JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

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

SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2020, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

INSIDE

GARGIVERMARAIPUR, JUNE26

ON DAYS that he has virtualclasses, Modiyam Sukhlal, 17,cycles 10 km from his home inPeddakorma, aMaoist affectedvillage deep inside Bastar, toCherpal, a villageon theway toBijapur town.“This is the firstplace Icatch

somedecent signal. Back inmyvillage, there is no network,”said Sukhlal, who spends 2-3hours at a relative's home inCherpal, attendinghis class.While in Chhattisgarh the

pandemic has forced a shift to

virtual classrooms, like else-whereinthecountry, thelackofaccess to data and devices thathas hobbled these sessions isparticularlyacuteinastatewiththelowestpercentageofhouse-holds with internet facility — amere 15.2 per cent against thenationalaverageof23.8percent,according to the NationalSample Survey Office’sEducation in India report for2017-18.AccordingtotheSocio-Economic Caste Census Data2011, the state alsohas the low-est cellphone penetration— 29percentagainstthenationalav-erageof 68percent.On April 7, the Chhattisgarh

educationdepartmentlaunched"PadhaiTumharDwaar", anon-lineportalthathasregistered20lakh students (of the 60 lakh inthestate)and2lakhteachers,in-cludingthoseofprivateschools.The portal, put together in 15daysbyan in-house teamof theeducationdepartment,hasmul-tiplevideos—someproducedbySCERT (the state version ofNCERT) and the others by indi-vidualteachers–bothforschoolandcollegestudents,andsorted

according to the ‘likes’ eachvideohasgarnered.“Thebestpartaboutthepor-

tal being developed in-house isthat we can make changes asandwhen needed,” EducationSecretary Alok Shukla told TheIndianExpress.Butinastatewhichisamong

the most deprived, with highlevelsof illiteracy,notmanyhavebeen able to find their waythroughthemazeofhyperlinks.In Murka, a village in

Balrampur district, there arethreesmartphonesforapopula-tion of 500.Most of the parentsTheIndianExpressspoketointhevillage seemed to know of the

government'swebsite,butfew,ifany,hadthemeanstonavigateit.“If I could teach my son at

home,whywould I sendhimtoschool?”saidRashmiBhagat,30,when asked if she has seen anyof theeducationalvideosontheportal. “I am illiterate, so is myhusband.We don’t even have aphone,” she said, complainingthatherseven-year-oldspentalldayhangingoutwith friends.Shukla accepts the portal is

out of reach formany. “Inequityexists,wearenotcreatingit.Thisis not to say that it should exist.However,thisisalearningcurvefor us. To imagine educationwithout a school and actual

presence of teachers is difficultand we plan to learn from thefeedback,”hesaid.Even for thosewithaccess to

smartphones, these sessionshaven’tbeenwithoutdisruptions.AtonesuchsessionforClass3stu-dents of a government school inBijapurtown,nine-year-oldAshastares blankly at her father’sphone screen, her face brieflybreaking into a grin when shespots her classmates, Ranju andMina. The half-an-hour class onthree-digit addition is disruptedtwice–oncewhenAsha’s fathergetsacallandtheotherwhenherthree-year-oldbrotherbitesher

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

Onlineclassesbeingrecorded intheSCERTstudio. Express

Jeyaraj (left),his sonBennixdiedonJune22

Cycling 10 km to get a decent cellphone signal — and the day’s lesson

KJMVARMABEIJING, JUNE26

INDIAON Fridaywarned Chinathattryingtoalterthestatusquoon the ground by resorting toforce will not just damage thepeace that existed in theborderareas but can also have "ripplesand repercussions" in thebroader bilateral relationship,anddemandedthatBeijingstopitsactivities ineasternLadakh.The onlyway to resolve the

currentmilitary standoff alongthe LAC in eastern Ladakhwasfor Beijing to realise that tryingto "change the status quoby re-sortingtoforceorcoercion,isnotthe right way forward,” India'sambassador to China VikramMisrisaidinahard-hittinginter-viewtoPTI.Asserting that actions taken

by the Chinese forces on theground have damaged "consid-erabletrust"inthebilateralrela-tionship,theIndianambassadorsaiditwasentirelytheresponsi-

bilityof theChinese side to takea careful view of the relationsand to decide which directionthe ties shouldmove.Noting thatmaintenance of

peace and tranquillity "on theCONTINUEDONPAGE2

REJECTSBEIJINGCLAIMTOGALWANVALLEY

Misri:Stopcreatingobstructions inpatrollingpatternsof Indiantroops

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

CBI, IN PPECBIofficialscarriedoutasearchat theNewFriendsColony,Delhi, residenceofRatulPuri, anephewof formerMadhyaPradeshchiefministerKamalNath, inconnectionwithanallegedbankfraudcase.ANI RELATEDREPORT,PAGE8

SUSHANTSINGH&KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JUNE26

AS TENSIONS simmer on theIndia-Chinaborder, the govern-ment does not expect an earlyresolutionofthetwo-month-oldstandoff on the Line of ActualControl(LAC)becauseofadead-lockinbothdiplomaticandmil-itary talks.Aseniorgovernmentofficial

told The Indian Express that thearmed forces had been given a“free hand” to dealwith the sit-uationandsufficienttroops,mil-itary equipment andmaterialhave beenmoved to various ar-easalongthe3,488-km-longdis-putedborderwithChina.The official said that the

armedforceshadstartedtomoveadequate reserves to respond toany further developments de-spite grappling with the chal-lengeofCovid-19pandemic.Talksaredeadlockedbecause

of the obstinate Chinese ap-proach,saidtheofficial. It ishardtodecipherwhyespeciallywhenthey keep on insisting in all thetalks that “it is their territory,”the official added. However, asboth sides have agreed to keeptalking, that, in itself, is a goodthing, theofficial said.Multipleroundsoftalkshave

beenheldatthediplomaticlevelin Beijing and at the militarylevel in Ladakh, including tworounds at the level of CorpsCommandersonJune6andJune22.ThecoreagendaoftheIndiandelegationduringthesetalkshas

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

LOCKDOWNLESSONS

116DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Delhi■TamilNadu■Haryana■Telangana

7 DAYS EARLIER:

3.3NOW:

3.12

7 DAYS EARLIER:

5.92NOW:

6.31

DETECTED TODAY

17,296RECOVERED TODAY:

13,940

TOTALCASES1,47,74173,78070,97712,46311,364

DOUBLINGRATE**24.3712.5816.1816.357.59

SURGEIN24HOURS4,8413,3903,509453920

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*2.95%5.72%4.45%4.40%9.48%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:4,90,400TESTS: 77,76,228 | DOUBLING RATE: 19.51**

RECOVERED:2,85,636DEATHS: 15,301

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

BasedondailydatafromUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITYRATIO

Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths

Positives againstnumber tested

(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease

Becoming sick vsrecovering; more

recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak

POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT

China building helipadin Pangong, massingtroops on south bankSUSHANTSINGHNEWDELHI, JUNE26

ASTENSIONSrunhighbetweenIndia and China on the Line ofActual Control (LAC) in Ladakh,andnotalksscheduledsofarbe-tween military commanders,the Chinese army has startedconsolidatingitspositionsinthePangongTsoarea.This includes undertaking

construction of a helipad atFinger 4 and a sudden increaseof troopsonthesouthernbanksof Pangong Tso. This has led toapprehensions that theChineseare asserting their claims andconveying their disinclinationforrestorationofstatusquoantein thearea.An official told The Indian

Express, “It is correct that the

Chinesehavestartedconsolidat-ing their positions on the northbank of Pangong Tso. There is ahelipad that is now being con-structed in the Finger 4 area,which is in addition to all theother infrastructure construc-tion done by them in past eightweeksor so.”“PLA patrols are now regu-

larlymaking small forays downtheridgeofFinger3towardsthebankofthelakeandthenreturn-ing to the ridge. Theyare essen-tially asking us tomove back toFinger2,” theofficial said.A second official said this

meant that “the Chinese aretellingusthattheyhavenointen-tionofgoingbackorrestoringthestatus quo as in April. It is whytheyhavenotbeen interested indiscussinganydisengagementor

CONTINUED ONPAGE2

PRABHARAGHAVAN&AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI, JUNE26

CLOSEON the heels of consign-mentsfromChinareportedlyfac-ingcustomshurdlesatanumberof ports, Indian exporters havebegun reporting similar issueswith their shipments to theneighbouringcountry.In a recent note to the

Ministry of Commerce andIndustry, the Federation ofIndian Export Organisations(FIEO),whichistheapexbodyofexport promotion councils, hassaidthatHongKongandChineseCustomswere holding back ex-

port consignments from Indiaover the last fewdays.Thiscomesatatimewhenre-

lationsbetweenIndiaandChinahave soured following a deadlyclash between their troops inLadakhearlier thismonth.Accordingtotherepresenta-

tion made by FIEO, a copy ofwhich The Indian Express hasseen, some exporters have re-portedfacinghurdleswiththeirshipmentstoChina.Anexporterin the know said a majority ofthe shipments stuck for clear-anceatChinaandHongKongin-cludeorganic chemicals.“We have been given to un-

derstand that Customs isCONTINUEDONPAGE2

Ataround$15.5billion,Chinawas third largestdestination for IndianshipmentsbetweenApril 2019andFebruary2020.Theexporters’complaints coincidewith reportsof Chineseconsignmentsbeingstuckat Indianports.

Escalationoftradeskirmishes

First seniorIAS officerfrom outsideJ&K getsUT domicile

ARUNSHARMA&NAVEED IQBALJAMMU,SRINAGAR, JUNE26

HAILING FROM Bihar’sDarbhanga district, NaveenKumar Choudhary, PrincipalSecretary, Animal and SheepHusbandry,hasbecomethefirstsenior IAS officer from outsideJammuandKashmirtobecomea domicile of the UnionTerritory.Adomicilecertificatewasis-

sued to Choudhary onWednesday by the tehsildar ofJammu district’s Bahu, as pernew rules notified last monthfor the issueof domicile certifi-catesintheUT,giventhechangeinstatusof J&Kafterabrogationof Article370.A 1994-batch J&K cadre IAS

officer, Choudhary has beenserving in J&K for 26 years. “Iwanted the certificate and just

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, JUNE26

THEfamilymembersofthefatherandsonwhodiedof allegedcus-todial torture in SathankulamtownnearThoothukudi inTamilNadudescribetwodaysof tryingdesperately tomeet them, andfinding them in blood-soakedclothes. Following outrage andprotests over the deaths of PJeyaraj, 62, andhis son J Bennix,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ASCASESRISE,GUWAHATI TOSHUTFROMSUNDAYPAGE6

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI, JUNE26

THE NUMBER of daily deathsfromCovid-19inMaharashtrahasbeendecliningforoverafortnightnow, government data analysedbyTheIndianExpressshow.This declining trend con-

trastswiththecontinuingrisingtrendinthenumberofdailynew

Covid cases, and could indicatethe impact of several relativelyrecentpolicyinterventionsinthebattleagainst thepandemic.The availability of larger

numbers of oxygen-equippedbeds,earlytesting,requisitioningofmorebedsinprivatehospitals,useof newerdrugs, andpromptmedical intervention overall,couldallbereasonsforthedipindaily fatalities,expertssaid.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

P 6

WITH

AJOY MEHTAPRINCIPALADVISORTOMAHARASHTRACM

BackfromRussia,RajnathmeetsArmyChief

Status quoante the goal,India digs infor long haul

MOREREPORTSPAGE7

175

150

125

100

75

50

25

0

DAILY COVID-19DEATHS IN MAHARASHTRA

June25:33

Mar17 Apr1 Apr15 Apr30 Jun25Jun15

June7:170

May15:102

TN family’slast memoryof father, son:blood-soaked,police around

Repercussions if Chinauses force to alter LACstatus quo: Indian envoy

Now, Indian exporters complainshipments stuck at China ports

Source:GovtofMaharashtra. Recent figures could changeasdataareupdated.

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,JUNE26

DRAWING A parallel betweenUttarPradesh’slargepopulationof approximately 24 crorewiththatoftheUnitedStatesandfourEuropeancountries,andtheirre-spective fatalities due to coron-avirus,PrimeMinisterNarendraModi on Friday said the stategovernment under YogiAdityanath has saved close to85,000 lives.

The situation, Modi said,wouldhavebeendifferentunderprevious governments, as theywouldhaveonlymadeexcuses.But theAdityanathgovernmentforesawthesituationandmadequarantineandisolationcentrestocurbthevirus'spread,hesaid.Modi made the remarks

while launching the “AtmaNirbhar Uttar Pradesh RojgarYojna”, in which the state gov-ernmenthasgivenemploymentto1.25crorepeople inaday.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ATMANIRBHARUTTARPRADESHROJGARYOJNALAUNCHED

PM praises Adityanath for his handling ofpandemic, says it helped save 85,000 lives

UPChiefMinisterYogiAdityanathandPMNarendraModiatthe launchof theschemethroughvideo-conference. PTI

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,JUNE26

OUTOF the 1.25 crore jobs allo-cated by theUttar Pradesh gov-ernment under differentschemes and projects, approxi-mately 60 lakh jobs have beenprovided under the RuralDevelopment Panchayati RajDepartment, majority of whichare under MGNREGA, and an-other nearly 50 lakh inMSMEunits across the state, itwas an-nouncedonFriday.According to the state gov-

ernment,about10lakhjobshavebeen given in different infra-structure projects such as ex-pressways, road development,

irrigation projects, works ofPublicWorks Department andUrbanDevelopment.Nearly 5 lakhworkers have

beengivenemploymentunderCONTINUEDONPAGE2

INSIDE

FROMMIGRANTSTOENTREPRENEURS,PMLISTENSTOALLPAGE5

Of 1.25 cr jobs, over one crwent to NREGA & MSMEs

Trend of decline in dailydeaths offers glimmerin hotspot Maharashtra

Lucknow

“Wearealsodeployedinade-quatestrengthbuttherearetacti-calrestrictionsimposedbythelo-cal terrain. Letme just say it is achallengingarea forus,” theoffi-cialsaid.PangongTsoanditsnorthern

bankhavebeenaterritoryofcon-tention but before the currenttensionsarose,theChinesehadapermanentbaseatFinger8.Theyhavenowdeployedthemselves8kmtothewest,atFinger4wheretheyhavealso constructed shel-ters,pillboxes,bunkersandotherinfrastructure.TheFingersaremountainous

spurs jutting out from the ridgeonthenorthernbanktowardsthelake.While India asserts that the

LAC in the area passes throughFinger8,theChinesehavealwaysclaimed itmuch further to thewest.Historically, IndianpatrolshavehadaccesstoFinger8whiletheChinesepatrolswould comefurtherwestwardonvehiclesus-ing the road constructedduringthe1999KargilWar.AsharprockyfeaturebetweentheFinger4andFinger 3means that the area tothewestofFinger4isonlyacces-sibleonfoot.India’smain base is close to

Finger3,around2kmwestofthecurrentChinesedeployment.TheIndian side alsohas anadminis-trative base closer to Finger 4, atthestartof thesharpfeature. It isaround this area that the Armyhas now deployed itself in re-sponsetothesuddenChinesede-ployment in the area. Less than500metres separate soldiers ofbothsidesatthisfaceoffpoint.Theofficialalsosaidthatthere

has been a sudden increase inChinese troops on the southernbankof the lake,whichhasbeenmatchedbytheIndianside.This is the area of Chushul

heights,whereIndiahasabaseatThakungon the southern bank.According to maps with theIndianArmy, the LAC in the areagoessouthfromThakungtoPoint5167 and Bump opposite theSpanggur Gap on the Chineseside.Meanwhile, Armyofficers in

Delhi confirmed that no furthertalksbetween themilitary com-mandersofbothsideshavebeenscheduledsofar.

Indian exportersphysicallyexaminingall importsfrom China, which is delayingclearance, adding to the cost ofimports.Whilewehavebeentoldthere is no official communica-tion,buttheexaminationislead-ingtopilingofimports,”statedthebodyinitsrepresentation.“Some exporters have in-

formed that, in response to suchaction, HongKong andChineseCustomsarealsoholdingbackex-portsfromIndia,” itsaid.The body has requested the

ministry totakeupthematterofdelayed clearances at ports inIndiawith the Central Board ofIndirectTaxesandCustoms(CBIC)and issue a denial if no instruc-tionshadbeengiventocustoms.Separately in aCII-organised

‘e-conference on leveraging e-SANCHITforstrongersinglewin-dowsystem’, CBIC ChairmanMAjit Kumar said thedepartmentwastryingtoensurecuttingtimeforclearances,sothatpricescomedown and the goods becomemorecompetitive.

“...Weare trulyyourpartnersinthisendeavourofyours.Wearenotheremerelyastaxcollectors,wewanttoensurethatyourtimeandprice both comedown, youbecomevery competitive in theinternationalmarket...Thattradeleads the industry and that ulti-mately helps the nation in be-comingstrong,inbecomingself-reliant,AtmanirbharBharat...,”hetoldCIImembers.“It is tooearly tosaywhether

this is retaliatory action, but asmall number of consignmentsfromexporters here have beenheldupatportsover there,” saidan exporter on condition ofanonymity.A query sent to Commerce

Minister Piyush Goyal andCommerce Secretary AnupWadhawanonFridaynightwasunansweredbypresstime.Meanwhile,somecompanies

have stopped picking up ship-ments fromChina for India.DHLExpress India, the Indian armofGerman courier services com-pany, said they are temporarilysuspending pick-up of importshipments from China, HongKongandMacaofor10days.“Wearewitnessing a severe

lagincustomsclearanceforship-ments originating fromChina,HongKongandMacaoacrossalltheportsinIndia...Wewanttoen-sure that shipments originatingfromother countries around theworld are not impacted by thiscongestion.Therefore,wewillbetemporarily suspendingpickupof importshipmentsfromChina,Hong Kong andMacao for thenext10days," itsaid.

1.25 cr jobsself-helpgroups(SHGs),whichin-cludesalargenumberofwomenworkers.Besides these, the govern-

mentreleasedRs5,900croreloanto 2.40 lakhMSMEunits in thestateonFridayundertheCentre's“AtmaNirbhar Bharat” packageandprovided5,000workerstoolkitsunderdifferentschemes.Under MGNREGA, sources

saidmost of theseworkershavebeen engagedunder projects ofriverrejuvenationprojects,revivalofpondsandtreeplantationdrive.The list also include about 1.69lakhmigrantlabourers,whohavebeenprovidedemploymentun-der National Rural Livelihood

Mission.In theMSME sector, the UP

government claims to have got7.80 lakhunits opened since thelockdownended.Outofabout30lakhworkers

who have returned fromotherstates in the wake of the pan-demic, Chief Minister YogiAdiyanath said about 24.75 lakhworkersareassociatedwithcon-struction,realestateandotherde-velopmentworks; about92,000are factoryworkers; there are65,815 tailors, 45,204 drivers,10,758handicraftworkers; and

approximately3.61lakhworkersassociatedwith sales, securityguards, courier services and soforth.Adityanath also said that of

thereturnees,nearly26.11lakhinrural areas and approximately1.63 lakh in urban areas havecompleted their quarantine pe-riodinthestate.“Around4.71lakhworkersarestillinhomequaran-tine,whileabout51,000areinin-stitutionalquarantine,”hesaid.

MaharashtraMaharashtra carries India's

heaviest Covid case load anddeath toll, having reported closeto1.52lakhcasesand7,106deathsuntil Friday. The first case in thestatewasreportedonMarch9.The data ondaily deaths ac-

cessedbyTheIndianExpressshowthe numbers spiking sharplyaroundthemiddleof lastmonth—itwentpast100firstonMay15(102)andremainedinthreedig-itsoneachdayuntilJune14,peak-ingonJune7and8(170each).Thenumberdroppedsharply

to122onthefollowingday,how-ever—andhasmaintainedagen-erally declining trend thereafter.OneachofthesixdaysfromJune20 to June 25, the state has hadfewer than100deaths—andonThursday,thisnumberfellto33.As a trend, the 10 days from

May15toMay24sawatotal1,188Coviddeaths,oradailyaverageof118.8;overthefollowing10days,from May 25 to June 3, 1,434deaths occurred, an average of143.4deathseveryday.Inthe10daysafterthat, from

June4 to June13, thenumberofdeathsfellto1,388–adailyaver-age of 138.8. And in the next 12daysuntil June25, thenumbersaddedup to977– anaverage of81.4 deaths every day. This lastnumber, however, is likely to in-crease somewhat as somedailyfiguresthisweekareupdated.In contrast, numbers of new

caseshaverisenconsistently–be-tween May 15 and May 24,2,287.3newcaseswererecordedeachdayonaverage;thisnumberrose to2,463.3betweenMay25and June 3; to 2,968.8 betweenJune 4 and June 13; to 3,444.2fromJune14-23.The daily death figures re-

portedbyMaharashtrasofarhaveincluded deaths thatmay haveoccurred over the past severaldaysorweeks,makingitdifficulttogaugetheprecisenumberoffa-talitiesthatoccurredoneachday.This isthefirsttimethatthegov-ernment has provided a date-wisebreak-upofdeathdata.While figuresof somerecent

daysmaybeupdatedslightlyasafewdeaths thatmayhave goneunreported are reported, theoveralltrendinthedatasuggestsacleardecline in thenumbersofdailydeaths.DrSubhashSalunkhe,techni-

cal advisor to the state govern-ment, cautioned that thedeclin-ing trend indaily deaths didnotmean thepandemichadpasseditspeakinMaharashtra.“We have not reached the

peakyet, that isevidentwithris-ingcases.Henceitcannotbecon-cludedthatthedeathsaredippingbecausethepeakhaspassed,”DrSalunkhesaid.Instead,hesaid,theclinical treatment protocol hadevolved over the last threemonths, anddoctors andnurses

werenowbetter equippedwiththeexperienceoftreatingcriticalpatients.“Weareusinganewcocktail

of drugs andproviding early in-tervention. Earlier we wereblindlyfightingagainstthisinfec-tion,”DrSalunkhesaid.DrArchanaPatil,additionaldi-

rectorintheDirectorateofHealthServices,saidthestatehadnotyetanalysedwhat the reduction indeath figures couldmean. “Wearestillreconcilingthedata.Oncethat is done,wewill be inbetterpositiontoanalysethenumbers,”shesaid.Thelatestavailabledatashow

Mumbai now accounts for lessthan half the total deaths inMaharashtra – 47.2 per cent.Thane and Pune account for 20per cent and12per cent respec-tively.InMumbai,amassivescaling-

upofhospitalbedshasbeenun-derway since May. TheBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) scaledup to5,000oxygen-supportedbedsbyJune11;this figureisexpectedtotouch 9,000 by the end of thismonth.Thenumber of ICUbedshas

increasedfromfewerthan800tomore than 1,200 in amonth inMumbai. Fivehundred ICUbedsare likely tobe added soonelse-whereinMaharashtra.“Bedavailabilitywasabig is-

sueearlier,” stateepidemiologistDr Pradeep Awate said. Thegamechanger, he said, has beentheimprovedbedreferralsysteminMumbai,andtheavailabilityofalargernumberofoxygenbeds.“Mumbai accounted for the

maximum deaths (inMaharashtra). In the lastmonth,theyhavecreatedadecentralisedsystem to allocate beds to pa-tients, the systemof referral tohospitalhasbecomefaster,treat-ment has started early, andwehave been able to stabilise pa-tientsbeforetheyturncritical,”DrAwatesaid.Hesaiddailymonitoringindi-

cated that thenumberof criticalpatientswas declining, and thenumber of mild andmoderatepatientswasrising.“Earlier4-4.5per cent of patients required in-tensivecaresupport;overthepastfew days, this has been in therangeof3-3.5percent,”DrAwatesaid.Health SecretaryDr Pradeep

Vyassaid:“Mumbaihasmoreorlessstabilisedwhen it comes tonew cases and deaths. Morepeople are under home isola-tion, and thishas taken loadoffhospitals andallowed themtofocus on those who could getcritical.”There were over63,000 active patients inMaharashtra as of Friday. Theexodus of migrant labour hadreduced both the case countand fatalities in the state, DrVyas said. Maharashtra hasover 2.8 lakh beds for Covidpatients.Dr SanjayOak, chairmanof

theStateTaskForceappointedtoadviseon strategiestoreducedeaths, said amultipronged ap-proachhad resulted in the trendofdecline.“Wehavebeencaptur-ing patients early, put themonoxygen, andusing several drugs.Wehaveinsistedthatthegovern-ment should test more andmore,”hesaid.An indication of the trendof

earlyhospitalisationcameintheseconddeathauditreportinMayinMumbai–itfoundthatpeoplewerebeing admitted tohospitalwithin 3.64 days of developingsymptoms, an improvementfrom the3.74days in theperioduntilApril15.InKEM, SionandNair hospi-

tals, the threemajor civic hospi-tals inMumbai, the number ofcritical patients seeking admis-sionhas reduced. “This indicatesthatpeoplearegettingadmittedsooner,andfewercasesareturn-ingcritical.Thedrugstocilizumaband itolizumab have saved somanylives.Wegotaccesstothesedrugs about a month ago,” DrHemantDeshmukh,deanofKEMHospital,said.DrDeshmukh saidhospitals

havestartedreviewingdeathsonadailybasis tounderstandwhatwentwrong.“TheTaskForce’sad-vice on critical patientmanage-mentisbeingfollowedminutely.Eachdaywe learn to savemorelives,”hesaid.KEM,DrDeshmukhsaid, had recorded a very largenumberof deathsbetweenMay15 andMay 31. “For the last 15days, deaths have gone downconsiderably,”he said.DrAwate,however, cautioned against anyloweringof the guard. Both casenumbers and deathswere ex-pected to rise again in themon-soon,hesaid.Thestateepidemi-ology department expectsCovid-19 case numbers to peakbytheendofJulyorthebeginningofAugust.

Chhattisgarharm in an attempt to snatch thephonefromher.Withminutesleftfortheclass,

Asha’s fatherAvinashEkkatakesthe phone away as he is gettinglateforwork.WhileShuklaadmittedtothe

limitationsof online learning,hesaid the governmentwas tryinghard to bridge the gap. “Severalprojectsareinthepipeline.Weareworkingonaudio-based classeswhichwillbeplayedviacallcen-treswhere students can call.Weare also looking at the option ofmobileschooling,whereteacherscanmakeweekly visits to vil-lages,”hesaid.Despite these attempts at

reaching out, in Chhattisgarh,where almost 4.5 lakhmigrantshavereturnedtothestate,expertsworryaboutdrop-outratesrisingasaresultof thepandemic.That concern is alreadyplay-

ingout inPritamGond’s life. The20-year-oldfromGaneshpurvil-lageinSurajpurisamongthefirstfromhisvillagetoattendcollege.Hehadconvincedhisfamilytolethimtravel toPratappur,anhour-longjourneyonabike.Hewouldwakeupat 5 am, helphis fatheronthefamilyfieldsbeforetravel-lingtocollege,whereheisafirst-yearBAstudent.Hehasasmartphone,buthas-

n’theardoftheonlineportal.Nowthatheisnotgoingtocollege,hisfamily insists he takeupa job. “Idon'twant to, because then I'llhavetoleavecollege,”hesaid.

TN family32, fourpoliceofficershavebeenplacedunder suspensionandaninspectortransferred.TheMadrasHigh Court has sought a reportfrompolice.On Wednesday, the Tamil

Nadu Traders’ Associationdownedshuttersacrossthestate,seeking tohighlight policehigh-handedness. The police actionagainst Jeyaraj, belonging to thepowerfulNadar trader commu-nity,sprangfromanargumenthehad with police on June 19eveningoverkeepinghismobilephoneshopopeninSathankulambeyondthedeadlineof7pm,setasapartofmeasurestotacklethecoronaviruspandemic.After a patrol team took

Jeyaraj to a local police station,Bennix reached there with afriend andwas also taken intocustody.Twodayslater,bothweredead.Apreliminarypoliceprobefoundsevereinjuriesintheirpri-vateparts.VinothKumar,whoismarried

toBennix’s elder sister, said thatonhisway to thepolice station,the32-year-oldhadcalledherup.“Asshedidnotpickup,hecalledup another sister andtoldherhewasgoingtocheck

onhisfather,”Kumarsaid.When no word came from

Bennix,S Joseph,whoismarriedto Jeyaraj’s sister, saidmore rela-tives rushed to the station.“However, the station waslocked.”He said theywaited till1.30amoutside, beforedecidingto leave andcomeback thenextmorning.EarlyJune20,thefamilywent

tothepolicestation,andweretoldto arrange a vehicle for police totake Jeyaraj and Bennix to theSathankulam GovernmentHospitalandafreshpairofclothesfor them. Joseph said after theyhadarrangedthevehicle,heandhiswife followed it at a distanceandsawJeyarajandBennixfrom

a distance, at the hospital en-trance.Hesaidtheyseemedbadlyinjured,withtheirclothesblood-soaked.“Theywere surrounded by

policemen.MywifepleadedthatshewasJeyaraj’ssisterandwasal-lowed to go near them. Jeyarajwasunabletotalk,pointingtohisclothes,whichwereseepedwithblood,especiallybelowhiswaist.Bennix’s backwas drenched inblood.Jeyarajmanagedtoconveythat the two of themhad beenbeatenup100, 200 timesbypo-licemen, all through the night,”saidJoseph,hisvoicebreaking.PolicemenallowedBennixto

changehis trousers for a veshti,Joseph said. But blood seepedthrougheventhat.“Theyaskedusto bring another veshti, but thattoowas drenched before theyeventooktheminsidethehospi-tal. Policedidn’t letmywife taketheclothesBennixhadtakenoff.”The familyclaimstheexami-

nationatthehospitalwasan“eye-wash”aspolicenever left JeyarajandBennixalone.Aseniorpoliceofficer,who is

awareoftheinitialprobeanddidnotwant to be quoted, said thetwowerekeptat thehospital forabouttwohourstostabilisethemandtoreducethebleeding.“Theyweregivensomemedicine.Theychanged half-a-dozen times astheirclotheskeptgettingsoakedwith blood, especially Bennix’s.Around11.30-11.45am,theyweretaken to themagistrate for re-mand,”theofficersaid.The family said that at the

courttoo,JeyarajandBennixweresurroundedbyseven-eightpoliceofficersatalltimes,andcouldnotspeakfreely.Thejudgesentthemon remand toKovilpatti Sub Jail,with a bail hearing not possiblebeforeMonday.OnSunday, June21, the fam-

ilysaid,theygotnowordfromthetwo.Afamilymember’sattemptsto meet them failed, with theprisonauthoritiescitingCovid-19fearstodenytherequest, includ-ingonMonday.The same evening, Jeyaraj’s

wife received a call sayingBennix’sbloodpressurewascrit-ically low. Later, another call toldthe family to come immediatelytothejailhospital.BennixdiedonMondaynight,followedbyJeyarajafewhourslater.Aseniorofficerpartofthepo-

lice probe said initial findingsshowthetwowerestripped,tor-turedallofJune19-20nightandabatoninsertedintotheirrectums.“Bennixhadmorebleedingthanhis father. Police reportedly setuponhimafterhetriedtostopanofficerfrombeatinghisfather.”Refusing to comment on a

matter that is in court,Thoothukudi SP ArunBalagopalansaid,“Theydiedinju-dicial custody, not in police cus-tody… The post-mortem hasbeencompleted.”Thereport,sub-mitted to the court in a sealedcover, isnotyetout.

