HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 219*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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Current Weather ConditionsUpdated May 19, 2020 5:00 PM

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Month & Paksham:Paush & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi: Trayodashi: 07:41 pm

Nakshatram: Ashwini: 10:37 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start any important work)

Rahukalam: 12:12 pm – 01:49 pm

Yamagandam: 07:23 am – 08:59 am

Varjyam: 06:10 pm – 07:57 pm

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MONEY 89 OUT OF 10 STARTUPS BLEEDING IN INDIA, SAYS NASSCOM SURVEY

ANALYSIS 7MUCH ADO

ABOUT NOTHING

SPORTS 12NEVER DOUBTED MYSELF

IN GAME SITUATIONS: KOHLI

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‘Govt to furtherrevise criteria forclassifying mediumenterprises’

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Covid-19:Providing RentalHousing forMigrants

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COVID-19 domi-nates headlines;Migrant labour crisismost-trendingnews: Study

Hyd springing back to life PNS n HYDERABAD

Although, unlike in the rest ofTelangana, lockdown normshave not been eased complete-ly in Hyderabad, the happeningcity is fast springing back to life.

After nearly two months ofparalyzing lockdown, the citybegan to spring back to life onTuesday with the usual hustleand bustle. With the opening ofgovernment, private offices andmost of the shops, and withreturn taxis and auto-rickshawsback on roads, the volume oftraffic reached almost pre-lock-down level in the city's core areas.

The police removed barri-cades, which had been in placefor 58 days, facilitating smoothflow of traffic. The barricades,however, continued in the con-tainment zones where no activ-ity is permitted.

As RTC bus service,Hyderabad Metro and Multi-Modal Transit System (MMTS)trains remain suspended, peo-ple used private vehicles, auto-rickshaws or cabs to reach theirworkplaces. Although onlyabout 40 per cent of the vehi-

cles were plying over the last 10days with some restrictions inplace, Tuesday saw the volumeof traffic reach 90 per cent.

Traffic police personnel wereout in full strength at major

intersections and traffic sig-

nals were restored. But theywere enforcing only normaltraffic norms. "We are ensuringthat there are not more thanthree persons, including thedriver, in an auto-rickshawand not more than four, includ-

ing the driver, in a cab," a traf-fic police official said.

Heavy vehicular traffic wasseen in Punjagutta, Ameerpet,Kukatpally, Khairatabad,Begumpet, Secunderabad,Tank Bund, Basheerbagh, Koti,

Abids and Nampally areas."For the first time, there

was no fear of the policestopping at some point andseizing the vehicle," said P.Shankar, a student, riding amotorbike.

The police had seized thou-sands of vehicles during thelockdown. Bikes of those foundriding beyond 3 km from the reg-istered address were also seized.

Buses return on TSroads after 58 daysPNS n HYDERABAD

After a gap of nearly twomonths, buses returned to theroads in Telangana on Tuesdaywith the state government relax-ing the lockdown norms toallow resumption of bus services.

State-owned TelanganaState Road TransportCorporation (TSRTC)resumed bus services from 6a.m. across the state, except inHyderabad where city busservices remained suspended.

Buses were back on theroads in all 32 districts after agap of 58 days. The serviceswere suspended due tonationwide 'Janata curfew' onMarch 22 and the same daythe state government

announced a total lockdown.The state cabinet on

Monday decided to relax thelockdown norms to allow theresumption of bus services.

n The policeremoved barricades,which had been inplace for 58 days

n The police hadseized thousands ofvehicles during thelockdown.

n Bikes of thosefound riding beyond3 km from theregistered addresswere also seized.

State-ownedTelangana State RoadTransport Corporation(TSRTC) resumed busservices from 6 a.m.across the state,except in Hyderabadwhere city bus servicesremained suspended

HC allows TS to goahead with SSC examINKESHAF AHMEDn HYDERABAD

In a major relief to severalquarters, the Telangana HighCourt on Tuesdayallowed the state gov-ernment to conductall the remainingSSC examinationsfrom June 8,2020.

A division benchof the High Court,comprising the ChiefJustice of the state Justice RSChauhan and Justice B.Vijaysen Reddy, passed the

orders while vacating its ear-lier orders issued on March20,2020 postponing the exams.

"Needless to say, students arethe most precious persons of

the state. Therefore, thestate has to be vigilant in

order to protect thestudents from any pos-sibility of exposure toCovid 19, But, the HC

is concerned with thestudents that they should

not continue to exist in ani-mated suspension with regardto pendency of their exams.

Private school teachers in Telangananot paid salaries; in dire straitsPNS n HYDERABAD

The teachers in private schoolsin Telangana were in dire straitsand some have been forced totake up farm work during theongoing COVID-19 lockdownas they have not receivedsalaries from mid March,abody of them said on Tuesday.

There were around 11,700government-recognised pri-vate schools in the stateemploying around 1.50 lakhteachers and they had not gottheir salaries since March 15,Telangana Private TeachersForum president Sheik ShabbirAli claimed.

Left with no option, someprivate teachers were nowforced to take up agriculturalworks in villages. In oneinstance, a teacher in Yadadri-

Bhongir district had taken updrought-related works ofremoving unwanted plants ina village, he said.

The association has repre-

sented to the government andalso officials in districts aboutthe problem despite circularsthat teachers should be paidsalaries as per governmentorders issued while announc-ing lockdown, he said.

However, the managementswere not paying salaries, he said.

As most of the teachersshifted to urban areas from vil-lages, they do not have rationcards which made them ineli-gible to receive governmentassistance, including rice andfinancial aid, announced forthe poor during the lockdown,Ali said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad MetropolitanWater Supply and SewerageBoard has issued an alert con-cerning drinking water as com-mercial establishments haveopened after 57 days of lock-down. So, consumers, apart fromobserving Covid-19-related pre-cautions, must be wary of the factthat water storage facilities andoverhead tanks in commercialbuildings, malls, hotels, officesand institutions may not have

been cleaned properly, thus ren-dering water in them unfit forhuman consumption. Further,with the imminent onset of sea-

sonal diseases, it is imperativefor people to be cognizant of thewater they are consuming.

Post lockdown watch out forwater you are consuming

‘Stimulus' binds non-BJP CMs to oppose ModiL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The 'conditional' hike in FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) limit,announced as part of theCentre's Rs 20 lakh crore stim-ulus package, has had theunintended consequence ofbringing together Chief

Ministers of states ruled bynon-BJP parties. These

CMs are nowrising as one totake up cud-

gels against the Centre forundermining the federal spir-it of the Constitution.

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is the lat-est one to join the bandwagonfor raising a banner of revoltagainst the Centre's stimuluspackage and untenable FRBM

conditions.Tamil Nadu, West Bengal

and Kerala governments arealready on the warpath againstthe Centre over these issues.

Surprisingly, neighbouringAndhra Pradesh, a non-BJPruled state, has taken a com-pletely different stand, with its

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy welcoming the PM'spackage and appointing a CS-led committee to study ways ofutilizing the benefits thatwould accrue to AP from theCentre's package.

The committee, headed bychief secretary NeelamSawhney, has on board sever-al senior officials of key depart-ments, besides Jagan's closeaides - V Vijay Sai Reddy, PMithun Reddy and AnantapurMP Talari Rangaiah.

Further, with theimminent onset ofseasonal diseases, it isimperative for people tobe cognizant of the waterthey are consuming.

UNITED CCONGRESS OOF TTELANGANA!

n TS joins TN, WB andKerala in opposingCentre for underminingfederal spirit

n Jagan welcomespackage, appoints CS-led panel to avail ofthe package

Left with no option, someprivate teachers were now

forced to take up agriculturalworks in villages. In one instance,a teacher in Yadadri-Bhongirdistrict had taken up drought-related works of removingunwanted plants in a village

— SHEIK SHABBIR ALI Telangana Private Teachers Forum president

Vijaya ‘shanthi’ with BJP?PNS n HYDERABAD

Actress and Congress leaderVijayashanthi appears to be onthe path of ghar vapsi to thesaffron party after quittingthe grand old party, going byher statements of late in sup-port of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

In the latest instance, shehad a dig at Telangana ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao for lashing out at Centre'sRs 20 lakh crore stimuluspackage announced initially by

PM Modi and later detailed byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman over five days.

Attacks KCR for criticising Modin KCR jumps on the bandwagon, Jagan adopts a different stance

Co-morbidities raise TS death toll HYDERABAD: Telangana on Tuesday reported four deaths due toCovid-19, taking the death toll to 38. However, all the four deathcases -- two male and two female patients -- involved co-morbidities. A 75-year-old male with hypertension, diabetes andchronic kidney disease succumbed to the virus. Another 70-year-oldmale with pneumonia also expired. Besides, a 38-year-old femalewith morbid obesity and pneumonia and another 68-year-old femalewith pneumonia succumbed to the coronavirus.

4 deaths, 42 more +ve cases reported

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Reflecting unity in, and resilience of, the party to rise to the occasion, TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, party heavyweight MPKomatireddy Venkatreddy and firebrand leader and MP Revanth Reddy on Tuesday addressed a joint press conference

AP POLICE BOOK 60-YEAR-OLDWOMAN FOR POST ON VIZAG GAS LEAK

CONG CALLS MEET ON MIGRANTS'PLIGHT, CHANGES IN LABOUR LAWSThe Congress has called a meeting of like-minded opposition parties on Friday

to discuss the plight of migrant workers and the changes in labour laws bysome states, sources said. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will chair themeeting of leaders of opposition parties, the sources said on Tuesday. Around17 opposition parties have agreed to participate in the meeting whichwill be held via videoconferencing. The SP and the BSP have ot yetconfirmed their participation, they said. Rendered jobless due to thecoronavirus-induced lockdown, which began on March 25, anddesperate to get home, thousands of migrant workers across thecountry are undertaking long and arduous journeys to theirnative places on foot, on bicycles or packed into trucks.

In partial relief to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, theSupreme Court Tuesday quashed all criminal investigations related tothe news show on Palghar mob-lynching except the initial one that is

being probed by the Mumbai police, but refused his plea fortransfer of probe to the CBI. Observing that journalisticfreedom lies at the core of freedom of speech andexpression, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and MR Shah granted protection to Goswami from anycoercive action for three more weeks from today andsaid that he can approach the competent court forquashing of the FIR.

SC REFUSES TO TRANSFER CASES TO CBI,GRANTS PROTECTION TO ARNAB GOSWAMI

CHINESE LAB BELIEVES NEW DRUG CAN‘STOP COVID WITHOUT VACCINE’

Amaravati, May 19 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh CID police have registered a caseagainst a 60-year-old woman for allegedly posting in social media questions

pertaining to the recent Styrene gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam in which 12people lost their lives and hundreds fell ill. The CID is also investigating the role ofa man, Malladi Raghunath in the matter. A case has been booked against thewoman, P Ranganayaki, under IPC sections 505 (2)(making statements that create or promote enmity),153(A) (indulging in wanton vilification), 188 (Disobedience toorder duly promulgated by public servant) and 120-B r/w34 (criminal conspiracy), a press release from the CIDsaid on Tuesday. Full story on Page 4

AChinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power tobring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt. The outbreak first emerged in China

late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international raceto find treatments and vaccines. A drug being tested by scientists at China'sprestigious Peking University could not onlyshorten the recovery time for those infected, buteven offer short-term immunity from the virus,researchers say. Sunney Xie, director of theuniversity's Beijing Advanced Innovation Centerfor Genomics, told AFP that the drug has beensuccessful at the animal testing stage.

VARALAXMI DISMISSESMARRIAGERUMOURS

BUMPER-TTO-BBUMPER AAGAIN: On Day 1 post lifting of most of the lockdown restrictions, traffic was back to 'normal'.Pictured here is the scene at Tank Bund.

After nearly two months, buses reappeared on Telangana roads on Tuesday withscope for only limited occupancy in view of the Covid-19 scare

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020 hyderabad 02

D RAMA MOHANn HYDERABAD

Despite bumper paddy harvest,the cost of fine variety ofpaddy seeds is putting burdenon the farmers, thanks to theAgriculture Department fordoing away with subsidy on theseeds this year.

In fact, there is a huge vari-ation in prices of fine variety ofseeds being sold by ProfJayashankar Telangana StateAgriculture University and theTelangana State SeedDevelopment Corporation.While the Jayashankar farmuniversity price a quintal of theseeds at Rs 4,400, the TS SeedDevelopment Corporationprice a quintal at Rs 3,100. Thediscrepancy in prices is not lessthan Rs 1,300 a quintal.

Taking advantage of theprice variation, several compa-nies have been quoting differ-ent prices for several brands offine variety. The minimumprice being quoted for a quin-tal of fine variety of seeds is Rs3,500. The price varies depend-ing on the brand. TheAgriculture Department lastyear extended a subsidy of Rs

1,000 on quintal of seeds, butthis year the department hasnot announced the same.

The state government hasdecided to have 35 lakh acresunder fine variety of paddyincreasing the area under thepaddy by at least 12 lakh acres.But the government did nothave enough seeds to raise thecrops. The government agen-cies have 41,000 quintals of finevariety of seeds suitable for cul-tivating paddy in 5.64-lakhacres. However, the privatecompanies claim to supply6.42-lakh supply of quintals ofseeds suitable to grow paddy in25.70 lakh acres.

The Agriculture Departmenthas said that the seeds areenough to raise the crop in31.34 lakh acres, but, the TSSeeds DevelopmentCorporation told the govern-ment that there are seeds avail-able in the market to raise thecrop in 55 lakh acres. Becauseof the discrepancies, theDistrict Agriculture officialshave been asked to send a com-prehensive report to theAgriculture Department onactual availability. People buypopular varieties of rice likeSamba Masuri (BPT 5204)and Telangana Sona (RNR15048). The area of cultivation

under these varieties is put at50 per cent of the total area.Therefore, the government hasdirected AgricultureDepartment to encouragefarmers to raise area of culti-vation under Telangana Sonavariety of paddy. But, the vari-eties of seeds are availableonly 32,000 quintals sufficientto raise the crop in 5.31 lakhacres. Similarly, the SambaMasuri seeds are available withthe state can grow the crop in10 lakh acres. This is despitethe Centre asking the states toraise new varieties available inthe market dispensing with theold varieties. But the seeds ofold varieties of paddy are large-ly available.

Superfine variety of paddy seeds cost a bomb in state

The stategovernment hasdecided to have 35lakh acres underfine variety ofpaddy increasingthe area under thepaddy by at least12 lakh acres

While there mayappear to bes t a n d o f f

between AP ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy and his Telanganacounterpart KChandrasekhar Rao overthe former’s decision to goahead with the plans of con-structing a lift irrigationscheme Pothireddipadu acrossthe River Krishna to draw 3tmc ft water for the parchedRayalaseema region, the ulti-mate political beneficiarieswould be the two ChiefMinisters.

Earlier, leaders in undivid-ed AP had fought againstKarnataka against its attemptsto tap the Krishna waters.After bifurcation, tensionbetween the two states overAP’s plans for Pothireddipaduhave come as a surprise formany.

While there are many rea-sons behind the bonhomiebetween the two ChiefMinisters, the most obvious

one is their commonhatred for TDP supremoN Chandrababu Naidu.

The second commoncause is “freeing” both

the states of theTDP. While KCR has

almost completed this self-imposed task, Jagan is strug-gling to marginalise TDP inAP since the party is the prin-cipal opposition party there.

The sudden surfacing ofthe Pothireddipadu issue hasspurred political activity,which had taken a backseat inboth the states due to thelockdown. While Jagan’sdetractors are unable to criti-cise his move since the deci-sion is clearly aimed at provid-ing drinking and irrigationwater to Rayalaseema, KCR isfacing the heat from theCongress and the BJP in hisstate.

Jagan has cornered the TDPby issuing GO 203 for con-struction of Rayalaseema liftirrigation scheme to enhancethe drawing capacity to 80,000

cusecs from 44,000 cusecs at acost of Rs 6,800 crores.

It may be mentioned herethat the project is not a newconcept; the late YS RajasekharReddy had enhanced thecapacity of Pothireddipaduhead regulator to 44,000 cusecsand had expected the TDP,headed by Naidu not tooppose the plan.

Naidu did oppose YSR’smoves, and was left red-facedafter the plan was supported bysome TDP leaders fromRayalaseema. However, YSRfaced stiff opposition fromsome in his own party, the

Congress. Former CLP leader P.

Janardhan Reddy and seniorMLA Marri SasidharReddyraised their voice againstPothireddipadu.

PJR and Sasidhar becameknown as ‘HyderabadBrothers’ for their tiradeagainst Pothireddipadu andYSR.

YSR had his way and no onefrom within the Congresscould stop him from goingahead with the Pothireddipaduproject.

Despite their unsuccessfulefforts to stop the project, the

‘Hyderabad Brothers’ man-aged to keep the issue alive bylinking it to the Telanganacause.

Now that much water hasflown down the Krishna since,Jagan is again moving aheadwith his plans onPothireddipadu.

While Jagan knows that hewill face no resistance in AP, hebelieves that ultimately, KCRwill give in and allow thework to go on at

Pothireddipadu unhindered. This is because of the past

cordial relations between Jaganand KCR — they had amica-bly worked out several con-tentious issues earlier.

Jagan transferred the prop-erty rights of the valuable APSecretariat building inHyderabad to the Telanganagovernment, when they shouldhave been in the custody of APgovernment till 2024 as per theAP Reorganisation Act, 2014.These buildings are worthhundreds of crores of rupees,but Jagan is accused of lettinggo of them for only for a fewdate fruits. (The issue wassettled at a Iftar party hostedby the then Governor ESLNarasimhan).

The AP government hasalso been mum on the thou-sands of crores of arrears inpower sector.

The cordiality on displaymay have led one to believethat KCR sees a true friend inJagan.

It will be happy moment for

KCR if his one time boss isdecimated in Andhra with theblow delivered by Jagan in theform of Pothireddipadu.

Both the states intend todraw water at 800 feet level inSrisailam reservoir whose FRLis 885 feet. AP governmentbelieves that its nothing wrongin following Telangana anddrawing water till 800 ft.

While they may be at oddsover drawing Krishna water, itmay be mentioned here thatleaders of undivided AP hadfought against Karnataka overthe same reason.

PJR, CLP leader during1995-99 Naidu regime, hadbrought the construction ofAlamatti dam to light in 1997.He went to the site inKarnataka along with a groupof media persons fromHyderabad and inspected theproject site by ignoring theprohibitory orders there.

The outside world came toknow about Alamatti dam dueto this move of PJR and it cre-ated a sensation in AP politi-

cal circles. With just 26 MLAs,PJR successfully ran the showin Naidu's rule.

Naidu had to face criticismfor not protecting the rights ofAP over Krishna water, espe-cially since he had played a keyrole in making Deve Gowdathe Prime Minister.

Now, the AP governmenthas clearly told the KrishnaRiver Management Board thatit plans to utilise the water allo-cated to it. On the other side,KCR is also confident of get-ting his state's due share ofKrishna water and clearly stat-ed that he would protect therights of Telangana.

Pressure is mounting onKCR to to draw more waterfrom Krishna even beforeAP can begin work on theproject.

The share of Krishna waterto undivided AP is 811 tmc ftand after bifurcation, AP is toget 512 tmc ft and Telangana299 tmc ft. This arrangementwould continue till furtherre-allocation by Tribunal.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

The sudden surfacing of thePothireddipadu issue has spurredpolitical activity. While Jagan’sdetractors are unable to criticise hismove since the decision is clearlyaimed at providing drinking andirrigation water to Rayalaseema, KCRis facing the heat from Cong and BJP

PINPOINT

Tempest over Krishna waters may be a seasonal storm

PNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy has urged thefarmers to raise red gram andcotton during rabi season andasked the farmers not to raisemaise. The Minister said thatthe agricultural officers arepreparing maps on whichcrops to be raised in which dis-trict. Niranjan Reddy wasreviewing the implementationof the comprehensive agricul-ture policy with top officials ofthe agriculture department,agriculture experts, scientists,Rytu Bandhu Samiti presidentPalla Rajeshwar Reddy andAgriculture sector JanardhanReddy at HACA Bhavan onTuesday.

Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao willaddress a meeting with author-ities on May 21 through videoconference on which crops tobe raised in districts, theMinister said. He advised thefarmers to raise only thosecrops recommended by thestate government and observethe guidelines of the govern-ment from raising the crops to

their sale. The Minister said that a

meeting would be held at 10am in MCR HRD Institute onMay 20 on the state govern-ment's comprehensive agri-cultural policy with the partic-ipation of district agricultureofficers, state-level agricultureofficers, agricultural scientistsand experts.

Agriculture Minister reviews implementation of the comprehensive agriculturepolicy with top officials at HACA Bhavan on Tuesday.

Farmers urged to cultivate cropssuggested by govtHyderabad: A farmer belongingto Asalapalli village GonelaSuraiah has appealed to farmersof the state to raise only thosecrops as suggested by ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao,including raising vegetablecrops. Speaking in theconnection of release of water aspart of the Devadula main canalpackage 46 on Tuesday, he saidthat the CM knows the travails offarmers, suicide trend amongthem. He said that the CM hasbeen undertaking only thoseworks that wipe out tears of thefarmers.

