OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: With 2,76,110 new Coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,57,72,440 while the daily deaths were recorded below 4,000 after four days, taking the toll to 2,87,122 on Thursday. A total of 3,874 fatalities due to COVID-19 were registered in a span of 24 hours.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,23,55,440, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.11 per cent.

The active cases have fur-ther reduced to 31,29,878, comprising 12.14 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recov-ery rate has improved to 86.74 per cent.

Meanwhile, the govern-ment said that after a consis-tent increase in COVID-19 case positivity for 10 weeks, a decline has been reported since the last two weeks.

The number of districts reporting a decline in case positivity increased from 210 in April 29-May 5 to 303 dis-tricts in May 13-19, it said.

Seven states have more than 25 per cent case positiv-ity, while 22 states have more than 15 per cent case positiv-ity, the government said.

India witnessed a consis-tent upward trend in weekly tests for COVID-19 since mid-February and average daily tests increased by 2.3

times in 12 weeks, it said.According to a study, 50

per cent people still do not wear a mask and those who do about 64 per cent cover just their mouth but not their nose, it said.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 32,23,56,187 samples have been tested up to May 19 with 20,55,010 samples being tested on Wednesday.

The government is aiming to ramp up India’s daily testing capacity for COVID-19 to 45 lakh by end of June from the current capacity of 16-20 lakh per day. Out of the 45 lakh tests, 18 lakh will be RT-PCR, while 27 lakh will be Rapid Antigen Tests.

PROPER VENTILATION CAN DECREASE THE RISK OF TRANSMISSION

RNI NO.: DELENG/2005/15351REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

VOL.16, ISSUE 140 | Friday, 21 May, 2021 | New Delhi | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA

MILLENNIUMPOST.IN

IN MAY MONTH

No Half Truths

NEW DELHI/CHANDI-GARH: Legendary Indian sprinter Milkha Singh has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation at his Chandigarh residence.

The 91-year-old, popu-larly known as Flying Sikh, is asymptomatic and claims to be in “high spirits’”.

None of the other fam-ily members, including Milkha’s wife Nirmal Kaur, a former India volleyball captain, returned a positive test. MPOST

Legendary sprinter Milkha Singh tests positive

Centre asks states to declare ‘black fungus’ a notifiable disease under EDADelhi HC asks govt to import drug Amphotericin-B from ‘wherever available in the world’

India records 3,874 fatalities, 2.76 lakh

Covid cases in 24 hrs

Govt says it aims to ramp up daily testing capacity for Covid to 45 lakh by June-end

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a major cause of concern, the government on Thursday revealed that the nasal droplets fall within 2 metres from a COVID-19 infected person and the aerosols can travel in air up to 10 metres.

A detailed advisory has also been issued in this regard by the government’s principal scientific advisor Dr K Vijay Raghavan’s office to make people aware of the air-borne characteristics of the virus and take preventive mea-sures to stop the transmission of the deadly virus.

As per the advisory, aerosol, and droplets are a key mode of transmission of the virus and people should continue wearing

double masks or a N95 mask to prevent the transmission of the virus.

The advisory particularly

highlighted how well-ventilated spaces can dilute the risk of trans-mission from one infected per-son to the other due to aerosol

and droplets.“Ventilation is a community

defense that protects all of us at home or at work. Introducing outdoor air in offices, homes and larger public spaces is advised. Measures to improve ventilation in these spaces must be taken up on urgent priority in urban and rural areas alike, recommenda-tions for hutments, homes, offices and large centralised buildings are given,” it said.

Simple strategic placement of fans, open windows and doors, even slightly open windows can introduce outdoor air and improve the air quality inside, the advisory further stated.

The advisory stressed that people who show no symptoms can also spread the virus and sim-

ple interventions and behaviour change can protect people from getting infected.

As per the advisory docu-ment, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is released in the saliva and nasal discharge of an infected per-son through exhalation, talk-ing, speaking, singing, laughing, coughing, and sneezing, etc.

While larger size droplets fall to the ground and on surfaces up to two metres from the infected person, smaller aerosol particles are carried in the air to distances up to 10 metres, it said.

In addition to this, when someone touches a surface where the droplets have fallen, or the contaminated area, and touch their mouth, nose or eyes without washing their hands, they may

get infected, it said.It further added that these

virus-laden droplets can survive on non-porous surfaces such as glass, plastic and stainless steel for a fairly long time.

According to the advisory, infection transmission risk is much lower in outdoor areas, as virus particles get quickly dis-persed, while the chances of transmission are lesser if the ven-tilation is adequate.

In workspaces, the govern-ment has advised against running ACs while keeping windows and doors shut as it traps infected air inside the room and in hutments, it has been advised to install jaali or another simple air outlet that improves directional airflow and reduces viral load.

Aerosols can travel up to 10 metres in air: Govt

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: A record 119.3 mm rainfall pounded Delhi under the impact of cyclonic storm Tauktae and a western disturbance in 24 hours ending 8:30 am on Thursday, break-ing all the previous records for May, the IMD said on Thurs-day. This was double the pre-vious record rainfall of 60 mm on May 24 in 1976.

The city had also recorded a maximum temperature of 23.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, 16 notches below normal and the lowest in the month of May since 1951, it said.

“A record 119.3 mm rain fell in Delhi between 8:30 am on Wednesday and 8:30 am on

Thursday, which is a new record for May,” an Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of India Meteorologi-cal Department’s regional fore-casting Centre said.

The Lodhi road weather

station recorded 124.4 mm rainfall during the period.

Palam, Ayanagar, Najafgarh and SPS Mayur Vihar gauged 64 mm, 98 mm, 92.5 mm and 95.5 mm rainfall.

Rainfall recorded below 15 mm is considered light, between 15 and 64.5 mm is moderate, between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm is heavy, between 115.6 and 204.4 is very heavy. Anything above 204.4 mm is considered extremely heavy rainfall.

The rainfall in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, northern Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Utta-rakhand on Wednesday was a result of interaction between the remnant of cyclonic storm Tauktae and a western distur-bance, the IMD said.

The incessant rains brought the maximum temperature down to 23.8 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung on Wednesday.

Continued on P6

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: As cases of ‘black fungus’ among COVID-19 patients in the country rise to cross 7,000, the Centre on Thursday urged all states and union territories to declare it as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act to ensure mandatory surveillance to tackle the “new challenge”.

The Delhi High Court asked the Centre to take steps to import Amphotericin-B used for treating Mucormycosis, also known as ‘black fungus’, from wherever it is available in the world to bridge its shortage “before we lose more precious lives” even as a Union minis-ter said Indian companies have placed orders for importing 6 lakh vials of this key anti-fun-gal drug. Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also said 11 pharma firms in the country will pro-duce the drug with five more approvals being given.

“You have to get the med-icine from wherever in the

world. You have to take steps right now. Wherever it is avail-able in the world get it,” said a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh which was assured by the Centre that it has already started taking steps to import the medicine.

The court said the Cen-tre should inform it about the

steps taken to import the medi-cine, the shortfall of which was coming in the way of the treat-ment of this fungal infection which has been on the rise in the national capital and else-where in the country. The infection that affects the nose, eyes, sinuses, and sometimes even the brain is being detected

among patients who are recov-ering or have recovered from COVID-19.

Central government stand-ing counsel Kirtiman Singh and Amit Mahajan informed the court that as on May 19, there are 7,251 patients of black fungus in the country and this includes 200 in Delhi. Some

states have also reported fatal-ities due to this disease with Maharashtra recording 90 deaths. The issue of shortage of the medicine for treating black fungus was raised by advocate Rakesh Malhotra.

Minister Mandaviya said the shortage of the anti-fungal drug will be resolved soon.

In a letter to the states and the UTs, the Union Health Ministry said that in the recent times a “new challenge” in the form of a fungal infection Mucormycosis has emerged, and is leading to prolonged morbidity and mortality amongst COVID-19 patients. Continued on P6

OVER 7,000 CASES REPORTED ACROSS THE COUNTRY SO FAR

Delhi records highest-ever 24-hr rainfall

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The death toll on the barge that sank in the Arabian Sea rose to 49 with the recovery of more bodies even as the Navy and the Coast Guard searched for 37 other missing persons since the severe cyclonic storm Tauktae bat-tered the region.

Government sources said while 6,961 persons on 337 offshore wells, platforms and other oil and gas installations that dot the west coast stayed safe, five vessels encountered mechanical faults, putting to risk 714 personnel on board.

Three barges and an anchor han-dling boat, deployed by private con-tractor Afcons for a project it was doing for Oil and Natural Gas Cor-poration (ONGC) and a drillship of a state-owned firm, lost anchors and drifted away.

While 440 persons on two barges and the drillship were brought to safety, barge P-305 carrying 261 per-sonnel sank.

Out of 261, 186 were rescued and the bodies of 49 have been recovered, they said. Search for the remaining 26 is going on. Out of the 13 persons on anchor boat Varaprada, two have been rescued while the search for the remaining 11 is on.

Naval and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft scoured the waters off the west coast to look for the missing.

Sources said based on the weather warning, ONGC -- which operates the giant Mumbai High oil and gas field and other fields in the region -- activated its emer-gency response system and issued instructions to all installations to take action.

ONGC’s installations, which include giant platforms which house hundreds of staff, wells, drillships and support vessels, took appropriate actions like staying at safe mode or moving to a safe loca-tion, they said. Continued on P6

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Alleging that the Chief Ministers (CMs) of the participating states were not allowed to speak at the vir-tual meeting with the Prime Minister over Covid situation, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee—who also attended the meet on Thursday—said the meeting was too casual and super flop.

Urging all Chief Minis-ters to protest the ‘humilia-tion’, she alleged that the CMs were made to sit through the meeting like ‘puppets’ and were

deprived from raising peo-ple’s demands. Banerjee fur-ther alleged that ‘dictatorship’ was prevailing in the country and the virtual meeting was an instance of demolishing the federal structure.

“We the Chief Ministers are feeling insulted and humili-ated. We are astonished to see that the Prime Minister called a meeting and invited the Chief Ministers and all the Chief Ministers were sitting just like puppets. Nobody is allowed to speak. Then, how do we speak about the public demand?”

Continued on P6

49 bodies recovered, search on for 37 missing

PM’s virtual meet casual & super flop, says Mamata

‘Dictatorship is prevailing in the country’

Highlights » Union minister said Indian companies have placed orders for importing 6 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B

» Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also said 11 pharma firms in the country will produce the drug with five more approvals being given

» States like Rajasthan, T’gana and K’taka have already declared Mucormycosis as a notifiable disease

» Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said dedicated centres will be set up for treatment of the disease

» NHRC has asked health ministry to submit report on black fungus deaths

City: Pg 3‘Bitter experience’: HC directs hosps to install PSA O2 plants

Nation: Pg 5Challenge remains till infection exists even at minor scale: PM

Film: Pg 11‘Colour-blind casting is the future’

CityIN S DELHI, MOBILE APP FOR PROPERTY TAX 2

Nation‘INDIA-CHINA TIES AT CROSSROADS’ 4

Edit

NOT SEEING EYE TO EYE 7

InternationalISRAEL UNLEASHES STRIKES 8

BusinessRUPEE UP 6 PAISE TO 73.12 AGAINST $ 10

SportJUVENTUS WIN ITALIAN CUP FINAL 11

In today’s paper

...

Strategy to deal with COVID-19 should be dynamic, innovative

Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: The government on Thurs-day extended the due date of filing income tax returns for 2020-21 for individuals by two months till September 30.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has also extended the ITR filing deadline for companies by a month till November 30.

As per the income tax law, for individuals whose accounts are not required to be audited and who usually file their income tax return using ITR-1 or ITR-4 forms the deadline to file ITR is July 31. The deadline for taxpayers, like companies or firms, whose accounts are required to be audited is October 31. See P9

KOLKATA: A low-pressure area, set to form over east central Bay of Bengal on May 22, is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm and strike the Odisha-West Bengal coast on May 26, the Met department said on Thursday, spark-ing fears of another Amphan-like catastrophe.

Regional Met director G K Das said several places in Bengal are likely to experience light to moderate rainfall from May 25, and isolated areas may encounter heavy showers.

The intensity of rainfall may gradually increase, especially in the Gangetic belts. The Met department has also warned of rough to very rough sea conditions. Fishermen in West Bengal have been advised against venturing into the sea for a few days from May 23. The prevailing low-pressure area, if it develops into a cyclone, will be christened ‘Yaas’, a name given by Oman, in accordance with a standard procedure. MPOST

FY21 ITR FILING DEADLINE FOR INDIVIDUALS EXTENDED TILL SEPT 30

LOW-PRESSURE SYSTEM SET TO FORM ON BAY OF BENGAL: MET DEPARTMENT

Quick News

Vehicle move slowly from the waterlogged street after rain lashed previous day New Delhi Friday PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA

A cyclist pedals past a graffiti depicting Coronavirus during the ongoing COVID-induced lockdown, in New Delhi FILE PHOTO

Black Fungus infected patient receives treatment at NSCB medical college and hospital in Jabalpur, on Thursday PTI

Doctors perform a Diagnostic Nasal Endoscopy (DNE) on a patient to detect Black Fungus, on Thursday PTI

ARABIAN SEA TRAGEDY

Rescued crew members of the barge P305, being brought at an Indian Naval Ship off the Mumbai coast PTI

AHMEDABAD: As many as 79 people have lost their lives in incidents related to cyclone Tauktae in different parts of Gujarat, officials said on Thurs-day. Amreli in the Saurashtra region was the worst affected dis-trict with 45 deaths so far, said an official of the Amreli District Emergency Operations Centre (DEOC). Meanwhile, cyclone Tauktae claimed a total of 19 lives in Maharashtra while 37 persons were injured in cyclone-related incidents. Deaths were reported from seven districts.

19 dead in Maha, toll in Gujarat rises to 79

233 deaths as positivity dips to 5.5%

Record rain damages roads, buildings, trees; temp downTransport Minister Kailash Gahlot orders probe into road cave-in at Najafgarh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Light rain contin-ued in the national capital after 24 hours of continuous down-pour brought by Cyclone Tauktae, bringing down the soaring tem-perature to 21.1 degrees Celsius in respite for the citizens stuck in homes for nearly a month due to the Covid-induced lockdown.

The incessant rainfall throughout Wednesday night caused many trees to fall and damaged many buildings. While traffic jams were not reported widely due to the ongoing lock-down, many areas reported light water-logging causing minor inconveniences. However, the most significant damage caused to infrastructure due to the rains came in the Najafgarh area, where a road under the management of the Delhi Metro Rail Corpora-

tion caved in along with a truck that was in the area.

The incident occurred near the Dhansa Stand Metro Sation after a drain burst in the area due to excess flow of continu-ous rainwater, officials said on Thursday. Authorities have said that the State Disaster Response Force was also informed about the incident and the truck was taken out of the caved-in road. People residing in three build-ings near the spot were evacu-ated safely, officials said.

“Repair work of the caved in portion is in progress and all efforts shall be made to com-plete the work at the earliest. DMRC is now filling below the road with additional concrete to avoid the recurrence of this problem in the future. The con-tractor working in this project is M/s Paras Railtech Pvt Ltd.”

the DMRC stated.After the cave-in, Delhi Trans-

port Minister Kailash Gahlot vis-ited the site on Thursday and also ordered an inquiry into the incident. He said strict action will be taken against negligent officials. According to the latest civic body figures on Thursday,

SDMC reported water-logging in five areas in the West zone, the Central Zone saw water logging in eight areas, four incidents of water-logging were reported from the South Zone. Moreover, 16 incidents of tree-felling were reported in South Delhi.

North MCD reported as

many as 37 complaints of build-ing collapse, water-logging, or tree-felling. Of these, 10 areas reported water-logging includ-ing Sitaram Bazaar on Asif Ali Road, a bus depot in Jahangir-puri, and an underpass in Keshav Puram, among others.

Another 10 incidents of

building or house damage were reported from areas such as Shali-mar Bagh near Fortis Hospital, Timarpur ACP office, Police colony on Idgah Road and oth-ers. Tree-felling incidents (17) were reported from many parts in the city.

East MCD reported three incidents of building collapse (in East Vinod Nagar, Vivek Vihar, and New Modern Shahdara), two incidents of tree-felling (Krishna Nagar and IP-extension) and one of water-logging (in Priya-darshini Vihar), but said that relief and rebuilding efforts have been completed.

In addition to this, water-logging in the underpass at Pul Prahladpur caused a bit of traf-fic mayhem on the carriageway from Mehrauli towards Badar-pur and commuters were asked to avoid that stretch.

SON OF DELHI POLICE ASI HANGS HIMSELF AT SOUTH DELHI HOMENEW DELHI: The son of an assistant sub-inspector of Delhi Police died after he allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan inside his home in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar area, officials said on Thursday. The police said Sandeep (22)was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where he was declared brought dead. Enquiry revealed that the deceased had allegedly died by suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan, police said, adding that inquest proceedings have been initiated and post-mortem has also been conducted. The police said the deceased was prepar-ing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination.