IASofficerapplied for it,” he told The IndianExpress,adding,“IamnotseekingajobinJ&K,asIalreadyhaveone.Plus,Iplantolivepost-retirementinGurgaon. Iwas entitled to thecertificateandgotit.”At present, thedomicile cer-

tificate only entitles one to a jobin theUTgovernmentor admis-sionintoprofessionalcollegesrunby it. Sources said that in theab-sence of any amendment in theUT’sexistinglandlawsrestrictingpurchasesbyoutsiders,itdoesnotentitleonetobuypropertyinJ&K.Sources said that nearly

33,000 people have applied fordomicilecertificatesacrosstheUTsincethenewruleswerenotified,andover25,000issuedthesame.The number of those seekingdomicilecertificatesinKashmirisfar less as compared to those inJammudivision.In three days after the elec-

tronic application for grantingdomicile certificates openedonJune22alone,over6,000applica-tionswerereceived.About65%ofthese till June 25 (over 3,900)were from the Jammu region.A majority, however, werefrom those who already holdPermanent ResidenceCertificates of the erstwhilestate. As per the new rules,people residing in theUT for15years, or thosewhohave stud-ied in it for seven years, or ap-peared in theClass10or12ex-amination fromaneducationalinstitution in the region, aswell as their children, are eli-gible fordomicile.Alsoeligibleare children of officials of theCentral government, all Indiaservices, banks and PSUs,statutorybodiesandCentraluni-versities,whohaveservedinJ&Kfor10years.Migrants and their children

registeredwith the Relief andRehabilitationCommissioner,andchildren of those J&K residentswho live outside theUT for em-ployment,business,orotherpro-fessional or vocational reasons,canalsogetdomicile.

Chinese use of force to alter status quo willhave repercussions on ties: Indian envoyborder is sine qua non forprogress in the rest of bilateralrelationshipbetweenIndiaandChina",Misrisaid:"Theresolu-tion of this issue is quitestraightforward fromour per-spective. The Chinese sideneedstostopcreatingobstruc-tionandhindrancesinthenor-mal patrolling patterns of theIndiantroops,”hesaid.He also rubbished China's

claim of sovereignty overGalwan Valley in Ladakh as"completelyuntenable”,andas-sertedthatthesekindsofexag-gerated claimsarenot going tohelpthesituation.“Whateveractivitieswemay

becarryingonhavealwaysbeenonoursideof theLineofActualControl (LAC), so the Chineseneedtostopactivitiestoalterthestatus quo. It is very surprisingthat they should attempt todoso in a sectorwhichhas neverbeforebeenasectorofconcern,”hesaid.Emphasising that India is

"very aware and very clearaboutthealignmentof theLACin theGalwanValley," he said“ourtroopshavebeenpatrollingup to these areaswithout anydifficultyforavery,verylongpe-riodof time”.Misri's strong comments

came in response to the recent

claimsby theChinesemilitaryandtheforeignministryofsov-ereigntyoverGalwanValley.On Chinese Ambassador

SunWeidong's assertion onThursday that the onus is onIndia to de-escalate tensions,Misri said, “I think we havebeenvery clear, andvery con-sistent in pointing out that ithasbeenChineseactionsoveran extended period of time,thatareresponsibleforthecur-rent situation”.“In factbeginningwiththe

time frameof April andMay, Iwould say therewere a num-ber of Chinese actions alongtheLACintheLadakhsectorinthewestern sector that inter-feredwith and hinderedwiththenormalpatrollingactivitiesofourtroopsinthatsector.Thisled obviously to a few face-offsituations,"hesaid.During an interviewwith

PTI,Sunrefusedtoreplytoques-tions about China's transgres-sionsof the LAC.Hewas askedwhyChinahasnotbeenallow-ingIndianpatrolsfromFinger4toFinger8areasinPangongTsoeventhoughtheareasbelongedintheIndiansideofLAC.Hewasalso askedwhy China has re-sorted tomassive build-up oftroops inalmostallareasof the3500-km LAC. But Sun side-

stepped the questions and re-mainedmum.Misri said he "would un-

derline the remarks of ourExternal Affairs Minister (SJaishankar) when he spoke toForeignMinisterWangYi thatthese developments cannotbut have an impact on the bi-lateral relationship.”"Thebilateralrelationshipis

of great value to the twocoun-tries. It is importantnot just forus but also regionally impor-tant,”hesaid.“SoIthinkthereshouldbea

realisationon theChinese sidethatthereisnogainintryingtoalter the status quo on thegroundespecially by resortingtoforce...thatwillnotjustdam-age the peace and tranquillitythatexistedontheborderbutitcanhave ripples and repercus-sionsinthebroaderbilateralre-lationship,”Misrisaid.“Wehavenowishanddesire

for that. Therefore, it is entirelytheresponsibilityoftheChinesesidetotakeacarefulviewofourbilateralrelationsandtodecidewhichdirectionthebilateralre-lationshipwillmove forward”,hesaid.“Tomymind there is only

one answer, I do very muchhope that theChinese sidewillalsoseeitinthatway,”headded.

Noting that in the GalwanValley especially there hasnever been any difference asto where the LAC lay, theIndian envoy said: "It is verysurprising that they shouldhave chosen to, in the contextof theserecentdevelopments,todothiskindof thinginasec-tor which has never beforebeena sectorof concern."“So, for China to nowvoice

these kinds of claims is com-pletely untenable. These kindsof exaggerated claims are notgoing tohelp thesituation. Thekindof language thathasbeenusedisnothelpfultotheresolu-tionof thissituation,”hesaid.Intheongoingmeetingsin-

cludingatthemilitarylevelthataregoingon"wehope that theChinese sidewill realise its re-sponsibilityinde-escalationanddisengagement", he said. "Thatwould be a true resolution ofthisissue,”hesaid.Misri's comments came a

day after the External AffairsMinistry said China has beenamassing a large contingent oftroops and armaments alongtheLACineasternLadakhsinceearlyMay,andwarnedthatcon-tinuation of the current situa-tionwould only vitiate the at-mosphereforthedevelopmentof therelationship. PTI

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

PM praisesAdityanath“IfweseefourEuropeancoun-

tries—England, France, ItalyandSpain—whichhavebeensuper-powers, and still have significantinfluence across theworld, their(combined) population is about24 crore. In India, just UttarPradesh has thismuch popula-tion.While1.30lakhpeoplehavediedofcoronavirusinthesecoun-tries,UP,withasimilarpopulation,has seen just 600 deaths,” saidPrimeMinister.Talking about the US, the

PrimeMinister said, “Youmusthave seen reports coming fromAmerica,whichcanarrangeany-thing in the blink of an eye. Butwith a population of about 33crore,Americahasseen1.25lakh(Covid-related) deaths,whereasUP,with24crorepeople,hasseenabout600deaths.”He emphasised, “If the Yogi

Adityanath governmenthadnotmade arrangements, and if UPhadseensimilar(rateof)fatalitieslikeAmerica, then about 85,000people would have died here.Those lives have been saved (inUP).”Speaking from New Delhi

throughalive-videostream,ModisaidAdityanathdidnotgotoper-formthelastritesofhisfatherandinsteadworkedwithofficials onplans to savepeople of the statefromcoronavirus, and thatUP'sfigures have “surprised expertsfromacrosstheworld”,hesaid.Modialsoexhortedpeopleto

rememberthatthebattleagainstthevirus isnotgoingtoendnow,andaspeoplemoveoutforwork,itwouldbeafightforbothlifeandliving.“Yaadrakhiye, coronakekhilaf

ladhayi bandh honay wali nahihai….Ladhayijaarirakhnihai,lad-hayi jaari hai. Kaampar nikaliye,lekindogajkidoori,chehrepemaskaurlagataarsaaf-safayi.JeevanaurajeevikadonokiladhayiUPjeetega,aurBharatbhijeetega(rememberthat the fight against the virus isnotgoingtoend; this fighthas tocontinue. Go out for work butmaintain a two-yard distance,cover the faceandmaintaincon-stanthygiene. It isafight forbothlifeandliving,whichbothUPandthecountrywillwin).”In an indirect reference to

Jawaharlal Nehru and the 1954Kumbh stampede,which killedmorethan500people,Modisaidthat being an MP from UttarPradesh,thestate’sachievementsgive him satisfaction but “oncetherewas also a PrimeMinisterfromUP”andwhenalargenum-ber of deaths took place inPrayagrajduetostampededuringKumbh, the entire energy of thegovernmentwasusedtohidefa-talityfigures.ModialsosaidtheUPgovern-

menthasmadebothquantitativeand qualitative addition to theCentre”s scheme for providingemployment, and added thatother states should follow its ex-ample in launching suchanem-ploymentgenerationscheme.Modi saidUP is taking a lead

inimplementationofseveralgov-ernment schemes andhas nowprovided1.25croreemploymentto labourers.He said that identi-fying1.25croreworkersandcol-lectingskillprofileofover30lakhmigrant labourers,whohave re-turnedtothestateamidthepan-demic, itself shows the govern-ment'sabilities.Modi said that he always

talkedaboutthedoubleenginefordevelopmentwhichwasworkingforUttarPradeshandhopedthatother stateswould also bring inschemeslikeUP.HestressedthatheisconcernedaboutthestateasacitizenandalsobecauseheisanMP fromhere. “Whoever showscourage in crisis gets success.Whatyouhavedoneisanexam-plefortheworld,”hesaid,addingthatUttarPradeshhasagreatroleinmakingthecountryself-reliant.Talking about the employ-

ment generation scheme,Modi,who interactedwith villagers ofsix districts through commonservicescentresandKrishiVigyanKendras,said:“UPhasnowtakentheresponsibility toprovide1.25croreemployment to labourers...Identifying1.25croreworkersandcollecting skill profile of over 30lakhmigrant labourers,who re-turned fromother states, showsitself...Whichevergovernmentorsystemwas inplacebefore2017,thecircumstancesweresuchthattheywouldhaveavoidedthechal-lenge.ButtheAdityanathgovern-menttookitseriouslyandworkedonawarfooting.”Exudingconfidenceofprovid-

ing jobstoallmigrantworkersofUttarPradesh,Adityanathsaidthestatehasenoughpotentialtocre-ateemploymentopportunitiesforall of them. “Uttar Pradesh hasenoughpossibilities for creatingemploymentformigrantworkerswhohave returned to the state. Icanassurethatwewillsucceedinemploying all of them,” saidAdityanathwhile launching theschemethroughvideoconferencefromLucknow.ClaimingthatUPhasseenvis-

ible progress in the past threeyearsunderaBJPgovernment,hesaid 30 lakh permanent houseshavebeenconstructed,morethan3 lakhyouths givengovernmentjobs,maternalmortality rate re-duced, encephalitis controlled,and power and drinkingwatersupplyaswellasroadnetworkinthestatehaveimproved.

—WITHPTI

India digs inbeentherestorationofstatusquoante as of April, before tensionsboiledover.India is now prepared for a

long stand-off, the official said.Compromising on territorial in-tegrityisnotanoption,theofficialunderlined, themindset is to bepreparedforanyeventuality.Meanwhile,backfromRussia

onThursdayafterathree-daytrip,DefenceMinister Rajnath Singhheld a detailed review of theground situation in easternLadakh Friday. In an hour-longone-on-onemeetingatSingh’sof-ficial residence, Army ChiefGeneralMMNaravane briefedSinghonall the faceoff “friction”pointsalongtheLACandthepre-parednessof theforces.ThiswasSingh’sfirstmeeting

with Naravane after the CorpsCommandersmetonJune22forthe second time to draw aroadmapfordisengagementandde-escalation.Naravanewent toLadakhonJune23.Acknowledgingthatthereisa

senseinthegovernmentofbeingcaughtunawaresbythescopeandnatureofChinesedeploymentonthe LAC, theofficial said that thisisnotthetimetopointfingers.Thetime for reviewingwill be onlyonce the situation is under con-trol, theofficialadded.

Pangong Tsode-escalationinPangongTso.”

FROMPAGEONE

THE BREAK-UP60lakhRuralDevelopmentandPanchayatiRaj (mainlyMNREGA)50lakh:MSMEsector10lakh:govtprojects5lakh:self-helpgroups

Lucknow

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JUNE26

THE UTTAR Pradesh govern-ment on Friday suspendedKanpur’s District ProbationOfficer(DPO),andtheofficiatingsuperintendent of a shelterhomewhere 57 girls, of whomfivearepregnant,testedpositiveforCovid-19 lastweek.Department of Women

Welfare’sDirectorManojKumarRai said DPO Ajeet Kumar andAssistant SuperintendentMithleshPalweresuspendedonchargesofnotfollowingthedirec-tivesofthestategovernmentandthedepartment.Theyarealsoac-cusedofnotprovidingthecorrectfactstothemedia,resultinginthecirculation of false information,Raisaid.Accordingtoanothergovern-

mentofficial,AjeetKumar isalsoaccusedof not conducting regu-larinspectionsattheshelter,whilePalisaccusedofnottakingneces-sary precautions after the pan-demicbegan.Anofficialinthewomenwel-

fare department said in the ab-senceofaregularsuperintendentfor the last threeyears,MithileshPalwaslookingaftertheshelter.Earlierthisweek,AjeetKumar

hadlodgedanFIRagainstuniden-tifiedpeopleandthepress foral-legedlycirculatingfalseinforma-tion about the shelter home.Hedidnotnameanymedia organi-sation.Meanwhile, the National

Commission forWomen, taking

cognizanceof acomplaintbyac-tivistNutanThakur,hassentano-tice to theDistrictMagistrate ofKanpur, seeking report on thematter. Thakurhas claimed thatseveralSupremeCourtdirectionsregarding theprotectionof chil-dren in shelter homeswere notfollowed in this particular in-stance.

Thakur said the women’spanel has told the DistrictMagistratetolookintothematter,take appropriate action in accor-dance with law, and inform itwithin 30days about the actiontaken.On June 15, an inmate had

tested positive for Covid-19 fol-lowingapooltestconductedthreedays earlier. Later, 117 inmates,and34staffmembersoftheshel-terweretestedforthedisease.Of theshelter’s residents,57

were admitted to a hospital af-ter testing positive. A 55-year-old old woman employee wasalso hospitalised after she wasalso found to have contractedthe infection.The remaining inmateswere

shifted to another building, andquarantined. Though the shelterhas a capacity tohouseonly100people,171girlswerefoundtobelivingthere.ThestategovernmenthasdecidedtoshiftafewinmatestotheMahilaKalyanNigambuild-inginthecity.DistrictMagistrate Brahma

DeoRamTiwari has said that aninquiryisunderwaytoprobehowthe “wrong information” abouttheshelterappearedinthemedia.Hehas also urged people not tospreadrumours.The state child rights panel

has issued a notice to Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra, asking her to filea reply by Sunday for equatingthis incident with theMuzaffarpur shelter home casein Bihar, where alleged sexualabusewasreported.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JUNE26

The NHRC on Friday issued no-ticetotheUttarPradeshgovern-mentandthestate'spolicechiefin connectionwith themurderofajournalistlastweekinUnnaodistrict over his purported cov-erageof thesandmafia,aseniorofficial said.According to reports, the

journalist, Shubham Tripathy,worked for Hindi daily KampuMail, hesaid.The rights panel, in a state-

ment, later observed that “in ademocratic system of govern-ment,themediaisconsideredasits fourthpillarwhichcannotbeallowed to be victimised by theanti-social elements in such acruelmanner.”The NHRC has taken suo

motu cognisance of amedia re-port on themurder of the jour-nalist, allegedly by sandmafia,and issued notices to the UttarPradeshChief SecretaryandtheDirectorGeneralofPoliceaskingfor a detailed report, the officialsaid.

Tripathyhadbeen reportingabout illegal sandmining in thedistrict and had apprehended athreat to his life from them.Reportedly, his opponents hadalso lodged a complaint againsthimwiththedistrictmagistrate,theNHRCsaid in thestatement.“The state government has

also beendirected to get an im-partial enquiry into thematterby an independent agency,preferably the state CB CID andto ensure safety of the family ofthe victim and thewitnesses inthematter," it said.The call details and other

forensicevidencegathereddur-ing inquiry are to be preservedas the Commission might callthem during consideration ofthe case. The response is ex-pected within four weeks, thestatement said.TheCommissioninthestate-

ment has observed that thenewsreporthasmentionedthatin many cases media personshave been "targeted by anti-so-cialelements"andinmostof thecases"noactionagainst thecul-prits has been taken by the po-liceauthorities".

NHRC issues notice to UP govt,DGP over murder of journalist

NewDelhi: The Press Council ofIndia (PCI) onFriday soughta re-port fromtheUttarPradeshgov-ernmentover thekillingof jour-nalist ShubhamMani Tripathi inUnnao district of the state lastweek.Tripathi was shot at near

DoodhMandi inUnnaowhilehewas returning home with hisfriendonamotorcyclelastFriday,SuperintendentofPoliceRohanPKanay said. Hewas rushed to ahospitalwherehesuccumbedtoinjuries. ThePressCouncilofIndiahighly condemns the incident ofkilling of a young journalist,ShubhamManiTripathi,inUnnaodistrict,astatementfromPCIsaid.“Takingsuomotucognizance

in thematter,Hon'bleChairman,Press Council of India,?has di-rected theGovernment of UttarPradesh, through its ChiefSecretary and theDirector?General of Police,UttarPradesh,tosubmitareportonthefacts of the case at the earliest,"itsaid.PTI

FUELLINGCHARGEPolicelathichargeSPworkersprotestingagainstfuelpricehike, inLucknowonFriday.Condemningthepoliceaction,SPchiefAkhileshYadavsaiditwas“grosslyundemocratic”. Aseniorpoliceofficersaid“mildforce”wasusedtodispersewhenSPworkersweremarchingtowardstheAssembly “Thelathichargeonpepleprotestingagainstunemployment,priceriseshowshowthefailedBJPgovernmentistryingtosuppresspeople’svoice,”Yadavsaid.VishalSrivastav

NewDelhi:AllegingthattheUPgovernmentwasthreat-ening her through variousdepartments for speakingthe truth,Congressgeneralsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra on Friday said, “I amIndira Gandhi’s grand-daughter,notanundeclaredBJPspokespersonlikesomeof theoppositionleaders.” .Her remark cameaday

after the UP child rightspanelissuedanoticetoher,asking her to file a replywithin three days for her“misleading” comment ontheKanpurshelterhome.“Asaservantof thepeo-

ple,myduty is towards thepeopleofUP.Andthisdutyisto put out the truth beforethem and not to put forthgovernment propaganda.TheUPgovernmentiswast-ing its timeby threateningme through its depart-ments,”shetweeted.PTI

PRIYANKADARESGOVTOVERNOTICE

PCI seeks reportfrom state govt

57TESTCOVIDPOSITIVEATSHELTERHOME

Govt suspendsKanpurprobation officer andhomesuperintendentTheydidnotprovidecorrect facts tomedia:Official

Lucknow

UTTARPRADESH4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

II,,UmrahKhanD/oMohd. SamiR/o 327/304Bhalla Estate,JajmauShiwansTenray,Bilhaur, Kanpur, U.P.-208010have changedmyname fromUmrahKhan toUmrahAlifKhan.In futuremynamewill beknownasUmrahAlif Khan in allGovt documents, Highschool,Intermediatemarksheets andall purposes. 0060074843-1

NAME CHANGE

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it isnotpossible toverifyits contents. The IndianExpress (P) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamage incurredasaresultoftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor Publications. We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

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UKSWAN FACILITY MANAGEMENT SERVICESTender Notice No. 04/e-ITDA-PRJ/SFMS/1/2020-PROJECT dated 08/05/2020

Corrigendum- 1Please refere to the Tender Notice No. 04/e-ITDA-PRJ/SFMS/1/2020-PROJECTDATED 08.06.2020, in this regards the amendment is being made in Bid submissionend date and bid opening date as following:

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged. Director

IT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (ITDA)Department of Information Technology

Government of UttarakhandIT Bhawan, Plot No. IT-07, IT Park, Sahastradhara Road,

Dehradun Email: diritda-uk@nic.inITDA

S. No. Critical Dates Date Extended toFollowing Date

1 Last Date & Time for Submission of Bids electronicallyon https://www.uktenders.gov.in/

03 July 15.00 Hrs

2 Date & Time of Opening of Bids (Technical Bids) 03 July 16.00 Hrs

NORTH CENTRAL RAILWAY, PRAYAGRAJTender Notice Number: EnHM-CPRO

Office-Clg-20 Date: 18.06.2020CORRIGENDUM - 1

Name of Work: Comprehensivemechanized cleaning contract ofCPRO Office (Old GM Building)Prayagraj for a period of 4 years (1252WorkingDays). It is to notify that1. Corrigendum-1 has been issued.Details of the corrigendum is uploadedon https://www.ireps.gov.in/24x7 Passenger Helpline No. - 138

67 /20 (S)6

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEERRURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION

DIVISION, CUTTACKMAHANADIBIHAR : CUTTACK-753004

Telephone: 0671-2441619, e-mail: eerwss_ctc1@nic.inGovt. of Odisha e-procurement Notice

Bid Identification No. rwssctc-03/2020-21The Executive Engineer, RWS&S Division, Cuttack on behalf ofGovernor of Odisha invites percentage bid through e-procurement indouble cover system according to norm of e-procurement.1. Nature of Work : Rural Piped W/S Scheme.2. No. of tenders : 3 Nos.3. Tender Paper Cost : Rs. 10,000/-4. Value of Work : Rs. 70.81 Lakh to Rs. 144.77 Lakh5. Class of Contractor : “B” & “A” Class6. Date and time of availability of bid document in portal : 11 hour of

02.07.2020 to 14.07.2020 up to 17 hours7. Date & time of seeking tender clarification : 10.07.2020 up to 17

hours8. Date & time of opening of tender : 15.07.2020 at 11:30 Hours in the

office of the Executive Engineer, RWS&S Division, Cuttack9. Time of completion : 180 days & 270 days10.The bidders have to participate in online biding only. Further details

can be seen from the website https://www.tendersorissa.gov.in.Sd/-

EXECUTIVE ENGINEER,RWSS DIVISION, CUTTACK.

OIPR-25022/11/0004/2021

O-137

Rajasthan State Road Development And Construction Corporation Ltd., JAIPURNo. NIT/2020-21/3561-72 Date 25.06.2020

d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff/20-21

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d³fd½fQf ÀfZ Àfa¶fad²f°f Àf¸fÀ°f d½f½fS¯f E½fa ÀfaVfû²f³f ½fZ¶fÀffBÊM http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in, http://sppp.rajasthan.nic.in °f±ff

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Construction of 24 No. Type-II Judicial Qtrs. at Jodhpur.UBN No.: RRC2021WLOB00091

940.00Lac

BÊ-46/20-21

Remaining work of Boys Hostel, Girls Hostel, Horticultue and other campus works atMedical College, Sikar.UBN No :RRC2021WLOB00090

760.00Lac

A»´fI f»fe³fBÊ-70/20-21

e-Tender NoticeTender No: 04/2019-20/SE/Q Supplying and laying various size DI pipes andpvc pipes for distribution lines in zone II EMD : Rs. 7500 + 1350 ( 18% GST– It will be paid by the contractor on reverse charge basis while filing hisreturns). Last date for submitting Tender : 21.07.2020, 02:00 pm Phone :0474 2745293 Website : www.kwa.kerala.gov.inwww.etenders. kerala.gov.in

Superintending EngineerKWA-JB-GL-6-94-2020-21 PH Circle Kollam

KERALA WATER AUTHORITY

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JUNE26

THEUttarPradeshSpecialTaskForce(STF)onFridayarrestedtwomorepersonsinamulti-corescaminwhichaMadhyaPradesh-basedcontractordupedof Rs9.2crore.Thistakesthetotalofarrestsinthescamtonine.The accused allegedly offered businessmanManjeet

SinghBhatiaafaketender,falselyclaimingthatitwasfloatedbytheUPanimalhusbandrydepartment,policesaid.TripureshPandey alias RinkuandSachinVerma from

Patrakarpuram inGomtiNagar areaof Lucknowwere ar-rested on Friday after a tip-off. Tripuresh hails fromGorakhpurwhileSachinlivesinLucknow,policesaid.Police claimed to have recovered Rs 2,600, two cell-

phonesandchequebookofthebankaccountallegedlyusedinthefraud.Police said Sachin Vermawas a close associate of the

primeaccusedAshishRai,whoispresentlyinjudicialcus-tody. “Sachin alleged that in 2018 Ashish contacted andinformedhimthathewantedtousearegisteredfirmanditsbankaccounttotransferalargesumofmoneycollectedthrough fraud. Sachin then he contacted his friendTripureshPandeyandaskedhimtocomeLucknow.SachinrentedouttoPandeythefirstfloorofhisjewelleryshopatGomtiNagar,” saidpolice.“SachinhelpedPandeytoopenafirmnamedRKTraders

inhisnamewith thehelpof a charteredaccountant. Theyalsoopenedanaccountinanationalisedbankinthenameofthefirm–RKTraders,”addedpolice.“Sachin also told thepolice thatAshish askedManjeet

Singh to transfermoney into the bank account. BetweenSeptember andOctober in 2018, Rs 72.12 lakhwas trans-ferredbyManjeetSingh.SachinandTripureshtookhisshareandhandedover80percentof themoneytoAshish," saida police officer adding that Sachin transferredRs 13 lakhfromtheaccountof firmRKTraderstohisownaccount.OnJune14,theSTFarrestedsevenpersonsofthegangfor

allegedlydupingManjeetSinghonJune14.

2moreheldfordupingMPmanofRs9.2crore

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh governmentrevisedthedeathtoll inThursdaylightningstrikes to 30, even asmonsoon picked uppace in the state on Friday, bringing rainsandthundershowersatmostplaces.OnThursday, the governmenthad said

24 people died in lightning strikes in thestate.“Thedeathtollinlightningstrikesinvar-

iouspartsof thestateonThursdayreachedto30. ChiefMinister (YogiAdityanath) hasdirectedofficialstoraiseawarenessamongpeopleaboutprecautionstobetakentosavethemselves from such incidents,"Additional Chief Secretary (Information)AwanishKumarAwasthi saidonFriday.According to the MET office, chief

amountofrainfall inthestatewasrecordedin Salempur - 12 cm, Elginbridge— 9 cm,Fursatganj - 8 cm, Chandradeepghat — 7cm, and Ramnagar (Barabanki), Fatehpur(Barabanki), Ankinghat and Balrampur—6cmeach.PTI

Govt revises lightningstrike deaths to 30

Banda, Chitrakoot:Small swarms of lo-custsfromthejunglesof Madhya Pradeshattacked villages ofBandaandChitrakootdistricts in UttarPradesh, followingwhich villagers beatdrumstochasethemaway,officialssaidonFriday.SDM,AtarrainBanda, JaiprakashYadav said there hasbeenminor damageto crops. He said lo-custs invaded Turra,Bhusani, Udaipur,Banai, Gautampur,Atarra rural,Naktapurva,Mudwara, ChandaurandPoharvillagesbutfarmerschasedthemaway. ENS

LocustsinvadeBanda,Chitrakoot

Lucknow

UTTARPRADESH 5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYKURUKSHETRA-136119

Advt. No.13/2020

SXf¿MÑXe¹f ´fiüôûd¦fIYe ÀfaÀ±ff³f, IbY÷YÃfZÂf

Admission to M. Tech. Programmesunder Sponsored Category for Academic Year 2020-21

Applications are invited for the admission to M.TechProgrammes of the Institute under Sponsored Category for theAcademic Year 2020-21. For Application Form, Fee and otherdetails, please visit the Institute website: www.nitkkr.ac.in.

Duly completed application form to be submitted on orbefore 03.08.2020. Application submitted without fee, incom-plete or late will not be considered. Please visit the Institutewebsite regularly for any announcement and updates in thisregard.

Sd/-Registrar l/c1675/NIT

ENS&PTILUCKNOW,JUNE26

ALMOST A week after UttarPradesh recorded the steepestjump in coronavirus cases, thestate recorded another high of762 new infections on Friday,taking the total Covid count inthestateclose to21,000.Gautam Buddh Nagar or

Noidaledthesurgewith136newcasesinthelast24hours,followedbyanotherNCRdistrictGhaziabadwhichreported89newcases.Thetotal numberof positive cases inNoidahasreachedclose to2,000– thehighest in the state—with887activecases.Adjoining Meerut saw 45

new cases, while capitalLucknow, which has seen a re-cent spike in infection reported52 new cases and one death.Meerut also reported threedeaths, takingthetoll inthedis-trict to79.At least19morepeopledied

ofcoronavirus , takingtheCoviddeath count in the state to 630.TwomorediedinEtawah,whichreported15newcases.Notably,thehighestnumber

ofpatientsdischargedinthelast24 hours were reported fromLucknowwhere 69 patients re-covered, followed by 36 inKanpurNagar,27inJaunpurand26 inBulandshahr.Additional Chief Secretary,

Medical and Health, AmitMohan Prasad said that 13,583people have so far been dis-charged from hospitals acrossthe state after recovering fromthe infection, leaving 6,730 ac-tive cases. Thedistrictswith thehighest number of active caseswereGautamBuddhNagarwith887, Ghaziabad with 648,Lucknowwith 383 and KanpurNagarwith325.He also said 19,387 samples

were tested for coronavirus onThursday.“Tillnow,thestatehastested 6.43 lakh samples,” hesaid, adding 1,960 pools havebeen tested till nowwith 1,778pools of five samples each, and182poolswith10sampleseach.

