12
T he home-bound exodus of thousands of migrant work- ers has posed a major challenge to the Centre, which, on Sunday, directed States/UTs to seal the borders of districts and cities to prevent movement of people across cities or highways. The Centre also told the States that all those who have travelled during the lockdown period would be put under mandatory 14-day quarantine at Government facilities. The Centre has tried to take into account the factors that triggered the massive exo- dus due to joblessness, pressure from the landlords to vacate their dwelling, and how to find their next meal, the like of which the country has never seen before in post- Independence period. To address these issues, the Centre has directed SPs and DMs to ensure action against the landlords asking stu- dents/labourers to vacate rent- ed accommodation. Home Minister Amit Shah and Home Secretary AK Bhalla spoke to many Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries to ensure strict action against landlords who demanded workers to vacate their dwellings. They also urged the States to ensure the private companies pay salaries to employers and workers. Both of them asked the State Governments to impose penal actions against those who violate the rules of the Disaster Management Act. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba also took stock of pre- paredness with State Chief Secretaries and DGPs. “The migrant people, who have moved out to reach their home in States or towns to be kept in the nearest shelter by the respective State/UT Government quarantine facil- ities after proper screening for a minimum period of 14 days as per standard health protocol. All the employers, be it in the industry or in the shops and commercial establishments, should make payment of wages of their workers, at their work places, on the due date, with- out any deduction, for the period their establishments are under closure during the lock- down,” said a circular issued to the States and Union Territories by the Union Home Ministry. “It is to be ensured that wherever the workers, including the migrants, are living in rent- ed accommodation, the land- lords of those properties must not demand payment of rent for a period of one month. If any landlord is forcing labourers and students to vacate their premises, they will be liable for action under the Act. The order stated that in case of violation of any of the above measures, the respective State/UT Government, would take nec- essary action under the Disaster Management Act and the DMs /Deputy Commissioners and SSPs/ SPs/Deputy Commissioner of Police would be personally liable for imple- mentation of the above direc- tions and lockdown measures issued earlier,” the circular added. Continued on Page 2 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought forgiveness from the people who have to undergo hardship during the ongoing lockdown to combat the coronavirus spread. He also referred to reports of discrimination against coronavirus patients and those under quarantine and called for increasing emotion- al bonding while continuing to maintain “social distancing”. He also asked patients who have recovered to make their fight viral on social media. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat address, the PM said, “I ask for forgiveness from my coun- try men especially the poor who have been asked to remain under lockdown and have to face difficulties. I understand their pain and suffering, but it is essential to fight the coron- avirus pandemic.” Modi said the measures were for the “safety of you and your families” and sought them to “respect Lakshman Rekha outside your homes”. “I’ve told you to not to step outside... this is the time to introspect,” Modi said and cited examples where people have been using the opportunity and time to enjoy the hobbies or pursuits they had lost track of during their busy routine. Continued on Page 2 W ith coronavirus con- firmed cases going over 1,100 and death count reaching 26 on Sunday, the Centre announced increased focus on high-disease burden hotspots across India and the State Governments intensified efforts to strengthen commu- nity surveillance, contact track- ing and containment strategy. The Ministry of Health confirmed 978 positive cases in the forenoon, but data collated from releases issued by various State Governments till late Sunday evening put the count of confirmed case to 1104. Overall 26 people have died. Maharashtra has report- ed 6 deaths, Madhya Pradesh 2, Karnataka 3, Gujarat 4, and Delhi 2. One each person has died of COVID-19 in Bengal, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. “We are identifying emerg- ing Covid-19 hotspots in the country and a rigorous cluster containment strategy is being implemented on a war footing,” Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said at a Press briefing here on the fifth day of the 21-day nationwide lockdown. With over 200 positive cases each, Maharashtra and Kerala have emerged as the top two States with most number of infections followed by oth- ers like Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh where number of pos- itive cases has gone past 50. Agarwal said that the Cabinet Secretary held a cou- ple of meetings with the Chief Secretaries of all States in the last 24 hours to review the sit- uation and for the effective implementation of contain- ment measures. The Government has also set up 10 empowered groups entrusted to oversee the Covid related management and pre- vention strategy at various platforms. Agarwal added that the Government was busy upgrad- ing the health logistics, includ- ing procurement and manu- facturing of PPEs (personal protective equipment) like masks, sanitisers and also sep- aration of the treatment facil- ities for coronavirus cases across States. Agarwal said the ongoing 21-day lockdown has resulted in some behavioural as well as mental health issues and NIMHANS has launched a toll- free number — 08046110007 — for consultation. Continued on Page 2 A s many as 103 cities in India registered vastly improved air quality on Sunday due to the 21-day nationwide coronavirus lockdown. According to the data of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) in as many as 61 cities have recorded “satisfac- tory”, level and 30 cities have recorded “good” level. The air quality of 12 cities has record- ed at “moderate” category. The lockdown has kept cars off the road and closed fac- tories, commercial establish- ment, movement of private and public transport, improv- ing air quality and letting peo- ple see blue skies instead of heavy grey smog. Last year, India accounted for around half of the world’s 50 most polluted cities. The air quality in the national Capital and the financial capital Mumbai’s is presently at “satis- factory” level. According to the CPCB data, the air quality level are at “good” category in Chennai, Yamunanagar, Thiruvanan- thapuram, Shillong, Satna, Rohtak, Patiala, Sagar, Narnaul, Muzaffarnagar, Manesar, Ludhiana, Kanpur, Ambala and Karnal are in “good” category. The air qual- ity index value in these cities is less than 50. Bhatinda, Bengaluru, Delhi, Agra, Ahmedabad, Alwar, Aizawl, Amravati, Kota, Amritsar, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Patna, Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai are among those cities where air quality is at “sat- isfactory” level and the air index value is between 50 and 100. Muzaffarpur, Nandesari, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati Gaya, Dewas, Chandrapur and Bhiwani are in the list of moderate category where air quality index value is above 100. CPCB officials said it is the lockdown impact. “Local fac- tors like shutting down of industries and construction and traffic have contributed in improving the air quality. Rain is also helping, but the curbs on local emissions are playing a significant role,” officials added. As per the CPCB data, the national capital, the world’s most polluted capital city, the air quality is presently in the “satisfactory” level and air qual- ity index value is 62. Continued on Page 2 A research carried out by the Chinese authorities show that at least half of the 85,000 Covid-19 cases in the country displayed no symptoms. The study underlines the impor- tance of random testing at a mass scale to identify the “silent carriers” of the disease, com- pletely unaware that they were Covid-19 patients. The data reveals that around 43,000 peo- ple in China tested positive despite showing no symptoms. In a report, the South China Morning Post said that around 43,000 people in China had tested positive for coron- avirus by the end of February but had no symptoms. These asymptomatic, silent carriers were placed under quarantine and were closely monitored by the doctors. However, they were not includ- ed in the list of officially con- firmed cases which then stood at 80,000. Scientists are not yet sure what role exactly a silent car- rier or asymptomatic trans- mission plays in the spread of this new type of coronavirus. A patient usually develops symptoms in five days though the incubation period can stretch up to 14 days or even three weeks. During this period, the asymptomatic patient can pass on the infection to others. A section of scientists are of the view that silent carriers play a vital role in infecting others with the Covid-19 virus. These findings hold a great deal of importance for India which has been able to test only a fraction of its mas- sive population. India has been maintaining that cases of community trans- mission has not been wit- nessed so far and strict adher- ing to social distance for a cer- tain period will help it win the war against the Covid-19. The data available from the Chinese Government notes that asymptomatic carriers of the dreaded virus have been ignored by most of the western countries. “The Chinese Government changed its classification guide- lines on February 7, counting only those patients with symp- toms as confirmed cases. The US, Britain and Italy simply do not test people without symp- toms, apart from medical workers who have prolonged exposure to the virus,” said the English daily. China may not have been adding silent carriers on its offi- cial list, but it prevented the spread of the disease by isolat- ing and monitoring them. Continued on Page 2 H it by corona lockdown, thousands of impover- ished daily wagers and labour- ers, including women and chil- dren, started returning to their “homes” in the national Capital on Sunday after the Delhi Police sealed arterial roads in the city, especially those lead- ing to the border areas, hours after the Centre asked State Governments to ensure there is no movement of people across cities. Cops are turning back migrant workers travelling by foot after Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava strictly directed his personnel to stop movement of migrants. Many people were seen trying to walk on the railway tracks at Anand Vihar to go their hometowns in UP. All DCPs, ACPs and SHOs have been instructed to con- duct extensive patrolling in their respective areas and deploy maximum number of vehicles for patrolling to check the movement of migrants. In his tweet, Kejriwal said, “I assure you that the Delhi Government has made suffi- cient arrangements for your food and accommodation. For now, do not go to your villages in the country’s interest.” Now with the border sealed, daily wagers and labourers are looking at administrative support for food and shelter. “I have not paid rent to my landlord this month and cannot pay it next month as the factory we worked is closed. We are left with no option except leaving the city by any mode of trans- port available,” said Rambhuwan, who along with with his wife and two children were returned from the bus terminal by the police. Continued on Page 2 Washington: Confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in the United States doubled in two days, surpassing 2,000 on Saturday and highlighting how quickly the virus is spreading through the coun- try. Johns Hopkins University reported that con- firmed deaths rose to more than 30,000 around the world. Kottayam: Seeking trans- portation to travel to their native places, hundreds of migrant workers on Sunday ventured out into the streets near Changanassery violating the lockdown. The incident is reported from Payippad village. Hundreds of migrant workers are out on the street, seeking transportation facilities to go to their native places, the author- ities said. T homas Schaefer, the Finance Minister of Germany’s Hesse State, has committed sui- cide apparently after becoming “deeply worried” over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus, State premier Volker Bouffier said on Sunday. Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecu- tion’s office said they believe he died by suicide. “We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad,” Bouffier said. Hesse is home to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi: Following detec- tion of the first coronavirus positive case in the paramilitary ranks, the BSF has home-quar- antined about 50 personnel and kept at least five other offi- cers under isolation at the Force’s academy at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh. The move comes after BSF second-in- command officer Ashok Kumar, overseeing prepara- tion of quarantine facility at BSF Academy, Tekanpur, was reported Covid-19 positive. T he Centre has asked States and UTs to allow trans- portation of goods without the essential and non-essential dis- tinction during the 21-day coronavirus lockdown. The delivery of newspapers, supply chain of milk collection and distribution, and supply of gro- ceries, including hygiene prod- ucts are to be allowed, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said in a letter to the State and UT Governments. Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Government on Sunday took over Jaypee Groups unused flats along Yamuna Expressway to rehabilitate migrant labours from Delhi who entered the State. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered to keep all those labourers under 14- day quarantine at the flats where they will be provided medical and food supply.

ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

  • Upload
    others

  • View
    2

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

�������������������� ������ ��������������������������� �������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �����!"�������������������

������ ������ �������� ���������������������������#�����$�%���������������������%������������&�����������'�������������(������������������#�������������������%�����������������)����� �����������������������������������$��������������������������

��� �������������������� ������ �����������������������*��%��� ��������������%������ �����������������������(��������+�����������������������%������%�����(���,-" � ����������� ���������������������������$��$��$���.����*�(���

�������

����� /+0�'+*12

The home-bound exodus ofthousands of migrant work-

ers has posed a major challengeto the Centre, which, onSunday, directed States/UTs toseal the borders of districts andcities to prevent movement ofpeople across cities or highways.

The Centre also told theStates that all those who havetravelled during the lockdownperiod would be put undermandatory 14-day quarantineat Government facilities.

The Centre has tried totake into account the factorsthat triggered the massive exo-dus due to joblessness, pressurefrom the landlords to vacatetheir dwelling, and how tofind their next meal, the like ofwhich the country has neverseen before in post-

Independence period.To address these issues,

the Centre has directed SPs andDMs to ensure action againstthe landlords asking stu-dents/labourers to vacate rent-ed accommodation. HomeMinister Amit Shah and HomeSecretary AK Bhalla spoke tomany Chief Ministers andChief Secretaries to ensurestrict action against landlordswho demanded workers tovacate their dwellings.

They also urged the Statesto ensure the private companiespay salaries to employers andworkers. Both of them askedthe State Governments toimpose penal actions againstthose who violate the rules ofthe Disaster Management Act.

Cabinet Secretary RajivGauba also took stock of pre-paredness with State Chief

Secretaries and DGPs.“The migrant people, who

have moved out to reach theirhome in States or towns to bekept in the nearest shelter bythe respective State/UTGovernment quarantine facil-ities after proper screening fora minimum period of 14 daysas per standard health protocol.All the employers, be it in theindustry or in the shops andcommercial establishments,should make payment of wagesof their workers, at their workplaces, on the due date, with-

out any deduction, for theperiod their establishments areunder closure during the lock-down,” said a circular issued tothe States and Union Territoriesby the Union Home Ministry.

“It is to be ensured thatwherever the workers, includingthe migrants, are living in rent-ed accommodation, the land-lords of those properties mustnot demand payment of rent fora period of one month. If anylandlord is forcing labourersand students to vacate theirpremises, they will be liable for

action under the Act. The orderstated that in case of violation ofany of the above measures, therespective State/UTGovernment, would take nec-essary action under the DisasterManagement Act and the DMs/Deputy Commissioners and SSPs/ SPs/DeputyCommissioner of Police wouldbe personally liable for imple-mentation of the above direc-tions and lockdown measuresissued earlier,” the circularadded.

Continued on Page 2

����� /+0�'+*12

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday sought

forgiveness from the peoplewho have to undergo hardshipduring the ongoing lockdownto combat the coronavirusspread. He also referred toreports of discriminationagainst coronavirus patientsand those under quarantine and

called for increasing emotion-al bonding while continuing tomaintain “social distancing”.

He also asked patients whohave recovered to make theirfight viral on social media.

In his monthly Mann KiBaat address, the PM said, “I askfor forgiveness from my coun-try men especially the poor who

have been asked to remainunder lockdown and have toface difficulties. I understandtheir pain and suffering, but itis essential to fight the coron-avirus pandemic.”

Modi said the measureswere for the “safety of you andyour families” and sought themto “respect Lakshman Rekhaoutside your homes”.

“I’ve told you to not to stepoutside... this is the time tointrospect,” Modi said and citedexamples where people havebeen using the opportunityand time to enjoy the hobbiesor pursuits they had lost trackof during their busy routine.

Continued on Page 2

����� /+0�'+*12

With coronavirus con-firmed cases going over

1,100 and death count reaching26 on Sunday, the Centreannounced increased focus onhigh-disease burden hotspotsacross India and the StateGovernments intensifiedefforts to strengthen commu-nity surveillance, contact track-ing and containment strategy.

The Ministry of Healthconfirmed 978 positive cases inthe forenoon, but data collatedfrom releases issued by variousState Governments till lateSunday evening put the countof confirmed case to 1104.

Overall 26 people havedied. Maharashtra has report-ed 6 deaths, Madhya Pradesh 2,Karnataka 3, Gujarat 4, andDelhi 2. One each person hasdied of COVID-19 in Bengal,Telangana, Tamil Nadu,Punjab, Kerala, Jammu &Kashmir, Himachal Pradeshand Bihar.

“We are identifying emerg-

ing Covid-19 hotspots in thecountry and a rigorous clustercontainment strategy is beingimplemented on a war footing,”Health Ministry’s JointSecretary Lav Agarwal said ata Press briefing here on the fifthday of the 21-day nationwidelockdown.

With over 200 positivecases each, Maharashtra andKerala have emerged as the toptwo States with most numberof infections followed by oth-ers like Karnataka, Telangana,Rajasthan, Gujarat and UttarPradesh where number of pos-itive cases has gone past 50.

Agarwal said that theCabinet Secretary held a cou-ple of meetings with the ChiefSecretaries of all States in thelast 24 hours to review the sit-uation and for the effectiveimplementation of contain-ment measures.

The Government has alsoset up 10 empowered groupsentrusted to oversee the Covidrelated management and pre-vention strategy at various

platforms.Agarwal added that the

Government was busy upgrad-ing the health logistics, includ-ing procurement and manu-facturing of PPEs (personalprotective equipment) likemasks, sanitisers and also sep-aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus casesacross States.

Agarwal said the ongoing21-day lockdown has resulted insome behavioural as well asmental health issues andNIMHANS has launched a toll-free number — 08046110007 —for consultation.

Continued on Page 2

�� ����������� /+0�'+*12

As many as 103 cities inIndia registered vastly

improved air quality on Sundaydue to the 21-day nationwidecoronavirus lockdown.

According to the data ofthe Central Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB), the air qualityindex (AQI) in as many as 61cities have recorded “satisfac-tory”, level and 30 cities haverecorded “good” level. The airquality of 12 cities has record-ed at “moderate” category.

The lockdown has keptcars off the road and closed fac-tories, commercial establish-ment, movement of privateand public transport, improv-ing air quality and letting peo-ple see blue skies instead ofheavy grey smog.

Last year, India accountedfor around half of the world’s50 most polluted cities. The airquality in the national Capitaland the financial capitalMumbai’s is presently at “satis-

factory” level.According to the CPCB

data, the air quality level are at“good” category in Chennai,Yamunanagar, Thiruvanan-thapuram, Shillong, Satna,Rohtak, Patiala, Sagar,Narnaul, Muzaffarnagar,Manesar, Ludhiana, Kanpur,Ambala and Karnal are in“good” category. The air qual-ity index value in these cities isless than 50.

Bhatinda, Bengaluru,Delhi, Agra, Ahmedabad,Alwar, Aizawl, Amravati, Kota,Amritsar, Kozhikode,Lucknow, Patna, Pune, Nagpur,Mumbai are among those cities where air quality is at “sat-isfactory” level and the airindex value is between 50 and 100.

Muzaffarpur, Nandesari,Navi Mumbai, Kolkata,Guwahati Gaya, Dewas,Chandrapur and Bhiwani are inthe list of moderate categorywhere air quality index value isabove 100.

CPCB officials said it is thelockdown impact. “Local fac-tors like shutting down ofindustries and constructionand traffic have contributed inimproving the air quality. Rainis also helping, but the curbs onlocal emissions are playing a

significant role,” officials added.As per the CPCB data, the

national capital, the world’smost polluted capital city, theair quality is presently in the“satisfactory” level and air qual-ity index value is 62.

Continued on Page 2

����� /+0�'+*12

Aresearch carried out by theChinese authorities show

that at least half of the 85,000Covid-19 cases in the countrydisplayed no symptoms. Thestudy underlines the impor-tance of random testing at amass scale to identify the “silentcarriers” of the disease, com-pletely unaware that they wereCovid-19 patients. The datareveals that around 43,000 peo-ple in China tested positivedespite showing no symptoms.

In a report, the SouthChina Morning Post said thataround 43,000 people in Chinahad tested positive for coron-avirus by the end of Februarybut had no symptoms.

These asymptomatic, silentcarriers were placed underquarantine and were closelymonitored by the doctors.However, they were not includ-ed in the list of officially con-firmed cases which then stoodat 80,000.

Scientists are not yet surewhat role exactly a silent car-rier or asymptomatic trans-mission plays in the spread of

this new type of coronavirus. Apatient usually develops symptoms in five days thoughthe incubation period canstretch up to 14 days or eventhree weeks.

During this period, theasymptomatic patient can passon the infection to others. Asection of scientists are of theview that silent carriers play avital role in infecting otherswith the Covid-19 virus.

These findings hold a greatdeal of importance for India which has been able totest only a fraction of its mas-sive population.

India has been maintainingthat cases of community trans-mission has not been wit-nessed so far and strict adher-ing to social distance for a cer-tain period will help it win thewar against the Covid-19.

The data available from theChinese Government notesthat asymptomatic carriers ofthe dreaded virus have beenignored by most of the westerncountries.

“The Chinese Governmentchanged its classification guide-lines on February 7, counting

only those patients with symp-toms as confirmed cases. TheUS, Britain and Italy simply donot test people without symp-toms, apart from medicalworkers who have prolongedexposure to the virus,” said theEnglish daily.

China may not have beenadding silent carriers on its offi-cial list, but it prevented thespread of the disease by isolat-ing and monitoring them.

Continued on Page 2

����������������/+0�'+*12

Hit by corona lockdown,thousands of impover-

ished daily wagers and labour-ers, including women and chil-dren, started returning to their“homes” in the national Capitalon Sunday after the DelhiPolice sealed arterial roads inthe city, especially those lead-ing to the border areas, hoursafter the Centre asked StateGovernments to ensure thereis no movement of peopleacross cities.

Cops are turning backmigrant workers travelling byfoot after Delhi PoliceCommissioner SN Srivastavastrictly directed his personnelto stop movement of migrants.

Many people were seentrying to walk on the railwaytracks at Anand Vihar to gotheir hometowns in UP.

All DCPs, ACPs and SHOshave been instructed to con-

duct extensive patrolling intheir respective areas anddeploy maximum number ofvehicles for patrolling to checkthe movement of migrants.

In his tweet, Kejriwal said,“I assure you that the DelhiGovernment has made suffi-cient arrangements for yourfood and accommodation. Fornow, do not go to your villagesin the country’s interest.”

Now with the bordersealed, daily wagers andlabourers are looking atadministrative support forfood and shelter. “I have notpaid rent to my landlord thismonth and cannot pay it nextmonth as the factory weworked is closed. We are leftwith no option except leavingthe city by any mode of trans-port available,” saidRambhuwan, who along withwith his wife and two childrenwere returned from the busterminal by the police.

Continued on Page 2

� ������ ����������������.������������ ��������%�������������������������������%��������������(���$�������������������������������$�������������������(���������������������������������,�3��������(������%���

� '����4��������(���(������""�������������������������,53������� �������������������������������������������������(������%��������������

� 4� ����(�����6�%�����������$���$�����������������������������0����&������7(�������������������� ������%�������� ����������������������%����� ������������%�����������(������$���%������������������

� 2�����8������������������������� ���� ������(������������%�� �� ��������� �������������������������������������������������������%�����������������9:2'3�;��$���%������������

Washington: Confirmedcoronavirus-related deathsin the United States doubledin two days, surpassing 2,000on Saturday and highlightinghow quickly the virus isspreading through the coun-try. Johns HopkinsUniversity reported that con-firmed deaths rose to morethan 30,000 around theworld.

Kottayam: Seeking trans-portation to travel to theirnative places, hundreds ofmigrant workers on Sundayventured out into the streetsnear Changanassery violatingthe lockdown.

The incident is reportedfrom Payippad village.Hundreds of migrant workersare out on the street, seekingtransportation facilities to go totheir native places, the author-ities said.

���������� �������� ����� ������� �������

������������� �������������������� ����������������� ��������������� �������������������������������������

������ ����� ���������� � ������������������

������������������

���� ������������������������ �����

������� ������ ��� � ������ �� ��!���������������������������

� ��� �������� ���������������" #����$�%�&'����� � ������������������ ����������� ���&��(��� ��$������ !������� �����)������ �

�����!"������������#����������� �$�"����%%�������

&�#���'������(��������%����)����������"����*����� )8#/6)<8��#.�.#2/

Thomas Schaefer, the FinanceMinister of Germany’s

Hesse State, has committed sui-cide apparently after becoming“deeply worried” over how tocope with the economic falloutfrom the coronavirus, Statepremier Volker Bouffier said onSunday. Schaefer, 54, was founddead near a railway track onSaturday.

The Wiesbaden prosecu-tion’s office said they believe hedied by suicide. “We are inshock, we are in disbelief andabove all we are immenselysad,” Bouffier said.

Hesse is home toGermany’s financial capitalFrankfurt, where major lenderslike Deutsche Bank andCommerzbank have theirheadquarters.

Continued on Page 2

New Delhi: Following detec-tion of the first coronaviruspositive case in the paramilitaryranks, the BSF has home-quar-antined about 50 personneland kept at least five other offi-cers under isolation at theForce’s academy at Tekanpur inMadhya Pradesh. The movecomes after BSF second-in-command officer AshokKumar, overseeing prepara-tion of quarantine facility atBSF Academy, Tekanpur, wasreported Covid-19 positive.

������&���������������"������*������������� /+0�'+*12

The Centre has asked Statesand UTs to allow trans-

portation of goods without theessential and non-essential dis-tinction during the 21-daycoronavirus lockdown. Thedelivery of newspapers, supplychain of milk collection anddistribution, and supply of gro-ceries, including hygiene prod-ucts are to be allowed, UnionHome Secretary Ajay Bhallasaid in a letter to the State andUT Governments.

+'�����%�����������������������,�(��#���-�(����������

�������� �

��������������.!����/���������%�����������

�+�&������(������0�#����1!"���%����%��#������*������Lucknow: The Uttar PradeshGovernment on Sunday tookover Jaypee Groups unusedflats along Yamuna Expresswayto rehabilitate migrant laboursfrom Delhi who entered theState. UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has ordered to keepall those labourers under 14-day quarantine at the flatswhere they will be providedmedical and food supply.

'�������������2�����#�������3�4���������������"��������#���#�

�������������������������� �� ����������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������� �����!�� ��� ������"����#�� �����$����� %&'

!���������������������������������������������� �����������$������� %&'

=���'���4���� ����$%���>���� ����5����"������6

������������� ���

'7810�92/'2#��9�7890�)#��+���

#.9/7�7,"�+�9/9.2+�?�8+498�

�����������>���� ����>

@*������� !��"�!"��##$� AA@#������������+ ������# ���$��

4�$������)����'+*12��*<�6/90 &194#*��&1<&#/+�0#8

8#/�12�8#24<8 �1#/'27#81�'+18#'</ 1B'+8#&#'�:2C#B0#'#

�#%&���#��'�()*+������������ ��������������� ���������� ���������������� ����!"���#$%���

��,������-������������./-�0/0/1�������(0��.

�7+28278��)82+/'�124�2/��89<&*+

�+7-:���.2�1�#7#2/�+*272&*+

)98��#4�#2/�B

���������� ��������������������� �

Page 2: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

������������������ ��������� !�" " �� ���

���������� ���� .<.&#2

Amid reports of patientswith history of interna-

tional travel jumping quaran-tine, the department of theComputer Science &Engineering (CSE) of IndianInstitute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) has devel-oped a mobile applicationwhich can be used by theofficials to track violations bythe people placed in isolationas a precautionary measuretaken to check the spread ofcoronavirus.

Developed by a CSE teamled by Prof. Bhaskaran Ramanand Prof. KameswariChebrolu, the Mobile App“can potentially be used byofficials for checking quaran-tine adherence”.

“SAFE has 3 dimensionsof verification: location, iden-tity, and time. SAFE is capableof detecting cases where the

person may leave the phoneand go outside quarantinehimself/ herself (this is unlikea few “new” solutions forquarantine checking),” ProfRaman and Prof Chebrolusaid.

“Also, SAFE is time-tested:it has been in use since the last5 years, and has been used forclassroom attendance by thou-sands of students in variouscourses,” they said.