MOTHER, SON MURDERED IN KARAWAL NAGAR, COPS LAUNCH INVESTIGATIONNEW DELHI: A 56-year-old woman and her son were murdered at their residence in north-east Delhi’s Kar-awal Nagar. The deceased were identified as Umlesh (56) and Ashok (29). The body of the woman was found lying on the floor and blood was still oozing out from her nose, when found. Her son’s body was lying on the bed in the same room and froth was com-ing out from his nose. Prima facie, it seems a case of murder by strangulation. However, no conclusion can be drawn without any conclusive evidence, Delhi Police said in their press statement. The woman is survived by another son named Siddarth (39), who lived in the house on the opposite side. Her husband, Shyam Sun-der has passed away. He had retired from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: To make it eas-ier for Delhi residents to file property taxes during the ongo-ing pandemic, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) launched a mobile application on Thursday in order to ‘provide an easy and hassle-free platform’. Through this app, property tax-payers can now file their taxes and make payments from the safety of their homes.

SDMC, which is the nodal agency in-charge for this pro-cess for all three MCDs (South, North and East Delhi Munici-pal Corporations) has made the facility available for residents across the city.

The app can be downloaded via a link available on the MCD website (mcdonline.nic.in). Users can use their mobile numbers to register/login. Thereafter, under the link ‘Registered Property Details’, taxpayers will have to click on ‘PayTax’ for the desired

UPIC and will have to select the financial year and will have to click the ‘Submit’ option.

Under ‘Pay Tax’, taxpayers will have to click ‘Tax Calcu-lations for Selected Financial Year’ and will have to pay the tax amount through debit card, credit card and netbank-ing. Receipt can be downloaded once payment will be made.

SDMC said that it is also ensuring digitization of property tax details that had been man-ually received last year and till date nearly 1 lakh returns have been digitized. With the move, taxpayers can go through the details of last year and can pay their property tax.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: MCD has increased taxes on trade licenses by manifold, Aam Aadmi Party’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak alleged on Thursday while add-ing that the worst impact will be witnessed by the small and medium traders.

He alleged that the corpo-ration has imposed around 13

different kinds of taxes on the citizens and that earlier a small trader would pay Rs 500-1,000 which has now been increased to Rs 6,000-15,000. The fac-tory license has increased from Rs 5,000-15,000 to Rs 50,000-1.5 lakh.

The AAP has demanded that the corporation should stop harassing the traders by sealing their shops if they are

unable to pay the taxes due to the pandemic.

“If there is a problem of even 1 inch in the signboards mounted on top of shops, FIRs are lodged and penalties are imposed according to the whims and fancies of MCD officials. Business this past year has come to naught. In such a situation, I think it’s wrong to charge such exorbitant amounts for a

trade license, a factory license, for garbage collection, and penalties for signboards,” he added.

The leader said that the MCD does not pick up garbage from homes, and instead charges for the services. “So, if the shop is small, it charges Rs 6,000, and for a big shop, this amount is Rs 50,000 per year, but MCD never picks up the garbage,” he said.

In South Delhi, mobile app for property tax

MCD’s decision to increase taxes on trade licenses will severely affect small, medium traders: Pathak

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to two siblings arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly hoarding oxygen concentrators and sell-ing them at exorbitant prices while noting that it would be “quite contrary” to the concept of personal liberty as enshrined in the Constitution if a person is imprisoned before conviction.

Significantly, Additional Sessions Judge Naveen Kumar Kashyap, while granting bail to Himanshu Handa and Ayush Handa also noted, “... one must not lose sight of the fact that any imprisonment before conviction has a substantial punitive con-tent and it would be improper for any court to refuse bail as mark of disapproval of former conduct whether the accused has been convicted for it or not or

to refuse bail to an unconvicted person for the purpose of giv-ing him a taste of imprisonment as a lesson.”

According to reports, the Delhi Police had recovered around 170 oxygen concentra-tors and two luxury cars - an Audi and Mercedes - from four people, including the two sib-lings. The police accused them of hoarding the essential medi-cal equipment and in times of

the pandemic and selling them to people at exorbitant rates.

However, in court, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa, on behalf of the accused siblings, noted that the FIR in the case included all bailable charges except for Sec-tion 420 IPC, which also does not hold ground in this case because the FIR does not have any complainant - a pre-requisite to invoke this section, accord-ing to him.

Furthermore, the counsel for the accused argued that the pur-chase of the concentrators was a bona fide purchase to be delivered to the Sarvodaya Hospital and that documents in this regard had already been submitted.

The prosecution opposed the bail, saying the accused hoarded the items and sold them to people at exorbitant rates. It called it a well-planned conspiracy.

While granting bail, the court

also noted that “the liberty of an individual is not absolute”.

The bail was granted on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a sound surity of the like amount each with the condition that the accused not indulge in activities for which they are being inves-tigated, submit for probe when-ever asked, not leave the country without court’s permission, and not threaten witnesses or tamper with evidence.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded 3,231 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 233 fatalities on Thursday, while the positivity rate dipped to 5.5 per cent, according to the health department.

According to the latest health bulletin, the new fatalities pushed the death toll from the novel Coronavirus infection in the city to 22,579.

The city recorded 3,231 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the daily count dipping to below 4,000-mark for the second con-secutive day, it said.

Medical experts have attrib-uted the lockdown as the main factor behind the dip amid the second wave of the pandemic.

On Wednesday, Delhi had recorded 3,846 cases and 235 deaths.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s stock of Covishield vaccine for the 18-44 age group will last less than a day and the city government will have to shut more than 150 vac-cination centres on Friday, AAP MLA Atishi said on Thursday.

Delhi has received 8.17 lakh vaccine doses for the 18-44 years category so far, of which, 7.49 lakh doses had been utilised by Thursday morning.

We have already exhausted

the Covaxin stock. The remain-ing Covishield doses will last less than a day for this category after Thursday evening, Atishi said while presenting the vac-cination bulletin online.

Therefore, we will have to shut more than 150 vaccination centres meant for the 18-44 age group from Friday. We appeal to the central government to make more vaccines available for this category immediately, she said.

Moreover, the ITBP, run-ning the Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre, said on Thursday that it had received 150 GPS-enabled ventilators from the PMCARES fund, following which 150 ven-tilator beds are now functional at the centre.

‘150+ JAB CENTRES TO SHUT TODAY’

AS SUSHIL KUMAR, ASSOCIATES EVADE ARREST

Siblings accused of hoarding oxygen equipment granted bail

City Briefs

2 millenniumpostCitympFRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

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Don’t take dip lightly, virus could hit again: High Court warns govts

Cops lose Kalra’s custody despite claiming ‘voluminous probe’ left

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday warned the authorities that they should not take lightly the dip in COVID-19 cases in the national capital as there is a likelihood that the virus would again raise its ugly head and hit the citizens badly and reminded them about their responsibility to create buffer stock of liquid medical oxygen (LMO).

The high court said it is the duty of the Centre and Delhi government to ensure that they are again not caught underpre-pared to deal with the situation.

If you have not taken steps, we will come and chase you again. We are telling you, we mean business. Please don’t take it lightly we are again warning you, a bench of Jus-tices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh told the Centre.

While the high court was told by the Delhi government counsel that it has created a buf-fer stock of 419 Metric Tonnes (MT) of LMO at different loca-tions here and they are making

arrangements for creating fur-ther stock in next 10 days, it noted that the Centre has not disclosed in the status report as to what steps it has taken to ful-fill its obligation in terms of the Supreme Court’s order.

This is a temporary phase. We know it is going to come back and hit us badly. We may remind both the Central and Delhi government that the responsibility to set up buffer stock has been cast upon pri-marily on the Centre and also on Delhi government by the Supreme Court vide its April 30 order, the bench, which heard the matter relating to various COVID-19 issues for over five hours, said.

The bench said, We would once again like to emphasis that mere reduction in num-ber of cases of COVID-19 be not taken lightly and there is a likelihood of this virus again raising its ugly head and hitting people of Delhi, may be even harder as it is projected by sci-entists. So it is the duty of the Centre and Delhi government to ensure that they are again

not caught underprepared to deal with the situation.

The high court asked the Centre to file a specific report with regard to steps taken to create buffer stock positively by May 24.

ABHAY SINGH AND ARNABJIT SUR

NEW DELHI: Observing that the courts are not expected to be carried away by the public sen-timent and hence cannot autho-rise detention merely because “some stringent and non-bail-able sections have been slapped upon the accused by the prosecu-tion”, a Delhi court on Thursday dismissed Delhi Police’s 5-day remand plea and sent business-man Navneet Kalra to a 14-day judicial custody in connection with a case of alleged blackmar-keting of oxygen concentrators.

On the prosecution’s conten-tion that incriminating material available with police against the accused have already been recov-ered and what remains is mere confrontation of Kalra with the said material, the court noted that police remand in such cir-cumstances is not warranted and hence dismissed the argument.

“Even if the accused is remanded to JC (judicial cus-tody) or enlarged upon bail, nothing whatsoever is an imped-iment upon the investigating

agency to confront or inter-rogate the accused,” the court order read.

During the hearing, Addi-tional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava submitted that huge transactions, as many as 516, were made by the accused and almost 23 bank branches are involved in these transactions. He argued that notices have already been sent to these banks but the recovered material is yet to be confronted with him.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, on behalf of Kalra, submitted that his client has fully cooperated with police at every stage and the contention of the mirror image not being created does not hold ground as Kalra’s presence is not required for the same.

Advocate Vineet Malhotra, assisting Pahwa, told the court that even Bollywood actor Salman Khan had procured the same machines for distribution among the needy and showed the actor’s Twitter profile dis-playing the same.

And as the Delhi Police con-tinue their probe, they have now

claimed that they have enough material to show that Kalra alleg-edly sold defective concentrators to some people.

When asked whether he had recalled the defective concentra-tors when people complained to him, sources aware of the probe, said that he had no response.

During his three-day police remand, cops took Kalra to his offices, hotels and there they seized books of accounts, laptop and other documents for further investigation, an official said.

Sources aware of the probe said that the police is suspect-ing Kalra was using an Innova car for the transportation and distribution of concentrators after having dumped his Range Rover car.

The police also raided a farm-house of Kalra’s at Mehrauli and recovered an iPad and a diary having accounts-related data and other information. Sources added that the police have also retrieved group chats from a seized phone, which showed conversations related to the deal-ing and distribution and sale of these concentrators.

ACTIVE CASES

40,214DEATH TOLL

22,579

DELHI COUNT

COVID-19

If you have not taken steps, we will

come and chase you again. We

are telling you, we mean business, says

court

23-year-old wrestler’s post-mortem reveals brutal knee, limb injuries before killing blowABHAY SINGH

NEW DELHI: As Olympic wres-tler and internationally acclaimed sportsperson Sushil Kumar con-tinues to evade arrest in the mur-der case of a 23-year-old fellow wrestler Sagar at the Chatrasal Stadium here, the post-mor-tem report of the victim reveals the brutality of wrestlers’ brawl, according to which, the victim’s limbs were heavily bruised and lacerated, knees were targeted and the head was injured badly.

The report concluded that

Sagar had died due to cerebral damage which was the result of blunt force trauma.

On the intervening night of May 4 and 5, Sagar was beaten brutally, allegedly by wrestler Sushil Kumar and his associates, due to which he died. After the murder, Kumar fled the spot and till Wednesday, Delhi Police was unable to arrest him.

The police have secured a warrant for his arrest, declared a Rs 1 lakh reward for any infor-mation on his whereabouts and are continuing their search.

An internal examination of the Sagar’s body indicated mul-tiple reddish abrasions on the left upper limb and both knees. Mul-tiple stitched lacerated wounds were found on both legs, fron-toparietal region.

The report also stated that multiple reddish bruises were found on both upper limbs, back of chest, abdomen and both legs. “There was no injury seen to any muscles and cartilage,” the report read.

The report further states that in the deceased’s head there was

sub-scalp bruising in the left temporoparietal region and brain matter was congested and

edematous.Narendra Dhankar, the

deceased’s uncle said there were multiple fractures in Sagar’s body.

Sagar and two of his friends were brutally assaulted allegedly by other wrestlers inside the Chhatrasal Stadium. The clash took place allegedly over vacating a flat in the Model Town area. Sushil Kumar has been named in the FIR and the police have also claimed that they have video evidence of Kumar at the scene of the crime.

A local court has also denied

anticipatory bail to Kumar, opin-ing that he was the “main con-spirator” in the case.

Significantly, the Delhi Police’s case revealed that there was firing during the brawl as well. They have recovered two double-barrel guns, seven live cartridges of 12 bore, two wooden sticks and five vehicles from the accused in the case.

Earlier, the Delhi Police had issued a lookout notice against the two-time Olympic medal-ist to prevent him from leaving the country.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

3millenniumpost City mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021

BLACK FUNGUS DRUG AMPHOTERICIN-B

‘IT IS NOT HELPING THE PATIENTS IN MOST CASES’

Delhi to get specialised centres for black fungus at three hosps

AAISHA SABIR

NEW DELHI: As the threat of Mucormycosis — black fun-gus — looms over the Capi-tal, the Delhi government will open centres for the treatment of black fungus at LNJP, GTB, Rajiv Gandhi hospitals along with creating awareness about the disease.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting to dis-cuss preventive measures and treatment procedures that can be taken by the government, a senior official present in the meeting told Millennium Post while adding that at least over 225 cases have been reported so far. The official also said that as of now the government has not decided whether they will declare black fungus under Epidemic Disease Act but the matter is at a discussion level as of now.

However, the CM on Thurs-day said, “We will declare it (black fungus) an epidemic if needs arise.”

The new centre for its treat-

ment will ensure adequate management of medicines used in its treatment and take all measures to spread aware-ness among people about dis-ease prevention measures.

Dedicated centres for Mucormycosis treatment cen-ter will be established at LNJP, GTB, Rajiv Gandhi hospitals, with teams of specialised doc-tors constituted at each centre for efficient functioning. The Delhi government will also pre-pare a detailed plan and issue special SOPs on how to raise

awareness amongst COVID-recovered people for the pre-vention of the disease, the government said in a statement.

The Delhi government will also procure medicines for the treatment of the disease from the Central government.

Nodal Minister for COVID management Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, Chief Secretary, and health offi-cials were also present in the meeting. Kejriwal discussed preventive measures with offi-cials, through which the Delhi

government can raise aware-ness. To tackle the rising cases of black fungus, the Delhi gov-ernment has dedicated three hospitals for its treatment.

“Delhi is the capital of the country and so, people from outside also come here for treatment. We should have a sufficient quantity of medicines to cater to everybody who is coming for the treatment of black fungus,” Kejriwal said.

CM acknowledged that there is a need for the forma-tion of an interdisciplinary panel to evaluate a proper treat-ment procedure of the fungus and added that an acute short-age of drugs required to treat Mucormycosis is a matter of concern for which the AAP-led government has written to the Centre.

While speaking to reporters the CM said, “I want to appeal to all doctors and hospitals to reduce the use of steroids as much as possible. Patients should look after their sugar levels. Secondly, an interdisci-plinary team of doctors needs

to be formed to evaluate the treatment of black fungus. In GTB, LJNP and Rajiv Gandhi hospitals, we have made spe-cial arrangements to ensure proper treatment of black fun-gus. There is an acute shortage of drugs used to treat black fun-gus. So we have written to the Centre as it has taken over the production of all drugs.”

He later took to twitter to state, “Convened a meet-ing with officials and experts on the growing cases of black fungus disease. We also have to stop this disease from growing and those who are getting this disease have to be given better treatment as soon as possible. Some impor-tant decisions were taken in the meeting for the prevention and treatment of this disease. 1- Centers for treatment of black fungus in LNJP, GTB and Rajiv Gandhi Hospital 2- Adequate management of medicines used in its treatment 3- Spread-ing awareness among people about disease prevention measures.”

‘Doubling production not enough, consider import’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: With black fun-gus (mucormycosis) cases on the rise in the Capital amid a shortage of Amphotericin-B — a drug used to treat the fungal infection on Thursday triggered the Delhi High Court to seek a detailed report on the produc-tion capacity of the drug after detailed arguments on the Cen-tre’s allocation to Delhi in the last few days.

Mucormycosis is a rare fun-gal infection affecting largely recovered Covid patients in significant numbers this year. Almost 200 cases have been reported across Delhi hospitals and even hospitals like AIIMS have said they are getting as many as 20 cases every day.

A division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh on Thursday directed the Cen-tre to file a status report within three days with details of the present production capacity of the drug, the producers licenced to manufacture it, their produc-tion capacity, their enhanced production capacity, and when the increased capacity will mate-rialise by.

In addition to this, the court

ordered that the Central govern-ment may also submit informa-tion regarding the steps taken to import the medicine for use throughout the country. The court directed that this status report be filed in three days after it expressed dissatisfaction with the Centre’s replies during the hearing.

After hearing on the irreg-ular allocation of the drug to Delhi due to shortage of the drug, when the Centre said that Bharat Biotech is increas-ing production capacity, the court said, “Looking to the requirement, we’re afraid that doubling of production will not suffice. We’re of the view that the Central government should seriously consider immediate import from wherever the medi-cine is available in the world.”

