould end on May 17.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhiwere also part of the meetingheld through video-confer-encing.

"After May 17th, What?and After May 17th, How?What criteria is GoI

(Government of India) usingto judge how long the lock-down is to continue. . . , "Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala quotedSonia Gandhi as saying in themeeting to discuss theCOVID-19 situation and thepost-lockdown work.

She thanked farmers, par-ticularly of Punjab andHaryana, for ensuring foodsecurity by giving bumperwheat produce despite allodds.

Singh said, "We need toknow, as Soniaji said, whatwill happen after lockdown3.0?".

"Soniaji has already point-ed out. CMs need to deliber-ate and ask as to what is thestrategy of the government ofIndia to get the country out ofthe lockdown," Singh asked.

Rahul said the centralpiece of the strategy to fightCOVID-19 is to protect theelderly as well as those whoare diabetic and with heartconditions.

Speaking at the meeting,Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh said he hasset up two committees, one tostrategise on how to come outof the lockdown and the other

on economic revival."Concern is people sitting

in Delhi are deciding on clas-sification of (COVID-19)zones without knowing what'shappening on the ground," hesaid at the meeting.

Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot said, "untilextensive stimulus package isgiven, how will states and thecountry run? We have lost Rs10,000 crore revenue."

He said states have repeat-edly requested the prime min-ister for a package, "but we areyet to hear from the govern-ment of India".

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel said,"States are facing dire eco-nomic crisis. They need to beprovided immediate assis-tance."

He said Chhattisgarh isone state where 80 per cent ofsmall industries have restart-ed and nearly 85,000 workershave returned to work.

The Centre is deciding onCOVID-19 zones withoutconsulting states, Puducherrychief minister VNarayanasamy alleged.

"This is creating an anom-alous situation. People sittingin Delhi can't tell the states,

No State or CM is consulted.Why?" he asked.

"PM isn't saying a word oneconomic package for states,"he said.

Former Union financeminister P Chidambaram alsoalleged that states are "bleed-ing" in terms of finances butno money is being allocated

by the government.He said a number of

newspapers have brought outthe unavailability of financeswith states.

Former Union Minister MVeerappa Moily said the strat-egy to declare lockout or comeout of it hasn't been stated atall by the prime minister or

changed at all.The Congress president is

also likely to discuss the issueof migrant labourers andworkers stranded at variousplaces and steps taken by thestates in bringing them backto their home states.

Sonia Gandhi hadannounced on Monday that

the state units if Congressparty would pay for the trainfare of migrants as they pre-pare to go back to theirhomes. She also criticised thecentral government for charg-ing them train fare.

Surjewala later said duringthe chief ministers meetingwith the Congress president,

that "states should assure thatthey have decided to pay forthe travel of migrant labour-ers and have asked theRailways for special trains."

"Punjab CM informs that� 35 crore has been set asideand Railways is charging �870per ticket, which state is pay-ing," he said.

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The Congress on Wednesdayslammed the Centre for

increasing the prices on petroland diesel. Terming the rise infuel prices as unfair, the partydemanded that theGovernment immediately rollback the increased prices.

Congress leaders RahulGandhi and Priyanka Gandhisaid that at a time when thefight against coronavirus iscausing economic hardships toall, the Government has cho-sen to increase fuel pricesinstead of reducing them.

"The ongoing battle withthe coronavirus is causingsevere economic hardship forour crores of brothers and sis-ters. At this time, instead ofreducing prices, the decision ofthe government to raise pricesof petrol and diesel by �10-13

per litre is unfair and should bewithdrawn,” Rahul tweetedafter the Centre hiked exciseduty and cess on petrol by �10per litre and on diesel by Rs 13a litre. This was the second hikein excise duty in less than twomonths.

Congress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadrawas also unsparing in herattack against the Government

over its decision to hike exciseduty on petrol and diesel. In aseries of tweets, Priyanka saidthat the government was busyfilling its coffers at a timewhen the benefit of low crudeoil prices should have beentransferred to the consumers.

“The people should bene-fit from the low crude oilprices. But the BJPGovernment repeatedly hikes

excise duty so that the benefitthat should have gone to theconsumers is instead used tofill its own suitcase. Who is thegovernment collecting thismoney for? The labourers,farmers, middle-class, industry,nobody is benefiting from thefall in crude oil price,” Priyankasaid.

Senior Congress leader andformer Finance minister PChidambaram too voiced con-cern and suggested the Centremust borrow to meet deficitsand not impose higher tax bur-dens when economic activityhas ground to a halt amid thecoronavirus.

“New or higher taxes arejustified only when the econo-my is booming. Tax burdens onthe middle class and poor isactually taxing distress.Governments should givemoney to the people in times of

distress, not squeeze and takemoney from the people,”Chidambaram tweeted.

Congress chief spokesmanRandeep Singh Surjewala atAICC Press video conferencesaid the entire nation and its 130crore people are fighting theCorona pandemic and the poormigrant labourers and workers,the shopkeepers, the farmers,the small and medium busi-nesses are virtually penny less,they are struggling for every sin-gle Rupee, yet, this draconianGovernment is fleecing 130crore Indians by raising insur-mountable taxes on petrol anddiesel.

Congress alleged thatbetween the years 2014-15 up tillthe year 2019-20 that is in a peri-od of six years, the Modi gov-ernment has increased taxeson petrol and diesel 12 timesand has collected �17 lakh crore.

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The Centre and the MamataBanerjee dispensation’s

locking of horns continued onWednesday this time over theissues of non-movement ofessential goods through theIndia-Bangladesh border as itentail international ramifica-tions and the under-reportingof Covid-19 related deathsfrom the State besides viola-tion of lockdown guidelinesthere.

Union Home SecretaryAjay Bhalla wrote two lettersto the State Chief SecretaryRajiv Sinha. In the letter sentin the morning, the MHAblamed the State Governmentfor blocking international car-gos to Bangladesh while in theone in the evening it accusedthe Trinamool Congress-ruledState of underreporting ofCovid-19 deaths and series ofviolations of lockdown rules.

"A large number of truckscarrying essential supplies,bound for Bangladesh, arestranded at different bordercrossing points.... A number ofdrivers returning fromBangladesh have not beenallowed to cross the borderand are stranded inBangladesh. The unilateral

action of State Governmentwill have larger implicationsfor the Indian Governmentwith regard to its legally bind-ing international commit-ments,” Union HomeSecretary’s letter to the StateChief Secretary stated.

Bhalla also said, “This actof the State Governmentamounts to violation of the

orders issued by MHA underDisaster Management Act,2005.”

Bhalla said directionswere given on April 24 toallow cross land border trans-portation of essential goodsthrough all Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Bangladeshborders and send a compli-ance report to the MHA. But

we have not received the com-pliance report from the stategovernment of West Bengal,he said.

In the second letter, Bhallasaid: “Lockdown violationshave been noted in Kolkata,Howrah by specific groups inspecific localities with mediareports of 'corona warriors'including the police beingattacked. This necessitatesstricter enforcement of lock-down. Overcrowding inbazaars, free movement ofpeople in large numbers with-out masks, bathing of peoplein rivers, playing cricket foot-ball, serious laxity in enforc-ing lockdown in containmentzones and poor supervision nimplementation of crowd con-trol measures by the districtauthorities,”

The Home Secretary alsocited the reports of Centre’sInter-Ministerial team’s find-ings against the West BengalGovernment in tackling thepandemic and non-coopera-tion including the under-reporting of the number ofdeaths.

“There remain gaps inthe surveillance and contacttracing of positive cases. Statehas not furnished any dataregarding the

households/individuals con-tacted/sur veyed forCOVID19. Indefinite delays intesting results have furtheraffected the contact tracing,put patients at risk...Points tovery low rate of testing in pro-portion to the population,and a very high rate of mor-tality of 13.2, by far the high-est for any State. This is areflection of poor surveil-lance, detection and testing inthe State,” said the UnionHome Secretary.

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Responding to the Centre’sletter, the West Bengal

Government said it will take acall on the movement of essen-tial goods through the Indo-Bangladesh borders after con-sidering all aspects. State’'sHome Secretary AlapanBandopadhyay said: “Thereare a lot of things that need tobe looked into," he said.

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Civil society groups haveurged Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to ensure thatthe Railways do not charge fortickets on the special trainsbeing run to transport migrantworkers back to their homesamid the coronavirus-forcedlockdown.

They said all travel must befree and food expenses shouldbe borne by the state.

The civil society organisa-tions, who have come togetherto form 'National Campaign

for Migrant Workers', demand-ed that the migrant workersreturning home be provided anex-gratia of �7,000 in lieu of thewages lost due of the lockdown.

They also appealed to theministry of home affairs to issuedirections to withdraw all themass FIRs against the migrantworkers filed in places like Surat,Bandra (Mumbai), Hyderabadwhere the workers protested toallowed to be go home. “Theprotests were an expression ofgenuine distress,” said theactivists.

The campaign also urged

the MHA to withdraw the May2 order, clarifying the definitionof stranded workers.

The Home Ministry had onSunday made it clear that therelaxations given for the move-ment of people during the lock-down were available only to dis-tressed migrant workers.

It clarified that the order isnot applicable to those categoriesof persons who are otherwiseresiding normally at places otherthan native places for purposesof work etc and those who wishto visit their native place in nor-mal course.

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The Union EnvironmentMinistry’s Expert Appraisal

Committee (EAC) on infra-structure has cleared terms of ref-erence (ToR) for three seaplaneairports at the Brahmaputrariverfront in Guwahati and at theStatue of Unity and ShatrunjayDam, both in Gujarat. The ToRsare guidelines for conductingenvironmental studies of projectsafter which it is considered forclearance by the panel.

The EAC in its meetingheld through video-conferencingin April noted that the wateraerodromes aims to boosttourism near Statue of Unity andSardar Sarovar Dam, Gujaratalong with terminal building onthe land side and allied facilities.Both projects are planned in theland provided by the State CivilAviation Department.

The �12.5 crore proposedproject is located onPanchmukhi Lake (Lake-3) ofSardar Sarovar Dam at LimdiVillage in Narmada District,Gujarat. Over 2,046 sqm landwill be acquired for the proposedproject.

The development of WaterAerodrome has been proposedat Shatrunjay Dam, Village vadalin District Bhavbnagar byGujarat Civil AviationDepartment to be spread over0.40 hectares of area. The pro-posed project is planned in thearea provided by the NarmadaWater Resource Department,Partly Private land in the pro-

posed access road near Palitana,noted the EAC.

Similarly, the developmentof water aerodrome has beenproposed at Guwahati Riverfront(Bramhaputra River), Guwahati,Assam by the State TransportDepartment.

The proposed terminal willbe spread over the plot area of0.42 Hectares.

Considering that the wateraerodrome are just emerging inthe country as a new mode oftransport involving sea/riverfronts and its likely impacts onwater, air and aquatic biodiver-sity including flora and fauna, theEAC followed the appraisalprocess as is being done in thecase of airports.

The project proponents alsoinformed the EAC that wateraerodrome were primarily onwater, intended to be used eitherwholly or in part for the arrival,departure and movement ofseaplanes, and any building andequipment on ground or water.

Sea plane operation from coastal/river/ canal as well as terrestrialwater bodies will extend the con-nectivity to those areas wherethere is no land-based airport.

The high capital investmentfor airside infrastructure devel-opment required in land-basedairport can be avoided. Thus,there is a necessity to establishwater aerodromes for seaplaneoperations, argued the projectproponents.

After discussion with mem-bers, the EAC cleared ToRs forthe three projects asking theirproponents to take clearancefrom the National Board forWild Life (NBWL) in case nearto the sanctuary as well as impactof aerodrome on flow charac-teristics during normal and floodconditions by modelling studyamong other required clear-ance.

They have also been askedto conduct public hearing forpreparation of environmentimpact assessment report.

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The Delhi High Court hassought response of the

police on a plea moved by aman, serving life term since2005 in a murder case, seek-ing parole to find a suitablewife for himself and curb his"inner stress and depression"due to incarceration whichhas "exacerbated" due toCOVID-19 pandemic.

Justice Prateek Jalandirected the police to file astatus report after verifyingthe address and health con-dition of the petitioner's fam-ily, with whom he intends tostay if parole is granted.

The court also directedthat the status report shallalso "disclose the precautionswhich are being followed bythe jail authorities whilereleasing the prisoners onparole or bail and at the timethey are returned to custody,inter alia, in terms of thedirections of the HighPowered Committee".

With the direction, thecourt listed the matter forhearing before an appropriatebench on May 19.

The petitioner has chal-lenged the authorit iesDecember 2019 decision toreject his application forparole "to explore the possi-bility of finding a suitablematch, to maintain social tiesand family relations, and tocurb inner stress and depression due to incarcera-

tion".The high court had on

January 14 issued notice tothe police and called for hisnominal role. However, due tothe COVID-19 outbreak, thecourt 's functioning wasrestricted and his plea couldnot be heard.

Subsequently, he movedtwo applications - one seekingearly hearing of his plea andanother for grant of parole onthe grounds of coronaviruspandemic.

His lawyer told the courtthat the grounds upon whichparole was sought from theState included the requirement to curb innerstress and depression due toincarceration which has beenexacerbated due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The police told the courtthat his application for parolewas rejected by the authoritiesas on an earlier occasionwhen he was granted the

relief in 2011, he committedan offence in respect of whichhe was convicted on February22, 2018 for dacoity, robbery,and conspiring to committhese crimes.

On the ground taken bythe police regarding violationof an earlier parole, the courtsaid despite his conviction in2018, he was, thereafter,released on parole twice in2018 and 2019 which werenot misused by him.

The court also noted thataccording to his nominal rollhe worked as a 'sahayak' in thejail and his conduct has beensatisfactory at least for lastone year.

The petitioner was earli-er convicted in 2005 in amurder case and sentenced tolife imprisonment by a trialcourt.

His appeal against the2005 order of the trial courtwas dismissed by the highcourt in 2009.

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The Government may beapplauding the role of

frontline health workers byvarious gestures like the recentone by showering flower petalson them, but around 200 nurs-es at the Centre-run RMLHospital in Delhi are a disap-pointed lot.

Appointed in December lastyear, they are yet to get theirsalary which has left them at thereceiving end as many of themare living in rented accommo-dations. Hailing from across thecountry, some of these nurseshave been taking credit fromtheir friends and relatives to paytheir bills as they have not gotsalary for the last four monthssince joining the hospital. TheCovid-19 induced lockdown hasjust added to their agony.

Some of them have beenassigned duties at the Covid-19wards as well. Though they haverepresented before the con-cerned authorities in this con-nection several times but exceptassurance their grievance has notbeen met.

A nurse on the condition ofanonymity said that they havesubmitted all the required doc-uments related to their job.

“We are doing our dutydiligently. But in this lockdowntime, it is difficult to sustain with-out money. Moreover, it is quitefrustrating that while on the onehand the country is expressingsolidarity with our efforts, on theother we are waiting for what isour rightful due,” she said

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APIL was filed in the DelhiHigh Court on Wednesday

seeking direction to the AAPgovernment to close liquorshops here until the coronaviruspandemic is under control.

The plea was mentioned foran urgent hearing and it is like-ly to be listed on May 8.

The petition by NGO, CivilSafety Council of India, chal-lenged the Delhi Governmentand its Excise Department'sdecision to open liquor shops inthe city from Tuesday “withoutany planning and crowd man-agement”.

The plea, filed throughadvocate Arvind Vashistha,said the people of Delhi are fac-ing complete lockdown for thelast so many days but the May3 notification regarding open-ing of liquor shops has failed thewhole system, set up by theState, and it is going waste andputting the life of citizens indanger.

“Liquor consumption isnot in consonance with thedirective principles of state pol-icy, under which improvingpublic health is among the pri-mary duties of the state. Thiswould include prohibition ofintoxicating drinks and drugswhich are injurious to health,”the plea said.

It said due to this decision,a large number of persons havelined up outside liquor shops inthe city for the second consec-utive day.

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The Government’s directive to allpublic and private sector employ-ees to install the Aarogya Setu appin their mobile phones has raisedeyebrows in some quarters. But the

fact is that a post-COVID world is going tobe equated with a digital society. It will be thenew normal, where the use of diverse and con-verged digital technologies will help peoplemaintain social distancing and facilitatesecured living in an age of pandemic.

The Aarogya Setu app is designed tokeep the people informed about the risk ofthem being infected with Coronavirus.Self-assessment begins with a request forinformation such as gender, full name, age,countries travelled to in the last 30 days andprofessional details. The app, which makesthe use of GPS to get the user’s location, dis-covers other available applications nearhis/her device using bluetooth. By cross-ref-erencing the location details with that ofIndian Council of Medical Research(ICMR)’s database and by collecting recordsof nearby users, it does a risk assessment andreturns with a colour-coded message. Itappears that the app continuously collects theuser’s data and uploads them to aGovernment server along with a DiD,which is a unique digital id. Data in the serv-er is anonymised in such a manner that per-sonalised features are suppressed withoutaffecting the statistical features of the dataensembles.

