terrorists, associate killed in encounterSRINAGAR: Two terror-ists whose identity is being ascertained and a terrorist associate were killed in an en-counter with security forces at Goripora village of Awantipora in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday morning.

“Two unidentified terrorists and one hardcore associate of the terrorists were killed. Search is still going on,” police said in a brief statement. This is the second encounter in less than 24 hours in south Kashmir.

lowest growth rate of coVid-19 cases recordedNEW DELHI: India recorded 6% growth in new cases, which is the lowest daily growth rate recorded since the country crossed the mark of 100 cases, a day before it was close to 7.1%, and the average doubling rate of cases of the country is 9.1 days, the government said on Saturday. According to the Health Ministry, on 21 March, Covid-19 cases were doubling in three days, but on 23 March the rate of doubling increased to 5 days. Within a month, the doubling rate has reached 9.1 days from Friday 8 a.m. to Saturday 8 a.m. The total number of confirmed cases in India is 24,942 and 779 deaths have been reported so far.

central team on bengalKOLKATA: An Inter-ministerial central team on a tour to northern West Bengal on Saturday suggested immediate stricter implementation of the ongoing lockdown and deployment of more field officers to avoid any further outbreak of Covid-19 cases. Team leader Vineet Joshi came up with suggestions in a letter to state Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha after touring parts of Kalimpong and Darjeeling district.

top of saturday

In his April 14, 2020 ad-dress to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

revealed that his government planned to unwind the anti-coronavirus pandemic lock-down, but in stages.

India is the only G-20 coun-try, which is simultaneously afflicted with Covid-19 sick-ness of its citizens, and also

debilitated by falling growth rates in output, with rising unemployment and a totter-ing financial system. Thus our task, post-Covid-19, is gigantic.

As already known, by the time the coronavirus arrived in India in early February this year, the economic sys-tem of India had been in de-cline for over three years. But I expect that India will win the battle against the corona-

virus pandemic. However, I also foresee that India may be badly defeated by the on-going pre-pandemic war to reset the economy.

The problem, thus, for the nation is not that we cannot defeat the coronavirus, but that the already crisis-ridden economy will have been, by then, further battered by coronavirus and the conse-quent lockdowns.

When coronavirus enters

the body of a human, which is already sick due to other reasons, the task to save such a sick human becomes huge-ly uphill. Similar is the case of fighting Covid-19 with an already weakened economy.

Thus by the time the gov-ernment’s lockdown policy manages to contain the coronavirus, the economy may become so emaciated that there may be a situation of mass unrest in its people

consequent on unemploy-ment and rising poverty due the lockdown.

Thus the pressing possi-bility of an economic crash induced by the lockdown, should galvanize policymak-ers to honestly review the way we have governed and then to initiate wide ranging changes in economic policy—i.e., if those presently at the helm of economic affairs even know how to do this.

These changes cannot be deciphered just by reading books and op-eds; but must come from qualifications fit for research, tested ideologi-cal convictions, and experi-ence.

My suggestion is that as a first step, Prime Minister Modi should replace the present lockdown scheme by a more decentralized scheme and ensure that the MSME and daily wage workers in

the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors are able to survive and the sectors revive soon.

As I have written in my earlier articles in The Sunday Guardian, the Modi govern-ment should formulate a new economic policy with a clear statement on objec-tives, priorities, strategy and viable schemes for resource mobilization with essential

26 april-02 may 2020 | Vol.11 Issue 18 | new delhi | rs. 30.00

action from Pm modi essential for economic boostSubramanian SwamyNew Delhi

life in the time of coronavirusA boy wearing a protective face mask rides in a cycle rickshaw on the eve of the

holy fasting month of Ramzan, during a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus, in the old quarters of Delhi, on Friday. REUTERS|ADNAN ABIDI

reforms needed

economy

churn within

follow constitutionstrategically imPortant

Great Indian Divergence: Uneven growth dragging India down

6drones are the new threat

14corona may haVe leaked from wuhan Virus institute: exPerts

11combating the economic contagion of coVid-19

the new hitmaker

The economic stagnation has pre-coronavirus roots, hence lifting the lockdown will not be enough to get the economy back on track.

fP12

fP12fP12 fP7

fP12

One of the biggest collec-tive shocks India faced as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up was the sheer number of migrant workers walking out of Delhi at the start of the lockdown. They risked everything they had to return home, alerting the na-tion to the sheer scale of mi-grant labour in India’s busy metros. It took a lockdown to reveal these large numbers.

India must ask the ques-tion, why do so many people migrate from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states to Delhi or Mumbai where they mostly get jobs as contract la-bour with meagre compensa-tion? A look at the economic growth of five populous

states with low per-capita income against states with the highest reveals stark dif-ferences in growth models—the Great Indian Divergence.

India’s per-capita GDP has grown steadily from Rs 90,000 in FY’14 to Rs 1.49 lakh in FY’20 at 8.8% YoY. While this is a tremendous achievement, a closer look at individual state per-cap-ita incomes shows it varies extensively (Table 1). States with the highest per-capita GDPs are growing faster and have smaller populations. Some states with the lowest per-capita GDPs have sig-nificant populations while growing slower than the India-average. They need to accelerate economic growth to provide employment and good wages to their large

T.V. mohandaS pai & niSha holla BeNgaluru

pankaj VohraNew Delhi

aShiSh SinghNew Delhi

dibyendu mondalNew Delhi

With the Gandhis being un-able to resolve the sharp dif-ferences within the family regarding the future leader-ship of the party, pressure is mounting on the high com-mand to convene a session of the All India Congress Com-mittee as soon as the coun-try returns to normalcy. A few days ago, Sonia Gandhi constituted an 11-member panel of leaders, under the guidance of former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to take stock of the emerging situation during the lockdown. Significantly, the select group comprised leaders close to both her and Rahul Gandhi.

However, within the set-up, as well as amongst senior

leaders, the view is that the Congress should support the government on steps being initiated to tackle the Covid-19 challenge, and sub-sequently wait for an appro-priate time to point out the discrepancies. The leaders aligned to Rahul are all for the party to take on the gov-ernment during this period of crisis, since they consider it to be the “opportune mo-ment”.

The result being that the Congress’ approach is bereft of clarity, and like on previ-ous occasions, the responses emanating from many lead-ers are negatively impacting, since the general perception is that the Central govern-ment was dealing with the pandemic hands-on, and had it been casual in its at-titude and application, the

death toll would possibly have been out of control. It is only the assessment of Dr Manmohan Singh on the

“Dearness Allowance” cur-tailment that has received a positive feedback, and by and large, Sonia Gandhi’s suggestion of putting on hold the grand plan to rede-sign the Central Vista, too, is being viewed as an apt point.

The recurring confusing signals being, who in actu-ality is running the party. If it is Sonia Gandhi, why on many occasions, is Rahul speaking out of turn; his re-cent press conference where he uttered the word, “strate-gic” 19 times was nothing short of showing him as an under-prepared leader. In addition, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also been making

In a candid conversation with The Sunday Guardian, Governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankhar flagged several issues ranging from a possible scam in the public distribution system in West Bengal to how Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee is dis-regarding the Constitution. Excerpts: Q: Reports are coming from West Bengal about shortage of food grains. Questions are also being raised regarding the effectiveness of the public distri-bution system (PDS) in the state. Has the state received enough food grains? Where is the prob-lem?

A: There are indeed worri-

some reports of people be-ing in dire need of food. A recent violent incident has upset me. To alleviate the problems of the poor during Covid-19, the Pradhan Manti Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was unveiled on March 23, 2020. Under this scheme, free ration for three months would be available to more than 6 crore people of West Bengal, which in-cludes 5 kg rice per person per month and 1 kg dal per family per month.

I got inputs from several quarters that the state gov-ernment has virtually stalled the scheme and people were in dire need. I got in touch with Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, to learn that while his Ministry and the

FCI in West Bengal were fully geared and ready to supply rice to the state, as per PMGKAY, unfortunately, the state has taken no steps in that direction. I catalysed the situation by flagging the issue to the Chief Secretary, whose initial response on the issue was evasive. How-ever, this process has now started after weeks of delay.

My biggest worry is that the PDS in West Bengal, as per numerous inputs, is vir-tually politically hijacked. It is under the control of the ruling party workers. Ra-tion dealers are thoroughly stressed as they have to go by the command of the political workers of the ruling party. There are inputs that ration is being distributed based

on tokens issued by ruling party workers. This is a wor-risome state of affairs and I have formally indicated that those officials who would fail by acts of omission or commission in discharging their obligations in ensuring free ration to the poor would be sternly dealt with.

I have publicly pleaded that there should be imme-diate political unlocking of the PDS as it has taken the shape of a scam and the balloon is getting bigger by the day. My efforts to have inputs from the Food Secre-tary and the Food Minister are yet to fructify.Q: You have used the term “PDS scam” in your tweets. What is the scam that you are referring to?

The Border Roads Organ-isation (BRO) has opened the Rohtang Pass situated at an altitude of 13,500 feet above sea level, on Saturday, more than three weeks in advance amid the Covid-19 lockdown after clearing snow. The pass was opened on May 18 last year. Situated around 50 km from Manali, the Rohtang Pass connects Kullu valley with Lahaul and Spiti, which in turn provide access to Leh. It’s open only from May to November for motor vehicles and it’s so dangerous that the Government of India is building an 8.8 km tunnel as an alternative to the route. It is the arterial road connect-

ing Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh with rest of the country. Rohtang Pass is heavily used for mili-tary movement too.

The Himachal Pradesh government had approached the BRO to expedite the snow clearance to facilitate the re-turn of farmers for starting cultivation and for the move-ment of essential supplies and to bring relief material to Lahaul Valley in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The BRO inducted hi-tech machinery from both Manali and Khoksar. Snow blizzards, freezing temperatures and frequent triggering of ava-lanches at Rahala Fall, Beas Nallah and Rani Nallah did delay the operations but the

Pressure mounting for aicc session to elect new President

bengal is not anyone’s fiefdom: goVernor dhankar

Lockdown no bar, BRO clears Rohtang Pass 25 days ahead of schedule

2 nation the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

James C.F. Huang

‘a safe distance’

Delhi colony scareD of coviD hospitalNew Delhi’s Defence Colony residents are worried as the Delhi government-run Nehru Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital in their area has been dedicated exclusively for coronavirus patients. It is in the heart of the colony, which has a large population of old people. “A safe distance is enough to prevent spread of the virus,” agreed a senior citizen. “But it is more psychological that may impact our minds.”

Major (Rtd) Ranjit Singh, president of the Defence Colony Residents Welfare Association, told The Sunday Guardian: “We have written a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal about the risks associated with shifting Covid-19 patients to Nehru hospital. We have also asked the government about how equipped the homeopathic hospital really is. So far, no sanitization process has been carried out and there is free movement of vehicles. There is a need to dedicate a route for the hospital so that residents and visitors can avoid it.” The RWA has asked residents to sign an e-petition which will be sent to the Lieutenant Governor and the CM to cancel this hospital’s status for Covid-19 patients.

alarming!

taming poverty toughPost the coronavirus crisis, it is unlikely that India will be on course to decimate poverty. This is the view of Dr Ashok Kumar Jain, Principal Consultant, NITI Aayog, and his associate, Dr Rajan Kotru, Lead Strategist, Redefined Sustainable Thinking, Palampur (HP).Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Jain and Kotru said that Covid-19 has sent all socio-economic growth projections to a toss. The situaion “makes it unlikely that we will be on course to decimate poverty.”

They said that the government has shown tremendous resolve to counter the fallout by a range of socio-economic packages ranging from direct cash transfer to the poor and farmers to free food to the needy. “The developed world will be less likely to fulfil its committed funding and other obligations to developing and least developed nations for reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” they said, adding that the governance standards will need to reach towering heights as the defining factor for taming poverty post Covid.

proud moment

car rally thanks inDian-american DoctorAn Indian origin woman doctor, Uma Madhusudan, who is treating Covid patients in the US, was recently thanked by patients’ families by holding a car rally in front of her residence. A video widely circulated online shows Madhusudan standing in front of her home as cars drive past, honking and cheering for her. A convoy of about 200 vehicles included police cars and fire brigade trucks. Neighbours stood holding “Thank You” placards. Madhusudan studied at the JSS Medical College (1990 batch) in Mysuru (Karnataka) and is currently employed at South Windsor Hospital in Connecticut.

embarrassment

‘islamophobia of gulf inDians’UAE’s Princess Hend Al-Qassimi has criticised social media posts by an Indian expat working in the Emirates, blaming Muslims of coronavirus. “The ruling family is friends with Indians, but as a royal your rudeness is not welcome,” she wrote on Twitter. “All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed.” She also posted a section of Emirati law regarding hate speech which, she said, applies to both UAE nationals and non-citizens. In an interview to an Indian TV channel, Al-Qassimi spoke of the offensive tweets but acknowledged that the comments were not representative of all Indians. Meanwhile, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Pawan Kapoor, has warned Indians over there about “Islamophobic” posts. In a tweet, Kapoor said, “India and UAE share value of non-discrimination on any grounds. Discrimination is against our moral fabric and the rule of law. Indian nationals in the UAE should always remember this.”

the greater good

Don’t Demonize inDian muslimsThe other day, my Bengaluru-based entrepreneur friend, Syed Ashfaq Peeran told me, “Many of us are worried as some people are trying to demonize our community.” He also sent a brief but strongly worded statement that he and many top Muslims community leaders had signed. It read: “Events of past few months which culminated in the Tablighi Jama’at disaster have been very disturbing for the community. The media is seizing and projecting every opportunity to demonize Muslims as a homogenous entity. Some of our own people have exacerbated the situation by irresponsible and ill-informed comments which have been used as instruments of further vilification. We need to act NOW to apply the corrective on issues that demonize us every day. ” Apart from Ashfaq Peeran, it was signed by Saleem Shervani, former External Affairs Ministers, Prayagraj; Dr Syeda Hameed, former Member Planning Commission, Delhi; Javeed Ahmed, IPS (Rtd), former DGP UP, Lucknow, among others.

Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com

proactive

‘swift action let taiwan manage coviD crisis’James C.F. Huang, Chairman of Taiwan External Trade Development Council says that this global fight against Covid-19 should go beyond political disagreements.

Covid-19 pandemic has engulfed the entire world. It has caught

many countries unawares. As a result, these countries are finding it hard to con-trol the situation even as the number of casualties is increasing day by day. How-ever, Taiwan is one of the few countries which have been able to contain the spread of Covid-19 quite effectively. In an exclusive interview to The Sunday Guardian, JAMES C.F. HUANG, Chairman of the Tai-wan External Trade Develop-ment Council (TAITRA), said that it was possible due to swift and proactive response soon after the outbreak emerged in Wuhan. He said that the global pandemic was not necessarily an inevitable outcome and that Taiwan’s and other nations’ success in containing infec-tions shows how effectively a viral epidemic can be managed with quick action and open co-ordination. Excerpts:Q: Taiwan is one of the few coun-tries which reported very few cases of Covid-19, compared to many other countries, including your neighbours. How were you able to control and manage the pandemic in your country so successfully?A: There are two crucial factors which have allowed Taiwan to so far successfully manage the pandemic crisis. The first was a swift and pro-active response as soon as the first reports of a viral outbreak in Wuhan emerged. As early as 31 December, 2019, before a single infection occurred in Taiwan, health officials were already checking all in-bound flights from China for passengers showing any

kind of symptoms of respira-tory pneumonia. Within one month, the Central Epidemic Command Centre was operat-ing and treating the Covid-19 situation as a major threat.President Tsai Ying-wen was quick to announce public safety measures such as strict border control and enforced 14-day quarantines for anyone entering the country from an affected area, all while many other countries were under the impression that they were safe from the infection.The other factor which has been greatly beneficial is the high levels of coordination between our health care pro-fessionals and institutions. Because of our national healthcare system, we have been able to share information between hospitals quickly and effectively, in order to be best prepared for a sudden influx of patients. When there is a confirmed case, we have been able to immediately take steps to treat the patient, as well as investigate possible sources or at-risk individuals who were in contact with the infected person. The national efforts of our healthcare system have allowed us to constantly keep pace with the changing risks and conditions of the pandem-ic, as well as speed up devel-opment of research into the coronavirus to improve testing capabilities and work towards a possible vaccine.Q: What steps did Taiwan take to prevent its spread in the very beginning? A: The first case of Covid-19 was discovered in Taiwan on 21 January. Within three days, the government had implemented a ban on ex-porting face masks in order to ensure an adequate sup-

ply for citizens. Sale of masks was also strictly controlled, in order to make sure every in-dividual had access to them, without people being able to buy and hoard masks for pri-vate use. The public was also quickly educated about proper procedures maintaining good hygiene, and mandatory tem-perature checks were estab-lished in all schools, as well as many other public spaces. Crucially, the first local cases occurred during the Lunar New Year holiday, when many people travel back and forth between China and Taiwan. This made it imperative that we take action before the cri-sis was out of control; thus the winter break for schools was extended by two weeks, so that anyone who had been abroad would not immediately be reintroduced to a classroom environment. Hospitals also set up temperature check points, disinfectant stations, and established special pro-tocols for handling Covid-19 cases, in order to prevent in-fections within health clinics. All of this was done with an urgency that demonstrates just how seriously the coro-navirus situation was taken from the outset.Q: Even as the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) was in denial mode over the corona threat ear-lier, Taiwan started fighting it. Do

you think WHO did inaccurate reporting of the cases in Taiwan? When did you understand that it was going to be a pandemic of such a proportion all over the world and did you warn the WHO? What did WHO do after the warning?A: The global pandemic was not necessarily an inevitable outcome. Taiwan’s and other nations’ success in contain-ing infections shows how ef-fectively a viral epidemic can be managed with quick action and open coordination. In fact, in early January, the WHO was still stating that there was no need to implement any kind of travel restrictions to China, as they wanted to see if more information would come to light. In mid-January, the WHO was suggesting that the virus may be able to spread beyond China, while Taiwan’s CDC (Centers for Disease Con-trol) was already claiming that human-to-human transmis-sion would be a likely cause of an increased infection rate. While in medical science, it is valuable to collect data before jumping to conclusions, we can also see that this kind of delayed response can be di-sastrous when dealing with an unknown virus.In many of the hardest hit places, the problem was a lack of preparation, which could have been averted if Taiwan’s advice had been followed. We have been very willing to share our knowledge and experience, and in January, Taiwan was already offering assistance to China in better understanding the virus. In the ensuing months, Taiwan has donated masks abroad, and our Minister of Health and Welfare, Chen Shih-Chung, has met with envoys

of European countries to dis-cuss containment methods. Fighting the virus needs to be a global effort which goes be-yond political disagreements and labels.As people, we need to come together in a time of crisis and share knowledge in a way that benefits all countries. That is what organisations like the United Nations must stand for, and Taiwan is more than willing to participate, whether we are a recognised member of the WHO or not.Q. Do you think the lessons learnt during the SARS outbreak years ago came as an eye-opener for you?A: Many of our current offi-cials, both in the CDC and oth-er levels of government, lived through the SARS crisis and saw the problems it caused. That experience allowed us to move swiftly from the very first signs of a potential epi-demic. But we also have the unique advantage of having many medical doctors in po-sitions where they can shape policy and give recommenda-tions. Most notably, our Vice President, Dr Chen Chien-Jen is a trained epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins Univer-sity, and he has been instru-mental in helping the Taiwan government move forward in the face of this pandemic, guided by his own training, and his experience as Minister of the Department of Health during the SARS outbreak. There were also a number of published research papers after the SARS outbreak, at-tempting to understand what had worked and what had not. Many of the quarantine procedures used in our hos-pitals now are a result of the studies conducted in 2004

and 2005. We must also credit the Taiwanese people for immediately grasping the potential severity of the situa-tion today, and remembering what the situation was like in 2003, being supportive and cooperative with government measures and recommenda-tions.Q: What do you think on India’s strategy to deal with the pandem-ic? Do you think it is going in the right direction, given the fact that it is a large country having a di-verse population?A: We are impressed by India’s desire to reach out and learn more about the pandemic, while coordinat-ing with our own doctors to contain the number of infec-tions. In these past months, TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) has acted as a bridge to link the knowledge and expertise gathered in Taiwan with doc-tors and medical staff in India who want to be on the cutting edge in the fight against Cov-id-19. In early April, Dr Po-Lin Chen of the National Cheng Kung University Hospital gave a keynote speech for a webinar which was attended by 9,000 Indian medical staff, who asked insightful questions and actively participated in the learning experience. TAI-TRA has also been working hard to directly connect Tai-wan’s hospitals with those in India, whether it’s in exchang-ing knowledge and data, or in training Indian physicians to better cope with the challeng-es which lie ahead. India has its own unique challenges, but we are confident that through future exchanges of ideas and information, Taiwan and In-dia will successfully control the coronavirus

navtan kumarNEW DELHI

‘beautiful slogan’ saving lives

dibyendu mondalNEW DELHI

with humanitarian touch, Delhi police turns ‘Dil ki police’

As the entire nation under a lockdown to battle the coronavirus pandemic, the Delhi Police has been rising to the occasion daily, going beyond their call of duty to provide humanitarian relief to every citizen of Delhi.

Apart from maintaining law and order in the national capital, the Delhi Police, over the last few days, has delivered over five million food packets to the urban poor and homeless across the national capital, along with over 42,500 dry ration kits to the needy and poor, as part of its humanitarian relief operation. This, according to Delhi Police, has been possible with the involvement of nearly 400 NGOs, RWAs and good samari-tans. Even police officers from the national capital are lending their hands to help in the cooking and preparation of food in the com-munity kitchens that are later distributed among the needy and poor.

The food delivery happens through a ro-bust network of food delivery system set up by the Delhi Police across all the 15 districts in the national capital and each district along with its DCPs have formed a dedicated team to help distribute food packets and dry ration to each and every one who are in need to ensure that no one sleeps hungry in the city. “We have been able to forge a strategic partnership with public-spirited individu-als through civic volunteers, commercial entities and NGOs which led to the total distribution of approximately 33 tonnes of dry ration.

The dry ration, consisting atta, rice, pulses, edible oil, salt, spices, masks, sanitisers, soaps etc, have been distributed to 2,507 families, thus creating a major impact in fighting hunger distress among the weaker and actual needy sections of the society

through dedicated teams of Delhi Armed Police under supervision of Special CP and Delhi Armed Police,” Delhi Police spokes-person M.S. Randhawa told The Sunday Guardian. Police officials from the South Delhi district also went a little further and arranged a birthday cake for a four-year tod-dler residing in a jhuggi in the Buddh Vihar Wali Gali to celebrate her birthday with her family members and friends.

The Delhi Police has also launched its new slogan “Delhi Police-Dil ki Police” to con-nect to the hearts of the people at this time of pandemic.

“This is a beautiful slogan that has been coined. Everyone feels that the police is someone who is going to beat people up and are always on the streets with lathis or arms. This slogan will bring the police and the people closer as the city has been witnessing the humanitarian touch that each one of us has within ourselves with the motto to serve people of this city with love.” a senior police official told this correspondent.

The lockdown has also led to complaints of smuggling of illicit liquor in the national capital. According to Delhi Police, the cops here have seized more than 5,460 quarters of illicit liquor and has nabbed at least 10 persons in the last one month.

Being at the forefront of the crisis situa-tion in Delhi, the Delhi Police has also been receiving several SOS calls that need immediate medical attention. Without any public transport available and without any cabs or auto rickshaws plying in the city, the cops in Delhi are taking it upon themselves to ensure that every sick person is taken to a nearby hospital.

The Delhi Police’s 24X7 helpline number 23469526 set up to resolve issues related to lockdown has received 26,106 calls till Tuesday.

India battling virus at home, helping othersIndia is offering a helping hand to different countries fighting the Covid-19 pan-demic with medicines as well as medical profession-als, while simultaneously dealing with the crisis at the domestic front. India is in the process of exporting 285 mil-lion tablets of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to 40 countries on a commercial basis, while it will gift 5 million tablets to many countries to help them fight the Covid-19 pandemic. HCQ, notably, has emerged as an effective medicine to treat the coronavirus. Also, commercial consignments of around 500 million tab-lets of paracetamol (PCM), also useful in treatment of Covid-19 patients, have also been cleared for 60 countries.

Besides, India has gifted 5 million HCQ tablets to countries in the neighbour-hood and also Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, Eur-asia and WANA (Western Asia and North Africa) re-gions. India is also provid-ing 1.32 million PCM tablets to the neighbouring and other partner countries. The entire exercise is being coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs, headed by S. Jais-hankar.

Among neighbouring

countries, India has sent HCQ to Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Mynamar. Other countries where India is supplying HCQ include France, Nether-lands, Egypt, Nigeria, Oman, Zambia, Dominican Republic, Madagascar, Uganda, Burki-na Faso, Niger, Mali, Congo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Equa-dor, Jamaica, Syria, Ukraine, Chad, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Ke-nya and Peru.

As reported earlier, India is the largest producer and ex-porter of the drug. Initially, the government banned its exports, but the rules were eased thereafter to allow ex-port of HCQ and paracetamol after meeting all the domestic requirements.

An MEA official said that apart from HCQ and PCM, India is also providing a big basket of other medical aid which includes essential drugs and life-saving anti-biotics, medical consumable and other equipment for laboratories and hospitals. According to him, the value of the total medicines and other supplies to be gifted by India stands at Rs 383 million (about $5 million).

India has also responded promptly to requests for de-ployment of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) comprising doctors, nurses and paramed-

ics. These RRTs are ready for deployment at short notice and have so far been deployed in Maldives and Kuwait at the request of their governments. These RRTs have helped train and exchange best practices with local medical profes-sionals on various aspects of dealing with the pandemic.

India will soon have enough rapid testing kits to go in for large-scale community test-ing of the virus, with a South Korean firm starting produc-tion at Manesar.

Through coordination with agencies concerned in India, arrangements were enabled whereby the Indian subsidiary of a South Korean company has commenced production of Covid-19 rapid anti-body testing kits in its plant at Manesar, Haryana, with a capacity of 5 lakh tests per week.

He said the first batch has already rolled out. “This is an excellent example of our ‘Make in India for world’,” the official said.

He also said the Indian Mis-sion has also signed a contract on behalf of the ICMR with another South Korean com-pany to procure and supply 5 lakh corona testing kits.

This is to be noted that 11 empowered groups have been set up for an integrated approach to deal with the pandemic.

navtan kumarNEW DELHI

MAN MOHAN

on my radar

nationthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhi 3www.sundayguardianlive.com

A Spirited ArgumentCaptain Amarinder Singh recently found himself very popular on social media as a clip of the Chief Minister went viral, arguing in favour of liquor shops being re-opened sooner than later. For, as he pointed out, these are a huge source of revenue for a state, especially since the Centre still has to give Punjab its share of GST receipts. He added that since fruits and vegetables are sold in the open (hence prone to more people touching them before they reach the ultimate buyer) where is the harm in selling liquor which comes in sealed bottles? Well he seems to have hit a chord with that one.

getting it rightRam Madhav, in an exclusive interview with NewsX, played it statesman like when asked about Tablighi Jamaat, saying that it would be unfair to blame an entire community for this. He also added that Covid-19 was not a stigma, but a disease for which there was no cure hence the need to be extra careful. And added that is why it’s important you don’t hide it, but come and get tested if you have the symptoms. The Prime Minister too has warned against communal politics. It is statements like this which will help us counter the crisis.

Lockdown diStrActionThere is a lot of speculation as to how political strategist Prashant Kishor reched Kolkata in the middle of a lockdown. After media reports claimed that Kishor had reached Kolkata after Mamata Banerjee summoned him, sources claimed that government officials suspected he had flown in a cargo plane. However, Kishor denies this and has told the media that he did not take any flight. The hunt for his passage is still on. More of a case of ticket to hide, than a ticket to ride!

Lockdown FAShionAfter Omar Abdullah grew a beard while detained under PSA, it is now Congress leader Jitin Prasada who recently was seen on social media (where else during

lockdown!) sporting a beard. Clearly Abdullah has set a trend in lockdown beards, though when this was pointed out, Prasada got into the spirit of fun and retorted with a tongue in cheek tweet: aaj kal daadi waalon ki chal rahi hai (these days the bearded ones are getting a way). Well, it’s lockdown time and all distractions are welcome.

By Priya Sahgal

COOLBREEZE

Multiple Covid-19 epidemiological models, predicting

fatalities and the number of infected in India, had come into existence in the initial days of February and March, giving a grim prediction of the future.

However, more than a month of the lockdown pe-riod later, the reality shows a different picture viz-a-viz the predictions that were made by these models. Such epidemi-ological models, projections and predictions are used by the government in formulat-ing critical policy decisions. When Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi had announced a nationwide lockdown, effec-tive from 12.01 am, 25 March, the number of Covid-19 cases in India was less than 700.Centre for Diseases DynamiCs, eConomiCs anD PoliCy stuDyOne of the early predictions that conducted by the Cen-tre for Diseases Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CD-DEP), in Washington and New Delhi, was published on 24 March. This study took into account the demography (age, gender) of the Indian population, socio-economic characteristics and access to healthcare to arrive at its predictions.

The researchers at the CD-DEP predicted that between 25 March and 25 August, India could potentially see around 2 to 2.5 crore people being affected by the coro-navirus. The peak of the infection, predicted by the researchers at CDDEP, will be

between 25 April 25 to 5 May whereby about 2,500 people per lakh of population would be getting affected.

The researchers gave three scenarios— one with the high trajectory where the effect of lockdown would potentially not be giving any results and that there would be a rapid spread of the disease where more than 2.5 crore people in India would be affected by May.

The medium scenario, ac-cording to the researchers, would be where there would be no affect of the lockdown, temperature or humidity. In this case, the CDDEP re-searchers predicted that about 2 crore people in India would be affected by the virus and the peak of the cases in India would be somewhere near 25 May.

In the low case scenario, which the researchers called “optimistic scenario”, with decreased transmission and temperature and humid-ity playing its role, the total number of Indians getting af-fected could be around 1-1.3 crore people and in this case, the peak is predicted to come around 25 June.

These total number of cases predicted by CDDEP researchers include asymp-tomatic, symptomatic as well as hospitalised cases.

Their next study, published on 20 April, stated that the na-tional lockdown had brought time to the officials to ramp up infrastructure and has thus delayed the peak while giving four different scenarios.

The study stated: With hard lockdown continuing along with social distancing norms followed strictly along with isolation of cases, India could see a peak infection of about

9 crore Indians getting af-fected by July this year, which would include asymptomatic, symptomatic and hospitalised patients (long-term reduction in transmission reduces peak infections.)

With only a hard lockdown, the peak of infection in India would see about 13 crore In-dians getting infected and the peak will be somewhere around 10 June. Even with a moderate lockdown, India would witness about 13 crore peak infections with the peak coming around 3 June. With no intervention, post the 21-day lockdown, India could see a peak infection coming around 16 crore people by 20 May. In effect, their best case scenario, as per the lat-est study, is 9 crore Indians would be affected, while in the worst case scenario, 16 crore would be.CambriDge moDelIn the “Cambridge Model” that was developed by Cam-bridge scholars Rajesh Singh and R. Adhikari, the two scholars used SIR model (Sus-ceptible-Infected-Removed). This Cambridge model used Indian homes as a channel of social transmission as three generations of family live in one home.

This model, published on 26 March, has predicted four scenarios. In the first case, the study said that a meagre 21-day lockdown would not yield any results and that cases would start to peak after the 21-day lockdown is lifted. The Cambridge model suggested that even during the lockdown, India is likely to witness more than 2,700 deaths.stuDy faCilitateD by K. Vijayaragha-Van, PrinCiPal

sCientifiC aDVisor to the goVernment of inDiaIn the latest of such study that was published earlier this week, in the worst-case sce-nario, Covid-19 mortality in India is projected to increase to 38,220, while the number of positive patients is predicted to touch nearly 30 lakh.

These projections were based on a statistical model “Covid-19 Med Inventory” that was prepared by experts from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Sci-entific Research (JNCASR), Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, IIT-Bombay and Armed Forces Medical Col-lege-Pune and facilitated by K. Vijayaraghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India.iCmr stuDyThe Indian Council of Medi-cal Research (ICMR), too, had published a study predicting the spread of Covid-19 in the country. The study titled “Prudent public health in-tervention strategies to con-trol the coronavirus disease 2019 transmission in India: A mathematical model-based approach”, was published in the IJMR (Indian Journal of Medical Research) on 24 March. However, very curio-ulsy, the study has now been removed from the website and is only available to those who were able to download it.

While the study has not given any real numbers as to how many would be affected in the best and the worst case scenarios, it has suggested that between 1% and 10% of the population will be infected at the peak of the epidemic, depending on its severity.

According to the study, in the optimistic case, 150

people per 10,000 would be impacted in Delhi without in-tervention, while in the pes-simistic scenario, it would go to 1,000 infected per 10,000. While taking government intervention into account, it stated that in the best case sce-nario, the number of infected in Delhi would be roughly 20 per 10,000, while in the pessi-mistic case, it would be almost 1,000 per 10,000.CoViD 19 stuDy grouP rePortA report released on 22 March by the “Covind-19 study group” comprising 14 experts from Johns Hopkins Univer-sity, University of Michigan, University of Connecticut and Delhi School of Economics, stated that if a nationwide in-tervention is put, the number of Covid cases in India will be 13,800 cases which rise to 22 lakh cases by 15 May if there is no intervention.stuDy by g. b. Pant engineering College, Delhi anD ChitKara uniVersity, PunjabAs per a prediction done by experts from G.B. Pant En-gineering College, Delhi, and Chitkara University, Punjab, India is likely to have nearly a million confirmed cases by the end of May 2020.

The model predicted that Covid-19 would be at its peak between the third and fourth weeks of April 2020 in India. The total number of predicted confirmed cases of Covid-19 might reach around 68,978, and the number of deaths due to Covid-19 is predicted to be 1,557 around 25 April 2020 in India.other stuDiesOn 23 March a study that was published on an online publication platform, Me-

dium, which was authored by an Indian doctor, used the SEIR model (Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Recov-ered) to predict the number of infected and the number of deaths in India due to Co-vid-19. This same model was used to predict SARS cases.