“The SAFE is ready for

deployment. The IITB teamwill provide support free ofcost. The personal data col-lected (name, email, selfiephotos, location) in SAFE aresensitive. The data must beaccessed only by explicitlyauthorized personnel. Thedata must not be revealed tothe public through any means.The data must be used ONLYfor the purpose of verifyingquarantine adherence,” thetwo professors said.

���������������� /+0�'+*12

Following detection of thefirst coronavirus positive

case in the paramilitary ranks,the Border Security Force(BSF) has home-quarantinedabout 50 personnel and kept atleast five other officers underisolation at the Force’s academyat Tekanpur in MadhyaPradesh.

The move comes after BSFsecond-in-command officerAshok Kumar, overseeingpreparation of quarantine facil-ity at BSF Academy, Tekanpur,was reported COVID-19 pos-itive. Meanwhile, a CISF headconstable posted at Mumbaiairport also tested COVID-19positive on Sunday. The CISFhead constable was undergoingtreatment at a Mumbai hospi-tal for the last few days.

Five officer of the BSF’sTear Smoke Unit at Tekanpurwho have been isolated sinceMarch 22 include a DeputyCommandant, an AssistantCommandant, two Inspectorsand a Sub-Inspector While theDeputy Commandant has beenkept at Government Quarters,Officer Colony, Tekanpur, theAssistant Commandant andan Inspector have been kept atGovernment Quarters, CEN-WOSTO (Central Workshop &

Stores) campus at Tekanpur.Another Inspector and theSub-Inspector have beenlodged at separate rooms ofTSU’s Mess. The DC, AC, oneinspector and the Sub-Inspector reported from acourse. One isolated inspector’sdaughter came from Kerala inthe government quarters inTekanpur, according to aninternal circular of the BSF’sTear Smoke Unit (TSU) issuedon Friday. The TSU manufac-tures a range of tear smokeshells and pellets for supply tovarious paramilitary and policeforces across the country.

“Ashok Kumar, 2IC OFSubsidiary Training Centre(STC), Tekanpur has beenfound positive for COVID-19today i.e 28/03/2020. BSF

Academy was directed to estab-lish quarantine centre for 250beds and STC BSF Tekanpur for200 beds. Ashok Kumar, 2ICwas detailed as supervisoryofficer for quarantine centre ofSTC, Tekanpur. Accordingly,two meetings were conducted atBSF Academy to review theprogress/preparation of quar-antine centres which werechaired by ADG/Director BSFAcademy on 19/03/2020morn-ing and evening in whichIG/Joint Director BSF Acadmyand all commanders of wing/unit attended the meetingalong with a few officers of BSFAcademy and in these meetingsAshok Kumar, 2IC OF STC,Tekanpur was also present .Accordingly, Director, JointDirector Director and all otherrelated officers and staff havebeen placed in home quaran-tine. For info please,” reads acommunication sent by BSFAcademy, Tekanpur to BSFheadquarters here on Saturday.

The BSF has been asked toset up quarantine facilities forCOVID-19 suspects with acapacity of 1,940 beds across 12locations of the paramilitaryestablishment across the coun-try, including BSF Academy atTekanpur. This is the largestnumber quarantine beds allottedto any paramilitary force.

������ *��������� ��(������ ����� �

����������� ������ ����������������� ������������������������������������� �� �� �����!��"����#��� $����%&&'''(� ����������)#����*�������$(&'�(&&!�����%�+�����,-���.�/�����0����������123!-3�413�/����(�''/��0������������0���5���0��6 �71�6�� �!����0��#����7�������������0��8�����$���� 9���������0/�1�:%;'<=;&''�(+<==(<&%<;�>?<&(+;(<&����*�� @�����0;��A�����!��!������#�������A�B �3������*�� %((�'&��9���������0'=((%(+;�;;+�(+;�;;;�(+;�;;=�

���������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ��������������� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

������������� ��!�!" #$#�"�% �&�� !�"�

� ��� �128<:#/#/�1#4<8#.

As migrant workers hisroads in the State violating

lockdown, Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan onSunday said there was a con-spiracy behind it and lashed outat “forces” which were trying tocreate unrest in the society byprovoking the working classduring the coronavirus pan-demic.

Hundreds of migrantworkers in Chenganassery inKottayam district came out onthe street, violating the 21-daylockdown restrictions imposedto prevent the spread ofCOVID-19, demanding thatarrangements be made for theirtravel to native villages innorthern States. Vijayan said allarrangements have been madefor medical assistance to themand the government was con-stantly engaging with the “guestworkers”, as he calls them, toensure their well-being.

“Yet there were attempts tostir up misunderstandingsamong them and it’s a moveagainst the State,” Vijayan saidadding that there “are clearindications about those forces”which had “misled and pro-voked” the working class.

He requested such peopleto “stay away from the heinousacts challenging people duringthe period of crisis”.

The Chief Minister saidsuch an incident should havenever happened in the Statewhich has “extra care and con-cern” for the guest workers.

He also said a senior IASofficial has been assigned tocoordinate the efforts and thestate has opened 4,603 campswhere 1,44,145 guest workersare lodged.

“In one place, some work-ers have expressed a desire totravel to their home states.Unfortunately, this is not pos-sible since we are in a nation-wide lockdown. Traveling at

this juncture will be dangerousand counter-productive to ourefforts against Covid-19,”Vijayan said in a tweet.

In a statement issued later,he said those who conspired togather the guest workers in thestreet will be brought beforejustice.

“The Prime Minister haddeclared that none should trav-el and asked everyone to staywherever they are. We cannotallow them to travel back andeveryone knows it. We need toidentify those who stirred uphopes, among the guest work-ers, that they could go home,”Vijayan said.

He said it was the respon-sibility of the contractors toprovide food and accommo-dation to the labourers, but stillthe State has been taking careof it for many in this period ofcrisis. “Kerala, a state whichperforms well in health sup-port, cannot accept such acts bywhich a group of people takingit to the streets and that toowithout the mandatory socialdistancing during this Covid-19 scare. We will take steps toensure that such incidentswould not be repeated,” hesaid.

Vijayan said the state hostsa large number of workersfrom other States and “consid-ers them as guest workers”.

“Kerala has opened 4603camps for the state’s guestworkers. 1,44,145 guest work-ers are in these facilities. Masks,soaps and sanitisers have beenmade available in these Covid-19 camps,” he said.

Community kitchens wereproviding free cooked meals inlocations across the State andin other places the authoritieshave delivered provisions to theworkers. He also said that inorder to create awarenessamong the guest workers,brochures and short videos inHindi, Odia and Bengali lan-guages are being circulated.

����������������������������������������������������� ������������������(�����

&�#���'������(��������%����)����������"����*

From page 1The European Central

Bank is also located inFrankfurt.

A visibly shaken Bouffierrecalled that Schaefer, whowas Hesse’s finance chief for10 years, had been working“day and night” to help companies and workers dealwith the economic impact of

the pandemic.“ Today we have to

assume that he was deeplyworried,” said Bouffier, a closeally of Chancellor AngelaMerkel . “It’s precisely during this difficult time thatwe would have needed some-one like him,” he added.

Popular and well-respect-ed, Schaefer had long beentouted as a possible successor to Bouffier.

Like Bouffier, Schaeferbelonged to Merkel’s centre-right CDU party. He leavesbehind a wife and two chil-dren.

From Page 1The officer said States have

been told to ensure there is nointermingling of non-Covid-19patients with the infected onesand the process of shifting non-infected patients to other hospi-tals has begun as the creation ofdedicated facilities for Covid-19cases picks up pace across thecountry.

ICMR’s Dr RamanGangakhedkar, who was alsopresent at the Press conferencesaid there were a good numberof tests of Covid-19 happeningin the country.

“Our infrastructure is spreadacross the country, I don’t thinkwe are testing less. We have con-

ducted 34,931 tests till today.Capacity utilisation in the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) network is around 30per cent. We have increasedsome number of labs also. Now,113 Government labs have beenmade functional and 47 privatelabs have been given approval toconduct the Covid-19 tests.”Joint Secretary in the HomeMinistry Punya Salila Srivastavasaid employers must be instruct-ed to give full wages to workerson the due date without anydeduction for the closed-downperiod and landlords cannotcharge rent for this period.

She also said the workerscannot be forced to vacate thepremises. “The SPs and DMs willbe held personally responsiblefor its strict implementation,”Srivastava said, referring to the

orders issued to stop the massexodus of migrant workers.

Asked to provide the num-ber of patients presently on ven-tilator, Agarwal said, “Data isbeing monitored at State level.High risk cases, which includeage and contact history as crite-ria and which are found seriousare monitored. Figures are notavailable with me right now.”

The one spot of good newsis that across the country, 94Covid-19 patients - nearly 10 percent of the total cases reportedso far - have recovered from thedisease. Globally, there havebeen over 6.9 lakh confirmedcases of COVID-19. At least31,000 people have died so far.The US now has the highestnumber of cases, followed byItaly. Cases continue to surge inEurope.

From Page 1Phulmati Devi (24), who

works as a maid, said she wastold by her owners not tocome after the news of virusspread. “They are rich peoplebut they are stingy. Theyrefused to give me salary. Ihave three children. How canI survive in such a situation,”she asked.

“Where the food is beinggiven free? I have beensearching for it. Do you thinkpeople will travel two or threekilometers daily to have lunchand dinner at night shelters?We cannot even walk to shel-

ters or schools during lock-down where food is being dis-tributed as police will stop us.Who will care us then, no oneactually,” said Bhima Mahtowith tears welling in his eyes.

Panicked women andchildren, who reached AnandVihar bus terminal on Sundayhoping to board the bus,started crying soon after theannouncements were madethat they have to go back.

“We are not financiallystrong to manage the dailyaffairs sitting at home. We aretotal ly dependent onGovernment now for sur-vival. We thought to returnback to our village in Bihar sothat at least we don’t die of

starvation but now our onlyhope to rush to our home isdashed,” Kalawati told ThePioneer as she walked alongthe outer Ring Road carryingher belongings on her head.

Faizan Ansari, (24) said,“I just came in the city threemonths back. I started work-ing in a factory at Shakurpurarea. We were told that fac-tory is closed due to some dis-ease. We were not givensalaries. I borrowed a fewhundred from a friend andwent to Anand Vihar to catcha bus to reach my village inSitamarhi (Bihar) but won’t beable to do so as police did notal low us to cross the border.”

+'�����%���������������������,�(��#��-�(��������;;;

From Page 1In order to know the capa-

bility with which the country isdealing with the pandemic atmedical level, Prime Ministeralso talked to the doctors treat-ing the patients of coronavirus,said, “Their daily activity issynchronous with that of theirpatients.’’

Modi also said, ‘’Todaywhen I witness the sacrifice,perseverance and dedication onpart of doctors, I am remind-ed of the touching words ofAcharya Charak while referringto doctors. And it is so visiblein doctor’s lives today.’’

“In order to ensure thatIndia fights, does not have toface such a situation, we haveto keep trying ceaselessly,’’Prime Minister asked a doctorabout some general queriesrelated to coronavirus like,“When to call a doctor?”,“When to go for a test?”

Modi talked to several peo-ple who had contracted Covid-19 and were later cured overthe phone during his Mann KiBaat.

Modi said he spoke to sev-eral such people in the last fewdays to lift their morale and inthe process, he learnt a lot

about the respiratory disease,which has affected nearly 1,000and killed at least 25 in thecountry.

Ramagampa Teja, an ITprofessional, was the first per-son to speak to the PrimeMinister. Teja told Modi he wasscared after he tested positivefor coronavirus disease but feltreassured because of the doc-tors and hospital staff.

“I work in the IT sector andhad gone to Dubai in connec-tion with a job-related meeting.On my return I got a fever andafter five to six days, the doc-tors conducted a test and I wasfound positive,” Teja said.

He added that he wasadmitted to Gandhi Hospital inHyderabad and was dischargedafter 14 days. “All this was veryscary,” he said.

When the Prime Ministerasked about his steps after get-ting cured, Teja said he has fol-lowed the doctors’ instructionsand kept himself under self-quarantine. Prime Ministeralso had a request to Teja.

“I would like you to makean audio of your experienceand share it on social media. Itwill remove fear from people’sminds and at the same timemake them aware of the nec-essary precautions to protectthemselves,” the Prime Ministersaid.

Modi spoke against reportsof some people seeking to dis-criminate those who are in self-quarantine or affected by thevirus.

“It is not fair to discrimi-nate against those under quar-antine... they are taking pre-cautions,” Modi said, address-ing the nation, his first after the

country-wide lockdownannounced by him on March24. The Prime Ministerexpressed his anguish at somecases of discrimination againstthose in self-quarantine orthose infected by the coron-avirus.

“Social distancing is notabout ending social interac-tion... This is the time to infusenew life in your relationships....Increase social distance butdecrease emotional or humandistance,” he said.

Modi said the countryshould take inspiration fromthose who are on the frontlinesand who have defeated thevirus.

He referred to several postswhich he had received in hisApp which illustrating howpeople were spending theirtime during the ongoing three-week lockdown.

“Every Indian is lockedfor now. But we will emergestronger after this fight againstCOVID-19,” Modi said. “Thisfight against COVID-19 isunprecedented but also chal-lenging. In this fight, whatev-er steps Indians are taking,every citizen’s patience willhelp us. We also have to be sen-sitive to the needs of poor. Indiacan do this,” he said.

On “behalf of the nation”,he also thanked all those work-ing to provide essential servicesduring this period of lock-down by “risking their ownlives”.

The Prime Ministerexpressed gratitude to thosewho are working under theserestrictions to make sure thatpeople don’t have to face anydifficulties under lockdown.

From Page 1

The approach helped theGovernment in swiftly con-taining the virus from spread-ing to other regions in the

China.In India, experts have

been questioning theGovernment if cases havebeen underestimated as manypeople who did not showsymptoms but had a travel his-tory could be a silent carriers,if Chinese data is to bebelieved.

As the world now is wit-ness to a dangerous spread ofthe virus, some scientists areasking whether asymptomatic

and presymptomatic trans-missions have been underes-timated.

An in-depth research byexperts in China, the US,Britain and Hong Kong esti-mated that undocumentedcases of the disease, mostlywith mild or even no symp-toms, were the source of infec-tion for 79 per cent of docu-mented ones before Wuhanwas locked down on January23, the English daily said.

From Page 1Meanwhile, in a big devel-

opment Uttar PradeshAdministration took overJaypee Groups unused flats inYamuna Expressway to reha-bilitate the migrant labourersfrom Delhi who entered theState. UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has ordered to keepall those labours under 14-dayquarantine at these flats andprovide medical and food sup-ply.

Noida District Magistratehas ordered all companies toensure prompt payment ofsalaries to workers and

employees. The DM in hisorder said errant employers willface strict penal actions, includ-ing attachment of personalproperties if any violationsfound.

In Kerala also manymigrant workers agitateddemanding to go back to homeStates in Bihar, UP, West Bengaland Chhattisgarh. Hundreds ofmigrant workers in Paippadtown in Kottayam district cameto street protesting, demandingthe State Government toarrange travel facilities to goback to home States.

The Kerala Governmenturged the labours to stay backat homes and no point oftransportation to distant homeStates as the entire country iswitnessing lockdown. The Stateadministration warned thecontractors of these labours totake care and also assured freefood and shelter if they face anysuch problems. Contractors

also told media that they areassuring all services and some-how the labours are insisting togo home might be due to fearor homesickness. There werereports of migrant labours flowat Maharashtra-Gujarat andKarnataka-Maharashtra bor-der areas also.

In the evening Group ofMinisters headed DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh moni-tored the situation across thecountry, including the supply ofessential commodities supply.The high-level meeting con-vened at Singh’s residence wasattended by Union MinistersAmit Shah, Piyush Goyal, RamVilas Paswan, Smriti Irani,Ramesh Pokhrial Nishank andDharmendra Pradhan.

Meanwhile, PK Mishra,Principal Secretary to thePrime Minister formed 10empowered groups with focuson tackling various emergen-cies.

���� ������������������������ �����+++

From Page 1The air quality is likely to

remain in good to satisfacto-rily level on Monday also.

The CPCB data said theimpact of the measures taken

due to the coronavirus out-break has resulted in a drop inPM2.5 (fine particulate pollu-tant). The level of NitrogenOxide (NOx) pollution, whichcan increase the risk of respi-ratory conditions, has alsoreduced. NOx pollution ismainly caused due to highmotor vehicle traffic.

According to the latestWorld Air Quality Report fromIQAir, Gurugram was the most

polluted cities in the world in2018, with Ghaziabad,Faridabad, Noida, and Bhiwadiin the top six worst-affectedcities. The World EconomicForum’s Global Risks Report2020 highlights the dangersposed by air pollution andrecords that 90 per cent of mil-lennials (people born after1980) expect the health effectscaused by it to worsen in 2020.

�������������.!���/���������%���������;;;�

�����!"������������#�����������;;;

'������������2�����#������3�4������;;;

������������� �������������������)))

� �������� ���� /+0�'+*12

Aday after the nationalCapital saw a sea of

migrants moving to interstatebus terminal at Anand Viharand marching to cross Delhiborders, the Delhi Governmenton Sunday took stern action toprevent such recurrence.

The Government orderedtwo FIRs and ordered criminalaction and impounding ofbuses for entertaining unau-thorised passengers during thelockdown.

The two FIRs were filed onthe orders of the Delhi Chief

Secretary.The first FIR was filed

minutes after a police team inEast Delhi turned back 44buses between 7 am and 5 pmon Saturday. All of them had asticker “Essential Services”, butwere carrying migrant voters tolocations near the Delhi-UPborder. The FIR copy, the con-ductors had not issued any tick-ets to the passengers.“Whendrivers were asked why are theycarrying migrant passengers,that too without issuing anyticket to them, all of them saidthat ‘they had orders fromsuperiors’,” the FIR said.

������&�������������������������������%�������

Page 3: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

�������������������������� ��������� !�" "

���������������!����

� �������� ���� /+0�'+*12

The Indian Railways onSunday said that it has

decided to run special parceltrains to ensure uninterruptedand seamless supply chain ofgoods and essential commodi-ties like dairy products, med-ical equipments and medicineson several routes during thenationwide lockdown.

Indian Railways has alsooffered its unhindered servicesof parcel trains for nationwidetransportation of essentialcommodities and other goodsrequired to meet the needs ofcitizens of the nation.

“Transportation of essen-tial items like medical supplies,medical equipment, food, etc insmall parcel sizes is going to bevery important during thelockdown in the wake ofCOVID19. In order to fill inthis vital need, Indian Railwayshas made railway parcel vansavailable for quick mass trans-portation across the nation for

the needy e-commerce entitiesand other customers includingstate governments to trans-port such goods,” it said in astatement.

It may be noted thatMinistry of Home Affairs hasalready removed the restric-tions on movement of goodsand commodities in the coun-try during the lock down peri-od. “Provision of parcel trainsand rapid transportation ofgoods will further bolster theefficiency of supply chains.The decision to run such trainswill help in movement of smallquantities as well of essentialitems viz. Dairy products, med-ical equipments and medi-cines, groceries, edible oil andother necessary items etc,” itsaid.

Different zones of IndianRailways are working out theirown plans for running theseparcel trains. They are reachingout prospective clients throughvarious modes of communica-tion including advertisements.

� �������� ���� /+0�'+*12

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) carried out a mas-sive sanitation drive in its area and 4,200 public places, includ-

ing markets, bus stands, police station, Government offices, hos-pitals, dispensaries, polyclinic, ATMs, banks across all four zones.

Apart from this, a special drives are being conducted to disin-fect and sanisitise areas around the quarantined houses throughspraying disinfectants like sodium Hypo-Chloride on regular basisby 744 dengue breeding checkers and 714 field workers in all areasof SDMC, a senior official said. Approximately 250 KG bio-hazardousgarbage has been picked from quarantined houses daily by dedi-cated auto tippers in all four zones, he said adding that special per-sonal protection equipments kit have been distributed to the staffinvolved in disposal of bio-hazardous garbage and sanitation dri-ves for their proper safety. The official further said that the SDMCfurther extended its support to the poor, homeless and needy peo-ple and during the last three days distributed around 70,000 foodpackets to poor and needy people in association with religious organ-isations, hotels and restaurants and through SDMC’s mid day mealkitchens in its four zones.

� �������� ���� /+0�'+*12

East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has decided todonate their one-day salary to Prime Minister Care Fund in

order to help the government fight coronavirus (COVID-19) inthe country.

A senior EDMC official said that all Group-A, B and C willcontribute their one day salary for this cause to the relief fundand Group D employee can do so voluntarily.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Mayor SunitaKangra had said that SDMC has decided to contribute one daysalary (basic pay+ Dearness Allowance) of their officers and allregular employees for funding preventive measures taken to con-tain the spread of Coronavirus.

Kangra said that said that with contribution of one day salaryby 43000 employees of South Delhi Municipal Corporation(SDMC), an amount of Rs 3.50 cr will be equally transferred tothe PM Relief Fund and SDMC’ corona fund. SDMC has alsoopened a dedicated bank account for the contributions to fundthe measures to control the spread of coronavirus and to helpthe affected person.

������������� /+0�'+*12

The Delhi Government maytake stern action against

the land and property ownersforcing migrants to vacatehomes amidst loss of jobs dueto the 21-day NationalLockdown in the wake ofCoronavirus health crisis.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Sundayurged Delhi land lords to coop-erate with migrants and don't

force them to vacate homes. "Iam requesting to you all(landowners), please don't com-pel migrants to vacate yourhouses, we are fighting againstcorona spread and as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidstay where ever you are, thesepeople should have stayed inhomes," "You can ask migrantsto pay house rents in installa-tions later as the priority shouldbe to fight against corona, wemay lose battle against battle as

thousands of people have comeout to return their native."

Appealing landowners andindustrials to take care of dailywagers by giving relaxation inpaying rent and provide themfood, Kejriwal asserted thatDelhi Government may takestern action if they force tenantsto vacate houses."

"Request the landlords, donot collect the rent and post-pone it if your tenants are poorand are unable to pay the rent.If your tenants fail to give therent later, my Govt will com-pensate it. But don't harass thetenants If you have earnedwealth, this is the time to use itand help those in need,"

Kejriwal said.While social distancing

method is being encouraged byboth Union and StateGovernment conveyed to mass-es, thousands of migrants wereseen leaving their homes andthronged at Anand Vihar inter-state bus stand.

Anticipating the lockdownperiod may extend, these work-ers want to spend time withtheir families as many of themhave lost their work due to shut-down of manufacturing chains.

However, the Aam AadmiParty ( AAP ) has claimed thatthe Delhi Government hasopened schools, stadiums andtransferred them into shelters,

Kejriwal urged labours not toleave the city as this may trig-ger Corona spread.

"Beside the distribution ofration, pensions, we have initi-ated food distribution up to fourlakh people daily ; DelhiGovernment is responsible ;we will serve food to allmigrants,"Kejriwal assured.

It may be noted that polit-ical representatives in Delhiclaimed that an announcementhad made about the transportfacilities at Anand Vihar ISBTfor the migrants.

Urging AAP volunteers notto indulge in political blamegame cautioning tough battleagainst corona, Kejriwal said ,"I

am requesting to all politicalleaders this is not the time pol-itics," "Give clarification in onetime but don't abuse others , "AAP national convenor direct-ed his workers/leaders and vol-unteers.

As lockdown period isexpected to end on April 14 and18 days have left, Kejriwaladvised people personally toread popular Hindu scripture -Geeta." "Eighteen days have leftand Geeta has eighteen chapters,you may start from tomorrow,read one chapter per day andpray for all," said Kejriwal," Meand my wife, we both readdaily," Kejriwal added.

Noida: Any worker or employ-ee infected with coronavirusand in isolation for treatmentwill get 28 days of paid leavefrom their employer acrossNoida and Greater Noida, theGautam Buddh Nagar districtadministration has ordered.

In an order passed late onSaturday night, the adminis-tration also said that shops,industries and factories closed

because of the lockdown willhave to give daily wage alongwith leave to their workersand labourers during the clo-sure period.

The order has come amidreports of thousands of dailywage earners leaving for theirhomes, towns and villages dueto a 21-day countrywide lock-down called by the Centre.

Gautam Buddh Nagar

District Magistrate B N Singhsaid the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has already declared thepandemic as a "disaster" andthe lockdown has been calledwith an objective to contain thevirus from spreading.

"Workers and employeeswho are infected with COVID-19 and kept in isolation fortreatment will get 28 days' paidleave. This will be done onlywhen such patients produce acertificate of treatment to theiremployers upon being dis-charged as healthy," Singh said.

"All such shops, commer-cial facilities and factories,

which have been closed tem-porarily because of the order ofthe state government or the dis-trict administration, will pro-vide paid leave to their work-ers and labourers for the dura-tion of the closure," he said inthe order.

Arrangement should bemade by such establishments todole out the payments to theirworkers and labourers onMarch 30 and 31 or April 3 and4, depending on their situationto make the payment, the orderstated.

Singh said he has invokedthe powers vested in him as the

district magistrate under theNational Disaster ManagementAct 2005 to issue this order andany violation of it would attractlegal action against the offend-er.

Action would be ensuredagainst the offender underSection 51 of the Act whichprovides for one year of impris-onment or financial penalty orboth and two years of jail if vio-lation of the order causes anyloss to life or property, accord-ing to the order.

People can use the admin-istration's integrated controlroom number (0120-2544700)

to report any related violation,the magistrate said

Gautam Buddh Nagar hasrecorded 26 cases of coron-avirus of which four patientshave been treated and dis-charged till Saturday, a HealthDepartment official said.

The Noida administrationhad in an order passed onSaturday asked landlords tocollect rent from their worker-tenants only after a month,amid reports of migrantsundertaking the journey toreach their native places on footduring the nationwide lock-down. PTI

� �������� ���� /+0�'+*12

Holding Delhi Governmentresponsible for sudden

‘exodus’ of daily wage workers,

Delhi Congress accused theAam Aadmi Party Governmentof turning a blind eye towardstheir plight.

Delhi Congress president

Chaudhary Anil Kumar said “ifthe Kejriwal Government haddone its home work well intime by distribution the fooditems to the poor and needy at

their door step, this situationwould not have arisen in whichthousands of people have torisk their lives for spread of thecoronavirus ( Covid-19) bygathering at a single place likeAnand Vihar bus terminal.

The party also released acontrol room numbers 011-43534325 & 9625777907 forthe help of the people duringlockdown.

State vice presidentsincluding Mudit Aggarwal,Abhishek Dutt and Ali Mehndiwere also present during facebook live.

Chaudhary Anil Kumarsaid that Kejriwal Governmenthas failed to even start free testsof Covid-19 in the hospitalsand mohalla clinics run byDelhi Government. “Even thebasic facilities like masks, seni-tisers, gloves and other essen-tials have not been provided todoctors and hospital staff.