This came after Senior advo-cate Rahul Mehra, for the Delhi government submitted to the

court that there are five compa-nies including Cipla and Bharat Biotech that produce the drug but the Centre was yet to dis-close the names of all produc-ers of the medicine. He sought that the Centre be directed to disclose this list and also put on record how it is augment-ing production.

The allocation of the drug to Delhi has been irregular according to statements made by Advocate Singh. He said that Delhi had received 2,150 vials of the drug on May 11 and 600 vials on May 19. He said the allocation to Delhi is around 3 per cent of the national stocks. He went on to say that as of Thursday, the country was pro-ducing 15,960 vials per day, of which 430 was being allocated to Delhi.

During the hearing, Jus-tice Sanghi orally remarked, “What happens is that you say that requirement of Delhi is 4,000. So if you don’t have for all, then maybe you need to identify who you need to give it to. There should be guidelines. Either you have to ration it but there has to be some practical way to deal with it,” according to legal news website Live Law.

Mucormycosis cases on rise in GgmPIYUSH OHRIE

GURUGRAM: Already among the worst districts in the coun-try to be affected by the present wave of COVID-19, difficul-ties for patients, hospitals and government agencies have now increased further with rising cases of Mucormycosis in Gurugram.

Popularly known as black fungus, Gurugram is inching towards 100 such cases with its present official number being

95. According to officials, such has been the growth of this disease that in the last two to three days Gurugram has reported more than 20 cases on a daily basis. What has added to even more concern is that there has been one death due to the disease that has been offi-cially notified by the District Administration.

The deceased who was 29-year-old had recovered from COVID-19, however owing to complications due to

mucormycosis, he was admit-ted in a private hospital where he ultimately breathed his last.

According to doctors the most effective medication for treatment of Mucormycosis is Amphotericin B which after a spike in cases of Mucormy-cosis has become scarce in the district. Using its application from its past experiences the District Administration has been quick to form a commit-tee that has been entrusted with responsibility of distribution

of amphotericin-B to hospitals after ascertaining requirements of the patients.

Rise in the number of patients and increasing demands of medication how-ever has resulted in many hos-pitals sharing grievances that the supply continues to be delayed.

Facing shortage of Ampho-tericin B, many doctors are looking at alternative antifun-gal medications like Isavucon-azole and Pusaconazole.

‘Bitter experience’: HC directs hosps to install PSA O2 plants

ARNABJIT SUR

NEW DELHI: Stating that hos-pitals reeling under lack of oxy-gen supply during the second Covid wave have “certainly left a lesson to be learnt” and that sufficient infrastructure should be in place to prevent a similar situation, the Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the setting up of pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen plants in nurs-ing homes and hospitals com-prising of 100 beds and more, with almost double their normal capacity, adding that it is “high time” steps should be taken in this regard.

Hospital and nursing homes with 50 beds or less were also directed to set up PSA plants with sufficient capacity to meet their needs.

A division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet SIngh made this direction and ordered the Amicus Curiae in the mat-ter, senior advocate Rajshek-har Rao, to convene a meeting between Chairpersons of Delhi Municipal Corporations and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) along with representa-tives of large hospitals and asso-ciations in Delhi in order to set up such plants.

The court noted in its order: “The bitter experience that everyone in the NCT of Delhi has had with huge shortage of medical oxygen has certainly left

a lesson to be learnt particularly by hospitals and nursing homes operating in Delhi”.

The court said that it was high time that at least the large hospitals having capacity of 100 beds or more should install their own plants which should have the capacity of at least two times of the normal requirement.

Hospitals and nursing homes with a bed capacity of 50 or less were also directed to install such PSA plants with oxy-gen storage sufficient enough to deal with their regular require-ment. The Principal Secretary (Health) of Delhi government was directed to look into this aspect and file a status report in this regard within a week.

The bench noted that demand for oxygen during the second Covid wave went up by five times as compared to the normal requirement and hence “captive infrastructure” should be installed by hospitals in order to reduce usage of out-side oxygen sources when such surge arises again

The court further said, “Considering the fact that pan-demic is once in a century event and, hopefully, we will see the end of it sooner than later, we are of the view that the large hos-pitals and nursing homes with 100 beds or more should install PSA plants which should have twice the capacity than their normal requirement”.

Moreover, the bench directed the Municipal Corpo-rations and DDA to relax their rules as these PSA plants will be installed in parking spaces attached to such hospitals.

Chairman of Max Health-care, Dr. Abhay Soi, also informed the court that hos-pitals are willing to install PSA plants in their parking areas as the same is the only area avail-able for the purpose. Soi further told the court that multi-level parking lots should be allowed as spaces to set up such plants.

The bench was apprised of a status report filed by the Cen-tral government which laid out details regarding installation of PSA plants with the report claiming that as many as 14 such plants have been installed with some being installed through foreign aid.

Advocate Nidhi Mohan Parashar, on behalf of the Cen-tral government, informed the court that PSA plants installed through foreign aid have different timelines in com-parison to the ones set up by the ministry.

While appointing nodal offi-cers for setting up of such PSA plants, the court directed that both Delhi and Central govern-ment should place on record the information of the officer who will supervise the installation while a status report has to be filed by next Thursday.

Delhi Univ pushes UG & PG final

exams againOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Uni-versity on Thursday postponed the undergraduate and post-graduate final year exams for the second time now as the Covid pandemic continues to rage on in the country.

The exams were earlier scheduled to start from May 15 but were postponed to June 1 owing to the spike in corona-virus cases across the country and after strong and repeated requests from both teachers and students in light of the brutality of the second wave.

The DUTA has previously said that the virus had killed as many as 35 teachers in the last month.

On Thursday, the varsity released a new notification say-ing final semester/ annual exams will commence from June 7, instead of June 1, however, stu-dents at the varsity continue their calls for the examinations to be cancelled. Both students and teachers are seeking alter-native modes of assessment.

Meanwhile, the university, in an official order on Thursday, said that it will soon release the new date sheet. The exams will be held online and in the open-book format.

ECMO no silver bullet, very risky, aggressive use not good: Experts

NIKITA JAIN

NEW DELHI: Medical experts in Delhi are divided on the use of ECMO (Extracorpo-real Membrane Oxygenation) machines as there is a sharp rise in the number of post-Covid complications and infections.

ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) machines are expensive and not easily available in hospi-tals across Delhi-NCR. Speak-ing about whether ECMO machine is a viable option for a critical patient, Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder and Direc-tor at Ujala Cygnus Hospital said, “We need not be foolish about ECMO in Covid, because selection is very critical. Those who are late into the disease are less likely to survive. Doc-tors are saying ECMO is the only way because the patient is not responding to ventila-tor; unfortunately they have the least chance of survival. Those who fail to oxygenate on venti-lator are not ECMO candidates. All the calls we are getting for ECMO, less than 10 per cent is worth trying for. And let’s

say if 10 people are selected for ECMO only four are surviving. Our condition only should be whether the patient will come out, because a patient cannot be on lifelong ECMO.”

As patients are being rec-ommended the use of ECMO, a chaos like situation has devel-oped due to the lack of avail-ability of ECMO machines in Delhi. Hospitals like Ganga Ram, Max and Apollo have the availability of ECMO, most of which are already occupied.

For Rahul Sharma, whose fam-ily member is in critical situa-tion and in dire need of ECMO, finding one has been a task. “He has been on ventilator, while the doctor has asked to arrange for ECMO, because the hospital he is at does not have the facility. There is also a lot of confusion as to whether ECMO is a viable option because doc-tors are saying different things about it.”

Dr. Bajaj meanwhile emphasised that ECMO is not

a “magic pill” and “we should caution against the over aggres-sion of its use”.

According to a source at AIIMS, ECMO’s success rate for a patient is hardly anything. “If I talk about AIIMS, hardly 10 per cent patients have made it out alive, if they were sent on ECMO. It is a desperate situa-tion, however use of ECMO is not helping the patients in most cases,” he said.

ECMO requires a proper team where the patient is required continuous moni-toring. According to Dr. TS Kler, Chairman at Fortis Heart and Vascular Institute, “Peo-ple who are going on ventila-tor, I would say there is about 70 to 80 percent mortality in them, but whoever are going on ECMO about 98 percent are dying and the reason behind it is that we are putting people late on ECMO. On the other hand, a proper team is required to handle the machine, because there is constant monitoring of the patient, it is not a simple thing. No doubt we need more ECMOs, but we also need more manpower to handle it.”

PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA

Centres at Lok Nayak, Guru Teg Bahadur, Rajiv Gandhi hospitals, formation of interdisciplinary team needed to evaluate proper treatment procedures

4 millenniumpostNationmpFRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India is engaged with American entities for pro-curement of COVID-19 vac-cines from the US and their possible manufacturing in the country subsequently, the Min-istry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Hit by a devastating second wave of the Coronavirus pan-demic, India has been focus-ing on ramping up domestic production of COVID-19 vac-cines as well their procurement from abroad.

"We remain engaged with US entities on the prospect of procuring vaccines from the US and also perhaps manufactur-ing them in India subsequently," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing.

"This would augment our vaccine availability. Once this is available, whether it is through procurement or subsequent manufacturing," Arindam Bag-chi said. Bagchi also said that India has noted the announce-ment by the US on supplying COVID-19 vaccines to some countries.

The US announced earlier this week that it will share an additional 20 million coro-navirus vaccine doses with other countries in addition to the 60 million it has already committed.

"We have, of course, noted the recent announcement by the

US government of its intention to make some vaccines avail-able to some other countries," Bagchi said.

He said all vaccines to be procured from abroad would need to be compli-ant with India's regulatory guidelines.

"I would like to emphasise that all vaccines that may be procured from abroad would need to be as per our regula-tory guidelines. I understand that the US has also indicated that any vaccines it sends abroad would be after obtaining FDA (Food and Drug Administra-tion) clearance for product qual-ity," he said.

Recently, Charge D'Affaires of the US embassy Daniel B Smith said the US was looking at joint production of Johnson and Johnson's COVID-19 vac-cines in India and ways to help manufacturers like the Serum Institute of India (SII) to boost production. As India was facing a rapid increase in coronavirus infections, the US deployed six planeloads of life-saving sup-

plies in support of the country's fight against the pandemic. The US government's assistance to India is estimated at about $100 million.

To a separate question, Bag-chi said a large number of coun-tries have expressed solidarity with India in its fight against the second wave of the pandemic.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The relationship between India and China is at a crossroads and its direction depends on whether the neigh-bouring country adheres to var-ious agreements on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border, External Affairs Minis-ter S Jaishankar said on Thurs-day referring to the eastern Ladakh standoff.

Jaishankar said the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's visit in 1988 to China 26 years after the 1962 conflict led to a consensus on having stability along the frontier which was followed by the signing of two important agreements in 1993 and 1996 on maintaining peace and tranquillity at the border.

The stability at the border led to the expansion of rela-tions in several sectors, but it was adversely impacted follow-ing what happened in eastern Ladakh, he said at a webinar organised jointly organised by the Financial Times and the Indian Express.

At a media briefing, Spokes-person in the Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs Arindam Bagchi said full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas would enable progress in the bilateral relationship.

The ties between the two countries came under severe strain following a deadly clash in the Galwan valley in east-ern Ladakh in June last, over a month after the border standoff began between the Indian and Chinese militaries in multiple friction points in the region.

"I think the relationship is at a crossroads and which direc-tion we go depends on whether the Chinese side would adhere to the consensus; whether it

would follow through on the agreements which we both have done... What is very clear in the last year is that border tensions cannot continue with coopera-tion in other areas," he said.

Asked about China's attempts to expand influence in the region and competition between the two countries, Jais-hankar said India is ready to compete and it has its inherent strength as well as the influ-ence that goes deep into the Indo-Pacific on the one side and Africa and Europe on the other.

"It is one thing to compete, it is another thing to have vio-lence on the border," he said.

"I am ready to compete. That is not the issue for me. The issue for me is how do I manage a relationship if the basis of the relationship has been violated by one side," he said.

The external affairs minis-ter said the economic relation-ship and ties in other sectors

between the two countries were driven by the stabilisation of the border through the 1980s and 1990s.

"I do not have a clear cut answer at this point of time. We had the border conflict of 1962 and it took us really 26 years to have the first prime minister's visit in 1988 when Rajiv Gan-dhi went to China. There was a 1988 sort of consensus which stabilised the border," he said.

He was asked about where things stand now in ties between the two nations.

Jaishankar said the agree-ments in 1993 and 1996 on bor-der management paved the way for the expansion of overall ties.

"Those agreements essen-tially stipulated that you will not bring large armed forces to the border and the Line of Actual Control would be observed, respected and there would be no attempt to change the sta-tus quo unilaterally. Now what

we saw last year was actually China departing from the 1988 consensus," he said.

Jaishankar said there is defi-nitely going to impact the ties if the peace and tranquillity at the border are disturbed, "if you disturb the peace and tranquil-lity if you have bloodshed as you pointed out if there is intimida-tion if there is continuing fric-tion at the border."

To a question on further dis-engagement in eastern Ladakh, Bagchi said that full restora-tion of peace and tranquillity in the border areas would enable progress in the bilateral ties. He also referred to Jaishankar's tel-ephonic talks with the Chinese foreign minister last month.

Bagchi said Jaishankar con-veyed to his Chinese counter-part that while the process of disengagement had com-menced earlier this year it remained unfinished and emphasised on early comple-tion of the process. "In this con-text, the two sides have agreed in the interim that they would maintain stability on the ground and avoid any new incidents," he said.

"It is our expectation there-fore that neither side should take any action that is not keep-ing with these understandings. Full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas would enable progress in the bilateral relationship," Bagchi added.

India and China completed the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in February following a series of military and diplomatic talks.

The two sides are now engaged in talks to extend the disengagement process to the remaining friction points.

NEW DELHI: A total of 13,093 oxygen concentra-tors, 15,801 oxygen cylinders and nearly 6.1 lakh Remdesi-vir vials received as global aid have been delivered or dis-patched to states and union territories from April 27 to May 19, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

The government has been receiving international cooperation for COVID-19 relief medical supplies and equipment since April 27 from different countries and organisations.

These are being promptly dispatched and delivered to the states and union territo-ries (UTs), the ministry said.

Cumulatively, 13,093 oxygen concentrators,15,801 oxygen cylinders, 19 oxygen generation plants, 10,425 ventilators and Bi-PAPs, and about 6.1 lakh Remdesivir

vials have been delivered or dispatched through road and air from April 27 to May 19, it stated.

The major consignments received on 18-19 May from Ontario (Canada), Kuwait, Oman, Myanmar, USISPF and the UK Medical Aid Interna-tional included 219 oxygen concentrators and 500 Ven-tilators, Bi-PAPs and CPAPs

Effective immediate alloca-tion, and streamlined delivery to the recipient states, union territories and institutions is an ongoing exercise, the min-istry said. The ministry is com-prehensively monitoring this on a regular basis, it said.

The ministry said that a cell has been created to coor-dinate the receipt and alloca-tion of foreign COVID relief material as international coop-eration in the form of grants, aid and donations. MPOST

‘India engaged with US for vaccine procurement’The US announced earlier this week that it will share an additional 20 million vaccine doses with other countries

13,093 OCs, 6.1 lakh Remdesivir received as foreign aid: Centre

India-China ties at crossroads, says External Affairs Minister Jaishankar

‘I am ready to compete. That is not the issue for me. The issue for me is how do I manage a relationship if the basis of the relationship has been violated by one side,’ External Affairs Minister said

OUR CORRESPONDENT

RAIPUR: On the occasion of ex-Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Late Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary on May 21, Chhattisgarh Government would provide Rs 1,500 crore to 22 lakh farmers of the state as the first installment of agri-cultural input subsidy under Rajiv Gandhi Kisaan Nyay Yojana. MP Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi will attend this programme via video conferencing.

In this programme, to be organized at CM House on May 21 at 12 noon, Chief Min-ister Bhupesh Baghel, along with the members of his cabi-net, will first lay a wreath on the oil painting of late Rajiv Gan-dhi and thereafter, he would transfer the first installment of agricultural input subsidy worth Rs 1,500 crore into the accounts of 22 lakh farmers of the state. He would also trans-fer Rs 7.17 crore as payment against the dung procurement

between March 15 and May 15. MPs, MLAs, other public representatives, farmers and cattle rearers will also partici-pate in the program via video conferencing.

It is worth mention-ing that Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana was launched by Chhattisgarh Government on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary on May 21, 2020, with an aim to encourage crop productivity in the state. Under this scheme, Chhattis-garh Government transferred Rs. 5,628 crores to the bank accounts of about 19 lakh farm-

ers (registered in Kharif season 2019-20) in four installments as agricultural input subsidy.

In the important meet-ing held on May 19 under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Baghel, Chhattisgarh Govern-ment has taken several impor-tant decisions in the interest of farmers. As per the decision taken, the input subsidy on the paddy procured from farmers in Kharif year 2020-21 will be provided at the rate of Rs 9,000 per acre. Similarly, the govern-ment has also decided to pro-vide input subsidy of Rs 10,000 per acre instead of Rs 9,000 per acre to the farmers, who have sold paddy at support price in the year 2020-21, if they are cultivating kodo kutki, sugar-cane, pigeon pea, maize, soy-bean, pulses, oilseeds, aromatic paddy, fortified paddy crop or plant trees at the paddy field. Farmers utilising their paddy field for plantation will be pro-vided this grant for 3 years.