The author arrived at a con-clusion that if there was no intervention from the gov-ernment, like lockdown, the number of infected in India would be around 115 crore or almost 80% of the total population of the country be-ing affected by Covid-19. The study further stated that with-out intervention, the number of deaths in India could have been around 4.5 crore in a span of six months. That was the worst case scenario.

The best case scenario stated that the maximum number of infected would be around 13,000 infected persons, with 300 deaths.

The use of using numeri-cal modelling to map the expected fatality and spread of an infectious disease goes back centuries. One of the first attempts was made by 18th century mathematician Daniel Bernoulli, who tried to map the spread of smallpox.

However, they have rarely been accurate as too many ele-ments are involved, especially in a country as huge as India, where the elements that are used to arrive at a number, change frequently.

On 7 April, Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, US, perhaps summed the situation the best when he said, “I think you’re going to see the numbers are, in fact, going to be much less than what would have been predicted by the models,” he said.

modeLS predicting inFectionS in indiA removed From reALityabhinanDan mishra & DibyenDu monDalNeW DelHI

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In a huge country like India, elements used to arrive at a number change frequently.

The inability of the Ministry of Electronics and Informa-tion Technology (MeiTY), Government of India, to safeguard India’s interests on Twitter has come to the fore again after a Pakistan-based Twitter user, after changing the name of his handle to that of a member of the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia, indulged in massive anti-India propa-ganda which generated a lot of traction on the social me-dia platform before the truth

came out.A twitter user, portraying

as the handle of “Princess Noura bint Faisal Al-Saud” started indulging in false anti-India propaganda and since it was being purport-edly tweeted by a member of the Saudi royal family, the tweets started getting mas-sive traction.

In one of the tweets, the user, tagged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while stating that if the Indi-an government continues to “suppress” Indian Muslims, the trade relations between the two countries will be af-

fected.“Indian PM @naren-

dramodi and his Govt should keep in mind that KSA buys $5 billion worth of products from them every year. We are the second largest sup-plier of oil. If they continue to suppress Indian Muslims, then our trade relations will definitely be affected,” the handle tweeted.

Later, it warned the India government over the “Islam-ophobia” in the country. “I am concerned about the re-cent reports of Islamophobia in India. Saudi Arabia hosts more than 4 million Indian

workers. I hope they all re-spect the Kingdom’s rules. Anybody insulting Islam will be fined and deported immediately. We don’t toler-ate Islamophobia in KSA.”

These tweets got massive traction on the social media platform and were shared by people across both sides of the border, including by se-nior journalists of Pakistan, who did it either knowingly or under the impression that it was being stated by a mem-ber of the Saudi Arabia royal family.

Later, after investigation done by India-based twitter

users, it emerged that it was a fake handle that was be-ing run by a Pakistan-based user who was earlier active through- @idanialusuf. Later, the fake handle (@Nouraalsaud) of the princess was taken down by Twitter sometime on Thursday night after it reported to Twitter of being a fake handle by many users. This whole event has brought to the fore the dan-ger posed by Twitter, where anyone can masquerade as a representative of an influ-ential body and spread ha-tred in the society. This has also raised a lot of concerns

among members of the in-ternal security over lack of any quick tool in the hands of the Government of India to handle such “mischief”.

“Imagine if such ‘promi-nent’ handles start spreading messages that ignite passion among communities in In-dia. What will we be able to do? By the time Twitter acts on such handles and bans them, it will be too late. We need a quick redressal sys-tem and it is the responsibil-ity of the MeITY to take this up with Twitter to prevent any untoward incident in the future,” a senior official with

an intelligence agency said. Interestingly, while reply-

ing to a RTI query raised by this newspaper, the MeITY recently said that it has “no control” over Twitter’s func-tioning in India.

The Sunday Guardian, in its RTI, had sought clarifica-tions on the following points: (1) Whether there is a spe-cial desk department wing to keep a watch on Twitter activity? (2) Whether your ministry has received com-plaints against Twitter re-garding its functioning in In-dia? If yes, the nature of the complaints and the details of

the same? (3) Whether the ministry has received com-plaints of Twitter acting in a biased manner against users based in India? (4) Whether the department is aware of the methodology used by Twitter to verify accounts? (5) Whether the department is aware that Twitter has been accused of verifying ac-counts in a biased manner? (6) Whether the ministry has reached out to Twitter, seeking clarifications on the complaints received?

In its reply, the MeiTY said that no such information was available with it.

The “Nation with NaMo”—a non-profit organisation which came into existence in 2018 to back Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha poll campaign—now offers Graduate Impact Leadership Programme (GILP).

The organisation says that the programme’s aim is to train India’s top minds and further involve them to as-sist Prime Minister Naren-

dra Modi’s vision of nation-building, but sources have revealed that the reason behind this exercise may be to draw a roadmap for win-ning the upcoming polls in Bihar and later in West Ben-gal.

The advertisement for the Graduate Impact Leader-ship Programme reads: “When you picture your-self at the beginning of your career, what comes to your mind? A cubicle, a 9-to-5 job, building excel models to structure financial products

hustling to launch a prod-uct in a new city, pitching your business ideas to the potential investors or be-ing part of a larger software team working on a sub-set of a project, researching on various positions of law and advising clients.”

“However, if the afore-mentioned is not satisfac-tory for you, then imagine this—sitting in a village understanding the local is-sues and political trends, brainstorming with your team, using insights to de-

sign an election campaign, discussing the election cam-paign strategy with political stakeholders, crafting the message that shapes public opinion, getting involved in the grass-root implemen-tation for taking the cam-paign to the masses, coming up with policy suggestions for election manifestos, crunching data real-time to predict electoral outcomes, observing your work has a real impact on real people by solving real problems and doing all this while

supporting Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi and his party in their vision to build a new India. If this sounds appealing to you, if creating real impact is your priority, then we welcome you to the Graduate Impact Leader-ship Programme (GILP),” the advertisement further reads.

The “Nation with NaMo” primarily operates through the social media platform and has sought application for joining the GILP.

The organization pub-

lished an advertisement calling graduates and post-graduates to apply for the course.

The mandatory qualifica-tion for joining the course is to have a graduate or post-graduate degree from India’s top-ranked higher education institutions, in-cluding Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) besides others.

“Every year, lakhs of bright minds graduate from top educational in-

stitutes in India, but most of them join the corporate sector. The best minds in our country rarely get an opportunity to tackle the most critical problems fac-ing our nation. GILP aims to bridge this gap and create a forum where young ideal-istic graduates who are in-terested in nation-building can collaborate with and contribute to the political ecosystem through direct interactions as a GILP,” the advertisement added.

The “Nation with NaMo”

initially was a group of vol-unteers who supported Prime Minister Modi in his first Lok Sabha polls cam-paign held in 2014.

Later in 2018, the group turned into a political cam-paign management organi-zation which helped Modi to design and implement his Lok Sabha campaigns. The website of “Nation with NaMo” claims to have more than 25 lakh associ-ates coming from India’s top universities and institu-tions.

propAgAndA

For top mindS

Pak user’s fake Twitter handle spews anti-India venom

NaMo campaign group offers graduate leadership course

abhinanDan mishraNeW DelHI

KunDan jhaNeW DelHI

Jitin Prasada (left) was seen on social media sporting a beard, after Omar Abdullah grew a beard in detention.

User had changed name of his handle to that of a member of the Saudi ruling royal family, and indulged in massive anti-India propaganda.

4 nation the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

cENTRAL TEAMS’ INPUTS VITAL FOR PM’S VIDEO MEET wITh cMsPM will take a call on further extension or staggered lifting of lockdown 2.0.

The inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) which are now fanned

across the states where Co-vid-19 crisis is severe are go-ing to submit their reports to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) by Sunday. These reports will act as in-puts for Prime Minister Na-rendra Modi’s video-confer-ence with the Chief Ministers on Monday.

PM Modi in this interaction with CMs will be taking stock of the lockdown situation 2.0 and will take a call on its fur-ther extension or staggered lifting. The IMCTs which are headed by a joint secretary rank official in the Govern-ment of India are currently touring the affected states to get a first-hand knowledge of the ground realities.

An IMCT which is cur-

rently in Hyderabad on Sat-urday interacted with Telan-gana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and other health and police officials and visited some government run hos-pitals where Covid patients are being treated. The team inspected other hospitals and a newly created TIMS (Telangana Institute of Medi-cal Sciences and Research) at Gachibowli in the city.

This new facility created exclusively for Covid patients now has 1,500 beds, taking Telangana’s overall capacity to deal with the virus out-break to 3,000 beds, includ-ing some ICU wards. Later, the team members consisting of officials and experts from different ministries toured some parts of the city and observed the conditions in the hotspots.

IMCT teams also visited West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,

Madhya Pradesh and Rajas-than. “These are the states which figure in the top 10 affected states in the country and where the Covid spread is fast and furious. Unless we tally our reports by tomor-row, we cannot say anything on the gravity of the situa-tion,” said a member of IMCT while talking to officials.

The teams sent by the Cen-tre to study the situation at the ground level are expect-ed to certify the efficacy of measures taken by the state to deal with the Covid criis. For example, there were some reports that the implementa-tion of containment zones (hotspots) in Hyderabad’s Old city was not effective. The teams went into such complaints too.

According to sources, the IMCT which visited Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad went round all the Covid wards and discussed the prospects

of plasma therapy for which the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) gave its nod from 28 April. At least seven patients are eligible for this therapy.

The IMCT members also re-viewed the economic aspects of the lockdown in view of the farm operations in rural areas that are underway. Procure-ment of paddy and its trans-port to rice mills and supply chain restoration are some of the issues which were stud-ied by the team. The Centre is keen on procuring the entire farm produce from the farm-ers this season at minimum support price (MSP).

Non-payment of MSP by some rice millers in some dis-tricts came to the notice of the team which interacted with the agriculture department officials. Absence of enough labour and traders too is a reason for the poor prices to the farm produce. Telan-

gana BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay was on a day-long fast at the party office protesting non-payment of MSP to farmers. Later in the day, the team members called on Chief Minister K. Chan-drasekhar Rao (KCR) who ex-plained them the steps taken by his government to tackle the Covid crisis, according to the officials. Sources said that the CM was keen on extending the lockdown 2.0 by at least a few weeks so the situation would come under total control.

Though Telangana is bet-ter placed when compared to other states and the na-tional averages on Covid cri-sis management, KCR wants to continue the lockdown till May end, which would also cover the going Ramzan fes-tival season. It is not known whether the CM is ready for some relaxations after the current lockdown ends by 7

May in the state.Telangana is not imple-

menting whatever the re-laxations announced by the Centre to the lockdown since 20 April.

Presently, barring supply of essential commodities and vegetables, milk and medicines, all other shops are shut and no business is allowed. As most part of the Hyderabad city is declared as a hotspot, no revival of eco-nomic activity here is likely.

KCR is expected to seek for further extension of the lock-down at the PM’s videocon-ference on Monday, according to sources in the government.

However, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is expected to bat for further relaxing the lockdown from 4 May. Compared to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh is allowing some economic activity as per the Central guidelines.

‘IN PUBLIc INTEREST’

Sale of liquor is unlikely in near future in the country as the Central government thinks that it would aggravate the Covid crisis. This has been conveyed to the states at a vid-eoconference Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba had with states’ chief secretaries and director generals of police (DGPs) on Saturday.

This videoconference is a weekly routine after the coun-trywide lockdown was imposed from 24 March and its inputs would be used for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s audiovisual interaction with the chief ministers on Monday on deciding the next course of action to contain the Covid spread in the coming days.

Several states, including Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, have asked for allowing them to open liquor retail shops so that people are not put to hardships. Some other states haven’t made an open de-mand, but were waiting for a green light from the Centre to resume liquor sales shut from 22 March.

However, the Cabinet Secretary, according to sources in the Telangana government, made it clear that it was neither advisable nor possible to reopen liquor sales as it would cre-ate many new problems. Gauba is learnt to have explained to the chief secretaries and DGPs that sale of liquor would not only harm the immunity of regular consumers, but also mess up the lockdown norms like social distancing.

The states which had asked for opening liquor shops are driven by two major prob-lems. One is the falling rev-enues on account of clos-ing liquor shops. For most states, excise duty from liquor sale is a major rev-enue source. For example, Telangana gets annual rev-enue of around Rs 25,000 crore, from all sorts of shops—retail and bars and pubs. Same is the case with Andhra Pradesh too.

Most states find it difficult to pay salaries to their em-ployees while some of them had cut the pay bill by 50% for March and April. As other sources of revenues like stamps and registration duties and GST have evaporated as all commercial estab-lishments shut, liquor sale could be useful to some extent.

Another reason is mounting demand from the public that liquor is allowed at least during day time so that they need not buy it in the black market. Even now, liquor is available, but at extra prices, from 200-1,000% more. Police are de-tecting liquor bottles hidden in private vehicles which are meant to supply to the customers secretly.

The states are willing to ensure that social distancing is fol-lowed outside the liquor retail shops, if they were opened from 4 May. Some states like Kerala have come forward to post police force outside the shops too. But, the Centre is not willing as it doesn’t want to allow some states and not allow the others. A nationwide opening is possible only after June or July, said sources.

Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, too, said in Hyderabad on Saturday that the Centre was not ready to allow liquor sales immediately in view of the un-abated Covid cases. “We have decided not to reopen liquor shops in the interests of public as it would endanger their lives now,” he said while talking to the media.

Centre says no to reopening liquor sales

S. Rama KRiShnaHyderabad

Soon after Tablighi Jamaat activists were traced to some parts of Jammu region, fake videos and announcements in some villages of Kathua and Samba have resulted in a virtual boycott of Gujjars and Bakerwals—who used to supply milk to the entire Jammu City and other areas—as being alleged carriers of coronavirus. Media reports from Jammu on 8 April talked about ban on entry to 10,000 villagers from Keerian and Gandial to Kathua town. On 17 April, they were allowed to come to Kathua town only to buy essential items and for health facilities.

“We used to come with milk in the morning and now we are not only beaten up by po-lice, but local buyers in Jam-mu city also refuse to buy our milk,” said Jamal Khan Gujjar who used to come from R.S. Pora to Jammu City to supply

milk. There have been local announcements in various parts of Jammu, especially in Kathua, Samba and Jammu city, asking households not to buy milk from the Gujjars, known as the “Dodhi Gujjar community”, in Jammu re-gion. There is a feeling among residents of Jammu region that Gujjars are carriers of coronavirus and these fears have been reinforced among the people allegedly by some right-wing activists who do share a good relationship with Gujjars and Bakerwals since the beginning of 2018 when in Hira Nagar Tehsil of Kathua, a minor girl of Bak-erwals was raped, resulting in arrest of many right-wing activists. Sources said an RSS affiliate “Sewa Baharti” is working actively in Jammu during the lockdown. They have been advising people not to buy milk from the Dhodi Gujjars as they could be infected with coronavi-rus. “People are not buying

milk and milk products from them as rumours are doing the rounds that they are sup-plying infected milk,” said a senior professor of Jammu University on the condition of anonymity. She said that since the Tablighi Jamaat angle to coronavirus has emerged, there has been a lot of polari-sation in the Jammu region, as people are maintaining a distance from the Muslim community in general to “avoid being infected”.

Locals of the Gujjar commu-nity in R.S. Pora told media persons in Jammu that in the Vijyapor area of Samba Dis-trict, they were stopped and announcements were made in presence of police that they should not be allowed inside the homes with milk. Advo-cate Shah Mehmood Chaud-hary said that a delegation of Gujjars met senior officers of the administration and police, but the boycott continues, re-sulting in huge losses to the Dhodi Gujjar community.

He said that this was being done on design as this boy-cott is forcing Gujjars to sell their milk for Rs 10-20 a kg to some big business houses in Jammu who, in turn, make cheese from the milk and sell it to people of Jammu city at very higher rates.

Amid the social boycott, the Dhodi Gujjars have been supplying milk free of cost at the quarantine centers estab-lished by the government in Kathua and Samba districts. One of their members, Ajmal khan, said they are supply-ing milk to all the quarantine centers, as the boycott will otherwise result in wasting this milk. No person from the Dhodi Gujjar community has tested positive for Covid-19 so far. Divisional Commissioner Jammu did not respond to telephone calls to him, while a senior police officer of Jammu region said that the beating of a few Gujjars by police has been an “aberration” and not part of any policy.

In the past few days, three Kashmir-based journalists have been booked by police under the stringent Unlaw-ful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) law, triggering protests from various jour-nalist bodies and showing the growing confrontation between the J&K adminis-tration and journalists here.

Talking to many senior journalists in Kashmir on the recent FIRs, more details about the confrontation sur-faced. Most of the reporters said that following last year’s lockdown from 5 August, of-ficials in the administration refuse to comment or give any details about any incident.

“Recently, I was doing a story on those families in Srinagar city who were on the verge of being without

any food or help. I talked to half a dozen officials to give details how they are feed-ing such families. There was no response, but only some sketchy details on twitter. I filed the story without of-ficial version; I can be also booked,” a local reporter working for a website said. Whenever officials in J&K administration speak, it is al-ways off-the-record, and this trend has resulted in an FIR against The Hindu correspon-dent, a local from Srinagar, as officials refused to give him any information.

This reporter also faces a lot of difficulties to get any offi-cial to be quoted in any sto-ry. In connection with FIRs against three journalists, no senior officer has given any comment.

“The devil is in the detail. First, they refuse to give any official confirmation; then

they book us for not pub-lishing their version. This dangerous trend should be stopped. The government should nominate an official spokesman and he should be available to all journalists in Kashmir,” a senior journalist told this reporter.

Peerzada Ashiq, correspon-dent of The Hindu, told police during questioning and even showed to his interrogators screenshots of the questions sent to officials for confirming the news. The newspaper also said that no rejoinder/clari-fication was received by the newspaper to the prior regis-tration of the FIR either from police or from the informa-tion department.

The Kashmir Press Club, in a statement, said: “Police has booked a young and promis-ing female photo-journalist Masrat Zahra under 13 UAPA and 505-IPC. She was sum-

moned to Cyber Police Sta-tion, Aircargo, in Srinagar on 18 April. However, after the Kashmir Press Club and Directorate of Information intervened at the highest level, the police dropped the summon.

But now it has emerged that the police has filed a case against her with stringent charges and as per conversa-tion with Zahra, she has been asked to come to the police station concerned.

A local journalist and au-thor Gowhar Geelani, who has been booked under UAPA, has moved court against police action. In his petition, he has requested court to quash the FIR by police against him.

On Friday, the J&K High Court denied interim relief to Geelani and issued a notice to the UT Administration while listing the case for 20 May.

‘hATE PROPAGANDA’ ‘FREEDOM OF PRESS’

Gujjars, Bakerwals face ‘boycott’ Journos’ confrontation with J&K administration intensifiesnooR-ul-QamRain

Srinagar

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It has become a challenge to the Telugu-speaking state governments to avoid mass gatherings of the community members.

‘The Centre thinks that it would aggravate the Covid crisis’.

Two Telugu speaking states—Telangana and Andhra Pradesh—are adopting dif-ferent strategies to contain Covid-19 spread during the holy month of Ramzan that commenced on 25 April. The month-long fasting and prayers by Muslims would culminate in the festival that is expected to fall on 24 May.

As most of—around 80%—Covid positive are traced to those who had participated in Tabligihi-e-Jamaat in Delhi last month, and even now some of those who had returned from the event are untraceable, it has become a challenge to the governments to avoid mass gatherings of the community members. Of the around 300 hotspots in the two states, most of them are from the areas where they live in.

Telangana Chief Minis-ter K. Chandrasekhar Rao

(KCR) has decided to fol-low a tough stand against any religious congregation or mass prayers till 7 May, when the current lockdown ends. Though the Centre has extended the lockdown from 15 April to 3 May, KCR has added four more days to the complete shutdown. The Chief Minister has convened a Cabinet meeting on 5 May to decide on the further course of restrictions.

According to sources close to him, Prime Minister Na-rendra Modi’s video confer-ence with chief ministers on 27 April, Monday, will offer crucial inputs for the Cen-tre’s strategy to deal with the situation in the country. PM Modi will elicit the views and suggestions from the CMs on extending the lockdown. KCR will be the first CM to seek further extension of lock-down till at least May end.

KCR is of the view that con-taining the majority of Mus-lims from coming out in large

numbers to offer prayers in mosques or open grounds would be a tough task to the police machinery. The administration may be able to restrict them till 7 May, when the current lockdown runs, but not beyond. So the best way is to extend the lockdown till May end, a few more days beyond Ramzan, sources said.

Arguing for a tough imple-mentation of the lockdown, KCR has ignored the Centre’s advice to relax it for certain sectors from 20 April. As a result, there is no change on the ground in Telangana as far as the full lockdown is concerned. Even the latest guidelines from the Centre to allow shops like statio-nery and mobile recharge and electrical repairs, too, are not being implemented in Telangana.

“We can either fully imple-ment the lockdown or lift it completely, but we cannot adopt a middle path as people

will not listen to us if restric-tions are relaxed,” said an official who is involved with Covid cases management in Hyderabad. Though no one mentions about Ramzan officially, the entire focus of the administration is on the fallout of allowing the public before the festival.

Till now Telangana Wakf Board Chairman Moham-med Saleem made an appeal on Friday to Muslims not to come out of their homes for prayers in view of the Covid crisis. “All devotees should offer their prayers from their homes and strictly follow the government restrictions so as to avoid any harm to their families,” he said. AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, too, made a similar appeal to Mus-lims on Friday.

However, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is following a different strategy, though he, too, expects Muslims to stay home and abide by the lock-

down rules. Jagan has opened up most of the 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh from 20 April and doesn’t intend to extend the lockdown beyond 3 May, if the Centre doesn’t extend the same.

Chief Minister Jagan has decided to sanction cash as-sistance of Rs 5,000 to each mosque in the state so that the moulvis there won’t allow devotees to offer mass prayers on their premises. The Chief Minister also sanctioned the same amounts to Hindu tem-ples and Christian churches to ensure equality among re-ligious. “We will have to see how far this policy of carrot works out,” a police official of Andhra Pradesh said.

Some police officials are not sure whether lifting the lock-down after 3 May will help them ensure no mass prayers during Ramzan. “Telangana has a clear policy of not al-lowing any gatherings till May end, but we don’t know the situation until the next

week, when our CM decides the post-3 May course,” said a senior official of Guntur city.

His comments assume significance as Guntur, Kur-nool, Krishna and Chittoor districts account for 70% of 900 Covid cases in Andhra Pradesh. A majority of the hot spots in these four districts are from areas linked to the Nizamuddin returnees. Obvi-ously, unrestricted allowing of mass prayers by them may further spread the virus; feel the police and health officials. So far, Andhra Pradesh has accounted for 27 deaths.

The situation in Telangana is no different. So far, the state recorded around 1,000 positive cases and 25 deaths. The number of hotspots is increasing day by day and cops are barricading all ma-jor roads to restrict public movement in Hyderabad and other district headquarters. Complete night curfew from 7 pm to 6 am is implemented in the entire state.

MONTh-LONG FASTING

ON MONDAy

KCR, Jagan adopt Covid strategies for RamzanS. Rama KRiShnaHyderabad

S. Rama KRiShnaHyderabad

However, the Cabinet Secretary, according to sources in the Telangana government, made it clear that it was neither advisable nor possible to reopen liquor sales as it would create many new problems. Rajiv Gauba is learnt to have explained to the chief secretaries and DGPs that sale of liquor would not only harm the immunity of regular consumers, but also mess up the lockdown norms like social distancing.

nationthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhi 5www.sundayguardianlive.com

Kerala govt attacKed over deal with US firmOpposition alleges that decision was taken by CM on his own.

The Covid-19 pandem-ic success story in Kerala is marked by

a deal the Left Front govern-ment struck with US-based Sprinklr, a citizen and cus-tomer experience manage-ment firm, to collect and manage the virus data in the state.

The opposition, led by the Congress, is alleging that the tie-up with the US firm is in violation of all norms and taken by the Chef Minister without discussing the mat-ter in the Cabinet.

No global tender was floated prior to selecting the company and the legal de-partment was not consult-ed. Further is the accusation that data of 1.75 lakh people were collected without their prior consent.

Healthcare workers are collecting the data house-to-house, seeking answers to 41 questions on existing chronic and serious ail-ments of those under home quarantine.

It is said the information would help doctors and medical officials take quick and accurate decisions on further treatment and hos-

pitalisation. Congress leader Ramesh

Chennithala has ques-tioned why the administra-tion took the assistance of a foreign entity when there were institutions within the state, such as the Centre for Development of Imag-ing Technology (CDIT) and the Kerala State IT Mis-sion, which could do the same job. Chennithala also said the decision to appoint Sprinklr, launched in 2010 in New York and owned by a Malayali, was taken uni-laterally with the knowl-edge of the Chief Minister and without prior clearance from departments such as Law, Local Self-Govern-ment and Finance. Since the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-jayan, who also holds the IT Department, refused to an-swer saying he didn’t have time and inclination to give explanation on “baseless allegations”, Chennithala moved the High Court.

The state government claims that the company has offered its tools free of cost, in the form of a soft-ware-as-a-service (SaaS). According to the IT Depart-ment, the data were being collected on a massive scale and therefore needed an

application that could col-lect and analyse the same. Sprinklr’s SaaS tool was ready and only had to be customised for the state’s needs. Pinarayi Vijayan, who briefs the press daily on the virus, initially re-fused to take any questions regarding Sprinklr.

T h o u g h f l a n ke d b y Health, Revenue and Agri-culture Ministers and the Chief Secretary, it is the Chief Minister who answers queries from media per-sons, including those con-cerning the ministers pres-ent at the briefing.

But when it came to IT, he bluntly told the media to check with the IT Sec-retary. So the IT Secretary, M. Sivasankar, who is also

in charge of the CM’s office, spent one whole day giving interviews to various TV channels.

At the end of which he owned up responsibility for the deal with Sprinklr. “Sprinklr is a SaaS firm which offers its service to agencies like the World Health Organisation. The company offered its service free of charge till September and considering the emer-gency requirement in the state, it has been decided to avail its service. The de-cision has been taken on war-footing using my dis-cretionary power and not consulted trolled law or other government depart-ments,” he said.

The opposition wondered as to how a secretary could take such a major decision involving a foreign compa-ny, irrespective of its owner-ship, without even consult-ing his minister. CPI, the junior communist party in the government, too joined issue with the Chief Minis-ter on privacy concerns in data sharing.

This forced the govern-ment to set up a two-man committee to study the deal and submit a report in a month’s time. It was all too

clear that the government was trying to whitewash the deal by seeking time.

Considering the petition filed by Ramesh Chennith-ala seeking cancellation of the agreement owing to data privacy, the Kerala High Court of Friday raised cer-tain questions, short of can-cellation of the deal, leaving the government in a tight spot.

In its interim order, the court said the government should anonymise the data before it is shared with Sprinklr. Also the govern-ment should inform in-dividuals that their data would be accessed by Sprin-klr.

More important, the court said that consent of indi-viduals should be obtained before collecting the data for analysis. While issuing the order, the court said the directions were given with the intent of “ensuring that there is no data epidemic af-ter the Covid-19 epidemic is controlled”.

Both the opposition and Pinarayi Vijayan, who now by had started reacting to Sprinklr questions, had claimed the court order was in their favour.

Pinarayi Vijayan has tried

to justify his actions by say-ing “extraordinary situa-tions call for extraordinary actions”.

That was why the IT sec-retary had said that patients would not have answered the questionnaire if they knew the intentions behind the data collection. Now that the court has asked the government to reveal the motive, it is to be seen whether the government would go ahead with data collection in the future.

Sprinklr may be forgot-ten, but it is unlikely that the people of Kerala forget IT Secretary, a senior IAS of-ficer, going to a party office to explain his actions to the leader there.

That was what IT Secre-tary Sivasankar did when he called on CPI State Sec-retary Kanom Rajendran at party headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. “There is nothing unusual in it,” said a senior minister of Pinarayi Vijayan govern-ment justifying the act. OVERHEARD: What is common in US President Donald Trump and Com-munist Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan? Both refuse to answer ques-tions based on “fake news”.

SantoSh KumarNew Delhi

SPriNKlr New Normal

The aviation, hospitality and real estate sectors could face even harder times in a post-Covid world, as the world’s big-gest experiment of work from home (WFH) could be the new normal in such a world.

As organisations and companies are forced to take to the WFH culture and their experiments with virtual meetings and virtual office set-ups become a success in the first leg of the lockdown, companies are mulling over the decision as it involves less travel. Some companies may make the work from home culture a permanent feature.

Organisations believe that this new normal would help companies save lakhs of rupees every year, as rents for their office spaces would reduce and employees would have to make minimum travel in the near future.

Heads of leading corporations like Axis Bank, RPG group, Vedanta, Cognizant, EY, Deloitte, Whirlpool, Paytm, and Titan are deliberating as to how this new normal could be effectively implemented in these organisations in the near future.

A senior official from Paytm told this newspaper, “A lot of the backend team does not have to meet on a regular basis and their work can easily be done from home as we are see-ing right now; this may be implemented in the near future. Why should people go to office when they can do the same work from their homes? This way, the company also gets to save a lot of money.” On the condition of anonymity, an official from a private sector bank told this correspondent, “We are already in discussion mode as to how we can divert a lot of our staff to take to work from home as the new cul-ture and normal. For example, the customer care team and backend processing team can work from home, as they do not have to meet customers on a daily basis.” Even big cor-porates who are currently working from home and even holding their international conferences and meetings over video-conferencing think that this could change the way In-dia or perhaps the world would meet following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Meetings and deals could be finalised and worked out even on video calls and today, we have the technology to even hold online conferences. We have realised this po-tential in the past 21 days, so why would companies invest thousands of dollars for their team to travel in business class and put them up in a five-star hotel? All unnecessary trav-el would be cut down and this would save thousands and thousands for companies each year,” a senior official from Mahindra told The Sunday Guardian. Such measures could come as shock to the hospitality and aviation sectors which are reeling under the heat of this global pandemic. The glob-al aviation industry, which is expected to lose about $314 bil-lion as revenues in this year alone, could further see a dip if companies stop or lower their travel plans. The hospitality and tourism sector, which is staring at a loss of about $22 billion dollars, could further see a cut if corporates reduce their travel.

The realty sector, which was expected to boom in the com-ing months, has also been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandem-ic and further down, companies and big corporates choos-ing work from home as the new alternative, could come as a big blow to this sector.

A hospitality sector expert, who is keeping a close watch on the development, said, “The government needs to give a fiscal stimulus to these sectors; else many are going to just die. This crisis is one of the biggest faced by the human ci-vilisation. We shouldn’t be surprised if in the coming days, we see many airlines shutting shops and many hotels and the hospitality sector going bankrupt.”

Work from home could hit aviation, hospitality, realty sectors

DibyenDu monDalNew Delhi

Data discrepancy on count (including deaths) in Co-vid-19 cases in the world has become a routine affair as there is no synchronisa-tion in the data presented by the different institutions on their dashboards.

The institutions that are out of sync with each other include the World Health-Organization (WHO), Johns Hopkins’ Center for Sys-tems Science and Engineer-ing (CSSE), European Cen-tre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) from aboard and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Union Health Min-istry from the country.

For example, on 20 April, the Johns Hopkins’s CSSE dashboard mentioned total 18,539 Covid-19 cases in In-dia; on the other hand, the WHO and ECDC put the same at 17,265 on 20 April. The same day, the ICMR dashboard put total 17,615 Covid-19 cases, while the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare kept it at 16,116.

The lack of synchroniza-tion is not limited to the counting of Covid-19 posi-tive case only, as a similar situation is visible in the Covid-19 death counts too. For example, on 20 April, the Johns Hopkins CSSE reported total 592 Covid-19 deaths in India while, the WHO and ECDC kept the

figure of total death at 543. Incidentally, earlier this same institute had made forecasts for India that have subsequently been found to be alarmist and misleading.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has termed the data dis-crepancy as an “occasional” lag, but the regular testing updates of the ministry and ICMR show that data dis-crepancy is a frequent oc-currence.

Experts say that the lag in presenting data at the time of the pandemic is a usual occurrence, but the same shouldn’t continue for a lon-ger period.

ICMR has been tasked with updating testing data on a regular basis. This is-

sue is being raised by sever-al data scientists, including Professor Shamika Ravi, who is at the center of Cov-id- 19 data study. The ICMR did not update data on 20, 21, and 22 April.

The lack of synchronisa-tion in the data presented by the different institu-tions was also visible on 24 April. On 24 April, the WHO dashboard showed total of 2549632 confirmed Covid-19 cases and a to-tal of 175825 deaths across the world (last updated on 23 April 2020, 05:30 GMT+5:30).

Another institution, Johns Hopkins CSSE counted total 2,709,408 confirmed Covid-19 positive cases with total 190,861 deaths across

the world, while accord-ing to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the total number Covid-19 cases on 24 April were 2588 068 and total 182808 deaths happened due to the Covid-19 out-break.

Dr Shyam Singh, a noted virologist who was at the helm of dealing with Japa-nese Encephalitis in the country, told The Sunday Guardian: “After consider-ing the data given in the dashboard of different in-stitutions, one thing is clear that the discrepancy occur-rence on the Covid-19 case count is not occasional. In order to understand the global pandemic, we need global testing updates and

in case of India, we have seen that ICMR must move in sync with the Union Health Ministry.

Some countries provide clear and helpful data on testing, but for many coun-tries, however, available data on testing is either in-complete or unavailable, which may cause errors in reading an overall picture of the current pandemic.”

Reports of problems in data on Coivd-19 count by some state governments in India have been coming and it is important that we know the overall situation of a vi-rus outbreak in the coun-try. This is needed for both citizens as well as officials to ensure that life goes back to normal at the earliest.

While most countries, in-cluding the developed and developing, have been giving much importance to conven-tional allopathic medicines for prevention and cure of Covid-19, India has not for-gotten the values of Ayurve-da—the age old tradition of healing.

In his recent address to the nation, Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi sought people’s commitment and asked them to use Ayurveda for enhancing the body’s natural defense system (im-munity).