Agri Minister tells farmers toraise cotton, red gram in rabi

Continued from page 1

Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao onMonday night told reportersthat the TSRTC wouldresume the services fromTuesday.

Since Greater Hyderabadis the worst affected byCovid-19 and part of thestate capital still reportingnew cases every day, thegovernment decided not toresume the city services.

Even the buses to andfrom the districts are notbeing operated from theMahatma Gandhi BusStation (MGBS), the biggestbus station in the state, andcertain other bus stationsclose to the containmentzones.

Continued from page 1

She characterized KCR'stake on the Centre's stimulusand its ways as one that is"confusing people".

Faulting KCR for belittlingthe Centre's package on thepremise that the Union gov-ernment is trying to dominatestates at knife point,Vijayashanthi asked KCR torecall his own act of makingCongress MLAs

oin TRS in the name ofdevelopment. "After theCentre's act, he would haveexperienced now how one'sopponents get pain at knifepoint," Vijayashanti observed.Referring to KCR's critique on'One nation, one grid' propos-al, Vijayashanthi remindedKCR that the latter had alreadybrought in reforms like 'Onenation, one ration card'. Shewanted KCR to spell out howhe had a head start in imple-

menting such reforms if theCentre's 'One nation, one grid'reform was wrong.

Political observers seeVijayashanthi coming in sup-port of BJP and Modi onmultiple occasions in recenttimes as her 'ghar vapsi' plan;for, she had started her polit-ical career with BJP in 1997.She had served as general sec-retary of the BJP's womenwing in 1997. In the 1999General Election, she wasnamed BJP's candidate fromthe Kadapa Lok Sabha, to bepitted against AICC chiefSonia Gandhi.

However, she withdrewfrom the race after Soniadecided to contest fromBellary in Karnataka.

She quit BJP in 2005 at theheight of the agitation for aseparate Telangana state andfloated her own party "TalliTelangana" to further the causeof statehood.

Continued from page 1

As face mask has beenmade compulsory and vio-lators were warned of ?1,000fine, most motorists andpedestrians were seen wear-ing masks.

Although all governmentand private offices wereallowed to function withfull complement of staff, theattendance was thin to mod-erate in most offices.According to officials, it maytake a week for the atten-dance to become normal.

To ensure social distanc-ing, the government hasallowed re-opening of shopson alternate days on odd-even basis. This means twoadjacent shops won't beopen the same day.

Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) Commissioner

Lokesh Kumar said shopswere being numbered toimplement the rule. Shopsnumbered one can open onMondays, while those allot-ted number two can remainopen on Tuesdays. In case ofdispute between two adja-cent shops or cluster of shopsregarding opening on a par-ticular day, all the shopswould be shut till the end oflockdown, he said.

The GHMC has madewearing mask compulsoryfor shop hands as well as cus-tomers. Shops have beentold to ensure foot markingsfor social/physical distancingand provide hand sanitizersat the entry and exit points.

"We are following 'nomask, no goods/no service'policy. Any violation willattract ?1,000 fine," theMunicipal Commissionersaid.

Continued from page 1

The committee will work outa plan and prepare guidelinesfor effective utilisation of thepackage. The committee hasdirected all the departmentsconcerned to come out withaction plans to make the mostof PM's package. KCR onMonday lashed out at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for theconditions imposed to avail ofthe hike in FRBM limit and saidthe Union government was

treating states like beggars. Hesaid it was unfortunate that theCentre had tried to rule over thestates taking advantage of thefinancial crisis facing states. Hesaid that the central packageclearly showed that Modi's talkof cooperative federalism wasjust bogus. "We are also consti-tutionally elected governmentsand not subordinates of theCentre. By offering such apackage, the Modi governmenthas lost its image in the eyes ofthe people," KCR said. Hyd springing

back to life Private school teachers in TS...Continued from page 1

The forum has sent a repre-sentation to Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao on May16, requesting steps for pay-ment of salaries, job securityand addressing other problemsof private schools teachers, he

said. When contacted,Telangana Recognised SchoolManagements AssociationpresidentK Papi Reddy saidpayment of sa lar ies gotdelayed as school fees from parents could not bereceived properly during thelockdown.

Vijaya ‘shanthi’ with BJP? Buses returnon TS roadsafter 58 days

Co-morbiditiesraise TS death toll

Continued from page 1

Since the government hasgiven an undertaking that itwill take critical steps andadhere to the guidelines tocontain the spread of the virus,this court vacates the interimorder issued on March 20,2020and we allow the governmentto hold the X class state boardexaminations 2020 from June8,2020, if necessary," the divi-sion bench said in its orders.

The court asked the stategovernment to review the sta-tus of Covid-19 virus in thestate on June 3 on holding theexams. It said that the stategovernment was free to post-pone the exams, if necessary,by taking into considerationthe status of Covid-19 virus. Itasked the state government toinform the students about thepostponement of the examsthrough electronic and print

media if it decides to not holdthe exams from June 8onwards.

The High Court has alsoissued seven other directions tothe state government to be fol-lowed before holding theexams. It asked the govern-ment to take steps for trans-porting students studying insmaller schools to largerschools having larger campusto write their exams. It askedthe government to inform theconcerned students about thechange of place of their exam-ination centers. It also askedthem to arrange adequatenumber of thermal screeningkits at all the exam centers inorder to screen the studentsbefore they enter the examcenters, besides deputing ade-quate number of medical staffat the exam centers to treat thestudents in case of emergency.

The court also asked the

state to provide helpline num-bers to parents of the studentsto reach out to them in case ofany emergency. It also askedthem to transport the stu-dents from red zone and con-tainment zone in a safe man-ner to the examination center.It said that strict social distanc-ing should be maintainedinside and outside of the examcenters.

It asked the state govern-ment to disinfect all the exam-ination halls, the buildingsand the campus immediatelyafter the completion of oneexam and before the beginningof the next exam. The divisionbench also asked the stategovernment to ensure thatthere is a gap of two daysbetween each exam and addedthat the two days' time shouldbe utilised to disinfect theexam halls, buildings and thecampuses.

HC allows TS to go ahead...

Continued from page 1

The state also reported 42more positive cases, including34 from GHMC area. Eightother cases pertain to migrantsfrom Sircilla, Karimnagar andYadadri. So far, 77 migrantshave tested positive. With ninepersons being discharged onTuesday, in 1,011 patients haverecovered in the state. SinceMarch, Telangana has report-ed 1,634 cases. On Tuesday,Health Minister Etela Rajenderurged health ministry officialsto comply with ICMR guide-lines released on Monday toperform medical check-up formedical, municipal and policepersonnel working withmigrant workers, foreign trav-elers and people from otherstates.

‘Stimulus' binds non-BJPCMs to oppose Modi

Private schoolteachers inTelangana...Continued from page 1

Sources of water are sub-ject to contamination andrequire appropriate treatmentto remove disease-causingcontaminants. Infants, youngchildren, pregnant women,the elderly, and people whoseimmune systems are compro-mised may be especially sus-ceptible to illnesses fromsome of the contaminants.

Union Ministersmaking tallclaims: VinodPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State PlanningBoard Vice-Chairman BVinod Kumar has chargedthe Union government ingeneral and the Departmentof Railways in particular withacting without humanity intransporting the strandedmigrant labourers to theirrespective states.

Vinod Kumar said that theUnion Ministers' claims ofcentre bearing 85 per cent ofthe transportation chargesof the migrant labourers weretotally false. In a railwaycompartment, 54 travellersare adjusted out of its fullcapacity of 72 to enable themto observe social distance.The Centre has been makingtall claims that it is givingsubsidy for the rest of the 18seats also. The day beforeyesterday, it was Minister ofState for Railways PiyushGoel, yesterday FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanand Union Minister of statefor Home Kishan Reddytoday have been making thesame claims.

The Union ministers havebeen harping on the same lieagain and again to create theimpression that it is true, heobserved. There was not asingle person who did not feelsorry for the plight of themigrant workers from Bihar,Odisha, Jharkhand, UP, WestBengal, Chhattisgarh return-ing to their states on foodbraving hot sun, he said.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

The South India's biggest cowshelter, Satyam ShivamSundaram Gau Nivas (SSSG),which shelters 5,500 cows, themost revered animals, locatedat Gaganpahad, on the way toShamshabad Airport needshelp to feed the cows. Thelockdown has put India's ani-mals in extreme distress. Andcows a SSSG are no exception.Many cows are going hungry.

The livestock sheltered arenot getting adequate feedbecause of the lockdown. Nogovernments have time forhungry cows. The founder ofSSSG, Dharam Raj Rankainformed that due to lockdownand it's impact, the voluntarycontributions based on whichshelter is being run for the past25 years is drained outresources.

The cows, which are rescuedfrom slaughter houses, are

sheltered there. The 77-years-old Dharam Raj Ranka, aJeweller turned one man armyon a mission protecting India'smost revered animal cow, res-cuing from the jaws of deathfrom slaughter houses hasbeen feeling the heat and wantspeople to come forward con-tributes towards maintenance.

The philanthropic individ-uals, Cow lovers may extendhelp in cash or kind. SSSG isappeals for contributions.

The barefooted, septuage-narian has been running twocow shelters -Satyam ShivamSundaram Gau Nivas and GauSeva both are well maintainedand one of the best maintainedin India. Hundreds visit theGau Nivas everday during thenormal time.

The cow shelter employs 100people to take care of 5500cows, spends Rs 30 to 35 lakha month, collected throughdonations on fodder.

Cattle starve at Gaushala

More than 5,500 cows take shelter at Satyam Shivam Sundaram Gau Shala atGaganpahad

ODD-EVEN RULE

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Despite Telangana govern-ment's decision to allow com-mercial establishments to carryout business activities on alter-nate days, many shops kepttheir shutters down. Eventhough the government men-tioned to open shops on odd-even pattern on alternate days,the pattern was not followed onTuesday in many areas.

As many shopkeepers werebusy cleaning their shops aftertwo months lockdown, theywere not open to customers.

The odd-even numbers werewitnessed on main roads, whilethere was no such rule beingfollowed in bylanes. GHMCofficials have marked on theshutters and walls of the stores,1 and 2.

An owner of mechanic shopat Kukatpally said, "I wasn't

sure of the number given to mein the morning, but when Iopened up the shop, I wit-nessed many customers. I hadto spend the time cleaning upthe shop in the morning, that'swhy you can see vehicles piledup here. Later I was informedof the numbering."

Explaining the pattern ofOdd-even numbers, Municipal

Administration Principal sec-retary Arvind Kumar said,"Odd numbered shops shouldbe open on odd days (1,3,5)and even numbered on evendays (2,4,6) of week."

GHMC Commissioner DSLokesh Kumar visitedMalakpet area along withZonal Commissioner ofCharminar Ashok Samrat and

verified numbering of com-mercial shops for openingalternate days as per theinstructions of the govern-ment.

The commissioner alsoissued orders to ZonalCommissioners; DeputyCommissioners to open shopson odd-even pattern on alter-nate days and reiterated toimplement physical distance,masks and hand sanitiser atentry and exits of commercial

shops. He said that further,shops in containment zoneswill continue to be closed aswas the case till now.

GHMC has given shopkeep-ers order to follow 'No mask,no goods' rule. A GHMC offi-cial said, "In Kukatpally zonethere are 42,000 commercialestablishments. Some kiranashops, medical shops, essentialservices, construction activity,already have exemption. Inother shops, odd even basis isgoing. On Tuesday, even num-ber shops, those numbered at2 have been opened and onWednesday shops numbered 1will be opened. Every personhas to have mask and the shopowners have to follow 'nomask, no goods' rule. Specialteams have already deployed,who are imposing fines for notmaintaining precautions. Thiswill continue in all circles andteams".

D RAMA MOHANn HYDERABAD

While the State government iscrying itself hoarse about theneed to maintain physical dis-tance, hardly any such thing isobserved at electronics, electri-cal and automobile markets,abuzz with commercial activi-ty as the markets opened onMonday after a gap of nearly 50days.

Several traders indulging inhectic transactions here can beseen without masks or glovesexposing themselves and pur-chasers to the danger of thepandemic.

The electronic market inTroop Bazar, automobile mar-kets in Ramkoti, Peelkhanaand Secunderabad witnessedlot of activity.

Meanwhile, the first day ofreopening of the market wit-nessed feverish activity andtransacted lot of business.

People who thronged theRamKoti, Troop Bazar, KothiBank Street, Peelkhana marketsto buy electronics, spares fortwo-wheelers and four-wheel-ers, house wiring equipment,fans, coolers, air-conditioners,

refrigerators and electricalswitches and other equipmentwere seen not observing phys-ical distance. For want ofgoods transport, the customerswere seen transporting elec-tronic goods on a large scale.This has led to minor accidents.

The electronics goods sellersand automobile shops formedinto an association and framedtheir own guidelines. Theyhave appointed personnel toensure physical distance amongcustomers visiting the shops.

Some shops are strictly fol-lowing the regulations by allow-

ing a few customers inside theshops and allowing others onlyafter they finished their trans-actions.

The automobile and elec-tronic traders have set up theirown website to facilitate easybuying and easy sale, especial-ly those who want to do busi-ness from elsewhere in thestate.

They receive online ordersfrom districts and deliveringgoods to customers throughtransporting them to variousdestinations.

According to Telangana

Automobile Dealers'Association President SrinivasGupta, guidelines have beenissued to members asking themto entertain no sales to cus-tomers not wearing masks.The goods are being sold onlyafter sanitising. Observingphysical distance is a must. Hethanked the government forallowing them to open theirshops.

An electronic trader inTroop Bazar said that he hasbeen selling goods in the areafor the past 30 years and neverencountered the problem ofclosing down the shop for over50 days in his career.

He said people are buyingfans, coolers, air-conditioners,house wiring equipment on alarge scale marking the com-mencement of summer sale.

Though lower in number,crowds can also be seen atMoazzam Jahi Market, which isone of the major markets whenit comes to fruits, with nophysical distance beingobserved whatsoever. With theonset of Ramzan month, thethrongs are only set to increasein size leading to a more chaot-ic situation.

As manyshopkeepers werebusy cleaningtheir shops aftertwo monthslockdown, theywere not open tocustomers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State IndustrialInfrastructure CorporationLimited (TSIIC) is functioningas a local body having certainpowers and functions trans-ferred by the Municipal &Administration Departmentand Panchayat Raj & RuralDevelopment Department.

TSIIC has 104 IndustrialArea Local Authority and 154Industrial Parks with the zonalmanagers and officers nomi-nated as executive officers forthe Industrial Parks to dis-charge the statutory powersand functions of MunicipalCorporations, Municipalities &Gram Panchayats.

TSIIC has issued guide-lines on Covid-19 to all theexecutive officers on the stan-dard operating procedure forsocial distancing in work-

place and establishments inaccordance with orders issuedby Industries Department ofTelangana from time to time.

Posters of the standardoperating practices for indus-trial units in the IALAs havebeen pasted at all the promi-nent places in the industrialparks for awareness to all theworkers. All the officials werestrictly directed to follow the

guidelines issued by stategovernment to get theIndustries back on track assoon as possible duly takingprecautions like utmost sani-tised of all industrial parks,work place, maintaining ofphysical distancing, providingother amenities for workerslike logistics, PPE equipment,safety especially womenworkers.

TSIIC: Follow guidelines toget industries back on track

PNS n HYDERABAD

Public health experts havewelcomed the timely move bythe state government to banthe use of tobacco productsand spitting in public placeswith the aim to prevent thespread of Coronavirus.

Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare earlier issueddirections to all statesand union territo-ries, to prohibit theuse and spitting ofchewing tobaccoproducts in publicplaces to prevent thespread of Coronavirus.

Union Minister Dr HarshVardan wrote to HealthMinister EtelaRajender to bansale of tobacco products. In aletter addressed to all StateHealth Ministers, he saidtobacco use is a major threat topublic health globally.Smokeless tobacco users havea tendency to spit in public

places or otherwiseand therefore, increase

health risks especiallythose of spreading infec-

tious and contagious diseaseslike Covid-19, tuberculosis,swine flu, encephalitis etc. Theuse of smokeless tobacco alsocreates unhygienic environ-ment which further spreadsthe diseases. Large gathering atthe retail outlets where smoke-less tobacco products are sold,also pose the risk of spread of

Covid-19."We applaud the state gov-

ernment for taking timely stepfor imposing a ban on the useof tobacco products and spit-ting in public places to preventand control the spread ofCovid-19 virus. To protecttheir health and reduce theirrisk of severe Covid-19 symp-toms, we urge the State Govt toban the sale of tobacco prod-ucts as well, Binoy Mathew,Senior Programme Officer,Voluntary Health Associationof India.

Tobacco users keen to quitsmoking and smokeless prod-ucts, can avail of free of chargetelephone based quit line ser-vices launched by governmentof India. The Ministry ofHealth & Family Welfare,Government of India has setup a National Tobacco QuitLine Services to provide coun-seling services to help smokersand tobacco consumers toquit.

Ban tobacco products tillthe end of Covid: Experts

A sanitation worker sprays disinfactant at an industrial unit in the city

Four injuredin clashes atLangar Houz PNS n HYDERABAD

Atleast four persons wereinjured following clashesbetween two groups over atrivial issue at Langar Houzon Monday.

According to sources, aresident of Bapunagar pur-chased wheat flour from ashop in the neighbourhoodbut found it to be of faultyquality. On Monday, hereturned to the shop to com-plain about it, which turnedinto a full-fledged argumentbetween the two that result-ed in blows.

Soon after, a few personsfrom both the familiesexchanged blows andattacked each other. A videoshared on social mediashowed more than 10 per-sons involved in the brawl.

The persons involved weremostly men and two women.Persons were seen wieldingsticks and cricket bats duringthe clashes. According to thepolice, four persons receivedminor injuries in the inci-dent. The Langar HouzPolice registered a case andbegan investigation.

Hyderabad PoliceCommissioner tosubmit report toRights panelPNS n HYDERABAD

The State Human RightsCommission (SHRC) hasdirected the HyderabadCommissioner of Police,Anjani Kumar, to submit areport on an incident ofpolice misbehavior with awoman under Chikkadpallystation limits.

According to sources, afemale software employeeand her brother were walkingon Sunday morning towardsTank Bund from Ashoknagar.However, Chikkadpallypolice detained the womanunder the assumption thatshe was meeting herboyfriend during the lock-down. Even as the womantried to explain that the per-son was her brother and thatthey were on a morning walk,the police allegedly misbe-haved with her.

The woman then called herfather, who rushed to theplace and had an argumentwith the police. The policeproceeded to register pettycases against the woman'sfather and brother.

Following the cases byChikkadpally police, thewoman approached theSHRC and filed a petition se-eking action against police.

PNS n HYDERABAD

An auto driver was caught fordriving his vehicle in an ine-briated state in Hyderabad'sPutlibowli area on Tuesday.Amid the lockdown crisis, theHyderabad police conducteddrunk driving tests in the cityafter the government ease thelockdown rules.

According to sources,Hyderabad traffic police con-ducted tests in the city by fol-lowing the physical distancingand reports said that the first

case reported in the city.An auto driver was caught

when he rammed his vehicleonto a road divider inPutlibowli, which was noticedby cops conducting drunkdriving tests nearby. Uponfurther inspection, it wasrevealed that the man had ablood alcohol count of 230."We have seized Babu's vehi-cle and issued him a challanfor driving under the influenceof alcohol. No other caseswere reported in the city" saidthe traffic police officials.

RIMEORNERC

Techie duped of over Rs 4 lakh in real estate fraudHYDERABAD: A fraudster whoposed as the representative of areal estate company duped asoftware professional inHyderabad to the tune of Rs 4.5lakh. According to the police,the victim, a softwareprofessional who is fromMumbai, had landed in the citybefore the lockdown to purchasea property on the city outskirts."He approached a few real estatecompanies over phone and alsosent enquiry emails to thecompanies. Soon, the fraudstercalled him over the phone andintroduced himself as theexecutive of a particularcompany. He asked the victim totransfer Rs. 4.5 lakh into a bankaccount as advance payment forbooking the flat. However, afterpaying the amount, the man didnot get any payment receipt viaemail or WhatsApp as promised,"said KVM Prasad, ACP,Cybercrime, adding that thepolice have booked a case andare investigating.

Woman hangs herself over‘harassment'HYDERABAD: A 33-year-oldwoman committed suicide byhanging herself at her residencein Uppal on Monday. The victimwas identified as T Srilatha, anemployee of Genpact. She wasmarried to Satish and the couplewere blessed with a son.According to police, in acomplaint received from herparents, they said that onSunday, she borrowed Rs20,000 from her parents to payher EMI. On Monday, she askedher husband to visit the bankand pay the EMI. However, whenSatish returned home, he foundSrilatha hanging from the ceiling.Her parents alleged that Satishhad been harassing her for avery long time over petty issues.Based on their complaint, theUppal police registered a caseagainst under sections 306 and498 A of the IPC and began aninvestigation.

A police official conducts breath analyser test to an auto driver who was caughtwhen he rammed his vehicle onto a road divider in Putlibowli

Man pulled overfor driving drunk

‘Depressed'PhD scholarhangs self PNS n HYDERABAD

A research scholar commit-ted suicide by hanging him-self in his house at Boduppalin Medipally on Mondaymidnight. Police suspect thathe was depressed over notsecuring a proper job after hisPhD.