Chaudhary further said

that the poor people werecharged at higher rates even forgoing to Anand Vihar busdepot despite the fact thatDTC buses were plying emptyon the roads.

He demanded that themunicipal Corporations shouldalso declare not to chargehouse tax from C,D,E and Fcategories along with A and Bcategories considering the grav-

ity of the matter.Chaudhary also demanded

that the kitchens which preparemid-day meal should be usedto prepare food for poor andneedy people and this foodshould be packed and be dis-tributed to the poor and needypeople at their door steps sothat these people remain intheir houses during the lockdown.

���<��������#������"�(�����'���(����������*�������������������������������������������������������� �����

,-*��)����� �� !���./0'*12���� ���)��������� ���%������������������������%���� ���

�������� ������� ���� ���� ��� ��������

���#& �� "#��!" &%�!�'�""(����%!& �&!�)�

�'������� ������������������

�!"��� �� ���#$�%���%�� ��"�� &���'���

+,��-���##�����..�%%������

� �������� ���� /+0�'+*12

Five more persons, includingtwo women, were tested

positive for the coronavirus inUttar Pradesh’s Gautam BuddhNagar on Sunday. The totalnumber of cases in the districthas reached to 31.

According to DistrictMagistrate BN Singh, thosewho tested positive for coron-avirus on Sunday were a 31-year-old man from Dadri'sBishnoli village, a 19-year-oldgirl from Noida Sector 27 andtwo men aged 34 and 35 yearsand a 35-year-old woman froma housing society in NoidaSector 137.

“The village, sector andsociety concerned have beentemporarily sealed for a periodof 48 hours so that sanitisationwork could be carried out there.No entry into or exit from the

village would be allowed duringthis period except for emer-gencies,” Singh stated in hisorder released on Sunday.

All the five latest cases haddirectly or indirectly come incontact with a London-basedman, who had come for auditwork in a private firm in Noida'sSector 135. An FIR was lodgedagainst the firm on Saturday forhiding information about theBritish citizen's arrival and stayhere from March 14-16 on thebasis of a complaint from thedistrict's Chief Medical Officer(CMO), Anurag Bhargava.

The contact of infection ofall patients in Gautam BuddhNagar has been traced, theCMO said in a statement andappealed to people to practisesocial distancing and washhands frequently to prevent the coronavirus fromspreading.

���������������/������������ ���01����*2������

� �������� ����7<8<78#.

Five labourers, including awoman and a child, were

crushed to death by a speedingtruck near Kundli ManesarPalwal (KMP) expresswaysome 25 km away from theGurugram city on Saturdaynight.

According to police, one ofof the deceased has been iden-tified as Karan (42) of UttarPradesh, while the injured havebeen identified as Surjeet (30),Sudha (28), Deepak, Rajkumar,Riya, Inderpal, Ramjiwan,Shina Devi and Meera.

“The incident took placeon Saturday late night when thelabourers were walking on theexpressway and hit by the vehi-cle,” said Deepak Shahran,DCP, Manesar.

The police official said thatthe truck was ladened with veg-etables and the driver lost con-trol of the vehicle due to highspeed and mowed down thelabourers. Who appears tohave been walking back totheir village amid lockdown.

"We have arrested theerrant driver and a case regis-tered against him under a rashand negligence driving. Theinjured persons were admittedto a local hospital where theyare undergoing treatment andsaid to be out of danger,”Shahran said.

It may be noted that scoresof workers and labours fromthe city and surrounding areashave been walking back totheir native villages in otherstates, ever since the country went into lockdown onMarch 25.

��� ��(��� ���� ��3"������������� ��

Page 4: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

�� ��(������������������ ��������� !�" "

!��2(3������� �����

������������� ����/+0�'+*12

Realising the extraordinarypsychological, social, eco-

nomic and cultural signifi-cance of corona pandemic forthe human society in times tocome, the Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) Ministrywill launch a publishing seriestitled ‘Corona Studies Series’ todocument and provide relevantreading materials for all age-groups for the post-Coronareadership needs.

HRD Ministry's publishingarm, National Book Trust, hasbeen entrusted to preparebooks on various segmentslike coronavirus (Covid-19)affected families, elderly peo-ple, parents with special focuson mothers/women, childrenand adolescents, professionalsand workers, corona warriorslike medical and essential ser-vices and the differently-abled,special needs and mentallychallenged population.

NBT has identified variousareas for preparing suitablereading materials under the‘Corona Studies Series’. Besides,the sub-series on the Psycho-Social Impact on various seg-

ment of population due toCorona crisis.

"We have been closely fol-lowing the Corona-relateddevelopments and taking cuesfrom the multi-dimensionalinitiatives of HRD Ministry'sinitiatives to meet the chal-lenges of the CoronaPandemic. As a body for read-ing promotion, we find that wehave a significant role to play.Accordingly, we started#StayHomeIndiaWithBooksinitiatives by uploading pdfs ofsome of our select and best-selling titles for free down-loads, and we have been receiv-ing tremendous response.Taking a comprehensive view,we are launching this publish-ing series," said NBT DirectorYuvraj Malik.

As the first step, NBT hasset-up a Study Group com-prising of experienced andyoung psychologists/counsel-lors to prepare books on thesub-series on ‘Psycho-SocialImpact of Corona Pandemicand the Ways to Cope’.

"We are preparing chil-dren’s books to let them knowabout Our Corona Warriors,and other story and picturebooks related to various

aspects of Corona to createawareness. Also, books focusedon art, literature, folklore, eco-nomic and sociological aspects,science/health awarenessemerging out of the Coronapandemic, and the lockdown,are also in the pipeline”, saidKumar Vikram, Senior Editorof NBT who is leading theProject.

"In response to the nation-al crisis of this proportion, webelieve that as a national insti-tution it is our duty to take ini-tiatives within our domainarea to provide support in theform of new reading materials.The ‘Corona Studies Series’seeks to be our long-term con-tribution to prepare andengage readers with the vari-ous aspects of the Coronatimes by bringing out afford-able books in various Indianlanguages in the identifiedsubject areas,” said NBTChairman Prof.Govind PrasadSharma.

The NBT Study Groupcomprises Dr.JitenderNagpal,Dr.Harsheeta, Sq. Ldr (Rtd.)Meena Arora, Lt. Col.TarunUppal, Mrs. RekhaChauhan, Mrs. Sonie Sidhuand Ms. Aparajita Dixit.

����� /+0�'+*12

Urban homeless shelterswould provide three meals

a day to those living in andaround the premises to helppeople combat the spread ofcoronavirus outbreak duringthe 21-day nationwide lock-down. The Housing and UrbanAffairs Ministry said on Sundaythat three meals a day would beprovided to around 1 lakhpeople living in and around1,367 shelters for the homelessin cities.

Not only the Governmentagencies but religious organi-sations and communitykitchens have come forward toprovide meals to daily wagersand migrants due to lockdown.

HUA Ministry secretary,Durga Shanker Mishra, saidthat three meals a day would beprovided to around 1 lakhpeople living in and around1,500 shelters for the homelessin the Deendayal AntyodayaYojana – National RuralLivelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) shelters. He saidexpenditure of up to 100 perperson per day could beincurred from the DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana-NationalUrban Livelihoods Mission(DAY-NULM) and State mis-sions for giving food to thehomeless in and around DAY-NULM shelters.

In a letter to all States andUnion Territories, the HUAministry said that there isurgent requirement to supportthem as they do not have avail-able sources of livelihood right

now. "All states across thecountry have been advised thatnewly added homeless/ vul-nerable persons should bescanned for fever or othersymptoms & referred to thehospital, if suspected, beforeallowing them to stay in theshelter", it said.

“Also, caretaker of the shel-ter should ensure awareness forstaying indoor, taking care ofrecommended hand washusing soap/ sanitiser and fullcleanliness & hygiene insideand outside campus amongthe residents,” it said.

In Punjab, gurudwarashave taken a lead in providingfood and Punjab police per-sonnel are engaged in distrib-uting food packets. “In thepast two days, policemen havedistributed 1.5 lakh food pack-ets,” said a Punjab police state-ment, adding that milk and dryrations are also being handedout. In Kolkata, communitykitchens are providing food tostreet dwellers and poor peo-ple living in the 27-night shel-ters run by the KolkataMunicipal Corporation.

The ChhattisgarhGovernment is providing foodpackets to the homeless andpoor people in the state in all28 districts with the help ofpolice.

The Union Ministry ofHome Affairs has alreadyissued an advisory to all Statesto make arrangements for thestranded workers: “States/UTsneed to explore measures byinvolving various agencies,including NGOs, to provide

food and shelter with basicamenities like clean drinkingwater, sanitation,” it said.

Social and religious organ-isations have started distribut-ing food to the migrants, dailywagers, and the poor, even asthe state governments haveopened up communitykitchens and shelter homes toserve them. More than half of

these 13 million migrated outof just three states – UttarPradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.Also, more than half of themigrants move to just fourstates – Maharashtra, Delhi,Gujarat and Karnataka – pri-marily in search of work incities such as Mumbai,Ahmedabad and Bengaluruand Delhi.

'�������������������#���������������������#������������������ /+0�'+*12

Extending his and his party’ssupport in the fight against

Covid-19, Congress leaderRahul Gandhi on Saturdaywrote to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi urging him to“consider a more nuanced andtargeted approach” given thecomplex realities of people;spell out the timeline forspeedy implementation of thefinancial package announcedby the Government, start set-ting up dedicated hospitals;and engage small and mediumbusinesses and farmers inrebuilding the economy.

He also called for extend-ing the social safety net to sup-port and shelter the workingpoor.

The former Congress chiefin his letter to the PrimeMinister urged him to seri-

ously consider the devastatingimpact a nationwide coron-avirus lockdown would haveon the people society and theeconomy.

Rahul said it was criticalfor the Government to under-stand that India’s conditionswere unique and may be totalshutdown may not be neces-sary as it was likely to createmore trouble.

“We may be required totake different steps than otherlarge countries who are fol-lowing a total lockdown strat-egy,” he said in a three-page let-ter to PM Modi.

The Congress leader fur-ther said that the number ofpoor people in India who aredependent on a daily incomeis simply too large for the gov-ernment to unilaterally shutdown all economic activity.“The consequence of a com-

plete economic shut down willdisasterly amplify the death tollarising from the covid-19virus,” Rahul said.

The Centre last Tuesdayhad announced a three-weeklockdown across the countryto break the transmissionchain of highly contagiouscoronavirus. The shutdownwas necessary keeping the ris-ing positive Corona cases inmind and during the week itpushed lakhs of migrant anddaily wage workers across thecountry out of job in onestroke.

Rahul's letter comes cou-ple of days later after partychief Sonia Gandhi hadextended her party's full coop-eration to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to combatCOVID 19 pandemic. Soniahad though urged the PM forfinancial package which the

government did and addressedthe concerns of larger segmentof the country particularly thepoor people.

It is in this backdrop thatRahul Gandhi too has sug-gested that the Governmentshould consider a morenuanced a targeted approachthat takes the complex realitiesof Indian people into consid-eration.

“Millions of India’s elder-ly live in villages. A completelockdown and the resultingshut down of our economicengine will almost certainlyensure that millions of unem-ployed youth rush back totheir villages, increasing therisk of infecting their parents,grandparents and the elderlypopulation. This will result incatastrophic loss of life,” RahulGandhi said.

&������������������������ 3�,� ������%�

����� /+0�'+*12

In view of the coronavirusscare, the Bihar Government

has set up a control room atBihar Bhawan in the nationalCapital to extend all possiblesupport to the State's people,particularly to assist themigrant workers. A total of2,575 phone calls werereceived and action was takenon the problems of about1,15,00 persons till lateevening while about 9,000applications received throughGoogleDock connectivity sys-tem were processed.

The ResidentCommissioner at BiharBhawan Vipin Kumar is thenodal officer to extend allpossible support to the peo-ple of Bihar trapped in dif-ferent parts of the country.

When contacted, Kumarinformed that prompt and

appropriate action was takenon problems by coordinatingwith the preferred officials ofthe respective States."Compliance reports havealso been received from manyplaces. The Government ofBihar is working on a warfooting for basic cooperationand assistance of millions ofmigrants," Kumar said.

The control room (011-23792009, 011-23014326,011-23013884) set up at BiharBhawan has facilities for calls,fax, internet and email. Inthis, officials and personnelhave been appointed in threeshifts.

Ten hunting lines havealso been commissioned onthese three telephone num-bers of the control room, sothat all the phones continueto function smoothly andthe callers do not face anytechnical problem.

����� /+0�'+*12

Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi on

Sunday requested the mobileoperators to waive off therecharge fees of the citizens,particularly the poor migrantswho are criss-crossing thecountry to reach their desti-nations amid the coronavirusoutbreak.

In separate letters to all theheads of mobile operators,Priyanka said that lakhs ofpoor people are in transitmode and they don't haveeven money to feed themselvesand thus extending theirincoming and outgoing callsvalidity will certainly helpthem to stay connected withtheir near and dear ones in thishour of crisis.

Priyanka wrote to almostall telecom operators like

Reliance Jio chief MukeshAmbani, Airtel’s Sunil BhartiMittal and Vodafone Idea bossKumar Mangalam Birla, urg-ing them to make incoming-outgoing calls free on their net-works for at least one monthfor migrant workers duringcoronavirus lockdown. Shehas also written to BSNL chiefPK Purwar, making the samerequest.

Congress shared the letterson Twitter. In one such letterto Ambani, she said she waswriting to him on humanitar-ian grounds about the plight ofthe millions of migrant work-ers across the country whowere trying to find their wayhome to their families battlinghunger, thrust and disease.

She said that it was ‘ournational duty to help our coun-trymen in this hour of crisis’.“There is one way in whichyour company Jio

Telecommunications can makea huge difference at thismoment. Many of the peoplegoing home have run out ofmoney on their phonerecharges. This means they areunable to call their families andtheir families are unable toreceive their calls due to finan-cial and mobility restraints,”Priyanka wrote.

The Congress leader fur-ther said urged MukeshAmbani to make “incomingand outgoing call facilities onyour service in the relevantareas available without chargefor the next one month”. Shewrote similar letters to otherservice providers such asAirtel, Vodafone Idea, andBSNL. This comes amidreports that thousands ofmigrant and daily wage work-ers were trying to rush backto their native places as theyhad no job in the cities any-

more due to complete lock-down.

Taking up the cause ofmigrants' exodus a day earli-er, Priyanka lashed out at theCentre for the "humantragedy".

Sharing some photos ofthousands of daily wageworkers and labourers atDelhi-Uttar Pradesh borderon Saturday, waiting in longqueues to board buses at theAnand Vihar Interstate BusTerminal in Delhi, she said"India deserves better".

"A human tragedy in thestreets of Delhi, Ghaziabad,Anand Vihar. Women, chil-dren and the elderly havebeen left to their own devices.They are, walking, ridingrickshaws and sitting on therooftops of the buses to returnhome. Don't know what is thegovernment up to," PriyankaGandhi wrote on Twitter.

����� /+0�'+*12

Taking a precautionary step,India has shifted its diplo-

mats and staff from its con-sulates in the Afghanistan citiesof Herat and Jalalabad to Kabulin view of the surging coron-avirus cases in that countrywhich shares a long borderwith Iran, one of the worst-hitcountries by the pandemic.

Government sources saidhere on Sunday all Indian staffat the two consulates werebrought to Kabul followingthe swelling number of coron-avirus cases in the country.

According to the figuresgiven by the AfghanGovernment, a total of 110people have been infected bythe virus in the country,although the real figures arebelieved to be far higher.

Health experts believe theactual number could be high-er as several provinces in thecountry do not have facilities tocarry out a laboratory test tocheck the infection.

Two foreign diplomats andfour officials of the NATO's

Resolute Support Mission inAfghanistan were among thepositive cases in the country,according to Afghan mediareports.

Sources said the Indianstaff from the two consulateswere shifted to Kabul as the twoprovinces do not have adequatemedical facilities. Afghanistanshares a long border with Iran,which is among the very fewcountries reporting a largenumber of coronavirus casesand struggling to combat oneof the world's worst outbreaks.

Over 2,500 people havedied and more than 35,500have been infected across Iransince February. There havebeen reports of a large numberof Afghan refugees crossingover to Afghanistan from Iranin view of the deteriorating sit-uation in Iran.

�,#������������������ �4������$������$�����5���������6�������������� ��������

�%�& �*&'!��&���) !�+�! ''!�� ,-�&%�&�.�'�-"/&%/#�"�%

)� �� ��� ����� *����� ��� �������� ��+��,�)-.��/�� �������� ���"���� ���� +��������* ��+��� ����&���������+��� ���%

����� /+0�'+*12

In view of the lockdownacross the country to fight

COVID-19, the UnionMinistry of Labour andEmployment on Sundayallowed over six crore sub-scribers of the retirement fundbody Employee ProvidentFund (EPF) to withdraw anamount of non-refundableadvance not exceeding theirthree months’ basic pay anddearness allowance from theirEPF account.

The Ministry has notifiedan amendment in theEmployee Provident Fund(EPF) scheme, allowing with-drawl of non-refundableadvance, in the wake of coro-navirus. As per the latest infor-mation available on the EPFwebsite, the entity maintains19.34 crore accounts (as of2016-17).

The notification permitswithdrawal of up to the amountof basic wages and dearnessallowance for three months orup to 75 per cent of the amountstanding to member's credit inthe EPF account, whichever is

less, in the event of outbreak ofthe pandemic. '

COVID-19 has beendeclared pandemic by appro-priate authorities for the entirecountry and therefore, employ-ees working in establishmentsand factories across entireIndia, who are members of theEPF Scheme, 1952, are eligiblefor the benefits of non-refund-able advance. A sub-para (3)under para 68L has been insert-ed in the EPF scheme, 1952.

The amended EmployeesProvident Fund (Amendment)scheme, 2020 has come intoforce from March 28.

Following the notification,the Employees' Provident Fund

Organisation (EPFO) hasissued directions to its fieldoffices for promptly processingany applications received frommembers to help them fight thesituation.

In its communication, theEPFO has stated that officersand staff must process claims ofEPF subscribers promptly sothat relief reaches the workerand his family to help themfight with COVID-19.

The Finance Minister had,last week, announced thatabout 4.8 crore employees whoare members of EPF can with-draw 75 per cent of the amountstanding to their credit, limit-ed to three months’ wages.

"%���������� ������������� ����������0����� �5������������#!�

0�(�������������������������?�4����%�����$��� �������

����� /+0�'+*12

Following Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s appeal to

donate to the national kitty inthe fight against coronaviruspandemic, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Sundayapproved a proposal for thecontribution of one day salaryby the employees of Ministry ofDefence to the PM-CARESFund.

It is estimated that around� 500 crore will be collectivelyprovided by the DefenceMinistry to the fund from var-ious wings, including Army,Navy, Air Force, Defence PublicSector Undertakings(PSU)s andothers.

Giving this informationhere, officials also said theemployees’ contribution is vol-untary and those desirous ofopting out will be exempted.There are more than 13 lakhpersonnel in the Army, one lakhin the IAF and nearly the same

number in the Navy besidescivilian employees in the threeService, defence ministry andthe PSUs.

Meanwhile, in the ongoingnational effort to meet the chal-lenge of the pandemic, theArmy on Sunday received afresh batch of 275 evacueesfrom Iran at its wellness facili-ty in Jodhpur. As per the pro-cedure, preliminary screening ofthe evacuees upon arrival wasconducted at Jodhpur airport bythe medical teams from the civiladministration and the Army.Thereafter, they were moved tothe Army Wellness Facility. Theearlier batch of 277 evacuees,who had arrived at Jodhpur, onMarch 25, have settled downcomfortably and are being reg-ularly monitored by the armymedical teams, officials said.

The Army authorities aspart of Operation Namaste,codename given to the endeav-or to fight the pandemic, havecreated Army Wellness Facilities

which comprises all amenitiesand are fully geared up toaccommodate all the evacueesand provide them with requisitemedical and administrativesupport during their quarantineperiod.

The armed forces have beenworking relentlessly to providemedical and logistics support tocivil authorities in the fightagainst COVID-19 pandemic.The Armed Forces MedicalServices (AFMS) has deployedall resources at its disposal to aidthe civilian authorities, shoul-dering responsibility in the timeof extraordinary crisis.

Six quarantine facilities runby the Armed Forces are cur-rently operational at Manesar,Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Chennai,Hindan and Mumbai.

So far, a total of 1,463 peo-ple, including foreigners, evac-uated from COVID-19 affectedcountries have been housedand observed at these centres.Of them, nearly 1,300 are

presently under quarantine andbeing provided proper care.These include evacuees fromIran, Italy, Japan and Malaysia,besides the IAF and medicalcrew. Three hundred ninety

evacuees from China, Japanand IAF evacuation flight crewhave been discharged followingcompletion of their mandatoryquarantine period.

Three positive COVID-19cases have been reported, so far– two from Hindan and onefrom Manesar. They werereferred to Safdarjung Hospital,New Delhi for further treat-ment.

In addition to the activequarantine centres, more facil-ities have been readied andmay be made operational with-in 48-72 hours, if needed. Thesefacilities are at Kolkata,Visakhapatnam, Kochi,Dundigal near Hyderabad,Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer,Jorhat and Gorakhpur.

Also,28 Service Hospitalshave been earmarked asCOVID hospitals for managingpurely Corona virus cases. Thiswill include Armed Forces aswell as civilian patients trans-ferred from state health author-

ities, in case their capacity isoverwhelmed.

As of now, there are fivehospitals across Army, Navy andAir Force which can carry outCOVID test. These include

Army Hospital Research andReferral, Delhi; CommandHospital Air Force, Bangaloreand Armed Forces MedicalCollege, Pune; CommandHospital (Central Command)

Lucknow; Command Hospital(Northern Command)Udhampur. Six more hospitalsare being equipped shortly withthe resources to begin testing.

����� /+0�'+*12

Two more army personneltested corona positive on

Sunday. While one jawan ofterritorial army was foundpositive in Kashmir, a doctorofficer tested positive in east-ern command taking thenumber to three in the Army.The first case was of a jawanof Ladakh scouts some daysback in Leh. He has sincerecovered.

&��������!��������������������������������

,�-��� �7(5������������������������������������#������������������� %�6!,"$�����

����� /+0�'+*12

The Central paramilitaryforces have contributed

one-day salary amounting to�116 crore for fighting thecorona virus epidemic to thePM-CARES fund.

Following the contribu-tion, Union Home MinisterAmit Shah on Sunday tweeted," Our paramilitary forces havealways contributed to the secu-rity and unity of India. On a call

from Prime Minister NarendraModi, all the jawans of the para-military forces have contributedone day's salary (total contri-bution amount Rs 116 crore) toPM-CARES."

"I thank all those who con-tributed," Shah added.

Meanwhile, the UnionHome Ministry on Sundaydecided to appeal to all the offi-cers and staff of the Ministry tocontribute their one day salaryto the Prime Minister Citizens'

Assitance and Relief inEmergency Situation (PMCARES) Fund to aid theGovernment's efforts to fightthe coronavirus pandemic.

"Any officer or staff havingobjection to it may intimateDDO, MHA over telephone(23438255) and WhatsAppNo9968267864 or [email protected] invariably men-tioning his/her employeecodeby 31.03.2020 positively," addedthe Ministry order.

����������������������������������������6������������������ ��������618

2� ���*��������������������������2� ���2 �������� �������������������

Page 5: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

�� ��0������������������ ��������� !�" " !��2(3������� �����

,���������6�����������9���������������&���(�����

LEH: In order to strengthen the ongoing fight against glob-al epidemic of COVID-19 in every perspective, MPLadakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal sanctioned Rupees oneCrore from his MPLADS for purchase of immediate med-ical equipments for both Leh and Kargil District. He alsodonated his one month salary of Rs 1 lakh to PM NationalRelief Funds.

The funds will be utilized by the Deputy Commissionersof both the districts of Ladakh for Purchase of LaboratoryEquipment for Establishment of Bio Safety Level-3 TestingLaboratory, Infra-Red Thermometers (Non-Contact) tofacilitate Doctors, Nurses and Medical Staffs to remotelyrecord and trek a person’s temperature, Personal ProtectionEquipment (PPE) including Face Masks, Gloves andSanitizers Kits for the medical personnel to keep them well-protected and enable them to function efficiently by min-imizing the risk of transmission, Thermal imaging scanners,cameras or CORONA Testing kits.

The fund will be further used to improve the ICUVentilator and Isolation/Quarantine Wards within theirapproved facilities, Masks, Sanitizer Sprays and allied foodmaterials for Police, Para Military, Bankers and all other offi-cials on duty and other needy persons in LadakhParliamentary Constituency and Any other medical equip-ment for COVID-19.

He urged to establish the BSL-3 Laboratory.Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal has been coor-

dinating between the Union Administration and variousMinistries in Central Government very efficiently to dealwith the COVID-19 situation in Ladakh. He also donatedhis one month salary of Rs one lakh to PM National ReliefFund of India to help the country to fight this deadly pan-demic COVID-19.

:���� ��%������������1�������������16���� ������������� �����

������������������1+//#2

Atotal of 50 patients havebeen tested positive for

coronavirus in Tamil Nadu tillSunday evening. Though bylate Saturday night, the numberof coronavirus cases stood at 42,eight persons who were in con-tact with religious preachersfrom Thailand tested positive onSunday, according to Dr CVijaya Baskar, Health Ministerof Tamil Nadu. All have beenadmitted to hospitals in Erodedistrict.

The Department of Healthofficials confirmed that the rea-son for the death of threepatients in Kanyakumari districtwas not due to corona virus. Thenews about the deaths hadcaused anxiety in the minds ofpeople in the district and thedisclosure by the administrationwas welcomed with a sigh of

relief. Beela Rajesh, secretary,department of health, toldreporters that the Tamil naduwas in stage-2 of COVID 19transmission. “Our aim is toprevent the progression to stage-3, that is community spread ofCOVID-19.Stage-2 is when theinfection is transmitted to thefirst-degree contacts of COVID-19 positive patient with travelhistory,” said Rajesh.

Elsewhere in the State , thePolice have tightened the rulesgoverning the total lock downand curfew. Police deployedalong thoroughfares and arter-ial roads were seen pleadingwith two-wheeler riders whowere freaking out on Sundaymorning to stay back in theirhouses and not to come outunless it was unavoidable. Thepictures of cops pleading andrequesting with the “freekers”have gone viral and this hasbrought in public sympathy for

the law enforcers.Habitual offenders were

asked by the police to performThoppukaranam, a kind ofbrain yoga performed in frontof Lord Vinayaga idols in theState. Persons who were caughtviolating the lock down andsocial distancing laws wereasked to perform the “sit-ins” inChennai, Tiruchi and othermajor cities ion the State.