He also gave tips to use hot water and Kadha (Ayurvedic drink made

with herbs to heal cold) to boost immunity.

Although there is hardly any disagreement among health experts that allopath-ic medicines are the “lifeline of the current world”, as per experts, Ayurveda, that has been a traditional medicine system in the subcontinent, needs a substantive re-look and discovery amid the Co-vid-19 crisis.

Ayurveda is a natural sys-tem of medicine that origi-nated in the subcontinent more than 3,000 years ago and the term is derived from the Sanskrit words Ayur (life) and Veda (science or knowledge). Thus, the word Ayurveda stands for the knowledge of life.

Ayurveda treats patients

based on the idea that dis-eases occur due to an imbal-ance or stress in a person’s consciousness. It prescribes healthy lifestyles and natu-ral therapy to heal the said imbalances.

Vaidya P.S. Dwivedi, a UP-based Ayurveda scholar who is associated with the Ayush initiative, told The Sunday Guardian: “People should not be misled that Ayurveda has a total cure for coronavirus, but we can certainly claim that Ayurve-da can boost your immunity so much that your body can fight in case the virus at-tacks you. The products used in Ayurvedic medicine contain herbs, metals, min-erals, or other materials that may be useful if it is used

properly.” “I think that Ayurveda can

have a very positive effect when it is used as a comple-mentary therapy along with conventional medicine. For example, the use of tama-rind and turmeric supplies antioxidants to your body and this can help in reduc-ing lung and breathe prob-lems. Most importantly, a daily dose of Yoga can help in boosting the immunity level of the practitioner. Many Ayurvedic materials require thorough research to introduce a certainty like conventional medicine,” Dwivedi said.

The Ayush Ministry’s guidelines prescribe a range of measures that are under Ayurveda to help citizens

amid the Covid-19 crisis.“In the wake of the Co-

vid 19 outbreak, entire mankind across the globe is suffering. Enhancing the body’s natural defense sys-tem (immunity) plays an important role in maintain-ing optimum health. We all know that prevention is bet-ter than cure. While there is no medicine for Covid-19 as of now, it will be good to take preventive measures which boost our immunity in these times,” a statement of the Ministry of Ayush reads.

The Ministry of Ayush recommends self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and boost-ing immunity with special reference to respiratory

health. Some of the guide-lines include, drinking warm water throughout the day, the practice of Yogasa-na, consumption of spices like Haldi (turmeric), Jeera (cumin), Dhaniya (corian-der) and Lahsun (garlic), drinking herbal tea/decoc-tion (Kadha) made from Tulsi (basil), Dalchini (cin-namon), Kalimirch (black pepper), Shunthi (dry gin-ger) and Munakka (raisin), once or twice a day, besides others.

The Ministry of Ayush claims that the above grid-lines are made with the sup-port of Ayurvedic literature and scientific publications in consultation with emi-nent vaidyas from across the country.

‘roUtiNe affair’

traditioNal mediciNe

Discrepancy in virus outbreak count

‘Ayurveda needs a relook amid Covid-19 crisis’

KunDan JhaNew Delhi

KunDan JhaNew Delhi

‘There is no synchronisation in data presented by different institutions on their dashboards’.

‘Ayurveda can boost immunity so the body can fight in case the virus attacks you’.

Firms can save money on office space rents, as employees need to travel less.

Pinarayi Vijayan

top of saturdayaFter late niGht orDer

oNly StaNdaloNe ShoPS to be oPeNed, clarifieS mhaNew Delhi: After a late night order on reopening of shops amid the coronavirus lockdown, the Ministry of home Affairs on Saturday issued a clarification saying that only stand-alone shops are allowed to open as per the directive and that the order does not apply to Covid-19 containment zones or liquor stores. “in urban areas, all standalone/neighbour-hood shops and shops in residential complexes are allowed to open. Shops in markets/market complexes and shopping malls are not allowed to open,” the ministry clarified. The ministry also clarified that sales by ecommerce companies will continue to be restricted to essential goods only. “Sale by e-commerce companies will continue to be permitted for essential goods only,” the ministry said. it also cleared that liquor stores will be shut as the relaxations do not apply to them. “Sale of liquor & other items continues to be prohib-ited as specified in the National Directives for COViD19 man-agement,” it added. The government in the late night order issued on Friday had allowed opening of shops as part of the easing down of lockdown restrictions announced on 15 April with neighbourhood shops and others being allowed within the city, and all shops except those in malls allowed outside the municipal limits with 50% strength of workers. No shops have been allowed to open in multi-brand or single brand malls, it had said. ians

BOLT FROM THE BLUE

IN 2020

6 covert the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

While the Un-manned Combat Aerial Ve-

hicles—UCAVs—are in the news for their use by the United States against ter-rorist targets, human and physical, mainly in West Asia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a “bolt from the blue”, the possibilities of other uses are endless: the drones are also being used as “Kamikaze” drones, or suicide drones, wherein loaded with explosives, a UAV crashes into a target, as was probably done in the attack on Saudi oil facili-ties. If put to use for crimi-nal and terrorist activities, such as spying on people and areas, smuggling drugs and weapons into pris-ons, as well as terrorist at-tacks on people, vehicles or buildings, the possibilities become endless; the ISIS has reportedly used drones in Iraq and Syria to descend vertically over tanks/vehi-cles and drop explosives or act as booby traps. Drones have become more power-ful in recent years, with alti-tude, range, endurance, air speed and precision of navi-

gation having improved ap-preciably, giving the drone the capability to carry more load.

The number of incidents of drones entering no-fly zones is on the rise; they have been sighted at air-ports—both in India and abroad—or large gather-ings; until now such inci-dents have not caused any major harm, but drones can also be used for specific terrorist purposes. Conse-quently, security authori-ties are getting increasingly alarmed, as no effective defence system has been devised to date.

In 2014, a drone with a flag displaying Greater Al-bania was suddenly seen floating above the football field in Belgrade, during a European Football Cham-pionship qualifier between Albania and Serbia. With passions already running high, this triggered riots, resulting in the entire game being called off. What if the drone was carrying explosives, instead of the flag? Another instance oc-curred in broad daylight on August 4, 2018, in Venezu-ela, when President Nicolas Maduro, was apparently targeted with an off-the-shelf consumer drone. As early as in 2013, a small quadcopter flew within a

few feet of German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel dur-ing a campaign rally, hov-ering briefly in front of the stage before crashing onto it. Even a small explosive charge or a grenade aboard the drone would have been catastrophic—and defend-ing against such attacks is extremely difficult, to say the least.

The precision drone at-tack by the Houthi rebels of Yemen, targeting the eco-nomic heart of Saudi Ara-

bia, on September 14, 2019, has finally given the prover-bial “David” a weapon to measure up to his “Goliath” like opponents. The attack was a total surprise for the Saudi air defence, which, equipped with the latest of US-supplied radars and an-ti-ballistic missile defences, was caught totally unaware. It was carried out with pre-cision, on targets more than 800 km away from their place of launch! As drones become smaller and quieter,

they are easier to transport and launch, while being harder to detect and inter-cept, thus making them deadlier. Their relatively low cost and easy availabil-ity of material and compo-nents lower the technical threshold for their fabrica-tion in a rough and ready environment. A tactical success by a relatively small player can deal a strategic blow with wider ramifica-tions.

Immediately after the

attack on Saudi oil instal-lations, there have been two reported instances of drones flying across the International Border from Pakistan into Punjab; the first was in late Septem-ber in the Amritsar area, wherein, eight sorties were flown under cover of darkness, over a period of 10 days, while the second intrusion was in the Hus-sainiwala sector in Fero-zepur area. The drones were reported to be car-rying arms, ammunition, satellite-phones and other equipment for initiating ter-rorist activities by sleeper cells in Punjab and J&K, of which some have been re-covered.

In so far as the ramifica-tions of the attack on Saudi oil facilities, India’s vulnera-bility is obvious. Apart from the security angle, it has eco-nomic issues too, as India is the world’s third-largest oil consumer, importing 83% of its oil needs; Saudi Ara-bia is India’s second largest supplier after Iraq. While Saudi Arabia assured India of meeting its requirements and got the oil terminals running within 10 days, India does not have enough reserves amongst the im-porting nations.

However, more wor-risome for India are the

drone-intrusions in Punjab from Pakistan, which has sleeper-cells on our side, to provide real-time informa-tion for any inimical activity. Media reports of September 29, 2019 have revealed that India has an estimated over 600,000 rogue or unregu-lated drones of various sizes and capacities and any one of these can be used for launching a terror act. Agen-cies are presently looking at specific anti-drone tech-niques to intercept and immobilise suspicious and probable lethal drones, which include tracking, jamming, kinetic and hybrid measures through hijack-ing and cyber approaches; such and other counter-drone measures are already in place in some countries. BSF has been given instruc-tions to shoot down any sus-picious drone below 1,000 feet, as anything above that height could be an aircraft and needs appropriate clearances for any action to be taken.

As drones become smaller and faster, new solutions will be required to disable them. It is important for anti-drone technology to be relatively future-proof, as drones will now be far smaller, main-tain higher altitudes, and be equipped with advanced cameras with improved

zooming systems. Smaller, lighter and more complex drones with multi-tasking ability are coming. We need an integrated national-level approach against the loom-ing threat involving Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and the industry, in conjunction with the Nation-al Security Adviser and over-seen by the Prime Minister’s Office. Security agencies, in-cluding the armed forces and the police forces have to join hands and work in tandem on a war footing.

Drones are a new security threat. India has to catch up with counter-drone technol-ogy. We cannot afford any laxity or delays in tackling this threat.Air Marshal (Retd) Dhiraj Kukreja is an alumnus of Na-tional War College, United States, having the unique dis-tinction of being the first IAF officer and only the fifth from the Indian Armed Forces, to have undergone a post-graduation course in “National Security Strategy”. Having held many important staff and field ap-pointments, during his 40 years in the IAF, he retired as the AOC-in-C of Training Com-mand. Post-retirement, he has been writing extensively on defence and diplomacy. He is a “Distinguished Fellow” with the Centre for Airpower Studies (CAPS) and a defence analyst.

DRONEs aRE THE NEw THREaTAs drones become smaller and faster, new solutions will be required to disable them.Dhiraj KuKreja

Numerolo-gists like to spot symbol-ic meanings in the dates of momen-

tous events. The September 11 attacks took place on 911: the emergency police phone number in the United States, the Pentagon (seen by some occultists as a projection of the Luciferian pentacle) was struck on the same day, which was the 60th anni-versary of its inauguration and the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded outside China in 2020, which amounts to 40: the number that gave its name to quarantine. Many such historical coincidences may be found and attributed to the mysterious forces that move the world, whether we call them the gods, chance, fate and some other human or superhuman agency.

Since the year 1981 at least, when Dean Koontz pub-lished his novel, The Eyes of Darkness about a pandemic originating in Wuhan, China, many predictions about a devastating virus from Asia have come out in films (e.g. 2011’s Contagion), articles and books. US Colonel Tom Bearden on his website Che-niere.org had spelt out emer-gency plans for martial law, mass confinement, triage and other extreme responses to a biological agent or weapon. Bill Gates, a few years ago, warned about a danger which he held to be equal to the nuclear threat and rec-ommended preventive mea-sures. Yet, public prepared-ness was clearly insufficient and most states were caught napping and found wanting.

The current, unprecedent-ed and nearly global lock-down, a bitter illustration of globalization’s generally un-expected effects is generating an endless stream of analy-ses, theories, assessments and speculation shaped by the belief systems of their au-thors. Those who embraced

the eco-apocalyptic call of Greta Thunberg and were distraught by the predictable failure of the Paris accord on global warming mitigation rejoice in the unexpected fulfilment of their wishes to bring CO2 emission and other polluting activities to a brutal decline; those who were worried about China’s meteoric rise towards a he-gemonic status felt schaden-freude when the “red drag-on” was seen falling into the deadly embrace of the new corona epidemic. They now, however, watch with dismay the increasingly lamentable plight of the western world and bristle at the prospect of a newly functional China resuming her rapid climb to the top of the power pyramid. The western pundits, who made a living by warning the public against Putinist Russia’s evil intentions, now watch with consternation the support provided by Moscow to certain EU and other coun-tries seemingly left to their fate by everyone else.

Naturally, the current all-encompassing crisis has not disarmed the propaganda snipers in various camps and they continue to take pot-shots at their enemies of choice amidst the pandemo-nium. After accusing Beijing of revealing the weakness of its institutions through its vulnerability to yet another Asian virus, western cold warriors now suspect China of carrying out a dark plot to undermine and bring down western supremacy by using Covid-19 as a black swan to overwhelm the governance systems of the self-styled “free world”, just as they charge Russia with count-less subversive machina-tions against the self-same “good guys”. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and neither Chinese nor the Russian sources have shied away from pointing ac-cusatory fingers at the United States which are also well known for their expertise in biological weapon develop-

ment and testing. Indeed at the outset of the corona con-tagion suspicions against the American government came to many minds on the back-drop of the multifaceted and very public campaign to force China to bend to US pressure on trade and geostrategic matters the appearance of the virus in Wuhan was too serendipitous, so to speak, not to be suspect, except for those who would give the US a pass in principle but the claim that a democracy would never resort to “black ops" of this kind has so of-ten been disproven by facts in the case of the American state that it cannot be taken at face value.

The yawning gap in Ameri-can society sets apart the Left Wing Liberals calling for a de facto nationalization of the economy in the guise of providing universal free

healthcare and saving all jobs and the Conservatives bent on preserving the capitalist oligopolies and individual economic freedom. This split, amplified by the presidential campaign in which Covid is now the major weapon used on both sides is what makes it so hard for the US to adopt a coherent and effective policy to tackle both the Co-vid threat and the ongoing economic meltdown, which is likely to leave at least 40 million Americans jobless, a much truncated GDP and a skyrocketing national debt.

We are in a situation un-precedented in the last hun-dred years at least, perhaps in all history. Governments all over the world have im-posed a shutdown of social, political and economic life and a drastic curtailment of individual rights and civil lib-erties in the name of protect-

ing people from a contagion which has so far killed over two hundred thousand (most of them older than 70 and suffered from other major ail-ments), out of a global popu-lation of eight billion people, in which every months larger tolls are exacted by various other evils, including hunger, heat attacks, cancer, diabetes, accidents and the “common” flu.

There are various factors behind this draconian opera-tion which could well last for several months or even ex-tend into next year: first the famous “principle of abun-dant caution” institutional-ized in the European Union perhaps over-reliant on com-puter modelling projections of worst case scenarios and often inaccurate virological tests; then the increasing American obsession with na-tional security and the asso-

ciated propensity to impose “lockdowns” in reaction to any alert or suspicion, and fi-nally the growing official fear of civil unrest, which inspires more and more sophisticated tactics to force people to stay home and not assemble.

Without discounting the gravity of the Covid-19 pan-demic, if we review the state of the world economy in recent years (see my article in the Sunday Guardian of March 1, 2020) we cannot but conclude that a gigantic economic crisis was on the horizon, building up since the “first shoe fell” in 2008. A few years ago, some Russian economists had predicted the end of the US dollar-centric monetary and finan-cial system between 2020 and 2025. I had echoed that projection in another article published in this newspaper on May 14, 2017 and we ap-

pear now to have been “on the money”. The process of reorganization is expected to take at least three or four chaotic years and it is to be hoped that a new global system will come into place through some international agreement, a new “Bretton Woods”, absent another major war such as those that usually erupt in times of great dislocation.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a trigger and accelerator of the socio-economic and political crisis, not its main cause. The crash of stock markets and the industrial and financial meltdown were predict-able for this year and an-nounced by the “seizure” of most major economies since 2018 in spite of the incessant “quantitative easing” car-ried out by the governments and international financial institutions such as the Eu-ropean Central Bank. In the last months, the situation on Wall Street became omi-nous as the Fed had to keep injecting huge amounts of fiat currency overnight into the RePo market to prevent ma-jor banks from going bust. In a situation of economic panic, a health emergency is also a tool of last resort to discipline the population and raise a public menace above the less existential threat of financial collapse. It is at least probable that leading governments and international agencies organised, with the support of corporate mass media, the systematic “freeze” of social activity in order to minimize civic disruptions and chal-lenges to authorities.

Conspiratorial theories, more or less credible or fan-ciful, are being promoted to identify the prime movers and operational levers of this operation, but they only try to interpret in various parti-san ways the fundamental process for controlling the crash of irrationally overval-ued stock markets fed by fast rising Himalayan pyramids of bad debt and irrigated by shoreless oceans of derivative

instruments whose value is often impossible to estab-lish and can be reduced by a hiccup of the inter-banking transactional cycle to mere junk.

The effect of the economy caving in was seen in the gradual collapse of con-sumption in most parts of the world and in the deci-sion of Great Britain to exit the European Union, seen by many in London as a doomed quasi-confederacy although which of the two, the United Kingdom and the EU will fare worse is far from clear.

The price of this mega-crisis is bound to be paid in massive long-term unem-ployment and poverty all over the world, concentra-tion of capital and wealth in even fewer hands, state or oligopolistic control of many strategic corpora-tions resulting in a hybrid composite of monopolistic capitalism and socialism. Below that general tableau there will be many differ-ent regional and national pictures as states will try di-verse ways to deal with the disaster domestically, often insulating themselves from the ‘financial Corona virus’ and circling the wagons in a ‘patriotic’ reaction to the unhinged supra-national experiment. Regional as-sociations such as the EU, UNASUR and the African Union are under extreme fissiparous strain and will have to change in many ways if they manage to survive.

In a sentence, 2020 has brought us to the point where we can have a 20/20 vision and hindsight of all that is wrong with the global liberal gospel and its corollaries in-cluding all-out privatization and decimation of public services, unlimited amounts of virtual money chasing in-flated virtual values, wars for regime change in weaker, re-source-rich states and mass migrations that contribute to the slow motion collapse of hitherto prosperous and orderly nations.

How the West lostThe price of this mega-crisis is bound to be paid in massive long-term unemployment and poverty all over the world.

Côme Carpentier De GourDon

Ambulances park toward the Manhattan skyline during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, US, on Friday. REUTERS

A Saudi defence ministry spokesman displays on a screen drones which Saudi government said attacked an Aramco facility, during a news conference in Riyadh on September 18, 2019. REUTERS

SIGNS OF HOPE

7covertthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhiwww.sundayguardianlive.com

Despite coronavirus outbreak, India-US ‘strategic business’ in good health

The world has turned

upside down due to the novel coro-navirus pandem-

ic for which there is no end in sight and Indo-US relations has not been an exception to the crisis, and has taken a hit. The 60-day immigration blockade announced by US President Donald Trump and the two governments’ putting mutual trade relations on the backburner during this out-break are evident.

But as the two democra-cies do not know the end out of this pandemic, they still haven’t stopped working together in some key areas. Top South Asia watchers and diplomacy experts have kept a tab on what’s happening on the diplomacy and strategy fronts. Many said the new immigration policy enforced by the US President may not be India-friendly, but it is a “temporary setback” as a lot is churning on other fronts to engage India as a vital part-ner in America’s fightback against the pandemic.

Aparna Pande, Director, Hudson Institute in Wash-ington DC, said, “Immigra-tion, like trade, was and will remain a problematic area between India and the US, but the relations between the two remain strong as ever, in all arenas--economic, strate-

gic and people to people.”Pande asserted her point by

citing what’s been going on in the background on Indo-US strategic fronts. She told The Sunday Guardian: “The Indo-Pacific arena has witnessed a lot of activity in the midst of Covid-19. There have been Quad and Quad Plus meet-ings and discussions. India is collaborating with allies both bilaterally, regionally as well as in multilateral fora: UN, G-20 and others. This pandemic has only boosted India’s relations with the US, its European allies as well as Asian friends like Australia and Japan.”

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the US top thinktank Woodrow Wilson Center, told TSG: “One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it has presented new opportunities for coopera-tion. We know all about the hydroxychloroquine story, but there’s potential well beyond drugs on this count. India and the US each have top-class physicians, epide-miologists, and medical re-searchers in universities and the public and private sector. This can all be leveraged for information sharing and new partnerships to help fight not just the current pandemic, but future ones too.”

Pande listed more room for the partnership to grow.• Indian industries in the US–Mahindra Industries is part of the “Arsenal of Health” network in Michi-gan along with General Mo-tors and Ford Motor Co. to manufacture personal pro-tection equipment (PPE) for

healthcare workers.• US industries in India: Walmart has joined other US companies in donating PPE for Indian healthcare work-ers and is also contributing to funds set up to provide es-sential relief to farmers and small businesses.• Vaccine production: Apart from efforts within India and the US, there is also an international collaboration of virologists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with vaccine companies FluGen and Bharat Biotech to de-velop and test a unique vac-cine against Covid-19 called CoroFlu.

Walter Andersen, a former State Department official and a keen India watcher, looks at the Covid-19 developments with an advice to maintain balance and restraint for a while. He put it frankly, “Trade with India could be adversely affected, at least in the short run.”

Andersen told TSG: “Our two governments over the past several years have es-tablished a broad range of agreements to work on ener-gy, trade, health and agricul-ture--and security as well as several other areas (e.g. ter-rorism). The security angle is especially critical consid-ering greater assertiveness of China in the South China Sea. In reaction to this, the US has just sent two war-ships (joined by another from Australia and rumours are that a Japanese ship will join them). Afghanistan is still another case of instability that could affect the security interests of both India and

the US. Its domestic situa-tion is yet to be resolved; the agreement with the Taliban is shaky at best. Then there is the uncertain nature of the post-virus revival of the world economies.”

He said: “There will be strong domestic pressures to cut back on any foreign de-pendencies in the rebuilding process. Fortunately, the In-dian economy is driven, as in the US, by domestic spending and not trade, unlike China and Japan…But trade with India could be adversely af-fected, at least in the short run.”

However, Pande said India is in a unique position right now and it needs to be en-cashed. Many countries are asking their companies to leave China. Japan, a close Indian ally, is paying its com-panies to leave China. Many US and even European com-panies will pull out of China

as well. “India, with its loca-tion, its massive labour pool and large consumer market, is the ideal country to attract these companies.”

But for that, India would need to reform its land ac-quisition policy, make it easier and cheaper to set up a business, undertake labour reforms, and institute a new industrial policy–something the economy will need post-Covid if India seeks to grow at 8-10% again.

Kugelman agrees, saying: “There’s still a lot of concern from the US business com-munity about India’s invest-ment climate, given issues with red tape and taxation among other issues. Cer-tainly, the strength of the US-India partnership ensures that American financiers will keep trying to work around the problems, and to be sure there’s been much progress on this front, but this remains

a problem area.”Andersen added that India

becoming the new business and investment hub for the US will largely depend on how robust India’s bounce-back will be–and whether it can take advantage of the US sourness at China–and what will be the effort to either bring jobs back to the US or flow to friendly countries like India.

Roadblocks apart, there is still unanimity in saying that Trump’s visit to New Delhi earlier this year positioned the bilateral relationship for ample growth beyond the security sphere. Energy is an area with ample poten-tial for growth. Kugelman said, “A strategic energy partnership provides a nice platform to expand energy cooperation involving the private sector. Certainly, the major shock to energy mar-kets during the coronavirus

outbreak has injected ample volatility into this dynamic, but I do see the two sides coming out of the pandemic with continued momentum to push forward on energy collaborations.”

Andersen also feels that in boosting cooperation be-tween the two democracies, there is ample scope. “The coronavirus issue has pro-vided space in some areas, like the supply of drugs like hydroxychloroquine tab-lets. But some other areas should be addressed, such as Indian manufacturers being allowed to export fab-ric items for medical use, in-cluding masks. That would benefit Indian manufactur-ers now blocked by lock-down from markets as well as insatiable US demand for such items.”

But experts beg to differ from the Indian rhetoric against China building on in national media debates in New Delhi. Kugelman said, “I don’t think it will want to go overboard here. New Delhi has been very care-ful in its outreach to China, which one would expect with such a complex rela-tionship. It’s easy to forget that each side has provided medical supplies to the other to combat the coronavirus, and diplomatic relations have been quite friendly over the last few years. India will want to focus on getting the pandemic under control at home, and not on picking fights with China in the way the US is recklessly doing.”

Andersen explained the logic behind it. He says:

“Much depends on whether China threatens Indian in-terests in the South China Sea. I doubt if India even then will agree to any con-frontational stance. Howev-er, it did so when China tried to block India’s construction on the Bhutanese/Indian/Chinese border tri-junction. So the degree of India’s response will depend on whether China’s action rep-resented a security threat.”

Also, a point not to forget that even as a strong anti-China sentiment rules our minds and thoughts, experts are sceptical if a formal anti-China bloc would be a post-corona product. Business is on top of our minds, said Andersen, adding, “I doubt it as countries, even those in blocs like the EU, are focused on improving the well-being of their own economies.”

Kugelman added: “Multi-lateralism, with some fleet-ing exceptions, is more or less dead in the water right now. It’s each nation for it-self, trying to fend off the pandemic within its borders. The test will be what hap-pens post-pandemic, when economies are shattered and global trade is struggling, to try to revitalize multilateral-ism. At that point, the core great power dynamics will remain the same as before the pandemic: US-China ri-valry will remain fierce.”

Kugelman signs off, say-ing, “The question will be how India and the rest of the world, battered and bruised from the pandemic, seek to position themselves in rela-tion to that rivalry.”

Apart from the US immigration blockade, there is a lot cooking on the diplomacy and strategy fronts as well as the energy security front.

Maneesh Pandeya

FOLLOW CONSTITUTION

BENGaL IS NOT aNyONE’S FIEFdOm: GOvErNOr dHaNkarA: PDS has tak-

en the shape of a scam as it is totally hijacked by the ruling party

workers. The state apparatus has apparently abdicated its legal ob-ligations. This is both illegal and criminal and cannot be counte-nanced. Free ration meant for the poor cannot enrich the coffers of black marketers and profiteers. I have taken a very serious view of it lest this scam overtake other scams the state has seen and that had stigmatised the state.Q: Reports are also coming from Bengal that the state government is hiding the number of Covid-19 posi-tive and death cases. There are also allegations that the required number of testing is not being carried out. How do you look at this situation in the state?

A: This issue that the state is not revealing the correct number of Covid-19 deaths has caught the attention of the media within the state and outside. A group of non-resident Bengali physicians, health scientists, and health-care providers born, raised, and educated in the state of West Bengal, have in an open letter to CM Mamata Banerjee raised serious issues about the gross under-testing in West Bengal, and the misreporting of data on the cause of deaths in Covid-19 patients. Their assertion is evi-dence that mortality data in Co-vid-19 patients emerging from West Bengal is misreported or not fully reported. Not reporting the underlying Covid-19 as cause of death is falsification of data.

Recently, eight bodies of medi-cal professionals, including the local branch of the IMA, have submitted jointly an 11-point pe-tition to the CM seeking transpar-ency in Covid-19 death data. They have flagged other issues also.

One of the signatories is ruling party MP Shantunu Sen.

There is also strong criticism in the representation about the opaque means of determining Covid-19 deaths. I have indicated to the government that the issue must be revisited. The situation is one of total disconnect and distrust between the government and medical professionals be-tween government and the public.

Real-time data in such kind of crisis helps the people confident-ly face the challenge and make lockdown and social distancing fruitful. There is no reason for hiding this data. Coronavirus is secular, non-discriminatory and makes no distinction on the point of ideologies or status of people. In such a situation, there does not appear to be any rationale to conceal the data.Q: Do you think that the situation in Bengal is far worse that it is being projected by the state government?

A: The testing is slowly picking up in West Bengal. However, our re-cord has not been very flattering. We are much behind the national average. Given the sensitivity and demographic situation in the state, there is need for more test-ing. The government looks for ali-bis where there is none and this is not a proper approach.

The Nizamuddin Markaz in-cident has shocked and shaken the nation. It has enhanced the coronavirus spread and Covid-19 deaths. All states in the country are in an overdrive to identify and quarantine those who at-tended the Markaz at Nizamud-din. The situation in West Bengal leaves much to be desired. When a journalist put a question to the CM about this, her response was:

“This is a communal question.” I have taken strong exception to this. There can be no communal

question in containing the men-ace generated by the Nizamuddin Markaz. We have to be in a high alert mode.Q: How would you describe the state of lockdown in Bengal? Has it been implemented effectively, considering the Ministry of Home Affairs has sent multiple memos to the state govern-ment for stricter implementation of the lockdown.

A: The MHA had, on 10.4.2020, sent a communication to the Government of West Bengal in-dicating the dilution of lockdown, absence of social distancing in market areas where licensing was granted for non-essential items, and religious congrega-tions were taking place. The sit-uation is that religious congre-gations have been taking place under the very nose of the police. I have indicated to the state gov-ernment authorities also that their inaction or tacit approval is

against law. It is a major miscon-duct in service and will be dealt with strongly. People have re-ceived the MHA intervention in the right perspective as a timely warning as it was factually well premised.Q: How do you look at the face-off that we witnessed for the last few days between the Central officers of the In-ter-Ministerial team visiting Bengal to study the situation in the state with that of the state government?

A: The face-off between the Central team and the state gov-ernment is unfortunate and a matter of very serious concern. In taking a confrontational ap-proach, the state government has disregarded the Constitu-tion, ignoring the legal regime of Disaster Management as also reflections of the Supreme Court in its order dated 31.3.2020. I have indicated repeatedly to the CM that she has to change her

style of functioning and (she) cannot be a “law unto herself”. There are Constitutional pre-scriptions for working of each Constitutional functionary, be it the Governor or the Chief Min-ister. I am pained to reflect that disregard for the Constitution by her is outrageous and is be-ing overlooked at the moment by me in view of sensitivity of the situation and the crisis we are in.Q: You have recently written in a tweet and I quote, “Success of our de-mocracy lies in adherence to consti-tutional prescriptions. Constitution mandates synergetic and construc-tive working between the Centre and state—both have significant role to play. APPEAL @MamataOfficial to be in tandem @narendramodi in the interest of state.” Why do you say so?

A: My consistent stand right from the beginning is that there has to be synergetic working for welfare of the people of the state. The CM

has ignored it. I have invited her attention that the state is not fief-dom of an individual. It has to be run in accordance with the Con-stitution. She must perform her Constitutional obligations and her approach that during crisis, the Governor should be in sleep mode, can only be lamented.Q: You have also raised questions and written a letter to the state gov-ernment on the “high handedness” of the Bengal government against the BJP MPs, who were on their way to distribute relief material. Have you heard back from the state govern-ment?A: The MPs flagged the issue to me and I was surprised. MPs hold a significant role in the polity of the country and have a critical role to play, more so in the times of crisis in their constituen-cies. Curtailment of their legiti-mate activities inspired by politi-cal motivation is not wholesome to governance. MPs must step out within the limits of law to help the people. What an ironic situation that an MP of the ruling party related to the CM can feed thousands of persons every day and others can’t even step out of their house.

I flagged the issue to the CS only to get a response from the Ad-ditional Chief Secretary, Home, saying, “We are following the protocol”. Such a communica-tion to the Constitutional head is unacceptable. I have called for a very detailed enquiry and would take the matter to its logical end. Accountability at the senior level cannot be overlooked. The politi-cisation of the bureaucracy and its emasculation is antithetical to governance and weakens de-mocracy and I find here it is in-creasing.Q: You have also raised your voice several times against the state gov-

ernment for not cooperating with Raj Bhavan. How would you describe the present situation?

A: I am all for cooperation with the state government in the in-terest of West Bengal. My oath under Article 159 of the Constitu-tion requires me, apart from pro-tecting the Indian Constitution, to serve the people of the state. It is my obligation to be working with the government shoulder to shoulder, but the attitude of the state government is absolutely at the other end. The CM’s disre-gard of Constitutional prescrip-tions could not have been more. The issue is engaging my serious attention. As an expedient mea-sure right now, there is need to be in togetherness mode to combat and face Covid-19.Q: The West Bengal Chief Minister, on several occasions, has accused the Governor’s officer of acting on the wills of the Central government and against the interest of the state. How would you like to respond to this?

A: The CM, West Bengal, is 24X7 in Central government bashing mode, accusing the Governor without any basis and looking for alibis. When it is time for her to govern, she engages only in publicity. Crores of rupees have been spent by her for po-litical purposes in the anti-CAA advertisements that are under judicial scrutiny and there is an interim order. My attention has also been drawn by sev-eral people to diversion of huge funds of public exchequer for political programmes and this huge drain of funds from the public exchequer is engaging my attention for a way forward approach. I would always want that CM and the Governor act in tandem, in coordination and in synergy so as to work in the interest of the people.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankar

But as the two democracies do not know the end out of this pandemic, they still haven’t stopped working together in some key areas.