The fact that devices exchange informa-tion, continuously collect location data ofregistered users and maintain a record of theplaces where they may have come in con-tact with other people has given rise to asense of distrust among the people. Hence,the controversy. Arguments can be drawninto two fields: One of data privacy and theother on surveillance. While debate aroundthe Aarogya Setu app is unsubstantiated andunfounded, questions related to data priva-cy will very much be a talking point in a post-COVID society.

Data is now widely being treated as thenew “oil”, “gold” and is a valuable resourcefrom the perspective of society, economy,polity, privacy and human progress. For asociety to make progress from an informa-tion age to a knowledgeable, digital world(data-driven society), the effective use of dataand information, while qualifying with pri-vacy parameters, will be a cornerstone ofpublic discourse. Privacy is as old asmankind and has a close connection withhuman dignity, freedom and independenceof an individual. Maintaining privacy will bemore challenging in an age of informed soci-ety. Data privacy is a necessity so as to pre-serve and protect personal informationthat is collected by organisations. The fearof it being used by a third party is alwaysthere.

Data privacy assumes significance aspeople live with the app economy for theentire day, every day and every hour. Digital

citizens, while accessing variousapps, give in to the consentclause and in reciprocation for-feit intimate details to data com-panies by accepting the fine printof services that they receivethrough the app. Further, sever-al devices often track our move-ments, preferences and anyinformation they can mine fromour digital existence. This with-out the consent of the user.

Let us be clear at this stagethat collecting data, however pri-vate it may be, with the user’sconsent, implicit or explicit, forany purpose and using it for dataanalytics in anonymised form isnot a breach of privacy. Ofcourse, unless the data is person-alised and shared with otherplatforms or a third party. Thisseemingly is not the case withthe Aarogya Setu app at present.

The nation has just seen thatall efforts to curb the rapidspread of the Corona pandem-ic can be seriously affected dueto contact tracing. This can beminimised with the help ofdata-driven technology that col-lects contact history of individ-uals. Undoubtedly, contact his-tory is private but is used for apublic cause. Aarogya Setuensures just that and is a proofthat India is growing to be a dig-itally matured State.

Post the COVID pandem-ic, India will witness a rise inapp-driven socio-economicactivities. Every aspect of thedigital society — spanning from

e-commerce, digital marketingand learning, digital art and cul-ture, digital banking and trans-actions, social networking andsocial media, to digitalGovernment interventions —will spread ominously.

Collection of data, private orotherwise, is inevitable andunavoidable in a data-intensiveand algorithmically governedsociety. At the same time, the useof data responsibly while alsopreserving privacy should be theorder of the day.

This brings us to an impor-tant question: Is India preparedto regulate data laws in thecyberspace? Further, are the cit-izens digitally educated tounderstand the trade-offbetween “comfort” and “luxury”while using digital technologiesor when they share their data fora purpose? Are they aware of theprivacy concerns arising there-of? These questions need to beaddressed by digital communi-ties of a post-COVID society.

India’s legal system, too,can be construed as half pre-pared to deal with concerns aris-ing out of data privacy violationin the app economy and highlyintegrated digital age, eventhough the InformationTechnology Act (2008, amend-ed in 2011) provides the neces-sary legal regime for cybersecu-rity and protecting privacy con-cerns thereof.

With changing transnation-al contours of the app economy,

where the jurisdictional function-ality of service providers is ques-tionable and operates in clouds,India needs to consolidate andstrengthen data laws on priority.

The Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, which isstill stuck in Parliament, intendsto regulate the processing of per-sonal data of individuals (dataprincipals) by the Governmentand private entities (data fiducia-ries). The Bill must providelegal teeth to data protectionauthorities to prosecute the datafiduciaries with penal actions.Such regulation, even if passed,cannot be effectively compliantin the context of lacking digitalcitizenship practices and eti-quette.

A post-COVID society anddemocracy in India will be dig-itally driven and will be con-verged around data privacy andsecurity that should not bedevalued due to the currentpolitical bickering on the instal-lation of the Aarogya Setu app.The app has only a limited pur-pose to contain the spread of theCorona infection. At the sametime, developers of the appmust take care to ensure that thedata collected for the purpose isnot intruded, de-anonymised orexploited by any other party.

(The writer is former Deanof the School of Computer andInformation Sciences at theUniversity of Hyderabad andcurrently the Vice Chancellor ofCentral University of Rajasthan)3����������������1�� ������ ����!

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “All for a drink” (May 5). Asthe fight against COVID-19entered its third phase with theGovernment providing consider-able relaxation in lockdown curbsas part of a phase-wise exit plan,hundreds of people have been lin-ing up before Government-runliquor shops, jostling and push-ing in complete defiance of socialdistancing norms. At most places,many buyers were not even wear-ing masks. The over one-month-long nationwide lockdown toprevent the spread of the viruswill become ineffective if theGovernment does not controlsuch crowding around the liquorshops.

MN QasmiKolkata

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Sir — The extended lockdownhas exposed the plight of themigrant workers. India of the1960s had dignified the ruraleconomy. Rural infrastructuresupport, that would have sus-tained income levels in agro-slack

seasons, was soft-pedalled, result-ing in migration.

Now, as restless migrantstried to set off for their villages,employers leveraged the lock-down to block the exodus toensure continuity to their farmand factory outputs. This 140 mil-lion strong migrant labour isvital to our economy, yet shock-

ingly, their status remains unde-fined. China has 300 millionworkers but it provides themwith more congenial work envi-ronment. It would be a pity if wenow fail to incorporate theexploited labour in the newscheme of things.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Reality, not criticism” (May 5).The homecoming of migrantworkers on special trains is wel-come. But it is also the moralresponsibility of the Governmentto bear the cost of their train jour-

ney considering their tragedyand distress. It’s ironical that theGovernment could fly backstranded tourists back home forfree to display its efficiency to therest of the world.

Though after facing pressurefrom Opposition, the Centreclarified that the railways will pay85 per cent of the train fares andthe remaining 15 per cent will bepaid by the State Governments,the onus has been put on respec-tive States who are already reel-ing under tough conditions. Notto forget, there’s no accountabil-ity of the money being collectedin the name of the crisis in thePM Cares fund.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — The loss of three soldiersin Jammu and Kashmir is tragic.India must retaliate with fullmight. Only immediate forcefulaction will calm the people ofIndia.

JayantVia email

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Adoctor contracted COVID-19 from a patientand succumbed to the virus on April 19 inChennai. The funeral of the doctor was

stopped by residents who assembled in large num-bers to oppose it. The Madras High Court, takingsuo moto cognisance of the despicable incident, saidthat Article 21 of the Constitution, which protectsthe life and personal liberty of all persons, includeswithin its ambit the right to a decent burial. The courtsaid that this doctor was deprived of his right to havea decent burial.

In another incident in Meghalaya, the local gov-erning bodies known as Durbar Shnong preventedthe cremation of a COVID-19 infected doctor.Consequently, the Meghalaya Bar Association fileda Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court,against the State and local bodies. The court notedthat the State authorities handled the matter in aninept way and the obstructive conduct of the DurbarShnong would shock the conscience of every right-thinking individual.

The contemptible action of various groups toobstruct the dignified interment of doctors and otherhealthcare professionals has outraged the medicalfraternity and all citizens with a conscience. On April20, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said thatobjections to proper funerals of doctors and otherhealth workers, dying in the line of pandemic duty,is the last straw. The IMA demanded a specialCentral law to take stringent action against those whoindulge in violence against healthcare professionalsand hospitals. The IMA called for a “white alert”on April 22 and sought to declare April 23 as a “blackday” if its demands to protect the serving medicalfraternity were not met.

Soon after, the Union Cabinet passed theEpidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020which was then signed by the President. TheMinistry of Health and Family Welfare intended theOrdinance to ensure “zero tolerance” to any formof violence against healthcare professionals and dam-age to property. Significantly, in 2019 the HealthcareServices Personnel and Clinical Establishments(Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property)Bill, drafted by the Health Ministry to contain vio-lence against doctors, was rejected by the HomeMinistry, saying that there cannot be a separate leg-islation to protect the members of a particular pro-fession.

Hopefully, this Ordinance will make up for thepast errors and infuse confidence in the healthcarecommunity, that is on the frontline in our war againstthe pandemic. Though the passing of the Ordinanceitself is a positive decision by the Government, themoot question is whether the new law is adequateto protect doctors and other healthcare workers?

According to the Ordinance, an “act of violence”includes any of the following acts committedagainst healthcare personnel: Harassment impact-ing living or working conditions; harm, injury ordanger to life; obstruction in the discharge of dutiesand loss or damage to the property or documentsof the healthcare personnel.

Property is defined to include: Clinical estab-lishment; quarantine facility; mobile medical unit,and other property in which a healthcare worker hasa direct interest. Further, “healthcare personnel” arepeople, who while carrying out their duties in rela-tion to countering the epidemic, may come in directcontact with affected patients and thereby are at therisk of being impacted by such disease and includeany public and clinical healthcare providers such as

doctors, nurses, paramedical staff andcommunity health workers. The Ministryclaimed that while the citizens fully coop-erated with healthcare personnel most ofthe time, there were sporadic incidents ofviolence that demoralised the medical fra-ternity fighting the contagion. Therefore,it was felt that separate and stringent pro-visions for emergent times were neededto act as effective deterrents to any suchincidents of violence.

Though the Ministry makes tallclaims of zero tolerance, with very highaspirations of pacifying a demoralised andshaken medical fraternity, the Ordinancedoes not address the issue of attacks onhealthcare workers in normal circum-stances, after the pandemic is over.Assaults on them existed globally, longbefore COVID-19 reared its ugly head.Numerous pleas to protect medical staffhave fallen on deaf ears. According to theIMA, over 75 per cent of doctors and otherhealthcare professionals have faced vio-lence at work.

In 2012, a pregnant woman withobstetric complications died in Tuticorin.In retaliation, the attending doctor waskilled by the enraged husband. This trig-gered a call for a strike by the Tamil NaduGovernment Doctors’ Association. TheIMA has demanded that hospitals bedeclared as “protected zones” and calledfor strict implementation of laws in casesof violence against health professionals.

In 2014, angry relatives of a 14-year-old boy, who was declared “broughtdead” at a private hospital in Bathinda,Punjab, went on a rampage. They dam-aged the nursing home and burnt downthe doctor’s house. The Punjab StateChapter of the IMA demanded strictaction against those responsible for dam-aging the nursing home and the house ofthe doctor. Angry relatives of patients arenot the only ones who oppress medicalprofessionals, the Government set-up is

also equally guilty. Dr Indranil Khan, anoncologist, faced harassment after he post-ed images of doctors wearing raincoats ina COVID-19 ward of a Government hos-pital on social media. Police detained DrKhan, charged him with causing commu-nal disharmony and criminal intimidationand confiscated his phone.

A writ petition against his harassmentby the police was filed before the CalcuttaHigh Court. Justice Prasanna Mukherji ofthe Calcutta High Court said that freedomof speech and expression, which is grant-ed under Article 19 of the Constitution,has to be scrupulously upheld by the State.The court said that if an expression ofopinion brings the Government into dis-repute, it cannot defend the allegation byintimidation of the person expressing theopinion by subjecting him to prolongedinterrogation, threatening arrest, seizinghis mobile phone and SIM card.

In another incident, Dr PiyushPushkar Singh, who complained about theshortage of equipment and protectivemasks, was terminated by the Hindu RaoHospital for bringing disrepute to the insti-tution on April 15. Clearly, the EpidemicDiseases Ordinance, 2020, which is stat-ed to ensure the safety of healthcare pro-fessionals is not designed to protect DrKhan and Dr Singh.

Sadly, the COVID-19 outbreak led toa rash of attacks against doctors and otherhealth workers. Healthcare personneldeployed in rural areas were beaten andstopped from entering the villages and for“violating” the lockdown while going towork. The hurried promulgation of theOrdinance appears to be a knee-jerk reac-tion by the Government. First, theMinistry’s claim that the citizens fullycooperated with the healthcare workers isbelied by its own statement that incidentsof violence have occurred which demor-alised the medical fraternity. Second, theOrdinance only “protects” healthcare

personnel in an epidemic and not in gen-eral conditions. Therefore, this Ordinancedoes not afford any protection to the med-ical fraternity in a non-epidemic situation.

According to the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), health workersmust be provided with training on infec-tion prevention, given Personal ProtectionEquipment and technical updates. Theymust have a blame-free environment toreport on incidents such as exposure toblood or bodily fluids or violence.

The right to health i.e. the right to livein a hygienic and safe environment,flows from Article 21. According toArticle 47 the improvement of publichealth is the primary duty of the State.Justice Chandrachud said under Article21, the right to life is meaningless unlessaccompanied by the guarantee of certainconcomitant rights including, but not lim-ited to, the right to health. The right tohealth is understood to be indispensableto a life of dignity, well-being and includes,for instance, the right to emergencymedical care and the right to maintenanceand improvement of public health. In thecurrent situation, with the need to have aconducive and safe environment formedical professionals and the responsibil-ity of the State to provide for public health,the Government will be well-advised totake all steps to protect the medical fra-ternity from any form of lawlessness. TheCentre must consider enacting a stand-alone law that will enable hospitals andmedical personnel to work in a safe envi-ronment at all times, so as to attain theConstitutional aspiration of right tohealth for all citizens. While social distanc-ing is being advocated, medical profession-als do not have the privilege of workingremotely. The best form of applause to givethe doctors and medical personnel is togive them a safe working environment.

(The writer is Advocate Partner in alaw firm)

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The Indian subcontinent hasalways been extremely proneto natural disasters like floods,

earthquakes, landslides, avalanchesand storms. Statistics published inmedia reports suggest that post-Independence, till 2017, India haswitnessed 529 natural disasters,leaving aside those caused bydroughts, epidemics and extremetemperature. These disasters haveresulted in nearly 2,00,000 deathsand left hundreds of millions affect-ed in the country.

In all of these incidents, our

armed forces have been employedfor conduct of HumanitarianAssistance and Disaster Relief(HADR) missions, more often thannot, as the key nodal agency.

It, therefore, comes as a majorsurprise to all, especially the mili-tary leadership, when they findthemselves and the military on thefringes in this ongoing war againstthe pandemic, tasked with provid-ing only limited assistance on theperiphery.

That apparently appears to havebecome a source of immense anxi-ety and insecurity among theService Chiefs, forcing them to calla press conference to announce aseries of displays by elements of thethree Services and the Coast Guardto honour our “Corona warriors.”

If, on the other hand, these werethe directions of the Governmentthat they were complying with —which is also a major possibility —it shows them up as weak, only aim-ing to please their political bosses in

hopes of future rewards.To my mind, there appears to be

no other reasonable explanation forthis bizarre exercise, which obvious-ly appears to have, at least outward-ly, paid them some dividends, if thePrime Minister’s tweet means any-thing.

Let us not get it wrong. Thereis indeed much to be appreciative of,inasmuch as such displays gotowards building the morale of the“Corona warriors.” But did it reallyrequire the Chief of Defence Staffand the three Service Chiefs to makethe announcement? Is that whatthey have been reduced to? For thatmatter, was the scale that thismorale-boosting exercise wasundertaken at really necessary?

In such troubled times, sub-stance over showmanship wouldhave been better appreciated. Muchof that time, money and effort, couldand should, have been better utilisedin providing assistance to the vastnumbers of our citizenry who have

been rendered utterly destitute,hungry, without shelter and unableto reach their homes because of anill-planned and poorly-executednationwide lockdown.

Feeding the hungry, providingtented shelters for the homeless ortransport for the weary are not mat-ters that require approval from thehighest levels, just a humane bent ofmind at the local level. That in itselfwould have garnered enough good-will among the populace, withoutthis grasping for publicity that wewitnessed on television.

It should be seen as a positivestep that our military has not beencalled out in this disaster, except ofcourse for providing medical assis-tance where necessary. This suggeststhat our civil administration isfinally maturing and waking up toits duties, however poor its perfor-mance might have been this timearound.

In all fairness, this particulardisaster has been on an unprece-

dented scale. We neither anticipat-ed it nor were we prepared ortrained for it and errors were to beexpected.

It has been the bane of the mil-itary in the past that whenever a dis-aster occurred, it invariably led tothe civil administration and itsagencies all but abdicating theirresponsibilities, leaving it to the mil-itary to take over the process, coor-dinate and provide the requiredassistance. Examples are too numer-ous to quote but the floods that dev-astated Uttarakhand and Kashmir,in the past, best illustrate this phe-nomenon.