The victim was identifiedas 33-year-old GogulothRaveender. A resident ofDwaraka Nagar in Boduppal.

According to a complaintreceived from Rajitha, shewas in the kitchen when herhusband hanged himselffrom the ceiling fan.

She then called the neigh-bours and broke open thedoor. Raveender was shiftedto RBM Hospital for treat-ment but the duty doctorsexamined and declared thathe was brought dead.

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

Easing of restrictions will bekeeping the police staff on theirtoes as the work will only inc-rease now with increased vig-ilance and regular crimes mak-ing a comeback, officials said.

The rotational shifts ofpolice staff will continue as itwas for the past few months.The city police said that theyare ensuring that there arenot more than 3 persons,including the driver, in anauto-rickshaw, and not morethan four, including the dri-ver, in a cab.

"Policing was done to mon-itor and curb violations duringlockdown with limited peoplefor the past two months. Now,with the relaxations announ-ced, the workload will increaseas we have to handle the regu-lar crime and traffic duties,make sure of maintainingsocial distancing and alsocheck for lockdown viola-tions," said an official.

As many as 16,264 caseswere booked in Hyderabad citybetween May 7 and May 19 fornot wearing masks. Moreover,considering reports, the policedepartment has now integrat-ed machine learning into thetool to identify various kindsof masks, towels and handker-chiefs of different colors.

194 AEO posts to be filled on outsourcingbasisPNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy on Tuesdaysaid that orders have beenissued to recruit AgricultureExtension Officers in 194clusters on outsourcing basisto implement theComprehensive Agriculturepolicy of the StateGovernment. He said thatthe AEOs are being recruit-ed on outsourcing basis torule out any inconveniencepending recruitment of reg-ular officials.

He said that out of the 2638AEO posts, 2444 have beenrecruited. The balance of the194 AEOs will be recruitedon outsourcing basis since thefarmers should receive exten-sion services at the grassrootslevel.

A GO has been issuedwithin 24 hours of issuesorders to fill the vacancies.

Police remove barricades toensure smooth flow of trafficPNS n HYDERABAD

After 58 days of lockdown,barricades were removed andpublic movements were seenin the city as Telanganarelaxed lockdown fromTuesday.

Heavy vehicular traffic wasseen in Punjagutta, Ameer-pet, Kukatpally, Khairatabad,Begumpet, Secunderabad,Tank Bund, Basheerbagh,Koti and Nampally areas.

With the bus service,Hyderabad Metro and Multi-Modal Transit System(MMTS) trains remainingsuspended, the people used

private vehicles, auto-rick-shaws, or cabs to reach theirworkplaces. While about 40per cent of vehicles wereseen during the last 10 daysafter certain relaxations,Tuesday saw the traffic vol-ume reaching 90 per cent.The traffic police personnelwere out in full strength atmajor intersections and traf-fic signals were restored. Butthey were only enforcingnormal traffic norms.

Traffic snarls could beseen at several intersections,as people took to the streetsin their personal vehiclesand two-wheelers.

Synchronydonates 5k face masks to Hyd cops PNS n HYDERABAD

Synchrony, a premier con-sumer financial services com-pany, recently provided 5,000surgical masks to HyderabadCity Police to help safeguardfrontline workers during theCoronavirus pandemic. Sincethe outbreak of the virus, thecompany has provided 15,000masks to Telangana StatePolice. The recent donationwas presented to HyderabadPolice Commissioner AnjaniKumar by regional security ofSynchrony Ashish Jha.

"Never before have com-munities where we live andwork been so important tous, and Synchrony is com-mitted to supporting them,"said Andy Ponneri, SeniorVice President. "Synchronyhas a long-standing associa-tion with Hyderabad CityPolice, and we are gratefulfor their ongoing efforts inkeeping our communitiessafe."

Synchrony continues topartner with the TS Police tohelp strengthen safety andsecurity in the region throughsuccessful initiatives such asthe installation of more than280 CCTV cameras inHyderabad for surveillance ofhigh crime rate areas.

Use of smokelesstobacco also createsunhygienicenvironment. Largegathering at the retailoutlets wheresmokeless tobacco

products are sold,also pose therisk of Covid

City markets spring back to life Cops to be busier than everafter xlockdown relaxations

Shopkeepers find government diktat odd

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020 hyderabad 04

Since Independence, hous-ing policies have largelypromoted self-ownership

for targetted households.Recently, the Government hasannounced plans to promoterental housing in urban areas.

This is a paradigm shiftfrom the past policy of givingland/subsidies to householdsor builders/developers to con-struct housing for ownership.The challenge is to design arental-housing scheme that isattractive for the disadvan-taged, particularly the migrantfamilies.

The primary objective of thescheme would be to providerental housing to a large num-ber of households within ashort span of time.Additionally, make availablediverse rental housing options- ranging from houses forfamilies to dormitories forsingle workers to sharedaccommodation, with flexiblerental conditions (e.g. durationand initial deposit).

In India, there is a gradualmove to shift its developmentand welfare policies towards

direct benefit transfer. Benefitscould be transferred in differ-ent ways - as cash, vouchers orfoodgrains. Vouchers havebeen used in other countriesto promote rental housingwhere part of the rent is cov-ered by the voucher. Thisencourages households to renthouses in localities of theirchoice. For example, theHousing Voucher Programmein the US assists more than 20lakh families and is the largestFederal low-income housingassistance programme. It isone of the few programmesthat has grown over the last 20years, testimony to its popular-ity. In the programme, familieswho are given vouchers usethem to pay the cost of rent-ing housing in the open mar-ket.

A similar scheme could bedesigned for Indian condi-tions. The rental schemewould provide financial assis-

tance to the migrant familiesup to a certain income level toenable them to afford a decentshelter to rent.

A Rental Housing Voucher(RHV) would be given to thetenants. These vouchers wouldbe distributed to tenants byurban local bodies and, inturn, be redeemed by thehouse owners. The migrantfamily will only pay the differ-ence between the actual rentcharged by the landowner andthe amount subsidised underthe model.

As this is the first timesuch a policy is being imple-

mented, the Government willhave to work out the schemedetails, such as the rent ceilingfor financial assistancedepending on class/size andprevailing rent in cities.

There are several other ben-efits of the rental voucherscheme. First, migrants typi-cally do not own lands in citieswhere they work, therefore,find it difficult to obtain loans.Additionally, they lack a steadyincome, thus, are unable toconvince banks that they willbe able to regularly repay theEMIs. The rental schemewould be free from these con-

straints. Second, while making home

location decisions, householdsmake trade-offs between theplace of work, home andschool location. The freedomto make these tradeoffs iscompromised in the existinghousing programmes as landis scarce and houses are con-structed wherever free / cheapland is available (e.g. outskirtsof city). In renting, on the

other hand, individual house-holds would not be compelledto move to such pre-decidedhouses, but have the freedomto rent a house keeping in viewtheir family preferences. Forexample, one household maydecide to rent a house near aschool even if the rent is high-er and involves a longer com-mute to work for the parents.Another household may pre-fer to stay in a locality withbetter amenities, but far awayfrom schools. Rental vouchers,by covering a part of the rent,would empower the family tomake such choices.

Third, there is some evi-dence to show that providingrental housing may be cheap-er for the government, thansubsidising ownership. Aback-of-envelope calculationshows that for 100 cities, arental scheme covering poorhouseholds is likely to costaround Rs 2,713 crore. Fourth,

vouchers would reduce thefinancial burden of renting aliveable shelter by the poor,migrant families, and enablethem to invest their savings inbetter economic opportunities.Importantly, vouchers wouldgive them the option to moveout of areas where poverty isspatially concentrated andindirectly help in inhibitingthe formation of slums incities.

Fifth, the rental schemewould empower migrants toplan their life. In the beginningthey would use the rentalvouchers to stay in betterareas in the city. With time,their incomes would increaseand they would plan to con-struct a house, possibly in suchareas with better amenities.

The children would getused to better amenities andwould push the parents to stayin localities with better ameni-ties, thus, contributing to

greater inter-generationalmobility.

In the prevailing paradigm,government policy has beendirected at construction ofhouses to encourage people toown houses. Whatever rentalmarket has developed in Indiais small-scale and privatelydirected and presently about aquarter to a third of house-holds in Indian cities live inrented housing. Thus, there isa huge potential for encourag-ing rental housing by givingvouchers to the poor and thedisadvantaged, particularly themigrants. A larger benefit ofthe rental scheme will be thatmigrants will feel ‘at-home’ inthe city.

(Author is a PhD fromUSA and a DLitt from

Kanchi University. The arti-cle is based on his researchand practice and views are

personal)

SAMEER SHARMA, IAS

Covid-19: Providing Rental Housing for MigrantsIn India, there is a gradual move to shiftits development and welfare policiestowards direct benefit transfer. Benefitscould be transferred in different ways - ascash, vouchers or foodgrains.

KCR-Jagan ‘dosti’ is not good for TS: Cong‘Jagan issued latest GO No 203 only after having dinner with KCR’K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Congress leaders have allegedthat the friendship ofTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao andAndhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy would be danger toTelangana Agriculture sector.

Finding fault with KCR forstating that he waged seriousfight against Pothireddypaduissue in the past, the Congressleaders said that KCR didn'trespond on the GO issued onSeptember 13, 2005 enhancingthe capacity of Pothireddypaduhead regulator.

They alleged that Jaganissued latest GO No.203 onlyafter having dinner with KCR.The party leaders alleged thatKCR himself hatching con-

spiracies in the name of liftprojects for the sake of com-missions. The leaders said thatthey will stage protest on June2, on the day the separateTelangana state was formed,against the AP's GO onPothireddypadu atSLBC Tunnel.

C o n g r e s sMPs N UttamKimar Reddy,Komat ireddyVenkat Reddyand A RevanthReddy spoke atGandhi Bhavanon Tuesday.

Uttam alleged that KCR did-n't respond even after Jaganannounced a statement onPothireddypadu. He askedwhether KCR and Jagan didn'tdiscuss on Phothireddypadu atleast they embraced each other

in Pragathi Bhavan or they col-luded each other.

Uttam alleged that AndhraPradesh will take double thewater to Kaleswaram waters

from Krishna withthe new GO. The-re is no value to

the words utteredby KCR, he pointedalleging that TS will

be meted out inj-ustice with Poth-

ireddypadu. He alleged that not a

single state invited tendersduring this lockdown exceptTelangana government. Healleged that KCR had an agree-ment for 8 percent commis-sions in regard to Kaleswaramand Dummugudem projects.

Komatireddy Venkat Reddyalleged that the Congress isopposing GO No.203 which

would transform Telangana asa desert. He asked "WhetherKCR has sense? How KCRallowed Jagan to step insidePragathi Bhavan? KCR is aninefficient Chief Minister as hefailed to complete the projectscompleted 70 percent worksduring previous Congressregime. KCR is hatching con-spiracy to make southTelangana as desert in a planedmanner".

A Revanth Reddy pointedout that KCR is giving animpression that he foughtuntiringly on Pothireddypaduissue but KCR didn't speakwhen GO issued on September

13, 2005 enhancing its capac-ity from 11,000 to 44,000 bythen Chief Minister late YSRajashekar Reddy. More so,KCR and Ale Narendra cameout from central cabinet onAugust 20, 2006, he informed.KCR didn't speak on that daybut stated other reasons, hesaid and made it clear that for-mer Minister and Congressleader P Janardhan Reddyraised voice from Delhi toGulli. He said that even KCRstated that the AP is taking11,000 cusecs of water addi-tionally from old gates afterbecoming Chief Minister butdid not speak till date.

The leaders said that they will stageprotest on June 2 against the AP's GOon Pothireddypadu at SLBC Tunnel

PV KONDAL RAOn WARANGAL

More than 960 services includ-ing the inter-district expressand deluxe buses were operat-ed through nine RTC busdepots in the erstwhileWarangal district on Tuesday.

Initially the services lackedpatronage from the passengersin the early hours but as the daypassed the permitted 25 pas-senger limit was reached inalmost all the services.

The passengers as well theRTC employees were told tomaintain precautionary mea-sures including masks, sanitis-ers and social distancing in thebuses.

Services to the state capitalwere operated till Uppal onlyas the city still prohibits theentry of public transport due tolockdown restrictions.

Passengers boarding thebuses were mainly found fromthe employed sections as manyof them were compelled to stayin their native places after thegovernment has clamped thelockdown all of a sudden.

Families staying in the nativevillages have returned to theirwork places as the officesresumed the work.

Several private employeeswere seen attending theiroffices through RTC services,which proved helpful.

As the regular train servicesare not on tracks, RTC servicesare likely to provide muchrelief to the passengers in thecities like Warangal andKazipet.

A major chunk of the pas-sengers commute throughtrains every day from Warangaland Kazipet during the regular

times. The 50 days lockdownperiod has certainly promptedthem to keep away from theirregular modes of transportand Tuesday morning hascome as a blessing in disguisefor them.

Meanwhile, the sanitisedpremises of bus stations werefound abuzz with hecticactivity as the passengersstarted arriving in largenumbers to reach their des-tinations.

NOT MANY PASSENGERS SEENAT BUS STANDS ACROSS STATE PNS n HYDERABAD

Except for city buses and inter-state buses, the TSRTC hasresumed all its services acrossthe state after 57 days of lock-down. Buses hit the roads from6 am and all the staff members,including drivers and conduc-tors reported for duty.

The staffers followed theregulations issued by the stategovernment and allowed thepassengers to board the busonly if they wear mask.However, many RTC deportshave not maintained the sani-tation measures. Several RTCstaffers said that they wereprovided very cheap masks.

A good number of com-muters rushed to catch theirbuses in Hyderabad to reachtheir destinations.

However, at places likeJogipet in Andole mandal ofSangareddy district, Thorrur ofMahabubabad district, manypassengers didn't turn up toboard the buses.

The situation is similar in

Narsampet of Warangal Ruraldistrict. Several bus standslooked deserted in the morn-ing hours. On the other hand,the RTC employees stagedprotest at Dilsukhnagar busdepot as the officials made theemployees to sit in the depot,after directing them to come totheir duties on Tuesday.

The employees alsoexpressed anger at the depotofficials as they didn't follow thelockdown regulations. RTCofficials allowed the buses com-ing from Karimnagar toHyderabad up to JBS andNalgonda, Suryapet andKhammam districts buses up toHayathnagar and the busesfrom Mahabubnagar up toAramghar. The buses fromKalwakurthy, Acchampet andKollapur are allowed up toPahadi Sharif. The buses arerunning up to 7 pm and busesalso running up to 8 pm if tick-ets were already issued. RTCstaffers are allowing the com-muters only up to seatingcapacity.

As the regular train services are not ontracks, RTC services are likely toprovide much relief to the passengers inthe cities like Warangal and Kazipet

Excise and Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud boards Mahabubnagar-HyderabadRTC service to monitor the implementation of social distancing on Tuesday.

Minister boards bus tomonitor arrangementsPNS nMAHABUBNAGAR

In a bid to encourage passen-gers to board the RTC buses,Excise and Tourism MinisterV Srinivas Goud on Tuesdayboarded a deluxe service fromMahabubnagar to Hyderabadand inspected the facilitiesand restrictions maintained bythe authorities.

After a gap of nearly twomonths, buses returned to theroads in Telangana on Tuesdaywith the state governmentrelaxing the lockdown normsto allow resumption of bus ser-vices.

The Minister advised thepassengers to adhere to thesafety precautions during theirjourney. Srinivas Goud direct-ed the authorities to ensurethat the passengers maintain

physical distance in the buses. All the passengers should

follow the alternate seatingarrangements following themarkings on the seats, theMinister said adding thateverybody should wear masksand sanitise their hands prop-erly in order to prevent thespread of Coronavirus. TheMinister said that the RTC ser-vices must have to operate inthe state maintain all the pre-cautions.

Minister advisedthe passengers toadhere to thesafety precautionsduring theirjourney.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh CIDpolice have registered a caseagainst a 60-year-old womanfor allegedly posting in socialmedia questions pertaining tothe recent Styrene gas leak inci-dent in Visakhapatnam inwhich 12 people lost theirlives and hundreds fell ill. TheCID is also investigating therole of a man, MalladiRaghunath in the matter. Acase has been booked againstthe woman, P Ranganayaki,under IPC sections 505 (2)(making statements that createor promote enmity),153 (A)(indulging in wanton vilifica-tion), 188 (Disobedience toorder duly promulgated bypublic servant) and 120-B r/w34 (criminal conspiracy), a

press release from the CID saidon Tuesday. When contacted PV Sunil Kumar, additionalDGP (CID) said that a noticeunder section 41 (A) of theCrPC (notice of appearancebefore police officer) was alsoserved on her. The woman inher social media account raised20 questions such as why therewere no arrests in the Vizag gasleak case and why the govern-ment allowed the leftoverStyrene to be sent back toSouth Korea. A senior police

official claimed the womanwas a TDP sympathiser.

Talking to reporters at herresidence, Ranganayaki saidshe did not have any badintentions and merely shared apost put by her friend. "I tookpermission from my friendand copy pasted it.I dont haveany bad intentions.

I do not know if my post isso offensive," she said.

TDP chief and former chiefminister N ChandrababuNaidu condemned the caseagainst the elderly woman andsaid she has been served noticeby the CID for speaking outagainst the government.

Meanwhile, police warnedpeople not to indulge in falsepropaganda against the gov-ernment or its machinery lead-ing to law and order problems.

Speed uptransportationof paddy:Former Dy CMPNS nWARANGAL

Former deputy chief ministerKadiyam Srihari on Tuesdayadvised the IKP District offi-cials to speed up the trans-portation of the procuredgrains so that the primaryaim of the state governmentto purchase the paddy pro-duce will be fulfilled.

The TRS MLC wasstopped at KrishnajigudemIKP point on Tuesday whenhe was passing through thearea to participate in a char-ity programme conducted byKadiyam Foundation.

Kadiyam Srihari made aphone call to the districtofficer Ramaji Bhikya andascertained why the trans-portation was delayed in spiteof a timely purchases andprocurement.

He expressed his displea-sure that the sole aim of thegovernment would go in vainif the produce was not sent tothe godowns in proper time.

Kadiyam Srihari directedthe officials concerned totake necessary measures fortransportation by identifyingthe godown facility byevening and asked the offi-cials to make appropriatearrangements for transport-ing the produce.

Can't compromise onvirus battle: VidyasagarPNSn KARIMNAGAR

BJP senior leader and formerMaharashtra GovernorCh Vidyasagar Raohas said it is notproper to say thatwe have to live withthe coronavirus.

Interacting withthe media inKarimnagar onTuesday, Vidyasagar Raomaintained that it was danger-ous to live with the virus andthat people should not compro-mise in the battle against Covi-19. They must take precaution-ary measures such as washinghands frequently, wearingmasks, maintaining physical

distance and ensuring cleanlocalities. The spread of thecoronavirus had successfully

been controlled in ruralareas by following tra-

ditional practices, hesaid.

On his way toD h a r m a p u r i ,Vidhyasagar Rao

halted here and felic-itated newly elected BJP

State president Bandi SanjayKumar. Recollecting his expe-rience as the State president, theformer Governor said the BJPhad won 12 MLAs and 7Parliamentary seats, the high-est for the party, during histerm in the united AndhraPradesh.

Extend licence periodfor wine shops: DealersPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Wine DealerAssociation (TWDA) hasurged the Prohibition andExcise DepartmentCommissioner to reschedulelicense tax for the period2019-21 due to Covid-19 pan-demic, which had gripped theentire world brought all com-mercial and social activities toa standstill.

The Association presidentD Venkateshwara Rao, gener-al secretary V RamachandraReddy and treasurer SubhashDhul have reminded that as ameasure of public health andsafety, state government alsodeclared a lockdown anddirected all the retail wineshops (A4 shops) to closetheir business from March 22to May 5.

Realising the hardships, theCentral and all the state gov-ernments as a sympatheticmeasure towards all businessestablishments are extendingall possible help to revive thebusinesses in all possible man-ner. They said as the govern-ment is well aware that theLicensees of IMFL (A4 shops)pay the license tax of Rs1,10,00,000 per annum, whichis probably highest in thecountry.

Rabi procurementof paddy exceedslast year's kharif PNS n HYDERABAD

Civil Supplies CorporationChairman M Srinivas Reddyhas said that the current rabipaddy procurement exceed-ed the last year's kharif pro-curement. He said that thepaddy procurement has cometo the last stage in some dis-tricts.

Srinivas Reddy said that47.97 lakh tonnes of paddyhas been procured in rabi asagainst 47 lakh tonnes in thelast kharif.

So far the Civil SuppliesCorporation credited Rs5,537 crore in farmers' bankaccounts. On Monday, itreleased Rs 561 crore and onTuesday it released Rs 299crore to credit into their bankaccounts.

2BHK units tobe ready in twomonths: SpeakerPNSnHYDERABAD

Telangana Assembly speakerPocharam Srinivas Reddyhas stated that the construc-tion of double bed roomhouses will be completedwithin two months. Speakingto the media after conductingreview meeting on doubleroom houses in Banswadaconstituency on Tuesday,Pocharam Srinivas Reddysaid that the construction ofdouble bed room houses inBanswada constituency isgoing on with Rs 300 crore.He said that the MandalRevenue officials have theauthority of selection of eli-gible beneficiaries of doublebed room houses.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Finding fault with ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao for criticising theCentre's package, BJP statepresident Bandi SanjayKumar asked KCR to tellwhether the Centre has togive money for vote bank pol-itics.