Pr e s i d e nt D o n a l d Trump has overall been an effective leader

of the US, despite unceasing pressure on him that con-cluded in the abortive bid to remove him from office through impeachment. How-ever, some of his decisions have shown a disregard for long-term US interests, such as the withdrawals from Kurdistan and Afghanistan. In both instances, after the US military had been get-ting substantial help from local allies, the latter were abandoned to their worst foes. It is doubtful that the Kurds (or indeed the greater region) will any longer trust in US promises, or in Wash-ington’s willingness to show gratitude for favours received in the past that continue into

the present. The sell-out of the Kurds appears to have been at the behest of Sena-tor Lindsey Graham, whose “friendly ties” to the Emirate of Qatar are well known both in his home state as well as in Washington, although unlike “Moscow Mitch” McConnell, he has yet to be called “Doha Lindsey”. Trump’s embrace of R.T. Erdogan must have warmed the hearts of the Turkish strongman’s back-ers in Doha, while Graham and another US Senator, Chris Van Hollen, appear to have balked at introducing the Graham-Van Hollen bill in the US Senate. They were obviously afraid that it may get passed with a veto-proof majority and annoy Erdogan and the only US Representa-tive who voted against the near-unanimous backing for a similar sanctions bill against Turkey in the House of Representatives, Ilhan Omar, another admirer of Erdogan, despite her claims of following a Left-Liberal ideology. The about turn by Van Hollen and Graham has been good news for Mos-cow, which can now safely go ahead with finding new

markets for its expensive but effective S-400 air de-fence system. While going in for the S-400, the Narendra Modi government calculated that the sanctions threat-ened in public and private by several dozen US officials (including the Secretaries of State and Defense) would fail to materialise, and the wager seems to have paid off. US of-ficials have been voluble that the Kurds are in the throes of ecstasy at having been forced by Trump to surrender their forward defence line and have their second-worst ene-my, Erdogan (the first having been Abubakr Al-Baghdadi, now in his afterlife) gain the upper hand in his battle to eliminate them. This is as be-lievable as the remark that the Taliban (to whom President Trump has surrendered after a lengthy and costly war in a formal treaty) would “fight Al Qaeda on steroids” as a con-sequence of such a surrender. Mike Pompeo, who made this statement, has thereby shown that he has a deeply ironic sense of humour, given that Al Qaeda, ISIS as well as the terror groups nurtured by GHQ Rawalpindi have always—repeat, always—found a refuge in those parts of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban. And what of the elected government in Kabul? Washington has made outra-geous demands, such as that it release the 5,000 Taliban desperadoes in its prisons so that these newfound US partners can return to cut the

throats of the members of the Afghan government. US spe-cial envoy Zalmay Khalilzad seems to have finalised the US draft of the agreement entirely out of notes handed over by the Taliban, for the latter make no promises at all for getting US forces out of the country and threaten the Afghan government with dire consequences unless they—in effect—hand Afghanistan back to the Taliban.

Judging by their published responses to the absurdly la-belled “peace plan” between the US and themselves, the Taliban have not been coy in declaring that they are of the same mindset and with the same objectives as when President Bill Clinton helped to install them in power in Ka-bul in 1996. Now a US Presi-dent who claims to find the Clintons toxic is following in the path of the 42nd President of the United States. Should the Ghani government release even a fraction of the 5,000 jailed terrorists as demanded by both the Taliban and the US administration, it would be a catastrophe for Afghani-stan. The Afghan National Army (ANA) is already fac-ing a determined campaign by the ISI, the Taliban and the financial backers of the latter in the GCC. This well-funded drive is intended to secretly win over commanders, so that what took place in Iraq (when commander after com-mander of the Iraqi army surrendered to ISIS without a fight in 2014, thereby gifting

Al Baghdadi vast territories, terrified citizens and stores of weapons) gets repeated in Afghanistan once US forces almost entirely leave the ANA to its fate. Giving back even a few such prisoners to the Taliban would ensure that their drive to generate treach-ery within the ANA picks up speed, even as morale falls to sub-zero levels. It would also cause panic among the moderate majority within the Afghan population, as the danger of a Taliban take-over arrives at their doorstep courtesy President Donald J. Trump. While Barack Obama at least sought to discern ele-ments of moderation within the Taliban (in a search simi-lar to that of bleeding hearts everywhere for “good” terror-ists), Trump apparently does not care that his newfound friends are going to once again imprison women inside their homes, cut the throats of the tens of thousands who refuse to become their slaves and establish a harsh Wah-habi code of law and behav-iour in Afghanistan. Should they come to know what her husband and father’s new-found allies have in mind for the women of Afghanistan, hopefully Melania Trump and Ivanka Kushner will make their distaste clear of this sell-out of human rights and values by President Trump, if nothing else.

It is not only the women of Afghanistan or the over-whelming majority of the Af-ghan population that are non-

extremist who will suffer the consequences of a retaking of Kabul by the Taliban. In 1978-1986, first Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and later Rea-gan’s Director CIA, William J. Casey put Wahhabism on steroids in order to mobilise vast numbers into joining in the GHQ Rawalpindi-di-rected (and US funded) war against the Soviet invaders of Afghanistan. During his initial 31 months in office as the 45th President, Trump backed those who were chal-lenging Wahhabism, but af-ter that, began to make peace with the backers of that sect. The past few years have seen a determined fight-back by the global Muslim commu-nity against the Wahhabis, as they have sought to reclaim their essentially moderate faith from the Wahhabi In-ternational, especially once the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia became the first Al Saud to openly oppose a creed that had been intertwined with his family till then. The reclaiming of Afghanistan by the Taliban would weaken the global fight-back against Wahhabism, thereby accel-erating radicalisation in the Muslim world. Thereafter, similar tendencies would deepen within other faiths, resulting in a world in danger of being torn apart by faith rather than brought together. This will be the legacy of Don-ald Trump, should he persist in his betrayal of the Afghan people to their extremist foes.

Trump apparently does not care that his newfound friends are going to once again imprison women in their homes, cut throats, and establish a Wahhabi code of law.

Protect Afghanistan, world from Taliban

Sorrow happens, hardship happens, the hell with it, who never knew the proce of happiness, will not be happy.Yevgeny Yevtushenko

TRUMP’S LEGACY In a civilised society, violence is a word that should be taboo. Never can violence be the answer to settling dif-ferences, however deep the disagreements might be. Nor can violence be a means of venting fear and suspicion, when there is a law and order machinery in place. Two incidents, rather one incident that took place this week and one trend that has been developing over the past sev-eral weeks were disturbing, to say the least. One was the attack on a well-known journalist and his wife by goons belonging to a political party and the other is the violence being meted out to healthcare professionals by people misled by wild rumours and pathetic superstitions about the treatment of coronavirus. In the first instance, India’s political parties need to understand that no one is above criticism, however high and mighty any political person-ality might be. And it’s the media’s job to criticise and ask questions and hold those in public life accountable for as much as their inaction as their action. In this particu-lar case, the political activists who attacked the media personality’s car allegedly belonged to the youth wing of the Congress. It’s obvious that they thought it fit to carry out the attack to protect the name of their acting party president. But through their hooliganism they brought calumny to their party and their seniors. In this context, it must be mentioned that this sort of intolerance is not exclusive to the Congress. Most political parties are guilty of it, if not all. Of course in the dynastic set-up of the Con-gress, any slight to the Family is taken very seriously, with young workers taking it upon themselves to protect the name and honour of their presiding deities. The af-fliction is perhaps not as great in other parties. However, almost all parties are adept at filing lawsuits and FIRs all over the country against anyone who dares to stand up to them, with the aim to tangle that person in years of legal battle. And this utter misuse of the legal process is taking place in this journalist’s case as well, with a clear message being given that anyone saying anything against the First Family will be hauled over coal. Obviously, Con-gress may have lost its importance in Indian politics to a large extent, but not its arrogance—in fact its arrogance is one of the reasons why it is in such dire straits in the first place. Also, it must be investigated if any senior leader was involved in instigating the attack on the journalist and his wife. The least that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray can do is allow a fair probe, without fear of being hauled up by his alliance partners. The at-tack on the journalist amounts to muzzling of the press and must be condemned and the Congress party must distance itself from its workers who carried out the at-tack with the intent of doing bodily harm.

As for the attacks on healthcare workers, these are rep-rehensible to say the least. So an ordinance that threatens a punishment for seven years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh for attacking healthcare workers should be applauded for its intent. But the malaise is much deeper. Health being a state subject, every state has enough provisions promis-ing action against those who attack doctors. But that has not stopped doctors from being attacked. The problem, therefore, is of implementation. Too many attackers have been allowed to go scot free, for the message to go down that no such attacks will be tolerated and the harshest punishment will be given. Unless and until what is al-ready available is implemented, this ordinance will not be of much use to prevent violence against healthcare workers. Also there must be sensitisation of the public that violence against doctors is both illegal and morally wrong. Unless and until there is an attitudinal change on the ground, all such ordinances will be futile.

editorialCHANGE ATTITUDE

No PLACE foR vioLENCE

opinion of the week

PiCK of THE WEEK

Almost normal

Jessica King sits under a dryer at Three-13 Salon,

Spa and Boutique, during the phased reopening of businesses and restau-rants from coronavirus disease restrictions in the state, in Marietta,

Georgia, US, on Friday. REUTERS/BiTa HonaRvaR

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iNdiA CANNoT TRUST TRoUbLESoME NEiGHboURSJaYadeVa raNadef10

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iNdiA NEEdS SoCiAL CHANGES To LiMiT fUTURE PANdEMiCSUnlike in 2009-2010, in 2020, india’s capacity to handle pandemics is much better.

SHaSHikiraN UmakaNtHf11

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Comment&analysisthe sunday guardian | 26 april – 02 may 2020 | new delhi www.sundayguardianlive.com

roots of powerm.d. nAlApAt

Punjab Chief Minister, Cap-tain Amarinder Singh’s evaluation that the Centre’s refusal to allow the sale of li-quor would by itself account for a loss of Rs 6,200 crore to the state, has indicated how in the post Covid-19 scenario, the country was in the face of an exceedingly grave economic crisis. While the Captain was

addressing a specific query, regarding the ban on alcohol, it is widely understood that the next colossal challenge confronting the nation would be to somehow semi-retrieve the economy.

The projection of a growth-rate of less than 1% could become a matter of consequential concern for the Central government, which almost over the past six years has been unable to get the needful hold on how to deal with the financial situation. It goes without saying that the Prime Minister needs to induct a competent team of financial experts to set straight this complex issue and perhaps, what is required are steps similar to those taken by P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1991, when he brought in Dr Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister to cope with the acute crisis following the collapse of both the V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar governments.

In this vast country, there is no dearth of capability, but the right person for the right job has to be hand-picked for the recuperation of the economy. Obviously, the choice of identify-ing the appropriate candidate is the prerogative of the Prime Minister, who on the advice of his most-trusted lieutenants, must, without any further delay, act on this front.

Amarinder Singh hit the nail on the head, when he, without mincing words, illustrated the ramifications of prohibiting the sale of liquor. It is a well-documented fact that for most of the states, liquor rakes in a sizeable revenue. Ironically, in the capital of the country, various public sector undertakings and their heads have been continuously competing with each other to showcase the revenue they have collected by selling both imported and “Indian Made Foreign Liquor”. It is a closed-door topic to discuss the hefty consumption of alcohol—it, for most, falling under the taboo zone. The fact, however, remains that it is a multitudinous contributor to the state exchequer.

When decades ago, undertakings like the Delhi State Indus-trial Development Corporation and Delhi Tourism were set up, no one would have imagined that instead of promoting industry and tourism, the prime focus of these bodies would be to sell alcohol. This, however, is the hard truth; and to ensure that the revenue collection went up many folds, the Delhi govern-ment, during the tenure of Sheila Dikshit, as the Chief Minister, permitted shops to open at 11 in the morning till 10 at night.

Prior to this, there were specific timings and designated dry days for the trade. This was relaxed by Dikshit, and a maxi-mum number of outlets in various places were sanctioned bar licences. Effectively, in order to augment revenue, the govern-ment encouraged, rather than discouraged, the consumption of alcohol. It is obvious that Delhi, like Punjab, is also experi-encing a financial crunch.

Amarinder Singh’s thesis is that when sale of vegetables that can possibly be contaminated, where lay the logic in barricading the sale of alcohol, which is sold in securely sealed bottles? He also lamented the loss his state was incurring, since the Centre had not coughed-up the GST that was due—compounding to thousands of crores.

While the Punjab CM has been most straightforward regard-ing the matter, neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan, as also many other states would be bearing the brunt. In Haryana, even after the lockdown, liquor shops remained open, in full-view, for a few days, probably because the authorities were “convinced” that it was an essential staple. The close-down occurred after media exposé.

Prohibition, as a policy, has received wide support from wom-en in particular, since they have to endure the painful impact of the men in their families, violently squandering hard-earned money on vile intoxication. However, the other dimension: it has boosted bootlegging. In the late 1990s, when Bansi Lal was the Haryana Chief Minister, he introduced Prohibition. However, anti-social elements took advantage of the situation, starting home-supply of the beverage. When Prohibition was lifted, it led to a sudden spurt in criminal activity by these hardened elements—in a state, which was once the safest to drive through—at any hour of the day or night. In Gujarat, liquor is officially banned, but is available at a premium, via middlemen in hotels and restaurants.

If the stoppage of the sale of liquor has not resulted in the rise of moonshining, it essentially is because the bootleggers had no time to procure/produce their brew, following the no-notice sudden lockdown. Things would have taken a different course—with reports of blinding or deaths, due to the consumption of hooch, sharing near equal space with patients of Covid-19.

In all likelihood, the government may extend the containment beyond May 3. However, at the same time there is an identi-cal necessity to pay undivided attention to the economy and various essential services that are not included in the official list. To begin with, outlets providing electrical goods, plumb-ing equipment, stationary and everyday living essentials, that are part of the common man’s life, must be open for a limited number of hours.

Undoubtedly, at many junctures, the lockdown was of prime importance, but as of now, a reassessment is required, based on accurate figures. It is the economy that needs to be resus-citated. Between us.

After Covid-19, economy a major concern

REASSESS

between uspankaj vohra

One of the cardinal principles of the fight against Cov-

id-19 worldwide is the need for transparency. Besides Testing, Tracing and Treat-ing, Transparency is the fourth pillar which sustains the struggle against the pan-demic. Both India and South Korea continue to do well in this battle primarily because their respective leaders have insisted on transparency. From the word go, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that the concerned departments, ministries and institutions adhere to this principle. His vision is clear; the fight against Covid-19 has to succeed through peoples’ participation—Jan Bhagi-daari—with each citizen sens-ing that they are part of this herculean effort at warding off the virus. With a detailed and regular briefing, continu-ous flow of information, this approach is evident in the manner the Modi govern-

ment has approached the issue. Almost all other states have adhered to this principle of transparency. The practice of giving out the exact num-ber of those afflicted, the ac-tual number of those dying and the daily number of in-crease and of those cured are regularly and in great detail shared with the people and the media. The main purpose of this is to avoid giving rise to collective panic, allow the tracking of the state’s prog-ress in handling the pan-demic and to ensure that a collective will is sustained in wanting to overcome it. The only state government, which has resolutely refused to ad-here to this principle is the Mamata Banerjee-led Trin-amool Congress government in West Bengal.

The politics of pandemic now being played out in West Bengal by the ruling Trinamool Congress has the following dimensions to it: suppression of data on actual tests done, its results, actual number of those afflicted, those dead from the virus and the actual numbers of those infected in the districts, inter ministerial and departmental discrepancy in data released, deliberate laxity in enforcing lockdown in the first 21 days, especially in those areas of

Kolkata and state that are mi-nority dominated, refusal to disclose the number of those infected because of the Niza-muddin Markaz episode, refusal to ensure proper pro-tective equipment for doctors and healthcare workers at the frontline. Such a callous at-titude has led to patients be-ing admitted to general wards and spreading the infection, unclear protocol followed on the disposal of the dead, un-clear network of quarantine centres, setting up a commit-tee of doctors who are em-powered to “audit the dead”, having the sole authority to decide on whether a partic-ular patient died of corona, preventing the dissemination of authentic information, ir-regularity in the distribution of ration through PDS. This has led to a number protests and clashes between people and the police across the state, and targeting of Mem-bers of Parliament from Op-position parties particularly the BJP, since it has the largest and active posse of MPs, by preventing them from mov-ing around their constituency for relief distribution. Jalpai-guri Member of Parliament, Jayanta Roy has been forced into a false quarantine for 14 days, while the same is being attempted against Sukanta Majumdar, MP from Bal-urghat. Member of Parlia-ment from Alipurduar, John Barla too, was obstructed while he was trying provid-ing relief to his constituents, who are primarily tea garden workers. Thus, the Mamata Banerjee government is not only displaying inconsis-tencies in tackling the pan-

demic, it is also displaying a complete lack of a democratic spirit.

This week a group of “non-resident Bengali physicians, health scientists, and health care providers” from West Bengal, who are now spread across the world in leading healthcare institutions, in an open letter to Mamata Banerjee, has referred to the situation in the state as “par-ticularly grave” and pointed at “two specific issues” that are most disturbing: “1) The gross-under testing in West Bengal, and 2) the misreport-ing of data on the cause of death of Covid-19 patients.” The group, which had as signatories experts from uni-versities of California, Michi-gan, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and Leibniz In-stitute of Aging among oth-ers, clearly stated that there was “evidence that mortal-ity data in Covid-19 patients emerging from West Bengal” were being misreported or not fully reported and that, more crucially, “deaths due to Covid-19 are being misclas-sified on death certificates as deaths due to a comorbid condition or organ failure...” Many recall Mamata’s ap-proach to the dengue epi-demic that had struck West Bengal in 2018 and had led to a number of deaths. A num-ber of doctors across the state had then complained of be-ing coerced into not citing the cause of death as dengue. Be-ing opaque with health data is the TMC’s public health policy.

Earlier this month, Mamata

Banerjee had formed, with much fanfare, a “global advi-sory” group headed by Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee to advise her on the pandemic. Except for one televised meeting with Prof Banerjee, there has been no meeting of the group, though a lot has been spent on publicising it. The doctors’ committee formed by her to “audit” the deaths, interestingly, does not have pulmonologists, epide-miologists and virologists, all specialist that are needed for the treatment of corona. Instead the doctor who heads it, Abhijit Chowdhury, is a hepatologist, with no known expertise in handling SARS diseases.

Mamata and her ministers have repeatedly claimed that her government has distrib-uted over 4 lakh PPEs across the state, and yet everyday re-ports of doctors and nurses contracting the infection in main hospitals in the state surface and associations of doctors repeatedly express public concern and indigna-tion at these protective equip-ment not reaching them. The resident doctors of the Medi-cal College of Kolkata, have pointed at the “gross mis-management in the handling (testing, contact tracing, etc) of Covid-19 suspected health-care workers” and lamented that “the ratio of 3 patients to 11 HCW affected” indicated “enormous callousness on the part of the authorities to set up any form of protection, testing facilities for those of us at the highest risk.” Term-ing it a “suicide mission” they expressed their inability to continue working until their

demands especially with re-gard to PPE, mass testing, quarantine and treatment were met.

The Chief Minister remains unfazed. In fact, a joint letter issued by a host of medical forums in the state with the Indian Medical Association, which has as its president Dr Santanu Sen, TMC’s Ra-jya Sabha MP, in the lead asked the Chief Minister to, among other things, ensure the safety and security of all frontline healthcare provid-ers and demanded opening of more testing centres and issuing of death certificates following ICMR guidelines. The Chief Minister, who holds charge of the health department as well, has, in-stead of responding to these demands, blamed the Modi government and has repeat-edly tried to shift attention from her own ineptitude and mismanagement.

By refusing to come clear on the impact of the Tablighi Ja-maat on the spread of the vi-rus in the state, by repeatedly naming all attempts to make her accountable on this count as “communal”, she has also furthered the agenda of her appeasement politics in this fight against corona. Unlike neighbouring Assam where the government has clearly indicated the effects of Niza-muddin on spread of the in-fection, Mamata continues to suppress Tablighi data. As of now she is mis-leading, mis-reporting and mis-handling West Bengal’s fight against corona.Dr Anirban Ganguly is Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Re-search Foundation (SPMRF)

Mamata plays politics of pandemic

OPAQUE

Doctors express concern on gross-under testing and misreporting of data.

opinionanirban GanGuly

TAx SlAbS ShOUld bE SlAShEd TO A RATiOnAl lEvElSir,With reference to M.D. Nalapat’s Citizens call for a Modi-fied economic response to Covid-19 (19 April), the proposals suggested are

highly appreciable and worth considering. They should be discussed, debated and critically analysed among economists, administrators, educationalists and social scientists and a consensus arrived at. May be more acceptable and pragmatic suggestions may come up out of such discussions and debates.

Tax slabs (I-T and GST) should be revised and slashed to a rational level so that all citizens pay their dues. Due to the current GST regime, a number of small/medium firms across sectors have been ruined to an irreconcilable level.

hari neendoorVia Web

ChinESE ‘ChEAP’ gOOdS TRAP nEEdS AvOidingSir,Apropos of Cleo Paskal’s World tries to shake off its dangerous China addiction (19 April), the US first allowed Japan to make and sell anything and

everything, killing US enterprise and business. Just see the total takeover of auto and electronics sectors in the past 50 years there. Then came China, with its “cheap” goods taking over even the toys’ market. India should avoid the Chinese “trap”.

rajan n.S.Via Web

Write to us at letters@sunday-guardian.com or Editor, The Sunday Guardian, Media House, 276, Captain Gaur Marg, Srinivaspuri, New Delhi-110065. Phone: +91-11-66231000

lett

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s

The BRICS—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, Chi-na and South Africa—as an important grouping of emerging economies, has always attempted to reach to a consensus on pertinent important themes impacting economic stability among member countries in particu-lar and the rest of the world in general. Covid-19 has raised the debates on economic re-cession and how it will have adverse implications on the global economy, which in turn will see a declining trend among BRICS nations.

It is expected that the For-eign Ministers of BRICS na-tions will be meeting through video link to deliberate on the emerging situation due to Co-vid-19. So far, there have been no formal interactions among BRICS nations on how to deal with the virus. Hence, the forthcoming virtual summit will gain salience especially in

the context of understanding each other’s perception.

There seems to be a lack of initiative among mem-ber countries in terms of addressing the challenges emanating from Covid-19. All member countries seem to have differing perspectives on the mechanism to combat Covid-19. The scheduled in-teraction may look for con-vergences on many of these areas arising due to Covid-19.

After assuming chairman-ship of BRICS, Russia was to hold the summit in April 2020, which now stands post-poned indefinitely. Russia be-gan with a new vigour after taking over the chairman-ship of BRICS and planned a number of events aimed at improving relationships and strengthening economic co-operation between the “big five” and other stakeholders. Russian President Putin had said, “The main objective of cooperation between the BRICS member countries, as we see it, is to deliver real benefits for people and help improve living standards and the quality of life.”

There is no denying the fact that BRICS got evolved as a unique institution with independent historical per-

spectives, diverse civilisa-tional past, different political dispensations and distinctly separate characteristics. Yet the economic agenda wit-nessed the setting up of New Development Bank (with project portfolio exceeding $15 billion) and the Contin-gent Reserve Arrangement (with a capital of $100 bil-lion). In his remarks at the Extraordinary Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit convened on March 26, 2020 to dis-cuss the challenges posed by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and to forge a global coordinated response and also expressing concern over the social and economic cost of the Covid-19, Prime Minister Modi had pointed out that 90% of coronavirus cases and 8% of deaths were in G20 countries which share 80% of the world GDP. Now if such a body is nowhere in the fight against coronavirus, what can BRICS do at such a time of crisis?

Besides, there are multiple undeniable credible proofs to conclude that coronavirus, initially referred to as Wuhan virus had its origin in Wuhan in China. Beijing suppressed the information and took no action to prevent its spread

outside city limits.Amidst growing concern

over the extensive damage to the world economy and loss of lives, Estonia brought a resolution to discuss the Covid-19 virus, its origin and the consequences of the pandemic. China nixed the proposal with the support of Russia and South Africa, three of BRICS’ five members.

In such a circumstance, it is anybody’s guess as to what concern China will show for transparency in dealing with issues of common concern and economic meltdown due to Covid-19. Ironically, none of the BRICS countries seems to be on the same page as far as dealing with the epidemic is concerned. Brazil and Russia have not declared total lock-downs. while South Africa has followed the Indian mod-el. There is no coordinated ef-fort among BRICS members to form a united approach to the crisis or to face the after-math in the coming months especially on economic issues.

These are extremely chal-lenging times when multilat-eral bodies like BRICS are ex-pected to pool in their talents and knowledge and work as a team in mitigating the pain and panic of the pandemic.

Far from it, China seems to be pursuing an independent agenda and is trying to defeat the very purpose of BRICS.

In spite of the general global economic slowdown, BRICS countries, especially India, have great opportunities to perform better than probably the most developed countries in the present circumstances. Prime Minister Modi con-veyed this well in advance at the 11th BRICS Summit held at Brazil’s capital city Brasil-ia. “India is the world’s most open and investment friendly economy due to political sta-bility, predictable policy and business friendly reforms,” the Prime Minister told the leaders at the Summit and added, “BRICS countries ac-count for 50% of the world’s economic growth. Despite the recession in the world, BRICS countries accelerat-ed economic development, brought millions out of pov-erty and achieved new break-throughs in technology and innovation.”

In a way, the Prime Min-ister’s suggestions to the G20 countries hold good for BRICS members too. He underscored the need to put human beings at the centre of our vision of global prosperity

and cooperation, freely and openly share the benefits of medical research and devel-opment, develop adaptive, responsive and humane healthcare systems, promote new crisis management pro-tocols and procedures for an interconnected global village, strengthen and reform inter-governmental organisations like WHO and work together to reduce economic hardships resulting from Covid-19, par-ticularly for the economically weak.

BRICS member countries will have to work in tandem in understanding each other’s predicament in this hour of crisis. There is a dominant view emerging that China has done irreparable dam-age to the countries globally by maintaining secrecy on Co-vid-19. The rest of the world is getting prepared to sue China for its negligence. How this will feature in the discussion among Foreign Ministers of BRICS countries remains a part of the discourse.Dr Arvind Kumar is a Professor of Geopolitics and International Relations at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal. Seshadri Chari is a well known political commenta-tor and strategic analyst.

Covid Age: When BRICS foreign ministers meetnEEdEd, OPEnnESS

9comment & analysisthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhiwww.SuNDayGuarDiaNlivE.CoM

Arvind KumAr & seshAdri ChAri

India cannot trust troublesome neighbours

My memories of Gopal and Radhakrishnan

People have observed for de-cades that India is in a rough neighbourhood. Pakistan and China have been especially troublesome and share the common objective of con-straining India’s growth and keeping it boxed within South Asia. Their collaboration has assumed bolder overtones and become more overt after India’s Parliament amended Article 370 and abolished Ar-ticle 35A of the Constitution with an overwhelming ma-jority on August 5 last year. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China and spread across the globe, killing tens of thousands of people, over-whelming medical capacities and devastating economies, has not deterred either of them from instigating pro-vocative or unfriendly actions against India.

Credible reports, further confirmed recently by the Indian Army Chief’s disclo-sure that the Indian artil-lery is destroying terrorist launchpads inside Pakistan, state that religious “jihadi” groups have gathered along Pakistan’s borders, await-ing infiltration into India. At least three such well-armed groups that sneaked into India in recent weeks were neutralised in encounters with Indian Army and para-military forces. More are said to be assembled in camps on Nepal’s border with India.

Other reports from re-sponsible quarters state that Pakistan nationals who have tested Covid-19 positive have been transported to camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Instead of providing medical treatment to these in-dividuals and in disregard of humanitarian considerations or Islamabad’s oft-articulated concern for the Kashmiri people, the authorities in Is-lamabad plan to send these infected persons across the border into Kashmir.

In a sign of increasing India-Pakistan tension, the Print (April 14) reported that Mooed Pirzada, a Pakistani journalist known to be close to Pakistan’s military establish-ment, on April 14, retweeted a video clip taken in 2011. The video clip was of the Pakistan Navy warship PNS Babar engaging in a danger-ous manoeuvre and nearly “bumping” the Indian Guided Missile frigate INS Godavari in international waters in the Gulf of Aden.

Beijing too has chosen this time to demonstrate its close ties with its “iron brother” Pakistan. On April 8, China’s envoy to the United Nations, Zhao Jun raised the Kashmir issue in the UNSC for the fourth time since August 5, 2019. The statement released by his office said that China “pays close attention to the current situation” in Kash-mir. “The Kashmir issue is a dispute left from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the Charter of the UN, Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.” It added that China “opposes any unilateral actions that complicate the situation”. Any reference to the Shimla Agreement was deliberately omitted. Also, China uses the

phrase “as per UNSC resolu-tions” when China-India rela-tions are under strain.

China’s support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue assumed bolder overtones after Chi-nese President Xi Jinping an-nounced the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in April 2015 and Indian Par-liament amended the Consti-tutional provisions regarding Kashmir with an overwhelm-ing majority last year. Since 2015, Beijing has consistently urged India at official, think-tank and private meetings to resume talks with Pakistan and resolve the Kashmir issue before relations with China can be normalised. After August 2019, Beijing has, on four occasions, directly aided Pakistan in trying to get the Kashmir issue discussed at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The ap-pointment of Munir Akram, known for his almost visceral hatred of India, as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, would point to heightened Pakistan-China collaboration, particu-larly on Kashmir. The tenor of China’s official media has similarly been generally criti-cal of India, complemented by the increasingly “nationalist” trend in China’s tightly con-trolled social media. The South China Morning Post, on April 18, for instance, revealed that Chinese authorities had deleted more than 150 social media accounts carry-ing articles suggesting some neighbouring countries “long to be reunited with China”. The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily   claimed WeChat—China’s most popular social media platform—had de-leted more than 227 posts and suspended 153 accounts carrying “offensive” articles. Among them were two, which claimed the “state of Manipur in India, was looking to return to China” and that “Manipur’s links to China dated back to 202BC”. It said, “Even though they are physically in another nation, they have long been looking forward to returning to the motherland”. On April 21, it was disclosed that Chi-na’s official Digital Map had

been updated and boundaries of seven counties in Tibet bor-dering India amended. It said of 79,253.53 square kilometres of Shannan region’s total land area 31,329.59 square kilome-tres are “occupied” by India. In apparent escalation of the dispute, the map depicted this area as “India-occupied” area, instead of the earlier “Indian-controlled”.

Military pressure on India is also being exerted. Particu-larly since India’s air strikes on the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp at Balakot in Pakistan, China’s official military media has regularly published articles hinting at Chinese and Paki-stani air forces collaborating against India, and China en-hancing material support to Pakistan in event of conflict. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the PLA Rocket Force have held at least five “live fire” exercises in Tibet since March. Most recently on April 21—inciden-tally, PLA Navy’s 71st anniver-sary—several helicopters of the PLA Tibet Military Region conducted high-intensity cross-night and day flight training at an altitude of over 3,700 meters around Lhasa for ten hours “without inter-ruption to improve domain combat capability”.

India is not the only country with whom China has recent-ly flexed its military muscle. When countries are fight-ing the Covid-19 pandemic, a PLAN warship rammed and sank a Vietnamese fish-ing boat; PLAN vessels en-croached contested territories in the South China Sea pro-voking official protests from Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan; and the PLAN aircraft carrier “Liaoning” led a flotilla of eight warships through the Taiwan Strait on April 22. Bei-jing also designated Sansha and Xisha as two new districts for administering the South China Sea. The big question is whether India can trust such a country.Jayadeva Ranade is former Ad-ditional Secretary, Cabinet Secre-tariat, Government of India and is presently President, Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.

Among the very best biographies writ-ten in 20th century

was S. Gopal’s of his father, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Like his father, Gopal wrote great English. In the last paragraph of the first page he gives the reader a forth-right glimpse of the father-son bond. He wrote: “This is a son’s book. The rela-tion between my father and me were closer and more continuous than is usual, in this age, between par-ents and children and they brought with it, at times, obscure pain on both sides. Such close association en-ables me to be witness to a great deal in the later years that has been recounted here. But I have tried not to be swayed by personal affection and have shirked nothing.”

About Sarvepalli Rad-hakrishnan’s date of birth there has been confusion. The official version is that he was born on September 5, 1688, the second son of Brahmin parents, Sarve-palli Veeraswami and Si-tamma. Radhakrishnan himself thought that he came into the world on September 20, 1887. I can think of no son of Indian

writing that there is “the doubt whether Veeraswa-mi was his father...credence is lent to the story by the difficulty in believing that Radhakrishnan and his four brothers and sister be-longed to the same genetic pool, both suggested that Radhakrishnan belonged to different stock.”

Dr Radhakrishnan, him-self was exceptionally reti-cent about his private life. In Fragments of a Confession, there is a short paragraph in which he writes, “In the present account it is not my intention to speak of my personal life, my parents and ancestry, my marriage and family, my likes and dislikes, my struggles and disappointments. No par-ticular good fortune has lifted me above the sphere in which our common hu-manity struggles along, and I have had my own share of the burdens and anxieties of life. Although these are of immense importance to me, discretion forbids me to speak of them. Besides, they are of no particular interest to the philosophi-cal public, who may wish to know my ideas and the process of thought which led up to them.”

When I joined IFS in 1953, S. Gopal, Dr Radhakrish-nan’s son, was director of the Historical Division of the Ministry. As a part of their training, probation-ers were required to spend a week in various divisions of the Ministry including Historical Division. Gopal welcomed me in a non-bureaucratic manner. He

asked about my family, my academic record. Being an Oxford man, he humorous-ly pulled my leg for going to the “other place”, Cam-bridge. When I told him that I had got to know E.M. Forster well at Cambridge, Gopal enquired what I thought of A Passage to In-dia. I do not recollect my answer but Gopal’s attitude became even more benign.

Before leaving for Pe-king—my first post—I asked Gopal, “What books should I read on China?” His answer was that few books on China were avail-able in Delhi. “See if you can find Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China.” No book-shop in Delhi had the book. On my way to Peking in July 1956, I bought a copy in Hong Kong.

One of the highs of my stay in China was Vice President Dr Radhakrish-nan’s visit to China in Sep-tember 1957. Gopal accom-panied his father.

Chairman Mao Tse Tung received him in the court-yard of his house, which was situated in Chungnan-hai, the most exclusive part of Peking and the most well guarded. The members of the Political Bureau lived there. No one else.

After shaking hands with Chairman Mao, Rad-hakrishnan did the un-

thinkable. He patted on his left cheek. The Chairman was taken aback—no one had ever taken such a lib-erty with the great helms-man—as well as everyone present, including Prime Minister Chou En Lai. The Indian side was actu-ally embarrassed. I was one of them. But without batting an eyelid, the Vice President of India said, “Mr Chairman, don’t be alarmed, I did the same thing to Stalin and the Pope.” Tensions melted away to everyone’s relief.

Broadly speaking, phi-losophers are reputed to be lacking in humour. Radhakrishnan was an exceptionally witty man. The King of Greece came to India on a state visit. Presi-dent Radhakrishnan (he had succeeded Dr Rajendra Prasad) welcomed him at Palam airport. “Your Maj-esty. You are the first King of Greece to come to India on invitation. Alexander the Great came uninvited.”