Clearly, as we look at and assessthe security environment in ourregion, there can be little doubt thatour military must take all necessaryprecautions to keep its units out ofharm’s way so that they can meettheir constitutional obligations andsuccessfully protect our sovereign-ty at a moment’s notice. Static unitsand those uncommitted opera-

tionally, spread out all over thecountry could have been utilised ina number of ways to provide suc-cour to our hard-pressed brethren.As a matter of fact, it was the bound-en duty of our Service Chiefs to haveinterceded with the Prime Ministerand have convinced him of the enor-mous range of assistance that ourforces were capable of providing.

Obviously the lack of PersonalProtection Equipment (PPE) with-in the forces may well have been animportant consideration for thehierarchy in whatever suggestionsthey may have made. In any case, the“Corona warriors” would have beenmore appreciative if they had beenprovided with PPE and protectionfrom rampaging mobs instead.

In fact, within the veteran com-munity, leaving aside a few, thesetheatrics have been seen as contraryto service norms and ethics, as theformer Naval chief, AdmiralLaxminarayan Ramdas’, article inone of our dailies makes it amply

clear.Instead of copying what the US

Air Force Aerobatics Teams did atNew York, we could have looked atthe more innovative ways theSpanish military was used to man-ufacture PPE. It may come as a sur-prise but various Ordnance Corpsestablishments within the Armyare authorised tailors and equipmentrepairers, who could have beengainfully employed to producemasks and other equipment.

Given the massive deficiency inPPE suits, even the OrdnanceParachute Factory at Kanpur couldhave been modified quickly tomass-produce them. An opportuni-ty to do good was truly squandered,leaving behind only a bitter taste inthe mouth that is unlikely to disap-pear any time soon.

(The author, a military veteranis a Consultant with the ObserverResearch Foundation and a SeniorVisiting Fellow with The PeninsulaFoundation, Chennai)

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The unprecedented increasein excise duty on petrol and

diesel by �10 and �13 per litreon Tuesday may not be the endof the government’s exercise tofleece the two petroleum prod-ucts for additional revenuethis year.

Sources indicated that thatanother �3-6 per litre increasein excise duty on petrol anddiesel may come midway dur-ing the year if government feltthe need to mobilise moreresources to finance addition-al economic recovery packagesto fight Covid-19 related dis-ruptions.

This level of increase couldprovide government addition-al revenue to the tune of�60,000 crore for full year.

In March, government hadtaken Parliamentary approvalto raise special additional exciseduty on petrol to �18 per litreand on diesel to �12 per litrebut did not change the levythen. On Tuesday, special addi-tional excise duty has beenraised to �12 on petrol and to�9 on diesel. This leavesGovernment with the space toincrease excise duty on petrolby a further �6 per litre and ondiesels by �3 per litre.

“This is the option with theGovernment that could be con-

sidered later in the yeardepending on the need andprevailing global oil prices. Ifglobal oil and product pricesremain at current levels orlower, a further duty hike thisyear is a strong possibility,” saida source from public sector oilmarketing company.

For consumers, any furtherincrease in duty should notimpact much as retail pricesmay be left unchanged or mar-ginally increased as lower oilprices would allow for absorb-ing any increase in price.

However, a further increasein taxes on fuel would make theproduct most taxed globally.

The current taxes accountfor close to 70 per cent of theprice of petrol and diesel. Withany further increase in duty,this Fichte could reach 75-80

per cent level.Higher retail price is not an

option for the government atthis juncture as it could pushinflation.

According to Barclays theestimate is that the centralgovernment’s revenue benefitfrom the additional hikes infuel taxes undertaken onTuesday, could be as much as�1.4 lakh crore (0.67% of GDP)on an annual basis. This is ontop of an estimated �2.8 lakhcrore already being collected bythe central government fromthe fuel tax/cess, which wouldbring the total contribution tocentral exchequer from fueltaxes to �4.4 lakh crore (~ 2.1%of GDP). These projectionsassume that demand for bothpetrol and diesel will fall 12%in FY20-21.

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Markets found firmerground on Wednesday

after two sessions of losses asinvestors made a cautiousreturn to some recently-bat-tered banking, finance andauto counters.

Dismal macroeconomicdata and rising concerns overthe country’s economic out-look amid rising Covid-19cases capped the gains, traderssaid.

After swinging over 800points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 232.24points or 0.74 per cent higherat 31,685.75.

On similar lines, the NSENifty rose 65.30 points, or0.71 per cent, to finish at9,270.90.

M&M was the top gainerin the Sensex pack, spurting5.27 per cent, followed byBajaj Finance, HDFC Bank,Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank,Hero MotoCorp and HDFC.

On the other hand, ITCcracked 5.81 per cent. HUL,TCS, Titan and Infosys tooended in the red.

According to traders, eco-nomic uncertainty due to theCovid-19 pandemic, muted

corporate earnings and weakmacroeconomic data keptinvestors wary.

India’s service sector activ-ity plummeted to a historic low

in April amid the coronaviruslockdown.

The IHS Markit IndiaServices Business ActivityIndex stood at just 5.4 in April,

from 49.3 in March — themost severe contraction inservices output since recordsbegan in December 2005.

“Markets were volatile as9,100 levels held out as a keysupport for the Nifty in a dayof mixed gains for its con-stituents. Financials led thegains, in anticipation of stim-ulus measures while FMCG,bluechip IT stocks and OMCsdisappointed.

“The volatility in theindices is expected to contin-ue as investors look out fortrading cues in the form ofstimulus measures by the gov-ernment and global markettrends,” said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices.

BSE finance, telecom,bankex, auto, basic materialsand realty indices climbed upto 2.46 per cent, while FMCG,consumer durables, IT andenergy closed lower.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to0.78 per cent. Global equitieswere mixed as investorstracked the rising coronaviruscases and escalating US-Chinatensions.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong and Seoul settled with

significant gains, while Tokyowas closed for a holiday.

European markets weretrading on a cautious note inearly deals. International oilbenchmark Brent crude futuresrose 1.65 per cent to USD31.48 per barrel.

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The rupee depreciated 9paise to close at 75.72

against the US dollar onWednesday due to growthconcerns as a survey showedthat the services sector con-tracted in April.

Weakness in Asian cur-rencies following Chineseyuan dropping by 0.6 per centagainst the US dollar and sus-tained foreign fund outflowsalso weighed on the rupee.

Inflation concerns fol-lowing the Centre and somestates increased taxes onpetroleum products also hitinvestor sentiment.

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Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 1462.00 1484.00 1446.00 1461.65BAJFINANCE 2005.00 2131.15 1955.50 2106.25AXISBANK 385.00 394.50 368.10 388.35HDFCBANK 919.70 950.00 905.00 946.30SBIN 171.45 173.35 166.55 171.05HDFC 1709.95 1778.00 1680.00 1732.95INDUSINDBK 420.95 429.00 408.80 425.65ICICIBANK 330.00 345.40 325.30 341.40ASIANPAINT 1611.00 1637.65 1578.45 1610.60BHARTIARTL 533.00 551.35 530.80 546.05ITC 171.70 171.70 160.60 163.80RBLBANK 122.80 134.25 119.75 132.15IDEA 4.14 4.37 4.07 4.28HINDUNILVR 2069.00 2071.80 2000.00 2009.85AUROPHARMA 631.00 667.35 626.70 661.75MARUTI 4850.10 5000.00 4710.10 4839.90HINDPETRO 203.00 204.95 186.70 202.45BIOCON 352.00 355.50 345.35 353.20JINDALSTEL 87.20 90.20 85.45 89.35NIITTECH 1233.00 1437.15 1228.15 1420.50KOTAKBANK 1240.00 1276.45 1214.90 1245.40TATAMOTORS 81.80 84.00 80.40 83.10JUSTDIAL 353.80 364.90 348.90 357.60BPCL 323.90 346.25 312.15 343.55ZEEL 150.90 154.35 146.80 152.90TCS 1935.00 1953.30 1895.05 1904.25LT 839.00 848.00 818.10 837.65BAJAJFINSV 4675.00 4789.45 4545.00 4693.00PEL 900.00 939.45 858.90 918.35BANDHANBNK 236.65 253.45 222.35 248.80ONGC 81.45 81.45 77.50 79.25CIPLA 597.00 605.90 590.00 592.05M&MFIN 161.70 174.90 158.00 172.30STAR 421.70 426.40 408.00 412.85SRTRANSFIN 732.00 794.95 722.70 781.40CHOLAFIN 144.50 152.45 138.80 150.30IBULHSGFIN 119.00 125.85 118.45 123.35TATASTEEL 274.00 280.50 272.20 277.65DEEPAKNI 523.35 570.00 518.40 524.75PNBHOUSING 177.00 179.65 171.00 173.05INFY 679.70 681.30 664.25 666.20HEROMOTOCO 1971.00 2059.80 1935.00 2027.70COALINDIA 139.50 139.70 133.20 133.80TITAN 888.50 891.85 862.00 877.00IOC 77.00 77.30 72.85 76.60BRITANNIA 2950.00 3063.30 2915.40 2986.05M&M 374.00 392.35 358.35 387.40ESCORTS 704.85 720.25 685.20 715.50UPL 393.50 393.50 373.15 378.85ICICIPRULI 377.00 403.00 371.05 394.70SUNPHARMA* 461.40 463.00 447.95 454.55IGL 464.00 477.80 460.50 467.35ACC 1144.25 1189.90 1143.35 1183.80DLF 128.40 131.15 125.05 130.00RECLTD 91.20 91.70 88.50 91.40GAIL 94.00 94.95 89.70 94.65HINDALCO 117.80 120.60 115.60 118.60VOLTAS 444.70 463.00 428.00 457.35L&TFH 57.75 59.85 56.85 59.30BANKBARODA 44.25 44.25 41.80 42.30VEDL 79.90 80.95 78.05 79.45HDFCLIFE 479.00 498.80 469.60 490.95DRREDDY 3841.00 3879.00 3806.45 3856.75SBILIFE 720.00 749.50 706.20 731.55MANAPPURAM 118.80 124.75 116.10 123.35MOTHERSUMI 74.80 77.70 72.40 76.75SUNTV 380.70 383.15 374.00 376.75LICHSGFIN 254.80 265.85 248.20 262.55LUPIN 839.90 839.90 817.85 827.15PVR 903.85 937.45 869.75 896.10INDIGO 937.00 953.90 913.20 935.70JUBLFOOD 1505.05 1562.75 1497.65 1557.15POWERGRID 165.50 166.70 162.75 165.50SKFINDIA 1417.55 1435.00 1361.00 1389.30JSWSTEEL 167.40 169.30 163.15 165.70BATAINDIA 1269.05 1315.50 1248.20 1306.40APOLLOHOSP 1330.00 1346.15 1263.30 1305.95CADILAHC 330.45 330.70 323.90 326.65EMAMILTD* 186.35 186.35 179.50 180.55INFRATEL 178.00 178.00 159.65 160.90HCLTECH 515.00 526.40 506.40 519.60PIDILITIND 1392.50 1450.00 1377.00 1430.35ADANIPORTS 256.05 273.45 256.05 270.55MARICO 299.00 315.00 294.15 303.65ADANIENT 132.80 135.35 127.40 133.30EQUITAS 48.65 52.00 47.75 51.05GLENMARK 327.70 339.30 326.15 334.90BHEL 23.10 23.40 22.75 23.00CANFINHOME 293.10 303.40 286.50 296.20MUTHOOTFIN 790.00 828.95 764.00 813.00ABFRL 107.00 113.30 97.05 110.45FEDERALBNK 43.15 44.10 41.95 43.85CEATLTD 768.00 768.55 742.75 745.90APOLLOTYRE 83.00 88.20 81.60 87.00RELCAPITAL 9.68 9.90 9.50 9.90COLPAL 1374.00 1374.30 1310.40 1338.30MFSL 470.50 470.50 442.50 459.75TECHM 505.20 509.20 490.10 507.25CANBK 80.90 81.70 77.10 81.15BHARATFORG 279.00 287.75 272.55 284.90DABUR 452.40 458.45 444.10 455.70UJJIVAN 168.00 174.10 162.30 172.30HAVELLS 506.90 517.65 492.95 508.15HINDZINC 171.30 171.55 167.75 169.35NESTLEIND 17440.85 17600.00 17274.90 17310.40TVSMOTOR 304.00 330.00 301.85 323.55MGL 905.00 921.45 882.90 894.65ASHOKLEY 48.95 49.40 47.25 47.60

EICHERMOT 13900.00 14168.70 13600.00 13868.15JBCHEPHARM 578.00 621.30 571.00 598.55BAJAJ-AUTO 2417.00 2492.25 2363.25 2471.85TATACONSUM 326.00 340.65 325.85 335.55CYIENT 221.75 237.65 217.00 235.05AMBUJACEM 165.00 170.45 164.50 167.90HDFCAMC 2515.10 2598.00 2501.65 2591.35TATAPOWER 30.95 30.95 28.85 29.00VBL 639.40 639.40 613.15 616.20LAURUSLABS 503.00 515.00 482.00 505.90NOCIL 85.40 88.90 83.60 87.25WOCKPHARMA 260.90 261.00 253.85 256.00AUBANK 475.00 482.50 466.25 466.30UBL 904.70 918.05 872.00 896.85TORNTPHARM 2365.10 2396.05 2298.55 2320.90PFC 91.10 91.25 88.40 89.85SRF 3698.10 3728.30 3635.45 3649.90BEL 65.75 65.80 62.75 63.70DEEPAKFERT 107.20 109.15 102.70 103.70PNB 29.70 29.70 28.55 29.40GRASIM 494.00 494.00 469.30 482.45BANKINDIA 33.15 33.15 31.65 32.60DIVISLAB 2298.00 2310.00 2244.00 2293.20DMART 2250.00 2250.00 2124.00 2170.05NAUKRI 2609.65 2676.30 2588.10 2646.00KANSAINER 392.70 405.00 381.75 393.15IBREALEST 50.15 51.50 50.15 50.15PFIZER 4800.00 4828.85 4680.45 4768.90ULTRACEMCO 3349.95 3385.00 3250.00 3328.00HEXAWARE 264.35 265.00 252.00 253.20JISLJALEQS 8.67 8.74 8.00 8.74GODREJPROP 623.00 632.30 596.65 604.30FORTIS 122.10 123.90 121.00 121.85RALLIS 207.70 226.45 205.95 222.25ADANIGAS 98.00 100.85 96.80 99.70GNFC 147.40 149.30 140.75 141.65PERSISTENT 484.80 513.95 473.95 504.55WIPRO 186.00 187.90 181.20 187.15NCC 24.00 24.00 22.80 23.35RADICO 288.00 301.95 280.10 296.75GODREJCP 515.00 515.00 495.60 507.30IDFCFIRSTB 21.15 21.15 20.20 20.95APLLTD 759.00 785.00 752.00 779.05NAM-INDIA 232.50 238.40 226.85 234.40BERGEPAINT 465.00 474.20 455.90 464.35MINDTREE 860.50 913.00 860.50 907.35SAIL 28.40 28.60 27.40 28.35SIEMENS 1124.00 1124.00 1040.00 1050.00COROMANDEL 616.00 631.95 601.35 604.75TATAELXSI 770.00 775.80 755.60 764.85NTPC 93.00 95.45 92.15 94.75TIINDIA 358.30 375.00 358.30 372.70BALKRISIND 888.00 913.05 870.50 893.05INDIACEM 99.10 101.50 97.00 99.70NAVINFLUOR 1515.00 1569.65 1515.00 1543.35CONCOR 341.50 353.90 329.75 351.20JMFINANCIL 57.65 64.70 57.65 62.85CHAMBLFERT 134.15 135.50 128.90 129.55ISEC 354.60 379.00 354.60 361.00MCX 1068.75 1090.00 1055.70 1086.55PETRONET 230.10 234.80 225.90 233.55ADANIGREEN 213.00 214.00 206.20 211.30RCF 39.80 40.40 38.65 38.75NMDC 74.00 74.55 71.50 73.15SPICEJET 41.40 41.40 38.80 39.70IPCALAB 1587.05 1605.15 1543.00 1549.55BAJAJELEC 357.85 368.20 349.35 355.60OBEROIRLTY 313.20 344.50 313.05 337.40EXIDEIND 147.50 150.00 142.40 147.35KALPATPOWR 217.25 217.25 204.00 204.85NIACL 124.75 129.60 120.45 125.00ICICIGI 1220.00 1239.15 1174.80 1212.40OMAXE 158.00 158.00 151.95 153.50INDIANB 46.95 47.15 45.05 46.55GMRINFRA 16.85 17.10 16.40 16.95MRF 58300.00 58755.30 57266.25 58436.10CUMMINSIND 367.05 379.10 358.60 369.50JAICORPLTD 67.00 67.00 64.70 65.30ADANIPOWER 30.95 30.95 29.80 30.65SWANENERGY 101.55 105.30 101.10 101.60CESC 674.60 674.60 635.60 647.65DIXON 4535.35 4638.60 4378.00 4410.75GRAPHITE 207.00 207.00 197.00 199.70SOUTHBANK 5.65 5.65 5.35 5.51SCHNEIDER 79.50 80.30 76.05 77.50GRSE 150.50 152.50 141.60 144.60ASTRAZEN 3294.00 3300.00 3168.15 3273.45AVANTI 395.00 398.00 370.00 382.30ABBOTINDIA 18310.00 18400.15 18129.50 18174.15MPHASIS 711.05 747.50 702.05 743.25TATAMTRDVR 35.00 36.10 34.30 35.55CGCL 130.10 141.90 130.10 139.35