The state government has taken another important deci-

sion to provide input subsidy at the rate of Rs 9,000 per acre per year to the producers of all major kharif crops such as Maize, Soyabean, Sugarcane, Kodo Kutki and Arhar, along with paddy, from Kharif year 2021-22. Chhattisgarh govern-ment has fixed the minimum support price of Kodo-Kutki at Rs 3,000 per quintal. On May 21, Baghel will trans-fer the amount of Rs. 7 crore 17 lakh directly to the accounts of villages and cattle rearers as payment for the dung pro-cured from March 15 to May 15, under the multi-pronged Godhan Nyay Yojana of Chhat-tisgarh government. It is worth mentioning here that under Godhan Nyaya Yojana, which was launched on July 20, 2020, on the occasion of Hareli Parva, a total of 88 crore 15 lakh rupees have been paid so far to the state's cattlemen and vil-lagers. Besides, Baghel will also transfer Rs 3.6 crore to the gau-than samitis and women self-help groups.

Chhattisgarh govt to transfer `1,500 cr to 22L farmers today

OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi: With a focus on rural and semi-urban areas, the Common Service Centres (CSC) on Thursday announced that it has planned to set up one-lakh LPG distribution centres across India by March 2022. As per CSC official, it has opened around 21,000 LPG centres in all the states in tie-up with three government oil marketing com-panies – BPCL, HPCL and IOC.

“We have reached a major landmark of 10,000 LPG dis-tribution centres in tie-up with BPCL. We are fast expanding our network of CSCs distrib-uting LPG cylinders mainly in rural areas. We have around 6,000 LPG distribution centres operating in tie-up with HPCL and over 5,000 with IOC,” said Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Direc-tor of CSC.

The top five States with a maximum number of centres are Uttar Pradesh, Maharash-tra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, he said.

“Our focus is to reach the rural areas where people are still dependent on firewood and other non-green sources of fuel for cooking. The CSCs will help beneficiaries to provide the LPG cylinder at their door-steps through our Digital Seva

Portal. Today CSCs are helping in booking new LPG connec-tions (Ujjwala and general cat-egory), booking of LPG refills (14.2 kg cylinders) and supply and distribution of LPG cylin-ders (storage up to 100 kgs,) through CSCs,” Tyagi said.

CSC to set up one lakh LPG distribution centres by March

NEW DELHI: As the gov-ernment has just geared up to handle the cases of black fungus infections, Bihar has become the first state to report four cases of white fungus.

According to the state health department, the infec-tion of white fungus has been diagnosed with four patients at Patna Medical College and Hospital. Till now, complaints of black fungus were reported in Covid patients after their recovery.

Now, the problem of white fungus has created a kind of fear psychosis among the

Covid patients.As per Dr SN Singh, who is

the head of the Microbiology Department at Patna Medi-cal College Hospital (PMCH), the white fungus cases have been reported in the state and all available treatments are being provided to the patients. The white fungus damages the skin of the patients and on being neglected, poses threat to the lives of patients.

So far, more than 50 cases of black fungus have been detected in Bihar. Recently, a doctor and a woman patient lost their lives to black fungus in the state. MPOST

Bihar reports four white fungus cases

CM Bhupesh Baghel will transfer 1st installment of agri input subsidy

AHMEDABAD: The Guja-rat government on Thursday extended night curfew in 36 cities of the state till May 28 to stop the spread of coronavirus infections. However, daytime restrictions were relaxed and shops, shopping malls, busi-ness establishments and other business activities were allowed between 9 am to 3 pm.

Following a direction by the Centre, the state government also notified mucormycosis or black fungus as pandemic under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. Mucormycosis is being found mostly in those who have recovered from COVID- 19.

"Night curfew will continue from 8 pm to 6 am in 36 cit-ies of the state till May 28 to stop the spread of coronavi-rus infections," a government release said. These 36 urban areas include Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot cities. MPOST

Gujarat: Night curfew extended in

36 cities

5millenniumpost Nation mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on Thurs-day asked officials to record the spread of coronavirus infection and its seriousness among the youth and children, and cau-tioned that the challenge posed by COVID-19 will remain as long it is present even at a "minor scale" in the country.

In his second round of interaction with district mag-istrates and field officials on the pandemic, Modi spoke about concerns in various quarters about any spread of infection in the young generation due to mutations in the virus and asked officials to analyse the statistics in their districts. They will have to be better prepared for the future, he said.

There have been reports that the virus may hit the young generation, a demogra-phy which has so far not been affected hard as the adult popu-lation with people in the older age bracket being seen more susceptible.

Noting that active cases

have seen a decline in the last few days, Modi referred to the experience of the last one-and-a-half years and told officials to work to ensure that people con-tinue to follow COVID appro-priate behaviour.

When the tally goes down, people start thinking that there is no need to worry now, he said, cautioning against it.

Modi called for collec-tive responsibility in this regard among the government machinery, social organisations and elected representatives.

The challenge remains as long as the infection is present even at a minor scale, he said.

Noting that the pandemic has made their work more demanding and challenging, he said new strategies and solutions are needed to meet them and described the virus as "dhoort" (rogue) and "bahuru-piya" (impersonator), a refer-ence to its various mutations that has kept experts on edge.

Our strategy should be dynamic, and be undergoing continuous innovations and upgrade, he said.

Speaking on the vaccina-tion programme, the prime minister said suggestions from states and other stake-holders have been incorporated and added that the Union Health Ministry is informing states about the availability of jabs for 15 days in advance.

"With clarity about vac-cination supply and timeline being available, vaccination management will become eas-ier for you," he said, adding that its supply will be further strengthened.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Concerned over education to children orphaned due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free education in Navodaya Vidyalayas to all such children.

In a letter to the PM, Sonia Gandhi said that the nation owes it to children to give them hope and provide them

a robust future after their tragedy.

“I am writing to request you to consider providing free education at the Navodaya Vidyalayas to children who have lost either both parents or an earning parent on account of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Congress chief said.

“I feel that as a nation, we owe it to them to give them hope for a robust future after the unimaginable tragedy that has befallen them,” Sonia

Gandhi said.Hailing the move of

Congress president, party leader Rahul Gandhi said that it’s an important suggestion and shared the letter on Twitter. However, he also said that it’s high time the government of India listened to the suggestion.

“Children are amongst the worst hit by COVID trauma, many having lost their parents to the dreadful situation. Congress president

makes an important suggestion to safeguard their future and provide them free education at NVs (Navodaya Vidyalayas). It’s high time GoI listened,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Sonia Gandhi noted that there has been news of young children losing one or both parents to Covid-19.

“These children are left with the trauma of loss and no support towards a stable education or future,” she said in her letter to the prime minister.

The Congress chief also recalled how creation of Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country was her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s most significant legacies.

It was his dream to make high-quality modern education accessible and affordable to talented youth, predominantly from rural areas, she said, adding that there are around 661 such schools across the country currently.

‘Challenge remains till infection exists

even at minor scale’

‘Give free edu to kids orphaned during pandemic’

There is a need to prevent vaccine wastage, says PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with District Magistrates of 54 districts from 10 states with high caseloads of COVID-19 infections in New Delhi on Thursday PIC/PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment has decided to widen its medical insurance cover for sportspersons by increasing the number of beneficiary ath-letes and including contrac-tual coaches and support staff from this year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Thursday said that with this decision, the cov-erage would increase to more than 13,000 athletes, coaches and support staff.

Sports Minister Kiren Rij-iju said the well-being of ath-letes, coaches and support staff are his ministry's priority and the decision is in line with that objective.

"We want to ensure that all our athletes and contractual

staff have health cover during these difficult times and even after," he said.

"They are our national assets." All national camp-ers, probable national camp-ers, Khelo India athletes and junior campers training at SAI Centres of Excellence across the country will be provided an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh each. Earlier the coverage

was limited to the duration of national camps but now it has been extended to throughout the year as coronavirus con-tinues to wreak havoc in the country.

"This is new because this is for all contractual coaches and staff who were not covered before," an official source said. "The ambit of the insurance scheme has now been wid-ened keeping in mind safety and security of athletes and coaches as COVID-19 con-tinues to wreak havoc in the country.

"Earlier an athlete or a coach was covered only dur-ing a national camp or national and international event but this move will now ensure cover-age for the entire year, which means on and off the field," the official added.

Govt to provide med insurance to over 13K athletes, coaches

‘Well-being of athletes, coaches our priority’

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju

IFFCO CASE

6 millenniumpostNationmpFRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

Black fungus...The letter said the disease

is reported from many states amongst COVID-19 patients, especially those on steroid therapy and deranged sugar control.

“You are requested to make Mucormycosis a notifiable dis-ease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, wherein all government and private health facilities, medi-cal colleges will follow guidelines for screening, diagnosis, manage-ment of mucormycosis, issued by the Ministry of Health and Fam-ily Welfare (Gol) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

“And, make it mandatory for all these facilities to report all suspected and confirmed cases to health department through district-level chief medical officer and subsequently to Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) surveillance system,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the health ministry, in the letter.

Some states like Rajasthan, Telangana and Karnataka have already declared Mucormycosis as a notifiable disease.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said dedicated centres

will be set up for treatment of the disease at three city government-run hospitals.

The treatment of the fun-gal infection requires multidis-ciplinary approach involving eye surgeons, ENT specialists, general surgeon, neurosurgeon and den-tal maxillo facial surgeon, among others, and administration of Amphotericin-B injection.

The Indian Medical Associa-tion (IMA) also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to allow eligible phar-maceutical companies to manu-facture Amphotericin-B drugs in the country.

At the high court, the two-judge bench said there are two things premium here, that is, time and human lives and if the sup-plies of the drug are not proper, it would be neither here nor there and it would not serve the pur-pose as the shortage is by two-third of the total demand.

You need to import this to bridge the gap between your plan to enhance the capacity and com-pleting manufacture before we lose more precious lives.

So act fast on this, it said, and asked the Centre to file a status report on present production capacity of the medicine, details of producers licensed to pro-duce it, and by when it would be manufactured with the increased capacity.

Meanwhile, the National

Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the secretary, Health Ministry to take appro-priate action and submit Action Taken Report (ATR) over black fungus deaths and infections in India. Passing a direction to the ministry, the NHRC stated the concerned authority should take appropriate action as deemed fit in the case and the action taken over the issue shall be informed to the complainant within eight weeks.

PM’s virtual meet casual & super flop, says Mamata

Banerjee said, alleging that only a few District Magistrates of some BJP-ruled states were given the chance to speak.

Banerjee said the Prime Min-ister was so insecure that he did not listen to any of the Chief Min-isters. “They have bulldozed the federal structure by not allow-ing us to speak. This is some-thing more than dictatorship and a Martial Law is prevailing in the country,” she said.

Taking a dig at the ‘one nation,

one leader’ campaign, Banerjee said: “This (the virtual meeting) was not a one-way communi-cation. Rather, it was one-way humiliation...One nation, all humiliation.”

Banerjee attended the Prime Minister’s meeting virtually along with her counterparts from nine states and one Union Territory, including Chhattisgarh, Hary-ana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Though the Prime Minister was scheduled to speak to 54 District Magistrates from these states, none from Bengal had attended, considering it to be an infringe-ment of the country’s federal structure.

Banerjee accused the Prime Minister of taking the Covid situ-ation casually once again as the latter claimed that the number of Covid cases were going down in the state.

“We wanted to speak to the Prime Minister to help the people in our states. We wanted to talk about the shortage in the supply of vaccines, medicine including Remdesivir, oxygen and many other issues related to the fight against Covid pandemic. It was not against any particular govern-ment or any individual. But, he is sitting-like a Shahenshah in Delhi and saying that everything is fine when the country is at a criti-cal juncture due to the pandemic.

I would like to raise the ques-tion that why are so many people dying every day when everything is fine?” Banerjee asked.

Four cases of Black Fun-gus infection, which has been declared as a pandemic in Raj-asthan, have also been found in Bengal. “But the Centre that con-trols distribution of its medi-cine, hardly provides the same to the state,” Banerjee said, rais-ing a question that “who will give answers to all these questions as the Prime Minister escaped cover-ing his face?”

Lambasting the BJP-led Cen-tre for sending one team after another of Central agencies to Bengal within 24 hours of the formation of her government for the third consecutive term, the Chief Minister raised the question that why not a single team has been sent to Uttar Pradesh where corpse of Covid victims were dumped in the Ganga. “The Cen-tre has turned Namami Ganga into Mrityupuri Ganga as dump-ing of dead bodies is leading to environmental hazards. One can-not compromise with nature,” she said.

When asked whether she would prefer to form a united front against BJP eyeing the 2024 elections, she said: “At present, my priority is to fight against Covid. But, I feel that a team should come up against the BJP which will fight against its dictatorship. I

will welcome the stand as the fight should be between democracy and dictatorship.”

Delhi records highest-ever 24-hr rainfall

The minimum temperature on Thursday settled at 19.3 degrees Celsius, seven notches below normal.

“Safdarjung recorded a maxi-mum temperature of 23.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. This is the lowest maximum temperature since 1951,” Srivastava said.

In between, a low of 24.8 degrees Celsius was recorded on May 13 1982, he said.

According to the IMD, Del-hi’s maximum temperature on Wednesday was less than that of Srinagar (25.8 degrees Celsius) and Dharamshala (27.2 degrees Celsius) up in the north.

49 bodies recovered...

A note from Afcons said all its

vessels were on May 14 advised to secure their respective work locations and move to safe loca-tions at the earliest.

The master of P-305 chose to move 200 metres away from the Heera platform where it was working and remain at the loca-tion, it said, adding this was based on his assessment that it was a safe location since the max-imum predicted wind speed was only 40 Knots and his location was 120 nautical miles away from the eye of the tropical storm.

But the weather conditions deteriorated rapidly from the evening of May 16, reaching worse than predicted levels a day later.

This sudden deterioration of weather left no time at all for any further action to be taken by the master of the vessel, it said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress and Shiv Sena have demanded the resignation of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant in a tweet said, “News of sinking of #ONGC barge P-305 resulting in the death of 37 workers is devastat-ing. More than 38 ppl are still missing. This is clearly man-made tragedy as warning of imminent #TauktaeCyclone had bn given in advance.

@dpradhanbjp must resign taking moral responsibility.”

From Page 1

OUR CORRESPONDENT

THIRUVANANTHA-PURAM: CPI(M) veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, who led the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to an unprecedented consec-utive victory in the April 6 assembly polls, on Thursday took oath as Chief Minister of Kerala for the second time along with 20 ministers.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office to 77-year-old Vijayan and ministers in a low-key function at the Central Sta-dium here, which was held completely in accordance with the COVID protocol.

Congratulating Vijayan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Congratulations to Shri @vijayanpinarayi Ji on tak-ing oath as CM and commenc-ing his second term in office."

Vijayan was also greeted by

new Tamil Nadu Chief Min-ister M K Stalin who led the DMK-Congress alliance to a thumping win in the April 6 assembly polls.

"Best wishes to my brother @vijayanpinarayi on his swear-ing in as @CMOKerala and I hope that his determination and perseverance will lead to

social equality, peace and pros-perity for the people," Stalin said in a tweet.

It is the Marxist veteran's second stint in the top office.

While the chief minister and 14 ministers took the oath and made solemn pledge, five took oath in the name of God.

Representative of the

Indian National League in the CPI(M)-led ministry, Ahamed Devarkovil, took oath in the name of Allah.

The ceremony began after the Governor reached the venue at 3.30 pm and con-cluded at 4.50 pm.

Ahead of the swearing-in of the LDF government, Vijayan and minister-designates paid tributes to the martyrs of Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, a working class movement that occurred in Alappuzha district during the 1940s.

It has been a years-long practice for the Communist ministers to pay floral tribute at the martyrs' column before the swearing-in of the Left government.

After taking oath, Vijayan reached his office at the state secretariat to take charge as Chief Minister.

He also chaired the first

meeting of the cabinet later.Opposition Congress-UDF

leaders skipped the function in view of the COVID-19 spread.

Ahead of the swearing-in, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala telephoned Vijayan to congratulate him over the formation of the new ministry.

He informed Vijayan that the UDF representatives will watch the ceremony virtu-ally in view of the spread of coronavirus.

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the gov-ernment to restrict the number of participants at the function in view of the pandemic.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, senior party politburo members, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran and leaders of various reli-gious and caste organisations attended the function.

NEW DELHI: The CBI is probing alleged illegal commis-sions worth over Rs 685 crore received during 2007-14 by the NRI sons of IFFCO managing director US Awasthi, Indian Potash Ltd managing director PS Gahlaut and others from overseas suppliers through transactions facilitated by AgustaWestland case accused Rajiv Saxena, the agency said.

The commissions were received from suppliers of fer-tilisers and raw materials using a complex web of transactions, the Central Bureau of Investi-gation (CBI) alleged in its FIR.