During the war against China in 1962, US Ambas-sador Kenneth Galbraith asked the President wheth-er Lt General B.M. Kaul had been taken prisoner by the Chinese. The answer was: “It is unfortunately untrue.” General Kaul’s performance during the Sino-India conflict was an unmitigated disaster.

In June 1961, I had an ap-pendicitis operation in the Safdarjung Hospital. Gopal somehow got to know. On the second day I heard a lot of commotion in the cor-ridor leading to my room. The door of my room was suddenly opened. Who had opened it, the doctor who had operated on me. In walked the President of India, followed by S. Go-pal, “What have you done to yourself, Natwar Singh? Get well soon.” I was then a 31-year-old Under Secre-tary.

ROUGH NEIGHBOURHOOD FATHER AND SON

Radhakrishnan patted Chairman Mao on his left cheek.

10 comment & analysis the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

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opinionJAYADEVA RANADE

as i pleaseK. NAtwAR SiNgh

People Of The Sacred Books

A sadhu may or may not wear saffron. Any one who has ‘sadhutva’ is a sadhu. Sadhutva is a set of noble qualities; saintliness, compassion for all and a divine dignity. Those who take the least and give out the most are sadhus. They are renunciates who have no value for wealth ,power, and fame. They are in search of higher realms of happiness and peace. Shunning life ,they are no go-getters. They seek not ,as they need not. Gener-ally, they have no possessions apart from two sets of unstitched cloth, a stick and a bowl. A sadhu is not a consumer, but a contributor. He imparts knowledge of the ultimate Reality due to compassion for a suffering humanity ,giving solace and allaying fears and sorrow.

The saffron cloth denotes true social distancing, physical and mental. Not that a sadhu doesn’t have emotions, only that emotions cannot have him! He is of the world, yet untainted by it, as lotus leaves on water! ‘ Padma patra mivambhasi’.

The results of interactions with a sadhu are propor-tionate to your thoughts and actions. The Einsteinium laws of cause and effect are, that action and reaction are equal and opposite. The reaction of any deed has to wait for an opportune moment to bear result, but the reaction with a sadhu gives immediate results. Respect shown to a sadhu reflects as instant blessings from the mirror-like transparent purity of his mind. Similarly, scriptures state , that insulting a sadhu has ‘instant’ consequences. It burns down immediately all ones good karma, health ,wealth , fame and family.

‘ The glory of the sun when he unfolds it, Depends on the object that beholds it.’ W. Blake.The reflecting surface determines the reflection.Prarthna Saran President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.Email: prarthnasaran@gmail.com

Was once a man who stubbornly refused to believe that it is God who provides for and nourishes his creatures. His friends did the best to make him understand this, but with no success. Finally, he decided to silence them by putting this notion to test. Leaving his home early one morning, he went off to a jungle where he perched himself up in a tree. “It is God who nourishes His ser-vants, He will send me my food here too,” he thought.

He sat in the tree the whole day, but there was no sign of any food. After going without breakfast, lunch and dinner, he was convinced that such ideas were all nonsense. He was about to go home when he saw some wayfarers searching for a tree to spend the night underneath. They chose the very tree in which he was perched. He decided not to reveal his presence. After setting up their camp, the men collected firewood and began to cook a meal with rice and pulses. When it was nearly ready, they threw a handful of chillies into the oil to season it. Such a spicy aroma rose up that the man sneezed. Only then did the travellers learn of his presence whereupon they invited him to share what they had cooked. The man happily went back home and said to his friends the next morning, “What you said was quite true. Of course, God does provide you with food. It’s just that you have to sneeze and come down a tree to get it!”

Although humorous in tone, this little anecdote is serious in intent. It is, in fact, a parable which un-derscores the notion that God helps those who help themselves. And although man’s role is a very minor one, it is nevertheless a very necessary one. A man must prove his worth to have his due share of God’s gifts. We must never, therefore, neglect to make ourselves deserving of God’s nourishment.www.cpsglobal.org

Baba Bulleh Shah gets up early, and goes to meditate. The routine had been in progress for many years, and the desire to become aware of God’s presence is very strong, but the great saint feels he is short of the mark.

One day, Baba Bulleh Shah had just finished his prayer. He saw a lady selling carrots. People were coming to buy, but if they started picking, she would say, “I only sell in volumes, there is no pick and choose”. So all her customers had to buy carrots in bulk. Then there was this man, who also came to her to get car-rots, but this time she herself picked the best for him. Bulleh Shah was surprised looking at the incident, so after this man had left, he asked her why she had let only this man to hand pick the carrots. In fact, she picked and chose her finest carrots for him on her own.

She replied, “Bulleh Shah, he is my husband. There is no counting or accounts between lovers.”

Bulleh Shah was jolted with realization. He looked at his rosary, and understood he was only doing trade with God – trading prayer for heaven. He asked him-self why he was creating accounts between himself and God? Bulleh Shah writes that from that day, he understood that the only way to know Him is to love Him. Guru Granth Sahib guides us that both the body and the rosary are given by Him, use everything to create the bond of love:Make your mind the farmer, good deeds the farm, modesty the water, and your body the field. Let the Lord’s Name be the seed, contentment the plow, and your humility the fence.Doing deeds of love, the seed shall sprout, and you shall see your home flourish.

An encounter with Christ is a transforming moment. We no longer live in the futility of our thinking, the darkness of our understanding, instead we are united with the life of God. (Eph. 4:18). There is now freedom from the whirlpool of confused ideas. The reward of our encounter is to worship, in truth, the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our will is now in tune with God.

Lest we begin to take pride in ourselves, it helps to remember that God’s holy love attracts us to Jesus, as we learn to wait with a new openness and humility. Samuel’s prayer becomes our prayer too, “Speak Lord your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).

Transforming moments are varied. We observe this in John, the beloved disciple, and Thomas’s response to the empty tomb. John recognised the symbol of the empty grave, based upon the prompting of the scrip-ture (John 20:9), and believed Jesus had risen without having seen Him. Thomas, however, wanted visible proof. Jesus provided visible proof to Thomas and said to him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:26). Thomas’ response is amazing; he said, “My Lord and my God” ( v. 27). Jesus accepted the worship of Thomas. The truth of multiple kinds of transforming moments should humble us to accept other followers of Jesus and work towards maintaining unity in the body of Christ and to witness in word and deed before a watching world in need. Are we showing the love of Christ in this global pandemic?

Is your life characterised by quietness, simplicity and intimacy with God? Even in these turbulent times it is possible to have an encounter with God and find rest in the middle of the storm.

Hinduism islam sikHism cHristianity

Sadhu avagya: Insulting a Sadhu

Doing one’s bit Only way to know Him is to love Him

Encountering the risen Christ Jesus

By Prarthna Saran

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

By Davinder P.S. Sandhu By Rev. Dr. Richard Howell

Radhakrishnan, then the Vice President of India, said, “Mr Chairman, don’t be alarmed, I did the same thing to Stalin and the Pope.” Tensions melted away to everyone’s relief.

this first appeared on 23 April, 2017. the writer could not write this week due to unavoidable circumstances. his latest column will appear soon.

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When the whole world wit-nessed the H1N1 influenza pandemic

in 2009-10, India was sig-nificantly affected. When we are now in the midst of an-other pandemic, of Covid-19 this time, is there something that we can learn from our 2009-10 experience, to limit future pandemics?

Worldwide, the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has esti-mated that up to 575,000 people lost their lives dur-ing the 2009-10 pandemic. Data available in the public domain in India reveals that India had 44,987 confirmed cases, and 2,728 confirmed deaths due to H1N1 influen-za in 2009-10. There were undoubtedly many more H1N1 cases, as every patient with fever and cough did not undergo testing for H1N1 in India. Limited healthcare resources, the scarcity of approved virology labs, and under-reporting of influ-enza-like illness (ILI), etc., would have contributed to numerous cases and deaths not being diagnosed as in-fluenza. India was not ready to face a pandemic in 2009. Health systems and hospi-tals were pretty much left to manage it on their own, with minimal support from governmental agencies and ministries.

 WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 2010? DID H1N1 INFLUENZA GO AWAY?Not at all. Cases and deaths due to H1N1 influenza have been reported every single year since then. In 2019, In-dia had 28,798 confirmed H1N1 influenza cases and 1,218 deaths, as per the NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control, In-dia). In 2018, we had 15,266 confirmed cases and 1,128

deaths, and in 2017, 38,811 confirmed cases and 2,270 deaths.

What is troubling is that these numbers are for a viral illness that has a vaccine and a reasonably useful antiviral medicine, oseltamivir (Tami-flu®, Antiflu® and Fluvir®).

Subsequently, H1N1 in-fluenza became “endemic” to India. An endemic infec-tion is one that is frequently responsible for disease in a region without importing from another region.

 WHY DON’T WE SEE THIS REPORTED IN THE MEDIA?Most of the media high-lights what is new and sen-sational. They gauge the people’s interest and spend more time on them. How long will public attention focus on the same problem? It is well-known that public memory is short. We can add that public and media atten-tion is temporary or even ephemeral.

So, the reporting about H1N1 has taken a backseat, possibly on pages 9 or 13 of our newspapers. They are hardly given any screen time on TV news too. Un-derreporting contributes to this media apathy about “endemic” diseases. Media apathy may result in govern-ment apathy and gradual es-calation of the disease.

 WHAT ABOUT COVID-19?Covid-19 is a much bigger pandemic. It’s a new virus with many theories about its origin. This new coronavirus spreads much more quickly and easily than influenza. To make it worse, we have neither a vaccine nor an ef-fective medication, yet.

At the time of writing this, all states of India, except Sikkim, have reported Co-vid-19 cases; there are more than 23,000 cases with at least 700 deaths attributed to Covid-19. As the testing strategy is still evolving, with more and more testing cen-

tres being deployed, these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.

COVID-19 FACES A NEW INDIA. THERE IS SOME HOPEHowever, in 2020, India’s capacity to handle pan-demics is much better. Our government has decisive leadership, our regional ad-ministration machinery is better in many districts, our labs are better prepared, our people are more aware, and our entire country is to-gether at this troubling time. The government machinery may not be perfect yet, but the author has not witnessed the current level of involve-ment, determination and resource mobilization of our governmental agencies ever in the past. Containment and mitigation measures have been implemented at vari-ous administrative and geo-graphical levels. Quarantine, isolation, contact tracing and testing are progress-ing on a war footing. These measures are paying off in spite of some exceptions like religious and political gath-

erings acting as spanners in this wheel.

In spite of these measures, Covid-19 is not going to dis-appear. Over the next few years, Covid-19 may contin-ue to trouble our population, even if we develop vaccines and effective medicines, as evidenced by the H1N1 story above. This virus may become “endemic” like the H1N1 influenza virus and keep raising its ugly head every year and claim thou-sands of lives.

As time progresses, we will certainly diagnose more and more patients with respira-tory illnesses as H1N1, Cov-id-19, or another specific vi-ral infection. What clinicians dismissively label today as “viral respiratory infection” may soon be called “non-COVID, non-H1N1 viral in-fection” after quickly ruling out these deadly diseases using specific point-of-care diagnostic tests. We may also start accurately iden-tifying many other viruses that cause similar illnesses, including adenovirus, rhino-virus, respiratory syncytial virus, etc.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?Whether we get a vaccine or not, effective medicine or not, we have to stay as dis-ciplined. While a national lockdown has been very effective in limiting the spread of Covid-19 in the short-term, it is impractical in the long-term. We have to improve our social behav-iour and personal hygiene. The critical steps to slow down and stop both Cov-id-19 and H1N1 (along with its cousins H3N2, H5N1 and influenza B) are the same. What we are doing now as a country—physical dis-tancing, personal hygiene, cough etiquette, mask hy-giene, avoiding spitting in public, etc.—will help us in fighting both. Eventu-ally, this will reduce not just these respiratory infections but also typhoid, amoebia-sis, cholera, viral diarrhoea, and many other common illnesses that are troubling us from eternity. This per-sonal hygiene movement should become a core component of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The emergence of HIV in the 1980s significantly changed human sexual behaviour. The September 11 attacks in 2001 perma-nently changed the way we implemented security, es-pecially evident at airports. Covid-19 is one such pivotal event. It should change our social behaviour and per-sonal hygiene practices in every aspect of daily life. If not, it will be a lost opportu-nity in enhancing our social preparedness in limiting inevitable pandemics in the future.Dr Shashikiran Umakanth, MD FRCP, is Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine at Dr TMA Pai Hos-pital, Udupi, Manipal Acade-my of Higher Education, Mani-pal, Karnataka. He is currently Nodal Officer for the Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital of Udupi dis-trict in Karnataka.

The United States and India are the world’s greatest democra-c i e s b y

virtue of our sizes, the com-plementary nature of our economies, and especially the alignment of our strate-gic interests. Both countries need to prevent China from becoming an authoritarian hegemon, fight terrorism from all sources, and defend the individual rights of our citizens against all comers. If the US and India cannot cooperate to provide in-ternational leadership in a time of crisis, then democ-racy will cede leadership to authoritarianism—a model most vividly exemplified in today’s world by China. US and India must rise to this challenge of leadership dur-ing this time of the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.

Slogans such as “America First” and even “Swadeshi” are inadequate to our pres-ent situation. Unfortunately, on both sides there is the danger of retreat from stra-tegic thinking to sloganeer-ing and a narrow focus on immediate self-interest.

In the midst of the pres-ent crisis, President Donald Trump called Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi to ask for the release of Trump’s beloved hydroxychloro-quine. Modi rightly replied not only affirmatively to the request but also with a broader vision of what US-India cooperation should look like. The White House indicated general agreement. However, it will take action on both sides to turn rhetoric into reality.

There are immediate prac-tical steps that the US and In-dia should take to meet the present pandemic and the

next—for there surely will be a next. We must not be lulled into thinking that if we can just get by the present crisis everything will be fine and we can return to “normal”.

The United States and India constitute two of the world’s greatest repositories of bio-medical talent and the information technology resources to take advantage of this talent. This talent and these resources can be focused through strong public/private partnerships on vaccine and medici-nal research and develop-ment. The US, with the in-volvement of many Indian American scientists, has long been a fountain of in-novation in this field, while India is ready to emerge from an over-reliance on ge-neric drug production. The immediate requirements are for a Covid-19 vaccine, accurate tests, and effec-tive medicines. But the US and India can go far beyond these crash projects to take advantage of the comple-mentary nature of our bio-medical industries.

Trump’s plea on chlo-roquine as well as India’s shortage of chemical pre-cursors for drug manufac-turing show the need for ac-tions to secure and enhance supply chains between the two countries. Economic engagement—trade and investment—between In-dia and the US is not a bad thing, rather the fount of solutions that will promote mutual prosperity. We must not allow outmoded con-cepts of import substitu-tion to handicap the use of comparative advantage and trade to produce inclusive growth in the field of health-care.

India can help the US find a productive way to par-ticipate in reforming and strengthening international health organizations. In

their call, Modi evidently raised the question of the WHO. Trump is not going to abandon the antipathy that he and his supporters bear toward multilateral organizations. However, Modi and India have a bet-ter understanding why it is useful to have international organizations to promote the flow of timely informa-tion and action. This infor-mation and action are fun-damental not only in regard to Covid-19 but also Ebola, SARS, MERS and new vi-ruses that will carry no passports, as well as more conventional diseases. The US and India together will have greater ability to lead in international health orga-nizations.

In times of crisis, the US and India working as part-ners can provide stronger democratic leadership than either working alone. More crises will follow. They may well be more serious than Covid-19. Disasters brought on by climate change or nuclear incidents are obvi-ous candidates for preven-tion as well as ameliora-tion. Our common strategic interests are fundamental. They should leverage demo-cratic US-India leadership in pandemics and across the board.Raymond E. Vickery, Jr. is a leading expert on US-India relations. Currently a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a Senior Advisor to the Albright Stonebridge Group, he was Assistant Secre-tary of Commerce in the Clinton Administration. A published author, Mr Vickery has also served as a Global Fellow and a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and is a retired partner at the international law firm Hogan Lovells. He is a Found-ing Director of the US-India Friendship Council.

The immediate chal-lenge posed by the outbreak of the novel

coronavirus was to save hu-man lives, as the virus was extremely dangerous with no

known cures available. Given the limited window the Gov-ernment of India had to ramp up testing and treatment facilities and finding cures through drugs, vaccines and alternate medicine, it instead focused on suppressing the spread of the virus by em-ploying a two-fold strategy: one, mandatory lockdown of private and public firms, shops and business estab-lishments, State and Central government departments, educational institutions like schools, colleges and

universities and air, rail and road transport; and two, by quarantining those already affected by the virus so as to restrict their movement freely among the general public. Data and anecdotal evidence suggest that this strategy has paid dividends as the country appears to have succeeded reasonably in preventing the proliferation of the disease via infected persons.

Apart from the threat to human lives, Covid-19 poses grave challenges to liveli-hoods too. In other words, apart from causing huge human suffering, the novel coronavirus has immense potential to cause economic suffering too. The mandatory closure of economic activity and restrictions on travel and movement of people impose a heavy cost on all the three sec-tors of the economy—namely, the primary sector (princi-

pally farming), the secondary sector (principally manufac-turing) and the tertiary sector (major services) as probably barring the health sector, all other areas of economic activity have been affected, including agricultural inputs and agricultural chemicals, manufacturing sector, oil and gas, automobiles, all forms of infrastructure, real estate and construction and services such as all forms of trans-portation and travel, both retail and wholesale trade, tourism, telecom, Informa-tion Technology, hotels and restaurants, insurance and

banking and of course, the media too, as its advertise-ment revenues fall when the corporate sector’s sales reve-nue and profits fall. Nonethe-less, the degree or quantum of losses would vary across the aforementioned areas of economic activity, with some losing heavily and a few oth-ers faring slightly less bad than others.

As was expected, the out-break of the pandemic af-fected major stock markets of the world including India’s, as in a globalised world, capital markets are closely intertwined and hence the

financial contagion is more. While share markets do sig-nal future expectations about profits and hence would have an impact on future invest-ment, however, a fall in stock markets does not directly af-fect “real output”. Besides, I am not too worried about the paper losses in the stock mar-ket as in a country like ours only a minuscule population holds shares in listed corpo-rate firms of the stock market.

However, what is more wor-risome are some of the other durable and important eco-nomic effects of the pandemic in India.

A significant economic fall-out has been the impact of the “lockdown” on employ-ment, income and produc-tion. Closure of firms in the industrial and service sectors would curtail production or what economists call “aggre-gate supply” and, hence, this

would directly hurt the GDP or the economic growth of In-dia. There would also be an indirect effect of lockdown on production or GDP as lock-down would lead to layoff of workers which would in turn reduce their incomes and which in turn would decrease their consumption which would lead to a de-crease in what economists call “aggregate demand” through the operation of the Keynesian multiplier and this would in turn pull down GDP growth. In other words, the lockdown is a double wham-my; it would reduce GDP or economic growth from both sides of “aggregate supply” and “aggregate demand”.

An immediate effect of the pandemic has been on the workforce of firms. The current “work from home” may be suitable in certain “services” such as the legal

services, teaching, taxation and finance, but most ser-vices like transportation, tourism, trade, retail, re-pairs and maintenance need physical presence. Even “my own” sector, namely, the media requires physical movement or travel by report-ers and TV crews to gather news. Besides, the “at work” social distancing norms and worker safety issues are lead-ing to stress at the workplace. Apart from the “services” sec-tor, the “manufacturing” and “agriculture” sectors require the constant presence and ac-tive contribution by workers “on site”. All the aforesaid de-velopments affect the output, efficiency and productivity of the worker adversely and in turn, slows economic growth.Kartikeya Sharma is the Founder of the iTV Network (Information TV Pvt. Ltd), of which The Sun-day Guardian is a part.

HARD TIMES

DISCIPLINE PARTNERSHIP

11comment & analysisthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhiwww.sundayguardianlive.com

view from the boardroom

KartiKeya Sharma

Combating the economic contagion of Covid-19A significant economic fallout has been the impact of the ‘lockdown’ on employment, income and production.

migrants workers seen walking during the nationwide lockdown in hyderabad on tuesday. aNi

India needs social changes to limit future pandemics

India-US: Great democracies have a role to play in times of crisis

Unlike in 2009-2010, in 2020, India’s capacity to handle pandemics is much better.India can help the US find a way to participate in reforming and strengthening international health organizations.SHASHIkIRAN UMAkANTH

RAYMOND E. VICkERY, JR.

What we are doing now as a country—physical distancing, personal hygiene, cough etiquette, mask hygiene, avoiding spitting in public—will help us in fighting both Covid-19 and H1N1 (and its cousins).

The mandatory closure of economic activity and restrictions on travel and movement of people impose a heavy cost on all the three sectors of the economy—primary, secondary, tertiary.

12 the big story the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

physical and financial infrastruc-ture, and carry it out through experienced

persons. At present there is no such policy. Instead the economy is being jerked from one ad hoc goal to another set of targets.

The bottom line in today’s In-dia is that there are no trade-offs between containing Covid-19 and reviving the economy. Both have to go together in India at the present juncture because saving people from Covid-19 needs a growing economy to keep them healthy and vice versa.

At this stage, the new economic policy thus must first address the implications of the new hurdles and new opportunities, which the coronavirus pandemic has given rise to in India and the globe.

The first major hurdle to face is how to reverse the last four years’ trend of a “tailspin” in economic indicators such as in GDP growth rate [now the most realistic half per cent per year], rising unem-ployment [presently 30%], and near collapse of the banking sys-tem [the last being due to the huge and increasing Non-Performing Assets].

These may be attributed to a de-

clining aggregate demand arising out of erroneous monetary and fiscal policies since 2012, espe-cially in raising the interest rates of loans for investments and tax terrorism.

With the cost of capital rising as a consequence of rising interest rates during the last decade, many MSMEs folded up, thus causing huge unemployment amongst the semi-skilled and the self em-ployed entrepreneurs. Adding to this the lowering of the rate of return on fixed term deposits, and the irrational incentive-hurting taxation rates with its collec-tion method [particularly GST and Demonetization] requiring incredulous mental gymnastics and paperwork. This has re-duced the rate of savings, both of households and corporates, and consequently lowered sharply the rate of investment as ratio of GDP.

The Finance Ministry, with senior personnel who appear clueless about practical macro-economics, continued the UPA’s tax-terror methods for obscure reasons; thereby harassing the investor, innovators and business community in general, while al-lowing a few industrialists to flourish. Today the enthusiasm

in the business community we saw in 2014 has progressively evaporated.

Today the coronavirus pan-demic has enabled many of these industrialists to use the lock-down to trim their activities and also reduce their inventories. No wonder the pontification of the Reserve Bank Governor on banks easing the procedures to advance loans to industry has largely been ignored by entrepreneurs. Available data shows that credit growth during FY 20 has been a mere 6.1%, the lowest in 26 years, i.e., since 1993-94 when the Har-shad Mehta scam had erupted.

Thus the hurdle today is that an economy-wide disruption of the lockdown has been so per-vasive that if it is lifted, that by itself will not motivate industry to hum with activity, because the economic stagnation has pre-coronavirus causes and it is this stagnation that had caused psy-chic lethargy among stakeholders in the economy.

Today industrialists require to be inspired to take the audacious risk that is required to kick-start the economy. That inspiration can be induced by incentives (not hand me down sops), com-

mercial consensus, and decision-making by concurrence obtained by stakeholders’ participation.

This cannot be achieved by a display of nonchalance by the Government particularly in eco-nomic affairs. That is why the Reverse Repo Turnover [viz., the funds that banks voluntarily deposit with the Reserve Bank to earn interest instead of lending the money to entrepreneurs], which on February 20 this year was only about Rs 40,000 crore, has, since then as of April 16, soared to a mind-boggling Rs 7 trillion [seven thousand billion].

In other words, the advice giv-en earlier last month by the RBI Governor to banks to be “more active in lending” has been plain ignored.

No banker has confidence today that if he takes calculated and ra-tional risks, he will be honoured even if he succeeds. On the con-trary, if he fails he will be defamed and probed.

This climate of risk averseness is created because the Government has been revealed as devoid of economic measures designed to raise growth to the needed double digit level.

Those at the helm of affairs in

government must know that im-porting talent for economic lead-ership is political suicide [as was seen to happen in the past few years with Raghuram Rajan and Arvind Subramanian, both of whom were grafted from abroad onto our economic institutions]. Both men, while in office, were loyal to their past patrons, who are in opposition to our present Government. Today, bereft of their cushy positions, they are day-in and day-out, openly blast-ing away the BJP government as if on a paid mission.

The steps taken by them include measures such as high interest rates, which killed the MSMEs, the GST, which confused every-body by its complexity, and the gold policy that drained resourc-es by fraud—examples of what these persons are responsible while in office.

Another hurdle that has emerged is the fracture of Indian society by events happening pre-appearance of coronavirus in In-dia. This has degenerated since the lockdown was imposed.

Anti-Hindutva, left wing, and Wahhabi militants, and foreign forces, with their counterparts in India are hostile to the emer-

gence in India and acceptance by the masses, of a more natural and unifying concept of citizen-ry based on the common DNA of Hindus and of non-Hindus [common because we share the same ancient heritage and an-cestry]. The identity of an Indian thus has got clarified as Hindus and those others whose ancestors are Hindus.

Hence through classic disinfor-mation [referred to in KGB jar-gon as “active measures”], these forces use fake news, cut-and-splice videos, and impersonation techniques to seek to create a fear psychosis—that is unity through Hindutva unity means fascism and holocaust.

Furthermore, these forces have used such disinformation tactics to castigate certain BJP govern-ment actions, notably to legally restore the unity of Jammu & Kashmir including Ladakh with the rest of India [by scrapping the temporary Article 370 of the Constitution], legislate the rights in marriage of Muslim women in-voking equality with the rights in marriage with Muslim men [i.e., Abolition of Triple Talaq], and the preferential grant of Indian citizenship for Hindus and other

non-Muslim minorities, hailing from neighbouring theocratic Islamic nations, when such mi-nority persons suffering religious persecution have entered India as undocumented migrants. Fortu-nately, these forces inimical to India have failed.

Since the above-referred anti-Indian forces tried to create an uprising but which fizzled out, the patriotic fervour of Indians has caused a consolidation of political opinion as never seen before.

The anti-Indian mobs referred to here constitute a minuscule proportion of India’s popula-tion. Thus after the coronavirus threat is over and lockdown is withdrawn, the BJP government led by PM Modi should feel em-powered to implement radical new economic reforms to set the economy on the path of a 10% per year GDP growth, achieve full employment, and cut poverty to structural minimum. How this can be structured is elaborated in full detail in my recent book Reset.Dr Subramanian Swamy is an MP nominated by the President for his eminence as an economist. He is a former Union Cabinet Minister for Commerce and Law & Justice.

Action from PM Modi essential for economic boost

REFORMS NEEDED

unnecessar-ily uncalled for state-ments. However, out of the three Gandhis,

she continues to have more ac-ceptability, though the possibil-ity of her being elevated to the top position is rather remote.

The consensus that is gaining momentum within the party is to, once and for all, settle the leadership issue during an AICC session. Sonia Gandhi is confident that her aides, who have for the past 22 years been in charge of the organisation, would be able to ensure that her nominee is elected as the next president. It is obvious that once again, she would want Rahul to be re-elected to head the 135-year-old Congress, though he may face a vigorous challenge from Priyanka, who would definitely not publicly

challenge her brother.However, what is not being

factored-in by the high com-mand is that the Gandhis do not enjoy the clout they once had, since they have been un-able to act as vote catchers in the electoral arena. All the re-cent victories of the party have been on account of strong state leadership, and therefore, it would not come as a surprise if the AICC session throws up an unexpected face to head the party. There has been a marked diminishment of the sway the Gandhis wielded, following the two successive humiliating de-feats in the Parliamentary polls of 2014 and 2019.

As is well-known, within the Congress, things do not hap-pen by design, but by default. And this is likely to be the sce-nario even at the AICC session,

which was not too long ago to be held in Rajasthan, a Con-gress-ruled state, but may now have to take place elsewhere.

In fact, what could obstruct Rahul’s re-election is his own statement after the Lok Sabha debacle, that a non-Gandhi should take charge of the party and lead it henceforth.

Within the organisation, the process of short-listing a non-Gandhi had begun with AICC general secretary, Mukul Wasnik emerging as the sole contender. However, insecure of the ramifications of the pro-posed changes, Sonia Gandhi’s coterie made certain that she returned as the interim presi-dent, thus effectively shelving all plans to bring in Wasnik.

Under the changed circum-stances, there is a growing opinion that the field should

be thrown open for the contest to the president’s post, as also for the much-needed election to the Congress Working Com-mittee, which has virtually be-come defunct, with members having outlived their utility. To provide sufficient strength to the party, the Congress Par-liamentary Board (CPB) must be revived as the highest deci-sion-making body as per the Constitution.

The AICC session would also assist the Gandhis to as-sess the correct situation and hand over the baton to a se-nior leader outside the family fold. In terms of sheer organi-zational experience, Ghulam Nabi Azad would seem to be a front-runner, but in the current political climate dominated by Hindutva politics, his chances are bleak. Punjab Chief Minis-

ter, Captain Amarinder Singh, and Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, have been reluc-tant to come on to the national stage.

That would leave the doors open for Kamal Nath, who could come out as a consensus candidate, given his experience and political stature, as also his ability to deal with complex po-litical situations. Another pos-sible candidate could be Bhu-pinder Singh Hooda, who has repeatedly proved that he is the tallest Jat leader in the country, with a huge mass base. Other than the aforementioned, it is difficult to envisage that any other politician may be in line for the top position, since the younger lot of leaders would not be in the reckoning, unless something significant materi-alises for Rahul Gandhi.

popula-tions.

Some of the poorest states by

per-capita GDP are the states with the largest popula-tions—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal. These five states have a combined pop-ulation of 62.5 crore—almost half of India’s population at 137 crores. These states have a population-weighted av-erage per-capita GDP of Rs 87,000 in FY’20, growing at 8.5% YoY from Rs 53,000 in FY’14. Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal are doing better than the other states, in gen-eral. Still, growth is nowhere close to where it needs to get to provide adequately for their larger, more impov-erished populations. The combined population in these five states is growing at 2% YoY, higher than the India-average at 1.6%; much higher than the combined population of the highest-performing states at 1.2%. High population growth and low economic growth may spell disaster for these states as the southern and western states zoom ahead.

Meanwhile, the highest performing states in per-cap-ita GDP are Telangana, Kar-nataka, Gujarat, Maharash-tra and Tamil Nadu. With a combined population of 37.9 crore—just over 1/4th of In-dia’s population—and high per-capita incomes, these states are growing faster and leaving behind their north-ern and eastern counterparts. They are growing, on aver-age, at 10.6% YoY—higher than the India average of 8.8% YoY. Inequity will keep increasing as these states grow faster with their

slower-growing populations. India cannot afford to let this Great Divergence in state economic growth continue if we are to grow to our $5Tn and $10Tn goals to become a Top 3 economy.

The Top 5 states have a higher share of services and industry sectors in their economies and are more urbanized. This translates to faster economic growth, better standards for higher education and opportunities for quality mass employ-ment. The lower-perform-ing states are less urbanized,

have a higher share of agri-culture, with weaker growth, fragmentation, lower college enrolment and fewer oppor-tunities for personal wage growth.

Another significant conse-quence of the Great Diver-gence is very high internal migration through the coun-try. It is estimated that ten crore people, at the very least, migrate from states with low growth toward states with higher growth and employ-ment opportunities. Unfor-tunately, the work they find as contract labour in these

states doesn’t result in higher purchasing power compared to their home states as living costs are exponentially high-er. We saw this situation play out very recently when the Covid-induced lockdown threw migrants around the country in a lurch, especially in Delhi and Mumbai. With-out job security, savings and staying power, many mi-grants had to resort to pain-ful ways of returning to their home states.

The only way we solve this Great Divergence is if every state government, particu-

larly those of highly popu-lous ones, focus on economic growth and labour-intensive employment opportunities. Some strategies state govern-ments can consider are:

Infrastructure develop-ment to provide construction jobs at scale

Higher education to build skilled workforces for high value-add sectors

Labour-intensive manufac-turing to provide mass em-ployment and boost export capabilities

Systematic shift of work-force from agriculture to con-struction and manufacturing at 2% YoY.

These strategies are dis-cussed in detail in India’s Grand Reconstruction Bud-get (The Sunday Guardian, April 18, 2020), post-Covid.

Research shows that in today’s times, states have larger spend budgets, and more substantial impact on the economic entity they gov-ern than ever before.

A study of central and state expenditures (Table 2) reveals the central govern-ment’s share of expenditure has steadily decreased from 30% of total spending in FY’16 to 24.5% in FY’19. State aggregate spending is 75.5% of the total. GoI’s ability to promote economic expansion and job creation by deploying the necessary capital resources is limited.

India is not a monolith, and every state needs a unique approach based on its eco-nomic composition. With larger budgets, state govern-ments have the resources to

provide quality employment and growth opportunities to its citizens. Every citizen must ask their state govern-ment to utilise their growing resources to urbanize and build infrastructure, indus-trial clusters, skills develop-ment programs, and higher education capacity with a development-focused agen-da. Migrating to other states in search of employment cannot be the end state; be-ing able to live and prosper in one’s own home state must be the objective.

Eliminating the Great Divergence is how India becomes a Top-3 economy faster.T.V. Mohandas Pai is Chair-man, Aarin Capital Partners and Nisha Holla is Technology Fellow, C-CAMP.

EcONOMy

GREat INDIaN DIvERGENcE: UNEvEN GROwth DRaGGING INDIa DOwN

chURN wIthIN StRatEGIcaLLy IMPORtaNt

PRESSURE MOUNtING FOR aIcc SESSION tO ELEct NEw PRESIDENt Lockdown no bar, BRO clears Rohtang Pass 25 days ahead of schedule

snow clearance teams kept on working re-

lentlessly day and night, while taking all Covid-19 precautions, to provide relief to the residents of Lahaul valley.

