Aman claiming to be suffering fromcoronavirus climbed onto a window ledge

on the third floor of Safdarjung Hospital hereon Sunday and threatened to jump off, leadingto a tense situation. Police, however, said theman is not suffering from coronavirus and is

mentally challenged. A call about the incident was received at 2.42 pm,fire department officials said. In a video shared by the fire department,the man can be seen sitting on the window ledge on the third floor of the hospital building. He threatens to jump off if anyone comes near him.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as 44 new coron-avirus cases were confirmed inAndhra Pradesh on Sunday,taking the total number ofinfections in the state to 647while the toll stood at 17.

In all, 44 new cases werereported in the last 24 hoursending 9 am on Sunday, as thestate government said a record5,508 tests were carried outduring the period.

With a total of 65discharged and 17deceased, the num-ber of activeCoronavirus casesin the state stood at565.

According to thestate Covid-19Dashboard, an aggregate of26,958 tests were carried outtill date, of which 26,311returned negative.

Of the 75 Coronavirus pos-itive cases reported in Krishnadistrict, Vijayawada alone had60. The entire city has beenclassified as red zone or con-tainment zone with controlledmovement of vehicles.

Authorities have identified afew major hotspots like

Kummaripalem and KarmikaNagar where more than 10 cases each were registeredso far.

"Of late, many cases arebeing reported from peoplewhose family members had noforeign returnee or TablighiJamaat connection. Theirfamily had either dri-vers who had

inter-state travel or peoplewho move among public likeward secretary or fair priceshop dealer," Krishna DistrictCollector A Md Imtiaz point-ed out.

He attributed the spread ofthe viral disease to violation ofsocial distancing norms bypeople, particularly in thesmall lanes and by-lanes of the

city. "The worrisome factor iscontacts of this category aremainly those people who live

in theneighbour-

hood of pos-itive cases.This clearly

proves that social dis-tancing in the small

lanes and by-lanes is notbeing followed by people at

large," Imtiaz observed.Vijayawada apart,Kurnool the other

major hotbed ofCovid-19 is also send-ing shivers among theadministration as 26fresh cases wereadded in the last 24

hours ending 9 am onSunday. Kurnool district

tops the state with a total of158 positive cases and fourdeaths so far.

A famous doctor in Kurnoolcity, who died of coronavirusearly this week, was suspectedto be a major carrier as manyof his family members con-tracted the disease while theauthorities were now busytracing his other contacts.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Leader of theOpposition NC h a n d r a b a b uNaidu onSaturday calledfor effective inte-gration of knowl-edge and technologyto overcome futurechallenges arising out of socialdistancing restrictions thatmay continue even after the

Coronavirus pandemicabates. Naidu spoke to

NRIs in a videocon-ference where heunderscored theimportance of vir-tual working anddigital living to

ensure revival andcontinuation of every-

day businesses, organisa-tional and economic activities.

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 167*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

{MAN CLAIMING TO BE COVID PATIENTTHREATENS TO JUMP OFF HOSPITAL

The novel coronavirus outbreak has significantly changed the contoursof professional life and these days home is the new office and internet

is the new meeting room, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday."I have also been adapting to these changes. Most meetings,be it with ministerial colleagues, officials and worldleaders, are now via video conferencing," Modi wrote onLinkedIn. The need of the hour is to think of businessand lifestyle models that are easily adaptable. "Doingso would mean that even in a time of crisis, ouroffices, businesses and commerce could get movingfaster, ensuring loss of life does not occur," he said.

SIX FOREIGNERS STAYING IN CAVEAMID COVID-19 LOCKDOWN RESCUED

Six foreigners were rescued on Sunday from acave across the Ganga river here on way to

the famous Neelkanth temple and laterquarantined in a dharamshala'. The foreigners,including two women, were staying at a hotel inMuni Ki Reti area here. They shifted to the cave

after running out of money, a police official said. They have beenidentified as Oleh Sandetski and Oksana Kravchuk from Ukraine whocame to India on December 7. Other members of the group are MarveTurhan from Turkey, Michael Raffaele Falcone from the United States,Ladislas Lucas from France and Vishnu Giri from Nepal, he said.

Passengers on a luxury liner's around-the-worldcruise, begun before the globe was gripped by

the coronavirus pandemic, are finally approachingthe end of their odyssey after 15 weeks at sea. Theship, the Costa Deliziosa, was heading Sundaytoward a port in Spain before ending its journey in

Italy both countries devastated by the coronavirus outbreak. Costa Crociere,an Italian cruise company, said that the Deliziosa, which set sail fromVenice in early January with 1,831 passengers, had no cases of COVID-19aboard. The Deliziosa, a nearly 300-meter (1,000-foot) vessel, willdisembark 168 Spanish passengers on Monday at Barcelona's port.

WORLD CRUISE, BEGUN BEFORE VIRUSPANDEMIC, APPROACHING ITS END

INDIA CAN EMERGE AS NERVECENTRE OF SUPPLY CHAINS: PM

Govt stops e-com-merce platformsfrom selling non-essential items

5

SMEs to gain maximum from liq-uidity boost toNBFCs, HFCs

8

More relaxations inoffing if countrycontinues to man-age COVID-19 well

4

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 19, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Chaitra & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Trayodashi: 03:11 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Purva Bhadrapada: 07:23 amTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 07:33 am – 09:07 amYamagandam: 10:41 am –12:15 pmVarjyam: 06:11 pm – 07:58 pmGulika: 01:48 pm - 03:22 pmGood Time: (to start any

important work)Amritakalam: 04:58 am – 06:46 amAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:50 am – 12:40 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Mostly sunnyTemp: 38/25Humidity: 53%Sunrise: 05:56 amSunset: 06:33 pm

33

New kits help State cross 5,000 tests per day mark

l Vijayawada reports 60 of the 75 cases in Krishna district

AP to relax lockdown curbsin key sectors from today

17

numberof cases

deathsso far

65persons

discharged

DHARWADA RAM MOHAN RAOn VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment would implement partialrelaxation of the lockdownfrom April 20, giving relieffrom the restrictions to a fewservices in the state.

According to orders issuedby Chief Secretary NilamSawhney here on Sunday, theservices that will resume activ-ity in the state would be inareas that have not reportedtoo many Covid-19 cases, inline with the guidelines issuedby the Central government.

These services include theagriculture sector, meaningthat farming operations byfarmers and workers can go onalong with all activities for pro-curement of agriculture prod-ucts, besides shops of agricul-

tural machinery. Also, the'mandis' (market yards), oper-ated by agricultural producemarket committees (APMCs)and Custom Hiring Centres(CHCs), will also be allowed tofunction besides manufactur-ing, distribution and retail offertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

The fisheries sector, includ-ing all operations of fishing andits sales (marine and inland),aquaculture industry, hatch-eries and feed plants will beallowed resume their services.Movement of fish, shrimp andother seafood will be allowedand those who work in the

industry can resume theirduties.

Plantations, operations oftea, coffee and rubber planta-tions with a maximum of 50percent of workers will beallowed.

CHINNAM PRADEEP KUMAR n SRIKAKULAM

As many as 12 fishermenbelonging to Srikakulam dis-trict travelled by sea for over 95hours to reach Iddivanipalembeach on Saturday night.

They had set out for the dis-trict from Rayapuram beach onApril 14. However, following atip off, the district officialsalerted villages on the sea-coast and asked them to not letthe fishermen in.

Later, the officials took thefishermen into custody andsent them to a quarantine

facility at Rajapuram. Of the 12 fishermen, seven

belong to Kaviti mandal, while

five others are from Sompet.The fishermen have been sentto quarantine centre at

Rajapuram. On April 14 night,the fishermen set out on theirboat journey to Srikakulamand reached the district in APon the night of April 18 ataround 9 pm. They stockedfood like roti, biscuits andflattened rice and sailed for 95

hours to reach Iddivanipalemon Srikakulam se coast.

Incidentally, the villages longthe coastline have passed res-olutions denying entry to any-one, due to the Coronaviruslockdown.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh doctors con-ducted 5,508 Covid -19 tests onFriday, taking second placeamong the states in terms oftests conducted per millionpopulation.