TRENT 479.75 486.90 452.00 470.55BEML 562.00 562.60 544.05 549.95LINDEINDIA 515.00 526.00 513.60 517.80GRANULES 159.85 160.35 156.35 158.45KEC 209.75 211.00 206.40 208.20BOSCHLTD 9905.45 10070.00 9747.70 9871.75MIDHANI 198.10 202.55 192.65 197.00DCBBANK 72.00 72.00 67.15 68.45HEG 811.55 811.55 782.65 792.40TATACOFFEE 79.80 80.10 76.25 76.75AMARAJABAT 563.60 572.30 544.45 562.40LALPATHLAB 1545.20 1593.00 1545.00 1582.90ALKEM 2674.25 2713.70 2585.05 2616.60SANOFI 7900.45 8084.00 7886.10 8041.60SHREECEM 18550.50 18900.00 18550.50 18738.85UNIONBANK 25.95 25.95 24.40 24.55TORNTPOWER 330.00 330.15 325.60 328.80GODREJIND 247.95 247.95 235.00 235.55PAGEIND 17340.80 17340.80 16920.00 17083.15AMBER 1083.55 1150.00 1048.75 1133.50NATIONALUM 29.50 29.50 28.75 29.10ABCAPITAL 44.50 45.20 43.30 44.35SPARC 132.95 134.75 130.40 131.40IRB 66.30 67.95 63.70 64.25OIL 96.00 96.00 92.10 92.50RAMCOCEM 523.50 536.00 502.90 529.70POLYCAB 680.00 695.00 653.00 675.80AJANTPHARM 1485.10 1488.90 1437.00 1449.25GODFRYPHLP 984.90 989.05 952.05 962.75ATUL 4600.75 4630.00 4520.00 4604.20BDL 216.00 229.80 215.00 223.25SONATSOFTW 202.10 219.45 198.20 211.15KAJARIACER 353.25 358.85 338.10 339.25SUZLON 2.46 2.46 2.35 2.37STRTECH* 89.10 89.55 87.10 88.35PIIND 1528.60 1574.40 1511.75 1542.45RAIN 66.75 69.25 66.35 68.00MEGH 47.50 47.75 46.25 47.00IDBI 20.90 20.90 20.25 20.35LTTS 1179.05 1228.80 1178.00 1191.35RITES 222.00 229.10 220.40 225.30RAYMOND 228.45 231.95 218.90 231.95OFSS 2373.60 2416.00 2314.75 2404.65CROMPTON 214.00 217.90 205.30 208.50NATCOPHARM 600.50 607.20 592.60 596.90HINDCOPPER 24.05 24.35 23.70 23.85ALKYLAMINE 1793.50 1848.60 1778.60 1801.70FRETAIL 75.00 75.00 73.15 73.15EDELWEISS 37.50 37.70 34.60 35.30CASTROLIND 118.05 121.50 117.20 119.10IRCON 85.00 87.20 83.50 84.45LTI 1542.00 1562.95 1515.00 1532.65ITI 82.95 83.90 81.70 82.30DBL 241.10 245.60 233.15 239.35UFLEX 172.60 176.60 165.45 172.95VINATIORGA 985.00 985.15 951.05 959.85BBTC 838.70 854.00 828.05 831.30HAWKINCOOK 4688.00 4688.00 4513.15 4613.95JUBILANT 389.95 389.95 363.10 366.45GODREJAGRO 405.00 411.30 393.45 397.40INDHOTEL 73.05 73.35 71.25 71.55ASHOKA 61.10 61.90 59.05 59.25BIRLACORPN 394.80 394.80 372.50 379.75WHIRLPOOL 1969.15 1989.80 1924.55 1946.60GMM 3580.00 3580.00 3451.00 3487.10VGUARD 171.00 173.80 167.45 172.45PGHH 10063.35 10350.00 9979.00 10137.05BLISSGVS 96.45 97.60 95.40 96.30NHPC 20.30 20.50 20.20 20.30RESPONIND 82.00 82.00 80.55 80.75ENDURANCE 615.00 617.05 602.00 608.70KTKBANK 41.60 41.60 39.50 39.80GUJGAS 243.75 244.65 232.85 235.05SUDARSCHEM 392.90 392.90 382.00 383.85SOBHA 176.30 176.30 172.40 172.40GLAXO 1448.00 1485.00 1442.00 1462.80SCI 42.50 43.75 42.50 43.10GSFC 43.60 44.40 42.35 42.60PTC 38.05 38.75 37.75 38.50RAJESHEXPO 572.00 572.00 545.00 549.55INOXLEISUR 206.10 208.20 202.50 207.10SUNTECK 180.25 182.15 168.10 169.95MOIL 128.10 130.50 125.00 126.70JKPAPER 93.90 94.85 92.40 93.90RVNL 17.00 17.00 16.40 16.50DHFL 12.47 12.47 11.77 11.84HEIDELBERG 145.20 145.20 140.30 142.55APLAPOLLO 1279.60 1284.00 1235.80 1244.75METROPOLIS 1181.10 1257.80 1181.10 1248.20IBULISL 38.00 40.10 37.80 37.80QUESS 198.65 198.65 192.00 193.10FCONSUMER 8.93 8.93 8.52 8.52GICRE 128.50 134.20 127.10 130.75EIDPARRY 146.80 151.60 145.00 147.35MINDAIND 257.20 266.40 250.00 257.20CUB 140.50 143.30 136.10 141.15MRPL 32.50 32.50 30.30 30.95TATAMETALI 435.00 450.00 429.45 437.80VENKYS 1040.55 1040.55 995.50 1006.15CHENNPETRO 60.50 60.50 57.80 58.45VIPIND 218.25 219.30 213.35 215.50ENGINERSIN 65.50 65.55 63.15 63.45RELAXO 605.00 610.35 603.05 605.45HONAUT 27149.50 27672.00 26871.25 27069.40LEMONTREE 17.50 17.50 16.10 16.15JINDALSAW 50.80 52.45 50.50 51.25KEI 272.00 275.20 268.00 270.20WABAG 113.95 115.00 110.20 110.20SUNDRMFAST 295.85 316.95 292.50 306.60

DELTACORP* 67.75 67.75 65.65 66.55KNRCON 202.40 202.90 195.40 196.05PRESTIGE 165.35 165.35 157.80 161.05FORCEMOT 812.00 820.00 794.25 805.60HUDCO 23.45 23.45 22.40 22.75VSTIND 2885.00 2910.00 2823.00 2887.50JAMNAAUTO 24.90 24.90 23.75 24.10NBCC 19.30 19.30 18.65 18.75GUJALKALI 343.00 343.00 327.20 329.70IFCI 3.98 4.00 3.90 3.99WELSPUNIND 24.00 24.25 23.65 24.00NESCO 425.60 428.65 420.05 421.85BAJAJCON 135.50 135.50 131.45 134.15GSPL 197.00 201.65 194.60 195.25SHOPERSTOP 176.00 177.00 155.85 162.20PARAGMILK 88.15 91.45 86.25 89.95GILLETTE 5100.00 5100.00 4971.00 5075.90BALRAMCHIN 96.00 97.40 92.45 97.40SHK 59.05 59.20 56.00 56.80COCHINSHIP 235.35 239.45 231.40 233.35BASF 998.50 1019.00 987.80 998.45HSCL 49.40 49.40 46.75 47.05JCHAC 2382.05 2396.70 2301.25 2350.80BOMDYEING 46.95 48.55 46.35 47.20FDC 240.90 247.30 238.75 245.80WELCORP 61.00 62.05 59.60 59.75PHOENIXLTD 520.95 544.25 520.00 532.90BALMLAWRIE 96.70 96.75 95.10 96.20JKTYRE 50.25 50.25 45.25 47.55TRIDENT 4.65 4.80 4.54 4.78TV18BRDCST 18.60 18.60 18.00 18.15TNPL 90.55 91.05 89.10 89.50J&KBANK 13.80 13.80 13.20 13.20WESTLIFE 287.30 298.05 284.35 292.65BAJAJHLDNG 1889.60 1929.15 1880.00 1897.90PHILIPCARB 73.00 74.70 72.90 73.80BAYERCROP 4503.65 4553.00 4500.05 4524.25IDFC 13.95 14.13 13.67 13.93SHILPAMED 394.80 394.90 381.15 384.55SYNGENE 317.30 319.95 310.40 312.35DISHTV 4.80 4.85 4.69 4.79

INFIBEAM 41.80 44.70 41.10 44.70PGHL 4200.00 4251.00 4153.65 4218.50GARFIBRES 1286.85 1293.75 1268.05 1268.05PCJEWELLER 11.30 11.30 10.93 11.17GREAVESCOT 73.30 77.20 73.30 76.15SYMPHONY 865.00 865.00 836.35 841.35MINDACORP 61.40 61.40 58.70 59.45REDINGTON 71.95 74.10 70.60 73.05AEGISLOG 163.70 173.50 161.35 168.80JSWENERGY 40.00 40.90 39.55 39.95GAYAPROJ 16.66 16.66 16.66 16.663MINDIA 18760.30 18802.95 18538.85 18730.25SIS 403.30 403.30 369.55 376.70VTL 626.15 631.95 619.00 629.95THYROCARE 505.45 508.85 498.65 503.70FSL 34.80 34.80 32.60 32.85TATAINVEST 695.25 716.30 687.00 701.50DCAL* 79.55 79.55 75.90 75.90SUPREMEIND 1003.80 1005.00 980.00 983.20MAHSEAMLES 201.65 202.35 193.15 198.25CAPPL 330.00 335.85 317.85 326.95DCMSHRIRAM 262.55 262.55 255.75 258.00CENTURYPLY 111.95 113.05 109.10 110.05ASTRAL 921.10 939.15 905.75 923.10DALBHARAT* 516.10 520.00 508.90 514.00FINOLEXIND 380.00 380.00 361.00 362.50THERMAX 708.80 717.90 702.25 714.35BLUESTARCO 506.85 518.25 488.00 509.10UCOBANK 12.34 12.34 11.81 12.04JYOTHYLAB 105.15 108.55 104.40 107.20CREDITACC 451.85 463.70 431.10 453.60ECLERX 430.00 438.85 425.50 430.60ORIENTREF 150.85 161.95 142.00 149.20ORIENTELEC 182.00 182.00 169.15 173.50INTELLECT 67.05 67.05 64.80 64.80ALLCARGO 70.75 72.50 69.55 71.60IEX 144.00 147.00 144.00 145.90CHOLAHLDNG 274.25 292.80 274.25 281.75MMTC 13.90 14.29 13.61 13.94HFCL 10.98 10.98 10.29 10.37JTEKTINDIA 48.75 51.75 47.55 50.45HATHWAY 18.30 18.55 17.75 17.90

BRIGADE 112.35 116.00 110.60 112.25HAL 506.55 510.00 500.05 504.05LAOPALA 161.60 174.60 154.95 169.30MAHABANK 9.00 9.11 8.70 9.06MAXINDIA 59.75 59.75 58.00 59.35IFBIND 392.95 398.00 375.00 380.75GICHSGFIN 68.95 69.00 66.50 67.45ITDC 155.50 155.50 146.85 150.30KRBL 182.60 187.95 182.10 184.60CARERATING 375.35 378.00 366.30 375.35JKCEMENT 1087.85 1100.45 1083.15 1096.45RPOWER 2.06 2.06 2.06 2.06ADANITRANS 192.85 200.60 192.10 195.80IIFL 73.35 73.35 69.70 71.50ASTERDM 98.15 98.15 93.65 95.00VARROC 151.00 153.00 145.00 150.25FINCABLES 233.40 233.40 227.25 227.90ORIENTCEM 39.80 39.80 36.00 38.50SJVN 20.60 21.05 20.60 21.00FINEORG 1971.55 1994.35 1960.00 1964.40TIMKEN 838.00 860.35 830.00 849.05NH 263.65 271.20 262.60 270.25AKZOINDIA 1950.00 1992.40 1943.00 1970.30MOTILALOFS* 519.00 519.00 486.25 496.00TTKPRESTIG 4649.35 4696.50 4625.00 4668.50LAXMIMACH 2395.00 2430.95 2395.00 2423.80ITDCEM 34.85 35.50 33.35 33.95GHCL 101.00 103.60 100.60 101.25RELINFRA 19.10 19.10 19.10 19.10TCIEXP 712.65 712.65 693.70 700.85DBCORP 70.85 71.00 69.10 69.60MAHLOG 250.05 251.85 242.05 245.95ADVENZYMES 149.00 149.00 139.50 140.80JKLAKSHMI 193.45 199.55 192.65 197.15GMDCLTD 38.00 38.45 37.45 38.00REPCOHOME 115.30 121.75 114.65 119.45CENTRALBK 14.70 14.70 14.25 14.45KPITTECH 54.60 57.00 52.30 53.75GPPL 54.95 55.95 54.05 54.30CHALET 137.30 152.00 124.00 135.25CCL 186.70 193.85 186.70 189.65GALAXYSURF 1343.65 1390.75 1309.45 1357.55WABCOINDIA 6105.10 6263.15 6105.10 6212.15NLCINDIA 44.30 44.50 43.80 43.95GEPIL 416.00 419.55 411.00 413.15JSL 28.00 29.25 28.00 28.90IOB 7.40 7.50 7.20 7.42CRISIL 1439.00 1469.65 1417.85 1446.95ERIS 488.60 488.60 477.00 479.75ESSELPRO 175.80 177.55 172.00 174.60AIAENG 1522.50 1576.00 1520.55 1541.30SHANKARA 276.95 276.95 252.70 256.60LUXIND 999.00 999.00 902.00 909.60PRSMJOHNSN 34.50 34.70 33.40 34.00SOMANYCERA 96.25 100.00 90.25 98.00SHRIRAMCIT 773.00 773.00 711.10 712.25GET&D 79.00 80.00 74.10 74.65CARBORUNIV 214.15 215.10 210.00 213.35MHRIL 129.00 130.00 127.05 127.60MAHSCOOTER 2006.10 2046.05 1980.00 2034.00GRINDWELL 503.00 521.65 480.25 503.95NETWORK18 21.65 21.95 21.00 21.05ZYDUSWELL 1299.15 1308.95 1291.35 1307.40ZENSARTECH 79.55 83.60 77.50 82.45MASFIN 570.95 575.00 549.00 566.75EIHOTEL 73.00 73.85 70.70 70.70GESHIP 226.90 230.20 223.05 223.95DHANUKA 438.80 443.00 428.95 442.35BLUEDART 2179.10 2224.00 2131.10 2156.10MAHLIFE 179.05 179.05 173.00 175.00NILKAMAL 1034.10 1045.00 1031.05 1033.05CERA 2161.30 2226.00 2146.15 2206.80HIMATSEIDE 51.20 51.20 49.70 49.90NBVENTURES 35.55 36.20 34.90 35.15KSB 457.55 466.35 452.25 453.45VMART 1657.45 1664.00 1626.85 1649.30TAKE 52.55 53.45 51.10 51.60INOXWIND 24.95 24.95 23.75 23.75TIMETECHNO 33.45 33.45 30.90 31.40VAIBHAVGBL 952.45 986.80 932.75 946.35TEAMLEASE 1570.00 1570.00 1560.00 1561.55TVSSRICHAK 1083.00 1083.00 988.00 1000.30SOLARINDS 890.00 893.95 877.15 878.80PNCINFRA 115.30 115.30 109.55 111.95MAHINDCIE 109.20 109.20 109.20 109.20ESABINDIA 1042.75 1072.70 1042.75 1049.35NAVNETEDUL 70.40 73.00 68.10 70.90HERITGFOOD 251.25 254.75 245.00 250.10JAGRAN 39.30 40.00 39.20 39.70FLFL 141.55 147.80 141.50 141.50GDL 87.25 91.50 87.25 90.85LAKSHVILAS 14.22 14.37 13.60 14.05VRLLOG 157.10 161.95 157.10 161.45SADBHAV 54.20 54.20 54.20 54.20ARVINDFASN 127.60 135.75 127.60 133.55INDOSTAR 272.00 273.00 272.00 272.05RATNAMANI 889.00 889.00 861.15 865.15TEJASNET 36.85 36.85 35.00 35.00TCNSBRANDS 412.00 412.00 369.25 374.70TVTODAY 181.00 186.50 181.00 181.50SFL 1396.20 1396.20 1343.05 1362.00SUPRAJIT 113.50 114.65 112.55 113.75CENTRUM 10.30 10.50 10.11 10.43STARCEMENT 73.90 73.90 72.85 72.90SCHAEFFLER 3316.55 3354.20 3315.00 3341.85AAVAS 1060.40 1141.30 1060.40 1110.05JSLHISAR 41.65 43.65 41.55 42.60KPRMILL 436.25 439.25 427.40 434.90GULFOILLUB 567.70 567.70 558.00 561.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 9226.80 9346.90 9116.50 9270.90 65.30BAJFINANCE 2010.00 2131.90 1952.35 2112.00 109.65M&M 371.50 393.00 358.25 388.00 19.85GAIL 92.00 95.00 89.70 94.70 3.60HDFCBANK 919.00 950.00 905.65 946.55 35.10ICICIBANK 331.50 345.55 325.25 342.80 11.95TATAMOTORS 81.55 83.95 80.35 83.70 2.80BHARTIARTL 531.75 551.45 530.05 546.00 17.95ADANIPORTS 261.10 273.50 261.10 271.50 8.40ZEEL 150.00 154.50 147.00 153.10 4.70HEROMOTOCO1981.00 2058.90 1933.25 2025.70 60.35GRASIM 475.00 486.00 469.20 485.00 13.55HDFC 1709.00 1777.55 1680.00 1735.00 45.10HINDALCO 116.00 120.70 115.50 118.90 3.00NTPC 92.95 95.45 92.20 94.75 2.15INDUSINDBK 420.00 429.35 408.50 428.00 9.30BAJAJ-AUTO 2425.00 2495.00 2361.30 2475.00 52.20TATASTEEL 274.10 280.45 272.05 278.30 5.65ULTRACEMCO 3300.00 3389.50 3247.15 3350.00 65.65SHREECEM 18624.95 18930.00 18523.55 18845.00 333.00TECHM 503.75 509.10 490.00 508.00 8.05BAJAJFINSV 4647.00 4789.80 4542.00 4700.00 70.80WIPRO 185.70 188.00 181.00 186.95 2.75JSWSTEEL 165.50 169.30 163.15 166.30 2.40POWERGRID 162.90 166.65 162.70 165.60 1.95AXISBANK 385.00 394.45 368.05 393.50 4.50ONGC 81.35 81.35 77.45 79.25 0.80SBIN 171.15 173.30 166.55 171.95 1.55KOTAKBANK 1231.00 1277.40 1214.25 1248.60 10.25VEDL 79.70 80.90 77.95 79.30 0.40EICHERMOT 13825.00 14175.40 13600.00 13866.00 55.05BRITANNIA 2950.00 3065.00 2907.65 2990.00 11.25MARUTI 4841.20 5000.00 4710.00 4841.95 12.10LT 838.00 848.00 817.60 839.00 2.10HCLTECH 512.20 526.70 506.20 521.00 0.60RELIANCE 1464.00 1484.95 1445.50 1461.50 0.85SUNPHARMA 459.60 463.00 448.00 456.50 0.20DRREDDY 3851.00 3880.00 3805.05 3835.00 1.10ASIANPAINT 1615.00 1638.70 1577.00 1616.00 -3.15NESTLEIND 17421.50 17617.10 17270.00 17296.00 -125.50TITAN 887.00 891.95 861.25 879.00 -7.95CIPLA 597.50 606.00 590.00 591.45 -5.45INFY 676.90 681.45 664.05 667.00 -6.70TCS 1939.80 1953.70 1893.60 1908.50 -24.25BPCL 321.25 346.45 312.35 342.50 -4.55UPL 392.95 392.95 373.00 380.20 -6.85HINDUNILVR 2049.95 2073.00 2000.00 2001.80 -39.70IOC 76.80 77.30 72.80 76.80 -1.90COALINDIA 139.35 139.35 133.15 134.00 -4.00ITC 171.40 171.40 160.50 164.95 -8.95INFRATEL 171.00 174.00 159.50 161.20 -9.40