The sham transactions were facilitated through cir-cuitous routes in the garb of

consultancy agreements to hide commissions to Awasthi, who is also the Indian Farm-ers Fertiliser Co-operative Limited's chief executive offi-cer, and Gahlaut who allegedly imported fertilisers and raw materials at inflated rates, the agency has alleged.

Similar modus operandi was allegedly adopted in send-ing bribes in the AgustaWest-land helicopter corruption case too in which Saxena is facing probe. IFFCO is a multi-state farmers' cooperative while Indian Potash Limited (IPL) is its company involved in sup-plying fertilisers for which the government provides subsidies to keep rates in check.

The CBI has alleged that between 2007-14, in order to claim higher subsidies, Awasthi and Gahlaut as part of a crimi-nal conspiracy imported fer-tilisers at highly inflated rates, which included commission meant for both, from various overseas suppliers.

The commission amounts were siphoned off out of India through their sons based in the US and other accused persons, including owner of Jyoti Trad-ing Corporation and the Rare Earth Group, Pankaj Jain, his brother Sanjay Jain, and senior vice president of the com-pany AD Singh, and chartered accountant Saxena, the CBI has alleged.

"They allegedly siphoned off the commission through a complex web of fake com-mercial transactions through multiple companies registered outside India (beneficially owned by the accused persons) to camouflage the fraudulent transactions as genuine," it said in the FIR.

The CBI has alleged that Saxena and his associates received USD 114.32 million, around Rs 685 crores at a trans-action rate Rs 60 per dollar of illegal commission, in the bank accounts of his group compa-nies and individual accounts of Jain, Gahlaut's son Vivek, Awasthi's son Amol and AD Singh. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has directed that a list of women prisoners living with their children be forwarded to a high-powered committee to evaluate if they can be released due to the special circumstances of the second wave of Covid pandemic.

Hearing a suo motu public interest litigation, Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua on Wednesday instructed the Assam government and the High Court Registrar (Judicial) to place the list before the

committee for deciding on the release of the prisoners.

The court noted that in pursuant of its earlier order of May 11 a list of women jail inmates was submitted, including details like those having small children with them who are either undertrials or have been convicted.

"On enquiry, we have found that these children are not juvenile in conflict with the law, but they are in jail since they are less than six years of age and as per the Jail Manual, they are allowed to stay with their mothers who are in jail," the order said.

DEHRADUN: Three of a family were killed following a cloudburst in Uttarakhand's Chakrata on Thursday as inces-sant rains for over 24 hours caused by the remnants of Cyclone Tauktae triggered a slew of landslides in hill areas, blocking several national highways.

A man and his two sisters were buried alive as their 'chani' (temporary house) caved in under the impact of a land-slide caused by a cloudburst, Chakrata police station in-charge Anup Nayal said.

'Chani' is a temporary house built by hill people as they migrate to cooler places located at higher altitudes dur-ing summer.

The cloudburst occurred in

Kola village near Chakrata in Dehradun district, Nayal said, adding that the bodies have been pulled out of the debris.

Rubble of landslips con-taining rocks and boulders has blocked the Badrinath National Highway at Lambagad and Radag bend near Badrinath besides the Joshimath-Malari border highway, officials in Gopeshwar said.

The Yamunotri National Highway is blocked at three spots and the Gangotri High-way in Dharasu, Uttarkashi district Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said.

Efforts are on by the Bor-der Roads Organisation (BRO) to clear the highways, he said.

It has been raining relent-lessly in Uttarkashi district

since Wednesday morning, while the higher reaches of the hills in Yamunotri and Gan-gotri dham have been receiv-ing snowfall.

All departments have been kept on alert in view of heavy rains, District Magistrate Mayur Dikshit said.

The BRO, National High-ways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Public Works Department (PWD) have deployed their teams along the highways to ensure that health services at the time of COVID-19 pandemic remain unaffected, he said.

The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and other disas-ter management teams are also on the alert to deal with any emergency. AGENCIES

Vijayan sworn in as CM of Kerala; 20 ministers inducted in Cabinet

SATYAPRAKASH SHARMA

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh has provided the maximum jobs to labourers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the country when the rage of Covid-19 has shaken the state.

According to the latest status of the portal of the Union Ministry for Rural Development, MP is at the top by providing employment to 19.61 Lakh labourers while Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha are at the second, third and fourth places by engaging 13.95, 12.60 and 12.37 Lakh labourers respectively.

The state has been successively remaining at

the first position in terms of engaging labourers since December last year. Altogether 527.93 Lakh man-days employment, the highest number in the country has been provided under MGNREGA by the state so far since 1 April even under adverse circumstances.

The works under the ‘Catch the Water’ (CTW) campaign and sustainable infrastructures are in progress in the 21,016 Panchayats out of 22810. Altogether 1116 Panchayats have been put in the red zone due to Covid-19, these are running various individual beneficiary-oriented works such as Kapil Dhara Koop, Farm-Pond, Land Reclamation, etc.

Despite the ‘Corona Curfew’ in the state, people in rural areas are getting direct job opportunities under MGNREGA. It was possible due to the MGNREGA's pre-planned strategy of engaging job cardholders before the second surge of the epidemic, an official said.

"Water is the backbone for any hamlet if we conserve it then it makes blessed-prosperous the villages. Ensuring the protocols of Covid-19, Panchayats are executing various water-conserving works on a large-scale even in the current inverse circumstances", Sufiyah Faruqui, the commissioner of MGNREGA told Millennium Post. "It is not

only providing employment to the villagers now but will also curb their migration in future", She also said.

Faruqui says that the CTW campaign would give fruitful results after a few years when the villages would have an adequate quantity of water and lash with pure vegetables so that villagers would be able to remove the malnutrition from their children and boost up the immunity of the people.

"We got this achievement due to a dedicated, energetic and solemn team of ours. We recently trained virtually 1000 engineers. Roof water harvesting is being done in every government buildings", she added.

Pinarayi Vijayan takes oath as CM of Kerala for second time

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Faced with high-speed wind and swell-ing sea, the ill-fated barge Pappa-305, with 261 crew onboard, lost anchors and smashed into an unmanned platform before sinking in the Arabian Sea after its captain ignored weather warnings and chose not to move the vessel away from the path of severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, a sur-vivor recounted.

A person, rescued from one of the three barges that adrifted after being smashed by the severe cyclone, said that while other barges started to move out of the path of the cyclone when they received

warning, the Master of P-305 hardly moved 200 metres from its location near Heera oilfield in the Arabian Sea.

P-305 probably had very little remaining work at the ONGC platform and wanted to remain anchored near the worksite rather than moving towards shore and return after a few days, the person, who did not wish to be named, said.

But, the cyclone broke all its anchors and pushed it towards the ONGC platform, he said.

An unsigned note from Afcons, the private contract which had deployed the barge for performance of a contract it had got from ONGC, said

all its vessels were on May 14 advised to secure their respec-tive work locations and move to safe locations at the earliest.

The master of P-305 chose to move 200 metres away from the Heera platform where it was working and remain at the location, the note sent to ONGC said. This, it said, was based on his assessment that it was a safe location since the maximum predicted wind speed was only 40 knots and his location was 120 nautical miles away from the eye of the tropical storm.

But, the weather condi-tions deteriorated rapidly from the evening of May 16, reaching worse than predicted levels a day later.

'Captain of barge P-305 chose not to move vessel away from cyclone path'

Incessant rains lash U'khand; 3 of family killed in cloudburst

‘Check if women prisoners living with

kids an be freed’

CBI probes 'commissions' worth Rs 685 cr‘19.61L labourers got jobs under MGNREGA’

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan takes charge for the second consecutive term in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday PIC/PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, met on Thursday, where the top bureaucrat of the country directed the central and state agencies to "expeditiously" restore the telecommunication, power, road and water supply links affected by Cyclone Tauktae.

A statement issued by the Union home ministry said the meeting, held to review the relief-and-rehabilitation efforts undertaken in the aftermath of the extremely severe cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea, also discussed the "efforts carried out by the navy and the coast guard, along with other agencies, to rescue persons on three barges and one offshore drilling vessel of ONGC".

As many as 37 personnel have died while 38 are still missing, after the navy rescuers, battling extreme weather, rescued 186 of the 261 people who were on board

barge P305 off the Mumbai coast and two personnel from a tugboat.

"Chief secretaries of the states and advisors to the administrators of the Union territories apprised the committee of the damage to infrastructure, crops as well as loss of life in the affected areas and the measures taken by them to restore telecom, power, roads, water supply and other utilities.

"It was noted that due to the timely and accurate forecast of the IMD and coordinated efforts of all concerned central and state/UT agencies, damage and loss of lives have been limited," the statement said.

Due to the advance and timely action taken by all agencies, the functioning of hospitals and COVID-19 care centres in the areas hit by the cyclone also "remained unaffected", it added.

The chief secretaries and officials of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, along with senior officers

from Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, participated in the meeting.

Officers from various central government ministries such as home, shipping, telecommunications, oil, power, health, food and public distribution, drinking water and sanitation, the member secretary of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the directors general of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the coast guard and the deputy chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) also attended the meeting.

Tauktae made landfall on Monday night near Una town in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district and wreaked havoc for around 28 hours, before weakening into a depression.

According to official data, at least 53 people were killed in various parts of Gujarat due to the heavy rain and storm-like incidents that occurred during the cyclone fury.

Quickly restore power, water links: NCMC to states hit by Tauktae

7millenniumpost Editorial mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021

Hovering risk

Marooned in isolation

Unless appropriately efficacious vaccines are administered to the required proportion of the population, herd immunity remains a distant dream, and mutations a persistent threat

The pandemic robbed women’s joy of childbirth and curtailed their social circle, inflicting a lasting impact on their mental health; write Darby Saxbe & Alyssa Morris

The small archipelago nation of Seychelles, northeast of Mada-gascar in the Indian

Ocean, has emerged as the world’s most vaccinated coun-try for COVID-19. Around 71 per cent of people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 62 per cent have been fully vaccinated. Of these, 57 per cent have received the Sinopharm vaccine and 43 per cent AstraZeneca. Despite this, there has been a recent surge in cases, with 37 per cent in new active cases and 20 per cent in hospital cases. The coun-try has had to reimpose some restrictions.

How can this be happen-ing? There are several possible explanations:

The herd immunity thresh-old has not been reached — 62 per cent vaccination is likely, not adequate. Herd immunity is unreach-able due to the inadequate efficacy of the two vaccines being used. Variants that escape vaccine protection are dominant in Seychelles. The B1617 Indian variant is spreading, which appears to be more infectious than other variants. Mass failures of the cold-chain logistics needed for transport and storage, which rendered the vaccines ineffective.

What does the country’s experience teach us about variants, vaccine efficacy and herd immunity? Let’s break this down.Variants can escape vaccine protection

There are reports of the South African B.1.351 variant circulating in Seychelles. This variant shows the greatest abil-

ity to escape vaccine protec-tion of all COVID variants so far. In South Africa, one study showed AstraZeneca has 0-10 per cent efficacy against this variant, prompting the South African government to stop using that vaccine in February.

The efficacy of the Sino-pharm vaccine against this vari-ant is unknown, but lab studies show some reduction in pro-tection, based on blood tests.

However, no comprehen-sive surveillance exists in the country to know what pro-portion of cases are due to the South African variant.

The UK variant B117, which is more contagious than the original strain, became the dominant variant in the United States. But the US still achieved a dramatic reduction in COVID-19 cases through vaccination, with most people receiving the Pfizer and Mod-erna vaccines.

Israel, where the UK vari-ant was dominant, also has a very high vaccination rate. It has vaccinated nearly 60 per cent of its population with

Pfizer. It found 92 per cent effectiveness against any infec-tion including asymptomatic infection and Israel has seen a large drop in new cases.

The United Kingdom has used a combination of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. More than 50 per cent of the population have had a single dose and almost 30 per cent are fully vaccinated. This coun-try has also seen a significant decline in case numbers.

But there’s a current surge of cases in northwest England, with most new cases in the city of Bolton occurring from the Indian variant. This vari-ant is also causing outbreaks in Singapore which had previ-ously controlled the virus well. Seychelles needs to conduct urgent genome sequencing and surveillance to see what con-tribution variants of concern are making and whether the Indian variant is present.

If the South African vari-ant is dominant, the country needs to use a vaccine that works well against it. Many companies are making boost-

ers targeted against this vari-ant, but for now, Pfizer would be an option. In Qatar, local researchers found Pfizer had 75 per cent effectiveness against the South African variant.High-efficacy vaccines

The reported efficacy of Sinopharm is 79 per cent and AstraZeneca is 62-70 per cent from phase 3 clini-cal trials. Our research at the Kirby Institute showed that, in New South Wales, Austra-lia, using a vaccine with 90 per cent efficacy against all infec-tions means herd immunity could be achieved if 66 per cent of the population was vaccinated.

However, using lower effi-cacy vaccines means more peo-ple need to be vaccinated. If the vaccine is 60 per cent effec-tive, the proportion needing to be vaccinated rises to 100 per cent.

When you get efficacy of less than 60 per cent, herd immunity is not achiev-able. However, these calcu-lations were done for the regular COVID-19 caused

by the D614G variant which dominated in 2020. This has a reproductive number (R0) of 2.5, meaning people infected with the virus on average infect 2.5 others. But the B117 variant is 43-90 per cent more conta-gious than D614G, so the R0 may be up to 4.75. This will require higher vaccination rates to control spread.

What’s more is, the Indian variant B1617 has been esti-mated to be at least 50 per cent more contagious than B117, which could take the R0 to over seven. This could explain the catastrophic situation in India, but also raises the stakes for vaccination, as lower efficacy vaccines will not be able to contain such highly transmis-sible variants effectively.

A UK modelling study found that using very low effi-cacy vaccines would result in the economy breaking even over ten years because it would fail to control transmission. On the other hand, using very high efficacy vaccines would result in much better economic outcomes.The only way

As the pandemic contin-ues to worsen in some parts of the world, the risk of more dangerous mutations that are vaccine-resistant or too con-tagious to control with current vaccines increases. Keeping up with mutations is like whack-a-mole while the pandemic is raging. The take-home mes-sage for our pandemic exit strategy is that the sooner we get the whole world vac-cinated, the sooner we will control the emergence of new variants. DTE

The writer is Professor of Infectious Diseases

Epidemiology, UNSW. Views expressed are personal

RAINA MACINTYRE

Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor,

Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

DearEditorThe spate of experiments by LDF in Kerala in electoral politics and then in ministry formation is stunning. First, they denied tickets to consecutive two-timers and now have taken an even more surprising decision to keep at bay veteran ministers to make room for freshers. Riding on good governance, welfare and competency to tackle disasters the LDF has succeeded in garnering the support base of the populace. That is why the people of Kerala have voted them into power consecutively breaking the 43-year long trend. The overall satisfactory performance of the Kerala government in its past five years was made through various ministries, including the much talked about health ministry under KK Shailaja’s contribution. It will not be an exaggeration if we tag Kerala as the only Communist bastion left in the country in the backdrop of its almost non-existence at its very own erstwhile citadels. Gold smuggling scam, Sabarimala issue and corruption have paid off little compared to overall feel-good factors in the recently passed election in Kerala for the incumbent LDF. Upgradation with time and flexibility and dynamism have become some of the underpinnings of LDF’s successful journey which must be emulated by other Marxist parties elsewhere. The results have made Vijayan an undisputed leader. The overwhelming paradigm shift from inducting old and experienced faces to young and fresh ones in ministries is undoubtedly innovative and challenging. But the newly inducted ministers, having youthful exuberance, stamina and willpower will have to be diligent, committed and dedicated to the assigned task to maintain the legacy of Kerala’s governance system. They do have the privilege of inheriting a proactive bureaucracy that had contributed a lot in the previous term of LDF. If this unique experiment with ministry formation succeeds on performance parameters then it will definitely be a template for coming years ahead. In that case, an opportunity will galore for freshers, cutting across party lines, to establish themselves as excellent performers. Our democracy will then get a new tone and tenor of meritocracy instead of entitlement.

For the millions of women who cele-brated their first Moth-er’s Day in May 2021,

their transition into mother-hood occurred in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preparing for childbirth can be joyful and exciting, but COVID-19 restrictions dis-rupted many women’s prenatal care and forced some mothers to deliver their infants with-out partner or family support. Others faced separation from their newborns immediately after birth.Prenatal stress

A tragic natural experi-ment helped spark study in the field researchers call “fetal origins of adult disease” which explores links between preg-nancy stress and later health.

At the tail end of World War II, the Nazi army cut off food supplies to the Nether-lands, plunging the country into famine during the winter of 1944-1945. Babies in utero during what became known as the “Dutch Hunger Winter” showed lifelong differences in cardiometabolic health.

Scientists have linked other large-scale societal crises — like the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 earthquake in Chile — with long-term health conse-quences for mother and child.

The COVID-19 pandemic shares many similarities with these events, including wide-spread loss of life. But it’s also unique. Communities often unite to grieve and rebuild after natural disasters. The need to maintain social dis-tance during the pandemic kept many people isolated from one another — espe-cially many pregnant women, a high-risk population that may have elected to stick with stricter social distancing measures.Mental health

Social support buffers the risk for mental health prob-

lems in mothers. So our lab wondered how the sudden iso-lation of lockdowns — coupled with the economic and health worries of the pandemic — might affect pregnant women.