This was revealed at a reviewmeeting held by Chief MinisterYS Jagan Mohan Reddy here onSaturday on the progress of testsbeing taken up by the govern-ment for the contain-ment of Corona. Thedoctors couldachieve the recordon Friday evenwithout using therapid test kits bycompletely concen-trating on the tests,said the officials. Thiswould be intensified in 10days by conducting over 17,500tests per day for which neces-sary arrangements have beenmade with the rapid detailed

about the steps being initiatedin Kurnool, Guntur, Krishnaand Nellore districts where thevirus is widespread. The Chief

Minister directed the officials tolay more stress on the redzones.

Vijaya Sai says rapid testkits cost more, but save time

YSRCP MP V Vijaya Sai Reddy hascome up with an interesting argument

regarding the controversy over theprocurement of Rapid Testing Kits on ahigher price than Chhattisgarh whichbuys the kits for Rs 337 per piece whileAP does so for Rs 700. He took to

Twitter to say that the Chhattisgarhgovernment procured kits that are made in

the country and take about 30 minutes to giveresults while Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddyprocured kits from South Korea that give accurateresults in just 10 minutes. Social media users have beencriticising the AP government saying that for 20minutes, the state government was spending crores of

rupees.

KCR junksModi's partiallockdownorderL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Seeking to adopt a strikinglydifferent path on handlingCovid-19, Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao onSunday announced the exten-sion oflockdown in Telanganaas it is till May 7 and made itloud and clear that thestategovernment would notexempt any sector from lock-down curbs fromApril 20.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP senior leader YanamalaRamakrishnudu on Sundayalleged that the YSRCP govern-ment was blamingCoronavirus for the decrease inrevenue during 2020-2021. Heattributed the drop in revenueto the failure of the govern-ment and said that there wasno way Coronavirus could beblamed.

During the last fiscal, theimpact of Coronavirus in thestate was limited to just ninedays, Yanamala said, pointingout that the Excise revenue roseto Rs 6,536 crore.

Quoting government statis-tics, the former finance minis-ter said that revenue fromliquor sales increased by Rs 336crore.

There are no records avail-able for sale of liquor smuggled

into the state from other states,he said.

Criticising the state govern-ment for imposing cut insalaries and pensions ofemployees and retired employ-ees, Yanamala charged the pre-sent dispensation with impos-ing huge cuts in implementingschemes and noted that someof the schemes were scrappedaltogether.

WHO issues advisoryfor Ramzan fastingPNS n HYDERABAD

Amid the global Coronavirusoutbreak, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) onSunday issued guidelines forthe holy month ofRamzan that is likelyto begin on April 23.

In view of theongoing Covid-19pandemic, withstrict social distanc-ing norms in place inseveral countries, theWHO advised that severalsteps should be followed dur-ing Ramzan to mitigate theimpact on public health.

The world health body rec-ommended that cancellingsocial and religious gatherings

is a must when the pandemichas claimed more than 1.5lakh lives around the world.

"A standardised risk assess-ment exercise must be fol-lowed while taking a decision

to either modify or cancel,or proceed with hold-

ing a mass gather-ing," said the guide-lines.

Health authoritiesacross the globe have

been directed to take acomprehensive approach

towards the ongoing pandem-ic. Instead of the mass gather-ings, virtual alternatives can beadopted, for example, usingmediums such as television,radio or the internet.

Death toll dueto Covid risesto 556; casesclimb to 17,137PNS n NEW DELHI

The death toll due toCOVID-19 rose to 556 andthe number of cases to 17,137in the country on Saturday.

While the number of activeCOVID-19 cases stood at13,812, as many as 2,769people have been cured anddischarged, and one hadmigrated.

The total number of casesincludes 76 foreign nationalsTwenty-eight deaths havebeen reported since Fridayevening — 12 from MadhyaPradesh, seven fromMaharashtra, four fromDelhi, three from Gujarat,one each from Jammu andKashmir and Bihar

Of the total 480 deaths,Maharashtra tops the tallywith 201 fatalities, followedby Madhya Pradesh at 69,Delhi at 42, Gujarat at 41 andTelengana at 18. Tamil Naduhas reported 15 deaths whileAndhra Pradesh and UttarPradesh have reported 14fatalities each.

12 fishermen sneak into Srikakulam from Chennai

The services thatwill resume activityin the state wouldbe in areas thathave not reportedtoo many Covid-19cases, in line withthe guidelinesissued by theCentral government

The fishermen had set out for the district from Rayapuram beach on April 14. However,following a tip off, the district officials alertedvillages on the seacoast and asked them to notlet the fishermen in.

Govt blaming virus for its failures: Yanamala

647

Naidu: Jagan's focus oncapital shift, not Covid

333

3 3

3

3

Focus on Vijayawada asstate reports 44 new cases

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VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020 vijayawada 02

HC UPADHYAY n HYDERABAD

The 'apolitical' opinion ofCongress leader Rahul Gandhi,expressed at a presser on April16 on the prevailing nation-wide lockdown, that the lock-down is just like a pause but-ton, has all the potential to sendout a wrong message to peoplewho could eventually defy thegovernment's orders on lock-down and social distancing.

The advice, supposedly per-sonal, made against the bannerof the Congress party, hasmade it clear that the viewsconstitute the official opinionof the grand old party. In nor-mal circumstances, thereshould have been no reason tobe wary of such opinion.However, in the given situationof world-wide medical emer-gency, any opinion or advice(that too, by a non-medicalperson) against the medicaladvice rendered by the expertsin the field, including theWHO, has to be examinedfrom different angles.

True, even though theCongress leader acknowledgedthe need to be united and fol-low the instructions of theauthorities in fighting againstCovid-19, his comments onlockdown are sure to be con-strued as the untold directionsto the cadre and other partysupporters to just belittle thelockdown and social distancingnorms. Such irresponsiblecomments ought to have beenavoided by Rahul Gandhi. Hadthey not been made, then theICMR would not have had toexplain at length, the needand relevance of lockdown andsocial distancing in the dailypress briefing the same day.

The Congress' view that theentire population of the coun-try should be tested forCoronavirus is not feasible dueto the gigantic size of the coun-try and the huge ocean ofhuman beings living in ourcountry. Besides, it has beenclarified by experts that such anexercise is not required. Again,about the late receipt of the sur-veillance kits from China,

directly and indirectly theCongress is to be blamed.Directly, because so far RahulGandhi has not offered anyexplanation about his secretvisit of China some time agoeven without informing theauthorities in our countryand indirectly, withwhose blessings Chinawas painted in blackin the internationalarena which antago-nized China, resultingin the delay in supplyingthe much- needed rapidantibody diagnostic kits.

In this column, onlylast week, we have seen how atleast one such outfit, the ICJcompany, made a representa-tion to the UNHRC blaming

China for the Covid-19 pan-demic and sought a hefty com-pensation. As it gave out an

impression that the saidICI company expressedthe opinion of theGovernment of India,

our government hadto issue aclarification.This is not

an isolated casewhere India-baiters

have attempted tobring disrepute to thecountry, but a wholelobby has been burningthe midnight oil to tar-

nish the country's good imageby planting fake news in themedia and resorting to filingpetitions in courts and abusing

the freedom of expression onnational and internationalforums.

Therefore, mere lip service isnot enough. It indeed, augurswell that some opposition lead-ers like Arvind Kejriwal (DelhiCM), K. Chandrasekhar Rao(Telangana CM) and CaptainAmarinder Singh (Punjab CM)have risen above party lines.Still, much more needs to bedone. People are waiting for theall-round condemnation ofJihadi and anti-national ele-ments who see an opportuni-ty in the Covid-19 pandemic toshatter the country into pieces.The left parties and those ridepiggy back on them, sepa-ratists and AIMIM are duty-bound to condemn in onevoice, all those who spit onhealth workers and police,abuse and assault them, andindulge in criminally spreadingthe Coronavirus.

At the same time, let there beno let-up in the efforts to curbthe activities of the Jihadi andanti-national elements. It is ofutmost importance to nab such

criminal elements and startprosecutions under stringentprovisions of criminal laws atthe earliest in order to instillconfidence in the minds ofpeople that the rule of law hasnot gone into drain.

Sorry, we are not ‘onlyEnglish’: AP HC

In a jolt to English languagezealots and as a shot in the armfor lovers of vernacular lan-guages, the Andhra PradeshHigh Court has struck downG.O Nos. 81 and 85 by whichEnglish as the medium ofinstruction in schools through-out Andhra Pradesh was madecompulsory.

