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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

DELHI LOCKDOWN4.0

Fromparks tomarkets, Delhiopens up, CMsays preparedGurgaonwaitsforguidelines;Noidaopentoallexceptcontainmentzones

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI,MAY18

THE NATIONAL capital startedreopening on Monday, withDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal announcing the liftingof curbs on markets, publictransport,parks,officesandcon-struction activities, saying thelockdown “cannot be a perma-nent solution” against the coro-naviruspandemic.Asserting that the lockdown

hadgivenDelhitimetorampupitsmedicalinfrastructuretodealwith Covid-19, Kejriwal said itcould tackleup to50,000activecases. As on Monday, Delhi’scount stood at 10,054 novelcoronaviruscases,5,409ofthem“active”, and160deaths.ImmediatelyafterKejriwal’s

announcement, made througha webcast, several autos andtaxishit thestreets, aftera two-monthgap.WhileKejriwalsaidhewould

takeacalloninter-statetravelaf-ter talks with his counterparts,authoritiesinGurgaonsaidtheywerewaitingforguidelinesfromthestategovernment.“Wehavenot formallyreceivedanydirec-tions from the government of

Haryana.Guidelines for thedis-trictwillbeissuedoncewehavethem,” said V S Kundu,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

LOCKDOWNTOSTAY TILLMAY31ALLOWED

MarketswithstaggeredtimingsRestaurantsbutonlyforhome-deliveryTwo-wheelerswithnopillionriderFour-wheelerswithtwopassengers

■Taxiswith2passengers,autorickshaw,e-rickshawswith1passenger,buseswith20passengers■Constructionactivities■Govt,privateoffices

NOTALLOWEDAnyactivity incontainmentzonesReligiousgatheringsSpa,saloons

■Metro,schools,colleges,malls,swimmingpools

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY18

ADMITTING THAT the issue ofpending payments to Micro,Small&MediumEnterpriseswasa serious problem that wasstarvingtheseunitsofvital“oxy-gen”, Union Minister of RoadTransport & Highways andMSMEs Nitin Gadkari said thatenforcementofclearanceofdueswithin45dayswouldbestrictlyimplemented to ensure thattheseunitsstaysolventamidtheCovid lockdowndistress.Speaking at The Indian

Express e-Adda eventMonday,Gadkarisaidthatwhileitwillbedifficulttogetthemigrantwork-ers, who have left, to return to

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,MAY18

ASTHElockdowneasesacrossthecountry,andmoremigrantwork-ersreturntotheirhomestates,theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) onMonday re-vised the testing protocol to in-clude symptomatic “returneesandmigrants”, hospitalised pa-tientsand“frontlineworkers”.According to the revised

strategy,“allhospitalisedpatientswho develop lLl (influenza likeillness)symptoms“,“allsympto-matic ILI among returnees andmigrantswithin7daysofillness”,and all symptomatic “frontlineworkersinvolvedincontainmentandmitigationofCovid-19”willnowbetested.

Also, asymptomatic directandhigh-risk contacts of a con-firmed casewill now be testedoncebetweenthefifthandtenthdayofcomingincontact(earlier,theywere tested once betweenthe fifthand fourteenthday).With 5,242newcases— the

highestsingle-dayjumpsofar—and 157 deaths in the last 24hours, the total count is now96,169 cases (3,029 deaths,36,823recovered).Issuing detailed guidelines

for workplaces, theMinistry ofHealthandFamilyWelfaresaid:“If thereareoneortwocasesre-ported, the disinfection proce-durewillbelimitedtoplaces/ar-easvisitedbythepatient inpast48hrs. There isnoneed to closethe entire office building/ halt

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, PUNE,KOLKATA,MAY18

WEST BENGAL and Odisha arebracing for Amphan, now up-gradedtoonlythesecondsupercyclone to form in the Bay ofBengal in twodecades,which isexpectedtomakelandfallalongDigha in West Bengal byWednesdayevening.OnMonday, PrimeMinister

NarendraModi chaired a high-levelmeeting to review prepa-rations, including the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF)’s evacuationplan.IMD Director General

Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, whoCONTINUEDONPAGE2

Migrants backin Bihar showhigh positivity:1 in 4 testedfrom Delhi

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,MAY18

TESTINGOFmigrantworkersre-turning to Bihar is underliningthe twin challenge that publichealth experts have warnedabout—thevirusisbeingcarriedin andmany of the carriers areasymptomatic.Until May 18, Bihar tested a

totalof8,337samplesofmigrantworkers and about 8% werefound to be Covid-positive —doublethenationalaveragepos-itivity ratewhich isabout4%.Of the 835 samples taken

frommigrantworkerswho re-turned fromDelhi, as many as218 were Covid positive. Thisworks out to a positivity rate ofover26%,whiletherateinthena-tionalcapital isabout7%.Incidentally,thecountofmi-

grants tested from each state isnot proportional to the totalnumber who have returnedfromthat state.Yet, Delhi is an outlier along

withBengal andHaryana.Of the 265 samples of mi-

grant workers who returnedfromWestBengal,33testedpos-itive.Thepositivityratewas12%,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

THE COUNTLESSThousandsgatheredatRamlilaMaidaninGhaziabadonMondaytoregister forsix trainsboundforotherpartsofUttarPradesh,andBihar.Whilearound9,000wereable to leaveonthetrains,around2,000migrantworkerscouldnotregister.Theauthoritiessaid theywouldaccommodatethemontrainsorbuseswithin24hours. TashiTobgyal REPORTPAGE3

LOCKDOWNDAY

55

CONCERNTELANGANA:

Testing low, took amonth to double

CAUTIONBIHAR: Cases

low still, but havedoubled in a week

A GLIMMERWEST BENGAL:

50 cases in 5 days,doubling in 67 days

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

TOTALCASES33,05311,38010,05411,2245,0902,677

DOUBLINGRATE**12.2614.9914.9511.0115.5715.27

SURGEIN24HRS2,347391299639242101

7-DAYAVG.GROWTH*

5.87%4.80%4.82%6.54%4.63%4.72%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:96,169

RECOVERED:36,823 |DEATHS:3,029TESTS:2,302,792 |DOUBLINGRATE: 13.68**

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

BasedondailydatabyCenre, ICMR, stategovernments

THEHIGHpositivity ratefor those testedwho re-turnedfromDelhidefinesthe challenge as moreandmorepour in.Also, itsuggests that most ofthem were asympto-maticcarriers—thiscallsfor rampinguptesting.

Underlinestwinchallenge

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,MAY18

ITISpastmidnight,butthethreedozenmen andwomen on thepavement outside the KEMHospital arewide awake. Frombeneaththebanyantree,theyfixtheir gaze on the emergencyward,waitingforbedstoempty.At the frontlineofMumbai’s

battleagainstthepandemic,the95-year-old hospital, wherenearly 400of 1,800beds are re-served for Covid patients, isswamped by patients with all

kindsofotherhealthcomplaintsand illnesses.Notonlydoesitdrawpeople

from neighbouring districts, italsocaterstoahugeslumpopu-lation, includingWorli, the firstcontainment zone in the city.OneofthefewhospitalstreatingbothCovid, non-Covidpatients,it is the choiceofmanybecauseprivate hospitals are too scaredtoadmit them.Onanaverage, an estimated

120 people with cough, cold,fevercomplaintsvisitthehospi-tal, and40getadmitted.DrHemantDeshmukh,Dean

ofKEMHospital,says,“Mostpa-

tients start coming evening on-ward.Andatnight,theyhavenomeans to go home, so they stayback,hopingabedwillgetfree.”The crowd of patients has

thickened after the nearbyNairHospital, a municipal facility,converted into aCovidhospital.All non-Covid patients are re-ferredtoKEM.Withprivatehos-pitalsrunningskeletalOPDserv-ices, KEMhas become the finalportof call.“Asapolicy,wehavedecided

not to refuse treatment to any-one. If we don’t take them in,whowill?” saysDeshmukh.Butthechallengesatnightare

different—therearefewerstafferstodealwithdesperatefamilies.Aninternatthefrontdeskof

theemergencymedicalservices(EMS) says from the time hisshift began at 8 pm, he hadtakendownnamesof53peopleuntil midnight. All with Covid-likesymptoms.Mostpeople,hesays,weregivenmedicationandsent home since beds are notavailable.Khatoon Shaikh, a patient

withaheartcondition,waited10hours to get admission. Turnedawayfromfourhospitals,shefi-nallyreachedKEMHospital.Andshenowwaits, sittingonabed-

sheet spreadonthestone floor.Her son Rafiq says he has

filled several forms, visited dif-ferentdepartments.Giventhereare suspected Covid patients inthehospital, he thinks it is saferthathismotherwaitsoutside.Inside the emergencyward,

doctors are wearing blue per-sonalprotectiveequipment,onlytheireyesvisiblebehindglasses.Upon entry, each patient is

asked,“Doyouhavefever,cough,cold or breathlessness?” TheseareCovidsymptoms.Suspectedcases are transferred to twowards, with 50 beds each, next

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

OutsideKEMHospital,which isat the frontlineofMumbai’sCovidbattle. TabassumBarnagarwala

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

THEWORLD

W.H.O.AGREESFORPROBEINTOITSOWNROLEPAGE12

Through the night, in Mumbai’s Ground Zero ward

MANOJMOREPUNE,MAY18

MAHARASHTRA HOUSINGMinisterJitendraAwhad,whore-covered fromCovid-19, said helived to seeanotherdaybecauseof the doctorswho had treatedhimandthenurseswhogavehimhope. He said his conditionwascriticalanddoctorshadgivenhimaslimchanceof survival.“Had itnotbeen for thedoc-

tors, who gaveme pre-emptivetreatment, and the nurses,whogavememotherlycareandhope,I don’t think I would have sur-vived...,” Awhad told The IndianExpressonMonday.Havingrecovered,theminis-

tersaidhefelttherewas“unnec-essarypanic”onsocialmediare-

garding the infection. “I thinksoon itwill be like seasonal flu...wewill have to livewith it.Weshould rid people of the fear ofthecoronavirus.”Theminister,whohadtested

positive for coronavirus, was inhospitalfromApril22toMay10,mostofthetimeinintensivecareandat least threedayson

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Testing umbrella to nowcover migrants, those inhospitals with symptoms

What they leave behind in Bokaro:Six-day-old baby, an ailing motherABHISHEKANGADBOKARO,MAY18

A SIX-DAY-OLD babywhowillnever see his father, a motherwhohas lost themeans to repayaloanshetookforagallstonesop-eration,andasisterwhowassup-posed to bewed after the liftingof thelockdown—thereisavoidin several families in Gopalpurpanchayat of Chas block inJharkhand’sBokarodistrict.Of the 26 people whowere

killed on the highway in UttarPradesh’s Auraiya early onSaturday, 11 were migrantlabourers headed back to theirvillage. Their bodies reachedtheirhomesonMondayevening—travellingthe800kminsome30hours.All the 11 men worked in a

marble factory in Rajasthan,

and had left for home after adispute over their wages dur-ing the lockdown.All through Monday, the

families waited. Aarti Devi,barely 18, lay on a cot in a one-room brick dwelling, her six-day-oldsonbyherside.“Hewassupposed to come with ourbaby’s clothes,”Aarti saidof her

husband, Rahul Sahis. “My sonwillnever seehis father.”Rahul, 19, was killed in the

accident at Auraiya. Rahul’s fa-ther, Vibhuti Sahis, a marginal

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Will push for clearance ofdues to MSMEs within 45days: Gadkari at e-Adda

Amphan headsfor Bengal,now labelled asuper cyclone

AtNewDelhiRailwayStationMonday.Autoswereout intheCapital soonafter theCMannouncedrelaxations.AmitMehra

Ranjan’smotherBinkuDeviwithrelatives.AbhishekAngad

‘Giveconfidencetomigrants’JitendraAwhadrecoveredfromCovidthismonth

UNLOCKDOWN INOTHERSTATESP6

RELATEDREPORTPAGE 5

Was given 30% chanceof survival, don’t fearvirus: Minister Awhad

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

‘Trailer truck’farmer, said his son had beenlooking forward to seeing hischild. “Hewas very happy, andhewantedtoreturnhome.Thelockdown forced him to taketheroadroutefromRajasthan.”SudhirGoswamisaidhehad

started to frantically call his22-year-old son Raja as soon as heheard news of the accident. Hetried several times, and unableto reach his son, prayed for hissafety. “Suddenly, a manwhoidentifiedhimselfasapolicemananswered the phone. He saidthatmysonwasdead,andaskedme to come to UP to take hisbody.Inthose10seconds,every-thingchanged,”Sudhirsaid.Sudhir’s wife Munni Devi

recentlyhadsurgerytoremovegallstones. “We took loan fortheoperation,whichcostusRs80,000. Days before Holi, Rajaleft to work in Rajasthan, hop-ingtobeable tosaveenoughtorepay our loans. I should neverhave allowed him to go,”sobbedMunniDevi.AlsocryingwasTaroniDevi,

who had hoped to have a “de-centwedding”forherdaughter.Taroni’s son Uttam Goswami,22,hadbeenworkingtosaveforhissister’swedding.“Whenthelockdownhappened,hewantedtocomebackhome.Weadvisedhim not to move, but heswitchedoffhisphoneandleft,”Taroni said.Next to Taroni in her

kuchcha house sat her daugh-ter. Hearing the news ofUttam’sdeath,herprospectivegroom had come to meet thefamily.Taroniandherhusbandare very poor - they have got agascylinderunder thegovern-ment’s Ujjwala scheme, buttheydon’thaveastove, so theyuse firewood to cook. As shespoke, Taroni broke into loudwails.The mothers of Somnath

Goswami, Ranjan Kalindi, andArvind Mahato sobbed whiletalkingoftheirsons,allofwhomwerekilled in theaccident.“Kamane ke liye baahar

kyonbheja(WhydidIsendhimawayfromhometoearn),” saidArvind’smotherLatikaDevi. Inherarmsshecarriedhisgrand-child; Arvind’s wife lay on theground, crying incessantly.Two kilometres away in

Kheerabadi in the same pan-chayat, Ranjan’s mother said:“My two sons said they werecominghomeonatrailer truck.Hum to trailer ka matlab bhinahi jaante the, nahi tomanaakardete,ekkolegayauparwala(I did not even know what atrailer truck was, else I wouldhave told themnot to get on toit;nowGodhastakenawayoneofmy sons).”Most of the labourers had

no income left after the lock-down was announced; manyhad used the Rs 1,000-4,000that their families had man-agedtosomehowputtogether,to pay for the journeyhome.Among the dead was 55-

year-oldKanilalMahato.HissonMukesh said Kanilal had askedfor Rs 1,000. “That was all themoney we had; it was moneythat he had sent home earlier.We sent him thatmoney so hecould return.” The family livesin a two-room kuchcha house,and has a small piece of land.They have so far not receivedany benefits under the PM-KISANscheme,Mukesh said.Villagers expressed anger

that the bodies had beendumped in a truck and sent toJharkhand. The injured whocame in the same vehicle hadvery little food for the journey.Saalbo Kalindi, brother ofGovardhanKalindi, said: “Eventhe dead deserve dignity. Sowhat if we arepoor?”When the truck reached

Allahabad, the bodies wereshifted to an ambulancewhichreachedtheJharkhandborderonMondaymorning.Afterprelim-

inarytreatmentwasprovidedtotheinjured,thebodiesweresenttoGopalpurpanchayatin11dif-ferentambulances.Bokaro Deputy

CommissionerMukesh Kumarsaid: “Afterwe saw the pictureof theway the bodieswere be-ing ferried, we intervened andtold officers in UP not to disre-gardthedignityof thedeceased.The injuredwere left to lie be-side the dead. Later, nearAllahabad, the UP authoritiesarrangedforadifferentvehicle.”

1 in 4 testedwhileWest Bengal’s positivityrate is 3%.Of the 390 samples of mi-

grant workers who returnedfromHaryana,36werefoundtobe positive. The positivity ratewas 9%, while Haryana’s posi-tivity rate is 1.16%.The data emerging from

Bihar is not only crucial for thestate’s containment strategy,butalso for thenationalcapital.First, it indicates the pres-

ence of a large asymptomaticpopulation in Delhi. Second, itcanguide thepublichealthau-thorities in thenational capitalto carry out contact tracing ofthesemigrants,andcontainthespread in areas that may havegoneunnoticed.Migrants returning from

otherstatesreportedapositivityratesimilartothatstate’s figure.So 141 of the 1,283 samples ofmigrantworkerswhoreturnedto Bihar from Maharashtratestedpositive,showingaposi-tivityrateof11%(thestate’spos-itivity rate is 11.7%).Of the2,045samplesofmi-

grants who returned fromGujarat,139testedpositive.Thepositivity rate was 6.8%; it is7.9% inGujarat.Of the 704 samples of mi-

grantswhoreturnedfromUttarPradesh,21testedpositive.Thepositivity rate was 3%; it is2.59%inUP.Of the430samplesofmigrantswhoreturnedfromRajasthan, 16 tested positive.Thepositivityratewas3.7%; it is2.24% inRajasthan.Amongthesouthernstates,

6of the203samplesofmigrantworkers who returned fromKarnataka tested positive. Thepositivity rate was 3%; it is0.78% inKarnataka.Of the 219 samples of mi-

grants who returned fromKerala, 4 tested positive. Thepositivity rate was 1.8%; it is1.33% inKerala.Of the 57 samples of mi-

grants who returned fromTamil Nadu, 2 tested positive.Thepositivityratewas3.5%; it is3.43% in TamilNadu.However, of the 367 sam-

ples of migrant workers whoreturned from Telangana, 6tested positive. The positivityrate was 1.6%; it is 6.6% inTelangana.

Mumbaito the emergency ward. Theyare full, so patients sit in thecorridor as they await test re-sults.Once thecorridor fillsup,peoplemoveoutside.A young resident doctor

asks themtomakeway. It feelsinhuman, he says, to send pa-tients out, but the ward re-mains high-risk. Three of hiscolleagueshavetestedpositive.

“Earlier, the emergencyward used to be this crowdedonly on a Monday. Now it’severyday,” thedoctor says.Another doctor, attached to

the gynaecology ward, says,“Before the pandemic, we did15-20deliveries aday,nowthenumber is30.Allprivatehospi-tals are scared to admit pa-tients.”Adayearlier, therewere16 deliveries during an eight-hour shift.Around 1 am, a car pulls up

outside the emergency ward.Fourmenplaceanelderlymanonawheelchairandwheelhimup the ramp. The intern asksthe man if he has fever, coughor cold. He does not reply. Theinterncheckshispulse. “He is, Ithink,nomore.Pleasetakehimto that counter,” he says.The counter has three doc-

tors, all seated behind a rope,two feet away. The shockedfamily insists that they treathim: “How can he suddenlydie?” The man is identified asShankar Chaurase.As paperwork begins for

Chaurase, twobodies, sealed inblackcases,arewheeledoutbymen inPPEs.Outside, Sangeeta More

starts weeping as she looks atthe bodies. Her husbandSubashMore(60) isgaspingona stretcher. He is diabetic. Herson Umesh rushes out of theemergency ward, “They are allwearingPPEs. thewardis fullofcorona patients. Let’s go to an-otherhospital,wewillcatchin-fectionhere,” he says.Theinternfollowshim.“You

have to let us check him, sta-bilise him,” he tells the son.

When theman refuses, the in-ternmakeshimasignaformofdischarge against medical ad-vice. “We try to counsel, butthere are so many patients,”says the intern.The night shift is far from

over.

Super cycloneaddressed a Facebook live ses-sionMonday,saidthatAmphanwasmoving at a speed of 220-230 km/hr as on Mondayevening. “The wind speed...whenithits landwouldbe165-175km/hr, gusting toup to195km/hr.Districts inWestBengal,including East and WestMedinipur,SouthandNorth24Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly,Kolkata would be affected se-verely... We expect tidal wavesashighas4to6metres,astallasa two-storeyedbuilding.”Heavytoveryheavyrainfall

is expected in the coastalOdisha districts ofJagatsinghpur, Balasore,Kendrapara, Bhadrak andMayurbhanj on Tuesday,Mohapatra added.The West Bengal govern-

ment has started evacuatingpeople fromcoastalareastocy-clone centres. “Instructionshave been given to officials inthis regard,” Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee said.In Odisha, Special Relief

CommissionerPKJenasaidthedistrict collectors of Ganjam,Gajapati, Puri, Jagatsinghpur,Kendrapara,Bhadrak,Balasore,Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack,Khurda and Nayagarh havebeenaskedtoprepare forevac-uation if necessary. Chief

MinisterNaveenPatnaikhasdi-rected officials to prepare aplan.The IMD chief said the

storm“intensified very rapidlyduring the 24 hours betweentheeveningofMay17andMay18.Thoughtherehavebeentwoor three super cyclones in thepast, Amphan is only the sec-ond after the Odisha super cy-clone of 1999 to form in theNorth IndianOcean.”Themeeting chaired by the

PM was attended by HomeMinister Amit Shah, PrincipalAdvisor tothePrimeMinisterPK Sinha and Cabinet SecretaryRajivGauba.The NDRF informed the

meeting that 25 teams hadbeendeployedtotackle thesit-uation and 12were in reserve.Army,AirForce,NavyandCoastGuardteamshavealsobeenputon alert.Gauba spokewith theWest

Bengal andOdisha chief secre-taries on their requirementsand preparations. The stateshave been assured of all helpand told to ensure adequatefood supplies.Thesupercyclonemightre-

sult in a marginal delay in theonset of monsoon — from itsusualdateonJune1to June5—the IMDsaid.

WITHPTI INPUTS

Testing umbrellaworkinotherareasof theofficeandworkcanberesumedafterdisinfection as per laid downprotocol.”“However, if there isa larger

outbreak, the entire buildingwill have to be closed for 48hours after thorough disinfec-tion.All thestaffwillworkfromhome, till the building is ade-quately disinfected and is de-clared fit for re-occupation,” itsaid.“Thehighriskexposurecon-

tacts (those whowere in closecontact) shall be quarantinedfor14days.Theywill followtheguidelinesonhomequarantineand undergo testing as perICMR protocol,” the ministrysaid. “The low risk exposurecontactsshall continuetoworkandcloselymonitortheirhealthfor thenext14days,” it said.If there is a suspected case,

employers must inform thehealth authoritieswhowill as-sessthesymptomsandcasehis-torytodeterminetesting,homeisolationorothermeasures.“If therearealargenumbers

of contacts fromapre-sympto-matic/ asymptomatic case,there couldbeapossibilityof acluster emerging inworkplacesetting. Due to the close envi-ronment inworkplace settingsthis could even be a large clus-ter (>15 cases),” it said.AccordingtotheICMR’sear-

lier protocol, asymptomatic,high-risk contacts of positivecases, all SARI (Severe AcuteRespiratory Infection)patients,andsymptomaticpeople inthefollowing categories - ILI pa-tients inhotspotsandlargemi-gration centres; those whohave returned from abroad;contacts of positive cases;healthcare workers - were be-ing tested.The ICMRhas specified that

“no emergency procedure (in-cludingdeliveries)shouldbede-layedforlackof test.” Ifapatientfits the testing criteria, his/ hertestcanbedonesimultaneouslywiththeemergencyprocedure.The inclusion of all “hospi-

talisedpatientswhodevelopILIsymptoms” indicates the con-cern over patients contractingthedisease inhospital.Andtheinclusion of “returnees/mi-grants”, irrespective of contacthistory or whether they aretravelling from a hotspot, sig-nals the concern over possiblecommunity transmission.The government, however,

hasmaintainedthat there isnocommunitytransmissionsofar.“Somepatientsmaydevelop

an infection in hospital, so weare testing for that. Also, on thesame lines as testing interna-tional travellers, we are testingsymptomatic domestic trav-ellers with only themigrants,”Dr Manoj Murhekar, Director,ICMR-National Institute ofEpidemiology (NIE), said.While 23,02,792 samples

havebeentestedsofar, thepos-itivityratehasremainedaround4%since thebeginningof April.However, the governmentstopped giving the number ofindividuals tested sinceApril.In termsof casecount, India

hasalreadyovertakenChina.“Interms of confirmed cases perlakhpopulation, Indiahassofarabout7.1casesperlakhpopula-tionvisavisapprox60casesperlakhpopulationfortheworldasa whole,” the Health Ministrysaid ina statement.

Gadkarimanufacturing hubs such asGurugram and Pune in theshort-term, the need to create“confidence in their minds” toreturnwas essential.Acknowledgingthat theve-

hicle scrappage policy that hehad piloted is hanging fire fornearly two years, the UnionMinister said thathewasmak-ingarenewedpushfor thepol-icy toofferamuch-needed im-petus to theautomobile sector.The move is expected to

place a cap on the life of vehi-cles in terms of years or kilo-metres runandensure thatoldvehicles are periodicallyphased out.“Centre and central PSUs

will clear all pending MSMEdues in 45 days. I have also re-quested other firms to clearpending dues of MSMEs as allcapital is working capital forthem. Working capital is likeoxygenfor them,”Gadkari said.The total outstanding pay-

ments to units in the MSMEsector was pegged at upwardsofRs5 lakhcrore,which issplitbetweencentralministriesanddepartments, state govern-ments, and public sector unitsunder the Centre and states, aswell as payments owed bydownstream industries.Following the lockdown,

MSMEs have been among theworst hit due to lack of orders.While thegovernmenthasan-nounced a bevy of measures,including collateral-free auto-matic loan worth Rs 3 lakhcrore,mostMSME enterpriseshadsoughtclearanceofduestohelp them tide over the crisis.Industries, including in the

autoancillarysector,whichareamong one of the largest em-ployment generators, havebeenvoicingconcernsover thepossible shortage of workerswhen the lockdown ends.Gadkari, however, cautionedagainst accepting the idea thatall such units were dependentonly onmigrantworkers.“When the atmosphere is

conducive, I am sure they willcome back from homes toworkplaces.We have to createconfidence in their minds. Indue course of time, they willcome back when things nor-malise,” he said.Gadkari also said that the

aim of the government wouldbe to protect local firms by en-suring“anIndianalternativeforChinese imports”. “We shouldprotect. Duty should be im-posedonChinesegoods. I haverequested the CommerceMinistry,”Gadkari said.Thee-Addawasmoderated

by Anil Sasi, National BusinessEditor, and Ravish Tiwari,Political Editor.TheExpressAdda is a series

of informal interactionsorgan-ised by The Indian ExpressGroupandfeaturesthoseat thecentre of change. Former ChiefEconomic Advisor ArvindSubramanianandAIIMSdirec-torDrRandeepGuleriawerere-cent guests at the e-Adda.

FROMPAGEONE

From parks to markets, Delhiopens up, CM says preparedmonitoring officer (Gurgaon).HaryanaonMondaymade theentirestateanorangezone,bar-ringsomecontainmentzones.In a late-night order, the

UttarPradeshgovernmentsaidthat except those residing incontainment zones in Delhi,therewill be no restriction onpeople travelling toNoida andGhaziabad. The state govern-menthas left it to the local ad-ministrationofthetwodistrictsto issuefurtherguidelines.Delhi has gone bymost of

therelaxationsthatfoundmen-tion in the Centre’s guidelinesforthefourthphaseofthelock-down,lastingtillMay31,butforkeepingbarbershops,spasandsalonsclosed,andregulatingin-ter-statemovement for all ex-ceptthoseattachedwithessen-tialservices.Therelaxationsdonot cover Delhi’s 64 contain-mentzones.All shops in markets and

shoppingcomplexeshavebeenallowed to open. In case ofshops selling non-essentialitems,theodd-evenpolicywillbefollowed,meaningthatonagivenday, half in a neighbour-hoodmarketwill open. Liquoroutlets, includingprivateones,canopen.

Governmentandprivateof-fices can openwith full staffstrength,thoughKejriwalurgedprivatebusinessestoencouragework fromhome. RWAs havebeenspecificallywarnednottopreventanyonefromanyfunc-tions as permitted under theguidelines.CabaggregatorssuchasOla

andUber and taxis can restartservices, but withmaximumtwopassengerseach.Car-pool-ing remains suspended.Autos,e-rickshaws, cycle rickshawscan ply with one passenger.People can also take out theirprivate cars with maximumtwopassengers. Pillion-ridingwill not be allowed on two-wheelers.Whilebuseswillstartoper-

atingwithamaximum20pas-sengers,Metroservicesremainsuspended, at least tillMay31,when the lockdownwill beupfor review.All public transportfacilitieswill have to be disin-fectedextensivelyatregularin-tervals,Kejriwalsaid.Thecity’srestaurantscanof-

ferhomedelivery,butdiningfa-cilitiesremainbarred.Pubsandbars cannot open, neither canshopping malls, which theKejriwal government had

wantedtheCentretoallow.Schools, colleges, other ed-

ucational institutes, cinemahalls, auditoriums, places ofworship and swimmingpoolsremainclosed.Stadiums and sports com-

plexes can reopen, howeverspectatorswon’t beallowedatevents.Non-essentialactivitieswill not be allowedbetween7pmand7am,whichmeansanearlyendtothedayformarkets.Whileunderliningtheneed

tograduallyalloweconomicac-tivities, theCMstressedon so-cial distancing, maintaininghand hygiene and wearingmasks, and indicated therewould bemore relaxations ifthe situation remained undercontrol.Though the Delhi govern-

mentearliersaidanyrelaxationmaycausea spike in thenum-ber of cases, onMonday, ad-dressing India TV’s e-conclavefor CMs, Kejriwal stressed thatonly10-20%ofthosediagnosedwith coronavirus need hospi-talisation.“Wehave2,000oxy-gensupportequippedbedsand1,500-2,000 more are beingarranged.Wewill have up to4,000beds for coronapatientswithinthenextfewdaysand,if

needed, more beds will bearranged.Wehaveplannedupto10,000beds...AsofMonday,around1,500(cases)areinhos-pitalwhiletherestareinCovidcarecentresorhomes.”He added that Prime

MinisterNarendraModi’sdeci-sionofanationwidelockdownhad been “timely” and pre-vented the situation from spi-rallingoutof control.Kejriwal also pointed out

that Delhi’s case fatality ratewas less as compared to otherstates.Withitsmortalitynum-berscomingunderacloud,theCM said, “It is foolish to eventhink thatdeath figures canbehidden in a place like Delhi,withalargemediapresence.”Inhiswebcast, theCMsaid

theviruswasunlikelytogotillavaccinewasdeveloped,adding,“Thelockdowncannotbeaper-manentsolution.”Hestressedtheneedtokeep

thoseagedabove65andunder10,pregnantwomenandthosewith serious ailments indoors.He said theDelhi governmentisarrangingtohousesafelytheelderlywhosefamilymemberstest positive if they don’t haveenoughspace in theirhouse toisolatethemselves.

