JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

26CASESINDHARAVI,HIGHEST1-DAYJUMPPAGE4

INSIDE

`̀ 75 per kilo

`̀ 103 per kilo

`̀ 126 per kilo

`̀ 54 per Dozen

RAVIKBHATTACHARYA&JOYPRAKASHDASPURULIA,APRIL 16

BORDERING JHARKHAND, thedistrictofPuruliainWestBengalhas zero cases of coronavirus.However, that is not the onlyCOVID-19 story here.With thestate government announcingfree rations under PDS for sixmonthstohelpfamiliestideoverthelockdown,officialsstumbledupon a hurdle they say theywere unaware of: families hav-inghandedover theirPDScardsas collaterals tomoneylenders

for amounts they borrowedyearsago.Lyingonacot inhishouse in

Surjamatavillage,anailingGourKalindi, 80, shows the PDS cardnow back with him after 10years, when he and his wifeShyamala handed it over as

“bandhak (collateral)” to a “ma-hajan” for Rs 3,000. He neededthemoney for an illness whichneverwentaway.Neighbour Radhika Kalindi,

60, is hoping their newly re-turned PDS cards will help hisfamily of seven tide over thelockdown. They gave the cardsas bandhak four years ago, for aRs7,000 loan.Officialssaid24suchfamilies

had approached them inSurjamataalone,avillageof150families.Mostpeoplehereworkasdailywagers,owningno landandbarelyanypossessions.Theyapproached the Block

Development Officer (BDO) af-ter the local ration dealersstarted distributing 5 kg of riceand 5 kg of flour against eachPDS card starting April 1, as perthereliefannouncedbythestategovernment for the lockdown.The BDO asked them to give awrittencomplaint.Whileofficialssaidaprobeis

on, so far no charges have beenpressedagainstthemoneylend-ers fromwhomPDS cards havebeen retrieved. Jhalda BDORajkumarBiswassaidbothsidesweremade to givewritten un-dertakingsnot to repeat this.Pointing out that PDS cards

are not transferrable, FoodMinister JyotipriyoMullick toldThe Indian Express, “I wasshockedwhen Iheardabout it. Itold the districtmagistrate andpolice superintendent to takeimmediate action. We haveaskedofficialstocheckeveryvil-lage.” Mullick said he had alsoaskedofficialstoregisterapolicecomplaint.District Magistrate Rahul

Majumder said that “had it notbeen for the lockdown”, theywould not have come to knowabout thepractice.Bhagirath,33,waspartof the

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PAGE1ANCHOR

GourKalindiof Surajmatavillage inPuruliamanagedtogetbackhis rationcardafter tenyears. ParthaPaul

TESTREP RTSFROMTHE

FIELDTRACKINGTHEVIRUS,

LOCKDOWN

Lockdown relief reveals Purulia secret: PDS cards as loan collateral

170 hotspots account for 80% ofoutstanding bank credit: RBI dataSANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

MAPPINGTHE170districtsdes-ignated as COVID-19 hotspotswith the Reserve Bank of Indiadisaggregateddataoncredit re-veals that these districts (about24 per cent of all districts) ac-count for almost 80 per cent of

the total credit outstanding ofscheduledcommercialbanks.Accordingtoexperts,despite

the government’s fresh guide-lines that selectively lift restric-tions on economic activitiesfromApril 20, business is likelyto stay crippled because of thehigh impact of the pandemic inthese 170 districts. The

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Study from China: 44% got Covidfrom people without symptomsABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

EVENAS India’s testing strategybanks heavily on testing symp-tomatic people, a study fromChinahascometotheconclusionthat 44 per cent of those whotested positive contracted thedisease from an asymptomatic

person.Theyestimatedthatviralshedding - which is when aperson infects another— startshappening two to three daysbeforetheonsetof symptoms.The study, published in

Nature Medicine on April 15,lookedat94patientswith labo-ratory-confirmed COVID-19admitted to Guangzhou EighthPeople’s Hospital and said, “We

observed the highest viral loadin throat swabs at the time ofsymptom onset, and inferredthatinfectiousnesspeakedonorbeforesymptomonset.Weesti-mated that 44%... of secondarycases were infected during theindex cases’ presymptomaticstage, in settingswith substan-tialhouseholdclustering, active

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VISHWASWAGHMODEMUMBAI, APRIL 16

A DAY after the Centre issuedguidelinesgrantingrelaxationforresumption of industrial opera-tions, theMaharashtra govern-mentisconsideringaplantopro-vide industries one-timepermission to transport theirlabourers, stuckwithin the state,to places ofwork so that opera-tionscanresumefromApril20.Thegovernment is also con-

sidering allowing industries,which operate withinMaharashtra IndustrialDevelopment Corporation

(MIDC)areasinsomemunicipalcorporation limits, to operateprovided they do not fall undercontainmentzones.Sources said that one of the

major challenges before indus-trial units would be gettinglabourerstoresumeoperations."Incasetheindustriessaythat

someof their labourersarestuckinaparticularareainthestateandtheywant permission to trans-port themback to the units, thegovernment is considering pro-viding themone-time permis-sionwithcertainconditions,"saidanofficial,addingthatnodecisionhasbeentakenonthisyet.

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AMITABHSINHAPUNE,APRIL 16

ITCOULDbeastrawinthewindpossibly reflecting one conse-quence of the ongoing nationallockdown. The daily growth inthenumberofCOVID-19positivecasesacrossthecountryhasbeenshowing a declining trend overthe last fewdays.Infact,thecompoundeddaily

growth rate (CDGR)— ametricthat factors in daily fluctuationsandis,therefore,morerepresen-tative of the trend— for the lastfive days has dropped to singledigits, below10per cent, for thefirst time for any comparableperiodsincetheoutbreakbeganinthefirstweekofMarch.By late Thursday night, the

totalnumberofpositivecasesre-ported from across the countrywas13,328,accordingtodatare-portedbystates.OnApril11,thisnumberwas

8,408, which gives a CDGR of9.65percentoverfivedays.SincethefirstcasesbegantoappearinMarch,thefive-dayCDGRshaveranged from11to26percent.Evenoverperiodslongerthan

five days, the CDGR has beenhigher thanthepresent figure.Forexample,betweenMarch

1andMarch24,when the lock-downcameintoforce,thenum-

ber of positive cases grewbyanaverage of 25.1 per cent everyday.BetweenMarch1andApril6, fromwhichdateaslight“flat-teningof thegrowthcurve”hadbecomenoticeable,thenumbersgrew by an average of 22.7 percent. From thereon, there hasbeenasteadydecline inCDGR.In the 10 days since April 6,

thepositivecaseshavegrownbyanaverageofonly10.88percenteveryday.Wednesday, April 15,

showed a sharp dip in the dailynumber of positive cases. Only

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Zoom not safe,says Ministry ofHome Affairs,issues guidelineson use of app

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI, APRIL 16

STRUGGLING TO contain thespread of coronavirus inMumbai, the BrihanmumbaiMunicipalCorporationhasgonefor a change in testing protocolaswell as procedure for report-ingdeathscausedbyCOVID-19.On Thursday, the BMC de-

cidedthatitwillonlyselectivelytest asymptomatic high-riskpeople (that is, close contactsofpositive cases). This is differentfrom the Indian Council ofMedicalResearch(ICMR)guide-line to test all asymptomatichigh-risk contacts, suchas fam-ilymembers, between fifth and14thdayofsuspectedexposure.In another change since

Wednesday, the BMC decidedthat a suspected coronavirusdeathwillbesubjectedtoanau-ditbeforebeingconfirmedasone.Mumbai has so far recorded

117deaths.Whileitsawanaver-

age of 10-14 deaths per day lastweek, on Wednesday andThursday, it reported two andthree deaths respectively. Newcases fell by 47.5% over the pasttwodays, from204to107.The BMC will now decide

which asymptomatic high-riskcontactsneedtestingat theendof a 14-day quarantine period.Incidentally,atleast70%ofcoro-naviruscasesinMumbaitillnow

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, APRIL 16

CAUTIONING USERS of videoconferencing platform Zoomthat it “notsafe”, theMinistryofHome Affairs has, through itsCyber Coordination Centre, is-sueddetailedguidelinesonhowto use the platform securely sothatsensitive informationisnotleaked.The development comes in

thebackdropof amassivesurgeintheuseof theplatformbythecorporateworldand,insomein-stances,evenbythegovernmentto conductmeetingsduring thelockdown,which has restrictedmovement of people. Earlier,ComputerEmergencyResponseTeam (Cert-In) had similarly is-suedadvisoriesaboutexercisingcautionwhileusingZoom.

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MigrantstaketheMumbai-AgrahighwaynearPadghainThane,Maharashtra,onThursdaytoreachtheirvillagesinthenorthernstates.DeepakJoshi

Down Mumbai-Agra highway,they walk again, in hundreds

DECKSCLEAREDFORRAPIDTESTING IN 170HOTSPOTSACROSSCOUNTRY LOCKDOWNEFFECT?

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

ICMR counterscriticism: Wetest 24 peoplefor one positiveABANTIKAGHOSH&SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

WITH FOUR days to go forconditionaleasingofrestrictionsinspecificareas,testinghasbeensteppedupacrossthecountry—thenumberofsamplestestedinthelast24hourscrossed30,000for the first timeonThursday—and the first consignment of5 lakh rapid COVID-19 testingkitshasarrived fromChina.Indicating thatmore testing

kitsareontheway,VikramMisri,India’s Ambassador to China,tweeted:“Atotalof650,000kits,including Rapid Antibody Testsand RNA Extraction Kits havebeen despatched early todayfrom Guangzhou Airport toIndia.”This means that rapid anti-

body tests, inwhich the resultstakelessthan30minutes,canbeused in the 170 hotspots acrossthecountry, asperguidelinesofthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR).However,astheICMRreiter-

atedThursday,thetestsareonlyfor surveillance and should notbeused fordiagnosis.Meanwhile, 826 new cases

were reported in the last 24hours, dipping from 1,118 onWednesday and 1,463 on

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SAGARRAJPUTNASHIK,APRIL 16

“For14years,IhavehadHIV.Thisis thefirst timeIamfrightened,”saida60-year-old,ontheroadonfoot fromMumbai to Satna inMadhyaPradesh,1,200kmaway.While fewer in numbers

than in end March, migrantlabourers have again hit theroads inMaharashtra, with thepromised end of the lockdowndelayed fromApril14 toMay3.The 60-year-oldwas among

thehundredswhocouldbeseenon theMumbai-Agra HighwayonThursday,walking ingroups,headedforhomesinNorthIndia.

The sun beat down, at othertimespolicechased themaway,but throughouta36-kmstretchfromMumbaitillBhiwandi,theykeptreassemblingandwalking.Chief Minister Uddhav

ThackerayhadonTuesdaymadeanappeal tomigrantworkerstostayon.TheHIVpatientworked at a

construction site in Mumbaiwith his son, whowaswalkingwithhim.Doctorshaveadvisedthe 60-year-old to eat well,whichhadn'tbeenpossiblesincethe lockdown began onMarch24,hissonsaid.“Ikeptmyfatherinside thehouse topreventhimfrom getting infected. But once

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25 INDIANS ABROADHAVEDIEDOF COVIDTWENTY-FIVE IndiancitizensoverseashavediedduetoCOVID-19and3,336havebeeninfectedsofar,officialsourcessaidThursday.While35,000foreignnationals from48countrieshavebeenevacuatedfromIndia,therearenoplanstoevacuate Indians fromoverseasasofnow.

REPORT,PAGE7

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

DESCRIBINGTHEongoing lock-down as a “pause button”,Congress leader Rahul GandhiThursday said it will not defeatthecoronavirus,andthegovern-mentmust rampuptestinganduse it as a “strategicweapon” toidentify and isolate hotspotswhile strategically re-opening“key areas”. He urged the gov-ernmentnottofallintoa“victorydeclaration”mindset,sayinganysuchprematureannouncementcouldbe fatal.Calling for a united fight

against the pandemic, Gandhitold reporters via video-confer-encethathis remarksshouldbetakeninthespiritofconstructivesupportandadvice,andnotcrit-icism. “We are in a very serioussituation.Ithinkallpoliticalpar-ties have towork together andthepeopleof Indiahavetoworktogether, ifwewanttosolvethis

problemanddefeat thisvirus.”Hesaidhestilldisagreeswith

PrimeMinister NarendraModionmanyissuesbutthisisnotthetime to “fight” or indulge in “tutumainmain”.While urging the govern-

ment to be “muchmore liberalwith theamountofmoney”be-ing given to the people, Gandhicautioned the governmentagainstusingupall itsresourcesnow.“Donotuseallyourammu-nition right now. Because if we

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Industries may get one-timenod to transport strandedlabourers to places of work

Partiesmustunite, saysRahulGandhi.ANI

THESLOWDOWNinvirus spreaddue to lock-downdoesnotmeanthisis thebeginningof theendof thedisease. Theimpactof the lockdownis justa temporarybreather to letauthori-ties rampuphealth infra-structureso that theout-breakcanbebettermanaged.Thespread islikely to increaseoncethe lockdownisover.

NotthebeginningoftheendE●EX

PLAINED

Step up testing, be moreliberal with money but don’tspend it all: Rahul to Govt

Five-day averagegrowth in casesfalls to record lowFirst timesinceoutbreakbeganMarch,5-daycompoundeddailygrowthrate insingledigits:9.65%

ECONOMY

SITHARAMANMEETSPMTODISCUSSSECONDTRANCHESOS FROMMSMEs INTAMIL NADU: CRISIS,NEEDAPLANPAGE 13

CORONACOUNT

420DEATHS

1,515 RECOVERED

3,02,956sampleshavebeentestedasonApril16

12,759CASES

Testing ramped up, 5 lakh kits arrivefromChina, another 6.5 lakh onway

Hotspot Mumbai goesfor change in protocol& procedure: Restrictstests, audits deaths

THEDECLINING TRENDPeriod No.ofcaseson No.ofcases No.ofdays CDGR*

startingdate onenddate

Mar1-Mar24 3 526 23 25.1

Mar1-Apr6 3 4,743 36 22.7

Apr6-Apr16 4,743 13,328 10 10.88

Apr11-Apr16 8,408 13,328 5 9.65

*Asperdata reportedbystates till Thursdayevening

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

Chinacasefindingandquarantineout-side the home. Disease controlmeasures should be adjusted toaccount forprobable substantialpresymptomatictransmission.”Even higher proportions of

presymptomatictransmissionof48%and62%havebeenestimatedfor Singapore andTianjin, notedthe researchers who includedthose fromGuangzhouMedicalUniversityandtheWorldHealthOrganization CollaboratingCentre for Infectious DiseaseEpidemiologyandControlat theUniversityofHongKong.Sincemost caseswere iso-

lated at the onset of symptoms,postsymptomatic transmissionwasfarmorelimited.India’stestingstrategyfocuses

overwhelmingly on testing ofsymptomatic cases. CurrentlyIndia is testing “all symptomaticindividualswhohaveundertakeninternational travel in the last 14days,allsymptomaticcontactsoflaboratory confirmed cases, allsymptomatic health carework-ers,allpatientswithSevereAcuteRespiratory Illness (fever ANDcough and/or shortness ofbreath)” and symptomatic peo-plewith influenza like illness inthehotpsots and clusters as de-finedbytheministryofhealth.Theonly asymptomaticpeo-

plewhoaretestedarethosewithhistory of contact with a con-firmedpositivecasebetweenday5andday14of exposure.Whenthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch randomly tested5,911SARIpatients forCOVID-19 fromFebruary 15 toApril 2, a total of104 (1.8per cent) testedpositiveforCOVID-19across52districtsin20 states andUTs. Forty of thesecases in15statesand36districtshadnohistory of contactwith aknowncaseor any internationaltravel.Health officials in India have

maintainedthattransmissionbyasymptomaticpeopleisverylim-ited and there is noneed to fur-ther revise testing strategy.HowevertheNatureMedicinear-ticleconcluded:“Forareproduc-tivenumberof 2.5, contact trac-ing and isolation alone are lesslikelytobesuccessfulifmorethan30%oftransmissionoccurredbe-foresymptomonset,unless>90%ofthecontactscanbetraced.Thisismorelikelyachievableifthedef-inition of contacts covers 2 to 3days prior to symptomonset ofthe indexcase, ashasbeendonein Hong Kong and mainlandChina since late February. Evenwhenthecontrolstrategyisshift-ing away from containment tomitigation,contacttracingwouldstill be an importantmeasure,such aswhen there are super-spreadingeventsthatmayoccurin high-risk settings includingnursinghomesorhospitals.”

Growth in cases862positivecaseswererecordedonthatdate.Inpercentageterms,thiswasthelowestgrowthcom-pared to thepreviousday in thelast20days.The 21-day lockdown, en-

forced fromMarch24midnight,was intended to bring preciselythis kind of slowdown in thespreadofthedisease.AsreportedbyTheIndianExpressonApril13,the impact of the lockdownstarted to becomeevident fromApril 6. Scientists had then saidthatifthetrendcontinued,theto-talnumberofinfectionscouldbewellwithin20,000byApril20.In the absenceof any impact

of the lockdown, this numbercould have jumped to at least35,000.

Becausealargeproportionofthepopulationhasbeenconfinedtoitshomes,thenumberoftrans-missionsofthevirusperinfectedpersonhasalsogonedown.Thisnumber, called the reproductivenumberorR-naught,isoftenusedtomeasurehowquicklyaninfec-tiousdiseaseisspreading.Beforethe lockdown, one particulargroupofscientistsattheInstituteof Mathematical Sciences inChennaihadcalculatedthisnum-ber to be 1.83. Thismeant thatevery 100 infectedpeoplewerespreadingthedisease toanother183. By April 12, the group saidthis number could be down to1.55.

Hotspot Mumbaihave been asymptomatic, de-tected either because theywereclosecontactsofconfirmedcasesorpresentinhotspots.Earlier, onApril 12, the BMC

had decided to stop testingasymptomaticpeoplealtogether,exceptforpregnantwomen,sen-iorcitizens,cancerandkidneypa-tients. A civic official saidprivatelaboratories too had been in-structedtoonlytestsymptomaticpeoplenow.Asperfreshguidelinesissued

Thursday, theBMCwill test onlysymptomatic people (sufferingfromcough, cold, fever, breath-lessness),pregnantwomen,dial-ysis patients, patients onchemotherapy,healthcarework-ers,seniorcitizens,symptomatichigh-risk contacts, and someasymptomatichighrisk-contacts.BMC AdditionalMunicipal

CommissionerSureshKakanisaidthetestingprotocolwasmodifiedto“betterutilise”manpowerandresources. “Earlier, only 4.5% ofthosetestedinMumbaicameoutpositive.” OnWednesday,withnarrower testing protocols, thepositivityratestoodat11%.TheICMRhadearlieradvised

testing for symptomatic peoplewith travel history, contacts ofconfirmedcases,healthworkersandrespiratorydistresspatients.OnApril 9, itwidened the scopetosymptomaticpeopleinCOVID-19hotspotsandmigrantclusters.Dr Subhash Salunkhe, Chief

Technical Advisor to theMaharashtraChiefSecretary,saidthegovernmenthastodifferenti-ate between essential andnon-essentialandfocusontheformer.“Thosesymptomaticareessentialforus, inordertobetreated.”On the apprehension that

Mumbai was trying to projectlower numbers, Salunkhe said,“For us, the numbers of howmanyarepositivedonotmatteranymore.Savinglivesdoes.”AnupKumarYadav,Director,

National Health Mission,Maharashtra, said, “Mumbaihastailor-made its testing protocolbasedonthecasesandtransmis-sionpattern.”With the new protocol in

place for COVID-19 deaths, theBMConWednesday listed justtwodeathsagainst fiverecordedin various hospitals. The threeotherdeathswillnowbeassessedbya committee,whichwill lookat co-morbidity factors such asheartandlungailmentsandkid-neycondition.AMCKakanisaidin85%ofthe

coronavirusdeaths, co-morbidi-tieswereresponsibleandnottheinfection directly. “Once con-firmedthatCOVID-19isthedirectcauseofdeath,itwillbereported,”hesaid.Earlier, the BMCwas report-

ingdeathsofall infectedpersonsasCOVID-19deaths.A senior official in theUnion

HealthMinistrysaid,“If apersonhastestedpositiveanddies,itisa

COVID-19death,butofcoursethemain reason could be co-mor-bidities.Wefind86%hadco-mor-bidities.”About thedecision to restrict

testing,aseniorcivicofficialsaid,“Thiswastakentojudiciouslyuseavailable kits. Also if asympto-maticpeopletestnegative,itcre-ates a false senseof security.Wecame across caseswhere theylatertestedpositive.”Acaseinpointwasof the85-

year-oldwomanwhodiedduetocoronavirus complications atDrL H Hiranandani Hospital onMarch 30, days after she hadtestednegativeforCOVID-19.Officials said the change in

protocol would also preventdeaths. Earlier, the focuswas totest both symptomatic andasymptomatic contacts, whichmeantmanywithcoughandcoldbutwithnoknowncontactwerenotgettingtested.DrAvinash Supe, Director of

Hinduja Khar Hospital, whoheads the committee to auditcoronavirus deaths, also wel-comed thedecision. “Our aim isto prevent mortality. Testingsymptomatic peoplewill helpprovide early treatment.”However, he advised that thehigh-risk asymptomatic peoplebe strictly quarantined even iftheyarenotbeingtested.Mumbai has a capacity of

about10,000testsaday.Itplanstointroducerapidtestingforhealthworkers, civic staff, BESTdriversand conductors soon,with onlythosewhohave generated anti-bodies against thevirus tobeal-lowed back towork.With 5.7%case mortality rate so far,Maharashtradoesnotqualify forpooltesting.WhileWestBengal isalready

auditingdeathstoseewhichqual-ify as COVID-19 deaths, UttarPradeshplans to start this soon.Earlier, Rajasthanhad refused tocount an Italian touristwhohadtestednegativeforcoronavirusaf-terhospitalisationanddiedofcar-diac arrest as aCOVID-19death,though he never came off theventilator.Auditingandthenreportinga

death was also done duringdengueandH1N1outbreaks.There is a debate on in other

countries aswell, including theUS,UKandSpain,regardinghowtocountCOVID-19deaths. IntheUS, all deathswith coronavirusare being counted as COVID-19

deaths,withNewYork’sfatalitiesshootingupafteritincludedsev-eral “presumed” cases aswell inits toll. Spain is in theprocess ofrecountingitsdead.

Rahul to Govtuseallourammunitionrightnowandweenduptwo-threemonthsfromnowwithaseriousfinancialblowback...wehavearealseriousproblem.So,ithastobeathoughtthroughstrategicwayofdoingit,”he said.Hewarned that the country

couldfacefoodshortageandmas-siveunemployment in the com-ing days and asked the centralgovernmenttopre-emptivelyad-dressthesechallenges.HesaidthefightagainstCOVID-19shouldnotbe“topdownbutbottomup”andasked thePrimeMinister toem-powerChiefMinistersanddistrictadministrations and communi-catemoreopenlywiththem.Hesaidthelockdownislikea

“pause button” and in noway asolution to the virus. “Whenwecome out of the lockdown, thevirus is going to start its workagain.”“Youopenparticular key ar-

eas.Youusetestingtoidentifydy-namicallywhicharethehotspotsand clamp down on thosehotspots...Createtwobasiczonesin India. A hotspot zone and anon-hotspotzone.”Onthefinan-cial front, he said “there is goingtobeamassivefinancialbacklashthatisgoingtocome.Youarego-ingtoseethefirstwavesofunem-ploymentandthenthatwillstartto spiral. Youwill see pressurecomingonour financial system.So youwill have to set up struc-tures andmanage your fundingso that you don’t get caught...Suppose you spend all yourmoney right now immediatelyandthenyouhaveafinancialcri-sislaterinafewmonths...So,youhavetothinkstrategicallyandyouhavetomovestrategically.”Maintainingthatthecountry

hasadequatefoodgrainstock,heaskedthegovernmenttodistrib-ute it among the poor and eventhose without ration cards.“Create a food safety net forthem... transfer money to thebank accounts of 20 per centpoorest of the poor... create a fi-nancialsafetynetforthem.Therewouldbeunemployment...comeoutwithapackagetoprotecttheMSMEsector,”hesaid.On the issueof strandedmi-

grants in various states, Gandhisaid the “governmentmust actquickly, else therewill be socialunrestsoon”.

‘Zoom not safe’“Zoomisanotasafeplatform

and advisory of Cert-In on thesame dated Feb 06, 2020 andMarch30,2020maykindlybere-ferred.Theseadvisoriesareavail-ableonCert-Inwebsite,”theMHAadvisorysaid.CERT-Inhadwarnedthat the

appispronetohackingandissuedanadvisoryforboththeusersandtheoperatorswhouseZoom.Theagency’sadvisoryhadsaidtheun-guardeduseofZoomcouldleaveusersvulnerabletocyberattacksandallowcybercriminalstohaveaccess to sensitive informationlike details ofmeetings and theconversations carried out usingtheapp.MHAhasnow issued guide-

lines, largelyonthelinesof thoseissuedbyCERT-In,onhowZoomshouldbe securely used. “Thoseprivate individuals who stillwouldliketouseZoomforprivatepurpose”, theMHAsaid, shouldenable/disable certain featuresandtakesomeprecautions.Amongtheprecautionsithas

citedare:SettingnewuserIDandpassword for eachmeeting; en-ablingwaitingroomsothateveryuser can enter onlywhen hostconducting meeting admitsthem;disablingjoinbeforehost;allowing screen sharing byhostalone;disabling ‘Allowremovedparticipants to re-join’; restrict-ing/disabling file transfer option(ifnotrequired);lockingmeeting,onceallattendeeshavejoined;re-stricting the recording feature;andtoendmeeting(andnot justleave, ifyouareadministrator).Ithasalsoadvisedconference

organisers to not use their per-sonalmeeting ID (PMI) to hostevent and insteaduse randomlygeneratedmeeting IDs for eachevent. It has also cautionedagainstsharingone’slinkonpub-licplatform.“Itmakesitmuchse-cureanddifficulttoleak,” itsaid.CERT-IN in its advisory had

also asked users keep the soft-warepatchedandup-to-date.

Purulia ‘secret’groupthatmet theBDOonApril8. Alongwithhis brotherNimai,BhagirathworkedatbrickkilnsinJharkhand, earningRs150aday.They returnedhomebefore the

lockdownstarted.Bhagirath,who liveswithhis

mother,wife, twochildrenandabrother, says theynever thoughtof going to officials, till the lock-downmeant theywere leftwithnofood.Aftertheircomplaint,of-ficials and police raided thehouses of fivemoneylenders toseize the cards. “I borrowed Rs7,000fouryearsagoasmymotherwassick,handingovermyrationcardandmymother’s.AfterwewenttotheBDO,we

got back the cards and immedi-atelyfreerationtoo,”hesays.JagabandhuKalindi, 50, says

he took a loan of Rs 10,000 fouryearsagoagainsthisandhiswifeSakha’s ration cards as theyneeded the money for theirdaughter’swedding. “Itwas thenorm here,” says Jagabandhu,whohasthreesons.The Indian Express found

families in a similar situation intwomorevillages in thedistrict.BotharedominatedbytheSabartribe, still bearing the stigmaofbeingclassifiedasacriminaltribeduringBritish rule,withmost ofits young now employed aslabourers in far-away townsandcities.In Jorgora village, around65

km from Jhalda,most of the 72familiesclaimedtohavehandedoverPDScardsascollateral.BijaySabar,60,wholiveswithhiswifeanddaughter,doesn’tremembertheyearallthreeofthemhandedover their cards to a “dealer”.“Sometimeswhenwego to thedealer,hegivesussomerice.Thatis it.”AtKulabahalvillage,30kmaway,villagerssaytheyhavebeengetting rice and flour but theirfamiliesaretoolargeforthequan-titybeinggiven.SubhasSabar,45,whohassix

children,andtworationcardsbe-tweenhiswifeandhim,saystheymake do by hunting. “Wehuntrats, rabbits, snakes andmoni-tors.”DMMajumder says they are

doingtheirbesttoensurenoonegoeshungry. “WehavedoneGISmappingofallvulnerablehouse-holds in the20blocksof Purulia.BDOs have also been asked tomake randomcalls everyday tocheckup.”Back in Surjamata,money-

lender Rashu Mahato’s wifeSabitasaystheyhavebeenneed-lesslymaligned.Thecouplegrowvegetables,buthavenotbeenabletogotothemarket,3kmaway,to

sellthem.SaysSabita,“Theytookloansfromus,thatiswhywekepttherationcards.Nowpolicehavetaken the cards.What aboutourmoney?Iproposedthatletusdi-vide the rations since these arehard times for us too, but policerefused.”