The court, in its judgementpronounced on April 15, heldthat the said GOs were in con-travention of section 29(2) ofthe Right to Education Act(RTE Act), section 7(3) and (4)of the A P Education Act,1982, Rules 8 and 23 of CentralRules and Rule 25 of the StateRules.

The GOs were challenged byway of a PIL plea by Sudhish

Rambotla, a BJP leader,Dr.Guntupalli Srinivas and oth-ers.

Indeed, a good developmentwhich will go a long way in get-ting the Indian languages theirrightful place in the field oflearning.

TS releases 100 prisoners Following orders of the Apex

Court and subsequently of theHigh Court, the TelanganaPrisons Department hasreleased some 100 under-trialprisoners on furnishing person-al bonds. The selection criteriawere as per directions of thehigher courts. Only such of theunder-trial prisoners have beenreleased who are charged withoffences that attract less thanseven years’ imprisonment uponconviction. Those prisonerswho are facing serious chargessuch as murder, dacoity etc.have not been released.

The released prisoners will beunder the strict vigil of thepolice and any breach of condi-tions will be viewed seriously.The apex court order cites con-

gestion in prisons as one of thereasons for releasing en massethe under-trials.

Brands battle amidst war onCovid-19

While the whole world,including India, has beenengaged in fighting a waragainst Covid-19, two majorbrands of soap and sanitizerhave locked horns over copy-rights and other commercialissues.

The manufacturer of Lifebuoybrand soap and sanitizer,Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)has knocked on the doors of theBombay High Court seekinginjunction against ReckittBenckiser, the company manu-facturing Dettol brand soap andsanitizer alleging that the Detollbrand owners have violated itscopyrights and also indulged indisparaging it products.

However, after the respondentgave an assurance to the courtthat it would suspend theimpugned advertisement untilApril 21, the matter wasadjourned by Justice K RShriram.

LEGALROUNDUP

While the whole world, including India, has been engaged in fighting awar against Covid-19, two major brandsof soap and sanitizer have locked horns over copyrights and othercommercial issues

‘Pause button' politics may boost defiance of lockdown!

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

While Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy is leavingno stone unturned in contain-ing the spread of Covid-19,TDP chief N Chandrababu isliving in hallucinations theYSRCP has said. Speaking tothe media here on Sunday,party General Secretary andRajya Sabha MP V Vijaya SaiReddy alleged Naidu sitting inHyderabad is holding videoand zoom conferences with hiscronies.

In the battle between humancoexistence and the virus, he

asserted that mankind will winagainst the virus. While ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan

Reddy and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi are puttingfull efforts in this fight, Naidu

who is sitting in a differentState is playing cheap politicsby misleading people, helamented.

Naidu is behaving as if he isthe Chief Minister. Oppositionleaders have come in supportof the government when nationwas in crisis but Naidu is theonly one not concerned aboutthe State, hence, which is whyhe is politicising every issue, hepointed out.

Minister for Tourism MSrinivasa Rao (Avanti Srinivas),who also addressed the media,said that the official data wasaccurate and Naidu is not in a

position to judge the gravity ofthe situation sitting inHyderabad. He said that 21Covid-19 positive cases weredetected in Visakhapatnam ofwhich 16 were discharged andfive are undergoing treatmentin hospitals. He challengedNaidu to prove his allegations.

The minister said that PPEkits and masks are available formedical and paramedical staff.GVMC officials' permissionis necessary for any social ser-vice programmes to ensurethe safety of everyone andsocial distancing is being strict-ly implemented, he added.

IT’S YSRCP VS TDP ON COVID-19 TOLL

n In the battle between humancoexistence and the virus, YSRCPMP asserted that mankind willwin against the virus.

n While Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi areputting full efforts in this fight,Naidu who is sitting in a differentState is playing cheap politics bymisleading people, he lamented.

FIRST TIME IN 250 YEARS

PNS n MUMBAI

What blood-thirsty terroristscouldn't succeed in doing, theinvisible Coronavirus pan-demic has achieved. For thefirst time in its nearly 250 yearshistory, Mumbai's world-renowned and iconic'Mohammed Ali Road streetfood bazaar' is poised to weara deserted look this Ramzanmonth, starting April 23.

Incidentally, it was workingnormally even after the March12, 1993 serial bomb blasts, butit's fate in Ramzan 2020 will beknown only after May 3.

Missing would be the entic-ing, mouth-watering aromaof over 400 non-vegetariancuisine items on offer, plusaround 100 assorted dessertsand beverages, making it themonth-long Mecca for foodlovers - irrespective of religion- thronging there.

"This is a sad truth. We areplanning to request MumbaiPolice Commissioner to atleast grant us permission fortwo hours during the 'iftaar'.The morning 'sehri' peoplewill somehow manage," a wor-

ried Abdul Rehman Khan said.Khan is the owner of the

decades-old landmark restau-rant, 'Mashaallah Cuisine',nestling under the shadow ofthe 250-year historic MinaraMasjid (Tower Mosque), fromwhere it all started.

For 70-year old ShabbirAjmanwalla, from the adjacentBohri Mohalla, the spectre of'sehri' and 'iftaar' without thegoodies from the roadsideeateries is akin to blasphemy.

"My father, in the 1920s,used to tell us many stories ofthe food market. Later, in the1960s, as young boys, myfriends and I would hop on toa tram for purchases to break

our daylong fast," he remi-nisced.

The street-food market'shistory is directly entwinedwith that of the imposingMinara Masjid, said local Urduscribe, Aejaz Ahmed Ansari,quoting legends handed downby forefathers.

"The 24x7 Ramzan marketwas started as tiny food stallsaround this mosque and keptexpanding over the centuries.But in the past six-sevendecades, it acquired a cult-sta-tus for the sheer variety offood, their unique preparationstyles and memorable taste,attracting people from aroundthe world," Ansari said.

Jagan hails doctorsfor their servicesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Doctors, nurses and para med-ical employees are toiling dayand night in providingmedicare not only to Covid-19positive patients but also forsuspects by conducting 5,508tests per day. This was disclosed at a reviewmeeting convened by ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy here on Sunday on theprogress of tests being takenup by the government for thecontainment of Corona.Doctors are planning to con-ducting over 17,500 tests perday in next 10 days for whichnecessary arrangements havebeen made. While steps arebeing taken in combating thevirus in Kurnool, Guntur,Krishna and Nellore districtswhere the virus is widespread,officials said. The ChiefMinister has directed officialsto lay more emphasis on thered zones.The Chief Minister instructedofficials to take volunteers,ASHA workers, volunteers inthe ward and village secretari-ats, police and doctors intoconfidence in eradicating thepandemic. The Chief Minister

lauded the services of all thosewho were involved in contain-ing the pandemic. He said spe-cial care should be taken inmaintaining health andhygiene in hospitals for whicha special drive should be takenup once in every two or threedays.Chief Secretary NeelamSawhney, DSP GautamSawang and Special ChiefSecretary (Medical andHealth) Jawahar Reddy werepresent on the occasion.

PNS n DUMKA (JHARKHAND)

People have often seenDumka DeputyCommissioner RajeshwariB giving directions to staffbut in a viral photo on socialmedia, she is seen trim-ming the hair of her hus-band and son as the countryis under lockdown. Afterposting the picture on socialmedia she said this is a les-son for all.

She said people can do somany things themselves asdependence on others foreverything is not helpful.After posting the picture,she wrote on Twitter: "Goingwith the trend!! Found timefor this too! While hubbymessed up on the kids hair-do... I think I did a fine job."

"Salon, parlour, every-thing is closed. One can dothese things at home, youjust need a little bit of self-confidence," she said. In thepicture she is seen trimminghair of her husband SurajBhagat, who is sitting on astool with a towel and she isrunning the scissors herself.

Rajeshwari B said thatthe lockdown is motivatingpeople to remain self-reliant."One should never dependon others for small things",she added.

Dumka DyCommissionertrims hair ofhubby, son

n The Chief Minister hasdirected officials to takevolunteers, ASHA workers,volunteers in the ward andvillage secretariats, police anddoctors into confidence ineradicating the pandemic

Investors continue to bank on goldPNS n HYDERABAD

Amidst fresh round of allega-tions and counter-allegationsbetween the USA and Chinaover the missile tests conduct-ed by the latter, the equallyimportant issue of containingfurther spread of Covid-19has taken a back seat.However, the historic crash ofthe global economy remainedunabated.