Meanwhile,thestategovern-ment has told the AllahabadHighCourt that itwill beginus-ingrapidtestkitstodetectcoro-navirus across the state as soonaspossible. The court issueddi-rectionstothestateonThursday,asking it to implement antigentesting inalldistricts.The order followed a Public

Interest Litigation (PIL) pleaseekingabetterhandlingof thecoronaviruscrisis.Justice Siddhartha Varma

andJusticeAjitKumaralsoaskedthe UP Police chief to ensurewearingofmasksandsocialdis-tancing in thestate.OnTuesday,thestategovern-

ment had said in Lucknow thatit has received the antigen testkits and planned to begin usingthemfromWednesday,focusingonsixdistricts.During the hearing,

Additional Advocate Generalsaid the state government hasincreased the number of testsfrom 17,000 to 20,000 per dayduring thepastweek.Thecourtexpressedappreci-

ation forwhat the state govern-ment's efforts to contain coron-avirus."Intheend,wewouldliketorecordawordofappreciationforthestateofUPandforthedis-trict administration for havingbrought palpable changeswithin the last oneweek in thetesting, tracking and treatmentof patients," it said.It has fixed July9as thenext

dateof hearing.In Lucknow, Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath asked officialstoensuresettingupofhelpdesksin all government and privatehospitals toassistpeople.

VinitaPal, amemberof aself-helpgroup, speakstoPMModi fromGondathroughvideo-conferencing. Express

ASADREHMANLUCKNOW,JUNE26

PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModispoketoseveralpeopleacrosssixdistricts of Uttar Pradesh viavideo-conferencingonFriday,aspart of the Atmanirbhar UttarPradeshinitiative.Snippetsfromsomeof theconversations:

BAHRAICHAbeneficiaryofthePMAwas

Yojana, Tilakram, a resident ofRakhaunavillage(around49kmfrom the district headquarters),blessedPrimeMinisterNarendraModi to lead thecountry for therest of his life. The PM receivedfeedbackfromTilakramregard-ing the benefits of governmentschemes the latter andhis fam-ily is receiving.Work on layingroofathishousewasunderwaywhen the PM spoke to him. Heexpressed gratitude for the Rs1.20 lakh given by the govern-ment. He told the PM that heused to stay in ahut and it usedtobea struggleduring rain. ThePM told him to ensure that hischildrengetaneducation.

GORAKHPURNagendra Prasad, a resident

of Tikariya Khor village whousedtoworkatasteel factory inAhmedabad,hadreturnedtohisvillageonApril29afterthelock-down was announced. Aftercompleting his quarantine pe-riod, he took a loan of Rs 1 lakhfromaPurvanchalGraminBankunder the Mudra Yojana. Hebought two buffaloeswith thatmoney and started business ofsupplyingmilk. He told the PMthathewasmakingRs375daily.

GONDAThe PM spoke to women

working at a self-help group inGonda district’s Kamlapur vil-lage. The PMpraised the effortsof the head of the group, VinitaPal.Healsopraisedtheworkbe-ingdonebythewomenandsaidit was “inspirational for others,too.” Thegrouphadestablisheda nursery in the village duringthe lockdown. The move has

helped them earn a substantialamount of money. Thewomenwereencouragedtoworkharderafter speaking to the PM. Thegroup’s women are becomingself-sufficient by also being in-volvedinpisciculture,cultivationof flowersandvegetables.

SIDDHARTHNAGARPMModispoketoamigrant

worker, Qurban Ali, who usedtoworkasamason inMumbai,in Kodra Grant village. The PMasked him what kind of workhas Ali received as part of thestategovernment’s initiative toprovide employment to mi-grants who returned to thestate. He told the PM that he isworkingasamason in the con-structionofapublic toilet inthevillage. Ali also thanked UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath for the work he isdoing to ensure employment

formigrantworkers.

JALAUNThe PM spoke to a migrant

worker, Deepu, who used towork at an aluminum unitHyderabadbeforehecamebackto the state owing to the lock-down.HetoldthePMthathehasbeen provided employment inthe construction of theBundelkhand Expressway. Heexpressed satisfaction over themoneyheisearningthroughtheconstructionwork.

SANTKABIRNAGARThePMspoketotwoself-em-

ployedpersonsinthedistrictandurged themtopay their loan in-stallmentsontime.Heexpressedhappinessthatthetwoentrepre-neurs have helped in providingmigrantworkers employment.He spoke to Amrendra KumarRai,whoownsafoodproductionunitinthedistrictandhadtakena loanof Rs25 lakhandhasem-ployed 12migrantworkers. HealsospoketohosieryunitownerRamchandraVerma,whotookaloanofRs11lakh.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JUNE26

AMANshothiswifedeadbe-fore killing himself while hisyoungerbrothertooshothim-selfdeadafterseeingthebod-ies at their house under theBannaDevipolicestationlim-its inAligarhdistrict, saidpo-liceonFriday.The victims have been

identified as ShailendraVerma(30),hiswifePinki(27)andbrotherVishal (25).SeniorSub-Inspector(SSI)

PradeepKumarsaid,“Around12.30 am on Thursday, thefamily heard gunshots fromShailendra’s room.His fatherMurlilal Verma rushed to theroomandsawShailendraandPinki (27) lying in a pool ofblood.Murlilal suspects that

Shailendra first shot his wifein the head and then shothimself. Younger brotherVishal (25), a student, shothimself in the head as hecouldnotbear theshock.”“The parents have told us

that the couple had somemarital issuesandusedtoar-gueregularly,” saidKumar.Beside a suicide note, in a

Facebooklivevideo,Shailendrasaid hewas stressed becauseof some issueswith hiswifeand thus decided to kill him-self andher, said the SSPwhoruledoutanyfoulplay.The couple got married

sevenmonthsagoafterfallingin love. Pinki used to stay inthesameneighbourhood.Police have lodged a case

under Arms Act as theweapon used for the killingswasan illegalone.

3 of Aligarh familydie: Man kills wife,self, younger brotheralso shoots himself

TOTAL CASES

20943

6,42,453SAMPLESTESTED TILL JUNE25

STATECOUNT

13,583 RECOVERED

INCREASE

762DEATHS

630

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JUNE26

THE STATE government onFriday decided to set up a UttarPradesh Special Security Force(UPSSF) for theprotectionof vi-tal buildings and other infra-structure.The decisionwas taken at a

meeting held at Chief MinisterYogiAdityanath’sresidence,saidagovernmentofficial.According to a government

statement, Adityanath directedofficials to prepare a design forthe force, andsubmit it tohim.Thegovernmentsaiditwould

impart special training toUPSSFpersonnel onmodern security

systems,andsecuritydevices.Accordingtotheadministra-

tion,theUPSSFwillbedeployedatlocalcourts,apartfrommetrorailwaystations,airports, indus-trialsites,banks,religiousplaces,pilgrimagesites,andfinancialin-stitutions.ThegovernmentsaidtheUP-

SSFwould be headquartered inLucknow,andinthefirststagefivebattalionswouldbeestablished.

UP to set up new securityforce to protect ‘vitalbuildings, infrastructure’

19MOREDIE INLAST24HRS

Noida pushesCovid surge tonearly 21,000

Advt. No. 01/2020Employment Notification for Faculty Positions

Ref. No.: CUO/Admn./Rect./Teaching/83/ Date: 22.06.2020Online applications are invited in the prescribed Application Format from theeligible Indian Citizens and candidates possessing Overseas Citizenship ofIndia for appointment to the posts of PROFESSOR (15), ASSOCIATEPROFESSOR (28) and ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (44) in accordance withthe Regulations of UGC (2018), NCTE (2019) and AICTE (2019), Last datefor submission of online applications complete in all respects is 31 July 2020.For further details please logon to our website www.cuo.ac.inThe earlier advertisements issued vide Advertisement Nos. 01/2019,02/2019 and 03/2019 of 01.08.2019 stand withdrawn. The applicationfee remitted by the candidates in response to these advertisementswill be returned on submission of details of the fee paid, receipt No.and Bank Account (including IFSC code) for online transfer of thesame.davp 21317/11/0001/2021 Sd/- REGISTRAR

12 10hRLY( )

AûdOÞXVff IZÔYQie¹f d½fäd½fôf»f¹fCentral University of Odisha

Dept. of Higher Education, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of IndiaPost- NAD, Sunabeda, Dist. - Koraput, Odisha. PIN- 763004

LAUNCHOFATMANIRBHARUTTARPRADESHROJGARYOJNA

In PM’s list of 6: migrants, self-helpgroup members and entrepreneurs

Migrant labourer ends lifeChitrkoot:Amigrant labourer,who returned fromSurat aboutthreemonthsago, allegedlydiedby suicide ashedidnothavemoneyforhiswife’streatment,policesaidonFriday.ShivMurat(30) killed himself by hanging from a tree in his village onThursday, they said. According to his wifewho is unwell, thecouple had an argument about her treatment and he left thehousesayingthathehadnomoneyfor it, thepolicesaid.Later,hisbodywas foundhanging fromatree.PTI

Porterssit idleatCharbaghstation,Friday.Vishal Srivastav

UPSSFwillbeheadquarteredinLucknow,andwillhavefivebattalions inthefirstphase.

Lucknow

EXPRESSNETWORK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

Madhyanchal Vidyut VitranNigam Limited (U.P. Govt.Undertaking) Head Office: 4-

A, Gokhale Marg, Lucknow Phone:0522-2208737, 2207065 e-mail:cemmapdrp@gmail.com CIN:U31200UP2003SGC027459 DATEEXTENSION NOTICE The date ofTender submission and TechnicalBid (Part-I) opening for Supply of 33KV VCB against T.S. No.MEDCO/2503/2020 is being extend-ed as per details given below:- SI.No. 1, T.S. NO. MEDCO/2503/2020,Last date & time for BidSubmission 07.07.2020 till 13:00hrs., Technical Bid opening date &time 08.07.2020 after 14:00 hrs.Please visit websitehttps://etender.up.nic.in for furtherdetails, Corrigendum/Amendmentand further up to date details beforesubmission and date of opening ofbids. All other terms and conditionsshall remain unchanged. Sd/-Superintending Engineer (MM)´fÂffaI - 139 /´fi.d³f./ªf³f.Àf.Ad²f./d½fÄff´f³f dQ³ffaI

26.06.2020

GOVERNMENT OF GUJARATNARMADA WATER RESOURCES WATER SUPPLY &

KALPSAR DEPARTMENTSHORT E-TENDER NOTICE NO.6 OF 2020-21

In the name and on behalf of Governor of Gujarat State. The Executive EngineerUkai Division No. 1, Ukai. Taluka Songadh Dist : Tapi pin code No.394680(Phone No.02624-233221) Invites online tender from Experience and resource-ful agencies/Consultant for Work as under.Sr. Name of Work (1) Class of RegistrationNo (2) E.M.D.

(3) Tender Fee D.D.(4) Solvency

1. Selection and appointment of Consultancy (1) Experience and resourcefulservices for detailed engineering services, agencies/Consultantpreparation of estimates and bid document, (2) 2,25,000=00etc for renovation/modernization/ (3) 3600/-up gradation of Ukai dam. (4) 45,00,000=00

B Schedule of E-Tendering2. Downloading of tender Document Dt.26-06-2020 to Dt.08-07-2020

up to 18.00 Hrs.3. Tender Uploading Date Dt.26-06-2020 to Dt.08-07-2020

up to 18.00 Hrs.4. Pre-bid Conference Date & Dt.02-07-2020 at 12.00 Hrs. Office

Address of the Superintending Engineer, UkaiCircle (Civil), "Tapi Jal Bhavn" 2nd

(Second) Floor, (Conference Hall)Ukai, Ta.Fort Songadh Dist.Tapi.

5. Last date & Physical Submission of Dt.15-07-2020 up to 18.00 Hrs.document Tender fee, EMD during Executive Engineer, Ukai Divisionoffice hours by RPAD/Speed Post / No.1, Ukai. Ph.No.02624-233221Courier Only. -233289

6. Price Bid Opening Date & Time On Dt. 09-07-2020 12.00 HrsSuperintending Engineer Ukai Circle(Civil), Ukai Dist : Tapi. Ph.No.02624-233270, - 233269

7. Inquiry/ Contact office Address Executive Engineer, Ukai DivisionNo.1, Ukai. Ph.No.02624-233221-233289

8. Internet Site Address:- Further details are also available on web Sitewww.nprocure.com. No.:INF-Surat/283/2020

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE26

DEMOCRATIC US Presidentialcandidate Joe Biden is critical oftheIndiangovernment’sdecisionon the National Register ofCitizens(NRC)andtheCitizenshipAmendmentAct (CAA), andhasalso askedNewDelhi to take allnecessary steps to restore rightsof thepeopleofKashmir.These are part of Biden's

agenda for Muslim-Americancommunities, which has beenpublished onBiden’s campaignwebsite.“In Kashmir, the Indian gov-

ernmentshouldtakeallnecessarysteps to restore rights for all thepeopleofKashmir.Restrictionsondissent,suchaspreventingpeace-fulprotestsorshuttingorslowingdown the Internet, weakendemocracy,” itsaid.“Joe Biden has been disap-

pointedbythemeasuresthatthegovernment of India has takenwiththeimplementationandaf-termathof theNational RegisterofCitizensinAssamandthepas-sage of the CitizenshipAmendmentAct into law. Thesemeasures are inconsistentwiththecountry’slongtraditionofsec-ularism andwith sustaining amulti-ethnic andmulti-religious

democracy,” itsaid.Former US Vice President

Biden’svisionstatementisinsyncwithDemocraticCongressmem-bers who have been critical ofNewDelhi’s positions in recentmonths. The criticismhad led toan unusual step that had raisedeyebrows inWashington,whenUnionExternalAffairsMinisterSJaishankar is said to have can-celled his scheduledmeeting inDecemberlastyearwiththeinflu-ential Congressional committeeon foreign affairs because it hadIndian-AmericanCongressmem-berPramila Jayapal,whohad in-troduced the resolution urgingIndiatoliftallrestrictionsinJ&K.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESHIMLA,JUNE26

THEHIMACHALPradesh Policeon Friday arrested a formerCongressMLAafterbookinghimfor sedition, among othercharges, over “objectionable”FacebookpostsontheLACsitua-

tioninLadakh.Neeraj Bharti is an ex-MLA

fromJawaliwhohasservedasthechief parliamentary secretary(education) in the previousCongress regime. Bharti postedfour Facebook posts betweenJune 15 and20— threewrittenpostsandaphotographicmeme.Thepostswerecriticalofthegov-

ernment and Prime MinisterNarendraModi,andwererelatedto thedeathof Indiansoldiers inGalwanand the situation at theLAC. According to the police,Shimla-basedadvocateNarendraGuleriaapproachedthepoliceonJune20alleging that Bharti hadtried to incite “hatred and trea-son”byusing“objectionableand

inflammatory”language.Thepo-lice booked Bharti based onGuleria'scomplaint.SPKhushalSharma,thestate

police spokesperson, said thatBhartiwasarrestedonFridayfol-lowingthreedaysofquestioningon“variousaspectsrelatedtothecase”.Hewouldbeproducedbe-foreamagistrateonSaturday.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

ARGUING THAT “organisedarmedgangs”arerunningtheirownso-calledgovernments”inNagaland,challengingthelegit-imacy of the State, Governor RNRavi has, in an unusual deci-sion,toldChiefMinisterNeiphiuRiothathewill“periodicallyre-view”lawandordersituationinthe state and issue "requiredlawfuldirections".Arguing that he can no

longer abstain from hisConstitutionalobligations,Raviwrote in the June 16 letter, “Ipropose that hereafter impor-tantlawandorderdecisionsliketransfer andpostingof officials

entrusted withmaintenance of law and re-sponsibilities of and above thedistrictlevelwillbeaftertheap-provalof theGovernor...”Ravi stated that “day to day

unrestrained depredations byover half a dozen organisedarmedgangs,brazenlyrunningtheir respective so called‘Governments’ challenging le-gitimacy of the StateGovernment without any re-sistancefromthelawandordermachinery has created a crisis

of confidence in thesystem.”“Theconstitutionallyestab-

lished StateGovernment is be-ingchallenged...byarmedgangswho question sovereignty andintegrityofthenation,whilein-struments of lawandorder re-main totallyunresponsive.”The BJP is a constituent of

Rio’s Nationalist DemocraticProgressive Party (NDDP)-ledgovernment.Ravi’slettercomesweeksbeforethepeacetalksarelikely to resume.A former spe-cial director of the IntelligenceBureau,Ravi isalsotheCentre'srepresentative in these peacetalkswith Naga groups and itsinterlocutor. G Zhimomi, gen-eral secretaryofNNPG, anum-brellabodyofsevenNagapolit-ical groups, said: “...the letter is

directed at the failure of stategovernmentandhasnothingtodowith us. NNPGhas no com-ment on it. As Governor, R NRavihastherighttoraiseissueswith the stategovernment. Forthe peace talks, the NNPG hasfinalisedeverything.”WhileNDPPdidnotreact to

the letter, insiders say thepartyis upset. “When thematter ofarmed groups is being dealtwithdirectlybytheCentre,andthe state government is not in-volved, how can the state gov-ernment crack down on theircadres?This isnotalawandor-der situation; it is a politicalproblem. This has been con-veyedtoRaviwhentheCMandtheCabinetmethimonJune19,”aparty insidersaid.

GovernerRNRavitoldtheCMthat law&orderhascollapsed

Ahead of US elections, DemocratJoe Biden critical of NRC, CAA

Ex-Congress MLA charged with seditionover Facebook posts on LAC, arrested

Gangs challenging State’s legitimacy, willreview situation: Nagaland Governor to CM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPANAJI, JUNE26

THEGOAPoliceonFridayregis-tered an FIR against unknownpersons, acting on a prominentPanajischool'scomplaintof stu-dentsallegedlyuploadingonso-cialmediademeaningandmor-phed images of teachers fromonline classes.Theschoolhassuspendedall

live recordings and recordedsessions for Thursday andwillnow admit students into Zoomstudy sessions only after theysubmitwrittenapplications.Theschoolmanagementhas

also asked parents to monitorstudents' online activity andstudysessions.“Wereceivedacomplainton

Thursday from a school inPanaji,” confirmed Pankaj

KumarSingh,SuperintendentofPolice (SP), CrimeBranch,Goa.Headdedthattheschoolhas

complained of images beingcaptured, morphed and up-loaded with derogatory re-marks.Inastatementtoparentsand

teachers, the school manage-mentwrote: “…a few studentshaveshowndisrespectbyusingsocial media platform likeInstagram in a demeaningmanner. Teachers’ faces havebeen clicked during Zoomclasses as well as fromrecorded sessions and mor-phed into unacceptable anddemeaning images and up-loaded on Instagram.”In May,teachers inGoawere given tu-torials on using online portalstoreachstudents inthewakeoftheCovid-19pandemicandthesubsequent lockdown.

Goa Police files FIR afterschool complaint over‘morphed’ teachers images

MAHARASHTRA’S OUTGOINGChief Secretary and ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray’snew Principal Advisor AJOYMEHTA, who has been at theforefront of the state’s battleagainst Covid-19, speaks toSANDEEP ASHAR on why hethinks the infection curve hasplateaued,economicrevivalandthechallengesahead.Excerpts:

HowwouldyoudescribethecurrentCovid-19situationinMaharashtra?It is stableandundercontrol.

Let’sbehonest,numbersarenotgoing down yet, but they aren’tgoingupeither.Therewasboundto be an increasewithwhateveropeningswehavedonesofar.Butwhatwe have been doing is toopenuppublicandeconomicac-tivitytoanextentthatourhealthinfrastructurecanmanage…

Whataretheprojections,peakandplateau, forCovid-19?My feeling is that we have

plateaued.Unlesssomethingdra-matic happens during the rains,wewon’tgobeyondthis.Ourcasedoublingratesarenowmorethan30days.Wehavealmostreachedastagewherethenumberofnewpatientscomingisequaltothosebeingdischarged.Butwehavetobecautious.Westilldonotknowhowtheviruswillmutateduringmonsoon.

Whenandwhat is thenextphaseof reopeningsgoing

tobe inMumbaiandtherestof thestate?Thenextstepistoassesshow

muchmore you can allow in of-fices. Everythingwill dependonhow youmanage public trans-port.We are looking at a coupleofthingsreally.Oneistokeepthe(infection)curvestableandhead-ing southwards. More impor-tantly,wearelookingatchangingpublicmindset.Oncewearealit-tlemoresurethateveryonewon’tcomeout togetherwhenwe re-open further, we do not mindopening even fully. Theminutewehave a solution to social dis-tancing inMumbai, Iwould sayopeneverything.

Buthowdoyouevenmanagethesuburbanrail traffic load?That’s thekeyquestion...We

are coming to the conclusionthatstaggeringofofficetimings,staggering of work days andwork from home is the onlymethod throughwhichyoucanmanage largecommercial citieslikeMumbai.Wehavealsobeenworkingon

howtoopenupthecity’sbusinessdistricts.Intheseareas,everybodywill be allowed to operate dailywithacertainstaff attendanceatagiventimeandeveryhourofthedayandeverydayoftheweekwillbeoccupiedbywork.Five-orsix-dayworkweek systemwill go.Eachofficewillhavetocomefor-ward to saywewill call (say) 10per cent staff in themorning, 20per cent post lunch and 30 percentatnight.Similarly,workdays

canbedividedamongemployees.Youwillnowhavetolookatsomeofficesstartingatsay6amandfin-ishingbylunchtime.Anothersub-setbeginningatlunchandfinish-ingbydinner.Thenthosewhowillstartpostdinnerandrunthroughthenight.

MaharashtrahasthesecondworstmortalityrateafterGujarat.Whatstepsarebeingtakentochangethis?Wehave been honest with

thenumbers. Tobringdownthemortalityrates,wehavesteppedupsurveillanceinabigway...

Economistsdon’t seeasustainedrecoveryanytimesoon.Yourviews?My feeling is that you will

seevery,verysharprecoveries...But thismay not be across sec-tors. There will be some thatrecover fast, others that willtake time...

Jobsarebeing lostacrosssectors,unemployment isontherise.But thestate isyet toannouncearevivalpackage.Why?Youneed to dowhat I call a

shift of jobs. Thesectors thatwilltake off faster will absorb a lotmorepeople. Then therewill benewbusinesses that youhaven’teven knownabout. That iswhy

we plan to take up short-termreskilling programmes in a bigway. We are also aware of theneed to protect the vulnerablesections.While the revival pack-agewill come, one thing’s clear:wecannothaveamechanismthatlets units pay off dues and shutdown.Wewillmainlybelookingfor thosewhowill carry on andeven increase employment andsectorswhich have a cascadingimpactacrosstheeconomy...

Whataretheplanstobringbackthemigrantworkforce?Anyincentives tobeoffered?Cansonsof thesoil fill allpositions leftvacant?People leave homes for bet-

terprospectsandnotincentives.IamconfidentMaharashtrawillprovide the best prospects. Thebiggestincentivewillbeaboom-ingindustry.Asfarassonsofsoilareconcerned,theissueisnotre-placingonepersonwithanother.It istheneedtoupskillthework-ing population. So that whenjobs become available, thesepeoplebecomeeligible for it.

Chief Secretaryforthreedifferentgovernments, twoextensions,anelection,afarmloanwaiver,Covid-19,andnowPrincipalAdvisortotheCM.Theyeargonebyhasbeenrathereventful foryou?I amtired (smiles).

ButcoalitionpartnerCongressseemsdispleasedwithyou?

I am bound to work by thelaw.My loyalty is to the goodofthe state... To achieve this, therearemany timeswhenwe haveto speak our mind fairly andfrankly. In that process, theremay be peoplewho do not likeit. That’s something I can’thelp.

Complaintsofoverchargingandlowbedavailability inprivatehospitalspersistdespite thegovernmentcappingtreatmentratesandsettingupabedavailabilitydashboard.Why?Itisnobody’scasethatdeviant

behaviour has been completelywishedaway. Butwhatwehavenowisasystemwherepeoplecancomplain and redressal takesplace.As farasbedavailability (isconcerned),whathas changed isthatpreviouslythepatientwouldhuntforbeds,nowweareholdinghim to abed. Beds are available.However, if youwant topickandchoose,therecouldbeaproblem.

TheOppositionsaysthestateadministrationhas lackedacohesiveCovid-19strategyIwon’t get intowho is saying

what. I don’t think there is anyproblemwith communication...Please realise themagnitude ofthiscrisis.Afloodhitsone, twoor25villages.Herethewholeworldhas been swept away... Butwehavelearntalongtheway.Thead-ministration has its ears to thegroundandhasbeenproactive.

FULLINTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

AJOYMEHTA

PRINCIPALADVISORTOTHEMAHARASHTRACM

‘Staggering of office timings,work days andwork fromhomeonlyway tomanageMumbai’

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD,JUNE26

ONEOF the three states selectedby theCentre for avisit byanex-pertteamtoassistandadviseitoncoronavirus management,Telanganahasseenprivatehospi-tals in capital cityHyderabadgetswampedbypatientsas it rampsupitslowtesting.Withcases jumpingto11,364

asonJune26,privatehospitalsarenow issuing advisories askingasymptomaticcasesorthosewithmild symptoms to stay athome.Somearealsoofferingpackagesforhomeisolation,whichincludeon-line consultationwithdoctors, amedical kit, including pulseoximeter tomonitoroxygen lev-els,papergloves,sanitisers,masksandspecialdisposalbags.Telangana has been consis-

tentlyattackedforhavingamong

thelowesttestingnumbersinthecountry—1,200 testspermillionagainst the national average of4,800-oddtestspermillion—de-spiteapositivityrateof18%thatisnearlythreetimesthenationalav-erage. The state government onJune15allowedprivatehospitalsto take in Covid patients,whichpromptedarushtogetadmitted.“We are telling people to let

bedsbeavailableforcriticallyillpa-tients.Don’t choke thehospitals,

we are already full,” Dr BhaskarRao, president of the TelanganaSuperSpecialityHospitalsAssoci-ation, toldThe IndianExpress. Hesaidthereareabout2,000coron-aviruspatientsinthe30-35bigpri-vatehospitalsinthecity.“Thepri-vatehospitalshavearound3,000bedswithoxygenfacility,and180-200bedswith ventilators,” Raoadded.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

On offer in private Hyderabad hospitals: home isolation packages

Express

Pune: Developing a vaccineagainst Covid-19 is currently themostpressingchallengetheworldfaces,andsuchanenterprisemayrequirefundingofupto$18.1bil-liontodelivertwobilliondosesbythe end of 2021,World HealthOrganization chief scientist DrSoumya Swaminathan said onFriday. Over 200 vaccine candi-datesareatdifferentstagesofde-

velopment and15are inhumanclinical trials, Swaminathansaid,adding that there is a hope thatvaccineswill be ready in 12 -18months.Addressingavirtualme-diaconference,Swaminathansaidthatcommitmentsfromhigh-in-comeandupper-middle-incomecountrieswereneededtoprocure950milliondosesthroughtheCO-VAXFacility.ENS

WHO chief scientist: Covidvaccinemay be ready in 12 to 18 months

Lucknow

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE26

SUNWEIDONG,China’s ambas-sadortoIndia,hasacknowledgedthattherewereChinese“casual-ties”toointheJune15clashesinGalwanValleyinwhich20IndianArmypersonnelwerekilled.Inthefirstacknowledgement

by Beijing of Chinese casualties,Sun, during the course of an in-terview Thursday, told the PTInewsagencyabout“fiercephys-ical conflicts and casualties be-tweenthetwosides”.Untilnow,Chineseofficialshad

been speaking of “casualties”withoutspecifyingonwhichsideof the LAC.While India releasedthenamesofitspersonnelwhofellfighting,Chinaremainedsilent.ThetranscriptofAmbassador

Sun’s interviewhasbeenpostedonlinebytheChineseembassy.

HuXijin,editor-in-chiefofthestate-runGlobal Times, too haswritten about deaths in theChinese ranks in the GalwanValleyclashes.Paying“hightributetothePLA

officers and soldiers”,Huwrote:“Ibelievethatthedeadhavebeentreatedwith thehighest respectinthemilitary,andthattheinfor-mation will eventually be re-portedtosocietyattherighttime,sothatheroescanbehonoredandrememberedastheydeserve.”Sofar,theChinesestatements

were ambiguous about casual-ties on their side. On June 19,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian spokeof “fierce physical conflicts andcausingcasualties”.Herepeatedthis on June24without specify-ing casualties on the Chineseside.Butadaylater,AmbassadorSunmade clear therewere “ca-sualtiesbetweenthetwosides”.

GOVT&POLITICS7 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE26

THEUSisreviewingitsglobalde-ploymentofforcestoensurethatit is "postured appropriately" tocounter the growing Chinesemilitary threat to countries likeIndia, Malaysia, Indonesia andthe Philippines, US Secretary ofStateMikePompeohassaid.Pompeo’s comments come

at a timewhen India and Chinaare in a border standoff sinceearlyMay,andarebeingviewedasasignificantsecurityposture.Speaking in response to a

question during the virtualBrussels Forum 2020 of theGerman Marshall Fund onThursday night, Pompeo said,"We'regoingtomakesurewe'repostured appropriately tocounter the People's LiberationArmy (PLA).We think that thechallengeofourtimes,andwe'regoing tomake surewe have re-sources inplace todo that."The force posture review at

thedirectionofPresidentDonaldTrump,aspartofwhichtheUSisreducingthenumberofitstroopsin Germany from about 52,000to25,000,hesaid.Pompeo said the force pos-

ture would be dictated byground realities. “In certainplaces there will be fewerAmerican resources. Therewillbe other places — I just talkedabout the threat from theChinese Communist Party, sonow threats to India, threats toVietnam, threats to Malaysia,Indonesia,SouthChinaSeachal-lenges, thePhilippines,”hesaid.Trump had last month of-

fered to “mediate or arbitrate”the border dispute betweenIndia and China, saying hewas“ready,willingandable” toeasethe tensions.

Chinese ambassadoracknowledges PLA deaths

MikePompeo

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

STEPPING UP its attack on theCongressinthewakeofthepartyraisingquestions on thegovern-ment’spositionoverthestandoffwith China at the LAC, the BJPFriday allegedmoney from thePrimeMinister’sNational ReliefFundwasdivertedtothe“family-run” Rajiv Gandhi FoundationduringtheUPAregime.BJPpresidentJPNadda,who

has been targeting CongresspresidentSoniaGandhiandsen-ior leader Rahul Gandhi,tweeted: “One family’s hungerfor wealth has cost the nationimmensely. Ifonlytheyhavede-voted their energies towardsmore constructive agenda. TheCongress’ Imperial Dynastyneeds to apologise to theunchecked loot for self-gains.”