Compared to other southIndian States, Tamil Nadu isdoing a commendable jobaccording to health experts andmanagement professionals.There are more than 180 con-firmed corona virus cases inneighboring Kerala which alsowitnessed a riot like situation onSunday evening as hundreds ofmigrant laborers came out inpublic questioning the indiffer-ence of the district administra-tion towards their requests forfood and essential items.

:8����������������#��������3�

���� � 69*6#�#

Seven migrant workers, who came backhome to West Bengal's Purulia district

from Chennai amidst the Coronavirus-induced lockdown, perched themselves ona banyan tree to remain in quarantine, inthe absence of separate room for self-isolation in theirsmall huts.

After several days in their 'temporaryhome', the workers were on Saturdayordered to come down by the localadministration.

The workers, all residents of Bangidihavillage of Purulia district underBalarampur block, said as they live in one-room mud huts with their families, thereis no way they can keep themselves in iso-lation, which is a must to ensure not a sin-gle villager contracted the Coronavirusinfection from them.

However, none of them have displayed

symptoms linked to COVID-19, nor havethey undergone any test for the disease.

“At present we don't have any healthissues. But in case we are detected posi-tive for the disease at a later date, then atleast none of the villagers will be infect-ed because of us,” said one of the work-ers Bijay Singh Laya.

The workers reached Kharagpur junc-tion station on Sunday last from Chennaiand underwent thermal screening andtests but the doctors did not find anysymptom of the disease. “However, theyasked us to live under self-quarantine for14 days as a safety measure”.

“But we don't have any separate per-sonal room in our home. So, we decidedto live on the branches of the banyan treejust outside our village,” he said.

The seven labourers tied their beds tothe branches of the tree, and used a mos-quito net to prevent themselves from bitesof insects.

���� � �128<:#/#/�1#4<8#.

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailajaon Sunday said on Sunday, 20 new

cases of coronavirus positive caseswere registered in the state, taking thetotal number of positive cases undertreatment in various districts to 181.

“Of the 20, 18 came from abroad -- eight from Kannur, seven fromKasargode and one each fromThiruvanathapuram, Ernakulam andThrissur. Two, who turned positive gotit from primary positive patients,” saidShailaja in a statement.

“Currently 1,41,211 people areunder observation which include 593who are in hospitals. By now 21 peo-ple who were positive have now turnednegative,” added the Minister.

������ 4#/#C2

Amid growing unease overinability of food and essen-

tial items in Goa and the StateGovernment's decision to givecentral paramilitary forces a“free hand” to punish curfew vio-lators, several voices on Twitterhave attempted to highlight theplight of a population which hasbeen facing a lockdown as a foodshortage for as many as eightdays in a row.

In a tweet, actor RichaChadda urged users of the socialmedia platform to draw attentionto the situation in Goa. “Goaneeds food supply. Please drawattention to his, tweeple,”Chaddha tweeted on Sunday.

Authors Richa Kaul Padteand Mihir Sharma also high-lighted the lack of food andunderlined the sense of chaos inthe coastal state, which has wit-nessed panic over lack of supplyof essential goods including rice,wheat flour, and cooking oil.

“Journalists, twitter folks,etc: pls.. pls... can you drawattention to what is happening in

Goa? We have been on COM-PLETE (surprise) lockdown allweek. No groceries, no markets,no provisions. cops are patrollingthe streets. People have no wayto access food. It is getting bad,”Padte said.

“All worrying news out ofGoa is odd. It is India's mostdeveloped state, it's geographi-cally compact, has a solid welfaresystem - why is it breakingunder lockdown? Why are thereno groceries, and why is the CMasking for central paramilitaryforces?” Mihir Sharma said. Local resident Lyndon JP, aworking professional, paints agrim summary of life in Goa onthe eight consecutive day of thelockdown.

“Current situation in Goa:Increase my chances of con-tracting #COVID_19 or go madat home due to hunger or go outto get supplies & get beaten bythe cops! So many helplines, butno one answers or there's nostock. Thanks for the brilliantorganization @goacm#COVID2019india,” Lyndonsays.

While smaller 'mom andpop' grocery stores are virtually

out of stock in most places, theChief Minister's decision to shutdown major grocery stores supermarkets and instead bank on anetwork of politicians and theirvolunteers to home deliver essen-tials has further added to thechaos, with allegations of hoard-ing by ruling politicians creep-ing in.

“Sir Chairman NDMA,@PMOINdia. Giving control toMLAs in Goa over groceries dis-tribution isnot mitigating butleading to bigger disaster. Pl get@goacm to go by Disaster mgtAct, instead of unleashing CRPFon people,” Goa Aam AadmiParty convenor Elvis Gomestweeted.

Both, the state BharatiyaJanata Party president SadanandShet Tanavade and the ChiefMinister Pramod Sawant haveurged calm amid the increasingchaos and said that efforts werebeing made to strengthen thehome distribution network. On Sunday morning,the Sawant-led administrationalso authorized food deliveryapps like Zomato and Swiggy todeliver food and groceries topeople.

Chennai: Designing simple to operate ventilators, man-ufacturing of sanitisers, oxygen canisters and maskswhile putting on hold manufacture of rockets is whatVikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), part of ISRO,is doing to meet the emergency needs of the peopleand owing to lockdown, said top official.

He also said all the staff at the VSSC are safe andnot affected by Coronavirus.

Based in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, the VSSCpart of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) makes the rockets that launches the Indian andforeign satellites.

“We are designing ventilators that are differentfrom what is already there. We are designing ventila-tors that can be operated in a simple manner and whenpower supply is not there,” S. Somanath, Director toldIANS. He said, as regards ventilators, the VSSC's jobis only to design and the manufacturing will be doneby industries.

“We are making sanitisers for captive and also foruse of others. We have made over 1,000 litres.Similarly, masks are made by employee societies,” headded. Meanwhile, the employees have been asked towork from home and VSSC's communication andcomputer systems are working well in a secure con-dition.

“Our communication and computer networks aresafe and secure and those who can work from homeare working from home while critical operations aretaken care of by deploying necessary staff. Wheneverneeded, video conferencing is also held,” Somanathadded. IANS

������ 7#/'12/#7#8

An Ahmedabad residentdied of coronavirus infec-

tion, taking the COVID-19death toll in Gujarat to five,even as the total number ofcoronavirus patients rose to61 with three more positivecases coming to light onSunday.

The decesed man, aged47, was admitted inAhmedabad Civil Hospitalon late Saturday night after hetested postive. He was earlieradmitted to Gujarat CancerResearch Society Hospital andwas suffering from diabetes.So far, three corona deathshave been reported fromAhmedabad. Three new pos-itive cases were reported onSunday. Out of the 61 coron-avirus positive cases, 21 werereported from Ahmedabadand nine each from Vadodaraand Gandhinagar and eightfrom Rajkot, seven in Suratand one each in Bhavnagar,Mahesana, Kutch and Veraval,Gir-Somnath.

Lucknow: In keeping with the directivesof the Supreme Court, the Uttar PradeshGovernment has decided to release over11,000 prisoners lodged in 71 jails in theState, in view of the COVID-19 outbreakin the country.

The Supreme Court, last week, haddirected all states and union territoriesto constitute high-level committees toconsider releasing on parole or interimbail, prisoners and under-trials foroffences entailing up to 7-year jailterm. This was in order to decongestprisons in the wake of Corona viruspandemic.

A statement issued by the UttarPradesh Government said, “In compli-ance with the orders of the SupremeCourt, a committee was formed by theState Government, which held its sittingon March 27 under the chairmanshipof Justice Pankaj Kumar Jaiswal. Thecommittee directed that under-trialslodged in 71 jails of the state in crimes,whose maximum punishment is of 7years, be given 8-week interim bail ona personal bond, and immediately freedfrom the jail.” The statement furthersaid, “Convicts who have been bookedfor crime that entails punishment for 7years or less, are being released on 8-week parole on a personal bond, andwill be freed form Sundayonwards. IANS

�������� ������ ����� ������ ����������� C#..<

Acoronavirus patient,undergoing treatment at

Chest Disease hospital inDalgate area of Srinagar, diedearly morning on Sunday tak-ing the death toll in Jammu &Kashmir to two. Five more sus-pected cases tested positive onSunday, official sources said.

According to Jammu &Kashmir Governmentspokesman, Rohit Kansal, thesecond death due to Covid-19was reported early Sundaymorning. He said, “5 more pos-itives cases confirmed inKashmir -2 from Srinagar, 2Budgam, 1 Baramulla”.

So far, 38 cases have testedpositive in Jammu & Kashmir.

According to officialsources, the deceased hailedfrom Tangmarg area of NorthKashmir's Baramulla district.

Though he had no foreigntravel history but he came incontact with those who hadreturned from Saudi Arabia.

The deceased patient also hada history of liver ailment andwas put on ventilator supportlate Saturday evening but hebreathed his last in the weehours around 4.00 a.m.

His last rights were per-formed in his native villagewhere only handful of familymembers were allowed by thedistrict authorities. Three casesfrom Udhampur district ofJammu province, tested posi-tive on saturday evening, werecurrently isolated in theGovernment medical collegehospital in Jammu. Two amongthem had visited Indonesiaand the third one had visitedLudhiana. The district author-ities in Udhampur have iden-tified their contacts and quar-antined them. Meanwhile,restrictions on the movementand assembly of people inJammu and Kashmir wereintensified on Sunday. Workersreturning home from neigh-boring states of Punjab,Himanchal Pradesh andHaryana were shifted to quar-antine centres in Kathua andSamba.

��������������7��7(�������������������������������84)�

0�4.��� ����� ���������5��� ������� ��

<4�7(������������������""" ���������$���

������������� ��� 69*6#�#

Corona infection has nowspread to North Bengal

even as the State on Sundayrecorded its first infection with-in the medical fraternity with adoctor getting infected by thedread virus.

The doctor posted in theAlipore Army CommandHospital had a travel history toDelhi, sources said adding hemight have contacted the dis-ease in the national Capital.

The second infection wasrecorded in North Bengal wherea middle-aged woman fromKalimpong was found sufferingfrom the disease. She too isknown to have travelled toDelhi, sources said adding theadministration is looking for thepeople — including doctorsboth at the Himalayan hill sta-

tion where she belongs to andSiliguri where she came fortreatment — with whom sheassociated in the past one weekor so.

Sunday’s new cases take upthe total number of infectedpeople in Bengal to 19.

In a separate incident wherea Delhi-based family with a his-tory of Corona infection haddefied quarantine orders to visitTehatta sub-division of Nadiadistrict has been brought toKolkata for treatment.

Out of the five personsbrought to Kolkata three havetested positive. Apart from thisanother 19 people have beentraced with whom the familyhad interacted. They have beenquarantined.

The Government is tryingto locate maximum number ofpeople with whom the alleged

reckless family had come incontact with while it was trav-elling from Delhi to Nadia —first by the Rajdhani Expressand then by a crowded passen-ger train.

The members of the fami-ly from Govindpuri area ofDelhi had flouted quarantinenorms despite being asked bythe doctors who had diagnosedone member of the same fami-ly with Corona infection. Thepatient is undergoing treatmentin the national Capital.

“We are desperately tryingto stop community infection.Till now we have no such report.But with the people behaving soirresponsibly it is getting verydifficult for the Government tohandle things,” a senior HealthDepartment official said.

Notwithstanding a rise inCorona infected cases at least

four patients showed signs ofrecovery Health Departmentsources said on Sunday. The sonof the senior bureaucrat whohad indulged him to flout quar-antine directives before testingpositive was on the path ofrecovery, sources said adding asecond youth and his fatherfrom Ballygunge were alsorecovering from the disease.The health of a fourth patient awoman from Habra in North 24Parganas was also improvingwith all the four patients testingnegative in their first test aftermore than a week’s treatment.

With all these patients get-ting treated at BeleghataInfectious Disease Hospital theHealth Department on Sundayissued a circular asking all otherhospitals to follow the proce-dures adopted by the IDHospital.

��������� ���� .<.&#2

With no signs of the coro-navirus crisis easing in

Maharashtra, two more per-sons died of the pandemicand the total number of infect-ed people rose to 203 in theState on Sunday, even as ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayannounced the start of 163centres to house the fleeingmigrant labourers and slashedthe price of Government meal“Shiv Bhojan” from �10 to �5per meal for the next threemonths.

While a 40-year-oldwoman died of Coronavirus atthe KEM Hospital in Mumbai,a 45-year-old Covid-19 infect-ed man died in Buldhana dis-trict. With the two latestdeaths, the total number of thepandemic deaths mounted toeight in Maharashtra.

“The woman, who was aknown case of hypertension

and had severe respiratory dis-tress at the time of admissionto the KEM hospital, died onSaturday. She had complaintsof breathlessness and chestpain since 3 to 4 days. She hadtested positive forCoronavirus,” a BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)statement said.

“The man who died atBuldhana had also tested pos-itive for Coronavirus. He haddiabetes,” a State Public HealthDepartment’s medical bulletinsaid.

That the Coronavirusspread continues to be steadyif not rapid could be evidencedfrom the fact that 22 more per-sons tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, taking the totalof infected people from 181 to203.

Mumbai contributed to amaximum of 10 positive cases.The total number of cases inMumbai Metropolitan Region

(MMR), which includes themetropolis and neighbouringdistricts of Thane, Palghar andRaigad, has crossed 100 mark,which is almost half of the totalnumber of positive cases in thestate.

Pune, which in the initialdays was recording a o largenumber of cases, reported fivemore infected cases taking thetotal to 37. Nagpur andAhmednagar recorded threeand two more cases respec-tively, while Sangli, Buldhanaand Jalgaon reported one eachcase. Meanwhile, what hascome as some relief in themidst of the continued spreadof the pandemic is that as manyas 35 Covid-19 infectedpatients have recovered andbeen discharged from varioushospitals in the state.

In a related development,the Pandharpur temple man-agement extended the closureof the famous Vithoba templein western Maharashtra’sSolapur district from March 31to April 14 and announced thecancellation of the annualPandari Wari (pilgrimage) inwhich nearly 4 lakh peoplefrom Maharashtra, Karnataka

and Andhra Pradesh partici-pate. The devotees walk milesand miles all the way to theVirthobha temple, located onthe banks of holyChandrabhaga river.

Addressing the peopleacross the state live throughsocial media, chief ministerUddhav Thackeray once againappealed to the people tocooperate with the police andto stir out of their homes. “Irequest people to maintainpatience and not to indulge inany untoward incident. Pleasedo not force the government totake rigorous steps to controlthe situation”.

“At some place, we havestarted free meals for the needypeople. We have decided toreduce the price of governmentmeal Shiv Bhojan from Rs 10to Rs 5 per meal,” he said.

“I am getting full cooper-ation from the Opposition.Even MNS chief Raj Thackeraygave me some suggestions onhow handle the situation. I amin touch with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, HomeMinister Amit Shah and alsoUnion Minister fromMaharashtra Prakash

Jawadekar,” the chief ministersaid. “Lots of migrant labour-ers settled in Maharashtra wantto go back to their nativeplaces. But, I am asking themto stay back wherever they are.We have 163 centres to housethe fleeing migrant labourers inthe state. We are asking themto tell us whatever help theyneed so that we can extend thesame,” Uddhav said.

Meanwhile, theMaharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee (MPCC) has start-ed a helpline and a disasterrelief cell to help theCoronavirus-affected people.“People who need any essentialthings like food, medicines orany other help can call ourhelpline numbes and a con-gress worker will deliver allthese things to the callers’homes,” MPCC president andMaharashtra MinisterBalasaheb Thorat said.

In another move, theCongress MLAs have decidedto donate their one month’ssalary to the Chief Minister’sRelief Fund, while the partyMPs will donate their onemonth’s salary to the PrimeMinister’s Relief Fund.

'���6���#�������������=�>��������

�;�������������(�������1<1���������������

���������������������=2����������� ���18� 6������������ �!����)������������ � ��� 5(��)����

�"+�������#1���������� �+ ����+������� �*� ����� �����������+���2 &��*����� *���#��� ��0����*���� ����* �+�

>� ����� ���*�-����?������������@1

������������������1+//#2

Ramayan in the time of coro-na has brought mixed reac-

tions from people in TamilNadu and Kerala. The re-run ofthe popular TV series pro-duced by Ramanand Sagarwhich was first aired byDoordarshan in 1987 (whenterms like satellite TV channels,Direct To Home Service andeven local cable TV opetratorswere unheard of in these partsof the country) is being telecastby the National channel of theDoordarshan twice in a day.

“Media is hounding us withcorona news throughout the dayand night. So Ramayan is sooth-ing to our confused state ofmind with the impending coro-na threats hanging over ourheads,” said Vijayasree Ramesh,a social activist in Chennai.

But leaders of Dravidian

outfits in Tamil Nadu (barringAIADMK) have not taken thetelecasting kindly. They accusethe government of spreadingcommunalism and Brahminismthrough public broadcaster.

“Ramayana spreads unbe-lievable irrational superstitiousstories which make the peopleidiots and against the constitu-tional guarantee of scientificthinking which is enshrined inthe Constitution of India.Ramayana encourages uppercaste and lower caste system inthe society. Brahmins are placedat the top and the lower castesoodras are portrayed asuntouchables and have beencreated to serve the Brahmins,”said S Doraisamy, vice president,Thanthai Periyar DravidaKazhakam, an offshoot of theDravidian movement launchedby E V R Naiker.

In a statement released tothe media, Doraisamy said that

telecasting of Ramayana wasagainst Constitution of India. “Itpreaches unequal and slaverytreatment to women. The epicencourages illegal intimaciesand prostitution. The story itselfwas authored by Valmiki, a onetime thief and sexual offender.Fomerr Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nahru had said thatRamayana was a mythologyand fairy tale,” said Doraisamy.According to Doraisamy,Ramayana spreads unbeliev-able irrational superstitious sto-ries which make the peopleidiots and it was against the con-stitutional guarantee of scientificthinking enshrined in theConstitution of India.

Ali Akbar, movie makerand an authority on the greatepics rejected the Dravidiantheory. “Both Ramayana andMaha Bharat are worksauthored by depressed classesand both have relevance even

now. The allegation that they arepromoting Brahminism andHindutwa is nonsense. Show mean instance in these bookswhich promote communalismor hatred. There are certainforces in India who do not wantthe new generation to knowabout Ramayana or MahaBharata and they are the onesdegrading these epic books,”said Akbar.

Jaya Raman, a class ninestudent in Ernakulam whowatched both the episodes airedon Saturday was gung ho andwas eagerly waiting for Sunday’sepisodes.

“This is the first time I amwatching it. I liked the parts inwhich the four brothers aretaught the ancient Indian tra-ditions by Sage Vasisht like get-ting up early in the morning,respecting one’s mother, fatherand teacher and to be punctu-al and disciplined,” he said.

Viewers dependent on localcable operators were in for dis-appointment as the latter are notrelaying the DD National chan-nel in their bouquet. “Onlypeople in cities and towns get towatch all DD channels becausethey have DTH services. We areat the mercy of local cableoperators who decide whichchannels should be seen by us,”said Palaniswamy of Padaveduvillage in Thiruvannamalai.

DD Bharati, another chan-nel of Doordarshan is airingMaha Bharat, an equally popu-lar epic serial produced by theHouse of B R Chopras. With thepublic broadcaster scheduling toair some of the evergreen seri-als of the 1980s vintage, there isa general feeling that cautionslike 21-days Lock Down, SocialDistancing and other restric-tions may yield results provid-ed the State electricity boards arein good mood!

Page 6: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

As the inevitability and magnitudeof the impact COVID-19 wouldhave on global economies sinksin, with estimates worsening dayby day, there is no denying the fact

that those economies substantially dependenton China will be poised precariously. The tra-ditional Chinese Sinosphere stratagem hadbeen to bankroll, financially and diplomati-cally, desperate regimes with the help of read-ily available, uncomplicated and “non-judg-mental” Chinese largesse. The dragon lever-aged its treasury to systematically ensnarealienated regimes in Pyongyang, Islamabadand Tehran among others to even includefinancially gasping countries in Latin America,Sub-Saharan Africa, right across to PolynesianIslands, all under its tutelage.

The Chinese economic juggernaut fund-ed its hegemonic instincts and Beijingrapidly connected the dots with “win-win”infrastructural projects like the Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI), supporting inter-linkages likethe China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC). For this purpose, it even used theports around the String of Pearls, which vas-salised nations and made them directly sus-ceptible to Chinese whims as also fate.

Pakistan is among the most hingednations within the Sinosphere, which ispoised to feel the direct squeeze of COVID-19. China will inevitably recalibrate its pri-orities and focus on protecting itself fromimmediate damage before being concernedabout others. Extreme paranoia about man-aging the expectations of its 1.4 billion pop-ulation, to avoid a USSR-like implosion,haunts the regime. Such are the insecuritiesfaced by the single-party Government overthere. China deploys a combination of fear,opportunities, populism and nationalism towillfully or unwilfully get its populace toaccept one-party rule. The bargaining assur-ance is continuous societal progression of theChinese masses and their lifestyle.

Undeniable progress on various socio-economic parameters has allowed that bar-gain between the regime and the Chinesepeople to maintain the status quo. Now, thiseconomic miracle runs the real risk of a veryhard landing as the entire Chinese ecosys-tem goes into a COVID-19 “containmentmode,” which will necessitate a pullback frominternationalist priorities. Top Chinese pri-ority would now be on a domestic stimuluspackage that entails a slew of Government-led spending, investments, subsidies and allsorts of deliberate financial pumping that willautomatically shrink budgets for externalendeavours, at least temporarily.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani economy is ona ventilator mode. It has partaken a record22nd bailout package from the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) besides the many “aidpackages” from China, Saudi Arabia, Qatarand the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Whilethe conditionalities of the IMF’s $6 billionExtended Fund Facility (EFF) will be subjectto unpopular economic reforms and would

be doled out only in tranches, theChinese have been the singlemost generous source, donating$4.6 billion in the form ofdeposits and commercial loans.

Ties with the US are circum-spect. Though the Taliban peacedeal may force optics of a thawbut hopes for any meaningfulfinancial aid from Washington,DC, are highly unlikely. Not onlyhas Pakistan maxed out its dealswith Saudi Arabia and the UAEbut it has unendeared itself toboth Riyadh and Abu Dhabirecently by cozying up to a rival“bloc” within the Ummah ie, theTurkey-Malaysia-Qatar-Irancombine. This leaves limitedscope for any more substantialinflow from the ArabSheikhdoms. Pakistan hasextremely limited manoeuvringspace. The only viable optionis/was China.

Our neighbour has survivedembarrassing defaults in the bal-ance of payment timelines byborrowing more. The singularhope that is described by theestablishment over there as the“game-changer” is the China-funded CPEC. This $62 billioninfrastructural hope is mired indangerous opacity with crediblemurmurs of disproportionatepro-China terms, sovereigntycompromises and an eventuali-ty of China’s fabled “debt trap.” Allof this leads it to abject surren-der to Beijing. Law-makers hadearlier likened the CPEC to amodern-day East India compa-ny, yet with no alternatives for aneconomic revival in sight, the

CPEC is the sole sovereign punt. Such are the stakes involved

that the Pakistani military hasraised and deployed a dedicat-ed division to protect the CPECimperatives. It is now raising asecond dedicated division levelforce. The gargantuan invest-ment in CPEC is “aided” byChina. The CPEC project hasjust completed phase-I but theforthcoming phase-II is pre-dominantly about industrialcooperation, agriculture andtrade — essentially the compo-nent that is more relevant to thePakistanis than the Chinese.

The timing of COVID-19could not be worse fromIslamabad’s perspective asphase-II and its benefits are keyto its economy’s survival. The USSecretary of State Mike Pompeohad openly warned the IMF acouple of years back against bail-ing out Pakistan. He feared thatsuch an aid would be used by itto repay Chinese lenders. Today,the bill for full Chinese “aid,” ifit were still to be given, couldcompound to a crushing esti-mate of nearly $100 billion overthe next three decades. IfCOVID-19 does stall theChinese “aid”, then Pakistancould be saddled with incom-plete projects and unsustainableinterest payments for the “aid”already taken.

Beyond bailouts and com-merce, “all-weather friendship”has seen China provide invalu-able diplomatic and militaryprovisioning. While this couldcontinue, the material wares

may not necessarily come onterms as “soft” as earlier, giventhe financial angularity.Islamabad is also over-indexedin trade with a whopping 18 percent of its total trade with China.This also accounts for over 31per cent of the total imports byPakistan. This disproportionatetilt exacerbates the Pakistanisituation with looming disrup-tions from China.

While the exact long-termimpact of COVID-19 is stillunknown and China is known tohave sufficient economic buffers,wherewithal and a strategic com-mitment to withstand setbackswith speedy recalibrations, thehealth of Pakistan to withstandeven a temporary “switch-off” issuspect. Pakistan is too depen-dent on China to manage with-out its “aid”, especially given itsrecent relationships with otherpotential donors.

Unsurprisingly, Pakistan haspitched countries like Turkey tosell the CPEC dream and incred-ulously so, even the US.American diplomat Alice Wellsnipped the idea in the bud bysounding out the alarm bells onCPEC per se, even withoutaccounting for the new curve-ball of COVID-19. This could bethe proverbial last straw. As ofnow, all global economies aremired in untellable uncertaintiesof post-Corona revival, somecompletely China-hinged likePakistan, worse so.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

#� �� ��)������������ ����&��� �������������������������������������������������������������

�������� �������*������������+�����������������������������������������(����������������������������������(����������������������������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ��������� ,��� +��� �� -���� ��#��������������+�������������������(������������������������������������������������������� ��+�-���������

������������� ����������� ����������������������� ���$������������������������+�+��� ������������(������������ )./+�(01���������������������������������������������������������+�*���������������������������������"���������������2�������������������� ������������������������������� ������+�$�����&�)����������������������������������3����������������������(��4����&�4�3����������������� �����������������������������0115��������� �����������������������)���������� ��������������������� ����������������������������������� �����+�������(������������������������� ������������������������������

6������������������ ����������������������������������������������������������� �������� ����������������������������������������������� ����������������������������(����������������������������������������������� �7������������������������ ��������������������������������������������������������������#� ���������������������� �������������������������������6������������������ �������������(� �������#�����������(������������(���������(������������������������������������������������������6�������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������� �)���)����������(����������������������������������������8)����������������������������������������������������������������� ���������������� 8)����������������������������������������������������������(����������������8$������ �������������������������������������������������������������������������������(�����

9����������������+�������������������� ������ �� ���� �� ��)./+�(01��������������������(

� ���������������������� �� �� � ��������� +� ����� ��������� �� ����������������������������������(�������������������������������� �������������������������������:�������������������������������(���������:�������� ������������������ �� ������� �������� ���������������������� ��������� ���(

�������������������������������������������������������������� �6�������� ��������������������������������������������������(������������������������;����+���������� ���������� �����������������������������������������)�����-�������*����4����������� �����������������������������%��������������������(���������������������������������������������������������������6�������������������������������������������������������(����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������"������������������� ������������������ ����������������������������� ������������ ���������#�������� �����������������������������+�������������������������������������(�����������������������%����������������������������������������������������������������� �����������&������������������������<5<0������������� ����������������������������������������������

2���-�������*����4���������������������)��������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������� &������������������� ������������������������(����������+�*����4��������������� ������������������������)����������������������������� ������)./+�(01������������������������������������������������������������������������������ � �(������+���������������������� ��������)./+�(01��������������������������� ���������������������������(��������=�����������������������(��������>������"�������������������������+���������������������������������� �����������������������������������"�������+����������� ����������������#������������������������������������������155��������� �?�����������������+��������������������������������������� ������������������������������ �������������������������������������������������*����4����%�������������%$*(�������������������������"��������������������������� ���������(������#��������������������� �������������������������� ��(�����������(������������+�����������@����������������A������������������%������������ ��������������������������������������������� ��������������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������������������)���������������������������������������������������������"���������������(������������ ������� ��������� ��������������������������������������(��������������������� �������-���������"����������� �������������������B5�����������������������&������������������ ������������� �������������������������� �������������������������������������������� ��� �����������������������.�������-����&�� ����������������������:������������������������������������ ������������������"���� �6��������������������������������������������������������2�������������������������������������������������������-��������������(����������������������������������������������������������#���&��� $���C������*���3����������������������������������� �9�����������������������������������������������������������(�������������� ������������ ������������������������+����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������������������(��������������������������������������������������������������� ���������

�����������������

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “States take charge” (March28). In desperate times as we areright now due to the spread ofCoronavirus, united efforts on thepart of stakeholders — the localadministration, State and CentralGovernments — can help us tidethe present crisis.