Bank creditgovernment will have to

hence extend greater supportacrosssectorsandplanmorespe-cificinterventionstorekindleeco-nomicactivity,theysay.Data availablewith the RBI

and compiled by The IndianExpress shows that the 170dis-tricts that havewitnessed largeoutbreaks (as onApril 15) had atotal credit outstanding of Rs79.84 lakh crore, which ac-counted for 79.3 per cent of thetotal credit outstanding of Rs100.68lakhcrorereportedbythescheduled commercial banks asofDecember2019.Important districts that have

beenimpactedandcategorisedashotspot includeMumbai, 10 ofthe11districtsofDelhi,MumbaiSuburban, Bengaluru (U),Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata,Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur andGurgaonamongothers. The top10districts alone account for Rs53.2lakhcroreofcreditoutstand-ing or around53per cent of thetotaloutstandingofSCBs.Many companies though

headquarteredinlargecities,havetheir businesses spread acrossotherdifferent regions. So,whilethecreditoutstandingdata isat-tributed tomajor urban centres,theinvestmentsmightactuallybebeyondthiscatchmentarea.Economistssaysincebusiness

activityindistrictscategorisedashotspots is likely to remain sub-dued,theimpactontheeconomywill be severe. “If 80 per cent ofthe credit outstanding is im-pacted, itmeanstheentireecon-omyisimpacted.Thisdatareflectsthatcompaniesacrossallsectorsand scale have been impacted,”said DK Pant, Chief Economist,IndiaRatings.Asbankshavecon-centrated exposure in thesezones,thisalsoraisesconcernonbankNPAssincebusinessesoper-ating in these areaswill find ittoughrepayloans.MaheshVyas,CEO,CMIEsaid

whileitwasnaturalandexpectedthatthedangerwouldbemoreincongestedurbanareaswithbulkof economic activity, it is impor-tant now to focus on smallerzonesintheseareasandworkoncontainmentthere.“Oneway of looking is that

since the districts having largeproportionof credit outstandingareworst affected and the eco-nomicactivitythereis impacted,it will lead to higher NPAs forbanks going forward. The otherway to look at it is thatwenowneedtofocusontheseareasandifwe allow things to fester, itwilltake longer tocomeoutof it.Weneed to go for containment insmallerareasinthesezones,”saidVyas.Theheadof amutual fund,however, said the datamay bemisleading to some extent asmanycompanieshaveonlytheirheadquarters in large cities, andsonot all the credit outstandingwillcomeunderstress.

One-time nodThe official further said that

probable conditionswould in-clude the industries beingaskedtoprovideinformationrelatedtotheir units, the placewhere thelabourers are stuck, the placewheretheywouldbetransportedand details of arrangementsmadefortheirstay."Thelabourerswouldhaveto

undergomedical check-up andthermalscreening.Theindustrieswillalsohavetofollowsocialdis-tancingnormsandhygienemeas-ures. If they violate any of theseconditions, actionwill be takenagainstthem,"addedtheofficial.Officialssaidthatthegovern-

mentisalsoconsideringallowingthe resumptionof industrial op-erations inMIDC areaswithinmunicipal corporation limits. Ofthe total 260MIDCareas, 38 fallinmunicipal limits ofMumbai,Thane,NaviMumbai,Nashikandothers."TheUnion government has

allowedresumptionofindustrialoperations in rural areas outsidemunicipallimitsandinindustrialestates and townships, whichmeansMIDC areas in the state.But it is not possible to allow in-dustrialoperationsinMIDCareasinMumbaiandPunecompletely.The decisionwill be taken afterconsulting the health depart-ment,"saidanofficial.IndustriesMinister Subhash

Desai,whoreviewedtheCentre'sguidelinestochalkoutastrategyonThursday,saidtheresumptionof operations inMIDCareas canbeallowediftheydon'tfallunderthe containment zone. "Wewillconsultthehealthofficialsandlo-cal administration. If anMIDCareadoesnot fall under contain-mentzoneandthere isnoriskofspreading the virus,wemay al-lowindustriesoperations,"DesaitoldTheIndianExpress.He added that industrial op-

erationswill begin in the statefromApril 20. "Aproposal onal-lowingindustrialoperationswillbeplacedbeforethechiefminis-terforapprovalandanotificationwillbeissuedbeforeApril20,"hesaid.

Mumbai-Agrathelockdowngotextended,Itoldhimwe cannot stay anymore. Iam ready to carry him on myshoulders."NandlalNishad,38,returning

toAllahabad,1,400kmaway,saidhe had come to Mumbai twodecades ago. "Initially, after thelockdown,Icouldaffordonlyonemealaday.NowIwasstrugglingfor even that," he said, sittingbythehighwayandeatingsomebis-cuitshandedoverbysympatheticvillagersinShahapur.Amanstoppedbypoliceand

takentoanashramnearthehigh-way,alongwith30others,saidheset off from Mumbai at 3 amThursday and had reachedBhiwandiwhencaught.Hepaintshousesforaliving.Also at the ashram were

Ranjana Pawar, 35, and ninemembersofher family.They leftfromMiraRoad inMumbai at 8pm on Wednesday, she said,forced out by the behaviour oftheir neighbours. Headed forWashimdistrict, 570 kmaway,theywere stoppedbypolice at aPadgha naka, 55 km fromMiraRoad.Pawarsaidtheirneighboursin Dechkul chawl in Kashimiraareahadforbiddenthemfromus-ing the common toilet and tap,forcing them to pay and use apublicwashroom. "Our neigh-bourstolduswewereinfected."A groupof eightwhohoped

to cycle all theway to Banda inUttar Pradesh, 1,200 km away,weresentbackfromKasaraGhat,80 km fromwhere theyhad setoff in Kalyan. Rohit Kumar saidthey worked at a bakery inMumbai. "With thebakery shut,ouremployerstoppedpayingus,"hesaid.Rajkumarsaidpolicehadcanedthemandtoldthemtore-turn toKalyan. Theywould justlookforanopeningandtryagain,thegroupsaid.

FROMPAGEONE

ICMR counters criticismTuesday.With28moredeaths,thetollhasgoneupto420,while12,759 cases (1,515 recovered)havebeendetectedsofar.At thedailyhealthbriefing,

officials said 30,043 samplesweretestedinthelast24hours.Ina latenightupdate, the ICMRsaida total of 3,02,956sampleshavebeentestedsofar.“Wehavereceived5lakhkits

(fromChina):2lakhfromacom-pany calledNuzon and 3 lakhfrom another calledWantro.Theyhave a sensitivity of over80%.Oneneeds tounderstandthat these are serological tests.Thisisnotforearlydiagnosisbe-cause it takes time for antibod-iestodevelop.Thisisforsurveil-lanceinhotspots,toperiodicallycheckthespreadofthedisease,”saidDrRRGangakhedkar,headof epidemiologyand infectiousdiseases,ICMR.Counteringtherepeatedcrit-

icism about India not testingenough,hesaid:“Therearesome

350districtswheretherearenocasesatall,sodoingacalculationoftestspermillionpeopleisnotproper... In countries like Japan,oneoutof11.7teststurnsouttobepositive,whichisamongthehighest in theworld. Italy tests6.7personsforonepositivetest,while theUS tests 5.3persons,and theUK3.4. In India,weareconducting24tests,outofwhichoneturnsouttobepositive.Also,wehaveahugepopulationandnotallpeoplebelongtovulnera-blegroups.Hence,wecan’t sayourtestingratioislow.”Gangakhedkar also allayed

concernsabouttestingcapacity,making thepoint that foreverynine-hourshift,atotalof42,418samplescanbetesteddaily;thecapacity will double for twoshifts.He said the testing strategy

forRT-PCRtests,whichtakes8-9hoursfortheresults, remainsthe same—symptomatic peo-plewith contact or travel his-

tory, healthcareworkers, peo-plewith severe acute respira-tory infection or influenza likeillness inhotspots, andasymp-tomatic contacts of confirmedcasesbetween5-14daysofex-posure.Hesaidpooledtestingwillbe

done with RT-PCR to reducecostsindistrictswithzerocases.Health Ministry Joint

SecretaryLavAgarwalreiteratedthat27districtsin14stateshavenotreportedanycaseinthelast14days.MaheinPuducherryhasnotreportedanycasefor28days,hesaid.“Ourcasefatalityrateis3.3%

while the recovery rate is12.02%,”hesaid.Thefatalityrateis atparwith theWorldHealthOrganisation’scalculatedrateofabout3.4%.Among thedistrictswhich

havenotreportedanycasein14days are: Patna (Bihar), Nadia(West Bengal), Pratapgarh(Rajasthan),Porbandar(Gujarat),

South Goa, Pauri Garhwal(Uttarakhand), Pilibhit (UP),Rajouri (Jammu),West Imphal(Manipur), Aizawl (Mizoram),WestKottayamandWayanadinKerala; Bilaspur, Durg andRajnandgaoninChhattisgarh.Meanwhile, officials said

India is lookingatgettingabout15 lakh testingkits fromChina.“This consignment (of 6.5 lakhkits) comprises kits fromthreesuppliers—rapidantibodytest-ing kits (3 lakh fromWondfoBiotech Co and 2.5 lakh fromZhuhai LivzonDiagnostics Inc)andRNAextractionkits (1 lakhfrom MGI Shenzen),” said asourceinNewDelhi.Thegovernment is also try-

ingtogettestingkitsfromSouthKorea. Sources saidquotationshavebeenobtained fromcom-panies in the UK, Malaysia,France, Canadaand theUS too.“Wehave also obtained leadsfrom companies in GermanyandJapan,”thesourcesaid.

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Baby borninside shanty,family getsmedical helpafter 20 days

ATIKHRASHID&ARULHORIZONPUNE,APRIL16

BORN THE day after a nation-widelockdownwasimposedonMarch 25, she is only 20 daysold, and is yet tobenamed.Her

father Shankar Koli, a dailywa-ger, saidhecouldn’t findavehi-cle or an ambulance to take hiswife Sapna toapublichospital.So, the delivery took place

insidetheKolis’residence,atinyshanty located near the JainMandir in Vadgaon Budruk,with the help of a couple of

women from neighbouringshanties.Koli, who hasn’t had any

work in days, neither had themoney nor any resources toarrange any post-natal care forhis wife Sapna, who continuedbleedingfornearlyaweekafterchildbirth. She developed ex-

treme weakness and swellingbelow her waist, and was un-abletomove.Thefamily,whichis dependent on food packetsdistributed at the Jain Mandirfor theirmeals, didn’t have anymoneytobuymedicinesortak-ing the ailing Sapna and the in-fant to ahospital.

AfterateamfromTheIndianExpress cameacross the familyin Vadgaon Budruk, it alertedmedicalpersonnelatthenearbyChaitanya Institute for MentalHealth. Amedical team, led byDr Sapna Shaikh , came to theshanty and inspected bothSapnaandthebaby.Afterapre-

liminary inspection, Dr ShaikhsaidSapnahadtobeshiftedtoahospital immediately.AsSapnawasinnoconditiontowalk,Kolihad to lift her and carryher outof the shanty.After a preliminary inspec-

tion, an ambulance was calledandshewastakentoacivic-run

maternityHome inBalajinagar.Dr Anjali Chavan, who in-

spected her at the maternityhome, said, “Since she receivednopost-natalcareandsustaineduncheckedbleeding,shehasde-veloped a cardiac condition,apart fromweakness, anaemiaandhypotension...”

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

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SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,APRIL16

A DAY after a reporter fromMarathinewschannelABPMajhawasarrestedbyMumbaiPoliceforhavingallegedly“playedapart inthe rumourmongering” that ledto nearly 2,000migrantworkersgatheringinBandraonTuesday,alocal court on Thursday grantedhimbail,refusingtogranthiscus-tody to the police. The court di-rectedthereportertoobserve‘ut-most precaution while makingnewsreport’andtoplacehimselfin quarantine for twoweeks asconditions forbail.Rahul Kulkarni, the 43-year-

old Osmanabad-based reporter,was summoned toMumbai onWednesday and arrested for al-legedlycitinganinternalrailwaysdocument to report that specialtrainswould transport strandedmigrantworkersbackhome.Themetropolitanmagistrate

inBandra,beforewhomKulkarniwas produced in the afternoon,saidthatsinceprisonsarealreadyovercrowded, in view of COVID-19,itwillnotbepropertokeeptheaccusedbehindbars. “Ithas tobetaken into account that the ac-cused (Kulkarni) has undergonetransportation to and fromhighrisk zones of COVID-19. It is nec-essarytodirecthimtoplacehim-self under quarantine,” the courtsaid. It directed Kulkarni be re-leased on a personal bond of Rs15,000andforcomplianceofbailprocedureswithin aweek of theend of lockdown. “The accusedshouldnot indulgeinanycontro-versy as the present one andshouldobserveutmostprecautionwhile making newsreport….should followthedirec-tions given by the governmentswellasadministrativeauthoritiesregardingmaintenance of peace,order and public healthwith re-specttoprevailingCOVID-19pan-demic,”thecourtordersaid.Italsodirectedauthoritiestomakenec-essary arrangements for permis-

siontolettheaccusedtraveltohisplaceofresidenceinOsmanabad.TheBandrapolicehadsought

Kulkarni’s custody and claimedthenewsreportwasairedat11.23am on Tuesday, after PrimeMinister NarendraModi had an-nounced at 10 am that the lock-downwas extended till May 3.Kulkarni’s lawyers, SubodhDesaiand BharatMagnani, submittedthat therewas no co-relation oftheBandraincidentwiththenewsreport.Theysaidthereportdidnotmentionanyspecifictimingorlo-cation of trains and that the rail-waysannouncementof cancella-tion of all trains till May 3 wasbeingflashedonTVafterthePM’saddressat10am.The Bandra police also pro-

duced 10 others, arrested in an-otherFIRfiledintotheBandrainci-dentagainst800-1,000unknownpersons. Thepolice told the courtthese accused had ‘instigated’workers. Their lawyers claimedtheywere locals, residing inareasincludingSantacruz,andthereforewere not part of the gatheringwhereworkers had assembled.Thecourtsentthemtopolicecus-todytillApril19.

(WITHINPUTSFROMMOHAMEDTHAVER)

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, APRIL 16

THEMUMBAI police aremakingextraeffortstoreachouttomigrantworkers in various areas in an ef-fort toensure there isnorepeatofTuesday’sBandraincident.Additional commissioner of

police (central region) VireshPrabhu said they held ameetingwithseveralmigrantgroups fromDharavi onWednesdaymorning.“We also had NGOs and socialworkers in theareaand informedthemigrants that theyshouldnotthinkofgoinghomenow.Alltheirneeds fromfood to shelterwill betakencareof.Theywereconvincedabouttheriskassociatedwithtrav-elling,”Prabhusaid.Another officer said that in

Dharavi, migrants from variousstates likeUPandBiharhavetheirown WhatsApp groups. “Wetapped into these groups to com-municatewithmigrants comingfromall these states.We also in-formedthemthatif therewasanyproblem,theycouldcontactusand

wewillhelpthemget food, rationorwhatevertheyneed,”saidtheof-ficerfromDharavipolicestation.In thenorthernsuburbsof the

city, a senior officer said thatma-jority of the migrants workingthere are linked to building con-struction. “We have contactedbuilding associations and askedthemtoensure any labourer em-ployed by them is taken care of.Theyhave been asked to providethemwithfoodandshelter,”theof-ficersaid.Theofficeraddedthatrecently

when they visited a constructionfacility inVanrai area, they found500labourersinasmallplace.“Wecontacted the builder and askedhim to decongest the space afterwhich300 labourerswere sent toanothersite,”theofficersaid.Apart from this, policemen

across the city are also keeping intouchwith local leaders or com-munity elders fromvarious com-munitiesinordertopassonanyin-formation to them. “We are alsoaskingownersofslumswheremi-grants stay tonot collect any rentfromthem,”anofficersaid.

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI, APRIL 16

THREE-YEAR-OLDAANCHALShinde barely eats and keepstearing up through the day.Separatedfromherparentsdueto the lockdown, she and herseven-year-old sisterKhushaliare being looked after by theirauntonapavementdwellingnearPoisargymkhanaatKandivali.Theirparentsareholedupin

a rented flat in Ambernath, 54kilometres away.With the dis-trict borders closed due to thelockdown, it is now nearly amonth since the children haveseentheirparents.“Pleasegetmymotherback,

Aanchalmissesherverymuch,”wailsKhushali.The Shindes are daily wa-

gerswhomovedtoAmbernathalong with their children fivemonths ago to work under acontractorwhowasrepairinga

municipal drain.“We went to Kandivali on

March19tovisitmysisterLalita.OnMarch 22 (the day of JantaCurfew), my husband and IwentbacktoAmbernathtocol-lect our wages from the con-

tractor. Itwasabigamount,butwhenwereachedhere,thecon-tractorsaidthepaymentwouldbedelayedby aday or twoandsowestayedback. Littledidweknow, a nationwide lockdownwould be announced and wewould be separated for so longfromourchildren.Wehadbeenhoping that the trainswill startonApril 14, but thatwas not tobe,” says Surekha (26), motherof the two children, on thephone fromAmbernath.“Majhyapori vaat baghat aa-

het(mydaughtersarewaitingforme) Please take me back tothem,”Surekhapleads.Shekhar, her husband, rues,

“Wehavenofoodhereanymore.Twelvedaysago,thelocalcorpo-

rator distributed some rice,wheat and onions, but that isovernow.”Surekhaadds,“Ourfive-year-

old,son,Ajay,whotravelledwithus here,misses his sisters terri-bly. At least if wemanage to gobacktoourrelatives,wewillfeelmore secure. We don’t knowhow long this will last, ourdaughtersarealonethere.”OnthepavementinKandivali,

whereShinde’s relatives live, are30otherfamilies,allofwhomaredailywagers fromAmravati andAkola districts. A fewNGOsdis-tribute food among thesepave-mentdwellers.Thefamilieshavedugholesinthegroundforwateras other sources have dried upsincethelockdownbegun.

TheShindescalltheirdaugh-ters twice a day. “Aanchal asksme when I will return, whileKhushali tellsme I shouldwalkitif thetrainsdon’trestart.Ihavenooptionbut togive themfalsehopethatIwouldcomethenextday,” saysSurekha.Shekhar,meanwhile,saysthe

contractorhasstillnotpaidthemand has stopped taking theircalls. “Theroomrent isRs1,700,howwillwepay?”heasks.AtKandivali,seatedonatorn

sofa on the pavement, the twogirlsputamaskonbeingtoldtodoso.WhileAanchalgivesadrysmileonbeingpromisedabarofchocolate,hersister,Khushali,re-peatedly asks, “Can you some-howbringmyparentsback?”

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI, APRIL 16

INVIEWoftheextensionofnation-widelockdown,theBombayHighCourtonThursdaysaidall interimorderspassedbyitandsubordinatecourtshavebeenextendedtillJune15. The HC also said its presentarrangement of hearing only ex-tremely urgentmatterswill con-tinuetillMay5.On March 26, a four-judge

bench said all interim orderspassed by courts acrossMaharashtra andGoa shall con-tinue till April 30 in view of thecoronaviruspandemic.

The bench, comprising ChiefJustice of BombayHCBhushan PDharmadhikari, and justices AASayed, S S Shinde andKK Tated,passedtheorder,saying,“Inthissit-uation,interimordersandarrange-mentcontinuedbyanorderdated26thMarch, 2020, till 30thApril,2020, shall continue further till15th June, 2020, subject to thesameliberty toaggrievedparty tomoveforvacationthereof.”TheHC also issued a circular

saying five judgeswill conducthearingsthroughvideo-conferenc-ingonurgentmattersnextonApril20, 23, 27, 30 andMay5betweennoonto2pm.ThecourtsaidthatitwillreviewthesituationonMay4.

AFAMILYTORN INTOTWO

Stranded 50 km away, two girls yearn for parents

Cops reach out tomigrants across city;assure food, safety

HC extends interim orders till June 15

AanchalandKhushali (left)haven’t seentheirparentsandfive-year-oldbrother (right) fornearlyamonth. Express

Mumbai:Afterhisreleaseonbail,journalist Rahul Kulkarni ap-pearedonABPMajhaandsaidhewascompletely shocked to findthe police at his house. “I wascompletely shocked to find thepoliceatmydoorstepat6inthemorning inOsmanabad... I havebeeninthisfieldfor20yearsandraising issues of public impor-tanceallmylife…”Kulkarnisaidthe channel stoodbyhis report.“There is nothingwrong in thereport. That iswhyour channelhasnot taken it off FacebookorTwitter.” ENS

Reportergoesonairafterrelease

MIGRANTSATBANDRA

Courtgrantsbail toarrestedTVreporter

TRANSMISSION CORPORATIONOF ANDHRA PRADESH LIMITED

The Transmission Corporation of A.P. Limited invites bids online for the followingworks.

NOTE:i) Name and address of the officer inviting bids - ED/Construction-II,

APTRANSCO, Vidyut soudha, Vijayawada-04. Cell: 9440907264ii) The contractors/firms are requested to upload the information in pdf format only.iii) Further details can be seen in website(s): WWW.apeprocurement.gov.in

Sd/-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

R.O. No. 04PP/CL/ADVT/1/1/2020-21 CONSTRUCTION-II

SI.No

Spec.No.

Name of work

Date & timeof

availabilityof tenders

on e-procurement

From18.04.2020at 17.00 Hrs

1 APT-e-10/2020

Supply, Erection, Testing and Commissioning of 1) 220/132/33KV Sub-station Tiruvuru including Substation Automation System (SAS) 2)220KV SC line (5 km) by making 220kV LILO of the existing 220kVKTPS-Nunna Line to proposed 220/132/33kV SS Tiruvuru 3) 132kVDC Line (15KM) from 132kV SS Narsapuram to proposed220/132/33kV SS Tiruvuru 4) 132kV DC Line (15KM) by making LILOof existing 132kV Kambhampadu-Nuzividu line to 220/132/33kV SSTiruvuru 5) 2 Nos 132kV Bay extension at 132kV SS Narsapuram inKrishna district on Turnkey Basis and operation of 220/132/33KV Sub-station Tiruvuru for a period of 2 years from the date of commissioningin Krishna District

e-Procurement TENDER NOTICE

PR 227826(Urban Development and Housing)20-21*D

Sd/-Project Director (Tech.)

JUIDCO Ltd., Ranchi

rrdd33 FLFLOOR, RRDOOR, RRDA BUILDING, PRAGATI SADAN, KUTA BUILDING, PRAGATI SADAN, KUTCHERYCHERYRANCHI 834 001, JHARKHAND.RANCHI 834 001, JHARKHAND.Ph: +91 651 2243203, Cell no.: +91-9431103781Ph: +91 651 2243203, Cell no.: +91-9431103781e-mail:e-mail: juidcjuidcolimitolimited@gmail.ced@gmail.comomCIN: U45200JH2013SGC001752CIN: U45200JH2013SGC001752

JHARKHAND URBAN INFRASTRUCTUREDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED

CORRIGENDUM - #1NIT No: - JUIDCO/NIT/HWS/JURLP/OCB/2/339Tender ID: - 2020_JUADB_44633_1Ref PR No.: - 226422All the bidders are hereby informed that Corrigendum #1 for thetender “Construction and 5 years ofOperation andMaintenance ofWater Supply System inHussainabad (Intakeworks, Risingmain,9.5 MLD Water treatment plant, Clear water main, Overheadreservoirs, Distribution network and House service connections)”has been published on the e-procurement website of Government ofJharkhand.It is requested to please refer the samebefore submission of bids.e-procurementwebsite:-http://jharkhandtenders.gov.in

Nivida No.12 of 2019-20 CORRIGENDUM No.7Following rectification is made in Tender Notice No.12 of 2019-20 ofExecutive Engineer, Ver-II Project Division, Vyara PIN CODE NO.394650Phone No. 02626-222090 Dist: Tapi.

Event Old Date New Date

1 2 3 4

1 Online Tender 08/01/2020 to 18/04/2020 08/01/2020 to 08/05/2020upload date Up to 18.00 Hrs. Up to 18.00 Hrs.

2 Submission of Up to 24/04/2020 Up to 15/05/2020Document date at 18.00 Hrs. at 18.00 Hrs.

3 Opening of Pre 27/04/2020 in the Office 16/05/2020 in the OfficeQualification Bid of the Superintending of the Superintendingdate Engineer, Ukai Circle Engineer, Ukai Circle

(Civil), Ukai at 12.00 Hrs. (Civil), Ukai at 12.00 Hrs.

All other conditions remain unchanged. No.: INF-Surat/10/2020

OBITUARY

PROPERTY

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

THEOUTBREAK Mumbai

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ApartofWorliKoliwadawassealedbythepoliceonThursday.GaneshShirsekar

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL 16

DHARAVIONThursdayrecorded26 new COVID-19 cases — thehighestsingle-dayjumpsincethefirst casewas reported from theareaonApril1.Withthis,86peo-plehavebeen testedpositive forthevirusinDharavi.A 58-year-oldman,whohad

testedpositive,diedonThursday,taking the toll in Asia’s biggestslum to nine. BMChas initiatedcontacttracingof the26newpa-tients,includinga13-year-oldboy.The seniormost person to be in-fected is 70. With cases beingfound in new localities, Dharavinowhas22containmentzones.A31-year-oldMahimresident,

who isattachedasaconstable toKharpolicestationtestedpositivealso on Thursday.With this, thecountinMahimhasreached10.Thecivicbodyhasa1,000-bed

quarantine facility in Dharavi,wherethoseseekinginstitutionalquarantinewillbekept.Of these,while300bedsareavailableattheRajivGandhiDistrictSportsClub,the remainingare at theDharavitransitcampmunicipalschool.TillWednesday,GNorthWard,whichcomprisesDharavi,MahimandDadar, has recorded 124 caseswith34newcasesin24hours.G/South ward, comprising

Worli-Koliwada — one of theworstaffectedareas inthecity—isshyofonly10casestoreachthe400mark. TillWednesday, 390caseswerereportedfromG/Southward,whichis20percentoftotalcases in the city. This is followedby E ward (Byculla) with 160cases. Of the 24 administrativewards in the city, 10wards haverecordedover100cases.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL 16

INTHREEweeks,sincethenation-widelockdowntocurtailCOVID-19began,MumbaiPolicehasreg-istered630trafficviolations,mostof which were unauthorisedtravel,officialssaid.Lockdownrulesprohibitcit-

izens fromusing their vehicles,except in casesof emergencyorunder exemptionsmade by the

state andCentral gov-ernments.Officials saidmostoffences

havebeenregisteredagainstcit-izens using their personal vehi-cles togoshopping.Data released by Mumbai

Police showed that 235of theseoffenceswere committed in thecity’s northern suburbs and an-other151ineasternsuburbs.With traffic having reduced

drastically,most offences—de-tectedbyCCTVandpoliceperson-neldeployedatcheckposts—areof bikers failing towearhelmetsandferryingtwopassengers.“Sincetherearehardlyanyve-

hiclesmovingaroundnow,therehas been a 75 per cent dip in e-challans beinggenerated and is-sueddaily.Maximumviolations

arecurrentlybeingcommittedbytwo-wheelers,”aseniortrafficpo-liceofficialsaid.Trafficruleviolatorsarebeing

bookednot justunder theMotorVehicles Act, but also underSection 188 of the Indian PenalCode, for violating orders issuedbyapublicservant.Theonlyothermajortrafficof-

fencebeingcommittedinthecityatthemoment,officialssaid, isofdrivers taking advantage ofdeserted roads to break speedlimits.“Wehaveincreasedthenum-

ber of nakabandis to the extentthat there are checkpoints everytwo to three kilometres. Anyve-

hicle exceeding speed limit iscaught,”theofficialsaid.“Trafficpolicehasalsoattrib-

uted drastic reduction in trafficoffences to its decision to notbook offenders at traffic signals.“Since the only vehicles on theroads are those carrying outemergency services, we are notbooking any vehicles for jump-ingred lightsorencroachingze-bra crossings.We have also re-duced the duration of trafficsignals to allow vehicles to passthroughquickly,”theofficialsaid.Traffic police also suspended

issuance of challans to vehiclesparked inno-parking zones, theofficialadded.

LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI, APRIL 16

THE LOCKDOWN has worsened thesituation forseveralBMCconservancyworkers. At least seven labourers inM-east ward (Govandi, Mankhurd)have alleged that they have not re-ceived salary for several months.These labourers are employed in theSolidWasteManagement (SWM)de-partment’s sweeping section.Labour union Kachara Vahtuk

ShramikSanghhasdemanded imme-diate release of their salaries. Theselabourers, who had been workingwith theBMCfor15yearsoncontract,were recentlymade permanent aftera long legal battle in the SupremeCourt. Thepaperworkafter theyweremade permanent is still pending andtheextended lockdownhasdelayed itfurther, they said.“I have a family of five to feed. But

for the last threemonths Ihavenotgotany salary. Earlier, I had borrowedmoney fromfriendsandrelatives.Butdue tocoronavirus they tooare facingfinancial crunch,” said Wasim, asweeper inM-eastward.Hewasmadepermanent in January 2020.“I was promised by civic officials

that afterApril 14 the issuewill be re-

solved. However, the lockdown hasbeenextendedand I’mnotsurewhenmy issuewill get sorted,” he said.Majid Qureshi, also a sweeper in

M-eastward, saidhehasnot receivedhis salary for the last seven months.Qureshi saidhewasmadepermanentlast September. “All my savings havebeen exhausted. When we won thecaseandthecourtorderedtheBMCtomake us permanent, my family andfriends were happy. But things haveworsened as I am not getting anysalary,” he said.These seven employees used to

drawRs10,000-15,000permonthoncontract.Nowaspermanentemploy-ees, theywill get aroundRs 35,000.Milind Ranade, general secretary

of Kachara Vahtuk Shramik Sangh,said, “They are putting their lives atrisk by cleaning areas at the timeof pandemic. But they are strugglingto get their salaries. I hope theBMC administration will do some-thingtoresolve it soonbefore theydieof starvation.”Chief engineer of SWM depart-

ment Ashok Yamgar said hewill lookintothe issueandensuretheyget theirdues immediately. “I amnot aware ofthe issue but Iwill speak to local staffand ensure these workers gets theirdues as soon as possible.”