KCR has no right to criti-cise Centre as he failed to givefull salaries to the employees.Sanjay found fault with KCR,who always says more aboutagriculture, saying what elsehe has given to farmersexcept rythu bandhu.

Sanjay: TS CMhas no rightto criticiseCentre

RTC services provide much relief to stranded ruralites

Ranganayaki saidshe did not have anybad intentions andmerely shared a postput by her friend

AP police book 60-year-old woman for post on gas leak

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

No consent requiredfrom states to runShramik Special trainsNEW DELHI: The railways onTuesday said the consent of thedestination states is notrequired to operate ShramikSpecial trains, hours after theHome Ministry issued astandard operating procedurefor the national transporter torun these trains to ferrymigrants to their native places."Consent of terminating statenot necessary to run ShramikSpecial trains," railwayspokesperson Rajesh Bajpaisaid. "After the new SoP, theimplication is that no consentof receiving state is mandatory,"he said. Earlier, a political stormhad broken out when RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal said thatWest Bengal, Jharkhand andChhattisgarh were beinglaggard in approving thesetrains. Since May 1, therailways has run 1,565 migranttrains and ferried over 20 lakhmigrants.

Hardline separatist'sson among two terroristkilled in encounter

55,960 migrants leftThane so far in trains,buses: OfficialTHANE: Nearly 55,960 migrantlabourers have so far been sentto their native places fromMaharashtra's Thane districtamid the coronavirus-inducedlockdown, Collector RajeshNarvekar said on Tuesday. Ofthese, as many as 21,475 havebeen sent in 17 trains and34,485 have been ferried in1,553 buses to their nativeplaces in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Orissa and Jharkhand, he said.The Thane district administra-tion in coordination with thestate government arranged fortheir travel, he said. Thenumber of those sent by trainsto various states is as follows:Uttar Pradesh-2,833, Bihar-10,632, Madhya Pradesh-1,652, Rajasthan-3,494,Odisha-1,364 and Jharkhand-1,500. Till date, more than65,000 migrant laborers haveregistered their names with thedistrict administration to getclearance to travel to theirnative places by trains, thecollector said. So far, 21,475labourers have been sent bytrains, he said, adding that thestates concerned are beingcontacted for permission tosend the other labourers also.Following arrangements madefor the transportation ofthe labourers, the districtadministration said.

SRINAGAR: Junaid Sehrai, sonof separatist conglomerateTehreek-e-Hurriyat's chairmanAshraf Sehrai, was among thetwo terrorists killed in anencounter with security forces indowntown Srinagar, police said.Junaid Sehrai went missing inMarch 2018 and later hispicture, brandishing an AK-47,went viral on social media. Thejoining of Sehrai, who comple-ted his MBA degree from theKashmir University, was the firstsuch case where a son of aseparatist leader of Jammu andKashmir had joined a terrorgroup.

PNS n NEW DELHI

As a nationwide lockdown con-tinues to fight the coronaviruspandemic, COVID-19 hasaccounted for up to 42.2 per centof mainstream news headlinesduring this period while a resul-tant migrant labour crisis hasemerged as the most-trendingnews, a new study showed onTuesday.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has emerged as the biggestnewsmaker among all Indianpolitical leaders, showed thestudy that used artificial intelli-gence to analyse 75,000 headlinesacross 15 mainstream newssources between March 1 andMay 10.

Modi is followed by Congressleader Rahul Gandhi, HomeMinister Amit Shah, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanand Congress leader P

Chidambaram in the top-fivenewsmakers among nationalleaders, as per the study done byboutique brand-building firmDharma Media Consultants, inpartnership with technologycompany PRM Fincon, on howCOVID-19 has primarily occu-pied news space.

Among state-level politicians,

Jyotiraditya Scindia was most inthe news with his shift fromCongress to BJP. He was followedby Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, formerMadhya Pradesh Chief MinisterKamal Nath, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray andWest Bengal Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee. The studyfound that out of the total 75,000headlines, 24.5 per cent of head-lines were related to COVID-19pre-lockdown (from March 1),but it rose to 42.2 per cent dur-ing the first two phases of thelockdown and then dropped to32 per cent in the first week of thethird phase (till May 10).

The third phase of the lock-down continued for two weekstill May 17 with considerable

relaxations as compared to theearlier two phases, while the lock-down has now been extended tothe fourth phase till May 31 withfurther relaxations to help reviveeconomic activities.

Dharma Media Consultants'Founder Shutapa Paul said thestudy was carried out with an aimto find who and what were thenewsmakers before and duringlockdown induced by the dead-ly coronavirus.

COVID-19 dominates headlines; Migrantlabour crisis most-trending news: Study

Our families need us in thistough time, migrant workers sayPNS n NEW DELHI

Babban Mahto's wait to see histwo-month-old girl for thefirst time only seems to be get-ting longer.

The 27-year-old from Biharworked as a 'beldar' (dailywager) in Seelampur inNortheast Delhi until the lock-down hit businesses, renderinghim and his co-workers jobless.

"I am the only one earningin the family. First, the riots inNortheast Delhi impactedbusiness, and now the lock-down brought the people totheir knees," he says.

Babban says he was to takea train to home, in Siwan dis-trict, on May 2, which got can-celled.

On May 5, he and his co-workers from Bihar registeredfor free travel on 'ShramikSpecial' train. Two weeks later,

they have no clue which trainwill take them home.

"We also registered on thelink provided by the Delhi gov-ernment two days ago. It saysthe application has been suc-cessfully submitted, but how dowe know which train will takeus home and when?" asksJitendra Mahto, 35, who workedin a T-shirt printing unit.

"I have only Rs 200 left withme. I have not even got therefund for the cancelled tick-et. We don't have agriculturalland back home. I know it willbe hard there, but I will be withmy family. I am happy having'roti and chutney' with them,"Jitendra says.

Salendra Kumar, 30, fromBihar's Chapra district, says he

just finished watching newsabout the Delhi governmentarranging 16 special trains onTuesday to ferry migrant work-ers to their native states.

"We have been waiting herefor our turn," he says.

Kumar says he and his room-mates, including Babban andJitendra, left their rented accom-modation at 6 am on Tuesday.

Public transport resumes inDelhi after nearly 2 monthsPNS n NEW DELHI

Public transport resumed inDelhi on Tuesday with buses,auto-rickshaws and taxis plyingon roads, albeit with a limitednumber of passengers, after a gapof nearly two months due to thecoronavirus-induced lockdown.

Delhi Transport MinisterKailash Gahlot said the depart-ment is taking all necessary pre-cautions with regard to theresumption of public transportand urged people to wear masksand ensure social distancing.

"At some terminals and busstands, we have started conduct-ing thermal screening of passen-gers before boarding. We will tryto implement this at all busy busstands. Under the leadership ofArvind Kejriwal, the governmentis taking all necessary steps toensure safe transport for people,"he tweeted.

The Delhi TransportCorporation (DTC) and cluster

buses resumed services withsocial distancing norms andsafety measures like use of sani-tisers and masks in place to checkthe spread of the deadly coron-avirus.

"We are trying to run as manybuses as possible. But, manybuses are under special hire andalso some of our drivers and con-ductors living in the NCR citiesare finding it difficult to join theduty. The situation will improve

in the coming days," a seniortransport officer said.

He said no major issues havebeen reported since the bus ser-vices resumed in the morning,except in some areas wherepeople had to wait a bit longer.

Sources said some clusterbuses in rural areas did not plyas drivers stayed away fromwork claiming their wages forthe lockdown period had notbeen paid.

Screening area to be set up atAIIMS before OPD services start

Hundreds of migrants gathernear Bandra station in Mumbai

PNS n NEW DELHI

A screening area will be set upat the AIIMS here to identifyand segregate patients havingsymptoms of influenza-like ill-ness and COVID-19 beforethey are referred to the OPD asthe hospital gears up to resumeout-patient department ser-vices in a phased manner, offi-cials said.

According to the AIIMSChief Spokesperson Dr AartiVij, the premier hospital is inthe process of modifying OPDsin view of COVID-19.

Preparations are in full-swing for setting up a screen-ing OPD to identify and seg-regate patients having influen-za-like-illness and COVID-19 suspects before they are sentto the main OPD, she said.

"This is being done from thepoint of view of taking all pos-sible infection control mea-

sures to prevent any spread ofinfection to non-COVIDpatients and healthcare work-ers. Steps are also being takentowards ensuring good air cir-culation. Since we are modify-ing the OPDs, it will requirefew more days," Dr Vij said.

It has been close to a monththat the AIIMS has shut downits OPD services and cur-

tailed all elective surgeries aspart of its effort towards redi-recting its resources to controlthe COVID-19 outbreak.

The hospital has also consti-tuted a committee to devise astrategy for restoring health-care services in a phased man-ner, Dr Vij said.

A large proportion of man-power and patient care facili-

ties are being dedicated formanaging COVID-19 patients.Besides the AIIMS TraumaCentre has been convertedinto a dedicated COVID-19hospital and the NCI Jhajjaralso is treating coronavirusinfected patients.

"Doctors at AIIMS are cur-rently providing tele-consulta-tion to all follow-up patients inan effort to reduce the need forthem to visit the facility duringthe lockdown. Around 1000tele-consultations are beingprovided per day in differentdepartments in total and thesefigures are going up," Dr Vijsaid.

The COVID-19 NationalTele-consultation Centre(CoNTeC) at AIIMS, NewDelhi has handled over 4,500calls that includes calls forCOVID-19 related queries, tele-consultation calls by doctorsand calls for appointments.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Tuesday issueda Standard Operating Protocol(SOP) for transportation ofstranded migrant workersbetween states, which will des-ignate nodal authorities andmake necessary arrangementsfor receiving and sendingthem, amid the novel coron-avirus-induced lockdown.

While issuing the revisedSOP, Union Home SecretaryAjay Bhalla said for running'Shramik' special trains, permis-sion will be given by the Ministryof Railways (MOR) in consulta-tion with the Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA).

States and union territoriesshould designate nodal author-ities and make necessaryarrangements for receiving andsending such stranded people,the home ministry SOP said.

However, the guidelines issuedby the Ministry of Railways onMay 2 for 'Shramik' specialtrains said: "The consent of

receiving state shall be obtainedby originating state, and a copyprovided to Railways beforedeparture of train".

According to the fresh SOP,the train schedule, includingstoppages and destination, shallbe finalised by the MOR basedon the requirements of states andUTs, and shall be communicat-ed by the MOR to states and UTsfor making suitable arrange-ments for sending and receivingsuch stranded workers.

Officials explained that theMOR will ensure more halts of

the special trains for the conve-nience of migrant workers.

The SOP said the trainschedule, protocols for entryand movement of passengers,services to be provided incoaches, and arrangementswith states and UTs for book-ing of tickets shall be publi-cised by the MOR.

Sending states and UTs, andthe MOR will ensure that pas-sengers are compulsorilyscreened, and only asympto-matic passengers are allowed toboard the trains, it said.

Non-COVID-19 patientssubject to long waitsPNS n MUMBAI

Even as hospitals in Mumbaigrapple with the rising numberof coronavirus cases, out- patientdepartments at civic and state-run facilities witness long queuesof non-COVID-19 patientswaiting to seek treatment.

Mumbai has witnessed asharp increase in COVID-19cases since the first week of May.

This has not only increasedthe pressure on staff at state andcivic-run hospitals, but it has alsoled to the neglect of non-COVID-19 patients, especiallypregnant women.

The state-run KEM Hospitaland its neighbouring NairHospital, which is run by theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation, can become a casestudy for how hospitalsresources are stretched to thelimit because of the rising num-ber of COVID-19 cases.

While Nair Hospital, whichhas been dedicated for COVID-19 treatment, is swamped andfilled to its maximum capacity,

the government has reserved400 beds at KEM for patientsinfected with the novel coron-avirus. This has had a cascadingimpact on non-COVID-19patients, who visit the hospital'sOPD, where they are subjectedto a long wait.

"We cannot turn patientsaway. However, availability ofbeds is a real challenge. Severalpeople wait till late in the nighthoping to get a bed for their ail-ing relative," dean of KEMHospital Dr Hemant Deshmukhsaid. The state administrationwas also under a lot of pressureto create more medical facilitiesfor COVID-19 patients, an offi-cial said.

PNS n MUMBAI

Hundreds of migrant labourersgathered on an approach road toBandra Terminus here onTuesday before the departure ofa Shramik Special train, leadingto chaos in the area for sometime. The crowd was later dis-persed by police, a WesternRailway official said.

The incident comes over amonth after hundreds of migrantworkers had assembled nearthe Bandra station over theirdemand that arrangements bemade for them to return to theirnative places in the wake of thecoronavirus-enforced lockdown.

In a video clip of Tuesday'sincident that went viral on socialmedia, a large number ofmigrants were seen carryingtheir luggages and runningtowards the gate of the BandraTerminus.

The crowd started gathering

in the area around 11 am,sources said.

The Western Railway in astatement later said a ShramikSpecial train was scheduled forPurnia from the BandraTerminus in which passengersregistered with the state author-ities were to travel.

However, many people, whowere not registered and notcalled by the state authorities,

gathered on a road and a bridgenear the station, it said.

"The bonafide passengerswere checked and allowed toenter the station by the statemachinery. The train left theBandra Terminus around 12noon with 1,700 labourers andtheir families who were entitledto travel," Western Railway'sChief Public Relations OfficerRavinder Bhakar said.

Haryana govt allows 50-100% Group C, D staffPNS n CHANDIGARH

The Haryana government hasallowed 50 per cent staff fromGroup C and D categories toattend offices which can go upto 100 per cent if there is suffi-cient space for complete obser-vance of social distancing norms,according to an order issued bythe government.

The state government hadreopened its offices in the stateand those located in its capitalChandigarh with certain condi-tions during the third phase ofthe COVID-19-induced lock-down. In the third phase of thelockdown itself, that lasted tillMay 17 following which thefourth phase began with lessrestrictions, government officeswere re-opened with 100 percent staff of Groups A and B and33 per cent staff strength at thelevel of Groups C and D.

In view of the amendedguidelines issued by the Ministryof Home Affairs on May 17, thematter of attendance in govern-ment offices has been reconsid-

ered, as per an order from ChiefSecretary to all the administra-tive secretaries, heads of depart-ments and Commissioners andDeputy Commissioners of allDivisions, all MDs of Boards andCorporations and Registrars ofuniversities.

"While attendance percentagefor Groups A and B shall be 100per cent, for Groups C and D itshall be 50 per cent. In case anyoffice has sufficient space toensure 100 per cent attendancewith complete observance ofsocial distancing norms for AllGroups — A, B, C and D, theymay do so,” as per the orderdated May 18.

PNS n AHMEDABAD

With the conditional relaxationsduring the lockdown kicking inin non-containment zones ofGujarat on Tuesday, people cameout to buy non- essentials,including items like paan masala,and to get their mobile phonesand vehicles repaired in westernAhmedabad and other cities.

In a major relief to peopleaffected due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the stategovernment had on Mondayannounced several relaxations,including opening of marketsand shops only in non-contain-ment zones, from Tuesday.

The government has allowedshops and other commercialestablishments in non-contain-ment zones to remain openbetween 8 am and 4 pm.

While no shops, except thoseselling essentials, are allowed to

open in the 11 containmentzones in Ahmedabad coveringabout 12.68 lakh people, sever-al shops reopened in westernpart of the city.

Ahmedabad, Vadodara andSurat account for the maximumcoronavirus case load in Gujarat,which reported 11,746 casesand 694 deaths as on Monday.

The overall case count in

Ahmedabad district stands at8,683 with 555 deaths, the totalnumber of cases in Surat andVadodara stands at 1,127 and682, respectively, a govern-ment official had said onMonday.

On Tuesday, citizens inVadodara, Surat and Rajkotamong other cities visitedmarkets.

On 1st day of relaxed lockdownpeople buy non-essentials

On May 5, he andhis co-workersfrom Biharregistered for freetravel on 'ShramikSpecial' train.Two weeks later,they have no cluewhich train willtake them home

The study found that out of the total75,000 headlines, 24.5 per cent ofheadlines were related to COVID-19pre-lockdown (from March 1), but itrose to 42.2 per cent during the firsttwo phases of the lockdown and thendropped to 32 per cent in the firstweek of the third phase (till May 10)

Centre issues SOP fortrain travel of migrants

Already riding high, China hasused the Corona pandemic toextend its political influence inNepal. Chinese President XiJinping spoke to Nepalese

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari andinquired about the COVID-19 situation,despatched flight loads of succour andstaved off the collapse of the Governmentover there. Then on May 9, Union DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a newIndian road to the disputed Lipulekh, trig-gering off a political storm in Nepal. Thiswas accompanied by protests and the cus-tomary exchange of diplomatic notes.Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane,who is the honorary General of Nepal Army,in response to a question on the protestssaid, “Nepal’s protest over India’s road inLipulekh might be at the behest of some-one else”, alluding to China, though it couldalso have been Pakistan. Last year inNovember, there was a tsunami of protestswhen India reproduced a map depictingnew political boundaries in Jammu &Kashmir, including Kalapani, an areaclaimed by Nepal in its territory.

In the lull before a second spike in theterritorial issue, a week-long political cha-rade around May Day, to dethrone NepalesePrime Minister KP Oli, fizzled out as his betenoire, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP)executive chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda,’ switched sides and let Oli claimvictory. In turn, Oli promised to make hispolitical foe and party vice-chairman BamDev Gautam a lawmaker.

It was China and not the traditionalplayer in Nepal, India, which came to therescue of an embattled Oli. Sensing inter-nal crisis within the ruling NCP and the OliGovernment, Beijing’s popular envoy inKathmandu, Hou Yanqi, followed upon Xi’s45-minute-long conversation on April 27with his Nepalese counterpart Bhandari.What followed next were mediations for thenext two days, meeting with Bhandari, Oli,Dahal, former Prime Minister MadhavKumar Nepal and according to one report,even with Sher Bahadur Deuba, the leaderof the Nepali Congress Opposition party.By May 2 evening, at the fateful Central sec-retariat meeting of the NCP where Dahalhas a majority, surprisingly, he declared atruce. He called for party unity when it washe who had asked Oli to step down nam-ing Madhav Nepal as his replacementthree days earlier at the same forum.Friends of India saw the rescinding ofMadhav Nepal’s (sometimes jokingly calledMadhav India) name as the Prime Ministeras a defeat for us.

Kathmandu fears China’s new politicalmantra of compliance, which was recentlydemonstrated in the admonition of the edi-tor of the Kathmandu Post by the ChineseEmbassy. This was not so in mid-2016 whenChina valiantly tried to prevent Dahal frombreaking away from the Oli-led coalition

Government but very brieflymonths later, India succeeded inorchestrating his exit with thelure of premiership in a Deuba-Dahal Government. It is anoth-er matter that even as part ofthis Government, Dahal surrep-titiously entered the Beijing-inspired Left alliance, which wasexpected to sweep the federal,provincial and local polls thatfollowed. In this new “GreatGame” in Nepal between Indiaand China, Beijing demonstra-bly has an upper hand.

It is worth recalling thatduring the pre-2006 people’srevolution and civil war periods,Chinese diplomats inKathmandu, while alluding toNew Delhi, would claim thatBeijing does not interfere in anycountry’s internal affairs. Theywould describe Dahal-Maoistsas “anti-state rebels”, “miscre-ants” and “hijackers” of Mao’sfair name. After the Maoistscame to power in 2008, Beijingconveniently discovered ideo-logical identity and congruitywith them, saying all was fair inlove and war.

In contrast, India has had amonopoly in making andunseating Prime Ministers aswell as preventing their appoint-ments. Like in 2009, after PrimeMinister Dahal was removedfrom office, he was neverallowed to become the premieragain till 2016, when he was

thought to have been tamed.During the decade ofConstitution-writing, MadhavNepal and Baburam Bhattarai,both considered to be friends ofIndia, became the PrimeMinister and so did Jhala NathKhanal. But Khanal, who’s neverpassionate about India, was notinvited to New Delhi on a Statevisit.

Oli, once an Indian blue-eyed boy, has risen to becomethe most powerful PrimeMinister and party chairman ofNepal on a wicket of national-ism and anti-India sentimentfollowing the economic block-ade of 2015. China’s help inforging first the Left alliance andthen the merger of the two Leftparties ensured Oli’s sputnikrise. Lord John Dalberg-Acton’sdictum that power tends to cor-rupt and absolute power cor-rupts absolutely fits the Olistory well as he sits in Baluwatar(the Prime Minister’s red-stoneresidence) on a gilded chairunder his own towering portraitat the back. In designer clothes,he appears to be in the pink ofhealth even after a second kid-ney transplant.