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 22823.95 23099.80 22527.25 23009.80 218.30BANDHANBNK 237.80 253.50 222.15 251.75 15.50ICICIPRULI 374.90 403.35 370.95 397.10 22.15IBULHSGFIN 120.05 126.00 118.30 125.80 6.90SRTRANSFIN 733.95 795.00 721.75 780.00 40.40CONCOR 339.00 354.00 325.85 351.80 15.80ACC 1145.00 1190.00 1141.70 1182.85 48.25AUROPHARMA 633.70 667.80 626.55 658.35 26.75MOTHERSUMI 74.60 77.80 72.00 77.10 2.90L&TFH 58.10 59.85 56.85 59.70 2.15HDFCLIFE 478.00 499.00 469.45 493.90 16.35PIDILITIND 1396.10 1450.05 1376.20 1433.00 39.55SBILIFE 716.95 749.00 706.00 733.05 19.50HDFCAMC 2544.95 2600.00 2503.00 2597.50 69.15OFSS 2396.95 2425.00 2349.75 2406.10 62.60IDEA 4.10 4.40 4.05 4.25 0.10DLF 127.90 131.20 125.00 129.70 2.90PEL 900.00 940.00 857.30 928.00 17.30MARICO 298.90 305.95 294.00 302.30 5.60AMBUJACEM 165.60 170.55 164.50 167.90 3.10PETRONET 228.00 234.90 225.80 233.25 4.20BIOCON 350.95 355.50 345.35 354.00 4.80PGHH 10052.00 10375.00 9964.00 10196.00 124.95HINDZINC 172.95 172.95 167.75 169.30 1.90PNB 29.20 29.60 28.50 29.50 0.30DABUR 454.95 458.35 443.10 456.45 3.95HAVELLS 509.05 518.00 492.45 510.95 4.35BAJAJHLDNG 1904.00 1930.00 1877.45 1905.00 14.25MCDOWELL-N 495.00 498.35 478.50 497.00 2.10COLPAL 1356.00 1374.00 1310.15 1348.05 4.55NMDC 73.50 74.65 71.40 73.15 0.25NHPC 20.50 20.50 20.20 20.35 0.05DIVISLAB 2310.00 2313.85 2241.70 2290.00 5.75LUPIN 834.95 840.65 817.05 828.60 1.80CADILAHC 328.95 330.70 323.60 326.80 0.70NIACL 122.90 130.00 120.55 124.80 -0.15ICICIGI 1229.00 1239.70 1174.35 1211.40 -1.95GICRE 130.90 134.50 127.00 129.95 -0.30DMART 2200.00 2249.00 2126.55 2190.00 -8.95BOSCHLTD 9980.00 10090.00 9722.20 9863.60 -52.80BERGEPAINT 460.20 474.55 455.05 465.75 -2.75PAGEIND 17350.00 17489.95 16900.00 17100.00 -115.10ADANITRANS 195.00 200.75 191.00 196.50 -1.45PFC 90.70 91.40 88.40 90.00 -0.70INDIGO 931.00 954.80 911.60 942.00 -8.30UBL 902.00 917.55 865.55 899.25 -9.10GODREJCP 513.75 513.75 495.10 507.00 -7.30SIEMENS 1069.40 1099.00 1039.50 1050.00 -19.75ASHOKLEY 48.50 49.45 47.20 47.45 -0.90BANKBARODA 44.00 44.20 41.80 42.35 -1.65HINDPETRO 200.60 205.00 186.70 201.85 -12.75

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AChinese medicalresearcher on the “verge of

making very significant” coro-navirus findings has beenfound shot dead in the US stateof Pennsylvania, media reportssaid on Wednesday.

University of Pittsburghprofessor Bing Liu, 37, wasfound dead inside his home inRoss Township, north ofPittsburgh, on Saturday withgunshot wounds to the head,neck, torso and extremities,according to the Ross PoliceDepartment.

Investigators believe anunidentified second man, HaoGu, 46 who was found dead inhis car, shot and killed Liu inhis home before returning tohis car and taking his own life,the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettereported.

Police believe the menknew each other, but say there

is “zero indication that therewas targeting due to his (Liu)being Chinese,” according toDetective Sgt. Brian Kohlhepp,the CNN reported.

The university issued astatement saying it is “deeply saddened by the trag-ic death of Bing Liu, a prolificresearcher and admired col-league at Pitt.

The University extends ourdeepest sympathies to Liu’sfamily, friends and colleaguesduring this difficult time.”

“Bing was on the verge ofmaking very significant find-ings toward understanding thecellular mechanisms thatunderlie SARS-CoV-2 infec-tion and the cellular basis of thefollowing complications,” hiscolleagues at the university’sDepartment of Computationaland Systems Biology said in astatement.

“He was a very talentedindividual, extremely intelligent

and hard-working,” said IvetBahar, the head of the compu-tational and system biologydepartment in Pitt’s School ofMedicine. Members of the uni-versity’s School of Medicinedescribe their former colleagueas an outstanding researcherand mentor, and have pledgedto complete Liu’s research “inan effort to pay homage to hisscientific excellence.”

Liu, who earned a Ph.D incomputational science fromthe National University ofSingapore, worked as a post-doctoral fellow at CarnegieMellon University beforebecoming a research associateat the University of PittsburghSchool of Medicine.

The deadly coronaviruswhich originated from theChinese city of Wuhan hasinfected over 3.67 million peo-ple and killed 258,051 peopleglobally, according to a tally byJohns Hopkins University.

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China on Wednesday daredUS Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo to show the “enor-mous evidence” he has to provethat the novel coronavirus orig-inated from a lab in Wuhan andasserted that the matter shouldbe handled by scientists insteadof politicians out of theirdomestic political compulsionsin an election year.

In recent days, USPresident Donald Trump andSecretary of State Pompeo haveclaimed that the deadly virusoriginated from the WuhanInstitute of Virology in the cen-tral Chinese city of Wuhan,where the outbreak was firstdetected last December. Thetwo leaders have also said thatChina has refused to give inter-national scientists access tolearn what happened.

The claim has drawn fierce

rebuttal from Beijing, which onWednesday described the accusation as “smear”intended to bolster PresidentTrump’s re-election chances inNovember.

“He (Pompeo) said ‘enor-mous evidence’. Then showus,” Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunyingtold a media briefing here.“Pompeo cannot present anyevidence because he does nothave any,” Hua said. “This mat-ter should be handled by sci-entists and professionalsinstead of politicians out oftheir domestic political need”.

China’s foreign ministrycalled the accusations a polit-ical strategy to “smear China”for Republicans ahead of the2020 election.

“The recently exposed USRepublican strategies showsthey are encouraged to attackChina under the pretext of the

virus,” Hua said, adding thatChina was “fed up with suchtricks.”

“We urge the US to stopspreading disinformation ormisleading the internationalcommunity. It should deal withits own problems and dealwith the pandemic at home,”she said. Hua said the head ofthe World Health Organisation(WHO) stated that the US hasnot presented any evidence toit so far to back up its claims.

“On the issue of the originof coronavirus, people have dif-ferent opinions. I think tracingthe origin is a very serious mat-ter. That should be researchedby scientists and professionals,”she said.

“Almost all top scientists,including those in the US,believe that this virus camefrom nature, not man-madeand there is no possibility thatit was leaked from a lab,” said.

“The WHO officials alsosaid all the evidence showedthat the virus is not man-made”, she said.

Hua also said all countriesmust examine the reports thatthe cases of Covid-19 werereported in some countries in

September and December lastyear. She said recent reportssaid coronavirus cases werereported in the US in October

last year. Reports from Francespoke of a coronavirus casedetected from a patient inDecember last year, Hua said.

� �� .-.B1

Asenior Chinese diplomatexpressed backing for the

World Health Organisation onWednesday, but said an invita-tion for the agency’s experts tovisit Wuhan to look into theorigins of the coronavirus mustwait until after the pandemic isbeaten.

“First things first: The toppriority for the time being is tofocus on the fight against thepandemic,” said Chen Xu,China’s ambassador to UNinstitutions in Geneva, whenasked about the timing of a

possible invitation for a WHOteam. “We need the right focusand allocation of ourresources.”

“So it’s not we are allergicto any kind of investigations,inquiries or evaluations,” hesaid, “as long as it will be ben-eficial to the internationalefforts.”

The comments from Chenamount to the latest Chinesediplomatic push, just as theUnited States has criticized theWHO over its handling of theCOVID-19 outbreak that hasinfected millions and killed atleast 2,50,000 people — and its

alleged coziness with Beijing.Chen said China is now on

board for an initiative led by theWHO, many European coun-tries and charity groups like theGates Foundation to expeditevaccines and COVID-19 treat-ment tools to developing coun-tries. He didn’t offer details onhow China would show itssupport.

The US meanwhile hasnot lined up for the Access toCOVID-19 Tools, or ACT,“Accelerator” that aims to helpthe most vulnerable countriesgain access to vaccines, diag-nostics and treatment tools for

the coronavirus as they emerge.President Donald Trump’s

administration has criticizedthe WHO’s handling of theearly outbreak and announceda suspension of funding fromthe US — the UN agency’s topdonor. Administration officialshave accused the WHO ofcovering up missteps as theoutbreak emerged in Wuhan.

Chen said the US was“duty-bound” to keep up itsfunding.

“We do hope that theAmericans could have secondthoughts, to come back to theright track,” he said.

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From the marbled halls ofItaly to the wheat fields of

Kansas, health authorities areincreasingly warning that thequestion isn’t whether a secondwave of coronavirus infectionsand deaths will hit, but when —and how badly.

In India, which relaxed itslockdown this week, healthauthorities scrambledWednesday to contain an out-break at a huge market. Hard-hit New York City shut downits subway system overnight fordisinfection. Experts in Italy,which just began easing somerestrictions, warned lawmakersthat a new surge of infections and deaths is com-ing, and they urged intensifiedefforts to identify victims, mon-itor their symptoms and tracetheir contacts.

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel said after meeting withthe country’s 16 governors thatrestaurants and remainingshops will be allowed to reopenin the coming weeks but thatrestrictions will be reimposed ifnew infections hit a certainlevel. “There will be a secondwave, but the problem is towhich extent. Is it a small waveor a big wave? It’s too early tosay,” said Olivier Schwartz, headof the virus and immunity unitat France’s Pasteur Institute.France, which hasn’t yet easedits lockdown, has worked up a“re-confinement plan” to readyfor that second wave.

Many areas are still strug-gling with the first wave. Brazilfor the first time locked downa large city, the capital ofMaranhão state. Across theocean, the number of con-firmed coronavirus cases inAfrica has shot up 42% in thepast week. Infections wereexpected to surpass 50,000 thereon Wednesday.

An Associated Press analy-sis, meanwhile, found that U.S.infection rates outside the NewYork City area are in fact rising,notably in rural areas. It found

New York’s progress against thevirus was overshadowingincreasing infections elsewhere.

“Make no mistakes: Thisvirus is still circulating in ourcommunity, perhaps even morenow than in previous weeks,”said Linda Ochs, director of theHealth Department in ShawneeCounty, Kansas.

The virus is known to haveinfected more than 3.6 millionand killed more than 251,000people, according to a tally byJohns Hopkins that all expertsagree is an undercount becauseof limited testing, differences incounting the dead and con-cealment by some governments.

The U.S. has seen over71,000 deaths amid its 1.2 mil-lion confirmed infections, andEurope has endured over144,000 reported deaths.

“Burying both parents atthe same time? It’s hard,” saidDesmond Tolbert, who lost hismother and father in ruralGeorgia. Because they had thevirus, he couldn’t be with themwhen they died.

The researchers behind awidely cited model from theUniversity of Washington near-ly doubled their projection ofdeaths in the U.S. to around134,000 through early August,in large part because of the eas-ing of state stay-at-home restric-tions.

President Donald Trump,with his eye on being reelectedin November, is pushing hard toease the social-distancing ordersand resuscitate the U.S. econo-my, which has seen over 30 mil-lion workers lose their jobs inless than two months. Thoughthe White House had signaledTuesday that it would beginwinding down the country’scoronavirus task force, Trumptweeted Wednesday that itwould continue “indefinitelywith its focus on SAFETY &OPENING UP OUR COUN-TRY AGAIN.”