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, APRIL 16

DAYS AFTER Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh said that strictaction will be taken againstthosespreading fakemessagescausing communal dishar-mony, the security guard of aMalad-based building was ar-rested on Thursday for callingthepolicewith incorrect infor-mation of a communal nature.Ironically, theguardhimself

called up the police controlroom(PCR), eventually leadingto his arrest.Several fakevideos, spread-

ing misinformation aboutMuslims sneezing and lickingcurrencynotes,hadbeencircu-lating on social media afterthe Tablighi Jamaat congrega-tion at Nizamuddin Markaz inDelhi lastmonth.An officer fromMalad po-

lice said that the incident tookplace on Thursday afternoonwhen the PCR received a callfrom Sanjay Kumar Shah, a se-curity guard inhis thirties. Thecaller claimed that two men“dressed inpathani suits”havelicked two Rs 500 notes andthrown it on the road. He saidthat itappears theyweretryingto spread COVID-19.Since the call was received

fromMalad, thePCRcontactedtheMalad police, which sent ateam to the spot.“When we reached there,

the security guard showed usthe two currency notes thatwere lying there on theGoregaon-Mulund link road,”an officer said.“However, while going

through CCTV camera footageof thearea,wefoundthataper-

sonhadcomeoutof abankandthe notes had fallen off hispocket,” the officer said.Following complaints by localresidents, thepolicearecheck-ing if any video had been pre-pared by the guard about the“twomen”.Shah had been booked un-

dersections153(A) (promotingenmity between differentgroupsongroundsof religion),290 (punishment for publicnuisance) and188 (not follow-ingordersof apublicofficer)ofthe IPC. “WehavearrestedShahfor creating rift between twocommunities,” said DCP (ZoneXI)MohanDahikar.The state government, till

Thursday, has registered 218cases against fake news, ru-mours and hate speech circu-lated over social media. In thelast seven days, 115 offencesregistered pertained to hatespeech. Of the social mediaplatforms, 102 cases were re-lated to WhatsApp, 71 toFacebook and three each toTwitter and TikTok.

BEST conductor testspositive for coronavirusMumbai: Six BEST employees havebeenputonhomequarantineafterabus conductor, attached with theGoregaon depot, tested positive forcoronavirus recently, officials saidThursday. Themanhaddevelopedacoughandcoldandwassubsequentlyadmitted at a hospital in Bhayander.He tested positive for the virus onApril 13. “After his results camepositive on April 13, six otherstaff members, who came inhis contact, have been homequarantined,” a senior officialfromBEST said. Earlier, a fore-manwiththeelectricitydepart-ment had succumbed afterhetestedpositiveforthevirusTuesday. The employeewasalsosufferingfromrenaldis-eases. Manoj Varade, BESTpublicrelationsofficer,said,“Thecon-ductorhashimselfdeclaredthatheiscoronaviruspositive,butweareyettoreceive his test report.”Meanwhile,anotherconductorfromthesamede-pothasbeenputonhomequarantineafter amember of his family testedpositiveforthenovelcoronavirus.Histestresultsarestillawaited.

Part of fire brigade commandcentre sealed after officer’srelatives test positiveMumbai: The BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC) onThursday sealed two floors of theMumbai Fire Brigade’s BycullaCommandCentreandsanitisedtheareaafter twofamilymembersof asenior fire brigade officer tested

positive for coronavirus.The officer, who holdsthe post of deputy chieffireofficer,hasanofficeat thecommandcentre.“Hiswife and daughter-in-lawhadtestedpositivetwodaysago.His fam-ilyandotherclosecon-tacts have been homequarantined for thenext 14 days. Since his

office and residence was in thesame building, the BMC hassealed thearea,” aBMChealthoffi-cial said. The civic body is trying tofind out from where they con-tracted the virus.Both patients are admitted in

Lilavati Hospital, Bandra fortreatment.

CORONAWATCH

26newcases,highest 1-dayjump in Dharavi

POLICEDATA

630 traffic violations registered in 3 weeks

Security guard arrestedfor calling policewith fake information

Civic body’s conservancyworkers not getting salaries

Mumbai: BMC has so fartraced over 8,000 high andlow-risk contacts of COVID-19 patients acrossMumbai.Of the total people traced,around 2,000 are high-riskcontacts, who were subse-quently quarantined. “TillApril14...wehavefoundover2,000 high-risk and around6,000 low-risk contacts. Allthe high-risk contacts havebeen quarantined in BMC’sinstitutional facilities. Theyare being tested. So far, wehaveobservedthatnearly10percentofhigh-riskcontactstest positive,” said anofficialfromthehealthdepartment.So far, BMC has declaredabout 500 containmentzonesacrossMumbai.

8,000CONTACTSOFPATIENTS TRACED

Whenwe reached (thespot), the security guardshowedus the twocurrencynotes thatwerelying there on theGoregaon-Mulund linkroad...However,whilegoing throughCCTVcamera footageof thearea,we found that apersonhadcomeout of abank and thenoteshadfallen off his pocket

MALADPOLICEOFFICER

Overall count86, includingninedead

6THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

THEOUTBREAK Maharashtra

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ALAKASAHANIMUMBAI, APRIL 16

LIFEASa junior artist has alwaysbeentoughforTinaDusa.Shedid-n’t findworkeveryday,theshiftswerelongandpaymentwasmo-dest. Yet, fouryears ago, this see-medtobethebestoptionforDusa(23),whohadlostherparents, tosupportheroctogenariangrand-motherandtwoyoungersiblingsaftershecompletedClassX.Today,Dusafindsitevenmore

difficulttotakecareofherfamily’sneeds.“Wedon’thaveamonthlyor fixed income. Now, the lock-downhasbadlyaffectedourfam-ilies,especially thosewhichhavea single earningmember. Since Idon'tbelongtoanyunionorasso-ciation, I had asked our PrimeMinisteronInstagramtohelpus.

But I didn't hear from anyone,”saysDusa.It has been almost amonth

sinceallshootingandproductionactivitiesoftheentertainmentin-dustrycametoastandstill.Inspiteofappealforhelpforthedailywa-gersmadebyseveraltopperson-alities, including AmitabhBachchan,helphasreachedonlyasmallsectionofthem.Theindus-try employs a large number ofworkersondailywagebasistodooddjobsasspotboys,setandpro-duction assistants, junior artistsanddancersamongothers.“Twomonths ahead of the

lockdown,wewereexperiencingaslowdown.Nowthatithascometoagrindinghalt,manyare find-ingithardtosurvive.Mostjuniorartists get toworkonly for a fewdaysinamonth.Buttheyhavetomanagewith that income. The

younger girls getmore employ-ment opportunities but thenthat’s also not so much,” saysJulekhaKhan,generalsecretaryofMahilaKalakarSangh.The Sangh has around 800

members,whomostly get to bepartofthecrowdscenesinmoviesandshows.Theluckyonesamongthemgetalineortwotodeliver.In the Sangh’s WhatsApp

group,manymemberscomplainaboutnothavingenoughfoodfortheir children, cooking oil ormoney to recharge their phonenumbers. Nearly half of them,however,havereceivedmonetaryhelpfromSalmanKhan’sfounda-tionandYashRajFilms.WhileHemaDave (60),who

hasbeen in the industry for fourdecades,hasreceivedRs3,000inher account fromKhan, HemaAzizKhan,amemberoftheunion

aswellasaworker,isyettoreceiveanyhelp.KiranVanshi,ahairstyl-ist, did not have any job at handtwoweekspriortothelockdown.Vanshi,whostaysinarentedplaceinDahisarandcontributes to theexpenditure of her family of six,now finds her savings depletingandthedreamofopeningasalononedayevenmoredistant.

AshokDubey, general secre-tary of Federation of WesternIndia Cine Employees (FWICE),says:“Wehavesentbankaccountdetails of 25,878 workers toSalmanKhan’sfoundation,whichhasdepositedRs3,000eachintheaccount of 16,000 people. Wecouldnot transfermoney to sev-eralaccountsasdetailsweremiss-

ingortransactioncouldn’tbecom-pleted.Weshouldbeabletotrans-fertheamounttomorepeopleina couple of days. Khan’s founda-tionwilltransferanotherRs3,000totheseaccountsnextmonth.”This apart, YRFhas come for-

ward tohelp3,000workers andBachchan has generated 1 lakhfoodcouponsworthRs1,500eachthatwouldhelp themget ration.The FWICE plans to give awaythesecouponsinthefirstweekofMay.“WehavealsoreceivedRs1.5crorefromtheProducers’GuildofIndia. We have another Rs 1.3crorethatwehavereceivedfromAjay Devgn, Rohit Shetty andAanandLRai.Wehavekeptthesedonations aside for nowas a re-serveincasethelockdownfurtherextends,”saysDubey.Inspiteoftheseefforts,alarge

numberofworkers still havenot

received anyhelp. VinodMishra(39),whohasbeenworking as aspotboyfornearly15years,isoneof them.A father of four,Mishralives inNallasopara. “Iworkwithgroup of around 15 spotboys.Noneofushasreceivedanyhelp.I’mabletoscrapethroughfornowbutwill be in trouble if the lock-downextends.”VirendraThakur,a33-year-old

spotboy who has spent over adecadeintheindustry,hasnotre-ceivedanyhelp.Hesoundsmoreworriedaboutthefellowspotboyswhohave childrenand family tolook after. “In our WhatsAppgroup,manyworkerswhohaveafamilytosupporthavebeenshar-ingthattheydonothaveenoughfoodtoeat,”saysThakur,amem-beroftheFilmStudiosSettingandAlliedMazdoorUnion.Multiplecalls andmessages tounionoffi-

cialshavegoneinvain,headds.DubeyexpressestheFWICE’s

inability to help the dailywageworkersbeyondapoint.“Wede-pend on donations to help theworkers.Duetothelockdown,wecan’tgodoortodoortohelpany-one.Thatapart,sincetheassocia-tionofficesareshut,wedon’thavethedetailsofallthemembers.”Evenafterthelockdownends,

the situationmight not improvedrastically. “Most projectswilltake timetostart.Whentheydo,the unitswill be smaller. Therewill be fewer crowd scenes,”Dubeyadds.Mostoftheworkersareaware

of this uncertain future.Mishra,whoonceused to runa tea stall,says: “Wehave to thinkof doingsomeotherdhanda(business)be-forewecangetregularworkintheindustry.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,PUNE,APRIL16

WITHTESTINGcriteriamodifiedto testonlysymptomaticpeople,the BMC Thursday registered afurther reduction in fresh cases,with107testingpositiveforcoro-navirus inMumbai, a drop from140 onWednesday and 204 onTuesday. In two days, the caseshave dropped by 47.5 per cent.AcrossMaharashtra, theCOVID-19countreached3,202with286newcasesonThursday.At least sevenpeople died in

thestate,of themfourwerefromPune and three fromMumbai.BMCofficialssaidonepersonsuf-feredfrombothcomorbidityandage-related issues, one from justco-morbidity problemsandonewasaseniorcitizen.Whilethere-porteddeathshaveconsiderablyreduced inMumbai in last twodays owing toBMC’s decision tofirst“audit”thedeathsbeforede-

claringthemasduetoCOVID-19,additionalmunicipal commis-sioner SureshKakani said itwastooearlytopredictanything.“We are neither too excited

withlownumberofpositivecasesnortooanxious. Itwill takeafewdaystounderstandthepattern.”Across the state, 194 people

havedieduntilnow.OnThursday,out of sevendeaths, four peoplewhodiedwereagedabove60.Co-morbiditycontinuestoplayaroleinfatality,atleastsixhadotherill-nessessuchasdiabetes,hyperten-sion, asthmaandheart ailment.According to a state governmentreportonThursday, twopercentof total positive cases inMaharashtra remain critically illand14percenthavemildsymp-tomoftheinfection.State officials said so far 300

patients have been dischargedfromisolationfacilityafterrecov-ery.OnThursday,fivepeopleweredischarged.Atleast71,076peopleremained under homequaran-tine and 6,108 in institutionalquarantine. Thoseunder institu-tionalquarantineareallhigh-riskpeople suspected tohave coron-avirusinfection.Meanwhile, as the state gov-

ernment continues todomicro-level planning for administeringhydroxychloroquine tohigh-risk

peopleasapreventivemedicationagainstCOVID-19,BMCcommis-sioner PraveenPardeshi said thecivicbodywillgoaheadwithad-ministering themedication to50,000 people in hotspots ofDharaviandWorli.“Wearedoingthis on experimental basis, so asmall populationwill be admin-isteredfirst,”hesaid.Dr Subhash Salunkhe, chief

technicaladvisortoMaharashtrachief secretary, said, “Weare stillunderdiscussiononwhoalltoad-minister thedrugandhowtogoaheadwithpopulation selectioninhotspots,”hesaid.Thegovern-ment has decided to conductmedical examination and avoidgivingpreventivemedication toheartorkidneypatientsandpreg-nantwomen.In Pune, while four deaths

wereregisteredatSassoonhospi-tal taking the death count to 47,the hospital also discharged itsfirstpatient.Thenumberofposi-tivecaseshasgoneupto497.

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,APRIL16

THE BOMBAY High Court’sAurangabadbenchhas directedthe state government to instructdistrict collectors fromMarathwada and NorthMaharashtra regions to prepareandproduce detailswithin twoweeks on the total number ofstrandedmigrantworkers, shel-ter homes and efforts taken fortheir counselling to prevent anyextremesteportrauma.Asingle-judgebenchofjustice

RavindraVGhugemadethesedi-rections throughavideo-confer-encehearingonApril 15 ina suomotuPILwhileittookcognizanceof variousmedia reports on theproblems faced bymigrant andhealthworkers,amongothers.The government assured the

benchsufficientsecuritywasbe-ing provided to doctors, nursesandhealthworkersonCOVID-19duty,who are being threatenedwithphysicalassaultandabusedforrefusingtoleavetheirresiden-

tialareas.AdvocateAmolJoshi,whowas

appointedasamicuscuriebythecourtWednesday, sought direc-tions from the bench to districtcollectorsinMarathwadaregion,whichcomeunderthepurviewofAurangabadbench,torespondonvariousmeasuresbeingtakenformigrantworkersinviewoftheex-tendednationwidelockdown.Joshialsosoughtfromthedis-

trict collectors data on thenum-berofmigrantworkers strandedinthesedistrictsandwhetheranyshelter homes have beenmadeavailable to them. Joshi alsosought to knowwhether anyef-forts havebeenmade toprovidepsychologicalcounsellingtothosestranded. It is toensure that theyarenotdriventotakeanyextremesteporsufferfromanypsycholog-icaltrauma,Joshisubmitted.JusticeGhugedirectedgovern-

mentpleaderDRKale toask thedistrictcollectorstoprepareare-port on the same within twoweeks. The court is likely to takeupfurtherhearingonthepleaonMay4afterthelockdown.

KAVITHAIYERMUMBAI,APRIL16

PUNE’SSASSOONHospitalandBJGovernmentMedical College isseekingtobecomeMaharashtra’sfirst hospital to use the experi-mental convalescent plasmatherapyintreatingcriticalCOVID-19 patients, but various proce-dural modalities are still to becompleted before the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR)andtheDrugsControllerGeneral of India give the go-ahead.TheDCGIwillalsohavetorelaxrulespertainingtoblooddo-nation by convalescents, for thespecificpurposeoftheclinicaltri-alsandtotheextentofparticipat-inginstitutions.Facing a highmortality rate,

thePunehospitalhasrespondedtotheICMR’scallforapplicationsfrominstitutionsforaclinicaltrialtostudythesafetyandeffective-ness of therapeutic plasma ex-change (TPE) and convalescentplasma therapy in treatingCOVID-19cases.TPE uses enrichment with

healthydonorplasma,whilecon-valescentplasmatherapyseekstotreat critical patients with do-natedplasmafromCOVID-19sur-vivors,with the protective anti-bodies formed by the latterexpectedtobebeneficial.ThisMonday, theUSFDAhas

also issuedguidelinesoninvesti-gational use of convalescentplasmaintreatingcriticalcases,aswell as recommendations toblood establishments on collec-tion of COVID-19 convalescentplasma.TheUSFDAandtheICMRcon-

cur that convalescent plasmatherapyis,fornow,onlytobereg-ulatedasaninvestigationalprod-uctinapprovedclinicaltrials.WhileKerala, the first state to

applytotheICMRforclinicaltrials,ishoping to start theexperimen-taltreatmentafterregisteringwiththeICMR,green-lightingthetrialswill notbepossibleuntil there isclarityonavailabilityofkits toes-tablishtheconvalescentplasma’sneutralising titre, and until de-

tailed guidelines are formulatedon several aspects includingpa-tientanddonoreligibility.TheUS FDA’s guidelines say,

for example, that donormust becompletely recoveredwith nosymptomsfor28days,orshownosymptomsfor14daysalongsideanegativetestresult. Itsaysconva-lescentplasmamusthaveSARS-CoV-2neutralisingantibodytitresofat least1:160.Theneutralisingtitre helps arrive at a recom-mendeddosage.“SincetheICMRhascalledfor

institutionstoapplyforthetrials,weassumethatthekitsareavail-ablebutwehaven’tstartedreceiv-ingthem,”saidDrAravindR,headof department of infectious dis-ease at ThiruvananthapuramMedical College inKerala, oneoftheinstitutionswaitingtostartthetrials, and alsomember of thestate’s expert committee forCOVID-19. “Wewill thenneedtocheckiftherearelegalitiesregard-ingthecollectionofconvalescentplasma, as donation is currentlynotallowedforaperiodoftimeaf-terrecovery.”The guidelines released on

March25by theNational BloodTransfusion Council regardingblood transfusion services in thelight of theCOVID-19pandemiclists at-riskdonorswhoare cur-rentlyexcluded fromdonation—thosewith travelhistory, contacthistoryandconfirmedcaseswhomustnotdonateuntilfullrecovery“includingradiologicalandvirolog-icalclearance”.OfficialsattheNBTCsaid theDCGIwillhavetospecifi-callyrelaxrulesforapprovedclin-ical trials to theextentof thepar-ticipating institutionsand for thespecificpurposeofthetrials.“Thenthereistheissueofde-

velopingdetailedprotocolsonre-cipientselectionevenamongthecritical patients,” said Dr

Raghukumar.Thiscouldbedysp-noeaoracuterespiratorytrouble,blood oxygen saturation levels,percentageof lunginfiltrates,etc.IntheUS,theFDAhasallowed

emergencyaccesstoconvalescentplasmaforpatientswithimmedi-ately life-threatening conditions,andDrAravindsaiditmaybecon-sideredtoadministerthetherapyforcriticalcaseshereunderanac-cess protocol on compassionategrounds.Thedistrict administrationof

Pune, which has recorded 437positive cases and40death asofWednesday,iskeentoalsogetap-provedfortheclinicaltrials inor-dertocurbthedeathrate.SassoonHospitalhasrecordedamongthehighestmortalityratesofCOVID-19 positive patients. The highmortality rate has ledofficials inPune’s district administration tobelieve that the experimentalplasmatherapycouldbeagame-changer for the district’s fightagainstCOVID-19.Convalescentplasmahasbeen

usedand its use studied inotheroutbreaks,includingmajorrespi-ratorydiseases suchas the2003SARS epidemic and2009H1N1epidemic, and Pune officials arehoping that the ICMRwill fast-trackthependingmodalities.AyushPrasad,CEOofthePune

ZillaParishad,saidthedistrictad-ministration isworking closelywith Pune’s hospitals to providewhatever infrastructure andequipmentmayhelp reduce thehighdeathrateinthedistrict.“Thisis cutting-edge technology thathas alreadybeenpurchased, themachinewillarriveinPuneinthenext twodays. Also, itwill haveuses beyondCOVID-19, so itwillenableus toupgrademedical in-frastructure in governmenthos-pitals,”hesaid.Themachineistobesupplied

by Terumo, aUS-Japanese com-panywithanIndiansubsidiary.Arepresentative ofThiruvananthapuram-basedTerumoPenpolsaidthemachinecan collect plasma antibodies,though it is also used in severalhospitals across India forplateletcollection.

3,280 (46,671)CasesregisteredunderSection188(Violatinganorderissuedbyapublic servant)of the IndianPenalCode

Personswhoviolatedquarantine 18(540)

Phonecallsmadeto100pertainingtoCOVID-19 1,442(69,462)

Numberof infectedpolice personnel 10(29)

Casesof illegal transport 18(1,019)

Arrests 332(9,155)

Vehiclesseized 2,305(31,296)

Fines imposed Rs10.69 lakh(Rs1.70crore)

*Total figures forall categories inbrackets

Figures forApril16releasedbytheMaharashtraPolice

NUMBERWATCH

Numberofdeaths 194

Totalnumberofpeopledischarged 300

Numberofpeople tested55,964

Totalnumberquarantined6,108

Numberofnewcases 286

TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRA

3,202

Savings dry up, uncertain future ahead for daily wagers in showbiz

Migrants labourers restonMumbai-AgrahighwayonThursday.Withthenationwide lockdownextendedtillMay3,manyof themhavestartedtowalktowardstheirhometowns. PrashantNadkar

(Right)TinaDusa,a juniorartist,andVinodMishra,aspotboy

Pune hopes for quick start tousing convalescent plasmafor critical COVID-19 case

MANOJMOREPUNE,APRIL 16

THEARRESTofABPMajha jour-nalistRahulKulkarnihasdrawnfirefromactivists,journalistsandevenpoliticians inMaharashtrawithmostdescribingtheactionas “unwarranted” and “harsh”.Kulkarni secured bail onThursday.Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut

said he had told Chief MinisterUddhavThackeraythatthejour-nalist should not be arrested. “Idon’tknowwhyhewasarrested.My view is that he should nothave been arrested,” Raut toldThe IndianExpress.In an editorial published in

Saamana on Thursday, Raut in-stead blamed the railways forthe chaos at Bandra. The edito-rial saidevenas therewasspec-ulation about whether PrimeMinisterNarendraModiwill liftthe lockdown in the days pre-ceding the announcement, therailwaysacceptedbookingsof40lakh people. “Why did the rail-ways accept reservation after

April 15? Therefore, the railwayministry is responsible for thechaos at Bandra station. WillOpposition leader DevendraFadnavis now demand the res-ignationoftherailwayminister,”Rautasked.Senior Congress leader

Prithviraj Chavan said though itseemsthechannelerred input-tingoutaspeculativereport,ar-resting the reporter was harsh.“Atbest,thechannelshouldhavebeenwarned... Arresting the re-porterwas aharshmove. But atthe same time, the channelshould have carried a clarifica-tion in its 11 amnews after thenewsat 9 am. I think, therewasonewrongsentence inthe9amnews,”hesaid.Chavan said there should be

a thorough probe into wholeaked therailways letter.ABP Majha editor Rajeev

Khandekar said, “Therewas noconnection between our reportandthechaosatBandrastation.If ourreportwasresponsibleforthe chaos, then it should havehappened acrossMaharashtra.We immediately reported at 11

amthat lockdownhasnot beenlifted and train services are notbeingresumed.”State BJP spokesperson

KeshavUpadhayesaid,“Thegov-ernmentistryingtohideitsfail-ure by targeting the journalist.There was no connection be-tween his report and the chaosatBandrastation.Yethewasar-rested.”“…Kulkarni was booked for

the mayhem in Bandra. It isshocking. FIRs are being lodgedagainst party workers and themediawho are doing their job,whichisunbelievable,”saidsen-ior BJP leader Vinod Tawde, ad-dressing the media throughvideo-conference.“Thegatheringofmigrantsat

Bandra station needs to beprobed and those responsibleshouldbeexposed…,”headded.“More shocking is the failure ofintelligence. How could such amassivecrowdgatherinanareawhich is in the neighbourhoodof Chief Minister UddhavThackeray,”hesaid.

—WITHINPUTSFROMMUMBAI

HC seeks detailsof steps taken forcounselling ofstranded migrants

ZEESHANSHAIKHMUMBAI,APRIL16

ANASHIK relief camp, housingmorethan300migrantlabourers,has been sealed after a 24-year-oldmigrantworker testedposi-tive for the coronavirusWednesday, officials said. This ispossiblythefirstcoronaviruspos-itivecasetobereportedatareliefcampinthestate,theyadded.The state has set up 2,691

camps to provide refuge to the3.32lakhmigrantworkersitem-ploys from25 states, includingMaharashtra,andNepal.Accordingtoofficials,theman,

a truckcleaner,wasamonghun-dreds ofmigrant labourerswhotried towalk to their homestate

inNorthern India fromMumbai.OnMarch30,hewasinterceptedbypoliceinNashikandsenttothecampset up at a state social jus-tice department-run hostel. Ithouses318migrantlabourers.“So far,wehavemovedeight

individuals to institutional quar-antineand theyarebeing tested.The local administration has

sealed the areawhere the reliefcampislocated.Atotalof114indi-viduals,whowere lodged in thebuilding,arealsobeingsegregatedas high- and low-risk contacts,”Nashik District Collector SurajMandharesaid.Withthis, theto-tal number of coronavirus pa-tientsinNashikrosetofive.Camp authorities said four

personswereputupineachroomat thehostel toensure social dis-tancing.Whilemostofthework-ers were screened before theyweremoved into the facility, the24-year-oldmandevelopedfeverand cough only on April 13. Hewas subsequently shifted to acivic-runhospital and tested forthevirus.OnWednesday,histestreports confirmed that hewascoronaviruspositive.

Politicians, activists slamTV journalist’s arrest

MIGRANTSATBANDRA

Nashik relief camp sealed as24-yr-old migrant tests positive

Theareahasbeensealed.YatishBhanu

ConvalescentplasmatherapyseekstotreatcriticalpatientswithdonatedplasmafromCOVID-19survivors

Toll closer to 200, cases dropby47%over 2 days inMumbai

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHIGroup ofMinistersmeets todayNew Delhi: The Group ofMinistersformedtoreviewIndia’s COVID-19 responseis set tomeet at 11 amonFriday.Thegroupischairedby Health Minister DrHarshvardhan. AmongothermembersoftheGOMare Civil AviationMinisterHardeep Singh Puri,External AffairsMinister SJaishankar, MoS (Home)Nityananda Rai, MoS forShipping,andChemicalandFertilizers MansukhMandaviya, and MoS(HealthandFamilyWelfare)Ashwini Kumar Choubey.

ENS

UTTARAKHANDWeddingsallowed, butwith ridersDehradun: Uttarakhandgovernment Thursday de-cidedtoallowweddingsinthe state during the lock-down,with the conditionthat permissionwould beissuedforthepresenceofamaximumof five personseach from the bride andgroom’s side. Thedecisionwas taken in a cabinetmeeting chaired by ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat. Cabinet ministerMadan Kaushik said bothsidesmustseekpermissionfromDMsseparately. Also,theceremonymustbeper-formed inside the housewithsocialdistancingrulesinplace. ENS

UTTARPRADESHMan hostsson’s birthdayparty, bookedGorakhpur: A Gorakhpurman has been booked forallegedlyhostingapartyonhis10-year-oldson'sbirth-dayinhishousingcomplexamidthe lockdown,policesaidThursday.Theaccusedwentaheadwiththepartydespiteoppositionfromlo-calresidents.Avideooftheincident shows50-odd in-viteespurportedlysocialis-ing and having foodfrom stalls outside theapartment. PTI

CORONAWATCH

AmobiletestingboothatKarnatakaCMBSYediyurappa’sresidence. PTI

PunePolicepunishpeoplewhosteppedoutinvehiclesduringlockdown.Theyweremadetositontheroadforhours.PavanKhengre

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,APRIL 16

THE KERALA government onThursdayproposedtogroupdis-tricts into zones based onCOVID-19casesandoffergradedrelaxationof lockdownnormsinnon-hotspotdistrictsafterApril20 toget theeconomygoing.Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan said agriculture, rubberprocessing units, construction,traditional industries of coir,cashew, khadi andbeediwouldbe allowed to resumework innon-hotspot areas, sticking tothe safety guidelines issued bytheUniongovernment.VehicleswillbeallowedfromApril20,onodd-even basis on alternativedays,butthebanoninter-districttravelwill continue.Vijayansaidsocialdistancing

should bemaintained atwork-places, and managementsshouldensure that theemploy-ees do not have any health is-sues. Workers should enterworkplacesthroughdesignatedentry points and companiesshouldemployonly50per centof workers, who will work inshifts.VijayansaidfournorthKerala

districts of Kasaragod, Kannur,Kozhikode and Malappuram,which together account for 124of the 147 people under treat-ment for COVID-19, would bereckoned as a single red zonewhere existing lockdown regi-menwould continue until May3. The state will seek Centre'spermission to consider thesefourdistrictsasasinglezone.“Hotspotvillagesinthesedis-

trictswill be identifiedandbor-ders of such villages will beclosed.Movementofprovisionswillbeallowedonlythroughen-try and exit points fixed by thegovernment in these villages,’’

he said.The second zone will have

Pathanamthitta, Ernakulamand Kollam districts, which to-gether have 14 cases.“Lockdown will continue inthesedistrictsuntilApril24andrestrictions will be eased afterreviewing the situation.Hotspot regions in these dis-trictswill be sealed,’’ he said.On Thursday, the state re-

ported seven new COVID-19cases, taking the total to 394.Ofthem, 245 have been cured sofar. In Kasaragod district, whichhad reported 168 cases, only 61areunder treatment.Normal life will be partially

restored in the five districts ofThiruvananthapuram,Alappuzha, Palakkad, ThrissurandWayanad, which have onlyninecases.Publicroadtransportwill be allowedwithin the dis-tricts and restaurants can offertake-away service till 7 pm.However, gatherings andmeet-ings will not be allowed until

May3.Intheremainingtwodistricts

of Kottayam and Idukki, whichdonothaveanyactivecases,nor-mal life be allowedwith neces-sary safety precautions.Travelling outside the districtwillnotbeallowedforpeopleinthese twodistricts.TheChiefMinister said peo-

ple would have to wear maskwhen they step out, and handwash and sanitizer should beprovided in public places. Localself-governing bodies wouldhaveasystemtoobserveCOVID-19 patients asked to remain inhome isolation for 14days afterthey are discharged fromhospital.Village, panchayat and agri-

culture offices should resumefunctioning and local bodiesshouldarrangetele-medicinefa-cility for senior citizens whohave underlying health condi-tions,hesaid.Theruraljobguar-anteeschemecouldberesumedwith fiveworkersata site.