Dahal and Oli joined thebattle early following a gentle-man’s power-sharing agree-ment, whose existence Olidenied. Mutual sniping washalted when Bhandari brokeredan agreement last year, which

nominally elevated Dahal as theexecutive chairman of the NCPeven as Oli became its co-chairman but remained a spokein Dahal’s wheel. What fol-lowed next were widespreadreports of disillusionment andfrustration with Oli’s autocrat-ic style and shenanigans cappedwith misgovernance and cor-ruption. This, even during thepurchase of medical equipmentin the midst of the pandemic,passage of two controversialpolitical ordinances, which hewithdrew and in transactingdue to which Bhandari becamecomplicit. Through such high-handedness, Oli sought to gar-ner more power: Secure two-thirds majority in Parliamentand make Constitutionalappointments with simplemajority.

That is when on April 24,the proverbial straw broke thecamel’s back and Dahal trig-gered off plan Alpha — leader-ship change — which has beenin the works for some time now.It envisages replacing Oli withMadhav Nepal as the PrimeMinister, appointing Dahal asthe undisputed party executivechairman and Khanal in time asthe President of Nepal. WhileOli kept clutching at the strawsat the party central secretariatmeetings and divulged his ownleadership reshuffle plan, hesent a May Day call to Yanqi.

During the crucial secretariatmeeting on May 2, Dahal did asomersault, declaring theimportance of party unity andletting Oli stay as the PrimeMinister as the latter promisedto make Gautam a law-makersoon. That was a demotion forGautam as earlier, Oli hadoffered him premiership towriggle out of the crisis.

Dahal has pressed the pausebutton on plan Alpha, surpris-ing its key players. Undoubtedly,there will be rewards for Dahalfrom Oli and Beijing. The rul-ing political class has shadow-boxed what Nepalese are callinga political Corona instead ofseriously combating theCOVID-19 pandemic, thusproving that power is the ulti-mate aphrodisiac.

Kalapani and Lipulekh arepart of a disputed packagerevived in 2015 after a tradeagreement was signed betweenChina and India. The newpolitical map and a road toLipulekh have sown fresh seedsof discord, whose principalbeneficiary is Beijing.Nimbleness was needed fromNew Delhi in defusing the cri-sis.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

Do we open salons or not? As a haircutclosely follows liquor as the most soughtafter service, both the Centre and State

Governments are wondering whether to list bar-ber services as an essential category or not.Unfortunately what was once essential hasnow been pushed to being non-essential asgrooming and care involve close proximity andtouch therapy that are anathema in times ofthe pandemic. In fact, barber and salon ser-vices were the reason that cases spread in NewYork. With the nation entering the fourth phase

of the lockdown, the southern States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have decided toallow barbers with mandatory riders like all-time use of masks and sanitisers,sterilisation of tools, maybe protective suits of some sort and maintaining socialdistancing. While in Kerala, barber shops are now allowed to open on a rota-tional basis without air conditioning, so that the enclosed air filters out, in TamilNadu, they have been allowed to operate in rural areas, too. The PalaniswamyGovernment has even gone a step ahead by announcing a ̀ 2,000 dole for unreg-istered barbers. Those registered with the Tamil Nadu Hair Dressers Welfare Boardhave already been compensated. Much as we may laugh about the need for ahaircut or trim, fact is livelihoods have been lost. At the same time, this meansthat it is mandatory for establishments to ensure that staff at such outlets shouldbe COVID-free to inspire confidence. Clients walking in need to be screened, too,lest they infect staff. Besides, a cap has to be put on the number of clients thatcan be attended to in a day. At the moment, they should run in green zones only.

One may argue that in times when the world is facing a pandemic, we shouldnot fuss about the vanity of appearances. More than anything, those not accus-tomed to having long hair or beard, especially men, are bound to feel itchy andsome sort of irritation and allergies during the high heat of summer. There areskin hygiene issues involved, too. True, people are now managing with trimmersand razors and experimenting with tools at home but that is a temporary com-promise. A clear protocol for beauty and grooming services has to be evolvedthat may need additional costs in terms of safety gear and inputs. And manyplayers may not have the resource depth to continue. But at least a conversa-tion for reopening services has started.

Months into the pandemic, humanity stillseems to be in a tailspin. Given thisgloom and doom scenario, it is but

natural that mankind should look towards thescientific community to find a vaccine or drugto cure/combat the deadly virus at the earli-est. Till now, there is no formal vaccine butthere are many positive developments. For thefirst time, a multi-lateral and cooperative ini-tiative is on across the world to find an anti-dote. Clinical trials are under way in manycountries and some have reported positive

progress. Normally drug trials take years but researchers around the world areworking overtime to beat the clock. Not only that, in a first, they are sharing updatesand expertise. India is part of several collaborative projects. In the UK, pharma-ceutical giant AstraZeneca is on track to manufacture 100 million doses of vac-cine for the entire world. The vaccine developed at Oxford University is under-going testing right now and if successful, its large-scale production can beginand be available as early as September. Pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson,Sanofi and Pfizer are at it, too. Scientists are also pushing to develop treatmentsto slow down the virus and some of the earliest will most likely be drugs alreadyapproved for other conditions, or those which have been tested on other virus-es. We already know about chloroquine and remdesivir. The US, Israel and Germanyare working on antibody drugs and China itself is now claiming a drug to curethe disease and even get short-term immunity. There is also talk of “human chal-lenge trial” that scientists say could speed up the vaccine clinical trials and giveus hope earlier than ever. The encouraging part is that even though there are noplans for this kind of study in the US as yet, over 16,000 people in over 100nations have volunteered to participate in trials. The WHO has already releasedethical guidelines to help scientists navigate rights issues. There’s history:Unscrupulous human trials have unsuspectingly been tried in countries wherelives are cheap, Africa being the prime target of pharma majors over the years.So this should not become a new bio war.

However, the worrying part is that once a successful anti-Corona vaccineor drug is found, the politics of marketing it for economic gains and dominationof nations that don’t have it will begin. Already stocks of pharma majors involvedin vaccine development have almost tripled in value. As usual, the powerful andrich nations will put their interests over those of developing nations where accessto vital drugs and vaccines is a perennial issue. How real the fear is of coun-tries putting their economic and social interests ahead of global unity can begauged from the fact that the WHO, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macron recently called for fair distribution of vaccines. TheCoalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an Oslo-based groupthat’s funding numerous Coronavirus vaccines, sees a way out of this throughadvance market commitments where donors promise funds to guarantee theprice of vaccines once they have been developed. CEPI is talking with other organ-isations, including the World Bank, which is exploring how to set up such agree-ments. While a vaccine is a crucial part of the exit strategy, the world lacks aglobal system for managing its distribution in a crisis. It is time we set that upalso along with our efforts to look for a cure. For politics is the reason why dis-eases such as HIV and ebola persist because of unequal access to therapiesand drugs, something which activists are still fighting for. Some world leadersof developing countries have signed a petition demanding that all vaccines, treat-ments and tests be made patent-free, distributed fairly and made available to allpeople, in all countries, free of charge. They even called for mandatory world-wide sharing of all COVID-19 related knowledge, data and technologies with apool of COVID-19 licences freely available to all countries. Even assuming thatprivileged nations with a solution become big-hearted enough overnight, massproduction will still be a challenge as building capacities for a rollout such asthis is a humongous task for poorer nations. Of course, India has a distinct advan-tage here producing as it does 60 per cent of the world’s vaccines and account-ing for 60-80 per cent of the United Nations’ annual vaccine procurement. Ourhome-grown companies have also helped over the years to distribute vaccinesto the world. So it could become the hub of a production line and claim its placeat the forefront of providing an antidote to COVID-19.

Signs of a cure

Extension of lockdown

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Moving out of lockdown” (May18). With the country entering thefourth phase of the lockdown, bynow people must have becomeaccustomed to following basichygiene habits like wearing masksand washing hands. And if main-taining social distancing and allsafety protocols have not becomepart of our daily routine in the lasttwo months, we have only our-selves to blame. So, lockdown 4.0was actually not warranted now.If the Central Government has leftit on the States’ sole discretion ofdeciding the zones, then it sure-ly should have left the extensionas well to the States.

Even a day of extended lock-down has a huge economic cost,which despite the huge reliefpackage cannot be completelycompensated. So, all focus shouldnow be on reviving the economy.Coming to individual companies,they know better whether theycan manage work effectively byallowing employees to work fromhome or getting them back to theoffice.

Bal GovindNoida

Open public transport

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Moving out of lockdown”(May 18). The DelhiGovernment’s decision to resumethe public transport system is astep in the right direction. Given

the halt in all economic activitiesthat have led to unemploymentbesides causing massive damageto India’s economic prospects,other States must take a cuefrom Delhi and gradually openthe transport system so that com-muters do not face problems inreaching their place of work.

Of course, this should bedone keeping in mind the safetyof the travellers and those involvedin transportation activities. It willbe difficult to enforce social dis-tancing. This is why State admin-istrations must take adequatemeasures to ensure strict compli-ance. With the number of passen-

gers remaining low initially, it maynot be difficult for the authorities.Of utmost importance will betheir ability to track and monitorthe impact of mobility relax-ations. Until a vaccine or a cure tothe Coronavirus is found, suchmeasures are essential.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

Care for the elderly

Sir — From the beginning of thepandemic, a lot of discussion hasbeen going on co-morbidities andthe elderly. The average age ofdeath due to Corona in India is 75years and 83 per cent of thedeaths are of those already suffer-ing from co-morbidities.Protecting and taking care of theold and sick who are most vulner-able is our moral duty. We need toadopt social, behavioural changes.Elders in our houses should not beallowed to go out unless there’s amedical emergency. Even for med-ical requirements, a person mustaccompany them.

Ravi Teja KathuripalliHyderabad

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020

06

Power games in Nepal

ASHOK K MEHTA

The new political map and a road to Lipulekh have sown fresh seeds of discord whose principalbeneficiary is Beijing. Nimbleness was needed from New Delhi in defusing the crisis

I changed because I want-ed to score all over theground. The static positionwas limiting my shotmak-ing options. I had to tweakit to suit my game.

Cricketer—Virat Kohli

The beauty of prayers is youpray for your loved ones, thosewho are less fortunate than youare, who are in bad health, youhave to pray for everyone to beokay for you to be okay.

Actor—Gauhar Khan

Repeated missteps by the WHOin responding to the pandemichave been extremely costly forthe world. The only way forward is if it demonstratesindependence from China.

US President—Donald Trump

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Open the skies for air travel

With the Centre allowing inter-State passenger trav-el with the flagging of railway services from Delhito 15 destinations across the country, it was hoped

that the floodgates for air travel, too, would be openedduring the fourth stage of the lockdown. The railways aredoing a stupendous job in ferrying thousands of strand-ed migrant workers, tourists and students to their homeStates. The day is not too far when it would be undertak-ing full-fledged journeys. Coming to air travel, a gradualopening of the aviation sector should not be a tough callfor the authorities considering that among its peers likethe Railways or roadways, it is the most regulated. It isalso the safest way to travel long distances, especially inCorona times. Since international oil prices have comedown, air travel may even become cheaper. People arelikely to switch from road and rail to air once operationsresume. Demand will be slow but it will pace up.

Of course, the dangers of travelling at a higher alti-tude will be many when compared to a closed compart-ment train bogey. It’s good that a blueprint encompass-ing all safety protocols that need to be followed by thepassengers is ready with the Government. Those whowant to fly must be allowed to do so. While the mad-

dening queue at airport counters and restless faces atboarding point are set to be fewer, nonchalant passen-gers may get along the new routine with customary ease.Others may find fresh regulations to be troublesome yetinevitable. It is, perhaps, time to lift the ban on flying.According to the International Air Transport Association(IATA), the Corona pandemic is expected to impact morethan 29 lakh jobs in the Indian aviation and dependentindustries. All the more reason why the Government mustre-open this sector.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Haircut or not?This is not the time to dopolitics. It is a challengingtime for the Centre and theStates to bury their differ-ences and work together totackle the present crisis.

Minister of State for Home—G Kishan Reddy

As producer of 60 per cent of the world’s vaccines, Indiacould become the production hub for an antidote to the virus

Beauty and grooming services need a detailed andcareful protocol before being allowed to open up

Much ado about nothing

THE WORLD IS CURRENTLY INFECTED BY SUCH A BIGDISEASE. BUT THE BIGGER DISEASE IS IN MODI’S MIND.HE HAS DEPLOYED SEVEN LAKH SOLDIERS IN KASHMIR.

—EX-PAKISTAN CRICKET CAPTAINSHAHID AFRIDI

HE IS TALKING ILL ABOUT OUR COUNTRY. AFRIDI HASNO RIGHT TO SPEAK ILL AGAINST OUR COUNTRY ANDHE SHOULD STAY IN HIS COUNTRY AND LIMITS—INDIAN CRICKETERHARBHAJAN SINGH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

After a long wait of about seven weeks, sincethe nationwide lockdown began on March25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

announced the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, aspecial package of `20,00,000 crore, about 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), torevive the economy. Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman unveiled the details in five tranches dur-ing press conferences held between May 13 and 17.The package aims at giving relief to all strata of soci-ety impacted by the sudden stoppage of econom-ic activities viz. farmers, workers, migrant labour-ers, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),vendors, small merchants, self-employed people,the middle class and so on. Given its mega size, animmediate question that comes to mind is whetherall the components add up to `20,00,000 crore?

The PM Garib Kalyan Yojna (PM-GKY)unveiled on March 26, that focussed mostly on foodand other bare minimum needs, offered supportof ̀ 1,70,000 crore. Besides, the announcements bythe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor,Shaktikanta Das on March 27 and April 17, togeth-er provide a liquidity injection of about `8,00,000crore. These add up to `9,70,000 crore and areincluded in the mega package total of about`21,00,000 crore (as informed by the FM in herpress conference on May 17).

The balance `11,30,000 crore focusses most-ly on MSMEs, NBFCs, power distribution compa-nies, migrant labour, agricultural credit and lowermiddle class, agriculture infrastructure and farmreforms, structural reforms in coal, minerals, civilaviation, defence and MGNREGA, health and StateGovernments’ resources and public sector reforms.

Taking the total of about 40 crore workers inthe informal sector, ̀ 21,00,000 crore works out to`52,500 per worker or about `17,500 per month(assuming a three-month lockdown). The amountis nearly four times the national minimum wagefor an informal worker, which is ̀ 4,550 per month(`175 per day and 26 working days).

This back of the envelope calculation isintended to show what a mega package such as thiscan do; provided the money is actually made avail-able to the beneficiaries. But where is it? For a farmhousehold in which a woman (also head of the fam-ily) is a Jan Dhan (JD) account holder, has a rationcard, gas connection in her name and a job underMGNREGA, the total benefit comes to ̀ 3,055 permonth. This includes the value of 25 kg rice (for afamily of five people at five kg per person) at `35per kg, plus one kg pulse at ̀ 80 per kg or ̀ 955; ̀ 500ex-gratia in JD account; `500 value of subsidisedgas cylinder; `600 hike in wages under MGNRE-GA and ̀ 500 under PM-KISAN (`2,000 being oneof the three lots of four months each in a year, pro-rata monthly amount is taken).

Thus, even for a family blessed with access toall the schemes, the amount is just about two-thirdof the minimum wage of `4,550. Further, consid-ering that the number of beneficiaries under eachscheme varies: 80 crore under the National FoodSecurity Act; 20 crore under JD; 8.3 crore WomenUjjawala beneficiaries; PM-KISAN 8.69 crore andMGNREGA five crore, it is inconceivable that allthose impacted by the lockdown would get any-where near this amount. The workers in the infor-mal sector who can’t avail of PM-KISAN, JD andWomen Ujjawala would get at the most about`1,500.

However, the Government arguesthat the prime focus of its package is toenable the enterprises where workers areemployed or those who are self-employedto resume operations which in turn, willgenerate jobs and increase income. It isarranging fresh loans at lower interest,collateral-free, backed by sovereign guar-antee (either for full amount or partial).It is giving such enterprises relief fromservicing of existing loans, their treatmentas non-performing assets (NPAs) and ini-tiation of proceedings under theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).Additionally, it is giving tax incentives(such as 25 per cent less tax deductionfrom various payments) to leave morecash with people.

None of the above measures can sub-stitute cash in the hands of the millionsof workers whose income source has beencompletely smashed for now. TeamModi is trying to rebuild this verysource by arranging loans at concession-al rates. But in the present highly-excru-ciating circumstances, when COVID–19is not letting factories and businesses toreopen, preventing markets from reopen-ing and blocking consumers’ reach to themarket, neither will there be an increasein supply nor will demand materialise(this won’t happen even if theGovernment puts enough cash in thehands of the people).

In this backdrop, none of the mech-anisms contemplated by the Governmentwill work. To get a sense of this, let us lookat the following: The Centre is goadingbanks to give collateral-free loan worth`3,00,000 crore to MSMEs for three years(borrowers with up to ̀ 25 crore outstand-ing and ̀ 100 crore turnover are eligible)to benefit 45,00,000 units. They also getone year moratorium on repayment.However, considering that these firms

already owe `15,00,000 crore, the banksface huge risk and may not lend. TheGovernment’s promise of indemnifyingthem in the event of default won’t instillconfidence in the banks.

Look at the loan of ̀ 75,000 crore, theGovernment wants to be given to non-bank finance companies (NBFC), hous-ing finance companies (HFCs), microfinance institutions (MFIs). Of this,`30,000 crore is fully covered by sover-eign guarantee and for the remaining`45,000 crore, it has given a guaranteecover only to the extent of 20 per cent.Put simply, for 80 per cent of the amount`36,000 crore, the banks will be left in thelurch from the word go.

Consider the special loan of ̀ 90,000crore it wants Rural ElectrificationCorporation (REC), Power FinanceCorporation (PFC) — both centralundertakings — to give to discoms. It iswell-known that the latter are bankruptand are just not in a position to pay back.Yet, any pressure on REC/PFC to lend todiscoms will be at the cost of creatingNPAs on the former’s books.

Likewise, it is asking the NationalBank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD) to give ̀ 30,000crore additional emergency workingcapital (upfront) for crop loans in addi-tion to ̀ 90,000 crore that is already beinggiven for such financing. Being a direc-tive from the Government, it may haveno other option but to disburse funds, butthe risk of the loan becoming an NPA isreal. The Government also wants to helpstreet vendors by arranging bank creditfacility for initial working capital of upto `10,000 (expected to benefit five mil-lion vendors) and micro-enterprises thatavail loans up to `50,000 under theMUDRA Shishu scheme by giving twoper cent interest subvention for 12

months to the borrower. These crutch-es will work but only if the vendors/enter-prises get a chance to resume their nor-mal activities.

The conditions created by COVID–19 are rendering all efforts to pump morecredit/liquidity into the economy infruc-tuous. This may also be seen from the factthat many businesses/enterprises have gotloan sanctions worth hundreds of thou-sands of crores but are unwilling to actu-ally draw the funds. This has led to ananomalous situation whereby despite theRBI making plenty of liquidity availablewith banks, borrowers are not comingforward to avail the loans. This has forcedbanks to keep money with the RBI underthe so called “reverse repo” window earn-ing 3.75 per cent.

Currently, the amount lying unusedin this window is a gargantuan about`8,50,000 crore. Sitharaman is reportedto have pleaded with banks to release thismoney for spurring economic activity.But, what do you do when the enterpris-es themselves are not coming forward.

Faced with a steep decline in its rev-enue and increase in expenditure com-mitment, the Modi Government hasopted for a package which is dependentpreponderantly on loans. This helps inpreventing immediate fiscal stress. Itcould have done more by increasingdirect cash support beyond what it hasgiven. But, there is no guarantee that thisby itself would have helped in spurringdemand. There is dire need for all stake-holders viz. industries, businesses andmost importantly the public to strictly fol-low “social distancing.” This is the onlyway the virus can be reined in, bypaving the way for revival of the econo-my, restoration of jobs and incomes.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst)

Faced with a steep decline in its revenue and increase in expenditure commitment, the Modi Government has opted for a package which is dependent on loans

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

The newnormal

KALYANI SHANKAR

We cannot let our guard down and mustcontinue to follow social distancing norms,

wear masks and avoid crowded places

THE CONDITIONSCREATED BY

COVID-19 ARERENDERING ALL

EFFORTS TO PUMP MORE

CREDIT/LIQUIDITYINTO THE ECONOMYINFRUCTUOUS. THISMAY ALSO BE SEEN

FROM THE FACTTHAT MANY

BUSINESSES ANDENTERPRISES HAVE

GOT LOANSANCTIONS WORTH

HUNDREDS OFTHOUSANDS OF

CRORES BUT AREUNWILLING TO

ACTUALLY DRAWTHE FUNDS. THIS

HAS LED TO ANANOMALOUS

SITUATIONWHEREBY DESPITE

THE RBI MAKINGPLENTY OFLIQUIDITY

AVAILABLE WITHBANKS,

BORROWERS ARENOT COMING

FORWARD TO AVAILTHE LOANS

How will life change for us in the post-lockdown period andwhat have we learnt from the Coronavirus outbreak? Manyexperts in India and abroad have stressed the point that the

world as we know it will change forever and will now be dividedinto the pre and post-Coronavirus period. Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan is clear that while there is no need to get paranoid,at the same time it is imperative that Government guidelines befully and completely adhered to by the citizens of the country.