In a series of tweets, Naddawrote: “PMNRF, meant to helppeopleindistress,wasdonatingmoney to Rajiv GandhiFoundation in UPA years.Whosat on the PMNRF board? Smt.Sonia GandhiWho chairs RGF?Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Totally rep-rehensible, disregarding ethics,processes and not botheringabout transparency.”On Thursday, Nadda had

questioned a purported dona-tion of $300,000 that the RGFhad received from People'sRepublic of China and theChinese embassy in 2005-06 tocarry out studies that were notinnational interest, healleged.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

BREAKING ITS silence on theBJP’s allegation that the SoniaGandhi-headed Rajiv GandhiFoundation received donationfromChinaandtheChineseem-bassy in 2005-06 to carry outstudiesthatwerenotinnationalinterest, the Congress on Fridaysaidthefoundationhadreceivedagrantof Rs1.45crore fromtheChinese embassy for disabledpersonswelfareprogrammeandresearch on China-India rela-tionships.“The BJP president and the

Modigovernmentkeepreferringto a 2005 grant of Rs 1.45 crorereceived from the Embassy ofChina to Rajiv GandhiFoundation for the purpose (i)Disabled Persons Welfare

Programme;and(ii)ResearchonSino-India relationships. Thisgrantwasusedforthepurposesspecified,” Congress communi-cation department in chargeRandeep Surjewala said in astatement.He said the accounts of the

foundationwere “duly auditedandstatutoryreturnswere filedunder Foreign ContributionsRegulation Act (FCRA) to theGovernmentof India”.“Thisgranthasbeendulyre-

flectedinallfilingstotheincometax and theHomeMinistry andnoauthorityhasever foundanywrongdoing of any nature,” he

said.Surjewala said the RGF also

received a “modest amount” ofRs 20 lakh from the PrimeMinister’s National Relief Fundin the financial year 2005. Thefund,hesaid,wasgivenafterthe2004 tsunami and was “dulyutilisedtoundertakereliefactiv-ities in the Andaman andNicobar Islands”.“We want to tell Prime

Minister (Narendra) Modi andBJP president (J P) Nadda thattheir total failure to protect na-tionalsecurityandterritorial in-tegrity of India cannot bewashed away in the cacophonyofmanufactured anddesperateallegations vis-à-vis grants re-ceived by the RGF which hasbeendulyauditedandreportedbothtotheIncomeTaxasalsotothe HomeMinistry,” Surjewalasaid.

KANCHANVASDEVCHANDIGARH, JUNE26

VINI MAHAJAN, a 1987-batchIASofficer,onFridaybecamethefirst woman bureaucrat in thehistory of Punjab to be elevatedtothetoppostofthestate’sChiefSecretary.With her elevation it is also

for the first timeinPunjab’shis-tory that both the civil and po-lice administrations in the stateareheadedbyanIAS-IPScouple.MahajanisthewifeofstateDGPDinkarGupta.Mahajan took charge as the

newChiefSecretaryonFridayre-placing Karan Avtar Singh,whohas nowbeenposted as SpecialChief Secretary, GovernanceReformsandPublicGrievances.The orders announcing

Mahajan’s elevation wereawaited for over a week.Considered close to the CMamong the state's bureaucrats,MahajanwastippedtobetheCSfor thepast coupleof days.Whilesomehadclaimedthat

herhusbandDinkarGupta’s as-signment as DGPmay come inthewayofherbeingelevated, itwas counter-argued that an of-ficer couldnotbedeniedanop-portunity because her spousewasholding an important posi-tion thegovernment.WhileKaranAvtarSinghwas

set to retire on August 31,Mahajanhassucceededhimtwomonths prior to that. CMAmarinder Singh had backedhimtothehilt lastmonthwhenhewasembroiledinarowforal-leged “misbehavior” with

Cabinetministers.Theministershad sought that he should beousted. The CM had, however,thrownhisweightbehindhim.Sources in the government

said that Karan Avtar Singh islikely tobeabsorbed in thegov-ernment after his retirement inAugust.Heislearnttohaveappliedfor

thepostofChairpersonofPunjabWaterRegulatoryAuthority.Thecommittee that would finalisetheappointment istobeheadedbytheChiefSecretary.ThenewChiefSecretary,Vini

Mahajan,meanwhile,hassuper-seded five IAS officers senior toherandhasaffectedthechancesof elevation of a batch-mate,ViswajeetKhanna.While Mahajan is a 1987-

batchIASofficersheisyoungestofallsixcolleaguesandretiresinOctober, 2024. The five IAS offi-cers, whoMahajan she has su-perseded, include a 1984-batchKBSSidhu,andfour1985-batchofficers.

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI, JUNE26

ASECONOMICactivitiesresumeacross the country, the data ofrailwayticket-bookingindicatesthatpeoplemaybegraduallyre-turning to the big cities fromtheirhomestates.Trains from states like Bihar

and Uttar Pradesh toMumbai,Ahmedabad,Surat,Secunderabad,Bengaluruandotherroutesofmi-grationhavestartedseeinga riseinpassengernumbers.Based on this trend, more

trainsaregoingtobeintroducedoncertainroutes,butfull-fledgedresumption of servicesmay notbe possible in the near future,Chairman, Railway Board, V KYadavtoldreportersonFriday.Sources said Railways is in

regular consultationwithMHAonresumptionof train services.MHA sources told The IndianExpress that they've received alist of around 35 pairs of moretrains to be run in the comingdays and a decision on thiswouldbe takenshortly.Ananalysisoftheticket-book-

ingdataonIRCTCwebsiteshowsthatthewaitingtimetogetacon-firmed ticket on trains leaving

Bihar,UP,Odisha,WestBengalforcities likeMumbai,Ahmedabad,Pune and Surat has increasedoverthepasttwoweeks.“Thesignsareveryencourag-

ing. We are seeing high occu-pancy in reverse direction also,likeGorakhpurtoMumbai.Basedon the occupancy patterns onroutes,theCovidsituationandaf-terconsultingwithstates,weare

goingtointroducemoretrainsinthenearfuture,”Yadavsaid.An analysis by The Indian

Express shows that this week,multipletrainsfromDarbhanga,MuzaffarpurandPatna,toplaceslike Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,Howrah and Delhi ranwith upto123percentoccupancy.Also,trains fromVaranasi, LucknowandGorakhpur toMumbai and

Ahmedabad ranwith over 120percentcapacity.Railwaydata show that over

the next four days, trains fromGorakhpur, Patna, Danapur,Varanasi, Ranchi andHowrah toMumbai,Ahmedabad,BengaluruandSecunderabadhaveanover-alloccupancyrangingfrom80percenttomorethan120percent.There is,however,noplanto

run “reverse” Shramik specialtrains,Yadavsaid.Twoweeks ago, The Indian

Express reported that whiletrains leavingbig cities for east-ern states were witnessing arush,thosereturningtothecitieswererunningwaybelowcapac-ity.Whiletrainsleavingbigcitiesarestillheavilyoccupied,there-verse direction is alsowitness-ingasurgenow.In the second class, the

cheapest ticket option on thesetrains, waiting time to secure aconfirmed seat has increased.Thesecondclassisnowcarryingonly as many passengers asthere are seats in view of thepandemic.For instance, Gorakhpur-

Lokmanya Tilak Terminus spe-cialhasconfirmedsecond-classtickets only from July 7 andsleeper tickets fromJuly19.While 2.4 crore people trav-

elled by trains daily during full-fledgedservicesbeforethelock-down, about 25 lakh aretravelling in a day now. Of the230 trains running currently,only 78 have an occupancy ofmore than 100 per cent.Seventy-five trains are runningwith occupancy between 0-50percent,data shows.

AVINASHNAIRAHMEDABAD, JUNE26

“THIS IS the first time I sat in anairplane. My family was com-pletely against my leavingOdisha... We had to come incompulsion as we had left theworkincompleteandthelabourcontractorwho had brought usto Ahmedabad for the project,his name too was getting tar-nished,” saysBiswaRanjan.Ranjan, 29, was among the

100-oddworkers flown downfromOdisha toworkon theun-derground section— the costli-est part — of the Ahmedabadmetro railproject.Hewas in a batch of the 23

workerswho landedon June20

in Ahmedabad fromBhubaneswarandarenowquar-antined.Theseworkerswhoare“tun-

nelling experts” are among the300-odd migrant workforcewhowillbebroughtbackbysec-ondweekof Julyfromfivestates,officials working with theGujaratMetro Rail Corporation(GMRC)said.“There isnotevena rupee to

be earned back home, whatwould we do there too?” saysRanjan adding that the part oftheprojecttheywouldworkon,had only twomonths to go be-fore thedeadline.Ranjan,whohasbeenwork-

ing on the Ahmedabadmetroproject since March 2018 andearns about Rs 30,000 amonth,

says, “Wehavebeenpromisedagoodplacetostay.Thecompanywill also bear the cost of food.”RanjanhaspreviouslyworkedonDelhiandJaipurmetroprojects.Ofthe250-oddworkersfrom

Odisha, only 7-8 stayed back,while the rest went home bywhatevermodecametheirway.Deepak Kumar Swain, 24,

Ranjan’s co-workerontheproj-ectisalsoquarantinedwithhimatthelabourcolonyinMirzapur,inthewalledcityofAhmedabad,where theywill beginwork onthe toughestpart of theproject,in theKalupur section.Also fromNayagarh district,

Swain says, he left for home onApril 1 tobewithhis family,butis happy to be back. “The com-pany is looking after all our

needs,”he told thispaper.Gujarataccountsforatotalof

27.09 per cent of migrantswhoreturned to Odisha after thelockdown,which is the highestamong returnees compared toother labour destination states,accordingtotheOdishagovern-mentdashboard.A total of 5,17,534 people

have returnedvia roadand rail-wayswhich is accounted for. Ofthese 1,40,224 are fromGujaratalone.Asmanyas1,28,737havereturned by trainswhile 11,487via road.The cost of flying down

workers fromOdisha has beenborneby Larsen&Toubro (L&T)which is constructing a portionof the 6.83-km undergroundsectionofthemetrorailwhichis

the costliest part of a 40-kmPhase-I of the Ahmedabadmetroproject.TheworkersfromOdishaarepartofthe“tunnelingcrew” that consists of ringbuilders,erectionoperators,locooperatorsamongothers.“L&T will be bringing back

100-oddworkersbyflight.Theywillbecominginthreedifferentbatches,” Amit Gupta, ChiefGeneral Manager (CorporatePlanning),GMRCtoldTheIndianExpress.Theundergroundsectionof

4.38 km which involves con-struction of two undergroundmetro stations at Shahpur andGheekantawas awarded to L&Ton January 2017. A second sec-tion of 2.45 km was given toAfcon Infrastructure Ltd in

March 2017which includes de-velopmentofKalupurmetrosta-tion and Kankaria East station.Both these sections are part ofthe East-west corridor of themetrorailapartofwhichwasin-augurated by Prime MinisterNarendraModi inMarch2019.This section is about 30me-

ters deep and bypasses severalheritageandASIprotectedmon-uments in theoldcity.Accordingtoofficialsources,

L&Twas supposed to finish theunderground sections by April2020. However, the Covid-19lockdown delayed the comple-tion and theworkers had to beflown in on “an urgent basis tocomplete thetask.”L&Texpectsto finish thework “on priority”in thenextcoupleofmonths.

ABHISHEKANGADRANCHI, JUNE26

JHARKHAND’S EDUCATIONDepartmentonThursdayissuedan order instructing all private,unaided,accreditedschoolstore-frain from charging any kind oftransportationorannualfeefromstudentsuntil schoolsreopen.A letter by the state’s

Education and LiteracyDepartment to the heads of allsuch schools, stated that failingtoadheretoalltheseinstructionswould lead to stringent actionsuchasNOCbeingcancelled.EducationMinisterJagarnath

Mahato posted the order onTwitter and said, “All privateschools shall abide by it. Also,therewon't be any reduction inteacher's salaries.”The order stated, “The eco-

nomicconditionhasdeteriorateddue to COVID-19. It has also af-fectedparentsof thestudents...”Itaddedthattherewillbeno

hikeinschoolfeesforongoingac-ademic sessions and schoolsshouldchargeonly themonthlyfees until classes are resumed.Even if feesarenotpaid, schoolsshouldn'tcancelanyadmissionsorcharge late fees, it said.

Cong on grant to RGF: Nowrongdoing of any nature

WithViniMahajan’shusbandDinkarGuptabeingthePunjabDGP, thepowercouplenowheadsthestate’scivil andpoliceadministration. PTI

Punjab gets its firstwoman Chief Secy

100 Odisha workers flown to Ahmedabad for metro project

Ticket data hints at people returning tocities, Railways may start more trains

MEANWHILE, INLUCKNOW:AdesertedCharbaghRaiwaystationonFriday. Vishal Srivastav

Jharkhand to pvtschools: Don’ttake transportfee till reopening

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE26

AFTER SENDING Beijing a clearmessagethatcontinuationofthecurrent situation on the Line ofActual Controlwill “only vitiatetheatmosphereforthedevelop-ment” of relations between thetwo countries, New Delhi hasaskedVikramMisri, Indian am-bassadortoChina,tospeaktothetop members of the ChineseCentralMilitary Commission toresolve thebordercrisis.The IndianExpresshas learnt

thatSouthBlockfeelsthatdiplo-matic and military positionshavehardenedonboth sides. It,therefore,wants toengagewiththe topechelonof theCMC.TheCMCistheapexmilitary

bodyofChinaandhasPresidentXi Jinping as its head and sixothermembers.TheCMCof theCommunistPartyofChina(CPC)and the People’s Republic ofChina(PRC)areactuallytwosep-arate bodies, with the same 7-member leadership.

Bothcommissionsareidenti-cal in membership —actuallyformingoneinstitutionundertwodifferent names— to fit in bothgovernmentandpartysystems.Inreality,thecommandandcontrolof the PLA (People’s LiberationArmy)iswiththeCentralMilitaryCommission of the ChineseCommunist Party CentralCommittee–thepartyCMC.Under Xi, it has two Vice-

Chairmen:XuQiliangandZhangYouxia.Theotherfourmembersare Defence Minister GeneralWei Fenghe, General LiZuocheng, Admiral Miao HuaandGeneralZhangShengmin.When Pakistan Army chief

GenQamar Javed Bajwa visitedBeijing in October last year – itwas just before Xi’s visit toMahabalipuramfortheinformalsummit--hemetViceChairmanXu Qiliang and briefed him onthe significance of India endingthe special status granted toJammu and Kashmir underArticle370.Xu is considered extremely

closetoXi.HeworkedwithXiin

the capital of Fujian province intheearly1990s,winningXi’spo-litical trust.SourcesinNewDelhisaidef-

fortsarebeingmadetoreachouttoXu,who is said to be keepinga close eye on the situation onthe LAC. Indian diplomats andthe defence advisor in Beijingwill be reaching out to him andotherkeymembersof theCMC.Sources said that after the

meetingof theworkingmecha-nism of diplomats on June 24and Army Corps Commanderson June 23, it became clear thatthetalksattheselevelswerenotgoingtobeenoughtoresolvethesituation.Moreover,eachside,inpublic statements, has put theonusontheother.Sourcessaida“politicalinter-

vention at the top is theneedofthehour” tobreak thedeadlock—andoneneedstoengagewithleaderswho can take decisionsat thehighest level.The outreachwill also be to

the othermembers of the CMC,including Defence MinisterGeneralWeiFenghe.

Delhi asks its envoy to open talkswith China’s topmilitary body

Pompeo: USreviewing globaldeployment offorces to counterChina’s Army

RandeepSurjewala

J P Nadda

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

THE SUPREMECourt on Fridaycleared the Central Board ofSecondaryEducation's(CBSE)de-cision to cancel the remainingBoard examinations for Class XandXIIstudents,scheduledinJuly,in viewof theCovid-19 situationand approved its scheme to in-stead award studentsmarks onthebasis of the exams theyhavealreadytaken.According to the scheme, re-

sults of studentswhohave com-pletedexaminationinallsubjectswill be declared based on theirperformance. Out of 12.66 lakhClassXII students in CBSE-affili-atedschools,aboutone-thirdhadfinished their exams before theCovid-19disruption.For students who have ap-

peared formore than three sub-jects, average of themarks ob-tained in three best-performingsubjectswillbeawardedforsub-jectswhose examinations havenotbeenheldyet.Theschemealsosaysthatstu-

dentswhohaveappearedinonlythree subjects, averageofmarksin twobest-performing subjectswillbeawardedforpaperswhoseexamshavenotbeenconducted.Themajority of the examinees,who were going to appear forBoardexamsinJuly,belongtothecategory of students who hadcompletedthreeormorepapers.TheBoardtoldthecourtthere

are“veryfewstudentsofClassXII,mainlyfromDelhi,whohaveap-peared in the examinations inonly one or two subjects”, and

“their results will be declaredbasedonperformance in theap-pearedsubjectsandperformancein internal/practical project as-sessment”.Thereareabout2,300suchstudents.Inadraftnotificationdrawnup

on Thursday – a copywas pre-sented to thecourtFriday–CBSEstated“thesestudentswillalsobeallowedtoappear intheoptionalexaminationsconductedby”it“toimprovetheirperformance,iftheydesiretodoso”.Their“result...willalsobedeclaredalongwithotherstudents,”itstated.Sourcessaidst-udentswill haveat least tendaysnoticefortheoptionalexams.The bench of Justices A M

Khanwilkar,DineshMaheshwariand Sanjiv Khanna, which pe-rused the draft presented bySolicitor General TusharMehta,approved it andpermittedCBSEtoissuethenotification.The courtwashearing aplea

seekingcancellationofCBSEandCISCEexamsscheduledinJuly.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE26

MAHARASHTRACHIEFMinisterUddhavThackerayFridaysaidthestategovernmenthasdecidednottoconduct finalyearandfinal se-mester exams for non-profes-sional andprofessional courses.Thackeray has also written toPrimeMinisterNarendraModi,re-questinghimtoinstructapexbod-ies to cancel final year/ semesterexamsof professional courses inviewofthecoronavirusoutbreak.In the letter to thePM,dated

June25,Thackeraysaidconsider-ingthecurrentsituation,thestateDisasterManagementAuthority,in ameetingon June18, decidednottoconductfinalyear/semesterexamsofnon-professionalaswellasprofessionalcoursesandawarddegreestostudentsbasedonafor-

mulatobedecidedbyuniversities.Sinceprofessional courses in

thestatecollegesareregulatedbyvariousnational-levelapexcoun-cils,whicharethefinaldecidingau-thorityinmattersofexaminations,Thackerayappealed to thePMtoinstructthem“toendorsethedeci-sionofthestategovernment”.“The present atmosphere is

not conducive for conductof anyexaminationsandclasses.Further,conductingexaminationsamidstexistingpandemicmayproveanenormoustaskforthedistrict/mu-nicipaladministration,examiningauthorities, besides studentsandparents,”theletterstates.The apex bodies includeAll

IndiaCouncil of Technical Educ-ation,CouncilofArchitecture,BarCouncilof India,NationalCouncilofTeacherEducationandNationalCouncilforHotelManagementandCateringTechnology.

Uddhav says Maharashtrawon’t hold final exams forany course, writes to PM

Kolkata: The West Bengalgovernment on Friday an-nouncedthecancellationofthe pending Class 12 stateboardexaminations.“TheWBCHSEisprepar-

ing norms regarding theevaluation process of thesecancelled examinations,which will be advertised,”state Education MinisterParthaChatterjee said. ENS

SC clears CBSEdecision to cancelClass 10, 12 exams

Bengal cancelspending exams

PMNRF donated toRGF, says Nadda

Lucknow

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,JUNE26

FORMERMADHYAPradeshCMKamalNath’snephewRatulPuri,who has been facing probes bycentral agencies in connectionwith the AgustaWestland dealandallegedbank loan fraud, hasnowbeenbookedbytheCBI inafresh case of loan fraud. The ac-cused includehis fatherDeepakPuriandmotherNitaPuri.A CBI team on Friday con-

ductedsearchesatmultipleprem-isesassociatedwiththePurifam-ilyandtheircompanyMoserBaer.Puriwas booked based on a

complaint fromPunjabNationalBankallegingfraudofoverRs787crore by Moser Baer Solar Ltd(MBSL).Lastyear,Puriwasbookedandarrested in connectionwiththeVVIP chopper scamcase andallegedRs354croreloanfraudonCentral Bank of India. He is cur-rentlyoutonbail. "ItwasallegedthattheaccusedhadcheatedthePunjabNationalBankledconsor-tiumcomprisingPNB(leadbank),SBI, EximBank, IndianOverseasBank,CentralBankofIndia,UnionBankofIndia,andBankofBarodatothetuneofRs787.25crore(ap-prox)bywayof diversionofbankfunds, shamtransactionsand in-flatedsecuritydepositsetc,”aCBIstatementsaid.

CBI spokesperson R KGaursaid searcheswere conductedatseven locations inDelhi, Noida,GhaziabadandAnnupur(MadhyaPradesh)atthepremisesoftheac-cused,includingdirectorsofMBSLand the company. He said thesearches led to “recovery of sev-eralincriminatingdocumentsanddigitalevidences”.Apart from the Puri family,

otheraccusedinthecaseincludeDeepak Khandelwal, RajeshKhandelwal,BernhardHermannGallus, Sunita Mowdgal andSanjay Jain. All are directors inMBSL. Puri’s lawyer VijayAggarwalrefusedtocommentonthedevelopments.According to CBI’s latest FIR,

between 2007 and 2013,MBSLavailed of loans of over Rs 950crore both for funding a powerproject and asworking capitalfromdifferent banks in the con-sortium.However,astheloansbe-camestressed,arestructuringex-

ercisewaslaunched.MBSL,how-ever, did not agree to the termsandconditionsofthedebtrestruc-turingin2016andaccordinglytheloansweredeclaredNPAs.Aforensicauditwasthencon-

ducted by the banks throughHaribhaktiandCoLLPwhichsub-mitteditsreportinJune2019.TheauditfoundthatinviolationofRBIrules,MBSLhadopenedaccountsoutsideof the consortiumbanksanddivertedrevenuethere.MBSL also invested Rs 696

crore in loss-makinggroupcom-pany Helios Photovoltaic Ltd(HPVL). Puri’s parents are direc-tors in the company. At the timeof the investment, the total assetvalueofthecompanywasRs455crore, indicating therewere nochancesof recovery,FIRhassaid.Irregularitieswerealsofound

in supplier advance andsale/purchase made byMBSL.Theaudit report found that44%of all purchasesmade byMBSLwere fromHPVL. “79.6%of suchpurchase from HPVL were ofmaterial thathadalsobeensoldtoHPVL. ...86.58%of sales (fromMBSL)toHPVLwereofmaterialalsopurchased fromSPVL.”Verification of sale/purchase

accounts showed theywerenotbacked by adequate evidence.“Thus fromtheabove it is crystalclear that all the above transac-tionswere sham transactions,”

theFIRhassaid.TheauditfoundthatMBSLhad

alsomadeaninterest-freesecuritydeposit of Rs135 crore toMoserBaer Indian Ltd for lease rentagreement. Thiswas found tobe“58.82 timeshigher thanagreedannualrental”.ThePNBcomplainthasalsoalleged the “primary se-curityofthelendersintheformofstockof finishedgoods,semi-fin-ished goods and rawmaterialhave also been fraudulently re-movedbyMBSLanditsdirectorsinordertopreventtheirdistribu-tionamongcreditorbankstosat-isfytheirdebts”.Puri had been booked last

AugustforallegedloanfraudandsubsequentlyfirstarrestedbytheEnforcementDirectorateinadra-maticfashion.FacingprobeintheAgustaWestland case, Puri hadbeencalledforquestioningbytheEDinJulylastyear.However,afterarriving at theEDoffice, Puri ex-cusedhimselftovisitthetoiletandneverreturned.Hethenappearedincourtseekinganticipatorybail.While the hearingswere on,

ED sent a reference on aCentralBankofIndialoanfraudtoCBIanda casewas registered. Based onthis,EDregisteredamoneylaun-deringcaseandarrestedPurievenas his bail hearing inAgustaWestland casewaspend-ing.HewaslaterarrestedagainintheAgustaWestlandcase.

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SAGARRAJPUTMUMBAI, JUNE26

YUSUF MEMON, the youngerbrotherof fugitivegangsterTigerMemon,diedduetoaheartattackatNashikRoadprisononFriday.Officials said the55-year-old,

whowasservingalifesentenceforhisroleinthe1993Mumbaiserialblasts, suffered a stroke around9.45 amanddied during treat-mentatthecivilhospitalinNashik.Accordingtojailofficials,Yusuf

was lodged in thehigh-securityAndacellwithhisyoungerbrotherEssainaneighbouringcell.“Hewastalkingtofellowin-

mates when he collapsed sud-denly.Hisbrotherandother in-mateswere around. As soon ashe fell down, we called the in-house doctors, who tried totreat him. But as his conditiondidnot improve,hewasrushedto the Nashik civil hospitalwhere he died,” said PramodWagh, jail superintendent.The body has been sent to

Dhulemedical college for post-mortem,followingwhich, itwillbe handed over to the family.“Doctors are expected to con-duct the postmortem earlySaturday. The family is on theirwaytoDhule,” saidWagh.Yusuf was arrested soon af-

terthe1993blastsandhadbeenlodged in different jails across

the state since then. Hewas atArthur Road jail inMumbai till2007 and was then shifted toAurangabad jail. From there, hewas transferred to Nashik Roadjail in2018.JailerAshokKarkar said, “He

suffered from amental illness(schizophrenia), for which hewas being treated by doctors inthe jail.”Yusuf was sentenced to life

imprisonmentbyaspecialTADAcourt in 2007 for his role in the1993 blasts that killed over 250people and injuredhundreds inMumbai.Hewasarrestedforlet-ting the conspirators use hishouse andgarage in the city.Hewas held guilty for conspiracyandabettingactsof terroralongwith threeothers–his brothersEssaandYakubandsister-in-lawRubina. Yakub, who was sen-tenced to death, was executedon July30,2015.

YusufMemon

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

THE SUPREME Court on Fridaystayed FIRs registered byWestBengal Police against editors ofnews portal OpIndia and gaveprotection from arrest to newsanchor Amish Devgan, whofacesmultipleFIRsoverremarksmadeduringaTVshow.The plea by OpIndia editor

NupurSharmawastakenupviavideo-conference by a vacationbench of Justices Sanjay KishanKaulandBRGavai.The petition pointed out

that West Bengal police hadregistered three FIRs againstOpIndiastaffersSharma,AjewtBharti andRahulRoushanoverreports on the website. It saidalthough other news outletsalso carried write-ups on thesubject, the police had singledout OpIndia, and the “authori-tarian Kolkata police" was us-ingregistrationof FIRsasanex-cuse to"intimidate journalists"in getting online content andreportscriticalof thestategov-ernment deleted.Thepolice evenquestioned

their familymembers, and de-spite repeatedrequestshadre-fused to supply thema copy ofthe FIRs, or to upload themonofficialwebsite, thepetition-ers stated.They stated that the state

governmenthas“blatantlymis-used”policepowersunderCrPCto"scuttlebonafideinstancesofjournalism", thereby violatingthe fundamental to freespeech.

Thepolicehadaskedthemtotakedowncertaincontent fromtheOpIndiawebsiteandTwitter,andwarned them of repercus-sions if they failed to do so, theplea said.They also pointed out that

thereisaregulatorymechanismto oversee internet content asper Section 69A of InformationTechnologyActandsoughtadi-rectionfromthecourttoexcludepolice in matters concerningdeletionof internet content.Devgan’s plea came up be-

fore a bench of Justices A MKhanwilkar and DineshMaheshwari, which directedthatnocoerciveactionshouldbetaken against himuntil the firstweek of July over FIRs for al-legedly hurting religious senti-ments.Thecourtalsostayedtheinvestigation in thematter.Devgan, an anchor with

News 18 India channel, had ap-proached the court seekingquashingof theFIRs.AppearingforDevgan,senior

advocate Siddharth Luthra toldthecourtthattheanchorhadal-readytenderedapublicapologyonthe issue,ashehadconfusednames. "Itwas unfortunate andhappenedintheheatof themo-ment,” he said and urged thecourt to consolidate the FIRsagainsthimindifferentstatesinthis regard.Luthra told the court that

FIRs have been filed againstDevgan in Rajasthan,MaharashtraandTelangana.AnFIR was also lodged in UttarPradeshagainstthreatsmadetothe journalist's life.

ADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JUNE26

ACRPFconstableandafive-year-old boywere killed in an attackby ISJK militants in SouthKashmir's Anantnag district onFriday,police said.Meanwhile, in Tral, three

Hizbul Mujahideen militantswerekilledinanovernightoper-ation by security forces, the po-lice said. They said that noHizbmilitants are now active in theareaforthefirst timeindecades.Regarding the incident in

Anantnag,officialssaidthatmil-itants attackedaCRPFpartyde-ployednearPadshahiBaghareain Bijbehara town. A CRPFspokesperson said that un-known militants on a two-wheeler fired upon the pa-trolling party of G/90 BattalionCRPF around noon. “One CT[constable]of 90battalionCRPFsustained bullet injury & at-tainedmartyrdom,”hesaid.TheCRPFmanwasidentified

as Shyamal Kumar Dey, hailingfromWest Bengal. The boywasidentifiedasNehanYawar,ares-ident of Machwa Yaripora inKulgamdistrict.IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar

said, “We have identified thekiller of aminorboyandaCRPFman.TerroristZahidDaasof ISJKoutfit is involved in today’s at-tackatBijbehara.Policehavereg-istered a case against him byname.” A J&K Police spokesper-sonstatedthattheyreceivedin-formation of “a terror crime in-cident in Bijbehara arearegardingwhere terrorists hadfiredonCRPFparty”.“Preliminary investigation

revealed that terrorists firedupontheCRPFparty,resultingininjuriestoaCRPFpersonnelanda minor boy. Both the injuredwere shifted to a nearby hospi-talfortreatmentwheretheysuc-cumbed to their injuries,” thespokespersonsaid.Ahealthofficialinsubdistrict

hospital Bijbehara told TheIndianExpressthattwopersonswerebroughtdeadatthehospi-tal. “They had bullet injuries ontheheadandchest,”hesaid.AccordingtoNehan’s family,

theboyhadgonewithhisfatherMohammad Yaseen, a govern-ment employee, and uncle toBijbehara, where the former isposted. “Nehan asked him (theuncle)tobringsomethingfromashop... Inbetween,anattacktook

place and Nehan suffered in-juries,” Nehan’s grandfatherMohammad Yusuf told TheIndianExpress.Regarding the incident in

Tral, IGP Kumar told The IndianExpress, “Three HizbulMujahideen terrorists werekilledtodayinTral.Withtoday'soperation, there is no Hizb ter-rorist intheTralareaactivenow.Ithashappenedforthefirsttimesince1989.”Police said the gunbattle

started Thursday evening inChewa Ullar village area ofAwantiporainTral,andwentonfornearly17hours. “In the... en-counter, 3 terroristswere killedand their bodieswere retrievedfromthesite...,”saidastatementby the J&KPolice.