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

A TOTAL of 25 Indians overseashave died due to COVID-19 and3,336 Indiansabroadhavebeeninfected so far, sources said onThursday. Sources said thatwhile 35,000 foreign nationalsfrom 48 countries have beenevacuated from India, there areno plans to evacuate Indiansfromoverseasasof now.For Indians stranded over-

seas, sourcesmade it clear thatthe government’s advice hasbeen to “stay putwherever youare”. “It’s amatter of havingpa-

tience, contact the Indian em-bassieswhereveryouare—seektheir support, help and guid-ance,” a sourcesaid.“I think to the extent possi-

ble, ourmissions have reachedout toa largenumberofpeople,and are trying to solve theirproblems. Of course, these aredifficult times.Weneed theun-derstanding of people that thistoowillpass.It'samatteroftime.Ithinkourmissionshavegonetotheextraordinarylengthofeventaking the support of the NRIcommunity,” a sourcesaid.When specifically asked

about evacuation of Indian na-tionals from the UK, the source

said,“Atthispointof time, Ican-not give you any clear answer,because we are in a lockdownperiod.Wewill have towait forsomeclarity, at a later time.”ThesourcesaidthatIndiahas

alsoapprovedrequeststosupplyessential life-saving drugs likeHCQto55countriessofar.While21 of them are being suppliedthrough commercial arrange-ments, some others have beengivenasgrantinsmallquantities.Sourcesalsosaidthatthereisa

movetoconveneameetingoftheBRICS(Brazil-Russia-India-China-SouthAfrica)foreignministerslaterthismonthontheCOVID-19pan-demic. India had earlier partici-

pated in the G-20 leaders andSAARCleaders’virtualsummit.The MEA’s COVID control

room has also fielded about5,000 phone calls, answered18,000 emails and addressed2,000publicgrievancesoverthelastonemonth.The3,336 Indiancitizens in-

fected with coronavirus in 53foreign countries include 785people in Kuwait, 634 inSingapore, 420 in Qatar, 308 inIran, 297 in Oman, 238 in UAE,186 in Saudi Arabia, 135 inBahrain, 91 in Italy, 37 inMalaysia, 36 in Portugal, 29 inGhana, 24 in the US, 15 inSwitzerlandand13 inFrance.

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,APRIL16

KERALAISsettofacethechallengeof return migration when airtravelresumesandhealthexpertshave alreadywarned the stategovernment to be ready to putthose returning fromabroadun-derobservation.The state has already identi-

fied1.5lakhbedsinhostels,hotelsandsimilarpremises—at least1lakhofthemareready-to-occupy.Local bodies have been told toidentify uninhabited housesacrossKerala as thegovernmentwants2lakhbedsforquarantine.OfficialsatNORKAROOTS,the

state department for Non-Resident Keralites, said they aregettingdistresscallsfromseveralcountries.“Thosewhohavegoneabroadonvisit visas, chronicpa-tients,thosewhohavelostjobsinthewakeofCOVID-19,wanttore-turn at the earliest.We expectmorepeoplewouldbe forced toreturn if they lose jobs post-COVID-19...We don’t have anynumbers,whichwouldbeknownonlywhen flights are functional.Mostoftheprospectivereturnees

wouldbe fromtheMiddle East,’’officialssaid.Sources said if theCOVID-19

threatfailstosubsideinthecom-ingweeks, hundreds of youthswhohavegoneabroadforstudieswill be forced to return toKerala.“As the statedoesnothaveexactdata on the student communityabroad, NORKA ROOTSwouldstartaregistrationfromFridayon-wards,’’officialssaid.An immediate fallout of

COVID-19will be returnmigra-tion, which will impacteconomieslikeKerala,whichhasremittancefromexpatriatesasitslifeline,accordingtoDrS IrudayaRajan, internationally-acclaimedscholaronmigration.“Returnmi-grationisgoingtohappenevery-where, including in India. As thesituation is evolving,we cannotsayhowmanywouldcomeback...more expatriates from variouscountrieswould return... leadingtothephenomenon...AsKeralaisalmost a safe zone now, therewouldbeahigherdemandtore-turntothisstate,’’saidRajan,ChairProfessor,Ministry of OverseasIndian Affairs ResearchUnit onInternationalMigration at theCentre forDevelopment Studies,Thiruvananthapuram.

ESHAROYNEWDELHI,APRIL16

DESCRIBING IT as an “importantbreakthrough”,doctorsatKerala'sSree Chitra Tirunal Institute forMedicalSciencesandTechnology(SCTIMST) said Thursday thattheyhavedevelopedadiagnostickit thathalves the timecurrentlytakentodetectCOVID-19.SCTIMST director Dr Asha

Kishore told The Indian Expressthat the kit, which reduces theconfirmation time fromthe cur-rent4-5hours to twohours,wasoriginallybeingdevelopedforthedetection of DNA of

MycobacteriumTBover thepasttwoyearsandwasscheduled forclinicaltrialsinMarch.Kishore said the new tool,

called Chitra GeneLAMP-N, ismoreeffectivebecause it detectstwo transcripts of theN-geneofSARSCOV2,orCOVID-19.The Institute is nowawaiting

certification validation from theIndian Council of MedicalResearch(ICMR),andago-aheadfromtheCentralDrugs StandardControlOrganisation(CDSCO)formanufacturingthekits.“This is themost important

breakthrough that the Institutehasmade in any field in thepastfewdecades,”Kishoresaid.Based

inThiruvananthapuram, the SC-TIMST functions under theMinistryofEarthSciences.Whencontacted,DrRamanR

Gangakhedkar, Head of theEpidemiologyandCommunicableDiseases Division of ICMR, de-scribedthedevelopmentas“abigthingforusandthecountry”.“ButtheICMRfirsthastovali-

dateittoseetheaccuracyandthesensitivityof thetest.Thisvalida-tion should take around twoweeks,maybeevenless.Oncethatis done, if the Institutehas an in-dustrypartnerwhocanproducein bulk, they can start rolling itout,”hesaid.Kishoresaidthekitdetectsthe

N Gene of SARS COV2 using amethodcalled reverse transcrip-taseloop-mediatedamplificationofviralnucleicacid(RT-LAMP).Shesaidtestsconductedatthe

National Institute of Virology(NIV) lab in Alappuzha showed“100per cent accuracy and100percentcongruencewithresultsusingRT-PCR”,which is the toolthatiscurrentlyusedinIndia.PCRkitsenabledetectionofthe

Egeneinthefirstscreening.Ifthisstageshowsapositiveresult,asec-ondscreeningoftheRdRpgeneiscarriedoutforconfirmation.According to Kishore, Chitra

GeneLAMP-Nreducesthetestingfroma two-step process to one

step.ShesaidthatoncetheRNAisextracted througha throat swaband amplified, the new test candetect COVID-19 in 10minutes,whilethePCRtesttakesone-and-a-halfhours.“Moreover,30samplescanbe

testedinasinglebatchinasinglemachine and the significantlylower waiting time will allowlarge number of samples to betested each day in a singlema-chineinmultipleshifts,”shesaid.“Oneof thebigadvantagesof

thiskit is thatyoudon’tneedBioSafetyLevel2or3labsfortesting.Anylabandevendistricthospitalscancarrythemout.Theyarealsofar cheaperwith thedevicecost-

ingRs2.5 lakhasopposed to theRTPCRmachines,whichcancostbetweenRs15-40lakh,andaPCRkit betweenRs 1,900-2,500 pertest,”Kishoresaid.“Wehad already transferred

the technology to AgapeDiagnostics Ltd in Ernakulam, aleading company in vitro-diag-nostics, and they arewaiting forpermission to start rolling thesekitsout,’’ shesaid.Kishoresaidthekitfollowsthe

guidelinesoftheCenterforDiseaseControl(CDC)intheUS,whichhasrecommended the detection oftworegionsofN-gene for confir-mationof COVID-19byanygeneamplificationtechnology.

Faster, cheaper testing kit ready, says Kerala instituteKIT HALVES TIME TAKEN TO DIAGNOSE COVID-19

PUNJAB CHIEF MinisterAMARINDER SINGH speaks toMANOJCGonchallengesstatesare facing in the fight againstCOVID-19 andwhy the Centreneeds tostep in.Excerpts

Thelockdownhasbeenextended.HasthePrimeMinisterbeenfrugalwithdetailsaboutthenextcourseof action,abouthowtokeepafloatbusinesses,aboutthemechanismtotideovereconomicchallengesandthemigrants issue?Therereallyhavebeennode-

tails offered or discussedwiththestates,exceptfortheCOVID-relatedmeasures being taken.TheonlydetailswesawweretheadvisorythattheHomeMinistryissued the day after the lock-downwas announced. In fact,we had asked the Centre to al-lowus to open some industriesandmanufacturingunitswhichwere accommodatingmigrantlabourers and taking care ofthemwhileensuringsafety.Buteventhat camemuch later.

Asanadministrator, youwouldappreciate that eventheCentre’s revenueshaveshrunk.Howdoyou thinktheCentre canhelp inall thedemandsbeing raisedbystates?Nobody believes that the

Centreisbankrupt.Theycaneas-ilyborrowfromnationalreservestomeet this unprecedentedna-tional health crisis. The statesneedmoney.Wehavenowayofgenerating revenues and theCentrehastocomeforward.Weare facing theworst crisis sincethe1918Spanishflu...TheCentrehas to findways to help out thestates. They cannot leave thestates to fend for themselves atthis point. I havewritten to thePrimeMinister and the Union

FinanceMinister to find innova-tivewaystotideover thiscrisis.

Whatoptions isPunjabexploringontherevenuefront? Intheabsenceof apackagefromtheCentre,what isPunjabgoingtodotorunthestateandfacetheCOVID-19challenge?Yes, it is a problemwith the

Centre failing to come outwithanyspecial reliefpackagefor thestate.Wehavenomoneytohan-dle this crisis. Our revenuesourceshavedriedup,thereisnoexcisedutyor taxes coming.Wehavenotevenreceivedthefullar-rearsofourGSTshareyet.Frankly,we are just grabbing at strawsrightnow.Wearetryingtocutex-penses across departments tomeetthecostofmedicalcareandessentials.Wehave formed a fi-nance sub-committee to thinkoutof theboxonrevenuegener-ation.Wearealsogoingtosetupa high-powered committee un-deraneconomicexperttoformu-lateastrategy for revivalof busi-ness and economy after thelockdownperiod.

DoyouthinkthePrimeMinistershould interactwithChiefMinistersmoreoften?Definitely. It is a national is-

sue. We have a health emer-gency in the country. And theentire nation is facing an eco-

nomiccollapse...

Whyshouldasmalltrader,abusinessmanoramanufacturerpaythesamewagestodailywagersasearlierwithoutanylet-upinhisrentalcosts?Howcanhisliabilitiesbecushionedbythestate?ThePrimeMinisterspokeaboutnationalsolid-aritybut is thatsufficient?That’s correct. In fact, I have

written to thePrimeMinisteronthisissue.Thebigindustriesmightsurvive but for the smalltrader/manufacturer,itisacaseofbeingstuckbetweenthedevilandthedeepsea.AsIsaid,wehavenofundstohelpoutthesebusiness-men... The Centre has to step in.The PrimeMinister has to shownationalsolidarityontheground...

Howhasbeenthecentralsupport inbeefinguphealthinfrastructure?Unfortunately,wehavenotre-

ceived any central support inthesetestingtimes.Theonlythingwehavereceivedis10,000of theonelakhrapidtestingkitswehadordered. Other thingswe havebeen procuring from the openmarket at whatever cost... TheCentre has to help us out.WHOsaystest,testandtest.Buthowdowedothatwithoutsufficientkits?

FULL INTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

NewDelhi:TheEDhasregistereda case of money launderingagainst Tablighi Jamaat, whichhascourtedcontroversyforare-ligious congregation in Delhi’sNizamuddin area amid theCOVID-19outbreak.Sourcessaidtheagencyregis-

tered an Enforcement CaseInformation Report (equivalentto an FIR) against the organisa-tionanditsleadershipundersec-tions of Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act. The agency hastaken cognizance of multipleFIRs against the Jamaat and itsmembers.TheDelhiPoliceCrimeBranch had registered a caseagainst the Jamaat and its leaderMaulanaSaadKandhalvi.Sectionsrelatedtoculpablehomicidehavebeenaddedtothecase. ENS

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

AMARINDERSINGHPUNJABCM

‘Centre can’t leave states to fendfor themselves at this point’

25 Indians overseas died ofCOVID-19, so far 3,336 infected

ED files moneylaunderingcase againstTablighi Jamaat

Kerala prepares forreturn migration

COVID-19count rising inMP, BJP plansto appoint‘small’ cabinet

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI,APRIL16

WITHTHECOVID-19situationinMadhyaPradeshworsening, therulingBJP is planning to appointsomeministerssooneventhoughthestatemayhavetowait longerfor a full cabinet. Theparty lead-ership is holding discussions tochoosea“small” cabinet fornowand it is expected to be in placewithinaweek,saidsources.Thenationalleadershipofthe

BJP and Chief Minister ShivrajSinghChouhanhavebeenunderpressuretoappointministersatatimewhenthestateiswitnessingarapidspreadofCOVID-19.ReplacingKamalNathasChief

Minister, Chouhan took oath onMarch 23, a day before PrimeMinister Narendra Modi an-nouncedthelockdown.Currently,Chouhan is the onlymember ofthestatecabinet.Madhya Pradesh has wit-

nessed a sudden surge in thenumberof COVID-19cases,withthe count crossing 1,000.Whiletherise inthenumberof cases inIndore is exponential, caseshavebeen reported from26of the52districtsinthestate.Seniorpartyleadershavesaid

theabsenceofafullcabinetisnotbeing allowed to affect the fightagainst the virus. BJP vice-presi-dent and state in-charge VinaySahasrabuddhesaidthepartyhasset upa task force for coordinat-ingthefightagainstthepandemic.“The party has set up a task

forcewith experienced leaders.We have leaders like KailashVijayvargiya, a formerministerwhoisinIndore,ahotspot,andiscoordinating things,”Sahasrabuddhesaid.Accordingtohim, the 11-member task forcecomprising the CM, senior BJPleaderslikeNarottamMishra,MPRakeshSinghamongothers,takesinputs from the party leadersacross thedistricts and the chiefministertakesuptheissueswiththecentralgovernment.

ZONE2:Pathanamthitta,Ernakulam,Kollam14activecases

ZONE3:Thiruvananthapuram,Alappuzha,Palakkad,Thrissur,Wayanad9activecases

ZONE4:KottayamandIdukki0cases

CODE FORCURBSStringent rules will continue in Zone 1 tillMay 3,others will get graded exemptions after April 20

ZONE1:Kasaragod,Kannur,Kozhikode,Malappuram124activecases

Keralagroupsdistrictsinto zones for gradedrelaxationafterApril 20

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

EXPRESSNETWORK

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, APRIL 16

CALLING CONVALESCENTplasma therapy for COVID-19patients a “small ray of hope”,Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwalThursdaysaiditwillbestartedontrialbasis inhospitalsin theCapital.MaxHospitalhadearlierput

twocoronaviruspatientsonthetherapy. While one of them, a70-year-old from DefenceColony, succumbed to the dis-ease on Wednesday, his 49-year-old son is receiving thetreatmentatthehospital’sSaketbranch, with doctors saying heis respondingwell.“This treatment has shown

some positive results in somecountries that are experiment-ingwithit.Theonlywaytoelim-inate coronavirus disease is todevelopavaccine.Vaccineshavebeen very effective in prevent-ing and eliminating severalotherdiseasescausedbyvirusesin thepast. Till then,wehave tolook at prevention and treat-ment,whichareourtwobiggestchallenges right now,”Kejriwal said.The Delhi government re-

ceivedago-aheadtouseplasmatherapy from ICMRon Tuesdayevening.“It has been seen that in

some cases, the chances of sur-vival go up if plasma therapy isused. Doctors and researchersare studying it... in another 2-3days,wewillstart thistherapy. Imustclarify, this isonlyatatrialstagesofarandwedon’tknowifthiswill be successful,” he said.Explaining how the therapy

works, Kejriwal said: “When apersonwho has contracted thedisease recovers, antibodies tofight the disease are formed intheirblood.Blood is taken fromthis cured patient and plasma(with antibodies) is isolatedfromtheblood.This isenrichedand injected into the blood-stream of another patient sothattheycangettheantibodies.Wepraythatthistrial issuccess-ful. Many other states are alsoworkingonit. Ihopeeveryone’seffortspayoff.”The Institute of Liver and

Biliary Sciences (ILBS) alongwith Maulana Azad MedicalCollege (MAMC) hadapplied to the Drug ControllerGeneral of India for a researchprotocol.“The virusmakes two types

ofantibodies—IgM(amarkerofacute infection that comesaroundday7andgoesdownbyday 21) and IgG (comes up twodays after IgM and stays forlong). So, one can use these an-tibodiesforcuringthenextper-son. Once day 21 passes, youwait for another few days andsee that thepersonwhohas re-coveredisnegativeforthevirus.In this therapy,youwill removethe plasma but not theblood, so thebloodwill gobackinto circulation and this wayplasmaisextracted,”saidDrSKSarin, head of ILBS and also in-chargeof theDelhigovernmentpanel on combating coron-avirus.Dr Sarin said it is important

to identify the right donor — a

healthyperson in the18-60agegroup with no comorbidities.“Once you take theplasma, it isfrozenandthengiventothepa-tient. We hope the personwillget better; since it is a researchprotocol, we don’t knowwhatthe resultwouldbe,”headded.In the case of the two pa-

tients at Max Hospital who re-ceivedplasmatherapy,thefam-ily had arranged for a woman,whohadrecoveredfromcoron-avirus, tobethedonor.Hospitalauthorities did not divulge herdetails.Thehospitalhadalreadyap-

plied for approval from ICMRand DGCI, but the therapywasused on ‘compassionategrounds’ since itwas a life-sav-ing situation.“Thesonwasputonventila-

tor first, followed by his father.Both were not improving andtheirfamilyrequestedustocon-sider plasma therapy.The dialogue with the familystarted on Monday morning.We were waiting for approvalfrom the ICMR, but since thefamilymadearequeston ‘com-passionate grounds’, we pro-ceeded further. We then had adetailed consultation processandapproachedtheethicscom-mittee comprising membersfrominsideandoutsidethehos-pital,” said Dr SandeepBudhiraja,groupmedicaldirec-tor atMaxHealthcare.“The woman (donor) from

Delhi had recovered fromCOVID-19 onMarch 24, whichmeansthelastnegativetestwasthe same day. She voluntarilyagreed to come for testing andthe necessary tests were per-formed,”he said.The tests include COVID-19,

HIV,HepatitisBandHepatitisC.Fromonedonor,thedoctorscangive a transfusion to two per-sons. In this case, doctors took400 ml of plasma from thedonor and infused 200ml eachinto thepatients.“Late Tuesday night, the

plasma therapy was adminis-teredtobothpatients.Thefatherexpired onWednesday after-noon, but for the son, the pa-rametersare lookingmorepos-itive. There are twoinflammatory markers in thebloodcalledferritinandCRP(C-reactive protein), and both arelookingbetter.Bloodpressureiscontrolledandweareconsider-ing the weaning process inwhichwe try to reduce the set-tingof theventilator. Ittakestwodays to settle down, so it is tooearly to comment on the re-sults,”DrBudhiraja said.

Plasma therapysmall ray of hope,trials to start in Delhihospitals: Kejriwal

KAMAALSAIYED&AISHWARYAMOHANTYSURAT,VADODARA,APRIL 16

ON TUESDAY, when a tempoarrived with food by an NGOfor 5,000-oddmigrant labour-ers stuck without work inVarachha in Surat, KamleshYadav was among those whoqueued up. Later, he took aphoto of the “overcooked”khichdi and sweet kadhi, aGujarati staple, and sent ithome.Yadav,30, sayshiswife,who

lives back in Faizabad in UttarPradesh with his parents andtheir twochildren,brokedown.“We don’t have such khichdi.Weusuallyeatdal andriceandvegetables.She insisted I returnhome. But how can I go, withno transport?”Surat has seen at least two

instances of violence by mi-grantworkers desperate to gethome, apart from a fewminorprotests.While depleting cashis one reason and the desire toreturn home in the face of thecoronaviruspandemicanother,being forcedtodependonfoodthat theyarenotused toeatinghas also pushed many to des-peration.Yadav talks of his previous

night’s dinner, a brinjal dishwith rotis. “We found it veryspicy. There was no tomato orpotato in it.Wethrewthesabziandhad the rotis alone.”Yadav came to Surat five

yearsagoandworkedinapow-erloomfactorybefore it shut inthe lockdown. He says theydon’thaveanysupplies tocookown food, and the twomessesin the Varachha area have alsorun dry.Dharmendra Nishad, 26,

saysthatafter theycameoutonthe streets to protest, an NGOorganised lauki (bottle gourd)curry. “It was watery and the

potatoes were half-cooked.”From Gorakhpur in UttarPradesh, Nishad said, “To sur-vive, we eat what we get. Buthow long can we have suchfood?”Akshay Pradhan, 23, from

Ganjamdistrict inOdisha, said,“At daytime, they give a veg-etable with chapattis and fordinner, khichdi and sweet dal.I stopped going after twodays.We are not used to eatingsweet dal.”He talks wistfully of the

muttoncurryheandhis room-mates prepared on March 19.“Wehadbought themeat fromLaskana village. Generally wehave meat four times a week.We also have fish.”Assistant Commissioner of

Police, A division, Surat, C KPatel said, “We have come toknowabout the food issue, andthat was one of the reasonstheywanted to go home.”With many calling a

helplinesetupby it formigrantlabourers with complaints re-garding food, the Odisha gov-ernmentaskedGujaratonApril

14 to look at the possibility ofsupplying dry rations insteadof cookedmeals.Pankaj Haladhar, 42, from

Bajarguma village inNayagarhdistrict, working in a textileunit in Bamroli in Vadodara,said, “Ihavea rationcard,but itiswithmyfamily inmyvillage.Weweretold thatevenwithanAadhaarcardwecangetdryra-tion,but thedealer refusedsay-ingwedon’t belong toGujarat.Our meals are not fixed any-more. If someone distributesfood and we are able to reachon time, we eat, otherwise weskip.Thecommunitykitchen isfar off and we are scared to gosince police are everywhere.”Nitin Bhanudas Jawale, the

Odisha-cadre bureaucrat ap-pointedbyGujaratasnodalof-ficer forOdiasstuck inthestate,said 85% of the issues raised inthe 3,701 calls they had re-ceived,mostlyconcerningfood,had been resolved. “There issome confusion regarding theavailabilityofdryration.wearetrying to resolve that as well,”Jawale said.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,APRIL 16

ADAYafter a teamof police andhealthworkerswereattacked inMoradabadwhiletheyweretry-ing to quarantine contacts of acoronavirus patient, Uttar ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onThursdayorderedattachmentofproperties of people involved intheattack,iftheyfailtopayforthedamagetopublicproperty.Directingmagistratesandpo-

licechiefsofdistrictstoensurethesecurity of health officials andtake tough action against thoseinvolved in the attack of healthworkers, the Chief Minister or-dered that in case of damage topropertybymiscreantswhileen-suring lockdown and screeningof suspected coronavirus cases,moneyshouldberecoveredfromtheaccused,andif theyfail todoso, then their properties shouldbeconfiscated.Speaking tomediapersons

during the daily briefing here,Additional Chief Secretary

(Home)AwanishKumarAwasthisaid, “In everywaymedical andpoliceteamswouldbeprotected...The Chief Minister has also or-deredtobookthemiscreantsun-derNational Security Act (NSA)besides Epidemic Diseases ActandDisasterManagementAct.”The NSA allows preventive

detention for up to 12monthswithout a charge if the authori-ties are satisfied that the personis a threat tonational securityor

lawandorder.At least 17people have been

arrested in connectionwith theWednesday’s attack on policeandhealthofficialsinMoradabad.ChiefMinisterhadtermedtheat-tack“aninhumancrime”.Meanwhile, the Chief

Minister,whoattendedtheofficeat the Secretariat here after 21days,alsodirectedofficialstoen-surestrictimplementationofthelockdown that has been ex-

tendedtillMay3.At themeetingof senioroffi-

cials,whoarepartofthe11com-mittees forcontrolandmanage-mentof coronavirus in thestate,the Chief Minister fixed the re-sponsibilityoftherespectiveDMsandSPstoenforcethelockdownstrictly in their areas of jurisdic-tion, failingwhich actionwill betakenagainstthem.The Station House Officer

(SHO) has also beenmade ac-countable for suspected coron-aviruscasesintheirareaof juris-diction.TheSHOsshouldbereadyto

faceactionifaCOVID-19suspectisfoundintheirareaoranyoneisfound hiding a suspect case orinformation in this regard,Awasthi said.“There have been reports

aboutpeopleeitherhidingcoron-avirussuspectcasesorhidingin-formationaboutthempurposely.While action would be takenagainstthem,thepolicestationin-charge concernedwill also faceaction if any laxity is found,”Awasthiadded.

UPCM: Attach property of thoseattacking healthworkers, police

YogiAdityanathenroutetohis residence inLucknowonThursday.Vishal Srivastav

Tired of sweet dal, migrantslong for more homely fare

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL,APRIL 16

INDORE,WHICHhasthehighestcoronavirus death rate in thecountry, will get 50,000 rapidtestkitsthatarrivedinIndiafromChinaonThursday.“Madhya Pradesh will be-

comethefirststatetogetthekitsbecause of the situation inIndore.TheCentrewill startdis-tributing the kits from Friday,”Additional chief secretary(health)Mohammed Sulemantold The Indian Express onThursday.Thenumberofpositivecases

in the biggest city of the statereached 842 on Thursday andthetoll climbedto47witheightmore deaths. The overall toll inthestate is63.While Indore hit the head-

linesforamortalityratethatwasmuch higher than the nationalaverage,thegovernmentsaidonThursday that the city's testingrateat2,100permillionwasone

of thehighest inthecountry.Indorehas so far taken5,120

samples and had to send a spe-cialplanetoDelhicarrying1,142samples to clear the huge back-log.Bhopal,whichhascollectednearly 2,500 samples in the lasttwodays,isalsosendingsamplestoDelhi to clear backlog. A stateplanewillcarry1,400samplestoDelhionFriday.Meanwhile, the number of

infectedhealthdepartmentoffi-cialsandpeopleassociatedwiththem reached 95 on Thursday,nearly half the number of thepositive cases from Bhopal.Suleman said 37 of thosewerehealth department employeesup to class IV and the restwerepeopleassociatedwiththem.Aweekago, thegovernment

ordered an inquiry to find outhowsomanyhealthdepartmentofficials based in Bhopal got in-fected fromthevirus, given thateven states that have reportedmore cases thanMPdid not re-port anything like this. The in-quiry isstillon.

With 47 of MP’s 63deaths, Indore to get50,000 rapid test kits

GUJARAT

Volunteersdistribute foodinVarachha,Surat. Express

LALMANIVERMADEHRADUN,APRIL 16

AFTERHISsix-year-olddaughtersufferedaninjurywhileplaying,aDehradunmanlivinginasealedareaofthecitywasforcedtorushfrom hospital to hospital, andevencrossariverwiththeminorintow,insearchofmedicalcare—adesperatehuntthatendedwithherdeathonWednesdayThe father, Mohammad

Azam, claimed itwas the negli-gence of a doctor stationed at atemporarydispensary inBhagatSinghColonythatultimately ledto his daughter Aksa’s demise,andsoughtactionagainsther.Dehradun Chief Medical

OfficerMeenakshi Joshisaidshehas ordered an inquiry into thematter. Dehradun DIG ArunMohanJoshi, too,saidacircleof-ficer has beendirected to probetheallegations.

Azam,atailor,saidhehadvis-ited the dispensary onApril 10.“Anofficer toldme that Iwill begivenpermissiontomoveoutofthe area to visit the hospital ifdoctorsat thedispensaryadvisethat,”hesaid.Hesaid thedoctorthere, without examining hisdaughter, handed him a fewparacetemol tablets, whichbroughtthechildnorelief.Azam said he crossed the

Rispana river on foot with hisdaughterinhisarms,andreachedaprivateclinicoutsidethesealedarea, where hewas advised torushtoDoonHospital. “Iwasnotallowed to enter it. A medicalstaffer toldmeit is fortreatmentofcoronaviruspatientsonly.Thestaff askedme to goCoronationHospital. There, the doctor re-ferredme to Fortis, where shewas declared brought dead,” hesaid. The girl had suffered an in-ternal injuryinthepelvicregion.Apostmortemreportisawaited.