Underscoring those eco-nomic concerns, the EuropeanUnion predicted the worstrecession in its quarter-century

history, and the U.S. unem-ployment rate for April, whichcomes out Friday, is expected tohit a startling 16 percent, a levellast seen during the GreatDepression of the 1930s.

A century ago, the Spanishflu epidemic’s second wave wasfar deadlier than its first, in partbecause authorities allowedmass gatherings fromPhiladelphia to San Francisco.

As Italy’s lockdown easedthis week, Dr. Silvio Brusaferro,president of the SuperiorInstitute of Health, urged “ahuge investment” of resources totrain medical personnel to mon-itor possible new cases. He saidtracing apps — which are beingbuilt by dozens of countries andcompanies — aren’t enough tomanage future waves of infec-tion.

“We are not out of the epi-demic. We are still in it. I don’twant people to think there’s nomore risk and we go back tonormal,” said Dr. GiovanniRezza, head of the institute’sinfectious-disease department.

Lothar Wieler, head ofGermany’s national disease con-trol center, said scientists “knowwith great certainty that therewill be a second wave” of infec-tions but said Germany is well-prepared to deal with it. Thecountry has been hailed for test-ing widely and has had one-fourth the number of deaths inItaly or Britain, which havesmaller populations.

Britain has begun recruiting18,000 people to trace contactsof those infected. British officialsacknowledge that they shouldhave done more testing and trac-ing earlier and could learn fromSouth Korea, which brought itsoutbreak under control by rig-orously testing, tracing and iso-lating infected people.

South Africa, which hasyears of experience trackingHIV and other infections, hasmore than 30,000 experiencedcommunity tracers at work.Turkey has 5,800 teams of con-tact tracers who have trackeddown and tested nearly half a

million people.India was concentrated on

the immediate drama aroundthe market in the southern cityof Chennai, which is now tiedto at least 1,000 virus cases. Anadditional 7,000 people con-nected to the now-shutteredKoyambedu market are beingtraced and quarantined. Expertsare worried about a health cat-astrophe in a country of 1.3 bil-lion people with an alreadystressed medical system.

New confirmed daily infec-tions in the U.S. exceed 20,000,and deaths per day are well over1,000, according to the JohnsHopkins tally. And public healthofficials warn that the failure tolower the infection rate couldlead to many more deaths —perhaps tens of thousands — aspeople venture out and busi-nesses reopen.

“The faster we reopen, thelower the economic cost — butthe higher the human cost,because the more lives lost,”New York Gov. Andrew Cuomosai d. “That, my friends, is thedecision we are really making.”

New York City Mayor Billde Blasio warned on CNN thatsome states may be reopeningtoo quickly.

“My message to the rest ofthe country is learn from howmuch effort, how much disci-pline it took to finally bringthese numbers down and followthe same path until you’re surethat it’s being beaten back,” hesaid, “or else if this thingboomerangs, you’re putting offany kind of restart or recoverya hell of a lot longer.”

Trump acknowledged thetoll but argued that keeping theUS economy closed carriesdeadly costs of its own, such asdrug abuse and suicides.

“I’m not saying anything isperfect, and yes, will some peo-ple be affected? Yes. Will somepeople be affected badly? Yes.But we have to get our countryopen and we have to get it opensoon,” he said during a visit toArizona in which he did notwear a face mask.

Geneva: At least 90,000 health-care workers worldwide arebelieved to have been infectedwith Covid-19, and possiblytwice that, amid reports ofcontinuing shortages of pro-tective equipment, theInternational Council of Nurses(ICN) said on Wednesday.

The disease has killed morethan 260 nurses, it said in astatement, urging authorities tokeep more accurate records tohelp prevent the virus fromspreading among staff andpatients.

The Geneva-based associ-ation said a month ago that 100nurses had died in the pan-demic sparked by a novel coro-navirus that emerged in thecentral Chinese city of Wuhanlate last year.

“The figure for health careworkers infections has risenfrom 23,000 to we think morethan 90,000, but that is still anunder-estimation because it is

not (covering) every country inthe world,” Howard Catton,ICN’s chief executive officer,told Reuters Television in itslakeside offices.

The 90,000 estimate isbased on information collect-ed on 30 countries fromnational nursing associations,government figures and mediareports. The ICN represents130 national associations andmore than 20 million registerednurses.

Catton, noting that 3.5million cases of Covid-19 havebeen reported worldwide, said:“If the average health workerinfection rate, about 6 percentwe think, is applied to that, thefigure globally could be morethan 2,00,000 health workerinfections on Wednesday.

“The scandal is thatGovernments are not system-atically collecting and report-ing on this information. Itlooks to us as though they are

turning a blind eye which wethink is completely unacceptable and will costmore lives,” Catton, a Briton,added.

The World HealthOrganization (WHO), which iscoordinating the globalresponse to the pandemic, saysthat its 194 member states arenot providing comprehensivefigures on health worker infec-tions as they grapple with theunprecedented crisis.

The WHO last said onApril 11 that some 22,000health workers were thought tohave been infected.

The ICN said it nowbelieves those “shocking” fig-ures to significantly underesti-mate the reality.

“This failure to record bothinfection rates and deathsamong healthcare workers isputting more nurses and theirpatients in danger,” the state-ment said. Agency

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There are no signs NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un

received heart surgery when hedisappeared from state mediafor three weeks, but he reduced public activity due tocoronavirus concerns, SouthKorean lawmakers briefed bythe spy agency said onWednesday.

Kim attended the comple-tion of a fertiliser plant, NorthKorea’s official media said onSaturday, the first report of his appearing in public sinceApril 11.

His absence fuelled a flur-ry of speculation about hishealth and whereabouts, witha South Korean news outletreporting Kim was recovering

from a cardiovascular proce-dure while CNN said US officials were monitoringIntelligence he was “in gravedanger” after surgery.

Members of South Korea’sparliamentary Intelligencecommittee said after a meetingwith the National IntelligenceService (NIS) that the reportswere “groundless.”

“The NIS assesses that atleast he did not get any heart-related procedure or surgery,”committee member KimByung-kee told reporters.

“He was normally per-forming his duties when he wasout of the public eye.”

“At least there’s no heart-related health problem.”

But the lawmaker said KimJong Un only made 17 public

appearances so far this year,compared with an average of 50from previous years, whichthe National IntelligenceService (NIS) ascribed to a pos-sible coronavirus outbreak inNorth Korea.

“Kim Jong Un had focusedon consolidating internal affairs such as military forcesand party-state meetings, andcoronavirus concerns have further limited his public activity,” Kim Byung-kee said.

“Though North Koreamaintains it has zero cases, itcannot be ruled out that there is an outbreak theregiven they had active people-to-people exchanges withChina before closing the bor-der in late January.”

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In the backstage hallways ofWashington DC’s Capital One

Arena, Michelle Obama walksarm-in-arm with her husband,Barack Obama. She has just fin-ished the third stop on whatwould be a 34-city book tour ofsuch unprecedented scale that italmost resembled a Beyoncéconcert tour.

Nadia Hallgren’s camera istrailing them when Michelle per-haps looking for reassurance,asks the former president: “Doesit seem like a show that you’d liketo see?”

Hallgren’s documentary,Becoming, is — more so thanwe’ve seen before — the MichelleObama Show. It captures the for-mer first lady, in settings bothpublic and intimate, navigatingher post-White House life, inter-acting with fans and generallyfostering a spirit of positivity, self-belief and hope that few besideher husband are capable ofinspiring.

“My life is starting to be mineagain,” she says in the film.“There’s another chapter waitingfor me out there.”

Becoming, which debutsWednesday on Netflix, is anextension of her 2018 best-sell-ing memoir of the same nameand a kind of authorised filmicportrait of Obama. It’s producedby Higher Ground Productions,the film company founded by theObamas.

Before now, Higher Groundhas backed well-received, social-ly-minded documentaries aboutAmerican labour (the Oscar-

winning American Factory) andthe disability rights movement(the acclaimed Sundance-winnerCrip Camp: A DisabilityRevolution). It’s been an auspi-cious, award-winning beginningfor Higher Ground, the mostambitious post-White Housedive into Hollywood of any for-mer US president. WithBecoming, one half of HigherGround now steps in front of thecamera, too.

The film, itself, was a secretuntil last week when Netflixannounced its forthcoming pre-miere. Hallgren typically workedwith small crews or just by her-self. Much of Becoming takesplace either in arenas crowdedwith cameras or in private set-tings — the back seat of an SUV,the childhood home of Obama— so few would have spotted her.

“I think if people saw me, itprobably looked very unofficial,”chuckles Hallgren. KeepingBecoming clandestine still wasn’teasy, though. “My closest friendshad no idea what I was doing,”Hallgren says. “People werealways like, ‘What are you upto?’”

Hallgren is a veteran docu-mentary cinematographer

(Trouble the Water, Girl Rising,Trapped) making her featuredirectorial debut. The job,Hallgren believes, she won fromher body of work and, as first

gleaned in a high-pressure meet-ing with Obama, their similari-ties. “She’s from the South Side.I’m from the South Bronx,” saysthe New York-bred filmmaker.

Unlike the interview-heavyHulu doc-series Hillary on HillaryClinton, Hallgren’s approach ismostly fly-on-the-wall, mixingglossy onstage footage of Obama’stalks with the likes of OprahWinfrey, Reese Witherspoon andStephen Colbert with more per-sonal scenes offstage. Obamareflects on her eight years in theWhite House and the often racist-tinged response they engendered.“You hope people were moreready for us than maybe theywere,” she says.

Obama doesn’t analyse the2016 election or the rise ofDonald Trump except for onecomment lamenting the turnoutof African American voters.“That’s my trauma,” she says.

But the main trust ofBecoming is not just Obama’sstory but what she inspires —how one story begets others.Hallgren, drawing from the pho-tography of Garry Winogrand,lingers on the faces in Obama’scrowds, and in some cases takesa moment to follow their lives.Becoming may be part concertfilm but it’s nearly as interested inthe audience as it is in the show-stopper on stage.

“Often times when Obama

was on stage, I was not the maincamera filming her,” saysHallgren. “So I had the opportu-nity to walk around. There wassuch an incredible energy inthose arenas. The excitementthat people had felt special. Ithought: I want to capture this.”

The timing of of the docu-mentary is interesting not justbecause it captures a sense ofcommunity before people wereforced into lockdown by the pan-demic but because it comes in themiddle of the presidential cam-paign. The Deadline review of thefilm isn’t alone in maintaining: “IfMichelle Obama wasn’t soadamant that she isn’t running forpublic office, the perfectly timedthe documentary would sureseem like a campaign launch.”

Obama, however, has stead-fastly maintained she’s not apolitical figure and hasn’t beforeofficially endorsed a candidate.Obama decline to be interviewedfor this article but she released astatement when Becoming wasannounced.

“Even as we can no longersafely gather or feed off the ener-gy of groups, even as many of usare living with grief, lonelinessand fear, we need to stay open andable to put ourselves in other peo-ple’s shoes. Empathy is our lifelinehere. It’s what will get us to theother side,” said Obama. “Let’s useit to redirect our attention towardwhat matters most, reconsiderour priorities, and find ways tobetter remake the world in theimage of our hopes.”

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It started with a small trickle with thesharing of screenshots of chats of anInstagram group by an individual

and, within a few hours, became a del-uge. Soon social media was agog withthe workings of the (now infamous)‘bois locker room,’ where boys (andgirls) spoke graphically about girlstheir age. Within three days, therehave been enough twists and turns tomatch a thriller with arrests, leaking ofmore chats and name calling. But thisis certainly not the first, and certainlynot the last case where juveniles havebeen involved in cyber crime.

Experts who follow juvenile behav-iour acquiesce. Dr Samir Parikh,Director and Head of Department ofMental Health and BehaviouralSciences, Fortis Healthcare says that thecase didn’t come as a surprise. “We arebasically a hibernating society andneed something to wake us up for somedays, intellectualise it and then returnto slumber. There are million other inci-dents out there,” he says.

Supreme Court advocate PavanDuggal, who specialises in Cyberlawsays, “The lockdown period has seen thehighest spike in cyber crime in 20 yearssince the internet was introduced inIndia.”

Of course, there are a number ofreasons why such incidents take place.

����� ����� �� � �� ��"�����

Societal norms hold parents respon-sible for bringing up children andimparting values. Consequently, the firstfingers always point in their directionwhenever youngsters are involved inbehaviour that is deemed unacceptable.Dr Geetanjali Kumar, counselling psy-chologist and parenting coach for 22years points out the gaps in present-dayparenting. “Children have a sense ofentitlement which springs from guiltcompensatory parenting. The latestphones, the smartest TV in each bed-room are gifted by adults to make up fornot spending time with children.” Thequestion to ask is why do youngstersneed these rather than fulfilling everywhim.

An extension of this is the way par-ents cover up their wards’ misde-meanours. “There is no sense of own-ership and responsibility as we haven’tmade them realise that every action hasconsequences,” says Dr Kumar. A

missed test in school sees parentsshooting off explanatory letters. “If thechild hasn’t finished the assigned work,we are quick to say it doesn’t matter andwe will pay the tutor,” says Dr Kumar.The boundaries for the lack of respon-sibility keep on extending to underageor drunken driving and more.

Etishree Bhati, clinical psychologist,says, “There are two kinds of parents.Ones who approach the problem calm-ly and question whether it was curios-ity or sexual arousal that made the childdo this? The other kind are harsh anddon’t try to understand the reasons.Their children are more likely to engagein this behaviour repeatedly, of course,secretly.”

Role modelling too comes intoplay. When the first thing a parent doesin the morning is to scroll the mobile,how can they admonish the child for thesame?

��������� �Society is in a state of flux where

the greys are more prominent while theclear-cut demarcation between rightand wrong has been obliterated. RajatMitra, Professor of Clinical Psychology,Amity University, who has workedextensively with juveniles and appearedin several hundred cases in court toassist its proceedings says, “Many par-ents are indifferent and haven’t takenany assertive stand about value forma-tion.” He recalls an incident whenDelhi Police found minors, both girlsand boys, from upper middle class fam-ilies in a state of undress and engagingin sexual acts in a public place. “Parentsdismissed the behaviour by sayingthat the children were just having funpost exams. Right and wrong havebecome relative unlike in the pastwhen values were absolute,” pointsout Mitra further elaborating thatmost people feel that if it seems right,it must be so.

Bhati extends the argument further.She points out that 15 years ago, edu-cators were talking about limiting chil-dren’s screen time on parents’ deviceand now every child has a personal one.“During lockdown, children retreat totheir rooms on the pretext of onlineclasses but neither the parents nor theteachers are aware of what they aredoing. Even during a class they mightbe chatting or visiting adult sites,” shesays.

������ ��������These blurring lines and easy access

to pornography, with inherent vio-lence, without any influence of ethicshas repercussions. Mitra says, “Between15-20 per cent adolescents get into vio-lent sexual fantasies and some actual-ly commit them.”

Violent and vulgar sexual languageseen in the ‘bois locker room’ screen-shots is indicative of a violent streak.“This violence associated with thecrime gives them a high more than thecrime itself,” says Mitra.

Another attribute of the young is thelove of risk taking. Dr Kumar says, “Theregulatory mechanism of the brainwhich advises caution isn’t developed asyet which makes the prohibited moreattractive.”

��� �������What sparked outrage about the

‘bois locker room’ incident was that itconsisted of a group, rather than justindividuals, engaging in lewd conver-sations. Mitra explains, “The boys givecollective shape to the violent fantasiesas they don’t have to feel individualguilt. It is the same psychology at workwhen crowds burn, kill, loot and rapein the actual world absolving individ-ual responsibility. This is replicated dig-itally.”

� "����"���������� Often we have seen that even at din-

ner tables people are glued to their indi-vidual mobiles. This effectively meansa lack of communication. “Even the sib-ling bond isn’t strong as children do noteven watch TV together,” says DrKumar.

A lack of communication leads toan inability to express emotions and ascarcity of emotional vocabulary. “Weneed to generate thinking with a logi-cal and emotional perspective whereyou can define the whys and hows ofemotions. Children get frustratedbecause they can’t talk to anyoneabout their concerns like changingbody, hormone surge and more,” sheadds.

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The lack of communication meansthat they lack the arsenal to deal withtheir raging hormones. “Will it be donerespectfully or in a vulgar fashion is

what makes or breaks the situation. I’vehad cases where 15-year-old girls haveshared explicit photographs with boysand when discovered, threatened toslash their wrists if the parents say any-thing. The boys asking for photographsand the girls doing it willingly all pointin the direction,” says Kumar.