Gold continued to be thefirst preference of investors. Itclosed at US dollars 1700(per oz). It would be no sur-prise in the given situation ifthe yellow metal crosses dol-lars 1,900 mark in a very nearfuture. Silver also remainedfirm and closed at dollars15.13. Platinum and palladi-um closed at Rs.21,000 (per10 gms) and Rs.53,603respectively.

Other economicparameters were as fol-lows: ForeignExchange rates:

US dollarR s . 7 6 . 3 0 ,B r i t i s hP o u n dRs.95.70, Euro Rs.83.19, SwissFranc Rs.79.16, UAE DirhamRs.20.83, Saudi Riyal Rs.20.37,Canadian Dollar Rs.54.64,Australian Dollar Rs.48.68,Kuwaiti Dinar Rs.245.32,Omani Riyal Rs.198.57 andSingapore Dollar Rs.53.78.

Sensex and Nifty 50 closedat the levels of 31,588.72 and9266.75 points, while Ny Mexclosed at 18.12. MCX Goldand MCX Silver closed atRs.45,735 (per 10 gms) andRs. 42,806 (per kg) respective-ly. Brent closed at dollars28.25 (per barrel) and Crudeoil dipped further and closedat Rs.1,436 (per barrel).Copper closed atRs.402.15(per kg).

The crisis in OPEC wasresolved amicably on April 12.As per an agreement arrivedby the OPEC plus other coun-tries, there will be a produc-tion cut of 10 per cent glob-ally. In absolute terms, the

production will be cut by 9.7million barrels per day. Thisdevelopment has come to therescue of the oil-rich nationsas, by restricting the supply ofpetrol and petroleum prod-ucts, the oil exporting coun-tries will be in a position tomaintain the price line. Theeffect has already startedshowing on the prices ofBrent and Crude oils.

COMMODITIESThe wholesale commodity

markets in Risala Abdullah,Osmangunj, Mir AlamMandi, General Bazar,Maharajganj and Bowenpallyconducted brisk business dur-ing the lockdown period.NAFED has begun off-load-ing cereals and buying oper-

ations for wheat through-out the country.

The arrivals of chill-ies, turmeric and

coriander in whole-sale markets con-

tinued at ana c c e l e r a t e d

s p e e d .Garlic cropis ready for

harvest. Trade enquiries fromIndonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc.have begun pouring in.

Despite restrictions, tradersand workers are leaving nostone unturned to ensure thesmooth supply of food grains.Almost 96 per cent of retailshops have sufficient stocks ofessential commodities to copewith demand. Though therehave been stray incidents ofover-charging by someunscrupulous business ele-ments, the overall situation onthe price front is quite satis-factory.

The NECC wholesale eggprice remained volatile. InHyderabad, the week-endclosing price recorded a fur-ther increase of Rs.10 at theclosing price of Rs.375 (per100). The highest price ofRs.450 was recorded inChennai, while Ajmer record-ed the lowest price of Rs.270.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

The effects of the lock-down on the economyhave been tremendous:

Nearly all supply chains havebeen disrupted, productiveactivity has mostly stopped,and circuits of money flowhave been severely disrupted.

A combination of these fac-tors has not only caused con-sumption goods and servicesfrom the market to collapse,but also dented entrepreneur-ship.

Therefore, the challenge athand is to restart economicactivities and sufficientlyaddress the above effects.

Given the uniqueness of theimpact of the Covid-19 pan-demic, conventional econom-ic theories are of little use andwe have to think of somethingnovel, possibly even audacious.

One way is to imagine thattime stopped on March 24,2020 and the clock starts tick-ing again, days after the lock-down is done away with. Theeffects of such a freeze are elu-cidated below.

There has to be a freeze onall loan repayments or interestaccumulation on any type ofloan. This will revive the cir-cuits in which money willflow for production and con-sumption in the economy. Thefreeze on economic regulations/ rules implies temporarilysuspension of external super-vision by inspectors and thiswill unleash entrepreneurship.For example, factories will bepermitted to restart and followall regulations/rules on theirown without oversight of thedepartments (e.g. labour, fac-tories, electricity).

Similarly, constructionactivity will be revived basedon existing building rules andzoning regulations, withoutrequiring any building permis-sions from town planningdepartments. Connected tothis is the suspension of circle

rates, which will allow landmarkets to operate freely. Thebasic idea is that people ofIndia should be trusted toself-regulate themselves.

What happens to GST duringthe freeze period?

At this time, GST is expect-ed to be an obstacle on con-sumption. In order to useGST to induce consumption,GST will be levied only on fin-ished products and not on rawmaterials and intermediates.Coupled with a suspension of

GST on services, this willrekindle production in thecountry and breathe new lifeinto consumption.

Furthermore, all develop-ment programmes will be col-lapsed into one form of cashtransfer. This will maximisethe outcomes associated withsuch programmes as well asempower people to choosewhat they want to consumeand immediately create ademand for goods and servicesin rural and urban areas.

While converting existing

programmes, the followingprinciple will be adhered to -only those programmes thatare able to demonstrate thatthey are doing a better job willbe continued, than the poorcould do for themselvesthrough cash transfers. Inturn, cash transfers are ofthree varieties - total (directcash transfer), restricted (con-ditional cash transfer, vouch-

ers) and contrived (e.g. foodfor work, employment pro-grammes).

Direct cash transfer will bethe default option. Conditionaltransfer will substitute for pro-grammes in which specificneeds have to be met and larg-er sums have to be distributedto meet these needs. Finally, ifparticular community worksare required, then cash forwork will be the preferredchoice.

For example, in order tocontinue with social distanc-ing, one way could be to deliv-er food grains through e-com-merce, rather than rely onp.d.s. shops.

Finally, there is an increas-ing possibility of shifting man-ufacturing away from China,mainly to the country of ori-gin. India can leverage on thisopportunity by earmarking

large areas (e.g. 10,000hectares) around all minorports and arrange all factors ofproduction (land, physicalspace, natural resources,labour, money and equipment,and entrepreneurship) as avail-able to them in their existinglocations in China. This willboost manufacturing in India.

The notion of freeze holdsmuch promise to become agame-changer in the long run.

Nobel Laureate ElinorOstorm’s work in the develop-ing nations showed that in theunique culture of India, thereare two types of rules in oper-ation. One is the “rules inform” (e.g. policies, pro-grammes) created at the top,and second is the actual “rulesin use”, crafted by local peopleto get their work done andmove on with life.

During the freeze, govern-

ments will allow the rules inuse to operate to deliver thebest outcomes. It is not as if therules in use will be unbridled- they will work within aframework set by the existingrules in form (e.g. existinglaws, rules, regulations).

All in all, the thrust of thisarticle is that the compulsionto freeze economic activityprovides an opportunity tohave a fresh look at how andwhat we have been doing so farfollowing conventional ways.

Examples have been givenwith the purpose to demon-strate to policy-makers that thecessation in economic activi-ty caused by the Covid-9 pan-demic provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboottraditional ways of doingthings.