We sought to answer this question by recruiting 760 expectant parents between early April and July of 2020 to participate in our Coronavirus, Health, Isolation and Resil-ience in Pregnancy (CHIRP) study. Only about five per cent of the pregnant women who responded to our survey had a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 as of spring 2020, and a similar number — 4.7 per cent — had experienced the death of someone close to them due to the pandemic.

However, 97 per cent reported that their community had issued a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order. More-over, 61 per cent of women reported that the pandemic had a “very” or “somewhat” negative impact on their social relationships. A majority of women estimated that at the

time of the survey they had much less contact than before the start of the pandemic with neighbours and community members, co-workers, close friends and family members. On the other hand, 42 per cent reported much more time spent with their partner than before the pandemic.

These changes in social contact appeared to take a mental health toll: almost two-thirds of respondents said they had experienced at least some loneliness over the previous week. A similar number felt more lonely than usual because of the pandemic. Moreover, about three-fourths of our sample reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had an overall negative effect on their mental health.

To investigate further, we asked our respondents the questions on the Beck Depression Inventory, a tool that mental health care provid-ers use to assess symptoms of depression. We were surprised to see that the average score for

pregnant women in our sam-ple was higher than the thresh-old that clinicians typically use as an indicator for depression.

Half of the women in the sample reported clinically sig-nificant symptoms of depres-sion. Similarly, 62 per cent said they were experiencing clinically significant anxiety symptoms. These proportions are more than twice as high as what we’ve seen in our pre-pandemic sample.Long-term effects

Given the evidence that maternal stress during preg-nancy can affect fetal devel-opment and shape long-term mother and infant health, our preliminary results are cause for concern. We are currently collecting birth charts from our sample to measure ges-tational outcomes, like birth weight and preterm birth, that have been linked with prena-tal stress.

It remains to be seen whether the stress of the pan-demic’s first wave will have enduring mental health effects.

Some new mothers experi-enced silver linings of the pan-demic, like greater ability to work from home after birth and sustain a breastfeeding relationship. At the same time, the pandemic took a greater toll on communities already affected by structural racism and poverty.

In the meantime, our first batch of results suggests that these pandemic infants and their parents are a spe-cial population to follow into the future. Currently, preg-nant women may face an easier transition into parent-hood now that delivery-room restrictions have eased and social routines are returning to normal. But uncertainty, fear and grief from the many losses of the pandemic may linger even as the world reopens.

Compelling evidence sug-gests that counselling inter-ventions such as talk therapy can not only relieve but also prevent mood disorders in the period immediately before and after birth. Situations in which primary care and men-tal healthcare are integrated and expectant mothers can access psychotherapy through their OB-GYN practices can help treatments reach mothers most in need. The pandemic eased many barriers to tele-health, as healthcare provid-ers shifted to online visits; this format may also show prom-ise reaching families who are still reluctant to make in-per-son visits.

We are continuing to fol-low our participants at three, six and 12 months after their baby’s birth to see how their mental health changes over time, with plans to extend the follow-up past the first year. Although infants born in 2020 may not remember the pan-demic first-hand, its effects may shape their early lives in ways that we are just beginning to measure. DTE

Views expressed are personal

— CHANCHAL NANDY, DURGAPUR via email

Pregnant women are facing mental health issues resulting from isolation

EDITORIALNot seeing eye to eye

Six months after tens of thousands of farmers began their protest against the three farm laws in Novem-ber last year, the struggle to repeal the laws contin-ues. Much has happened since then. Nearly a dozen

rounds of negotiations between farmer leaders and the gov-ernment have yet to yield the desired results for either side. In fact, it would be hard to say if the many rounds of talks have achieved anything other than agitating both sides. It is obvi-ous but still important to state that there is also a pandemic that is still ongoing. Such massive and persistent protests would be significant in any given year but they were particu-larly significant during the last year. India is still caught up in its devastating second wave with daily death counts break-ing all previous records. It may even be staring a third wave in the face as inconsistent vaccine supply and the dreaded variants remain a significant factor. Even given this uncer-tain outlook, the farm protests continue onward. The series of state lockdowns have done little to blunt the determina-tion of farmers unions to continue their agitation. In Hisar in Haryana, protests against the visit of CM Manohar Lal Khattar on May 16 turned violent as the police clashed with protestors. Reports say dozens of farmers were injured in the clash, alongside at least 20 police officers. Angered by the incident, many of the farmers are now boycotting or oth-erwise protesting against lockdown measures. There is no indication of just how widespread this anti-lockdown senti-ment is but reports say at least a handful of villages have now decided to boycott the lockdowns. Amongst those agitating against lockdown measures, there is a feeling that lockdowns are being selectively clamped on farmers when politicians can dodge Covid safety precautions for election rallies and such. There is also a feeling that lockdowns are being used as a way to shut down protests by farmers. Such a development poses real danger. There are already deep concerns about how rural health systems are coping with COVID-19 at a time when most of India’s urban health facilities are already sag-ging under the weight of the second wave. There is another major development beyond the pandemic which is influenc-ing the farm protests. Results of certain assembly polls in the last six months have added impetus to the protesting farm-ers who now see a way forward with their protests. Upsets for the ruling party such as the West Bengal polls have given farm leaders a way of interpreting this defeat as the anger of people against the farm laws. It is expected that this upset can be repeated in other states that are going to polls soon. Par-ticularly, farm leaders seem to be eyeing the 2022 assembly elections in UP, a key agrarian state. They have told reporters that Samyukta Kisan Morcha is already eyeing plans for cam-paigning against the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh after the current period of lockdown is finally relaxed. The group has also announced plans to observe May 26 as a ‘black day for democracy’ as the ‘Chalo Dilli Kisan Andolan’ completes six months. Members of the group say this is also a day of pro-test against the Centre that has ‘used’ the pandemic period to push through legislation that benefits corporations. All in all, there is an indication that these protests are not coming to an end anytime soon. The idea of reaching common ground on farmer welfare has not been achieved. Indeed, as the situation is now, there is little hope that there will be any constructive discussion on the actual farm bills, their merits and the many criticisms as belligerence sets in on both sides.

Tweet of the day

THOMAS ISAAC@Drthomasisaac

UP whose floating dead bodies and makeshift graveyards in the Ganges have been traumatising the nation, has only a fatality rate of 1.1, just around the national average. Its test positivity rate is lowest among the worst Covid hit states. A clear case of data fudging!

If a vaccine is 60 per cent effective, the proportion needing to be vaccinated rises to 100 per cent; below that, herd immunity is not achievable

While some new mothers experienced greater ability to work from home and sustain a breastfeeding relationship, others faced worsening structural racism and poverty in their respective societies

millenniumpost.in

A NEW ERA?

Despite vaccinating 62 per cent of its population, Seychelles had to impose restrictions due to a surge in cases

8 millenniumpostWorldmpFRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

US, Russia at odds over military

activity in the ArcticREYKJAVIK (Iceland): The Biden administration is lead-ing a campaign against Russian attempts to assert authority over Arctic shipping and rein-troduce a military dimension to discussions over interna-tional activity in the area.

As Russia assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council on Thursday, the U.S. rallied other members to oppose Moscow's plans set maritime rules in the North-ern Sea Route, which runs from Norway to Alaska, and its desire to resume high-level military talks within the eight-nation bloc.

The effort reflects grow-ing concerns in Washington and among some NATO allies about a surge in Russian mili-tary and commercial activity in the region that is rapidly open-ing up due to the effects of cli-mate change.

At a meeting of Arctic Council foreign ministers in Reykjavik, the capital of Ice-land, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group should maintain its focus on peaceful cooperation on envi-ronmental issues, maritime safety and the well-being of indigenous people in the region.

The Arctic is a region for strategic competition that has seized the world's attention," Blinken said.

"But the Arctic is more than a strategically or economically significant region. It's home to our people, its hallmark has been and must remain peace-ful cooperation. It's our respon-sibility to protect that peaceful cooperation and to build on it.

Blinken stressed the impor-tance of upholding effec-tive governance and the rule of law to ensure that the Arc-tic remains a region free of conflict where countries act responsibly. He had previ-

ously questioned the legal-ity of the proposed Russian maritime rules and expressed deep reservations about Rus-sia's military activity in the far North.

Several other foreign minis-ters, including those from Can-ada, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden, echoed Blinken's call to keep the Arctic peace-ful and free of conflict under the authority of international, rather than that of individ-ual countries. Representatives of indigenous Arctic popula-tions urged that their voices be heard.

We are concerned over the level of recent angry and pro-vocative rhetoric, said James Stotts of the Inuit Circumpo-lar Council. We do not want to see our homeland turned into a region of competition and conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had earlier this week dismissed the U.S. criti-cism because the Arctic is our territory, our land" and had questioned NATO's motives in deployments of bombers and submarines to the area. On Thursday, he said resump-tion of an Arctic Council mili-tary dialogue would contribute to stability.

It is therefore important to extend the positive rela-tions we have within the Arc-tic Council to encompass the military sphere as well, first of all by revitalizing multi-lateral dialogue on military issues between the general staffs of the Arctic states," Lavrov said. AGENCIES

Taiwan's worst outbreak of Covid growsTAIPEI: Taiwan's worst out-break of the COVID-19 pan-demic grew Thursday, with a worrisome 63 new cases not having a clear connection to existing cases.

The island raised its alert level this week, banning

indoor gatherings of more than five people and outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people.

Schools are shut for two weeks, and many people are working from home.

The majority of the cases in

the latest outbreak have been discovered in the capital, Tai-pei, and neighbouring New Taipei.

The island overall reported 286 new cases on Thursday that were transmitted domestically and more than 600,000 people

are in quarantine because they were exposed to someone who was infected.

In the last week, the island has recorded more than 1,000 cases alone, accounting for more than a third of its pan-demic total of 2,825. AGENCIES

Israel unleashes strikes as expectations for truce rise

GAZA CITY (Gaza Strip): Israel unleashed another wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Thursday, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding several, and Hamas fired more rockets, even as expectations rose that a cease-fire could be coming.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back against calls from the US to wind down the Gaza offensive, appearing determined to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in a war that could help save his political career. Still, offi-cials close to the negotiations say they expect a truce to be announced in the next 24 hours.

In another possible sign of progress, Netanyahu scheduled a meeting later Thursday with his Security Cabinet, where the issue of a cease-fire was likely to be debated.

Explosions shook Gaza City and orange flares lit up the pre-dawn sky, with bombing raids also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the southern town of Khan Younis. As the sun rose, residents sur-veyed the rubble from at least five family homes destroyed in Khan Younis. There were also heavy airstrikes on a commer-cial thoroughfare in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it

struck at least three homes of Hamas commanders in Khan Younis and another in Rafah, targeting military infrastruc-ture, as well as a weapons stor-age unit at a home in Gaza City.

With hundreds already killed in the worst fighting since Israel and Hamas’ 2014 war, U.S. President Joe Biden told Israel on Wednesday that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a cease-fire but Netanyahu pushed back, saying

he was determined to continue this operation until its aim is met. It marked the first pub-lic rift between the two close allies since the fighting began and poses a difficult test of the U.S.-Israel relationship early in Biden’s presidency.

Still, an Egyptian intelli-gence official said a cease-fire was likely late Thursday or early Friday, after the U.S. appeal bol-stered Cairo’s own efforts to halt the fighting. The official spoke

on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate talks.

Khalid Okasha, director of the Egyptian Center for Strate-gic Studies, which has close ties to the government, also said a cease-fire was likely in that timeframe, as did Osama Ham-dan, a senior Hamas official.

Visiting the region, Ger-man Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Israel has the right to defend itself against such unacceptable attacks. AGENCIES

Israeli PM Netanyahu has pushed back against calls from the US to wind down the Gaza offensive

People inspect the rubble of destroyed residential building which was hit by Israeli airstrikes, in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Thursday PTI

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGALNOTICE INVITING RE E-TENDER

NIT No.:- HST/COVID/OC-RT(122)/2021/126; Dated 19-05-202Re E Tender for procurement of Empty Oxygen Cylinder for the state of West Bengal is invited from the Manufacturers / Direct Importers / Authorized Distributor. Interested bidders may visit the website “https://wbtenders.gov.in” or “www.wbhealth.gov.in” for further details. Bid submission start date (online) : 19-05-2021; Bid submission closing date (online): 27-05-2021 ; Bid opening date (online): 27-05-2021.. Sd/-ICA- T5996(3)/2021 D.D.H.S. (E&S), WB

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGALOFFICE OF THE PINGLA PANCHAYAT SAMITI PINGLA : PASCHIM MEDINIPUR

E-mail: pinglablock@gmail.com, Ph&Fax: 03222-238542 Pingla ,PaschimMedinipur

e-Auction NoticeInvites e-auction for selling of 1674Nos. of logs of wood at the office of the PinglaPanchayat Samiti. AuctionTitle WBPMID/PINGLA/EO/eAUC/01(4th Call)Submission Start Date 21.05.2021 at 9.00amSubmission End Date 28.05.2021 at 6.00amApproval Start Date 01.06.2021 at 11.00amApproval End Date 01.06.2021up to 3.00pmAuction Start Date 03.06.2021 at 1.00pmAuction End Date 03.06.2021 at 3.00pmFor details please visit http://eauction.gov.in/

Sd/- Executive Officer PinglaPanchayetSamity.

Memo no.-687(2)/ICA/Pas.Mid Dtd: 20.05.2021

The Chief Engineer, Distribution Project-III Department, WBSEDCL, Vidyut Bhavan (2nd Floor, `C’ Block), Salt Lake, Sector-II, Kolkata-700091 invites e-tenders for - (1) NIT No.: WBSEDCL/Dist. Project-III/Tender/2021-22/UG/WB/12 Date: 21.05.2021; Name of Work: Conversion of Overhead Network into Underground cable system at Kharagpur Town under Paschim Medinipur District within the State of West Bengal; Estimated Cost (approx.): Rs.19,411.05 Lakh; (2) NIT No.: WBSEDCL/Dist. Project-III/Tender/2021-22/UG/WB/13 Date: 21.05.2021; Name of Work: Conversion of Overhead Network into Underground cable system at Asansol (Part-1) Town under Paschim Burdwan District within the State of West Bengal; Estimated Cost (approx.): Rs. 15,635.46 Lakh and (3) NIT No.: WBSEDCL/Dist. Project-III/Tender/2021-22/UG/WB/14 Date: 21.05.2021; Name of Work: Conversion of Overhead Network into Underground cable system at Asansol (Part-2) Town under Paschim Burdwan District within the State of West Bengal - under West Bengal Electricity Distribution Grid Modernization Project. Estimated Cost (approx.): Rs. 16,424.70 Lakh. Pre-Bid Meeting: 07.06.2021 at 11:00 hrs. Sale of Bid documents (online) from 21.05.2021 (11:00 hrs.) to 24.06.2021 (12:00 hrs.). For other details, visit www.wbtenders.gov.in and www.wbsedcl.in

ICA- T5973(4)/2021

ICA- T5975(3)/2021

ICA- T5980(3)/2021

ICA- T5984(2)/2021

ICA- T5986(4)/2021

ICA- T5988(3)/2021

ICA- T5992(3)/2021

ICA- T5994(3)/2021

ICA- T5998(3)/2021

9millenniumpost

CORPORATE KALEIDOSCOPE

Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant, a unit of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited, located at Village khedar (Hisar) preparing its operations to manufacture Oxygen from its Hydrogen Generation Plant MPOST

Business mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021

INCOME TAX RETURN FOR FY21

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday extended the due date of filing income tax returns for 2020-21 for individuals by two months till September 30.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has also extended the ITR filing deadline for com-panies by a month till Novem-ber 30.

As per the income tax law, for individuals whose accounts are not required to be audited and who usually file their income tax return using ITR-1 or ITR-4 forms the deadline to file ITR is July 31. The dead-line for taxpayers, like compa-nies or firms, whose accounts are required to be audited is October 31.

In a circular, the CBDT said an extension of time limits is being given for certain tax com-pliances “to provide relief to taxpayers in view of the severe pandemic”.

Also, the deadline for issu-ing Form 16 by employers to employees has been extended by a month till July 15, 2021, the CBDT said.

The due date for filing the tax audit report and transfer pric-ing certificate has been extended by a month till October 31 and November 30, respectively. For filing belated or revised return

of income, the due date is now January 31, 2022.

Besides, the deadline for financial institutions to fur-nish the Statement of Finan-cial Transaction (SFT) report has been extended till June 30, from May 31, 2021.

Nangia & Co LLP Partner Shailesh Kumar said the exten-sion of due dates is likely to pro-vide some relief to taxpayers on the tax compliance front.

“However, for taxpayers, whose entire income tax lia-bility is not discharged by TDS and advance tax and such short-fall is more than Rs 1 lakhs, they should endeavour to file their ITR within respective original due date to avoid the charge of interest u/s 234A, which is charged on filing ITR beyond the original due date at the rate of 1 per cent per month for every month/ part thereof after the

original due date of filing ITR,” Kumar added.