Maharashtra minister calls for less fear about Covidventilator.Hehadearlierbeenin home quarantine April 13onwards, after feelingweak.Theminister’swifehadalso

testedpositiveandwashospi-talised.“ThedoctorscalledmydaughterNatashaandtoldhertherewas only 30% chance ofsurvival...Theytoldherthatsheshouldpray...,”Awhadsaid.He said his condition had

worsenedaroundApril19,dueto overexertion. “I was feelingexhausted, but I did not havesymptoms like fever or coughor sore throat. I did not think I

had coronavirus. It is only inthelastfewdaysthattheyhavechanged protocol and said ifanyoneisfatigued,theyshouldcheckwiththedoctor,”hesaid.The minister said he was

unconsciouswhentakentothehospital, thoughhedidnotre-memberwhathappenedafterthat. “Iwas completelydisori-ented. I did not even know IhadCovid-19. Itwasonlyafterafewdays,whentheygavemeameal,did InoticethatCovid-19wasscribbledontheplate,”hesaid.

Ahwad said, “The doctorsgave me pre-emptive treat-ment,whichmeansbeforemyconditionescalated, theygaveme propermedicine so that Ido not reach that stage. Theygavemeperfecttreatment,”hesaid.Healsothankedthenurses

forgivinghim“motherlycare”.“They constantly encouragedandmotivatedme,andinfusedmewithenergy...Theytoldmenot toworry, and that Iwouldgetbetter,”hesaid.It was NCP chief Sharad

Pawarwho took chargewhenhewas in thehospital, Awhadadded. “I was in the ICU, mywifewasalso inhospital.Onlymydaughterwaslefttohandlethe situation. It was the NCPchiefwhotoldthedoctorsthatonlyfourpeopleshouldbeup-datedaboutmyhealth,whichincluded him, the ChiefMinister,MilindNarvekarandSupriyaSule,”hesaid.Awhad added, “This expe-

rience has broughtmy familycloser... My daughter decidesmytimetableandmymeals.”

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY18

ARGUING THAT the economicpackage announced by theCentreactuallyamountedtoonlyRs1.86lakhcrore,or0.91%of theGDP, former financeminister PChidambaramonMonday saidthe “bogus” and “hopelessly in-adequate” package has left sev-eral sectionsof the society “highanddry”. Tearing thepackage toshreds,theseniorCongressleaderasked the government to comeoutwith a revised and compre-hensivefiscalstimuluspackageofRs 10 lakh crore or equivalent to10percentof theGDP.“Weexpressourthoroughdis-

appointmentandrequestthegov-ernmenttoreconsiderthestimu-lus package and announce arevisedandcomprehensivefiscalstimuluspackageofnotlessthanRs10lakhcroreof realadditionalexpenditureequivalent to10percentofGDP,”Chidambaramsaid.Pointing out there is a lot of

“commonground”intheobserva-tionsmadebyCongress, Left andafewregionalpartiesonthepack-age, Chidambaramsaid “soonerthanlater,Oppositionpartieswillfindanopportunity tomeet andraisetheirvoicescollectively”.Chidambaram said the

Parliamentary Standing com-mittees on finance, industryand commerce and labourshould be convened at the ear-liesttodiscussthepackage.“Wewillscrutinise.wewillaskques-tions,”hesaid,addingthe“gov-ernment is deliberately ignor-ing” and “sideliningparliamentary institutions”.The package, Chidambaram

said,hasleftseveralsectionshighanddry,includingthebottomhalfofthepopulation,migrantwork-ers,farmers,landlessagriculturallabour, dailywage non-agricul-tural labour,workerswho havebeenlaidofforretrenched,work-ers in unorganised or unregis-tered businesses or units whohave lost their jobs, the self-em-ployedwhohavenowork,7croreshopkeepers, lowermiddleclassfamilieswhohaverunoutofcashand5.8croreMSMEs.“There canbeno fiscal stim-

ulus to the economy withoutAdditionalExpenditureoverandabove the BudgetedExpenditure.fiscalstimulusofRs1,86,650crore.willbetotally in-adequategiventhegravityoftheeconomiccrisis andthedire sit-uation in which people findthemselves,” he said.Most ana-lysts, ratingagenciesandbanks,he argued, have placed the sizeof thefiscalstimulusatbetween0.8 to1.5percent.

Request govtfor packageequal to 10%of GDP: Cong

Bhopal: Fourwomen and threechildrenwere killedwhena fireswept through a three-storeybuilding,which housed a paintshop on the ground floor, inInderganj,Gwalior,onMonday.The paint shopwas owned

bythreebrotherswholivedwiththeir family on the upper twofloors.Officialssaidtheprobablecauseof the firewas a short cir-cuit on the ground floor, wheremanypaint canswerestocked.Additional Director General

ofPoliceRajababuSinghtoldTheIndian Express thatwomen andchildren were trapped in thebuildingwhenthe fire started.“Therewas no provision for

anemergencyexit,whichmadethe rescue operation difficult,''he said. The condition of twoother children injured in the in-cidentwassaidtobestable.ENS

Four women, 3children killedin Gwalior fire

New Delhi

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

THEOUTBREAK THECITY

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ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI,MAY18

AFTER THE Centre’s guidelinesallowedasymptomaticpatientsandthosewithverymildsymp-tomstoself isolateathome,theirnumber in Delhi is now higherthan those admitted in the 11Covid-designated hospitals.Whilethereare1,772peoplead-mittedinhospitals,2,250areun-derhome isolation.The number of Covid-19

casesinDelhitouched10,000onMonday,with299freshcasesbe-ing recorded. No new deathswere seen in the past 24 hoursbutthetollroseto160—upfrom148onSunday—as thegovern-ment recorded deaths that oc-curred a few days ago as theirdeathsummarieswereprepared.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal said that while thenumber of cases was rising, itwas heartening that the recov-ery rate was also high. Of the10,054 cases reported so far,4,485 have either recovered orbeendischargedfromhospitals.Outofthe1,772stilladmitted,

160areinICUand22onventilator.

Change in protocolOverburdened mortuaries

and most dead bodies testingnegative for Covid-19 appear tohave prompted the Delhi gov-ernment to stop collecting testsamples after a person’s death,even if he or she is suspected tohavesuccumbedtocoronavirus.InanorderissuedbytheDelhi

Health Secretary Padmini SinglaSunday, theDelhi healthdepart-mentsaid,“NosampleforCovid-

19testwillbetakenofdeadbody.However, if doctors are satisfiedfromclinicalexaminationthatthecause of deathmaybeCovid-19infection, thedeadbodymaybereleased as suspect Covid-19 in-fecteddeadbody.”However, in case of a sus-

pectedCoviddeath,thecremationorburialwillbeperformedasperthestandardoperatingprotocol.“Thebodieswerepilingupat

ourmortuaryaswewaitedfortestresults. Inmostcases, test resultswerecomingoutnegative,”saidasenior doctor fromLokNayak, aCovid-designatedhospital.DrNNMathur,medicaldirec-

tor of Lady Hardinge MedicalCollege,said:“Beforetheorder,wewere testingall bodies. But sincethenewguidelineshavecomeup,wewillnolongerdoso. If anyde-ceasedhascomefromacontain-ment zone,wewill treat it as aCovidsuspectedcaseandtheau-topsywill bewaived off as perrules.WhetheritwillbetreatedasaCoviddeathornot, that is tobe

decidedbythestategovernment.”DrSumantSinha,medicalsu-

perintendent of Aruna Asaf Alihospital,said:“Therewasnopointinkeepingthebodiesatthemor-tuarybecausemostofthemtestednegativeonly.”However, the Centre-runAI-

IMSwillcontinuetotakesamplesfromdeadbodies. “Atourhospi-tal,wetakethesamplesfromthedeadbody,andthen it ishandedovertothefamily....Inmostcases,the report comes out negative,”saidDrDKSharma,medical su-perintendentofAIIMS,whichhasreported29Coviddeathssofar.A Delhi government

spokesperson said: “If there is asuspicionthat thepersondiedofCovid,familymembersarebeingtested.We have expanded thetesting net considerably now.Whenwe tested samples takenfrombodies, amajority of themwere negative for the virus. Thenumber of bodies inmortuarieswas rising because samples hadnotbeentaken.”

AMILBHATNAGARNOIDA,MAY18

SANJUBAI’Sone-year-oldsonhas-n’tstoppedcryingforhalfanhour.Tocalmhimdown,shepointstoagovernment official and says,“Look, sir will get us our ridehome.” Bai and her family havewalkedmore than300 kmoverthe past five days fromPunjab’sSangrur to Delhi to Ghaziabad,hoping for a ride to their home-towninPanna,MadhyaPradesh.Bai was among the 11,000-

plus migrants from Delhi andneighbouringstates,whopouredintoGhaziabad’sRamlilaMaidanonMondaytoregisterforaplaceon six trains being operated bythe district administration —threeheadingtoBiharandthreetoEasternUttarPradesh.An order in this respectwas

circulated twodays ago, and asnewstravelled,strandedmigrantsfrom Rajasthan, MP, Punjab,Haryana,DelhiandNoidastartedheadingtothelargegroundinthehopeofanelusivetickethome.FromearlyMondaymorning,

thousands ofmigrants could beseenstanding inqueues,waitingforaturnatthecrowdedregistra-tion counter. Despite videosshowingthecrowdjostlingtoreg-ister, done on a first come, firstservedbasis, the administrationmaintained the event was notmismanaged and the crowdboardedpeacefully.“Itisasuccessfortheadminis-

tration that ina singleday, 9,000people were provided withpasses, checkedmedically andboardedsuccessfullyonsixtrains.Yes, therewas a crowd, but theyweredisciplined. Therewerenoprotests against the administra-tion, and no clashes or scuffles.They cooperated, and we toldthemrepeatedlythattheywillgettransport.Thosewhoareleftwill

either be given trains or busesalongwithproperfoodandotherthings,”saidAjayShankarPandey,DistrictMagistrate,Ghaziabad.Eighteen-year-old Arun

Kumar quietly went through afoodpacketinacorner,occasion-ally sanitising his hand.Whilemostmigrantsmoved about ingroups, Arun hadwalked alonefrom rural Ghaziabad to find aplace in the train so he could gohometoEastChamparaninBihar.“I camehere sixmonths ago

andwas doing a private univer-sitycoursetobecomealocotrainoperator. I had also planned topursueadiplomainmediacom-munication.Butthelockdownal-

teredmy future andmy life.Myparents cannot sendme a lot ofmoney, and I have no relativeshere. I lookedupeverythingon-line. I feel afraid—more formyparents thanmyself,” saidArun.Manymigrantssaidtheyhad

startedliningupasearlyas6am.Some claimed they had towaitfor 8-10 hours only to be toldtheywould have towait for thenext day’s train. Brief confusionalso prevailed, with somelabourers being asked to boardUPbuses, and thendeboardcit-ingadministrativedecisions.Construction worker

Ramesh Chaudhary (36) hadwalkedfromGaurCityinGreater

NoidatoGhaziabadearlymorn-ing hoping to find transport toKatihar. “I camehere in Januaryandwasinvolvedinconstructionworkclosetothetownship.Afterthe lockdownwas announced,we suddenly found ourselveshandtomouthbecauseourcon-tractorrefusedtogiveuswages.Wehavebeenborrowingmoneyfrom home but it cannot go onlike this,” saidRamesh.According to officials, the

trains will ferry passengers toGorakhpur, Allahabad andVaranasiinUP,andPatna,KatiharandArariainBihar.Eachtrainwillalsostopatsmallerstations,asap-provedbythestategovernment.

“Notrainscanberunwithouttheconsentofthereceivingstate.Inthiscase,wehadalreadytakenconsent fromBihar authorities,followingwhichRailways sanc-tionedtherun.Thepeople,insteadof crowding at the station, gath-ered at the ground first, whichmade their boarding smoother,”saidAjayShankarPandey.Twodaysago, theGhaziabad

administrationhadissuedinstruc-tions that thosewantingtotravelonthetrainscanregisterandwillreceiveanOTP.Butmostof thosewhoshoweduphadn’tregistered.Soauthoritiesissuedpassesonthespot. Peopleweremade toboardonfirstcome,firstservedbasis.

11,000 gather at Ghaziabad for tickethome, 9,000 find a place on six trains

CASESCROSS10,000

MoreCovidpatientsathome than inhospitals

AtLokNayakhospitalonMonday.AmitMehra

PradeepPandey,a labourer, insearchof abustoAmbedkarNagar inUP,atRamlilaMaidaninGhaziabad. PraveenKhanna

QuarantinenormschangedNewDelhi: In a fresh or-der, Delhi governmenthas ended the 14-dayquarantine for doctors,nurses and other staffmembers at Covid hos-pitalsinDelhi aftertheirduty isover.Anorder is-sued by Delhi HealthSecretaryPadminiSinglaonMondaysaysthatthestaff will go to quaran-tineonlyif theyhavehada “high risk exposure”while dealing withCovid-19 patients orhandling the sampleswithoutPPE.

BoardexamscheduleoutNew Delhi: CBSE onMonday released theschedule for remainingexams of class X andXIIstudents. The schedulealso contains the examsfor students fromNortheast Delhi , whowere unable to take thetestsduetotheriots.

Expediteprobe: HCNew Delhi: The DelhiHigh Court Mondayaskedthepolicetoexpe-ditiously conduct its in-vestigationintothe“BoisLocker Room” case, anInstagram group inwhich obscene mes-sages andmorphedpic-tures of underage girlswereshared.

MCD teachersseektestingNew Delhi:MCD schoolteacherswillwearblackbands to demand coro-navirus testing forteachers engaged in ra-tion distribution and toprotestagainstnon-pay-mentof salaries.At leastseven teachers havetestedCovidpositive tilldate.ENS

BRIEFLY

New Delhi

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

THEOUTBREAK THECITY

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ARANYASHANKAR&ABHINAVRAJPUTNEWDELHI,MAY18

MAJORMARKETS in the city re-mainedmoreorlessclosedonthefirstdayofthefourthphaseofthenationwide lockdownduetotheCovid-19pandemic.Shopkeeperssaid theywerewaiting for clearguidelinesfromtheDelhigovern-ment, beforewhich theywouldnotopenshops.The guidelines were issued

on Monday evening, underwhich all shops inmarkets andshopping complexes havebeenallowedtoopen.Incaseofshopsselling non-essential items, theodd-even policy will be fol-lowed,meaning that on a givenday,half theshopsinyourneigh-bourhoodmarketwill function.In some markets in the

morning, shutters were pulledup halfway, with shopkeepersclaiming theywere only sellingessential items.Otherssaidtheyhad opened shops for cleaningandsanitisationbuthadnotbe-gun full-scaleoperations.SarojiniNagarmarket,forin-

stance, remained completelyshut Monday barring chemistshops.NeerjuYadav(38),ashop-keeperwhosellswomen’sbags,accessories and clothes, hadcome fromUttamNagar to themarket after two months tocheckonhisproducts.“We’re not sure when the

marketwillopenas it seeshugecrowds.We arewaiting for thegovernment to give us someclarity. I came todayas I haven’tbeen to the shopsince the lock-down. I realised that 75% of myrexine products have gone bad,so even if the shop opens, I’mworriedaboutbusiness,”hesaid.At the neighbouring INA

market, shops selling groceries,dry fruits— significant in num-ber—wereopen,butmostothershops, such as those sellingcrockery and jewellery, wereclosed. Some shops selling gar-ments had lifted their shuttershalfway and put out uniformsfornursesanddoctorsonarack.“We started selling these

onlyfromtodayasit isanessen-tialrequirementfordoctorsandnurses.Therestofourclothma-terials, saris and suit pieces arenotforsalerightnowtillwehavesomedirectiononwhenweareallowed to open,” said KapilChhabraof ChhabraSilkStore.In South Extension, Kotla

Mubarakpur and Saket too al-mostallshopsremainclosedin-cluding big brand showroomslike Bata, Nalli, Westside andpremiumjewellerybrands.AtLajpatNagarmarket,some

eyewear shops said they hadopened Monday but only forcleaningpurposes.Astoreoper-atoratTitanEyePlus,whichhadat least four-five staff, said, “Weopened at 12.30 pm today tosanitisethewholeoffice.Wearewaiting for our rawmaterial tocomenowsowecancleaneachpair of glasses properly. As ofnow,thereisnoplantoopentheshoptillwegetclearguidelines.”TheDefence Colonymarket

wasalsoclosed,exceptforshopsthathadalreadyopenedafterthelastMHAorder. “WeopenedonMay 4, as did some other sta-tioneryshops.Buttoday,nonewshopshaveopenedasthegovern-ment’s orders are still awaited,”said Akshit Bansal, who runsBansalStores.Meanwhile, the Delhi gov-

ernment’sdecisiontoopenmar-kets using the odd-even policytoensure less crowdingandthethreat of action against shopownersif socialdistancingisnotmaintainedhasledtoapprehen-sionsatmarketplaces.

Most traders said they arecaught in peculiar situation —openthemarketandriskspread-ing the virus, which can lead toshopsbeing shut or entire areasdeclared as containment zones,or keepmarketplaces shut andface furthereconomicbrunt.Vice-chairman of the

Federation of Sadar BazarTraders’ Association, ParamjeetSingh Pamma, said they are yetto takea finaldecisiononopen-ingshops:“Butifnottoday,thenaweekortwolater,wewillhaveto open. Traders are exhaustingsavings,helpersandstaffarealsodependent on us and asking ifshopswillopenorif theyshouldleave for theirvillages.”In thenarrow lanes of Sadar

Bazar, ChandniChowkand sev-eralotherOldDelhiareas,wheresmall shops compete for spaceand people walk shoulder toshoulder,socialdistancingiseas-ier said than done, traders said.There are around 40,000 shopsin Sadar Bazar, some so smallthat no more than three-fourpeoplecanstandinsideatatime.TheConfederationofAllIndia

TraderssecretarygeneralPraveenKhandelwal said the odd-evenpolicy can be troublesome.“There are several wholesaleshopswhichareinterdependent.In retail, itwill leavepeoplecon-fusedbecause theywill findoneshop open and anotherwheretheywanttogoclosed,”hesaid.In large markets such as

ChandniChowk,SadarBazarandKarol Bagh, there are severalpointsofentryandexit,makingit

difficultforassociationstoensurethermalscanningeveniftheysta-tionguardsattheentrance.President of the Sarojini

Nagarmini-marketassociation,Ashok Randhawa, said asymp-tomatic people with the viruscanstill get through. “Perhaps itwould have been better if mar-ketsdidnotopenforsomemoretime,butmanyalso feel it isdif-ficult to sustain their finances ifmarketsdonotre-open,”hesaid.Sanjay Bhargava, president

of one of the market associa-tions in the Chandni Chowk,said they have decided not toopentillMay31asit isclosetoacontainment zone. Some asso-ciations,however,saidtheywillopenshops.Karol Bagh and Gaffar

Market said they are yet to takea final decision on opening,while INA, Khan Market andSouthExtensionwill open.KhanMarketdidnotopenup

entirelyMonday, butwill do sofromTuesday.Currently,40outof156 shops at themarket dealingwith essential services are open.“We have decided to openTuesdayonwardsandfollowodd-evenguidelines,butwithreserva-tions.Manydisputesaregoingtoariseregardingrent,propertytax,employeesalaries,electricitybills.Wewillwritetothegovernmentonthis(odd-even),andaskthemto reconsider. Our business isdownandwedon’twant to facemore losses,” said SanjivMehra,president of the Khan MarketTraders’Association.(Inputs fromAnanyaTiwari)

ASHNABUTANI&SAKSHIDAYALNEWDELHI,MAY18

DELHI’S BORDERSwith Noidaand Gurgaon saw heavy trafficduringpeakhoursonMonday,asthe Centre relaxed curbs on themovement of people. BothNCRtowns, however, made it clearthat those who wish to enterwould need e-passes issued bytheadministration.“We sawmore traffic than

usual today, primarily becausemany people have resumedwork.Also,peoplethinkthatre-strictionshavebeenrelaxedandthat they can travel,” said UPPolice constable Sanjeev Rana,whoispostedattheDNDflyway.BothGurgaonandNoidahave

sealed their borderswithDelhi,allowing only healthcarework-ers, sanitation staff and thosewithe-passestoenter.Policemen stationed at the

borders maintained that theguidelines for crossing the bor-der remain the same, unless aspecificorderispassedagainstit.People require passes issued bytheDistrictMagistrate, GautamBudh Nagar, in order to enterNoida.A couple returning toNoida

fromDelhiwasamongthemany

stoppedMonday. Navneet Kaur(30) said, “I went to visit mymother-in-law inDwarkaas shewasunwell.Nowwecan’treturnas we don’t have a pass.” Theywere eventually allowed to passafter declaring that theywouldnot try to cross the borderwith-outapassagain.Agroupofmigrantssatonthe

Noida side of the border. AshishKumar (35), a carpenter whoworks in Chhatarpur, said, “Wewaited to see if our factorywillrestart work but that doesn’tseem likely sowe left in a cab togotoKanpur.Thetaxiwasnotal-lowedintoNoida.Wethoughtwewillwalk fromhere but officials

havetoldusthatabuswilltakeustoashelterhomenearby.”Earlier in the day, the Delhi

TrafficPolicesaid:“Publicshouldavoid crossing the border fromDND or Kalindi Kunj to Noidawithoutane-pass."At theDelhi-Gurgaonborder

ontheExpressway,vehicleslinedupforalmostakilometrefromtheborder,onthecarriagewaymeantforvehicles travelling fromDelhito Gurgaon. “There wasmajortrafficcongestionattheborderbe-cause of heavy flowof vehicles.Thenormsatthebordershavenotchangedasofnow,passesarestillbeing checked,” said aGurgaontrafficpoliceofficer.

DELHIGOVTALLOWSSHOPS INMARKETS,SHOPPINGCOMPLEXESTOOPENONODD-EVENBASIS

MAHENDERSINGHMANRALNEWDELHI,MAY18

INCREASINGBIKEpatrolling, in-stalling complaint boxes outsideevery police station, permittingentryintostationsonlyaftersani-tisation, stationing duty officers(DOs)attheentranceofpolicesta-tions andmonitoring registeredcriminals—thesearesomeofthekeyplansadoptedbyDelhiPoliceagainstthebackdropoftheCovidpandemicandthelockdown.A senior police officer said

thatsincethesituationisnotgo-ing to change over the next fewweeks,aprotocol isbeingput inplaceacrosspolice stations.“Wehave restricted entry of

private persons in police com-plexes. To provide them imme-diate help, we have asked ourDOstositneartheentranceofallpolice stations. If they want tomeet an investigation officer(IO), they can inform the DOaboutthecase,whowillthencallthe IO concerned to the desig-nated place,” said JCP (westernrange)Shalini SinghIn some districts, DCPs have

askedSHOs to install complaintboxes for local residents todroptheir complaints. The IO willthen call them. “If a complaintrequires immediate attention,wewill attend to it at the spot.We are alsomarking social dis-tancingcirclesattheentranceofall police stations in thedistrict,andwill communicate keepinginmindsocialdistancingnorms.Our IOs are even communicat-ingwith complainants throughvideo conferencing calls,” saidDCP(Southwest)DevenderArya.With traffic movement in-

creasing on roads due to relax-ations,DelhiPoliceCommissionerSNShrivastavadirectedDCPs to

changetheirstrategyofsettinguppicketsonarterialroadsandmakealternatearrangements.“Wehave increasedbikepa-

trol andhave tweakedourpick-etingstrategy.Picketshavebeenplaced to stop snatchings andunauthorisedmovement ofmi-grants.Segregationofpersonnelperformingdifferentdutiesisbe-ing ensured— those at pickets,onpatrol or onbeat dutyhave afixedcharterofdeploymentthatprevents their interminglingwith staff at police station onstaticduty in the building,” saidDCP(Dwarka)AntoAlphonse.To check street crime once

thelockdownislifted,thepolicechiefhasaskedallDCPstomon-itoractivitiesof registeredcrim-inals and stolen property re-ceivers in their areas.The direction comes against

thebackdropof Tihar Jail releas-ing over 3,500 inmates—1,056convicts on emergency parole,2,177undertrials on interimbailand301on regular bail— tode-congest the prison. However,thereareconcernsaboutsomeofthemresumingcriminalactivities.“Recently,amanwasstabbed

in Southeast Delhi’s PulPrahladpuronMay12bytwoper-

sonsandhisphonewassnatched.Thetwomenwerelaterarrested,andpolicefoundthatoneofthemhadbeenreleasedonbailonApril20fromTihar,”saidanofficer.In a recent crime review

meeting,thepolicechief islearntto have expressed concern overcrimes being reported at night.“HedirectedDCPstomonitorac-tivitiesofknowncriminals,iden-tify receivers of stolen propertyandconductraidsattheirhomesaspartofaspecialdrive.Theraid-ing party should be equippedwith PPEs, face shields, glovesandmasks,”saidaseniorofficer.DCP (East) Jasmeet Singh

said,“Wearekeepingtabsonthemovement of registered crimi-nals in our area andmonitoringactivity of stolen property re-ceivers.Wewill take appropri-ate legal action if we find any-thingagainst them.”InNorthwestdistrict,geysers

have been installed in all policestationsandhandsanitisationfa-cilities set up at the entrance.“Wehaveinstalledgeysers inallbathrooms of all police stationsandbarracks,sopeoplecantakea bath... we are allowing entryonlyaftersanitisation,”saidDCP(Northwest)VijayantaArya.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY18

FORMER FINANCE MinisterYashwantSinhaMondayallegedhewas arrested by Delhi Policefor protesting against theCentre’s “mishandling” of themigrant crisis. The former BJPleaderhadstagedasit-inprotestoutsideRajghat, andwas joinedbyseveralAAPleadersincludingRajya Sabha MP Sanjay SinghandTimarpurMLADilipPandey.Theproteststartedat11am.In

theevening,Sinhaandtheotherswere removed from the site bypolice and taken in a bus toRajender Nagar police station.Policesaidtheywereatthestationfor45minutesbeforetheyleft.In a tweet, Sinha said: "We

have just been arrested by theDelhiPolice."Similartweetswereposted by the twoAAP leaders,withphotosfromthebus.Police,however,deniedtheal-

legations. AnilMittal, AdditionalPRO of Delhi Police, said, “Wehavenot detained/arrested any-one.Wehaveonlyremovedthemfrom the site as protests are notallowed as per the lockdown.Seniorofficerswillbespeakingto

theprotesters.”DCP (Central) Sanjay Bhatia

confirmed that the protest wasstopped and themenwere re-moved: “No FIR has been regis-tered;theyhavebeenreleased.”Speaking to The Indian

Express, Sinha said over 20 peo-ple joined his ‘movement’ atRajghat. Inavideoof theprotest,the men shouted slogans andheldplacards,includingonethatread ‘DeployArmyto sendbackmigrants’. “The Centre is blam-ing state governments but it istheGovernment of Indiawhichhasn’tmade adequate arrange-ments,” saidSinha.Kejriwal, meanwhile, told a

TV news channelMonday thatpoliticising such issueswas nottherightthingtododuringacri-sis.Referringtopartyspokesper-sonRaghavChadha,whosaidonSundaythatthemigrantexodusresembled the exodus duringthe Partition in 1947, Kejriwalsaidsuchstatementsshouldnothavebeenmade.“Whengovern-mentswork, therewill be somethings that aren’t donewell. If Ido 100 things, people can criti-cise me for 10-20 things donewrong... This is not the time tomakesuchstatements,”hesaid.

Yashwant Sinhaclaims arrested duringprotest, police deny

AttheNoidaborder,Monday

Policeonduty inEastDelhi. PremNathPandey

ShopsopenedupatLaxmiNagaronMonday,after therelaxation in lockdownrulesacross thecountry.AbhinavSaha

Busservice–20people inabus,allhavetobescreenedbefore

boarding

Cabs–only2passengers,vehicles tobedisinfectedafter

eachpassengerdeboards

■Homedeliveryoffoodallowed

Autorickshaws,e-rickshaws,cyclerickshaws–only1passenger,

disinfectiontobedoneaftereachpassengerdeboards

Standaloneshopsallowedinresidentialareasonalldays

■ Industrieswithstaggeredtimings

Allmarkets,exceptmalls, toopen.Onlyhalf ofthenon-essential

shopswillbeopeninaday

ConstructionactivitywhereworkersarefromDelhi

■Privateandgovernmentoffices

■Metros

■Schools, colleges,universities

■Hotels

■Cinemahalls,malls,bars

■Dining inatrestaurants

■Barbers, spas, salons

■Political, religiousgatherings

WHATREMAINSSHUTWHATOPENS

DELHI GETSBACKOUT

■Gatherings formarriageswillbelimitedto50people■Gatherings for funeralswillbelimitedto20people

■RWAsshallnotpreventanypersonfromperformingservicesanddutieswhichhavebeenpermittedundertheguidelines

■Employerson“besteffortsbasis”shouldensurethatAarogyaSetu isinstalledbyallemployeeshavingcompatiblemobilephones

OTHERGUIDELINES

Asmarkets open, task cut out for most congested

SAKSHIDAYALGURGAON,MAY18

A45-YEAR-OLDmigrantworkerfromOdishacommittedsuicideby allegedly consuming poisoninGurgaonSundaymorning,fol-lowingwhich an FIRwas regis-teredagainsthis landlord foral-legedlypressuringhimfor rent.According to police,

MadhusenMishraworked as aplumber. His bodywas discov-eredaround6ambyneighbours.In the complaint to police, a

neighbour stated thatwhen he

received no response afterknocking on his door, he calledthe landlord and other tenants.Theybrokethewindowgrillandmanagedtoopenthelatchofthedoorfrominside,tofindMishra'sbodynext toabottleof poison.“Madhusen had toldme the

landlordwas repeatedly askingfor rent and pressuring him...,”alleges thecomplainant.InspectorAshokKumar,SHO

of Shivaji Nagar police station,said: “WehaveregisteredanFIRunderIPCSection306(abetmentof suicide) against the landlord.Probeisonbutwehavenotmade

anyarrestyet.”“Wehavealertedthevictim’s

family but they are unable tocome to collect the body due tothe coronavirus outbreak. Hisbody is in themortuary now,”said the SHO, adding thatMadhusen’s family claimed hehad run away fromhome “over20 years ago” and had barelybeen in touchwith themsince.Officialsfromthedistrictad-

ministrationhadearlierwarnedthat FIRs would be registeredagainst anyoneasking “medicalstaff, labourers... “ to vacate thepremises.