ANJALIMARARPUNE, JUNE26

THE SOUTHWEST monsooncovered the entire country onFriday, completing its advancea fortnight earlier than itsnormaldate.MrutyunjayMohapatra, di-

rector general, IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said on Friday themon-soonhadreachedallpartsof thecountryagainstthenormaldateof July 8. This is only the thirdtimesince2011whenthemon-soonadvancewascompletedinJune. Between 2011-2020, theearliest advance was in 2013(June16)and in2018(June28).

Though the formationof cy-cloneNisargaintheArabianSeaposed a threat and had the po-tential to delay themonsoon'sprogress fromMaharashtra on-wards, itwasnotrealised.Thisisbecausefavourableweathersys-

temstookbirthsoonafterthecy-clonehit,aidingfurtherprogress.Themonsoon soon revived andmadeaswiftadvanceoverpartsofGujarat,MadhyaPradesh,eastUttar Pradesh and covered cen-tral Indiaontime."The formation of a low-

pressure area over the Bay ofBengal, which moved west-northwestwards along with acycloniccirculationovercentralIndia, helped in the advance ofthemonsoon," saidMohapatra.SinceitstimelyonsetonJune

1,therainfallhasbeenrelativelygood andwell distributed thisseason so far. Quantitatively, 31out of the total 36meteorologi-cal sub-divisions in the countryidentifiedbyIMDreceivedrain-

fall ranging between normal tolargeexcess.Barring Himachal Pradesh,

Uttarakhand, Mizoram,Manipur, Tripura and TamilNadu,theremainingstateshaverecorded rainfall between nor-mal to largeexcess thismonth.From the time themonsoon

makesitsonsetoveraregion,thewindowforkharifsowingopensand continues for the nextmonth.On kharif sowing this year,

the IMD chief said, "June is themainsowingwindowformajorpartsofthecountry,exceptsomeareas in west Rajasthan. Thisyear, theremay not be anyma-jor impact on sowing and therainso farwill bebeneficial."

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JUNE26

A 32-YEAR-OLD software engi-neer living on the outskirts ofHyderabad has allegedly com-mittedsuicidefollowingharass-mentbyherhusband.In the last video she up-

loaded on social media, thewomansaidsheendured“phys-ical andmental torture” by herhusbandforseveralmonthsbe-cause she loved him. She thenadded that “he is having affairswithotherwomen”andthatsheis taking “this finaldecisionduetoall these reasons”.Her family has, however, al-

leged that her husband M

Venkatesh, a senior pilot withTruJetAirlines, strangulatedherandhungherbodyuptomakeitlook likeacaseof suicide.On June 25 evening, the

woman, a senior softwareengi-neerwith anMNC, posted sev-eral messages on social media,narrating the harassment shewasbeingsubjectedto.Shewaslater found dead at their resi-denceinShamshabad.Inthelastvideo she uploaded, she said,“For several months I enduredhis physical andmental torturebecause I loved him a lot. Butnow I cannot accept it anymorethat he is having affairs withother women and makes itknowntome.WhyshouldI lovehimandwhyshould I live? I am

taking this final decision due toall these reasons.”Police have also released a

September 2019 CCTV footagefrom the housewhere the cou-ple lived earlier. The footageshowsVenkateshbeatingupthewomanastheirdogtriestopro-tecther.Thewoman’sfatheraccused

Venkatesh of killing her. “Ourson-in-law is having an affairwith another woman. He wasangrythatevenaftereightyearsofmarriage,theycouldnothaveachildandblamedmydaughterfor that. He had been harassingher physically for months butshe told us only recently. I don’tbelieve she committed suicide.Venkatesh killed her and hung

herbodyfromthefantomakeitlook likesuicide,’’ he said.Rajiv Gandhi International

Airport Police Station InspectorVijay Kumar said investigationhadrevealedthatVenkateshwashaving several affairs. “He is inrelationshipswithotherwomeninHyderabad andChennai. Thecouple married in 2012.Thereafter, Venkatesh had losthisjobandhiswife’sfamilytookcareof theirrequirements.ThenhegotajobasapilotwithTruJetandwas earning about 7 lakh amonth. Hewas upset that theycould not have children andstarted physically abusing hiswife.He torturedher everyday.We have taken him into cus-tody,’’ Kumarsaid.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE26

A SPECIAL court on Friday re-jected the interim bail applica-tionsof81-year-oldwriter-poetVaravara Rao and 61-year-oldformer professor Shoma Sen,whoarebehindbarssince2018in the Elgaar Parishad case.Both Rao and Sen had sought

interim bail citing their illhealth and susceptibility toCovid-19.The National Investigation

Agency (NIA),whichhadtakenover the probe from the PunePolice earlier this year, had op-posedthepleasstatingthatsincetheyhavebeenchargedundertheUnlawful Activities (Prevention)Act, there was no provision tograntthemtemporarybail.

5-year-old, CRPF man killed inmilitant attack in J&K’s Anantnag

Supreme Court staysFIRs against OpIndiaeditors, gives anchorprotection from arrest

Tortured by husband for not conceiving,32-year-old techie hangs self, say police

Southwest monsoon covers entirecountry two weeks before normal date

In JaipuronFriday. Rohit Jain

Securitypersonnelat thesiteof themilitantattack, inAnantnagonFriday. ShuaibMasoodi

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

THE SUPREME Court on FridayissuedanoticetotheJammuandKashmir administration on aplea by Mian Abdul Qayoom,presidentof J&KBarAssociation,challengingtheHighCourtorderupholding his detention underthePublicSafetyAct (PSA).Thepleawasheardviavideo-

conference by a vacation benchof Justices Sanjay Kishan KaulandBRGavai,whichsought theadministration’s reply by thesecondweek of July when thecourt would reopen after sum-merrecess.Senior Advocate Dushyant

Dave, who appeared forQayoom,saidthepetitioneronlyhadwinter garments when hewasbroughttoTiharJail inDelhiand that given the currentweather conditions, he shouldbeallowedsummerclothing.Takingnote,thebenchasked

jailauthoritiestoensurethatap-propriate clothes and other es-sentials aremadeavailable.Qayoomhasalsosoughtadi-

rection to shift him to Srinagarcentral jail onmedicalgrounds.The high court on May 28

upheld his detention underthe PSA. Qayoom has said hewasdetainedonthenight inter-vening August 4 and 5, 2019,underprovisionsof JammuandKashmir Code of CriminalProcedure and PSA was im-posedonAugust7,2019.Hehascontended that the high courtorder is ex facie unsustainableinlawasit ispremisedon“stale,irrelevant, remote, vague, im-precise and deficient” groundsof detention.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA, JUNE26

THEDAHODpoliceisinvestigat-inganallegedcaseofsuicideofagirl(15)andaboy(17)whowerefound hanging from a tree inBaina village of Devgadhbariatalukaof thedistrict.The bodies of the minors

werediscoveredbythevillagerson early Fridaymorning near alake in the village. According tothe police, they had received acomplaint from the girl's fatheron Thursday. alleging that theboy had abducted her and fledfromthevillage.The bodieswere discovered

when the police investigationinto the alleged abductionwasunderway. Preliminary investi-gations hinted at an alleged re-lationshipbetweenthe two.Sanjay Patel, assistant sub-

inspector at Devgadhbaria po-

lice station, said, "As per pre-liminary investigations, theirrelationship was not acceptedby their respective families,which is why they may havetakenthisextremestep.Nosui-cide note was recovered fromthe spot.""As per initial autopsy re-

ports, both of themdied due toasphyxiation by hanging.However, we are still awaitingthefinalautopsyreports.Wearealso interrogating their familymembers and investigating ifthere could be any kind of foulplay in the case.We are tracingwhere theyhad fled to fromthevillageandwhentheyreturned,"Patel added.Acaseofaccidentaldeathhas

been registered at theDevgadhbariapolicestationandfurtherinvestigationsareunder-way. The bodies of theminorswerehandedovertotherespec-tive familiesafterpostmortem.

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JUNE26

THE MADHYA Pradesh HighCourt has granted bail to an ac-cused in amolestation case un-der sections of POCSOAct afterhe offered to become a “coronawarrior”andalsoplantasaplingandnurture it.JusticeAnandPathakdirected

that the accusedplant a saplingand fence it. “He shall plantsaplings/treespreferably6-8feetsothattheywouldgrowintofull-fledged tree at anearly time. Forensuringcomplianceheshallsub-mitphotographsofplantationbe-fore the concerned trial courtalongwithareportwithin30daysfromthedateofrelease,’’readstheorderpassedonWednesday.Charged under Section 354

of IPC and Sections 7/8 of thePOCSOAct, the accusedwas ar-rested on January 22. The courthasaskedtheaccusedtosubmitthe report before the trial courton the firstdayof everymonth.The court said the accused

can choose any place and willhave to bear the cost of treeguardor fencing.Seeking bail, the accused

had given an undertaking thathe would not get involved inany criminal activity, becomeabetter citizen, cooperate withthe trial, not harass the victimand notmove in the vicinity ofthe prosecutrix. The accusedsaid hewants to becomea “co-ronawarrior”,performcommu-nity service and serve the na-tional cause by contributing tothePMCARES Fund.The government advocate

hadopposed theplea.

Threekilled inencounter,nomoreHizbulMujahideenmeninTral, saypolice

1993 blasts convictYusuf Memon diesin Nashik prison

Court rejects interim bail pleaof Varavara Rao, Shoma Sen

SC seeks UTreply on J&KBar chief’s pleaover detention

Bail for POCSOaccused afterhe offers to becorona warrior,plant a sapling

2 minors found hangingfrom tree, say police

18-YR-OLD INJUREDIN FIRINGBYPAKTROOPS ALONG LOCJammu: An 18-year-oldwomanwas on Friday in-jured in small arms fire byPakistani troops along theLoCinJammuandKashmir’sPoonch,thepolicesaid.NaziaKouser of Mandhar inShahpur Kirni sector wasgrazingcattlewhenhit. Shewas rushed to the districthospital. In Rajouri andPoonch,threeIndiansoldiershavebeenkilledinPakistanifiring along the LoCduringthepastfortnight.ENS

RatulPuri

CBI books Ratul Puri over‘Rs 787-crore loan fraud’

Lucknow

ANJALIMARARPUNE, JUNE26

THE COLLECTIVEwater stock in 123 reser-voirs monitored by the Central WaterCommission(CWC)is56.72billioncubicme-tres(BCM)asof June25.Thisis33%oftheto-tal capacityof all thesedams,171.09BCM.The current stock is almost twice that of

June 2019 (29.16 BCM), and alsowell abovethe ten-year average storage of all thesedams (33.21 BCM). Asmany as 104 of thereservoirsholdwaterthatisover80%ofwhatisnormal for thisperiod.This additional storage is now a buffer

stockas themonsoonseasonenters July.

Last year’s rain helped“Thewaterreservesareinahealthyposi-

tion this yearmainlydue to theexcess rain-fall that the country received last season.Besides, themonsoonwithdrawalwas alsodelayed,” said Rakesh Kumar Gupta,Member,DesignandResearch, atCWC.Last year, the country-wide rainfall was

110%oftheLongPeriodAverage.Thissurplusrain left dams at optimumcapacity, forcingdischargemanytimesduringthemonsoon.Couldthelockdownhavehadaroleinthe

wateraccumulation?While it is truethat thelockdown fromMarch25 throughMay sawverylittlehumanactivity—especiallyinfacto-ries and industries that are themain con-sumersofpower—thereisnoevidencetolink

thistothewatersituation.“Thedamswereinagoodpositionsincelastmonsoon.However,wecannot link theconsumption (loworreg-ular)withCovid-19situation,”Guptasaid.

The distributionAtleast88reservoirshavehigherstocksas

compared to June last year. In theCentral re-gion,thecollectivestoragestoodat17.21BCMagainst 9 BCM at this time last year. In theWesternregion,thestockis12.13BCMagainst3.56 BCM last year. In the Southern region,reservoirshavestored13.05BCM,givingthemdouble the reserves theyhad in June2019. IntheNorth,water reservesareat7.23BCM,upfromwas 6.87 BCM. In the East, the currenstockis7.11BCMasagainst3.12BCMlastyear.

Almost all river basins — Ganga, Indus,Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Sabarmati, Cauvery,Krishna,Godavari,Mahanadi—haveabove-normalreserveswhereasriversintheSouthhavenormalwater stocks.

The projectionTheIndiaMeteorologicalDepartmenthas

forecastanormalmonsoon.So,if thereisgoodrainfall, both spatially and temporarily, thereservoirpositionwillremainhealthythroughthe season.Withmost regionsmaintainingstocksbetween25-40%of capacity in June it-self,theseason’swaterreservesinmajorpartsof thecountryshouldbelargelywellmanage-able. The country has received 22% rainfallabovenormal, ason June26.

STATUSREPORTAs percentage of live capacity at full reservoir level

■ June25,2020 ■ June2019 ■10-yearaverage

STORAGE STATUSHow full are reservoirs(percentage of capacity)

Current Last 10-yryear avg

NORTHERNREGION(HimachalPradesh,Punjab,Rajasthan)8reservoirs38 36 29

EASTERNREGION(Jharkhand,Odisha,WestBengal,Tripura)18reservoirs37 16 19

WESTERNREGION(Gujarat,Maharashtra)42reservoirs34 10 17

CENTRALREGION(UttarPradesh,Uttarakhand,MadhyaPradesh,Chhattisgarh)19reservoirs39 20 19

SOUTHERNREGION(AndhraPradesh,Telangana,Kerala,Karnataka,TamilNadu)36reservoirs25 12 18

ALLINDIA123reservoirs57 29 33

*LivestorageasofJun25,2020.Checksmeanthatcurrentfiguresarehigherthanlastyear’s&10-yraveragefiguresforcorrespondingperiod.

RIVER BASINS, TOP& BOTTOM3Percentagedeparture from10-yraverageSabarmati 158.70Tapi 124.16Mahanadisystem 121.19Indus 22.14Mahi 5.38West-flowingriversof South –3.33

19

MOSTRESERVOIRS AT80%+

123

104 OUTOF thecountry’s123reservoirs, thestorage in104onJune25,2020wasmorethan80%ofnormal for thisperiod

OFTHE remaining19reservoirswherestoragewasbelow80%,only9hadstoredbelow50%while theremaining10hadbetween50%and80%.

Source:CWC

Healthy stock in reservoirsFACT CHECK, GROUND REALITY

India’smajorreservoirshavetwiceasmuchwateras lastyear,andmuchmorethanthe10-yearaveragestorageforthis timeof theyear.A lookathowitstoredup,andwhattoexpect fortherestof themonsoon

GobindSagar

264029

RanaPratapSagar

442332 Tilaiya

27

016

Maithon

61

1430

Hirakud

51

1211

Salandi

655431

Kangsabati

543329

Gumti

503043

Ukai

42

319

SardarSarovar

352010

Parambikulam

19 1525

Aliyar0 0

32

Mettur

62

1528

Idukki

301425

Tungabhadra

7 218

Ghataprabha

191 6

Bhadra

2713 23

LowerManair

391722

NagarjunaSagar

21016

Srisailam

11 10 9

Mahanadi

46

1622

IndiraSagar

192310

Tawa

16 720

GandhiSagar

57

016

Tehri4 1 6 52

29 25

Rihand

2712 12Matatila

13 7 24

Pench

70

016

UpperTapi

18017

Isapur

37

018

Thein

545449

Pong

393423

Ramganga

9

10TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 4,90,401 (15,301 DEATHS)

1,47,741Maharashtra

70,977Tamil Nadu

16,296Rajasthan

12,596MP

20,193 UP

73,780 Delhi

29,520Gujarat

15,648West Bengal

12,463Haryana

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

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

11,364Telangana

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,June26.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.2,85,637PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN35STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 59AndhraPradesh 10884ArunachalPradesh 160Assam 6321Bihar 8473Chandigarh 423Chhattisgarh 2452DadraandNagarHaveli 155Goa 995HimachalPradesh 839JammuandKashmir 6549Jharkhand 2262Karnataka 10560Kerala 3726Ladakh 941Manipur 1056Meghalaya 46Mizoram 145Nagaland 355Odisha 5962Puducherry 502Punjab 4769Sikkim 85Tripura 1290Uttarakhand 2691

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

COVID-19SHARESnumberof symp-toms with the common flu.Researchers are now developing anewsensorthatcantellthedifferencebetweenthetwoillnesses— andtestforbothsimultaneously.A dual test improves on current

optionsinseveralways.It’smorecon-venient for patients who wouldn’thavetogetmultipletestsdone. Italsosaves time for medical personnelwhenresourcesarestretched.Adualtest would also reduce the usage ofnasal swabs–sinceoneisneededforeach Covid-19 or in-fluenza test – amid ashortageof equipment.The sensor is being

developed at theCockrell School ofEngineering, Universityof Texas at Austin. DejiAkinwande, a professorin the department ofelectricalandcomputerengineering,recentlyre-ceived a grant from theUS National ScienceFoundation for thework, theuniver-sitysaidinastatement.Theyhavede-veloped a prototype device and are

beginning theexperimentalprocess.The sensor is the size of amicro

USBdriveandisinfusedwithantibod-ies of both Covid-19 and influenza.Onepartofthedeviceissensitiveonlyto the flu,while another partwill re-

act only to the coron-avirus.Theteamhasnotdeterminedyethowthetest would be con-ducted, but it could bedoneviasalivasamples.The researchers are

planning touse inactivesamplesofCovid-19andinfluenzaforinitial test-ing of the device, andtheywill measure howwellthesensorconnectswith the coronavirus’s

spikeproteins,whichhelpitenterhu-mancellsbybindingwith them.

Source:Universityof TexasatAustin

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

490,401India

239,706Italy

217,724Iran

310,836United Kingdom

259,064Chile

247,905Spain

2,425,814US

1,228,114Brazil

268,602Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED:9,654,269 DEATHCOUNT:490,632Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJune26. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealth

Ministry’stally(below)maynotmatchastheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD619,936Russia

A sensor for flu & Covid at thesame time; can tell difference

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

TUSHARBHADURINEWDELHI, JUNE26

FROMINITIALLYinsistingthattheOlympicswould be held on the originally stipulateddateswith theusual pompandpageantry,Japan had to agree to an unprecedentedone-yearpostponement.AndnowwiththeCovid-19 pandemic refusing to go awayanytimesoon, theorganisershaverealisedthat the onlyway the Gamesmay be heldin2021couldbe if theyarescaleddowntokeepcostsandhealthhazards incheck.Thisvisionof a “simplified”Olympics–

to use the description by Tokyo GovernorYuriko Koike – includes doing awaywiththe one-year countdown to the revisedGames, scheduled for July 23 to August 8nextyear,scalingdownof theopeningandclosingceremonies,andreducingthenum-berof spectators.Theorganisers intendtotesteveryath-

lete, coach, official and spectator. Also, themovement of everyone involved in theGames, inwhatevercapacity, is likely tobeconsiderably restricted.Allthesemeasuresbecomeallthemore

crucial as the International OlympicCommitteehas said theGameswill notbe

postponed again, but will be cancelled iftheyarenotheld in July-Augustnextyear.

The 1948 precedentThecurrentpandemicisconsideredthe

world’s biggest common challenge sinceWorldWar II. In the aftermath of that, too,the1948LondonOlympics—andsports—helped theworldbounceback, andplayedamorale-boosting role.Onekeydifference is thatTokyohadal-

readymadearrangements foragrandedi-tionoftheGamesandwillnowhavetoscalethemdown, but London 1948 couldn’t af-ford the expenditurewhen theworldwasrecovering fromthewar.SeveralpartsofLondonwerestillwear-

ing a dilapidated look from the bombingstheyhad suffered. Therewas a shortage ofmostprovisionsandstrictrationingofdailynecessities for citizens.IncontrasttotheGamesVillagesetupat

Tokyo Bay, themale athletes in 1948werehousedatRoyalAir Force campswhile thewomenstayedat colleges.As The Guardianwrites: “Not onlywas

there no newOlympic stadium, therewasnonewvelodrome,aquaticscentreorhand-ball arenaeither.Norwas thereapurpose-builtOlympicvillage…Theorganisers laid

onbeddingbut asked contestants to bringtheirowntowels.”They even convertedWembley into an

athletics stadiumbyputting800tonnesofcindersoverthegreyhoundtrack.Nowon-der the 1948 Olympics were called the‘AusterityGames’. Itwashard for even theBritishathletestogetthefoodtheyneededforoptimalperformanceintheirdisciplines,whichmay partly explain the host coun-try’smeagrehaulofthreegold,14silverandsix bronzemedals. Many teams broughttheirownfoodto theGames.

But the Games are today rememberedforthefeatsofFannyBlankers-Koen,the30-year-old Dutchmother of two, whowonfourgoldmedals,andCzechoslovakia’sEmilZatopekwhotookhomethe10,000mgold.ForIndia,competingattheOlympicsas

an independent country for the first time,the highlight was their fourth successivehockey gold medal – that too defeatingBritain, their erstwhile rulers, in their ownbackyard.ButtheGames—featuring59countries,

withdefeatedpowers JapanandGermanykept out and the SovietUniondeclining toparticipate—alsobroughtpeoplesomere-lief amid their post-war struggles. TheGuardianwrites that the 1948 Olympicsevenmanaged a profit of almost £30,000,something unthinkable in the present ageof ballooningbudgets.

Preparations compromisedUnderstandably, the state of battle-

readinessthatOlympic-boundathletesareexpectedtobe inwas lacking in theBritishteam. For one, the equipment required forelite trainingwas largelyabsent, andsomeof it was donated from overseas. TheGuardian recalls that Canada gave a “cou-pleofplanksofspringypine”forthediving

boards.Accordingtoolympic.org,Denmarkdonated160,000eggsandtheNetherlands100tonnesof fresh fruit.The Indian Express got in touch with

katherinegreen.co.uk;Greenin2012hadgotin touchwith several of the then survivingBritishsportspersonsfrom1948.Thesourceprovided oral histories that highlight thesituation back then. The projectwas donein the lead-up to the 2012 Games, whenLondonhosted theOlympicsagain.GeorgeWeedon,aBritishgymnastwho

finishedwell down the rankings, recalledthat the training sessions didn’t quite re-semble the competition that onewas ex-pectedtoface. “Wedidn’thavecrashmats,only coconut mats. At the back of yourmind,youdidn’tgoflatoutbecauseyoujustthought ‘Am I going tomake it?’”Weedontold theproject.Hepassedaway in2017.FellowgymnastAudreyBeever,then15,

remembers the facilities on offer: “It wasthe recovering process after thewar, andtherewereno roomsavailable, no appara-tus…” But therewas an air of excitementamong the people. “Whenwe travelled tothe various places where we had to re-hearse, we used to have hordes of peoplerunning after us for autographs,” Beevertoldkatherinegreen.co.uk.

British high jumper Dorothy Tyler-Odam is the onlywoman towin Olympicathletics medals before and afterWWII.“Myhousegotbombed.Ieventuallyjoinedthe air force (as a driver), because I didn’twanttodonothing.Youareworryingaboutyour husband, but you can’t worry all thetimeasthere’ssomuchgoingon,”Dorothytold theproject.Sheappreciatedthedistractionthatwas

provided by the 1948 Games. “It was likethe sun coming out after the dark days ofthewar. It was so uplifting for everybody.We had to stay at downtown boardinghouses. I do know that one Australianwomancomplainedaboutthefoodandwewereonrationing,” shesaid.

Takeaways for 2021Today,theworldismuchmoreintercon-

nected than it was in 1948. If the 2021Olympics do take place, it will not be justabout thesportingachievements.As Emil Zatopek had said at the end of

the1948Games: “Afterall thosedarkdays– thebombing, thekilling, the starvation–the revival of theOlympicGameswas as ifthe sun had come out... Suddenly therewerenofrontiers,nomorebarriers, justthepeoplemeeting together.”

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

Prototypeofsensorbeingdeveloped.Source:UniversityofTexasatAustin

FannyBlankers-Koenwonfourgoldsat theLondonGames. olympic.org

TOTALRECALL

London 1948:WhenOlympic Games brought cheer after a crisis

Lucknow

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

USE THE PAUSECBSEdecisionwilleasestudents'anxieties.Adiscussionon

makingexamsystemmorebroad-basedandsensitiveisneeded

ENDINGTHREEMONTHSofuncertaintyforClassXandXIIstudents,theCentralBoardofSecondaryEducation(CBSE),onThursday,cancelledtheexamina-tions thatwere stalled inMarch because of the COVID-19 lockdown. TheBoardhad earlier decided to hold the examinations in the secondweek ofJuly.Butwiththecountry’sCOVIDgraphcontinuingtoriseaftertheendofthe

lockdown,parents’associationshadrequestedtheCBSEtoscraptheexams.TheDelhigov-ernmenthadalsoofferedthesamesuggestion.Butithastakenapetitionbyagroupofpar-entstotheSupremeCourt,andanudgebytheapexcourt,fortheCBSEtoenditsprevarica-tion.TheBoardhadinitiallytoldtheCourtthatitwouldgiveClass12studentstheoptiontoappearinexaminations“afterthesituationisconducive”ortakeanassessmentontheba-sis of their performance “in past three exams”. The SC rightly found the Board’s formulalackinginclarityandaskedittospelloutatime-frameforholdingtheexams—italsosug-gestedcancellingtheexams.TheCBSE’sdecision, thoughbelated, iswelcome.Thestudentswillnowbeassessedonaspecialmarkingschemethattakesintoaccount

anumberofscenarios,includingoneinwhichsomestudentscouldhavecompletedalltheirexams.Theschemealsooffers scope for internalassessment.And if studentsarenotsat-isfiedwith the results, basedon this system, they canopt for anexaminationwhichwillbescheduledlater.Suchcomplicatedmethodshavebeennecessitatedbytheemergencycreated by the pandemic. But the current situation also offers an opportunity to educa-tionalauthoritiestorethinkthecurrentboardexaminationsystem,whichbyallaccounts,seemstobeagrowingburdenonstudents.Muchhasbeensaidandwrittenonhowtheseexaminationshavereducedlearningtomemorisingmatterintextbooks.In2010,theCBSEdidmaketheClassXexamsoptional.Theywerereplacedwiththecontinuouscomprehen-sivesystemof evaluation(CCE)—aproblematicschemeonseveral counts.Therewasnoclarityonhowtoassessstudents.Anumberofstudiesunderlinedthattherewasnomech-anismtousetheevaluationstoascertainachild’seducationalgrowth.Teachersalsocom-plainedthattheprocessaddedtotheirworkload.Thischurnshouldhaveoccasionedfur-therengagementwiththecountry’ssecondaryandhighersecondaryexaminationsystemsandledpolicymakerstodebatesolutionsmorecreativethantheCCE.Instead,in2017,theCBSErevertedtotheoldsystemofboardexaminations forClassX.It’s a truismthat theboardexaminationshaveacquireddisproportionateweightage

in a student’s academic life. There is perhaps a case for staggering the exams tomakethemlessstressful.Moreimportantly, theimpassecreatedbythepandemicshouldleadto rethinkingonhowtomake theexaminationsystemmorebroad-basedandsensitivetodifferentkindsof learnersand learningenvironments.

THE BIHAR ARENAMasspolitics is set toreturn innewformsas thepoll seasonapproaches. Fornow, theOpposition looks far fromready

RECENTPOLITICALDEVELOPMENTS inBihar point to the impending re-turnofmasspolitics thathasallbutgoneintohibernationfollowingtheCOVID-19 outbreak. Assembly elections are due in the state later thisyear and the indications, thus far, are that the Election Commission islikely to staywith the schedule (October/November) despite the pan-

demic. It is only apt thatBihar,wherepolitics is the lifebloodof public life,will kickstartanelectionseasonthatwillwitnesspolls in large,electorallysignificantstates includingWestBengal, TamilNaduandKerala in thesucceedingmonths.Biharwill bevoting in thebackdropof theeconomicdistress followingCOVID-19and

the flaringof tensionson the India-Chinaborder. These issuesprovideanopportunity fortheOpposition to regroup and assert itself against the ruling BJP in theHindi heartland.However,thesignalsfromBihararehardlyreassuringfortheOpposition.TheRJD,themainpoleofnon-BJPpoliticsinthestate,hasnotceasedbeinginthethroesofaseverechurnandnowfaces the threatof an implosion—fiveof theparty’seightMLCshaverecently joinedtherulingJanataDal(United).SeniorleaderRaghuvanshPrasadSinghhasalsothreatenedtoresignfollowingreportsofarivalmeetingpartychiefTejashwiYadavaheadofjoiningtheRJD. Thesedevelopments bringTejashwiYadav’s leadershipwithin theRJD itself under acloudandstrengthenthevoiceswithintheOppositionalliance—JitanRamManjhi,UpendraKushwaha amongothers—against projecting himas its chiefministerial candidate. ThefactisthatwithLaluPrasadailing,TejashwiYadavhasseemedill-equippedtomountachal-lengetoNitishKumar,who,byallaccounts,maybefacingvoterfatigueafteralacklustrethirdconsecutiveterminoffice.Onpaper,theOppositioninBiharhasaformidablesocialalliancethatcancompetewiththeBJP-JD(U)-LJPcombine,but theabsenceof acharismatic figurelikeLaluPrasadmaylimit itspotential inmobilisingvoters.AstheRJDgrappleswithleadershipissues, theBJPispressingaheadwithpollprepa-

rations.HomeMinisterAmitShah’sdigitalJanSamvadrallyinearlyJunewas,byallmeans,the launch of the BJP election campaign and an experiment inmobilisation at a timewhenthenormsofsocialdistancingbarlargephysicalgatherings.Thiscost-effectiveex-erciseinpoliticalcommunicationmayhavesetthetoneforacampaignthatmakesheavyuse of social media platforms and tools and seeks to overcome the limits on physicaltravel andmeetings imposedbyapandemic that isyet to slowdown.