The first convoy of vehicles carrying es-sential supplies and ap-proximately 150 farmers moved to Lahual Valley on Saturday, guided by the BRO, thus officially opening the Rohtang Pass this year. The news of Rohtang Pass being opened for traffic 25 days in advance as compared to the previous year has brought immense relief amongst the local popu-

lation. This will facilitate the Central and State governments to bring much needed relief mate-rial and medical supplies for the local population. Also, agricultural activi-ties that are the backbone of the area can now re-commence.

Snow clearance op-eration for the opening

of the pass is carried out every year as the pass remains snow bound for almost six months, i.e. from mid-November to mid-May. It was kept open till December 12, 2019. The complete val-ley remains dependent on air maintenance for any external supplies during the winter.

media mayhem

Virtual classroom

legally speakingthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhi 13www.sundayguardianlive.com

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than igno-rance.”

– George Bernard Shaw

The coronavirus pan-demic has brought the nation to a halt

and our lives to a standstill. The pandemic is scary due to our lack of knowledge, combined with its uncer-tainty and unpredictability. It is this fear that needs to be kept in check, for it has the potential to be equally dan-gerous as a contagion.

While the media cannot tell the public at large what to think, it certainly sets the agenda for public debate and dialogue. In such times, the

role of the media, being the Fourth Estate is all the more important and it is essential that the media act responsi-bly to curb unsubstantiated rumours and not to propa-gate fear amongst the public at large.

The present Government is of the opinion that the mass exodus was triggered by fake news and that sti-fling of information is the only solution. This is evi-dent from their submissions before the Supreme Court, wherein the Government sought directions that no media outlet could print, publish or telecast anything in relation to the pandemic, without “first ascertaining the true factual position from the separate mechanism pro-vided by the Central Govern-ment”. The making of such a request is indicative of the government’s apprehension that the true extent of the pandemic be not revealed to the public. Journalists, social activists and even the public who have dared to be openly critical of the Cen-tral Government and PM

Modi have been dealt with an iron fist. It is not uncom-mon nowadays for people to be arrested over tweets. Yet now that same hand seems to be shaky and requires court sanction.

On 31 March, the Supreme Court passed an order issu-ing certain directions to me-dia houses that unverified news be not disseminated; with the official verification coming by way of a daily bulletin to be published by the Government.

The menace of fake news has proven extremely dif-ficult to tackle worldwide, but such a blanket ban on unverified reporting, with the sole verification coming from a daily bulletin is also not the need of the hour. Firstly, it fails to appreciate that it was a host of factors that contributed to the mass exodus, such as loss of work, threats by landlords, uncer-tainties of shelter and future income and the general un-predictability of the man-ner in which the lockdown was hastily imposed, giving almost no time to these mi-grant workers to plan for the times ahead. 

Secondly, this also fails to take into account a funda-mental difference that the media as a profession holds a high degree of account-ability to the public and the Government itself, and cannot be equated with the disseminators of fake news

from WhatsApp University. Editors of media houses are duty bound to verify facts before publication. There already exists ample le-gal recourse to take action against any media house for offences under Sections 499 IPC (Defamation), 501 IPC (Printing or engraving de-famatory matter), 502 IPC (Sale of defamatory matter), 153 IPC (Provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A IPC (Acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B IPC (Imputation, asser-tions prejudicial to national-integration). Additionally, given the present pandemic situation, action can also be taken under Section 54 of the National Disaster Man-agement Act, 2005 (Making or circulating a false alarm or warning as to disaster or its severity/magnitude lead-ing to panic). Unfortunately, the present directions make providing concrete answers to unsubstantiated rumours all the more difficult as now the entire media has to wait for an official update.

Thirdly, this also poses a unique problem since the Government now has blan-ket discretion to clarify and respond to certain news, and, at the same time, it can choose to ignore that which is equally ripe for publica-tion but which could cause embarrassment to the ad-ministration. The recent inhumane actions of spray-

ing of migrant workers with a disinfectant in Uttar Pradesh is but one such example. Potentially life-saving information regard-ing deaths, the spread of the diseases and especially the hotspots and areas in which spikes in cases are being ob-served need to be updated and disseminated promptly and with utmost haste and cannot be contingent upon publication in a Central Bul-letin.

However, it must also be noted that the Indian Media is not guilt free. It has also of-ten given in to such rumour-mongering and speculation. The labelling of Covid-19 as a “Chinese Virus” and the use of such terms such as “Corona Jihad”, which have absolutely no basis or foun-dation, is more worrisome and has started to create an atmosphere of xenophobia, bigotry and communalism, and must be nipped in the bud. It is high time everyone understands that the virus affects every religion, eth-nicity, caste and creed with the same reckless abandon and name calling and blame gaming will help absolutely nobody.

  Then, there is also the problem of underreporting of Covid-19 cases. Many be-lieve that the true extent is far worse, but we are simply not in a position to ascertain the same due to lack of test-ing, and later on adequate

reporting. China has espe-cially attracted international criticism for what many see as gross underreporting and failure of timely warn-ing. In the United States as well, various reports indi-cate that there has been vast underreporting. In contrast, the South Korean media has been extremely prompt and forthright in its reporting, which is why South Korea was the first country out-side of China to report the exponential rise in Covid-19 positive cases. Similarly, in France, letters by over 30 French journalists based in Italy led to France shut-tering schools and certain businesses.

We too seem to be adopting a myopic approach, and the same has only been exacer-bated by the recent Supreme Court order. Just recently, on 7 April it was widely report-ed in the local newspapers in Indore that over the last six days there had been more than 127 deaths, but official-ly, only 13 deaths have been reported in the entire state of Madhya Pradesh. It is ap-parent that officers of the ad-ministration are fearful and apprehensive of the fact that in case there is a sharp rise under their watch, dire con-sequences may follow. Such apprehension may not also be unfounded, as the recent transfer of Noida District Magistrate BN Singh would indicate.

The media has also forgot-ten that the government and public institutions must be held accountable. Despite the situation in Indore, no media outlet is calling for the Chief Minister to take action. The media has not ques-tioned our leaders, asking them to take charge and lead from the frontlines. Interest-ingly, even as adequate safe-guards and equipment have not been provided, many states have invoked Essen-tial Services Maintenance Act. In such situations, can persons be blamed for not coming to work knowing well that they could be ex-posed without proper pro-tection? Sadly, even on this, media has remained silent.

It is high time that both the media and the admin-istration work together in combating this pandemic. Larger numbers of reported cases with hourly updates as to the concentration would undoubtedly have a deter-rent effect. Those currently providing essential services could also prudently take adequate precautions.

Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 confers power on the State Govern-ment to prescribe tempo-rary regulations to prevent the outbreak of disease and likewise, Section 35 of the National Disaster Manage-ment Act, 2005 empowers the Central Government to take all such measures as

it deems necessary for the purpose of disaster man-agement. Nothing should prevent the Central/State governments from making recommendations under Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 & Section 35 of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005 to ensure that whenever news of such unreported cases/deaths are within the knowl-edge of the media, they must disclose the same to the Dis-trict Administration, who shall forthwith investigate the same. Directions could also be issued for media per-sons to act as a courier for es-sential supplies when travel-ling to affected areas as the state machinery is already stretched thin, and journal-ists are able to penetrate into the interior of the country. To this end, the Central In-formation Bulletin can also be moulded to act as the hub through which information and reporting is enhanced and acted upon.

One must not forget that knowledge is our biggest tool today, both for those fortunate enough to be in their homes, as well as for those less fortunate. The more knowledge and infor-mation we have, the better we can take steps towards mitigation.

Stay Home. Be aware. Stay Safe.Vivek Tankha is a senior advo-cate and Rajya Sabha MP

An old Sanskrit adage states: That is Education which leads to liberation - liberation from ignorance which shrouds the mind; liberation from super-stition which paralyses effort, liberation from prejudices which blind the Vision of the Truth [Unni Krishnan, J.P. and Ors. Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. MANU/SC/0333/1993]. Malcolm X had rightly stated that Educa-tion is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Mohini Jain Vs. State of Karnataka & Ors (MANU/SC/0357/1992) is amongst the first cases where the Su-preme Court of India held

the Right to Education to be a Fundamental Right; stating that “right to education”, there-fore, is concomitant to the funda-mental rights enshrined under Part III of the Constitution. The State is under a constitutional mandate to provide educational institutions at all levels for the benefit of the citizens.

From 1 April 2010, Right to Education was read into the Constitution of India as a fundamental right available to all children in age group 6-14 years. Article 21(A) of the Constitution of India re-quires every State to provide free and compulsory educa-tion to such children in a manner as the State, by Law, may determine.

Now the Directive Princi-ples. Article 45 of the Consti-tution of India provides that the State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all chil-dren until they complete the age of 6 years. Article 51(A)(k) casts a duty upon every citizen of India, who is a par-ent or guardian, to provide opportunities for education

to his child or ward between the ages 6-14.

The Parliament has enact-ed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Edu-cation Act, 2009 (RTE Act) to provide free and compul-sory education to children between the ages 6-14. The Act is a statutory recognition of education as a fundamen-tal right and specifies mini-mum norms in elementary schools.

Section 3 of the Act pro-vides that every such child shall have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighborhood school till the completion of elemen-tary education. Section 4 of the Act further enforces such right.

Section 8 of the Act assigns duties to appropriate govern-ment to ensure provision of free and compulsory educa-tion to every child in a neigh-borhood school. “Compul-sory education” means the obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education.

Several private schools had challenged constitutional va-lidity of the Act (Society for Un-aided Private Schools of Rajasthan Vs. UOI AIR 2012 SC 3445), the primary challenge being to the man-date to private schools to fill 25% seats in Class I with

children from weaker and disadvantaged groups, as an unreasonable restriction on their right to carry on trade or business under Article 19(1)(g). The Supreme Court of India upheld the constitu-tionality of the Act, holding that Article 19(6) permits the State to impose reasonable restrictions and that the 25% reservation obligation on private unaided schools is a reasonable restriction. It was held The object of the 2009 Act is to remove the barriers faced by a child who seeks admission to Class I and not to restrict the freedom under Article 19(1)(g)...The constitutional obligation of the State to provide for free and compulsory education to the

specified category of children is co-extensive with the funda-mental right guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) to establish an educational institution.

In further effort to ensure maximum attendance, vari-ous incentives like mid-day meals are being provided. With these laudable efforts, India has achieved literacy of over 74%.

Even prior to Right of Edu-cation being made a Funda-mental Right, to enhance enrolment, retention and attendance and improve nu-tritional levels, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Educa-tion (NP-NSPE) or the Mid-Day Meals Scheme (Mad-

hyaahn Bhojan Yojana), a Centrally sponsored scheme, was launched on 15.08.1995; and improvements have been made from time to time for greater effectiveness.

In 2009, for improved im-plementation of the scheme, food norms were again re-vised to ensure balanced and nutritious diet; and cooking costs were increased to for-tify serving meals of pre-scribed quantity and good quality. From 2016-17 more than 25.25 lakh cook-cum-helpers have been engaged for preparation and serving of mid-day meals to children in elementary classes.

The scheme aims to avoid classroom hunger; increase school enrolment; increase school attendance; improve socialisation among castes; address malnutrition and empower women through employment. The results have been positive and en-couraging. The Mid-Day Meal Scheme has been con-tinued even in these trying times of the pandemic with the relentless efforts by the State.

Technological advance-ments and changing needs of the society pose a contin-uous need and demand for appropriate changes to the education system. The Co-vid-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge to the education system. Across the world, schools have been

shut thereby posing a threat to learning and education of children.

In these trying and trou-bled times, it is imperative that all participants in the education system, namely, Central/state/local authori-ties, publishers, technology and educational profession-als, become the saviours and join hands to ensure adher-ence to Right to Education.

In the present situation, where one cannot step out of home, online teaching and learning or the virtual class-rooms with the aid of video calling facilities has emerged a good solution. Although online learning cannot sub-stitute regular schooling for all-round learning, the vir-tual classrooms can, how-ever, ensure continuation of learning in these trying times. Important alternative mediums of learning, which can be used, are radio and television, e-mail groups, messaging group, What-sApp groups and local vol-unteers from neighborhood. It could help to design apps containing the entire year’s curriculum.

The need for online system to reach students from EWS and those in remote and ru-ral areas is urgent and imme-diate. The problem and the challenge are much greater for these children since they may not have internet con-nectivity, e-learning tools etc;

and for small age group chil-dren whose parents, if illit-erate, are not able to support them for e-learning. Pro-moting personal interaction through telephone by teach-ers to such students and local volunteers could help.

There are challenges, both for teachers as well as the students for internal assess-ments, online corrections etc. However, whatever be the problem, once the collective effort is made with the strong will and determination, the education of the children, which is the backbone for growth and development of any society must continue.

The Covid-19 challenge has made it imminent to not only create and maintain but to also continuously update the online educational data. Efforts should be made to make the children aware and tech-savvy and e-learning should be integrated into their daily learning routines. This may require counseling of both the children and par-ents so that e-learning tools are used for right purposes. The need has arisen to create and continuously upgrade the online e-learning infra-structure. The pandemic is a reminder to all to continu-ously adapt to the changing requirements and to ensure that education and learning remains a continuous pro-cess, and not merely a dead letter of law.

can’t kill fake news with blanket ban on unVerified reportingPotentially life-saving information needs to be updated and disseminated with utmost haste and cannot be contingent upon publication in a central bulletin.

Right to Education in the coronavirus era

opinionViVek Tankha

opinionneelima TripaThi

The challenges of online learning, both for teachers and students, should be collectively overcome to ensure education and learning as envisaged by the law are practised.

Students of a Delhi government school in the city’s West Vinod nagar on February 22 this year. phoTo: ianS

Imagine this TV advert for washing powder. A young black African

man is attempting to chat up an attractive white Chinese girl without success. During the course of the conversa-tion the girl persuades the man to swallow a pouch of the powder and he is then bundled into a washing machine. After a cycle of muffled screams from the machine, she opens the lid and a grinning white Asian man climbs out, much to the girl’s pleasure and delight. The message is crystal clear; if you’re white you succeed, if you’re black you don’t!

Surely this outrageous example of racism couldn’t be broadcast? Well it was. When this advert was aired for months on Chinese tele-vision recently, it generated not the slightest internal criticism or debate. Zilch. That was until it was picked up and posted on an English-language website and within hours it had gone viral in disgust. The world became aware of the inherent racism in China.

It’s happening again. This time Chinese racism has been exposed by the discrim-ination and maltreatment of Africans brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak in the city of Guangzhou.

Having successfully com-bated the first wave of Co-vid-19, Beijing has become paranoid about any possi-bility of a second, this time heavily focusing on import-ed cases. The regime quickly closed the long border with Russia when returning Chi-nese were found to have the

virus, but it now sees the greatest danger coming from the southern Guangdong province, with its large Afri-can population. Guangzhou, the capital, is closely linked to Hong Kong and Macau, and houses the largest Af-rican community in Asia. It’s even known as “little Africa”, with an estimated 150,000 Africans living in the city.

Local newspapers in Guangzhou have reported a total of 119 imported cases of Covid-19, mostly from Af-rica. Resident Africans have become the top target of quarantine efforts and as a result local Chinese fear that all Africans in Guangzhou are infected and contagious. This has led to an eruption of local resentment, evictions and maltreatment. Shops in the city have refused to serve “black people”, and there have been pictures of evicted African nationals having to sleep on the streets.

The city of Guangzhou and the government in Beijing are now facing a full-blown diplomatic crisis and a PR disaster amid accusations of racism. A group of Afri-can ambassadors in Beijing has written a letter of com-plaint to the Chinese gov-ernment about the stigma-tisation and discrimination being faced by Africans in the country. Other African diplomats, facing domestic pressure, have held discus-sions with representatives from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasis-ing their dissatisfaction. In many African countries, in particular Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, internet users have seen pictures of black Africans being treated dis-gracefully. This has led some local politicians to demand that Chinese citizens in their country should be expelled back to China with immedi-

ate effect.Many African countries

have issued strong state-ments expressing their disappointment about the treatment of their nationals, given that for many years their diplomats have spoken up for China on the interna-tional stage. After all, many African governments have regularly supported China on issues ranging from its membership of the United Nations in the 1970s to the more recent territorial dis-putes in the South China Sea. The supreme irony is that many African govern-ments are also supporting China in its current racist treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The danger for China is not only the potential loss of this valuable diplomatic support from African countries, but the effect the crisis could have on its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the region.

China has used BRI to con-solidate its relationship with no less than 37 African coun-tries, with huge investments directed towards China’s strategic objectives of secur-ing access to resources and absorbing excess capacity in construction and trans-portation. Mining and oil remain the focus of these in-vestments, but they extend throughout all market sec-tors; everything from infra-structure in roads, rail and ports, to food processing.

Africa is also estimated to contain 90% of the entire

world supply of platinum and cobalt, half of the world’s gold supply, two-thirds of world manganese and 35% of the world’s uranium, so it’s no wonder China wants to get its hands on these re-sources in order to monopo-lise supplies and maintain its economic growth.

It’s also no wonder that Beijing is rushing to con-tain this potential harm to its relationship with Afri-can countries. It will not be easy as racism runs deep in Chinese society. As Sino-African affiliation began to develop decades ago, there were reports in the western press about mass displays of social unrest in China against black Africans, cul-minating in extreme vio-lence against them in Nan-jing. “Chinese students hold racist rally” reported the New York Times on Decem-ber 27, 1988. A few days later the Washington Post car-ried the headline “Chinese students continue to protest against Africans”.

The recent rumblings started in late February when in the midst of the Co-vid-19 crisis the government published draft regulations to ease conditions for for-eigners to get permanent residency in China.

This was met with strong opposition online, accom-panied by rising nationalist sentiment, with Africans regularly mentioned as the example par excellence of why foreigners should not

be welcomed in the coun-try. Then in early April a 47-year-old Nigerian man being treated for corona-virus, allegedly attacked a nurse by shoving her to the ground and even biting her face, while he tried to escape quarantine from a hospital in Guangzhou.

The Chinese social media platform erupted with xeno-phobic racist sentiment and abuse. In turn, videos of the mistreatment of Africans ricocheted around African broadcast and social media.

A desperate Beijing has be-gun to repair the diplomatic damage. Until recently, Af-ricans have been charged $40-50 per day during quarantine, with an average charge of $2,500 for treat-ment. This has put many of them in an impossible posi-tion of either risking their health and those around them, or becoming bank-rupt and then deported.

Last week, the government announced that it would ad-just its coronavirus restric-tions on African nationals, provide them with health services without discrimi-nation and adjust accom-modation prices for those in financial difficulties. Even in Guangzhou, community leaders have begun to realise the importance of treating Africans decently by send-ing them flowers and show-ering them with gifts.

Nevertheless, Beijing’s self-claimed “zero-toler-ance” of racism is looking disingenuous and hollow, exposed by Covid-19. The hostile scenes from Guang-zhou are sure to have bro-ken many African hearts and their long-term effect on China’s soft power in Af-rica will be damaging.John Dobson is a former Brit-ish diplomat and worked in UK Prime Minister John Major’s Office between 1995 and 1998.

DAMAGING covID-19

The racist Chinese advertisement.

antonia filmerlondon

john Dobsonlondon

The Americans diplomats who had visited the Wuhan institute of Virology.

14 world the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

A publIc secret

coroNA MAy hAve leAkeD froM WuhAN vIrus INstItute: experts

Covid-19 unveils serious racism in China uk Gets oNe-stop vAccINe shopAfrican ambassadors in Beijing have complained to the Chinese government about the discrimination being faced by Africans in China.

Allegations are coming to light about funding of WIV by the US government.abhinanDan mishra & DibyenDu monDalnEW dElhi

At least three different individuals, includ-ing one US diplo-

matic official, an US-based corona expert and one Chi-nese scientist, believe that the Covid 19 virus leaked from the Wuhan institute of Virology (WIV), accidentally.

From January 2018 to March 2018, the US embassy in Beijing repeatedly sent its science diplomats to Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) after it emerged that the safe-ty standards at the laboratory were poor. These officials lat-er sent two diplomatic cables to Washington, confirming their bosses’ suspicion back home of the poorly managed bio-safety standards at the vi-rology laboratory at Wuhan.

As the mystery over the ori-gin of the coronavirus crisis is yet to settle down, reports of a poorly managed laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virol-ogy, that has been conducting experiments with bat viruses, have come to light, suggesting that there could have been a possible leak of the corona-virus from the laboratory in

Wuhan. Senior diplomatic officials

at the US embassy in Beijing were visiting the laboratories at the WIV that was conduct-ing risky experiments and studies on the coronavirus from bats, following which they had sent two cables to Washington DC some two years back, apprising the US government of the poorly managed bio-safety standards at the virology laboratory at Wuhan. 

The visiting diplomatic officials, in their cable, had cautioned about the safety standards adopted at the WIV and had warned about the laboratory’s work on coronavirus and a potential human transmission, lead-ing to a risk of a SARS-like pandemic. 

The delegation from the US embassy was led by Jamison Fouss, the consul general in Wuhan and Rick Switzer, the embassy’s counselor of envi-ronment, science, technology and health.

The Sunday Guardian reached out to Rick Switzer, who is currently posted with the Department of State in the United States, to know what he saw at Wuhan. Switzer,

however, declined to com-ment on the story while asking us to approach him through the state department press office.

Very interestingly, WIV de-leted the press release of this visit from its website after the pandemic broke.

The cloud over the origin of the coronavirus gets darker af-ter a Chinese researcher from the South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, wrote about a possible leak of the virus from the Wuhan laboratory in China. 

According to the research published by the Chinese researcher Xiao Botao titled “The Possible Origins of the 2019-n-CoV coronavirus”, which became public in Feb-ruary, the virus did not origin

from the wet sea food market in Wuhan. Botao, who has worked as a post-doctoral re-search fellow at the Harvard Medical School—with his field of study focusing on cellular and molecular biomechan-ics—pointed out that there were no known colonies of the bat carrying CoVZC45 present within 900 km of the sea food market and that these bats were mainly found in Yunnan or Zhejiang province. 

He also pointed out in their report that he and his team had interviewed more than 70 people at the Hunan wet food market and none of them testified of a bat being sold in that market. 

The study said that they had screened the area around the sea food market and had

identified two laboratories conducting research on bat coronavirus and within 280 metres of the sea food market was the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control & Prevention, which was also housing a lot of animals including bats for their experiments. 

“Surgery was performed on the caged animals and the tissue samples were col-lected for DNA and RNA extraction and sequencing. The tissue samples and con-taminated trashes were source of pathogens. They were only 280 meters from the seafood market. The WHCDC was also adjacent to the Union Hospital where the first group of doc-tors was infected during this epidemic. It is plausible that the virus leaked around and

some of them contaminated the initial patients in this epi-demic, though solid proofs,” the researchers said in their re-port.  “The second laboratory was also 12 km from the sea food market and the labora-tory reported that the Chinese horseshoe bats were natural reservoirs for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coro-navirus (SARS-CoV) which caused the 2002-3 pandemic 9. The principle investigator participated in a project which generated a chimeric virus using the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system, and reported the potential for human emer-gence 10. A direct speculation was that SARS-CoV or its de-rivative might leak from the laboratory,” the researchers further added. 

The Sunday Guardian repeat-edly tried contacting Botao Xiao through email, but despite reading The Sunday Guardian’s emails, he chose not to respond. Similarly, well-know coronavirus expert, Richard H. Ebright, who is an American molecular biologist, while speaking to The Sunday Guardian pointed that the vi-rus could have escaped or ac-cidentally acquired by people working in these laboratories

where large collection of virus are maintained.

“Wuhan CDC and Wuhan Institute of Virology conduct-ed large research projects on novel bat viruses, maintained large research collections of novel bat viruses, and pos-sessed the virus that is most closely related known virus in the world to the outbreak virus. Documentary evidence indicates that the novel-bat-virus projects at Wuhan CDC and Wuhan Institute of Virology used PPE and bio-safety standards that would pose high risk of acciden-tal infection of a laboratory worker upon contact with a virus having the transmis-sion properties of the outbreak virus. Laboratory accidents and especially laboratory acquired infections are com-mon,” Ebright told The Sunday Guardian. Allegations are also coming to light about the fund-ing of the Wuhan Institute of Virology by the US govern-ment. It is alleged that the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded the bat-coro-navirus research conducted at the WIV and had given a grant in fund to the tune of $3.7 million. 

It is alleged that in 2015, Dr

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Al-lergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), had outsourced the research of bat-coronavirus to the Chinese laboratory in the Wuhan Institute of Virol-ogy and this decision was tak-en after the US government had placed a federal mora-torium on gain-of-function (GOF) research—altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly and infec-tious due to the rising fears of a possible pandemic due to an accidental or deliber-ate release of these genetically engineered monster germs. 

US President Donald Trump has earlier said in a press conference that he is looking into this issue and that investigation would be carried on by his government on this allegation. 

However, Dr Fauci in a White House press briefing denied any such allegations and said, “A group of highly-qualified evolutionary virolo-gists looked at the sequences in bats as they evolve. The mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”

Since 2019 dr Matthew duchars has been the CEo of the Vaccines Manufacturing and innovation Centre (VMiC). VMiC is a not-for-profit research company providing strategic vaccine development and an extensive manufacturing capability. The Centre’s highly advanced facility is currently being built and will cover a 7,000m2 footprint located on the harwell Science and innovation Campus in oxfordshire. The main funding comes through a £65 million grant from UK Research and innovation, as part of the UK Government’s industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The company is supported by its three founding members: University of oxford, imperial College and the london School of hygiene and Tropical Medicine. VMiC UK will receive in-kind industry funding from Jans-sen, part of Johnson and Johnson, Merck and GE healthcare.To support Covid-19 efforts dr duchars and UK Research and innovation have been working with central Government to fast track the build of the UK’s first strategic vac-cine development and manufacturing capa-bility. Ground works began on the site in early April and it is expected to be ready for early access for the complex fit-out, in late July/early August, and to be operational in 2021.

This reporter had a conversation with dr duchars who explained that originally the concept was that VMiC would take emergen-cy vaccine candidates and scale them up for production of 2-3million doses in 3 months; since Covid-19 VMiC has been in discussions with government to identify how to expand the emergency response to 70 million doses, enough for the UK population, enabling vaccine manufacturing to happen under one roof for future emergency responses. For now, VMiC is advising the Jenner institute on how to scale-up the manufacture of their current vaccine candidate and this involves pooling resources from a range of specialist companies in the UK with manufacturing ca-pabilities. duchars says VMiC expertise will take a vaccine candidate from start to finish covering everything from production of cell banks, through to filling of the final vaccine. This includes process and lab scale develop-ment, analytical development, scale-up and full-scale production. duchars plans to use a vendor managed supply chain for manufac-ture of vaccine in an emergency, whereby the necessary components and the known raw materials, are held in pre-arranged quanti-ties. VMiC is working with The Bioindustry Association (BiA) CoVid19 Taskforce that was announced last week by Alok Sharma, Secre-tary of State for Business-Energy & industry; this Taskforce reports directly to Patrick

Valance, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the government. The Taskforce are currently helping to progress two vaccine candidates, being developed by imperial College london and The Jenner institute of oxford University. These two vaccine candidates use two very different approaches to create immunity. The first candidate is the self-amplifying RnA vaccine from imperial College that Profes-sor Robin Shattock has been developing since early February. This candidate shows vaccinated animals are able to produce neu-tralising antibodies against the coronavirus, further test will determine if humans give the same response. The second Adenovirus candidate is from the Jenner institute and the clinical trial began this week: ChAdox1 nCoV-19 is made using a virus vector (ChAdox1), which is a weakened version of a naturally occurring virus (adenovirus) that causes in-fections in chimpanzees. The virus has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans. Genetic material has been added to the ChAdox1 construct, that is used to make proteins from the CoVid-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) called Spike glycoprotein (S). This protein is usually found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 and plays an essential role in the infection pathway of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The SARS-CoV-2 coro-navirus uses its spike protein to bind to ACE2 receptors on human cells to gain entry to the cells and cause an infection. By vaccinating with ChAdox1 nCoV-19, Jenner are hoping to make the body recognise and develop an immune response to the Spike protein that will help stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering human cells and therefore prevent infection.

As soon as the VMiC facility is operational duchars will develop new manufacturing processes in collaboration with industrial, academic users and SMEs. The VMiC facility has been designed so that up to 4 vaccines could be developed simultaneously with strict barriers between groups to ensure commer-cial sensitivities are protected.

Matthew duchars is a distinguished Micro-biologist with 32 years of experience in vac-cines, pharmaceuticals, strategic direction and technical leadership. harwell Campus home is to 6,000 people across 225 organisa-tions, with 30 universities. As a pillar organ-isation with the harwell healthTec Cluster of 58 organisations, collectively employing 1,250 people; VMiC will be co-located with the UK’s open access national laboratories, including the diamond light Source/UK’s Synchotron, The Rosalind Franklin life Science institute and innovative start-ups/ SMEs through to multinationals working in the global and UK life Sciences sector.Everyone hopes for a safe and efficacious vaccine that passes all regulatory hurdles in the shortest time.

no guarantees

‘not an exact science’

extradition hearing

worldthe sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020

new delhi 15www.sundayguardianlive.com

‘no evidence that recovered patients cannot be reinfected’

Scientists stress on lockdown as data on virus insufficient

Dismissing Mallya’s appeal, judges found prima facie case

The media left and right continues its relentless at-tack on scientists, and the government’s management of the Covid-19 crisis. It is as if only negative and critical headlines are what attracts the most readers. One point that scientists keep making is that the scientific world is uncertain and scientists do not all agree, scientists (in this case epidemiologists and virologists) make hypotheses which are scrutinised, peer reviewed and debated, they are used to being challenged and accept they may be right or wrong or a bit of both, that is the nature of developing science, and the nature of re-search into Covid-19. The fact that scientists keep repeating is that there is simply not

enough data, yet. And this reality is not compatible with politics, where politicians want definitive advice. Thus the politicians are putting a lot of stock in the advice of “modellers”, however the re-sults from modellers are also inconsistent as they also do not yet have the correct data to generate perfect models.

As the coronavirus has progressively paralysed the population, it has become apparent the UK needs the data on the number of ob-viously Covid infected, as-ymptomatic, recovered and the coronavirus free popu-lation, everyone agrees this can only be achieved through repeated mass testing.

In the light of the above it is understandable the quan-dary the government is in, as to be guided by the science is not an exact science, the sci-

ence guidance is as evolving and progressive as the Co-vid-19 pandemic.

Now it seems British Citi-zenry was so compliant and obedient to the lockdown in-structions that the first wave of Covid hospitalisations was not as numerous as was feared, and the NHS was not overwhelmed, proving that social isolating has been re-ally effective, almost more so than was desirable. Now a furious second wave is pre-dicted, Chris Whitty Chief Medical Officer has hinted it the peak could be worse than the first prediction. It feels like folks are being prepared for a longer lockdown, per-haps with a little intermittent easing to allow just enough manageable cases to become infected.

As if the above wasn’t bad news enough irrelevant sto-

ries come out such as Boris did not attend initial COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) meetings and the government might use their medical advisory committee SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) as a human shield for deci-sions made at the outset of the pandemic. The Depart-ment of Health and Social Care (DHSC) responded swiftly to refute the shaggy tale of hearsay in The Sun-day Times last week, and Michael Gove’s weak rebut-tal and defence of the Prime Minster has been noted with frowns.

Public Health England re-acted quickly to reject some wrongful claims and accu-sations made by The Sun newspaper about advice to the public and provisions of PPE. Since then First Secre-

tary Dominic Raab admitted that distribution logistics are hampering the effort to test 100,000 people a day, as pledged by DHSC Secretary Matt Hancock. Current sto-ries from the Boris bashing camp include he is finishing a book during his conva-lescence at Chequers and that the Tories will impose a 10% wealth tax to pay for Covid-19.

There is a public rift be-tween MP’s and within the Cabinet about ending the lockdown, as things stand the four Ministers in charge (Raab, Sunak, Hancock, Sharma) are adamant it is still enforced. Rumours claim that Johnson will be back on Monday, it is a fact his leadership is necessary. This reporter speculates he will return with some ele-ment of good news and pos-

sibly a mini-reshuffle.On Thursday Hancock

announced a new census type virus infection and antibody study, covering 20,000 households and up to 30,000 people over the next twelve months, to track Covid-19 in the general pop-ulation.

The important news is that cancer, diabetic, stroke and heart attack patients are being urged to seek medical help as the NHS while has capacity to treat them, Han-cock said that routine sur-gery would resume shortly.

Sir Patrick Valance, Chief Scientific Advisor, has warned that the flattening of the curve in UK is artificial, it is not a natural peak suggest-ing the virus has burnt itself out, it is brought about only by effective socially isolating. A recent report (No9 dated

16 March) from Imperial College makes dire reading “our most significant con-clusion is that mitigation is unlikely to be feasible with-out emergency surge capac-ity limits of the UK and US healthcare systems being ex-ceeded many times over. In the most effective mitigation strategy examined, which leads to a single, relatively short epidemic (case isola-tion, household quarantine and social distancing of the elderly), the surge limits for both general ward and ICU beds would be exceeded by at least 8-fold under the more optimistic scenario for critical care requirements that we examined. In addi-tion, even if all patients were able to be treated, we predict there would still be in the or-der of 250,000 deaths in GB, and 1.1-1.2 million in the US.

In the UK, this conclusion has only been reached in the last few days, with the refinement of estimates of likely ICU demand due to COVID-19 based on experi-ence in Italy and the UK (pre-vious planning estimates as-sumed half the demand now estimated) and with the NHS providing increasing cer-tainty around the limits of hospital surge capacity.

We therefore conclude that epidemic suppression is the only viable strategy at the current time. The social and economic effects of the mea-sures which are needed to achieve this policy goal will be profound. Many countries have adopted such measures already, but even those coun-tries at an earlier stage of their epidemic (such as the UK) will need to do so im-minently.”

Two cases against Vijay Mal-lya were heard this month. Mallya is residing in UK on a 1992 indefinite leave to re-main certificate.

The first case on 9 April sought to make Mr Mallya bankrupt, held in the High Court of Justice Business before Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Briggs, the numerous peti-tioners were State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Cor-poration Bank, The Federal Bank Limited, IDBI Bank Limited, Indian Overseas bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited, Punjab and Sindh Bank, Punjab na-tional Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Finan-cial Reconstruction Co.Pvt.Ltd. The Banks base their petition on a foreign judge-ment debt of £1.05billion which includes 11.5% yearly interest.