Pushed to pay rent, migrant killsself, cops file FIR against landlord

Haryana, UP borders jammedas many arrive without passes

AMILBHATNAGARNOIDA,MAY18

NOIDA REPORTED its highestdaily Covid-19 spike, with 31cases being reported in the last24hours.Thistakesthetotalcasecount to 286. The fresh set ofcases includeemployeesof twoleadingmobilemanufacturingcompanies, OppoandVivo, andofZeeMedia,basedinFilmCity.At ZeeMedia in Sector 16 A,

employeesweretestedfollowingapositive case. Asperofficials, a39-year-oldemployee,aresidentofLaxmiNagar,testedpositiveon

May 15. Fifty-one personswhowere in contactwith himweretested at a lab in Delhi. Out ofthem, 15 employeeswho live inGautamBudhNagarand13fromDelhi, Ghaziabad and Faridabadtested positive. The administra-tionorderedsealingof thecom-panypremises for sanitisation.Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor In

Chief, ZeeMedia, said in a state-ment:“TheglobalpandemichasnowbecomeapersonalstoryforZeeMedia.LastFriday,oneofourcolleagues tested positive forCovid-19.Asaresponsibleorgan-isation,weinitiatedmasstestingofallthosewhocouldhavebeen

indirector indirectcontactwiththe said individual. So far, 28 ofour (colleagues) tested positive.Fortunately, most of them areasymptomatic...We are follow-ingthebestpracticestobreakthe

cycle and contain the infection,in coordination with govern-mentandhealthauthorities.”Inastatement,GautamBudh

NagarDMSuhasLYsaid: “OppoMobiles tested employees... 8fromGautamBudhNagar and aGhaziabadresident arepositive.Thefirmvoluntarilyclosedoper-ations...Thearea’s incidentcom-mander ordered sealing of spe-cific areas of the premises;sanitisationison.Thepatientsareadmitted to Sharda Hospital,mostareasymptomatic.”Asper officials, OppoMobile

IndiaPvtLimitedtested3,321em-ployees throughaprivate labout

ofwhich1,572resultscameneg-ativewhile the rest are awaited.Oppodidnotrespondtocallsandmessagesseekingacomment.At Vivo, a leading Chinese

mobile film,2third-partywork-erstestedpositive.“Twopersonsat theconstructionsite inSector24, one of Vivo’smanufacturingplants,arepositive.Constructionhad been outsourced to a thirdpartyandtheparticular individ-ualsarenotonthefirm’spayroll.AtVivoIndia,healthandsafetyofouremployees... isofparamountimportance. No employee hastested positive till date,” said acompanyspokesperson.

NOIDASEES31NEWCASES

Noidahas286cases

Staff at 2 mobile firms, media house test positive

Policing in 4.0: Fewerpickets, restricted entry

New Delhi

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

THEOUTBREAK MigrantsOnTheRoad

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Amigrant familywaits toboardabus for therailwaystationinAhmedabadonMonday. JavedRaja

Agroupofmigrantworkerssetsoff forUttarPradeshonthePune-AhmednagarHighwayonMonday.AshishKale

DESTINATION HOME

Ravi, avegetablevendor inGurgaon,Haryana, travelswitheightothers ina ‘jugaad’ rickshawtoMuzaffarpur,Bihar.HisvehiclebrokedowninLucknowonSundayandhehadtospendRs2,000forrepairs.Vishal Srivastav

AHMEDABAD:10:45AM

PUNE:2PM

Amigrantcarrieshersonwhilewaiting formedicalscreening inLudhiana.GurmeetSingh

Migrants fromBiharandJharkhandatarehabilitationcentreonMonday.BhupendraRana

LUDHIANA:12:15PM

VADODARA:2PM

LUCKNOW:3PM

Migrants fromJharkhandroundedupafterclasheswithpoliceatVastrapur inAhmedabadMonday. JavedRaja

ACCIDENT SURVIVORS TELL THEIR TALE

ASADREHMANETAWAH(UP),MAY18

ONBEDnumber 44 at theUttarPradesh University of MedicalSciences inEtawah’sSaifai, some80km from the spotwhere twovehicles carryingmigrants col-lidedearlyonSaturday,liesKranti(31)withherthreechildren,Rahul(10),Neeraj(5),andGauri(2).Kranti and her children had

left Ghaziabad along with herhusbandGovindKhushwaha(34)and brother-in-law DasarathKhushwaha (24). Dasarathwasone of the 27 peoplewhowerekilled in themishaponthehigh-wayatAuraiya.HisremainsweresenttotheirvillageonSunday;hewas cremated on Monday.

Thefamilyofsix,whichrentedatwo-roomhomeinIndrapuraminGhaziabad, hadpaidRs 1,500per adult and Rs 700 for everychildtogetontothetruckaround6pmonFriday.Thereweresome20people on the vehicle,which

was supposed to drop them totheir village in Chhattarpur,MadhyaPradesh.“Wehadwaited for so long,”

Krantisaid.“MyhusbandGovindused to work as a guard in acolony.HelosthisjobinMarchaf-terthelockdownwasannounced.We had no food ormoney. ForhowmuchlongercouldwehavewaitedinGhaziabad?”All threeofherchildrenwere

injured in the crash, Kranti said.“Mydaughterhasaninjuryonherchin,andmysonshaveinjuriesontheir legs.”Govind, herhusband,said:“Ourmoneyhadrunout.Weare not rich people,we have nosavings,andwewerefindingitdif-ficulttomanagetwosquaremealsaday. Even ifwe (the adults) en-dured the hunger, our children

couldnotsleephungry.”Theyhad tried repeatedly to

get on to the trains the govern-ment was running, but failed,Govindsaid.“Wetriedtogettick-etsforthetrains,butcouldnotgetthem.Wemade several calls tohelplinenumbers, but couldnotget tickets.Wehadnooptionbuttoleave.”Hisbrother,Dasarath,usedto

work as a daily wager inGhaziabad, Govind said.“Dasarathhadhadnoincomeforthe past twomonths. His bodywassenttothevillageinagovern-ment vehicle.” Dasarath is sur-vivedbyhiswifeBabitaandaone-year-olddaughter,Govindsaid.Govind andKranti donot re-

allyknowhowthecollisionhap-pened. “Humgehri neendmein

thay (Wewere all fast asleep),”Govind said. “I heard shouts andscreamsforafewmoments,andIcouldnotbreathe.ThenIbecameunconscious.”hesaid.Govindhasbandagesonhisheadandhand.ChiefMedicalSuperintendent

DrAadeshKumarsaid:“Atotal31patientsarecurrentlyadmittedinthishospital.Aftertheaccident,33people were brought here fortreatment, two of whomhavesincesuccumbedtotheirinjuries.”Dasarathwas one of them—hedied in thehospital onSaturday;theother injuredpersondiedonSundaynight.“They hadhead injuries and

were on ventilator support,” DrKumarsaid.“Threepeoplearestillcriticalwithinjuriesontheirchestandhead.Oneofthemhasmulti-

ple fractures in the ribs; anotherhasafracturedspine.Theother28patientsarestable,andwillbedis-charged in the comingdays,” hesaid.Mostofthevictimssustainedinjuries in the head and ribs, DrKumarsaid.Therearesevenchil-dren, six women, and 18 menamong the31patients admittedtothehospitalnow,hesaid.All thosewhowereadmitted

tothehospitalwerealsotestedforthenovel coronavirus,DrKumarsaid.“Allhavetestednegative,”hesaid. On another bed layDhananjayKalindi(40),whowasin the other vehicle — a trailertruckthatwascarryingsome45-50people.Kalindihasinjuriesonhisface.

Hehadgoton to the trailer truckloaded with wall putty from

Bharatpur onFriday evening.Hewasaccompaniedbysomeotherswho, likehim,worked at amar-blefactoryinJaipur.“Idon’tknowif theothersare

aliveordead.Idon’tknowwheremyphoneis.Wewereverytired,andwereasleeponthetrailer,”hesaid.“Irememberhearingcriesforhelp. Something veryheavyhadfallenonme,andIcouldnotmoveatall.Idon’tknowhowIsurvived.”Dhananjay saidhas twochil-

dren aged 14 and 12. His familylives in Bokaro, Jharkhand. OnFridaymorning, he had startedfromJaipuralongwitharound25others in a bus. At Bharatpur, hehadboardedthetrailertruckthatwassupposedtodrophimtoGayain Bihar, about 225 kmfromBokaro.

Kranti,herchildrenamongthesurvivors.AsadRehman

Fewer deaths but those in smaller truck at Auraiya were fleeing same fears

35 migrants held for‘vandalising, attackingpolice’ in Ahmedabad

BIHAR

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA,MAY18

WITHFIVE lakhmigrantshavingreturnedtoBihar—and40,000ofthemarriving daily for the pastoneweek— it has been increas-inglychallengingtomanagequar-antinecentresforthematthevil-lage level and ensure socialdistancing.Amidthelockdown,theBihar

government had decided to ac-commodateallthereturningmi-grantsinquarantinecentres.Morethan 4,700 quarantine centreswereopenedatblocklevelstoac-commodateabout4.75lakhpeo-ple. However, governmentsources said the number ofmi-grantsreturningtothestatecouldtouch10lakhbymid-June.Last week, mukhiyas were

askedtoopenquarantinecentresat village levels to accommodatemoremigrants.However,thepan-chayat-level arrangements haverunintohurdles.In Dhouri village of Belhar,

Banka,aquarantinecentreatthevillage school has capacity tohouse400migrants.Itaccommo-dates people returning fromredzones,mostlyfromGujarat,Delhi,Maharashtra and Haryana. Asthereisnoarrangementtohousepeople coming fromorange and

greenzones,theyhavebeenhead-ingstraighthomeandfacinglittleresistancefromvillagers.SiddharthSingh,aresidentof

Dhouri village, told The IndianExpress: “After buses dropmi-grantsnearthevillage,thereisnogovernmentofficialorpolicemantoguidethemtoquarantinecen-tres.Atleast23peoplehaveleftfortheir villages instead of going toquarantinecentres.Wealertedlo-calpolicestationin-chargeBinodKumar, who assured hewouldtake themigrants to quarantinecentres,buthedidnotturnup.”Singh said therewere some

centres at Kumarsar inMungerthatwere functioningwell, buttherewas lack ofmonitoring of

villagecentres.PappuKumar,theson of Dhouri panchayatmukhiya,said:“Iamaskingwardmembers to find out if anymi-granthasreachedhomewithoutcompleting quarantine.When Iget information, I will alert theblockdevelopmentofficer.”InLohanvillageofShekhpura,

21migrantsweresenttoaschool-turned-quarantine centre. Onlyone room of the school wasopened for them. Therewas noarrangementforfood,sovillagersgotfoodfromtheirhomes.Former Lohan panchayat

(Shekhpura)mukhiya ValmikiYadav said the system did notseemprepared to dealwith thegrowing number of migrants.

“Around21migrantsweresenttoourvillageschool.Therewerenofoodarrangements.Theroomwasnotcleanedproperly,somigrantsspentthenightintheverandah.”DharoMahto,whohas been

staying at the school-turned-quarantine centre in Shekhpura,added,“Doctors’visitsareirregu-lar.Hardly anyonemaintains so-cialdistancing.”Sanjay Soni, a Saharsa resi-

dent, said some inmates of thecentre clashedwith vegetablevendorsafterthelatterprotestedfreemovement of those underquarantine. Migrants at aSamastipurquarantinecentrealsoclashedoverascrambleforwateronSaturday.Principal Secretary, Disaster

Management Department,PratyayaAmrit said: “Wereviewallkindsof complaintseverydayanddirect officers concerned. InShekhpura andBelhar cases, theBDOswerealerted.”Hesaid thatwhilethedepartmentexpectsco-operation fromthepublic in tak-ingupanunprecedentedtask,thegovernmenthasbeen taking ac-tionincaseofanylaxity.APanchayati Raj department

official said: “It is thedutyof thelocalmukhiyaandwardmemberto informpolice about anymi-grantskippingquarantinecentreforhome.”

Asmigrants return, pressureon village quarantine centres

Ataquarantinecentre inDhourivillage,Banka. SiddharthSingh

AVINASHNAIRAHMEDABAD,MAY18

TWENTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD AnuJacob Kurishingal had come toAhmedabad in December 2019aftershegotajobatanacademicinstitutioninthecity.Facedwithanuncertainfuture,aworkplacethatcloseddown,andnomoneyto sustain her rental accommo-dation, she is among the5,000-odd Keralites who have regis-tered to leaveGujarat.“I ranoutofmoneyandfood

fewdaysago. I amcurrentlybe-ing supported by AhmedabadKeralaSamajamwhichgavemea kit of essentials items,” saidAnu. “I havenotpaid the rent ofRs5,000 forApril...And Icannotaffordtofall illhere,”sheadded.Till Saturday, 447 Shramik

trainsleftGujaratforotherstates.Over6.26lakhmigrantshaveleftthestate thismonth.According to the

GandhinagarMalayaliSamajam,over 5,000 Keralites have regis-tered on Kerala government’sNORKA (NonResidentKeralitesAffairs)website.Geromic George, nodal offi-

cerforinter-statemovementbe-tweenKeralaandGujarat,wroteto P Bharthi, his counterpart inGujarat, stating that 5,088stranded Keralites have regis-tered on the portal and that theKerala governmentwaswillingto facilitate their return.TheAhmedabaddistrictcol-

lector K KNirala responded thesame day stating that a specialtrainwasbeingarrangedforfirstbatch of 1,572 passengers onMay16.“However, the Government

of Kerala did not respond or ac-knowledgethelettersentbytheAhmedabad district collector,”saidBaijuPanolyofGandhinagarMalayaleeSamajam.Geromic George, nodal IAS

officerforinter-statemovement,Kerala government, said, “Wehave communicated twice tothem (Gujarat). Trainswill startfrom multiple locations inGujarat soon,”Georgesaid.In a late night communica-

tion on Sunday, Kerala govern-menthas requested trains to beoperatedfromRajkot,VadodaraandSurat.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY18

WITHAN increasing number ofmigrantworkershittingtheroadsacross the country to reach theirhomes, theOdisha governmenthaslaunchedadynamicbustran-sit systemtopickup suchwork-ers and take them to inter-stateborders.“Till 18.5.2020, 5 pm,Odisha

Police arranged222 trips bybusto transport over8,000 suchmi-grantlabourersofotherstatesus-ingOdishafortransitonly.OdishaPolice is also runningkitchens tofeedmigrant labour of all types.BiggestsuchkitcheninBhadrakisfeeding 4,000 people per day,”saidagovernmentstatement.According to sources, thou-

sands ofmigrants have taken tothe road either in vehicles or onfootandbicyclestoreachhome.Alarge number of thesemigrantsarepassingthroughOdishafromstates suchasAndhraPradesh toreachBiharorWestBengal.“Wehaveawell-oiledsystem

topickupmigrantsfrombordersof source state anddrop themtoborders of destination states.TherearewelllaiddownSOPsformigrants hailing from Odishacomingbackhome.Butthereisavacuumasfarasmigrantstransit-ingthroughOdishaonfootiscon-cerned,” a seniorOdishagovern-mentofficialsaid.Totideoverthis,the official said, the state hasstarted the systemwherepolicestations onhighways and roadsroundupmigrants.

Odisha starts newtransit system topick up migrantson the road EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE

LUCKNOW,MAY18

TWODAYSaftertheAuraiyaacci-dentthatledtothedeathof27mi-grantlabourersandChiefMinisterYogiAdityanathissuedawarningtoofficialstoensurethatnovehi-clecarryingmigrantworkersvio-lates rules, an SUV carrying 22workers overturned on theLucknow-Agra Expressway inUnnao,killingtwoandleaving20injuredonMonday.Thevehicle,aBolero,wasonits

way to Azamgarh from Delhi.Adityanathhasannouncedfinan-cialaidofRs2lakhtothekinofthedeceasedandRs50,000tothese-riouslyinjured.

3killed inMahobaThree women died, and

seven people were injured inMahoba district on Mondayevening after the truck theywere travelling overturned fol-lowing a tyre burst, police said.Additional SPVeerendraKumarsaid the passengers were ontheirwayhomefromDelhi.

2 migrants killed as SUV with20 people turns turtle in UP

In Gujarat, 5,000stranded Keralaworkers wait togo home

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA,MAY18

EIGHTEENMIGRANTS, includ-ing children, had a narrow es-capewhen a bus ferrying themcaught fire in Vadodara city onMonday.SushilaSarna(24),anativeof

Latehar in Jharkhand, barelymanagedtoescapeunhurtwithher five-year-oldsonandthree-year-old daughter as a city busin which they were travellingcaught fire near KhodiyarnagarareainVadodara. Thebus,ferry-ing migrant workers to a

makeshift of the VadodaraMunicipal Corporation (VMC),was gutted. The passengersmanagedtoescapebuttheirbe-longings, including money,clothesandidentitydocuments,were reducedtoashes.Sushilahadbeenworkingas

aconstructionlabourerforapri-vate company for six months.Shesaidthegroupinthebuswastravelling after registering for atrain to Jharkhand.“I managed to dragmy son

out. My daughter was sleepingonmyshoulderbutherfacewascovered in soot... The driverasked us to jumpout of the bus

and left. I had about Rs 1,200withme,whichIplannedtousefor booking train tickets. Now, IamjustleftwiththeclothesIamwearing.MyAadhaarcard,bankpassbookandallotheritems,in-cludingmy children’s clothes,aregone,” shesaid.Thedriverandtheconductor

of thebusallegedlyfledthespot.“We are yet to ascertain thecause of the fire. Another buswas immediately arranged toferrythestrandedpassengers. Ifit is a case of negligence, neces-sary actionwill be taken,” saidAmit Chaudhari, fire station of-ficer at Panigate. “We have re-

covered a few bags, clothes,utensilsandastovefromthebusbut are yet to identify theowners.”The group from Jharkhand

waspartof a largergroupofmi-grants who claimwere prom-isedtobesenthomeonMonday.“They were taken to Sama

mamlatdaar office for registra-tion andwere being brought totheshelterhomewhentheinci-dent (fire) happened. Theywillbe sent home by trains tomor-row.Forthenextcoupleofdays,therearegoingtobecontinuoustrains for UP and Jharkhand,” aseniorpoliceofficer said.

Bus catches fire; migrants lose money, papers

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,MAY18

AFTERA spat over ferryingmi-grantworkers, Congress generalsecretaryPriyankaGandhiVadraon Monday evening thankedUttarPradeshChiefMinisterYogiAdityanath for allowing around1,000 buses arranged by theCongress to transport strandedmigrantsfromUP-Rajasthanbor-der,nearMathura, to theirhomedistrictsinUP.Taking to Twitter, Priyanka

said, “Yogi Adityanath Ji, in thistimeofpandemicsavingthelivesofpeople,protectingthepoorandrespecting their dignity is ourmoral responsibilityandright. Inthistoughtime,Congressistryingtofulfil itsdutywithfull strengthanddevotion...Wearethankfulforallowing the buses, arrangedbytheCongress,toferrythemigrantworkers,whohavebeenwalkingtoreachtheirhomes.”Priyanka’s tweet came after

Adityanathtoldthemediahehasbeenasking theCongress topro-videa listof thebusesthat it sayshavebeenkeptreadytoferrymi-grantsfromtheUPborder.Soon, UP Additional Chief

Secretary (Home) AwanishKumar Awasthi wrote toPriyanka’s personal secretary forthe list. “Wewill get the busesreadyagaintomorrow(Tuesday).I am attaching the list of 1,000busesalongwiththisletter...”herprivatesecretarysaid.

UP govt allowsCong’s 1,000buses to ferrymigrants

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,MAY18

ASMANYas35peoplewere ar-rested onMonday after a groupofmigrantworkersemployedatthe IIM-Ahmedabad site inVastrapur area allegedly van-dalised office property, govern-mentvehiclesandassaultedpo-licepersonnelandotherworkers,demandingthattheybeallowedtoreturnhome.Policesaidtheyfiredteargas

shellsandresortedtolathichargewhen the irate group assaultedotherworkers, pelted stones atpolice teams and vandalisedproperties. All 35 arrested arefromJharkhand, theyadded.According to police, around

10amonMonday,Vastrapurpo-lice station received amessagethat amob of over 250-300mi-

grantworkershadassembledattheGMDCGroundinthecity,de-mandingthattheybeallowedtogobacktotheirhomestates.The workers, carrying iron

rods, pipes and sticks startedmarching towards the IIM-Ahmedabad area when policestoppedthem.Themobthenal-legedly threwstonesat theper-sonnelbeforeenteringthecam-puswhere they broke the glasswindowsofasiteofficeandvan-dalisedthreecabinsof thesecu-rityguards.“Theworkers fromPSP con-

struction companywere hiredby IIM management for con-structionwork. Theywanted toreturntoJharkhandbutwerenotabletoduetolimitednumberoftrains.Thisangeredtheworkerswho resorted to violence, lead-ing to the arrests,” said a seniorpoliceofficer.

New Delhi

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IIIrd floor, NISCAIR Building (Vigyan Suchna Bhawan),14, Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,

New Delhi — 110067E-mail: head.ipu@niscair.res.in

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD,MAY18

FORCLOSEtoamonthafterApril15, Telangana had one of theslowest growth rates of novelcoronavirus infections in thecountry. During this time, itscaseload increased by just twotimes, from 766 on April 17 to1,551onSunday.Inthesamepe-riod, India’s case has increasedby almost seven times, UttarPradesh’snumbersrosebymorethan five times from a similarbaseline, while neighbouringAndhra Pradesh, which had alowerbaseline,sawitsnumbersgrowbymore than four times.It now emerges that

Telangana’simpressivenumberscould have a lot to do with itswoeful record on testing. As ofMay14,thestatehadconductedjust 22,842 tests, which wasamong the lowest in the coun-try. It was even lower than thetestsconductedbyChhattisgarhand Assam, both of which hadless than100casesonMay14.Neighbouring Andhra

Pradesh had, by that date, con-ducted2.1 lakhtests, almost tentimes more than Telangana.TamilNaduhadconductedmorethan 2.9 lakh tests by then.Telangana is the onlymajor

statethatdoesnotrevealitstest-ingnumbersinthedailybulletin.Scientists say there is a direct

correlationbetweenthenumberof testscarriedoutandthecase-load. That is because a largeshare of the infected people donot show any symptoms, andcanbedetectedonlywhentheyare tested. But these infectedpeoplewithoutsymptomsareaslikely to infect others as thosewithsymptoms.Scientists and experts stress

onmore andmore testing as itusually results in findingmorepositive cases. Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, RajasthanandDelhi, thestateswithmaxi-mum caseloads in the country,also happen to be the ones thathave carried out the largestnumber of tests. As of now,Telangana is not testing peoplewithout symptomsatall.And that is making officials

in the central government a lit-tleuneasy.“Telangananumbersdon’t inspire confidence at all.Theymay be sitting on a crisis,youneverknow,”aseniorHealthMinistry official in New DelhitoldThe IndianExpress.But Telangana’s Health

MinisterEtelaRajendersaid thestate was only following theguidelinesof the IndianCouncilofMedicalResearch (ICMR).“We are conducting tests on

those who show symptoms ofCovid-19aspertheguidelinesis-sued by ICMR.We are on a parwiththeUSandtheUKindoingaccurate testing. If a person has

no symptoms, swab samplescannotbetaken,’’hesaid,assert-ing that the statewas doing ad-equate testing.However, experts and ac-

tivists are now questioning thestate’s strategy on testing.Doctors for Sewa, a collective ofpublic health specialists anddoctors, said such limited test-ingwould lead to an explosionof cases.“Asymptomatic persons

even in zones where Covid-19positive cases have been re-ported are not being tested.Wewill not know if the virus isspreading if there is no testing.Thestateisalsonottestingdeadbodies,sowewon’tknowif theydied of coronavirus. Now thatthe High Court has given direc-tions, sowe hope that theywillstart doing it,’’ Dr G VedaPrakash, a member of DoctorsforSewa, said.TheTelanganaHighCourton

May14directedthestategovern-ment to conduct tests on deadbodies. The direction came ontwoPILsfiledbyactivistsagainsta circular issued by theDirectorofMedicalEducationnottocon-duct testsondeadbodies.“Whenyoudon’tdoenough

testing even in zones whereCovid-19 cases have been re-ported,thosezoneswillbecomeepicentres. This iswhat is prob-ably happening in GreaterHyderabad Municipal

Corporation (GHMC) area now.Thenumberofcasescamedownfor a few days but are now in-creasing daily,’’ DrM Karuna, apaediatrician, said.Afterseveraldaysof justsin-

gle-digitdailyincrease,thenum-bers have started to rise inTelangana.More than 275 newcases havebeendetected in thelast sixdays.The majority of new cases

sinceMay 8 are from areas un-der Greater HyderabadMunicipalCorporation(GHMC).Officials said that violation oflockdown restrictions and notmaintaining social distancingwere themain reasons for thespikeincases inGHMCareas.Atleast 45 new cases were re-ported from two apartmentswherepeopleheldbirthdaypar-ties.Outof the42casesreportedonSunday,37werefromGHMCareas.Similarly,44of55casesonMay 16, 33 of 40 onMay 15, 40of 47onMay14and31of 41onMay13,werefromthatonearea.Threeofthe31districtsinthe

state — Warangal (Rural),Yadadri,andWanaparthy—havenot reported a single case ofcoronavirus infection till now,while 25 districts have not re-portedanynewcases in the last14days.The Doctors of Sewa group

hassubmittedarepresentation,highlighting the lowtestingbe-ingdone inthestate, to thecen-

tral government’s Inter-MinisterialTeamthathadvisitedTelangana fromApril 27 to30.“Mere lockdown is not

enough to win the war overCOVID 19. Accurate assessmentofthecaseloadbeforeliftinglock-down is very important to planfurther post lockdown actions.Fewertestsarehappening inthestate.Thiswillprojectfalselylowtotalnumberofcases.Onlywhenmoretestsaredone,wegetmorepositive reports -which in turnnecessitates further testing oftheircontactsandthechaingoeson. If we continue to under-test,then we will miss many un-tested positive patients in thecommunity.We have informa-tion frommultiple sources thatdoctorsandhealthcareofficialsinall hospitals need permissionfromhigher authorities beforetheycantestapatientsuspectedto have COVID19 - especially inthe district hospitals - somedis-trictshaveasmuchpopulationassmall countries of Europe (egGHMC area) - Thiswill escalatethe spread of disease. There aremany instanceswhere evenpa-tientswith bilateral pneumoniaarenotbeingtestedforCOVID19as the higher authorities do notallow. ICMRGuidelines clearlysuggestthatallICUpatientsneedto be tested for COVID19. This isnot being done in Telangananow,’’thestatementfromDoctorsforSewasaid.

Among stateswith lowest testing,Telangana could be ‘sitting on a crisis’

SMITANAIRPANAJI,MAY18

WITH “MOST of Goa’s active COVID-19cases”beingfoundtohave“reachedGoavia the NewDelhi toMargao Rajdhanitrains”, the state government has put astop to the trains’halts inside thestate.On Saturday and Sunday, Rajdhani

trains stopped atKota, Vadodara, PanvelandRatnagiribeforereachingMargao.Goanowhas 36 active cases as of 10

pmMonday,with573people in institu-tionalquarantine.Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said,

“We have now halted any stops ofRajdhani. Thisweek twomorewere ex-pectedbutnowtheywillnotstopinGoa.”Nizamuddin Express, however, is al-

lowedahalt as it has “fewerpassengers”whosetestresultshavebeennegative.Callingthecurrentpatients“imported

cases”, Sawant said that all those foundpositive in the secondwave are “thosewho came fromoutside” as “there is nocommunitytransmission inthestate”.“Wecanmanagethosealightingfrom

Nizamuddin Express. But not fromRajdhani.Wethanktherailwayministerandhomeminister foracceptingourre-quest,”headded.

JOHNSONTABENGALURU,MAY18

KARNATAKACHIEFMinisterBSYediyurappa Monday an-nounced restrictions on allow-ing the entry of people fromMaharashtra,GujaratandTamilNadu, citing “a large number ofcases” being reported amongthose returning from thesestates.However, the government

orderissuedhourslaterbyChiefSecretary TMVijay Bhaskar, onthe measures to be imple-mented during Lockdown 4.0,didnotmentionthis restriction.Addressing a press conferenceearlier, Yediyurappa had listedKerala, too, among the statesfromwhere travellerswouldbecurbed but did not include it insubsequent remarks.Thegovernmentorderlistsa

completelockdownonSundays,operation of intra state rail andbus transport systems, taxi andauto-rickshaw services —withsocial distancing norms— andopeningofparksamongthekeyrelaxations in the fourth phaseof the lockdown.“Inter state movement of

passenger vehicles and buseswith mutual consent ofstates/UTs involved. TheKSRTC/NEWKRTC/NWKRTCshall take consent of states in-volved and government ofKarnataka before starting interstatemovement of buses,’’ theorder said.