��������� �������� ��"��� ���C�

A change in the visual and vocab-ulary landscape of the media with theadvent of first, cable television, and now,OTT platforms has been blamed formany societal ills. Dr Parikh says,“Attitudes and behaviours are formed byobservation and imitation. The mostaccessible observable source is themedia. Lack of censorship is taken as asign of free thinking but if we see thetop two-three shows on any streamingplatform and their language, sexual por-trayals as well as violence, we can seewhat the children were influenced by.”He says that, as a deterrent, thereshould be a band at the bottom, high-lighting the negative impact the way itis done with alcohol and cigarettes.

He points out that in the lastdecade we have deteriorated value-wisein the content. He gives the examplesof dance shows featuring children andsays, “Have you seen the expressionsand movements of six-year-olds?”

Of the new media, the social kindhas the singular largest impact. Whenin the the adult world, it is common-place to see violent, sexual and false nar-ratives in social media as a way of bring-ing down independent women, whatmakes us think that children would beimmune from the behaviour? Parikhtoo agrees, “Often Twitter trends havean abusive word and children do use it.”

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“Do you know who is my father?”is a refrain that all of us have heard oftenin reel and real life. Mitra says, “Manychildren grow up in homes where theyhear their parents openly talk of flout-ing laws and bribing police.”

Coupled with the lack of respect forlaw is an extremely derogatory view ofwomen. They grow up in cultureswhere women have get no respect orempathy. “This makes them incapableof empathetic or caring relationships,”says Mitra.

��� �� "��� After parents, schools are supposed

to influence and educate children.Bhati says, “They haven’t been able totalk about emotional closeness and afulfilling relationships. They aren’timparting sex education and even ifthey are, children today believe that theyknow-it-all.”

Dr Kumar, a pioneer in sex educa-tion was associated with the first ado-lescent education programme launchedby United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) in 2002-3, says, “I start thetalk on a neutral note and when I cometo the topic of sex education, thevibrant discussion becomes lukewarm.”Other gaps include the lack of coun-selling despite the presence of psychol-ogists and counsellors.

���� ��� ��� �� ��CDuggal says, “Children accessing

the internet have the basic presumptionthat they know more than their parents.”Add to it the fact that the IT Act of 2000which was amended in 2008 made allthe offenses bailable. People on bailsdeleted the electronic evidence againstthemselves. Consequently, there hasbeen a famine of cyber crime convic-tions giving children the impression thatthe law is inadequate to catch them.“The fact that we haven’t got any exem-plary conviction in the 17 years since2003 makes youngsters reckless,” saysthe lawyer who was the counsel for thefirst cyber crime conviction for thecomplainant in 2003. There has beena massive change in technology and amore holistic, topical Act which takesinto account that most cyber offensesare committed by youngsters is need-ed.

In this case, the juveniles would atthe most be sent to corrective homes oradvised counselling. “Even in the applic-able Act, Section 67 and 67 (A) whichdeal with sharing obscene electroniccontent against a woman were invokedby the police but they should haveincluded Section 67 (B) which woulddeal with child pornography,” saysDuggal.

����� �����While this is one more in the series

of offenses which have been committed,we cannot keep on moving our thresh-old further. Dr Parikh says, “The onlyhope is to create filters in young mindsto minimise damage to belief systems,attitudes and behaviours. Gender sen-sitisation has to be a priority.”

In a t ime when exposure isinevitable, the least we can do is pro-tect children. “Media literacy should betaught in schools along with other sub-jects. This would enable them to ques-tion, ‘Is it right?’ ‘How would this makeme feel if it happened to me or my lovedone?’ ‘Are they selling a product byusing a celebrity?’” says Dr Parikh.Along with this, the media too needsself censorship, self realisation andresponsibility.

Bhati emphasises on appropriateage-related sex education while DrMitra says that parents, schools andfriends need to watch out for cues fromadolescent. “There is a need for preven-tive action and greater awareness.”

For this particular case, Dr Kumarsays, “The parents and the children needto be counselled both in groups andindividually. They should be encour-aged to accept their mistake and thenonly is it possible to move forward.” Asfor the larger picture, she feels parentsand schools should work in tandem toreinforce values. “Counsellors in schoolshave to upgrade their skills. The lock-down is a time for schools to go inwardand find out and address problems intheir vision.”

Only time will tell if the correctiveactions will be put in place or if we willjust slip back into slumber till the nextand even more heinous offense grabseyeballs.

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After a complete destruction of theworld, god recreates the universe

and simultaneously gives the knowl-edge of four Vedas in the heart of fourrishis because in the absence of Vedicknowledge, human beings wouldremain ignorant and would be unableto utilise the purpose of their worldlyexistence.

The first mantra of Rigved is:Agnimeedey Purohitam. It refers to thevirtue that a person must desire to wor-ship god and before beginning any newthing, should first remember god todestroy all the sorrows, problems, dis-eases etc.

Vedas are the invaluable treasureof education of each and every world-ly subject that is, right from straw toBrahma. Therefore, medical science isalso a part and parcel of Vedic knowl-edge.

An Atharvaved mantra preachesthat god is the creator, who nurses andis “Su Bhishaktamaha” that is, the mostsupreme doctor. Hence, god is empow-ered to destroy all diseases, which can-not be controlled by any doctor in theworld.

This is why several doctors, dulyinspired by almighty god, clearlyinform the relatives of highly criticalpatients that, “We, the doctors, havedone our best, now everything lies inthe hands of god.” But it’s our bad luck

that we are ignorant of the Vedas andhence, never praise, pray or worshipgod according to Vedas.

If we stop remembering god, thesupreme power stops protecting usfrom diseases and leaves us to bear thesorrows according to our previous lives’bad deeds.

Vedas preach that the base of thehuman life is Brahmacharya. So anoth-er Atharvaved mantra preaches thatwhen a person maintains firm brah-macharya, then a precious gem ofstrength is generated in his body,which kills all the microbes that causediseases.

Further, it also preaches thatBrahmacharya generates the best med-icine within the body to kill all typesof disease-causing germs. But there isa doubt that in the absence of holdingVedic knowledge whether or notBrahmacharya can be maintained.

In previous yugas, the knowledgeof Vedas was in vogue. As a result,everyone used to maintainBrahmacharya, perform dailyYajyen/agnihotra, which purified theair, water, food, etc. Therefore, the ques-tion of suffering from any disease didnot arise.

In current life, living beings,including humans, spread pollution inthe atmosphere. If we go by a Yajurvedmantra, we will find that if we perform

daily agnihotra/Yajyen, then all infec-tious diseases could be destroyed. Itpurifies the air and thus erodes all kindsof pollution. Where would then the dis-eases exist?

But to our bad luck, unlike previ-ous yugas, we are not aware of the vedicknowledge and as a result are unableto liberate ourselves from serious dis-eases spreading in the world current-ly.

Let us pay our attention to aYajurved mantra, which preaches thatif a person makes contact with alearned Acharya or guru, then s/he, byteaching him Vedic knowledge, canhelp him purify his speech, respirato-ry system, senses, vision, the source ofhearing, naval, organs of excretion andultimately, his character and conduct.

These are the results that one willfind in oneself if one follows vedicmantras:

- There will never be any kind ofdiseases spreading around.

- Yajyen purifies the universe if itis performed by everybody. It emergesin the form of smoke, which reachesup to the sun’s rays and then, spreadsaround, reaching humans and otherliving beings. Thus it purifies the airand atmosphere.

(The author is Swami Ram Swarup,Yogacharya, the chief editor of the VedIshvareeya Vani magazine.)

Indian Air Force showered flowerpetals on Kalinga Institute of

Medical Sciences (KIMS) CovidHospital, Bhubaneswar in a flypastfrom its helicopters on Wednesdayas a mark of gratitude from thenation to the medical professionalscombating COVID-19 crisis. TheIAF took this initiative to boost themorale of the Corona warriors, whohave dedicated themselves to savelives of the patients affected bynovel Coronavirus.

The KIMS Authority hasexpressed pleasure for the show ofsolidarity by the IAF. “We express ourheartfelt gratitude to theGovernment of India for motivatingand lifting the spirits of COVID-19warriors at KIMS. Through this, thewill power of all the doctors, nursesand paramedical staff along withpatients will be strengthened byand large and they would continuetheir fight against the novelCoronavirus disease with renewedzeal”, said Dr Achyuta Samanta,founder of KIIT, KISS & KIMS.

He also thanked Naveen Patnaik,chief minister, Odisha, for his sup-port to open a special Covid Hospitalat KIMS. “As a result, it has been pos-

sible for us to witness such a remark-able and memorable moment,” addedDr Samanta.

“We have come forward to agreat extent in this war againstCOVID-19 and it is because of DrSamanta’s consistent endeavor toaugment our moral strength,” saidthe doctors.

Among the dignitaries, DrSubrat Acharya, pro-chancellor, KIITDeemed to be University, Dr BishnuPrasad Panigrahi, CEO, KIMS, Maj.Gen. Dr PK Patnaik, principal, KIMSand Dr Ambika Prasad Mohanty,MS, were also present to witness theaerial salute along with other staffmembers.

The Department of Pension &Pensioners’ Welfare have takenthe following initiatives to pro-

mote ease of living amid COVID-19crisis:�� The Department of Pension &Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) hassuccessively taken steps in the recentpast date to make life easy for thePensioners. Here are some other ini-tiatives too�� The department runs an onlinegrievance portal “CPENGRAMS”(Centralised Pension GrievanceRedressal & Monitoring Mechanism)in which any central government pen-sioner can register a complaint and thesame is monitored by DoPPW till itsfinal resolution and closure by thePension settling Department/Ministry.DoPPW started a Toll-free call cen-tre number 1800-11-1960 in June 2019where pensioners grievances are lodged. The Department also counsels seniorcitizens on their pension related prob-lems.�� It got a deep-dive/root-causeanalysis conducted by an independentthird party. It was seen that someMinistries/departments often closedgrievances routinely without qualita-tive resolution. It therefore evolved amodel of on-the-spot resolution ofgrievances called the Pension Adalat. �� With respect to NPS (NationalPension System), DoPPW decided tostart awareness workshops for centralgovernment employees. It conductedits first awareness programme atJammu to educate the subscribersabout the provisions of NPS and at thesame time educate the differentDepartments on the Dos & Don’ts withrespect to the system. �� Keeping in view the representa-tions/court cases filed by several cen-tral government officials covered underthe NPS (National Pension Service)whose recruitment had been complet-ed before January 1, 2004 but who forsome reason, administrative or other-wise, could join service only on or afterthat, an option has been given to jointhe old pension system, if they so desire

by giving a one-time option up to May31.��Another initiative was the promo-tion of Digital Life Certificate. Keepingin view the difficulty faced by thoseseniors who are settled abroad withtheir children after retirement, itbrought out a circular on ConsolidatedInstructions on Life Certificate andCommencement of Family Pension forthose living abroad, vide which thebank branches abroad and the IndianE m b a s s i e s / C o n s u l a t e s / H i g hCommissions have been instructed tofacilitate submission of life certificateand commencement of family pension.��All pension disbursing banks havebeen instructed to provide door-stepLife Certificate facility to those pen-sioners who are unable to visit banksin the month of November.��To provide comfort to pensionersaged 80 and above, OM dated July 18,2019 enables them to submit their LifeCertificate w.e.f. October 1 every yearinstead of November 1. A pilot wasdone in 2018 in 8 cities in whichPensioners’ Associations were roped in

to go door to door and inhospitals/ICUs with newly purchasedIris devices to collect DLCs. This wasexpanded in 2019 to 24 cities.

DoPPW also showed the sensitiveside of the government with severalreforms which touched human livesimmensely. To enumerate a few:��Rule 54 of CCS (Pension) Rules wasamended to provide for payment ofenhanced family pension (50 per centof last pay) to families of even thoseemployees who die during servicebefore completing service of sevenyears. Earlier, the family of an employ-ee who died during service before com-pleting service of seven years was notentitled to enhanced family pension.��A minimum qualifying service of10 years is required for eligibility forpension under the CCS (Pension)Rules. Rule 38 of CCS (Pension) Rulesamended to provide for InvalidPension at 50 per cent of last pay tothose government servants who retiredue to bodily or mental infirmity evenbefore completing qualifying service of

10 years.��For those living in non-CGHS areas,for OPD the amount of Fixed MedicalAllowance (FMA) raised from � 500per month to � 1000 per month.�� Permission of CMO/CGHS dis-pensed with for sanctioning FMA topensioners residing in cities/areas notcovered under CGHS.��Co-authorisation of pension for dis-abled children/siblings/dependent par-ents introduced in the PPO. Thiswould avoid the delay and hassles of afresh PPO by the office in favour of dis-abled children/siblings/dependent par-ents.��Minimum pension raised from �3500 per month to � 9000 permonth. Minimum disability pensionand family pension covered underCCS(EOP) Rules enhanced from �7,000 to � 18,000.��A new slab of death gratuity hasbeen added. The family of a govern-ment servant dying while in servicewith a qualifying service of 11 to 20years would be entitled to death gra-tuity at 20 times of monthly emolu-

ments as against the existing entitle-ment of 12 times of emoluments.��The ceiling of gratuity raised from� 10 lakh to � 20 lakh.�� The rates of ex-gratia lump-sumcompensation being paid to the fam-ilies of employees who die in perfor-mance of duty has been increasedfrom existing � 10-15 lakh to � 25 to45 lakh, depending upon the circum-stances in which the death occurs.��DoPPW also targeted awareness ofpensioners/family pensioners throughsocial media. The Union Minister ofState (Independent Charge)Development of North-Eastern Region(DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel,Public Grievances & Pensions, AtomicEnergy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singhlaunched the Twitter Do You KnowSeries on Family Pension at Jammu onFebruary 29.��DoPPW will now take out a seriesof 30 info graphics (two per week) tospread awareness about family pen-sion. Through this, theP e n s i o n e r s / F a m i l yPensioners/Departments & Ministryofficials/Bank officials/Pensioners’Associations will become aware of thefamily entitlements for which till nowthey had to run around offices. Twobooklets on family pension, in Hindiand English were also released by theMoS(PP).��Bhavishya (Online pension settlingsystem): Pensioners’ portal wasstrengthened by adding the facility ofonline pension sanction process —Bhavishya. It is a software with a digi-tised end to end solution for pensionsettlement. As of now more than 1lakh cases have already been processedthrough this software. ��Sankalp: With a view to re-orientpensioners towards an active postretired life and utilise their skill andexperience towards nation buildingactivities and social work, a new ini-tiative namely Sankalp was undertak-en. Under this, Pre-RetirementCounselling (PRCs) are being organ-ised for those employees who areabout to retire in a year.

In a new beginningmade by chief executive

officer, Greater Noidaauthority honoured itsemployees by announc-ing the ‘Employee of theMonth.’ It expressed itsgratitude to all perma-nent and contractualemployees including dri-vers, security guards,sweepers, gardeners, andsweepers. This will befollowed monthly toencourage positive envi-ronment.

ACEO Deep Chandsaid that it has beendecided by the authoritythat employees, whocared for the residentswithout caring abouttheir own lives during thepandemic and acted self-lessly should be thanked.

Its over 500 staffmembers are engaged indistributing food to theneedy and providing civicservices across the city.

Chand also said, “We

cannot honour the staffmembers with prize moneydue to fund crisis. Hence,

we are thanking by crown-ing them with respect.”The authority said that its

employees have now disin-fected about 40 areas andare working to disinfect an

equal number of villageseveryday to control thespread of COVID-19.

Amid COVID-19 crisis, jutefarmers of West Bengal and

other jute-growing states havedone a commendable work bysowing the crop in more than 90per cent of their areas. In somestates, 15 to 20 per cent more sow-ing area is anticipated despitelockdown and restrictions. Allthis was possible by the efforts ofICAR-CRIJAF, Barrackpore whoissued regular agro-advisory, con-stant monitoring on availability ofseeds, implements and other agro-inputs to the farmers and otherstakeholders.

Farmers are worried aboutthe infestation of pests and diseaseson jute due to the rainy weather.At present, the jute crops in thefarmers’ fields of different parts ofthe state is almost 20-50 days olddepending on the sowing time.Due to the heavy rain in somepockets of Bengal and adjoiningstates, the jute fields have beenwaterlogged. Under such changingweather conditions, the crop nowneeds infestation, said ICAR-CRI-JAF director, Dr Gouranga Kar.

He added that the institute isissuing weekly agro-advisory onpriority to outreach farmers andextension personnel of state gov-ernments through different digitalplatforms. He also said thataround seven lakh farmers of dif-ferent jute-growing states are get-

ting benefitted every week throughtheir agro-advisory.