Minor in sealed area dies,father claims negligence

Mamata removesfood secretary over‘abnormality’ in PDSEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA,APRIL16

WEST BENGAL Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee Thursday re-placedstateFoodSecretaryManojAgarwal with Parvej AhmedSiddiqui amidOpposition’s alle-gationof anomalies in thepublicdistribution scheme. She alsotransferreddistrictmagistratesofDarjeeling Priya P and WestBardhhamanShahshankShethi.Asking theOpposition to re-

frain from indulging in politicsover foodgrain distribution,Mamatasaidthatstepshavebeentaken to ensure that everybodygets their due fromstate-run ra-tionshops.“Somehouseholdsdid

not get a sufficient amount. Theration shops concerned lackedsufficientstockandstoragespace.Iwanttoassurepeoplethateachof themwould get foodgrain atthe ration shops,” the ChiefMinistertoldmediapersonsafterchairingaCabinetmeetingatthestateSecretariathere.“Though 90 per cent ration

wasdistributed,someabnormal-itieswerenoticed.So,wehavede-cided to change thedepartmen-talsecretary... ,”sheadded.Sources said that the Chief

Ministerwasunhappywiththeincumbent food secretary andtransferred him as he did notimplementherordertodistrib-ute rice insteadofwheatunderthePDS.

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR,APRIL 16

A12-YEAR-OLDrapevictimgavebirthonWednesday,onlytoseethebabydiewithin10minutes.Wednesdaywas alsowhen theNagpur bench of the BombayHigh Court was scheduled tohear her father's plea seeking adecision on themedical termi-nationof pregnancy (MTP).Thegirlwasrapedbyafriend

ofherfather,alabourer,residingin the same neighbourhood inChandrapur district. After herparents lodged a police com-plaintonMarch13, theaccusedwasarrestedandthegirladmit-ted toahospital.Following this, the doctors

askedthepolicetoapproachthecourtforanappropriateorderonMTP.TheHCregistrywentontoappoint a counsel for the peti-tioner – the girl’s father – andaskedher tosubmitapetition.“I submittedthepetitionthe

sameday,”thecounselsaid.“ThecasewastakenupforhearingonApril 8. TheHCdirected the for-mation of a doctors' panel andaccordingly, a panel of fivewasset up. It opined that since thegirl had by then already com-pleted over 24 weeks of herpregnancy,MTP could result inthe live birth. This raised thequestion as towhowould takethechild’s responsibility.”“The court fixed April 15 to

furtherhearthecase,butbeforeit could take up thematter, thegirldeliveredthebabyaround10am. The baby, however, diedwithin10minutes,” thecounseladded.“Thisdevelopmenthasmade

the basic petition infructuous,buttheonlymatterthatremainstobe addressednow is the gov-ernment compensation to thevictimandherrecuperation.Forthat, thecourthasfixedApril23as thenextdateof hearing,” thecounsel said.

12-yr-old rapevictim givesbirth, baby dies10 mins later

Kejriwalsaid insomecases,ithasbeenseenthat thechancesof survivalgoupifplasmatherapy isused.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL 16

AFTER THREE people drownednear Versova earlier this week,Mumbai Fire Brigade onThursdayrecoveredtwoof theirbodies.Thethreediedaftertheirboat capsized.Officials from the Disaster

Management Cell said firebrigadeofficials,withthehelpoflocal fishermen, began thesearch operation of the threepeople. Bodies of MohammadYusuf and Nazir Mohammadwere found near Madh Island,while the body of the third de-ceasedpersonremainsmissing.

Thebodies recoveredwere senttoCooperHospital inVileParle.The fire brigade stopped

search operations after sunrise,andwill resumeonFriday.OnTuesdaynight,aboatcar-

rying seven people fromMadhIsland to Versova had capsized.While fourof themmanaged toswimtoVersova jetty, threedidnotmake it.

BOATCARRYING7CAPSIZES

2 bodies recoverednear Versova, oneremains missing

Thefirebrigadestoppedsearchoperationsaftersunrise,andwillresumeonFriday

For 36 hrs, body of Meghalaya doctor wasn’t given a resting placeTORAAGARWALA&ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI,APRIL16

THEY SAYhedevoted his entirelife to Meghalaya. And yet, indeath,theyturnedtheirbacksonhim,reducinghimtoastatistic.OnThursday,Meghalaya’sfirst

COVID-19patient—a69-year-oldphysician and founder of one ofthefirstbigprivatehospitalsofthestate—was buried at a churchcemetery, almost 36hours afterhedied.“Kindness is the need of the

hourandourgratitudegoestotheRiatsamthiah PresbyterianChurch for their gesture.Mayhissoulrest inpeace,”tweetedChiefMinisterConradSangma.Sangma’smessagewas in re-

sponsetotheeventsthatunfoldedafterthepatient’sdeath,withtheadministration unable to find aplacetolayhimtorest.

The family wanted to buryhiminNongpoh,wheretheyownahouse. But residents and com-munityleadersrefused,citingthevirus. Then, when discussionsstartedtocrematethebody,thoseliving near the crematorium inShillong’sJhaluparaprotested.“Thefamilymemberswanted

tolayhimtorestintheirpersonalland inRi Bhoi district, but therewas some trouble. Then theywantedtohavehimcremated,butthe public came out against it,”saidMatsiewdorWarNongbri,DC,EastKhasiHillsDistrict.Andallthiswhile,thedoctor’s

body lay in the hospital he hadfoundednearlytwodecadesago.Finally, onWednesdaynight,

the government reached out tochurches. “They responded.Weare thankful to them,” SampathKumar,commissionerandsecre-tary,healthandfamilywelfarede-partment,said.The funeralwas attendedby

three family members. “Theywere not his immediate familybecause many of them havetested positive now,” said DCNongbri.TillMondaynight,Meghalaya

hadnotreportedasinglepositivecase.ButbyWednesday,thestatehadreportedeightmorecases,allfamilymembers andhelpers ofthedoctor.Hisson-in-law,apilot,had a travel history toNewYorkandDelhilatelastmonth,officialssaid.HehadreturnedtoShillongonMarch24but it has not beenascertainedyetastohowthedoc-torgotinfected,theysaid.AShillongresident,whoknew

thedoctor,saiditwas“ahugeem-barrassmentforthestatethatcer-tain groups disallowed the lastritesofsuchalovedman”.“The entire family,who lived

within the hospital compound,wasinvolvedinthehospitalsomewayor the other,” said aperson,closetothefamily.

The patient’s twodaughtersare doctors, too,while the sonsmanagethemulti-specialityhos-pital,which started as a clinic in1991.Today, thehospitalhas twobranches — in Shillong and inNongpoh.“It is thego-tohospitalin Shillongwith a good teamofdoctors,”PatriciaMukhim,seniorjournalist and editor of TheShillongTimes,said.Thehospital, in fact, followsa

‘GoodSamaritan’sPledge’toserveunderprivilegedsections,andof-fersarangeoffreeanddiscountedservicesfortheneedy.“Hewasknown forhis social

work,waivingofffeesforthepoor,etc. What set him apart frommanyother doctorswas that healways had a smile and a gentledemeanour,”Mukhimsaid. Andyet, when it emerged Tuesdaythatthedoctorhadtestedpositive,his familywasviciously targetedonlocalsocialmediagroups.Somuch so, that the son-in-

lawwrote in anunsigned state-ment circulated onWhatsAppthathehadtestednegativetwice.Hesaidthatothermembersofhiswife’s family had testedpositiveand“therewerenoeffortstoseg-regateus”. “Weare still togetherinthesamehouse,”hesaid.Hepointedoutthatoneofthe

doctor’spatientscouldhavebeenresponsiblefortheinfection.“Thesearchandisolationofthispersoniswherethestate’senergyandre-sourcesshouldbedirectedat,nottargetpeoplewithorwithoutrea-son,”hewrote.“Ithasbeen12hourssincemy

father-in-law passed away,silently.Mywife just lost her fa-ther.Wedonotknowwhetherhiscremation is over.Wewere notthere toweepbesidehis body. Ithas also been almost 48 hourssince thenewswasmadepublicand themedia and socialmediajumpedintovilifyus.Therippleshave reached my family in

Manipur andNagaland.Nobodyhasbeenspared,”hewrote.“Thecoronavirusisatinyvirus

—unseen, lifeless yet intelligent;ithasmadeushumans,thegreat-estcreationofGod,showourugli-est side...My father-in-law liter-allyspenthislifeinthetreatmentof his patients. This is not an ac-ceptablewaytohonourhismem-ory,”hewrote.A health department official

saidthatsinceitwasthefirstcoro-navirus death in the state, therewas“somesortofpanic”.“Buttheprotocol issued by the govern-mentforthelastritesisverycom-prehensive. There is absolutelynothingtofear,”theofficialsaid.Thedoctor’s familymembers

havenothingtosay.Butacloserel-ative summed up theirmood:“Therearepeoplewhowillbesadand sorry about this...Wedonotneedtofeeldisheartened.Hehasgonetoheaven—ithashappenedthewayGodwanteditto.”

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALA&KAUNAINSHERIFFMMUMBAI, NEWDELHI, APRIL 16

ON THURSDAY, Mumbai’s MunicipalCommissioner said the drug hydroxy-chloroquine would be administered as apreventive to 50,000 people in COVID-19hotspots, down from the earlier plan of 1lakh. While this is a scaling down, the na-tionalprotocol forhydroxychloroquinean-nouncedduring theoutbreak is that it is tobe administered it to very specific groups,such as healthcare workers exposed toCOVID-19patients.Besides the hotspots, the Maharashtra

government has also begun administeringthedrugamongMumbaipolicepersonnel,while Rajasthan has cleared it for policeposted inhotspots.

What ishydroxychloroquine?Hydroxychloroquine isanoralprescrip-

tion drug that is used for the treatment ofsome forms of malaria, as well as autoim-munedisorderssuchasrheumatoidarthri-tis and lupus. In use since the 1940s, thedrug has shown anti-viral properties thathavebeen studied for the last 40 years.A combination of anti-malarial drug

chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine,which is a derivative of chloroquine, isamong the four lines of possible COVID-19treatmentthatarebeinginvestigatedbytheglobalSolidaritytrialsundertheaegisof theWorld Health Organization (WHO).Whilethe efficacy of the combination is still be-ing researched, a study in The LancetRheumatology has found that hydroxy-chloroquine decreases the acidity in com-partments in the cell membrane. Sincemanyvirusesuse theacidityof these com-partmentstobreachthemembraneandsetoff theprocessof replicatingcopiesof itself,the reduction of acidity can potentially in-hibitviral replication. In2005, thedrugwasused to treat SARS, but it failed to decreasethe viral load inmice.TheWHO notes that “there is insuffi-

cient data to assess the efficacyof either ofthesemedicines (hydroxychloroquine andchloroquine) in treating patients withCOVID-19,or inpreventingthemfromcon-tracting the coronavirus”.

What is thenationalprotocolon theuseof hydroxychloroquine in theCOVID-19 outbreak?In the context of COVID-19, the Indian

CouncilofMedicalResearch(ICMR)hasrec-ommended hydroxychloroquine in veryspecific cases . It is to be used as a post-ex-

posureprophylactic (preventivemedicine)by asymptomatic healthcare workers in-volvedinthecareof suspectedorconfirmedcases of COVID-19, and by asymptomatichousehold contacts of laboratory-con-firmed cases.The Indian Express reported last week

that the ICMR recently discussed the pos-sibility of using the drug at a populationlevelbut theoptionwasnot takenforward.A source told this newspaper that duringthediscussion,questionswereraisedaboutthe evidence available on the efficacy andside-effects of thedrug.Maharashtra and Rajasthan, two of the

states with the highest COVID-19 counts,haveindependentlydecidedtoallowuseofthe drug beyond healthcare workers. TheRajasthanHealthDepartmenthas issuedanadvisoryonadministeringhydroxychloro-quine topolicemen inCOVID-19hotspots.

WhathasMaharashtradecided?Theplanannounced lastweekwas that

about a lakh people in COVID-19 hotspots,starting with the Dharavi and WorliKoliwadaslums,wouldbeadministeredthedrug as a prophylaxis. On Thursday, theBMC revised it to 50,000.A technical committee, comprising AI-

IMS doctors, NITI Aayog experts, and offi-cials from the Maharashtra University ofHealth Sciences and Public HealthDepartment,metonvideoconferencingonApril 13 to discuss the medication. Twogroupswill be created—onegroupwill be

given hydroxychloroquine along withVitamin C tablets, while the other will begiven hydroxychloroquine alongwith zinctablets— to assesswhich combinationhasbetter outcomes.The BMC said last week that the drug

would not bemade compulsory but slumdwellerswouldbecounselledtobeadmin-istered it.Thedrugwillnotbegiventopeo-ple aged below 15, heart patients or preg-nantwoman.Forpeopleagedabove55, thedrug’s effectswill be closelymonitored.Mumbaipolicebegantheuseofhydrox-

ychloroquine last week after several per-sonnelstartedshowingsymptoms.TheyarebeinggivenhydroxychloroquinealongwithvitaminCtablets,basedonmedicaladvice.

What is the justificationbeinggiven forall this?Mumbai’s populationdensity is 26,453

persqkm,states theenvironmentreportoftheBrihanmumbaiMunicipalCorporation(BMC) in2018-19,andinslumsthepopula-tion density doubles. At least 5-8 peoplestay in one 10×10 sq ft room in Dharavi,where cases have already crossed 50. “Insuch places, social distancing is not possi-ble. We are advising hydroxychloroquinefor the population in these hotspots as apreventive measure,” said Dr SubhashSalunkhe,who helpedMaharashtra framethepolicy.Thiswasbeforethenumberwasscaled down. The entire population inDharavi andWorli is considered a high-vi-ral burden pool; government officials see

themall as “high risk” contacts.After the target was reduced to 50,000

on Thursday, Municipal CommissionerPraveen Pardeshi said, “We are doing thison an experimental basis. It is a controlgroup; we do not want to give it to a hugepopulation.” Additional Municipal com-missioner Suresh Kakani said, since thereareknownside-effects, the civicbodyhelddiscussions over the last few days on howmany andwho allwould be given hydrox-ychloroquine.

Whatare theconcerns?Besides the fact that hydroxychloro-

quine’s efficacy as a COVID-19 cure or pre-ventive isnotyetestablished, therearecon-cerns about its side effects. AIIMSDirectorDr Randeep Guleria stressed hydroxy-chloroquine is “not a treatment for every-one”. “Thedrughasitownssideeffects.Oneof them is cardiac toxicity leading to irreg-ular heartbeat,”DrGuleria said.Lastweek,France'snationaldrug-safety

agencyraisedtheredflagoversuchsideef-fects, specifically in COVID-19 patients. Itreleaseddataof43patientswhoweregiventhe drug and reported “heart incidents”linked to the drug. “The drug should onlybe used in hospitals, under close medicalsupervision. This initial assessment showsthat the risks, in particular cardiovascular,associated with these treatments are verypresentandpotentially increasedinCOVID-19patients,” the agency said.OnMarch 25,Mayo Clinic cardiologists

had issued a warning about the potentialside effects of the drug. A team headed byDr Michael J Ackerman released “urgentguidance” on patients at risk of drug-in-duced suddencardiacdeath fromoff-labelCOVID-19 treatments.Thespecialistspointedoutthatthedrug

is known to cause “drug-induced” prolon-gation of QTc of some patients (QTc is ameasure related to heat rates on an ECG).ThespecialistssaidpatientswithprolongedQTc are at risk for abnormalities that canlead to dangerous erratic heartbeats andalso culminate in sudden cardiac death.Another retrospective study (yet to be

peer-reviewed), conducted at New YorkUniversity’s Langone Medical Centre,lookedat84COVID-19patientsonhydrox-ychloroquine and the antibioticazithromycin(acombinationbeingstronglypushed by US President Donald Trump,although the evidence is still emerging.TheNYU studymade two observations: in30% of the patients, QTc increased beyondthe normal range), and in 11% it rose toa level that represents a “high-risk groupof arrhythmia”.

SUNNYVERMANEWDELHI, APRIL 16

MUCH BEFORE COVID-19’s impact rever-berated across economies and led to acrash in global stock markets, gold priceshad started an upward glide since May2019 to culminate in a nearly 40% jump inless than a year, from $1250 per ounce to$,1700-plus per ounce now. The presentgoldprices in Indiaareevenhigher, as theyjumped from around Rs 32,000 per 10gramstonearlyRs46,800per10gramdur-ingthesameperiod,orbynearly45%.Sincegold is a mostly imported commodity inIndia, the depreciation of the rupee vis-a-vis the US dollar of around 7% since lastSeptemberpushed thegoldprices in Indiaeven higher. The rupee on Wednesdayclosed at a record lowof Rs 76.86 to a dol-lar, fromRs 76.44 Tuesday.

Whyaregoldpricesrising?In the last year, intermittent reports

based on economic indicators have sug-gestedthattheUSeconomycouldenterintorecession. This apprehension sowed theseeds of the gold rally, and the COVID-19impactaddedmomentumasamajorglobalrecessionnowlookscertain.Thenearly40%crashinbenchmarkequityindicesledtotheUSFedannouncingarecordamountof liq-uidity injection and bond buying pro-grammeofmorethan $3trillion.OnMarch27,theReserveBankof Indiatoo cutitskeypolicy rate by 75 basis points and an-nounced liquidity injection of Rs 3.74 lakhcrore in the financialmarkets. Any expan-sioninthepapercurrencytendstopushupgold prices. Apart from this, major gold-buying central banks of China and Russiahave, over the last two years, supportedhighergoldprices.Whilestockpriceshaverisenover20%fromtheMarchcrashlevels,gold has resumed its uptrend after fallinginitially from $1,700 an ounce onMarch 9to$1,450onMarch20.Thishappenedasanextreme reaction of investors tomove to-wardscash.

Is thereatrendinrisinggoldprices?While gold by itself does not produce

anyeconomicvalue, it isanefficienttool tohedge against inflation and economic un-

certainties. It is alsomore liquid than realestate andmany debt instrumentswhichcomewith a lock-in period. After anyma-jor economic crash and recession, gold

pricescontinuetheirupwardrun.Analystsfeel gold could nowovertake the previouspeakof around$1,900per ounce. The em-pirical findingssuggest thatgoldprices fallwithariseinequityprices.Goldpricesalsomoveintandemwithheightenedeconomicpolicy uncertainty, indicating the “safehaven”featureoftheasset,theRBIsaidinitslatestMonetaryPolicyReport.Afterthecol-lapse of Lehman Brothers in September2008 in the US, which led to aworldwideeconomic crisis, gold prices jumped fromaround $700 an ounce in October 2008 topeak at around $1,900 an ounce inSeptember2011.Inthenextfouryears,goldwas on a steady decline and crashed tonearly$1,000anounce inDecember2015.Between2015and2019,goldwasinarangeof$1,000anounceand$1,350anounce,af-terwhich it started its steadyrun.

Cangoldpricescrash?Given the economic uncertainty, gold is

expectedtotouchanall-timehigh,whichwillbeover $1,900anounce. In India, theprices

will alsobesupportedbyany furtherweak-ness in the rupee. Any sudden sale of goldholdingsbycentralbankstotideovertheeco-nomic crisis, and any crisis in other risk as-sets prompting investors compensate theirlosses through sale of gold ETFs (exchangetradedfunds),arekeyeventsthatcouldstallthe gold rise. For this year, the InternationalMonetaryFundprojectsgrowthinadvancedeconomiesat -6.1%,whileemergingmarketand developing economies with normalgrowth levels well above advancedeconomies are also projected to havenega-tivegrowthratesof-1.0percentin2020,and-2.2percentexcludingChina.TheeconomicimpactofCOVID-19isex-

pectedtocontinue longer.Asandwhentheeconomic recovery picks uppace,which isnowexpectedonlyinlate2021,investorswillstartallocatingmorefundstoriskassetslikestocks, real estate and bonds and pull outmoneyfromsafehavenssuchasgold.Asperhistoricaltrends,whenequityandriskassetsstartanupwardtrend,goldtypicallyfallssig-nificantlyaswasthecasefrom2011till2015.

To use malaria drug, or not toSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

Rajasthanhasclearedhydroxychloroquineforsomepolicepersonnel,Mumbaipolicearebeinggiventhedrug,andresidentsof twoMumbaislumsaresettofollow.WhatistheICMRprotocol,andtheconcerns?

CHAHATRANACHANDIGARH,APRIL 16

IN SUNDAY’S attack on Punjab policemenwho had stopped a group of Nihang sectmembers in Patiala over a curfew pass, thehand of an assistant sub-inspector waschoppedoff. SurgeonsatChandigarh’sPostGraduateInstituteofMedicalEducationandResearch(PGIMER)havesincere-implantedtheseveredhand.

Inwhichcases isre-implantationpossible?Whenasurgeonmakesthatdecision,the

factorsthatheorsheconsiders includehowmuch timehaselapsed since the injury, thecondition of the severed organ, and the na-ture of the injury—anorgan severedwith a

cleancut isabettercandidate thanonesev-eredbyacrush typeof injury.Sincethepoliceman’shandhadbeenam-

putated with a clean cut and the policerushedhimtohospital,doctorshadupto12hourstoperformthesurgerybeforethehandbeganto rot.Thesurgery,which took7.5hours,wasa

very complex procedure, “whichwewereabletoperformbecauseofquickactionbothfrom thepolice’s side and fromour teamofdoctors. I received a call about the incidentfromDGPDinkar Gupta at 7:45 am and by10 am we had begun the surgery,” saidPGIMERDirectorDr JagatRam.“The patient also had lost more than a

litre of blood, so we had to give him fluidsand colloids to stabilise him until bloodtransfusion could be arranged,” said DrAnkurLuthra, anaesthesiologist.

Howissuchasurgeryperformed?It involvesconjoiningvariouspartsof the

arm and the hand — bones, muscles, ten-dons, arteries, veins as well as nerves. Theprocess is calledanastomosis.“Bothradialandulnararteries,accompa-

nyingnervesandthedorsalveinwereanas-tomosedsuccessfully,allowingforthehandtoreceiveadequatecirculation,”saidDrJagatRam. The bones were attached using “Kwires”, which will be removed once thebones conjoin organically. This takes be-tweenthreeand fourweeks.

Canareattachedhandget its functionrestored?That is the goal of doing such a surgery.

Theextentofrestoredfunction,however,canvary from case to case.While a successfulsurgery can result in good return of motor

function, studies have shown that sensoryrecoverycanoftenbepoor.In the policeman’s case, doctors of

PGIMERhavereportedthattherepairedlefthandoftheASIisviableandwarm.Whetherthe blood circulation is optimum, however,can only be observedwithin the next fewdays. Oneconcernisthatthehandhadfallentothegroundafterbeingsevered,sodoctorscannotcompletelyruleoutaninfection.Thepatientwillbekeptunderobservationforatleastthenextweektoensurethatheisoutofdangeras faras infection is concerned.It will take at least threemonths for his

handtocompletelyhealaseachrepairedpartwill take its own time to naturally conjoin.The patientwill also need to attend regularphysiotherapy sessions for total restorationof motor movement and sensation inhishand.

When a severed hand can be restored, and howTOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 12,759 (420 DEATHS)

2919Maharashtra

1242 Tamil Nadu

1023 Rajasthan

698Telangana

1120MP

773 UP

1578 Delhi

871 Gujarat

388 Kerala

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

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

534 Andhra Pradesh

CORONAVIRUSOUTBREAKYOURQUESTIONSANSWEREDDAILY

77,995Iran

168,941Italy

135,663Germany

104,134United Kingdom

134,598France

182,816Spain

34,809Belgium

641,166US

83,403China

74,193Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED:2,090,110 DEATHCOUNT: 139,469Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11:00pmonApril 15

THATMENseemlikelierthanwomentodieofthenovelcoronavirusdiseasewasreportedearlyonintheoutbreak—andapaperbyChineseresearcherspublished inmid-Februaryanalyseddata fromWuhan, Hubei, and Chinaasawholetocalculateafatalityrateof2.8% for men, as compared to 1.7%forwomen.In subsequentweeks, as the foot-

printofthediseasecoveredtheentireplanet,thesamepatternwasdetectedin almost all countries that releasedsex-aggregateddata—includingItaly,Iran, South Korea, Germany, andFrance.Most recently, data from thenationalstatisticsofficeof theUnitedKingdom—where over 13,700 peo-ple had died by Thursday evening—showedthatmenweretwiceaslikelyaswomentodiefromCOVID-19.Indiadoesnotprovideconsolidatedsex-ag-gregateddataonfatalities.The question is, why? The short

answer: researchers don’t yet knowforsure.Butseveralhypotheseshavebeenarticulated.One early theory, based on the

deaths inChina,was thatmenweremorevulnerablebecause theyweremore likely to be smokers (abouthalf of all men in China smoke,whereasonlyabout2 in100womendo), and therefore, more likely tohave a lung condition.The hypothesis has been backed

bydata fromChina in a scientific pa-per; however, the gap between thepercentages of smoker men andwomen is not aswide as in say, Italy,Spain,ortheUnitedStates,allofwhichhave seen several times the numberofdeathsthathaveoccurredinChina.Ithasalsobeenarguedthatsmok-

ers are likely to touch their mouthsmore often, and that some could besharingcigarettes.Another hypothesis is based on

behaviouralfactorssuchasthelikeli-hood of women beingmore carefulthanmenaboutwashingtheirhandsusing soap, and beingmore likely toheedpublichealthadvice.Butgener-alisingthesetraitsacrosspopulationsandcultures isunscientific.MicrobiologistProfSabraKleinof

theJohnsHopkinsBloombergSchoolof Public Health told The Guardianthat shedidnot think that “smokingis the leading factor”, andthat “theremust be something universal that’scontributing to this”.Research, includingbyProfKlein,

hasshownthatmenhavealowerin-nate antiviral immune response to arangeof infections includinghepati-tisCandHIV(thoughCOVID-19isyetto be specifically studied), TheGuardian reported. “Their immunesystemmaynot initiateanappropri-ateresponsewhenitinitiallyseesthevirus,”ProfKleintoldthenewspaper.

The disease seems to kill moremen than women. Why?

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 11ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 33Bihar 74Chandigarh 21Chhattisgarh 33Goa 7Haryana 205HimachalPradesh 35JammuandKashmir 300Jharkhand 28Karnataka 315Ladakh 17Manipur 2Meghalaya 7Mizoram 1Nagaland# 0Odisha 60Puducherry 7Punjab 186Tripura 2Uttarakhand 37WestBengal 231

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,April16.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystateswiththemostcasesarelistedabove.1515PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN28STATESACROSSTHECOUNTRY

Why gold prices have been rising before and during outbreak, what next1800

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R IS ING FOR A YEAR , STEEPER NOW

Efficacynotestablished, sideeffectsknown.AP

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

E EXPLAINED TheOutbreak

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020 @ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like explained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.com

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SOBERING PORTENTWithexportsdown,privateconsumptionandinvestmentdepressed,governmentspendingwillplaykeyrole

INDIA’SMERCHANDISEEXPORTSplungedbyastaggering34.6per cent inMarchas thedislocationof economicactivitiesdue to thecoronavirus spreadacross theworld. This sharper than expected fallwasdue to a combinationof factors— thedisruption of supply chains in China, which, coupledwithweak global demand

and lockdowns in large parts of theworld, resulted in cancellation of export orders, aswellastheimpositionofthelockdowninIndiawhichrestrictedeconomicactivitybegin-ning in the last week of March. The situation is likely to haveworsened in April on ac-countof theextensionof the lockdowninnot just India,but in largepartsof EuropeandtheUS,whichareamong India’smajor tradingpartners.Attheaggregatelevel,datafromthecommerceministryshowsthatIndia’smerchan-

diseexports inMarchstoodat$21.4billion,downfrom$32.7billion in thesamemonthlastyear.Thedecline inexportswasbroad-based,withall sectorsbarring ironoreregis-teringacontraction:Engineeringgoodsfellby42.3percent,gemsandjewelleryby41percent, leatherproductsby36.8per cent, and readymadegarmentsby34.9per cent. ThisstunningcollapseintradeisinlinewiththeWorldTradeOrganisation’sestimateswhichhadprojectedmerchandise trade to fallby13-32percent in2020—NorthAmericaandAsiaarelikelytobethehardesthit,andnearlyall regionsareexpectedtowitnessdoubledigit falls in tradevolumesasglobaldemandcollapses.Equallyworrying, the tradedataalso showed that non-oil non-gold imports declined sharply by30.5per cent inMarch,signallingdepresseddomesticdemand—thedeclinewasbroad-based,acrossbothcap-ital andconsumergoodssegments.At this juncture it isdifficult togauge towhatextenteasing the restrictionsonselect

economicactivitiesafterApril20,andthelikelyliftingofotherlockdowncurbspostMay3, are able to ease export growth in thenear term. It is quite likely that itwill take sometimeforexportstoreturntonormal, inpart,duetorawmaterialandlabourshortages, lo-gistical challengesandthe fall inglobaldemand.Given this situation, it isdifficult to seenetexportsasbeingadriverofgrowthinthenear-term.Andwithbothprivateconsump-tionandinvestmentactivity likely toremaindepressed, theeconomywillbeheavilyre-liant ongovernment spending. In such a scenario, the central governmentmust clearlylayout its strategyonhowitplans tosupport theeconomyduring thisdifficultperiod.