“Alldistrictsshallallowinterstate and intra statemovementofmedicalprofessionals,nursesandparamedicalstaff,sanitationpersonnel and ambulanceswithoutanyrestriction,’’ it said.Earlier, Yediyurappa met

ministersandofficialsonthere-strictions and relaxations to beimplemented. Speaking to re-porters later, he said: “We havedecidednottoallowpeoplefromGujarat, Maharashtra, TamilNadutillMay31.Theywillbeal-lowed instages.”Stating that theKarnataka is

doing its best to prevent thespreadofthedisease,hesaid:“Inthelastsix-sevendays,thenum-berofcasesinthestatehasrisendue to the arrival of people onalarge scale from some of thesestates.Wehavebeendiscussingstrongmeasures to prevent thespread and the Chief Secretarywillgiveappropriatedirections.”The remarks came on the

backof aspurt in thenumberofcases reported over the last 10days, including an alltime highof 99 onMonday alone, includ-ing 64 among people who hadreturned from neighbouringMaharashtratovariousdistrictsinKarnataka.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAY18

THE KERALA government hasstarted free distribution of gro-cerykitstofamiliesfromthenon-priorityAbovePovertyLine(APL)category as part of the Covid-19relief package. Earlier, the stategovernmenthasdistributedfreerice to 87 lakh ration card hold-ers, including those in the non-prioritycategory.A state civil suppliesdepart-

ment official said the distribu-tion of free kits started onMay15 andwould be completed byMay20.Earlier this month, families

fromBPLandotherprioritycat-egories collected free grocerykits fromPDSoutlets.Each kit contains sunflower

oil(1litre),salt(1kg),coconutoil(half litre),atta(2kg),greengram(1kg),brokenwheat(1kg),soap(2),mustard (100 gm), sugar (1kg),teapowder(250gm),Bengalgramdal (1 kg), urad dal (1 kg),coriander powder (100 gm),chillypowder (100gm), toordal(250 gm), fenugreek (100 gm)andturmericpowder(100gm),

“Of the 87 lakh ration cardholders, 24 lakh are in the non-priority, non-subsidy category.The entire schemewould cover87 lakh ration card holders and3.66crorebeneficiaries,” theof-ficial said.Soon after the lockdown

came into effect, the state gov-ernment had announced a Rs20,000crorereliefpackage.Ithaddistributed arrears of welfarepension,whichhadbeenduefortwomonths,aspartof thepack-age. The payment of anothercomponentofthepackage,anas-sistanceofRs1,000forpoorfam-ilies not covered by anywelfarescheme,wouldbeginthisweek.Finance Minister Thomas

Isaac said the assistance of Rs1,000wouldbegiven toall eligi-ble familieswhich don’t benefitfromanywelfareschemesunderwhichmoneyisbeingtransferredto the accounts of beneficiaries.After giving away this relief, thestatewouldworktowardsgivingmorefundstothepeople,hesaid.ThestateexchequercouldsaveRs500 crore from the first instal-ment of salary cuts for govern-ment employees and teachersand thiswould be used to helpthepoor, theministersaid.

In Kerala, freegrocery to peoplefrom APL category

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI,MAY18

TOPMINISTERSof theNarendraModigovernmentmetMonday,beginningaseriesofdiscussionsto revive the economy as thecountryopenedupfurtherafter54 days of a national lockdownamid theCovid-19pandemic.Thegroupofministers,ledby

DefenceMinisterRajnathSingh,held a 70-minutemeeting andtherewillbeseveral suchmeet-ingsinthedaystocome,sourcessaid. “The leaderswill put theirheadstogetheronpossiblesolu-tions torevive theeconomy. the

groupwillthengivesuggestionsto thePM,” thesourcesaid.Besides Singh, the GoM in-

cludes Home Minister AmitShah, FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharaman, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar, RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal, CivilAviationMinisterHardeepSinghPuri andMoS (Finance) AnuragThakur.“Theministerswillmeetagainsoon,” thesourcesaid.Thegovernmenthasalready

announcedafinancialpackageofRs20lakhcrore,aimingatbanksto extend credit on the back ofgovernment guarantees to sev-eralsectors,includingsmallbusi-nessesandnon-bankingfinance

companies. However, sourcessaid the group ofministerswilldiscuss other possible solutionstooforboostingtheeconomytoo.PM Modi is learnt to have

tasked the informal group ofministers (GoM) tomonitor theimplementation of the eco-nomic revival package an-nounced by him last week, ac-cording tosources.Sources said the Centrewill

now completely focus on eco-nomicrevival,leavingitforstatestohandle theCovidsituation.TheCentrehasextendedthe

nationwidelockdowntillMay31buttherearemorerelaxationsinnon-containmentzonesnow.

WESTBENGAL■ Inter-districtbustransportationwith50%capacity fromMay21■Tonot imposenightcurfew■All industries,privateoffices tostart functioningwith50%workforce■Salonscanopenbutwillhavetosteriliseequipment■Hawkers’market toopenfromMay27followingodd-evensystem

ASSAM■All shopscanopen,except incontainmentzones.Haatsandbazaarstoremainclosed■Citybuses, intra-districtandinter-districtbusesshalloperatewith50percentcapacity■Barbershopsandsalonstoremainclosed,buthomevisitsallowed■Womenwithchildrenbelowfiveyearsof agenotallowedtowork

PUNJAB■Localbusservices toresumeinallareasbarringcontainmentzones■All shops, including inmainmarkets inurbanandruralareasbutbarringmalls, canbeopentill6pm■Barbershopsandsalonsallowedtoopen

UTTARAKHAND■Odd-evenformula formovementofprivatevehicles insevencities■Essentialandnon-essential shops,offices toopen

TELANGANA■Except forcontainmentzones,allotherareasdeclaredasgreenzones■All shops, commercialestablishments toopen■State transportbuses toresumeoperations from

Tuesday,barring inHyderabad■Autorickshawsandcabstooperate fromTuesday■Rs1,000fine for thosenotwearingmasks

MADHYAPRADESH■State toonlyhaveredandgreenzones.OnlyIndoreandUjjaindistrictsinredzone,alongwithmunicipalcorporationareasofBhopal,Burhanpur, Jabalpur,KhandwaandDewasdistricts, andnagarpalikasinMandsaur,NeemuchDharandKukshi.■Standalone,mohallashops, shops inresidentialcomplexes toopen■Government,privateofficescanworkwithfullcapacity ingreenzones■Maskstobecompulsory

KERALA■ Intra-districtpassengerservices, includingofboats, tobeallowedwith50%capacity.Bus fares tobe increasedby50%■50%shops inshoppingcomplexes,barringmalls,allowedtofunction■Barbershopstoopen,butcustomers toget theirowntowel■Barsnotallowedtoservefood,butcansell liquorlikeretailoutlets■Governmentoffices tofunctionwith50%capacity

RAJASTHAN■All shopsoutsidecontainmentzonestoopen■Barbershopsandsalonsallowedtoopen■Essentialgovernmentoffices toworkat fullstrengthandnon-essentialandprivateoffices toworkat50%strength inredandorangezones,barring incontainmentzones/curfewedareas.

LOCKDOWN4.0:WHATSTATESARECHANGINGCurbs relaxed by state governments

Shopkeeperswait forcustomersatBoothmarket inSector34,Chandigarh.Express

As Centre easescurbs, orderon mandatorypay to workerswithdrawn

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,MAY18

WITH THE government easingcurbs in the fourth phase of thelockdownonindustrialandcom-mercial establishments, barringthose incontainmentzones, theCentre haswithdrawn its orderonpaymentofwagestoworkersduringthe lockdownperiod.OnMarch 29, aftermigrant

workers across the country hitthe road in abid to reachhome,the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA)hadissuedanorderstat-ing, “All the employers, be it inthe Industryor in theshopsandcommercial establishments,shallmakepaymentofwagesoftheir workers, at their workplaces,ontheduedate,withoutany deduction, for the periodtheir establishments are underclosureduring the Iockdown.”In the guideline issued on

Sundayforthefourthphaseofthelockdown,theministryhasnotin-cludedthisorder,evenasithasin-cludeditsstandardoperatingpro-cedureonmovementofmigrants,extraction of Indians strandedabroad,runningoftrainsandtran-sitof foreignnationals.

Focus on economic revival,group of ministers begins meets

CMBSYediyurappa

Goa govt disallows halts ofMargao Rajdhanis inside state

Karnataka CM saystravel curbs from 3states, govt order silent

ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI,MAY18

PROPERTIES OF the ayurvedicherbAshwagandhahave“thera-peutic and preventive value”against COVID-19 infection, re-searchersof IIT-Delhihavefoundin collaboration with Japan’sNational Institute of AdvancedIndustrial Science andTechnology(AIST).The researchers, led by

ProfessorDSundarfromDAILAB(DBT-AIST InternationalLaboratory for AdvancedBiomedicine), said their studyhad been accepted for publica-tion in Journal of BiomolecularStructure and Dynamics, and islikely tobepublishedsoon.“SARS-CoV-2 virus genome

andstructurehavebeenrecentlypublished triggering drug de-signing, devising and develop-ment using informatics and ex-perimental tools, worldwide.DAILABandAISTJapan,workingon natural compounds fromAshwagandha and propolis forlast several years, explored thepossibility of some of their bio-actives to interact with SARS-CoV-2,”IIT-Dsaidinastatement.IIT-D said the teamreported

that “natural compounds fromAshwagandhaandpropolishavethepotentialtobeeffectiveanti-COVID-19drugcandidates”.“Theresearcherstargetedthe

main SARS-CoV-2’s enzyme forsplitting proteins, knownas theMainproteaseorMprothatplaysakeyroleinmediatingviralrepli-cation. This is an attractive drugtargetforthisvirus...Theydiscov-ered thatWithanone (Wi-N), anatural compoundderived fromAshwagandha (Withania som-nifera)andCaffeicAcidPhenethylEster(CAPE),anactiveingredientofNewZealandpropolis,havethepotential to interact with andblock the activity ofMpro,” thestatementsaid.“Thestudyiscur-rentlyunderreviewandexpectedtobepublishedinanearfuture,”itsaid,addingthoughthat“inorderto acquire or appreciate particu-lar effects,wemustuse the rightand quality-controlledresource/extracts”.Sundarsaid,“Whiletherepu-

tationofAshwagandhaasanim-munityenhancerformsabasisofthe recent initiativeof the Indiangovernment in formingan inter-disciplinary task force to launchitsclinicalresearchstudiesrelatedto SARS-CoV-2and theCovid-19disease, the current research re-portofthisteamprovidehintsonitsdirectanti-viralactivities.”

Ashwagandhacompound maybe effectiveanti-Covid drug:Study by IIT-D,Japan’s AIST

New Delhi

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CHIEF OF Air Staff, Air ChiefMarshal R K S BHADAURIAspeakstoSUSHANTSINGHabouthow the IAF isworking throughthe COVID-19 pandemic, likelybudget cuts andmodernisationefforts.

HowhastheIAFbeenaffectedbytheCOVID-19pandemic,operationallyandotherwise?Wehaveensuredthatourop-

erationalcapabilityhasnotbeendegradedat all. Air defencealerthas continued unabatedwhileour transport and helicopterfleets have been workingthroughoutthelockdownperiodto handle COVID-related tasks,support to state administrationandgovernmentagencies,aswellas airmaintenance tasks to sup-port the Army in forward areas.Training and operationalmethodologywas reviewed toensure segregation of combatcrew and preservation of re-sources.Our plans were initiated

proactively catering to forcepreservation throughtravelpro-tocols,mandatoryquarantineforvulnerable categories andmin-imising exposure.We took pre-cautions and preventivemeas-uresasearlyasFebruary, suchaspreparing isolation andquaran-tinecentres.ByMarch,wehades-

tablishedquarantine facilities inninelocationsacrossIndiawithacapacityof1,650personnel.CrisisManagement Centreswere es-tablishedatalllevelsandacoronahelpline for IAF personnel hasbeen functional since beginningofMarch. The IAF remains fullyengagedinthecollectivenationaleffortandhasbeencontinuouslyshouldering tasks as part ofMission Lifeline Udaan andOpSanjeevani.

TheArmychiefrecentlysaidthatthegovernmentindicatedtohimaninitial20%budgetcutfortheArmy.IfasimilarcuthasbeenmadefortheIAF,howwillyoutacklethechallenge?HowwilltheIAF’smodernisationschemesbeaffected?The revised budgetary esti-

mates for the year have not yetbeen received.However, the IAFis already prioritising its capitaland revenue expenditure plansfortheyear.Asafirststep,wearelooking at rationalising revenueexpenditureaswellasreprioritis-ingthecapitalexpenditureoutgoso as to refocus on indigenousproduction. Our highest prioritylieswith the contract for 83 LCAMk1Aalongwithindigenouspro-duction of high tech weaponssuch as air-to-air missiles and

long range Precision GuidedMunitions.

ConsideringthatIAFnowhasonly30squadrons, isthereadiscussiononreducingthenumberof fightersquadronsauthorisedtotheIAF?Ortoredefinethetaskingofatwo-frontwar?The squadron strength is a

forcestructureissueanddependson a host of factors.We cannot

losesightofthedevelopmentsintheNorth andWest;with bothouradversariescontinuously in-creasing andupgrading their in-ventories.Aspartofitslong-termperspectiveplan, IAFplans to in-crease its squadron strength inapragmaticmannerleveragingtheMakeinIndia initiative.

WiththerenewedemphasisonMakeinIndia,howistheIAFgoingtomeetitsmodernisationrequirements?Arethe114foreignMRFAfighterjetsstillontrackorwilltheIAFhavemoreLCATejasinitsfleet?Weintendtopurchase83LCA

Mk IAs andmore than 100 LCAMkII.114MRFAwillalsobepro-gressedunder theMake in Indiascheme. TheMRFA is to be seenunder a separate performanceand technical class. Transfer andabsorptionof technologyaswellas completemanufacturing inIndia will need to be ensured,whichwill energise the indige-nousindustry,particularlyfortheambitious fifth generation plusindigenousAMCAprogramme.

IsthereadelayinthearrivalofRafaleaircraftandtheS-400?HowwillthesedelaysaffecttheoperationalreadinessoftheIAF?

Initial delivery of Rafale hasbeen delayed by about twomonths due to break in trainingandsupplychaindisruptions.Thefirst four are likely to come toIndiabyendof July. TheS-400 isexpectedwithminimaldelay.Thedelays are being followed upclosely formitigation andmini-maloperational impact.

AtwhatstagearetheplanstoprocuremoreAWACS,mid-airrefuellers,andtheSu-30upgrade?The case for two additional

AWACS is being processed. TheFRAproject is being analyseddenovo and various options forprocuring the basic platform forFRAare being considered. As faras Su-30 upgrade is concerned,IAFisindetaileddiscussionswithHALaswellas theOEMfor final-isinganupgradeplan.

Finally,whatistheIAF’svisionforjoint/theatrecommandsinthecurrentenvironment?A study team has already

been established towork on thecontours of Air Defence com-mandandthisstudyisprogress-ingwell.Similarapproachwouldbefollowedtoworkouttheopti-mumplan of joint commands/theatresthatwillachievethede-siredintegration.

WITH

RKSBHADAURIAAIRCHIEFMARSHAL

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

BACK HOMETHE UNION government has brought back roughly 17,500IndiansstrandedabroadonVandeBharatflights.ChiefElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora is one of them. Arora left for theUS in the firstweekofMarchonapersonal visit. Hewas ini-tiallyexpected tobeback in the firstweekofApril.However,once India shut down its airspace for international and do-mestic commercial flights, hewas stranded there. Arora islearnt to have arrived in Delhi over theweekend and is fol-lowing thegovernment-mandatedquarantineprotocol.

THE FEE QUESTIONWITH THE lockdown posing economic hardships formanyfamilies, the HRDMinistry had last month requested cen-trally-run technical institutions such as IITs, NITs and IIITs tonot increase their tuition fee this year and the institutionsagreed. Interestingly, no such appealwas issued to the IIMs,which charge the highest tuition fee (running into lakhs)among all centrally-run educational institutions. Before theCOVID-19outbreak,manyIIMshaddecidedto increasetheirfee for the postgraduate programme and there hasn't beenanyofficial announcementof a rollback fromanyof them.

UNDER CONSIDERATIONONTHE first day of lockdown 4.0, Rajya Sabha ChairmanMVenkaiahNaiduandLokSabhaSpeakerOmBirlaheldameet-ing in the chamber of the Chairman and discussed, amongother things, the issue of holding virtual meetings ofParliamentary Committees. Thiswas the secondmeeting ofthe Presiding Officers of both Houses of Parliament on thematter. Theyhad firstdiscussed the issueonMay7.

‘Can’t lose sight of North andWest,both our foes increasing inventories’

NAVEEDIQBAL&ARUNSHARMASRINAGAR, JAMMU,MAY18

THE JAMMU and Kashmir ad-ministrationonMondayissuedanotificationdefiningtherulesforissuing domicile certificates intheUnion territory.The ‘J&K Grant of Domicile

Certificate (Procedure) Rules2020’ will provide the basis forissuing domicile certificates tothosewhomeet the conditionsas stated in the Centre’s gazettenotification that introduced thedomicile clause through anamendment to the JammuAndKashmir Civil Services(Decentralisation AndRecruitment)Act, 2010.Monday’snotificationcomes

withaclauseofanextraordinarypenalty of Rs 50,000 that the“appellate authority shall re-coverfromthesalaryofthecom-petent authority” in case of de-lay in issuing the domicilecertificatebeyondthestipulatedtimeof sevendays.Thegrantofthecertificatewill

besubjectto“suchenquiryasthecompetent authoritymaydeemfit”andonthebasisofdocumentsfurnishedbytheindividualinhis

appeal forthecertificate.If theapplicationisprocessed

within15days,theappellateau-thority—DeputyCommissioner,Relief and RehabilitationCommissioner, FinancialCommissioner Revenue orSecretary GAD—will direct thecompetent authority — tehsil-dars — to issue the certificatewithinsevendays, failingwhichthepenaltywillcomeintoforce.OnMarch31, theCentrehad

issued the JammuandKashmirReorganisation (Adaptation ofState Laws) Order 2020, underwhichitdefineddomicileasanyperson “who has resided for aperiod of 15 years in the UT ofJ&Korhasstudiedforaperiodofseven years and appeared inclass 10th/12th examination inan educational institution lo-cated in theUTof J&K”.Thedocumentwillbecritical

insecuringjobsintheUnionter-ritory. “As a result of the newrules and procedure, WestPakistanRefugees (WPRs), SafaiKaramcharis and children ofwomenmarriedoutsideJammuand Kashmir whowere earlierdeprivedshallalsobenoweligi-ble forDomicile Certificate,” UTspokesperson Rohit Kansal toldthemedia in Jammu.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY18

CHINESE TROOPS have bol-stered “border control meas-ures” and made “necessarymoves”, a Chinese daily re-portedonMonday,andaccusedIndia of building defence facili-ties in theGalwanValley regionof thecontestedAksaiChinarea.WhileChinacontrolsAksaiChin,Indiasaysthat it ispartof Indianterritory.Thiswas reported byGlobal

Times, a dailywhich representstheviewsoftheChineseestablish-ment.TheIndiangovernmenthasnotyetrespondedtothisreport.This comesdays after Indian

andChinesetroopscametoblowsin the Naku La area in northSikkimandPangongTso in east-ernLadakh.TheArmyhadstatedthe soldiers disengaged after in-terventionofseniorofficersatthelocal level. The tensionhas beenaroundforovertwomonthsafterthePeople’sLiberationArmytriedto stop Indian troops from pa-trolling.Strikingaconciliatorynoteaf-

ter the incidents, India had in-vokedthespiritoftheWuhanandMahabalipuram summits inwhichboth sideshad reaffirmedthattheywillmakeeffortsto“en-surepeace and tranquility in theborderareas”.

India buildingfacilities inAksai Chin:China daily

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI, KOLKATA,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAY18

THE GOVERNMENTS of TamilNadu,WestBengalandKeralaonMondayslammedtheCentreoveritsdecisiontolinkadditionalbor-rowingsofstatestocertaincondi-tions,andraisedconcernsthatthemovemaygoagainstthespiritoffederalism.In a letter to PrimeMinister

NarendraModiMonday, TamilNaduChiefMinisterEdappadiKPalaniswamiaccusedtheCentreof “aggressively pushing” a re-form agenda “without buildingconsensus” and said it is not “inkeepingwith the spirit of coop-erative federalism”.HisWestBengalcounterpart

Mamata Banerjee said if theconditions are obeyed, thestate’s“federalstructurewillbegone”. Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan said the stategovernment is not happywiththe conditions.“The states sought the addi-

tionalborrowinglimitbeyond3%of GSDPmainly becauseof thesignificant shortfall in revenuesduetothelockdownimposedinthewakeof theCovid-19pan-demic.Therearealso largeaddi-tionalexpenditurecommitments.Theseareborrowingsbythestategovernment,whichhavetobere-paid fromfuture taxrevenuesof

theStates.Theyarenotgrantsfromthe Centre,” Palaniswami hasstatedintheletter.Oneoftheconditionscitedby

the Centre is discontinuation offree electricity to farmers. TheCentrehasaskedstatestoswitchtoDirectBenefitTransferinstead.“Ourgovernment isstrongly

opposedtotheideaofremovingthe Free Power Supply to farm-ers.Ithasbeenourstandthatthemode of disbursement of sub-sidy should be left to the stategovernments themselves. Sincea consensus is yet to emerge onthese issues, I request you to in-struct the concernedministriesto remove the requirements toreform the power sector fromamongst the proposed condi-tionalities and also to allowgreater latitude to states in im-plementing a reform agenda,”hewrote.Slamming the conditions,

BanerjeetoldthemediaMonday,“You have seen different pressstatements forhoursduring fourdays....increaseinFRBMfrom3to5%. But, actuallywe are gettingonly0.5%.Theyhavebasicallyap-

plied some conditions. If I willobey those conditions then ourstate’s federal structurewill begone.If Iwillnotobeythem,IwillnotgettheincreaseinFRBM.”She added, “Many states in-

creasedtaxorcessonpetrol.Wedid not. Many states cut thesalaryofgovernmentemployees.We did not. Now if they say,wewill increaseyourFRBMandwewill control your electricity oryouhavetoincreasetaxinurbanareas, we cannot accept this…Weareforthepeople,wewillre-mainthat…”Speakingtoreporters,Vijayan

welcomed theCentre’s decisionto increase the borrowing limit,but added, “We are not happywiththeconditionssetfortheuseof theincreasedlimits.”Targeting the Centre’s pack-

age,hesaid,“ThebulkoftheRs20lakhcroresistheamountavailableto the banks as part of the RBI'smonetarypolicyandtheamountthat thesebanks are expected topay to farmers and small busi-nesses.Therealityisthatbanksarewaryof giving loans intoday’s fi-nancialuncertainty.”

J&K defines rules fordomicile certificates

TN, Bengal, Kerala slamCentre over conditions toraise states’ borrowing cap

MOHANLAL SUKHADIA UNIVERSITYUDAIPUR-313001 (Raj.)

NoF()/.Rectt./MLSU/2020/39 Dated: 15.05.2020

NOTIFICATIONIn continuation to the University advertisement No.MLSU/VCAppt./2020/37dated 19.03.2020 and NoF()/Rectt./MLSU/2020/38 dated 21.04.2020, thelast date for accepting Hard Copy of the application form for the post of ViceChancellor (i.e. 15th May, 2020) is hereby extended up to 30th May, 2020.For further details please visit University Website www.mlsu.ac.in.

REGISTRAR

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY18

MAHARASHTRACHIEFMinisterUddhav Thackeray onMondayreachedout to the “sonsof soil”tomakethestate“atmanirbhar”(self-reliant)byresumingindus-trial activities.Addressingthestatethrough

awebcast onMonday evening,Uddhav said that as migrantlabourers are returning to theirhome states, local residentsshould come forward and startworking in industrial units totakeMaharashtra forward.“Withmigrant workers go-

ing back to their states, there isshortage of labour in the state. Iwant to specially urge the sonsof the soil to come forward tograbemploymentopportunitiesin the industries in green zonesto rebuildMaharashtra. It is, tosayin(PM)NarendraModi’slan-guage, to make MaharashtraAtmanirbhar,”hesaid.Following the Centre’s pitch

forinvestmentinviewofthecri-sis unleashed by the pandemic,Uddhav said he was reserving40,000 acres for new industriesin the state and all new invest-ments in non-polluting sectorswillbegivenpermissiontooper-atewithoutanypre-conditions.“The only condition is that

there should not be any pollu-tion from these industries. Theindustriesmay face land issue.Wewill provide land on leaseandalsoprovidebasicinfrastruc-turerequiredtoruntheseindus-

tries,”hesaid.Uddhav furthersaid that the

governmenthaspreparedapol-icytoensurethatthenewindus-tries do not face any hurdle ingetting required permissions.“Wewant industries to come tothe state and start a new indus-trialphase,”headded.Thackeray,however,saidthe

efforts should bemade to endthiscrisisarisingoutof thecoro-navirus outbreak beforemonsoon.“We have to end this crisis

beforemonsoon.Theadmissionprocess of schools and collegesandacademic yearswill start inJune,”headded.

Migrants leaving, Uddhav callson ‘sons of soil’ to join industries

HARISHDAMODARAN&APURVAVISHWANATHNEWDELHI,MAY18

EVENAStheCentrehasproposedacentral lawfordismantlingthemo-nopolyofagriculturalproducemar-ket committee (APMC)mandis inwholesale trading of farm com-modities, theresponseofstategov-ernments,particularlyOpposition-ruled ones, to themove remains tobeseen.Agriculturebeingastatesubject

under theConstitution, anycentrallegislationseekingtoremovebarri-ers to trade and creating a unifiednational market for farm producecould trigger a freshdebateon fed-eralism. However, officials behindthe drafting of the proposed newlaw — the Agricultural ProduceTrade&Commerce Facilitation Act—stress that there isnoattemptbythe Centre to encroach upon a ter-ritory reserved for states under theSeventhSchedule.

The Seventh Schedule (Article246)places“agriculture”inentry14and “market and fairs” in entry 28of theStateList. TheAPMCmandis,where farmers bring their producetosellthroughlicensedcommissionagents or arhtiyas, accordingly op-erateunderthe jurisdictionof stategovernments.Theseregulatedmar-ketyards—therearesome2,500ofthem across the country in almosteverytaluka/tehsil—havebeenes-tablishedunderAPMClawsenactedby individual states.“We aren’t taking away any

powers of APMCs, as far as tradingof productswithin the premises oftheirmarketyardsorsub-yardsareconcerned. They can continue tocharge market and licensing feesfrom buyers and arhtiyas for alltransactionswithintheboundariesof the mandis. Farmers, too, mayprefertosell inAPMCmandis,giventheexisting infrastructure (auctionplatforms,facilitiesforgrading,sort-ingandcleaningofproduce,weigh-bridges, godowns, etc) and advan-

tagesofdealingwithmultiplebuy-ers assembling there,” the officialspointedout.What the new central Act pro-

poses is to limit the powers ofAPMCsonly to trading takingplace“within the fourwalls of theman-dis”. Currently, the APMC Acts ofmany states provide that any firstsale of farm produce can be con-ductedonlyinthedesignatedman-dis of the talukas or districts con-cerned. This exclusive monopolygiven to APMCmandis extendingbeyondtheirphysicalboundariesiswhat is now sought to bedismantled.According to legal experts, the

CentrecaninvokeArticle301of theConstitution that deals with free-domof trade, commerceand inter-course. “Subject to theotherprovi-sions of this part, trade, commerceandintercoursethroughouttheter-ritory of India shall be free,” theArticle reads. Additionally, theCentre has powers to regulate “in-ter-state trade and commerce” un-

derentry42of theUnionList in theSeventhSchedule.A landmark 1961 Supreme

Courtruling(AtiabariTeaCo.Ltdv/sThe State of Assam & Others) hadinterpreted Article 301 to includenot just inter-state, but also intra-state trade in goods. Themandateof this Article that envisages Indiaas a unified marketplace has alsobeen echoed in the one-nation,one-taxreformsthroughtheGoodsandServicesTax.Theexpertsnoted that entry28

of the State List dealingwith “mar-ketsandfairs”doesnotprevent theCentrefromframinglegislation.TheStateListalsohasentry26referringto trade and commerce within astate. But the latter is, in turn, sub-ject to theprovisions of entry 33ofthe Concurrent List, under whichtheCentre can alsomake laws thatwouldprevailoverthoseenactedbythestates,” theysaid.Further, entry 33 of the

Concurrent List covers trade andcommercein,amongothers,“food-

stuffs, includingedibleoilseedsandoils”, “cattle fodder, including oil-cakesandotherconcentrates”,“rawcotton, whether ginned orunginned, and cotton seed”, and“raw jute”. In other words, theCentreiswellwithinitsrightstoen-act a law that removes all impedi-mentstobothinter-andintra-statetradeinagriculturalproduce,whilealsooverridingthestateAPMClaws.But whether this approach

wouldgodownwellpoliticallyisyettobeknown.Inthelast10days,fourBJP-ruled states — Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat andKarnataka— have brought in ordi-nancestoamendtheirAPMCactstoallow farmers to sell produce di-rectly toprocessorsandtradersby-passingtheregulatedmandiswith-out the buyers having to pay anymarket fee. Traders will also begranted single unified licences en-abling themtobuyfromanyAPMCmarket, rather than having to pro-cure separate licences for transact-ing in individualmandis.