The CBDT had on April 1 notified forms for filing I-T returns for 2020-21 fiscal, and said that keeping in view the ongoing crisis due to COVID pandemic and to facilitate the taxpayers, no significant change has been made in comparison to the last year’s ITR Forms. The new ITR forms ask taxpay-ers if they are opting for a new tax regime.

For the 2020-21 fiscal, the government had given taxpayers the option to choose a new tax regime under section 115BAC of the I-T Act.

The new I-T slabs would be for individuals not availing or foregoing certain specified deductions or exemptions while computing total income for tax purpose.

Under this, annual income

up to Rs 2.5 lakh is exempt from tax. Those individuals earn-ing between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh will pay 5 per cent tax. Income between Rs 5 and 7.5 lakh will be taxed at 10 per cent, while those between Rs 7.5 and 10 lakh at 15 per cent.

Those earning between Rs 10 and 12.5 lakh will pay tax at the rate of 20 per cent, while those between Rs 12.5 and Rs 15 lakh will pay at the rate of 25 per cent. Income above Rs 15 lakh will be taxed at 30 per cent.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India will resume buying crude oil from Iran once the US sanctions are eased, an Indian Oil Cor-poration (IOC) executive on Thursday said, adding Iranian crude was beneficial for Indian refineries.

India stopped importing oil from Iran in mid-2019 fol-lowing sanctions on the Per-sian Gulf nation by the Trump administration.

US President Joe Biden’s administration and Iran have been involved in talks to revive the nuclear deal in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

“I do not have any doubt why we will not be buying Iranian crude if sanctions are lifted,” IOC Director (Finance) S K Gupta said on a conference call with investors to discuss earnings.

Indian refiners have begun preparatory work and can swiftly enter into contracts once the sanctions are lifted.

“Iranian crude is favourable to Indian refineries,” he said, alluding to the crude quality being suited for processing at refineries traditionally built con-sidering oil from the Middle East as a staple diet.

Iranian oil coming into the market will not just cool prices but also help India diversify its import basket.

In 2020-21, Iraq was India’s biggest oil supplier, followed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Nigeria was the fourth-largest supplier and the US was the fifth.

India -- once Iran’s second-biggest customer -- imports more than 85 per cent of its oil needs. Iranian crude will bring

several benefits, including a lon-ger credit cycle and shorter voy-age savings on freight costs.

“What kind of commercial terms are offered is premature to comment as of now,” Gupta said, responding to a question if Iranian terms will continue to be favourable.

Previously, Iranian oil was a lucrative buy for refiners as the Persian Gulf nation provides 60 days of credit for purchases, terms not available from suppli-ers of substitute crudes -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Nigeria and the US.

Not just IOC, other state-owned firms, whose refineries are suited to the crude, have committed to buy Iranian oil once sanctions are lifted, indus-try sources said.

Bharat Petroleum Corpora-tion Ltd (BPCL) will buy from Tehran if sanctions are lifted as the high sulphur distillate-rich Iranian crude suits its Kochi refinery and costs USD 2-25 per barrel less than similar grades.

Hindustan Petroleum Cor-poration Ltd (HPCL) too will look to buy Iranian oil if the

prices were right, they said.Iranian exports tumbled

after former US President Don-ald Trump tightened sanctions in 2018 and ended waivers for some countries in 2019, includ-ing India.

Iran and world powers last month began their most seri-ous attempt yet to resurrect a nuclear deal.

Iran re-started a banned nuclear programme after Trump pulled out of the deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. Even though new the US President wants to rejoin, both sides say the other must make the first move. India was the second-biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China before sanctions halted supplies in May 2019.

Iran in 2017-18 was its third-largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia and met about 10 per cent of total needs.

Till 2010-11, Iran was India’s second-biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia, but West-ern sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in the sub-sequent years.

Govt raises deadline for filing by individuals till Sept 30

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has also extended the ITR filing deadline for companies by a month till November 30

NEW DELHI: A new “tax-payer friendly” income tax filing website will be launched on June 7 as the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Thursday said the existing one will be phased out after a ‘blackout period’ of six days beginning next month.

The board, that frames pol-icy for the Income Tax Depart-ment, has urged taxpayers “to complete all their urgent tasks involving any submission, upload or downloads before June 1 to avoid any difficulty during the blackout period (June 1-6)”. An order issued by the systems directorate of the department on Wednesday said the “transition” from the old portal — www.incometax-indiaefiling.gov.in — to the

new —www.incometaxgov.in — will be completed and made operational from June 7.

“In preparation of this launch and for migration activities, the existing por-tal of the department www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in would not be available for a brief period (taxpayers as well as external stakeholders) of six days from June 1 to 6,” the order, accessed by PTI, said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a statement and said that it “requests the patience of all taxpayers and other stakehold-ers during the switch over to the new e-filing portal and the subsequent initial period while they get familiarised with the new system”. MPOST

IT dept to launch new e-filing portal on Jun 7

Will buy Iranian crude oil if sanctions are lifted: IOC

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to achieve self-sufficiency in oil-seeds production, the Centre has chalked out a multi-pronged strategy to bring in additional 6.37 lakh hectare area under oil-seeds in the forthcoming kharif (summer) season beginning July this year.

That apart, the government has decided to freely distribute high-yielding varieties of oil-seeds, especially soybean and groundnut, to farmers in kharif season 2021-22.

Last year, oilseeds were sown

in 208.2 lakh hectare during the kharif season and 80 lakh hect-are in the rabi (winter) season.

In a statement, the agricul-ture ministry said it has adopted a “multi-pronged strategy” to achieve self-sufficiency in oil-seeds production. “Govern-ment of India has approved an ambitious plan for free distribu-tion of high-yielding varieties of seeds to the farmers for the 2021 kharif season in the form of mini-kits,” it said.

The special kharif pro-gramme will bring an additional 6.37 lakh hectare area under oilseeds and is likely to pro-

duce 120.26 lakh quintals of oil-seeds and edible oil amounting to 24.36 lakh quintals, it added.

After consultations with state governments, the ministry said a plan has been framed to distribute soybean and ground-nut oilseeds for free to farmers under the National Food Secu-rity Mission (Oil Seeds and Oil Palm).

Soybean seeds, costing Rs 76.03 crore, will be distrib-uted for intercropping in 41 districts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Guja-rat, Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. This will cover

1.47 lakh hectare. Further, soybean seeds --

costing Rs 104 crore -- will be distributed for high poten-tial districts in 73 districts of 8 states namely Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telan-gana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, cov-ering 3,90,000 hectare.

About 8.16 lakh seed mini-kits will be distributed in 90 districts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Kar-nataka, Telangana Chhattis-garh, Gujarat, UP and Bihar. The area to be covered will be 10.06 lakh hectare.

Govt to produce 120.26L quintals of oilseeds

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday slashed subsidy on sugar exports from Rs 6,000 per tonne to Rs 4,000 per tonne with immediate effect in view of firm global prices.

For the ongoing 2020-21 marketing year (October-Sep-tember), the government had fixed a subsidy of Rs 6,000 per tonne to facilitate exports, thereby improving the liquidity of mills and enabling them to clear cane price dues to farmers.

Sugar mills were mandated to export 6 million tonne of sugar in the current year. So far, 5.7 million tonne of the sweetener has been contracted for export. “Keeping in view of firm global prices of sugar, we have reduced subsidy on sugar exports by Rs 2,000 per tonne to Rs 4,000 per tonne with immediate effect,” Joint Secretary in the Food Ministry Subodh Kumar said.

The ministry has issued a notification in this regard on May 20. And the reduced sub-sidy rate will be applicable to export agreements executed on May 20 or later, he said.

There won’t be an impact of this decision on sugar exports from India, he added.

Observing that there has been a steady increase in global prices of sugar because of likely shortages in the world market, Kumar said, “If there is a fur-ther increase in global prices, we will further reduce the subsidy”. PTI

Govt cuts subsidy on sugar exports to

`4,000/tonne from `6K

Iranian oil coming into the market will not just cool prices but also help India diversify its import basket

PGCIL HOLDS VACCINATION CAMPS IN NCR; 2,600 PEOPLE INOCULATEDNEW DELHI: State-run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd(PGCIL) on Thursday said around 2,600 people have been inoculated at a vaccination drive organised by the company in the national capital region (NCR) of Delhi. Around 2,600 people have been vaccinated by PGCIL in three camps organised in the NCR territory. These camps were organised for the age groups of 18-44 years and also for those above 45 years of age, a company statement said. PGCIL has organised vaccination camps in many loca-tions for its employees at its establishments across the country like Kota, Bhiwadi, Misa, Namsai, Rourkela, Ara, Biharsharif, Saharsa, and Muzaffarpur etc. For all the camps the cost on account of vaccination was borne by PGCIL.

VEDANTA SUPPORTS ODISHA WITH OXY-GEN CYLINDERS AMID 2ND COVID WAVENEW DELHI: Vedanta on Thursday said that its alu-minium division is providing medical oxygen cylinders to Odisha amid the second wave of coronavirus infections. A total of 2,000 oxygen cylinders will be supplied as part of this initiative. “Vedanta Alumin-ium....is providing filled medical oxygen cylinders to the Government of Odisha as part of its support to the fight against the second wave of COVID pan-demic,” the company said in a statement.

KIA DONATES `5 CR AID TO ANDHRA GOVT TO FIGHT COVID-19NEW DELHI: Automaker Kia India on Thursday said it has contributed Rs 5 crore to the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. With the second wave of COVID-19 and the expo-nential rise in cases across the country, the contribu-tion has been made to support the state and its people in these testing times, the company noted. Kia India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kookhyun Shim handed over the fund transfer docu-ment to Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

Business Briefs

10 millenniumpostBusinessmp FRIDAY, 21 MAY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

CORPORATE KALEIDOSCOPE

SBI has donated two Puritan Bennett PB840 ventilators to “Kolkata Police Hospital”. Under COVID-19 relief activity, on May 20, 2021, Ranjan Kumar Mishra, Chief General Manager, SBI Kolkata Circle has handed over a cheque of Rs 31,12,976/- to Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, Soumen Mitra. MPOST

MUMBAI: Equity benchmarks stayed on the backfoot for the second session running on Thursday, mirroring the ner-vousness in global markets after minutes of the US Fed’s previ-ous meeting revealed discus-sions around tapering its asset purchase programme.

After touching the 50,000-mark in opening trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex was dragged lower by selling in banking and energy counters. It finally finished at 49,564.86, down 337.78 points or 0.68 per cent. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty gave up the 15,000-level to close 124.10 points or 0.83 per cent lower

at 14,906.05.ONGC was the top loser

among the Sensex constitu-ents, tumbling 2.70 per cent,

followed by Sun Pharma, Pow-erGrid, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Bank and Nestle India.

On the other hand, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Titan, L&T, Bajaj Finserv and Infosys were among the gainers, climbing up to 2.47 per cent.

Metal stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure after China’s move to curb com-modity prices in the country, he pointed out.

Sector-wise, BSE metal, oil and gas, bankex, utilities and energy indices fell up to 3.62 per cent, while realty, capital goods and consumer durables ended with gains. PTI

NEW DELHI: Banks are likely to transfer about 80 large NPA accounts for the resolution to National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), which is expected to be operational by next month.

NARCL is the name coined for the bad bank announced in the Budget 2021-22. A bad bank refers to a financial insti-tution that takes over the bad assets of lenders and under-takes resolution.

The size of each of these NPAs accounts is over Rs 500 crore and the banks have identified about 70-80 such accounts to be transferred to the proposed bad bank, sources said.

It is expected that NPAs over Rs 2 lakh crore will move out of the books of the banks to the bad bank, they added.

The company will pick up those assets that are 100 per cent provided for by the lenders.

Finance Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman in the Bud-get 2021-22 announced that the high level of provision-ing by public sector banks of their stressed assets calls for measures to clean up the bank books.

“An Asset Reconstruction Company Limited and Asset Management Company would be set up to consolidate and take over the existing stressed

debt,” she had said in the Bud-get speech.

It will then manage and dis-pose of the assets to alternate investment funds and other potential investors for eventual value realisation, she added.

Last year, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) had made a proposal for the creation of a bad bank for swift resolution of non-performing assets (NPAs). The government accepted the proposal and decided to go for asset reconstruction com-pany (ARC) and asset manage-ment company (AMC) model for this.

NARCL will pay up to 15 per cent of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the

remaining 85 per cent would be government-guaranteed secu-rity receipts.

The government guarantee would be invoked if there is a loss against the threshold value.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that loans clas-sified as fraud cannot be sold to NARCL. As per the annual report of the RBI, about 1.9 lakh crore of loans have been classified as fraud as of March 2020.

To facilitate the smooth functioning of asset recon-struction companies, the RBI last month decided to set up a panel to undertake a compre-hensive review of the working of such institutions. PTI

AMSTERDAM: A Dutch court on Thursday rejected fugitive auto executive Carlos Ghosn’s wrongful dismissal claim against an Amsterdam-based alliance between Nissan and Mitsubishi and ordered him to repay nearly 5 million euros ( 6 million) sal-ary he received in 2018.

Ghosn vowed to appeal.The ruling came in a case

in which Ghosn sought to have his 2018 sacking from Nissan-Mitsubishi B V overturned and

demanded 15 million euros ( 16.5 million) in compensation.

The court in Amsterdam rejected his claims, saying he did not have a valid contract with the company at the time. The salary he was ordered to repay covers payments made to him by the Dutch joint venture from April until November 2018.

As today’s verdict has been rendered without hearing Mr. Ghosn and other key witnesses, the defense team will now take

the case to the court of appeal where Mr Ghosn’s right to wit-ness evidence will be granted,” a spokesman for Ghosn said in a written statement. “We are satisfied with the court verdict which ruled out any bad faith from Mr Ghosn.

The Dutch case stems from Nissan’s decision to fire Ghosn after he was accused of finan-cial misconduct in Japan. The former high-flying automotive executive skipped bail in Tokyo

in 2019 and fled to Lebanon, where he grew up.

Ghosn, who was first arrested in November 2018, has said he is innocent of alle-gations in Japan that he under-reported his future income and committed a breach of trust by diverting Nissan money for his personal gain. He says the com-pensation was never decided on or received, and the Nissan pay-ments were for legitimate busi-ness purposes. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Compe-tition Commission of India should take “extra care” and ensure that no “omission or commission” result in under-mining of market processes as businesses look for revival after the pandemic, Finance Minis-ter Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

Addressing a virtual event to commemorate the 12th annual day of the Competition Com-mission of India (CCI), the min-ister also appreciated the efforts taken by the regulator over the years and urged it to continue with a pro-active approach.

The CCI has the mandate to ensure fair competition in the market across sectors and also has powers to clamp down on anti-competitive practices.

“I would also want to just mention, not in a left-handed way but certainly mention that knowingly or unknowingly, no omission or commission should result in the market process get-ting undermined.

“... Competition Commis-sion will ensure that market process should never get under-mined because it is very critical considering the post-pandemic revival. It is going to meet with so many challenges even other-wise,” Sitharaman said.

Noting that the year 2020 was extraordinary and chal-lenging, 2021 is proving to be equally challenging, the finance minister said that after the pan-demic, companies are going to be scrambling to somehow stim-ulate themselves and try to grow.

“So, extra care should be (taken). I am sure you are doing that, I am only reminding you because getting into your teens now is going to have new chal-

lenges as any teenager would have. You as a Competition Commission have very wise heads... wisdom will overcome the challenges of teenage growth pangs,” she noted.

The comments also come at a time when businesses are facing challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, which has also significantly hit overall economic growth.

Sitharaman, who is also at

the helm of the corporate affairs ministry, stressed that the CCI should be pro-actively taking up a lot of things in order to be “ahead of the curve” as well as make sure that market condi-tions are kept sacrosanct.

“I think it is important that legitimate claims of companies even as they try to recover are heard patiently and the Com-mission rises from its usual role of keeping the letter and spirit of the (Competition) Act intact,” she said.

Sitharaman added that it is also important that the Com-mission “sees how proactively it can engage with companies so that stimulus is also given by vir-tue of the way in which you will look at revival of companies”.

Appreciating efforts of the CCI to draw best global prac-tices, she said about 1,100 cases have been undertaken, particu-larly focusing on mergers and aquisitions (M&As).

“All over the globe, you’ll find there is an inclination towards greater merging and also acquiring companies, all driven towards scaling up of operations.

“So, it is good that you’re going through rigorously M&As (of) so many different companies because it tells so many experiences which will be important to see how they

align with the Competition Act itself,” she said.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur urged the CCI to be nimble and change itself with the changing mar-ket dynamics.

In these uncertain times, Thakur said the challenge is not only to accelerate economic growth but also to ensure that the steps towards recovery do not irreversibly alter market dynamics.

The stimulus package has provided strong impetus to various crucial sectors of the Indian economy, he added. CCI Chairperson Ashok Kumar Gupta said the Commission has reviewed more than 1,100 cases of anti-competitive agree-ments and abuse of dominant position across diverse sectors.