NOT BY DISTRUSTPandemicrequiresall tojoinranks.Governmentdoesdisservicebytreatingmedia,NGOswithsuspicion

THENATIONHASjoinedranks in the faceof theunprecedentedpublichealthandeconomiccrises.Everyone isplayingtheirpart, includingthosewhoarecontributingwithforbearanceandpatienceintidingoverthelockdown,evenat the risk of hunger. Inhis televised speeches to thenation, theprimemin-

isterhasurgedcitizensandcivilsocietytostepforwardandjointhefight.Heincludedthemedia in the essential services — accurate information is high-calibre ammunition inthisglobalbattleagainstapoorlyunderstoodfoe.Yet,globally, it isalsobeingfearedthatinsuchextraordinarycircumstances,undercoverof crisis, governmentsare likely toas-sume extraordinary powers, weakening checks and balances and countervailing insti-tutions. Tworecent incidents in Indiawouldsuggest that this fear isnotbaseless.Across regimes, and irrespective of political inclination, amistrust of non-govern-

mentalorganisations (NGOs)andthemediahasdevelopedandentrenched itself in thepoliticalestablishment. It isalso truethatmanyNGOshavestrayed,andsomeorganisa-tions,notablyintheelectronicmedia,havejettisonedethicsandresponsibilitytomutateinto super-spreaders of the communal virus. At the same time, the overwhelmingma-joritydo their duty, andare serving, anonymously and selflessly, at the frontlines in thecurrentcrisis,reachingfoodandprovidingsheltertothosewhoarestrandedandinneed.Showingsweepingsuspicion,atatimewheneveryallycounts, theministryofhomeaf-fairs,whichhasoversightoverNGOs,hascommandedthosewhichreceiveforeignfundstoreporttheirCOVID-19-relatedactivitiesevery15days.Thispublicservicebyfiatdeep-ensdistrustata timewhenNGOscanplayavital role inamelioratinghumanitariandis-tress in the lockdown.TheUddhavThackeraygovernment inMaharashtra,which isotherwisedrawingat-

tentionforitseffectiveandcalminginterventionsintheongoingcrisis,hasarrestedare-porterof theABPMajhachannel, connectinghisdespatcheswiththeunrestamongmi-grantworkers at BandraWest station thisweek,when itwas rumoured that trains hadstarted running. The channel has forcefully rejected accusations. Indeed, arrest or anyother form of censorship is a completelywrong-headed response by the state. At thistime,andthroughthedelicateperiodof theunlockingwhichliesahead,civilsocietyandthe providers of essential serviceswill remain critical elements of the response to thepandemic. Ifanything,theydeserveacknowledgementandsupport,notpaternalisticat-tempts todisciplineandpunish.

EMOTIONAL CHIPKOIcelandauthoritiesareencouragingcitizenstohugtreesforemotionalsupportduringsocialisolation.There’salessoninit

THERE’SMORE THAN oneway to hug a tree. One can put an arm across thetrunk,while theotherhand isplacedgentlyon thebark.Orhold it tight, inabear hug and if it has fallen, even lie downwith it. And if youwant toplay itcool, just place your armcasually ona low-hangingbranch. There aremany

others—acompletevisualguide isavailableonthewebsiteof Iceland’s forestrydepart-ment.Thesparselypopulatedcountry’sgovernmentispeddlingitsversionof theChipkoMovementasa formof emotional support in timesof social isolationbroughtonby thenovel coronaviruspandemic.ThorThorfinnsson, forestmanager forEast Iceland,has instructedcitizensonhowto

getthemostouttheirtree-huggingexperience:“It’sgoodtocloseyoureyeswhilehuggingatree. Ipressmycheekagainst itandfeel thewarmthandcurrents flowingfromthetreeintome... itstartsinyourtoes,runsupyourlegsandthroughyourbodyintoyourbrain.Youget such a good relaxing feeling that you are ready for a newday and new challenges.”While itmay appear that Thorfinnsson is imbuing florawith an almost romantic emo-tional-comforting prowess, there is somemerit in his advice. Contactwith the naturalworld,withlivingthings,doesindeedhaveendocrinologicaleffects,whicharechemically—andthereforeemotionally—indistinguishable froma“goodrelaxingfeeling”.In India, beginningwithUttarakhand in the 1970s, tree-hugging has been a formof

satyagrahadeployedtoprotectforestsandtheeconomicandenvironmentalbountytheyheldforlocalcommunities,particularlywomen.Thatpracticeandmovementcouldhaveevengreatersuccess if thoselongdivorcedfromnature—city-dwellers—findthattreescan help them overcome loneliness. In fact, environmentalists could take a page fromthebusinessplansof socialmediagiants:COVIDornoCOVID,peoplewilldoanythingtoavoid feeling isolated.

Ahead of the Covid curve

TMThomas Isaac

Kapil Sibal

WhatnationcanlearnfromKerala:Lockdownisnotenough.Preparedness,decentralisation,arekey

AN AD HOC RESPONSECoronapandemicneeds streamlined interventionandmitigation

THE COVID CURVE in Kerala is flattening.Everyday, foraweeknow,thenumberof re-coverieshasexceededthenumberofnewin-fections. The recovery rate inKerala isnearly50 per cent while the all-India average isaround11.Whilethemortalityrateamongtheinfectedis0.5percent inKerala, theall-Indiaaverageis3.4percent.Thetransmissionrateof aprimarycarrier is2.6while inKerala it isonly0.4.Butwedonotwanttoletdownourguard

andrestonthelaurels.Keralaispreparingforthenextchallenge,theoutcomeofwhichwilldeterminetheresultofthewaragainstCOVID.Liftingofthelockdownisgoingtoresultinaninflux of returningmigrants from foreigncountriesandotherstates.Hundredsofthou-sandswould have to be quarantined, testedand, if positive, treated, ensuring there is nosecondaryspread.Wehavealreadyidentifiedaccommoda-

tion and other facilities formore than twolakhpersons.Wearealsoexploringtheposs-ibilityof bigdataanalytics toplanastrategyand, if necessary, for reverse quarantining.WearefortunatetohaveaccesstoWHOdatacoveringnearlytwo-thirdsof thestate`spo-pulation.Integratingthisdatawithinforma-tion currently being generated, wewill beable tomapvulnerable sectionsof thepop-ulation, simulate scenarios andplan ahead.Anexit strategy fromthe lockdownisbeingprepared to protect livelihoods and stimu-late theeconomy.Preparedness—thatisthekeywordtothe

success of Kerala and the key lesson to belearnedfromit.Thesinglemostimportantfac-tor that enabled us to be prepared for theCOVIDisthestrengthofourpublichealthsys-tem.Allovertheglobe,wearewitnessingse-riousmarket failures in the health sector inthe context of the pandemic crisis.Policymakersarelearningthehardwayoftheimportanceofapublichealthnetwork.Kerala’shealthsystemisaproudlegacyof

our past. It has had a rebirthunder thepres-ent left governmentwithabigpush in infra-structure and equipment investment ofaround Rs 4,000 crore from the KeralaInfrastructure Investment Fund Board. Fivethousand seven hundred and seventy-fivenew posts have also been created. The

AardramHealthMissionwas launchedwitha focus to transform the PHCs into familyhealth centres. There is also the distinctiveflavourofKerala—massparticipationinpre-ventiveandpalliativehealthcare.Therecentexperiencesofsuccessfulcon-

tainmentoftheNipahoutbreakandmanage-mentof the twopost-floodhealthsituationshaveprovidedakindofherdimmunitytothehealthworkerstocrisissituations.Oncenewsof theWuhan pandemic came, the Keralahealth systemscrambled to readiness— thecontrolroomwassetup,mockdrillswereor-ganised and the first influxwas contained.Oncemigrants fromtheGulf andEuropebe-gantoreturn,thingsbegantogetoutofhand.Butnowthisbattlehasbeensuccessfullycon-cluded.Everyday,fromisolationhospitals,wewitnessrecoveredpatientsleavingwiththeircaretakers.Thebiggestapplausewasreservedfora93-and88-year-oldcouple,withserioushealthcomplications,literallysnatchedfromthejawsofdeath.Themoraleof healthpersonnelhasbeen

exceptionally high. Special training, protec-tivegear,scientificdutyrotationand,mostim-portantly, societal empathy and solidarity,haveall contributed. Thehealthminister,KKShailaja Teacher, does not confine herself toreviewcommittees, but reachesoutperson-allytothefrontlineworkers.A routemapof eachCOVIDpositive case

ispreparedandgivenpublicity,alertingevery-bodywhomight have been in contact. Theprotocolofcyclesofintensetest,trace,isolateandtreatmenthasbeenthenorm.Keralahasthehighesttestrate inthecountry.BreaktheChainCampaigntopromotesocialdistancinghasbeensuccessful.This is indeedaveryim-portant lesson. Lockdownby itself is not go-ingtocontaintheCOVIDspread.Itwouldcon-tinue tomultiply within households anddormitories.Testinghasbeenwoefullyinsuf-ficient inthenationalresponsesofar.The lockdowndestroys livelihoodsand it

is thedutyof the state to ensure subsistencethroughincometransfersandfreerations.Thetransfer of Rs 500 to JanDhan accounts andadditional5kggrainrationshavebeenwoe-fully inadequate. The payment to construc-tionworkers,whichisamajorcomponentofthe Centre`s package, is from the state-level

constructionworkers’welfarefunds.Thisis incontrasttoKeralawhere55lakh

elderly anddisadvantagedhave receivedRs8,500aswelfarepayments.Anequalnumberof workers have been paid Rs 1,000-3,000eachfromthewelfarefunds.Everyfamilyhasbeen providedwith a food kit. Interest-freeconsumptionloanofRs2,000crorehasbeendistributed. Besides, nearly 4 lakhmeals aredistributed every day to the needy fromcommunity kitchens set upby local govern-ments. Local governments are also dutyboundtomonitorthecampsofmigrantwork-ers,setupnewonesandensuremedicineandfoodtothem.Howisallthispossible?Makenomistake,

not by the state government alone. It is thesynergy generated by integrating state gov-ernmentplansandprogrammeswiththelo-cal governments, the co-operatives,womenneighbourhoodgroups(Kudumbashree)andcivil society organisations thatmakesKeraladistinct.ThisAugustwillmarkthe25thyearofthePeople’sPlanCampaignthattransformedlocalgovernmentsinthestate.Thefloodsandthe pandemic have given testimony for thepotentialofdemocraticdecentralisation.It is a case of multi-level planningwith

technicalcommitteesandgroupsworkingatthestatelevelcoordinatedbythechiefminis-ter, Pinarayi Vijayan. His daily evening one-hourbriefingistelecastliveandhasthehigh-est TV rating today. It is very important thatthemessage is transmittedtoeveryonewithclarityandthesedailybriefingshaveenabledustoavoidconfusionincrisis.Lack of adequate financial resources has

been the biggest impediment faced by thegovernment. The state’s own revenues havedried up. The GST compensation is in fourmonth arrears. Credit is freezing for the SLRbonds.Therearenosufficientresourcesforre-liefletaloneforthestimulusaftertheexitfromthelockdown.TheCentralgovernmenthastostepinandensureadequatefiscalspacetothestates.Unfortunately,theCentreseemstopre-ferthatstategovernmentscuttheirexpendi-turewhilethecountry is facingaslump.Thisiscrazymacroeconomics.

Thewriter isFinanceMinister,GovernmentofKerala

PARLIAMENT ENACTED THE DisasterManagementAct, 2005 (Act of 2005) to en-surethatthemechanismstodealwithanat-uralorman-madecalamitiesdeliverwithoutdelay.Buttheresponsefromthepoliticalsys-temhasbeensluggish.Thecoronaviruspandemicneedstobead-

dressedthroughtheprovisionsoftheAct.TheNational DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA),chairedbythePrimeMinister, isre-sponsible for laying down the policies formanagingdisasters.AndwhatisrequiredisaNationalPlanformanagingthisdisasterinco-ordinationwiththestatesanddistrictauthor-ities. An advisory committee of experts rec-ommends action plans at the national, stateanddistrict levels. In thecurrent context,weare unaware of any such recommendations.ANationalExecutiveCommittee (NEC) is re-sponsible for preparing the National Plan,whichistobeapprovedbytheNDMA.No National Plan to deal with the pan-

demic has so far been unveiled. Also, theNDMAalonecanrecommendrestorationofthemeansof livelihood, relief in repaymentof loansorthegrantof freshloanstopersonsaffected,atsuchconcessionaltermsasitmayconsider appropriate. All the above is pre-scribedundertheprovisionsof theAct.Onewonderswhether the lockdownan-

nouncementbythePrimeMinisteronMarch24wasthedecisionof theNDMAinthecon-textofaNationalPlanpreparedunderthepro-

visions of theAct of 2005. It clearlywas not,given the absenceof prior consultationwithstategovernments.HadtherebeenaNationalPlan, it would have catered to the require-ments of migrants before such announce-ments.The fallout is that lakhsof Indiansarenowwithout food, and other necessities.Recentprotests—bothinBandraandSurat—are evidence of frustratedmigrants living ininhuman conditions, desperate to gohome.Their livelihoodshavebeenseriouslyjeopar-dised and they need ex gratia assistance fortherestorationoftheirlivelihood.Thisrequiresdatacollectionso thatweknowexactlyhowmanyareaffected,howmanyneedassistance.Thisdataistobecollectedatthedistrict,stateandnationallevel.Onlythencanthedirectedrelief envisaged under the Act be given.Businesses have been affected across thecountry, especially in theMSMEsector. Loanrepaymentscannotbemade,credit isscarce.Thesehavetobedealtwithinstitutionally,butnosuchmechanismis inplace.Where is the institutionalmechanism to

coordinatetheactionsofministriesofthegov-ernmentofIndiaandstategovernmentswiththe national authority, the state authoritiesand NGOs in relation to disastermanage-ment?Thecentralgovernmenthasnotputinplace any suchmechanism. The absence ofany institutionalmechanismhas resulted inthemayhem thatwe arewitnessing acrossthe country. Adhoc decision-making seems

tobetheorderof theday.Thereisalsoachapterrelatedtooffences

and penalties in the Act. Any criminal pro-ceeding can only take place on a complaintmade by the National Authority, the StateAuthorityandotherentitiessetoutintheAct.Forthepersontobeproceededagainst,ano-ticeperiodofnotlessthan30daysisrequiredtobegiven for the allegedoffencepursuantto which the complaint can bemade. TheFIRs that are otherwise lodged are contraryto theprovisionsof theAct, since the field isoccupied by Parliament through this legis-lation. Section 72 of the Act of 2005 stipu-lates that theAct shall haveeffect, notwith-standinganythinginconsistenciestherewithorcontainedinanyotherlawforthetimebe-ing in forceor in any instrumenthaving theeffectbyvirtueofanylawotherthantheActitself.Allactionstakenbytheauthorities in-consistentwiththeprovisionsoftheActmaynotbe legally sustainable.Democracy cannot function through ad

hocdecisions,andpreparednessisonlypos-siblewhendialoguetakesplace,whenpropersystemsareput inplace.Weare functioningwithoutrecoursetothelaw,anditistimeforthecourts tostep in.That is theonlywaywewill ensure that in future, we are ready forsuchdisasters.

Thewriter,aseniorCongress leader, isaformerUnionminister

The recent experiences of thesuccessful containment ofthe Nipah outbreak andmanagement of the twopost-flood health situationshave provided, if I may sayso, a kind of herd immunityto the health workers tocrisis situations. Once newsof the Wuhan pandemiccame, the Kerala healthsystem scrambled toreadiness — the controlroom was set up, mock drillswere organised and the firstinflux was contained. Oncemigrants from the Gulf andEurope began to return,things began to get out ofhand. But now this battlehas also been successfullyconcluded.

One wonders whether thelockdown announcement bythe Prime Minister on March24 was the decision of theNDMA in the context of aNational Plan preparedunder the provisions of theAct of 2005. It clearly wasnot, given the absence ofprior consultation with stategovernments. Had therebeen a National Plan, itwould have catered to therequirements of migrantsbefore such announcements.The fallout is that lakhs ofIndians are now withoutfood, and other necessities.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020WORDLYWISE

To dwellers in awood, almost every speciesof tree has its voice aswell as its feature.

— THOMAS HARDYTHEEDITORIALPAGE

BANK NATIONALISATIONCAPTAINSOFTRADEandindustryhavecrit-icisedthenationalisationofsixmoreprivatesector banks as a step that will disturb thecountry’sinvestmentclimate.Thepresidentof the Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry, Hari ShankarSinghania, said in a statement that the gov-ernment’sactionswere“sadandbad”.Itwassadbecause the government had chosen tofritterawayitsenergyonaneedlessexercise,andbadbecauseitwould“disturbtheinvest-mentclimate”.

ASSAM STATUSTHESUPREMECOURTdecidednot to inter-

ferewiththeGauhatiHighCourtorderstay-ingtheoperationof thetwonotificationsbytheAssamgovernor.Thecentralgovernmenthadrequestedspecialleavetoappealagainstthe High Court order in view of the “dis-turbed” conditions in the state. The SC di-rected that theHigh Courtmay take up thegovernment’s petition as early as possibleand dispose it off on Friday. Justice B LHansaria of the High Court had passed thestay order on April 7. The governmentwasgiven 10 days to file its reply. Instead, it hasdirectlyapproachedtheSC.

SARTRE DEADJEAN-PAULSARTRE,PIONEERoftheexisten-

tialist philosophy that man’s freedom ofchoice is the root of his despair, died onTuesdayat74afteramonth-longillness,theParissocialwelfareofficesaid.Thewriterandthinker whose ideas enthralled postwarEuropewontheNobelPrizeforLiteraturein1964. But Satre refused to accept it sayingthat suchawards lendtoomuchweight toawriter’s influence. A leading exponent of20th century existentialism, his writingsprobedmanas a responsible but lonely be-ing,burdenedwiththeterrifyingfreedomtochoose and set adrift in ameaningless uni-verse. Sartrewanted hismaterialist philos-ophy tohelpmankind shakeoff oppressionand inequality.

APRIL 17, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Pakistan cannot be lulled into a false sense of security simply because we havefewer confirmed cases than some other countries.”

— DAWNTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AS THEWORLD faces the coronavirus pan-demic, Afghanistan is facing its own chal-lenges.This isacomplexmoment,aswearefightingbothCOVID-19andterrorismsimul-taneously. The Taliban are not to be trustedand they have violatedmany promises, es-pecially the agreement on the reduction ofviolence.Currently,theyarefightingagainstthe Afghan National Defence and SecurityForces(ANDSF)indifferentpartsofthecoun-try—theAfghansecurityforceshaverepelledevery attack so far.With the support of ourinternationalpartners, especiallyNATOandthe Resolute Support Mission (RS) inAfghanistan, the ANDSF has had a few no-tableachievementsof late.TheAfghansecu-rityforcesareexperiencedandwell-trainedtosafeguard thecountry’s security.The arrest, last month, of ISIS-K leader,

Abdullah Orakzai, a Pakistan national alsoknownasAslamFarooqi, isahugevictoryforAfghansecurity forces.TheTalibanandISIS-K,whosharethesameideologyandstrategicgoals,arebehindmanycowardlyandsense-lessattacks—andincidentsinwhichpeoplehave been tortured — in Kabul and otherprovinces.Arecentexample is themassacreof themembersofourSikhandHinducom-munities in Kabul at their place of worship— a crime against humanity. It is said thatwhen terrorists attack and slaughter inno-centAfghans, they speak foreign languages.Weare investigating thegurdwara attack—itnormallytakesalongtimetogettothebot-tom of such a situation. Butwith the arrestof Farooqi,wewill soonbeabletocommentonhowtheattackwasorchestratedandpindowntheassailants.It’sworthmentioningthattheAfghanse-

curityforcesalongwiththeRShavebeenontheoffenceagainsttheDaeshmilitantssincethey emerged in Afghanistan, andwe havedealt them decisive blows in the past fewyears, particularly last year.We have elimi-nated the organisation’s top leadership andourconstantmilitarypressureon thegrouphasputthemontherun.HundredsofDaeshmilitants andmid-level commanders sur-renderedtotheAfghangovernment ineast-ern Nangarhar last year and the AfghanPresidentofficiallyannouncedtheoutfit’sde-feat. However, intelligence reports indicatethat small terrorist groups,mainly based inPakistan, are behind some of the attacks inAfghanistan, allowing Daesh to claim thecredit.The massacre in Zabul province last

month resulted in the killing of dozens ofANDSFpersonnel. It is importanttoremem-ber thatANDSFwillmakethe leaderof ISIS-K talk and his confessionwill reveal manythingstotheAfghanpeopleandourinterna-tionalpartners.Therequirementsofthecurrentsituation

aredifferent.Wemustfocusourattentiononthepandemic.Thefirstcasewasrecordedinthe western part of the country, in Heratprovince, on February 24. According to theMinistryofPublicHealth(MoPH)officials,asof April 15, there have been 784 positivecases, with 43 recoveries and 25 deathsacross28provincesinthecountry.Herathasthe highest number of cases, 284, followedbyKabulwhichhas164cases,andKandaharwith 90 cases. The spread ismainly due tothousands of refugees returning from Iran,amongst the worst COVID-19 stricken na-

tions in theworld.Thegovernmentof Afghanistan’s efforts

to copewith the spreadof COVID-19are re-markable. President Mohammad AshrafGhani extensively discussedmeasures tocombat COVID-19, allocated national re-sources and coordinated the effort to fightthevirus.ThegovernmentofAfghanistanhasprovided$25milliontotheMoPHtofightthecoronavirus. Earlier, the government ap-proved a contribution of $1million to theSAARCEmergencyFundtofightCOVID-19inSouthAsiancountries.SAARCleadersheldavirtualconferenceonMarch15andempha-sisedcooperationandjointeffortstofightthepandemic. COVID-19 is a toppriority for thegovernmentandthepresident.Thegovernmenthasenforceda seriesof

precautionarymeasures, including the clo-sureofcommercialfacilities, inacontinuouseffort toslowdownthespreadof thecoron-avirus. Ithasordered theshutdownof com-mercialcomplexes,shoppingmallsandpub-lic markets, except for food supply outlets.The shutdown also included parks, barber-shops, hairdressing salons, sports clubs,swimming pools, schools, universities andallothereducationalcentres.Islamicscholarshave reached a consensus on checking thevirusbyclosingmosquesandrefrainingfromconductinganygatherings.TheAfghangovernmenthasestablished

a technical team that is working with theNational Security Council and the VicePresident of Afghanistan is leading theCoronavirusTaskForce.Wehavemanyvul-nerabilities, from refugees and open bor-ders to the dearth of high-level diagnosticcapabilities and shortage of good qualitymedical amenities. Thousands of refugeesare coming to Afghanistan from Pakistanand Iran. Afghanistan is the gateway toCentral Asia. We need regional and inter-national cooperation. If we don’t controlthe spread of the virus in Afghanistan, thepathogen could become a great threat toCentral Asia.Unfortunately, theWHO, like other UN

units, has not contributed as much as wehopedinAfghanistanduringthistime.Theirpresence and investment in the country forthepast18yearshasbeenquestionable.Thisis the right time for WHO-Kabul to takeproperactionbasedonregionalandinterna-tional experiences.The President’s strategy to dealwith the

COVID-19 pandemic has five key aspects:One, acknowledgement.Wehave to acceptthat the pandemic is a threat and requireseveryone’s support and contribution. Two,that itcanspreadeverywhereandtoevery-one.Three,adversity.Wearenotat this stage

sofar,butwehavetobereadyforsuchasce-nario.Four,wemustsupportvulnerablepeo-ple.Wehaveplanstosupportthemintimesofneedandintermsoftheirhealthandwel-fare. Five, recovery.Howcanwe recover af-ter the pandemic is over? It is sure to causehuge economic damage. The President hasappropriate strategieswhich take into con-siderationall theseaspects.Weanticipatethesituationtogetworse.

We have to take action before it is too late.Compared to our neighbours and othercountries around theworld, Afghanistan isinarelativelybetterpositionatthemoment.But the crisis requires actions not just fromthegovernment.Everycitizenmustalsocon-tribute to theeffort. Ifwealldoourpart,wewill overcomethis challenge.Rightnow,thereisnocureorvaccination

forthisnovelcoronavirus.Theonlysolutionis to contain its spread and prevent seriousrepercussions on peoples’ health and eco-nomic systems across the country.Employingpreventivemeasureslikestayingathome,takingcareofchildrenandtheeld-erly (parents and grandparents, and thosewhohavean illness), stoppingunnecessarymovement, shoppingonbehalf of the fam-ilyonceortwiceaweek,respectingthelock-downmeasures, supporting the govern-ment’sdecisionsandlisteningtotheadviceof healthcareofficials.Wemust thank the incredible nurses,

doctors, healthcare officials, support staff,police and all other security forceswho areworking hard around the clock to fight thecoronavirus and the terrorists. Thosewholost their liveswhile fightingCOVID-19willbe remembered in the same manner asthosewholosttheirlivesondutyinuniform,fighting terrorism to bring peace, securityandstability to thecountryandour region.

Thewriter isdirectorgeneralof secretariatattheOfficeof theNational SecurityCouncilGovernmentof the IslamicRepublicof

Afghanistanand formerdirectorgeneralofPlanandOperationsat theMinistryof

InteriorAffairsofAfghanistan

11

DELHI LOOKED amess as thousands ofpoor trudged tragically back towards thepoverty they had hoped to escape bymi-gratingforwork.Imagesofbordersandbusterminals thronging with the trudgingthousandsontheedgeofhopereachedalltheconnectedvillagesof India.Coronavirusandsocialdistancingareclearlysecondaryto a certainty of poverty and prejudice inthe village that is a known. Unknown is alockdown in an alien city, or state, avoid-ableatanycost.So a tragedy has unfolded across the

country,asthepoorestof thepoorseekthesolace of a village that had once pushedthem into the big badworld ofmigration.Even before the lockdown, work hadceased, monies dried up, trains stoppedandbusesvanished.Thecity,andthestate,shutdownonthem,tightandbrutal.Sothepoordidwhathasbeendonesincethebe-ginningofmankind,migrate.The view from the district, however, is

just asmessy, and equally tragic across awide swathe of the country. But as seenfrom one of the peripheral districts ofRajasthan, imagesare just as tragic, just ashopeless, and just as desperate. It is, how-ever, beingplayedacross thepeninsula, inevery state. The calls forhelp span theagespectrum, districts, and caste as well ascommunity.UnlikethemigrationstoeasternIndiain

the 18th and 19th centuries, whichwerelargely of one community from theShekhawati regionof Rajasthan, thepenin-sulamigrantshavemovedfromUdaipurandJodhpurdivisions.Theyareoverwhelminglyfirst-generationbusinesspersons,orlabour,andencompasstheentirecaste/communitydirectory.Mostseizedtheopportunitiesfol-lowing the1991 liberalisation. Fromtruck-ingentrepreneurs inOdisha, to textilemer-chants in Surat, the entire coast has aRajasthanipresence.Andmostwanttocomeback, and theyareon themove.Thousandsmade theirway back since Rajasthan an-nounceditslockdownonMarch21.WithsincerestapologiestoAlvinToffler,

thisisthethirdwave,of reversemigration.The firstwas causedby the jolt of demon-etisation,secondbytheagoniesofGSTim-plementation, andnow, the largestmove-ment after another 8 pm address to thenation. Theprevious twoannouncementsaffected businesses in differentways, andcausedlimitedmigrations.Butthisunpre-pared lockdown announcement haspushed theentire spectrumof smallbusi-ness and labour on the road. And they’removing legally, and illegally, in enormousnumbers.It needn’t have been this tragic if only

the“state”hadmorefaithinitspeople.Butinamannerthatmirrorsacolonial-eradis-trustofthenatives,Indianscannotbetakenintoconfidenceaboutvitaldecisions.Twoanalogies stand stark as compared to theIndiangovernment’s surreptitious steps.OnMay 4, 2016, the European Central

Bank announced that the 500 Euro notewouldcease tobe incirculationat theendof2018,afull36monthslater.Thereasonsgivenwere evenmore explicit thanwhatIndia used later in November, includingcalling 500 Euros the bin Laden note! ButtheECBstill gave its citizens36months toprepare,unlikeIndiawherenativescannotbe trusted to handle their earnings. Mostof it legal, as it later turnedout.OnMarch24,SouthAfricaannounceda

nationwide lockdowntobe implementedfrommidnight of March 26, unlike Indiawhich gave its people four hours on thesame day. With a population about thesameasRajasthan, SouthAfricaobviouslyhasmore faith in its people so gave themtimetoprepare.TheECBdemonstratedthesame in the Eurozone, but obviously thecolonial overhang in India makes the“state”unwilling tobelieve itspeople.The chronology of COVID-19 in India

makes for some strange dates. From thefirst positive case at the end of January tothemidnight lockdown of March 24, thegovernment of India took a number ofsteps, as did the people and other institu-tions.Soitisstrangethatthecountrycould-n’tbeinformedinadvancethatalockdownwasdue.Afternumerousspecialflightsthatbrought Indians back, thermal screeningforother countries, complete cancellationof visas, curtailing flights, and so on. Thegovernmentof Indiahadthecapacitytodoall that, but not prepare its people. OnMarch11, theWHOdeclaredtheoutbreaka pandemic. TheWHO director generalsaid: “This is the first pandemic causedbya coronavirus. Andwe have never beforeseenapandemic that canbecontrolled.”SoonMarch13, the India-SouthAfrica

cricketserieswascalledoff,sensibly.Andaday later, theMinistryofHomeAffairsde-clared COVID-19 a national disaster onMarch 14, but did nothing to employ theNational DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA). Just as well, for the NDMAorder/advisoryofMarch24is theepitomeof inanity.SincetheprioritywastoconquerBhopal, the Centre remained occupiedthere,andamesswasbrewingunderneath.TheChineseNewYearisthelargestan-

nual humanmigration, butwas curtailedor stopped insome instancesbyBeijingasaprecautionagainst the spreadof COVID-19. The Centre now has the dubiousachievementofcausingthelargesthumanmigration in post-Partition memory.Peoplemovedandmanystillwanttomovebecausetheyhaveexperiencedandinher-itedmemoriesofhunger.Andhavingseenthe insensitivities of the “state”, they alsodon’t want a lonely uncared death. Bothfears drive their miserable tragic trudge,district todistrict.