Centre says states’ powers not being encroachedAPMC REFORM LAW

Mumbai: MaharashtraMonday appointed contro-versial IPS officer AmitabhGupta as the head of a com-mittee for issuing passes forinter-statemovementofvehi-clescarryingmigrantworkers.Guptahitheadlineswhenhewassentoncompulsoryleavelastmonthforallegedlyallow-ing tainted businessmen-brothers Kapil and DheerajWadhawan to travel duringthelockdown. PTI

IPS OFFICERHEADOFMIGRANTS’ PANEL

MaharashtraCMUddhavThackeray,withwifeRashmi,atVidhanBhavanonMonday.NirmalHarindran

New Delhi

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

OVER TO THE STATESDevolutionofpowers tostates tomicro-managethepandemic

iswelcome.Theywillneedtoworkwith localbodies

THEGUIDELINESFORLockdown4,announcedbytheUnionMinistryofHomeAffairsonSunday,continueatrendthatbeganabouttwoweeksago.Themin-istryhadallowedarangeofeconomicactivitiesinthenon-COVID19hotspotsduring Lockdown3. It has relaxedmanymore restrictions during the latest

phaseof the lockdown.Significantly, theguidelinesaccede toamajordemandmadebythe statesduring Lockdown3—theyhavebeengiven considerable flexibility in settingthe boundaries of the infection zones. Suchdevolution of decisionmaking iswelcome.Thestateswillnowhavetotakecarethat theyopenupinamannerthatdoesnotaggra-vate thepandemic,whilealsoaddressingeconomicandhumanitarian imperatives.The doubling rate of the coronavirus infection has improved to 13.6 per cent in the

last threedays, after a tough15dayswhen it hoveredaround11.5per cent. Themortal-ityandrecoveryfiguresofCOVID-19patientshavealsoshownpositivetrends,accordingtotheUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare.However,thesedevelopmentsshouldnotmake state health authorities lose sight of the challenges theywill face in the com-ingweeks.Forexample,accordingtoareport inthisnewspaper,abouttwo-thirdsof theShramik Special trains that ferrymigrants back to their homes originate in COVID-19hotspots.Stateauthoritieswillhavetomakearrangementstotestand, ifneedbe, isolatethereturningmigrants inadignifiedmanner.Theresumptionof inter-statebusescouldmaketheir taskofmanagingthepandemictougher.Atthesametime, improvements intransport couldease thedesperationof theworkingclass—thathasborneadispropor-tionateburdenofthecountry’sbattleagainstthecoronavirus—andcheckthealreadylargetollonIndia’sroadsandhighways.Thatiswhystategovernmentsneedtobeopen-mindedinexercising their transport-relatedpowersduringLockdown4.Stategovernmentshadallegedthat theearliercriteriaof designatingentiredistrictsas

infectionzonescircumscribedtheircapacitytokickstarteconomicactivities.Thenewguide-linesallowthemtodesignate“appropriateadministrativeunits”—districts,municipalcor-porations,sub-divisionsorwards—ascontainmentzones.Thiswouldrequireconstantcon-versation between state governments and local bodies. Such interactions are not alwayscordialevenduringnormaltimes,especiallywhenthepartyholdingofficeatthestateisdif-ferentfromtheonerunningthelocalbody.Buttheimperativesofcombatingthepandemicwillrequireregularinteractionsbetweenalllevelsofthegovernment.Epidemiologistsnowsay that thevirus ishere tostay. Thismeanshotspots canchange, the infectioncanrecedefromsomeareasandsurgeinotherregions.Thenewguidelinesallowthestatestodealwithsucheventualities.Theirmicro-managementofthebattleagainstCOVID-19willbewatched.

A LENDING HANDAllowingstates toborrowmore iswelcome,but

conditionalities imposedbytheCentreshouldbeeased

OVERTHEPASTfewweeks,severalstategovernmentshadurgedtheCentretorelaxthefiscaldeficitlimitsimposedonthemonaccountofthestressintheirfinances. On Sunday, the financeminister acceded to their request, raisingtheirborrowinglimitto5percentofGSDP,upfrom3percentbefore.Initself,

thisisawelcomemove.AllowingstatestoborrowanadditionalRs4.28lakhcrorethisyearwillprovidethemtheresourcestofightthispandemicandperhaps,helpthemmaintaintheirbudgeted expenditure allocations. But imposing conditions for availing these additionalborrowingsmaynotbetheprudentapproachinthecurrentsituation.Assomestatesmaynotbeable tocarryout the reforms,making themineligible toborrowmore, theywill beforced to cut back on their spending, imparting a contractionary fiscal impulse at a timewhengovernmentspendingistheonlyenginethatcandrivetheeconomy.Aspertheguidelines laiddownbytheCentre, thefirst trancheofadditionalborrow-

ingsamountingto0.5percentofGSDPwillbeunconditional.However,thenext1percentof borrowingwill be allowed in four tranches, linked to reforms in the areas of ease ofdoing business, onenation one ration card, power distribution, andurban local bodies.Stateswill be allowed toborrowthe final trancheof additional 0.5per centof GDPonlyif theyachievethetargetsinthreeof thefourreformareas.Whilestateshavetheauthor-itytoborrowunderArticle293(1)of theConstitution, thecentralgovernmentexercisescontrol through Article 293 (3)which requires state governments that are indebted totheCentretoseekitsconsentbeforeborrowing.Earlier, initstermsofreferencetothe15thFinanceCommission, theCentrehadsubmittedto theCommissionto take intoaccountthe conditions that the Centremay impose on states while providing consent underArticle293(3).WhiletheCommissionisyettosubmititsfinalreport,theCentrehasusedthisopportunity to imposeconditionsonstateborrowings.State governments should be encouraged into undertaking contentious reforms, of

course. But attaching conditions to their borrowings, especially at a time like this, is atbest avoided. States, who are at the frontline of fighting this pandemic, need to be as-suredofadequateresources.Theconditionsimposedontheadditionalborrowingsshouldbeeased, allowing themtoborrowfreelyduring thisperiod.

FAKE VIEWSCutouts,mannequinsandvirtual fansare fine—butno

substitute for thecrowd

ITWASAtaunt,dressedasasuggestion,thatgaveafootball fananideawhosetimehedidn’tknowhadcome.“Whydon’tyouputyourphotointhestadium?”wastheinnocuousjabfromthewifeofaGermanclubBorussiaMoenchengladbach’sdie-hard supporter, who sat sulking at home during the lockdown,moaning about

missing the electricmatch-day atmosphere on the terraces. But he followed hiswife’sadviceandmanyothers followedhim.The ideacaughtonandthis ledto18,000cutoutsof fansinthestandforBorussiaMoenchengladbach’sopeninggameastheGermanleaguerestartedbehindcloseddoors. Inspirit,andcardboard,theloyalistswereremindingtheirheroes that theywerenotplaying alone.Not just inGermany, cutouts andmannequinsareoccupyingprimeseatsof sportingarenas inBelarus, TaiwanandSouthKorea.More innovations are comingupas sports organisers andbroadcasters are thinking

ofways to a create a “stadiumatmosphere”while following theCOVID-19 forced socialdistancingnorms.Dummiesandposterswill soonsoundquaintwhencomparedto thedystopia being planned. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality companies are beingroped in to fill the standswithout the fans. Broadcasters are looking to add simulatedmassestothestadiums,andaccordingtoFoxSports, fakecrowdnoiseandvirtualfansare“prettymuchadonedeal”.Theplayerswillsurelymissthechantsfromthestandsbutwilllearn towith the silence around them. Besides, elite athletes have often reminded theworldhowthey like tobe“in thezone”, impervious to theaudience.ButBasketball legendMichael Jordan Jordanwasknown to talk back to the fans to en-

surethatthegameneverfelt“likeabusiness”.ImagineRalphNadalfist-pumpingtoanemptycentrecourtorSunilGavaskarbreachingthe10,000-runbarrierwithouttheminutes-longovationatMotera.Cutoutsandmannequinsareliteralplaceholdersandvirtualmarketinggim-micks. Broadcasterswill behappy toditchboth the second sports fans are allowed insidestadiums.Dummiesarefine,buttheyarenosubstitutefortherealthing.

Uncaring states

Arundhati Katju

Kapil Sibal

Changesproposedto labour lawsareunconstitutional.Statesmustnot repealprotectionaccordedtoworkers

THE SILENT SENTINELSJudiciarymust speakup,holdgovernment toaccounton itshandlingofpandemic

IN THEWAKE of themigrant crisis, severalstates have amended existing labour laws,either suspending them altogether or in-creasing working hours. The PrimeMinister’saddressonMay12alsoindicatedlegalchangesintheoffing,whichwilldoubt-less include amendments to labour laws. Itis axiomatic that these amendmentsmustbe in consonance with the fundamentalrights guaranteed to labour, as also theDirectivePrinciplesofStatePolicywhichen-join the state to further the interests oflabour in itspolicies.Any legal changeswillinevitably be challenged in court andmustmeet constitutional standards to survivesucha challenge.Oneaspectof thecrisis is thatthelabour

net-importing states have seen a labourshortage, driving upwages. This promptedsomestatestotakestepstorestrictmigrantlabourfromreturninghome.Article19(1)(d)of the Constitution protects the right tomove freely throughout the territory ofIndia.TheKarnatakagovernment’sdecisionto cancel trains formigrant labour, thoughlater reversed, would likely have violatedArticle19(1)(d).Similarly, reports indicate that the

Gujaratgovernment iscontemplating issu-ing adirective allowing factories to initiatedisciplinary proceedings against migrantlabourerswhohavereturnedtotheirhomestate. At least a dozen employers’ associa-tions reportedly met labour ministerSantosh Kumar Gangwar on May 8 andurged the Centre to issue such an advisoryas it would compel the workers to return.TobecompelledtoworkviolatesArticle23of theConstitutionof India,whichprovidesa “right against exploitation” prohibitinghumantrafficking,begar,andforcedlabour.In PUDR vs Union of India (1982), theSupreme Court held that laws protectingcontract labour and inter-state migrantworkmen were intended to ensure basichumandignity;violatingthese lawswould

violate the right to life under Article 21.Further, theCourtheldthat“forcedlabour”,prohibited by Article 23, included not justphysical forcebutalso thethreatof impris-onment or fine.In PUDR, the Court also noted that no

onewouldwillinglywork for less than theminimum wage without some force orcompunction — and that compunctioncould includehungerorpoverty.Yet, ratherthanencouragingworkers to returnbyse-curingwagesand improvingworkingcon-ditions, theamendments introducedbythestates are removing basic labour law pro-tections.To take one example, the Uttar Pradesh

TemporaryExemptionfromCertainLabourLawsOrdinance, 2020suspends theopera-tionofall labourlawsinthestateforthenextthree years, with the exception of theBondedLabourSystem(Abolition)Act1976,Section5of thePaymentofWagesAct1936(which relates to the timely payment ofwages) and the Employees CompensationAct1923.Provisionsof theFactoriesActandthe Building and Other ConstructionWorkersAct1996,relatingtothesafetyandsecurity of workmen have been retained.Laws relating towomen and children havealso been retained but the ordinance doesnot specifywhich theseare.Should the UP ordinance receive the

President’s assent, which lawswill be sus-pended? The Trade Unions Act, 1926, forone, even though the right to formassocia-tions, including a trade union, is a funda-mental right guaranteed under Article19(1)(c).Theordinancealsoretainsonlythe“safety and security” provisions of theFactories Act — excluding the chapter onhealthandprovisionsrelatingtohazardousprocesses.Theseincludedetailedprovisionsfor cleanliness, ventilation, overcrowding,drinkingwater, latrines andurinals—all ofwhichsurelybecomemore importantdur-ing a global health pandemic, not less. The

righttohealthofworkmenhasbeenrecog-nisedasapartof therighttolife inanumberof judgments—includingprovidingPPEstoworkers exposed to hazardous conditions(OccupationalHealthandSafetyAssociationofIndia vsUOI, 2014).In November 2019, the Centre intro-

ducedtheIndustrialRelationsCode(IRC) inthe Lok Sabha, on which the Lok SabhaStanding Committee on Labour publishedits report in April. The Industrial RelationsCodeseekstoreplacetheIndustrialDisputesAct, 1947, the Trade Unions Act, 1926, andthe Industrial Employment (StandingOrders) Act with a unified code. The IRCwouldsignificantlychangethelandscapeoflabourrelations.Nodoubt, theIRChasbeencriticised, but it represents an attempt tomodifywhatexistedbefore,not todoawaywith it altogether.Moreover, the legislativeprocess creates opportunities to consultstakeholders and hear different politicalviews.The Directive Principles of State Policy

(DPSP), thoughunenforceable,areconstitu-tionally-mandated goals for the State toworktowardswhenmakinglaws.TheDPSPenjoin the State to ensure that the “opera-tionof theeconomicsystemdoesnotresultin the concentration of wealth andmeansof production to the common detriment”(Article39), to“makeeffectiveprovisionforsecuring the right towork” (Article 41), “tosecure to all workers a living wage, condi-tionsofworkensuringadecentstandardoflife.” (Article 43). It is tempting to see thepandemicas aonce-in-a-lifetimeopportu-nity to push through labour reforms. Evenso, it isunclear that thewholescaleabroga-tionof thelabourlawsystembenefitseitherlabouror industry. If anything, this isanaptmoment for the governments, at both theCentreandinthestates, torenewtheircom-mitment to theDPSP.

Thewriter is a lawyerat the SupremeCourt

WEAREinthemidstofanationalcrisis.Withextended lockdowns, our paralysed econ-omyis inawait-and-watchmode.Thepoorhave beenhit the hardest. The plight ofmi-grantsisheart-wrenching.Thefacilitiespro-videdattheso-called“shelters”arewoefullyinadequate in termsof food, sanitation, toi-letsandmedicalcare.Over400millionpeo-ple in the informal sector havenomeans oflivelihood. It is for the executive to take ap-propriatemeasures, byhonouring its statu-toryobligations, to ensure that their consti-tutionalrightsarenottrampledupon.Underourconstitutionalframework,theexecutiveisanswerableevenintimesofanationalcri-sis. Itmaynot be constitutionally appropri-atetobelievethattheexecutiveknows“best”in times of crises. It never does. Otherwise,wewouldnothavecourtsof law.Of course, courtsmaynot interferewith

economic packages the government an-nounced for helping those affected by thepandemic.Thatisintheexclusivedomainoftheexecutive.But if the impactof executivedecisionshurts thosewhohave, in such sit-uations, no recourse to courts of law, thenthejudiciarymustsitupandensurethatlawsare obeyed. Take, for example, the state ofthese “shelters”. Under the DisasterManagement Act, 2005 (Act of 2005), aNational Disaster Management Authority(NDMA)presided over by the primeminis-terwith nine nominees of the governmentis obliged to lay down guidelines formini-mumstandardsofrelief tobeprovidedinre-lief camps in relation toshelter, food,drink-ing water, medical cover and sanitation(Section12). Italsoprovidesforex-gratiaas-sistanceonaccountof the lossof life, for therestorationofmeansof livelihoodandotherreliefs. If the NDMA has not issued such

guidelines, howwill the executive bemadeaccountable?Migrantworkers strandedmid-waybe-

tween the place where they are shelteredand their homes have protested in frustra-tion.Wehavewitnessedandheard the sto-riesofourcitizenswalkinghundredsofkilo-metres to reach home. The state has notprovidedthemwithtransportation.Thefactthattheyhavechosentowalksuchlongdis-tances isproof enoughof stateapathyor in-efficiency. To ensure that such facilities aremadeavailableistheonlywaythecourtcanmake the executive accountable. If courtslooktheotherway,theexecutivewillhaveafree run. Even in times of war, theConstitution is not silent. All institutions inemergenciesmustrespect,totheextentpos-sible, the fundamental rights of citizens.There is enoughmaterial to suggest thattheserightshavebeen,prima-facie,violated.Even if courtswere not to interfere, the

least theymust do is to direct that the gov-ernment places before the court data con-cerningall actionsconformingto theexecu-tive’sconstitutionalandstatutoryobligations.Thatwillservetwopurposes.One,measuresthe government has taken thus farwill be-come amatter of record. Two, themannerand extent towhich its decisions have beenimplementedwillhavetobedemonstrated.All actions of theNDMAwill thus be underscrutiny.That,inturn,willatleastassurepeo-plethatthecourts’oversightmighthelpmit-igatetheirsuffering.Thiswillallownon-stateactors toverifygovernmentclaims.Recently, the PM established the Prime

Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief inEmergency Situations (PM-CARES) fund towhichtheprivatesectorcancontributemon-etarily. Theobjectiveof the fund is to allevi-

ate the pain of those affected by the pan-demic. The settingupof aNationalDisasterResponseFund(NDRF)undertheActof2005(section46)isforthesamepurpose.Anyper-son or institution canmake contributionsinto sucha fund formitigation. TheNDRF isto be utilised by the National ExecutiveCommittee(NEC)toaddresstheemergencyresponse, relief and rehabilitation per theguidelines laiddownbythecentral govern-ment in consultationwith the NDMA (sec-tion 46). The provisions of the Act of 2005overrideallother lawsoradministrativeac-tionsof thegovernment (section72).THE pure legal issue is whether a fund

called PM-CARES can be created by settingupatrustwhentheActof2005providesoth-erwise.If thecontributionsweretotheNDRF,thentheNECwilldealwithitconsistentwiththe needs arising out of this emergent situ-ation.Noindividualwillgetcreditforit.Whoelse,exceptthejudiciary,will scrutinisethisdecisionof thecentral government?Other decisions of the executive includ-

ingthosedirectingemployerstopaysalariesof employees during the lockdown periodalsorequire judicial scrutinysincenoprovi-sionof theActof2005empowerstheNECtosodirect.Courts are sentinels of the Constitution.

The Constitution is like a fort withinwhichinstitutions play their assigned roles. A dis-play of attrition between institutions is ahealthysign.Thebonhomiebetweeninstitu-tions or the judiciary’s hands-off approachwill make the fort crumble. Silencewithinthe fort is proof thatnoone is left toprotecttheConstitution.

Thewriter, a seniorCongress leader, isaformerUnionminister

In November 2019, theCentre introduced theIndustrial Relations Code(IRC) in the Lok Sabha, onwhich the Lok SabhaStanding Committee onLabour published its reportin April. The IndustrialRelations Code seeks toreplace the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947, the TradeUnions Act, 1926, and theIndustrial Employment(Standing Orders) Act witha unified code. The IRCwould significantly changethe landscape of labourrelations.

Under our constitutionalframework, the executive isanswerable even in times of anational crisis. It may not beconstitutionally appropriateto believe that the executiveknows ‘best’ in times ofcrises. It never does.Otherwise, we would nothave courts of law.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020WORDLYWISE

“All that I knowmost surely aboutmoralityand obligations I owe to football.”

— ALBERT CAMUSTHEEDITORIALPAGE

MANIPUR INSURGENCYTHEGOVERNOROFNorth-Easternstates,LPSingh, has approved the proposal of theManipurgovernmenttodeclarealittlemorethan half of Manipur valley as a disturbedarea. This is with a view to employ armedforcesinaidof thecivilauthoritiesindealingwith theMaoistMeiti insurgents. A formalnotification invokingSection3of theAssamandManipurDisturbedAreasAct,1955,andSection 3 of the Armed Forces (SpecialPowers)Act1958,willbeissuedatImphalto-morrow.Thiswillempowerthegovernmentto ask the Army to step in to shoot at sight,search houses without any warrant, andmakearrestswithoutassigninganyreason.

CHINA MISSILE LAUNCHCHINASUCCESSFULLYLAUNCHEDaninter-continentalballisticmissiletoitstargetareain the South Pacific yesterdaymorning, theofficial Xinhua news agency reported. Thebrief Xinhua “flash” only said: “Chinaachieved complete success thismorning inlaunching its first carrier rocket to the des-tined area in the Pacific Ocean”. China hasnot specified the rocket’s launching site onthe Chinamainland, but it was believed tobe in northwest Sinkiang province, about10,000kilometres(6.200miles)fromthetar-getarea.Amissilewiththisrangecouldcarrya nuclear warhead to any point within theSovietUnionor to theUSWestCoast.

JUNTA ACTIONMILITARYAUTHORITIESTOOKcontrolof

SouthKorea arrestingbothpro-governmentanddissidentpoliticalfigures,banningallpo-liticalactivityandclosinguniversitiesandcol-leges. Themove followed lastweek’s violentanti-governmentdemonstrationsbyKoreanuniversitystudents.Earlymorning,followingthe extension ofmartial law, soldiers sweptthroughSeoularrestingmore than20politi-cal leaders.Othersdetainedincludedseveralmembersof thenationalassembly, theheadof theKorean Journalists’Associationandanestimated100students.Themeasuresfollowdemonstrations last week by students an-geredattheslowpaceofdemocraticreforms.

MAY 19, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“As the president pushes states to ease social distancing restrictions and restartthe economy, there is a pressing need for accurate information about theprogress of the pandemic.”

— THENEWYORKTIMESTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

A RAGINGDEBATE is underway in India —and indeed in other emerging markets —aboutwhat the appropriate fiscal responsetoCOVID-19shouldbe.Monetarypolicyhasmoved swiftly and aggressively in manyeconomiesbutquestionsremainonitsincre-mentalefficacy.Concernsaboundthathighlyrisk-aversefinancialsystemswillthwarttheefficacy of lower rates and higher liquidity.So, whilemonetary policymay have space,howmuchefficacywill ithave?Fiscalpolicycanhavemuchefficacy.Buthowmuchspacedoes ithave?Therein lies thedebate.Thusfarthe“fiscalspace”debateinIndia

has centredexclusivelyon this year’s deficitandhowitwill be financed.Howmuchwillthe deficit go up? Howmuch can it go up?Whowill absorb the extra issuance? But amore holistic assessment of fiscal space —andonethatratingsagenciesandforeignin-vestorswilleventuallyfocuson—isthegov-ernment’s inter-temporalbudgetconstraintand how India’s debt/GDP evolves in thecoming years. How much will India’sdebt/GDP jump up this year?More impor-tantly, what happens thereafter? Willdebt/GDPkeeprisingyearafteryear?Orwillit startdeclining?As researchhas found, it’stypically the trajectoryof debt/GDP—morethanthe level—that impacts futuregrowth.Theevolutionofdebtisessentiallyafunc-

tion of three variables: The primary deficit(fiscal deficit net of interest payments) andthe relationship between nominal GDPgrowthandthegovernment’scostofborrow-ing. The higher is the difference betweengrowthandcostof borrowing, thegreater isthe depreciation of the existing debt stock.Highgrowthallowscountries to “growout”of their debts. In contrast, high primarydeficitsworsen thedebtburden.India comes into COVID-19 with a

debt/GDP of about 70 per cent, a primarydeficit across theCentre and states of about2.5 per cent of GDP (including the Centre’sextra-budgetary resources) — based on theRevisedEstimatesfor2019-20—aweightedaverage sovereign borrowing cost of about7.5percent (onthestockof debt)andanes-timatedpre-COVIDnominalGDPgrowthof7.5 per cent in 2019-20. In otherwords, thefavourablegapbetweengrowthandborrow-ingcostshadclosed.Withthisbackdrop,onecan simulatewhat happens to debt/GDP inthecomingyearsunderdifferentgrowth,fis-cal and interest-rate scenarios.What dowe find? That evenunder rela-

tivelybenignscenarios(nominalGDPgrowthof 4 per cent and a fiscal expansion of 3 percent of GDP this year) India’s debt/GDPwillballoontowards80percentbytheendoftheyear. But Indiawill not be alone. Public debtis expected to balloon all over the world.Instead,whatwillmatterforsustainabilityisthe trajectory of debt thereafter. Doesdebt/GDP come down or keep going up insubsequentyears?In turn, the subsequent trajectory de-

pends overwhelmingly onmedium-termgrowth.Considerthis:Evenifthisyear’scom-bined fiscal deficit widens by 6 per cent of

GDP (but theprimarydeficit is thenconsol-idated back to 2 per cent of GDP in 3 years)as long as nominalGDP is 10per cent in themedium term (which corresponds to realGDPgrowthof7percent),debt/GDPgetsontoaconstantlydecliningpathafter thethirdyear. This suggests a bigger fiscal interven-tion is sustainablebutonly ifmedium-termgrowthprospectsare lifted in tandem.Incontrast, if thisyear’sdeficitwidensby

“just”3percentofGDPbut ifmedium-termnominal GDP growth settles at 8 per cent(that is, real GDP growth of 5 per cent),debt/GDP rises relentlessly for the nextdecadetowards90percentofGDP.Thissug-gestsevenarelatively-conservativefiscalre-sponse this year becomes unsustainable ifmedium-termgrowthprospectsaredimin-ished. Small changes in medium-termgrowthhavelargeimplicationsforfiscalsus-tainability.The main takeaway: Howmuch fiscal

space India has to respond in the crisis yearwill depend crucially on what potentialgrowthislikelytobeinthecomingyears.Themore that India’s policy response can pre-serve, protect and boost medium-termgrowth—boththroughthenatureofthepol-icy intervention this year and theaccompa-nyingreforms—thelargerthefiscalresponseIndia canmount. Putmorestarkly, the fiscaldebatebetween“need”and“affordability”isendogenous.Themedium-termsustainabil-ityofanyfiscalpackagethisyearwilldependonthenatureofgrowth-enhancinginterven-tionsandreformsthataccompany it.What could these interventions poten-

tiallycomprise?First,policymustensurethatall viable enterprises can survive the pan-demic. If economically-viable but illiquidsmallandmediumenterprisesgounder,theimplications both for unemployment andIndia’sunderlyingproductioncapacitycouldbesevere. Thegovernment’s credit-guaran-teeschemeis, therefore,veryimportantandshould hopefully induce banks to providemuch-needworking capital to keep smallbusinessesafloat.Itwill be equally important, however, to

jumpstart a risk-averse financial sector intofundinganeconomicrecovery,morebroadly.Lastweek’sbondmarketinterventions(spe-cialliquidityandpartialguaranteefunds)areimportanttoeaseconditionsatthefinancialperiphery.Overtime,however,liquiditymustgivewaytocapitalandreform.Pre-emptivelyrecapitalisingpublicsectorbanksforgrowth

and resolution capital, conducting an AQRfor the NBFC sector (once the dust settlesfrom the panic), then convertingwell-runNBFCs intobanks toavailof astabledepositfranchise,andmodifyingtheincentivesun-derwhich public sector banks operatewillbecrucialtostrengtheningthefinancialsec-tor.Higherpotential growth isonly feasibleif the financial sector is able to fund it.But real reformsmustaccompanythose

inthefinancialsector.Thegovernment’san-nouncement on unshackling agriculture—if carriedthroughtoits logicalconclusion—ispotentiallygame-changingforfarmersandwillbealandmarkreformforthesector.Butreforms are a process, not an event.Whatelsecanwecontemplate?AsCOVID-19has-tens the reorganisation of supply-chainswithinAsia, Indiamustseizethemomenttointegrate into the Asian supply chain.WhynotrevisitaSpecialExportZone(SEZ)model(with the appropriate regulatory environ-menttoavoidthepitfallsof thepast)tohelpcreatediscreteecosystemswithinthecoun-try that enableglobally-competitiveexportproduction?Pathdependencewillbekey. Ifthe first one or two SEZs succeed, it wouldcreateapowerfuldemonstrationeffectbothexternally (to help attractmore firms intoIndia) and internally (inducing differentstates to compete to create their own SEZstodrive jobsand investment).Finally, if the virus has taught theworld

anything, it’s the criticality of social infra-structure.Indiawillnotbeabletofundamen-tally alter its growthpotentialwithout cru-cialinvestmentsinhealthandeducation.Thegovernment’s announcement to boosthealthspendingis,therefore,verywelcome.Buthowwill this bepaid for? This iswherepolicymust get creative. Existing assets onthepublic sectorbalance sheetmustbeag-gressively monetised to fund growth-en-hancing investments in physical and socialinfrastructure.Thiswillsimultaneouslytakethepressureoff the fiscal and financial sec-tors, and deliver a productivity-enhancingswaponthepublic sectorbalancesheet.Higher potential growth is the antidote

tomanypressures, from incomes to jobs todebt sustainability. To the extent this un-precedentedcrisiscreatespoliticalspaceandcapital to reform, the opportunitymust beseized.

Thewriter isChief IndiaEconomistatJ PMorgan

BE CAUTIOUSTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘TheTaiwanquestion’(IE,May18).Pressureis beingmounted to includeTaiwan intheWHO. But in view of China’s pres-sureonNepal touptheantewithIndiaover itsnewroad-building toLipulekhPass, and itspresent stanceonTaiwan,NewDelhi has to take a cautious ap-proach so that it does not antagoniseChina rightnow.

SSPaul,Nadia

PARENTING TESTTHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Thelockerroomathome’(IE,May18).Therevela-tions from the “Bois Locker Room” areindeed horrific. There is now a hugequestionmarkonusasasocietyandasparents. In theeraof socialmedia,par-entsneed todrawclear lines. Sincewecan’t disallow kids from accessing theinternet.Weneedtotalktothemaboutrightandwrong.

BalGovind,Noida

STIMULUS SHORTFALLTHIS REFERS TO the editorial,‘Underwhelming’ (IE,May18).Thepro-posalforOnenation,onerationcardcanbe traced back to June 2019. TheKisanCreditcardbeingprovidedtoallbenefi-ciariesofthePMKisanschemealsogoesback to February 2019. PM MatsyaSampadaYojnaisfromthefinancemin-ister’s 2019 Budget speech. Also, the

spending on these schemes is spreadoveraperiodofonetofiveyears.

SuchakDPatel,Ahmedabad

THIS REFERS TO the editorial,‘Underwhelming’ (IE, May 18). Thesurge in demand forMGNREGAworkcan be used to tackle both the pan-demic and ensure cash for workers’.TheambitofMGNREGAcanbebroad-enedandworkers canbe leveragedtohelp the healthcare workers fightingthe coronavirus pandemic in villages.In fact, theycanbeused foranymeas-uresneededto fight thedisease in thevillages, many of which do not havepublic healthcare systems.

MudeetaMittal,Ghaziabad

9

Real reforms mustaccompany those in thefinancial sector. Thegovernment’s announcementon unshackling agriculture— if carried through to itslogical conclusion — ispotentially game-changingfor farmers and will be alandmark reform for thesector. But reforms are aprocess, not an event.