LETTER AND SPIRITTheHindujaundivided family isback in thenews,quarrelling

overapact tokeep its fortunesunited

WHENTHEPANDAVASbroughtDraupadihome,Kuntiwasathandto advise them to share and share alike.Modern interpreters ofmythremaingainfullyemployedasaconsequence,eternallyde-bating if it is a reference to polyandry, whichwas common insomecommunitiesinancienttimes.TheHindujabrothersnum-

beronelessthanthePandavasandwerefurtherdisadvantagedbytheabsenceofparentalguidance,buttheyapparentlyfollowedthenoblerinstinctsof theHinduundividedfam-ily.Theysignedaletterin2014,declaringthatassetsinthenameofonebrotherbelongedtoall, and thateachwouldappoint theothersexecutors.Ah, executors. Thatmeans that this letter is essentially awill, though it doesnot be-

ginwiththetraditionalhair-raisingphrase:“Sincelifeisuncertain…”ButIndianfamilieswill be Indian families, even if they offshore themselves in London.When life gets un-certain,amembersues.SrichandHinduja,headofthefamilyandownerofHindujaBank,toldacourt in2015that the letterdidnot representhiswishes.His brothersprotest that the familyhas alwaysbelieved that “everythingbelongs to

everyoneandnothingbelongstoanyone”,whichsoundslikeamaterialisticversionofthemottosofSwitzerlandandtheThreeMusketeers—“All forone,andoneforall.”Theideais tokeepwhatbelongstothefamilywithinthefamily.A lotof stuff belongs, includingafamily fortune of $11.2 billion and the ownership of valuable international brands likeGulfOil.Thefamily’scredoisdesignedfortheorderlytransmissionofproperty.Butiron-ically, if it spilled out of the family into society, it would echo the thoughts of anothergreat citizenof London,KarlMarx, andspell communism.

ShahAlamKhan

Onlysciencecancombatvirus.Scientificcommunitymustnotremainsilentontallclaims

problemis in theabsolutenessof curewhichthose likeRamdevclaim.His so-calleddrugsforCOVID-19claimtocure100percentpatie-nts.Thisistheflawandshouldraisearedflag.Theinabilitytoquestiontheirownassertioniswhatisproblematicwhenitcomestoalterna-tivesystemsliketheonepractisedbyRamdev.Thebeautyofscienceliesinitsabilitytoques-tion its ownhypotheses.Nothing is absolutein science.No allopathic drug claims to cure100percentpatients.Nosurgicalinterventionremains100percentfreeofsideeffects.Havingsaidthat, the“discovery”ofdrugs

for the treatment of COVID-19 byRamdev’sgroup is clearly indicating somethingmoreimportant vis-à-vis the current pandemic.BusinesseslikethePatanjaliconglomerateareeagerlylookingtocashinonthemarketwhichisripefortheintroductionofadrugorvaccinefor COVID-19. The fear that has engulfed theworld needs to be urgently doused. This ishappeningequallyvigorously inothercoun-triesaswell.According toa reportpublishedbytheAustrianInstituteforHealthTechnologyAssessment(AIHTA),atotalof155drugsand79 vaccines are currently being developedworldwide to combat COVID-19. These fig-ures imply that besides the humanitarianneed for a cure or vaccine for the dreadedvirus, theclearspacetoearnmoneythroughsuchcurativetoolsisupforgrabsandthishasbeen realised bymany. The crisis of capital-ism,asdescribedbyMarxacenturyago, isatitsbestduringthecurrentpandemic.Nowon-der,market forcesarepushingtheirbest footforwardtocombatthecrisisandemergevic-torious.Itisamatterofinvestigationhowmostcountrieswithasocialised(ifnotsocialist)sys-temof healthcare, likeNorway, Japan, IsraelandGermany,havedoneparticularlywell incontrollingthepresentpandemic.ThecaseinIndiaisdifferent.Intheabsence

of literacy, and in the presence of deeplyrooted traditions and religion, a large chunkofthepopulacefallseasilyformagicandgim-mickry.Beingaspecialistofbonecancers,Iamwitnesstomanypatientsbeingluredintoal-ternative systemsofmedicine for the “cure”of their cancers.Most, if not all, returnwithdisastrouscomplicationsanddiseaseprogres-

sion. The absence of a scientific temper andthepresenceofadeeplyreligioussocietycre-ates anappeal formagic andgimmickry, thenarrowcorridorinwhichplayerslikeRamdevoperate. Butmore painful than the noise ofdestroyersofscienceinIndia, isthesilenceofthescientificcommunitytothehubrisof theunscientific.Inthelastfewyears,theerosionofscience

has happened at a more rapid rate.Unfortunately, thishasbeenheraldedby theunscientific andunempirical rhetoric of thecurrent political leadership. Theprimemin-ister,Unionministers,sittingjusticesandevendoctors are on record quoting religious andtraditional jargon against established scien-tific facts. Interestingly, countries like China,KoreaandJapan,consideredleadersinscien-tific thinking, are alsodeeply traditional. It isimportantforustolearnhowtheykeeptheirscienceinsulatedfromtraditions.Despitethecurrent pandemic being born inWuhan,China, I have yet to see a claimof a ChinesemedicinecuringCOVID-19.China’sapproachtothepandemichasbeenasperthesetrulesofepidemiology,andhencescience.Even thoughCOVID-19 continues to rule

andruinourdailyworlds, itstilldoesnotgivethe right to the righteous of the land to pro-motecures,remediesandpreventionswhicharebeyondtherealmof theirunderstandingand operation. Prudence is the need of thehourandprudencecomesfromwisdom.Weneed to strengthen our healthcare systemwhich has been exposed like a bleedingwoundby theongoingpandemic. Thechaosandcomplexitywhichthecurrentpandemicbringstotheforecannotbedealtwithbytra-ditionormagic.Weneedsolidsciencetocom-batthevirus.Weneedtostrengthenourpres-ent,notdwell in thepast. Inhisbook, InLightofIndia,NobellaureateandauthorOctavioPazhassaidmodernisationcanonlybeginbybe-ingacritiqueofourpast.This pandemic has givenus a goldenop-

portunitytochoosemodernisation.

Thewriter isprofessor,DepartmentofOrthopaedics,AIIMS,NewDelhi.

Viewsarepersonal

As a scientist and anallopathic practitioner, Ihave no problem with theuse of Ayurveda,Homeopathy or otheralternative systems ofmedicine in the treatment ofdiseases. The problem is inthe absoluteness of curewhich those like Ramdevclaim. His so-called drugs forCOVID-19 claim to cure 100per cent patients. This is theflaw and should raise a redflag. The inability toquestion their own assertionis what is problematic whenit comes to alternativesystems like the onepractised by Ramdev. Thebeauty of science lies in itsability to question its ownhypotheses. Nothing isabsolute in science. Noallopathic drug claims tocure 100 per cent patients.No surgical interventionremains 100 per cent free ofside effects.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020 WORDLYWISEMostofusmustgeta jobbefore thirty, orspongeonourrelatives, andmany jobs canonlybegotby passinganexam.— E M FORSTERTHEEDITORIALPAGE

KhaledAhmed

NO MIDDLE GROUNDInPakistan,oppositionisontherun,but Imran’sownsideisweakening

PAKISTAN PRIMEMINISTER Imran Khan’sPakistanTehreek-e-Insaf(PTI)partyhadtodealwith a broken economywhen he came topowerin2018buthistroubleswerelatermag-nifiedbyhischarisma,ariseinpopularity,thatleft a lotof personaldevelopmentgaps inhisstrategy.Hewasaggressiveasa fastbowler, a“crusher”ascaptainwhogavenoquarterandknewno “middle ground”,whereas politicsthrivesoncompromiseandaccommodation.Almosttwoyearslater,hehashisopposi-

tionon the run, buthis partyhas split underpressure from natural calamities such asCOVID-19 and locusts. He damaged the sys-temwith the use of intemperate languagewhich in turn ruined the imageof his party-menwho lacked characterwhen it came tobearing up under pressure. Minister forScience and Technology Fawad Chaudhry,whowasbootedoutof his firstpostas infor-mationminister, has chosen to comeon TVandtellPakistanisabouttheinternalcollapseof theparty.Chaudhry stated that the PM had ap-

pointedasministers “weakpersonswho re-quireddictationforeverymatter,whichdam-agedPMImranKhan’svision”.Khanhadputtogethergovernments inonlytwoprovinces—PunjabandKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa—butinPunjabheneeded allieswhomheendeduptreatingnot toowell.Hisparty led theoppo-sitioninSindhbuthisadviceofaggressivedis-coursehasdiscreditedhisbadmouthinglieu-tenantstheretoo.Khan’sadvantagewasthathis twooppo-

nentparties,PakistanMuslimLeagueNawaz(PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),were on the run from the army and theNationalAccountabilityBureau(NAB)whichhuntsdownhisopponents.Socrippled ishisoppositionby theNAB that Pakistanwill notbeabletofindhisreplacementforalongtime.Afterlambastinghisalreadycomatoseoppo-sition,Khanhasalsomanagedtobooby-traphis ownpartywhile brandishing his cheap-shotworry-beadsinpublic.His over 50-strong cabinet is rivenwith

undergroundrivalriesamongministerswhoearlier favoured the partywith big financialhandouts, some of them advisers becausethey didn’t come through elections and arenow resented by partymen for their brazenincompetence. The infighting trio that hasmost come to the notice of theman on thestreet is:Ex-general secretaryof PTI JahangirTareen, Federal Minister for Planning,Development,ReformsandSpecialInitiatives,Asad Umar, and Foreign Minister ShahMehmoodQureshi.Khanneeded coalition partners in three

provinces:Punjab,Khyber-PakhtunkhwaandBalochistanwhile counting on their votes inthe National Assembly. Muttahida QaumiMovement-Pakistan (MQM-P), GrandDemocraticAlliance(GDA),PakistanMuslimLeague-Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ), BalochistanNationalParty(BNP)andBalochistanAwamiParty (BAP)—all of themare unhappywithhiminvariousdegreesfornotcarryingouttheconcessionshehadagreedtoandarethreat-

eningtojumpship.MoreandmorepoliticiansfromwithinthepartyareappearingonTVandcriticising him for allowing hisministers tospoil theirstandingintheirconstituencies.Khan’scharismaisfoldingup.Hisdefiance

oftheopposition—herarelyattendsthepar-liamentarysessionsanddoesn’ttalktotheop-positionleaders—isnolongeradmiredbythejoblesscommonmannowunderattackfromhunger and COVID-19. His foreign policy ofdefiancehassaggedafterhedumpedtheGulfArabsundertheinfluenceofTurkey’sErdoganandMalaysia’sMahathirMohammad; andIndiadidn’tmakepeacewithhimunderPMNarendraModi.Heiscalled“selected”insteadof“elected”

byanoppositionthatresentsthewayhisoth-erwisenonfunctionalministerskeepsubject-ing them to abusive language. The Pakistanarmy, thatheleanson, is feelingthepressurefromAfghanistanwhere it plays its cards onthebasisof therepeatedlyunreliableAfghanTaliban and their internationally abhorredpartners.On theotherhand, IndiahasmuchbetterrelationswithPakistan’sneighbours—Iran,theGulfandCentralAsia—thanPakistan.Unfortunately, Khan is bound to react

wrongly to the recent China-India scrap andriletheIndiansmoreagainsthisgovernment,not realising that the scuffle in Ladakhmaysoonbe tactfully resolvedby the twoneigh-bours involvedinbig-timebilateral trade.

Thewriter isconsultingeditor,NewsweekPakistan

His over 50-strong cabinet isriven with undergroundrivalries among ministerswho earlier favoured theparty with big financialhandouts, some of themadvisers because they didn’tcome through elections andare now resented bypartymen for their brazenincompetence.

ASSAM BANDHWORK IN BANKS and Central governmentoffices and normal life was completelyparalysed because of the 24-hour longbandh. Despite the government’s strongwarning, most of the officers did not turnupforwork.KRamamurthy, senioradvisorto thegovernor, saidnountoward incidentwas reported fromthe state.He said about70 protestors of the AASU and GanaSangram Parishad were arrested for pick-eting in frontof governmentoffices.Whilevehicular services were off the road, trainandairservicesweresuspendedfortheday.However,abombexplodedinBongaonyes-terdaykillingninepeople.

OIL AHOYOILHASBEENstruck for the first timeintheBay of Bengal. The petroleum ministerVeerendraPatilannouncedintheLokSabhathat the firstwelldrilledontheGodavari25structure, 25 km off the Andhra coast, hadshown a flow rate of 600 barrels a day. Healso disclosed that an offshore exploratorywell drilled near Port Blair in the AndamanIslandshadyieldedgasattherateof1.8lakhcubicmetresaday.

VIETNAM VS POL POTTHEVIETNAMESE FORCESwere reported tobebattlingguerillasoftheoustedCambodianpremierPolPotalongakeyroadneartheThai-

Cambodian border. The Thai MillitarySupremeCommander said that the fightinghas spilledover intoThailandasHanoi’s sol-diers tackled “anti-Communist” FreeKhmerguerillasnearthebordertownofBaanSangae.

YOUTH CONG FOR RAJIVEIGHTEEN LEADERSOF Youth Congress (I)and theNSUIwantRajivGandhi to takeovertheleadershipoftheYouthCongress(I). InanopenlettertotheCongress(I)PresidentIndiraGandhi they have expressed the view thatRajivGandhi is the fittest person to lead theorganisationafterSanjayGandhi.RajivGandhishould “come forward to showus the pathfromdarkness”, theysaid.

JUNE 27, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

INTHESPRINGof1991,DrGordonGuyattfromMcMasterUniversity, Canada, coined a term—EvidenceBasedMedicine(EBM). Insimpleterms,itistheconscientiousandjudicioususeofcurrentbestevidenceinmakingdecisionsinthe careof patients. In the last 30years, EBMhas formed the backbone of allmedical re-searchglobally.Anynewdrug,implantortech-niquehadtoundergoastandardisedprocessofscrutiny, evaluationandre-evaluationbeforeimplementation. EBM, thus,made sure thatmagicandchicanerywerekeptatbaywhenitcomestothecareof thesick.Unfortunately,theongoingCOVID-19pan-

demic has seen a sequential erosion of EBMacross theworld. Thehavocand fear createdby COVID-19 has led us into a dark abyss ofknowledgewhereitisassumedthatanythingrelatingwithacureforCOVID-19couldbeeas-ily researchedandpublished. Even themosthighly reputedmedical journals, like TheLancet, havenot laggedbehind inpublishingresearchwhich couldnot stand the scrutinyofEBM.AwebsitecalledRetractionWatchhasreportedatotalof22papersofCOVID-19be-ing retracted fromdifferent journals,world-wide,betweenJanuary-April thisyear.In this mayhem of fear and anxiety,

PatanjaliAyurvedLtdgroupinIndialaunchedtwoayurvedicmedicines,namelyCoronilandSwashirVati,andclaimedthatthetwodrugscan cure patients suffering fromCOVID-19.Although the UnionMinistry of Ayurveda,Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH)barred Patanjali fromadvertising andpubli-cisingthetwodrugs, inapressconference inHaridwar the owner of the group, Ramdev,claimed that the said drugs have treated 69percentCOVID-positivepatientsattheendofthreedaysofadministrationand100percentafter seven days of administration.Interestingly, the terminology used byRamdev was full of EBM jargon. He usedwords like “clinical case study” and “clinicaltrials”throughoutthepressconference,albeitwithoutmakingtoomuchsenseoftheusage.Asascientistandanallopathicpractitioner,

I havenoproblemwith theuseof Ayurveda,Homeopathyor other alternative systemsofmedicine in the treatment of diseases. The

A cure for COVID-19

Lucknow

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

“While officials are eager to pat themselves on the back and are marvelling atwhat they claim is the success of ‘smart lockdowns’ or achievement of ‘herdimmunity’, the celebrations are premature if not entirely unjustified.”

—DAWNTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

The situation in India is amirror reflection of, if notworse than, the world’scurrent scenario. How canwe forget the hauntingimages — of a child, fastasleep and clinging on to thesuitcase being dragged by hismigrant mother on foot totheir native village, or of atoddler trying to wake up hisdead mother lying on arailway platform? Whatwrong did the little souls doto deserve such hardships?

What Kabul needsDelhishouldplayanactiveroleinarticulatingandpromotingapeaceprocessinAfghanistan.Post-2001

constitutionalordercanbecomethebasis

THE “SHOCKANDawe”missionof theUSSpecial Envoy for Afghan Reconciliation,AmbassadorZalmayKhalilzad—especiallyhisopencall for India’sdirectengagementwith the Taliban—has created polarisingwaves in NewDelhi. The fact that hardlyanyonequestionedthepremiseofhispro-posalshowsthenewnormalinaTrumpianworld:AseniorUSdiplomatactsseeminglyas a lobbyist for an active UN-proscribedterroristorganisationinacountrythatseesPakistan’s use of militancy as a principalnationalsecuritythreat.Theproposalisbe-ing debated between proponents ofKhalilzad’s suggestion and sceptics argu-ing itsprosandcons for India.Evident in the justifications offered by

the proponents is the fatalism that atakeover by the Taliban is inevitable, andhence, theutilityofappeasingthenewvic-tor. Khalilzad’s proposal has also benefitedfroman entrencheddeference toWesternauthority/wisdom among a segment ofIndianpunditsandpolicy-makers.Ontheotherhand,thescepticsdrawat-

tention to the complexity andarduousna-tureof theAfghanconflictandtheneedforDelhi to stand its ground in supporting thepost-2001 constitutional order—anorderthatcanaccommodatetheTalibanasanon-violentpoliticalstakeholder.Thescepticsarenot against talkingwith the Talibanper se,but they see little value in engagingwith agroup that remains fully under Pakistan’stutelage, despitemassive propaganda toshowotherwise. In linewithDelhi’s statedpolicyofsupportinganAfghan-ledprocess,the sceptics recommend following theAfghangovernment'sleadinengagingwiththeTaliban.Khalilzad'smissionhas tobeevaluated

withinahistoricalcontext,includingtheUS’srecord andpriorities in SouthAsia, theUSelectoral politics and the personal back-groundandambitionofTrump,USSecretaryof StateMike Pompeo and Khalilzad. TheDoha agreement between the Taliban andtheUShaseffectivelychangedthestatusofthepost-2001constitutionalorderfrom“atthetable”toan“onthetable”newreality.Khalilzad’s colleague, former

Republican strategist Karl Rove’s descrip-tionofUSbehaviourcanshedlightonUS’scapacitytomanufactureanewrealitytosuitits interests: “We're an empire now, andwhenweact,wecreateourownreality.Andwhile you're studying that reality— judi-ciously, asyouwill—we'll actagain, creat-ingothernewrealities,whichyoucanstudytoo,andthat'showthingswillsortout.”Thisimperialentitlementisoftensupportedbyother elements. It is, therefore, unsurpris-ing that The New York Times published anOpEd by a keymember of an UN-desig-nated terrorist group, SirajuddinHaqqani— a piece that a former Director ofAfghanistan Intelligence alleged to havebeen partly drafted by a well-knownAmericanscholarofAfghanistanstudies.

If Israel is a key ally of theUS, and Iranthechief trouble-maker forWashington inWestAsia,Pakistanhasbeenbothan IsraelandanIranfortheUSinSouthAsia.Butun-likeWashington’s primordial hostility andobsessionwith Iran, Pakistanhas been thecentrepieceof theUS's SouthAsia engage-ment, despite occasional rhetorical admo-nitionandhalf-bakedsanctions.Months before the Soviet intervention

in1979,WashingtonjoinedPakistaninsup-porting theMujahideen in toppling theAfghan government through OperationCyclone. Days after the collapse of theTalibanregimeinlate2001, theUSallowedPakistan to airlift hundreds of its capturedtroopsfromNorthernAfghanistan.In2004,Pakistanwasrecognisedas“majornon-Natoally” of the US. Concurrently, majorAfghanistan-related political, security anddefence decisionsweremade to appeasePakistan’s concerns. These include down-sizing the Afghan National Security andDefenceForcestoaparamilitaryforce,pro-moting pro-Pakistan officials within theAfghan government anddefence/securitysectors, limiting India’s role to just a largeNGO,andprojectingtheTalibanasaninde-pendentnationalisticinsurgency.ReplacingthepoliticalorderoftheIslamicRepublicofAfghanistanwith the Islamic Emirate ofTalibanistheculminationoftwodecadesofPakistan’s strategic resolve,Washington’simperial hubris and naivety, facilitated byAfghans’ division andNewDelhi’s reluc-tanceandcomplacency.Afghanistanwillbeatpeaceifandwhen

thereareasetofthreemutuallyreinforcingpillars:Asustainablestatetoprovidedecentpublicgoodstoitscitizens;inclusivedemo-cratic governance; and a supportive envi-ronment to protect Afghanistan’s status asaconnectorofcompetingexternalinterestsratherthanabattlefieldforproxies.Acoher-ent peace process should be based on thefourpillarsofdevelopment,democracy,de-fence and diplomacy. Inclusivity has to berecognisedasacross-cuttingprinciple,cou-pledwithaprimaryroleforAfghanowner-shipandensuingAfghanresponsibility.InaCOVID-19-afflictedworldandwith

aloomingUSpresidentialelection,theafore-mentioned frameworkwould attract thechargeofnaivetyandidealism.However,thealternativewould result in anAfghanistaninpieces. TheAfghanistanof 1990sandto-day’s Syria, Iraq, LibyaandYemenarevividexamplesofmyopicandpartisanpolicies.Indiashouldplayanactiverole inartic-

ulatingandpromotingaprocessthatleavesAfghanistanatpeace.Despite its structuralflaws,thepost-2001constitutionalorderhasthe capacity and legitimacy tobecome thebasis for an inclusive peace process. Indiamustcomeupwith ideasandstructures inthefieldsofdevelopment,politics, securityanddiplomacy.SimilartoIran’stenacityandresolve in supporting the UN-recognisedSyrian government, India can and shouldchampion an inclusive,multifaceted andKabul-centricpeaceprocess.Despiteanad-venturist temptation, “Afghanistan inpieces”isanightmarish outcomeformanystakeholdersandeventhePakistanmilitaryestablishment.

Thewriter isdirectorof theAfghanInstitute forStrategicStudiesandaformer

seniorpolicyadviser intheMinistryofForeignAffairs

THECOVID-19PANDEMICisflaringupintoamass humanitarian crisis. Its foremost vic-timwillbe innocentchildrenwhohavehadtheir childhood stolen from them since thepandemicsurfaced.Evenwhen/if thehealthcrisis subsides, its ramifications in the formof economic depression would indirectlydent their developmental years for sometimetocome.This global threathasalsobeen flagged

in theUNICEF’s and the ILO’s combinedre-port — “COVID19 and Child Labour” —which forecasts that thenumberof peoplefacing extreme poverty could increase by40 to 60million this year alone. Due to theprobabilityof “reducedopportunities inthelabourmarket forparents”,millionsof chil-drenwill be at an increased risk of findingthemselves in exploitative and hazardouswork. In addition to this, the UN’s policybrief — “The Impact of COVID19 onChildren” — has observed that “hundredsof thousands of childrendeaths”would beadire consequenceof the economic reces-sion (the report also highlights the possi-bilityofunderestimatingthenumber).Thebriefhighlights that thedirect falloutof thepreventivelockdownpolicyhasbeenonthenutritional health of the 368.5 millionschool children in 143 countries —whereschools were shut due to the lockdown—whoreliedonschoolmealsasadailysourceof nutrition. While over two-thirds of de-veloped countries have adopted distancelearning, theparticipationrateamongstthelow-incomecountries isamere30percent.Limited access to high-speed internet andsparsepower supply are thebiggest deter-rents todistance learninginsuchcountries,directly impactingtheir literacyrateandthefuture bankof humancapital.ThesituationinIndiaisamirrorreflection

of, if notworse than, theworld’scurrentsce-nario.Howcanweforgetthehauntingimages—ofachild, fastasleepandclingingontothesuitcasebeingdraggedbyhismigrantmotheron foot to their native village, or of a toddlertryingtowakeuphisdeadmother lyingonarailwayplatform?Whatwrongdid the littlesoulsdotodeservesuchhardships?Acknowledgingtheadversitiesbeingin-

flicted on our future generation, Save TheChildren foundation conducted a surveyacross16stateswithover7,000respondentstoassesstheimpendingcatastropheunfold-ing inhouseholds.Of these, 62per centhada child whowas less than six years old athome. The survey found that knowledgeabout the virus was limited. For instance,only 26 per cent knew to stay away from aperson exhibiting coronavirus symptoms,therebyexposingthemselvesandtheirchil-dren to the risk of contracting the virus.Anotherpracticethatcanpotentiallyendan-gerthehealthofachildandvulnerablefam-ilymembers isneglectingWASHbehaviour—over50percentof thehouseholdsadmit-ted tonot cleaning their handsbefore feed-ing their child and after cleaning child exc-

reta,while5percentrespondentsresortedtounhygienic hand-washing. Although chil-dren are not severely affected by COVID-19(till now), evenmild illness could put theirfamily under financial distress, just like anunplannednationwide lockdownhasdone.Thelockdownlefthouseholds—income

fromlabourwork, salaries,wagesandcom-mission is theprimarysourceof income for60 per cent of households in the survey —struggling tomakeendsmeet.According tothe Centre forMonitoring Indian Economy(CMIE), themonthlyunemploymentrate inMaywas 23.49 per cent as against 8.74 percent inMarch.Whenconstructionactivitiescametoahalt,thedaily-wagelabourerswereforced todependon themercyof others forfood,whereas industrialworkershad to fallback on their savings. According to the sur-vey,70percentofhouseholdsreliedontheirpastsavingswhileover40percentofhouse-holdsavailed loansorsoldassets tomanagetheir home. The condition of such house-holdsmay not improve after the SupremeCourtheld thatnocoerciveactionwouldbetakenagainstprivatefirmsfornon-paymentofwagesduringthelockdown(FicusPaxPvtLtd vs Union of India, June 12). It added thattheemployerandemployeemustnegotiateamongst themselves issues regarding pay-mentofwages,allowingexploitationofsuchemployees at the hands of private firms. Inreturn,thereducedandrestrictedsourcesofincome andunemploymentwould compelparents toengagetheirchildren in labour—the surveynoted that 22per cent of house-holds had children working at or outsidetheirhome,withurbanhouseholds record-ingworseperformance thanruralones.Thereisaclearcorrelationbetweenlim-

itedhouseholdincomeandavailabilityofra-tionathome.Asestimatedbythesurvey,72per centof householdshadpartial ornoac-cess toessential food itemsduring the lock-down.Half of theurbanhouseholds and27per cent of rural householdshad food suffi-cienttolast for lessthansevendays.Theun-availabilityof foodhasacleardominoeffectonthehealthofchildrenandhasbeenwors-ened due to the inefficient service deliveryof take-home rations (THR) andmid-daymeals under the Integrated ChildDevelopment Schemes.While only 17 per

centofhouseholdswereabletoaccessTHR,theshuttingdownofschoolsdeprived43percent of households themandatedmid-daydeals. Keeping inmind that presently Indiahas37.9percentchildren(underfiveyearsofage)stuntedand20.8percentchildren(un-derfiveyearsofage)wasted—bothpercent-ages being the highest in developing coun-tries, such numbers portray a poverty andhunger-stricken future forournation.InMarch-Aprilalone,“CHILDLINE1098”

respondedto4.6lakhcalls,displayingthese-riousness of the problems facing children.While30percentof thesecallswererelatedtopandemic-inducedproblemsof shortageof foodandtransport,9,385callsreceivedbyfrontlineworkers were requests related tochildlabour,trafficking,abuseandchildmar-riage. As the economic slowdownbecomesmoresevere,andinvoluntarypovertyunrav-els, suchdistresscallswouldunsurprisinglybecomerampant—perfectly seasoning thedishof disasterwaitingatourdoorsteps.Beforethingsgetoutofhand,thegovern-

mentandcivilsocietymustgetintotopgeartoprotectunderprivilegedfamiliesandtheirchildren fromstarvation. There is anurgentrequirement to putmoney in the hands ofthe impoverished to support them duringthe pandemic. This has been the refrain oftheNobellaureateAbhijitBanerjee.Further,thegovernmentmusttightentheimplemen-tationof itscriticalschemesrelatedtonutri-tion, food security and healthcare. Its latestdecision to extend the Ayushman Bharatscheme tomigrantworkers across states islaudable. However, there ismuch left to bedesired of the primary healthcare system.Concerningeducation,civilsocietymustin-novate and allow the less privileged equalaccess toeducation.Asforus, thecommonpublic,openyour

heart and bemore compassionate, for hu-manity needs to stand the test of time. Thenext timewhen someone knocks on yourdoor for food or help, remember s/he has achildtofeedathome.Don’tletthatinnocentsoulbear thebruntof our insensitivity.

Thewriter is formerChiefElectionCommissionerof India, andmember

governingcouncil, SaveTheChildren.HeholdsaPhDinchilddevelopment

MAKE IT HERE

THISREFERSTOtheeditorial,‘Unmakingin India' (IE, June26).While identifyingthe country of origin of products, likemany other recent decisions to restrictChinesegoodsinIndia,mayincreasethesale of indigenous products because ofthe popular anti-Chinese sentimentnow, itwon'tbepossible to sustain thisconsumer behaviour. Improving thecompetitivenessofIndianproductsistheonlysustainableroutetoself-reliance.

DimpyBhatia,Delhi

INSECURE BJPTHIS REFERS to the article,'UnderstandingXi'sChina' (IE, June26).There is no denying that the PM's re-marks—thatChinahasnotintrudedintoIndia's territory—has contradicted theforeignministry’s earlier position. Theproblemwith the BJP and the govern-ment is that it takes every genuine andlegitimatequestionaskedof it asanactof sedition. The fact is that almost all ofourneighbourshaveturnedmorehostilethan ever. This is aworrying situationandmust be dealtwith strategically, inlinewith our traditional, well-estab-lishedforeignpolicy.

NadeemAkhter,Patna

UNDEMOCRATICThisrefers tothearticle, 'Whendemoc-racywasshackled'(IE,25June).Itisironicthatthewriterhailstheanti-Emergencyleaders as democracy-savers and calls

today'santi-CAAprotestersasanarchists.It shows that he has no understandingof thephilosophyofdemocracyorhe isnotabelieverinit.Beinganexperiencedleader, thefirstoptionseemsless likely.