(Author is a Ph.D. fromUSA and a D.Litt. from

Kanchi University. The articleis based on his research

and practice and views arepersonal)

SAMEER SHARMA, IAS

POST COVID-19 ECONOMIC LIFT At this time, GST is expected to be anobstacle on consumption. In order to useGST to induce consumption, GST will belevied only on finished products and noton raw materials and intermediates

Mumbai’s iconic Ramzanfood market to be off menu

Naidu hallucinating sitting in Hyd: Vijaya Sai

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020 vijayawada 03

Even if governments do notmake it mandatory to wearmasks, Covid-19 is sure to

spread so much fear in the weeksahead that people would eventual-ly make mask a part of their regu-lar attire. In fact, people may con-sider the average person ill-dressedif he is found at a public place with-out a mask on, but showing his orher pearly whites. No wonder,amid the transition to a maskedworld, fashionistas have stepped into push masks of varied colours andattractive (to people, not virus)designs! Designer outlets are com-ing forward to cash in on the ris-ing demand for these masks. It istrue that people’s eyes first buy thestuff and then comes the moneyaspect. Youngsters are browsing likeCovid-19 is going to stay forever tohit upon the most novel varieties ofmasks on e-tailing platforms. Awoman member of a self-helpgroup says they are planning to

make masks attractive and cool sothat the wearer can stand out. Oneonly hopes that these youngsters,in their hunt for funky colours anddesigns, do not lose sight of thebasic requirements of masks. Ifmasks are not as per standards anddo not ensure your safety, nodesign or colour is fine.Scribe in the soup

A scribe attached to a Telugunews channel is in the soup forgiving what the police claim is‘baseless’ information. The infor-mation in question is about districtcollector Musharraf AlI andCovid-19 test. The police took thematter seriously and booked thescribe under various sections.Some say the scribe could bearrested soon. That is not all. The

police have warned that caseswould be filed against any personwho circulates information withmala fide intention.Siesta becoming popular

Siesta is allowed and encouragedin some countries to increase pro-ductivity. In a gig economy postcorona times, people do not haveto wait for a nod from their boss-es to take a nap, which at higherechelons, is called ‘power nap’.They can simply wind down andsteal forty winks or have siestawhile working from home withoutfeeling guilty. The only thing theyhave to ensure is that their outputis not affected in terms of efficien-cy and numbers because of the sies-ta. Apart from those working fromhome, even people in rural areas

have gone back to the traditionalhabit of taking a nap post lunch.Police and revenue officials atwork in rehabilitation camps andfor lockdown enforcement say thatpeople are taking siestas seriously.This makes the officials breatheeasier.Cops filling the gap

Things have turned upside downin corona times. Janata curfew,lockdowns 1.0 and 2.0, contain-ment zones and clusters this and

that have kept people indoors andconsequently most of the crimeshave come down. Instead of rapes,murders, robbery etc., one gets tohear only about police beating uppeople who violate lockdown reg-ulations. On the whole, it appearsas if cops are filling the gaps. Theyjust can’t afford to see a quiet world!Mask over helmet

The chances of a helmetlesstwo-wheeler rider losing his or herlife due to a head injury may be rel-atively remote, compared to whatwould most likely happen if a per-son does not wear a mask in thesedangerous corona times. Still, youthin the twin cities of Hyderabad andSecunderabad are these days giv-ing cops a tough time by not wear-ing both mask and helmet while

stealing rides during curfew hours.When confronted by exasperatedcops at intersections, they come upwith cock and bull stories. If theyrun out of their repertoire of sto-ries, they cite their family members’need for medicines, provisions orvegetables. Sales of essential commodities up

The demand for essential com-modities has gone up significantlyin both urban and rural areas overthe past one month plus. With someindividuals and many charitableorganizations taking upon them-selves the noble task of donatingrice, wheat, pulses etc. to migrantsand marginalized sections, the salesof these items have increased. Inparticular, the sales of rice, dhal andoil, which every family needs most,

have more than doubled.Shutterbugs out of focus

“Distance lends enchantment tothe view,” goes a proverb. Not sofor videographers on duty in thesetroubled times. Going a step fur-ther from implementing social dis-tancing norms during pressers, theauthorities have started barringvideographers from attendingpress meets. The reason is that ithas become difficult for shutter-bugs to maintain distance; that is,if they have to ‘focus’ on their job.With cameras kept perforce soclose as to block one another, themembers of the electronic mediahave suddenly become personanon grata.

(Contributed by Sumit Onka,Ramakrishna Perala,

Bakka Tennyson, Pradeep Ch,Kolishetty Venkateshwarlu,

Avinash Deepak Puli andNaveena Ghanate)

REPORTERS’

D ARY

Colourfully designed masks the in thing now!

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Civil SuppliesKodali Sri Venkateswara Raonee Nani appealed to people tocooperate with the authoritiesand follow the lockdown rulestill May 3 to contain the Covid-19 virus by staying indoors.

District Superintendent ofPolice Ravindra Babu visitedGudivada and monitored thelockdown activities in thetown. The Superintendent ofPolice briefed the Ministerand said that police personnelare on duty round-the-clockto monitor the lockdownactivities.

The minister appreciatedpolice for discharging their dutiesefficiently during the lockdown.As the Covid –19 positive casesare on the rise, police should takestrict action against those whoviolate the lockdown rules andcautioned public to be alert. Oneperson from each family shouldcome out to buy essentials, hesuggested.

Village and ward volunteersare carrying out a door-to-door survey and people shouldfeel the responsibility andcooperate with them and dis-close details, said the minister

and added that the Central andState governments have givenrelaxation for the farm rectorand police should not imposerestrictions on farmers andfarm labourers. Awarenessshould be created among farm-ers and labourers to maintainsocial distancing while doingwork to containing the spreadof the virus.

Nani said that the totalnumber of positive cases in theState rose to 647 and in the last24 hours 44 new positive caseswere reported while 75 recov-ered patients were discharged.He recalled that no cases werereported in north Andhra dis-tricts of Srikakulam andVizianagaram till date. Hewarned businessmen of sternaction if commodities are soldat a higher price taking advan-tage of the situation.

Surprise checks were con-ducted on shops at Gudivada,one-town, two-town,Kaikaluru, and other placesand checked bills and vouch-ers and cases were registeredon a few for selling commodi-ties on higher prices.

RELAXATION FOR FARM SECTOR

Kodali Nani tells cops notto impose curbs on farmers

Telugu peopleacross world toldto stay safe, alertPNS n VIJAYAWADA

AP's Special Representativein North AmericaPandugayala Ratnakar urgedthe Telugu people worldwideto stay safe, alert and follow thelocal government guidelinesstrictly.

Speaking to the media hereon Sunday, he said while ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy was striving to tacklethe situation, TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu is tryingto irk the government by politi-cising every issue. He flayed thezoom app conference con-ducted by Naidu with NRIsonly those who have benefit-ted by the TDP but not withcommon NRIs.

While the States and UnionMinisters are praising the mea-sures taken by the AndhraPradesh government in fight-ing against Covid-19, Naidu isdefaming the government andmisleading public with hisfalse claims. He reminded thetweet of Union Minister PiyushGoyal praising the work ofAndhra Pradesh government.

He alleged that Naidu isworrying about the TDP'sfuture. Naidu, who claims to begood at crisis management, isafraid of Covid-19 and hidingat his luxurious home inHyderabad, he alleged.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In the wake of rise in Covid–19positive cases in Vijayawada,denizens should keep indoors tocontaining the spread of thevirus, said Police CommissionerCh Dwaraka Tirumala Rao. Sixspecial mobiles and six specialbikes were launched by the PoliceCommissioner here on Sunday.

Speaking to the media, theCommissioner said that 64 pos-itive cases were reported inVijayawada city and they iden-tified six places where more pos-itive cases were reported anddeclared as Red Zones. Sternaction will be taken againstthose who violate the guidelinesimposed by the government tocombating the virus, he warned.

He said that six special mobilesand six bikes were launched in theRed Zone areas under

Bhavanipuram Police Stationlimits, Rajarajeswarpeta underTwo Town Police Station limits,Ranigari Thota under KrishnaLanka Police Station limits,Khuddus Nagar underSatyanarayanapuram PoliceStation limits, Payakapuramunder Nunna Police Station lim-its and Sanat Nagar underPenamaluru Police Station limits.

Each Red Zone is allotted witha special mobile and a specialbike to containing people to stayindoors during the lockdownperiod. Masks and PPEs wereprovided to staff to protectthemselves from the virus. Self-hygiene, social distancing andlockdown rules should be fol-lowed by everyone, said theCommissioner.

Police chief launches mobilevehicles in Red Zone areas

n Village and wardvolunteers are carryingout a door-to-door surveyand people should feelthe responsibility andcooperate with them anddisclose details, saidMinister for Civil SuppliesKodali Sri VenkateswaraRao

n The Central and Stategovernments have givenrelaxation for the farmrector and police shouldnot impose restrictions onfarmers and farmlabourers

n Awareness should becreated among farmersand labourers to maintainsocial distancing whiledoing work to containingthe spread of the virus

No graft in rapid test kitspurchase: Health MinisterPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Deputy Chief Minister andMinister of Health Alla KaliKrishna Srinivas clarified thatthe State government has pur-chased rapid test kits in atransparent manner and thereis no scope for corruption inthe deal. However, the TDP isintentionally politicising theissue with false allegations, helamented.