Mallya argued: The Banks are secured creditors and there is a failure to state the security on the face of the petition and there is a rea-sonable prospect that the Debt Recovery Tribunal judgment would be com-promised within a reason-able period of time. Mallya claims “the Government of India is under pressure to take action in respect of loans owed to state owned banks. On 6 May 2016, In-dia’s Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the Petition-ers directing them to meet with the head of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the head of the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai. The ED is a law enforcement agency that forms part of the Department of Revenue of IMF. Whilst the CBIs role is to investigate indepen-dently from political influ-ence, I consider that there is a lack of independence of the

CBI from government min-istries and departments.” It is a convoluted case of debt, loan restructuring, security, Mallya’s personal guarantee and assets, and who knew about what. The previous judgments of Shri K. Sr-invasan and Justice Man-mohan Singh are quoted extensively. Judge Briggs concluded “In my judgment the Banks are secured, at least in part. The petition fails to comply with section 269 of the IA 1986. A bank-ruptcy order should not ordinarily be made where the petition is defective as a result of such a breach. The breach is capable of cure by amendment. The hearing of the petition should be ad-journed for the purpose of amendment and for time to pay the debts in full.” Judge Briggs used a discretion at his disposal to stay proceed-ings and subsequently by agreement adjourned until after 1 June2020.

For future reference Judge Briggs noted “I record that although an argument of abuse, in the sense that the bankruptcy proceedings are prosecuted for a collateral purpose, was raised in writ-ten submissions, Dr Mallya preferred to preserve the argument for another occa-sion.”

The second case of be-tween Vijay Mallya and the Government of India (GoI)plus the National Crime Agency was heard on 20 April at the High Court of Justice before Lord Justice Irwin and Mrs Justice Eliza-beth Laing DBE.

In February 2017 GoI made an extradition request for Mallya, which was certi-fied by UK a week later, Mal-lya was arrested and grant-ed bail, GoI made additional charges and the request was re-certified in September 2017, Mallya was re-arrest-ed and bailed again. The CBI allegations are of con-

spiracy and “undue favour” between Mallya and banks, false representations fol-lowed by default and unlaw-ful diversion/disbursement of the proceeds of lending. Mallya’s appeal was rejected on all counts except for Se-nior District Judge Arbuth-not’s (SDJ) decision to send his case to the Secretary of State for extradition as Mal-lya’s defence claimed “that the SDJ was wrong to find that the evidence amounted to a prima facie case.” Mal-lya’s defence presented a long argument nit picking and criticising the SDJ’s re-marks and conclusions. The Justices exhaustively exam-ined the arguments against SDJ’s judgments and com-plimented “the careful and methodical way she had marshalled and analysed the evidence.”

The Justices conclusions on misrepresentation, con-spiracy and dishonest inten-tion not to repay the loans, were that there were prima facie cases in each, the ap-peal against extradition was dismissed.

Quoting from my TSG report in August 2019 Mal-lya still has one possible course of action before the Home Secretary signs the extradition order “If the HC dismisses the appeal Mallya still has the right to apply in writing to the HC, submit-ting that there is a point of law of general public im-portance that ought to go to the UK Supreme Court to be heard.

If the HC agreed, it would be a matter for the Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the appeal. If the HC disagreed, extradition ought to take within 28 days, al-though that time frame may be extended.”

According to Covid-19 Pro-tocol the extradition appeal judgment was remotely cir-culated to the parties’ repre-sentatives by email.

The World Health Or-ganization (WHO) said on Saturday

that there was currently “no evidence” that people who have recovered from CO-VID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second coronavirus infection.

In a scientific brief, the United Nations agency wa r n e d gove r n m e nt s against issuing “immunity passports” or “risk-free certificates” to people who have been infected as their accuracy could not be guar-anteed.

The practice could actu-ally increase the risks of continued spread as people

who have recovered may ignore advice about tak-ing standard precautions against the virus, it said. “Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free cer-tificate’ that would enable individuals to travel or to re-turn to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection,” the WHO said.

“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from CO-VID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” it said. Chile said last week it would begin

handing out “health pass-ports” to people deemed to have recovered from the illness. Once screened to determine if they have de-veloped antibodies to make them immune to the virus, they could immediately re-join the workforce.

The WHO said it contin-ued to review the evidence on antibody responses to the virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Some 2.8 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus glob-ally and 196,298 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Most studies have shown that people who have re-covered from infection have antibodies to the virus, the

WHO said. However, some of them have very low levels of neutralizing antibodies in their blood, “suggesting that cellular immunity may also be critical for recovery”, it added.

Some 2.8 million people have been reported to be in-fected by the novel corona-virus globally and 196,298 have died, according to a Re-uters tally as of 0200 GMT on Saturday.

Britain could hit the grim milestone of 20,000 CO-VID-19 deaths later on Sat-urday, when the daily count is added to the current toll of 19,506 people who tested positive for the illness and died in hospital.

Poland plans to reopen outdoor sports areas on

4 May and will allow top league football matches to be played at the end of next month, as part of an easing of coronavirus restrictions.

Spain’s daily coronavirus deaths fell to the lowest in more than a month on Fri-day, prompting the govern-ment to declare the most acute phase of the epidemic over as it prepared criteria to ease one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.

With the U.S. coronavirus death toll topping 51,000 and nearly one in six work-ers out of a job, Georgia, Oklahoma and several other states took tentative steps at reopening businesses on Friday, despite disapproval from President Donald Trump and medical experts.

WHO warned against issuing ‘immunity passports’ to people who have been infected as their accuracy could not be guaranteed.

outside politics

A display dummy with a protective face mask is pictured outside ‘Moni Novy’ fashion shop, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Berlin, Germany, on Monday. REUTERS

crawling recovery

as u.s. coronavirus death toll tops 51,000, some states move towards reopening ATLANTA: With the US coronavirus death toll topping 51,000 and nearly one in six workers out of a job, Georgia, Oklahoma and several other states took tentative steps at reopening businesses on Friday, despite disapproval from President Donald Trump and medical experts. Fit-ness clubs, hair salons, tattoo parlors and some other workplaces were allowed to open their doors by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, disregarding warnings from public health officials that easing restrictions too soon could lead to more infections and deaths. Georgia, one of several states in the Deep South that waited until early April to mandate restrictions imposed weeks before across much of the rest of the country to curb the outbreak, has become a flashpoint in the debate over how and when the nation should return to work. REUTERS

iran’s president

tehran watches u.s. closely, but won’t start conflict DUBAI: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that Tehran was closely following US activities, but would never initiate a conflict in the region. Rou-hani’s comments, which come at a time of rising tension between Washington and Tehran, were made during a telephone call to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Iranian state media reported. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the US Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea. REUTERS

on saturday

tokyo confirms 103 new coronavirus cases TOKYO: Tokyo reported 103 new cases of coronavirus infections on Saturday, Kyodo news reported, amid concerns that the start of a holiday season could lead to an increase in infec-tions.

The latest figures bring total coronavirus infections in Japan’s capital city to 3,836 cases, Kyodo reported.

Saturday’s daily increase was less than 161 new infections on Friday, and was the lowest since 20 April.

On Saturday, the total number of coronavirus infections in Japan had reached nearly 13,000 cases, with 345 deaths, NHK said.

The government has encouraged residents to stay indoors as much as possible during the Golden Week holiday period, which begins next week. REUTERS

antonia FilmerLONDON

antonia FilmerLONDON

reutersGENEvA

as Fighting surges

europe calls for humanitarian truce in libyaBRUSSELS: Hundreds The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy and the EU’s top diplomat made a joint call on Saturday for a humanitarian truce in Libya, saying all sides must resume peace talks. “We want to unite our voices to those of the UN Secretary-General (Antonio) Guterres and his Acting Special Representative for Libya, Stephanie Turco Williams, in their call for a humanitarian truce in Libya,” the statement said. Libya’s conflict escalated sharply this month, with fierce fighting on several different fronts in the west of the country despite urgent calls from the U.N. and aid agencies for a truce to tackle the coronavirus crisis. World leaders met in Berlin in January to set the basis for what they hoped was a fresh chance for a peace process. But the new wave of fighting has been fuelled by arms imported from abroad, Williams has said. REUTERS

V16v

businessguardian the sunday guardian | 26 april – 02 may 2020 | new delhi www.sundayguardianlive.com

Gaurie DwiveDiNew Delhi

PULSE OF ECONOMY

TRACKING APPLICATION

New Delhi must send food aid as post-Covid goodwill gesture

‘Privacy debate over Aarogya Setu is blown out of proportion’

India can become the world’s granary amidst anti-China sentiment.

Deep Kalra, founder of MakeMyTrip, says once the corona crisis is over, one should delete the app.

The one lesson India can learn from Beijing in the coronavi-rus epidemic

is to reach out and create the right perception. Even as it has its back to the wall due to the deliberate hiding of the outbreak of coronavirus where it misled the entire world, China has been send-ing aid all over the world. In-dia can take a cue and send food grains to most parts of the world where economic distress is bound to lead to shortages and hunger. In-dia’s overflowing granaries and a heavily indebted Food Corporation of India both need an immediate solution. Sending food aid will also generate immense goodwill and diplomatic gains for New Delhi, especially in a post-Covid polarised world

where anti-China sentiment is building.

While the government has decided to distribute extra food grains to the most vul-nerable sections of society, there’s still plenty—in fact multiples of what India can consume. FCI chairman D.V. Prasad has said India will have enough food grain stockpiles to feed its poor for at least a year-and-a-half as food reserves are likely to further balloon after record harvests this year. Going by Prasad’s statement, back of the envelope calculation suggests India will have 100 million tonnes in warehouses across the country by the end of April or early May depend-ing on fresh procurement by the government. Compare this with India’s annual re-quirement of 50 million to 60 million tonnes under various welfare programmes for the poor.

For long, FCI has been

maintaining a stockpile that is way above the buffer norm requirement that’s been set for the corporation. While preserving food grains is it-self a big task, the bigger and costlier provision is the rising cost of maintenance of such a huge stock. Higher inven-tory means higher storage and financing costs for the FCI which translates into higher food subsidy bill for the Centre.

And it’s not just storage ca-pacity of FCI warehouses that is stretched, even the govern-ment’s fair price shops from where distribution to nearly 80 crore people takes place also don’t have additional storage. This means even in the midst of large scale loss of livelihoods and requirement of greater public safety net, unused food grains in FCI granaries cannot be released in single large installments.

According to official data, the government has a total

of 58.49 million tonnes of food grains in the FCI go-downs, of which rice is 30.97 million tonnes and wheat is 27.52 million tonnes. This is almost three times the required norm of maintain-ing a reserve of about 21 mil-lion tonnes as on 1 April. It is tragic that six months of food requirement cannot be given to vulnerable sections in a single tranche provid-ing stability. It is important to build capacity not just for FCI, but also down the distri-bution chain.

By all indications from the harvest, it’s a bumper crop and in these times of distress, the government may even go in for hiking the MSP that is paid to farmers which will further raise India’s overall food subsidy. Export at even the most subsidised rates to food-deficient nations could partially offset the debts of FCI (at present over Rs 2.2 lakh crore).

The best option for the PM and his government would be to send this extra food grains as aid at extremely subsi-dised rates. In the past, New Delhi has sent food grains to Afghanistan on multiple occasions. We should now extend it to all food-deficient countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and others.

This author is convinced WTO provisions that kick in for exports of subsidised agricultural products can be waived this year due to ex-treme volatility and uncer-tainty in the global economy, which will impact the poor-est countries the most. In fact, India can proactively reach out to WTO for waiver of such conditions for a short period of six months. Such a move will create India’s position as the granary of the world and it could lead to larger shift in perception.

On the domestic front, the government should imme-

diately revamp food stock-ing and public distribution. The current system of main-taining food grains is com-pletely outdated and must be replaced with one that re-duces the Corporation’s role to just maintaining a buffer that could be moved swiftly to address any shortage. The private trade should be allowed to handle the grain trade, physical distribution by the State being just one option to ensure availability of food at affordable prices.

It is only in extraordinary conditions that any govern-ment machinery is forced to reform and that is an op-portunity has presented itself for India’s Food Ministry. PM Modi and his government have a chance to address hunger deaths—not just in India, but globally—and it must be seized.Gaurie Dwivedi is a senior jour-nalist covering economy, policy and politics.

Deep Kalra is well known as the Founder of MakeMy-Trip. But a lesser known

fact is that he and his team played a key role in developing the Aarog-ya Setu application. In an exclusive interview with Priya Sahgal, he explains why the Prime Minister called this application the game-changer in fighting corona, and also about the challenges facing the travel industry during lock-down. Excerpts:Q: Congratulations on Aarogya Setu. Is it the game-changer we’re looking for?A: It is probably the most unique and special weapon that we have against Covid-19. We’ve got a lot of support from the government. I think this is one of the best ex-amples of a public-private part-nership. Q: Explain how the app works.A: The app works on a very simple principle of bluetooth. The blue-tooth is your proxy for proxim-ity. If you download the app and keep your bluetooth on, who-ever you come in close proximity with, unwittingly or otherwise, gets tracked. God forbid you test positive, there will be a very easy way to trace back all the people you came into contact with. As we all know, asymptomatic people can be carriers for Covid-19. The app will be very helpful once the lockdown is lifted, and people start going back to work. The best thing that can happen to you is that you get an early warning signal that you need to be extra cautious be-cause you came close to someone who has now tested positive. Q: I downloaded the app. A lot of it depends on your honesty. The app asks for a self health test where I say that I

don’t have temperature, or any other symptom. Supposing I’m lying, how does that work?A: The self-diagnosis is only one aspect of the app. That is for yourself to test. If you’re honest, you’ll get an honest answer. But the real magic of the app is what happens behind the scenes. That is the tracking and tracing of the app using bluetooth technology. That is the real power of the app. It’s not only a self-diagnostic.Q: Tracking and tracing are danger-ous words. That’s when the privacy brigade gets really worked up.A: It’s fair to say that a lot of people have concerns about it. But it’s also fair to say that 70 million people have downloaded the app. We’ve got to step back and understand what we’re facing. We’re in the middle of a very scary situation. If you’re going to part with a little bit of information and its much less information than we share on our social media sites, mapping sites, they know exactly what we are do-ing. It’s only during this time of the crisis we are asking people to turn the bluetooth on, so that you can be traced back. What would have happened without the app? If I test positive, I would have been made to sit down by a medical of-ficer and retrace my steps over the last two weeks or more and tell them who all I got in touch with. Then the medical officers will try to contact all those people. That’s not a foolproof system. You’re going to have a lot of gaps, a lot of people you can’t remember, or even people you didn’t know at all but came in contact with. So just for the period of this crisis, the request is you download the app. First, you’re totally free to delete the app when you want. Second, when the crisis is over you should delete the app. Third, the only

information you’re really giving away is where you’ve been, which is kept on your phone till the time you test positive, or you came close to someone who tested positive. So the overall privacy debate in my mind is really blown out of proportion.Q: I also remember you telling me that the data gets purged after 30 days. It does not store data permanently.A: Thank you; I should have men-tioned that earlier. There is a com-plete wipe-out and kill switch after 30 days, where all data is purged.Q: So it is a debate of right to life vs right to privacy.A: You’ve put it very well.Q: The naysayers, however, are say-ing that this is what happened with Aadhaar. You also said this is vol-untary. Aadhaar was voluntary. Later, it became necessary for public distribution, or if you want benefits from the government, DBTs. They will make it mandatory in some way, that is the fear.A: I can’t speak on behalf of the government. This is exactly what our privacy policy on the app puts down very clearly. It’s been vetted and written by some of the best legal experts. I think the intention is very clear, let’s use technology to fight the disease together. I think once it’s over, the intention is that this data is going to be purged for sure.Q: How do you find working with the

government? We came up with this app at breakneck speed, it was up and run-ning by the first week of April.A: It’s been a unique experience, and very heartening to see the alacrity with which our govern-ment has moved. The sponsorship they were willing to give private enterprises. I think it has been a wonderful coming together of private enterprises, different de-partments of the government, and also academia. The support that we are getting from some of the leading professors of the coun-try— IIT Chennai, IISc, as well as the Principal Scientific advisor himself. Prof Vijay Raghavan was actively involved with all aspects of the app. This can be a model go-ing forward as well.Q: How do you see the way forward? When do you see travel starting again?A: That’s a 6 million dollar ques-tion. The reality is, no one does. It is for authorities to decide what point of time will be deemed safe to fly, and to travel again. I don’t think flights are going to take off anywhere before June. I think we’re going to be very watch-ful and careful throughout May about any public places that we can avoid. Though the lockdown has definitely helped flatten the curve, the real issue will be when we lift the lockdown.Q: Do you have a plan in mind for how we can start lifting the lockdown?A: I have a few suggestions that we are discussing with industry players. I think essential travel will come back first. People who have emergencies. Doctors who have to get to some parts of the country will be given precedence. Trade and business has to start. I saw a video of how Mumbai airport is getting ready for social distanc-ing. Masks will be mandatory for a long time to come. There is an-

other suggestion on space between two seats on a flight. We will have to see how that will be dealt with as it won’t be viable for airlines.Q: I had a conversation with Ajay Singh of SpiceJet. His said that the middle seat vacant doesn’t really ful-fil the 6 feet social distancing norms. One suggestion is people wear hazmat suits, masks etc while flying.A: Let’s go back to basics, what do we know about the disease and how does it spread. It’s clear that it spreads either through contact, or if you’ve touched a surface where strains of the virus were present, or you touch a person who’s Co-vid positive, and then you go and touch your mouth or nose. That’s how it spreads. There is no other proven way that it happens. So technically, if you were to adhere to all the precautions, coronavirus should not spread.

But the reality is that it has been proven, the closer people are packed together in public spaces, the higher the risk and chances of it spreading. Also, it is practically impossible not to touch your face at least once in an hour or two hours. That is why masks be-come so important. It really is for specialists to figure out the right norms. Which part of travel do I think will come back first? I think on the leisure side is the driving holiday. I think people will be ready to drive for more than the 4-6 hours, people will be ready to drive for 12-12 hours to get to a secluded place. Perhaps a re-sort, villas, perhaps homestays, where you feel very secure and sanitised. We’re talking to vari-ous hotel chains and our home-stay partners about this.Q: According to you, what are the sec-tors that are going to pick up after this? Which ones will take a hit?A: Let’s be very clear, travel is go-

ing to be down for a long time. But when it comes back, it will come back with a bang. People are wired in such a way they need to get out and they need to travel. When I ask the people around me, what are you waiting to do the day the lockdown ends, everyone’s say-ing they want to get out of their houses, they want to go for a holiday. When will that happen in an unfettered manner? I think it’ll happen only when there is a vaccine or a cure. When that happens, all these fears go away. Public memory is short, and people will be back, just like they were post 9/11, or post the SARS epidemic. We have had bad epi-idemics before and the world has sprung back.

Beyond travel, it is pretty obvi-ous that videoconferencing, tele-conferencing, OTT platforms—all of these have become very very popular. I also think drone-based delivery will be looked at far more seriously. The reality is that the last mile was people still have to go out for some essential services. Automation can take care of that. As for me, if I were to put my money on something, it would definitely be more R&D. Science has let us down. We should have been able to foresee some of this. There were early warnings, we should have reacted faster on vac-cine and cure development. The world has lost too much waiting for that to happen.Q: In terms of the economy, however, we were already hit badly before this virus hit us. We weren’t doing very well. So how do you see us picking up? As the private sector, are you expect-ing the government to help you out in terms of more grants?A: As a sector and industry, we’ve been putting forward proposals on why the travel and tourism

industry needs help in different areas. People at the bottom of the pyramid run the risk of losing jobs. Our industry is highly frag-mented. While we typically think of large airlines and large hotels, the reality is that we have more than 9 lakh small travel agents and tour operators employing close to 4 crore people. That’s a lot people, and these are small operators who given the tough situation are not going to be able to keep paying their bills. Perhaps the government can come in with some support and the employer gives some support. Secondly, we have asked for tax holidays on GST, TCS and TDS, We want a full year of tax holiday. The gov-ernment has announced a mora-torium on loans. We’re actually asking for soft credit, working capital loans to tide over this pe-riod to cover our fixed costs. The PM had called for each Indian to see 15 new destinations by 2022. That should be dovetailed with an incentive. That people spend on domestic tourism and that amount can be set off against their tax. That will be a big boost.Q: Finally, what have you been up to during the lockdown.A: Our business is keeping us busy, as well as the app. One of my exercise tips is climbing stairs. I climb about 54 floors every day so that I can stay fit.Q: Is it easy to download the app?A: On Android, you can find the app on play store, or an app store for the Apple. Just type in Aarogya Setu, press download and you can register very quickly. You get an OTP and you’re ready. And then keep your bluetooth on. It’s ex-tremely easy.Q: And we won’t live to regret it, you’re saying.A: Well said.

Deep Kalra

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priya SahGalNew Delhi

Sana Mir on Saturday called it a day, bringing to an end a glittering 15-year cricketing career during which she played 226 internation-als, including 137 as captain from 2009 to 2017.

In a statement, Sana Mir said: “I want to extend my gratitude to the PCB for giving me an opportunity to serve my country for 15 years. It has been an absolute honour and privilege. I extend my gratitude to all the support staff, players, ground staff and everyone behind the scenes for their contribution in my career and development of women’s cricket.

“I also want to thank my fam-ily and mentors who provided

unconditional support that al-lowed me to fulfil my dreams of representing Pakistan at a global stage and would also like to thank my departmental team ZTBL for their support throughout my ca-reer. I look forward to continue serving them if department crick-et continues.

“Last few months have provided me with an opportunity to con-template. I feel it is the right time for me to move on. I believe I have contributed to the best of my abil-ity for my country and the sport.

“During my cricket journey, I have met and built strong friend-ships and bonding with some amazing cricketers in women’s cricket. Listening about their stories and philosophies have not only made me a tougher and

stronger athlete but have also taught me great things about life, which are beyond yourself or the sport or winning and losing.

“When I reflect on my debut, it

gives me great satisfaction that I have been part of the process that has eventually resulted in a packed-to-capacity Lord’s for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017

final, something that was fur-ther boosted by a record 87,000 spectators for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. These are great success stories for women’s cricket.

“I would like to extend my gratitude to ICC for its continu-ous support to women’s cricket. Tournaments like ICC Women’s Championship have been a real game changer, especially for teams like Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka as they proved vital in helping us express our talent at the international level.

“Last but not the least, all the cricket fans and supporters around the world. Words fall short when I want to thank all of you for your love, support and

encouragement you extended in the past 15 years. It has been an honour to serve Pakistan in cricket and to wear the green jer-sey with absolute pride. It is time for me to move on. InshaAllah the service will continue in essence and in a different form. Pakistan Zindabad.” PCB Chief Execu-tive Wasim Khan paid tribute to Sana Mir: “On behalf of Pakistan cricket, I congratulate Sana Mir on a highly successful career. “

“Through her determination and passion, Sana broke the glass ceiling for women cricketers in the country. Through her perfor-mances, she not only improved the profile of women’s cricket in Pakistan, but also enhanced the image of Pakistan globally” he added. ians

LONDON: If you love soccer or a die-hard fan of football teams, read this carefully. Research-ers have found that lost football games may trigger heart attacks in male fans.

“Strong emotions can induce heart attacks and our study in-dicates that losing a home game can affect supporters,” said study author Dr Lukasz Kuzma of the Medical University of Bialystok in Poland.

“The findings suggest that the mental and emotional stress of defeat can provoke cardiac events,” Kuzma added. For the study, presented at EAPC Essen-tials 4 You, a scientific platform of the European Society of Cardiol-ogy, the research team examined the connection between perfor-mance of the Jagiellonia Bialystok football team and admissions for acute coronary syndromes.

The club is known for its large group of avid supporters - an average of 17,174 per match in the 2016/17 season - who strongly

identify themselves with the team. The study included 10,529 patients with acute coronary syndromes (heart attack and unstable angina) admitted to the Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Bialystok from 2007 to 2018. This was the only centre in the city with 24-hour invasive cardiology services during this period. The average age of pa-tients was 66.6 years and 62 per cent were men.

The team played 451 national and European matches during the study period. The day after

the team lost a home game, there was a 27 per cent rise in male admissions for acute coronary syndromes. No association was found in women, according to the study.

“Our study shows that poor re-sults from the local professional football team coincided with more heart attacks in male resi-dents,” Kuzma said.

“Fans, particularly men with unhealthy lifestyles, should take up regular exercise and avoid smoking and excessive alcohol consumption,” Kuzma added.ians

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sports guardiant h e su n day gua r d i a n | 2 6 a p r i l -0 2 m ay 2 0 2 0 | n ew d e l h i www.sundayguardianlive.com

CORONAVIRUS

YUVRAJ SINGH OPENS UP ABOUT HIS FEARS POST COVID-19 NEW DELHI: Sporting events across the globe have either been cancelled or suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak and the same goes for cricket. And just like Kapil Dev, former India star Yuvraj Singh believes that cricket shouldnt be on the mind right now and the game should be played only once things return to normalcy.

“My personal opinion is that first we need to defend our countries, the world from coronavirus,” Yuvraj said at ‘The Doosra’ podcast on BBC.

“It needs to be completely eradicated or come down 90-95 per cent because if it keeps on increasing the players will be afraid to come out to the path, go to the field, go to the dressing rooms or changing rooms.”

Yuvi said that players are already under pressure to perform and to have health scare around while playing would make matters worse.

“Already as a player, when you are representing you country, club ,you are under a lot of pressure. You don’t want the fear of coronavirus around you while playing.

“Like when you are putting on your gloves, you are sweating.. you are batting and you want to eat a banana but some other guy is holding the banana and you ‘I think I don’t want to eat that banana’.

“You don’t want those questions in your head while playing. You need to concentrate on the ball etc. That’s my opinion. The world can feel free to discuss on that,” he pointed.

COVId-19

XINJIANG FC 1ST CHINESE FOOTBAll TEAm TO ANNOUNCE SqUAD PAY CUTBEIJING: Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard FC has reached an agreement with players, coaching staffs on pay cuts to help support the club while football is on hold amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agreement took three rounds of negotiation to reach before the second division league club became the first Chinese side to agree on salary reductions, reports Xinhua news agency.

The salary reduction scheme will be adjusted according to the monthly salary standards of players and coaches, who will take pay cuts of between 10 and 50 per cent to support club cross difficult barriers from March to the official start of the new season.

top of saturday

Officials are considering the use of artificial substances to shine the ball in order to keep the players away from using saliva.

Two years after Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft

were handed suspensions for their respective roles in the infa-mous Cape Town scandal, cricket could see ball-tampering being legalised in the wake of corona-virus pandemic that has stalled the entire world. According to an ESPNCricinfo report, the officials are considering the use of artifi-cial substances to shine the ball in order to keep the players away from using saliva.

“The problem posed by the use of saliva to polish the ball is un-derstood to be among the items raised by the ICC’s medical com-mittee to be addressed before cricket can resume, meaning that lateral thinking is required to allow bowlers and teams to continue to find effective ways to

shine the ball to help encourage conventional or reverse swing,” the ESPNCricinfo report stated.

Over 2.7 million people have been infected by the virus while in excess of 1.9 lakh individuals have lost their lives worldwide. Droplets of infected person is contagious and the officials are looking to completely do away with the use of saliva during matches.

Earlier, during the pre-match

press conference ahead of first T20I against South Africa -- which was eventually washed out -- India fast-bowler Bhuvnesh-war Kumar had raised concerns regarding the same.

“We have thought about this thing (not using saliva) but I can’t say right now we will not use sa-liva because if we don’t use saliva then how will we shine the ball? Then we will get hit and you peo-ple will say you are not bowling

well,” Bhuvneshwar had said in March.

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar had also about spoken about stopping the use of saliva for shining balls as a pre-cautionary measure.

“I don’t think that one can ap-ply saliva on the ball now, we as bowlers apply saliva on the ball to make the ball shinier. The ball goes in the hands of everyone on the park. I saw a report of the ICC which said bowlers would not be able to apply saliva on the ball,” Akhtar had said in a video up-loaded on his YouTube channel.

“Cricket is a game which re-quires contact, if ICC is thinking about passing the law related to applying saliva on the ball, then I welcome the decision keeping coronavirus in mind,” he added.

Earlier Sachin Tendulkar had also spoken up about the ball shining process saying that post the pandemic, it has to change. ians

BAll-TAmPERING mAY BE lEGAlISED: REPORTCORRESPONDENTDUBAI

Sachin Tendulkar.

Sana Mir

ZURICH: FIFA, the world foot-ball governing body, has an-nounced that it will distribute $150 million to member associa-tions over the next few days as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each member association will receive $500,000, along with any other remaining funds they were due to receive. FIFA, in a state-ment, said that the operational funding for 2020 and 2019 will be paid to 211 national governing bodies across the globe.

“The pandemic has caused un-precedented challenges for the entire football community and, as the world governing body, it is FIFA’s duty to be there and sup-port the ones that are facing acute needs,” said FIFA President Gi-anni Infantino.

“This starts by providing im-mediate financial assistance to our member associations, many of which are experiencing severe financial distress.

“This is the first step of a far-reaching financial relief plan we are developing to respond to the emergency across the whole football community. Together with our stakeholders, we are we assessing the losses and we are working on the most appropri-ate and effective tools to imple-ment the other stages of this relief plan,” he added.

FIFA said that the immediate fi-

nancial assistance should be used to mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19 on football in member associations, namely to meet fi-nancial or operational obligations that they may have towards staff and other third parties.

The entire sporting calendar has come to a grinding halt because of the coronavirus pandemic which has so far claimed over 1.9 lakh lives across the world. ians

Covid-19: FIFA to donate $150 million for relief

Football games may trigger heart attacks

NEW DELHI: Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 47th birthday on Friday and interacting with fans, the legend also shared the list of his five favourite all-rounders in the world of cricket.

Speaking on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show, he said: “I grew up watching the top five all-rounders of the world. I played with one of them which is Kapil Dev. Second would be when I had gone on to my first tour to Pakistan and played against Imran Khan.

“The third was playing against Sir Richard Hadlee on my second tour to New Zealand. Then in Australia I played against Malcom Marshall and Ian Botham. So, these are my top five all-rounders whom I grew up watching play and later, had the opportunity to play against them.”

For someone who is considered a legend due to his achievements on the cricketing field, Tendulkar wants every person to stay indoors and follow the guidelines of the government as they fight the pandemic.

“My message to my loved ones is that for so many years they have wished well for me and my way of wishing well for them would be to give them a message that they should stay at home and be safe. When-ever I went out to bat, they wanted me to score runs and not get out. So here, I want them to stay safe and secure and stay healthy and not get out. Like they wanted me to stay in the crease, I want them to stay in the crease,” he smiled. ians

PAkISTAN CRICkET lEGEND SANA mIR CAllS IT A DAY

SACHIN REVEAlS THE lIST OF HIS FAVOURITE All-ROUNDERS

CORRESPONDENTLAHORE

FIFA headquarters.

Dejected fans after their favorite football club loses a game.

RElIEF PlAN

A lEGEND RETIRES

BEwARE

FAVOURITE FIVECOVID wOES

26 april-02 may 2020

Born Dilin Nair in Kerala, Raftaar has been creating waves in Indian music circles since 2013. From testing his mettle on Orkut to working as a salesman, he has now worked with A.R. Rahman, Raxstar and many more. In a conversation with Peerzada Muzamil, he gives his insight into his journey, his hyperactive childhood and alternate ego as a dancer.

The new hiTmakerHow did your jour-

ney begin? Can you talk about the

metamorphosis from Dilin to Raftaar?A. It all begins with my childhood. My mother took me to a psychologist once who tells her that this kid is hyperactive, if he is allowed to go freely about his inclinations and preferences; he would do great in life. One of my teachers also told my mother, “Your kid is always disturbing other students in the class, he seems bored”. It was because I would always be ahead of the lesson, I would read and learn beyond what my teacher taught me, so I would not be able to pay attention to it because I had already studied at home. My mom took these incidents to her heart and set the field free for her. I did everything under the sun—sports, dance, theatre, music and what not. But there is one thing whatever I did was in one way or the other a creative form of art. I would love to be creative, you know, improvisational, or doing new things. I would often sing random rhymed lyrics and my mother would ask me, “Which song are you singing?”

“Well mom, I just made it up…” I would say. One of my friends gifted me a Linkin Park CD. It changed every-thing. Michael Jackson, my father would always listen to him. So, I listened to new things. Their songwriting in-spired me. MJ inspired me to dance. This is how altogether Hip-Hop crept into my soul.

Q. Is there any intraperson-al change that Hip-Hop put

you through?A. Most of the people have this preconceived notion that Hip-Hop is all about rap music. Hip-hop is a culture in itself—a multiverse cosmos. It includes Graffiti, Scratching, Breakdancing, and of course Rap. Being a keen observant of my interests, I always loved to paint, dance, write and sing. I believe this side of creativity or propensity is ingrained in a person, and immersing myself in all these activities made me dive into the culture—it is a culture. Things keep evolving, and I am learning things ever passing day. I keep changing, because if you are stuck, you are dead.

Q. I remember that in 90’s Baba Sehgal came into In-dipop scene, then Patel Scope, and in 2006 Bohe-mia debuted. Just a hand-ful of artists, you see! I don’t think the time you were growing up; a lot of Hip-Hop artists were around. So, how did the epiphany of making your career in Hip-Hop dawn upon you?A. Well, I would say Bohe-mia changed it all. Earlier I would write in English and dub the lyrics over beats using virtual DJ’s. I would share my things with Orkut community, you know, so-cial media played a role too. We get feedback! Anyway, yes, Patel Scope was there too. And Baba Sehgal. Most of it was just rhymed lyri-cism. Nobody was doing it seriously. We would usually look out to west for serious hip-hop music, artists like EMINEM for instance. But, one day, I go to my college,

and hear one of my friends listening to Bohemia, I was stunned! My friend trans-ferred the mp3 file via Blue-tooth and I listened to the track on repeat. This guy was singing rap in his na-tive language, and doing it beautifully. Rhythm, meter, lyrics, language—every-thing so flawless. I believe Bohemia changed it for ev-erybody! When he claims to be a pioneer, he is basically very right about it. He defi-nitely is!