RavdeepSinghHundal,Ferozepur

QUACK’S RISINGTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial,‘Tallclaims'(IE,June26).KarlMarxsaidifyouarego-ing to hang a capitalist, hewill sell youthe noose. That’s today's India. BeforeRamdev, questionsmust be asked ofNIMS Jaipurand theAyushministry.Atatimewhenpeoplearedying,quackeryis rising.Many sham sanitiser compa-nies have croppedup. If Patanjali reallywants toextendthehelp, it shouldpro-videroomsforquarantinecentres.

VarunTiwari,Etawah

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

THEGOVERNMENTHAS put up for publicconsideration and comment the DraftEnvironmental Impact Assessment (EIA)Notification,2020,whichifputintoforcewillreplacetheEIANotificationof2006forallfu-tureprojects.TheEIAprocessscrutinisesthepotential

environmental impact and negative exter-nalitiesofaproposedprojectbeforegroundisbrokenanddetermineswhether it canbecarriedoutintheformproposed,orwhetheritistobeabandonedormodified.Theassess-ment is carried out by an Expert AppraisalCommittee (EAC), which consists of scien-tists and projectmanagement experts. TheEACframes thescopeof theEIAstudyandapreliminary report is prepared. That reportis published, and a public consultationprocesstakesplace,whereobjectionscanbeheard including fromproject-affected peo-ple.TheEACcanthenmakeafinalappraisalof the project and forward that to the regu-latory authority, which is the Ministry ofEnvironmentandForests(MoEF).Theregu-latory authority is ordinarily obliged to ac-cept thedecisionof theEAC.Thebasisinglobalenvironmentallawfor

the EIA is the “precautionary principle”.Environmental harm is often irreparable—onecannotreverseanoilspill. It ischeapertoavoid damage to the environment than toremedy it.We are legally bound to the pre-cautionary principle under internationaltreatiesandobligations,aswellasbySupremeCourt judgments.

Sinceenvironmentalregulationmustbal-ance damage to the environmentwith sus-tainable development andpossible benefitsof theproject, anunbiasedassessmentmustbemadeonaprecautionarybasis, before in-vestment, jobs and infrastructure areput ontheline.However,industriesandbusinessin-terests have long regarded EIA as a thorn intheirside.Under the guise of streamlining the EIA

process and bringing it in linewith recentjudgments,theDraftEIANotificationdisablesit, shrinks its scope and removeswhat teethitdidhave.Readingthroughitincomparisontothe2006notification,onegetstheimpres-sionof deliberate sabotage, as if an engineerhas gone through themachinewith a set oftools, loosening controls, opening escaperoutesandobscuringtransparency.Themost devastating blow to the EIA

regime is the creation of an ex-post-factoclearanceroute—whereanEIAclearancewasneversoughtorgranted,andtheconstructionof theproject tookplaceregardless, theproj-ectproponentcanenteranassessmentproce-dure,withsomeminorfinesfortheviolations,andfinditssinsblessed.Wheresuchex-post-facto clearanceswere being granted previ-ously,thecourtscrackeddownonthemasil-legal.Therefore,whatcouldnotberatifiedwillnow find itself notified. The legality of side-stepping the courts is questionable andwillhavetobetested.Inshort,theEIAregimewillnowcarrythe

instrumentof itsdemiseinits text. Itwillbe-

come a business decision as towhether thelawneedstobefollowedortheviolationcanbe “managed”. Theargument that this routewillbean“exception”isdifficulttobelieveinIndia.Ourlawhasalonghistoryofexpandingtheexceptionintotherule.The draft notification also shortens the

time for the public to furnish responses ontheproject.Forproject-affectedpeople,whoare frequently forest dwellers or otherwisedonothaveaccess to informationandtech-nology, thiswillmake it harder to put forthrepresentations.Monitoring requirements have been

slackened. The draft EIA notification halvesthefrequencyofreportingrequirementsfromeverysixmonths toonceayearandextendsthevalidityperiodforapprovalsincriticalsec-torssuchasmining.ThescopeoftheEIAregimeissettoshrink.

Industriesthatpreviouslyfellunderthecate-gories that required a full assessment havebeendowngraded.Theconstructionindustrywill beone suchbeneficiary,whereonly thelargestprojectswillbescrutinisedfully.Whiledefence and national security installationswerealwaysunderstandablyexempt,avaguenew category of projects “involving otherstrategicconsiderations”willalsonowbefreefrom public consultation requirements.Wouldapowerplantfall intothatcategory?Weakening theEIAprocess is essentially

anti-democratic. For affected communities,whereseismicshiftsinthelocalenvironmentcanthreatenlivelihoods, floodavalleyorde-

stroyaforest,publicconsultationisareferen-dumonexistentialthreats.Tocurtailitistosi-lencevoicesthatarescarcelyheardotherwise.The government’s actions on environ-

mentalregulation(asopposedtoitsbonmotsandrhetoric) showthat it considers itan im-pediment to the ease of doing business.Duringthenationwidecoronaviruslockdown,theMoEF has beenworking swiftly to clearprojects, even carrying out public hearingsovervideoconference.WheretheMinisterforEnvironmentand

ForestsandtheMinisterforHeavyIndustriesandPublic Enterprises are the sameperson,theconflictofinterestisperfectandcomplete.Twochargesthatareoppositionalarevestedwiththesameperson.Thefruitsofthislackadaisicalapproachto

precautionaryenvironmentalregulationhavebeen recently put on display. Oil IndiaLimited’s oil wells in the Tinsukia district,Assam,onlyafewkilometresawayfrompro-tected forests,wentup in flamesthismonth.Recent processes for expansion andmodifi-cationapparentlytookplacewithoutfreshen-vironmental clearance. A deadly gas leak atLG Polymers’ Visakhapatnamplant inMaykilled12peopleandharmedhundreds.Whatcame to light after the disasterwas that theplanthadbeenoperatingwithoutavaliden-vironmentalclearancefordecades.

Sarna is an advocate andwriter inNewDelhi. He is amember of theGreen

Justice Party of India

DraftEIANotificationisanattempttoweakenregulation,silenceaffectedcommunities

Ease of harming environmentSatyajit Sarna

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●LET’SCREATEMEMORIESOFEMPATHY:MOHDTARIQUE

●●WHENSPORTSALIGNSWITHPOLITICS:SHIVAMSINGH

www.indianexpress.com

S YQuraishi DavoodMoradian

CR Sasikumar

In this timeof crisis, themosturgent imperative forgovernmentandcivil society is toprotectunderprivilegedfamilies fromstarvation,provide foodsecurity

For the sake of our children

Lucknow

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

USACARLY FIORINABACKSBIDENCarly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard Co chief executive who joined theRepublican party and ran for the GOP’s presidential nomination against DonaldTrump in 2016, said would cast her vote for Democrat Joe Biden in November.“I’ve been very clear that I can’t support Donald Trump,” Fiorina told The Atlantic.

RUSSIA

CourtfindsprominentdirectorguiltyofembezzlementMoscow:One of Russia’smost prominent theaterandfilmdirectorswascon-victedonFridayonanem-bezzlement charge thatwaswidelyseenasmanu-facturedto justifyacrack-down on independenttheater.Butinasurprisingturnofevents,thedirector,Kirill Serebrennikov,wasgiven only a suspendedsentence after the prose-cutors had requested atermofsixyearsinapenalcolony.Thetrial,knownastheTheater Case, openedthree years ago. The the-ater project at its center,calledPlatform,wasestab-lishedwithagrantin2011fromtheRussianMinistryof Culture and is widelythought tohaveoffendedsensibilitiesintheRussianOrthodoxChurch.

Kirill Serebrennikovatcourt inMoscow

TOPOFTHEWORLD

INDONESIA

Fishermenrescuenearly100RohingyaINDONESIANFISHERMENrescued nearly 100Rohingyarefugees,includ-ing 79 women and chil-dren, in Aceh province af-ter officials said theywereplanning to push themback out to sea. Countriesaround Southeast Asiahave grown increasinglyreluctanttoacceptrefugeeboats as they battle thenovel coronavirus, but theAcehnese fishermen toldReuters that rescuing theRohingyawasamoralduty.“It is nothingmore than asenseofhumanityandpartofourtraditioninthenorthAceh fishermen commu-nity,” said local fishermanHamdaniYacob.

USA

NativeAmericansprotestTrumptriptoRushmorePRESIDENT DONALDTrump’s plans to kick offIndependenceDaywith ashowy display at MountRushmore have angeredNative Americans, whoview themonument as adesecration of land vio-lentlystolenfromthemandused to pay homage toleaders hostile to indige-nouspeople.SeveralgroupsledbyNativeAmericanac-tivistsareplanningprotestsforTrump’sJuly3visit,partof his “comeback” cam-paign for a nation reelingfromsickness, unemploy-mentandsocialunrest.

JAMESPEARSONHANOI, JUNE26

VIETNAMAND the Philippineswarnedof growing insecurity inSoutheastAsiaataregionalsum-mitonFridayamidconcernsthatChinawassteppingupitsactivityin thedisputed SouthChina Seaduringthecoronaviruspandemic.Both Hanoi and Manila

lodged protests with China inAprilafterBeijingunilaterallyde-claredthecreationofnewadmin-istrativedistrictsonislandsinthetroubled waterways to whichVietnamandthePhilippinesalsohavecompetingclaims.“Evenasourregionstruggles

tocontainCovid-19,alarmingin-cidents in the South China Seaoccurred,” Philippine PresidentRodrigo Duterte told an onlinemeeting of Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations(ASEAN) leadersonFriday.“Wecallonparties to refrain

from escalating tensions andabide by responsibilities underinternational law,”hesaid.China has been pushing its

presence in the ExclusiveEconomic Zones of other coun-trieswhile claimants are preoc-cupiedtacklingtheCovid-19pan-demic, prompting the UnitedStates to call onChina to stop its“bullyingbehaviour”there.InearlyApril,Vietnamsaidone

of its fishingboatswas sunkbyaChinesemaritime surveillancevessel. China said thatVietnam’sclaimsinSouthChinaseaareille-galand“doomedtofail”.Inhisopeningremarksatthe

ASEAN Summit, Vietnamese

Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc said international institu-tions and internationl law hadbeen seriously challenged dur-ing theglobal crisis.“Thepandemicis fanningthe

flames of dormant challengeswithinthepolitical,economicandsocial environment of theworldandineachregion,”Phucsaid.“While the entire world is

stretchedthininthefightagainstthepandemic,irresponsibleactsand acts in violation of interna-tional law are still taking place,affectingtheenvironmentofse-curityandstability incertainre-gions, including in our region,”Phucadded.REUTERS

AP&REUTERSSEOUL, JUNE26

WHILE CHINAmoved closer tocontaining a fresh outbreak inBeijing, the coronavirus took astrongerhold elsewhere, includ-ingtheUnitedStates,wheresurg-ing infections across southernstates havehighlighted the risksof reopeningeconomieswithouteffectivetreatmentorvaccines.Countries with big popula-

tionslikeIndonesia,PakistanandMexico grappled with largecaseloads and strained healthcaresystems.SouthAfrica,whichaccounts

forabouthalfoftheinfectionsonthe African continent with118,375,reportedarecord6,579new cases, as transmissions in-creaseafteritloosenedwhathadbeenoneof theworld’s strictestlockdownsearlier thismonth.In China, where the pan-

demic originated in December,authorities havemobilised re-sources for mass testing andlockeddownpartsofBeijingthismonth due to an outbreak thathas infected 260 people. The 11newcasesreportedinthecapitalFriday continued a downward

trend that suggests transmis-sionshavebeen largelybroughtundercontrol.The United States on

Thursday reported more than40,000newcoronaviruscases,arecord total for the secondstraight day, as a nationwidesenseofurgencygrewandcase-loads soared in Southern andWesternstates thatwere far re-moved from the worst earlyoutbreaks.Inanapparentsignofthatur-

gency,WhiteHouseofficialssaidthat the coronavirus task forceplanned to reconveneonFridayafternoon for its first briefing innearly two months. The lastbriefing tookplaceonApril 27.

RICARDOALONSO-ZALDIVAR&MARKSHERMANWASHINGTON, JUNE26

INTHEmidstof thecoronaviruspandemic, the Trump adminis-tration on Thursday urged theSupreme Court to overturn theAffordableCareAct.Theadministration’slegalbrief

makesnomentionofthevirus.Some 20million Americans

could lose theirhealthcoverageandprotections forpeoplewithpre-existing health conditionsalso would be put at risk if thecourt agreeswith the adminis-tration in a case that won’t beheardbefore the fall.In the case before the

SupremeCourt,Texasandotherconservative-led states arguethattheACAwasessentiallyren-dered unconstitutional afterCongress passed tax legislationin2017thateliminatedthelaw’sunpopular fines for not havinghealthinsurance,butleftinplaceitsrequirementthatvirtuallyallAmericanshavecoverage.Afterfailingtorepeal“Obama-

care” in 2017whenRepublicansfully controlled Congress,PresidentDonaldTrumphasputtheweight of his administrationbehindthelegalchallenge.AP

SIMONROMERO,GIULIAMCDONNELLNIETODELRIO&NICHOLASBOGEL-BURROUGHSJUNE26

ITWASanothergruesomevideoofpolicinginAmerica—anakedLatinoman, his face covered bya mesh spit guard, his handscuffed behindhimas he lay dy-ing face down on the ground athis grandmother’s house. Hepleaded for watermore than adozentimes,sayinghecouldnotbreathe as police officers re-strainedhis legsandtorso.This time, the scene was a

southernArizona citywith apo-liticallymoderate image, a largeLatinopopulationandapolicede-partmentsaidtobeprogressive.

ThevictimwasCarlosIngramLopez, a 27-year-old cookingschool graduatewho preparedeverymealfromscratchforhis2-year-olddaughter.Hisdeath,ashewashavingamentalhealthcrisis

thatledtoacallforhelp,wasajar-ringreminderthatLatinosaswellasAfricanAmericanshaveatrou-bledhistorywiththepolice,eventhough Latinos’ struggles donotgetthesameattention.Stillunanswerediswhyittook

thepolice twomonths toreleasethevideo takenbyofficers’ bodycameraswhenLopez’sfamilyhadalmost immediatelyaskedtoseeit. ReginaRomero, Tucson’s firstLatinamayor, saidThursday thattherehadbeena“breakdown”in-side the PoliceDepartment andthatshehadnotlearnedofLopez’sdeath until lastweek,when thepolicechiefcalledher.Eventhen,shesaid,thecity’slawyerwarnedherandtheCityCouncilnottosayanythingpubliclybecauseitcouldbe seen as an effort to influencetheinternalinvestigation.NYT

ASEANLEADERSHOLDONLINESUMMIT

SEAsiannations raisealarmoverBeijingactivity inSouthChinaSea

Chinesevessels intheSouthChinaSea. InearlyApril,Vietnamsaidoneof its fishingboatswassunkbyaChinesemaritimesurveillancevessel.Reuters file

Thepandemic is fanningtheflamesofdormantchallengeswithinthepolitical, economicandsocialenvironmentof theworldand ineachregion.”

NGUYENXUANPHUCVIETNAMPRIMEMINISTER

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE26

THEUNITEDNations’independ-entexpertsonFridayraisedtheirconcernsregardingarangeof is-sues related to China, from thecollectiverepressionof thepop-ulation, especially religious andethnic minorities, in Xinjiangand Tibet, to the repression ofprotestanddemocracyadvocacyin the Hong Kong SpecialAdministrativeRegion (SAR).In a statement issued in

GenevabytheUNspecialrappor-teurs, it asked for the establish-ment of an impartial and inde-pendent United Nationsmechanism— such as aUnitedNations Special Rapporteur or aSecretaryGeneral Special Envoy—tocloselymonitor,analyseandreport annually on the humanrightssituationinChina,particu-larly,inviewoftheurgencyofthesituations in theHongKong, theXinjiangAutonomousRegionandtheTibetAutonomousRegion.“TheUNexpertshaverepeat-

edly communicated with the

Government of the People’sRepublicofChinatheiralarmre-gardingtherepressionof funda-mental freedomsinChina.Theyhave denounced the repressionofprotestanddemocracyadvo-cacy in the Hong Kong SpecialAdministrativeRegion(SAR),im-punity forexcessiveuseof forceby police, the alleged use ofchemicalagentsagainstprotest-ers, the alleged sexual harass-mentandassaultofwomenpro-testersinpolicestationsandthealleged harassment of healthcareworkers,” it said.It also raised concerns re-

gardingthedetentionof lawyersand the prosecution and disap-pearances of human rights de-fendersacross thecountry, alle-gations of forced labour invarioussectorsof theformalandtheinformaleconomy,aswellasarbitrary interferenceswith theright to privacy, cybersecuritylaws that authorise censorshipand the broadlyworrying anti-terrorismand sedition laws ap-plicable inHongKong.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Experts call for UNmechanism to monitorhuman rights in China

Apackedbus inRiode Janeiro,Brazil, onThursday.Authoritiessaidbusescouldoperatewithpeoplestanding,but limitedtotwocommuterspersquaremetre.AP

Virus surge continuesglobally, US sees newrecord daily increase

AtakindergarteninBarcelonaonFriday,asSpainlookstoemergefromthecoronavirus lockdown.AP

London: L’Oreal, theworld’sbiggest cosmetics company,will removewords referenc-ing “white”, “fair” and “light”from its skin-evening prod-ucts, a spokeswomansaidonFriday, a day after Unilevermade a similar announce-ment in the face of growingsocialmediacriticism.

L’Oreal to dropwords like ‘fair’

ProtestersgatherinFrankfort,Kentucky.TheoutcryforthearrestofofficersinvolvedinthefatalshootingofBreonnaTaylorinsideherKentuckyapartmenthasgrown,leadingtomoreprotestsinthestate.Theofficerwhofiredtheshotswasremovedfromhisjob.Reuters

Another gruesome video ofdeath in custody shocks US city

CONTINUINGCALLSFORPOLICEREFORM INU.S.

Teen who threw boy fromgallery roof gets 15 yrs in jailLondon:ABritish teenagerwhothrewasix-year-oldFrenchboyfroma10th-floor viewing plat-form at the Tate Modern artgallery in London with the in-tentionofkillinghimwasjailedforatleast15yearsonFriday,theBBC reported.JontyBravery,whowas17at

thetimeof theincidentandsaidhecarriedouttheactbecausehewanted to be on the TV news,pleadedguiltytoonecountofat-temptedmurderlastDecember.

The unnamed victim, whowasvisitingBritainwithhisfam-ily, fell five floorsandwas foundon a fifth-floor roof while hismotherwasheardbywitnessesscreaming: “Where’s my son?Where’smyson?”The boy survived but suf-

fered a bleed to his brain and anumberof fracturedbones.Bravery, now 18, told police

hehadplannedtohurtsomeoneat themuseum to be on televi-sion,prosecutorssaid.REUTERS

RUSSELLCHEYNELONDON, JUNE26

AMAN stabbed two people todeath in the Scottish city ofGlasgowonFridaybefore beingshot deadbypolice, Britishme-diareported,inanattackthatleftapoliceofficercritically injured.AneyewitnesstoldSkyNews

shehadseenseveralpeoplecov-ered in blood being treated byemergencyservicesafterthein-cidentat a city centrehotel, andarmed police on the scene, ataround1.15pm.Policesaidsixpeople,includ-

ing the police officer, had beenhospitalised. Authorities haveyet to say what themotive fortheattackwas.Agovernmentsourcetoldthe

BBC that a total of three peoplehaddied, includingtheattacker.Police Scotland Assistant

Chief Constable Steve Johnson

said the incident hadbeen con-tained and therewas nowiderrisk to thepublic.“Theindividualwhowasshot

byarmedpolicehasdied,”PoliceScotland said in a statement,addingtheywerenotlookingforanyothersuspect.REUTERS

6-YR-OLDSURVIVEDFALLATUKMUSEUM

HE CAPTURED THAT PERIOD OF CHINESE HISTORY AT GREAT PERSONAL RISK

Li Zhensheng, who photographed dark side of Cultural Revolution, dies at 79AMYQINJUNE26

LI ZHENSHENG, a Chinese pho-tographerwho took great per-sonal risk to document thedarkside of Mao Zedong’s CulturalRevolutionandproducedapow-erful compilation of black-and-white imagesthatremainsararevisualtestamenttothebrutalex-cessesofthattumultuousepisodeinhistory,hasdied.Hewas79.His death was confirmed

Tuesday by Robert Pledge, afounderof Contact Press ImagesandeditorofLi’sphotobookRed-ColorNewsSoldier,whosaid that

Li hadbeenhospitalized inNewYork City. He lived in Queens.Furtherdetails,includingthedateofhisdeath,werenotreleased.Liwasayoungphotographer

at a local newspaper in north-easternChinawhenMaostartedthe Revolution in May 1966.Wearing a red arm band thatsaid, “Red-Color News Soldier,”Li was given extraordinary ac-cess toofficial events.“I was excited like everyone

else,”herecalledina2003inter-viewwith The New York Times.“Thehappinesswasreal.Wefeltlucky tobe living themoment.”But his excitement quickly

gavewaytoanxiety.Whatbegan

asapoliticalcampaignaimedatconsolidating power soon en-gulfed the entire country, un-

leashing decadelong turmoilthat upended Chinese society.Factionsofradicalyouthsknown

as “Red Guards” roamed thecountry battling one anotherandperceived“classenemies.”

Countlesshistoricalsitesandrelics were destroyed in thename of stamping out China’s“feudal”and“bourgeois”culture.Li began to have doubts afterwitnessing Red Guards in thenortheastern province ofHeilongjiang ransackingchurches and temples, burningscripturesandcriticisingmonks.“I realised that I had todocu-

mentthistumultuousperiod,”hewrote. “I didn’t really knowwhetherIwasdoingitforthesakeoftherevolution,formyselforforthefuture,butIknewIhadtouseacameraasatooltodocumentit.”Li took not just the propa-

ganda photos— the raised fists,

the revolutionary fervour, themassassemblies—thatwerere-quiredbyhisnewspaperbutalsoless flatteringones.Heamassedabout 100,000 photos duringthatperiod,stashingmanyofthenegatives under the parquetfloorboards in his home inHarbin, the capital of China’snorthernmostprovince.Hiscollectionremainsoneof

themostcompleteandnuancedvisual chronicles of how theCultural Revolution upendeddaily life far away fromthe cap-ital, Beijing. Among the photosare numerous ones of “strugglesessions”, inwhichpeoplewerecriticised, abused andmade to

standforhourswiththeirheadsbowedbeforeaseaof accusers.By the end of the Cultural

Revolution, in 1976, tens ofmil-lions of people had beenperse-cuted and up to 1.5million haddiedaccordingtosomeestimates.Manyweredriventosuicide.“Nootherpoliticalmovement

inChina’srecenthistorylastedaslong,wasaswidespreadinitsim-pact, andasdeepin its traumaastheCulturalRevolution,”Lisaidina2018interviewwithTheTimes.Li Zhenshengwas born to a

poor family in the northeasternport city of Dalian on Sept. 22,1940.Hisfather,LiYuanjian,wasaformercookonasteamship.NYT

Manyofhisphotos focusedonthetreatmentof counter-revolutionaries

Two killed in Glasgowstabbing, suspect shot

Atthesceneofthestabbings,inGlasgowonFriday.Reuters

THETRUMPadministration’sbidtorepealtheAffordableCareAct,alsoknownasObamacare,comesasmil-lionsofAmericansfileforunemploymentbenefitsamidtheCovid-19pan-demic,whichhasravagedtheeconomyandrenderedmanyjobless.Thelossof jobsandincomehavemeantthatmanyhavealsolosttheir in-surancecoverageevenasthehealthemergencyworsens.Accordingtothegovern-ment’sownfigures,halfamillionpeoplewhohadlosttheirhealthinsuranceduringthelockdowngotcoveragethankstoObamacare.Apartfromthesepeople,another20millionmoreAmericansstandtolosetheirhealthcoverageif thegovernmentsucceedsinitslegalefforttorepealtheAffordableCareAct.

Coulddeal hugeblowamidCovid

Trump admin movesUS Supreme Courtto repeal Obamacare

Lucknow

13SENSEX: 35,171.27 ▲ 329.1 NIFTY: 10,383.00 ▲ 94.10 NIKKEI: 22,512.08 ▲ 252.29 HANG SENG: 24,549.99 ▼ 231.59 FTSE: 6,248.25 ▲ 101.11 DAX: 12,311.89 ▲ 134.02

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`49,058

RUPEE`75.65

OIL$40.91

SILVER`49,300

Note:Gold, silverratesatspotmarket inDelhi;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Brentcrudeasof2330IST

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

BRIEFLYMoretimeforlistedcostoholdboardmeetingsNewDelhi:SebiFridayeasedcompliancerequirementontime gap between twoboardmeetings for listedcompaniestill July31.

SebiclarifiesonmanagingmultipleInVITsNewDelhi: Sebi Friday saidthataninvestmentmanagerisallowedtomanagemulti-ple emerging investmentvehicles, i.e. InvITs.

DGHcutstimefromdiscoverytoproductionNewDelhi:DGHhasprunedprocessesandprocedurestoallowoilandgas findstobeputintoproductionsoonaf-tertheyarediscovered.

BYJU’SraisesfundsfromBONDNewDelhi:BYJU’SFridaysaidithasraisedfundsfromtechinvestment firmBOND,butdidnotdisclosetheamountraisedorthevaluation. PTI

Amazontobuyself-drivingstartupZooxBengaluru:Amazon.comIncwillbuyself-drivingstartupZoox,inadealsaidtobewo-rthover$1billion.REUTERS

CBIC: Blanketexemption of latefee unfair to thosewho filed returnswithin due date

‘Will end central control of gasprices, lift LNG transport use’

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,JUNE26

THECBIConFridaysaidablanketexemption of late feewould beunfair towards those taxpayerswho filed February,March andAprilGSTsalesreturnswithintheextendedduedateof June24.Aspart of COVID-19 relief packageannounced inMarch, a condi-tionalwaiverof latefeehadbeenprovidedfortaxpayers.Accordingly, for entities hav-

ing turnover of more than Rs 5crore,latefeewaiveronGSTR-3Breturns for the tax periodFebruary,March andApril 2020wassubjecttotheconditionthatthereturnis filedbyJune24.

HC rejects plea seekingno blocking of incomingservices during pandemicEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JUNE26

THEDELHIHighCourtFridaysaidthat courts cannot do charity atthecostofothers,whiledecliningtoentertainapetitionseekingdi-rections to theTelecomRegulat-oryAuthority of India (Trai) andthe Department of Telecom-munications(DoT)toensurethattelecomoperatorsdonotblockin-coming services of subscribersduringtheCOVID-19pandemic.“Telecom companies also

needmoney. Courts cannot docharityatthecostofothers,”ChiefJustice D N Patel and JusticePrateek Jalan said. Takingnoteofthe observation by a Bench, thepetitioner-law student decidednot topress for the reliefs sought

inhispetition.Tothis, theBenchrecordedin

its order, “Petitioner is notpress-ingthewritpetition.Itisdisposedofasnotpressed,”itsaid.The petitioner, Priyatam

Bhardwaj, had contended in hispetition that the telcos’ actionofblockingincomingcallsandmes-sages on account of failure torecharge subscription is causinggrave hardship to people whocannotaffordtospendmoneyonthat under prevailing circum-stances.“Forcingapersonamidfinan-

cial crunches to recharge theirsubscription out of limited re-sourcestheyareleftwithinordertopreventtheblockingofincom-ingcalls and incomingmessagescauses graveprejudice to them,”thepleahadsaid.

Microsoft to shut physicalstores, take $450 mn hit

REUTERSBENGALURU/SANFRANCISCO,JUNE26

MICROSOFTCORPsaidonFridayitwouldcloseitsretailstoresandtakearelatedpretaxassetimpair-mentchargeof$450millioninthecurrent quarter. A Microsoft

spokeswomansaidallcurrentre-tailemployeeswouldbegivenanopportunity to remainwith thecompanyindifferentroles.“Speakingover120languages,

their diversity reflects themanycommunitiesweserve,”Microso-ftCorporatevicepresidentDavidPortersaidofthecompany’sretailemployeesinastatement.

NIDHIVERMANEWDELHI,JUNE26

INDIAWILLgraduallyendcentralcontrolsongaspricingasitseekstoattract foreigninvestmentandtechnologyto lift localoutput,oilminister Dharmendra Pradhansaid on Friday. “This is an incen-tiveweare giving to investors to

cometoIndiaandtakeadvantageofpricingandmarketingfreedomand produce more and investmore,” Pradhan said at theBNEFsummit.Toboostgasusage,Indiaisex-

panding infrastructure includingbuildingnewliquefiednaturalgas(LNG)importplantsandconnect-inghouseholdswith anexpand-inggaspipenetwork. REUTERS

Virus crisis could ultimatelytest $1-tn war chest: IMF MDWashington:InternationalMonet-aryFund(IMF)ManagingDirectorKristalinaGeorgieva said FridaytheglobaleconomiccrisisspurredbyCOVID-19couldultimatelytestthe Fund’s $1 trillion in total re-sources,“butwe’renotthereyet.”Georgieva told a Reuters

Newsmakerwebcasteventthatit

wasnowclear that aneconomicrecoverywouldhavetogetunder-waywithout amedical break-through and the virus’ presencestillwidespread throughout theworld. IMFmember countrieswerestandingbytoprovidemoresupport to the Fund if necessary,shesaid. REUTERS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE26

AFTER RECORDING expansionoversevenstraightweekstohitahighof$507.6billionintheweekended June19, foreignexchangereserves fell by $2.1billion in theweek ended June 26 to $505.55billionduetofundoutflowbyfor-eignportfolioinvestors(FPIs)andriseinBrentcrudeprices.In theweek ended June 19,

while theFPIspulledoutanetof$342million, theBrent crudeoilprices rosebynearly 10per centfrom$38.54perbarrel to$42.33.Sources saya rise in crudepricesresult inhigherpayoutforoil im-port leading to adip in reserves.Duringtheweek,eventherupeeweakenedagainstthedollarby21paisetoloseat76.26onJune19.

Data releasedby theReserveBank of India shows that in theweekendedJune19, foreigncur-rencyassets,amajorcomponentoftheoverallreserves,declinedby$1.7billionto$467.03billion.Thevalueofgoldreservesdeclinedby$370millionto$32.8billion.Severalfactorsplayedarolein

the expansion in forex reserves.While rise in FPI inflowand for-eign direct investments helpedthe cause, they have been sup-portedby fall in importoutgoonaccountofsharpdeclineincrudepricesandCOVIDimpactontrade.BetweenSeptember20,2019

and June 12, the reserves havegrownby$79billion.High levelsofforexreservesnotonlyprovidecushiontotheeconomyintermsof covering the import expendi-ture, but alsoprovide stability tothecurrencyagainstthedollar.