We cannot afford to let our guard down and must continueto follow guidelines like social distancing, wearing a mask whenoutside the house, avoiding crowded places and sanitising our handsrepeatedly, among other things. Social distancing is the backboneof the current strategy that the Government has adopted to slowthe spread of the virus. Telemedicine is the new doctor-patient rela-tionship. Globetrotters will have to find a new way to amuse them-selves as travel is to be strictly avoided in the immediate future.Going to the movie hall and shopping in the mall is taboo for now.Big fat weddings are forbidden. Handshakes are out and the goodold “namaste” is in. Working from home wherever possible is thenew norm. Webinars will continue and in short a new lifestyle shouldbe devised individually/collectively and followed scrupulously. Thisis the new normal that we have to get used to.

So what does the oft-repeated phrase, learn to live with theCoronavirus, mean? Harsh Vardhan says that it means that theCoronavirus is not going away anytime soon. Though other dis-eases like small pox had been eradicated, this virus will be aroundlike the Ebola and SARS. It is imperative to follow the hygiene guide-lines that have been given by experts until a vaccine/drug is found.Many scientists in India and abroad are working round-the-clockon a vaccine/drug, but it will take time.

While the pandemic is highly-infectious and deadly, some goodthings have emerged in the last few weeks due to the panic trig-gered by the COVID-19. For the first time Prime Minister NarendraModi has shown that he wants to take everybody along in the fightagainst the virus, including the Opposition, Chief Ministers of allStates and not just the BJP-ruled ones, the media and the public.Both, the Centre and State Governments have shown that they canrise to the occasion and work together, putting aside their differ-ences and political agenda. Cooperative and competitive federal-ism have come into play for the first time. The States have com-peted with each other in their enterprise and performance and evenegoistic regional satraps like Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikand Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan earned praise from thePrime Minister for their enterprise. The fear of the unknown hasdone the trick.

Second, what the Supreme Court and the State Governmentscould not do in decades to ensure clean air, clear blue skies, reju-venated water bodies, restoration of wildlife and so on, the COVID–19 has achieved in just a few months, as it forced nations to gointo lockdown and put all economic activity on hold.

Another plus is that the citizens of India have shown that theycan fight the pandemic unitedly and be disciplined when they wantto. Despite many difficulties, by and large people have obeyed theGovernment’s guidelines, observed social distancing norms andobeyed the lockdown rules.

Significantly, due to the combined efforts of the Union HealthMinistry and the States, the death toll in India is much less thanmany other countries including the US and Italy. For a country ofa whopping 1.3 billion people, the number of Coronavirus casesis 1,01,139 and the death toll is 3,163. Rural India has played avery significant role in keeping the numbers down till now. Villagershave saved the country by maintaining strict vigil and by keepingstrangers out. They have by and large behaved responsibility andkept returnees outside the villages, in quarantine.

However, nothing is all rosy and, of course, there have beenfailings on the part of the Government and other stakeholders inhandling the human tragedy and suffering brought on by the out-break. Employers, the Centre and State Governments are respon-sible for the plight of the migrant labourers who continue to suf-fer even today, over 50 days after the lockdown was announcedsuddenly by the Centre. Things could have been handled muchbetter and a humane approach was lacking. Neither the migrantlabourers, their families nor the country will ever forget the waythe less-fortunate were treated with apathy and callousness.

As the virus throws up new challenges each day, we as a coun-try are still learning to cope with it. However, the most importantlesson that the pandemic has taught us is that health is wealth,not only for individuals but also for the nation and the healthcaresector should get priority funding. A healthy nation can meet anychallenge that life throws at it.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Suman Devi is a member of a self-help group (SHG) in HasanpurGram Panchayat, Barabanki, Uttar

Pradesh (UP). Ever since she heard thenews on the television about theCOVID-19 pandemic and the need formasks, she has been stitching the facecovers for women in her own group,their children and the elderly in hercommunity. Kajal, who belongs to theNari Shakti Samuh in Bijnore, has beenworking to raise community awarenessabout the disease through her rango-lis. She believes that it is a very effec-tive way to make her community seethe importance of frequent handwashing, adhering to the lockdownand social distancing norms. Like

Suman and Kajal, today, all across UP,women in SHG groups have becomean important part of the Uttar PradeshState Rural Livelihood Mission’s(UPSRLM’s) COVID-19 responsestrategy. Further, their involvement hasnot been on a small-scale. This means,it is not limited to a few individualmembers of SHGs or a few SHGs andthis movement has now rapidly spreadacross districts. The SHGs are nowdeeply involved with several aspects ofthe UP Government’s COVID-19strategy. Take the production of masksfor example. As the news of the pan-demic broke, some members of SHGs,like Suman, began production to pro-tect their own communities. But todaywe have thousands of SHGs across theState involved in mass production ofmasks. What began with just fiveSHGs, in one district, producing 2,000masks daily, has now swelled to 12,683SHG members of 52 districts, produc-ing around 50,000 masks daily and thenumbers are only growing each day.

While the SHGs are producingmasks at scale, the district administra-tion has been working to keep the sup-ply chains of raw material going. In

fact, the use of Khadi as a raw mater-ial for making of masks is now under-way. Uttar Pradesh’s Khadi and VillageIndustries Board has pledged to givesix lakh metres of fabric to SHGs todeliver 50 lakh Khadi masks, to bemade and sold for ̀ 13.60 each to var-ious Government departments.

In another case, the Indian Armyhas placed an order to procure 2,000PPE kits which are also being manu-factured by SHGs. Estimates suggestthat till date, more than 50 lakhmasks, 25,000 PPEs and 7,700 litres ofsanitisers have been produced through4,000 SHGs. Meanwhile, theGovernment has been ensuring that itsprocurement is under due process.This has also meant an additionalsource of income for SHGs.

The involvement of SHGs is notlimited to making COVID-mitigationitems only. They have been mobilisedto roll out several awareness-buildingcommunication campaigns and facil-itate the implementation of food dis-tribution and delivery efforts duringthis crisis.

On the awareness-building front,a radio message was created to educate

SHG didis (sisters) about precaution-ary measures against the virus, whichalso urges the women to furtherspread awareness regarding this intheir communities. Further, existing‘Prerna Canteens’ managed by SHGs— which were set up a couple of yearsago by UPSRLM to ensure nutrition-al self-sufficiency in households —have been transformed into commu-nity kitchens and are working hard toensure continuous cooked food sup-ply to vulnerable households, quaran-tined people and front-line healthworkers.

This quick re-orientation of‘Prerna Canteens’ to communitykitchens during this crisis has takenplace across 54 Village Organisations(VOs) which are a set of 12-15 SHGs.Further, a Samuh Sakhi selected fromthe SHGs is coordinating these effortsbetween SHGs and VOs. In certainareas where SHGs work closely withthe local administration, members areproviding meals to panchayat-runhospitals. There is now even a plan inplace for a partnership of SHGs withprivate and other development agen-cies to ensure delivery of essentials and

post-harvest procurement of agricul-ture commodities.

This very early success of theSHGs as partners in UP’s COVIDresponse has been widely acknowl-edged by all stakeholders. In a radioaddress, UP’s Rural DevelopmentMinister Rajendra Pratap Singhthanked and urged the Samuh Sakhisto continue building on their efforts.

Over the years, UPSRLM hasbeen focussed on investing in andbuilding this community institution asa mechanism to help them achieve sev-eral mission objectives, includingenabling rural poor to augment theirhousehold income via sustainablelivelihood enhancements andimproved access to financial and pub-lic services.

SHGs have received book-keep-ing, financial literacy and even lead-ership training.They form the base ofa three-tier organisational structureenvisioned by the UPSRLM whichorganises SHGs into VOs and Cluster-Level federations. The mission has theambition to mobilise more than 10million women in the next 10-15 yearsin a phased manner.

Like other States, post the lock-down, the challenges UP faces are notlikely to recede quickly. While thesesteps were necessary, it has also meantthat economic activities around thecountry have come to a grinding haltand livelihoods of millions continue tobe under stress. UP is no exception.Here, we are confronted by severalchallenges. These include: Assuringrations for an extremely large propor-tion of vulnerable rural households fac-ing food shortages; providing forreturning and stranded migrantlabourers; and alleviating the impactof severe shock to agricultural, live-stock, fisheries, and other supplychains — all of which have hit house-hold incomes hard.

Estimates already suggest thatover and above the residents — vul-nerable populations, returning migrantlabour, whose number is expected tobe around 2.6 to three million — willneed food and finances to help themre-establish their livelihoods. Thismeans that the Government’s humanresources capacity will be over-stretched for the foreseeable future.

Over the years, there has been

growing evidence coming in from var-ious States of how SHGs can functionas an important mechanism which canbe leveraged to implementGovernment schemes, build localcommunity capacity and roll out pol-icy interventions. Further, in manycases, we have seen that their involve-ment has led to better health outcomesand successful financial inclusionefforts. They have been especiallyeffective in driving behaviour changecampaigns, often acting as role mod-els and galvanising other communitymembers.

In UP we have seen how the SHGplatforms have acted as effectiveresponders to the pandemic. This hasalso shown us the importance oflocalised and community-drivenresponse. In the case of COVID-19, weare seeing SHGs drive behaviourchange communication as well asquickly set up last mile delivery mech-anisms to provide essential items thatare needed to mitigate this socio-eco-nomic hardship, hand in hand with theState Government.

(The writer is an IAS officer andMission Director, UPSRLM)

Helping others to help themselvesSHG platforms have acted as effective responders to the pandemic in UP, showing the importance of localised and community-driven response

SUJEET KUMAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

UTTAM GUPTA

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

SBI employeescommit Rs 8 croretowards PM Cares

New Delhi: Drug firm NatcoPharma on Tuesday said it hasdonated chloroquinephosphate tablets through itsmarketing partner in the US tosupport a global clinical trialconducted by CROWNCollaborative in the wake ofcoronavirus pandemic. Thetrial will examine whether theanti-malarial drug can protectessential healthcare workersfrom COVID-19 virus. Thecompany has donated thetablets through RisingPharmaceuticals.

COVID-19: NatcoPharma donateschloroquine tabletsfor global trials

New Delhi: Employees ofState Bank of India (SBI) havedecided to contribute anadditional amount of Rs 7.95crore to the Prime Minister'sCitizen Assistance and Reliefin Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund as part of theireffort to fight the COVID-19crisis. The donation made bySBI employees by letting go ofone day's salary and a day'sleave encashment totals at Rs107.95 crore, the country'slargest lender said in astatement. In March, around2,56,000 employees of SBIdonated Rs 100 crore to thePM-CARES Fund that iscreated to fight thecoronavirus pandemic, it said.SBI has also committed 0.25per cent of its annual profit of2019-20 towards CSR(corporate socialresponsibility) activities tofight the COVID-19 pandemic,it said. Public sectorcompanies and theiremployees have been at theforefront in the fight againstCOVID-19 and they havegenerously contributed to thePM-CARES Fund. At this timeof crisis, SBI is taking allefforts to provide bestpossible banking services toits customers, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The COVID-19 outbreak hasseverely impacted Indianstartup space with nine out of10 startups facing a decline inrevenues, according to amonth-long survey conduct-ed by IT trade body Nasscom.The survey also showed that30 to 40 percent of the totalparticipant startups in Indiahave halted their operationstemporarily or permanently— and along with 70 percentof them have reserves forless than three months.Nasscom has also highlight-ed through its report basedon the survey that more thanhalf of the startups respond-ed are looking to move onwith new business opportuni-ties.

As per the Nasscom reportbased on the survey con-ducted with over 250 startupsin India that have diverse pro-

files and include a large shareof mid-age startups alongsidemature and early-stage star-tups, around 62 percent aresuffering revenue decline ofover 40 percent, while 34percent are facing revenue

decline of over whopping 80percent — all due to thecoronavirus pandemic in thecountry. The survey alsofound that nearly 63 percentof startups in metro cities arefacing over 40 percent decline

in revenue.The major decline in rev-

enues was reported by traveland transport startups. Asidefrom that, fintech, supply-chain management (SCM),and logistics startups are alsoseeing a significant drop inrevenues.

Nevertheless, the Nasscomreport highlights that 14 per-cent of edtech, fintech, andhealthtech startups areexpected to grow their rev-enues. Business-to-business(B2B) startups also did farebetter, with revenue reducedup to 40 percent.

“Out of the blue, this flour-ishing growth saga has sud-denly been hit by a road-block… the COVID road-block,” said Debjani Ghosh,President, Nasscom, in thereport. “There is no country,business or living being thathas not been affected by theCOVID pandemic.”

9 out of 10 startups bleeding in India, says Nasscom survey

The month-long survey also foundthat nearly 63 percent of startups inmetro cities are facing over 40percent decline in revenue

PNS n NEW DELHI

Days after changing the defi-nition of MSMEs, the govern-ment has decided to furtherrevise the criteria for mediumunits by enhancing the invest-ment and turnover limits to upto Rs 50 crore and Rs 200 crorerespectively, Union MinisterNitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.

Unveiling the contours ofthe Rs 20 lakh crore stimuluspackage, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman had lastlast week announced a changein the definition of micro,small and medium enterpris-es (MSMEs).

As per the revised defini-tion, any firm with investmentup to Rs 1 crore and turnoverunder Rs 5 crore will be clas-sified as "micro".

A company with invest-ment up to Rs 10 crore andturnover up to Rs 50 crore willbe classified as "small" and afirm with investment up to Rs20 crore and turnover underRs 100 crore will be classifiedas "medium".

The previous criteria forclassifying enterprises in the"medium" category was invest-ment up to Rs 10 crore andturnover of up to Rs 5 crore.

"We have taken a decisionto raise the up to Rs 20crore investment (cri-teria) to up to 50 croreand turnover (limit)to up to Rs 200 crore.So we will issue anorder for that,"Gadkari said.

The minis-ter forMSMEa n d

Road Transport andHighways, Gadkari said hefeels the criteria should bebased on investment "or"turnover instead of invest-ment and turnover both asannounced, adding that thegovernment "will rectify thesame".

The minister said he wasalso open to considering sug-gestions regarding enhancingthe turnover limit to up to Rs250 crore for medium enter-prises, and will take up thematter with the MSME secre-tary.

Gadkari said the govern-ment plans to raise MSMEscontribution to India's exportsto 60 per cent from 48 per centat present and also boost thesector's contribution to thecountry's GDP from 29 percent currently to 50 per cent.

"We are planning to cre-ate 5 crore new jobs.

Until now, wehave created 11crore jobs," saidthe minister,adding that he waskeen on develop-ing Indian MSMEs

of internation-al stan-

dards.

Gadkari said hefeels the criteriashould be basedon investment "or"turnover instead ofinvestment andturnover both asannounced

‘Govt to further revisecriteria for classifyingmedium enterprises’

Godfrey Phillips'arm resumesproduction atGhaziabad plantPNS n NEW DELHI

Cigarettes and tobaccoproducts major GodfreyPhillips India on Tuesdaysaid its wholly-owned armInternational Tobacco CoLtd has partially resumedmanufacturing operationsat Ghaziabad plant afterrelaxation in lockdownguidelines.

International Tobacco CoLtd, which does contractmanufacturing exclusivelyfor the company, resumedpartial operations withrestricted capacity andmanpower at its Ghaziabadfactory, Godfrey PhillipsIndia (GPI) said in a regu-latory filing.

"However, the company'sown cigarette factory inMaharashtra and panmasala factory in UttarPradesh still remain closed,"GPI added.

COVID-19: Eight most affectedstates account for 60 pc of GDPPNS n MUMBAI

Eight states most affected bythe COVID-19 pandemicaccount for over 60 per cent ofthe GDP and the extendedrestrictions will slam the econ-omy harder, a report said onTuesday.

The eight states, whichinclude Maharashtra, Gujaratand Tamil Nadu, among oth-ers also account for 58 per centof the employment, domesticrating agency Crisil's researchwing said in the report.

The lockdown has beenextended till May 31 by theCentre for the third time witha liberty to states to decide thegrading of the zones. Many ofthe affected states likeMaharashtra have decided tocontinue with the restrictions.

Analysts are estimating acontraction of up to 5 per centin GDP despite the govern-ment's efforts of pumpingstimulus.

“With states continuing tosee a rise in cases, the restric-tions have been extended. Thisis bound to slam the overalleconomy harder,” the reportsaid.

It noted that the top eightstates have been selected as perthe districts affected as of theend of the third lockdown onSunday.

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex roseover 167 points on Tuesday ledby gains in Bharti Airtel,HDFC and ITC amid positivecues from other Asian markets.

After rallying over 700points in a volatile session, the30-share index finished 167.19points or 0.56 per cent higherat 30,196.17.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyadvanced 55.85 points or 0.63per cent to end at 8,879.10.

Bharti Airtel was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, ral-lying around 11 per cent, fol-lowed by ONGC, UltraTechCement, ITC, PowerGrid andNTPC.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank, RelianceIndustries, L&T and SBI wereamong the laggards.

Analysts said the averagerevenue per user (ARPU)increase speaks of BhartiAirtel's ability to command aprice premium in the market,

given that competition in themid/high-end subscriber basehas now moved to networkquality.

According to traders, hopesof a vaccine for COVID-19enthused global investor sen-timent.

In a significant develop-ment towards developing avaccine for the coronavirus, anAmerican biotechnology com-pany Moderna has said its

initial vaccine tests in peoplehave shown promising resultsand can stimulate an immuneresponse against the virus.

However, the rising numberof cases in the country keptmarket participants on edge,traders said.

The number of COVID-19cases in India spiked to1,01,139, while the death tollrose to 3,163, according to thehealth ministry.

Former CIL chief asks govt not to do away with coal washingPNS n NEW DELHI

Former Coal Indiachairman Partha SBhattacharyya hasasked the Centre towithdraw a proposalto do away withmandatory coal washingas it would be a "retrograde"step.

He flagged that the inabili-ty of the PSU to implement itspromise of supplying washed

coal has led to the erosion ofaround Rs 1.25 lakh crore in

market valuation in 10years to 2019-20.

The Centre is plan-ning to do away withthe mandatory require-

ment of washing of coalbefore it is transported to

thermal power stations.In 2014, as part of its climate

change commitments, the gov-ernment had made coal wash-ing mandatory for supply to all

thermal units beyond 500 kmfrom the coal mine.

This was done in line withthe country's stand in climatechange negotiations - not toreduce coal consumption andrather focus on emission con-trol. "The government is con-sidering a proposal to do awaywith earlier restrictions of coalwashing for dry fuel moving by500 km or more or for the fuelconsumed in and around anycity," Bhattacharyya said.

Recession, job losses and protectionism top worriesPNS n NEW DELHI

A prolonged global recessiondue to COVID-19 pandemic,high unemployment, anotheroutbreak of an infectious dis-ease and increased protection-ism are among the biggestnear-term worries for compa-nies around the world, a newstudy showed on Tuesday.

The study conducted by theWorld Economic Forum(WEF) also flagged that theworld is not ready for theknock-on effect of far-reachingenvironmental, societal andtechnological risks, but a "greenrecovery" and more resilient,cohesive, inclusive and equalsocieties can emerge if leadersact now.

"Economic distress and

social discontent will rise overthe next 18 months unlessworld leaders, businesses andpolicy-makers work together to

manage the fallout of the pan-demic," according to the report.

As economies restart, thereis an opportunity to embed

greater societal equality andsustainability into the recovery,which would unleash a new eraof prosperity, said Geneva-based WEF, which describesitself as an international organ-isation for public-private coop-eration.

The study, titled 'COVID-19Risks Outlook: A PreliminaryMapping and Its Implications',has been conducted in partner-ship with Marsh & McLennanand Zurich Insurance Group.It taps into views of nearly 350senior risk professionals who

were asked to look at the next18 months and rank theirbiggest concerns in terms oflikelihood and impact for theworld and for business.

The immediate economicfallout from COVID-19 dom-inates companies' risks percep-tions and these range from aprolonged recession to theweakening fiscal position ofmajor economies, tighterrestrictions on the cross-bordermovement of goods and peo-ple, and the collapse of a majoremerging market.

These longer-term risks will have far-reaching implications for societies,the environment and the governanceof breakthrough technologies

NBFCs' liquidity stress to increase further: Moody'sPNS n MUMBAI

The COVID-19 related disrup-tions would worsen the assetquality of non-banking finan-cial companies (NBFCs) andfurther aggravate their liquid-ity stress, according to a report.

The weakening of NBFCs'solvency will increase risks forbanks that have large directexposures to the sector, glob-al rating agency Moody's saidin a report.

The sector has been facingliquidity challenges asinvestors became risk averseafter a series of defaults byIL&FS Group in September2018.

"Asset quality at non-bank-ing financial institutions(NBFIs) will significantly dete-riorate as economic disrup-tions from the coronavirusoutbreak deepen an econom-ic slowdown that has been

underway in the past fewyears," Moody's said in areport.

Asset quality deteriorationat NBFCs on average will bemore severe than at banksbecause the former focusesmore on riskier segments,

according to the report.The Reserve Bank of India's

(RBI) three-month moratori-um on repayments of loanswould create a significantdrain on near-term liquidity atNBFCs, the report said.

Most NBFCs do not have

substantial on-balance sheetliquidity because they primar-ily manage liquidity by match-ing cash inflows from loanrepayments by customers withcash outflows to repay theirown liabilities, it said.

"Moratoriums on loanrepayments will result in sub-stantial declines in cashinflows over the next fewmonths,” the rating agencysaid.

The extent of liquidity stresswill depend on the number ofcustomers seeking moratori-ums and the degree of the eco-nomic shock, the report said.