ASINDIAtakesaleadershippositionattheWorld Health Organisation thisweek, in-ternationalattentionisrivetedontheques-tionofaninquiryintotheoriginofthecoro-navirus and theWHO’s response to it. Thecall for an international investigationwasfirst voiced formally by the Australianprimeminister,ScottMorrison.Beijing’sre-action was visceral. Despite the openthreats of trade sanctions from China,Canberra has pressed ahead. It isworkingwiththeEuropeanUniontopromoteares-olution at this week’s World HealthAssembly (WHA),which bringsministersfromall thememberstatesof theWHO.The firstmultilateral discussion of the

issues raised by the corona crisis at theUnitedNationsSecurityCouncilandtheG-20 forum in the last fewweekswere pre-liminaryandpolite.Nowtheentireinterna-tional community — theWHA has 194members— has a voice in addressing thekeyissuesraisedbythecoronacrisisbyde-bating the resolution.Besidesascientificinvestigationintothe

originsof thevirus, theresolutionalsocallsforan“impartial,independentandcompre-hensive” evaluation into the internationalresponsetothecoronapandemic.AccordingtomediareportsonMonday,theresolutionwas close to gaining support from two-thirdsof theWHA’s194members.Australia and the EU hope to have the

resolution approved unanimously. Sincethe resolution does notmention China byname,CanberraandBrusselshopeBeijingwill not oppose the resolution. They alsohope to persuade Washington, whichwantedtougher language includingrefer-ences toChina, toendorse the resolution.Whateverthefateof theresolution,the

wide-rangingsupportithasgotamidstthevocalChineseopposition is impressive. Tobesure, the resolutionwaswatereddownto get themaximumpossible backing attheWHO.Butitissaidtohaveenoughteethtodigdeepintotheissuesraisedbytheco-ronacrisis.A fewweeks ago, it seemedChina and

the Director General of WHO, TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus,hadfullcontroloverthecoronanarrativeontheissuesinvolved.The Trump administration’s aggressivequestioningofChina’sroleinspreadingthevirus and its accusation that theWHODGwas complicit in keeping theworld in thedark hadnot gone downwell. Nor did theUSthreattocutoff fundingfortheWHO.Within the US itself, opposition

Democratsandtheforeignpolicyestablish-menthasattackedTrumpfortryingto“di-vert attention” away from his failures byscapegoatingChinaandtheWHO.China’ssuccessinquicklygettingthingsundercon-

trolathomeanditsexpansivemaskdiplo-macyseemedtogiveBeijinganupperhandat theWHO. China’s growing clout in thedevelopingworld and bilateral economiclevers againstmajor developed countries,including in Europe, appeared to insureagainstanyseriousinternationalquestion-ingof itshandlingof thevirus.If thepublicpressure fromtheUScon-

centratedminds at theWHO, some quietdiplomacy bymiddle powers, includingIndia,appears tohavecreatedthepoliticalbasisforlearningtherightlessonsfromthepandemicandpreventingsimilareruptionsin the future.Some observers see a unanimous ap-

provalof theresolutionasadiplomaticset-backforBeijing,sincelimitingthedemandsforanexternalinquiryhasbeenamajorpo-liticalpriority forBeijing.Therearesimilardemandsathomeforaninvestigationintoa crisis that led to anenormous loss of lifeinChinaandpunishing those responsible.TheleadershipinBeijingisnotcomfortablewith thesedemands.Beyond the immediate debates, Delhi

must look at the deeper issues that havehobbled theWHO. First is the need to de-velopnewinternationalnormsthatwill in-crease the obligations of states and thepowersof theWHOinfacilitatingearlyde-tectionandnotificationofpandemics.Thiswill involvefindingwaystobridgethecon-testednotionsofstatesovereigntyandcol-lective security.Secondisthequestionof funding.Ifyou

have a club that depends on donationsrather thanmembership fees, donorswillinevitablysettheagenda.Overthedecades,theWHOhasbecomeevermorereliantonvoluntarycontributionsfromgovernmentsandcorporationsratherthanassessedcon-tributions fromthemember states. This isgoing to leave theWHOrather vulnerabletopressures.Third, Indiamustalsoaskif theWHOis

trying to do toomany things. TheWHO’sinitial successes camewhen it focused ona few objectives like combattingmalariaandtheeliminationof smallpox.A limitedagendamightalsomake theWHOamoreeffectiveorganisation.For Delhi, thewidespread support for

the resolution is a vindication of its earlycall for transparencyandaccountability intheresponsesofChinaandtheWHOtothepandemic.ButIndiaknowsitisonethingtopasstoaresolutionandentirelyanothertocompelagreatpowerlikeChinatocomply.Any current effort to understand the

origin and spread of the COVID-19 virusand a long-term strategy to deal with fu-ture pandemicsmust necessarily involvemore thanameasureof Chinese coopera-tion. Sustained engagementwith Beijing,then,isasimportantforDelhiasdeeperco-operationwithWashingtonandthe“Quadplus”nationsaswellasmoreintensiveen-gagementwiththenon-alignednationsinpromoting a new global regime on pre-ventingandmanagingpandemics.

Thewriter isdirector, Instituteof SouthAsianStudies,NationalUniversityofSingaporeandcontributingeditoron

internationalaffairs forThe IndianExpress

Diplomaticjujitsu at WHO

Unanimousapprovalof theresolutionseekingaprobe into theoriginofCovid-19androleofglobalhealthbodywillbeasetback forBeijing

CR Sasikumar

Covid lessons for economy

PMModi’sworkafterearthquake isapointer tohisvision forpost-Covid India

PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModi’s addresstothenationunderstandablymadethenewsfor theeconomicpackageand reforms. But,therewasalsoanimportantreference,whichnot many would have noticed but isnonethelessvital tounderstandinghowthetimesaheadwillplayout. IamtalkingaboutModi’smentioning of Kutch post the 2001quake.We all know the trail of devastation the

peopleof Kutchwitnessedafter that fatefulmorning of January 26, 2001. The regional,national and internationalmedia hadwrit-tenobituaries of the region,whichwasalsoamongst the most backward in Gujarat.However, the next decade became Kutch’sdecadeofprogress,andnotdecay.ThereasonbehindthiswastheuniqueapproachofthenChiefMinisterModi.WhentheearthquakestruckKutch,while

everyonewas rushing as far away as possi-ble fromtheregion,onemanwasdesperateto head to ground zero — to be among thepeopleandhelp. ItwasModi, thenageneralsecretaryof theBJP.Laterthatyear,whenhetook over as chief minister, the top prioritywas rebuilding Kutch and streamlining therescueoperations.Newchiefministersusu-allyhavea“honeymoonperiod”butdestinyhaddifferentplans forModi.HowdidModido it?Theanswer lies is a

multi-pronged approach but, most impor-

tantly,bythinkingoutof thebox,empower-ingandassisting the local communities.A key challengewas the lack of houses.

Village after village, town after town, onecouldonlyseedestroyedhouses. Therewasa severe shortage of masons as well. TheGujarat government acted swiftly and inte-grated the local communities, made smallteams, gaveeach teamkits and focussedonbuildinghomes.Gradually,brickbybrick,thehousingchallengewasovercome.Thenum-ber of houses increased— the houseswerebigger thanearlier, and theywere alsobuiltasper local requirements.Comparethistothehandlingofthepost-

earthquake scenario in Latur where, evenyears after the earthquake, housingwas in-adequateandthereweredeficiencies in thetoilet constructionprogramme.The other subjectModi stressed onwas

thebuildingof schools.He said, comewhatmay, we need the schooling infrastructurebackontrack.Generationshad left thepeo-ple of Kutch to their fate. Thiswas a districtknown for its desert and the border withPakistan (Registan and Pakistan). Post theearthquake,Modiwasdeterminedtochangethis perception of Kutch. During one of hisearlier visits to the region, as CM,Modi hadsaidthathewantedtochangethisnarrativeof linkingKutchwithPakistan.Modi had then reimagined the agricul-

ture sector in Kutch. In the years after theearthquake,Kutchbegantoexportmangoes,dates and pomegranates. An elaborate irri-gation networkwas set up and, gradually,waterfromtheNarmadareachedtheregion.Back in theday, itwas toughtoconvince

anybody to visit Kutch. “What is there tosee?”, people would ask. Then came theRann Utsav, which showcased the culture,traditionsandcuisineof Kutch.Aboostwasgiventothelocalhandicraftindustryaswell.Thiscontributedtoaneconomicresurgence.Dairyandcooperatives,whichwerethebas-tion of a select few, came to Kutch in a bigway.Thebasicconstraintsof roads,railwaysandhighway infrastructurewere correctedandovercomeata recordpace.Nobodyhad imaginedthat in less thana

decade, Kutchwouldmake itsway tobeingoneof India’smostprosperousandprogres-sivedistricts.It wasModi who, through his work in

Kutch, reimagined India’s disastermanage-ment apparatus. He set the processes thatmadeiteasier forgovernmentstocopewithdisasters. Before the Kutch earthquake, dis-astermanagementwasasubjectusuallywiththe agriculture department— because ourdefinition of disasters never went beyondfloods and droughts. In 2003, the GujaratAssembly passed theGujarat State DisasterManagement Act, thus becoming the first

state to have a legal and regulatory frame-work for disastermanagement. It was nowthe homeministry thatwould have controlover disastermanagement considering theseveralnuancesinvolvedincopingwithdis-asters. TheUPA government replicated thisand passed the DisasterManagement Act,2005. This Act, like in Gujarat, set up provi-sionstocreatetheNDMA.Recently, whenModi highlighted the

needtoreimaginehowwelookatthehealth,education and tourism sectors in the post-COVID era, it remindedme of his work inKutch.Whatisbeingplannedarelong-termmeasures, not aimed at merely fixing thedamage, but future-proofing the nationagainst similar challenges.Modi’sKutchexperienceisrelevanttoday

because it instils hope—that even themostdisastrous of situations can lead to promis-ingopportunitieswiththerightkindof lead-ership.ItalsogivesapeekintohowModicanprovide statesmanship in the timeof crises.He rises above short-termconsiderationsofrebuilding. He does not merely repair, hereignitesthedevelopmenttrajectorythroughactive communityparticipation.Hedid it inKutch,andhewill surelydo itnow.

Thewriter is formervice-chancellor,KrantiguruShyamjiKrishnaVerma

KachchhUniversity

Lessons from KutchShashiranjan Yadav

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

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SEUJSAIKIA

www.indianexpress.com

Sajjid ZChinoy

Thecoronacrisishashighlightedthecriticalityofsocialinfrastructure.Indiamustmonetiseexistingassetsinthepublicsectortofundgrowth-enhancinginvestmentsinphysicalandsocialinfrastructure

RAJA-MANDALAby C. RajaMohan

90

80

70

60%ofGDP

79.9

87.1

DEBT/GDP EVOLUTIONUNDERDIFFERENT SCENARIOS

FiscalWidening3%ofGDP;MediumTermnominalgrowth=8%

FiscalWidening6%ofGDP;MediumTermnominalgrowth=10%

Source:JPMCalculations

FY20

FY21

FY22

FY23

FY24

FY25

FY26

FY27

FY28

FY29

FY30

New Delhi

10 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

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PUBLIC NOTICEMy Client Mr. Anil Kumar, Son of Late Sh.Mahajan, Resident of H-202, Dakshin PuriNew Delhi-110062, disowned his son namelyMr. Kunal and daughter in law Smt. Prernawife of Kunal form their all movable andimmovable properties in respect of past,present and future for all purpose and severrelationship. They have become dishonestand disobedient and also hostile behaviour.My client shall not responsible for any actsand any manner whatsoever done by them. Itthey body deals with them his/her will to soown their costs, consequences.

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NOTICE INVITING TENDER

Online item rate tenders are invited by Prayagraj Nagar Nigam for Supply & installation of openair gyms (outdoor) equipment including necessary civil work in 55 (approx) identified openspaces/parks of prayagraj city under Smart City Mission (SCM) in Prayagraj city. (package-3palce-55)

The scope of work, technical specification, terms & conditions, BOQ are given in Request forProposal (RFP) and the same can be downloaded from http://etender.up.nic.in³fûM: I ûd½fO-19 I ûSû³ff ½ff¹fSÀf ÀfaIi ¸f¯f I û QÈd¿M¦f°f SJ°fZ Wb¹fZ ¹fW Àfcd¨f°f dI ¹ff ªff°ff W` dI B¨LbI d³fd½fQfQf°ffAûa I û C¢°f d³fd½fQf WZ°fb WfOÊI fg´feI f¹ffÊ»f¹f ¸fZÔ ªf¸ff I S³ff Ad³f½ff¹fÊ ³fWeÔ W` ½fZ A´f³fe d³fd½fQf ¸ffÂf Afg³f»ffB³f We ´fiÀ°fb°f I Sm °f±ff d³fd½fQf WZ°fb ½ffadL°f 02 ´fid°fVf°f ²fSûWS I e ²f³fSfdVf E½fad³fd½fQf R eÀf ³f¦fS d³f¦f¸f IZ d³f¸³f Jf°fZÔ ªf¸ff I Sf ÀfI °fZ W`Ü

Sd/-(Ravi Ranjan)Nagar Aayukt

Prayagraj Nagar Nigam

Prayagraj Nagar Nigam (PNN)1-Sarojini Naidu Marg, Civil Lines,Prayagraj- 211001 Uttar Pradesh,

1. Method of selection Lowest financial proposal (L1) of qualified bidders

2.Name of the Authority’s official foraddressing queries and clarifications

Prayagraj Nagar NigamE-mail: itofficer.mca@gmail.com

3. Proposal Validity Period 90 Days

4. Time of Completion 6 Months

5.

Schedule of Bidding ProcessTask Key Dates

Bid upload date/time 18/05/2020, 15.00 HrsBid Start Date 18/05/2020, 16.00 HrsBid End Date 30/05/2020, 15.00 HrsOpening of Technical Bids 30/05/2020, 16.30 HrsOpening of Financial Bid To be communicated

6. Consortium to be allowed No7. Sub-contracting is allowed Only civil and flooring works8. Document Fee Rs. 5000 (Rs. Five Thousand only) + GST9. Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) As per RFP documents

S.No.

Name of the Package Estimateamount (Rs)

Earnest MoneyDeposit (Rs.)

Tender Fee Non-refundable (Rs.)

Time Period

1 package-3 Location-55 20619075.00 412380.00 5000.00 6 months

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©.Âý. ÁÜ çÙ»× · è ¥ôÚ âð ÁÙÂλæçÁØæÕæÎ ·ð ¥¢Ì»üÌ ÇæâÙæ ÎðãæÌ ÂéÙ»üÆÙÂðØÁÜ ØôÁÙæ ÁôÙ-7 (»é”æڻɸè) ×ð́ Âç ¢»ŒÜæ‹Å · è ¥æÂêíÌ, ¥çÏcÆæÂÙ °ß¢ ̈â¢Õ¢Ïè· æØôZ ãðÌé çÙçßÎæ¥ô´ · è çÕ·ý è çÎÙ梷19.05.2020 âð çÎÙæ·¢ 26.05.2020 Ì·· æØæüÜØ â×Ø ×ð´ · æØæüÜØ ×é Ø ¥çÖØ¢Ìæ(»æ.ÿæð.) ©.Âý. ÁÜ çÙ»×, »æçÁØæÕæÎ,· æØæüÜØ ¥Ïèÿæ‡æ ¥çÖØ¢Ìæ, Øæ¢ç˜æ· ׇÇÜ©.Âý. ÁÜ çÙ»×, »æçÁØæÕæÎ, · æØæüÜØ¥çÏàææâè ¥çÖØ¢Ìæ çÙ×æü‡æ ¹‡Ç (çß./Øæ¢.)©.Âý. ÁÜ çÙ»×, »æçÁØæÕæÎ °ß¢ · æØæüÜØ¥çÏàææâè ¥çÖØ¢Ìæ, ÂýÍ× çÙ×æü‡æ ¹‡Ç ©.Âý.ÁÜ çÙ»×, »æçÁØæÕæÎ âð · è ÁæØð»èÐ çÙçßÎæÂý˜æ çÎÙ梷 27.05.2020 · ô 03.00 ÕÁðÌ· ©ÂÚô Ì · æØæüÜØ ×ð́ Åð‹ÇÚ Õæ â ×ð́ ÇæÜðÁæ â· Ìè ãñ´ Áô ç· ©âè çÎÙ 03.30 ÕÁð· æØæüÜØ ¥Ïèÿæ‡æ ¥çÖØ¢Ìæ, Øæ¢ç˜æ· ׇÇÜ,©.Âý. ÁÜ çÙ»×, »æçÁØæÕæÎ ×ð´ ¹ôÜð ÁæØð´»ðÐçÙçßÎæ Âý˜æô´ · æ ×êËØ 1000.00+18%GST ãñÐ çÙçßÎæ ·ð · æØôZ · æ çßSÌëÌ çßßÚ‡æÁÜ çÙ»× · è ßðÕâæ§Å www.jn.upsdc.gov.in âð ¥Íßæ â¢Õ¢çÏÌ · æØæüÜØ âð ÂýæŒÌç· Øæ Áæ â· Ìæ ãñÐMunicipal Corporation Kota (North/South)

Rajeev Gandhi Bhawan Dusshera Ground, Kota-324006email: nnkota@gmail.com websites: www.kotamc.org, Ph.: 0744-2500197,

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E-Tender Notice No. 41/2019-20 and e-tender corrigendum nnk/Garage/2020/184-197 was issued byMunicipal Corporation Kota on 07.05.2020 on behalf of Kota Smart City Ltd. Revised E-Tender time Scheduleare as follows which can be kindly seen for reference on www.sppp.raj.nic.in,http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in, kotamc.org.

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Sd/-Commissioner

Municipal Corporation Kota

New Delhi

Howhavewefaredinthebattlesofar?Let’s look at some of the statistics that

have been projected. Firstly, if you look atdeaths as an absolute number and startcounting the number of deaths, day by day,orweek byweek, you do get some impres-sion that things are actually worsening.Certainly, wewant to prevent every singledeath if possible, but let’s look at the deathrates.Wealwayshavetolookatarate,whichhas thenumeratorandadenominator.Letme just readout a few figures.Deaths

permillioninIndiais1.3atthemoment.IntheUS, it is226permillion, in theUKit is449permillion, inBelgiumitis726permillion.Torepeat,weareat 1.3 per million, so from thatpoint of view, it appears that intermsoflossoflife,wearemanag-ingtocontainthatproblem.Of course, we’ll have more

cases, particularlywhenwe aredoingmore tests per day. Againwe’llhavetolookatwhatarethenewcasesoccurringasapercent-ageofthenewtestsperday.Now,when you look at the curve, un-fortunatelythecurveisacombi-nationofoldcasesandnewcasesandwhenyou’re lookingathowthatcurveisgoingup,thatdoes-n’tgivemetoomuchof informa-tion.Ontheotherhand, if Iwantto track progress, I am going tolook at four areas. Firstly, I amlooking at the number of newcasesoutofthenumberofnewtestsasaper-centage. Second is, using influenza-like ill-ness symptoms for symptom-based syn-dromicsurveillanceperweekthroughhomevisits by primary health teams whereveravailable, or even telephonic surveillance.Third, I’d like to look at what are the Covidpositivecasesofseriousacuterespiratoryin-fection(SARI)gettingadmittedinthehospi-tal,howmanycasesof suchseriousrespira-toryinfectionarethereandwhatpercentageare Covid, and on a weekly basis how is itchanging.Andlastly,whatarethedeathsperweek. Again, I’d like to track that, but again,overall, I’d like tokeepdeathspermillionasanimportantindicatorandseewhetherthatis changing. So unlesswe get this kind of apicture,we’llnotbeabletosay,howwellwearecontrolling.Butatthemomentbasedonmost of these, I believewe are actually do-

ing reasonablywell. But that doesn’tmeanthatwe canbe complacent;weneed to fol-lowupandseewhat’shappening.

There is thiscriticismthatwearenottestingenough. Is itpossibledeathsarehappeningthatarebeingmissedbecausethosetestsaren’tbeingdone?Well,deathsthatarehappeninginhospi-

talswouldalmostalwaysbetestediftheyarebeing admittedwith serious acute respira-toryinfection.Itisonlydeathsoutofhospital,whichcouldpossiblybemissed.Therecouldbeacertainamountofmis-classification,butstillyou’renotgoingtohavesuchadisparity.

Butthe lockdownhasalsocausedhospitalvisits togodown...Yes, it isapossibility.But thenweneedto

lookatwhat thedeathsare, overall inhospi-tal and out of hospital, and thenseewhether the deaths particu-larly compared to the previousyear,ortheprevioustwoyears’av-erage, have shown a spurt, buttaking out the road traffic acci-dents. Because during the lock-down, the road traffic accidentswould have come downmarkedly, so remove that ele-ment, and then seewhether thetotaldeathsCovidandnon-Covidcombined,all-cause,havegoneupquite a lot. If theyhave, then youcanascribe it toCovidasanaddi-tionalelement.That’sonewayoflookingatthedata.

Howreliable isdoublingtimeasametric?Essentially,doublingtimeisa

metric they decided upon be-cause they thought this was an

exponential curve. Now, the problemwiththis kind of ameasurement is that it is alsodependent upon the number of tests thatyouaredoing...Butagain, Iwouldnot liketotake a count, where I am adding all the oldcases and adding the new cases. I’d ratherlook at the number of new cases in the nu-merator and new tests in the denominator,andcalculate thatpercentage.Butcertainly,eventakingthisparticularthingintoaccount,ifbydoingmoretestsyou’refindingoutmorecases, still thedoubling time is lengthening,that’s agoodsign.

Inthenumberof cases, fromaboutMay1, therehasbeenaspurt.Apartof it, I amsure, isa functionof increasedtesting.Butcould italsobethat towardsthefinaldaysof theearlierphaseof lockdown,therewasadegreeof fatigueandit

wasn’tbeing implementedthatharshly?Well, I would say that there have been

someslippagesand the slippages couldhavecontributed, and certainly slackening of thelockdown... and loweringof inspections andalsounplannedviolationsthattookplace.Butletusalsoacceptthefactthatthevirus... isstillmovingaround. It is aquestionof howmuchwecanslowdownthatspread, that is impor-tant.Itisnotasthoughwehaveactuallylockedituppermanentlyorweareplanningtolockitup.Therewillbenewcases;wehavetomakesurethatweareprotectingthemostvulnera-blepeoplewhilethatspreadishappening.

Oneof thethingsabout India is thestigmathat’sbeenassociatedwith it. IsthissomethinguniquetoIndia?Regarding the stigma, I think it is an ex-

tremelyunfortunatething... Ibelievethatthekindoflanguagewehaveusedinmedia, evenfrompoliticians,thatthisisa“hugekillerepi-demic”,frightenedpeopleandthefeelingthatotherpeople can infect youandyoucan justdrop dead, that risk has been exaggerated.We’ll end up probablywith far less than 1%mortalitywhen all things are done and allcasesareproperlycounted.Therefore,thefactthatweareayoungpopulation,wearearuralpopulation,manyfactorsthatarelikelytore-duce themortality in our case, is somethingofamessagethathastobegiven...Butwehaveto ensure that the stigma that is directed atother infected people or against healthcare

providers,oragainstevensomeofthepeoplefromtheNortheast,whoareagainstigmatisedbecauseoftheirappearance,Ithinkthatwholethinghastobedoneawaywith...I thinkparticularlywhenweare likely to

comeoutofthelockdown,weneedalotmoreofcommunityengagement.Whenyouhaveacommunity-partnered public health,whenyouhaveelectedlocalbodies,orcommunity-based organisations, women’s self-helpgroups,otherNGOsworkinginthefield, theyaretheonesthatcanactuallyconveythemes-sage to thepeople. But if youareonlyhavingone-way communication between thetechno-bureaucracy through themedia andyouaregettingsaturatedwithmessagesonTVchannels, abouthowmanypeople aredrop-pingdeadintheUS,orEuropeorChinaorany-whereelse,naturallythefearfactorbuildsup.

Comingtosomespecificstates,what isyourassessmentofwhat ishappeninginMaharashtraorGujarat?Maharashtrahasapositivityrateof18%against thenationalaverageof3-4%.Definitely,theyareproblemareas,itisclear

thatthevirushasspreadmoreandwearealsoseeingmoreseverecases.Now,wearepartic-ularlyworried, of course, about slums... I un-derstand now they are taking action. Apartfrom trying to do syndromic surveillance intheslums,theyarealsotryingtotakethepeo-plewhoareinthehigh-riskgroup,that istheelderly people andpeoplewith co-morbidi-

ties,takingthemoutoftheslumsandhousingthemelsewhere until they feel the situationisundercontrol.Obviously,theycannotevac-uate the entire slum. Similarly,wewill haveto see, in someof thesehotspots, evenwhiletrying to do the containmentmethods, howbestwecanprotectthemostvulnerable.

Toextendthattodeaths, fivestates—Maharashtra,Gujarat,TamilNadu,DelhiandRajasthan—accountfor70%ofallcasesaswellas70%ofalldeaths. If youincludeMadhyaPradeshandWestBengal,whicharenotinthetopfiveintermsofcases, thedeathsarereallyhigh.Howwouldyouexplainthat?Firstly, I think the problem is that if you

arenotdoingalargenumberoftests,yourde-nominator is going to be on the lower side,because you have deaths in the numeratorandthediagnosedcasesinthedenominator.That is one reason. So if youdoa largenum-berof tests, automatically theso-calledcasefatalityratecomesdown...Second,ofcourse,is thatwedonotknowwhatishappeningtothetreatmentprotocols,howquicklypeoplearebeinghospitalised, andhowtheyareac-tually being treated. So there are two ele-ments tothis;bothneedtobeexamined.

After the lockdown,what is thewayforward?Well I don’t thinkwe can live in perma-

nent imprisonmentof a lockdown,wehaveto gomobile but also ensuring that schoolsreopenforchildrenandsoon.Therearealotof social elements also that need to be re-stored. Butwe have to do it with care. See,you’llnotbeable to testeverypersononthestreet...butwehavetodependuponphysicaldistancing,masks inpublicplaces,aswellashand hygiene as important elements for along time to come if we have to slowdownthe transmission and also ensure that thedeathsarecontainedandnota surge. Toen-surethatwecontainthetransmissionaswell,asmuchaspossible,Iwouldparticularlyem-phasise, containmentbetweenurbanandru-ralareas.Ourruralareasaremuchbetterpro-tected now, wemust continue to protectthembyensuringonlyessentialtravelneedsandtransportof essentialgoods.Secondly, Iwould also say thatwemust

ensurethatsomeofthenon-essentialtraveliscut downand someof thework that can bedonewithoutnecessarily going to theoffice,non-manufacturingactivitiesforexample,asfar as possible,we should try and keep thatlevelofsocialdistancingeveninemployment.So ifwecontinue todo that, at least over thenext one year,wewill be able to slowdownthe epidemic andwemaybe able to get thevirus to change its pattern. Because it iswell

knownthatifyoucanactuallymakesurethatthe virus does not have a large humanhostwhich it canmove around in, it can actuallymutatetoalessvirulentform...SoIbelieveweneedtoresumelife,butwithgreatcaution.

TRANSCRIBEDBYMEHRGILL

(Editedexcerpts)VIDEO:https://youtu.be/P91LXrpYhTk

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

‘We cannot live in permanent lockdown... weneed to resume life, but with great caution’

ProfKSrinathReddy,president,PublicHealthFoundationof India, isMemberof ICMR’sCovid-19TaskForce,andof theExecutiveGroupof theInternationalSteeringCommitteeofWHO’sCovid-19SolidarityTrial. Inthis firsteditionofE-Xplainedlastweek,heexplainedarangeof issuesrelatedtoIndia’sbattleagainstCovid-19toa largeZoomaudiencefromacrossthecountry.ProfReddywasinconversationwithAbantikaGhoshandMonojitMajumdarofThe IndianExpress.

SUSHANTSINGHNEWDELHI,MAY18

ASTUDYbyHarvardUniversityhasestimatedthe impact of weather on transmission ofCovid-19infectionsandfoundanegativerela-tionship between temperatures above25°Cand estimated reproduction number,witheach1°C associatedwith a3.1% reduction inthereproductionnumber.Itfoundthathigherlevelsofrelativehumiditystrengthentheneg-ativeeffectoftemperatureabove25°C.Butthefindings suggest thatweather alonewill notbe enough to fully contain transmission, al-thoughitmayhelpwithcontainmentefforts.The study, ‘Weather Conditions and

COVID-19 Transmission: Estimates andProjections’, hasnot yet beenpeer-reviewedandiscurrentlyonapre-printserver.It found that itwouldneeda reductionof

reproduction number bymore than 70% tocontaintheriskoftransmission,whilethatre-ductionfactorrarelygoesbelow50%globally.InDelhi, reduction in reproductionnumberdue toweather is projected to varybetween47%and16%tillAugust;andforMumbai,be-tween43%and23%.Reproductionnumberistheaveragenum-

berof individuals infectedbyeach infectiousperson.Atthestartofanepidemicwhenevery-oneinapopulationisconsideredsusceptible,epidemiologistsestimate‘basicreproductionnumber’,orR0.The study estimates a

‘RelativeCOVID-19Riskdue toWeather (CRW)’,which com-paresrelativechangesinrepro-duction number due toweather factors, such as aver-age anddiurnal temperature,humidity, pressure, precipita-tion, snowfall, and sun hour.CRWscores only give relativerisksduetoweather,assumingallelseisequal,acrosslocationsorwithinalocationovertime.ACRWof0.5thusreflectsa50%reduction

inreproductionnumber,andashiftoverasea-son inCRWfrom1 to 0.7 in a given locationpointstoa30%reductionoverthatperioddue

toweather, assumingall else is constant. ForDelhi, CRW is projected to be 0.788 for theweek ofMay 24, rise to 0.839 the followingweek,andreduceprogressivelytoreach0.531bytheendofAugust.

Although the study sug-gestswarmerandmorehumidtimes in some locations,mayofferamodestreduction inre-productionnumber, its resultsshowCRWmust gobelow0.3to contain theepidemicbasedonweather factorsalone.Also,CRWrarelydropsbelow0.5,in-dicating thatweather changesalonewillnotbeenoughtofullycontaintransmission.The study alsowarns that

CRWnumbers do not reflectthe total risks of Covid-19 across locations,rather,onlytheportionofriskduetoweather.It alsoclarifies that thesescoresdonot revealtheactualvaluesofthereproductionnumber,whichiscontingentonlocalfactors.

How state police are battlingCovid, what they have learntSUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE,MAY18

INMAHARASHTRA,thestateworstaffectedbyCovid-19,1,273policepersonnelfromthetwo-lakh-strong force have tested positiveso far; 11of themhavediedwhile 291haverecovered. Police have been deployed in anumber of duties relating to the outbreakand lockdown, including inhigh-riskareas.Of the 1,273 cases, 131 are officers and

1,142 constables. Most are personnel inMumbai and surrounding areas, orMalegaon city, or Maharashtra StateReservedPoliceForce(SRPF)personnelwhowere deployed in high-risk areas. As ofMondaymorning, thenumberof caseswas618inMumbaipolice,46inThanepolice,85in Nashik Rural Police that includesMalegaon, and33 inPunecitypolice.TheSRPFhashad

387 cases. Most ofthese have beenfromamongcompa-nies deployed inMumbai andMalegaon, whichwent back to theirunitheadquarters inHingoli,AurangabadandJalnaaftercomple-tionof 45daysof deployment.