Week Reserves inEnded $billionMar27 475.60Apr3 474.60Apr10 476.50Apr17 479.60Apr24 479.50May1 481.08May8 485.30May15 487.03May22 490.04May29 493.48Jun5 501.70Jun12 507.64Jun19 505.55Source :RBI

FOREXRESERVES

Forex reserves slip from all-time highon FPI outflows, rising crude prices

COVID IMPACT

India’s overall softwaremarket is forecast to grow at 3.8per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in 2020 as enterprisesrelook at their IT spends, IDC said in itsWorldwideSemiannual Software Tracker, H219 (July-December)

Why this is important:There is a significantdecline in the overallsoftware market becauseof the COVID-19pandemic which isforcing enterprises torelook at their IT spends

Shareofvariousproducts/servicesinoverallmarketrevenuesinH219:61%:Applications:21.6%:Application development anddeployment17.4%:Systems infrastructure software

Products/servicesthatwillhavehighdemand:■Collaborativeapplications■Applicationplatforms■Securitysoftware■Systemandservicemanagementsoftware■Contentworkflow&managementapplications

7.6%Expectedcompound annual

growth rate (CAGR) ofsoftwaremarket in Indiaduring2019-2024

16%Growth in Indiansoftwaremarket

during second half of 2019,compared to year-ago period

Source: IDC/PTI

‘India’s enterprise softwaremarket to see 3.8% growth’

AMicrosoft store insuburbanBoston.Aspokeswomansaidall currentemployeeswouldbegivendifferentroles. File

Petrol pricecrosses `80 inDelhi for 1sttime in 2 yrsPRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JUNE26

PETROL PRICE in the CapitalFriday crossedRs80per litre forthe first time in over two years,asoilcompaniescontinuetoraisepetrol and diesel prices in linewithcosts.Oil companies hiked petrol

price by 21 paise per litre anddieselby17paisea litre, accord-ingtoapricenotificationofstateoilmarketing companies. Petrolprice in Delhi was hiked to Rs80.13 per litre from Rs 79.92whiledieselrateswereincreasedtoRs80.19a litre fromRs80.02.

Subramanianto join AshokaUniversity asprofessor ofeconomicsPRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,JUNE26

FORMER CHIEF EconomicAdviserArvindSubramanianwilljoin AshokaUniversity as a pro-fessor in thedepartment of eco-nomics beginning July, the uni-versitysaidinastatementFriday.Subramanianiscurrentlyvis-

iting lecturer at the HarvardKennedy School. Hewill also bethefoundingdirectorof thenewAshoka Center for EconomicPolicy,whichwill be devoted toresearchandanalysisonpolicyis-sues related to India and globaldevelopment,theuniversitysaid.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JUNE26

TWOWEEKSafter affirming thecountry’s ratingat lowest invest-mentgradeandmaintainingasta-ble outlook, S&PGlobal Ratingssaid India’s economy is in deeptroublewithgrowthexpected tocontractby5percentthisfiscal.“India’s economy is in deep

trouble.Difficulties incontainingthe virus, an anemic policy re-sponse, andunderlyingvulnera-bilities,especiallyacrossthefinan-cialsector,areleadingustoexpectgrowthtofallby5percentthisfis-cal year before rebounding in2021,”S&PsaidFridayinareport.On June 10, S&P affirmed its

ratingsonIndia’slong-termforei-gn and local currency sovereigncreditatlowestinvestmentgrade

andmaintainedastableoutlook,arguing that “India’s economy islikelytoachieveastrongrecoveryfollowingthedeepcontractioninthis fiscal; forecasting real GDPgrowthat8.5percent”inFY22.Theregion’seconomyislikely

to shrinkby1.3per cent in2020,butgrowby6.9percentnext fis-cal, S&P said in its report titled

‘Asia-Pacificlossesnear$3trillionasbalancesheetrecessionlooms’.Thisimpliesalossnearing$3tril-lionoutputoverthesetwoyears.“Asia-Pacifichasshownsome

success in containing COVID-19and,byandlarge,respondedwitheffectivemacroeconomic poli-cies,” said Shaun Roache, chiefeconomist for Asia-Pacific, S&PGlobal Ratings. “This can helpcushion the blowandprovide abridgetotherecovery.Therecov-erylookssettobeweigheddownbyindebtedbalancesheets.”One risk now looming larger

is yet another “balance sheet re-cession”inwhichatleastoneim-portant sectorof theeconomy—thegovernment, firms,orhouse-holds—triestobolsteritsweakfi-nancial positionby savingmore,payingdowndebt,andspendingless,S&Psaid.WITHPTI

Economy in ‘deep trouble’, to contract 5%this fiscal before rebounding in 2021: S&P

‘India’seconomyisindeeptrouble.Difficultiesincontainingthevirus,ananemicpolicyresponse,andunderlyingvulnerabilities...areleadingustoexpectgrowthtofallby5%thisfiscalbeforereboundingin2021’

S&PGLOBALRATINGSIN AREPORT

GEORGEMATHEW&KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,JUNE26

CONTRARYTOexpectations, theCentralBoardoftheReserveBankof India (RBI) didnot takeup theproposal to restructure the loansof borrowers hit by COVID-19pandemic.Theboard,whichmetthroughvideoconferencingFrid-ay, discussed the economic sce-nario,impactoftheRBImeasuresandinterestratetransmission.“Theboarddidnotdiscussthe

loan restructuringproposal. ThiswasthefirstmeetingafterCOVIDvirus hit the country. It was astock-takingmeetingonhowtheRBImeasures haveworked, liq-uidity has improved and abouttransmission of interest rates,”saida top-level source.However,sources said the loan recast pro-posal isundertheRBI’sconsider-ation and a decision is likely tocomelater.OnThursday,FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamanhadsaid the government is in activediscussionwiththeRBIforaone-timeloanrestructuringplan.

Though there’s no officialwordfromtheRBIaboutallowingaone-timeloanrestructuringpro-posalsofar,sourcessaidaloanre-castschemeforborrowersislikelyinthewakeoftheeconomiccon-tractionandclosureofthousandsofunitsacrossthecountry.The source said adecisionon

the RBI’s surplus transfer to thegovernmentwillhappenonlyaf-ter the central bank’s financialyearendsonJune30andaccountsarefinalised.Adecisiononthesur-

plus tobe transferred to thegov-ernmentislikelytobedecidedinthenextboardmeeting.“Anydecisiononloanrecastis

likely to come only in July or inAugustwhen the loanmorato-riumends.There’salikelihoodofa spike in bad loans fromSeptember. The loan recast pro-posal is before the RBI,” said abankingsource.The RBI also issued a state-

mentsayingthatthemeetingdis-cussed the economy and chal-

lenges.“Theboarddeliberatedonthe current economic situationandtheevolvingchallengesposedby the pandemic,” an RBI state-ment said. Among others, theboardalsodiscussedtheReserveBank’sactivitiesduringtheperiod(July2019-June2020),thebudgetfor thenext accountingyear July2020toMarch2021(alignedwiththeGovernment’sfinancialyear),otherpolicyandoperationalmat-ters,thestatementadded.“GovernorandDeputyGover-

nors briefed theboardabout theoverallmacroeconomic condi-tions—bothdomesticandglobal,financial sector situationand theimpactof variousmonetary, reg-ulatoryandothermeasurestakenby the RBI in the context of theCOVID-19 pandemic,” the RBIsaid.ApartfromGovernorShakti-kantaDas,DeputyGovernorsBPKanungo,MK Jain andMichaelPatra and otherDirectors of theCentral Board—Tata Sons chair-manNChandrasekaran,DrAshokGulati, chairmanand founder ofTeamleaseServicesManishSabh-arwal, formerAPChief SecretaryPrasanna KumarMohanty, Sun

Pharma chief Dilip S Shanghvi,formerchairmanofUnitedWest-ernBankSatishKMarathe,formerDeputy Comptroller & AuditorGeneralRevathyIyerandRISDire-ctorGeneral Prof Sachin Chatu-rvedi — attended themeeting.Tarun Bajaj, Secretary, Depart-ment of Economic Affairs andDebasishPanda,Secretary,Depar-tmentofFinancialServicestooat-tended. Chartered accountant SGurumurthydidnotattend.According to banks, the RBI

needstogiveoperationalflexibil-ity tobanks fora comprehensiverestructuringoftheexistingloansand also a reclassification of the90-daynorm.Asofnow,theJune7circularonloanrestructuringisstringent andgives little flexibil-itytobanks.Therewas also ademand for

easing of bad loan recognitionnorm from90days to 180days.However, the RBI is unlikely toagree to this proposal. Currently,loans inwhichtheborrowerfailsto pay principal and/or interestchargeswithin90daysareclassi-fiedasnon-performingassetsandprovisioningismadeaccordingly.

FIRSTMEETINGSINCECOVID-19OUTBREAK

Loan recastproposal stillin theworks

ALOANrecastschemeforborrowersisstill intheworksoftheRBIinthewakeoftheeconomiccontractionandclosureofthousandsofunitsacrossthecountry.AnydecisiononloanrecastislikelytocomeonlyinJulyorinAugustwhentheloanmoratoriumends.Asthere’salikelihoodofaspikeinbadloansfromSeptember,banksandIndiaIncwerealsolobbyingforNPAreclassificationnormsfrom90daysto180daysasareliefmeasuretotackletheimpactof lockdown.

RBIboardtakesstockofeconomy, ratetransmission;nodecisionon loanrecastCallontransferof surplus to theCentralgovernment likely tobetaken inthenextmeeting PRANAVMUKUL

NEWDELHI, JUNE26

THE CENTRE, with two decisi-ons, on Fridaymoved further inthe direction of fully resumingflight operations in the country.One, the Directorate General ofCivilAviation (DGCA),whileex-tending the international flightsuspensiontoJuly15,saidinter-national scheduled flightsmaybeallowedonselectedroutesoncase-to-case basis. Two, theMinistryofCivilAviationhasal-lowed airlines to operate up to45 per cent of their pre-lock-downscheduledcapacityondo-mestic routes, compared with30-35percentearlier.On the one hand, the slight

relaxation of restrictions on in-ternational operations couldpavethewayfor foreignairlinesto resume flights to India in linewiththegovernment’sproposalof establishingtravelbubblesorair bridges with countries liketheUS,theUK,France,Germany,etc.Ontheotherhand,airlineex-ecutives said themove on do-mestic flight operations couldhelp themresumeflights toair-ports where they have not yetstartedflyingposttheunlockon

May 25. However, according toan official at a low-cost airline,Indiancarriersareflyingonly65percentof theirapproved1,200flightsadayonaccountofweakdemand on certain sectors andrestrictions imposed by stategovernments.Civil Aviation Minister

HardeepSinghPurihadsaidear-lier that the governmentwouldconsiderresumingscheduledin-ternationalflightoperationsoncedomesticoperations functionata50-55percentcapacity.“Inonemonth since recommencementof calibrateddomesticcivilavia-tion operations in the country,our skies & airports have beenbusy.18,92,581passengershaveflown so far on 21,316 flightsacross the country. Going for-ward, these numberswill growfurther,”Puri saidFriday.

UshaPadhee, jointsecretary,Ministry of Civil Aviation said:“Domestic airlines ferried 18lakh passengers in onemonth.Over700flightsadayareoperat-ing.Thesenumbersarelowonayear-on-year basis.Wewill re-work, renew and retune ourstrategies for the growth of thesectoraswegoalong”.Accordingtodatareleasedby

the DGCA for the one week ofdomestic flight operations inMay,domesticairlinesoperatedat significantly low load factors.India’slargestairlineIndiGoreg-istered a load factor of just 52.6per cent. A senior airline officialsaid that this was because ofheavyone-waydemandoncer-tain routes where flights goingto smaller towns frommetroswere fully packed,while the re-turn legswerenearlyempty.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE26

DEBTAND fiscal consolidationshouldnotbethefocusofthegov-ernmentatpresentand it shouldrather concentrate on interven-tionsandfastestpossiblerevivalofthe economy, 15th FinanceCommissionChairmanNKSinghsaidFriday.Headdedemploymentnumbers, alongwith theagricul-tural sector and anecdotal evi-dence fromthe industry, suggestasharprecoveryisintheprocess.“This isnot the time to talkof

fiscalconsolidation.Thisisthetimeinwhichtheworldbelieves,Ithinkthatwhatneedstobeprotectedistheexpenditureoverfiscaldeficitandthisisexactlywhatthecentral

governmenthasdone ... thisyearwemustnot concentrate on thefiscalorthedebt.Wemustconcen-trateonthefastestpossiblerevivaloftheeconomy.Wemustconcen-trateonensuring that in termsofthepainful transition, thepain isminimised inmultiple interven-tions, andmultiple interventionshavetakenplace,”hesaid,addingthese things should concern the

Centreandstatesaftersharpeco-nomicreboundincomingyears.Speakingtoreportersafterthe

meetingof thecommissionwiththeEconomicAdvisoryCouncil,Singhsaidtherearemultiplegreenshootsintheeconomypointingto-wards a recovery. “The fact of afairly rapid resumption of bothemploymentandeconomicactiv-ity suggest that the recoveryprocessisunderway...thefactthatemploymentnumbershavegoneupvery sharply, the huge greenshoots in the agricultural sectorwhichhasbeentheleastaffected.Given thenormalmonsoon, thistimeagricultural recoverywouldbe an ingredient of the revivalprocess. FDI flowscontinue tobemodest,sharprecoveryintheautosector. Therearemultiple green-

shoots, andnot onegreen shootonly, covering various sectors oftheeconomy—agriculture,man-ufacturingandessentialservices,”Singhadded.Hesaidthereisacutepressure

onthefinancesofboththeCentreandstates given themuch lowergrowthnumberand revenue re-ceipts. The termsof referenceoftheCommissionincludessuggest-ing a consolidated roadmap intermsofthedeficit,finances,debtof the general government forFY22toFY26.Notingthatnothingsuggests that India'smedium-termeconomicgrowthpotentialhasbeendamaged,hesaidtheCo-mmissionwould deliberate onwhich fiscalyear is tobe takenas'baseyear' forpurposeofmakingprojectionsforthe5-yearperiod.

■TheMinistryofCivilAviationhasallowedairlines tooperateupto45%of theirpre-lockdownscheduledcapacityondomestic routes, comparedwith30-35%earlier

■Airlineexecutivessaidthemoveondomestic flightoperationscouldhelpthemresumeflights toairportswheretheyhavenotyetstartedflyingpost theunlockonMay25

‘45%OFPRE-LOCKDOWNCAPACITYONDOMESTICROUTES’

DGCA suspends foreign flightstill July 15, indicates restartmay happen on selected routes

Focus on revival of economy for now, noton debt and fiscal consolidation: NK Singh

15thFinanceCommissionChairmanNKSingh. File

Lucknow

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY, JUNE27,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

14Chelsea’swinoverManchesterCityhands thetrophytoLiverpool, endinga30-year titledrought tocapthestrangestof seasons

Alone, togetherRORYSMITHJUNE26

THEFIRSTfireworksburstintotheclear,stillskyafewminutesearly,athud,afizzandacrackleofwhatwas to come. It hadnothappened—notquite,notyet—butafter30longyears,alit-tleimpatiencewasunderstandable.Along,sultryday,thehottestoftheyear,had

givenway toawarm,quiet evening. The fire-worksbrokethepeace,heraldedtheshift.Thencamethecarhorns,blaringandechoingaroundemptystreets,aMorsecodeintheirshort,sharpblasts, summoningpeople fromtheirhomes,confirmingthatthemomenthadarrived.InLondon,ChelseahadbeatenManchester

City,2-1.Liverpool’s leadat thesummitof thePremierLeaguehadbeenfirstimpressive,thendaunting, thenunimaginable.Now, at last, itwas insurmountable. For the first time since1990,LiverpoolwaschampionofEngland.And then, almostoutof nowhere, thepil-

grimagebegan. The tight streets around theclub’s stadiumchokedwith traffic. Flags flut-tered fromwindows, scarves twirled aboveheads.Aroundthem,thesidewalksweresud-denly filledwithpeople:hundredsandhun-dredsall of the samemind, allwith the samedestination,alldrawntoAnfield.Itwasnot,ofcourse,quiteastheyimagined

it, not quite how it was meant to be. ThatLiverpoolwouldwin the title this seasonhasbeenall but certain formonths: since JürgenKlopp’steamwentclearbybeatingManchesterCityinNovember,maybe;sincetheydisman-tledLeicesterCityonBoxingDay,perhaps;sinceMohamed Salah confirmed victory againstManchesterUnitedinJanuaryandeventheKopdecidedthatitcouldaffordtotemptfate.All thathasbeen left todecidewaswhen,

andhow, themomentmightarrive. Thepan-demic,ofcourse,changedallthat.Therewouldbenodeliriuminsideapackedgroundwhenthetitlewasclinched.Therewouldbenotrophyparade, nogarlandsandconfetti on thecity’sstreets.Whenever the title came, itwouldbecelebratedwithout fans. Through the shut-down, through those long, fretful dayswhenthepossibilityof thePremierLeague’s seasonbeingcanceledentirely lingered in the springair, itthreatenednottocomeatall.For all the relief of the restart, Liverpool—

thecluband the fans—knewtheywouldbedeniedthatmoment.OnWednesdaynight,af-

ter Klopp’s teamhadproduced a display ofswaggerandpowerandintentagainstCrystalPalace tomove to the brink of the title, theGermanmanager haddaydreamedwhat itwouldhavebeenlikewithfansinsidethesta-dium:thedeliriumof thegoals, thenoise, thefervor. Instead, themoment,when it arrived,wasa fractured,distantone. Liverpool’s play-erswere at a hotel in Formby,watching theChelsea,ManchesterCitygametogether,count-ingdownthe last fewsecondsbefore thetitlewaswon. Liverpool’s fanswere in their ownhomesandgardens,doingthesame.

Perhaps, though, thatwas fitting. Thehis-toryof Liverpool’s last threedecadessuggeststhatitcouldonly,really,havewonthePremierLeaguelikethis:byproducingaseasonsoim-periousitwasallbutdevoidofdrama.Every other modern incarnation of

Liverpool,afterall,hasfallenshort.Theyouth-ful, homegrown teamof themid-1990shadbrio andpanache, but lacked grit and steel.GerardHoullier’sobdurate,grizzled2002edi-tionlackedimagination.RafaelBenítez’sfinesteffort in2009ran intoa superiorManchesterUnited. BrendanRodgers cameclose, his fre-

netic,flawedteamdeniedbyasingleslipfromits shot athistory in2014.Klopp’s altogethermorefinessedversionseemedtohavemissedout last year thanks to the relentlessness ofManchesterCity.Thatyear,Liverpoolbecametheonlyteam

to lose justonegame inaseasonandnotwintheleague.Onlyoneteamhaseverlostjusttwogamesinaseasonandfailedtowintheleague,too.Therearenoprizesforguessingitsidentity.Bydefinition,perhaps,Liverpoolneededasea-sonlikethis:onedefinednotbyamomentbutconstructedofaseriesofmoments. NYT

GORAN INFECTED,HAFEEZTESTS+VEAGAINNovak Djokovic’s coach, the former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic,has confirmed he has tested positive for coronavirus. The Croatian haddefended the Djokovic-organised Adria Tour, which had to be cancelled after aplayer, Grigor Dimitrov tested positive. Meanwhile, Pakistan cricketerMohammad Hafeez tested positive again after a PCB facilitated re-test.

SANDIPGJUNE26

INTHE2017-18EnglishPremierLeague(EPL)season, Liverpool finished fourth, 25pointsadriftofchampionsManchesterCity.Buttherewasstillsomethingremarkableaboutthewaytheyplayedthatseason,theirthirdyearundermanager JurgenKlopp— it sug-gestedtheywouldbeManchesterCity’ssternest titlechallengersnottoofarinthefuture.SospectacularwasthetriumphwhenitcamethatKlopp’sLiverpoolsideisalreadybe-ing spokenof as oneof the finesteverinEPLhistory.

Whatwasthestandoutfeatureoftheirtitletriumph?While Liverpool narrowlymissedout on

emulatingThe Invincibles, ArseneWenger’sArsenal thatwon the 2003-04 Premiershipwithout losingagame,havinglosttoWatfordinFebruary, theyexudedastreakof ruthless-ness in closingoutgames.No teamhasover-turnedmoregoal-deficits thanLiverpool didthisseason.Noteamhasscoredmoregoalsaf-ter70minuteseither.Klopphasinstilledasenseofbouncebackabilityinaclubthathasseemedtowiltundertheslightestwhiffofpressureinrecentyears.

Whatistheirfundamentalstyleofplay?Whatwouldpleasemost Liverpool faith-

fuls,neutralsandconnoisseursisthattheywonthetitleplayingfootballthe“Liverpoolway”.Klopp’sunwaveringfaithin‘gegenpressing’,

thestyleofhigh-pressingfootballthatinvolvespushinghighupthepitch,evenwhenyoulosetheball,andhisabilitytoinstil itsprinciplesinhis players preceded him. It took time forLiverpooltoacquaintandthenmasterthestyle,butKlopppersisted, tweaked formationsandplayersaround,broughtpersonnelthatsuitedhissystemandjettisonedthosethatdidn’t,andrefinedthestyleofplay, forgingLiverpool intoaninvulnerable,unstoppablemachine.

Howdoesthesystemwork?Liverpoolplayers seldomsatbackand let

theadversariesenjoypossession.Themomentthey lost theball, theybeganattacking themlikeapackof hounds. For,Kloppbelieves thattheplayers aremost vulnerable to losing theballwhentheyhavejustreceivedit.Thepushingwasrelentless,panicking the

opposition,whoeventuallyconcededtheballfor Liverpool’s lightening fast at-tackerstolaunchthemselvesup-front.Itwasnotblindpressingei-ther—once theopposing teamswere set with possession, thewide-menwould drop back sotheywoulddefendwithtwoverytraditionalbanksoffour.Klopp has what he calls a

‘shadowman’.Oftenthefirstmantocommitatattackwhentheylosetheballisadummy—heknows,moreoftennot,thathecan’twintheball,buthismerepresencecansowdoubts, as themantohissidepresseshardertodispossesstheopponent.It’sgenerallytheforwardswho’rede-putedintherole,whilehard-tacklingmidfield-ers like JordanHenderson,FabinhoandJamesMilnersnatchtheballbackandfeedthewaiting,vibrantattackers,equippedwithpaceandantic-ipation. To attackblindinglywithout losingshaperequiresheightenedcoordination,area-sonLiverpool tookyears tosettle in.Youdon’tseeforwards,aversatiletridentofMohammadSalah,SadioMane,andRobertoFirmino,loiter-ingaroundwhentheylosepossession.Instead,theyarethefirsttopressforthwhilethedefen-siveplayersregaintheirshapeandterritory.Sofromthedefensiveresolutenessemerges

theirattackingfluidity.It’sthereasontheother-wiseconservativeLiverpoolshelledoutarecordsumforpurchasing thebest defender in theleague,VirgilVanDijk. Theyhavequite a fewpace-setters, none somarauding as fullbackTrent-Alexander Arnold and AndrewRobertson.Itgoeswithoutsayingthatforsucha system to sustain their energy levels, theyneedtobesuperfit.Klopphasbeenlayingalotofemphasisonelevatingtheirfitnesslevelsinthepastfewyears,whichfullyboredividend.

The high-pressing systembehind Liverpool’s success

CROSSWORD4155

ACROSS1 Astakenbyaparachutist?(6,4)6 Inthecourseofmakingalacklustrecomeback(4)

10 Catchsomeof theclassoutofschool(5)

11 Mariner’sdependent(9)12 Tidesebbaboutworkersfindingalluvialdeposit(8)

13 Theatmosphereinasmallcompanymaybecapital(5)

15 ComplexKingofThebes(7)

17 Bagswildshe-cats(7)19 Playfulpets?(3,4)21 Newprocessexaminedinthemortuary(7)

22 OnehalfofafamousWesternstagepartnership(5)

24 Tellinglie,Grantisfoundout(8)

27 Enterintoanarrangementforstorage(9)

28 Bailarrangedbyonehavingareasonforinnocence(5)

29 Kindholymanhasaheartofgold(4)

30 Richandofhighstanding?(4-6)

DOWN1 Reducethesizeofanenclosure?(4)

2 Thistimetomorrow(9)3 Biblicalcharactercausednoendofaminorriot(5)

4 Dealersbecomingthebest inthebusiness(7)

5 Shrubhereinthecellarbutusuallyoutdoors(7)

7 MariobecomesaNewZealander(5)

8 Istohaveunder500totakeaway(10)

9 Goodmanrebuiltacrock-forracing?(5,3)

14 Heraldicbattledress(4,2,4)16 Scholarly,competentperformergetsdiscovered(8)

18 It’snecessarytocorrectlatenessI find(9)

20 Adiner’sorderedfish(7)21 Officerwhosoundsabitofanut(7)

23 Itmovesthehelicopterupordown(5)

25 I leavebelligerentspeechforbusiness(5)

26 GenerouslydisposedtotheGermanissue(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Themostsatisfyingwaytospendyourtimeisby followingyour favourite

hobby,especially if it’spractical,andparticularly if itoffersyouthechancetopotteraroundbyyourself. Thebestrelationshipsarebasedaroundshared interests rather thanrawpassion.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Youmaygive extra-special attention torelationshipswithchildren and

younger relations, andseekmuch-neededimprovements—whereverpossible.Make the fulfilmentof your ownunique talentsthe priority, rather thanalways doingwhat otherpeoplewant.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Youmay still be pre-occupiedwithtangled emotions athome, although the

general drift seems to beextremely positive. You areeasily provoked at themoment, so if partnersseemdetermined to irritateyou, take a deepbreathbefore responding.

CANCER(June22- July23)Yourmoodlooksincreasingly lively,andyourhiddennomadic tendencies

maybecomingout—soyoucouldbesmittenbyanattackofwanderlust.However,what ismost importantatthemoment is toexplainyourself properly, andbanishallmisunderstandings.

LEO(July24-Aug23)It’s timeforaspotofmoderateextravagance,andit’s surprising

howafewextra treatscan liftyourmorale.Youshouldalsobefreewithyour feelings, andavoidplacinganyfinancialvalueonemotionalrelationships—don’t judgeotherpeoplebyhowmuchtheyearn.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)You should be ontop form, and this iscertainly no time forregrets. Thepresent

is the gateway to the future,and thewayyouhandleyour personal affairs nowwill colour your life over thenext twelvemonths.You’re creating your futureright now—and that’s quitea thought.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Youmaybe inarelativelyquietmoodtoday,whichmeansthat if you’ve

arrangedsociableactivitiesyoumaybedreamingof beingbyyourself!Bytheeveningyoushouldbe feelingmoreontopofthings. If there’sa lesson, thenit’s tokeepyouroptionsopen.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Youmayfeel thatyouhavebeenslightedorwronged,but theremightnot

bemuchthatyoucandoaboutit. It’s farbetter to turnawayfromstrifeandgetonwithpersonalambitionsandtreasured friendships.Thepeopleyouneedtomixwithare thosewhohavestoodbyyou.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Youhavecertainlyhada lot toputupwith,but there ismuchtobethankful

foraswell. Peoplewhohavebeenrather roughwithyourfeelingsshouldbebalancedbythosewhoarehelpingyoutodiscoveryourdesires.Perhapsthe friendsyouneedmostarethosewhocanappeal toeverysideof yourpersonality.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Leaveyourdoubtsandqualmstoonesideandseizeallpassingchances

whileyoucan.Youreallywon’tknowwhatyou likeuntilyou’vetriedasmanydifferentactivitiesand lifestylesaspossible.Anddon’t letyourbeliefsundulyrestrictyourexperiences.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)There seem tobe alot of calls on yourresources at themoment, and there

maybenothing you candobutto spendyour valuable funds.You can, if youwish, gowiththe stars and exploit thechance to be extravagant.But it’s up to you tomake surethat every crumbof cash iswell-spent.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)ThesensitiverelationshipbetweenVenusandMarsmayhave

broughtaresurgenceofemotional tension,but ithasnowpassedandyoushouldrelaxonceagain.Oneof thebestthingsyoucando isopenupmoreto family relationships,removingall thosebarriersandemotionaldefences.

SUDOKU4152

DifficultyLevel4sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4151

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Somepeople___ittohappen,some___itwouldhappen,others__ithappen.—MichaelJordan (4,.,4,.,4)

SOLUTION:AWAKE,SHIFT,HANSOM,KOWTOWAnswer:Somepeoplewantittohappen,somewishitwouldhappen,othersmakeithappen.—MichaelJordan

KWAAE AOSHMN

FHIST OOTKWW

SolutionsCrossword4154:Across: 1Lagoons,5Bogus,8Thrusting,9Orb,10Oars,12Room-mate,14Cashew,15Outwit,17Contends,18Trap,21Ion,22Drayhorse,24Tread,25Deepest.Down:1Lotto,2Gar,3Oust,4Saigon,5Bigamous,6Globalwar,7Subject,11Resonance,13Defended,14Cyclist,16Edward,19Pleat,20Shoe,23Rue.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

For thecityof Liverpool, thishasbeenaparty threedecades inthemaking.Reuters

■Afteradominantcampaignthatwasinterruptedbythepandemic,LiverpoolbecameEngland’searliest-everchampions—andthelatest.Noteamsincetheleague’sinceptionin1888hasclinchedthetitlewithsevengamesremaining,andinJune.

■Authoritiesexpresseddismayatthefloutingofthelockdown,despiteboththeclubandpoliceaskingfansnottotravel.MayorJoeAndersonsaid,“We'llhavetoseewhetherthere'saspike.”Liverpoolhasseen1,677coronaviruscasesand544deaths.

■OnlyafewdozensupporterswereoutsideAnfieldasthefinalwhistleblewatStamfordBridge.Buthundredsmorequicklyarrived,settingoff flaresandfireworks,wavingflagsandsinging‘Allez,Allez,Allez’onthestepsofthestadium.

VOL XIX No.169 Registration No. DL-26003/2001 R.N.I No. UPENG/2001/5674. Printed and published by R.C. Malhotra on behalf of M/s The Indian Express Private Limited. Printed at The Indian Express Private Limited Press, C-26, Amousi Industrial Area, Lucknow and published at 1/8, Vivek Khand, Gomti Nagar,Lucknow- 226010. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor : Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Lucknow) : Rakesh Sinha * (*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act). website: www.expressindia.com. Copyright: The Indian Express Private Limited. All rights reserved.

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