Relief packages announcedby the Government will aid ourefforts to fight the disease but thismay not be enough. The enormi-ty of the situation is such thatthere are millions of underunprivileged people, who arefaced with dual challenges. Onthe one hand, they have beenrobbed off their livelihood oppor-tunities, which has forced them towalk back home. On the other,mass movements of migrantworkers make them susceptible tothe virus, defeating the very pur-pose of a lockdown.

These workers need to stayput where they are. StateGovernments must join hands andhelp migrant workers by assuringthem proper care, be it in the formof providing temporary shelter orfood. Governments in Kerala,Punjab and West Bengal have been

doing exemplary work. OtherStates must learn from them.Only a collaborative approachwill help us sail through.

Bal GovindNoida

������������������

Sir — Along with the medicalprofessionals, the police force, too,must be lauded for risking their

lives in a bid to protect the citi-zens from falling prey to one ofthe deadliest virus the world hasseen in recent times. Though inmost cases the police has beendealing with the public patiently,

sometimes, they are forced to takesevere action as some peopleare not taking the virus serious-ly, flouting all rules and regula-tions. If not for the police, thelockdown would have ended inchaos in most parts of the nation.The society is yet to understandthe gravity of the situation. TheGovernment must ensure that ourpersonnel are provided with allessentials like masks, gloves andsanitisers to protect them fromfalling a prey to the virus.

M PradyuKannur

����������������

Sir — At a time when the entireworld is combating COVID-19,the media has been doing a com-mendable job by giving all updatesregarding the virus without think-ing about their own safety. Today,because of the media, people fromdifferent religions, have cometogether to fight the infectionand have understood the impor-tance of hygiene and health.

VarshaVia email

+ ? + 1 - � @ 2 : A � + ? � � 2 7 8

...0� &�(�&�%��"0#�)����$%���>���� ������D =���'���4������D �����������>���� ����>

���� ������������������ ��������� !�" "

�1

��� ������������(�

�1�2��3 �3,24

2���9:2'3�;����������>��������������������4�%����������������(����� ���������������������������$����������������� ����� �E������������������$����������� �������

#����������������������(���$���� ��������������������F�����2����������� ���������������� ����������������� �(����� �������������%����

�4��4���4�#%�5G/���7��%��

# �������� ����������(��������������������2�����������2��� �������2���(����������� �����������������������������������������������������������

�6%�5G4����%���� ��

2��������������������(��������������������0�� �E�������$������,",��$����������������������(�������� ��3(����������� �$��������$����������(�����������

����6���7G6��������7����(�

� - � , ! 5 3 ) �

� � ) ) � / � ) - � )) 4 � � � ! 3 ) - /

������������������������������������

#��������������������������������������������� ����������������������$�������$��������������������������������(�������+�����������$�

����� �� � ����� �������� ��������� ���� �(������(����G�����������������$�������������������������$���������>������������#�$����%��������������������������� ����$������������$����������������� ��3��������������(��������8/#�(�������������� �$�3������� ������������ �������������2��������������������3��������������������������������������� %���$������(����������������������������������������������

����(������������������������� ���������3�����������(���������������������������%�����(�������$������� �������������������������������$���%�2�� �������������������� ������������������ ������������������������������������� ��������������F3�������������'����������������������� � ������H��������I����(������� ���%���������������������� �� �� � ������� ���� ������ ��� �� �� (������ ���������������H������������������I���������������������������������F�����9����������������������(����������������������H������I������ ����������������������������#����������$��������������������������$�������������$������������ �������������������3��� �� ��� ������������� ���� (���� ���� ���� ���

$��������(��������������������������������������������������������2�� ���� � ������� ��3� �������3�����������������3(�������������������$����������������� ��������������������������%��0����H��%3���I���� �������������������������������������3��������%����������������������������� ����$����$���%�����������������������������������������������(�� ������������������(��(�����������(�����%������������������������������������ ���$�������3���������%�� ���������������������� �����������(�������������3���������������(�����

���&8�'����%�4����������

�1+��2.2/7�9)�9:2'3�;��9<*'

/9��&+�098�+�)89.2�*#.#&#'��

4+8�4+��2:+�#�41#�+322�9)��1+�4+��489C+��

#/'�2���&+/+)2��#8+�6+B��9��1+�<8:2:#*�9)�2��+�9/9.B���1+&2**�)98�)<**�12/+�+�#2'

�9<*'�9.49</'��9�#

�8<�12/7+��2.#�+�9)/+#8*B�J�""

&2**29/�9:+8��1+/+K���18++

'+�#'+�

$�����������������������3��%%�5#%�9��4��5:;�&��"6���

?��#���%�#�&��%���(����������������$��������������������3��������������������%����2��������������������� �� ���������7(����������� �� ���������

�4;5�##���&'�5G4������$����

%������ �����������"�( ������������ � ���� ���!������������� ����7����5�������� ���������

6��������������)����������)��� ���������� ������������ ��� ���!� ����(����� ����)

,�������%�#�����1���

Page 7: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

������� ��������

,����!������������������,"�,������� ��������!��� ��<��!��2(3=��������"��� ��� ��

���!�����������,� ������,����������"�>��������,�� �������������� ��

����!�������� ����!����� ��� ��!������ ������������������������ �������� ���"������������������� ���,����������������� �����">������������� �������������� ���

2����-�,)�/2���

COVID-19 has caused worldwide disruptionand all countries are desperately battling thisvirus. From the most developed nations of the

world to the least developed, all are sailing in thesame boat. Businesses across the world, both smalland large, are facing unprecedented shutdowns andmany may not survive this global pandemic. Giventhe scale of the economic damage being inflicted bythe Coronavirus, it is absolutely necessary tounderstand the risks faced by our businesses in thesetimes.

Social distancing may become a norm:According to Centres for Disease Control andPrevention, most of the time flu-like activity peaksbetween December and February, although activi-ty can last as late as May. So, in times to come, dur-ing the December to March period, it is possible thatsome virus or the other may rear its ugly head. Wemay have to get used to the concept of social dis-tancing during these months, which means lowerfootfalls in malls and shopping areas and a declinein consumer purchases during these times.

Lower employee productivity: The WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) estimated the annu-al mortality burden of influenza to be between2,50,000 to 5,00,000 globally. Based on the 2019research paper of Gianino and other researchers onthe Italian industry, the economic burden of absen-teeism due to influenza and other virus-related infec-tions was studied. According to them, the highestnumber of working days lost were reported in the40-49 age group, accounting for 37 per cent of thetotal costs. So, every business may be impacted withemployees taking long leave due to sickness, eitherdirectly or indirectly. Businesses in future may needto adjust to flexible working hours due to several rea-sons — sickness and tending to children due toschool or day care closures.

Stressed logistics network: Globalisation andintegrated business have increased the length,complexity and vulnerability of supply chains. Nowmost companies rely on vendors located in Asia fortheir businesses to function normally. With the entireworld affected by COVID-19, we are already fac-ing delays in the logistics network and the same sit-uation can arise in the future, too.

Economic instability: The world is goingthrough major economic turmoil. Consumers havestarted spending less and industries are feeling theimpact, particularly as more and more nations gointo lockdown to prevent the spread of theCoronavirus. Investors are pulling money from mar-kets and corporations are cutting back their invest-ments. Since the economic engine of growth is dri-ven by continuous investment as well as consump-tion, any cutback in any one or both aspects maylead to recession or economic instability. In fact,economists are already warning of the possibility ofa recession in the near future due to the lockdowns.

With these risks facing the business world, howshould organisations prepare themselves for theseunpredictable times? Here are some strategies.

Safety first: Safety, of both employees and cus-tomers, should be the logical requirement of anyorganisation during any crisis, particularly duringa pandemic like the Coronavirus outbreak. Evenbefore the 21-day lockdown began in India, manycompanies began allowing people to work fromhome. Once the lockdown is lifted, people will returnto their offices. Here are some of the strategies thatbusinesses can employ to ensure that their employ-ees are safe. They can spread the correct informa-tion about COVID-19 and the way to stop its spreadin the office. Going forward, organisations have tomake relevant changes in their sick leave policies and

encourage people who are sick to takeleave and not come to office due to anx-iety over job loss. Formalise this situationby creating new policies for your organ-isation like an incubation policy, whereemployees suspected of contracting theCOVID-19 virus, can take time off andquarantine themselves. This could be anadded policy for your organisation to referto during any future epidemics. Allowemployees to take time off if their relativesor family members are sick. Consider allnon-essential travel and use technology toits maximum potential. In addition, makesure that the entire workplace is sanitisedbefore the employees start working again.Showing compassion towards youremployees can help both the organisationand employees in these difficult times.

Business continuity: After ensuringthe relevant safety for your employees, thechallenge is to ensure the continuity ofbusiness operations during this pandem-ic. Some technology-driven organisa-tions may continue operations fromremote locations but other traditionalmanufacturing companies may have toshut their operations temporarily. Theimpact is not only economic but also socialand cultural. For example, Ford, GeneralMotors, Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Toyota andHyundai have shut their factories in theUS. Ford and Daimler have also suspend-ed their production in European factories.The airline industry is bearing the bruntof this virus, with both international anddomestic travel severely restricted. Allindustries are affected with sportingleagues across the world being shut down,the Olympics being called off, major gath-erings, including technological eventsand music festivals cancelled and restau-rants and malls closed. To make sure yourbusiness continues, establish a reliablecommunication process with youremployees and actively involve them indeveloping and updating your plans.Unpredictability is the unfortunate real-ity of the pandemic that the world is fac-

ing now. The way it impacts your businessis not known, it may show an immediateeffect or the financial distress may takemonths to become apparent. Protectionof your business should be the ultimategoal and a proper scenario analysis thataddresses several situations should be cre-ated by business owners. Analyse howoperationally efficient you are. Are youlean enough to pull this off without asevere impact? Identify your critical oper-ations and key resources that wouldenable the critical business functions. Sofocus on mainly three things: Key person-nel, important clients and rawmaterials/supplies required. After identi-fying critical success factors, create con-tingency plans for each category. Trainingof employees to act as back-up for key per-sonnel is crucial and make sure that rawmaterials/inventory are stocked to tideover any disruptions in supply chain net-works.

Prepare your organisation to sur-vive: For many organisations, the first andforemost way to deal with any crisis isdevelopment of risk management policieswhich are detailed contingency plans toassess and respond to any pandemic/dis-aster. But in these VUCA (volatile, unpre-dictable, complex and ambiguous) timesis simply havingguidelines/frameworks/plans or policiessufficient? Or is there a need for compa-nies to be ever-alert and agile, with a keensense of the changing environment and theability to respond quickly and efficiently?

The answer is that only companiesthat can respond quickly can survive inthese unpredictable times. To do this effec-tively, the structure of the organisation mayrequire some changes. An organisationwhich is hierarchical in its structure withcentralised leadership, driven by strict poli-cies with a concentrated workforce of spe-cialists, will definitely have problems inchanging, whereas a networked organisa-tion with distributed leadership, driven byflexible and simple policies with dispersed

workforce of generalists will be less rigidand springy and will be able to adapt andsurvive these unprecedented and unpre-dictable times.

Collaboration is the key: The uncer-tainty created by Coronavirus does nothave any precedence in contemporarytimes. No one has any clue as to how longthis crisis will continue and what wouldbe the cumulative impact of this virus onthe global economy. In this situation, col-laboration, co-development and cooper-ation of organisations with other institu-tions and members of the community,would be the key to survival. All of us haveto tide over this crisis together.

Add a new source of revenue:Winston Churchill once famously said“Never let any crisis go waste.”Organisations should take this opportu-nity and try and create new revenuestreams. A cue can be taken from airports,which transformed themselves into enter-tainment hubs by adding restaurants,shops and so on, after the September 11attacks and in the process added to theirrevenue streams. The same goes forbanks as they added different fee-basedservices after the 2008 financial crisis.

COVID-19 has stopped the globaleconomic, social and cultural wheel. Asindividuals are working from home, havestopped or cut down their social gather-ings and binge-shopping to find solace athome in the company of their loved ones,business leaders have to take crisis man-agement as a priority and work towardscreating resilient organisations to with-stand the unpredictability of the currenteconomic environment. However, at thesame time, they have to be flexible andagile enough to adapt to these fast-changing times. By doing so, organisationscan try and protect themselves against arange of threats, both natural and man-made, including the COVID-19 pandem-ic that we all are facing now.

(The writer is Associate Professor,Amity University, Noida)

&������������������������������2���������������� ���������������������������������������((���������(������������ �����1��(���������������������������� ���������������

�%��� �6' 3 / � ) � - � � " ,

2 %��)&#%�!!*�'&"�!%�"!*�� �!

�����1��2��)�"

���� �������� �������������� ���������������������� ���������������1�������� ������

�����������������������������������

1�4����� 7-)�

�9:2'3�;�1#���944+'��1+

7*9&#*�+�9/9.2���9�2#*�#/'

�<*�<8#*�01++*�#��2/'2:2'<#*�#8+�09862/7

)89.�19.+��1#:+��944+'�98��<�

'90/��1+28�9�2#*

7#�1+82/7��#/'&2/7+��19442/7

�9�)2/'��9*#�+�#�19.+�2/��1+

�9.4#/B�9)��1+28*9:+'�9/+��

&<�2/+���*+#'+8�1#:+��9��#6+

�82�2�.#/#7+.+/��#��#

482982�B�#/'0986��90#8'�

�8+#�2/78+�2*2+/�

987#/2�#�29/���902�1��#/'��1+

</48+'2��#&2*2�B9)��1+��<88+/�

+�9/9.2�+/:289/.+/�

)���� ��������������������������������������;���������������������������������� ��������������������������� ������� @�������A� ���������� ,���

��������������������������������������7����������������(� �������������������������+�������������������� �����������������������������������������������������2��$�����#��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������;�����������������������(��������"����������� ���"����������������� ������(�����������������������������

���������������������������������������(� �6���������������������������������������"��(������������������������ ��&���������D;������(���������������������������������������������0�E���������������������8������������"��������������������������������������D#������

#������������� ������������������������� ������(��������������������������������������������������(�� �)������������� ������������������� ����������������������������������

!����������������������������������������������������������������� ���������� ���#��������������������������������������������(��������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������� ����������������(�������� �������������#���������������������������������������������������������������������������������

#��������������������������������������4�����.&C���&�������������������������������0BF1���������D@��������������������������� ����������������������� ����������� ������������� ���������������������� ����������������������� �������������������� �������� ������������������� ��������������� ����������� ��������������������������������������� �����A

*�������������������������������(�����������#�������������������������� ��������������������������������#�����������������������������(�������������������������������������������(������������������������������������������

6����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������(�����(���������"������� ����������������������������� ���������������

)���� ����������������������������#���������������������������������������������������������������������������������@�����A#���������������������������������������������������������7��������������������������?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

# ������ ��������� �������4������������������������������������������������.��������������������������������������������������������#� ������������(������� ������������������������������#���������(��������������������<501�#����� �������������������������������������������������������� �=���������>�����������������������������7�������������������������2 ������������������15��������������������������������������� �����������������������(������������������6���)���������)�������������������������+������0G1<������������������������������������������������������������ ����� ���(������������)����������������������������������������(����������� ������ �����������C���������������������� @����������������A#� �� ���������������������� ��������������������@�������A������������������������������������������������

#������������������������������������������(�����������@������A����+����������������������������������.������������������������������������#�������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������� �

+��������������������������������� �������(��� �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������@������A�������� �

#������������������������������������������(�&������� �;��������������������������������������

=!���� ��� ���������������������������"����>

Aworried colleague at my officeasked another if it was okay fora Muslim to use hand sanitis-

ers that contained alcohol. The secondcolleague took a step back from theinquirer and sardonically replied:“Were the Saudis using juice to disin-fect the holy sites?” Later in the day, Isaw the worried colleague washing hishands with an alcohol-based sanitis-er. Personally, I did not feel anyannoyance towards him. There aremany like him whose minds have beenbombarded with numerous, often

contradictory, ideas about faith andmorality. According to AndrewNewberg, the Director of Research atPhiladelphia’s Thomas JeffersonUniversity, overtly religious people“have more tissue in the frontal lobes,or regions of the brain associated withattention and reward.” Therefore, theyare what they are not only due to doc-trinal reasons but also due to a phys-iological variance.

In societies that have been hard-wired to understand life through thelens of faith alone, it is a challenge forthe Government to impose certainrestrictions during pandemics. Forexample, how to tell people not to gath-er at mosques, temples or churches? Ascientific explanation alone does notcut it. That’s why one often seesGovernments utilise clerics and priestsin such societies to wrap the scientif-ic rationale in theological justifications.

The March 14 issue of TheGuardian reports that a cleric of amajor mosque in conservative Kuwait

changed certain words of the azaan(call to prayer). Instead of inviting peo-ple to come pray at the mosque, heasked them to pray at home due to theCoronavirus scare.

Thousands of miles away, in theotherwise constitutionally secular US,newspaper reports suggest that instruc-tions to the people by the authoritiesto avoid attending church services inthe so-called “Bible belt states”, haveincreased anxiety levels in regularchurch-goers. In India, a countryrecently in the grip of Hindutvanationalism, a Hindu organisationinvited fellow Hindus to a “party”where cow urine was served to theguests as a serum against COVID-19.

Psychologists believe that a crisisthat may restrict people from engag-ing with their faith in a normal man-ner can also cause anxiety within thecaretakers of faith — they may becomemore brazenly exhibitionistic toremain relevant or to “save faith”from eroding.

On March 16, a video clip of aMuslim cleric in Pakistan went viral inwhich he was inviting people to a largerally and claiming that “God will neverallow anyone at the rally to be infect-ed by the virus.”

To secularists and even moderatebelievers, such acts may seem bizarre.Yet, these acts are not emitting fromthe lunatic fringes of society as such.They are taking place within main-stream segments that have been hard-wired to understand reality from a reli-gious point of view — or rather, fromtheir particular religious point ofview.

At the same time, there arenumerous believers in Muslim,Christian and Hindu societies who donot see any dichotomy between faithand science. In fact, they maintain thattheir respective faiths are flexibleenough to better harness science.Then there are the usual conspiracytheorists. Once relegated to the con-fines of the so-called lunatic fringe, the

mushrooming of social media outlets,in the last 20 years or so, has lobbedtheir ideas and claims into mainstreamdiscourses.

One of the stickiest conspiracytheories about the outbreak ofCOVID-19 doing the rounds is thatthe virus is in fact man-made and/orit is a “biological weapon” gone astrayor — worse — it has been deliberate-ly deployed by China or the US or eventhat it has been spread to enrich phar-maceutical companies.

There is not an iota of evidence tosubstantiate these claims. But conspir-acy theorists do not deal in evidence,only in connecting disparate dotswhich may make sense in mindsplagued by fear and uncertainty.Viruses have been around for millionsof years. Humans have continued todevelop antibodies to fight themthrough the natural evolutionaryprocess or by developing vaccineswhich introduce new antibodies in thesystem to ward off what virologists call

“Novel viruses.” The dreaded COVID-19 is one such virus. It’s a “flu virus”but it isn’t the first, nor will it be thelast. There have been at least six flu orinfluenza pandemics in the past.There may have been more but scien-tists so far have been able to trace justsix in the last century and a half.Virologists trace the viruses of each ofthese pandemics to infected birds whotransferred the virus to a mammaliananimal before it entered the humanbody. Bird viruses are largely unableto stick to human cells and when theydo, are often slain by human antibod-ies. However, sometimes, through theevolutionary mutation process, a fluvirus from a bird manages to stick toa cell of a mammal. There, it furthermutates and is then able to stick moreeasily to human cells. Further muta-tions help it fight off human antibod-ies rendering them obsolete, and thisis when the virus becomes “Novel.” Thenatural development of new antibod-ies, or antibodies triggered through a

vaccine, are the only means to neu-tralise it. The COVID-19 outbreak hasbeen traced back to an animal andseafood market in Wuhan, China. Aninfected bat infected a pangolin fromwhich a human handler caught themutating virus. Many outside Chinahave demanded that the Chinese stopeating “strange animals.”

But do they really? Yes, some do.Why? According to Frederick J.Simoons in Food in China: A Culturaland Historical Inquiry, China has a his-tory of eating rats, snakes and dogsduring famine. The practice recededin the early 20th century but returnedwhen Mao Zedong’s radical econom-ic policies in the late 1950s triggeredwidespread famines. But even after thefamines receded in the late 1970s, thepractice of getting meat from unusu-al sources continued in some quarters.

Nevertheless, shops dealing in“unusual meat”, are now likely to beclosed down for good.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

.!����������������������)�� ��� ��&���'%��%���$ (�)%(������*&��(�� &��#%+���$(�*,$��$��#�&���+�+ %�$� #�&���%��%�� �'$ ##�&,��+�(��$����-�(&.�&�����%./����'�(� %&�(���(%'�%�&�

�*(%&,��*�0(� 1��#%1���$���&���$��)�(#��%��+ '%&,�(%,$��&�)

��334 ��/��4�

������������������ ��������� !�" "

...0� &�(�&�%��"0#�)

Page 8: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

�����8������������������ ��������� !�" "

!��2(3������� �����

New York: In a frighteningwarning, the US will see 100,000to 200,000 deaths from thecoronavirus, the Trump admin-istration’s topmost infection dis-ease expert forecast on Sundayas the pandemic infected near-ly 125,000 people in the coun-try.

National Institute of Allergyand Infectious Diseases DirectorAnthony Fauci said in an inter-view on CNN that the US willcertainly have “millions of cases”of COVID-19 and more than

100,000 deaths.“Looking at what we are see-

ing now, I would say between100,000-200,00” deaths fromcoronavirus.

“We’re going to have mil-lions of cases,” he said.

“But I don’t want to be heldto that” because the pandemic is“such a moving target,” Fauciadded. According to JohnsHopkins Coronavirus ResourceCentre, the US has 124,763cases and witnessed 2,612 deathsas of Sunday morning. PTI

Bamako: Malians voted in along-delayed parliamentaryelection on Sunday, barely a dayafter the country recorded itsfirst coronavirus death and withthe leading opposition figurekidnapped and believed to be inthe hands of jihadists.

There were security fearsabout the vote to elect new MPsto the 147-seat NationalAssembly even before the war-torn West African countryrecorded its first coronavirusinfection on Wednesday.

But then late Saturday, justhours before polls opened at0800 GMT Sunday, the coun-try’s first coronavirus death wasannounced -- a 71-year-oldman recently returned fromFrance.

“I came to vote, but I’mafraid,” said Souleymane Diallo,a 34-year-old teacher voting inthe capital Bamako.

“As you can see there’snobody here. Maybe because it’sthe morning, but it’s also notsurprising because of the situ-ation.” There are fears that theimpoverished state of some 19

million people — where largeswathes of territory lie outsidestate control — is particularlyexposed to a COVID-19 out-break.

Prime Minister BoubouCisse admitted that turnoutwas not very large so far.

“I appeal to the voters:remember to respect the barri-er gestures and use the sanitarymeasures,” he said as he voted,adding that turnout was “suffi-ciently satisfactory”.

It is the country’s first par-liamentary poll since 2013,when President IbrahimBoubacar Keita’s Rally for Maliparty won a substantial major-ity.

Parliamentary electionswere meant to take place againin late 2018 following Keita’s re-election, but the poll was post-poned several times, largelydue to security concerns.

Some 200,000 people dis-placed by the near-daily vio-

lence in Mali’s centre and northwill not be able to vote, a gov-ernment official has said.

Very few people showed upto polling stations in the north-ern city of Timbuktu in themorning, but attendance hadsomewhat increased by midday,an AFP reporter observed.

While the distance betweenpeople in lines was too close,voters did wash their handsbefore entering polling stations,the reporter said.

Polls are to close forSunday’s first round vote at1800 GMT, with first results notexpected for several days. A sec-ond round is scheduled forApril 19.

Casting a shadow over thevote is the fate of veteran oppo-sition leader Soumaila Cisse,who was kidnapped onWednesday while campaign-ing in the centre of the country.

Cisse, 70, who has beenrunner-up in three presidentialelections, and six members ofhis team were abducted in anattack in which his bodyguardwas killed.

It is “likely” he was beingheld by jihadists loyal to Fulanipreacher Amadou Koufa, wholeads a branch of the al-Qaeda-aligned GSIM active in theSahel, according to a securitysource and a local official.

Cisse and his entouragewere probably now “far fromwhere they were abducted,” thesecurity source told AFP.

The government’s electionspokesman, Amini BelkoMaiga, has admitted that votingconditions were not ideal.

“It’s true that we cannot saythat everything is perfect, butwe’re doing the maximum,” hesaid, referring to the threat ofcoronavirus.

He added that hand-wash-ing kits had been distributed inthe countryside, while inBamako, authorities wouldmake masks and hand sanitis-ers available.

Cisse’s Union for theRepublic and Democracy(URD) on Saturday urged itssupporters to turn out in evengreater numbers in reponse tothe leader’s ordeal. AFP

����� 82B#'1

Saudi authorities have seizedmore than five million med-

ical masks that were illegallystockpiled amid the coron-avirus outbreak, state mediareported Sunday, as the deathtoll in the kingdom doubled.