At the forefrontPolice have been deployed in contact

tracing,monitoringofhomeorinstitutionalquarantine, lockdownimplementation,andclosure of containment zones and districtboundaries.Lately,allpoliceunitshavebeengiventheaddedresponsibilityof facilitatingthehomeward journeyof strandedpeople.The first cases among police were re-

portedinthesecondweekofApril.Thenum-ber rose from 19 on April 14 to 64 on April22, 342 on May 2, and 618 on May 8; itcrossed1,000onMay14.“Thewaythevirushasspreadamongthe

police force isnotdifferent fromhowitdoesamongthecommonpublic.However,theex-tentofexposureiswaytoohigh,policebeing

primaryresponderstoalmosteverythingandhavingbeengivenaverybroadspectrumofresponsibilities,”aseniorpoliceofficersaid.“Oneway is apolicemancatching the in-

fectionduringdeployment,theprobabilityofwhichisveryhighif theduty is inahigh-riskarea,”aseniorpoliceofficersaid,whileagree-ing that infection is also possiblewhile offduty. “A secondway is police personnel get-tinginfectedfromacolleague,especiallywhenheorsheisasymptomatic...Wehavereasontobelievethatspreadamongthepoliceismoreduetothesecond[route],” theofficersaid.“We cannot deny that insufficiency of

supplyof safetyutilities intheinitialdaysoreven lapses in takingcarearealso responsi-ble.Manyinitial infectionscanbeattributedto this.Wehavecomea longway fromthat.Buttherearemanyotherfactorstoo:Itisim-practical towear a PPE suit for over 8 to 10

hours of duty, thattoo in summer.Duties at hospitals,quarantine and iso-lation facilities areinherently risky.”

The responseThe police re-

sponse has evolvedwith case growth.

Separate quarantine or isolation facilities,dedicatedhospitalshavebeenearmarkedforpolice at various places. Alongwith a Covidhelpline, healthcare aid is being giventhrough the Maharashtra Police FamilyInsurance scheme.At somehigh-risk areas,hotels and lodges have been earmarked forpolice. Pune police have issued a pictorialSOPtominimisetheriskforthefamilyofper-sonnelonce theygohome.Around23,000policepersonnelagedbe-

tween50and55arebeinggivenlow-riskpo-lice station taskswhile 12,000more above55havebeenasked tostayhome.InSRPF,adecisionhasbeentakentotrans-

portandaccommodatesmallergroups.PunePolice Commissioner K Venkatesham said,“Wewillhavetounlearnalotofouroldprac-tices.Wewillhavetolearnproceduresandsetstandardsinplacetokeepinfectionsatbay.”

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like explained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED TheOutbreak

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

122,492Iran

225,886Italy

176,551Germany

247,706United Kingdom

179,693France

230,698Spain

1,491,547US

244,135Brazil

149,435Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 4,758,937 DEATHCOUNT:316,277

THEWORLD

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonMay18

290,678Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 96,169 (3,029 DEATHS)

33,053Maharashtra

11,224 Tamil Nadu

5,202Rajasthan

1,964 Punjab

4,977MP

4,259 UP

10,054 Delhi

11,379Gujarat

2,677West Bengal

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

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

2,407Andhra Pradesh

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,May18.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.36,824PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN32STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 33ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 101Bihar 1262Chandigarh 191Chhattisgarh 86DadarNagarHaveli 1Goa 29Haryana 910HimachalPradesh 80JammuandKashmir 1183Jharkhand 223Karnataka 1147Kerala 601Ladakh 43Manipur 7Meghalaya 13Mizoram 1Odisha 828Puducherry 13Telangana 1551Tripura 167Uttarakhand 92

ProfKSrinathReddy inconversationonZoomwithAbantikaGhoshandMonojitMajumdar(inset) lastweek. Screengrabs

FOCUSONMAHARASHTRA

RELATIVE COVID-19 RISKDUETOWEATHER (CRW*)WEEK DELHI MUMBAIMay24 0.788 0.564May31 0.839 0.564June7 0.795 0.605June14 0.703 0.627June21 0.669 0.677June28 0.650 0.733July5 0.613 0.719July12 0.584 0.674July19 0.573 0.708July26 0.574 0.775August2 0.574 0.775August9 0.575 0.723August16 0.565 0.681August23 0.544 0.683August30 0.531 0.747*Relativechanges in reproductionnumberdue toweatherSource: StudyviaHarvardUniversity

How far can weather impactCovid reproduction number?

AUDIENCEQUESTIONSOutofpeople,drugs,materialanddata,whichemphasiseimprovement,whichonewouldyoudointheIndiancontext?...Ibelieve,drugswillcomeuplater

on.Material,ofcourse,intermsofper-sonal protectionequipment andeventesting kits, is going to be important,anddatawillautomaticallyflowwhenyouactually startgatheringdata.But Ithinkpeoplearethemost important...particularlyhowdoyouactuallyensurethatyouaredoingcontacttracing,howare youdoing isolation at home, howare youdoinghealth education?Andpeoplewhoare inthemedicalprofes-sion, howare theydoing testing, howaretheydoingthetreatment,howaretheydoingtheisolation?Itisourhealthworkforcethathasbeenunfortunatelybeenveryweakbecauseof anumberofyearsofneglectofourhealthsystem;wehavenot adequately financedandbuiltupourhealthsystem,andwearepayingthepriceforthat.

Mumbaihasaround9,000cases,Ahmedabadaround4,500cases,Delhiaround5,000.Howcanyousaythatcommunitytransmissionhasnottakenplace?Well, that’s for the government to

explainwhy it isnotusing thatpartic-ular term.But I don’t thinkweshouldbeshyofit,becauseeverysinglecoun-try has had a phase of communitytransmission.Howwelltheycontainedit is the importantelement.Butoneofthereasonswhyweareseeingthethreeareasyoumentionasbeingparticularlyvulnerable, is because of the large in-flowof foreign travellers... So, theyarecalling it local transmission, but that’samatterofsemantics.Iamnotgoingtostart disputing thosewords, but cer-tainly let’snotbeshythateverycoun-tryhashadcommunitytransmission...

New Delhi

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

NEPAL

Largest1-daysurge;casescross350Kathmandu: Nepalrecorded itshighestone-day case count so far onMonday, taking the totalnumber infected to 357.As many as 55 people ,out of them47 fromonesingle localityofwesternNepal’s Banke district,tested positive onMonday. The govern-ment said several peoplein quarantine inNarainpuraareaofBankehad returned fromMaharashtra recently,and mass CPR testingthere after a 25-year-oldman died on Sundayshowed 47 infected.Nepal has been underlockdown since March24. It has so far reportedtwodeaths.

InKathmandu.AP

PANDEMICWATCH

UNITEDKINGDOM

‘Movingtonextlevel, furthereasingcurbs’London:TheUKisinapo-sitiontomovetothenextlevel of its COVID-19 re-sponseandfurtherliftthelockdown in place incarefulsteps,UKBusinessSecretary Alok Sharmahas said. The Indian-ori-gin minister said thecountryhadsucceededinkeeping the rateof infec-tion, so-calledRrate,andtherefore on track to hitLevel 3 in its five-levelstrategytoeaseoutof thelockdown.“...wehavecol-lectively helped to bringtheRleveldown...wearenowinapositiontobeginmovingtoLevel3,incare-ful steps,”hesaid.

FRANCE

ProlificactorMichelPiccolideadat94Paris:FrenchactorMichelPiccoli, a prolific starwhoappeared in landmarkfilmsbydirectors suchasLuisBunuel - including inhisAcademyAwardwin-ning ‘TheDiscreetCharmof the Bourgeoisie’ - andJean-LucGodard,hasdied.Hewas94.Hisfamilycon-firmed Monday that hediedlastweek,buttheydidnot give a cause of death.ThoughlessfamousintheEnglish-speakingworld,incontinental Europe andFrance, Piccoliwas a stal-wart of art house cinema.Beginninghiscareerinthe1940s,hewentontomakeover170movies,workingintohislateeighties.

2-DAYVIRTUALMEETINGto focusoncoronavirusoutbreak

116OF194COUNTRIESsupportedthecall toprobeWHO’s role

COSTLYFAILURE,SAYSU.S.,calling for a more effective organisation

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY18

AMIDCALLSbyamajorityof themember countries, includingIndia, to probe its Covid-19 re-sponse, World HealthOrganisation (WHO)Director-General Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesusonMondaysaidhewill“initiateanindependenteval-uation”at “theearliest appropri-atemoment”. Beijing,whichhasbeenundermountingglobalpres-sure,alsoseemedtohaverelentedonitsoppositionforaninquiryintotheoriginof thevirus,believedtobeawetmarketinWuhan.Sixty-one countries had

moveda resolutionat theWorldHealth Assembly (WHA)— theWHO’sdecision-makingbody—asking for an “impartial, inde-pendentandcomprehensiveeval-uation”oftheWHO’sresponsetothecoronaviruspandemic,aswellas identificationof “the zoonoticsource” of the coronavirus.NamesonadraftresolutionseenbyReutersshowedsupportfrom116of194countriesintheWHO.China said theworld should

support theWHO. President XiJinpingannounced$2billiondo-nationtotheUnitedNationsandoffered to set up hospitals andhealth infrastructure inAfrica.“China supports a compre-

hensive evaluation of the globalresponsetotheepidemicaftertheglobalepidemicisundercontrol,

tosumupexperiencesandrem-edydeficiencies,” Xi told the as-sembly.“Thisworkneedsascien-tificandprofessionalattitude,andneedstobeledbytheWHO;andthe principles of objectivity andfairnessneedtobeupheld.”Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokesmanZhaoLijian said, “Ontheissueoftheoriginofthevirus,all parties have agreed toInternationalHealth Regulationemergencycommitteesuggestedwording and (asked) theWHOchief towork in close collabora-tionwithWorldOrganisationforAnimalHealth and theFoodandAgriculturalOrganisation,andallcountries to find out the animalsource and the transmissionroutesof thevirus...”To questions on whether

Chinahadagreedtoaprobe,Zhaosaid, “China participated in theconsultationonthedraft resolu-tion... The content is in linewith

China’sconsistentposition...”Speaking at the WHA ses-

sion, Ghebreyesus said, “TheWHO is committed to trans-parency,accountabilityandcon-tinuous improvement...”TheWHOchiefadded,“Iwill

initiate an independent evalua-tion at the earliest appropriatemoment to review experiencegainedand lessons learned...”TheUSsaidthepandemichad

“spunoutofcontrol”ingreatpartdue to a costly “failure” by theWHO.USSecretaryofHealthandHumanServicesAlexAzar,with-outnamingChinasaid:“Inanap-parentattempttoconcealthisout-break, at least onemember statemade amockery of their trans-parencyobligations,withtremen-douscostsfortheentireworld.”Health Minister Dr Harsh

VardhanrepresentedIndiaatthevirtual session. WITHINPUTS

FROMPTI,REUTERS

ASSOCIATEDPRESSTAIPEI,MAY18

TAIWANWILLnotpressforpar-ticipation at theWorld HealthAssemblyMonday,butwillcon-tinuetodonatemedicalsuppliesabroadandprotestChina's“two-faced behaviour" that excludesit fromsuchforums, the island'sforeignminister said.Joseph Wu said the short-

ened agenda for this year'sWHArequires timebedevotedto concentrating on ways tocontrol the pandemic. Taiwanagreed with suggestions thatthe issueof its participationbediscussed instead at meetingslater this year.“After careful deliberation,

wehaveacceptedthesuggestionfromouralliesand like-mindednations to wait until the re-sumed session before furtherpromotingourbid,"Wusaid.Wu said his ministry ex-

pressed“deepregretandstrongdissatisfaction that theWHOSecretariat has yielded to pres-sure from the Chinese govern-mentandcontinuestodisregardtheright tohealthof the23mil-lionpeopleof Taiwan."

FOR A GREEN RECOVERYAchildstandssurroundedbyshoesaftercivildisobediencegroupExtinctionRebellion laidout1,500pairsof children'sshoes inLondononMonday, calling foraclimate-friendlyeconomicrecoveryplanfollowingtheoutbreak. Reuters

PAMBELLUCKNEWYORK,MAY18

WHENAsprinklingofareddishrash appeared on JackMcMorrow’s hands in mid-April, his father figured the 14-year-old was overusing handsanitiser—notabad thingdur-ing a global pandemic.WhenJack’sparentsnoticed

thathiseyes lookedglossy, theyattributed it to late nights ofvideogamesandTV.Whenhedevelopedastom-

achacheanddidn’twantdinner,“they thought it was because Iate toomany cookies or what-ever,”saidJack,aninthgraderinWoodside,Queens.

But over the next 10 days,Jackfelt increasinglyunwell.Hisparentsconsultedhispaediatri-cian invideoappointmentsandtook him to a weekend urgentcare clinic. Then, onemorning,heawokeunable tomove.He had a tennis-ball-size

lymphnode, raging fever, racingheartbeat and dangerously lowbloodpressure. Paindelugedhisbody in “a throbbing, stingingrush,”hesaid.“Youcouldfeelitgo-ingthroughyourveinsanditwasalmostlikesomeoneinjectedyouwithstraight-upfire,”hesaid.Jack, who was previously

healthy, was hospitalisedwithheartfailurethatday,inastarkex-ampleofthesevereinflammatorysyndromelinkedtocoronavirus.

The condition, which theCenters for Disease Control andPrevention are callingMultisystem Inflammatory

Syndrome in Children, hasshakenwidespread confidencethatchildrenwerelargelysparedfromthepandemic.

Instead of targeting lungs asthe primary coronavirus infec-tiondoes,itcausesinflammationthroughout the body and cancripple the heart. It has beencomparedtoararechildhoodin-flammatory illness calledKawasaki disease, but doctorshave learned that the new syn-drome affects the heart differ-ently and erupts mostly inschool-agechildren,ratherthaninfantsandtoddlers.AtaSenatehearinglastweek,

DrAnthonySFauciwarnedthatbecauseofthesyndrome,“we’vegot tobe careful thatwearenotcavalier and thinking that chil-drenarecompletely immunetothedeleteriouseffects.”ByApril29,Jack’sthirddayin

theICU,bloodpressuremedica-tionwasnothelpingenoughanddoctorsbeganplanningtoinserta central line through his grointo deliver additional medica-tions. They alsoprepared toputJack, who was receiving nasaloxygen,onaventilator.But then doctors began giv-

ingJacksteroids,whichcanhaveanti-inflammatory and im-munosuppressanteffects.Atlast,something seemed to work.Within hours, Jack needed lessbloodpressuremedication.Over the nextweek, Jack re-

covered.Heemailedhisbiologyteacherfromhishospitalbed:“Iwouldliketothankyouforedu-catingmeasyoudid,andforpro-vidingme the educational sup-

port to understand my bodywhen Ineedtomost.”OnMay7,10daysafterbeing

hospitalised,Jackwenthomeandtraipsed around the apartmentchannelingPinocchio:“I’maboy!Therearenostringsonme!”Pausing near a model of

Darth Vader’s castle on hisdesk, Jack said he once consid-eredbecominganactor.Hewaseven an extra on the TV show“Gotham,”playingakidnappedorphan.Butbeforegettingsick,hewasthinkingaboutstudyingmedicine. “Iwas really into theheart,” he said.Now,he is evenmore interested.“I justwant to domorewith

my life now that I have it back,”hesaid. NYT

JackMcMorrowhaddangerously lowbloodpressure.NYT

ASSOCIATEDPRESSATHENS,MAY18

EUROPEREOPENEDmorewidelyonMonday,allowingpeopleintotheAcropolis inAthens, shops inItaly,markets andmuseums inBelgium,gardenstores inIrelandandbeergardensinBavariawhileits leaders discussedhowto sal-vageEurope'ssummervacations.Germany's foreignminister,

whowasdiscussingtheoptionsMondaywithcolleaguesfrom10largelysouthernEuropeancoun-tries, cautioned that this year'sholidayswill be likenoother.“Even if a summer vacation

will be possible elsewhere inEurope,whichIhope,onehastosay that this vacation this yearwon't be like theonesweknowfromthepast,"ForeignMinisterHeikoMaas toldZDFtelevision.Greece reopened the

Acropolis in Athens and otherancient sites, along with highschools, shopping malls andmainlandtravel.Tourists were local, for the

country still has a 14-day quar-antine for arrivals, and travel tothe Greek islands remainsbroadly restricted.In Belgium, more students

returned to school, hairdressersbegan clipping locks again andmuseumsandzoosopenedtheirdoors, allwithstrict reservationsystemstoavoidovercrowding.Some stores reopened in

Ireland but Health MinisterSimonHarrissaidhe'sstillnerv-ous because the virus hasn't

goneaway.Churches in Italy and at the

VaticanresumedpublicMasses.Guards in hazmat suits took

the temperatures of the faithfulenteringSt.Peter'sBasilica,wherePope Francis celebrated an earlymorningMassinasidechapeltocommemorate the centenary ofthebirthofSt. JohnPaul II.

THENEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,MAY18

THE FIRST coronavirus vaccinetobetestedinpeopleappearstobe safe and able to stimulate animmune response against thevirus, its manufacturer,Moderna, announced Monday.Thefindingsarebasedonre-

sults from the first eight peoplewhoeachreceived twodosesofthevaccine, starting inMarch.Thosepeople,healthyvolun-

teers,madeantibodiesthatwerethentestedinhumancellsinthelab, and were able to stop thevirus fromreplicating—thekeyrequirementforaneffectivevac-cine.Thelevelsofthoseso-calledneutralisingantibodiesmatchedthelevelsfoundinpatientswhohad recovered after contractingthevirus in thecommunity.The company has said it is

proceeding on an acceleratedtimetable,with the next phaseinvolving 600 people to beginsoon.ButUnitedStatesgovern-ment officials have warnedproducingavaccinethatwouldbe widely available could takea year to 18months.

SAJJADHUSSAINISLAMABAD,MAY18

OBSERVING THAT shopkeepersin Pakistan will "die of hungerratherthanthecoronavirus"andthat the virus does not go any-where on Saturdays andSundays, the SupremeCourt onMonday ordered that shoppingmallsandmarketsshouldbeal-lowedtooperatethroughouttheweekacross thecountry.Marketsandshoppingmalls

inPakistanwereshutdowndur-

ing the lockdown.A five-member Supreme

Court bench headed by Chief

Justice Gulzar Ahmed washearing a suo motu case re-gardingmeasurestakenagainstthe virus outbreak.During the hearing, Justice

Ahmed remarked that if shopsare shut down then shopkeep-ers will "die of hunger ratherthan thecoronavirus".Rejectingtheprovincialgov-

ernments' logictokeepmarketsclosed onweekends to reducethe spread of the virus, he said,keepingbusinessesshutforcer-tain days in aweek violates theConstitution."Coronavirusdoes

not go anywhere on Saturdayand Sunday.What is the reasonbehind keepingmarkets closedon Saturday and Sunday?"JusticeAhmedasked.Duringthehearing,theSindh

provincial government showedreluctance to allowmalls to re-open but the court rejected thereservations.The court said it will be the

provincial governments' re-sponsibility toensurethatstan-dard operating procedures(SOPs) are being followed andimplemented. PTI

THEWORLDHealth Assembly,which has been trimmed fromthreeweekstotwodays,MondayandTuesday, isexpectedtofocusalmost solelyonCOVID-19.Herearethereactionsfromsomecoun-triesontheproceedingssofar:

GERMANYGerman Chancellor Angela

Merkel said countries need towork together to overcome thepandemic. In a video address tothe World Health Assembly,Merkel said, “No country can

solve this problem alone.” Shebacked the WHO’s efforts tocombat theoutbreakbutaddedthat countries should “work toimprove procedures” at theglobalbodyandensureitsfund-ing is sustainable.

SOUTHKOREASouth Korean President

Moon Jae-in called onMondayfor giving theWHOmore teethto combat emerging diseasesthatthreatenglobalhealth.“Wemust update the WHO

InternationalHealthRegulationsand other relevant norms andaugment themwithbinding le-gal force,”hesaid.

AUSTRALIAAustralian ForeignMinister

MarisePayneonMondayhailedtheglobalsupportforacompre-hensive investigation into thehandling of the COVID-19 out-breakandexpressedconfidenceofapositiveoutcomeforthemo-tionforanindependentprobeattheWHOmeeting. AGENCIES

AFTER8,000QUARANTINED:Testing in Jilin,wherea localclusterwastraced, inChina. AP

‘No country can solve this problem alone’

Vaccine trial byUS companyhas promisingearly results

They will die of hunger: Pak SC orders markets open

Closedshopsatabazaar inKarachi. Reuters/File

HIS CASE MAY HELP DOCTORS UNDERSTAND A NEW AFFLICTION IN CHILDREN LINKED TO COVID-19

‘Straight-up fire’ in his veins: Teen battles new Covid syndrome

Won’t press forparticipation,says Taiwan

Paris: Justoneweekaftera third of French school-children went back toschool inaneasingof thelockdown, there's beenaworrying flare up ofabout70COVID-19caseslinked toschools.French Education

minister Jean-MichelBlanquer said the returnhas put some children innew danger of contami-nation. He said the af-fected schools are beingclosed immediately.The situation high-

lights theprecariousstatetheFrenchgovernment isin as it seeks to reassurethepublicthatitismovingforward and to react pru-dentlytosafeguardpublichealth. Blanquer did notspecify if the 70 cases ofCOVID-19 were amongstudentsorteachers.AP

FRANCE: 70 CASESAT SCHOOLS AFTERTHEYREOPEN

Europe reopens morewidely to salvagesummer vacations

THEWHOnodtoanindependentevaluationof itsresponsetoCOVID-19 came aftermore than 100 countries called for it,withIndiabackingitwhileseekingreformsintheorganisation.Theimplementationof thedecisionwilltestChina’scommit-ment, as it had so far resisted aprobe into its handlingof thevirusor its“origins”.Thestrain intiesbetweenChinaandtheUS over the issuewas seen at the Assembly, even as otherscalled forunityandacoordinatedresponsetothepandemic.

ImplementationatestforBeijing

WHOnod for probe, China backs down

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,MAY18

THEGOVERNMENTofNepalonMonday approved a newmap,including three regions —Kakapani, Limpuadhura andLipulekh—thatatpresentfigurein theofficial Indianmap.TheCabinetdecisionfollows

PresidentBidhyaDeviBhandari’sdeclarationinparliament,whilepresentinggovernment’sannualprogrammesandpolicies,thatanewmapwould be publishedandnegotiationswith India ini-tiated toget thoseareasback.Nepal has over the past two

decades officially sought settle-ment of the area in the trijunc-tion,claimingthatSugaulitreatysigned between it and the EastIndia company in 1816 hadrecogniseditastheeasternbor-derofNepal.The border issue triggered

wide protest in Nepal both inParliament and in streets afterIndianDefenceMinisterRajnathSinghe-inauguratedaroadfromPithoragarh to Lipulek withNepalclaimingit ranthroughitsterritoryand Indiadenying it.

Nepal Cabinetapproves newmap includingcontested area

New Delhi

13SENSEX: 30,028.98 ▼ 1068.75 NIFTY: 8,823.25 ▼ 313.60 NIKKEI: 20,133.73 ▲ 96.26 HANG SENG: 23,934.77 ▲ 137.30 FTSE: 5,783.42▲ 176.50 DAX: 10,864.86 ▲ 399.69

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`47,929

RUPEE`75.91

OIL$26.15

SILVER`48,298

Note:MCXgold, silver Junefutures**Goldper10g, silverper1kg; IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY18

DOMESTIC STOCKmarkets onMondayplungedby1,069pointsasthe Rs 20-lakhcrorestimuluspackage announcedby the gov-ernmentovertheweekendfailedtocheerinvestors,withtheexten-sion of lockdown for anothertwoweeksandrisingcoronavirusinfections adding to the sellingpressure.ThoughotherAsianmar-kets advanced, the benchmarkSensex plummetedby3.44percent to close at 30,028.98pointsand the NSE Nifty Index fell313.60pointsto8,823.25.Therupeefell33paisetoclose

at 75.91 against the US dollar,trackingweakdomestic equitiesandforeign fundoutflows.Risingcrude oil prices and concernsabout theeffectivenessof the fis-calstimuluspackagealsoweighedonthe forex marketsentiment.Marketsstartedtheweekona

pessimistic note and shed overthreepercentasthedetailsofthestimuluspackagefellshortofmar-ketexpectations,triggeringasharpreactiononthe downside. “Withan extension of the lockdownthemarketgaveawaymoreonadaywheneverythingwiththeex-ceptionof TCS waspoundedasfinancials were torn apart. An

economic packageworthmorethan10per cent of GDPandyetimpacting the fiscal deficit to thetuneof underoneper cent failedtocheerbullswhofeareddemandmaynot get thedesiredboost tospur consumption,” said SRanganathan, head of research,LKP Securities.“The selling pressure was

widespread…banking, finan-cials,autoandrealtycountersweretrashedbadly.Wehadasimilarsit-uationonthebroaderfronttooasboth the indices ended lowerby3.8 per cent and2.9 per cent re-spectively,”said Ajit Mishra, VP-Research, Religare Broking. SBIfell 6.61 per cent, HDFC Bank5.83per cent, Axis Bank7.55percentand ICICI Bank7.44percent.TCS gained2.72percent.Theeconomicpackagelargely

focusedonprovidingcredit sup-port and guarantees and some-wherefailedtotouchupontheim-mediate need to boostconsumption. Further, the risingnumberof coronavirus cases isanother factor that is constantlyhaunting the investors. “We’vebeenmaintaining our negativeviewonmarketsandexpectmorepainahead.Meanwhile,theguide-linesfor lockdown 4.0fromstategovernmentsandearningswouldbe actively tracked by the in-vestors,” Mishra said.

LOCKDOWNEXTENSION,RISINGVIRUSCASESWEIGH; ECONOMICPACKAGEDAMPENSMOOD

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY18

GOLDPRICEShitarecordhighforthesecondday ina row, trackingpricemovements in the interna-tionalmarket. Gold prices haverisen24.45per cent toRs47,929per10grams fromitsMarch lowof Rs 38,500 amidworries overtheescalatingUS-Chinatradeten-sions and the impact of coron-aviruspandemicontheeconomy.OnMCX, the gold June fu-

tures traded at Rs 47,860 per 10grams,upRs479or1.01percent.Silver July futureswereRs1,580,or 3.38 per cent, higher at Rs48,298per kg. Silver prices havegained around44per cent fromitsMarchlowofRs33,580perkg.Gold is set tocross theRs50,000

mark in the comingweeks, ana-lystssaid.“The rally in gold prices is

primarily due to uncertainty inIndianaswellastheglobalmar-ketduetoCOVID-19andescalat-ing tensions between US andChinawhich could lead to fur-ther trade tariffs. Reportsof fur-ther stimulus by the US on thebackofeconomicissuesarealsoone of the reasons for the spikein gold prices,” said Nish Bhatt,founder & CEO,Millwood KaneInternational. Traditionally,while gold is seen as a hedgeagainst inflation, lack of returnfrom other asset classes haspushedinvestmentsinfavouroftheyellowmetal.In the internationalmarket,

goldwastradingaboveitsseven-yearhighlevelof$1,760.

Gold hits record high onrush to safe haven assets

Airtel posts `5,237 cr Q4 loss,full-year loss at `32,183.2 crENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY18

SUNIL BHARTIMittal-led BhartiAirtel onMonday posted a netlossofRs5,237croreforthequar-terendedMarch31,2020,asitsetasidemoniesforpaymentofad-justedgrossrevenues.Thecom-panyhad recorded aprofit of Rs107.2croreforthesameperiodintheprevious fiscal.“TheexceptionalchargeofRs

7,000 crore during the quarterendedMarch31,2020comprisesof a charge on account of re-assessment of regulatory costbased on a recent judgment onOTSC (one-time spectrumcharge) related matter of Rs5,642crore,”thecompanysaidinitsstatement.ForthefiscalendedMarch31,

2020, thecompanypostedanetloss of Rs 32,183.2 crore, com-

paredtoaprofitofRs409.5crorefor financialyear (FY)2018-19.The company saw some

greenshootsofgrowthinthelastquarter of FY20 as the averagerevenueperusergrewmorethan25percentonyeartoRs154.Thecompany’sconsolidatedrevenueforthequarterrecordedagrowthof 15.1 per cent on year toRs23,723crore.Similarly, the company’s

earningsbeforeinteresttaxesde-preciation and amortisationgrew51.7 per cent on year to Rs10,326crore.The company also gained

customersduringthequarter.AsofMarch31, 2020, the companyhad423millioncustomerscom-pared tonearly404millioncus-tomers in the correspondingquarter lastyear.Totackletheongoingcrisisdue

toCOVID-19pandemic, thecom-pany said it had set up “a war

room”fromwherethetopexecu-tivesofthecompany,includingitsChiefExecutiveOfficerGopalVittal,weremonitoringthesituation.The companyalsopinned its

hopesonsomereliefonthe“reg-ulatoryleviesandtaxes”front,andsaidthatsinceitwas“abundantlyclear today that telecom hasplayed anessential role in keep-ingthecountrygoing”duringtheCOVID-19crisis, thegovernmentwould “implement the recom-mendations” of the TelecomRegulatoryAuthorityof India.“Eveninthisdifficulttime,itis

ourinvestmentsinnetworktech-nologies coupledwith our cul-ture of customer obsession thathasallowedustokeepthenationconnected and serve our cus-tomers. It isabundantlyclearto-day that telecomhas played anessential role in keeping thecountry going,” Vittal said in astatement.