Thewriter isa formerMPfromRajasthan

We anticipate the situationto worsen. We have to takeaction before it is too late.Compared to our neighboursand other countries aroundthe world, Afghanistan is ina relatively better position atthe moment. But the crisisrequires actions not justfrom the government. Everycitizen must also contributeto the effort. If we all do ourpart, we will overcome thischallenge.

Manvendra Singh

AbdulMoqimAbdulrahimzai

The statecannot hold

Memoriesofhunger,fearofdyingwithoutcare,liebehindmigrants’longtrudgehome

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

WRONG FOCUSTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘MakingBharat Ayushman’ (IE, April 16 ). Evenwhile claiming the effectiveness of the“whole- of-government approach”, thearticle exhorts a “whole-of-society re-sponse”.Unfortunately, the focus is stillonthedisease(COVID-19)andnottheail-ing public, particularly the vulnerablegroupslikemigrantanddailywagework-ers. Theprivatehealth sector known toattend 70percentofillnessinIndiaisnotvisibleinthiswaragainstCOVID-19.Hadthe successivegovernmentsbothat theCentreandinthestatesinvestedinpub-lic health infrastructure and services,Indiawouldhaveavoided the scrambletodealwiththecrisis.

LRMurmu,Delhi

STATE LESSONSTHIS REFERS TO the editorial,“Unlockingdown”(IE,April16). It is im-possible tokeeptheeconomyshutandpeopleathome indefinitely. The relax-ationsarelargelygearedtowardsopen-ingtheall-importantfarmandruralsec-torsandensuringthatthesupplychainsand distribution of goods and pharmaproductsarenothalted.Allowingsmallserviceproviders tooperatewill helpalargesectionofpeople.TheCentremusttake the initiative to ensure that bestpractices from successful states areadoptedacross thecountryand the re-strictionsarestrictlyadheredto.

SSPaul,Nadia

BAD TIMINGTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘OnlyWHO’(IE,April16).TheUS—thelargestdonor to theWHO—has taken anun-

fortunate decision of suspending itsfunding. Thishas comewhenAmericaisincrisis—wellover2,000AmericansdiedfromCOVID-19.There isnodoubtthat China hid the news of the coron-avirus outbreak initially, which couldhave saved thousands.Besides China,theWHOmust also be held account-able,butnotrightnow.Itisneededdur-ingthecrisis.TheUSPresidentmustre-considerhisdecision.

BalGovind,Noida

NOT A FARCETHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Reachin’ (IE April 16). Celebrities have notunderstoodthespiritof the lockdownbyreducing isolationtoaselfie-takingcontest.With theworld in crisis, theirbehaviour is insensitive.Will someoneplease tell them that hunger is not afarce?

SangeetaKampani,Delhi

LETTER OF THEWEEKAWARD

To encourage quality readerintervention, The IndianExpress offers the Letter oftheWeek award. The letteradjudged the best for theweek is published everySaturday. Lettersmay be

e-mailed toeditpage@expressindia.comor sent to The IndianExpress, B-1/B, Sector 10,Noida-UP 201301.

CR Sasikumar

Fighting on two frontsAfghanistanisfightingbothterroristsandcoronavirusatthismoment.Withinternalunityand

supportfromallies, itcanprevailoverboth

Insolvencycodeshouldbesuspendedforsixmonthstohelpcompaniesrecover

THEECONOMICconsequencesoftheCOVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that fol-lowedwillundoubtedlybedisastrous.Thesecripplingblowshavecomecloseontheheelsof the worst economic slowdown experi-enced by the country in the recent past.Almosteverysectorwasbadlyaffected.Themanufacturingsectorhadseenadrasticdropinproductionduetoasteepfall inconsump-tion. The lockdown has badly affected theservicesector,particularlytravel,hospitality,andwholesaleandretail trade.After the lockdown is over, several com-

panies are likely to default on their dues tobothoperational and financial creditors. Thelatter include banks and others who havegivenfinancialassistancetoacompanyintheformof loansanddebentures.Accordingtoa2018 amendment to the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) 2017, flat purchasersarealsodeemedasfinancialcreditors.Anop-erational creditor is just about anyonewhohastoreceivemoneyfromacompany.TheIBCprovidesafast-trackmechanismtodealwithcompanieswhich are unable to repay theircreditors andhave become financially unvi-

able.Section22oftheCodemandatestheap-pointment of a Resolution Professional (RP)whoisexpectedtomiraculouslyturnaroundthecompanyin330days. If thisattemptfails,thecompanygoesintoliquidation.The IBC’s provisions have been exten-

sivelyusedbyvariouscreditorswhosedueswere not paid. Initially, the threshold limitwasjustRs1lakhandtheIBCbecameanef-fective recoverymechanism for all opera-tional creditors. Just before the lockdown,thefinanceministerraisedthethresholdforinvoking the insolvency provisions to Rs 1crore.Shesaidthatthislimitwasbeingraisedto prevent proceedings being initiatedagainst small andmediumenterprises.After the lockdown, several enterprises,

large,mediumandsmall,mightnotbeableto pay their dues, at least in the short-term.The easiest way for a creditor to recovermoney is to initiate insolvencyproceedingsagainst thedebtor companyand threaten itwith liquidation. Theshutdownof businessafter the lockdowncouldhaveadominoef-fect. If anauto-manufacturerhasshutdownitsoperations,theancillaryunitswillnotget

theirdues.Thiswouldthenleadtonon-pay-ment to downstream vendors and serviceprovidersaswell. Itmighttakeatleastthreeto fourmonths for thesituation tostabilise.Themostimportant,andimmediate,step

thatneedstobetakenistohaveasix-monthmoratoriumon the IBC. Itmaybenecessarytopromulgateanordinancesuspending theprospective operationof Sections7 and9oftheIBCsothatnofreshpetitionisfiledagainstacompany.Whilethiscouldhurtsomeofthecreditors, the damage that could be done tothe corporate sector by invoking the IBC islikely to be far greater. A distressed creditorisnotwithoutaremedyashecanalwaysap-proach the civil courts for relief, whichwillnotbesosevereonadefaultingcompany.If an insolvency petition is filed and the

RPappointed, it isdifficult to stop the insol-vencyprocess.TheIBCrequiresafinancially-stressed company to be taken over by a fi-nancially-soundone.Forexample,EssarSteelwas taken over by ArcelorMittal andBhushan Steelwas takenover by Tata Steel.In the current scenario, itwill be difficult, ifnot impossible, for an RP to find a suitable

buyerandtheonlyoptionwouldbetoliqui-date thecompany.Suspending the IBC for a short period

wouldenableseveralcompaniestoreturntonormalcywithout the constant threat of aninsolvency application and its Board ofDirectorsandmanagementbeingtakenoverby theRP.Moreover, theNational CompanyLawTribunalbencheswillsimplybeunableto takeanyadditionalworkload.Using the insolvency process to recover

dues is contrary to the IBC’s objectives. Itspreamble indicates that theobjectiveof theIBCisnotjustinsolvencybutthereorganisa-tionof companies,maximisationofvalueofassets and theneed tobalance the interestsofallstakeholders.Therefore,suspendingtheIBCforsixmonthswouldbeamuch-neededsteptoprevent furtherdamagetotheecon-omy.Itwouldbeinthelargerpublicinterest.Indeed, at this critical stage, permitting thelegal remedyof insolvencycouldbethe lastnail in thecoffinofmanycompanies.

Thewritersarepracticingadvocates in theSupremeCourtandtheMadrasHighCourt

Assurance for tough timesArvind PDatar andRahulUnnikrishnan

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

FACEBOOK TO WARN AGAINST HOAXESFacebook will soon let users know if they liked, reacted toor commented on posts with harmful misinformation

about the virus that was removed by moderators, by direct-ing those who engaged with those posts to information

about virus myths debunked by the WHO

PAKISTAN

PakasksChinatosoftentermsforCPECdealsIslamabad:Pakistanhasre-questedChina to ease thepayment obligations ofover $30 billion in thepowerprojects under theChina-PakistanEconomicCorridor(CPEC).TheCPECis a planned network ofroads,railwaysandenergyprojects linkingXinjiangUyghur AutonomousRegion with Pakistan'sGwadar Port on theArabianSea. Accordingtoa report in the Dawnnewspaper, Pakistan's re-questforrelaxationinpay-mentsispartofitsongoingeffortstosecurediscountsandsavingsonpowerpur-chases from independentpowerproducersasitscir-cular debt liabilitiescrossedRs2trillion.

InRawalpindi. AP

PANDEMICWATCH

RUSSIA

US,Russiashouldhelpeachother:KremlinMoscow: RussianPresident Vladimir Putinbelieves the global coro-navirus pandemic is anopportunityforhiscoun-trytoworktogetherwiththe US, the Kremlin saidThursday. "PresidentPutin believes this pan-demic is the time tohelpeach other," Kremlinspokesman DmitryPeskov told reporters, af-ter US President DonaldTrumponWednesdayof-fered to send ventilatorsto Russia. "This is verypositiveand theUSpres-ident told Putin of thisreadiness during the re-cent phone call," Peskovsaid. Russia would takeTrump up on his offer "ifneedbe",headded.

NIGERIA

18‘killedbysecurityforces’over lockdownAbuja:Nigerian securityagentshavekilled18peo-pleintheirenforcementofmeasures to curb coron-avirus,afigurehigherthanthe documented toll in-flicted by the disease, thecountry's human rightsbody said. As per officialfigures,coronavirushassofar infected407people inNigeria,12ofthemfatally.In a report released lateon Wednesday, theNational Human RightsCommission said it hadreceived and docu-mented"105complaintsof incidents of humanrights violations perpet-uatedbysecurity forces"in 24 of Nigeria's 36states andAbuja.

AGENCIESWASHINGTON,NEWYORK,APRIL 16

THEUShas"passedthepeak"onnew coronavirus cases,President Donald Trump hassaid and predicted that somestateswouldreopenthismonth.The confirmed coronavirus

death toll in the United Statessurpassed 30,000 on Thursday,according to a tally by JohnsHopkins University. Nearly640,000coronaviruscaseshavebeen recorded. More than 5.2millionworkers were added tothe tally of the unemployed onThursday,anotherstaggeringin-crease that is sure to add fuel tothedebateoverhowlongto im-pose stay-at-home orders andrestrictionsonbusinessactivity.In the last four weeks, the

economyhas lost about 22mil-lion jobs. The latest figure fromtheLaborDepartment,reflectinglastweek’sinitialunemploymentclaims, underscores how thedowndraft has spread to everycorner of the economy: hotelsand restaurants, mass retailers,manufacturersandwhite-collarstrongholds like lawfirms.“There’s nowhere to hide,”

said Diane Swonk, chief econo-mist at Grant Thornton inChicago. “This is the deepest,fastest,mostbroad-basedreces-sionwe’veever seen.”The mounting unemploy-

ment numbers seem certain toadd to pressure to lift some re-strictions on business activity.President Trumphas said somemeasures should be relaxedsoon because of the impact onworkers. “There has to be a bal-ance,”hesaidatapressbriefingWednesday evening. “We havetogetback towork.”Many governors and health

experts are more cautious. Ifbusiness conditions return tonormal too quickly, they fear, asecondwave of coronavirus in-fections could spread. Some ofthenewjoblessclaimsrepresentfreshly laid-off workers; othersare from peoplewho had beentrying foraweekormoreto file.NewYorkGovernorAndrew

Cuomo extended the state'sshutdownorder Thursday untilMay15,citingdatashowingcon-ditions were improving butaddingthat"wehavetocontinuewhatwearedoing.""I would like to see that in-

fection rate get down evenmore," Cuomo said at his daily

briefing,reportingthat606morepeoplehaddied,thelowestdailytoll in10days.The Trump administration

has previously fixedMay 1 as apossible date to reopen theworld'slargesteconomy,butthepresident said some statesmaybe able to return to normalcyearlier than that."Thebattlecontinues,butthe

data suggest thatnationwidewehave passed the peak on newcases. Hopefully, thatwill con-tinue, andwewill continue tomakegreatprogress,"Trumpsaid.

AtaprotestagainstMichigan’sextendedstay-at-homeorder. Reuters

REUTERS&AFPLONDON,APRIL 16

EUROPEIS ineyeof thestormofthe COVID-19 pandemic, withthe number of cases nearing amillion, and shouldmovewithextreme cautionwhen consid-ering easing lockdowns, theWorldHealthOrganisation’sre-gionaldirectorsaidonThursday.“Casenumbersacrossthere-

gion continue to climb. In thepast10days,thenumberofcasesreported in Europe has nearlydoubled to close to 1million,”theWHO’s European director,HansKluge, told reporters.Thismeant thatabout50%of

the global burden of COVID-19was in Europe, Kluge said.Morethan 84,000 people in Europehavediedintheepidemic,hesaid.“The storm clouds of this

pandemicstillhangheavilyovertheEuropeanregion,”Klugesaid.As some countries start to

consider whether restrictionsmaybeeasedandwhethersomeworkplaces might start to re-open,hesaiditwascriticaltoun-derstandthecomplexityandun-certaintyof such transitioning.Spain'sdeathtollsoaredpast

19,000 on Thursday after an-other551peoplediedofCOVID-19,with thenumbers reflectinga slowdown after nearly five

weekson lockdown.Spain has seen the increase

in thenumberof deathsand in-fections come down over thepast fortnight, with theovernightfatalitiestakingthetollto19,130.But therearegrowingconcerns that the toll may befar higher, with regional au-thorities insisting they hadthousandsmore victims.

ADITIKHANNALONDON,APRIL 16

THE UK government onThursday announced that itscurrent social distancingmeas-ures will remain in place for atleastanotherthreeweeks,goingup to May 7, as the country'sdeath toll from the coronaviruspandemic rose by a further 861tohit13,729.UK Foreign Secretary

Dominic Raab, who is standingin for British Prime MinisterBoris Johnsonashe recuperatesafter testing positive for coron-avirus,chairedacrucialmeetingof the Cabinet Office BriefingRooms (Cobra) toannounce theCabinet'sdecision toextendthelockdown during the dailyDowningStreetbriefing."Anychangetooursocialdis-

tancing measures nowwouldrisk a significant increase in thespreadof thevirus," saidRaab.

“Your efforts are paying off.There isa lightat theendof thetunnel. To lift measuresnowwould undo the progresswe'vemadetodateand,asare-sult, would require an evenlonger period of the more re-strictive social distancingmeasures,” he said.Theminister said that relax-

ing rules could cause a "secondpeak",whichwouldriskincreas-ing deaths "substantially" andalso prolong the economic fall-out fromtheoutbreak. PTI

REUTERSPARIS,APRIL 16

NEARLY 700 sailors assigned tothe French aircraft carrierCharles de Gaulle’s naval grouphavetestedpositiveforthecoro-navirus, the armed forcesmin-istry saidonWednesday.The ministry said 1,767

mariners, nearly all from theCharlesdeGaulleitself,hadbeentested and results showed atleast668tobeinfectedwiththenewcoronavirus.Resultsarestillnot in fromathirdof the tests.“Thirtyonepersonnelareto-

dayinhospital,” itsaidinastate-

ment.“Moretestsarebeingcar-riedout.”The carrier, which hadmost

recentlybeentakingpartinexer-cises with northern Europeannavies in the Baltic Sea, arrivedhome inToulon twoweeksear-lierthanexpectedafterabout40crewmembers showedsignsofCOVID-19symptoms.Sickcrewmembershadbeen

placed undermedical observa-tion on board the nuclear-pow-eredcarrierandateamequippedtocarryoutthefirsttestsairliftedto the vessel. Crew from theCharlesdeGaulleandthe frigateChevalierPaulwerenowincon-finementwithintheirnavalbase.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSBEIJING,APRIL 16

CHINA IS refuting allegationsthat the coronavirus pandemicmayhaveoriginatedinalabora-tory near the city of Wuhanwherecontagioussampleswerebeingstored.ForeignMinistryspokesman

ZhaoLijiancited theheadof theWorld Health Organisation andother unidentifiedmedical ex-perts as saying therewasnoev-idence that transmission beganfrom the lab and therewas “noscientificbasis” for suchclaims.“Wealwaysbelieve that this

is a scientific issue and requiresthe professional assessment of

scientists andmedical experts,”Zhao told reporters at a dailybriefingonThursday.“Only with reasonable re-

sponse can the internationalcommunitywinthisfight,”Zhaosaid.“Chinawillcontinuetoworktogetherwithothercountries tohelpandsupporteachother.”China has also strongly de-

niedclaims itdelayedreportingonthevirusoutbreak inWuhanlatelastyearandunderreportedcasenumbers. Allegationsabouta leak of the virus from the labhavebeenmadeintheUSmediawithout direct evidence, andPresident Donald Trump hasvowed to suspend funding forWHO,partlybecauseofwhatheclaims is itspro-Chinabias.

CASH FOR GOLDPeople inThailandsell theirgoldornamentsatastore inBangkokonThursday.Withgoldpricesrisingtoaseven-yearhigh,manyhavebeenflockingtogoldshops,eager toearnprofitsduringaneconomicdownturn. AP

AGENCEFRANCE-PRESSETOKYO,APRIL 16

JAPANESE PRIME MinisterShinzo Abe on Thursday ex-pandedastateofemergencydueto the coronavirus to cover thewholecountrytostemthegrow-ingspreadof thedisease.The declaration allows re-

gional governors tourgepeopleto stay indoors, but with nopunitivemeasuresorlegalforce,themeasure is far weaker thanstrict lockdowns seen in otherpartsof theworld.Abe had already declared a

month-long state of emergencyinsevenregions,includingTokyo,wherearecentspikeincaseshaspromptedwarnings that emer-gencymedicalfacilitiescouldcol-lapse. "Areas where a state ofemergencyshouldbecarriedoutwillbeexpandedfromthesevenprefectures to all prefectures,"Abe told a special meeting ofmedicalexperts.He said the state of emer-

gencywouldremaininforceun-tilMay6.Japan has so far seen a rela-

tivelysmalloutbreakofthevirus--despiterecording its firstcaseinmid-January -- with around8,500 infectionsand136deathsbyThursday.

OTHERTOPGLOBAL STORIES

JONATHANLANDAYWASHINGTON,APRIL 16

CHINAMAYhavesecretlysetofflow-level underground nucleartestexplosionsdespiteclaimingtoobservean internationalpactbanningsuchblasts,theUSStateDepartment said in a report onWednesday that could fuel US-Chinese tensions.US concerns about Beijing’s

possible breaches of a “zeroyield” standard for test blastshavebeenpromptedbyactivitiesat China’s Lop Nur nuclear test

site throughout 2019, the StateDepartment report said. Zeroyield refers to a nuclear test in

whichthereisnoexplosivechainreactionofthetypeignitedbythedetonationofanuclearwarhead.

“China’spossiblepreparationto operate its Lop Nur test siteyear-round, its use of explosivecontainment chambers, exten-sive excavation activities at LopNur and a lack of transparencyonitsnucleartestingactivities ...raise concerns regarding its ad-herence to the zero yield stan-dard,” the report said.Beijing's lack of trans-

parency included blockingtransmissions from sensorslinked to a monitoring centrethatverifies compliancewithatreatybanningnuclear test ex-plosions.REUTERS

ASSOCIATEDPRESSJERUSALEM,APRIL 16

ISRAEL'S PRESIDENT Thursdayasked the Knesset to choose anew primeminister, giving theparliamentthreeweekstoagreeupon a leader or plunge thecountry into an unprecedentedfourth consecutive election injustoverayear.President Reuven Rivlin

made themove after his primeminister-designate, formermil-itary chief Benny Gantz, andPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu failed to reach a

power-sharing deal by a mid-nightdeadline.Although the deadline

passed, Netanyahu's Likud andGantz's Blue andWhite partysaid theywould continue theirnegotiations toward an “emer-gency”unitygovernmentmeanttosteerthecountrythroughthecoronaviruscrisis.Thesidesofficiallyhavethree

weeks to wrap up a deal.Otherwise,theKnessetwoulddis-solveandtriggeranotherelection.WithGantznolongerholdingthepresidential“mandate”toputto-gether a coalition, Netanyahucouldsearchforotheroptions.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSUNITEDNATIONS,APRIL 16

SYRIA'S CLOSE ally Russiaclashedwith European nationsin the UN Security Council onWednesday over a report fromthe global chemical weaponswatchdogblamingtheSyrianairforceforaseriesofattacksusingsarin and chlorine on a rebel-held townin2017.Moscow dismissed it as

“baseless” and the Europeansdemandedaccountabilityforthegovernment's action.An investigative teamof the

OrganisationfortheProhibitionof ChemicalWeapons said in a82-page report issued April 8that the Syrian air forcedropped bombs containing ei-ther chlorine or sarin on a hos-pital and open farmland in thecentral town of Latamneh, in-juringover70peopleandkillingat least three — a surgeon andtwoothers.UN spokesman Stephane

Dujarric said UN disarmamentchief IzumiNakamitusubriefedthe council, including on thefindingsoftheOPCWreport,andstressed that theywere “deeplydistressing.”

UK extends lockdownby three more weeks

Graffiti inLondon. Reuters

Japan expandscoronavirusemergencynationwide

ShinzoAbe

Nearly 700 test positiveon French aircraft carrier

China slams allegations about virus originPROBINGIFVIRUSCAMEFROMCHINESELAB:U.S.

Washington:PresidentDonaldTrump'sadministrationisurg-inganinvestigationintotheori-ginsof thepandemic,sayingitdoesn't rule out that it camefroma laboratory researchingbatsinWuhan,China.Beijing has said that the

viruswaslikelytransmittedtohumans late last year at aWuhan "wet market" thatbutcheredexoticanimals.But TheWashington Post

and Fox News both quotedanonymous sources whovoicedconcernthatSARSCoV-

2mayhave come—acciden-tally—fromasensitivebiore-searchcentre inWuhan."We'redoinga full investi-

gationof everythingwecantolearnhowitisthecasethatthisvirusgotaway,gotout intotheworldandnowhascreatedsomuchtragedy—somuchdeath—hereintheUSandallaroundtheworld," Secretary of StateMikePompeotoldFoxNews.Hedidnotrejectthereports

andsaid theUSknewthat thelaboratory "containedhighlycontagiousmaterials."AFP

CHINASAYSU.S. REMARKS ‘ILL-INTENTIONED’

China may have conducted low-levelnuclear test blasts: US State dept report

Beijing: China on Thursdaysaid it was "committed" to amoratoriumon nuclear testsas it strongly refutedas "irre-sponsible" and "ill-inten-tioned"theUSremarksof thepossibility of Beijing secretlyresuming undergroundatomicexperiments.

Chinese Foreign MinistryspokespersonZhaoLijiansaidChina is "committed" to thenuclear testingmoratorium.“The US neglects all the

factsandmakewantonaccu-sations against China. This isirresponsible and ill-inten-tioned,"hesaid. PTI

VISAREGULATIONS ‘INTHEWAYOFRESPONSE’

THEREGULATIONS inH-1BandJ-1visas, thatpreventdoctors fromprovidingmedicalcareatlocationsother thanthoseapprovedfor theirimmigrationstatus,arestanding inthewayof astrongresponsetoCOVID-19,abipartisangroupof40USlawmakershassaid.

THECURRENTpublichealthcrisis requiresarobustandtimelymedicalresponsethatbeginswithgettingphysicianstothefront lines.HealthcareworkersonH-1BandJ-1visas... areakeyresourceinthisprocess,” thelawmakerswrote ina lettertotheUSCISActingDirector

Choose new PM, Israelpresident tells parliament

Russia clashes with Europeover Syria chemical weapons

30,000COVID-19deaths inUS;NewYorkextendsshutdowntillMay15

USpassed peak on cases, saysTrump; 22mn file for jobless aid

AT A time when manyEuropean countries arelooking at how to relaxtheirlockdowns,theWHOhas listed criteria such ascontrol of transmissionand thepresenceof infra-structuretospot,traceandtreatcases.Thiswouldalsoinvolvethedeploymentofmoreworkers includingmedics.Toliftcurbswith-out such systems inplacemay result in secondwaves, leading to morecasesanddeaths

Criteriatorelaxlockdowns

WHO says comingweeks critical asEurope records 1 mncases, 90,000 deaths

13SENSEX: 30,602.61 ▲ 222.80 NIFTY: 8,992.80 ▲ 67.50 NIKKEI: 19,290.20 ▼ 259.89 HANG SENG: 24,006.45 ▼ 138.89 FTSE: 5,609.86▲ 12.21 DAX: 10,367.37 ▲ 87.61

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`76.87

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates. *IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,APRIL16

AHEADOFliftingofsomerestric-tionsfortheindustryApril20on-ward, FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamanmet PrimeMinisterNarendraModiThursdaytopres-ent an assessment of the pan-demic’s impactoneconomy,anddiscussapossiblesecondtrancheoffiscalandotherreliefmeasuresfor thepoor andvulnerable, sec-torsworsthitduetothelockdown,andsmallenterprises.Themeetingcomesamidstex-

pectations that the governmentwillannouncereliefmeasuresforMicro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs) aswell asnon-bankingfinancialcompanies(NBFCs), discussions forwhichhavebeengoingonintheFinanceMinistry since last fortnight, offi-cialssaid.Relief measures forMSMEs

could include further relaxationswithregardtoworkingcapitallim-itsforMSMEs,easingofdeadlinesforpaymentof various statutory

duesandexpeditingpaymentofduesbydepartments andpublicsectorundertakingstoMSMEs.Industrysourcessaidwhilethe

exemptionstotheindustrytoop-erate in rural areas addressedlargely concerns of big industry,MSMEsmostly operatewithinlimitsofmunicipalities and their

shutdown ismoreproblematic.WithregardtoNBFCs, therehavebeen a number of discussionsamong the government and theindustry demanding amorato-riumonNBFCs’ loanrepaymentstothebanks.The government had earlier

announced the PradhanMantri

Garib Kalyan Yojanawhich in-cluded several relief measuressuchas increasedentitlementoffoodgrains— five kgofwheat orriceandonekgofpreferredpulses—freeofcosteverymonthforthenext threemonths through thepublicdistribution system(PDS)alongwith distribution of LPGcylinders and cash transfers towomenunderthePradhanMantriJanDhanYojana.As thecountrygrappleswith

theimpactofpandemiconindus-tries acrossmanufacturing, con-struction, transport and financialsectors,whichcontributealmost70percentoftheGDP,manymul-tilateral agencies have alreadysharplydropped the forecasts ofGDPgrowthratesandprojectedasharp spike in unemploymentrate.AspertheWorldBank’slatest

assessment, India is expected togrow1.5per cent to2.8per cent.The IMFonTuesdayprojected aGDP growth of 1.9 per cent forIndia in2020, as theglobal econ-omyhitstheworstrecessionsincetheGreatDepressionofthe1930s.

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,APRIL16

FOLLOWINGSECURITYscaresof virtualmeetings betweenofficials suspected of havingbeenleakedandintruded,theMinistry of Electronics andInformation Technology(MeiTY) has launched an in-novationchallenge thataimsto find an indigenously builtvideo conferencing softwarebyJuly-end.“OfcoursetheZoomsecu-

rity scare is a concern.Otherwise also, theMinistryisoftheviewthatwork-from-home and social distancingcould become the newnor-mal.Fornow,thelockdownistillMay3,butwhat if it is ex-tended?Wewant to find alasting solution,” aMeiTYof-ficialsaid.For now, the competition

hasbeenkeptopentoallcom-panies or startups, whichwishtoparticipateintheproj-ect. If however, a company’sidea is selected in the top10,theymustmandatorilyregis-ter themselves in Indiawithownership of more than 51percentheldbyanIndian,theofficialsaid.“The datamust be stored

in India. We had meetingswith industry leaders, andNasscom. They opined thatsuchasoftwarecanbedevel-oped in India,providedthereis a commitment of the soft-ware being used, alongwithsome incentives. We havekeptallthatinmind,”theoffi-cialsaid.The jury to decide the

winnerwouldbeformedonlyafterApril30,oncethetop10teamsarefinalised,asthegov-

ernment wants to avoid aconflict of interest situation,officialssaid.Thegovernmenthasman-

dated12 checkpoints that allsuch softwaresmust pass inorder toqualify, includingal-lowing “encrypted networkcommunication”.“The team which wins

will have a central and stategovernment contract of atleastfouryears, inadditiontotheothermonetarybenefits,”anotherministryofficialsaid.Video conferencing soft-

ware Zoom has been in thedockforsecurityscares,withbig technology companieslikeGoogleandApplehavingbarredtheiremployeesfromusingthesoftwareforofficialmeetings.On Thursday, the

MinistryofHomeAffairs,too,releaseddetailedguidelines,which cautioned that thevideo conferencing appZoom was not “for use bygovernment officers or offi-cials forofficialpurposes”.“The broad objective of

thisadvisoryistopreventanyunauthorized entry into aZoom conference roomandprevent the unauthorizedparticipant tocarryoutmali-ciousattacksontheterminalsof other users in the confer-ence,” thegovernmentsaid.