The purchase was madefrom the lowest bidder and theentire transaction was doneaccording to the guidelinesframed by the Centre. Initially,the State government hasagreed to purchase each kit forRs 730 and placed an order fortwo lakh kits. Since there areprice fluctuations, they haveadded a clause that in case ifthe company, or their partnercompanies sell their productslower than the quoted price,

then the difference amount willbe deducted from the final pay-ment. The company concernedhas agreed to this clause andthere is nothing secret in thepurchase, he pointed out.

TDP leaders are intentional-ly showcasing the purchasedocuments by hiding theclause for cheap publicity, he

alleged. Strict action will betaken against those spreadingfalse propaganda during thispandemic situation, he warned.The ICMR has also procuredrapid test kits for Rs 790, a dayafter the purchase done by theState government, he remind-ed.

“The State government has

done the purchases as per thestipulated guidelines in a mosttransparent manner. The HighPowered Committee constitut-ed by the State government isclosely monitoring the pur-chases and the Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy, too, isreviewing it every single day,”he disclosed.

n TDP leaders areintentionally showcasingthe purchase documentsby hiding the clause forcheap publicity, heDeputy Chief Ministerand Minister of HealthAlla Kali Krishna Srinivas

n Strict action will be takenagainst those spreadingfalse propaganda duringthis pandemic situation,he warned

Continued from Page 1

Punjab and Karnataka havereported 13 deaths each.Rajasthan has registered 11deaths while West Bengalhas reported 10 deaths fatal-ities

Five persons have lost theirlives in Jammu and Kashmirwhile Kerala and Haryanahave recorded three deathseach. Jharkhand and Biharhave reported two deathseach

Meghalaya, HimachalPradesh, Odisha and Assamreported one fatality each,according to the health min-istry's data updated in themorning

The highest number ofconfirmed cases in the coun-try is from Maharashtra at3,323, followed by Delhi at1,707, Tamil Nadu at 1,323and Madhya Pradesh at 1,310

COVID-19 cases havegone up to 1,229 inRajasthan, 1,099 in Gujaratand 849 in Uttar Pradesh

Telengana has 766 cases,followed by Andhra Pradeshat 572 and Kerala at 396

The number of novel coro-navirus cases has risen to 359in Karanataka, 328 in Jammuand Kashmir, 287 in WestBengal, 225 in Haryana and202 in Punjab

Bihar has reported 83 casesand Odisha 60. Forty peoplewere infected with the virusin Uttarakhand, whileChhattisgarh and HimachalPradesh have 36 cases each.Assam has registered 35 casesso far

Jharkhand has 33 cases,Chandigarh 21 and Ladakh18. Twelve cases have beenreported from the Andamanand Nicobar Islands

Meghalaya has reportednine cases while Goa andPuducherry have reportedseven COVID-19 infectionseach. Manipur and Tripurahave two cases each, whileMizoram and ArunachalPradesh have reported a caseeach.

Death toll due toCovid rises to 556...

Naidu: Jagan'sfocus on capitalshift, not Covid

Continued from Page 1

Naidu told nearly 1,000NRIs, who came onlinefrom the US, Australia,Bahrain and other coun-tries, that the global crisisand threats like the killervirus could be overcomeonly if online tools are pro-moted more. Digital cur-rencies should be mademore cost-effective thanpaper currencies. Doordelivery of cash should beushered in to cover thosewho cannot adapt to digitalsolutions, he said.

When an NRI askedabout governance in AP,Naidu said that unfortu-nately, CM YS JaganmohanReddy was still working toshift the Capital city with-out taking steps to savepeople's lives. When thegovernment fails to rise tothe occasion, the peopleshould be more vigilantand take more precautionsto avert any serious reper-cussions, he said.

Focus on Vij as statereports 44 new cases

Continued from Page 1

"In the last few days, he treat-ed over 1,000 people as out-patients while there were about80 in-patients in his hospital.Besides, he had a staff of about70 members. So, now we aretracing and screening all ofthem," a top official of thehealth department said.

Kurnool district Collector GVeerapandian appealed to thosewho got treated by the doctorafter March 20 to voluntarily getscreened.

"Once these people are iden-tified and tested, the number ofcases may possibly spike," the topofficial said.

Meanwhile, 23 Covid-19patients had fully recovered andbeen discharged from hospitalsin different districts of the state.

Of those discharged, ninewere from West Godavari dis-trict, six from Kadapa, three eachfrom Visakhapatnam andChittoor and two from EastGodavari, according to the dailybulletin.

Out 44 positive cases report-

ed in the state since Friday, 26were from Kurnool district tak-ing the total number to 158 with153 active cases. Guntur report-ed three new cases with a totalof 129 cases (125 active) and fourdeaths. Krishna district report-ed six new cases - a total of 75cases (66 active), five deaths andfour patients discharged afterrecovery.

SPS Nellore reported a total of67 cases (65 active) with twodeaths and one patient dis-charged after recovery.

Prakasam reported 44 posi-tive cases (42 active) while YSRKadapa reported 37 cases (18active). West Godavari report-ed 35 cases (26 active) andAnantapur three new caseswith a total of 29 cases (25active) and two deaths. Chittoorreported 28 positive cases (24active). East Godavari reportedfive new cases with a total of 24cases (16 active) whileVisakhapatnam reported onenew positive case with a total of21 positive cases (five active).Srikakulam and Vizianagaramremain free from the virus.

WHO issuesadvisory forRamzan fasting

Continued from Page 1

Religious leaders should beinvolved early in decision mak-ing, so that they can be active-ly engaged in communicatingany decision affecting eventsconnected with Ramzan.

The WHO recommendedthat people should practisephysical distancing by main-taining a distance of at least onemetre at all times. "To avoidphysical contact, other meansof greeting can be adopted suchas waving, nodding or puttingthe hand over the heart.

Unwell and old peopleshould take extra precautionsand avoid attending any gath-ering whatsoever. Those withpre-existing medical condi-tions such as hypertension/dia-betes have also been asked toavoid events," the advisoryadded.

The agency also said that anygathering during Ramzanshould be held in an outdoorsetting and that smaller serviceswith fewer people should bepreferred over large gatherings.

KCR junks Modi'spartial lockdown order

Continued from Page 1

This stance of the TRS gov-ernment is at variance withthe position of the Centre,which has issued guidelinesfor easing lockdown restric-tions in green zones and non-hotspots with effect fromMonday.

At a presser post the cabi-net meeting on Sunday atPragathi Bhavan, KCR assert-ed that the lockdown wouldbe enforced strictly with norelaxations whatsoever forany sector till May 7. In thecontext, he suggested thattravellersshould avoid havingHyderabad on their itinerarytill May 7 even if the Centrepermitsflights after May 3.The GMR InternationalAirport officialsin Hyderabadwould be asked not to oper-ate flights till the stategovern-ment lifts lockdown, headded.

KCR reasoned that thedecision to extend the lock-down was taken following

feedbackfrom various sec-tions of societyin all districts.Ninety-five per cent of thosewho gave feedback favoure-dextension of the lockdown asit is. Surveys conducted byvar-ious media organization alsorevealed the same.

"I also interactedpersonallywith several persons in all dis-tricts, who sought extensionoflockdown. In fact, several per-sons sought extension of lock-downtill May end," he observedwith a catch.

The Chief Minister statedthat the cabinet would meetagain on May 5 to decide the-course of action post May 7.

The Chief Minister said thatoperations of food deliverychains like Zomato,Swiggy etc.would not be permitted in thestate from Monday,consideringthat some delivery boys hadcontracted coronavirus in somestates. The decision had beentaken in view of the gravity ofthe corona situationand theincreasing cases in Hyderabadand other districts.

AP to relaxlockdown curbs...

Continued from Page 1

All activities from collectionto sale of milk and milk prod-ucts will resume along with theoperation of animal husbandryfarms, including poultry farmsand hatcheries and animal feedmanufacturing plants. The stategovernment also issued a list ofservices that will be operationalin the health, financial andsocial sectors. While most ser-vices in the health sector arefunctional, in the financial sec-tor, the state government saidthat banks could resume workas per normal working hoursand insurance companies couldalso resume their work. In thesocial sector, disbursement ofsocial security pensions andprovident fund (PF) servicescan take place and Anganwadisin the state. The ease in relax-ations will only be applicable toareas that have not beendeclared as hotspots.