As curbs ease, e-comm cos starttaking orders for non-essentialsPRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,MAY18

FOLLOWING THE issuance ofguidelinesforthefourthlockdownphaseby theHomeMinistryandindividual states, e-commercecompanies including Amazon,Flipkart, Snapdeal andLimeroadhavestartedtakingordersfornon-essential items, too,withachunkof the orders coming from red-zone classified areas. To beginwith,e-commerceplatformssaworders formobile phones, gar-ments,homegoods likepressurecookers, food processors, bed-sheets, towels andmops, amongother suchnon-essential items,whichwerenotbeingdeliveredtoalargepartofthecountryearlier.A senior Flipkart official said

thatthecompanywouldstarttak-ingorders inmoststatessoonaf-terdiscussingresumptionwithitssellers. “In accordancewith thelatestGovernmentguidelinesanddirectives, wewill continue toworkwithlocalauthoritieswhile

servingcustomers,sellersthroughoursafesupplychain,”acompanyspokespersonsaid.Gurgaon-based onlinemar-

ketplaceSnapdealsaidinastate-ment that orders on its platformgrewrapidlyandhadcrossed2.4timestheaverageoftheprevious15daysby3pmonMonday.“Thesurgeinordersstartedaround10pm on Sunday and has beengrowingeveryhourfrom8amon-wards. Many users simplychecked out their pre-loadedcarts,whichtheyhavebeenaccu-mulatingoverthelast4-6weeks.On average, users bought 2-3products in one go. Thiswas toavoidastockoutsituation,wherehigh-demandproducts get soldoutquickly,” itadded.Snapdealalsopointedoutthat

usersfromDelhi-NationalCapitalRegion, Mumbai, Pune,Bengaluru, Patna, Chandigarh,Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara,Jaipur,Kota,Hyderabad,Lucknow,IndoreandKolkataaccountedforalargepartoftheordersplacedonits platform, addingdeliveries ofnon-essentialsareexpectedtore-sumeTuesdayonwards,depend-ingonstate-specificguidelines.AmazonIndiahasalsostarted

taking orders for non-essentialitems such as mobile phones,books,appareltoanumberofred-zone areas, too. “Amazonwel-comesthelatestnotificationfromgovernmentof Indiaasitenablese-commercetodeliverawiderse-lectionofproductswhileuphold-ingthetenetsof safetyandsocialdistancing.Thiswillgiveafilliptothe6lakhretailersandMSMEsonourmarketplace andhelp reviveeconomicactivitymorebroadly,”thecompanysaidinastatement.Meanwhile,onlinecab-aggre-

gator Ola also announced re-sumptioninover160citiesacrossthecountry.

PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,MAY18

ONLINEFOODdeliveryplatformSwiggywilllayoff1,100ofitsem-ployees, spanning across gradesandfunctionsacrosscitiesanditsheadofficeoverthenextfewdays,the firm’s CEOSriharshaMajetywrote in a email to the staff onMonday.Swiggy’sdecisioncomescloseontheheelsof itsGurgaon-based rival Zomato asking over500ofitsemployeestostartlook-ingfornewjobs,astherestaurantindustrystaresatdeepuncertaintyintheaftermathofCOVID-19.“The core fooddeliverybusi-

nesshasbeenseverely impactedandwill stay impacted over theshortterm,butisexpectedtostartgrowingagainafterthat.Weneedto hence prepare to come outstrongerontheothersidebycon-tinuingtobuildoncapabilitiesthatwillhelpusmakethemostof theopportunitywhenthingsarebet-teragain,”theSwiggyco-founder

wroteintheemail.“We are choosing to scale

downorshutdownadjacentbusi-nesses that areeithergoing tobehighlyvolatileorwillnotbehighlyrelevant for thenext18months,”henoted,addingthatthecompanyhadalreadybeguntheprocessofshuttingdownitskitchenfacilitiestemporarily.Theprimarypainpointforon-

linedeliveryplatformsisthepoorhealth of the restaurants, fromwhich these appsmakemost oftheirrevenues.

Uncertaintylikelytocontinue

WITHTHEeconomicpackageannouncedbythegovernmentnotseenasadequateconsideringtheneedofthehourandwithinfectionsrisingunabated,themarketsendeddowninspiteofpositiveglobalcues.Mostmeasuresmaybeseenasalong-termpositiveandmarketsweremoreworriedabouttheimmediateimpactofthesemeasures.WithconcernsaboutrisingNPAs,financialstocksweremostaffected.Uncertaintyislikelytocontinue.

Sensexdives1,069pointsdespitepositiveglobalcues

BRIEFLYTatatobuyoutPepsiCo’sstakeinJVNewDelhi: Tata ConsumerProducts Ltd (TCPL) onMonday said itwill acquirethestakeof PepsiCo in theirjoint venture NourishCoBeverages. The size of thedealwasnotdisclosedbythecompany.Themoveisanef-fortbytheTataGroupfirmtowiden its portfolio in thegrowing food and bever-ages space,TCPLsaid.PTI

Ubertolayoff3,000workersasvirushitsbizBengaluru: Uber Tech-nologieswillcutabout3,000jobs,inadditiontothe3,700ithadannouncedearlierthismonth, as coronavirus-ledrestrictions sapdemand forride-hailing services, ChiefExecutive Officer DaraKhosrowshahi said in anemailtoemployeesMonday.

JackMaresignsfromSoftBankboardTokyo: SoftBank GroupCorp said onMonday thatAlibaba co-founder JackMa will resign from itsboard, in the latest depar-ture by a high-profile allyof CEO Masayoshi Son.SoftBank has reported a$18 billion loss at its giantVisionFund.REUTERS

LibertySteelappointsKahlonCEONewDelhi:UK-basedLibertySteelonMondayannouncedappointment of ParamjitKahlon as the ChiefExecutiveOfficer(CEO)ofitsprimarysteelandintegratedminingbusinesses. PTI

‘Cement dealers see significantslackening in sales this fiscal’

Paymentdelays from retailersappear inevitable consideringthese players are small andfragmented, andmost likely todelay payments amid liquiditycrunch, gloomydemandoutlook, and cement spoilageconcerns

DISCOUNTSTOCONTAINSPOILAGEDealers are hopeful ofliquidating inventory byoffering discounts as soon asthe lockdown eases, to containspoilage and get volumesgoing

EFFECTThat, in turn,would stretch thereceivables cycle andnegatively impact cash flowsof the dealers, asmuch as95per cent ofwhomoffer credit

Cement dealers expect a significant slackening in sales,elongated credit period to retailers and higher workingcapital needs in thewake of COVID-19 this fiscal, ratingagency Crisil Research has said

70-80%dealers felt individualhomebuilderswould delaynewconstruction due togloomybusiness outlook, fearof income loss, labourshortage and uncertaintywithrespect to resumption ofnormalcy

Over60%of dealersare holding lowinventories (2-4days), but spoilageconcerns persist

93% of the respondentsexpect volumes to shrink 10-30per cent in fiscal 2021 inthe base case scenario

The cycle of recovery of retailer dues is expected to extend by 4-6 weeksover and above the usual four weeks. This will potentially increase theworking capital requirement of dealers by 12-17 per cent, even as theyreduce credit exposure, infuse capital, and curb non-essential expenditure

Source: CrisilResearch/PTI

PRABHARAGHAVAN&KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,MAY18

IN THE last month, a DelhiNCR-basedbuyinghousecon-nectingIndiangarmentmak-ers with fashion brands incountries like the US wit-nessed approximately an 80percentdropinorders.Newerdesignsforupcomingseasonsbythisfirm,notnamedtopro-tect the identities of its em-ployees, have also beenscrapped as its internationalbuyershaveeithershutshopsforthenextfewmonthsorarerecyclingolderdesigns.“OurclientsintheUShave

been cancelling their orders,even the ones which havebeen produced, packed andreadytoship,”saidoneof theemployees.“While somehave slowly

started reinstating their or-ders, it is less compared towhatthey’vecancelled.Ontopof this, these internationalbrands with several storeshavebeenasking factories inIndiawithliabilitiesandheavyexpenses to give them dis-counts,”thepersonadded.Despitethis,theworkload

is still the samebecause thefirm is trying to stay relevantinthefaceofuncertaintimes.“Thereismorepressuretostayrelevant.Everyoneisparanoidandtryingtoputtheirbestfootforward because we don’tknowwhetherwe’llhaveajobtomorrow,”saidadesigneratthe firm. The pandemic hasdealtablowtoIndia’s labour-intensive textile and apparelindustry across the supplychain during the pandemic,according to experts. Expertssaythatlargebrandsarestrug-glingwith high inventoriesandarecuttingbackonplansforthenextseason.“Largebrandshavearound

80-90per cent of their storesinmallswhich are not open.With the overall slowdown,these retailers are also sittingwitha lotof inventory for thecurrentseason,andarepullingback purchases for their fallcollectionstohelpsellcurrentstocksandalsoexpectingde-mand to be soft,” said RajatWahi,partneratDeloitteIndia.Exportsinthetextilessec-

torwitnesseda steepdrop inApril.Forinstance,shipmentsfrom Tirupur plummetednearly 90per cent to around

Rs225 crore thatmonthdueto a combination of lowde-mand and the nationwidelockdown, according toTirupurExportersAssociationexecutive secretary SSakthivel.“The global demand,

whetheritisthefinishedprod-uct or the rawmaterial, hastaken ahit and that demandwasdetermining,toalargeex-tent, our textile exports also,”said Federation of IndianExportOrganisations(FIEO)di-rectorgeneralAjaySahai.Despite an appeal by

TextilesMinister Smriti IraniinApriltobuyersnottocancel“a single order that has beenplaced”, 60-80percent of or-dersplacedintextilesandap-parelshavebeencancelled,ac-cordingtoSahai.Domestic demand, too, is

nearlynon-existent,accordingtoindustryexecutives.Textile producers in

Panipat supplying to India’sdomesticmarket are eithershutoroperatingatoutputlev-elsof10-15percent,accordingto Federation of IndustrialAssociationsofPanipat (FIAP)general secretary ShreeBhagwanAggarwal.Whiletheimpactmaynot

drastically hurt India’sGDP--textiles contributes to a littleover2percentof it—thema-jor “cause of concern” is thepotentialdamageitmaycauseto livelihoods, according toSahai.Thesectorhasbeenthesecond-largestemployerafteragriculture, expected to pro-videjobstoaround55millionpeoplein2020.However,someproducers

attribute this to issueswithgettingaccesstolabourduringthelockdown.TextileAssociationofIndia

president Ashok Juneja saidavailabilityoflabourwasa“bigissue” asmanyworkers hadgonebacktotheirhometownsduring the lockdown. Headdedmanufacturerswerenow looking to train localwomentooffsetthisshortage.“Labourisamajorissue...I

expect it will take somemonths for the labour situa-tion to normalise,” saidAggarwal of FIAP. “While it istoo early to tell howmuchlabourhasgone,onefalloutofCOVID-19will be increasing(use of) automation (for rea-sons likemaintaining socialdistancing)...this is on thecards,”saidFIEO’sSahai.

COVID-19WATCHTEXTILES&APPAREL

Keeping old shirt on: Asbuyers turn cautious &stick to past designs,sector sees dip in orders

LALITKJHAWASHINGTON,MAY18

THE US economy, the world’slargest,which has been thrownintoarecessionduetothecoron-aviruspandemic,willreboundbutthe recovery could stretchthrough the end of next year,FederalReserveChairmanJeromePowellhassaid.Hisstatementcamedaysafter

a top economic advisor toPresidentDonaldTrumpfavouredgivingtaxincentivestoAmericancompanies tomove theirmanu-facturingunits fromChina to theUS, amidst anewrift in thebilat-eralrelationshipoverBeijing’shan-dlingofthecoronaviruscrisis.TheUShas expresseddisap-

pointmentoverChina’shandlingof the COVID-19 which hasclaimed nearly 90,000 lives inAmerica.China,whichistheworld’ssec-

ondlargesteconomy,inthebegin-ningoftheyearsignedthePhase-1ofatradedealwiththeUS,end-ingabittertwo-yeartariffwarthathadrattledtheglobaleconomy.Federal Reserve Chairman

Powell,duringa“60Minutes”pro-grammeonCBSNewsonSunday,saidthatinthelongrunandeveninthemediumrun,onewouldnotwanttobetagainsttheAmericaneconomy.PTI

Economy to contract 5% inFY21, says Goldman SachsPRESSTRUSTOFINDIAMUMBAI,MAY18

GOLDMANSACHS expects theIndianeconomy to contract by5percentinFY21.The brokerage said theGDP

willcontractby45percentintheJune quarter, compared to theJanuary-Marchperiodonanan-nualisedbasis,becauseofthecon-

tinuinglockdownwhichischillingeconomicactivity,beforerecover-ing later. “The-5percentgrowthwe forecast for FY21would bedeepercomparedtoall‘recessions’Indiahaseverexperienced,”itsan-alystswrote in thenote. The re-bound fromaquarterlyperspec-tive will be very strong in theSeptemberquarter,itsaid,expect-ing a20per cent growth inGDPoverthelevelof June-end.

IMF chief forecasts full globalrecovery unlikely in 2021Washington:Theglobaleconomywill takemuch longer to recoverfullyfromtheshockcausedbythenewcoronavirusthaninitiallyex-pected, the head of theInternationalMonetaryFundsaid.ManagingDirectorKristalina

GeorgievasaidtheFundwaslikelytorevisedownwarditsforecastfor

a3percentcontractioninGDPin2020,butgavenodetails.Shesaiddatafromaroundthe

worldwasworse thanexpected.“Obviouslythatmeansitwilltakeusmuch longer tohavea full re-coveryfromthiscrisis,”Georgievasaid inan interview. Shegavenospecifictargetdate.REUTERS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY18

MICRO, SMALL and MediumEnterprises(MSMEs)havesoughtclarifications regardingeligibility,wagepaymentsandparticipationintendersthatwerepartofthere-centsetofannouncementsbytheFinanceMinistry outlining theAtmanirbharpackagetodealwiththeCOVID-19pandemic.All India Manufacturers’

Organisation(AIMO),aMSMEin-dustry body, saidmembers areconfusedaboutthemethodology.K E Raghunathan, formerPresident, AIMOsaid, “...FMhassaid that over about 50 lakhMSMEswillbenefitfromRs3lakhcrores package and other an-nouncements , the total numberofMSMEsthatoperateinIndiaisinexcessof 6 croreand thepresent

packagewillnotevencover8percent of the total number ofMSMEs,ourmemberswouldliketoknowif there is anotherpack-ageforoursector.Uncertaintyhasbeen thebiggest fear ofMSMEsposttheCOVID-19lockdown.”Also about63per cent of the

pendingduesforMSMEsarefromthe state governments and theirundertakings.AIMOsaidthestateshaveoftencitedlackoffundsasthe

reason for not clearing the out-standingpaymentsforMSMEs.Also, MSMEs require more

clarity regarding EMIpaymentsstartingfromJune1,clarityonpay-mentforsalaries,regularisationofexistingNPAaccountsbyrestruc-turingthem,ceilingandeligibilityforadditionalloansbeingoffered,methodologyonmanagingFundofFunds,exemptionfromESIandGST payments for MSMEs,Raghunathansaid.Ontheannouncementrelated

tonoglobal tenderbelowRs200crore,AIMOsaidthereneedstobeclarityonwhether IndiantradersandIndianrepresentativesof for-eigncompanieswillbeeligibleorbedisallowedfromparticipation.Thegovernmenthadlastweek

disallowedglobalcompaniesfromparticipating in tendersup toRs200crore, earmarking that spaceexclusivelyforIndiancompanies.

FederalReserveChairmanJeromePowell. File

‘Recovery of US economy maystretch through end of next year’

CATEGORY DROPINEXPORTSINAPRIL2020

Cottonyarn, fabrics,made-ups, 80.74%handloomproductsMan-madeyarns, fabrics, 82.55%made-upsReadymadegarments 90.16%of all textilesJutemanufacturing, including 89.69%floorcoveringsCarpets 90.84%Source:MinistryofCommerceand Industry

EXPORTS TUMBLE

E-commerceplatformsseeorders formobiles,garments,pressurecookers,amongothers ■ Swiggy’s decision

comes closeon theheels of itsGurgaon-based rival Zomatoaskingover 500of itsemployees to startlooking fornew jobs.

INDUSTRYUNDERPRESSURE

‘Food delivery businessseverely impacted’, Swiggyto lay off 1,100 employees

■ Thegovernmenthad lastweekdisallowedglobalcompanies fromparticipating intendersup toRs200crore, earmarkingthat space exclusivelyfor Indian companies.

GOVTMEASURES

MSMEs seek clarity on salarypayments, details of package

New Delhi

VolLXXXVIIINo.163 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301. Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha ** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY19,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EPLCLUBSTOTRAINFROMTODAYPremier League clubs will return to training on Tuesday after agreeing to allow“small group” sessions to begin. The league held a conference call for all 20 clubson Monday where the move was given unanimous backing.14

Athletics federation’sguidelinesalso includebanonshoppingor interactionwithoutsiders

No birthday parties, parlour visitsMIHIRVASAVDANEWDELHI,MAY18

NOSHOPPING.Novisitstobarbersorbeautyparlours. No sauna or ice baths. No interac-tionwith ‘outsiders.’Nohugs.Andnosocialgatherings, includingbirthdaycelebrations.WhenIndia’selitetrackandfieldathletesre-sume training, theywill have to adhere tostrict guidelines set by the AthleticsFederationof India(AFI).Apartfromenforc-ing social distancing and personal hygienenormswhile training, the AFI’s draft proto-colsalsoprohibitcampersfrommakinganynon-essential contact.The22-pointundertaking,whichislikely

to be made official on Tuesday, will bemandatory for athletes aswell as coachingand support staff who will be part of thetrainingcamp.“Anycoachorathletenotfol-lowing the advisory of athletics federationonscheduleof trainingwillbeaskedtostopthe training immediately by supervisors,”theguidelineswarned.Thesportsministryhasnotyetsetadate

for athletes to be able to restart training,whichhascometoacompletehaltsincethelockdownwas enforced onMarch 25. OnMonday, following theMinistry of HomeAffairs’order,sportsministerKirenRijijusaidthat ‘sports activities will be conducted insportscomplexesandstadiastrictlyinaccor-dancewithMHAguidelines and that of thestates inwhich theyaresituated.’A Sports Authority of India (SAI) official

said theywill nowwork towards restartingthenationalcamps,startingwiththecentresinBengaluruandPatiala,whereathletesarealreadystaying.Thetrackandfieldathletes,whoareall at theNational Instituteof Sportin Patiala,will be given an exhaustive list ofdos and don’ts before they can get back towork. According to the guidelines, the ath-leteswill ‘not (be)permitted to leavehostelother than for training or for any treatment/ rehabilitation.’They have also been instructed to leave

thehosteljustfiveminutesbeforetheirtrain-ing begins andwill not be allowed to ‘loiteraroundthe trainingareaoroutside thehos-tel rooms’.Moreover, theywill have to trainin small groups and ‘strictly adhere (to) theduration of training.’ “Athletes are not al-

lowed to train in any group or time otherthanscheduledbyAFI,” theguidelinesread.Therestrictionsimposedonthemduring

off-time are evenmore stringent. The ath-letes, as per the guidelines, will not be al-lowed to go shopping, visit a hairdresser orbeautyparlour. “Athletesarenotallowed togoout of campus andarenot (to) order anyfoodpackedorunpacked,” it further stated.“Nocourierorparcelwillbeacceptedbyath-letes directly and should be keptminimum24hoursawayandtobesanitised.”Toensuremaximumdistancing, theywill

be advised tonot have any ‘interactionwithoutsiders’.Eventhestorekeepersandgrounds-menwillbetoldtostayawayfromthetrainingareas while a session is going on, and thecoacheswillberesponsibleforgettingequip-mentandotherassistancefortraining.’The athletes will also be cautioned

against ‘spitting inside thecampusor train-ing places’, which the advisory added, is

‘punishableunder the rules of Governmentof India.’ “No shake hand or hugging to anyfriendsandnogatheringlikebirthdayetcin-sidethehosteloroutsidehostel,” theguide-linessaid.“Musthaveashowerimmediatelyafter returning fromtraining.”AnAFI official said thesemeasures have

beenput inplacekeeping inmindthehealthof athletes. “Wehad already submitted ourStandard Operating Procedure to the SAI.However,we believe it is essential that thehealth of the athletes is not compromised.Hence,wecameupwiththispolicy.Itisstrict,butit isforthewell-beingof athletes,”theof-ficialsaid.“Itisrightnowadraft.WemightaddmorepointsandmakeitofficialonTuesday.”Apartfromthesepoints, theathletesfol-

low theguidelines set by theSAI,which in-clude undergoing COVID-19 tests for thosereturning to the training facilities andmandatoryquarantineuntil thetest resultsaredeclared.

100metrenational-recordholdersDuteeChandandAmiyaKumarMallicktrainedat theKalingaStadiuminBhubaneswaronMonday. Twitter

NewDelhi:TheTableTennisFederationofIndiasoughtwrittenconsentfromitstop16playerstojoinatrainingcampaf-ter the government allowed sportscomplexes toopenbutwarypaddlerssaidtheywouldprefer towaitawhile.Mostplayers, including India's leadingplayersSharathKamalandGSathiyan,said theywerenotcomfortable travel-linganytimesoonamid theCOVID-19pandemic. TT camps are held at NISPatiala,SonepatandKolkata.“Wewereasked to join camp at the end of themonthbut I feel it is tooearly for that.Casescontinuetoriseandtravelrestric-tionsareinplace.Trainingcanwaitun-til situation improves significantly,”worldnumber31Sharath,whoisbasedinChennai, said. “Anyway, all ITTF (in-ternational body) activities are sus-pendedtillendofJune.Thereisnoeventplannedinthenearfuture. Itwouldbenice for thewholeteamtobetogetheragainbutnotanytimesoon.” PTI

TT players notready to join camp

CROSSWORD4121

ACROSS1 Course takenbyabeginner

(7)5 Sign foranote in Italian

money(5)8 Theyareclassedas

contemporaries (13)9 Oldship left first,making

slowmovement (5)10 Atellingperformanceof

note (7)11 &&&&&&(Foodfor thought

here) (6)12 Putongear that’s strangely

colourful (6)15 Puzzlenomore(7)17 Outstandinggarments? (5)19 Answer themediumhopes

togetataseance?(8,5)20 Noagreementreturned?

Curious! (5)21 Justifybeingwrongly

severed(7)

DOWN1 Silasmakescordage(5)2 Apointedlyobdurate

comparison(2,4,2,5)3 Double,double,double (7)4 Formerarrangement to

change for thebetter (6)5 Flower I ringupabout (5)6 Absorbingnewssheet,

soughtbefore the ink isdry(8,5)

7 Free fromsailor’s loveentanglement (7)

11 Meatstewedinovens(7)

13 Registers thebestperformances (7)

14 Getup forwilddances(6)

16 Ordinarypeoplehavetobetabout it (5)

18 Penhas theFrenchwayofwriting (5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)It isnowuptoyoutodeterminewhereyou letyour feelingstakeyou.This isa

timeofdeepemotionand, inyourcase, acutesensitivity. Ifeveryoushould findyourselffeelinga littleconfused,don’tworry—just takeadeepbreathandcount to ten.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)It isalmostimpossible toseewhetheryou’llbeconductingan

argument inyourheadwithimaginaryopponents,or if itwill allbreakout into theopen.Whatever the finaloutcome,youshould leavenostoneunturned inyoursearch for theultimate truth.

GEMINI (May22- June21)There’ssomethingrathermagicalaboutthisweek’splanetaryalignment.Your

greateststrengthshouldbeyourconfidenceandbelief inyourownfuture,soyoumaybanishself-doubttothefar fringesofexistence.Andif a friendoffersyousomemuch-neededhelp,don’tbetooproudtoaccept.

CANCER(June22- July23)If aprojectordutyatworkseemstobecomingunstuck,yourbestoption

couldbeto takeastepbacktoyourpreviousposition,andseewhatyoudidright.Thenyou’lldiscover thebestway forwardfromhere. It’sall very logicalreally, inspiteofwhatotherpeople think.

LEO(July24-Aug23)You’renowintoaforty-eighthourphaseofpotentiallyextraordinary

extravagance.Of course,unlessyouhave largebillsdue, it isuptoyouhowfaryougodowntheroadof convertingyourhard-earnedsavings into luxuriesandtreats. I’msureyou’ll staywithinyourmeans.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Allgreatgeneralsknowwhentomakeatactical retreat,maybeevenby

losingabattle inorder towinthewar.This samestrategyalsooccurs in themostprofoundorientalmysticism,sobewiseandbendwiththetimes.There’sanotherpossibilityhere,and it’s that someoneelsewillhandyouvictoryonaplate.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Partnersmayappeartobedomineering,but in fact they’reprobablyallbluff

andbluster.Youmayconfrontthemor ignore them,dependingonyour fancy,but ineithercaseyouhavenothingtoworryabout.Themainthingyouhavetodo iskeepasteadynerve.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Soenjoyableandcreative is today’splanetarypotentialthat itwouldbea

cryingshameif youweretobechainedtoanunavoidableroutineathomeoratwork.Makestrenuousefforts to instilyourpersonal talents intoallactivitiesatevery turn.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Youshoulddoyourself a favourandspendasmuchattentionas is

necessary todealingwithdomestic issues, especiallyfamily relationships.Don’tbeworriedaboutopeninganemotionalcanofworms, foryour fearsaremassivelyexaggerated—andmaycometonothing.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Dialogue isabsolutelycrucial,obviously favouringthoseof you

attending interviewsorotherwisehavingtosellyourselves.Goforapoeticapproachanddon’t just repeatthe facts—give themadeepermeaning.Youmighteven findthatanapparentlydullactivitycontainshidden interest.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Thisshouldbea timeforspending,withtheemphasisondomestic items,but

notnecessities. Imean, there’salwaysroomfora littleextraluxury.Youshouldperhaps trytogetholdof somethingthatyouoncesetyourhearton,butwereunable toobtain.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Youmaytaketheleadtoday, set thepaceandcontrol theemotionalagenda.

There’snoneedtowaveyourarmsandshout. Insteadyoushouldquietlymanoeuvrepartners intoapositionfromwhichthey,aswellasyou,willbenefit. It’s reallyquitemiraculous.

SUDOKU4113

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4112

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Whatweneedisnotthe__tobelieve,butthe__tofindout.-WilliamWordsworth(4,..,4)

SOLUTION:IDIOT,SLOPS,UPHELD,WIGWAMAnswer:Whatweneedisnotthewilltobelieve,butthewishtofindout.-WilliamWordsworth

DOTII DEPUHL

OPSLS AGIMWW

SolutionsCrossword4120:Across: 1Salvo,8Cheating,9Spill, 10Announce, 11Sneak, 12Sea, 16Bireme, 17Tinsel, 18Tee,23Wroth,24Nominate,25Egret,26Sardonic,27Least.Down:2Appendix,3Villager,4Change,5Capon,6Fiona, 7Ogles, 12Set, 13Ate, 14 Intrigue, 15Restless, 19Entail, 20 Inuse,21Smart,22Endow.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

To reduce virus spread, ICCbans saliva to polish ballThe InternationalCricketCouncil’s CricketCommittee chairedby former Indialeg-spinnerAnilKumble,whichheldaconference call toaddress issues related toplayer safety, also called fornon-neutralumpiresand referees for games.

SALIVABAN:Henceforth,playerswouldbebarredfromusingsaliva toshinetheball. Thedecisionhasbeentakentoday,astheKumble-ledCricketCommitteehadameetingviaconferencecall thataddressed issues likemaintainingtheconditionof thematchball.

REASON:TheICCsayschangestoregulationshavebeenbrought in“tomitigate therisksposedbytheCOVID-19virus,andprotect thesafetyofplayersandmatchofficials”.Withregards tosalivaban, theCricketCommitteeactedonICCMedicalAdvisoryCommitteechairDrPeterHarcourt’sadvice. Theregulationtobansaliva toshinetheballhasbeenput inplacebecausespittingontheballelevates theriskof thevirustransmission.TheWorldHealthOrganization(WHO)advisorysays:“COVID-19virus isprimarily transmittedbetweenpeoplethroughrespiratorydropletsandcontact routes.”The ICCCricketCommitteeunanimouslyagreedtoenforce theban.

SWEATISALLOWED:Playerscanonlyusesweat topolishtheball. “TheCommitteealsonotedthemedicaladvicethat it ishighlyunlikely that theviruscanbetransmittedthroughsweatandsawnoneedtoprohibit theuseof sweat topolishtheballwhilst recommendingthatenhancedhygienemeasuresareimplementedonandaroundtheplayingfield,” says the ICCrelease.This is inaccordancewiththeguidelines issuedbyWHOandthe JohnsHopkinsUniversity.Bothomitsweatasatransmittingagentof thevirus.

NON-NEUTRALUMPIRES,REFEREES:Since2002, twoneutralumpires fromtheICCElitePanelconductedtheon-fieldproceedings inTests.Thirdumpire, too,wasanICCappointee,while thefourthumpirecamefromthehostcricketboard.ForODIs,oneon-fieldumpireandthe

thirdumpirewere fromtheICCpanel,while forT20 internationals, all fourumpirescamefromthehostboard.TheICCappointedneutralmatchrefereesacross formats.Followingtheregulationchangetoday, internationalmatchescangoaheadwithallnon-neutralmatchofficials. Forexample, if theWest IndiestourEnglandin July forathree-Testseries, thematcheswillbeofficiatedbylocalumpires.The ICC, though, says this isashort-termmeasurebecauseof theCOVID-19crisis.

REASON:TheCricketCommitteehasrecommendedthechangekeepinganeyeoninternational travel restrictions,closedbordersandmandatoryquarantineperiods.The ICCwill continuetoappointmatchofficials from“localEliteandInternationalPanel refereesandumpires”.CountrieswithnoElitePanelmatchofficialswill see“thebest localInternationalPanelmatchofficials”areappointed. ENS

The toughest part of theSOP is theblanket banonoutside food. I andmy roommate love to order non-vegetarian food fromoutside.Meat is servedat thehostelmesstoobutweget bored at times.Whatmakes it even tougher is thefact that evenpacked food itemsfromoutside are not allowed. Thatmeansno evening snacks.Avoidinghair salon is not abigdeal.Weboysgave eachother a haircut today.Weunderstandall theseguidelinesaremeant for our safety andwewillfollow it for sure.”

DHARUN AYYASAMYNATLCAMPERANDASIANGAMESMEDALLIST

TheICC’sCricketCommitteehasprohibitedtheuseof saliva topolishthecricketball inorder toreducetheriskof transmissionofCovid-19virus.

New Delhi

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