“Pragmatic application of competition law is of particular importance in moments of crisis to ensure that market failures are avoided and economic recovery is fast and sustained,” he noted.

According to him, the reg-ulator also took a balanced approach in its enforcement decisions focusing on faster market corrections and a nuanced view in levying pen-alties, particularly for MSMEs, considering their financial distress.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers in April eased mar-ginally to 2.66 per cent and 2.94 per cent, respectively, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items.

“Point-to-point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers) and CPI-RL (Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers) decreased to 2.66 per cent and 2.94 per cent in April 2021, from 2.78 percent and 2.96 per cent, respectively, in March, 2021,” the labour ministry said in a statement.

Food inflation based on CPI-AL and CPI-RL stood at 1.24 per cent and 1.54 per cent in April 2021, respectively, it added.

The change in the index varied from state to state.

In the case of agricul-tural labourers, it recorded an increase in the range of 1-17 points in 16 states and a decrease of 1-4 points in four states. Tamil Nadu, with 1,249 points, topped the index; whereas Himachal Pradesh, with 813 points, stood at the bottom.

In the case of rural labour-ers, it recorded a rise in the range of 1-18 points in 17 states and a decrease of 1-4 points in three states. Tamil Nadu, with 1,233 points, topped the index table; whereas Bihar, with 851 points, stood at the bottom.

Among the states, the high-est increase in CPI-AL and CPI-RL was experienced by

West Bengal with 17 points and 18 points, respectively. It was mainly due to a rise in the prices of rice, mustard oil, fire-wood, kerosene oil, vegetables and fruits.

On the contrary, the high-est decrease in the CPI-AL was experienced by Andhra Pradesh. In the CPI-RL, Andhra Pradesh and Tri-pura (-4 points each) saw the most decrease. It was mainly due to fall in the prices of rice, onion, tamarind, saree cotton mill, vegetables and fruits, it said.

The All-India CPI-AL and CPI-RL for April 2021 rose 6 points each to stand at 1,041 and 1,049 points, respectively. The two indices were at 1,035 points (CPI-AL) and 1,043 (CPI-RL) in March 2021.

The major contribution towards the rise in the general index of agricultural labour-ers and rural labourers came

from food, with an increase of 3.97 points and 3.74 points, respectively. It was mainly due to rise in prices of rice, jowar, fish fresh, vegetables and fruits.

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in the statement, “The increase in CPI-AL and RL will have a positive impact on the wages of millions of workers in the rural sector.”

Labour Bureau Direc-tor General D P S Negi said said, “The increase in the general index of agricultural labourers and rural labour-ers is mainly on account of an increase in the prices of rice, wheat-atta, maize, jowar, ragi, mustard oil, meat (goat), vege-tables and fruits, firewood and kerosene.”

He added that the increase in the index numbers is in line with the price indices being compiled by other government agencies.

Ensure market processes are not undermined: FM to CCI

Appreciating efforts of CCI to draw best global practices, she said about 1,100 cases have been undertaken, particularly focusing on M&As

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

‘I would also want to just mention, not in a left-handed way but certainly mention that knowingly or unknowingly, no omission or commission should result in the market process getting undermined’

CPI for farm, rural worker eases marginally in April

Markets tumble as Sensex tanks 338 points; Nifty slips below 15K mark

KBK graphicsInfo

Intra-day on May 20, 2021

9am 10 11 12 1pm 2 3 4 9am 10 11 12 1pm 2 3 4

Previous close:

49,902.64

Previous close:

15,030.15

NSE NIFTYIntra-day on May 20, 2021

BSE SENSEX

Open

49,971.52

:

Close:

49,564.86

Open:

15,042.60 Low:

14,884.90-124.10

(-0.83%) Close:

14,906.05

High:

15,069.80

High:

50,099.17

Low:

49,496.78-337.78

(-0.68%)

MUMBAI: The rupee strength-ened by 6 paise to end at 73.12 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking the weakness in the American currency in the overseas market.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the local unit opened at 73.16 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.09 and a low of 73.17.

It finally ended at 73.12 against the American cur-rency, registering a rise of 6 paise over its previous closing. On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 73.18 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six

currencies, fell 0.09 per cent to 90.10. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.91 per cent to $65.39 per barrel. PTI

Rupee rises 6 paise to close at 73.12 against $

KBK graphicsInfo(Inverted scale)

Rupee Dollarvs

12 14 17 18 19 20

` perUS $

May 2021

`

73.29

+13p

73.05

+17p

73.42

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BEIJING: Chinese tech uni-corn ByteDance Ltd co-founder billionaire Zhang Yiming on Thursday announced that he will step down as CEO, in a surprise move that signalled a major leadership shake-up at the nine year-old technol-ogy firm which created popular global short-video app TikTok.

Zhang, 38, who is one of China’s wealthiest entrepre-neurs, said he is ready to step down after nearly a decade of running the world’s largest unicorn, becoming the latest among the country’s technology founders to quit in their prime.

Zhang will step down from his role as CEO of the Bei-jing-based ByteDance, giving up his day-to-day responsi-

bilities to “be more impact-ful on longer-term initiatives,” the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted the company announcement on Thursday.

“The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager. I’m more interested in analysing organisational and market principles, and lever-aging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people,” Zhang wrote in a mes-sage on the company’s website.

“Similarly, I’m not very social, preferring solitary activi-ties like being online, reading, listening to music, and contem-plating what may be possible,” he said. AGENCIES

Banks likely to transfer about 80 large NPA accounts to NARCL

ByteDance founder Zhang steps down

Dutch court orders former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn to repay salary

Ruling came in a case in which Ghosn sought to have his 2018 sacking from Nissan-Mitsubishi overturned & demanded 15 mn euros in compensation

Source: Ministry of Labour & Employment KBK graphicsInfo

Base: 1986-87=100

Consumer Price Inflation

For Rural LabourersFor Agricultural Labourers

Based on All-India Consumer Price Index

In Per Cent

FoodInflation

2020

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2021 2020

Apr FebJun Aug Oct Dec Apr

2021

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12

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GeneralInflation

GeneralInflation

10.8

8.52

NEW DELHI: Net new enrol-ments with retirement fund body EPFO declined margin-ally to 11.22 lakh in March from 11.28 lakh in February this year, according to payroll data released on Thursday.

The data provides a perspec-tive on formal sector employ-ment amid the Coronavirus pandemic. During 2020-21, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 77.08 lakh new members. In the year-ago period, it was at 78.58 lakh. “Total 77.08 lakh net subscribers added under EPFO during FY 2020-21. The provi-sional payroll data... highlights that the EPFO has added around 11.22 lakh net subscribers in the month of March, 2021,”

the labour ministry said in a statement.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, cumulative net payroll addition for FY 2021 is almost at par with last year, with 77.08 lakh net additions to the subscribers’ base, it added.

Quarterly analysis of pay-roll for the 2020-21 indicates that net subscribers’ addition improved consistently from the second quarter after taking a hit in the first quarter due to the cri-sis in the wake of the pandemic, as per the statement.

According to the statement, maximum improvement of 33.64 lakh net subscribers was observed during the Q4 FY2021, a growth of 37.44 per cent com-pared to the Q3 FY2020). PTI

EPFO net new enrolments fall marginally in March

MUMBAI: Colour-blind cast-ing is the way forward in inter-national cinema, says actor Huma Qureshi, who is mak-ing her Hollywood debut with Zack Snyder’s upcoming zom-bie heist thriller ‘Army of the Dead’.

Qureshi is happy about the increasing global interest in India, its stories, and actors.

There is a lot of conversa-tion about colour-blind cast-ing and that is the future. I feel the volatile world we all live in, it is important that we have the correct representation of all sorts of people. There is a big conversation in America also about representation and diversity in casting.

“I absolutely believe it is good for society and peo-ple. Globally, it is good for us because when young boys and girls see themselves, no mat-ter which part of the world they are from, represented onscreen in a positive way, it enables them and affects their lives positively,” the actor told PTI in a Zoom interview.

The movie may mark her foray into Hollywood but it is not Qureshi’s first international project as the Gangs of Wassey-pur star has previously worked with reputed directors like Gurinder Chadha and Deepa

Mehta in “Viceroy’s House” and Leila”, respectively.

There is a lot of interest globally about India, Indian stories, folklore, films and talent. It is nice to be part of this. I am lucky to work with good directors like Gurinder Chadha, Deepa Mehta and now Zack Synder. My journey or my quest is to work with differ-ent directors, stories and land-scapes and I am exploring that.”

In “Army of the Dead”, the 34-year-old actor plays Geeta, a refugee single mother living outside of Las Vegas, which has been closed off due to a zom-bie breakout. Geeta is a go-get-ter, who decides to venture into the containment zone to earn enough to get her children out of the camp.

The zombie heist movie is fronted by Hollywood star Dave Bautista, who with a group of mercenaries takes the

ultimate gamble of venturing into a zombie outbreak zone in Las Vegas to pull off the great-est heist ever attempted.

Qureshi, who came on board for the film in 2019, said when Army of the Dead was offered to her, she was aware that it is a big ensemble film.

It is Dave’s story and we all have our own moments to shine. For me, it is not about the length of the role. It’s always about what my character is bringing to the table. How my

character is affecting the story, what I am doing in the film and how my character is taking the story forward, she said.

The actor said she relied on Snyder’s story for the most part of her character, who she believes is a survivor.

My interpretation of it was like, whenever a natural calam-ity happens like zombie outrage or pandemic there are groups of people who get trapped or are the most affected. This was a refugee character and how she gets trapped in a situation.

“However, she wants to sur-vive, she is a survivor, wants to come out, and wants to change the circumstances. And decides to take destiny in her hands.”

Qureshi said it was a treat to work with Snyder, one of the most influential contempo-rary filmmakers in Hollywood known for spectacle films like “300”, “Man of the Steel” and “Justice League”. PTI

He has been part of the show since a long time

MUMBAI: There is nothing else that gives her more pleasure than work, says veteran actor Neena Gupta, who is growing strength to strength in her career spanning almost four decades.

In the last few years, Gupta has become one of the go-to senior performers when it comes to ‘unique’ characters in films like “Badhaai Ho!”, as well as web series “Panchayat” and “Masaba Masaba”.

Her latest release “Sardar Ka Grandson”, in which she plays Sardar, the 90-year-old grumpy matriarch who wishes to see her home in Lahore one last time, is the latest addition to that list.

“When you are young, you get all sorts of roles. When I heard the story, I loved it. I was jump-ing. Sometimes when somebody is narrating, you start visualizing it. Also, you don’t get a role like this, it is very rare that you get a role like this to play at my age,” the National School of Drama graduate told PTI about “Sardar Ka Grandson”, which released on Netflix Tuesday.

“I am hungry for good scripts and roles. After many days I got a

good offer so I thought let’s eat this one,” she quipped.

Reflecting on her life and career, the 62-year-old actor said during her heyday she would work round-the-clock and chose to slow down to enjoy her marital life with Delhi-based chartered accountant Vivek Mehra, only to realise that she loves what she does.

“I worked so much in my life. I had a child to look after that I had no time for myself. So when I got married, I said okay, now I will not work and enjoy family life because I have never enjoyed

(it). I was always work-ing... there was no enjoy-ment,” she said.

“But then I realised that my enjoyment is my work. There is nothing else that gives me pleasure than my work. I am a good housewife too, I can cook, can polish shoes, etc. But my work gives me more pleasure and that’s why I will work,” Gupta added.

The actor, who is currently in Mukteshwar, said she is looking forward to doing good work.

Next up for her is “Good-bye”, also starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Man-danna, followed by sophomore season of “Masaba Masaba” (Net-flix) and “Panchayat” (Amazon Prime Video), and “Dial 100”, a film alongside Manoj Bajpayee and Sakshi Tanwar.

Gupta said she has also fin-ished writing her book.

Directed by debutante Kaas-hvie Nair, “Sardar Ka Grandson” also stars Arjun Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, Soni Razdan, Kumud Mishra, Kanwaljit Singh, and Divya Seth. PTI

Singer Arijit Singh’s mother Aditi Singh, who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 for quite

some time, has breathed her last at a hospital here, authorities at the medi-cal facility said.

Aditi Singh (52) had tested nega-tive for coronavirus on Monday but succumbed to a cerebral stroke late

on Thursday, they said.“She passed away last night around

11 pm. Singh, admitted with COVID, was put on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). She tested negative on Monday but succumbed to a cerebral stroke last night,” read an official statement issued by the medi-cal establishment. PTI

Qureshi is happy about the increasing global interest in Indian stories, actors

My work is my enjoyment, says Neena GuptaThe actor, who is currently in Mukteshwar, is looking forward to doing good work

Her latest release ‘Sardar Ka Grandson’, in which she plays Sardar, the 90-year-old grumpy matriarch who wishes to see her home in Lahore one last time, is the latest addition to that list

Arijit Singh’s mother Aditi Singh passes away

LOS ANGELES: Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who helmed Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-starrer ‘Bad Boys for Life’, are set to direct the ‘Batgirl’ movie for Warner Bros.

The DC feature will revolve around Barbra Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City police commissioner James Gordon.

Christina Hodson, who wrote “Bum-blebee” and Warner Bros’ “Birds of Prey” and “The Flash”, has penned the script for what is being planned as a movie for HBO Max, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Barbra Gordon is the most estab-lished version of the Batgirl character, who was initially introduced in 1961 as Betty Kane. But the

character, played by Yuonne Craig, was revamped in 1967 when television exec-utives wanted to attract a female audi-ence to the Batman TV series, THR said.

Batgirl’s last live-action big-screen appearance was with Alicia Silverstone in Joel Schumacher’s 1997 movie “Bat-man & Robin”.

El Arbi and Fallah were born in Morocco and studied film in Belgium. They gained attention for directing the latest installment in the “Bad Boys” franchise.

Studios are increasingly tapping into telling stories of female superheroes fol-lowing the success of “Wonder Woman” and “Captain Marvel”. PTI

The trailer of ‘Friends: The Reunion’ is out. It features the lead cast

of the show, Jennifer Anis-ton, Courteney Cox,Lisa Kud-row, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwim-mer, revisiting the episodes of the hit sitcom.The trailer opens with David Schwim-mer asking his co-stars about the length of the letter Rachel wrote for Ross before they got back together. They revisit many such iconic moments throughout the trailer, leaving the audience with nostalgia. We also see the actors getting emotional as they reminisce the time they spent together as Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chan-dler, Monica and Ross while shooting for the show. Going by the trailer, the episode, also called ‘The One Where They Get Back Together’, looks as fun as the popular show.

Apart from the lead char-

acters, ‘Friends: The Reunion’ has a huge list of guests includ-ing actors, sportsmen, activ-ists, musicians, and others. David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delev-ingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Han-kin, Mindy

Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai will appear in the episode. David Schwimmer recently talked about the ‘Friends reunion’ special in a conversation with ‘People’ magazine. He said, “Thiscast in these roles and the collaborative spirit that the writers kind of invited where we all were playing at the same level, at the highest level Ithink, in terms of sitcom, that we could play at. I think it was a dream come true for all of us, and I think we realised it really early on.”

The ‘Friends reunion’ episode will premiere

on streaming ser-vice HBO Max on

May 27. HBO Max is currently not available in India. AGENCIES

The friends are back for another laughter riot

The trailer opens with David Schwimmer asking his co-stars about the length of the letter Rachel wrote for Ross before they got back together

‘Colour-blind casting is the future’

Directors Adil, Bilall to helm ‘Batgirl’

Christina Hodson has penned the script for it

Reality show Indian Idol 12 has been at the receiving end of criti-

cism recently. From Kishore Kumar’s son Amit Kumar stat-ing that he did not enjoy the contestants’ performance when he visited the show to viewers blaming the makers for spark-ing a fake love story between Pawandeep Rajan and Arunita Kanjilal. Host Aditya Narayan has now opened up about the negativity around the show, sharing that while they respect people’s opinion they are enter-tainers who are trying to give their audience an enjoyable experience.

Speaking to Bollywood Spy, Aditya said that Amit Kumar has always enjoyed being on Indian Idol and he doesn’t know what happened this time. Sharing that he cannot speak for him, the host said that he enjoyed the episode when he watched it and so did his parents. “As for comments on Twitter, I feel it’s a place filled with bots. I would rather take real feedback from real peo-ple than worry about a social media outrage.”

The singer also said that India has a huge popula-tion and over time they have

realised that they cannot make everyone happy with every episode. He also commented on the backlash that judges Himesh Reshammiya and Neha Kakkar received while singing Kishore Kumar’s songs.

“As a team, we honestly respect everyone and are try-ing our best. However, some people may not like some-thing in some episodes. Also, we all are connected to music and when we are celebrating someone’s legacy, you can-not judge them. The voting and judgment should be left for contestants not others,” he shared. Aditya went on to add that from the statistics he has received, the season of Indian Idol is the most successful in the past decade. “That wouldn’t have happened if people did not like the contestants.” AGENCIES

Aditya Narayan reacts on Indian Idol’s criticism

The singer said that India has a huge population and he has realised that it’s impossible to make everyone happy

The volatile world we all live in, it’s important that we have correct representation of all sorts of people,’ she says

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