The longer the restrictionson economic activity remain,the longer it will take for loanrepayments to return to nor-mal levels even after morato-rium periods end, it said

The agency expects loanrepayments to drop 50 per centduring moratorium periods.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) three-month moratorium on repayments ofloans would create a significant drainon near-term liquidity at NBFCs

Unemploymentclaims in UKsurge 69% asvirus takes holdPNS n LONDON

Unemployment claims inBritain jumped 69 per cent inApril, as the COVID-19 pan-demic took hold and hit thelabor market, UK authoritiessaid Tuesday.

The Office of NationalStatistics says jobless claimssurged by 856,000 to 2.1 mil-lion in April as compared tothe month before. The figurescovered only the first weeksof the lockdown, saidJonathan Athow, deputynational statistician for eco-nomic statistics at the ONS.

“In March, employmentheld up well, as furloughedworkers still count asemployed, but hours workedfell sharply in late March,especially in sectors such ashospitality and construction,''he said.

Work and PensionsSecretary Therese Coffey toldthe BBC that the governmentwas focused on those claim-ing benefits under UniversalCredit, a welfare paymentfor those who need help,including the unemployed.

“I think so far the employ-ment stats really are indica-tive to the end of March andwe won't have a more detailedunderstanding for aboutanother month,'' she said.

Rupee settles25 paise higherat 75.66against US $ PNS nMUMBAI

The rupee appreciated 25 paiseto settle at 75.66 (provisional)against the US dollar onTuesday as reports of initialsuccess in COVID-19 vaccinetrial boosted investor senti-ment world over.

Forex traders said besidesthe encouraging results inCOVID-19 vaccine trial, high-er opening of domestic equi-ties and a weak greenback inoverseas market supported thelocal unit. At the interbank for-eign exchange, the rupeeopened at 75.71, then gainedfurther ground to finally settleat 75.66 against the Americancurrency, registering a rise of25 paise over its previous close.

On Monday, the rupee hadsettled at 75.91 against the USdollar.

During the trading session,the domestic unit saw an intra-day high of 75.63 and a low of75.79 against the greenback.

In a significant develop-ment towards developing avaccine for the coronavirus, anAmerican biotechnology com-pany on Monday said its ini-tial vaccine tests in peoplehave shown promising resultsand can stimulate an immuneresponse against the virus.

Sebi scraps registrationof share transfer agentMennen Financials PNS n NEW DELHI

Capital markets regulator Sebihas cancelled the registrationof Mennen Financial ServicesLtd as registrar to an issue andshare transfer agent for notpaying registration fees.

In an order, Sebi said thefirm violated RTA (Registrarsto an Issue and Share TransferAgents) Regulations onaccount of non-payment ofnecessary fee for keeping itsregistration in force forOctober, 2016 to September,2019 period.

The agent also failed tosubmit periodic reports asrequired by Sebi.

The regulator, in its probe,found that the firm did notsubmit reports for half-yearended March, 2016 andSeptember, 2016despite administra-tive warning.

It was furtherrevealed that thevalidity of the regis-tration of the firm asRTA was tillSeptember 30, 2013.Subsequent to it,

Mennen Financial Serviceswas granted permanent regis-tration with effect fromOctober 01, 2013.

This block of three years ofregistration (starting fromOctober, 2013) ended onSeptember, 2016.

As per RTA provisions, thefirm was required to pay thefees for the next block of reg-

istration, that is October01, 2016 to September

30, 2019, three monthsbefore expiry of theblock for which feewas paid, Sebi said inits order. But no pay-ment of fee was made

by the firm in a timelymanner, the regulatorsaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Hospitality firm OYO onTuesday said it is taking sev-eral measures to minimisethe impact of COVID-19, andinnovating to meet new stan-dards of good quality hospital-ity experience at its hotels.

These steps include cus-tomer, asset partners andemployee-centric initiativesto identify challenges andoperate in the post-lockdownhospitality sector, OYO said ina statement. In the first phase,OYO plans to implement mea-sures such as sanitised stayswith minimal touch and book-ing platforms will feature a

'Sanitised Stays' tag to show-case properties that clear back-ground checks for sanitisation,hygiene, and protective equip-ment, it added. The companyplans to implement these mea-sures in 1,000 hotels within thenext 10 days and as the lock-down relaxes, and aims toimplement the measures in all18,000 hotels in the country,OYO said.

The regulator, inits probe, foundthat the firm didnot submit reportsfor half-year endedMarch, 2016 andSeptember, 2016

Sensex rises 167 pts; Bharti Airtel soars 11 pc

OYO takes measuresto mitigate virus impact

he nationwidelockdown calledas a result of theCOVID-19 pan-demic has result-ed in various sec-

tions of the society suffering.One such often ignoredgroup is children who’remissing out on school.According to experts,schools are unlikely to re-open until a vaccine or cureto the Coronavirus is foundand that looks like it’s goingto take a while.

This change has left par-ents asking several questions— ‘Will my child’s academicyear go waste? Will theschool be able to completethe syllabus in a short span,how will my child cope withexams in such a time asthis?’ and so on. While someschools have begun onlineclasses, others are mullingover doing the same. In themeantime, some parentshave begun to do the nextbest thing — homeschool-ing.

Sheetal Reddy, a motherto 10-year-old Nathan,decided to go back to home-schooling her son for thetime being. “My son washomeschooled until his 5thgrade. He was almost donewith his examinations thisyear before the lockdownwas announced. Since itdoesn’t seem like my son’sschool will reopen for anoth-er few months, I’m back to

homeschooling him and heenjoys it,” the IT professionaltells us. “Another reason whyI’d prefer homeschooling myson this year is schoolscharging the exact same feeseven though we don’tneed/are using their infra-structure,” she adds.

Bhagyashree Dandu, anIncident Manager and amother of 3rd-graderMeghna, has taken to appssuch as Byjus and Vedantuto train her child during thislockdown. “My daughter’sschool has begun onlineclasses, but there’s only somuch attention each kid canget via virtual classrooms.These apps ensure my childhas fully grasped a particularconcept,” she opines.

But is this effective orsomething the teaching fra-ternity encourages? “Whynot?” says George Samuel,Vice Principal of a privateschool. “Online classes seemto be the best bet right now.

A combination of regularonline and rare offline class-es can soon be a reality. Ifnot for long, it’s the mosteffective option right now,given the uncertainty aroundthis academic year. Thelessons online are beingmade as realistic and inter-esting as possible,” heinforms.

Worried that the lock-down was announced evenbefore his sister could finishher academic year, JoelEmmanuel, a working pro-fessional, began home-schooling 9-year-old Jennyvery early on in March. “I’vebegun slow with finishinglanguages and words, thenmoved to math and othersubjects,” Joel informs. “Nowthat her school has begunonline classes, we’re ensuringher learning and grasping issmooth, just like it wasbefore,” he adds. Onlineclasses include worksheets,homework, and other activi-

ties too, but will rightfullyrequire parent’s involvementin the process too.

Then there are othermoms, who are trying totheir best to keep their kidsaway from phones and lap-tops. Mainaz Fatima, motherto a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old baby, has beenkeeping her kids busy, byindulging them in variousfun activities. “I looked formaterial and syllabus forhomeschooling and madethe best plan that suits myson. I make stencils andother activities that keepthem both busy and think-ing. I make them out ofchart paper to help himlearn numerals, alphabets,words, etc.,” shares this psy-chology graduate.

The mother makes learn-ing simple and fun by askingher son what colour T-shirthe wants to wear the nextday, converses with him inEnglish once a while, askinghim what h’'s doing, or whatshe’s doing so he’d under-stand little things like cook-ing, sewing, bathing and alsotheir methods. “I’m enjoyinghomeschooling my kid. Iknow and understand hisspeed and plan my teachingaccordingly. I never comparehis progress with other kidshis age, but I must say he is afast learner,” says the proudmother.

So how long will this last?Only time will tell. Untilthen, parents are ensuring anacademic year of their childdoesn’t go down the drain.

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

WednesdayMay 20, 2020

ith the aim to get into films froma very young age, NareshAgastya started his career in act-ing through short films, thatcaught the attention of a fewdirectors from the television

industry. After proving his skills onthe small screen with a couple of seri-als, he decided to get into films. Afterworking on a script for almost twoyears, he bagged his first role in thefilm with Mathu Vadalara starringRajamouli’s nephew Sri Simha. He tellsus about his journey to films fromshort films in an exclusive conversa-tion.JOURNEY TO THE SMALLSCREEN...

I initially started off with shortfilms. Around 2011 and 2012, ZeeTelugu reached out to me after watch-ing those short films. They wanted meto audition for Gorantha Deepam seri-al. I was a little hesitant then because Ialways wanted to work for films. So Iasked them to give me a role that lastsonly for 2 or 3 months. I didn’t want alead role. Eventually, I didn’t take it up.Later, Praja Prabhu called me up foranother serial Pasupu Kunkuma. Hesaid, although it’s an important charac-ter, it will last only 2 or 3 months, so Isigned the serial. But over time, thecharacter was a huge hit and the mak-ers made me the second lead. I wasstill pursuing my engineering then.Since I started earning good money, Itook up another serial SwathiChinukuklu on ETV. That serial gaveme the biggest hit. I had to forcefullyleave the serial in 2016 to get intofilms.BAGGING FIRST MOVIE...

Mathu Vadalara director Ritesh andmy team were doing short films earli-er. Serials were the main root tobag a role in Mathu Vadalara film.My co-actor Suresh from one ofthe serials helped me reach out toMythri movie productions. In2016, Ritesh and our teampitched the story of MathuVadalara to Mythri Movieproductions, but themovie took off only in2018 and finished theshoot in 2019 May.Mathu Vadalara con-nects well with thecurrent generation.Although I got a hitwith MathuVadalara, I haven’treceivedroles thatimpressedme per-sonally.But I didhear someexcellentscriptsfrom bud-ding film-makers.

TV OR CINEMA, ALL ACTORSARE THE SAME...

There is a lot of difference betweenserials and films in terms of technicalaspects. Many people do not takeserials seriously. Especially young-sters, they take serials in a funny way.But there is a lot of hard work, chal-lenges a TV artist undergoes duringthe shoot. We would reach the setarea early in the morning and returnhome only late in the night. The lifeof a TV artist is tougher than a cine-ma actor. There is no time for yourselfin serials, but in cinema, you have abreak after a film for yourself. I stilldon’t understand why TV actors aretreated in a different way. For me TVor cinema, all actors are the same.HOLLYWOOD MOVIESINSPIRED ME...

I used to watch a lot of Hollywoodfilms from a very young age alongwith my cousin. I used to love thosefilms and would question myself, whywouldn’t our guys make such qualityfilms in terms of technicality. I decidedto act for films at the age of 7.THE IMMENSE SUPPORT FROMFATHER...

My dad supported me a lot. When Iwas working for short films too, dur-ing my Engineering days, he was therefor me. One thing he was upset about,was my decision to quit serials. I wasearning well then. When I took abreak from serials and entered films,my flow of income reduced. So he wasa little scared about my future thenand he would ask me to get back toserials because there was a constantflow of money. He felt one’s life span infilms is unpredictable or rather shortwhen compared to serials. I mightmake a comeback in serials if I don’t

make a good career in films. When Itook the decision to enter films too,many people questioned my decisionas to why I’m taking this step and feltit wasn’t right until my first filmreleased.WANT TO DO SOMETHING FOR OTT PLATFORMS...

I want to do something for OTTplatforms. The present trend is OTT. Iwant to do at least one web series. Ihave no clue how many people willwatch films in theatres now. But atpresent, OTT is ruling the roost. So itwill make us reach a larger audiencemore, giving the current situation. Idon’t have any character obligations. Iwon’t hesitate even playing a dailywage labour as long as the characterhas depth. For me, I want to work forfilms that are relatable to all sections ofpeople in the society.SHOOTING FOR MATHUVADALARA...

I never felt like I was working withRajamouli sir’s family while makingMathu Vadalara. They were all veryfriendly. They are all down to earth.They never gave me the feeling thatthey belong to a star family. It was all avery chill environment during theshoot.

At the age of seven, Naresh Agastyaknew that acting is what he wanted to

do. Starting off his career with shortfilms, it took him a couple of years to getinto feature films after proving his mettle

on small screen. The Mathu Vadalaraactor speaks to K RAMYA SREE abouthis journey to acting, working for serials

and films, and more....

‘TV or cinema, allactors are the same'‘TV or cinema, allactors are the same'

Many people do nottake serials seriously.Especially youngsters,they take serials in afunny way. But there isa lot of hard work,challenges a TV artistundergoes during theshoot. We would reachthe set area early in themorning and returnhome only late in thenight. The life of a TVartist is tougher than acinema actor.

— NARESH AGASTYA

out of the

BOXW

PARADIGM SHIFT INEDUCATION SYSTEMWith no hope in

sight forschools to

reopen any timesoon, parents

fear thatchildren will

either miss outon an academicyear or have an

incompletesyllabus. This

had led to mostparents

consideringhomeschooling

their kids, forthe time being,finds RACHEL

DAMMALA

T

My daughter’s schoolhas begun onlineclasses, but there’sonly so much attentioneach kid can get viavirtual classrooms.These apps ensure mychild has fully graspeda particular concept.

— BHAGYASHREE DANDU, AN INCIDENT MANAGER

AND A MOTHER OF A 3RDGRADER

I’ve begun slow withfinishing languages andwords, then moved tomath and other subjects.Now that her school hasbegun online classes,we’re ensuring herlearning and grasping issmooth, just like it wasbefore.

— JOEL EMMANUEL,WORKING PROFESSIONAL

I looked for material andsyllabus for homeschoolingand made the best plan thatsuits my son. I makestencils and other activitiesthat keep them both busyand thinking. I make themout of chart paper to helphim learn numerals,alphabets, words, etc.

— MAINAZ FATIMA, MOTHER OF A 3-YEAR-OLD

Online classes seemto be the best bet rightnow. A combination ofregular online and rare

offline classes can soon be areality. If not for long, it’s themost effective option rightnow, given the uncertaintyaround this academic year.

GEORGE SAMUEL, VICE PRINCIPAL AT A PVT SCHOOL

10

Hyderabad Wednesday May 20 2020 what’s brewing?

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

nurag Kashyap’sChoked: Paisa BoltaHai, which starsSaiyami Kher andRoshan Mathew,will release on June

5.“Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai

is very close to my heart. Itis the story of a strong-willed middle-class house-wife, who finds cash flow-ing out of her kitchen sinkevery night, and how thischanges her life. It is aboutrelationships — and theprecarious balancebetween truth, power andmoney,” Anurag said.

On Tuesday, Netflixreleased the first look andrelease date of the suspensedrama.

In the film, Saiyami starsas Sarita Pillai andRoshan will be seenas Sushant Pillai.

Talking abouther character,Saiyami said,“Sarita is a 30-year-old middle-class woman. Sheis the sole bread-

winner, she is overworkedand frustrated, yet tena-cious and always schemingto build ‘that dream’. Atone level Sarita is thatevery-woman. Nihit Bhave,our writer, has beautifullyweaved the complexities ofthis middle class family.And I thank Anurag fortrusting me with Sarita andletting me bring her to life.Working on the film hasbeen a life changing expe-rience for me.”

Roshan feels his charac-ter is “defeated, disgrun-tled, insecure, and suspi-cious”.

“These things made himvery exciting to play. Hewas written beautifully byNihit, and Anurag sir

brought to him aunique kind of

sensitivitythat only hecould. I’mlucky andproud tohavebeen partof thisfilm,” he

added.

Anurag Kashyap'sChoked: Paisa BoltaHai gets release date

A

awazuddinSiddiqui’s wifeAaliya has sent theactor a legal noticedemanding adivorce and main-

tenance from him overissues related to theirmarried life.

In a recent interview,Aaliya’s lawyer AbhaySahay said that the legalnotice was sent toNawazuddin on May 7through email andWhatsApp, but he is yetto respond, reported apopular media house.

Nawazuddin andAaliya got married in2009.

“I would not like to getinto the details of the

notice regarding what arethe contents and what arethe allegations, but let metell you that the allega-tions are quite seriousand those are very sensi-tive to Mr Siddiqui aswell as his family mem-bers,” Aaliya’s lawyer saidin a video message.

Meanwhile,Nawazuddin and his fam-ily have been quarantinedin his house in Budhanain Muzaffarnagar district.

“Due to the recent lossof my younger sister, mymother, who is 71 yearsold, got anxiety attacktwice. We have followedall the guidelines issuedby the state government.We are home

Quarantined at ourhometown Budhana.Please #StaySafe#StayHome,” he tweetedon Monday.

The actor and his fami-ly underwent medicalscreening and have testednegative for coronavirus.

The actor reached hishome on May 15 aftertaking a travel pass. Heand his family have beenasked to remain in homequarantine till May 25.

His mother,brother and sis-ter-in-law alsomade the journeywith him in hisprivate vehicle.

The actor toldreporters that he

underwent medicalscreening at 25 pointsduring his journey.

Kushalpal Singh,Station House Officer(SHO), Budhana policecircle, said that healthofficials had visited theactor's house and toldthem to be under homequarantine for 14 days.

N

Nawazuddin Siddiqui'swife files for divorce

TWILIGHT ACTORBOYCE, GIRLFRIENDFOUND DEAD

ctor GregoryTyree Boyce,best knownfor playingTyler Crowleyin the first

Twilight film, was founddead in Las Vegas. Hewas 30.

According to the Las

Vegas MedicalExaminer’s office, Boyceand his girlfriend NatalieAdepoju were pro-nounced dead on May13. The cause of deathfor either has not yetbeen disclosed.

Boyce and his 27-year-old girlfriend were founddead in their Las Vegascondo, reportseonline.com.

“Greg’s cousin wokeup and noticed thatGreg’s car was still at thehouse. He was worriedbecause Greg was to bein LA. His cousin wentto check on him andfound them,” the source

said. The source addedthat prior to his deathBoyce was “reallyfocused and handling alot of business”.

He has moved to LasVegas to help his mother,the source said that theactor “would commuteto LA for acting jobs andto see his daughter”.

Another source said,“Greg was definitely aperson who loved lifeand (was) super posi-tive... super animated,really witty, he was thelife of the party. I willdefinitely miss him. Hewas one of my funniestfriends in LA and made

my experience there real-ly memorable.”

Boyce turned 30 inDecember. In anInstagram post, he wrote,“At one point I didn’tthink I would make it tosee 30 years old. Overthe years like everyoneelse I have made mis-takes along the way, buttoday is one of thosedays I only reflect on thegreat ones. What a timeto be alive. Happy Dirty30 self! Let’s make therest of these years yourbest!!”

He is survived by his10-year-old daughterAlaya.

ATHE CAUSE OF THEDEATH OF BOYCEAND HISGIRLFRIEND AREYET TO BE KNOWN

11

Hyderabad Wednesday May 20 2020tollywood

he extensive search fora second leading ladyin Sree Vishnu-starrerRaja Raja Chora,directed by debutantHasith Goli, has finally

ended. According to a source, thefilm’s makers have got the con-sent of Megha Akash, who hasfeatured in films like Lie andChal Mohan Ranga in the past, tobe the film’s another female face.Sunaina has already been cast asone female lead and she has evenparticipated in the shoot earlierthis year.

The source tells us exclusively,“The makers initially toyed witha couple of other big names asthe role is a layered one but inthe end collectively preferredMegha. The fact that she is a rel-atively fresh face means thatHasith too can direct her withoutany pressure. The actress noddedto the film in the first narration

itself. Her role apart, she was inlove with the total script, gigglingfor a major part of the narration.She believes the film will put heron the success route in Teluguand will land her many moreopportunities.”

The source, however, is quickto mention that the Chennai girl

couldn’t sign onthe dotted line aslockdown wasannounced by thecentral governmentafter Hasith gave herthe story narration.“She is expected tosign the project offi-cially in a couple ofweeks from now,”added the source.

Raja Raja Chora, ajoint production venturebetween People MediaFactory and AbhishekAgarwal, is a satiricalcomedy.

Hasith has wrapped up 40per cent of the shoot beforethe industry stopped allshooting activities due toCovid-19 outbreak. Ravi Babuand Ajay Ghosh are playingsignificant roles in the film, aVivek Athreya musical.

The makers initiallytoyed with a coupleof other big names

as the role is alayered one but in

the end collectivelypreferred Megha,finds NAGARAJ

GOUD

MEGHA TOROMANCESREE VISHNU

T

e were the first toinform you (on May11) that UmaMaheswara UgraRoopasya (UMUR),directed by C/O

Kancharapalem fame VenkateshMaha, will be dropping directlyon a streaming platform aftercoronavirus pandemic derailedits April release plans. To thisend, the latest we've learnt is that100 per cent first Telugu OTTplatform, Aha, has grabbed therights. An agreement to this endwas signed between Aha man-agement and producers ArkaMedia and Praveen Paruchiriand Venkatesh Maha recently.An announcement about thefilm’s streaming date is aroundthe corner. This is the latesthigh-profile project that Ahabagged of late, as a couple of

months ago they entered into anagreement with Love Story mak-ers to stream their film on theOTT platform after its theatricalrelease.