Govt blaming virus for its failures: YanamalaContinued from Page 1

“This means that the stategovernment could save croresof rupees, but it is still claim-ing losses,” Yanamala said.

Last year, the state receivedRs 1,300 crore towards the14th Finance Commissionfunds and Rs 1,000 crore of

MGNREGA funds. Also, thegovernment received fundsdevolved by the Centre on thestates and additional funds tocombat Coronavirus, the vet-eran leader said, accusing thegovernment of misusing thefunds.

He also lashed out at thegovernment for painting state-

owned buildings with theYSRCP party colours.

Yanamala also accused thestate government of hugespending on arguing cases incourts that were only due to itsanti-people’s measures.

He also alleged that the gov-ernment has been misusingfunds to the tune of Rs 4000

core annually towards salariesto the YSRCP activists in thename of paying wages to villagevolunteers and village secretari-at personnel.

Yanamala said that the gov-ernment claim of Coronavirusputting a burden of Rs 13,000crore on the state exchequerwas totally false.

12 fishermensneak into...

Continued from Page 1

The fishermen, who gotscent of the resolutions,switched off their mobilephones as their boat wasapproaching the destination.The officials have been put onhigh alert from Ranastalam toIchchapuram. Vigil has beenstepped up in Kaviti andSompet mandals. SrikakulamSP Ammi Reddy said thatpatrolling along the coastwould be intensified.He helda meeting with marine policeand local police officials atKasibugga on Saturday andidentified at least 22 placesalong the coast where peoplecan sneak into the district.

State crosses 5,000 test mark...Continued from Page 1

The Chief Minister direct-ed the officials to take volun-teers, ASHA workers, andstaff in the ward and villagesecretariats, police and doc-tors in the frontline into con-fidence in eradicating thepandemic. The Chief Ministerlauded the services of allthose who were involved inthe humane endeavor. Hesaid special care should betaken in maintaining healthand hygiene in the hospitalsfor which a special driveshould be taken up once inevery two, three days.

Chief Secretary NilamSawhney, DSP GautamSawang and medical and

health special chief secre-tary Jawahar Reddy were

among those present on theoccasion.

Vijaya Sai says rapid testkits cost more, but save time

Continued from Page 1

The critics say that if thegovernment had procured thesame kits from the place wherethe neighbouring state hadprocured, the result would bedelayed for 20 minutes and thestate government would savecrores. The AP governmenthas initially ordered two lakhtesting kits and received one

lakh units, at the cost of Rs 730per kit. Meanwhile, it may benoted that Chhattisgarh gov-ernment has spent Rs 3.37crore on one lakh kits while theAP government has spent Rs7.3 crore for the same numberof units. One more unan-swered question was that whydid Special Chief SecretaryJawahar Reddy say that theprice of each kit was Rs 640.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

India wants reasonsfor collapse ofKartarpur GurudwaraNEW DELHI: India has takenup with Pakistan the issue ofcollapse of domes of theKartarpur Sahib Gurudwara,one of Sikhism's holiestshrines, government sourcessaid on Sunday. India hasconveyed to Pakistan that thedamage to the structures inthe gurudwara has caused"great consternation" amongthe Sikh community, theysaid. "India has urgedPakistan that in deference tothe sentiments of the Sikhcommunity, the deficiencieswhich led to the damage tothe newly constructedstructures be urgentlyrectified and remedied," said asource. In November last year,the two countries threw opena corridor linking Dera BabaSahib in Gurdaspur in Indiaand Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahibin Pakistan, in a historicpeople-to-people initiative.Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara islocated in Pakistan's Narowaldistrict across the river Ravi,about four kilometres fromthe Dera Baba Nanak shrine.It is the final resting place ofSikh faith's founder GuruNanak Dev.

Kumaraswamy thanksCM Yediyurappa forsupport

SC collegium clears newCJs of Bombay, Orissaand Meghalaya HCsNEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt Collegium has decided torecommend the elevation ofCalcutta High Court judgeDipankar Datta as Chief Justiceof Bombay High Court. Thecollegium headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde in itsdecisions taken on Saturdayalso decided to recommendelevation of Allahabad HighCourt judge BiswanathSomadder as Chief Justice ofMeghalaya High Court. Thedecisions of SC collegium wereuploaded on the apex courtwebsite on Sunday. Thecollegium also decided torecommend transfer ofMeghalaya High Court ChiefJustice Mohammad Rafiq toOrissa High Court.

BENGALURU: FormerKarnataka Chief Minister H DKumaraswamy on Sundaythanked Chief Minister B SYediyurappa for backing hisfamily regarding his son Nikhils wedding, which drew flak forallegedly violating lockdownnorms. Asserting that socialdistancing was maintainedduring the wedding, the JD(S)leader in a series of tweets hitout at those accusing his familyof violating lockdown norms,by stating that they were doingit out of "political hate". "Despitemaintaining social distancingand following rules duringNikhil's marriage, there arediscussion that norms were notfollowed. Because of politicalhate, poisonous comments arebeing made about anauspicious event, but ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa byrejecting all this is standing bythe truth," Kumaraswamy saidin a tweet in Kannada.

More relaxations in offing if countrycontinues to manage COVID-19 wellPNS n NEW DELHI

A day before a host of relaxationsto boost economic activities kickin amid the nationwide lock-down, Union minister PrakashJavadekar said on Sunday thatmore relief measures are boundto come if India continues tomanage the coronavirus crisiswell, asserting that "you cannot(have) lockdown permanently".

In an interview to PTI, theInformation and Broadcastingminister also called for fullyobserving Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's request to peo-ple to stay wherever they areamid a row over the UP govern-ment's decision to send buses toKota in Rajasthan to bring backstudents stuck there.

"I will not go into any partic-ular incident but let me make itclear that the Prime Minister hasspoken about people facing hard-ship when they are away fromhome. He has advised them tostay wherever you are. That is thereal point," he said when askedabout the incident.

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar has objected to the devel-

opment, saying it was against thespirit of lockdown, and someopposition leaders have ques-tioned as to why then the centralgovernment is not making pro-visions for stranded migrantlabourers to return to theirhomes.

"Our policy is stay whereveryou are and help each other,"Javadekar said, adding thatModi's appeal in this regardshould be observed 100 percent. A member of the group ofministers to oversee the measuresto combat the pandemic, hesaid unlike leaders in some other

countries, who are "confused"between the choices of shutdownand letting economic activitiespick up, PM Modi is "not in twominds" about the way forwardand knows what needed to bedone and when.

"He gave the call of lockdownat the right time and is now par-tially allowing economic activi-ty while the lockdown continues.With such a (huge) populationwe have managed well, if thiscontinues we will get more relief,"he said.

While the relaxations startingfrom April 20 are primarily

aimed at boosting the ruraleconomy, Javadekar expressedconfidence that economic activ-ities will start in cities as well"sooner than later".

"The lockdown has been verysuccessfully conducted. Theworld is praising it because thisis the way to fight the coron-avirus. But even after this youcannot (have) lockdown perma-nently. It was needed to start eco-nomic activity.

"The world has seen that insuch a pandemic the countrywhich saves lives actually thengets better... We have saved lives

and at the same time we muststart economic activity. To thatend Prime Minister has partial-ly opened economic activities," hesaid. To a question about RahulGandhi's claim that the lock-down is not a solution to the pan-demic, he took a dig at him, say-ing that the Congress leadermust be "more knowledgable"about COVID-19 than others.

"The world is praising Indiafor timely lockdown and itsgood implementation.Compared to what we are wit-nessing in western countries,we are doing much better," thesenior BJP leader said, in anapparent reference to thousandsof deaths in developed countrieslike the US, France and Italy.

The toll due to COVID-19 inIndia was at 507 and the num-ber of cases at 15,712 on Sunday,according to the Union HealthMinistry.

The Prime Minister, Javadekarsaid, kept a keen eye on theCOVID spread outside Indiaeven when there was not a sin-gle case here and would tell hiscabinet colleagues about itspotential danger and seriousness.

Labourer dies; friendsays cops beat himfor flouting lockdown

PNS n MUMBAI

A labourer died after returninghome in Mumbai's Dongri areaon Saturday night, followingwhich his roommate alleged thatthe victim was beaten by policefor violating the coronavirus-enforced lockdown. However,the police denied the allegationand said the labourer died dueto a heart ailment.