COVID-19 EFFECTHOMEGROWNAPP

BRIEFLYShorterhoursformarketstillApril30:RBIMumbai:Thelimitedtradinghoursofdebtaswellascur-rencymarketwillremaininforcetillApril30amidexten-sion of the countrywidelockdown,theRBIsaid.

ComMin:ExportincentivesunderMEIStillDec31NewDelhi: TheCommerceMinistryhasclarifiedthatex-port incentives underMerchandiseExport Incen-tiveSchemewillbeavailableto exporters only up toDecember31thisyear.PTI

Post Zoom privacy woes,Centre seeks indigenousvideo conferencingsoftware by end of July

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,APRIL16

THERUPEEtanked43paisetoset-tle at an all-time low of 76.87againsttheUSdollaronThursday,amidrisingconcernsoveracoro-navirus-ledeconomicslowdown.Forex traders said theweak-

ness intherupeewas largelydueto strengtheningof theUSdollaragainstabasketofcurrenciesasin-vestors fled to safe-havengreen-back amidweakening risk ap-petiteinthemarkets.At the interbank foreign ex-

change,therupeeopenedweakat 76.75,andduringthedaylostfur- thergroundtosettleat76.87,reg-

istering a fall of 43paise over itspreviousclose.The Sensex closed 222.80

points, or0.73per cent, higherat30,602.61.WITHPTI

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,APRIL16

TATA CONSULTANCY Services(TCS), India’s largest softwareex-porter,hasposteda0.94percentdecline in net profit at Rs 8,049croreforthefourthquarterendedMarch31,2020fromRs8,126crorein the sameperiod ayear ago asthe COVID-19 pandemic “com-

pletely reversed thepositivemo-mentumthatithadstartedseeingin someof its biggest verticals inthe first half of the quarter”.Revenue for the fourth quarterrose 5.09 per cent to Rs 39,946crore from Rs 38,010 crore inMarch2019.RajeshGopinathan,MDand

CEO, said: “Amidst the tumult ofthelastfewweeks,ourpriorityhasbeen tosafeguard thehealthand

well-beingofouremployeeswhilecontinuing to support our cus-tomers’missioncritical activitiesglobally.”Thenetprofit for the full year

roseby2.8per cent toRs32,340croreandrevenueby7.2percenttoRs156,949crore.“Thepandemiccompletelyre-

versed thepositivemomentumthatwehadstartedseeinginsomeofourbiggestverticals in the first

halfofthequarter.Onthepositiveside,wehadverystrongdealclo-suresduring thequarter.Ouror-derbookthisquarteristhelargestever,fromthetimewestartedre-portingthemetric,”hesaid.NGanapathy Subramaniam,

ED andCOO, said: “Despite thelockdowns, TCS customers con-tinue toexperience thesameen-ergyanddelivery certainty fromTCSasbefore.“

TCS Q4 net down slightly as virus reverses momentum

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,APRIL16

AGOVERNMENTpanel has rec-ommended the creation of aNationalInstituteofValuerstoreg-ulatethevaluerprofessionakintothe Institute of CharteredAccountantsof Indiawhichregu-lates chartered accountants. Allvaluationsofcorporateassetsdur-ing the insolvencyprocessunderthe Insolvency andBankruptcyCode(IBC)aredonebyvaluersreg-

isteredwith the Insolvency andBankruptcyBoardof India (IBBI).Valuations done under theCompanies Act and the IBC arecurrently regulated by a frame-workunder theCompaniesAct.The government in 2008begunworkonlegislationtoregulatecor-poratevaluersbutthebillwasnotplacedbeforeParliament.Thepanelrecommended“..the

establishment of the NationalInstituteofValuers(Institute/NIV)toprotecttheinterestsofusersofvaluationservicesinIndia”.

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI,APRIL16

SOME 140 workers ofAShanmugavelayutham’s elec-trical transformermanufactur-ing unit in Guindy IndustrialEstateinChennaimayhavetogowithout pay for this month.Shanmugavelayutham, 70, saidhe hadmanaged to pay wagesfor March in spite of the lock-downhavingbegun.“Butwithnooperationsforthe

entiremonth,IcannotdothesameforApril,” he said. Theguidelinesissuedby theHomeMinistry onWednesdayallowing“selectnec-essaryactivities”fromApril20donothelp, Shanmugavelayuthamsaid— the government, he said,appeared tobe “totally clueless”abouttheirsituation.Shanmugavelayutham has

twounits, one in thecity and the

other ina suburb, andabouthalfhisworkersareNorthIndianswholeft for their states justbefore thelockdown. “The rest are peoplefromChennaiandtheneighbour-ingdistricts,”hesaid. “ButweareconfusedaboutopeningonApril20—whetherworkerswouldbeable to travel from their homes,whetherlorrieswithmaterialswillrunornot…There isnoclarity inthecircular.”According to Shanmuga-

velayutham, the governmentshouldeitheruse theEmployees’StateInsurance(ESI)topaywork-ers, orhelp industriesbyclearingall theirpendingpayments.Rs10crore is owed tohimfor supplieshe made to the Tamil NaduElectricityBoard(TNEB)alone,hesaid.“Now,onlylimitedmaterialsare left,evenif thereareorderstorepairtransformersinthestate.”TamilNadu,whichhasIndia’s

second-largesteconomy,ishome

tonearly10lakhMicro,SmallandMediumEnterprises(MSMEs),themostamongallstatesinthecoun-try.EachoftheseMSMEunitsdot-ting the industrial clusters in theurbanandrural areasof thestateemploysbetween10-20andoverahundredindividuals.MostMSMEowners and in-

dustry leadersThe IndianExpressspoke with agreed withShanmugavelayutham that theHomeMinistry’splanforaphasedexitfromthelockdownafterApril

20 lacksanunderstandingof thecomplexways inwhich these in-dustrieswork,andisunlikelytobehelpful.According to thecircular,“manufacturingandotherindus-trial establishmentswith accesscontrol have beenpermitted inSEZs, EoUs, industrial estatesandindustrial townshipsafter imple-mentation of SOP for social dis-tancing”, besides the “manufac-tureofIThardwareandofessentialgoodsandpackagings”.In the automobile belt of

Sriperumbudur,which is some-timescalled the “Detroit of Asia”,representativesoftopautomakerssaidwith production networksandkey industries paralysedbythelockdown,theyweretryingtofigureouthowthegovernment’splanmightwork.A top Hyundai official wel-

comed the “exitmeasures”, butaddedthecompanycannotbeginactive operationswithout sup-porting industries and theavail-abilityofmaterials. A spokesper-sonforAshokLeylandsaidmostofthecompany’sworkers live closeto theplants, andunits could re-sumeoperations—however,“sup-plychainwillbeachallengeasbor-ders are closed, and goodsmovementhasjustcommenced”.But “whatever is in the

pipeline, wewill be able to re-ceive”, the spokesperson said—adding thatdespite thedomesticmarketshuttingdownduringthe

lockdown,theywoulddeliverex-istingorders,andbuildupamini-muminventoryforthecompany’snewlaunches,especiallyoftheBS-VI variants. Industrial EstateManufacturers’AssociationleaderK V Kanakambaram said theirproblemsbeganmuchbeforethecoronavirusoutbreak—fromthedemonetisation exercise ofNovember2016, followedby theimplementationoftheGSTregimeinJuly2017.“Wehave been pleading for

help, andwehavebeen runningourbusinessesbypledging jew-elleryandproperties. Thecoronadisasteristhelaststraw…Withoutoperations,nounitswillbeabletopaysalariesnextmonth.Onlyifin-dustrialoperationsareallowedinthecityinaphasedandsafeman-ner, can those in the rural areaswork,”Kanakambaramsaid.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

CORONAVIRUS, LOCKDOWNHAVEDISRUPTEDLIVELIHOODS

Invitescos, startups tomake it

Fornow,thecompetitionhasbeenkeptopentoall companiesorstartupsthatwishtoparticipateintheproject

Refund tickets bookedduring lockdown fortravel till May 3: GovtENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,APRIL16

ADAYafterseniorofficialsofCivilAviationMinistryheld anonlinemeetingwith top airline execu-tives,thegovernmentannouncedasetofadvisoriesforairlinestore-funddomestic and internationalticketsbooked for the flights sus-pended due to lockdown.However,aspertheadvisories,air-lineswillbeboundtoprovidefullrefundsonly to thosepassengerswhohavebookedduringthefirstlockdownperiod—March25 toApril 14 — for travel betweenMarch25toMay3.“Grievances were received

fromair travellers regarding re-fundforflightscancelledbecauseof the nationwide lockdown tocombatCOVID-19.Advisorieshavebeen issued regarding refund forbothdomestic&internationaltick-ets booked for the flights sus-pended due to lockdown,”MinisterofStateforCivilAviation

(Independent Charge)HardeepPurisaidinatweet.The original proposal of the

government,asdiscussedduringWednesday’smeeting,wastoaskairlines to reduce the period ofcreditshellbeingofferedcurrentlyagainst cancellation of ticketsfromoneyear to sixmonths andrefund theunusedamount aftersixmonths.The Ministry also said:

“Bookingsaredonetheworldover.There are issuesbecauseof timedifferences. Different airlinesblocked reservations at differenttimes.Theremaybesomepassen-gerswhogot thebookingsdoneunknowingly.Suchcasesalsoneedtobeaddressed”.A senior government official

said thedecisionwas takenafterfactoring in the liquidity issuesofairlines andotherpotential pay-outs. “Airlinesneed tosurvive forfuture refunds,” theofficial said,adding the issue of flyers whobookedticketsprior to lockdownwillbedealtwithatalaterstage.

FMmeetsPM todiscuss2ndtranche of economic package

FarmersharvestwheatduringtheextendedlockdownimposedbythegovernmentinAllahabadThursday.RiteshShukla

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,APRIL16

REGION-WISETARGETS forper-sonal income tax and corporatetax have been set for financialyear 2020-21,withMumbai ac-counting for around31per centof the total country’s targetof Rs13.19 lakh crore. Delhi’s share inthe overall target is the secondhighestwith the target set at Rs1.89lakhcroreor14.3percentofthe overall target, the CentralBoardofDirectTaxes(CBDT)saidinacommunicationtoitsfieldof-ficesonThursday.They are followed by

KarnatakaandGoaregionwitha10.7percent share inoverall tar-get, followedbyTamilNaduandPuducherry regionwith 6.9 percentshare.Thegovernmentisstickingto

theBudgettargetofdirecttaxcol-lections for 2020-21, amid con-cerns over COVID-19 pandemicand the countrywide lockdownexpected to hit the country’sgrowth sharply for this financialyear. Net direct tax collectionscontractedafter20yearsin2019-20 due to the economic slow-downand the impact of COVID-19pandemic.During2019-20,thegovernmentfacedashortfallofRs1.42 lakh crore from the down-

ward revised target at Rs 10.27lakhcrore,adeclineof9.6percentfrompreviousyear’scollections.On Thursday, the Central

BoardofDirectTaxesinamissivecommunicated the region-wisebreak-upof thetargetsto its fieldofficials.“The Budget target for each

cadre-controlling Pr. CCIT hasbeen fixed keeping in view therevenue potential of the region,which is based on theweightedaveragegrowthrateofnetcollec-tionsofthelastthreeyears,givinghighestweight to the immedi-atelyprecedingyear.“Thestatisticalgrowthratefor

aregionhasbeenfurthermoder-atedbyaveraging it outwith theall-India targetedgrowth rate soastonarrowthegapbetweentheall-India growth and the targetgrowth rate given to the region,”themissivesaid.For2020-21,thegovernment

had set a target of Rs 6.81 lakhcrorefromcorporatetax,Rs6.38lakh crore from income tax andsecurity transaction tax (forwhich onlyMumbai region hasthe target of Rs 13,000 crore).The growth rate for total directtax collections for 2020-21 hasbeen pegged at 12.7 per cent,whichhasnowrisento28.4percentfromtheactualcollectionin2019-20.

EXPORTSSLUMPEDbyover35percentinMarchandsluggishdomesticeconomicactivitiesputpressureonthecurrency.

Exportsdataweighsonsentiment

Panel suggests instituteto regulate valuers

■TamilNadu,whichhasIndia’s second-largesteconomy, ishometonearly10 lakhMicro,SmallandMediumEnterprises(MSMEs), themostamongall states inthecountry

■Eachof theseMSMEunitsdottingthe industrialclusters intheurbanandruralareasof thestateemploysbetween10-20andoverahundredindividuals

TAMIL NADU ISHOMETONEARLY 10LMSMEs

From TN’s MSME heart, a cry for help: We’re in crisis, need a proper plan

Open Close

76.8776.7425

Prev close: 76.4413(Inverted scale)

`/$

76.6

76.7

76.8

76.9

RUPEE FALL

Virus-led slowdown fears push Re down to record low

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,APRIL16

INDIA’SGDPforthefirstquarterofthecurrentfiscal(2020-21)couldwitnessacontractionof6percentor evenhigher and the realGDPgrowth for the full fiscal yearwoulddecline to around1.1 percentdue to theeconomic impactofthecoronaviruspandemic,are-searchreportfromSBIsaid.TheoveralllossforFY21isesti-

mated to be about Rs 12.1 lakhcrore(6percentofnominalGVA),taking nominal GVAgrowth forentireyeartoaround4.2percent,the EconomicResearchDepart-mentofSBIsaidinthereport.

Growth may fallto 1.1% this fiscalyear: SBI report

REUTERSNEWYORK,APRIL16

THES&P500and theDowJonesslipped on Thursday, giving upearly gains as concerns aboutrough first-quarter earnings andlastingeconomicdamagefromthepandemic offsetweekly joblessclaims.At1:26p.m.ET, TheDowJonesIndustrialAveragewasdown140.93points, or0.60percent, at23,363.42.Oil pricesweremixedwith

BrentdownafterOPEClowereditsglobaloildemandforecastduetothe “historic shock”deliveredbythe coronavirus outbreak. Brentfuturesfell20cents,or0.7percent,to$27.49abarrelby11:16a.m.EDT.

Wall Street slipson jobless data;oil mixed afterforecast cut

‘Asia to see 0% growth in2020, worst in nearly 60 yrs’Asia is expected towitness zero per cent growth in 2020dueto the COVID-19pandemic, itsworst growthperformance inalmost 60 years, as per the InternationalMonetary Fund

Downward revisions are substantial,ranging from 3.5 percentage points in thecase of Korea to over 9 percentage points in

the case of Australia, Thailand and NewZealand — all hit by the global tourismslowdown Source: IMF/PTI

PerformanceduringGreatRecession:ThissharplycontrastswithChina’sgrowthperformanceduringtheGlobalFinancialCrisis,whichwaslittlechangedat9.4percent in2009thankstotheimportantfiscalstimulusofabout8percentofGDP

LOWESTGROWTHsince the 1960s

WorstrecessionsinceGreatDepressionTheglobaleconomyisexpectedtocontract in2020by3percent—theworstrecessionsincetheGreatDepression

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,APRIL16

THEEMPLOYEES’ProvidentFundOrganisation(EPFO)hasprocessed3.31lakhclaimsanddisbursedanamountof Rs946.49crore in last15daysintheonlinefacilitytoal-lowwithdrawalnotexceedingthe

basic wages and dearness al-lowances for threemonthsorupto 75 per cent of the amountstanding toamember’s credit intheEPFaccount,whicheverisless,inthewakeofthepandemic.Also,Rs284crorehasbeendis-

tributed by exempted PF Trustsunderthisscheme,notableamongthembeingTCS,saidarelease.

EPFO settles 3.31L withdrawalclaims worth `946.49 crore

REGION CORPORATE PERSONAL TOTALTAX INCOMETAX

Mumbai 2,31,712 1,62,843 4,07,555#Delhi 1,12,116 7,6957 1,89,073Karnataka&Goa 63,236 77,595 1,40,831TamilNaduand 44,827 46,400 91,227PuducherryAndhraPradesh 35,191 38,618 73,809&TelanganaTotal* 6,81,000 6,25,000 13,19,000*Includesdata forall 18 regions (InRscrore)#IncludesSecurityTransactionTax targetof`13,000crore

ALLOCATIONOF FY21 TARGETS

Direct tax targets forFY21 set: Mumbaiaccounts for 31% oftotal goal, Delhi 14.3%

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,APRIL 17,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

I-LEAGUE SET TO BE CANCELLEDThe All India Football Federation office-bearers will meet viaa video-conference on Saturday to take a call on the fate ofthe suspended I-League. The I-League had been suspendedwith 28 matches left in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemicwith Mohun Bagan already having sealed their second title.14

Vol. LXIVNo. 90 Printed for the proprietors, The Indian Express (P) Ltd byMs Vaidehi Thakar at The Indian Express Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area,Mahape, NaviMumbai - 400710 and published from 1st floor, Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021. Editorial & Administrative Offices: ExpressTowers, Nariman Point,Mumbai - 400021. Phone: 22022627/67440000. Fax: 022-22835726. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor: Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Mumbai): Nirupama Subramanian.* (*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act) Additional air surcharge of `1

.00 - Goa. Copyright: The Indian Express (P) Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in anymanner, electronic or otherwise, inwhole or in part, without priorwritten permission is prohibited. The Indian Express®

CROSSWORD4094

ACROSS1 Citeherconversionasa

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ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Balance isneededthisweek if youaretomakethemostoftremendous

personalopportunities.Yourdailystars,however, tell adifferentstory,urgingyoutofollowyourheartnomatterwhat.Youneverknow-otherpeoplemayactually respectyoumore.

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around inabucket.Don’tcomplain if yourmoodisuponemomentanddownthenext,butappreciate themarvellousvarietyof emotionswhich isyourspecialgift.And if you’remakingyourmindup,do itonthebasisofthe facts.

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SUDOKU418

2

DifficultyLevel4sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU418

1

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Anytwo____cantelleachotheralltheyknowintwohours.-OliverWendellHolmes,Jr(12)

SOLUTION:MOREL,DISCO,SPLASH,HYPHENAnswer:Anytwophilosopherscantelleachotheralltheyknowintwohours.-OliverWendellHolmes,Jr.

LMEOR AHSLPS

CDIOS ENYHHP

SolutionsCrossword4093:Across:1Jumpsuit,5Opts,9Dingo,10Premier,11Workingparty,13Mantis,14Stamen,17Offtherecord,20Testate,21Leila,22Reel,23Playtime.Down:1Jade,2Monsoon,3Shookhishead,4Impend,6Prior,7Spraying,8Despotically,12Impostor,15Martini,16Ordeal,18Fusee,19Gate.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Prowrestlingcompanyreleasesclose to30workers, includingthe legendaryKurtAngle,duetoCoronaviruscrisis

GAURAVBHATTNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

THEYMAY be larger-than-life, seemingly-indestructible figures in their parallel uni-verse, but on Wednesday the WWEwrestlers woke up to the harsh realities ofthe coronavirus crisis.Thecompanyreleasedclose to30work-

ers— includingwrestlers, producers, refer-ees, andwriters — and the process is likelytocontinue.Partof themassivecullwasKurtAngle — pro wrestling legend and formerOlympicgoldmedallistwhofirstsignedwiththe company in 1998 andwasworking as abackstage producer since retiring last year.Othernotable releases includeGallowsandAnderson—a tag team that featured in themarquee eventWrestleMania earlier thismonth, andMike Chioda — a referee whohadbeenwith thecompany for31years.In a statement,WWEnoted that “due to

COVID-19 and current government-man-dated impacts onWWE,” the companywillalsobereducing“executiveandboardmem-bercompensation,”cuttingexpensesandcon-sultingfeesandputtingoffconstructiononitsnewheadquarters forat leastsixmonths.It'sbeenaneventfulweekforWWE,after

thecompanywasfirstdeemed“essential” inFloridawhich led to scrutiny over CEO andchairmanVinceMcMahon’swifeandformercabinetmemberLinda'stieswithUSPresidentDonaldTrump.The layoffs also signify 'coro-navirus' finally infiltratingVince'sbubble.Chief among the well-documented

quirks of the eccentric, 74-year-old billion-aire ishishatredof sneezing.McMahongri-maces if someone sneezes in his presence,and zones out for a solid 20minutes if he’sthe rareoffender. “It’s justbecausehedoes-n’t likeanythinghecan’tcontrol.Thefacthecan’t control the sneezemakes himupset,”daughterStephanieonce revealed.Thepandemicthoughhasproventobethe

greatuncontrollable.WhenWWEhelditsfirstempty arena showonMarch 13,words like'Coronavirus' and 'COVID-19'were banned.“Duetoprevailingcircumstances”wasinitiallyused to acknowledge the bizarre scenario ofperformerspantomiming,grapplingandper-formingstuntsi.e.tellingastory,withnobody

in attendance. Even that verbiagewas soondropped,aswrestlerspulledoutandwerere-placedbyotherswithnoexplanation.Wednesday'spressreleasementionsthat

the reducedheadcount and salary cutswillsave $4millionmonthly, but also says that“the Company has substantial financial re-sources,bothavailablecashanddebtcapac-ity,whichcurrentlytotalapproximately$0.5billion.”Thecompany’s2019fourth-quarterreportnotedrevenuesworth$322mn.Theshattered illusionof larger-than-life

superstars reduced to tears by pink slipsnotwithstanding,thetimingofthemovehasled to heavy criticism. Though themass re-lease of wrestlers in April was once a tradi-tion,WWEhadspentthelastcoupleofyearson aggressive talent expansion; hoardingwrestlerswithnoapparentplansofutilisingthem,justtokeepthemfromfallingintothehandsof smaller rivalsgainingsteam.The cutting spree also comes a day after

President Trump named “The great VinceMcMahon”intheindustryleaderswhohesaidwillbetaskedwithhelpingrestarttheUSecon-omy. “Wewant togetour sportsback, so im-portantly,”Trumpsaidathisdailybriefing.“Wehavetogetoursportsback.I’mtiredofwatch-

ingbaseballgamesthatare14yearsold.”

Essential businessOnApril 9, Florida decreedWWEan es-

sentialservice,puttingprofessionalwrestlingonparwithhospitals, lawenforcementandgrocerystores.Asaresult,WWEisoneoftheonlysportingpropertiestoholdlivematchesfromtheir training facility inOrlando.Till themiddleof lastweek, theplanwas

forWWEtotapefiveweeksofprogramminginthreedaysandthenalltheworkerswouldstayhome.Thatwouldhavemeantreducedtravelandincreasedsocialdistancing,whichsounds evenmore reasonable consideringWWEdisclosed its first case of coronavirusonApril 11!The company confirmed that an “on-

screentalent”testedpositiveforCOVID-19.”Amongwrestlers, Roman Reigns, currentlythe company's biggest starwhohasbattledleukemia and is immunocompromised,pulledoutoftheworldchampionshipmatchonWrestleMania.ThencameFloridagovernment'samend-

mentwhich permitted “employees at pro-fessionalssportsandmediaproductionwithanationalaudience”tostayopenonlyif “the

location is closed to thegeneralpublic.”WhenMayor Jerry LDemingsof Orange

County, homeof the training facilitywherethe matches are taking place, was askedabout the decision, he replied: “With someconversationswith thegovernor’soffice re-garding the governor’s order, they weredeemedanessentialbusiness.”During a news conference on Tuesday,

Governor RonDeSantis told reporters, “Wedo need to support content, especially likesports and events. Now,we’re not going tohavecrowdsthere.IfNASCARdoesaraceandcan televise itwithout large crowds, I thinkthat’s agoodthing.”DeSantis,whoissuedastay-at-homeor-

derinFloridaonApril2afterheavycriticismfor refusing to do so, added, “Imean, if youthinkabout it,we’veneverhadaperiod likethis in modern American history whereyou’vehadsuch littlenewcontent, particu-larly in thesporting realm.”WithinhoursofWWEbeingdeemedan

“essential business,” the American FirstActionpoliticalactioncommittee,chairedbyVinceMcMahon’swife, Linda, announcedatotalof$18.5millionintelevisionadvertise-ment spending inFloridamediamarkets.

Loyal friendIn2016,LindaMcMahon,listedastheco-

founder of theWWE, infused a super PAC(PoliticalActionCommittee)supportingtheTrump presidential campaignwith $6mil-lion. Earlier, between 2007 and 2009, theMcMahons donated $5million to Trump'scharitable foundation.Linda,whoranfortheSenatetwice,was

appointed by Trump as the administratorof the Small Business Administration,where she served formore than two years

before resigning in 2019. She is nowchair-woman of America First, a pro-Trump su-per PAC. “Once you're his friend, he is loyalto the end,” Linda said after her appoint-ment in Trump’s cabinet. “He’s an incredi-bly loyal, loyal friend.”Trump’spartnershipwiththeMcMahons

began in 1988when hewas pushed as the“sponsor” of Wrestlemania IV, which washeldacross the street fromtheTrumpPlazaHotelandCasinoinAtlanticCity,NewJersey.The following year’sWrestlemania Vwasalso held at the same location, till date theonlyinstanceof themarqueeeventrunningat thesamevenueback-to-back. Trumpap-peared sporadicallyonWWEtelevisionbe-foreanon-screenfeudwithVinceMcMahonin 2007 got him inducted in the company'sHall of Fame in2013.UFCpresidentDanaWhite,anotherofthe

loyal friends and supporters namedroppedinthetaskforcebyTrump,wassimilarlyhell-bentongoing throughwithhisMMAeventscheduledforApril19,goingasfarastozeroinona“privateisland”beforepartnersESPN(andtophonchosatDisney)pulledtheplug.To UFC's credit, however, they haven’t an-nouncedanyroster cuts till date.AtheorygoesthatMcMahon'sarmcould

have been twisted by broadcasters Fox andUSANetwork.According to the dealsworthhundreds ofmillions of dollars,WWE is re-portedlyonlyallowedthreenon-liveshowsperyear.Butthis isanunprecedentedsitua-tion, andwith thewhole sportingworld onpause, one can’t imagine the networks pri-oritising live content over public health.WWE also has a video archive of close to ahundred thousandhours, and that could’vehelped thewrestling fans tideover.Afterseizingcontrolofthecompanyfrom

his father in 1982,McMahonmonopolisedonwhatusedtobeaterritorialbusinessandmade it a global phenomenon and a greatAmericanstaple.“Woveninthefabricof thesociety, brings families together” is howWWEexplained itsdecision tostay live.Butitseemsunfairtowrestlerswhotrav-

elledtoOrlando,Floridabravingapandemicandwerefiredoverthephonetwodayslater.His dealingwith the coronavirus crisis hasbeen Vince McMahon's biggest show ofweakness so far.

WWE wakes up to realityThecuttingspreealsocomesadayafterPresidentTrumpnamed“ThegreatVinceMcMahon” inthe industryleaderswhohesaidwillbetaskedwithhelpingrestart theUSeconomy

WWEwasdeemed“essential” inFloridawhich ledtoscrutinyoverCEOandchairmanVinceMcMahon’swifeandformercabinetmemberLinda’s tieswithUSPresidentDonaldTrump.

BCCI postponesIPL, Sri Lankaoffers to host

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA& REUTERSNEWDELHI, APRIL 16

THEBCCIonThursdaysuspendedthe2020IndianPremierLeague"till furthernotice",a decision that was conveyed to the fran-chises a couple of days back and was ex-pected after the lockdown to combat theCOVID-19pandemicwasextended.PTI re-portedonApril14 that theeight franchisesalongwithotherstakeholdershadbeen in-timated about the indefinite postpone-ment of the event, which was originallyplanned fromMarch 29.TheBoardonThursdaysaidthatgiventhe

"evolvingglobalhealth concerns" and lock-downmeasures implemented by the gov-ernment,ithadnochoicebuttofurtherpost-pone the glitzy T20 league. "...the IPLGoverning Council of the BCCI has decidedthat the IPL2020Seasonwill be suspendedtill further notice," said BCCI secretary JayShah inastatement.Thepandemichasclaimedover400lives

inIndiaandinfectedmorethan12,000peo-ple. Globally, the death toll has crossed 1.3lakh.TheIPL,whichwastoruntillMay24asper the original schedule, was first post-ponedtillApril15afterthegovernment im-posedrestrictionsonentryof foreignersdueto thesurge inCOVID-19cases.

Situation not conduciveThetravelbarmeantthatnointernational

playercouldcompeteinthetournamentif itwentaheadontime.With thesituationstillnot conducive for any sporting activity andthe country in themiddleof a lockdowntillMay3,theBCCIrefrainedfromgivinganyes-timateonwhentheeventmightbeheld."Thehealth and safetyof thenationand

everyoneinvolvedinourgreatsportremainsourtoppriority...theIPL2020seasonwillonlycommencewhen it is safe and appropriatetodoso," Shah further stated.SriLankaCricket(SLC)hasofferedtohost

the tournament. "It looks like Sri Lankawillbeclearof thecoronavirusbeforeIndia,"SLCpresident Shammi Silva told Reuters inColombo."If so,wecanhostthetournamenthere.WewillbewritingtotheIndiancricketboardsoon,"headded.