Q. In your new album “Mr. Nair”, lots of artists have been featured. How did you decide on those collabora-tions?A. One of the first songs I did with Manj Music, because he has a very important part of my life, he is like my mentor. And most of the other artists are also close to me, we are like a community, we work like friends. Whenever I come up with something new, I go to those people. I could have gone to the big names in the industry, like Badshah Bhai, for this al-bum, but I did not. I wanted some freshness in my album. There are some parts which I didn’t write, but the fellow artists did. It is like allow-ing your them to grow along with your own self. I have been there once; I know the importance of opportunity. Plus, with those guys, there was a significant indepen-dence and freedom with the creative process. Everybody put their novel and fresh cre-ative inputs. I was Dilin, then Max, and now I am Raftaar. This whole metamorphosis has one important charac-teristic, I have always loved

to teach. To make new and capable people reach the market, and what is better option than giving them a space in my tracks?

Q. You are born in Thiru-vananthapuram, and after seeing your album cover art, I could see that you have not forgotten your roots. Is it important to be rooted?A. I would hide my family name deliberately to avoid being labeled as a malaya-li, because I thought it was a sin to be a malayali,I was young, I did not understand. So, I wanted to pay a tribute

to my people. After I was born, we moved to Delhi, I could not get enough time to learn my mother tongue. If I can’t write a song in my mother tongue, how can I pay respect to my peo-ple? I decided this title, to tell the world, that this is a malayali guy. It is important to know who you are, where you come from, it gives you a sense of community and fills your social instincts with empathetic understanding towards your fellow beings. You will see my album cover, I am wearing the chappals and gold, not because of some fashionista itch, it is be-

cause I am a Malayali. There lies my root.

Q. Why this album?A. All my favorite artists had dropped albums. Why won’t I? Again, what is important that human beings have a persistent itch to leave some-thing behind before they die, for example their name, a legacy, or a story. For me it is this al-bum. Mr. Nair. What is a better tool to express your-self? I believe, it is for me the best way to express myself. Moreover, some songs come straight from your heart, it is difficult to make a video, to pretend and act therein. For example, Superman, or Proud, I can never think about how to write a video script for them, it is impos-sible. Dropping an album comes handy than singles.

Q. Dilin, there are few tracks in your Album, like ‘Me and My Pen’ or ‘Main Wahi hoon’ or ‘Dilli Wali Baatcheet’ which are quint-essentially Underground songs—non-commercial vibe and mainstream Hip-Hop—but there are also many tracks which drift to-wards the popular culture. Is it important nowadays in the business to produce content which is an amal-gam of Indie and Pop?A. I feel that pop music is the way you can reach to the maximum number of mass-es. It is a gateway, to talk to them. You have to under-stand the mass psychology. Not everybody likes to listen to serious Underground Rap. If you want to put out a message that has a wider

reach, it sometimes needs to be audience-friendly. Some-one messaged me few days ago, “Brother, I used to love your All Black, but Proud is now my new favorite”. All Black is one of my Pop Hits, kind of a party-casino song, and Proud talks about dreams—how persistently a person should follow his dreams, it is inspirational in nature. So, if somebody s w i t c h e s f r o m A l l Black to Proud, it is a win-win situation for me. My music changed somebody’s mind, right? So, any song is essen-tially entrenched in inten-tion, rather than a genre.

Q. Writing a Rap song is different from writing other forms of musicals. It needs a special attention to Meter and Rhythm, does your alter-ego as a dancer help you at songwriting?A. Absolutely, being a dancer has been helpful, especially in understand-ing—you can understand the beat, the pauses, the meter, and the tempo better as a dancer, because it is in your muscle memory, your ears are in sync with your body. Understanding these essential components makes

you a better songwriter. I am not saying if you don’t dance you cannot write songs. But, it always comes handy. Plus, writing hip-hop lyrics re-quires a lot of homework. A lot of homework, dedication, and conscience.

Q. Is this a right time to put your album out? During the lockdown? How would you tour around? How would you promote it with-out shows and concerts? Doesn’t the lockdown im-pede your marketing strat-egy?A. To be honest, the lock-down has hindered my post-album endeavors a bit. I can’t embark upon an album tour. But there are always two fac-es of a coin: right now people are not in a hurry, they don’t have an office, they are not rushing in a subway sta-tion, and there is no rat race. There is a calm, at least in the routine. People will listen to my tracks from this album with an extra pinch of atten-tion—they won’t only listen, they will observe what is go-ing behind those beats. They will actively participate with me. What is a better gift for an artist than the attention of his beloved audience?

Raftaar.

I live many lives through my stories: TahiraTahira Kashyap Khurrana is a writer, filmmaker and mother of two adorable children with hus-band Ayushmann Khurrana. She talks to G20 about her life, creative inspiration and need for better stories. Excerpts:

Q. How is life under lockdown, especially with your kids?A. We went under quarantine much before the lockdown was announced, as a precautionary measure. The first three to four days were really overwhelming, as suddenly out of nowhere all of us are put together under the same roof for such a long time. So, we planned accordingly and sat down with each other. We started engaging in activities that we hadn’t done before. It is a little difficult, as none of us, in fact no one likes being confined in such a manner. But having said that, I believe that we need to understand the present condition. It is of utmost importance that we stay indoors to save ourselves and others. And, for me, the real issue will emerge now, as my daughter’s

birthday is coming, which we probably will have to celebrate by being without her friends.

Q. Are there any personal an-ecdotes behind your Instagram series- “The Lockdown Tales?”A. There aren’t any personal anecdotes as such, but I have al-ways observed people and have tried to weave around stories. I find people very fascinating and my attempt is to be honest to my characters and embrace their flaws. The story making is all fictional, in the Lockdown Tales but somewhere or the other, it is a moment lived in all their lives. It is almost as if I am living all these lives in my fictional world.

Q. In almost all of your cre-ations, be it your first book “I Promise”, or “The Lockdown Tales”, your characters are very real and nuanced, where do you draw your inspiration from?A. I wrote “I Promise” when I was 19, and it was later published into a book, but I have always felt that one can live their whole lives through different characters. It is a world that I have created and I can dictate. My inspirations are the people I have seen and grown

up with, I come from a middle-class background and that’s what reflected in my stories—the realities of people. The way they go about the humdrums of their daily lives and the quirks and challenges they face. Q. As a writer, what changes would you like to see in the ay Bollywood stories are being written?

A. A change that I want to see per say, is a change in the mindset of people at both ends. The ones writing and the ones receiving that content need to reflect more on their mindset. We are making lovely cinema these days and peo-ple are taking risks and touching upon topics that were consid-ered taboo, a few years ago. We are breaking stereotypes and are questioning norms set by the so-

ciety. The way women characters are written has changed, slightly for the better. There are a lot of female oriented films coming out. But this is not enough. We are half of the population and we have more stories to tell. There is an imminent need to talk about transgender people and their sto-ries. The quote unquote “other” genders deserve a rightful place in our discussions. So that nar-rative needs to be out there. As an industry, that has the power to influence the way people per-ceive things, I really feel we can do better.And when I talk about female characters, I really want real stories to be written. The dilem-mas faced by them, the flaws they have and the struggles they have faced. Of course, we have and should have empowering stories but I feel we can bring in other dimensions too. Not every character has to be a hero or inspire people, sometimes we just need to write and observe them for the person they are. We women have happy days too and there can be fun characters written about us too. We need to cherish our imperfections and make them a part of the main-

stream narrative.

Q. You did theatre in college, and how important has it been in your journey as a writer and a filmmaker?A. Theatre has been very instru-mental in all my creations. The fact that I have made my two short films, was because of my involvement in theater for about nine to ten years. I have written plays, performed them, directed them and that journey has been so fulfilling. I have not done those film courses that people usually do, but have learnt from my expe-rience with the stage. I bring my experience from theatre into my filmmaking. It comes in the way I write my stories, pen down their journeys and subconsciously or otherwise, theatre has really af-fected my decision-making as a director.

Q. Does Ayushmann’s selection of such offbeat scripts have your influence somewhere?A. Both of us have been together for the past eighteen years now, and we have grown as artists to-gether. Two people living under the same roof for such a long peri-od of time, your thought process

definitely aligns together some-times. So, we have discussions and arrive on decisions together, but both of us decide for our-selves. He does want me read my scripts and give my opinions, and I am very honest in doing that.

Q. Tell us something about your upcoming book, “Twelve com-mandments of being a woman.A. Books have always fueled not just my imagination but also ob-servation. This book is special as I pretty much go unfiltered in this one. It’s a quirky take towards the experiences of being and becom-ing a woman. It is written in the most fun manner and it encapsu-lates our collective journey of be-ing a woman. I am really looking forward to it.

Q. What do you prefer as a writer and filmmaker, the OTT platforms or the big screen?A. Art is art. Be it a short film or a two hour long one, or even if it is something that requires one day of creating something. It requires complete honesty. There is no othering of either of the mediums and I really believe that art is independent and above the choice of mediums.

AnindyA TRipAThi

Tahira Kashyap Khurrana.

Guardian 20 19the sunday guardian 20: supplement to the sunday guardian | 26 april-02 may 2020 | new delhi

shams naqvi

peerzada muzamil

A glorious Indian takeover as TVS buys Norton motorcycles

The calendar on my writing table mutely announces that it’s been a couple of days over a month when this nation-wide lockdown was declared, and despite the

skull-scratching, good enough to sustain brain-damage, we still do not know where we are headed. At first, I found the cooing instructive, ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ fine, but… but what about this repetitive, to the point where a well-tutored parrot’s throat would parch, ‘Work from Home’ mantra?! Initially, I felt mildly irritated, going on to grinding one’s feet, deeper and deeper, into that bottomless pit. However, is it possible for the majority of us to work ‘out’ of home?!

For those in the Information and Technology bracket, perhaps viable, to a sizable extent, they web-conferenc-ing, girdling or rather orbiting around their computer, laptop, I-pad, even phone, hands-on, getting the job on hand done, from the distant end of the rainbow, with a stone’s-throw-away effortlessness, but what about the rest of us? That possibly might, day in and day out, have to cross two or three different cities to make it to the place of work. Gurgaon, Delhi and finally, reach Noida, where their office is housed.

If I begin drawing out a list of professions, my allotted wordage, for the most, be taken up, so shan’t even begin with this pea-headed task… But, for a quick-bit, to return to the IT wallahs, what happens if some glitch develops in the computer? Shutters down, in all shops, so however, will one procure that priceless ‘whatever’ that has halted the machine from gliding by with shops, of all varieties, save the phar-macists or the grocers with waning staples, how does one go about conducting one’s business? And say the ink in one’s printer has run out, what would one do?

Here the question may be, whatever for, does one need a hard-copy, when one is not passing out print-outs of the presentation compiled, since conferences, as in real, face-to-face symposiums way past the lunch buffet, when Con-tainment is the order of the day?! Well, for some, as in many, despite the mind-numbing repetitious denial, ‘matter’ on paper, thumb-tacked to the board overhead one’s ‘home work-station’ make things easier. A quick glance at the standstill black and white data/documentation: Best tool to remember by rote, stilling that, as they say, like a cat on hot bricks mind.

A few evenings back while getting out of the car --- media falls in the exempt category, remember, so no rules broken here --- the Medical Superintendent

of our friendly neighbourhood hospital was walking by, his home a sniffing distance from the hospital, and with his mask tied-too-close-for-comfort, slurred how the OPD was closed, beds cleared for ‘prospective’ Covid-19 patients, and only if there was an Emergency of the heart attack variety, would the person be entertained. Now, no medical assis-tance for a broken bone, or tone that down to a sprain, un-less one proclaimed concurrent heart palpitation, as well? Burst a bathroom pipe, making a Niagara Fall of your lava-tory, with the geyser threatening to detonate with an out of control flow of water, then just ‘wait it out’ -- plumbers pro-hibited to enter the premises, even if one is not living in a gated community.

Barricades put up all over, with over-zealous, other-wise sleeping-on-duty guards. Guards now, handed over the sarkaari baton, believing to be policemen, having the authorisation to rough one up if they wished to… and this, even if one holds a ‘Movement Pass’ from one short linear point to the other, issued by the government with particu-lars, such as Aadhaar Card etc. and etc. printed on the let-terhead bearing the Ashoka emblem.

The marching orders being about doing an about turn, and going home, forgetting about the old, ailing lady, who needed brief assistance to get her by the day. Holidays, don’t necessarily mean about having to travel to Ladakh or Pondi-cherry; one might just want a vacation at home, kick off those shoes, pour oil in those flyaway tresses, roam around in one’s Jammies, order different cuisines each day, padlock-ing the kitchen and spending time just doing nothing. And then perhaps, watching some engaging series on Netflix with the supposed better-half. And hearing stories, worth a King’s Ransom, from a Mom, who for the most, spends her days alone, at home, she now on this breath-taking getaway! A pristinely transient experience, but that’s what taking breaks are all about… Locked-in fine, but being told, that life from now on was going to take a different curve -- social distancing, here to stay.cTo speed through, lest one finds a few important questions, couldn’t make it to this place.

For all the WhatsApp groups, that so many of us thick-headedly keep dipping into, zestfully forwarding empty-headed jokes to on-the-spot recipients to double-quick the reciprocated by dead-from-the-neck-up clippage, would these WhatsAppians really want to meet up for a drive-by cappuccino with their Co-WhatsAppians?! Instagramming, Snapchatting, Tweeting -- are they not platforms of Social Distancing, where one, in full consciousness, dupes oneself, how together we are, uploading pictures of every nanoscop-ic activity, testimony to our community living?! And from what I can see being locked-up, (given, as of now the only solution!) has led to high-levels of waspishness, restlessness of caged-in family members.

What however, over the past few weeks, has been grossly irreverent is film stars, ebulliently beaming on TV, making good use of the lock-up by gymming -- heightening their fit-ness levels. Celebrities talking about how they were reading books, cooking and the joy of everyday earthly pursuits… In plain bad taste. Have they paid a thought, to the millions hedged in, 20 people in a one cubby-hole room, with empty rice canisters, tapped-on, making hollow sounds?

Blasphemous, yes, all the way, starting from the Great Wall of China to Timbuktu. And in these choppy waters, this epidemic has to be incarcerated to breathe its last.

Dr Renée Ranchan writes on socio-psychological issues, quasi-political matters and concerns that touch us all.

Closing in on all corners…

Norton, an iconic motorcycle brand from Great Britain, is now in Indian hands. In a major announcement one of India’s biggest two-wheeler manufacturers, TVS motor com-pany, announced the takeover of the century-old brand which had earlier this year gone into adminis-tration. The heritage brand has been acquired in an all-cash deal for 16 million pounds which translates to Rs 153 crore approximately. At a time when the world is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, this is being seen as one of the most interesting acquisitions of a storied motorcycle maker in recent times.

Founded by James Lansdowne Norton, in Birmingham, Britain, in 1898, Norton Motorcycles is among the most popular British motorcycle brands of all time and is one of the

most emotive marques today. Since the 20th century, the company is renowned for their classic models and eclectic range of luxury mo-torcycles ranging from authentic retro classic reboots of the famous Commando to their contemporary 200 bhp, 1200cc V4 super-bikes. Norton ownerships have changed hands several times in the last few decades. Before this British busi-nessman Stuart Garner bought the brand from an American owner in 2008.

TVS has said that Norton will continue to retain its distinctive identity with dedicated and spe-cific business plans. It also added that it is excited about the existing and upcoming products at Norton Motorcycles, including Commando, Dominator and V4 RR. It has add-ed that Norton can leverage TVS’s global reach and supply chain capa-bilities to expand to new markets.

This news is also a proud moment for India as it reflects TVS’s and India’s rapidly rising prominence in the international two-wheeler market.

This isn’t certainly the first time that an iconic British automobile brand has been taken over by an In-dian company. Jaguar Land Rover, the manufacturer of luxury sedans and SUVs, is now owned by Tata Motors, while Eicher Motors is the proud owner of bike brand Royal Enfield. That’s not all, earlier this year in coming together of two more Indo-British motorcycle brands Ba-jaj Auto and Triumph Motorcycles announced long term, non-equity

partnership that would focus on building brand-new range of mid-capacity motorcycles. Building over 60,000 bikes per year, Triumph currently is the largest British mo-torcycle manufacturer.

The Bajaj-Triumph partnership will see the two companies with their respective strengths in large and small capacity motorcycles collaborate to design, engineer and manufacture a range of mid-capaci-ty motorcycles. Through the tie-up, the heritage British brand will seek to further expand its global reach and get a new entry point to several high-volume emerging markets, including India and other Asian markets. Bajaj will become one of Triumph’s key distribution partners in crucial new markets around the globe. Going forward it also will take over Triumph’s Indian distri-bution activities, when exactly that will happen has not been confirmed

yet.In their other key overseas mar-

kets, where Triumph is not cur-rently present, Bajaj will represent Triumph and offer the new mid capacity bikes as part of the full Tri-umph line-up. In all other markets where Triumph is present today, the motorcycles developed together from this partnership will join the current Triumph product portfolio and be distributed by the Triumph-led dealer network worldwide. The partnership will build a new engine and vehicle platform in the mid-capacity range (200- 750cc) and offer multiple options to address different segments in this class. The proposition will be aspiration and affordable with a targeted pricing starting under Rs 2 lakh in India. This will create a new entry point to the Triumph range around the world, and ensure Triumph can at-tract new customers to the brand.

The community centre of New Friends Colony in Delhi, though posh, is not a vibrant spot at all, unless one is a shopping enthusi-ast or a firm hanger-on of eateries like McDonalds, Domino’s, Sub-way, or the local food chains like Al Bake or Zahra. Based in this place is Ramsa’s Kitchen. A new eatery in town, it offers a vast ar-ray of cuisines along with an in-dulgence in literature and music.

It is the tedium of the place that gives Ramsa’s Kitchen an upper hand over neighbouring outlets, partly because the menu is fresh and different but chiefly because it hosts weekly musicals, open mics, poetry recitals and literary meets. These events give a lively touch to an otherwise drab cor-ner, which intrigues regulars and passers-by alike.

Ramsa Jaan, the owner of the place, is just 28, but her entre-preneurial endeavour is bolder than her age. The distinct menu features cuisines all the way from Hyderabad and Kashmir and in particular the Kashmiri Wazwaan—a celebrated set of

delicacies usually served during wedding receptions in Kashmir.

A small, well-lit place with cosy interiors, this place is furnished with dark leather-covered seat-ing and varnished tabletops—a combination that complements white walls and the sunset ceil-ing. The exterior is a balconic corner, without a parapet or any enclosure, with a couple of tables and foldable chairs, the quintes-sential setting of the roadside French Cafes. Ebony frames hang on the walls—featuring po-etry, paintings and photographs

of the budding artists, especially from Kashmir—and they are cu-rated by Ramsa herself. You can see Shakespeare, Delacroix and Steve McCurry along with bud-ding Kashmiri poets, artists and photographers.

“I could have gone into other businesses, but I wanted to host. It is in our genes; Kashmiris love to host,” she said on the opening ceremony of her restaurant. Ramsa Jaan hails from Kupwara, famous for the temperate weath-er it sees throughout the year and the splendid valley of Lolab.

“I felt an incessant urge throughout to go back to my home, or at least have a home away from home,” says Ramsa. She believes that there are thou-sands of people who feel the same way. “People often call this place as their Maatamal, or their mater-nal home. Because here they get to see each other and catharise”

Inside, there is a book bank—a small shelf stacked with books that have been donated to the restaurant—from where you can borrow a book for two weeks. You can read Orwell, Pamuk, Agha Shahid Ali, Elif Shafak, Zutshi, Ghalib, among others.

But there is a rule, to become a member: you have to donate at least one book to the lot. Ramsa manages the catalogue herself.

On an ordinary evening, Kashmiri Kehwa—a traditional aromatic beverage prepared from saffron, honey and al-monds—lies almost on every table, while musicians like Ali Safuddin, Alif, Abdal, Par-vaaz, and Ramooz resound on the speakers. Ramsa comes to your table, greets you with a warm smile, and takes the or-ders herself. Choosing from the ten-pager is a nightmare, but she’s always there to help, may be more than that: expound-ing a vast array of cuisines and the clandestine processes they undergo during preparations. Ramsa’s Kitchen is a corner that is keeping the foothold of long-held kashmiri tradition alive.

“I make lots of friends, yeah. It is not just about the restaurant. We must cherish love and give space for harmony,” she adds.

PS: Amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, Ramsa has decided to stop hosting food at her place until things get nor-mal again. 

Kehwa, wazwaan and the art of soulful conversation

ramsa Jaan.

a shared slice RENÉE RaNchaN

Song to CovidWhether they made you

Deliberately mixing particlesOr you came into being

Just like that, it does not matter nowLike girls getting pregnant

Before marriage in aConservative society

And abandoning the kidThe white people

And the yellow onesDeny having anything

To do with youWith spokes to cling on somewhere

You bounce aroundSpreading sickness and fear

Sometimes DeathPeople talk philosophyThey want to live long

On this O shaped planetDon’t be disownedDon’t be unwanted

Being born on the wrong sideOf society far from the press

The hallowed CourtsFrom justice

From crowds supportingPoliticians, the stewards of

Businessmen who are the real powers,I know the pain of rejection

So come invisible oneThe tar in my smoker’s lungs

Is spread outLike a lace mantilla

To conceal youTo live there and throw outThe oxygen that comes in

With every breathStaying there, not leaving

But with meTo a world where

Dregs like meAre ingested to the full.

—Lakshmi Bayi

‘We want to believe and invest in India’s future’

The Platform reminds of the time we are living in

Henna Jain Tatia, Co-found-er, StuCred, a Chennai-based fintech start-up company in conversation with Guardian 20.

Q. How did this exciting entrepreneurial journey unravel for you?A. This journey started from Economics & International relations at St Andrews in Scotland. I always wanted to be in a space which has a high impact work culture. I took a gap year post graduation from St Andrews, in Scotland. My brother had already started Stucred, based out of Chennai. So by the time I graduated, I was just organically helping with inputs & ideas. Seeing how well we were able to work so well, we both decided to take the plunge together and join hands.

Q. Share the idea of Stucred.A. Strucred was born out of our own personal experiences in College, and we were very lucky and privileged to go abroad for our college and had parents supporting us. We realised that the

experience of Indian College students differed from that of students studying abroad. India is an underserved market. So picked up on this lack of financial services, where there is that gap. And at Stucred we are offering college students loans which are interest free & collateral free. We offer this to both undergraduates and graduate students.

Q. How have you marketed the understanding of Stu-cred to potential and needy students?A. We screened colleges and approved various colleges to put on board onto our app. So, if you are on University A you can then automatically

get onto our app and reap the benefits. But if you are in a college which is not on our app then you can send in a request. We will do our own research on the college. The advantage of being on Stucred is that you learn to understand and balance credit card scores. Q. How do you choose the College?A. So first we went to IITs, IIMs, Amity University, and Lovely Professional Univer-sity of India.

As they are the top tier in the country. As we are inter-est free & collateral free. It’s a gamble for Stucrd to take them. Almost 250 plus Col-leges in India. We have gone for the top 200 Colleges in India to date.

Q. What has been the reach so far in India. How many students have you benefited & impacted to date?A. As of today’s date we have 29,000 registered users pan India. We charge a minimum service fee to each student. Fixed fee which does not waiver from student to student. We are improving our algorithm to make it more personal for each student.

Written by : David Desola; Pedro RiveroCast: Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan

In the recent years a lot of interesting experiments have been happening at the conceptual level in world cinema. As a result, we have witnessed films like Roma (Mexico), Shoplift-ers (Japan) and Parasite (South Korea), among others. Another important film that can be added to the list is Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia›s Spanish language film The Platform aka El hoyo which originally premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival where Netflix se cure d a wo rldw ide streaming deal for the film. The Platform, which was released globally by the streaming giant a few weeks back, and has an uncanny similarity to the situation the world finds itself in owing to the coronavirus pandemic. No, the film has nothing to do with any virus or contagion. But what makes it resemble our present situation is the fact that it’s set in a uniquely designed prison where

social distancing between prisoners and rationing of food are absolutely mandatory.

In order to better under-stand the world wherein The Platform is set, just imagine a prison with vertical levels. The food is served top to bottom on a platform that moves though the levels, serving one after the other. And it’s the best multi-course meal that one can imagine. Each level has two prisoners and those at Level 1 enjoy the best feast. After serving them for a few minutes the platform moves to Level 2 and so on. But as it reaches further down there are only leftovers. The prisoners till Level 50 still consider themselves

fortunate for even the leftovers are good enough to feed their stomachs. But what about those who are further down the vertical prison? Well, they starve! But that’s not all, for, every 30 days the prisoners are shuffled randomly. If you think this allows those at the bottom to get a better chance to feed themselves at the upper levels then you are wrong. Because there is every possibility that those at the lower levels may get assigned to a level that’s even further down and those at the upper levels may get assigned an even better level. The Platform deals with themes such as insecurity, gluttony, mistrust, betrayal, fatalism, selfishness and stratification of human society. What the inmates fail to appreciate is the combined power of faith, trust and cooperation. It’s something that we all tend to forget while dealing with any crisis owing to our growing anxieties leading to an abject state of desperation. Certainly, one wouldn’t find a more relevant movie to watch than The Platform in the present times.

neeva Jainmurtaza ali Khan

henna Jain tatia.

20 the week the sunday guardian26 april – 02 may 2020new delhi

www.sundayguardianlive.com

opera turns to mask makingBuenos Aires: A landmark and one of the world’s great opera houses, Teatro Colon has adapted its enormous basement workshops to making face masks, churning out 1,500 a week to help Argentina’s health workers cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is a factory of dreams,” said stage direc-tor enrique Bordolini. “The Colon has this advantage that everything you see on stage, when the curtain opens, is made right here.”

battling epidemicHe’s number one lockdown woes

opera singers surprise wasHington WAsHinGTon: Two opera singers have been delighting visitors to Washington, D.C. area parks with strolling duets during the coronavirus lockdown.

Lori sen, who teaches voice at local colleges, said she and roommate erica Marie Ferguson, a music student at the university of Maryland and a member of Maryland opera studio, had important performances canceled after the pandemic hit the area. The pair then decided to make music together. rave reviews from their neighbors prompted the women to take their singing outside.

on a recent afternoon at Buddy Attick Lake Park in Greenbelt, Maryland, the two wandered the paths singing to clusters of walkers and park visitors from a safe distance.

For Ferguson, bringing joy to other people has helped her weather the lockdown, which is in its fifth week in the Washington D.C. area, which includes Maryland and Virgina. “As we were singing and walking it wasn’t intentionally for anyone else at first, but then people would stop us and say, ‘Thank you so much for singing. it brightened up our day.’”

uk’s captain tom, 99, adds His new Hit to Fundraising recordLonDon: Coronavirus charity walk hero Captain Tom Moore became the oldest person to top Britain’s main music chart and also added a world fundraising record to his accolades on Friday, just days shy of his 100th birthday.

The World War Two veteran took the Guinness World re-cord title for the most money raised by an individual through a walk. As of Friday afternoon he had collected more than £28.6 million ($35.2 million) for the national Health service (nHs) by completing laps of his garden.

He also went to number one - with a little help from a friend. The cover version of “You’ll never Walk Alone” that he appears on with singer Michael Ball was on course to be pipped by The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights, until the Canadian star asked his fans on Twitter to support Moore’s record.

cHildren draw wHat tHey dearly miss sYDneY: Children confined to their homes under lockdown are drawing what they miss most - friends at school, grand-parents, football and green open spaces. regardless of where they are, the themes are often the same.

From Tokyo to Buenos Aires, and new York to Kathmandu, youngsters have taken to their balconies or front lawns to display and explain the drawings they have made to reuters photographers. eight-year-old reku Matsui in Tokyo has drawn himself between his grandparents, all three of them smiling together.“i miss being with my grandmother and my grandfather. Also, i want to go to my grandmother’s house,” he said. His older sister Yaya, 12, has drawn a picture of herself and a friend. “What i want to do the most right now is hang out with my friends.” in the German town of Bad Honnef, near Bonn, 6-year-old Tom explains: “i have painted a picture of the house of grandma and grandpa, because i miss them so much.” Besides longed-for grandparents, children are also depicting the sports they miss. ivan Posta, 8, and brother Vince, 11, who live in the Hungarian capital Budapest, have drawn huge soccer balls.

“i drew a soccer ball, because we can’t play football in the garden as there are trees and bushes everywhere,” said Vince. Thousands of miles away in the nigerian city of Lagos, 11-year-old olatunji Adebayo has also drawn a huge soccer ball.

ration book back! HAVAnA: Cuba’s decades-old rationing system, once slated for elimination, is staging a comeback during the coronavirus pandemic in a bid to prevent Cubans from exposing themselves to the novel virus by going on frantic shopping hunts. Desperate The Commu-nist-run island nation last month closed its borders to travelers, shuttered schools and ordered the use of face masks in a bid to contain the novel virus, sending doctors and medical students to moni-tor the population.

Yet hours-long queues outside Cuban supermar-kets due to widespread shortages of basic goods risk undermining the country’s response to the spread of the virus, result-ing in potential hotbeds of infection.

To combat that, au-thorities this month added more products to Cubans’ monthly ration book or “libreta” and started experimenting with online commerce and delivery options. The hope is that shoppers do not travel out of their neighborhoods to form long lines at stores because they already know they are guaranteed their rations at their local cornershop.

Cuba has confirmed 1,235 cases of coronavi-rus and 43 deaths. Cuba introduced the “libreta” shortly after the late Fidel Castro’s 1959 leftist revo-lution, to ensure a survival level of heavily subsidized staples like rice, beans, sugar and coffee for everyone in the face of us sanctions.

Helping Hand

in cuba

The graceful warrior

Ballet dancer Yvonne Slingerland Cosialls of the Dutch National Ballet performs on the streets of Amsterdam for the “Gently Quiet” project, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on Friday. reuTers

Hong kong students take Final eXams HonG KonG: Thousands of Hong Kong students were among the first in the world to take their final secondary school exams on Friday, all wearing face masks and having their temperatures checked after being stuck at home for months due to the coronavirus. The Diploma of secondary education examination was given the go-ahead with a four-week delay as the number of new coronavirus cases has fallen, though social-distancing measures remain in place throughout the Chinese-ruled city.

“Although it’s relatively dangerous to start the examina-tion for us candidates at this moment, the (exams) might have been cancelled altogether unless they were held now,” 19-year-old emily Chui said before going into the exam hall at the Clementi secondary school on Hong Kong island.

Japan’s pacHinko parlours stay openToKYo: As stores have closed across Japan during a state of emergency, some pachinko parlours remain defiantly open, sparking concern the noisy gambling halls could undermine the government’s fight against the novel coronavirus. The halls, where players sit back-to-back at long rows of ma-chines amid the jangle of bouncing steel balls, are popular with young people, the underemployed and gamblers.

pose coVid delay

despite emergency

Forced by corona

greeks Fret oVer unkempt locksATHens: Greeks are queuing up to get their hair cut or coloured when the coronavirus lockdown is lifted, although some have taken to crop-ping their own locks. Hairdressers across the country have been taking calls from clients stuck at home fretting over odd-coloured roots com-ing through and people wanting tips on trimming hair themselves.

“We received calls from clients desperate to dye their roots and we gave them tips on the colour or the hair dye number,” said hairstylist stelios strantzalis, who runs the “25” hair salon in Athens with colourist Alexandros Tassos.

The two have a waiting list of 50 people once the lockdown ends.

“They all want to be served first,” strantzalis told reuters, advising clients to be patient and warning that a do-it-your-self haircut “could turn into a disaster.”

Greeks surveyed by MrB pollsters earlier this month ranked a visit at the hairdressers a top pri-ority when the lockdown ends.

FREEZEFRAME

taylor swiFt calls release oF old songs ‘sHameless greed’ Los AnGeLes: Taylor swift on Thursday revived her feud with her former record company, complaining that the release of a 2008 collection of recordings for a radio show was “tasteless.” The album, “Live From Clear Channel stripped 2008,” is a collection of recordings swift made for a radio show when she was 18, the “Fearless” singer said. “This release is not approved by me,” swift told her 131 million instagram followers.

paris tHeatre skirts lockdown witH alFresco screeningPAris: The coronavirus lockdown forced the team running Paris’s La Clef cinema to close their auditori-um to moviegoers. so they hit on an alternative: projecting movies onto the wall of an adjacent apartment building. “We said to ourselves: ‘if we can no longer show films to an audience inside a cinema, let’s take away the walls and show films

outside’,” organiser Derek Woolfen-den told reuters on Friday, shortly before the screening of 1955 West-ern “Man Without a star” starring Kirk Douglas. under the lockdown restrictions, Parisians are confined to their apartments except for brief outings to shop for food and exer-cise. But they can catch the movie by looking out or their windows or

stepping out onto their balcony.“We could feel a desire in the

neighbourhood for some sort of event because there’s nothing left, the streets are empty, it’s very sad,” Woolfenden said.

The La Clef team took pains to engage the local community in its initiative: the titles to be screened each week are chosen in consulta-

tion with the neighbours. “it’s great,” said Christine

Davenier, an illustrator, who was watching the film from her balcony, where she sat propped up on pil-lows. “it takes us back to before, to screenings when we watched films all together.” The people behind the projections are used to adapting to changed circumstances.

madame tussauds owner raises 500 million euros LonDon: The firm behind Madame Tussauds and Legoland parks raised 500 million euros via a five-year bond on Friday, paying a high yield of 7% to secure the funds it needs to tide it over while most of its venues are closed in the coronavirus pandemic. Merlin entertainments, the world’s second-larg-est operator of visitor attractions, told investors in the bond’s prospectus that only nine of its 130 venues were open as of Tuesday and it would run out of liquidity by the third quarter.