UMUR — an official remakeof Malayalam hit MaheshintePrathikaaram-tells the story ofan Araku-based studio photog-rapher owner (Satyadev) whopublicly vows that he will notwear his slippers again until hehas avenged the humiliationthat he has been meted out to,by a group. Maha has tailoredthe original to suit Telugunativity. Wrapped up in flat 35days, it was shot in a non-stopstart-to-finish schedule inAraku. Naresh, Kushalini,

Chandana Koppisetti andMeghana Appikonda haveessayed other key roles in thedrama.

Meanwhile, as a part of theirnew offering ahaKids — PillalaRajyam, Aha has added 28 newkids’ movies to its stock, specif-ically catering to the age groupof two-eleven. The streamer hasjoined hands with Rajiv Chilakaof Green Gold Animation, oneof the leading kids’ content cre-ators in India, to bring theglobally popular children’s films— like Chhota Bheem andMighty Raju — to its collection.They will be available to premi-um customers from May 22.

— NG

The makers initially toyed witha couple of other big names asthe role is a layered one but inthe end collectively preferredMegha. The fact that she is arelatively fresh face means thatHasith too can direct herwithout any pressure. Theactress nodded to the film inthe first narration itself.

A SOURCE

UMURgoes to

Aha

n a fresh devel-opment, ThePioneer hasunderstood thata producer whohas the dates of

Bellamkonda Sreenivas hasinitiated talks with SudheerVarma to helm the project.“An action-adventure, theproject is in the buddingstages. Sudheer has likedthe script, penned by a newwriter Srikanth. However,

the remake of MidnightRunners for SureshProductions, Guru Filmsand Kross Pictures has thedirector’s unwaveringattention right now. Afterhe wraps up this film, hemight direct BellamkondaSreenivas,” declared a high-ly-placed source close tothe development.

Sudheer prepared aschedule chart to takeMidnight Runners remake,

starring Regina Cassandraand Nivetha Thomas, infront of the cameras early

last month but thelockdown has put thebrakes on his plans.He is waiting for theindustry to give con-sent to shootings. Onthe other hand,Bellamkonda’s nextwith Santosh Srinivas,Alludu Adhurs, was inthe final leg of filmingwhen Covid-19 out-break hit it.

— NG

BELLAMKONDA IN TALKSWITH SUDHEER VARMAI An action-

adventure, theproject is in thebudding stages.Sudheer has likedthe script, pennedby a new writer

Replying to a fanquestion on a crazy ora weird moment fromher first film, sheposted, “Umm lots,movie budget wassmall so we didn'thave caravans, Irememberchanging insidea productionvan (sic).”

dmitting to missingthe experience offilm shooting,Lavanya Tripathisays that the oneskill set that she is

glad to have possessedduring the lockdown iscooking. “Cook eat repeat(sic),” tweeted the actressto a follower on what shewas up to during the lock-down. She was participat-ing in a #AskLavanya ses-sion on Twitter onMonday evening.

When a follower wantedto know the most difficultpart being an actress, shehad this to say, “Peoplebelieving that everythingthat's been written intabloids about you istrue… (Sic).”

To a question on howdoes she deal with negativ-ity, the actress, who will benext seen in A1 Expressand Chaavu KaburuChallaga, she stated, “Firstthing to do, go off socialmedia cause thats the onlysource these days (sic).”

When asked about theimpact of coronavirus onthe film industry, shewrote, “It’ll take time, buteverything gets better withtime no? (Sic)”

Replying to a fan ques-tion on a crazy or a weirdmoment from her firstfilm, she posted, “Ummlots, movie budget wassmall so we didn't havecaravans, I rememberchanging inside a produc-tion van (sic).”

Social media is theonly source ofnegativity these days:Lavanya Tripathi

A

mid rumours that she is seeing acricketed called Sandeep and thatshe would quit acting post mar-riage, Varalaxmi Sarathkumartook to her Twitter to clear theair, stating that she would scream

from rooftops if and when she decides toenter marital bliss. “Why am i the last toknow that I’m getting married..??Hahahahthe same nonsense rumors.. why is every-body obsessed with me getting married..ifI’m getting married I will shout it off theroof tops.. to all u media ppl writing abtthis..IM NOT GETTING MARRIED. IMNOT QUITTING FILMS (sic),” theactress wrote, replying to a section of amedia in Chennai.

The actress is no stranger to marriagerumours. A couple of instances in the pasttoo, she had to take to her social media pagesto deny rumours about her marriage.

The actress career is going strongright now career-wise. In Tollywood,she has finished her portions for RaviTeja-starrer Krack, while she still hasto shoot some portions for AllariNaresh-starrer Naandhi.

Varalaxmi dismissesmarriage rumours

A

A COUPLE OF INSTANCES INTHE PAST TOO, SHE HAD TOTAKE TO HER SOCIAL MEDIAPAGES TO DENY RUMOURSABOUT HER MARRIAGE.

W

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MAY 20, 2020

PTI n BENAGLURU

He earned his India debutafter waiting for far too

long and Mayank Agarwal saysbatting great Rahul Dravid’smotivating words helped himkeep negative thoughts at bayand continue with his quest.

His big moment camewhen he made his Test debutagainst Australia at theMelbourne Cricket Ground(MCG) during the 2018/19series.

“I was getting runs youknow. I got massive runs thatRanji Trophy season and forIndia A. I did have a word withRahul bhai. I told him I wasgetting thoughts of sometimesnot getting picked,” Agarwaltold Sanjay Manjrekar in avideocast onESPNcricinfo.

Agarwal gothis interna-t i o n a lcareer offto a finestart witha fighting 76against a high-qualityAustralian bowlingattack.

In 17 innings sofar, he has scored 974runs at an average of57.29 with three cen-

turies at the top of the order.But he had to endure a long

wait to get there having per-formed consistently in thedomestic circuit for Karnataka.That’s when former India cap-tain Dravid, doing duty as theA team coach, helped Agarwalwith his wisdom.

“I very clearly rememberhim telling me ‘Mayank theseare the things that are in yourhands. You have worked hard,you have gotten here. You areas close as you can get.Selection is not in your hands’.

“And I totally agreed withhim. Theoretically you under-stand that but practically it’s noteasy.

“But he put forth fewthings — ‘What is to say thatthe coming October and

November is not going to bedifferent from September. Ifyou think otherwise youwill get into a negative mind

frame it’s you who is going tolose out and nobody

else’. So I remem-bered that talk

and that keptme going,”M a y a n kadded. “When

I got the call Iwas elated and I

called him upand thanked him.”

AFP n BREMEN

Kai Havertz scoredtwice as Bayer

Leverkusen endedthe first round ofBundesliga matchesin over two monthswith a 4-1 win atWerder Bremen onMonday which movedthem within a point ofthe top four.

Attacking midfielderHavertz, reportedly atransfer target for some

of Europe’s biggest clubs,was the star of the showat an emptyWeserstadion.

The 20-year-oldHavertz noddedLeverkusen into a 28th-minute lead, before

Bremen right-backTheodor Gebre Selassielevelled on the half-hourmark.

But Havertz restoredLeverkusen’s advantagethree minutes later withanother header, fromKerem Demirbay’s free-kick.

Peter Bosz’s sidewrapped up a comfort-able victory with sec-ond-half goals fromMitchell Weiser andDemirbay.

AFP n TURIN

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to train-ing with Juventus in Turin on

Tuesday after an absence of overtwo months because of the coro-navirus pandemic.

The 35-year-old arrived atthe Juventus Training Centre ina Jeep with tinted windows around09:20 (0720 GMT), leaving threehours later with a smile andthumbs up for waitingphotographers.

Ronaldo under-went medical andphysical tests beforejoining up with histeammates for thefirst time in 72 daysfor individual train-ing, according tomedia reports.

Coach Maurizio Sarri

has been conducting training in smallgroups since Monday, pending the finalhealth protocol to be agreed with theItalian Government.

Juventus players got back to indi-vidual training on May4, the day Ronaldoreturned to Italy afterspending lockdown in

his native Portugal.For the past twoweeks, he has

been in quar-antine in his villa in Turin.

The five-time Ballond’Or winner is the firstJuventus foreign player,among those who leftItaly during the lock-down, to return tothe team’s Continassatraining centre.

League leadersJuventus are leading Lazio by

one point as they target a ninth consec-utive Scudetto.

AFP n LONDON

Watford captain Troy Deeney will notreturn to training this week over

fears he could pass coronavirus on to hisfive-month-old son.

Deeney has consistently voiced hisconcerns over the speed with which thePremier League hopes to return to play-ing matches despite the United Kingdomhaving the second-highest death toll inthe world. England’s top-flight clubs aredue to return to training in small, social-ly distanced groups on Tuesday.

Training will then be stepped up tofull contact with the aim of resuming theseason by the middle of next month.

“We’re due back in this week. I’ve saidI’m not going in. It’s nothing to do withfinancial gain,” Deeney said on the TalkThe Talk podcast.

“My son is five months and he’s hadbreathing difficulties. I don’t want to comehome and put him in more danger.”

All players and staff will be regular-ly tested, but Deeney highlighted the con-tradiction of contact sport returning at atime when the public are told to contin-ue following social distancing guidelines.The 31-year-old also added he is willingto take a financial hit if not playing resultsin a reduction in wages.

“While we are being tested andwhile we are going to be in a very safeenvironment, it only takes one person inthe group. I don’t want to be bringing thathome,” he added.

“I just said the simplest thing. I can’tget a haircut until mid-July, but I can goand get in a box with 19 people and jumpfor a header.

“I don’t know how that works. “I’ve lost more or less everyone that

I care about. So that, to me, is moreimportant than a few quid in my backpocket.”

LONDON: West Indies captainJason Holder has said hewon’t force his players intotravelling to England for athree-Test series amid theCovid-19 pandemic.

The West Indies wereoriginally scheduled to playthe Test series from June 4but the fixture had to bepostponed due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

However, the ECB hopethey can kickstart the seasonby rescheduling the series forJuly. “Each player has to becomfortable in making thestep. It’s been made clear ifwe are to hop on a plane andgo over to England to play, itmust be safe” Holder toldBBC Radio 5.

“Certainly from my per-spective, I won’t be forcinganyone to go anywhere,”Holder added.

Last week, ECB director

Ashley Giles said they haveto create an environmentwhere West Indies andPakistan both feel safe whiletravelling to the UnitedKingdom. He assured that acomplete risk assessmentwould be done before takingthe plunge.

The 28-year-old reiterat-ed that health and safety will

be the first priority.“The first priority is

everybody’s safety,” saidHolder.

“We’ve been assured thatthe only way the tour canpossibly go ahead is if every-one can be comfortable withthe measures the ECB areputting in place to roll thecricket out,” he added. PTI

AFP n LONDON

ABritish Grand Prix would be“impossible” this year if

elite sport is not exempt from14-day quarantine restrictionswhen entering the UnitedKingdom, Formula One said onTuesday.

Silverstone is planning tohost two races behind closeddoors this summer, subject toGovernment approval, to makeup for some of the lost time inthe 2020 F1 season with 10 racesalready either cancelled or post-poned. However, the UKGovernment’s coronavirusrecovery strategy document set

out an intention to introduce a14-day quarantine rule for inter-national arrivals.

“A 14-day quarantine wouldmake it impossible to have aBritish Grand Prix this year,” anF1 spokesperson said.

“Additionally it has a majorimpact on literally tens of thou-sands of jobs linked to F1 andsupply chains.

“We would be travellingback to the UK on F1-onlyoccupied aircraft and all staffwould be tested making a quar-antine totally unnecessary.

“If all elite sport is to returnto TV then exemptions must beprovided.”

AFP n MADRID

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and InterMilan will stage a new competition

called the European Solidarity Cup in 2021to raise money for medical facilities in Italyand Spain.

The three clubs will play each other ina round-robin group, with Inter againstBayern held in Milan, Real facing Inter inMadrid and Bayern hosting Real inMunich.

Proceeds from the fixtures will bedonated to medical facilities in Italy andSpain, two of the world’s worst-hit coun-tries by the coronavirus pandemic.

The aim is “to send out a message ofsolidarity and fraternity to the people ofEurope”, said a statement from RealMadrid.

Dates for the tournament have notbeen decided. The timing will “depend onthe match calendar and when football canbe played in front of fans again”, the clubssaid.

Bayern will invite 5,000 nurses, carersand doctors to the Allianz Arena for theirmatch against Real Madrid.

“Nurses, carers and doctors in partic-ular are doing an outstanding job for soci-ety at the moment,” said Bayern chairmanKarl-Heinz Rummenigge.

“We, the three clubs, want to showthese heroes our appreciation, respect andgratitude.”

“The great commitment of all health-care workers has been essential to allowus to look to the future,” said Inter presi-dent Steven Zhang.

AFP n LONDON

Six positive cases for coron-avirus have been detected at

three Premier League clubs afterplayers and staff were testedahead of a return to training, England’s topflight said Tuesday.

“The Premier League can today confirmthat, on Sunday 17 May and Monday 18 May,748 players and club staff were tested forCOVID-19,” the league said in a statement.

“Of these, six have tested positive fromthree clubs.” No details were released overwhich individuals or clubs are affected.

“Players or club staff who have tested pos-itive will now self-isolate for a period of sevendays,” added the league’s statement.

PTI n KARACHI

Babar Azam wants to take a leaf out of Imran Khan’saggressive captaincy and besides cricket, he is also

brushing up his English to become a “completeleader” like the World Cup-winning all-rounder.

Last week, the star batsman took over the reinsof Pakistan’s white-ball cricket after being appoint-ed as the ODI skipper.

“Imran Khan was a very aggressive captain andI want to be like him. It is not an easy job captain-ing the Pakistan team but I am learning from myseniors and I have also had captaincy experience sincemy under-19 days,” Azam said.

He said that to be a complete captain one mustbe able to interact comfortably with the media andexpress oneself properly in front of an audience.

“These days I am also taking English classesbesides focussing on my batting,” he said.

The 25-year-old Babar said he was not satisfiedwith Pakistan’s current standing in international crick-et. “I am not happy with where we stand and I wantto see this team go up in the rankings.”

Babar said captaincy would be a challenge for himbut it would not affect his batting.

“It is an honour to lead one’s national team so itis not a burden for me at all. In fact, after becomingcaptain, I have to lead by example and be moreresponsible in my batting.”

Babar hoped the T20 World Cup is held this yearin Australia as he wanted to lead his team in the ICCevent.

“It would be a disappointment if the event wasnot held or rescheduled because I am looking for-ward to playing in the World Cup and doing well init,” he said.

About plans for Pakistan to fly to England in Julyto play three Tests and three T20 internationals amidthe Covid-19 pandemic, Babar said a lot of hard workand planning would be required to make the play-ers feel comfortable and safe.

“Touring England won’t be easy. Health and safe-ty of players is of great importance and the tour willonly be possible when proper arrangements are inplace,” he said.

“Both England and Pakistan team fans, alongwith the cricketers, are missing cricket because of thepandemic.”

IANS n NEW DELHI

India skipper Virat Kohli hassaid he never doubted his abil-ities during match situations

and as a child went to sleep think-ing he could gun down a total forthe country and win a particulargame he has been watching.

"To be honest, I never doubt-ed myself in game situations.Everyone who is human hasdoubts and weaknesses. Havetheir negatives. So in practiceduring tours, if you haven't had agood session you feel you don'thave that flow," Kohli said duringa Facebook Live session withBangladesh ODI captain TamimIqbal.

"Yes, doubts creep in then andit's at the back of your mind. Keyis to keep going and get into thatzone till you feel that it was justdistraction. If I believe I am goodenough, then I am good enough.

"Best part about match situa-tion is that you don't need to thinkso much. You react to situationsknowing your role. Negative voic-es always come off the field whenyou are not in competition mode,"said the 31-year old prolific bats-man.

Kohli added that when heused to watch India matches, he

would invariably think he had itin him to chase down the total.

"Honestly, when I was a kid,I used to watch India games andsee them lose I would go to sleepthinking I could have won thatmatch. If I am chasing 380, I neverfeel that you can't achieve it.

"In 2011 in Hobart, we had tochase 340 in 40 overs to qualify. Atthe break I told (Suresh) Raina thatwe will approach this match as two20 over games. 40 overs is a bigduration. Let's first play 20 and seehow many runs are scored andthen play another T20 game."

Kohli also lauded throwdownspecialist D. Raghavendra, sayinghis ability to pump in speeds inexcess of 150-155 kmph with thesidearm enormously contributedto Indian batsmen's improvementagainst fast bowling in recentyears.

"I believe the improvementthis team has shown while play-ing fast bowling since 2013 hasbeen because of Raghu. He hasgood concepts about footwork, batmovement of players. He hasimproved his skills so much thatfrom sidearm he can easily hurlthe balls at 155 kmph. After play-ing Raghu in nets, when you gointo the match, you feel there is alot of time."

Kohli also spoke about how hehad to change his approach to bat-ting to suit his requirement.

"I changed because I wantedto hit all around the ground. Thestatic position was making my

options limited. My basic funda ofbatting is that if your hips are inperfect position then you canplay any shot. Static position was-n't working well for me.

"But it works for a lot of play-

ers. Like Sachin Tendulkar had astatic stance all his life and henever had a problem. His tech-nique was far superior with excel-lent hand eye coordination.

"For me I had to change itaccordingly to suit my needs. Itried little, little things in my bat-ting as you would never know ifyou don't try," he said.

AFP nMANCHESTER

Manchester Unitedhave warned fans to

stay away from matchesplayed behind closeddoors at Old Trafford if thePremier League restartsamid the coronavirus cri-sis.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’sside are set to resume

small group training onWednesday as PremierLeague clubs step up theProject Restart plan to fin-ish the season.

But all 92 remainingmatches will have to beplayed in front of empty

stands due to the pandem-ic, leading United to acti-vate a refund or rebate toticket holders for theirremaining home fixtures.

If the Premier Leagueget their wish to play atclubs’ normal stadiums

rather than at neutralvenues, then United willhave four home leaguematches to play.

Aware of the dangerof supporters gatheringin large groups during thehealth crisis, United have

pleaded with their fans tostay away from matchesand watch on television.

“We share your disap-pointment that you willnot be able to watchUnited in person fromwithin the stadium, but wewould encourage you togive your continued loyalsupport from the comfortand safety of your home,”United said in an email tosupporters on Tuesday.

“To help with that, thePremier League and theirmedia partners will workto deliver the very bestbroadcast coverage of ourgames.

PTI n KOLKATA

Some East Bengal play-ers, including foreign

recruits, and physicaltrainer Carlos Nodar, whoare still stuck here amidthe coronavirus-forcednational lockdown, havebeen asked to “vacatetheir flats” provided bysponsors Quess Corp.

Most of East Bengal’sforeign players have lefthome but a few are stillhere along with theSpaniard Nodar who hadpreferred to stay back.

“This is the worstthing to happen. Wherewill we go now especially

when there’s nationwidelockdown in force,” a play-er told PTI, confirmingthe development.

“There is no way wecan vacate at this point oftime but the managementis just ignoring our calls.Let’s wait and watch.”

The Bangalore-basedQuess group, which isexiting the club on May31, had last month activat-ed the Force Majeureclause, citing Covid-19pandemic, to terminate allthe contracts with effectfrom May 1. The players

had approached theFootball Players’Association of India.

The East Bengal play-ers said they have receiveda message from the‘QEBFC admin team’which has circulated themessage.

“As per notificationfrom the owners of theresidential accommoda-tions in Rosedale,Uniworld and other resi-dences, we will be hand-ing over the apartmentsto the respective ownersby 25th May, 2020,” readthe message purportedlysent by Quess manage-ment.

Never doubted myself in game situations: KohliSaliva ban needs alternative tokeep game balanced: GambhirIANS n NEW DELHI

Former Indian cricketerGautam Gambhir feels there

would be apprehensions in theminds of the players once they goback on the field and take part incompetitive sport post the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“It depends from individualto individual (fear in mind ofcricketers). But yes there will belittle apprehensions, when they goout and play. Probably after sometime, it will go in the heat of thegame once players are on the pitchand will ease into the game andwill be excitement to be out andplaying,” Gambhir said.

One of the talking points ofpost-Covid cricket has been theban on the usage of saliva to shinethe ball when the sport resumesin order to stop the transmission

of the virus. In fact, the ICCCricket Committee has also rec-ommended the ban on salivausage and a decision on the samecan be expected next month.

However, Gambhir fears therecommended saliva ban couldfurther take the game — which isalready titled towards the batters— away from the bowlers.

“It will be the hardest thingfor the bowlers. The ICC have tocome out with an alternative.Without shining the ball, I don’tthink it will be an even contestbetween bat and ball,” Gambhirsaid.

“If they don’t allow using sali-va, they will have to come up withan alternative to help the bowlersto shine the ball. It’s going to bevery important otherwise therewould be no fun watching crick-et,” he added.

Ronaldo back for Juve trainingNo Serie A restartbefore June 14MILAN: The Italian Football Federation(FIGC) announced on Monday nightthat all its competitions, includingSerie A, will remain suspended untilJune 14.

The Lega Serie A had hoped fora return on June 13 but the FIGC haspushed back the date in line with aGovernment decree that all sportscompetitions be suspended until nextmonth.

The FIGC said the choice wasmade “pending any further... decisionby the authorities”, suggesting the pos-sibility of a restart on June 13 mightstill exist. AFP

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