Under rainy and waterloggedsituation, he advised that the farm-ers should drain out the waterimmediately. After a few daysthere may be incidence of seedlingblight and damping off. If suchcondition arises, some commonfungicides like mancozeb (1g/l) orcarbendazim (4g/l) may be sprayedonce the field is drained out anddried up.

The damage of Indigo caterpil-lar has been reported from manyfarmers’ fields, said Dr Satpathy,head division of Crop Protection,ICAR-CRIJAF. The insect usuallybecomes more problematic in jutefields, in which cabbage, cauli-flower, potato, etc, were grown asthe previous crop. In case of heavydamage, the farmers should go forthe spraying of chlorpyriphos20EC (2 ml/l).

In grown up jute plants of 30-

50 days, grey colour weevils withdark white spots and elongatedheads are visible on the growingfoliage. Heavy defoliation weak-ens the plant and adverselyaffects the growth. In case of con-siderable damage, foliar spray ofchlorpyriphos 50EC+cyperme-thrin 5EC combination (1-1.5ml/l) or chlorpyriphos 20EC(2ml/l) or quinalphos 25 EC(1.25 ml/l) may be done.

Generally, after moderaterainfall, the yellow mite infesta-tion in jute goes down. Butchances are that just after rain,once the weather is clear andthere is abundant sunshine andthe temperature is high, the miteinfestation gradually increases.Maintain adequate soil moistureto reduce the damage symptomcaused by mite infestation. Incase of rain, wait for at least fiveto six days to initiate the acari-cide spray if symptoms persist.

Dr Kar also said that it isadvised to always use protectiveclothing, gloves and mask toavoid the drift of the insecticide.While conducting any type ofintercultural operation, like pes-ticide spray, the farmers areadvised to maintain social dis-tancing and take all other preven-tive measures as per the adviso-ry to check the spread ofCOVID-19.

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Virat Kohli’s Indianteam still has a long

way to go before it is spo-ken of in the same breathas Australia of 2000s, feelsformer India pacer AshishNehra.

Under Kohli’s leader-ship, India earned itsmaiden series victory inAustralia in 2018-19,achieving the feat aftertrying for seven decades.

However, it can’t bediscounted that absence ofSteve Smith and David

Warner due to ball tam-pering ban turned out tobe an important factor.

“This Indian team hasto still cover a lot of dis-tance in order to match upwith that Australia team(led by Steve Waugh andthen Ricky Ponting),”Nehra said during aninteraction with ex-playerAakash Chopra on hisshow ‘Aakash Vani’.

“You are talking aboutan Australian team whichwon three consecutiveWorld Cups and beforethat reached the final in

1996, won 18-19 Testmatches in home andaway conditions,” Nehraadded.

He also did not appre-ciate the fact that everynow and then team com-bination is being tinkeredwith.

“It’s not like thisIndian team can not reachthere but I believe thecore group is very impor-tant. A person gets con-fused after watching manydishes on the table and soit’s important to havefewer but better dishes,”

Nehra made his displea-sure clear.

He the went on to citehow team managementhad handled RishabhPant's career so far.

“KL Rahul is playingon the fifth position andPant, the person you werepreparing to succeed M.S.Dhoni, is serving drinks,”the left-arm fast bowler,known for his straight for-ward views, said.

Thanks to his incon-sistency, Pant had lost hisplace in the Indian team inwhite-ball cricket to

Rahul.“I know he (Pant) has

missed his chances andthere is no doubt about itbut then you have kepthim in the team becauseyou saw the potential inhim at 22-23 years,” Nehrasaid.

“There are a lot of tal-ented players but theyshould be backed for alonger duration. Todayalso when we talk aboutthe number five and sixslots in Indian ODI side,then we are not sure aboutit," Nehra said.

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He has flattered to deceive onumpteen occasions but highly-

rated wicketkeeper-batsman SanjuSamson says he has learnt to accepthis failures in pursuit of the calmdemeanour that former India captainMahendra Singh Dhoni possesses.

The 25-year-old from Kerala hasalways been talked about by the likesof Rahul Dravid and GautamGambhir but it hasn’t translated intointernational success with only fourT20 Internationals in his kitty in thelast five years.

“I have learnt to understand andfocus more on my strengths and (bemore) accepting (of) the failures. I tryto contribute to the team’s cause andtry to take the team over the line. I amlearning to focus and control my emo-tions while batting like MS Dhoni,”Samson said during a podcast organ-ised by Rajasthan Royals.

He recently made a comeback inIndia’s T20 side and it was a worthyexperience for him.

“It was great to be a part of theIndian team again. To be a part of oneof the best teams in the world, sur-rounded by players like Virat bhai andRohit bhai, it was a fantastic experi-ence,” Samson said.

In one of the games in NewZealand, Samson was sent to bat in theSuper Over, something which madehim feel wanted in the Indian set-up.

“It was a great feeling to be trust-ed by the players such as Virat bhaiand Rohit bhai to go out there and batin the crucial moments. It’s a greatfeeling when the team and the play-

ers consider you to be a match win-ner.” On a lighter note, Samsonrevealed that he refers to Steve Smithas “chachu” (uncle) after Brad Hodgeonce started calling him by thatname.

“I share a very good relationshipwith ‘Chachu’ Steve Smith. He is oneof the best brains in world cricket andwe all enjoy a lot playing under him.”

While Dhoni is his idol, he alsoloves watching Jos Buttler in Royalsand makes notes on how the starEnglishman prepares for games.

“I observe Jos especially given hetoo is a wicketkeeper-batsman. He’salways working on his skills and hisgame and never sits idle.

“He’s either working on his keep-ing, batting in the nets or runningaround the park. I love to observe andknow how he thinks and prepares asa keeper before a game.”

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They have similar impact ontheir teams but Virat Kohli isdriven by sheer passion to

subdue the rivals while Steve Smithjust enjoys batting, says Australiaopener David Warner.

India skipper Kohli and topAustralian batsman Smith arearguably the top two cricketers of thecurrent era. They achieve new mile-stones consistently, invoking debates,who is better between them.

“Virat’s passion and drive toscore runs is different to what Steve’swould be,” Warner said while speak-ing to Harsha Bhogle on ‘Cricbuzz inConversation’.

“Steve is going out there for a hitin the middle, that’s how he seesthings. He’s hitting them out in themiddle, he’s having fun, he's enjoy-ing himself, just does not want to getout.”

Warner feels, while Kohli is bat-ting he is aware that if he sticksaround the middle his team will beon top of the proceedings.

“Virat obviously doesn’t want toget out but he knows if he spends acertain amount of time out there, he’sgoing to score plenty of runs at arapid rate. He’s going to get on top ofyou. That allows the guys coming in,especially in the Indian team you’vegot a lot of players who can be flam-boyant as well.”

The Australian opener addedthat both men are mentally strongand a good knock by them boosts themorale of the entire team.

“When it comes to cricket, theyboth have got the mental strength, themental capacity to score runs. Theyboth love spending time in the mid-dle.

“They stabilise, they boostmorale - if they score runs, every-one else’s moral is up. If they are outcheaply you almost sense that on thefield that everyone is (down onmorale and thinking) ‘now we allhave to step up’. It’s a very bizarre sit-uation,” he added.

Asked about the similaritiesbetween himself and Kohli, who are

both live wires on the field, Warnersaid the passion to do better than theopponent keeps him going.

“I can’t speak for Virat, obvious-ly, but it’s almost like we got this thingin us when we go (out to the middle)we need to prove people wrong,prove someone wrong.”

“If you’re in that contest, and ifI’m going at him for example, you’re

thinking, ‘Alright, I’m going to scoremore runs than him, I’m going totake a quick single on him’. You aretrying to better that person in thatgame. That’s where the passioncomes from.”

Warner also explained how hebreaks down a match into smallercompetitions.

“Obviously you want to win the

game but you almost break it downto: If I can score more runs thanVirat, or if Pujara scores more runsthan Steve Smith, you have these lit-tle contests and that's how you try tonarrow the game in the sense that ifwe do these little things, we can beahead of the game or we can bebehind the game.

“The passion is driven by...Iknow my sense - one, the will to winand two, wanting to do better thanthat person in the opposition,” saidWarner.

��� +.-1,2!2

Defender Gurinder Singhfeels India has been play-

ing an aggressive brand ofhockey under chief coachGraham Reid, and it hashelped the team in creatingmore goal scoring opportuni-ties.

India displayed an attack-ing brand of play in the FIHHockey Pro League earlierthis year and reaped richrewards for it, beatingAustralia and world champi-ons Belgium.

“It’s been over a yearsince chief coach Reid hasjoined us and I am sure onecan see the difference he hasbrought to the side sinceApril last year. We havebecome much more aggres-sive in our approach andtherefore we are creatingmany more goal-scoringopportunities,” Gurinder said.

Gurinder said since hisarrival Reid has been workingclosely with every player,besides emphasising on teamtactics.

“It was amazing to see

him shift focus from workingon team tactics to the devel-opment of each and everyplayer during the senior mennational coaching camp inNovember last year," he said.

“Since there was a lot oftime to prepare for the nexttournament after theOlympic Qualifiers, chiefcoach Reid spent time with allplayers and ensured that weimproved on certain aspectsduring the camp,” he added.

Gurinder, who has beenin and out of the team, saidhis immediate goal is to book

a place in the Olympic-boundteam.

“I am working extreme-ly hard to book a place in theIndian team for the Olympicsat the moment. Keepingmyself fit is my number onepriority during the lockdownperiod and I am carrying outsome stickwork drills as well.”

“Playing for India at theOlympics has been a dreamsince childhood and hopeful-ly, I will make it to the squadand contribute to India win-ning a medal at the quadren-nial event,” he said.

��� -.%��.,/�

India’s Test vice-captain AjinkyaRahane on Wednesday said crick-

eters will need at least a month oftraining before resumption of com-petitive games, which should happenonly after a vaccine for the dreadedCOVID-19 is discovered.

Rahane also said that in a coro-navirus-scarred world, the lifestyleof cricketers will undergo a changeas far as pre and post-match routinesare concerned.

“...We would be needing three tofour weeks of proper practice beforeplaying any kind of competitivegame (domestic or international),”Rahane, who was named brandambassador of ELSA (EnglishLanguage Speech Assistant) app,said during an online press confer-ence.

“...I am missing my batting. Butobviously, cricket should only startwhen we get a vaccine to fight thevirus,” he asserted.

While the sports ministry isplanning a phased resumption ofnational camps in Olympic disci-plines, the BCCI is yet to spell outits plans on cricket. Rahane said heis focussing on his fitness amid thelockdown.

“I am following the chart givenby our trainer. I am also doing ‘freeweights’ at home apart from medi-tation,” he said.

He agreed that in future, play-ers will be wary of wild celebrationsand group hugs which they are soused to at the fall of wickets.

“I think we might go back to thegood old days when fielders would

still stand in their designated posi-tions after the fall of a wicket andclap. May be handshakes will bereplaced by a 'Namaste',” the elegantMumbai right-hander predicted.

“But once sport resumes, youcan’t take anything for granted. Thesafety of the fans will be of utmostimportance. There will be changesin lifestyle while travelling.Especially before and after thematch,” Rahane said

However he was non-committalon whether there should be a ban onthe use of saliva to shine the ball, atopic of debate right now.

“I would like to wait and watch.You will only get a fair idea aboutrevised rules once play resumes.”

��� ,9-�9-

The Marylebone Cricket Club(MCC) on Wednesday

announced that it would recom-mend a second term for its PresidentKumar Sangakkara owing to theglobal disruption caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper-batsman became the firstnon-British President of the clubwhen he assumed office on October1 last year.

“The disruption to the globalcricketing landscape caused by theoutbreak of Covid-19 has led theCommittee to recommend thatSangakkara, who began his term ofoffice on 1 October 2019, be invit-ed to serve as President of the Clubuntil 30 September 2021,” the clubsaid in a statement.

The recommendation forSangakarra’s extension will be sentfor approval to the club's membersat the Annual General Meeting,which has been scheduled for June24. The club also added that this wasnot the first time a president will

serve beyond his oneyear tenure.

“ W h i l s tPresidents ofMCC only nor-

mally serve for atwe lve-mont hperiod, it is notunprecedented forlonger terms to be

introduced torespond to extra-

o r d i n a r yc i rc u m -stances.”

�� �� ,1/9!.

Former Australia all-rounder TomMoody believes Pakistan bats-

man Babar Azam has grown byleaps and bounds in recent timesand will “definitely” be among thetop five batsmen of the decade inTest cricket in the near future.

“He (Babar) has emerged overthe last year or so into somethingthat is going to be so special. Wetalked about how Virat Kohli is sogood on the eye as a batsman. If youthink Virat Kohli is good to watch,have a look at Babar Azam bat. Mygosh, he is something special,”Moody said in The Pitch SideExperts Podcast as quoted by crick-etpakistan.com.pk.

“I think in the next five to tenyears, he will definitely be in yourtop five (batsmen of the decade)without a question,” he added.

The former SunrisersHyderabad coach, however, admit-ted considering Azam’s statistics at

the moment, it is very difficult to puthim in the top five current batsmen.

“I think, in the next 5-10 years,he will be on your top five position.Even though he has played 26matches but in half of those match-es he was not considered even partof the main batting line-up forPakistan. He was the after-thoughtdown the order,” he said.

“I think at the moment, it is veryhard to justify him at that positiongiven his statistics. Away fromhome he is only averaging 37 and athome he is averaging 67. But wehave to consider that he has hardlyplayed away from home and a lot ofthose games away were during theearly part of his career,” Moodyadded.

��� -.%��.,/�

The National Anti-DopingAgency's Director General

Navin Agarwal on Wednesdaysaid the body will conduct itsdisciplinary hearings onlinefrom Friday despite the manylogistical challenges to ensurecases don’t pile up due to thenational lockdown.

NADA hearings have notbeen taking place due to thelockdown to contain theCOVID-19 pandemic.

“That’s right, we will bestarting with our online hear-ings from May 8. Both Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel(ADDP) and Anti-DopingAppeals Panel (ADAP) hear-ings will be conducted for thecases which are pending,”Agarwal told PTI in an inter-view.

“Last year, they (ADDPand ADAP) did a remarkablejob and disposed off so manycases which hasn't happenedearlier in the history of NADA.Our panels disposed off 180cases which is a record for theagency,” he asserted.

Agarwal acknowledgedthat the unprecedented stepwould have its share of opera-

tional hassles.Listing inconsistent or

unavailable internet as one ofthem, Agarwal said athleteswill be allowed to participate viaaudio calls to ensure that thingscan be managed smoothly.

“We understand that theathlete needs to have the (inter-net) facility at his home for thehearings. I know there are lim-itations. We are working on thatand made arrangements at ourlevel.

“It will only be done on theavailability of an athlete througheither audio or video. I know inrural areas, internet bandwidthcan be an issue or network, weare game with even an audiorecording or a conference call,”he explained.

“We are requesting theministry as the campuses inNIS Patiala and Spots Authorityof India (SAI) Bengaluru areclosed and have barred entry orexit of any outsiders as per gov-ernment guidelines.

“So we are taking this upwith ministry and would like toknow whether our DopeControl Officers (DCOs) willbe allowed inside the campus-es for testing subject to allclearances,” he said.

� ��"1�!��

If given the option, Rafael Nadal said he wouldscrap this season entirely so tennis could resume

normally in 2021.The second-ranked Spaniard, who is 33 years

old and has won 19 Grand Slam titles, said he hopedto resume playing this year but doubted it couldhappen because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I would sign up right now just to being readyfor 2021,” Nadal said in interviews with El País andother Spanish newspapers published Tuesday.

“I’m more concerned with the Australian Openthan with what happens later this year. I think 2020has been practically lost. I'm hopeful of being ableto start next year.”

Nadal said the logistical difficulties of havingto move people from country to country for tour-naments make it hard for tennis to resume safelyamid the pandemic.

“Sadly, I’m not going to lie to you, the feelingis that we are losing a year of our lives,” Nadal said.

“And at 33, 34 years old, that is more valuablethan at 20, when you have more time ahead of you.”Nadal recently said he was concerned with the riskof new injuries when players return to action aftera long time without proper training. The Spaniardhas had to deal with a series of injuries through-out his career and expects his body to struggle againwhen competitions finally resume.

Nadal also complained about “confusing”information regarding the return to practice of ten-nis players in Spain. He said he went to train on aprivate court because it wasn’t clear to him

whether he could practice normally after the gov-ernment eased some of the lockdown measures thathave been in place in the country since mid-March.

Professional and high-performance athleteshave been allowed to resume practicing at any timethis week, but sports facilities and training centersare to remain closed, with some exceptions for soc-cer clubs and a few other sports.

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