The commerce ministryseized 1.17 million masks froma private store in Hail, north-west of the capital, after author-ities Wednesday confiscatedmore than four million masksstored in a facility in the west-ern city of Jeddah in violationof commercial regulations, theofficial Saudi Press Agencyreported.

The ministry said peoplebehind such activities would beprosecuted, and that the con-fiscated masks would be redis-tributed to the open market.Pharmacies in the oil-rich king-dom have reported shortages ofmasks amid panic buying, asauthorities warned againsthoarding and price hikes.

Saudi Arabia is scramblingto limit the spread of the dead-ly disease at home.

Washington: White House can-didates aren’t usually bashfulabout asking supporters formoney.

But as the coronavirusupends everyday life, inundat-ing hospitals, tanking financialmarkets and putting 3.3 millionAmericans out of work,President Donald Trump andhis likely Democratic rival, JoeBiden, suddenly find them-selves navigating perilous ter-rain.

What used to be a routinerequest for political cash couldnow come across as tone-deaf ortacky. The two also run the riskof competing for limited dollarswith charities trying to raisemoney for pandemic relief.With a recession potentially onthe horizon, there’s a question ofwhether wealthy donors are ina giving mood and whethergrassroots supporters who chip

in small amounts will still havethe wherewithal to keep at it.

That presents a delicatechallenge as both candidates tryto stockpile the massiveamounts of cash needed for thegeneral election campaign.

“It’s hard to have a conver-sation with someone right nowto ask how they’re getting by,and then ask them for financialsupport in the next sentence,”said Greg Goddard, aDemocratic fundraiser whoworked for Amy Klobuchar’spresidential campaign beforethe Minnesota senator droppedout of the Democratic race.

To Tim Lim, a Democraticconsultant who worked for bothBarack Obama and HillaryClinton, “it’s a world where noone has a good answer.’’

He said that “on thefundraising side, we are going totake some massive hits as a

party.” The task is particularlyacute for Biden.

The former vice president istrying to pivot from the prima-ry to the general election in arace essentially frozen by thevirus. He lacks Trump’s reelec-tion cash reserves, which werebuilt up over the past three yearsof his presidency. Biden also hasyet to clinch the nomination andwon’t be able to do so until post-poned primary contests areheld in the months ahead.

Vermont Sen. BernieSanders, his sole remaining2020 rival, has given no indica-tion that he will back out,despite Biden’s virtually insur-mountable lead in the delegaterace. The pandemic has put allbig-dollar fundraisers on hold,like all in-person political events.That’s forced Trump and Biden,for now, to rely on onlinefundraising. AP

Bangkok: Dozens of prisonersbroke furniture and smashedwindows during a riot in a Thaijail on Sunday sparked by fearsof a coronavirus outbreak inthe facility.

During the violence someconvicts escaped from theBuriram prison where 2,000 areheld, the justice ministry said.Seven have been arrested.

Local media showedfootage of black smoke billow-ing from the facility in thecountry’s northeast.

“There was a group ofprisoners trying to escape andwere creating chaos... Whichincluded burning down somefacilities inside,” said NaratSawetana, director general ofthe Corrections Department.

Justice Minister SomsakThepsutin confirmed that agroup of inmates sentenced tolife had started “agitating” otherprisoners with rumours of avirus outbreak.

“The fact is that none of theprisoners in Buriram wereinfected -- they only started thisrumour to find some support-ers,” the minister said, adding

that the cafeteria and visitingareas were among the facilitiestorched.

Mental health workerswere later deployed to assuageprisoners “after some rumourswere spread” about a COVID-19 outbreak, Major GeneralAkkaradej Pimonsri said.

“The situation is undercontrol,” he added. Thailandhas recorded 1,388 cases of thecoronavirus, including sevendeaths.

At least two prisoners inthe country have caught thehighly contagious virus.

In a bid to prevent out-breaks in jails, authorities havebanned visitors and are quar-antining new inmates for 14days. Similar panic over thecoronavirus sparked a prisonriot in the Colombian capital ofBogota last Sunday that killed23 inmates. AFP

London: British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, who is self-iso-lating after testing positive forthe coronavirus, has written toevery UK household to askpeople to stay at home and fol-low the social distancing rules tofight the pandemic, warningthem things will get worsebefore they get better.

In letters which will arrivethrough the post for nearly 30million homes along with aleaflet outlining the UK gov-ernment’s advice, at an estimat-ed cost of 5.8 million pound,Johnson says he will not hesitateto impose stricter measures.

The British Prime Minister,who has been working fromhome with mild symptoms,warned that things are set to getworse before they start gettingbetter as the UK’s death toll fromthe outbreak crossed the 1,000mark to hit 1,019, with a further260 deaths and 17,089 con-firmed cases logged on Saturday.

“It’s important for me to

level with you – we know thingswill get worse before they getbetter. But we are making theright preparations, and the morewe all follow the rules, the fewerlives will be lost and the soonerlife can return to normal,”Johnson says in his letter to thenation.

“From the start, we havesought to put in the right mea-sures at the right time. We willnot hesitate to go further if thatis what the scientific and med-ical advice tells us we must do,”his letter reads.

The 55-year-oldConservative Party leader goeson to express his gratitude toeveryone who is “working flatout to beat the virus”, includingthe “truly inspirational” doctors,nurses and other carers.

“Thousands of retired doc-tors and nurses are returning tothe NHS – and hundreds ofthousands of citizens are vol-unteering to help the most vul-nerable. That is why, at this

moment of national emergency,I urge you, please, to stay athome, protect the NHS and savelives,” he adds.

The letter outlines the guid-ance everyone should follow andthe measures the governmenthas put in place to fight coron-avirus and to support business-es and workers. The accompa-nying leaflet contains UK-wideinformation as well as directionsabout where to access onlineguidance specific to England,Scotland, Wales and NorthernIreland.

It includes clear explana-tions of symptoms, hand wash-ing guidance, rules on leavingthe house, self-isolating withsymptoms and shielding vul-nerable people. The initiativecomes as other senior ministersof Johnson’s Cabinet have beenstepping in to conduct the dailyDowning Street briefings, withUK Business Secretary AlokSharma leading the charge onSaturday evening. PTI

Washington: Deaths from thenew coronavirus in the UnitedStates surged past 2,000 onSaturday, doubling in just threedays, according to a tally byJohns Hopkins University.

The number of deaths lateSaturday was 2,010, about aquarter of them in New YorkCity, the country’s hardest-hitregion, Johns Hopkins report-ed.

Confirmed cases in theUnited States topped 121,000,according to the tally. Thesurge came as PresidentDonald Trump said he wasconsidering a quarantine on thegreater New York area to slowthe disease’s move from the USepicentre.

New York has reportedmore than 52,000 cases, and517 of the US deaths were inNew York City.

“There’s a possibility thatsometime today we’ll do aquarantine — short-term, twoweeks — on New York, prob-ably New Jersey, certain partsof Connecticut,” Trump said,adding that it was important toprotect Florida, a favouritewinter destination for people inthe northeast.

New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo objected to theidea, which he said Trumphad not discussed with him.

“If you said we’re geo-

graphically confining people,that would be a lockdown.Then we would be Wuhan,China, and that wouldn’t makesense,” Cuomo told CNN,referring to the city in centralChina where the virus outbreakbegan, which was almost total-ly isolated by Beijing.

Cuomo said he did notbelieve such an act would belegal, and added: “Why youwould want to just create totalpandemonium on top of a pan-demic, I have no idea.” AFP

����7-78?B2-����1?:A����-&1�+?�:������6�C7A8��A7+ 28�

$����� �,�������������������������������� ������������������� ������������� ����������������������������$��������$������ !%

8������� 19*,9� ����!���������:��� ���� #� ��

Madrid: Spain confirmedanother 838 deaths in 24 hoursfrom coronavirus on Sunday, anew daily record bringing thetotal number of deaths to 6,528,according to health ministry fig-ures.

The number of confirmedcases in Spain has now reached78,797 -- after the one-dayincrease of 9.1 percent -- as thecountry battles the world’s sec-ond most deadly outbreak afterItaly. Except for a brief lullrecorded on Thursday, Spain’sdeath toll has been rising daily.

However, officials have

pointed to a slower growth ratefor both deaths and confirmedcases and expressed hope thatthe peak of the outbreak wasapproaching.

“The spread (of the pan-demic) appears to be stabilising.It even appears to be in retreat,but we have to remember thatour fundamental problem at themoment is to ensure the inten-sive care units are not saturat-ed,” said Fernando Simon, thehealth ministry’s emergenciescoordinator.

Simon said that six out of atotal 17 regions “have reached

their capacity limit and threemore are fast approaching thatstage.” The toughening of thecurrent lockdown conditionsshould help the situation, headded Spain also reportedSunday that 14,709 people hadbeen cured of COVID-19, a riseof 19.7 percent in 24 hours.

Like Italy, Spain on Saturdaytightened measures to containthe outbreak, ordering a halt toall “non-essential” activities.“All workers in non-essentialeconomic activities must stay athome for two weeks,” PM PedroSanchez said. AP

������������ �� ����-;-������ ������,<���

Tehran: President HassanRouhani warned Sunday that“the new way of life” in Iran waslikely to be prolonged, as itsdeclared death toll from thenovel coronavirus rose to 2,640.

The Islamic republic is oneof the countries worst-hit bythe virus, which first originat-ed in China.

Iran announced its firstinfection cases on February 19,but a senior health official hasacknowledged that the viruswas likely to have alreadyreached Iran in January.

At his daily news briefing,health ministry spokesmanKianoush Jahanpour said 123more people in Iran had diedfrom the virus in the past 24hours.

He reported 2,901 new casesof COVID-19 infection, bring-ing the overall number of offi-cially confirmed cases to 38,309.

According to the official,12,391 of those hospitalisedhave recovered and 3,467 are in“critical” condition.

“We must prepare to livewith this virus until a treatmentor vaccine is discovered, whichhas not yet happened to date,”President Hassan Rouhani saidin a cabinet meeting.

“The new way of life wehave adopted” is to everyone’sbenefit, he said, adding that“these changes will likely haveto stay in place for some time”.

After weeks of refrainingfrom imposing lockdown orquarantine measures, Tehrandecided Wednesday to ban allintercity travel until at leastApril 8.

Without an official lock-down in place, the govern-ment has repeatedly urgedIranians to stay home “asmuch as possible”. AP

The Hague: The number ofconfirmed novel coronaviruscases in the Netherlandspassed the 10,000 mark onSunday, the authorities said, asthe country focuses on build-ing up herd immunity ratherthan confining the populationof 17 million.

A total of 771 people havedied from the COVID-19 epi-demic in the Netherlands and10,866 have tested positive,the country’s institute for pub-lic health and environment(RIVM) said.

The Dutch governmenthas adopted a series of mea-sures to fight the virus, but hasdecided so far not to forcepeople to stay home. A reviewof the policy is due to beunveiled on Tuesday.

“The number of reportedhospital admissions and thenumber of deceased patientsappears to be increasing lessrapidly than would be expect-ed without measures in place,”the institute said on its web-site.

“In a number of days, itcan be concluded whetherthe number of hospital admis-sions and the number ofdeaths among reportedpatients is actually levellingoff, and thus how well themeasures are working.”

More than two-thirds ofthe more than 31,000 deathsworldwide from coronavirushave now been recorded inEurope and the Netherlandshas warned people will be putunder confinement if the mea-sures already taken do notwork.

Schools, bars, restaurants,coffee houses and even broth-els have been shut down sinceMarch 16, while school-leav-ing exams have been can-celled. AFP

0��������!� ����)=� �)�!��! "�������� �������

/������� ������� �!����������������!����� )

������?���� ��

8�����������������������������

������� �� ���� �����5� �����)! ���

Harare: Zimbabweans bracedon Sunday for a three-weeklock-down to curb the spreadof the coronavirus which haskilled one person so far andinfected six others, and formany the lockdown meanstough times ahead.

President EmmersonMnangagwa declared a 21-day“total” lockdown from Mondaythat will curtail movementwithin the country, shut mostshops and banks, and suspendflights in and out of Zimbabwe.

With independent sourcessaying the official number ofinfections is understated, thespread of COVID-19 couldprove devastating for a coun-try whose economy is crippledby hyperinflation and whosesocial health care systems arecrumbling.

Poor rains have exacer-bated the crisis, with half of the15-million-strong populationfacing severe food shortages.

“We are not against thelockdown,” said Isaac Sayeed,who runs a stationery stall inthe capital, Harare.

“But 21 days is rather toolong. We already have shortagesof basic foodstuffs,” he said.

The looming lockdown hastriggered panic-buying and aspike in prices, adding moreupward pressure to an inflationrate that currently stands at 540percent.

Price of cooking gas shotup almost 50 percentovernight.Long queues haveformed in supermarkets aspeople rush to buy whateverthey can afford.”

We are supposed to stockup enough things to last us 21days, but most of us live onwhat we earn daily, so we onlymanage a few groceries. I cansee us facing tough timesahead,” said Sayeed.

The cash-strapped gov-ernment will not be able tocushion businesses against thelockdown.

“If they failed to buy ven-tilators for the treatment cen-tres, where will they get themoney to shore up small busi-nesses which are in the major-ity?” Sayeed asked.

Sayeed said his businesswould take a knock, but he didnot dare ignore the lockdown,which will be imposed withboth police and militarypatrols. AFP

& ���������������������������� ������������3�2�������������������2������

>��(�( (��� �!��,1*��)�������

���������D���3#�������������#��(����������������������

B����%�������(:�����������������

Paris: More than 3.38 billionpeople worldwide have beenasked or ordered to followconfinement measures in thefight against COVID-19,according to an AFP databaseSunday.

That represents around 43percent of the total world pop-ulation, which is 7.79 billionpeople according to a UnitedNations count in 2020.

The Chinese provinceHubei and its capital cityWuhan, the first epicentre ofthe novel coronavirus, were thefirst to introduce confinementmeasures at the end of January.

As Hubei province startsopening up again after itsmonths-long isolation, con-finement measures have mul-tiplied worldwide in recentweeks.

By March 18 these mea-sures affected more than 500million people. This increasedto more than a billion people byMarch 23, and more than twobillion just a day later.

On March 25 more than

three billion people were affect-ed by confinement measures insome form.

On Sunday at least 3.381billion people in at least 78countries and territories havebeen called on to stay at home.

Most of those -- at least2.45 billion people in 42 coun-tries and territories -- are underobligatory confinement.

No region in the world isexcluded.

In Europe, the affectedcountries include Britain,France, Italy and Spain. InAsia, India, Nepal, Sri Lankaand more are affected, whilemany nations have measures inthe Middle East including Iraq,Jordan, Lebanon, Israel.

In Africa, South Africa,Morocco, Madagascar, Rwandaand more are affected. In theAmericas, confinement mea-sures are in place in Colombia,Argentina, Peru and more,including a large part of theUnited States. In Oceania, NewZealand has imposed a lock-down. AFP

������1�� ��� ������ ���!�� ������ !���

� ��� *9/'9/

A108-year-old woman, whosurvived two world wars

and the 1918 Spanish flu pan-demic, has become the UK’soldest coronavirus victim aftershe died within hours of testingpositive for the deadly virus,according to a media report.

Hilda Churchill, who wasto celebrate her birthday onApril 5, started showing mildsymptoms of the virus onTuesday, the Sun reported.

She passed away onSaturday at her care home inSalford city - less than 24 hoursafter testing positive forCOVID-19, the daily said.

She is believed to be theoldest British victim of coron-avirus, which has so far killedover 1,000 people in the UKand infected over 17,000.

Her grandson AnthonyChurchill said, “The mostdevastating thing is that wewere not able to be there withher in her time of need, whenshe’s been with us through allof ours.”

��!���!���"�#�������#������������� �������%�#�����

Page 9: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

� �����9������������������ ��������� !�" "

�������!��2(3������� �����

New Delhi: India will emergeas the fastest growing economyamong the G20 countries evenas Economist Intelligence Unit(EIU) has slashed Indias GDPgrowth forecast to 2.1 per centfrom 6 per cent in the light ofthe coronavirus pandemic.

India’s growth at just 2.1per cent may be a huge down-grade but given the projectedrecession in other regions likethe US, Europe and LatinAmerica, India will show thehighest rate of GDP growthand will be only among threecountries in G20 along withChina and Indonesia, both at 1per cent growth, to avoid arecession this year. Italy will bethe worst hit at a negativegrowth of 7 per cent.

The EIU said in a reportthat Covid-19 is likely to sendalmost all G20 countries into arecession.

“Following the coronavirusoutbreak, we have revised ourgrowth forecasts for all coun-tries across the world. Theresults paint a bleak picture.Across the G20, all but three

countries will register a reces-sion this year. The global econ-omy will contract by 2.2 percent,” it said.

The EIU has called the pic-ture “bleak” and any recoverymay be hit by future waves ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.

“The global economic pic-ture is looking bleak, withrecessions in almost everydeveloped economy across theworld. We assume that therewill be a recovery in the secondhalf of the year, but downsiderisks to this baseline scenarioare extremely high, as theemergence of second, or thirdwaves of the epidemic wouldsink growth further,” the EIUsaid.

It has also warned of animpending debt crisis and noclear exit strategy from thelockdowns.

“At this stage, it is also hardto see an exit strategy from thelockdowns, which means thatuncertainty will remain high.Finally, the combination oflower fiscal revenues and high-er public spending will put

many countries on the brink ofa debt crisis,” Agathe Demarais,EIU’S Global ForecastingDirector, said.

The EIU has forecast thatthe US economy will contractby 2.8 per cent this year. Theadministration’s initial responseto the coronavirus was poor,allowing the illness to spreadquickly.

“This puts Donald Trump’sre-election bid at risk, as unem-ployment looks set to risesharply,” the EIU said.

The impact on China’seconomy of the Covid-19 out-break is set to be much deep-er than that of SARS. Assumingthat the virus does not flare upagain, the EIU expects China’sreal GDP growth to stand atonly 1 per cent in 2020, com-pared to an estimated 6.1 percent in 2019.

The eurozone will be oneof the hardest hit regions, post-ing a full-year recession of 5.9per cent. Germany (-6.8 percent), France (-5 per cent) andItaly (-7 per cent) will registerfull-year recessions. IANS

2����������"�%��������#���&��������#���6�-����

�����!���������

New Delhi: Telecom regulatorTRAI has given six weeks addi-tional time to telecom compa-nies to file monthly and quar-terly reports that are otherwisedue in April, a senior official saidon Sunday.

The decision comes withindays of industry body COAIwriting to the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI) for granting additionaltime to telecom companies tofile such reports, citing massiveefforts being undertaken bythem to overcome “numerousoperational challenges” in orderto keep vital networks up andrunning amid the 21-daynationwide lockdown to counterthe spread of coronavirus.

“TRAI considered therequest of COAI in view of theprevailing circumstances, andagreed to extend the time to sub-mit monthly and quarterlyreports due in April by sixweeks,” TRAI Secretary SKGupta told PTI. PTI MBI

In a letter addressed toTRAI Chairman RS Sharma, theCellular Operators’ Associationof India (COAI) on March 26had said that it is “extremely dif-ficult for our members to sub-mit various monthly and quar-

terly reports on the due date asper the requirements of TRAI asmost of these reports require cir-cle wise compilation and theircompilation in the current envi-ronment will not be possible.”

“Hence, we request TRAI tokindly extend the timelines forsubmission of various reports...,”COAI Director General, RajanMathews had said in the com-munication to TRAI.

COAI had said that as aprovider of an essential serviceto the nation, the industry is fac-ing “numerous operational chal-lenges”, but trying its best to ful-fil duties and provide unhin-dered communication to thenation.

“In the present crisis, thereis significant strain on thehuman resources of the opera-tors as they are grappling withthe operational issues arisingfrom the COVID-19 outbreak

on one hand, while also tryingto fulfil the licensing complianceon the other hand. Regular dayto day operations of the TSPs(telecom service providers) havebeen impacted with minimalstaff manning the requirements,”COAI had said.

Citing measures that wererecently announced by theFinance Minister for extensionof statutory and regulatory com-pliances in view of the coron-avirus pandemic, COAI hadsaid, “Similarly, we request TRAIto kindly provide our memberTSPs additional time of at least6 weeks, from the due date, tofile all monthly and quarterlyreports which are due for sub-mission in April 2020 i.E. Allreports wherein financial disin-centive is applied or not.”

In an unprecedented move,Prime Minister Narendra Modion March 24 announced a com-plete lockdown of the country totry halt the spread of the pan-demic, shortly after which theCentre said road, rail and air ser-vices will remain suspendedduring this period.

The pandemic has so farclaimed 25 lives in the country,and number of COVID-19 caseshave touched 979. PTI

&,!'��������@�������������������������������������������� ����A������������������������!�����

Mumbai: National oil market-ing companies have come out onSunday allaying the fears ofconsumers about product short-ages, saying there is absolutelyno shortage of any fuel, espe-cially cooking gas, which isbeing supplied to customers attheir doorsteps.

On average, the daily supplyof cooking gas has gone up byat least 35-40 per cent since thelockdown, in spite of workingwith minimal staff, the compa-nies said.

The collective assurance ofuninterrupted supplies of all oilproducts, especially LPG cylin-ders, by Indian Oil, BPCL andHPCL, come amidst panicbooking of cooking gas by con-sumers since the national lock-down imposed to contain thespread of Covid-19 pandemic.

This, coupled with staffshortage, has led to some delaysin the initial days of the lock-down but now it has been nor-malised, they added.

Talking to PTI in Mumbaion Sunday, Mukesh KumarSurana, the chairman and man-aging director of the ONGC-runHindustan Petroleum said, there

is absolutely no room for con-sumers to worry about LPGshortages at all.

“I assure all public thatthere is no shortage of any oilproducts at all. All the more letme assure that there is absolute-ly no shortage of LPG at all. Infact, our LPG plants are work-ing at over capacity to meet anyspike in demand. I request allnot to engage in panic bookingof cooking gas,” Surana said.

Explaining how HPCL hasaugmented LPG supplies, hesaid at the national level the dailysupply has gone from 12 lakhcylinders to 15 lakh a day for hiscompany.

In Mumbai, HPCL has sup-plied 56 per cent more cylinderson Saturday, from 34,000 to51,000, while in Pune the spikein supplies is 54 per cent, headded. Surana also said, HPCLhas equipped all its delivery boyswith masks, sanitisers and alsotrained them in social distanc-ing. Accordingly, they have beenasked not to carry cylinders toindividual homes but to the soci-ety gates as there are restrictionson entry for outsiders at manysocieties. PTI

?�9%3������� �����5� ��� ������� ���<�@��� !� ����.��!����

Kolkata: Coal India Ltd maywitness a De-growth in pro-duction in the current year as itsoutput is expected to be lowerthan 607 million tonne achievedin the previous fiscal, sourcessaid.

The production is likely tobe at 602-603 million tonne in2019-20, they said.

The miner is also likely towitness a decline in off- take inthe current fiscal as compared toits 608 million tonne supply inthe previous year, they said.

“Till March 28, the coal out-put was 591 million tonne andthe company is likely to produceanother 12 million tonne in thenext three days, given the aver-age output trend at present,”sources told PTI.

Of late, the miner hadramped up daily production toreach closer to its target, theysaid. Coal India had set an

ambitious target of 660 milliontonne of production and off-takefor FY’20.

“The off-take was at 576.80million tonne till March 28, reg-istering a decline of 4 per centover last year,” the sources said.

The coal behemoth hadsupplied 608 million tonne ofdry fuel to its consumers during2018-19.

The coal off-take was lessthan what was projected in thecurrent year due to a slowdownin the economy and as a resultof which, the pit-head stockincreased, they said, adding thatthe coal production was also hitby prolonged monsoon thisyear.

Of its seven coal producingsubsidiaries, Northern Coalfieldsand Western Coalfields, how-ever, had already surpassed theirrespective annual productiontarget. PTI

����0������)� ���� �� *��������A",�

New Delhi: The labour min-istry has allowed over 6 croresubscribes of retirement fundbody EPFO to withdraw anamount not exceeding theirthree months basic pay anddearness allowance from theirEPF account in view of thelockdown to fight COVID-19.

Besides, Employees’Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO) also introduced onlineclaim settlement facility with-out manual intervention onSaturday morning for all KYCcomplaint subscribers duringthe lockdown.

The ministry has issued anotification in this regard onMarch 28, 2020 to amend theEmployees’ Provident FundScheme 1952, a labour ministrystatement said.

The decision is taken inview of lockdown across thecountry to fight COVID-19.

The notification permittednon-refundable withdrawal notexceeding the basic wages anddearness allowance for threemonths or up to 75 per cent ofthe amount standing to thecredit of their EPF account,which ever is less, the ministrysaid.

The COVID-19 has beendeclared pandemic and there-fore employees working inestablishments and factoriesacross entire India, who aremembers of the EPF Scheme,1952 are eligible for the bene-fits of non-refundable advance.

A sub-para (3) under para68L has been inserted in theEPF scheme, 1952. PTI

,�����'�������"�1+5�"�����"���

��������,�

New Delhi: Jack Ma Foundationand Alibaba Foundation onSunday announced donation ofessential medical supplies,including face masks andCOVID-19 test kits, to India andsix other nations to help combatthe spread of coronavirus.

“Collectively, these sevencountries will receive a total of1.7 million face masks, 1,65,000test kits as well as protectiveclothing and medical equip-ment such as ventilators andforehead thermometers,” thetwo foundations said in a state-ment. Chinese billionaire JackMa is the co-founder of multi-national technology behemothAlibaba Group. Besides India,the medical supplies will bedonated to Azerbaijan, Bhutan,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Uzbekistan and Vietnam. PTI

B������������������!�������������������������������������������'�������� ���������� New Delhi: To support the

fight against COVID-19 pan-demic, India’s leading digitalpayments and financial servicesplatform Paytm on Sunday saidit is aiming to contribute �500crore to the PM CARES Fund.

Urging users to do their bitin the fight against Covid-19, thecompany said that for every con-tribution or any other paymentmade on Paytm using the wal-let, UPI and Paytm Bank debitcard, the company will con-tribute an extra up to �10.

“We are honoured to do ourduty to aid the government in allthe relief measures being takento fight the Corona pandemic.We hope our users wholeheart-edly donate to PM CARES fundand help save lives,” MadhurDeora, President - Paytm, saidin a statement. “We will alsocontribute up to �10 for everypayment transaction using thePaytm app and instruments.

This money would be directlysent to the PM-CARES fund.Paytm commits to doing every-thing in its power to support theefforts of our Government incoming out of this crisis,” Deorasaid. Over the last few weeks,Paytm has launched several ini-tiatives to fight the spread of thenovel coronavirus. It has start-ed collecting contributions tobuy personal hygiene productsfor people who might not havethe means to buy it. Also, thecompany has created a �5 crorefund for innovators who aredeveloping medical instrumentsor medicines to combat thevirus. The PM CARES Fund isexempt under the Income TaxAct, 1961 under Section 10 and139 for return purposes.Contributions towards PM-CARES are notified for 100 percent deduction from taxableincome under section 80(G) ofthe Income Tax Act, 1961. IANS

%�)����������(�� �������� !��%�� 4B�����

������ /+0�'+*12

About 30 per cent of Indianretailers may be out of busi-

ness in six months time if thegovernment does not providethem support amidst thenation-wide lockdown, RetailersAssociation of India (RAI) CEOKumar Rajagopalan said.

Speaking to IANS onSunday, Rajagoplan also notedthat the business has beenseverely subdued sinceFebruary, with 50-60 per centof normal trade last month andnearly no trade in March.

“Outlook looks quite grim,I think if it continues, forexample till April 15-20, Ithink most of the retailerswould already be in very deeptrouble,” he said.

=�4��������#�����������������#�������%�&���%�����������(6�-?2

Riyadh: Saudi air defences interceptedYemeni rebel missiles over Riyadh anda city on the Yemen border, leaving twocivilians wounded in the curfew-lockedcapital amid efforts to combat coron-avirus, state media said on Sunday.

Multiple explosions shook Riyadhlate Saturday in the first major assaulton Saudi Arabia since the Huthi rebelsoffered last September to halt attacks onthe kingdom after devastating twinstrikes on Saudi oil installations.

The Iran-aligned insurgents claimedresponsibility around 15 hours after theattacks, with a rebel spokesman callingit “the largest operation of its kind” asthe Riyadh-led military intervention inYemen enters its sixth year.

“Two ballistic missiles werelaunched towards the cities of Riyadhand Jizan,” the official Saudi PressAgency reported, citing the Saudi-ledcoalition that is fighting the rebels in

Yemen.Their interception sent shrapnel

raining on residential neighbourhoodsin the cities, leaving two civiliansinjured in Riyadh, a civil defencespokesman said in a separate statementreleased by SPA.

At least three blasts rocked the cap-ital, which is under a 15-hour-per-daycoronavirus curfew, just before mid-night, said AFP reporters. Jizan, likemany other Saudi cities, faces a short-er dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The Huthi spokesman said therebels struck “sensitive targets” inRiyadh with long-range Zolfaghar mis-siles and Sammad-3 drones.

The rebels also claimed to have hit“economic and military targets” in theborder regions of Jizan, Najran andAssir.

The assault comes despite a show ofsupport on Thursday by all of Yemen’s

warring parties for a United Nations callfor a ceasefire to protect civilians fromthe coronavirus pandemic.

Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni govern-ment and the Huthi rebels all welcomedan appeal from UN Secretary GeneralAntonio Guterres for an “immediateglobal ceasefire” to help avert disasterfor vulnerable people in conflict zones.

The call coincided with the fifthanniversary of Saudi Arabia’s militaryintervention in Yemen’s civil war, whichwas launched to shore up the interna-tionally recognised government againstthe Huthis.

Yemen’s Government condemnedthe attack, which it said underminedefforts to scale down the conflict amidthe coronavirus outbreak. InformationMinister Moammer al-Eryani said in atweet that the strikes also confirmed the“continued flow of Iranian weapons” tothe Huthi militias. AFP

����� &979�#

Aretired Venezuelan gener-al who was charged by the

United States with “narco-ter-rorism” along with PresidentNicolas Maduro and other offi-cials has surrendered inColombia to US authorities,prosecutors said Saturday.

“The national AttorneyGeneral learned that Mr CliverAlcala surrendered to USauthorities,” the Colombianprosecutor said in a state-ment, adding there was noarrest warrant when he gavehimself up.

Alcala turned himself inon Friday to the Colombians,

who in turn handed him overto US authorities, the ElTiempo de Bogota newspapersaid.

He is among several cur-rent and former topVenezuelan Government offi-cials, along with Maduro,indicted by Washington onThursday for “narco-terror-ism.” The US offered a $15 mil-lion reward for informationleading to Maduro’s capture.

As part of the US JusticeDepartment indictment, up to$10 million was offered for thecapture of Alcala, who hasbeen living in the northernColombian city of Barranquillafor the last two years.

Manila: A plane carrying eight peoplecaught fire Sunday while attempting totake off from Manila’s airport on a flightbound for Japan, killing all those onboard, officials said.

The plane, which was carrying sixcrew members and two passengers, wason a medical mission to bring a patientto Tokyo when it caught fire at the endof the runway, said Manila airport gen-eral manager Ed Monreal.

“There were no survivors,” Monrealsaid at a news conference.

He said two of the eight on boardwere foreigners — one American and oneCanadian — and the rest were Filipinos.

Firetrucks and rescue personnelrushed and doused the aircraft with foamto try to extinguish the flames.

The Civil Aviation Authority of thePhilippines said in a statement that theplane was an Agusta WW24. AP

Tehran: Iranian security forcesare searching for 54 escapedinmates following a prisonbreak over which four guardswere arrested, Iran’s state newsagency reported on Sunday.

“Some prison guards weresummoned and four of themwere arrested and othersreleased on bail,” MojtabaShirouzbozorgi, a judicial offi-cial in Kurdistan province, toldIRNA. According to the agency,74 inmates escaped from Saqqezcity’s prison on Friday, 20 ofwhom have so far either turnedthemselves in or been captured.

On March 19, 23 prisonersescaped from another jail inthe western city ofKhorramabad, hours beforethe start of Iran’s New Year cel-ebrations, IRNA said. AFP

Colombo: The Sri Lankanpolice on Sunday arrested a keysuspect in the last year’s devastating Easter Sunday ter-ror attack that killed over 250people.

The suspect was arrestedfrom the Colombo suburb ofMount Lavinia and was thehandler of the suicide bomberwho carried out the blast at theZion church in the easterntown of Batticaloa while theEaster Sunday mass was goingon, police spokesman JaliyaSenaratne said.

He had provided lodgingand transport to the suicidebomber, the official said.

The bomber was part of

the nine-member suicide-squad belonging to localIslamist extremist groupNational Thawheed Jamaat(NTJ) linked to ISIS that car-ried out a series of devastatingblasts, tearing through three

churches and as many luxuryhotels on the Easter Sunday,killing 258 people, including 11Indians.

The police had arrestedover 200 suspects in connec-tion with the attacks. PTI

��������������1������#������������

���������

Baghdad: The US-led coalitionwithdrew on Sunday from amilitary base in northern Iraqthat nearly launchedWashington into an open warwith neighbouring Iran.

The K1 Air Base is thethird site coalition forces haveleft this month in line with USplans to consolidate its troopsin two locations in Iraq.

A rocket attack on the basein late December killed oneAmerican contractor and leadto a series of tit-for-tat attacksbetween the US and Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups.

The attacks culminated inthe US-directed killing of topIranian general QassimSoleimani and senior Iraqimilitia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Coalition forces handedover the K1 air base in the

northern Iraqi province ofKirkuk to Iraq’s military,according to a coalition state-ment.

At least USD 1.1 million ofequipment was transferred tothe Iraqis as 300 coalition per-sonnel departed.

K1 has hosted coalitionforces since 2017 to launchoperations against the IslamicState group in the nearbymountainous areas.

Areas south of Kirkuk, andnorth of neighboring provincesof Diyala, Salahaddin andNineveh remain hot beds of ISactivity.

The stretch of territory isalso disputed between the fed-eral Iraqi government and theautonomous Kurdish region,which has created security gapsbenefiting IS militants.

The coalition’s presence

had at times been a mediatingpresence between the two com-peting authorities.

A senior coalition officialearlier this month claimed ISforces weren’t as able to exploitthe “security gap” betweenIraqi and Kurdish forces as themilitants did in the past.

“That doesn’t necessarilymean that Daesh is free tooperate in the way that theywish,” said the official, using theArabic acronym for the ISgroup.

“They’re still pretty con-strained.” The coalition officialwas speaking on condition ofanonymity in line with regula-tions.

US-led forces have alreadywithdrawn this month fromQaim, near the border withSyria and Qayara base, inNineveh earlier. AP

8�*� �!��� ���������!;��0����(�� ���������

Seoul: North Korea on Sundayfired two suspected ballisticmissiles into the sea, SouthKorea said, calling it “very inap-propriate” at a time when theworld is battling the coron-avirus pandemic.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs ofStaff said it detected the projec-tiles flying from the NorthKorean eastern coastal city ofWonsan into the waters betweenthe Korean Peninsula and Japanon Sunday morning.

The projectiles flew about230 kilometres at a maximumaltitude of 30 kilometres, thestatement said.

South Korean and US intel-ligence authorities were analyz-ing more details of the launch-es.

The military described themas “very inappropriate” becausethey occurred while the world isgrappling with the coronavirusoutbreak. It urged North Koreato stop such military action.

In recent weeks, NorthKorea has fired a slew of missilesand artillery shells in an appar-ent effort to upgrade its militarycapability amid deadlockednuclear talks with the UnitedStates. The talks remain stalledsince the breakdown of a secondsummit between North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un andPresident Donald

Trump in Vietnam in early2019. The weapons launchedrecently were all short range anddidn’t pose a direct threat to theUS homeland. AP

?������� �!�� ������� ������ �5�������� �()�����

+�������������%�����'������������������������(�����

�������� �� ���C���������� ��� ����! *���� �4�)���5(��� ����)

3.���#�������������%���#���$�������(6�2��

/ � D� ��� #*� � ������� �� ����8����������!!����������� �

Page 10: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

������������������ ��������� !�" "

#����������������� ����������� ������������������������� ������������(����$���%���������(�����$����

���� ������������������������5���������9:2'3�;���������������!���������$��������������4.���������������������������-"���%���#������4��������.����������������-"���%������������������������

9�������������������%�4�����6�������8���������������E��(�����.������&�$��������������$�������$�������������9:2'3�;�

1����������� ��������������������%&�,��#�4���(����������������<��������� ��������������������%���������������#���������������������9:2'3�;�������

���� ������������������������$��������� �$�����������$��������������(������.������������� ����� ������(��

�������������������� �3(����E���

������ �������������%��������

���(������#��������������1��%���������3����������$��+�(��4���������

���������� ��������������4��%���4������L����������������������������$�&�F�*������������ ������������������������������� ������

������ ������������������ ���������������������������������3����������

:"%�+�����.�*��;�,����������*�����<���������=��+������� $+����>

�����������&��%���� ���� ���� ����=�? ���������%�����+������+���*�����& ������� ����=�+�������� ��� ������������� ����+�*=��+����� ��� � ��� �� ���3����������+�����������=�)+��+�����+��*�����/�*�;��%����%������7*�<>���+���� �%��� ���=@A�+����%�����

4������������-B3!$#9������

&�&���%�#�

:)+����� �������� �������� ���@#����������������� �����������������.�������������3������ %���$����������� �������������(����

���%����$��������������3������� �������������H0����(�����������������������������������$���� �������$�����������������������������������������$����������������L��������I

�����������H0����(����������������������(����������� � ����2�������%������������,��������������$����������$���������������&����������$�����,����������������$���������������3����������������������������(�� ������8��������2���(��� ����%�����������������������2�� ����������(���������I

) � � 4 � ) � � 7

����������������A 12-year-old’s scheme to scare away his mom’s new

boyfriend, police officer James Coffee, backfires,exposing his family to a secret network of crime. Aninept Detroit cop must now uncover the criminalconspiracy. The film releases on April 3 on Netflix.

���� ��������������������Lives are on the line as the Professor’s plan begins to

unravel and the crew must fend off enemies from both insideand outside the Bank of Spain. Starring Úrsula Corberó,Álvaro Morte, Itziar Ituño, Miguel Herrán and JaimeLorente among others, the series releases on April 3 on Netflix.

C � 5 5 � !Sitting cross-legged in her living

room, Donna Borak rested herpalm on her heart as she guided asmall group of virtual partici-pants in meditation and deepbreathing. Notice where you mightbe holding tension, she instruct-ed.

“Send your attention to yourhead... maybe acknowledging it’sfine if you’ve been worried andscared,” she told them and added,“Maybe finding comfort that weare all in this together.”

From her Washington DChome, Borak has been hosting afree virtual meditation class dailyfor anyone who wants “a respiteduring such a moment of uncer-tainty.” Attendees are encouragedto bring children, loved ones orpets. “Even your plants.”

“Inhale, maybe even a little bitmore deeply this time, slowly let-ting the air out of your mouth,” sheadded.

As social distancing hasemerged as a key tool to staunchthe spread of the Coronavirus,ordinary people around the globehave turned to technology to over-come physical barriers. In ways bigand small, they are forging newconnections and comforting oth-ers inundated by bad news aboutthe virus or burdened by unpaidbills.

Borak wanted to carve out aspace for togetherness — for astressed-out parent, a manager ora laid-off employee to take abreak. So far, attendees joining herclass on Zoom video conferencinghave mainly been friends andfamily, and she’s been sharing ses-sions on Instagram.

“While a meditation class for15 minutes doesn’t solve financial

stress or help to explain what willhappen next or address serioushealth care concerns, to me, it’s anopportunity to not be alone and tonot exist in isolation,” she said byphone. “I didn’t want anyone tofeel alone.”

A journalist and who hadbeen attending yoga teacher train-ing, Borak draws lessons fromsuch testing times.

“Going forward, for everytime that we opted out at the lastminute of attending an event or ahappy hour or a dinner, we’llhopefully feel differently about itwhen we come back togetheragain,” she said. “We need eachother.”

In Austin, Texas, CatherineWoodiwiss also took to online

media to provide relief of a differ-ent kind. She knew that the can-cellation of South by Southwest —a film, music and technology fes-tival that attracts hundreds ofthousands to Austin — could hitartists and small business ownershard.

Her first instinct to help bybuying local wasn’t going to workamid the social distancing and var-ious shutdowns. So she encour-aged those who lost income toreach out online. “I can’t give a ton,but I can give something, and willas much and for as long as I can,”she wrote on Twitter.

She said takers included an 18-year-old pregnant woman whoworks as a cashier and said herstore would be closed for a month

and a musician whose showswould have covered rent and otherexpenses.

She used Venmo to send moneydirectly after doing a “light vetting”of recipients by looking at theiraccounts. “I’m comfortable erring onthe side of being of help,” she said.“In a moment of need, I am com-fortable giving to who asked for it.”

There are “times that I havebeen very much in need of financialsupport from other people,”Woodiwiss said. “I am very lucky tobe at a moment... where that’s nottrue.”

She’s been setting aside moneyfor a while to help with differentcauses. Now Coronavirus is hercause — and she’s part of a biggereffort. On her social media feeds,she’s seen people come together innew ways, holding “singing circles”or sharing self-quarantine recipes.

Borak and Woodiwiss areamong an army of virtual volunteersworldwide donating time andmoney. Some have used the inter-net to set up food delivery servicesto the elderly. One mother issued aninternational call for help celebrat-ing the birthdays of her self-quaran-tined children.

“People are trying to figure outhow to belong with each other...when we are physically separate,”Woodiwiss said. “In this moment ofreal, relatively unanticipated crisis,it’s been really great to see peopleshow up.”

While unending global newsabout the effects of the pandemic ofCoronavirus have become com-monplace, so, too, are the storiesabout the kindness of strangersand individuals who have sacrificedfor others.

+!%C7���*����& ���

The tones are clipped. Everysyllable carefully pro-nounced. The accent is old

school. It is during the lockdownthat I connect over a phone callwith Aditya Narayan DhairyasheelHaksar, the well-known translatorof Sanskrit works. Over the call, hetells me that he has found the qui-etest corner to sit down for the con-versation so that we can proceedunhindered and undisturbed.When another phone threatens toinvade the carefully cultivatedmindfulness of the discussion, hepauses and shuts it out. He doesnot desist from making a precisepoint, pronouncing each word

clearly while stressing upon everysyllable. The attention to mindful-ness and being focused seepsthrough even over the call andstands in stark contrast to an agewhere multi tasking is so glorified.While he is eager to talk about hislatest translation, Chanakya Niti,but he is equally curious if I amrelated with another writer whoshares my surname and has oftenreviewed his books.

During the course of the con-versation, he touches on a lot ofaspects, which concern his 20translations beginning with TalesFrom Panchatantra in 1992, the lan-guage, which he has mastered andwhat makes it relevant in presenttimes.

�When it comes toKautilya/Chanakya, Arthashastrais definitely the more talked-about text. So where did thegerm of the idea to translateChanakya Niti come from?

In the course of my translatingSanskrit classics, I have taken up allkinds of literature which I feel needpublic exposure. I came to the con-clusion after looking at texts andtheir commentaries that theArthashastra is very much in thepublic mind. There are booksabout it and people make speech-es based on it too but the otherwork, Chanakya Niti has becomea little obscured in recent years.Public knowledge and popularity ofArthashastra is based upon the dis-covery of manuscripts a hundredyears ago in South India.

Moreover, there are in exis-tence six main versions ofChanakya Niti. Of these, one, theVridha Chanakya, has become

better known. I thought if we aregoing to have a new translation itshould reflect the whole corpus togive the reader a better sense of thewhole corpus.

�What is the appeal of ChanakyaNiti in today’s day and time?

While Arthashastra is a schol-arly treatise on politics, economics,diplomacy, running the govern-ment and more which is concernedwith technical information direct-ed at scholars and experts, theChanakya Niti has verse maximsand aphorisms on life and every-day living. These are addressed tocommon people who are interest-ed in knowing something abouteveryday worldly life namely thesocial, ethical and economicalaspects. It is about how to get alongwith friends, family and others.They are addressed to individuals.As compared to other Sanskrit vers-es, which are embellished, these areexceedingly simple. That is whythey attract common people.

Since these had becomeobscured over time, I felt the needto put it out in the public domain.

�Is the fact that Arthashastra hasoften been compared toMachiavelli’s Prince the reason forits popularity?

The interesting thing is thatboth Arthashastra and Prince areaddressed to technical expert audi-ence. But Chanakya Niti verses aremore like the advice of the kind thatSocrates or Plato gave about every-day living which appeals to people.It doesn’t need deep understanding.

�Is there any particular verse herethat resonates with you the most?

Some verses resonate more. Infact there are two-three verseswhich attracted me to the whole.There is a verse that says, “Spoil himfor the first five, for the next 10 dis-cipline him, but once the sonbecomes 16, treat him like a friend.”This is something which was said2,000 years ago and I think it is asrelevant today as it was earlier. Theother one says, “He speaks beforeyou sweetly but spoils the wordbehind your back. Always discardsuch a friend. He is a poisoned potwith milk on top.” Both these vers-es are couched in such simple lan-guage and you don’t need a dictio-nary to understand them.

�Since you’ve translated theworks, what do you say to AmitShah being called Chanakya?

The name or epigramChanakya has from time to timebeen used for clever and deter-mined political leaders and AmitShah is not the only one. This hasbeen going on for a long time. It hasbeen used by every generation. Butthe Chanakya referred to here ismore the one who wroteArthashastra.

�Your last translation, ATale of Wonder,was a mix ofcultures andreligions. Butin today’stimes we seeeverything beingc om p a r t m e n -talised separately...

In this particu-lar case, even thoughit mentions Hindugods, Chanakya Nitileaves out all considera-tions of organised reli-gions as you have it. Itmentions the caste systemin social terms and it also points outthat a person from a particular castemight be doing something else. Theadjectives, religious and secular, areused very loosely these days but theChanakya Niti is a really seculartext.

The last two works which I’vedone, A Tale of Wonder andSuleiman Charitra are based uponstories derived from Arabic orPersian Middle Eastern sources. Intoday’s time, when everything isbeing compartmentalised and seenfrom a particular point of view,these two works depict culturalconfluence and intermingling ofculture.

�How did you get into translat-

ing works from Sanskrit?When I was a student, 60-70

years back in school, I had to studya classical language. My parentschose Sanskrit. My connectionwith the language loosened over theyears. I spent 35 years as a careerdiplomat. When I retired I hadmore time at hand and thought Ishould get to know the language alittle more. I came to a conclusionthat a good way of learning a lan-

guage was by translating it. SoI looked at the texts which Ihad studied as a school boy.Over the years, it went on toinclude more complicatedones. The very first trans-lation was of thePanchtantra fables thatwas picked up byNational Book Trustmore than 20 yearsago. It is still in cir-culation. These aresimple tales. Itried to concen-trate on trans-

lating texts that arenot in the public domain.

The Tales of Wonder has been inexistence for 600-700 years but itwas definitely not in the publicdomain. No one associated Sanskritliterature with retelling the story ofYusuf and Zuleikha in terms of aparable of soul in search of God.

�Did your stint as a diplomatinfluence the interpretation andthe choice of Sanskrit?

There is one section of Sanskritliterature which is very well-knownas it has been written about, trans-lated, discussed over the last 200years. This literature concentratesmore or less on religious andphilosophical texts like Gita and theVedas. But these are only a tiny partof the vast literature that exists.There are some satires in Sanskritabout corruption in government,

hypocrisy in religion and greed inbusiness. These are facts of life andshould be read.

�Many of your translations havefurther been translated intoPersian, Turkish, German, Malay,Mongolian, Newari, French,Greek, Hungarian, Polish andRussian as well as several Indianlanguages. What do you attributetheir global appeal to?

At one stage, Sanskrit literaturehad spread wide from India toneighbouring regions. It was trans-lated in other languages. In colonialtimes, Sanskrit literature was trans-lated into not just English but allcolonial languages. In earlier times,Chanakya Niti verses were found inIndonesia and Iran. So they do holdan appeal.

�Translations can be tough asthere are not enough words thatcan be equated with a particularone in a language? Also, the con-text for the verse needs to be seenin perspective of the time. Doesthat affect the quality of transla-tion?

You are asking me deep ques-tions, I am glad. There are two typesof translations where the attempt isto translate from word to word andthe object is to give to the personreading the translation a better ideaof the exact words of which thetranslation is being made. That isone kind of translation. In this, veryoften if you read only the transla-tion and not the original, it may noteven make sense.

The other kind of translationis where you try to convey not theliteral meaning but the literarymeaning. In other words, you arecombining both the literal and lit-erary aspects because there is alsothe spirit behind it. This is the kindof translation I try to do. The dif-ference between literary and liter-

al is very limited in Chanakya Niti.I’ve translated two works ofKalidasa and I am also doingVikram Urvashiyam at the momentfor the Kalidasa classic series forPenguin. The language there is fullof embellishment.

�How do you select the text ini-tially? Did the previous text influ-ence it?

The first work I translatedwas Panchatantra as they were sim-pler to understand. I happened toknow the editor of a newspaper andhe asked me to send one everyweek which was published. Thatwas encouraging as it went on fora year. Then I picked up a collec-tion of works by the playright calledBhasha who lived 1,500-2,000 yearsago. He wrote many plays, ofwhich, some are based on storiesfrom Mahabharata. He chose tomake the villains, the heroes of hisplays. These too were picked up bynewspaper. Penguin had just start-ed in India and they chose to pub-lish it as the Shattered Thigh, whichis still around. Then I got into morecomplicated stuff.

�What kind of a schedule do youfollow? How long does translat-ing a work take?

It depends on the work you aretranslating from. After seeing myworks getting published, I gotinterested and did more work. Ihave become a regular feature onthe Penguin’s classics series. Earlier,I was sending proposals but, overtime, they have been making sug-gestions. Kalidasa is famous as apoet and a playwright. I didn’t goanywhere near his works as Ithought that would be too big. Butit was the publisher that suggestedthat I should attempt translating thework. The first work took me a lotof time as it needed more draftingand redrafting.

�How long does Chanakya Nititake?

The total verses attributed toChanakya Niti add up to 2,000 butsince that would be too much, wedecided to select 300. One task wasto select those and that involved alot of reading, thinking and cross-questioning. But the actual act oftranslating was simple as the lan-guage is easy. While half the vers-es are from Vridha Chanakya, theother half from all the other fiveversions of Chanakya Niti. Thistranslation gives the reader a senseof the corpus as a whole.

�Children in school often donot find it an interesting lan-guage...

It seems that today, students areopting to study Sanskrit because theway it is taught and examined andthe possibility of scoring highmarks. Just like Mathematics. Thegrammar and tenses are empha-sised upon. But to develop an inter-est in the language depends onindividual temperament and alsoon the availability of works thatcould appeal to that temperament.If there were comic, erotic, heroics,colloquial works the languagewould have a larger appeal.

�What are you planning to donext?

I am translating Kalidasa’sVikram Urvashiyam and also, a col-lection of love poems which in myopinion deserves to be knownbetter. I’ve had this text for long.

2&�/"&)��'�� #�:������(���������������������$���������� ����������������(����������

INTERPRETER OF

CLASSICS ?'C �� 45�!��� ���������5���( ��� �)���)��������������������!� �� �*������������� #��+0����� ����������� 0�0 � :: 4 �(������� (�������������5� ������� �������������������� �(��� �������E���� )�!� �� ��� � ��

Page 11: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

������������������ ��������� !�" " &�&���%�#����$���%�##

A7@�,251��?8�&1:�E1::1-�?��@1�?&1 ,1&?,�'?-2C�?8?�:77��:-78&�57-�+?28�-1,215?B72���?2-0�+-7���:��:7�+-1B18:�?�:A'?

.��������;"� ����������������������E����� ������

������������������ �������������������������������������������������(����������������������������������� ��������������������������������

H0��%�����������3 ������ ������������������(��� ������������������������$�������������������%����(�� ��������$�3�������������������������������� ������������1�3������� �������I����������������������������#�����+�����8���3����(�������0�%��)�����������.������

��������������������(������� ����(�� ���������������������$���M�1�N���������� �������(���� ��������E����������������������������������� ������������������������

H&��������������������� ������������������E���� ���������������������)'#�����������������(�����(��3���3������� ��������������������$� ������������(�����3� ����������������������������������(�� ��������������������������$���������������������������������O�I����������

��%�������3������ ��

����������������������������%�����%����������� �$�����������$���������(�� ��������� �$�$���#�F�������������������������������������������(��������������������������

#� ����������3����������� � ����������������������$����)�����������������(��$���� �����$����3������ ���������� � �������������������%����������������������%���1��(����������������� ��$�����%������%����� ������������$������������$����������������������������� ������

H9����������������������������������3������ �� �(������$�������������� ���� ������������� ��(��������������������������(���������I���������������������C�����8���������.�����<�(�������#��������

�������� �!��"#��$%��$�%$ $�#������

*�����������$�����������������������������$����������� � �����(����������������������������������������

��������� �(��(����������$��������������������������

.�������������������������������������$�����$��������������� �������������� ���������������� ���������������� �� ���������� �(���������3E���������������<������������������������$���������������������������������������������

#�����������������������������������������������������������������������������(������������ � ���� �������������� � ����H��������������������������������������������(�� ����������������� �������I������������3���������0��������)�������<�(��������#��������

�������������������������� ��(���������� �$��������� ��������������������������$����$����������������������������������

#""� ��&���'#�����($� $��!"���� ���#!

�������������������O�)�������� ����3$��������������� � ��(���������������������� ��������������3���

���������������%�����������������������H#������������%�� � �������(������$��������

����(����M�9:2'3�;N���$���%������������������������ ��������������������������$����� ����I���������������������1����6����(�����4������������������8�� ��$���.�����������<��

)�������������� �$�����������E������/������8�(����������������������� ����������(���������������������������������������������������������������������(�����$�����������������������������3�$�����������$��$�������������������������������� ���������������������������������������$���������

1����������%�������� ���������������������������$������%������������������������������������������������������������������������ �������

3* ��� ����* ����*� �����+�� ���� �=A�������������

It’s a fact that most of us are prejudiced or havean opinion on everything even before know-

ing the actual facts. One of the earliest psycho-logical explanations of prejudice is described as— an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible gen-eralisation towards a group as a whole ortowards an individual because they are a mem-ber of that group. The first thing that this expla-nation tells us is that prejudice is not somethinglogical but rather based on a series of assump-tions, half-truths and guesses. Second, it tells usthat prejudice is based on generalisation — ona whole host of characteristics and qualities thatwe assume a person has, based purely on the factthat he or she is a member of a particular group.

We often talk of giving up anger, ego, prideand attachment but, perhaps, we do not put prop-er emphasis ongiving up preju-dice, biases andjealousy. Inpractical life,however, wefind thatbecause of bias-es and preju-dice, a persondoes not listento spiritualknowledge and,if at all he does,he looks at itwith suspicion,fear, hatred or afeeling of oppo-sition. Many atimes, he misinterprets and criticises it unjusti-fiably. The result is that the person does not derivebenefit from such precious knowledge even if heis offered this with love and goodwill. He disre-gards this offer and considers it as a strategy ofsome selfish people.

The opportunity knocks at the door of thisprejudiced and biased person but he does notanswer or open the door. Not only does he rejectfortune so graciously offered to him but he doesnot allow others to grab the gift as well. The doc-tors may not be able to identify the virus that hasinfected his mind because a prejudiced persondoes not consider himself to be a patient andopposes all attempts to cure him. However, wecannot leave him in the cruel hands of the strangedisease. We have to perform the operation res-cue in the moral theatre of virtues with the sur-gical instruments of yoga after putting him onanaesthesia of love and glucose of good-will.Later, treating him with the curative preparationsmade from spiritual knowledge and using thetherapy called yoga.

Jealousy too, like prejudice, is a dangerousdisease. A jealous person cannot digest facts oflife nor can he tolerate the truth. It weakens a per-son’s soul so much so that he cannot stand it whenhe hears that another person has been praised.Isn’t it a strange disorder, which reduces one’s levelof tolerance and appreciation or approval whenit should actually enhance it? The news of anoth-er person’s success causes nausea and spoils hismood. He becomes a person who suffers from thetoxin, called ‘selfishness’. Such a person is alwayssulking, fretting and fuming. He is in a pressure-cooker, making hissing sounds and whistling ashe is boiling in the steam of jealousy. He wantspeace and, unlike a prejudiced person, he wantsto be cured or relieved. Meditation helps him feelrelieved and it builds in him a reservoir of good-will and love that finally cures him of jealousywhich is the generator or sustainer of hatred. Ifa person wants to be free of hatred, he has to ban-ish jealousy because this emotion cannot live withpeace. Universal love is the antidote to jealousy.It can be generated and nourished only throughmeditation. So let’s start meditating from today.

,������"��������$�����

8�������������(�������������������������������������%���������������������������%��������������

����$�������������$����������������)�������������� �$������������E������������

������������.������������������������������������3�����������������������(���$����������������

1�����(������������������������������ ������������� ���������������� �������������������������������������� �������������������������������3������������������������

)(��������������������?������������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������0����1������9��������M019N��2������� ����� � ��������������(������ ��

0���� �������%��%���������������$����� ������������������������ ���������������8#CB972

&8#1.#6<.#8 /26</C C2

The sun was out, not in its blazingglory but tentatively, as the fourmen convicted in the 2012 gang-

rape and murder of a young paramed-ical student were hanged on Friday,March 20. The execution received mixedreactions from people of different schoolof thoughts. Many hailed the decisionand celebrated the hanging as a steptowards justice while others believed thatdeath penalty doesn’t ensure that crimesagainst women will decrease.

The national data on crime releasedby the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) in 2019 reports that while theincidence of rape has reduced, the over-all crime against women continue to rise.The cases of rapes reduced from 63 permillion people in 2016 to 52 per millionin 2017. But a total of 3.5 lakh cases ofcrime against women were registeredincluding murder, rape, dowry death,suicide abetment, acid attack and kid-

napping. In these crimes, however, nodata was provided for honour killings,which means murdering young couplesfor marrying outside their caste andcommunity. These crimes attack the con-cept of love and the idea of women’sautonomy in our country.

With increased awareness, manyorganisations and people from differentstrata have started raising their voiceagainst these crimes that find theirroots in our patriarchal system. Addingstrength to such efforts is the voice of agroup of young girls in western UttarPradesh, which had reported 16 cases ofhonour killing in 2016. The idea behindforming this ‘Army’ — as they like to callit is to ensure safety of girls who chooseto love.

According to these girls, if a boymarries outside his community, he isoften spared by their families but whena girl exercises her freedom to choose her

life partner, parents either kill her or herpartner and in many cases — both.

The group known as ‘War AgainstHonour Killing’ was started by Nishaalong with her friends in theKankerkhera area of Meerut city. Nisha,a student who works part time, believesthat our society has always discriminat-ed against women who are subjected toinhumane atrocities whenever theydemand fair and equal treatment. Shequestions these atrocities. “Is choosinglife partners on their own such a bigcrime for our society that they prefermurdering their own daughters? Thewhole purpose behind establishing ‘WarAgainst Honour Killing’ is to ensure thatwe stop this heinous crime. I lost two ofmy dear friends to this unjust practice.No one listened to them as their parentsmurdered them mercilessly. Even thepolice did not take any action againstthem. I want to make sure that no other

girl is killed. This is a war against allthose parents who have murdered girlsjust for choosing a free life,” shares Nisha.

As expected, when she had startedthe group, the first resistance had comefrom her own family. The whole idea ofquestioning the patriarchal social normsand talking about rights of girls was reject-ed by her family. “My family is a part ofthe system and the idea of women beinga second-class citizen is so deeply rootedin their lives that they could do anythingto stop me from getting down to streetsand challenging this patriarchal system,”says Nisha. When they couldn’t stop her,they tried to stop her friends from sup-porting her.

“Her parents tried to stop us from par-ticipating in the initiative. They said thatwe will get trapped in this mess,” Nisha’sfriends share. But gradually the familiestoo came around after seeing the immensecourage these young girls showed.

Today, 70 people from differentwalks of life are a part of this group ofwhich more than 30 are young, fearlessgirls like Nisha. Besides organising ral-lies, protests and awareness campaigns,this group has also started utilising thesocial media platforms to create aware-ness among masses. The initiative hasreceived a fair share of both criticism andappreciation from different people at dif-ferent levels. More people are gettingassociated with the cause. Studentsfrom schools, colleges, coaching insti-tutes along with working girls and boyshave joined in the efforts.

What Nisha started as a personalfight for justice for her friend has todaybecome a symbol of hope for manyyoung girls in the conservative society.

(This article has been written underthe Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship2019.)

+ ��� ����������

Espalier is a way of training andpruning plants so their

branches lie in an orderly andornamental two-dimensionalform. The beauty comes from thetracery of the branches. It is a wayto create a living border in a gar-den or decorate a fence or wall.

Hang fruit on those branch-es and you have a plant offeringsuperb flavour as well as beauty.The reason for that good flavouris that the espalier form allowsleaves and fruits to bathe in lightand air. Espaliers have a long tra-dition in northern Europe, andhave mostly been applied toapples and pears. In NorthAmerica, the climates and daylengths are quite different, and soattempts at espalier here often fallshort of expectations. Sure, youcan bend branches in all sorts ofdesigns but they won’t be thor-oughly clothed in the requisiteflowers and then fruits.

���������� �� �,�������No need to abandon espalier

on this side of the Atlantic: Onefruit plant that works very well asan espalier everywhere is red cur-rant. Red currant espaliers havethe additional advantage of onlyneeding pruning two times peryear. In contrast, pear or appleespaliers require monthly ormore frequent pruning sessions.

A real plus for red currantespaliers is their fruits. They’rebeautiful! The bright red fruits,dangling from the branches liketranslucent, red jewels, add muchto the show. The espalier tech-nique I will describe can also beapplied to white currants and

gooseberries.My red currant espaliers dec-

orate the fence enclosing myvegetable garden. Each currantplant is trained to the shape of aT, with a single trunk capped bytwo fruiting arms that grow inopposite directions along thefence, which provides support.

�,����� �� ��Knowing a little about what

makes plants tick helps in grow-ing an espalier, and makes doingso all the more interesting.

“Apical dominance” is thetendency for the uppermostshoots on any plant to growstrongest. Plant hormones, pro-duced in the growing tips ofupright stems and at the highpoints of arching stems, suppressgrowth of shoots lower down.

By merely changing the ori-entation of a stem you can influ-ence how strongly various partsof that stem grows. The plant alsohas a say in this, and may turn agrowing stem upwards in anattempt to gain apical domi-nance over other stems.

Also keep in mind that hor-izontally oriented stems are weak-er growing, more fruitful, anddevelop more side branches than

vertically oriented stems.

��� ���������� ��Use these concepts in train-

ing and maintaining any espalier.To initially develop a strongtrunk on my red currant, I chosethe strongest shoot on my plant,removed all others, and thentied that retained shoot to thefence to keep it upright and vig-orous.

Once this trunk-to-be grewjust above the top of the three-foot-high fence, I cut its top backto the three-foot height, releasing

the remaining buds from the sup-pressing effect of apical domi-nance. I selected two shoots thatstarted to grow from the upperportion of the trunk to becomefruiting arms, training themalong the fence in opposite direc-tions and removing all others.

To keep these developingarms growing vigorously, I lefttheir ends free to turn upwards asI tied portions closest to the trunkto a horizontal position. As theshoots lengthened, I kept tyingdown the older portions.

Maintenance pruning and

fruiting began even as arms weredeveloping. The arms, because oftheir horizontal orientation,exhibit little apical dominance, soside branches develop freely.

Two simple cuts keep theform neat while encouragingabundant fruit production. First,just before the berries start red-dening, I cut each side branchback to about five inches long. Iperform the second cut in win-

ter, cutting those side branchesback again, this time to about aninch.

The only problem I havewith my red currant espaliers,which hang onto their beautifulberries for weeks, is picking thefruits. To do so would ruin theplants’ appearance, so I don’t. Ihave some other plants, growingas bushes, for the fruit harvest.

+!%

�� 5 33�����1����C 98 3 46 9 ����� ����� E���� )�!�)��������"�!��������������������������� �� ��8����%��� ��

+ ���������������������������� ����������� ������������������2����������� ������� ����� ����������������������������������������

A�"���������������F

Page 12: ˆ˘...their pain and suffering, but it ... aration of the treatment facil-ities for coronavirus cases across States. ... Mumbai’s is presently at “satis-factory” level

�� ���#������������������� ��������� !�" "

� ��� /+0�'+*12�

The Australian government’sdecision to seal its borderfor the next six months

owing to the COVID-19 pan-demic could adversely affectIndia’s Futures Tours Programme(FTP), including the much-await-ed face-offs Down Under laterthis year.

India’s tour of Australia is tobegin with a T20 tri-series inOctober and end with the Testsin December.

In between is the World T20,scheduled for an October 18start, but the mega-event’s futureis also shrouded in uncertaintydue to the global health crisis.

In Australia, there has beenover 2000 positive cases, prompt-ing the government to seal thecountry’s borders.

The Sourav Ganguly-ledBCCI, in all likelihood, mighthave to explore alternate plansamid the pandemic.

While the BCCI is yet to takea final decision on this edition ofIPL, the international calenderwill be another cause of concernas there are tours of Sri Lanka(ODIs and T20s), Zimbabwe,Asia Cup (T20) and home awhite ball series against Englandlined up.

A six-month travel banmeans no teams will be allowedto enter Australia for the assign-ments lined up in the comingtimes, which includes the WorldT20 and the tour by the Indianteam.

“Right now it’s too early tosay anything. It’s a potential six-month travel ban. If the situationis under control, it could be lift-ed early also,” a senior BCCIoffice-bearer, privy to the devel-opments, said.

But those who have an ideaof the FTP calender admitted thatthe practical problem in such asituation could be the T20 tri-series, which starts in the begin-ning of October and involvesAustralia and England.

“If international travel ban inreality exists for six months, thenit becomes a logistical nightmare.At least, for the T20 tri-seriesbefore the World T20.

“The processing of visa, tick-ets everything becomes a logisti-cal challenge. Also not onlyAustralia, England is supposed totour India in September for theirwhite ball leg. Will things be nor-mal in the UK and playersallowed to travel. These are bigquestions,” another BCCI source

said.If the World T20 is pushed

back, then the four-Test seriesbetween India and Australia,which is part of the WorldChampionship, could also getaffected.

“The frustrating aspect isthat you can’t even decide any-thing as the situation varies fromcountry to country. Howeverhelpless it might sound, we canonly wait and watch,” the sourcesaid.

��������A two-year leadershipban slapped on Steve Smithafter the ball-tampering scan-dal in South Africa ended onSunday, leaving the masterbatsman free to captainAustralia again.

The 30-year-old captainedthe team until he was suspend-ed for 12 months over a brazenattempt to alter the ball withsandpaper under his watchduring a Test in Cape Town in2018.

Part of his punishmentincluded a further year-longexile from any leadership role,which has now expired.

Co-conspirator and for-mer vice-captain DavidWarner was banned from anyleadership role for life,although both have successful-ly resumed their internationalcareers.

There have been callsfor Smith to take back theTest captaincy from TimPaine, but it remainsunclear whether hewants to, with the 35-year-old seeminglyintent on playingon.

Coach JustinLanger last yearpraised Paine’sleadership as“brilliant” andsaid Smithmay not wantthe “burden”of captaincyon top of

batting pressures.Aaron Finch is skipper of

the Twenty20 and one-dayteams.

Smith told Channel Ninetelevision on Sunday he wasfocused only on trying to stayphysically and mentally fit dur-ing the coronavirus shutdownof Australian cricket.

He was supposed to bepreparing for a big-money pay-day at the Indian PremierLeague, but the tournament hasalready been delayed untilApril 15.

With India in a three-weeklockdown in a bid to contain aspread of the virus, Smithadmitted the IPL appearedunlikely to go ahead.

“I think the country’s basi-cally shut its borders until the15th of April,” he said.

“It’s obviously not lookinglikely at the moment, I thinkthere might be some meet-ings over the next couple ofdays to discuss what the gois with it all.

“But just tryingto stay physically

fit and mental-ly fresh,” he

added. “If itgoes aheadat somepoint, then

great. If not,then there’s plenty

going on in theworld at themoment. Just play

it day by day.”AFP

� ��� /+0�'+*12�

Their training halted by the coro-navirus-forced national lock-

down, India’s Olympic-bound box-ers will be provided online classes bytheir coaches from Monday toensure that aspects such as mentalwell-being and nutrition are takencare of.

Nine Indian boxers — M CMary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur(60kg), Lovlina Borgohani (69kg),Pooja Rani (75kg), Amit Panghal(52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg),Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar(75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) —have qualified for the Tokyo Games,postponed to 2021 due to the glob-

al pandemic.In a conference call with these

boxers on Sunday, Boxing Federationof India (BFI) President Ajay Singhtook stock of their preparationsamid a national lockdown till April

14 to fight the pandemic.“This is a challenging time for all

of us and is all the more a reason forus to take care of ourselves...Stay fit,continue with the exercises as direct-ed by the coaches and try to main-

tain your weights as much as possi-ble,” Singh told the boxers.

“We will tide over this crisis soonand get back to the ring but stayingmotivated in the meantime isabsolutely necessary,” he added.

Elaborating further on the 45-minute discussion, BFI’s ExecutiveDirector R K Sacheti said that theareas of concern are diet control andmental health.

“They are at their homes rightnow where diet can go for a toss. Sothe idea behind these online class-es starting tomorrow (Monday) is toensure that they are kept aware oftheir nutritional needs,” he said.

Sacheti said India boxing’s HighPerformance Director Santiago

Nieva, who is now in Patiala aftercompleting a 14-day self-isolationperiod in Delhi, will be conductingclasses for men.

The classes for women will beconducted by their high perfor-mance director Rafaelle Bergamasco.

“Santiago is the only boxingcoach who is in Patiala right now. Hewill have access to the boxing hallwhere he will educate the boxers ontechnicalities. The idea is to keepthem connected and aware,” he said.

“We hope things improve andthe lockdown ends but we can’t startfrom the scratch when that happens.We have to have something going sothat when it ends, there is a seam-less transtion,” he added.

��������Xavi Hernandez has reit-erated his desire to coach Barcelonain the future but suggests he will notreturn until a different board bringsa new sense of direction to the club.

Hernandez is in charge of Al-Sadd in Qatar and turned down anapproach in January after Barcasacked Ernesto Valverde, which ledto the appointment of Quique Setien.

In an interview with Spanishnewspaper La Vanguardia publishedon Sunday, Xavi said Neymar wouldbe a “spectacular signing”, and sin-gled out former Spain defenderCarles Puyol and the one-time Dutchwinger Jordi Cruyff as people hewould like to work with.

Yet the relationship betweenBarcelona’s board, led by presidentJosep Maria Bartomeu, and theplayers has remained tense, withLionel Messi’s public criticism oftechnical secretary Eric Abidalamong a number of off-field contro-versies.

“I am clear that I want to returnto Barca, I am very excited,” said Xavi,who was asked if a change of boardwould be needed for it to happen.“Obviously I would like to be in tunewith everyone,” he said. “In thedressing room there can’t be a neg-ative or toxic atmosphere.”

“Everything has to fit,” Xaviadded. “I would like to come in with

people from my environment thatcould form a good team.”

Pushed on whether workingwith the current board would be adeal-breaker, Xavi said: “It wouldn’tbe definitive but I insist I would liketo have total harmony. I don’t knowif that can happen... I have nothingagainst anyone and I don’t have a badrelationship with Bartomeu.

Xavi mentioned the likes ofPuyol, whom he played with underPep Guardiola, and Cruyff, son ofJohan and former Barca andManchester United winger, as thekind of people he would like to workalongside.

“I would like to work with peo-ple in whom I have confidence, withwhom there is loyalty,” said Xavi. “Weare talking about Carles Puyol, whowas captain of Barca, and JordiCruyff, a very good businessmanwith a lot of experience as a techni-cal secretary.”

He also said Neymar, whom theCatalans tried and failed to sign fromParis Saint-Germain last summer,would be a “spectacular signing”.

“Most of the squad seems extra-ordinary,” Xavi said. “The base is verygood. I would sign forwards, likeNeymar. I don’t know if he would fitin a social sense but in football termsI have no doubt he would be a spec-tacular signing.” AFP

����� Juventus on Saturdayannounced that they hadcut their players’ and coachMaurizio Sarri’s salariesafter all Italian sport wassuspended until at leastApril 3 due to the coron-avirus pandemic.

“The economic andfinancial effects of theunderstanding reached arepositive for about 90 millioneuros ($100.5 million) forthe 2019/2020 financialyear,” said a club statement.

Juventus, who led sec-ond-placed Lazio by a pointin Serie A before the sus-pension of the season, saidthey had agreed a “reduc-tion” for pay from Marchuntil June.

Juve added that shouldthe season be finished laterin the year, the playerscould be paid extra in thosemonths.

“Juventus would like to

thank the players and thecoach for their commit-ment at a difficult time foreveryone,” Turin giants said.

Players at other bigEuropean clubs have alsoagreed to take pay cuts,including Bayern Munichand Borussia Dortmund in

Germany.Juventus’ highly-paid

stars include five-timeBallon d’Or winnerCristiano Ronaldo andWales midfielder AaronRamsey, who joined fromArsenal on a free transferlast year. AFP

����� �96B9

Tokyo Olympics organisersare eyeing next July as a

start date for the postponedGames, Japanese media report-ed on Sunday.

Given the ongoing pan-demic and need for prepara-tion time, the most likely planwould be for the Games tobegin on July 23, 2021, publicbroadcaster NHK said, citingsources within the organisingpanel.

It came after TokyoGovernor Yuriko Koike raisedthe idea on Friday of movingthe event to a less hot andhumid time of year.

She argued that this wouldmake marathons and otherraces easier to endure, mean-ing they could be held in thecapital instead of in northernSapporo city, where theInternational OlympicCommittee (IOC) had decid-ed to move them.

The Tokyo 2020 team ledby Yoshiro Mori is currentlydiscussing possible dates withthe IOC, according to theAsahi Shimbun newspaper.

On Saturday, Mori told aJapanese TV station that “somekind of conclusion” would bereached within a week.

The Olympics were sched-uled to open on July 24 thisyear with the Paralympics onAugust 25, but Japanannounced last week it hadsecured agreement from theIOC to postpone the Games —a decision unprecedented inpeacetime.

Prime Minister ShinzoAbe said they would be held inaround a year instead as a tes-tament to humanity’s victoryover the pandemic.

The decision had beenseen to open options for Tokyo,with IOC chief Thomas Bachsaying that “all the options areon the table” and rescheduling“is not restricted just to thesummer months”.

Meanwhile, NHK said theOlympic flame would be dis-played for a month at the J-Village sports complex inFukushima, which was used asa base camp for thousands ofrelief workers in radiation pro-tection suits during the 2011nuclear disaster.

'���������������������������D'E� ��� ������'����F�����������6����������B��������$ ��������������� ����������� ����� ����������� ��7G'#618���������)�B���������� ���������� ������ 6��������������������� ���;;H�=�����&�;���������������%��������������#$%������������%������������������������������������������� �������� ���� �������)�I'�� ������6�������������������������������'����F��B��������$ �������������� ����������� ���������������������� ���� ��������J�� ��'�����������$����������������� �B�������F��� ���������������������������)�

Aus travel ban could affect India tour � ��� /+0�'+*12

Confined to his home due tothe nationwide lockdown,

India cricketer Hanuma Viharisays he will use the time to“sharpen” his skills for theAustralian tour, scheduledtowards the end of the year.

“I am going to use thistime to focus on my fitness,sharpen my skills for countycricket as well as for theAustralia tour in late 2020,”Vihari, who was part of India’slast tour of New Zealand, wasquoted as saying byESPNcricinfo.

Though there is a lot ofuncertainty over when sport willresume, the middle-order bats-man said he has has his “fingerscrossed”.

“Mentally I am trying hard

to keep myself positive andbusy. My challenge is: there is nocricket for the next three to fourmonths. I do have a summer tolook forward to having signed

with a team in the EnglishCounty Championship, wheremy contract starts from lateAugust. Fingers crossed aboutthat.”

����������������������� ������������������������#����K����

���������� ����(� !����������)

G�����(� ����������2�����6*����������� ��������'����������61�����;18� !%

�������G� ������������� ����������'����5��1���������������������� L��������������&���� !%

Neymar would be ‘spectacularsigning’ for Barca: Xavi

C�(�� �����������������%�� �����������

�����Italy’s sports minister isplanning to extend the ban ongames and competitions in thecountry through all of April.

The current lockdown isdue to expire on Friday butItalian health experts have saidthe need to try to containCOVID-19 will likely lastweeks beyond that.

Minister VincenzoSpadafora tells Italian daily LaRepubblica that talks aboutrestarting the Serie A on May3 are “unrealistic.”

He adds: “(On Monday) Iwill propose extending the banon sports competitions at everylevel for all of April. And I’llextend the measure to training— an area where we hadn’tintervened because there wasstill a possibility of holding theOlympics.” AP

'����5���������������������9�����������������

&��������������������B�����;�1�������������7�������

�����World Athletics pres-ident Sebastian Coe onSunday said that the decisionto postpone this year’s TokyoOlympics because of the coro-navirus has saved athletesfrom “mental turmoil”.

Former Olympic champi-on Coe supported the move topush and said competitorswould have been placed in animpossible position if theevent had been left to start onJuly 24 as originally scheduled.

They would have beentempted to continue trainingdespite large parts of the worldbeing in lockdown.

“We didn’t want to have

athletes in a position wherethey were countering govtadvice, maybe even breakinglaw,” Coe told TalkSport.

“And of course in theback of their minds was alwaysthat concern, it wasn’t justtheir own training pro-gramme, but that they ran therisk of effectively infectingthemselves, their families, andwe just wanted to take themout of that mental turmoil asquickly as we possibly could.

“We’re no different fromeveryone else out there but Ithink we just concluded thatsport, on this occasion, had totake a back seat.” AFP

Postponing Oly save athletes from mental turmoil: Coe

�5��! "!�%�&%�#� #*&%/'�"��()�&#�,�-%�,�6�"�

��������� Former Australia cap-tain Ian Chappell has picked histwo all-time favourite inningsagainst high-quality spin bowlingand one of those is VVS Laxman’siconic 281 at the Eden Gardens in2001.

Thanks to Laxman and RahulDravid (180), India went on to winthe game against Australia after fol-lowing-on.

“The absence of any cricketgives me an opportunity to reflecton an aspect of the game I enjoy:watching a batsman utilise goodfootwork to combat top-class spinbowling. Two innings stand out:one played by India’s VVS Laxman,the other by Doug Walters ofAustralia,” Chappell wrote in a col-umn for ESPNcricinfo.

Laxman and Dravid shared amarathon 376-run stand to engi-neer an unforgettable win for

India. Chappell was simply inawe of Laxman’s batting as thewristy Indian batsman toyed withthe likes of Shane Warne.

“Laxman’s incredible 281 atCalcutta in 2001 is the best I’veseen against top-class leg-spin. At

the conclusion of that exhilaratingseries I asked Shane Warne how hethought he bowled.

“I don’t think I bowled thatbadly,” he replied. “You didn’t,” Iresponded.

“If Laxman comes three paces

out of his crease and hits an unbe-lievable on-drive against the spinand you then flight the next deliv-ery a little higher and shorter toinvite another drive and instead hequickly goes onto the back foot andpulls it, that’s not bad bowling.That’s good footwork.

“Laxman regularly did thisduring his 452-ball stay, in whichhe hit 44 boundaries. Therein liesa clue to Laxman’s success: he con-sistently hit the ball along theground,” said Chappell, also prais-ing Laxman’s temperament.

Talking about fellowAustralian Walters, Chappell calledhim the best player against spin.

“Walters was the best player ofoff-spin bowling I have seen; hedidn’t just survive against thevery best, he occasionally batteredthem into submission,” saidChappell. PTI

� 6) %7�89� )�%/�* �����7� ���!&)�/"� !$%�#$� / &%�!��&%