The J J Marg police have reg-istered an accidental death reportin the matter. Victim Sagir JamilKhan's roommate claimed thatafter returning home onSaturday night, Khan told himthat while he was driving ahandcart to deliver a refrigeratorin Null Bazar locality, the police

caught hold of him at PhoolwaliGalli in Dongri and thrashedhim on head, hand and back.

Later, while having dinner,Khan suddenly collapsed. Hewas then rushed to a hospitalwhere doctors declared himdead, his roommate toldreporters. However, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 1,Sangramsingh Nishandar saidthat Khans medical report show-ed the cause of death as 'heartenlargement', and there was noexternal or internal injury on thebody. "The CCTV footage of thestreet shows him passing by atquite a distance from the spotwhere there was police nakaban-di. The allegations against policeare false and baseless," he said.

PNS n GUWAHATI

Problems in procuring and sell-ing milk have impacted milkcooperatives, farms and indi-vidual producers severely acrossAssam during the ongoing 40-day lockdown period, though dis-tribution and sale of milk areexempted from restrictions dur-ing this period, sources in thedairy sector said.

It has also become difficult toarrange fodder as most of thetrucks carrying feed for live-stock have stopped plying sincethe 21-day lockdown wasannounced on March 24, andthen extended till May 3 to fightthe coronavirus pandemic.

Organised cooperatives andindividual dairy farmers have laidoff employees to cut the cost dueto drastic fall in sales and at timesthrew away milk on roads andrivers as they could not sell it dueto lack of transportation and clo-

sure of markets.Sitajakhala Milk Cooperative

Society chairman Ranjib Sarmatold PTI, "The lockdown hasaffected the operations of thecooperative in multiple ways.Our daily procurement at thistime of the year is between17,000 litres and 18,000 litres. Butnow, we are procuring around10,000 litres of milk per day."

The Sitajakhala MilkCooperative Sciety, one of the old-est and largest dairy cooperatives

of Assam located in Morigaondistrict, is able to process andmarket an average of 7,000 litresof milk daily out of the procuredraw material now, he said.

Initially there was confusionabout the services exemptedfrom lockdown restrictions withthe information from the Centrenot percolating to the local level,thereby affecting procurementand sale of milk, Sarma said.

"Another problem we are fac-ing is the fear psychosis among

villagers, who are trying to restrictentry of people from the cooper-ative or other villages. This is cre-ating difficulty in movement oftraffic which has affected distri-bution of fodder and milk," hesaid. Since most of the foddercomes from outside the state, itssupply has completely stoppedafter the lockdown came intoforce, though efforts are beingmade to get the necessary permis-sion for movement of vehiclescarrying such goods, he said.

"Usually our inventory of suchraw materials is for about 15 days.It has already gone down and may

lead to closure of our operationstill the lockdown is lifted, if thefeed does not arrive," Sarmasaid. The price of milk has beenreduced to Rs 50 a litre from Rs54 for disposal of its daily produc-tion, he said.

"We have also entered into ajoint venture with the Directorateof Dairy Development,Government of Assam for unin-terrupted supply of milk toGuwahati. The cooperative hasalso undertaken door-to-doordistribution of its products onrequest from consumers," headded.

Milk cooperatives, dairy farms in Assamfacing problem due to lockdown restrictions

The Sitajakhala Milk Cooperative Sciety,one of the oldest and largest dairycooperatives of Assam located in Morigaondistrict, is able to process and market anaverage of 7,000 litres of milk daily out ofthe procured raw material now, he said

Maha to allow industries in green,orange zones to resume: CMPNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Sundaysaid industries based in greenand orange coronavirus zones ofthe state will be allowed toresume operations, but in arestricted manner.

In a video message, he alsosaid that industries which areready to provideaccommodationto their workers during the lock-down will be given food grainsupply and permission for rawmaterial from the state.

"The state government isallowing the industries fromgreen and orange zones to startproduction and processing activ-ities in a restricted manner. Theindustries will have to arrangethe accommodation for theirworkers. They would not travellong distance for work, he said.

Green zones are the areaswhich have not reported anycoronavirus case, while orange

zones are the ones where only afew such cases have been report-ed.

Thackeray said borders of alldistricts would remain sealedand only essential services move-ment will be allowed.

"There are no restrictions onmovement of agriculture pro-duce and farm equipment. Allthe essential items will remainexempted from the lockdownrestrictions, he said.

The chief minister also said hisgovernment will take care of all

migrant labourers in the state. "Iurge them to stay here till thelockdown is in force. I will takecare of their food. Once the lock-down is over, I will ensure theyreach their homes safely," he said.

Till Saturday, the state report-ed 3,648 coronavirus cases and211 deaths.

Thackeray also urged peoplenot hide any coronavirus-likesymptoms.

"Almost 75 per cent ofCOVID-19 patients are asymp-tomatic, which is a good sign.There are dedicated fever, coughand cold clinics in the state.People should go there forcheck-ups without any hesita-tion," he said.

The chief minister said he hasspoken to doctors in Mumbaiand they are ready to open theirclinics to provide medical help topatients not having the coron-avirus disease. "I think doctorselsewhere in the state could alsofollow suit," he said.

Stranded labourers to be allowed tomove within state with conditionsPNS n NEW DELHI

Labourers, who are stranded indifferent parts of the country dueto the ongoing lockdown, will beallowed to go to their respectiveplaces of work within a state withcertain conditions, the UnionHome Ministry said.

Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla,however, made it clear that therewill be no inter-state movementof workers during the lock-down, which has been extend-ed till May 3.

The order issued by Bhallasaid that due to the spread ofcoronavirus, workers employedin industry, agriculture, con-struction and other sectors havemoved from their respective

places of work and are housedin relief and shelter camps beingrun by state and UT govern-ments. Since additional activi-ties, outside the containmentzones, have been permitted in

the consolidated revised guide-lines with effect from April 20,these workers could be engagedin industrial, manufacturing,construction, farming andMNREGA works.

Coronavirus spreading in Delhi,won't relax lockdown just yet: KejriPNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi government hasdecided to not relax the ongo-ing lockdown as of now as thecoronavirus appears to bespreading at a "faster pace" inthe national capital, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal saidon Sunday, asserting that thedecision is aimed at savinglives.

Addressing an online mediabriefing, Kejriwal said the gov-ernment will assess the situa-tion again after one week.

According to an orderissued by Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Dev, the gov-ernment will review the sit-uation on April 27.

"Many people are facingdifficulties due to ongoinglockdown... We too want torelax the lockdown which is aneasy task. But if we give relax-ations and if there is a short-age of ICU, ventilators, oxygen

in hospitals and people losetheir lives, we wouldn't beable to forgive us. Hence, thedecision to not relax lock-down was taken today,"Kejriwal said.

As the virus has startedspreading at a faster pace,containment zones have beenincreased, he said, but assuredthe situation is under control.

In Delhi, there are 11 dis-tricts which have hotspot areasand relaxation cannot be giventhere according to central gov-ernment's revised guidelines.

Kejriwal also said that therehave been instances wherepeople who did not showsymptoms were found infect-ed by COVID-19.

Bihar Min aidebooked for violatinglockdown normsPNS n JEHANABAD

A close aide of Bihar's educationminister Krishnandan PrasadVerma was on Sunday bookedfor hosting a feast here, in vio-lation of the lockdown norms,a police officer here said. PintuYadav along with seven others,has been named in an FIRlodged with Makhdumpurpolice station, SHO DhananjayKumar said. Yadav had onApril 15 hosted a housewarm-ing party at Sugaon village,which was attended by severallocal people and officials.Complaint has also been lodgedagainst 30 unnamed personswho had taken part in Wednes-day's feast, the SHO said.

Never done this kind ofaction before: Randeep Take action against

landlords pressuring forrent during lockdown

PNS n NEW DELHI

Actor Randeep Hooda says"Extraction" gave him a chanceto step out of his comfort zonein Hindi cinema to do some'Rambo'-like action with "toughAussie" Chris Hemsworth, hisco-star in the film.

The movie, slated to releaseon April 24 on Netflix, will seeHooda in the role of Saju, theman responsible for bringingHemsworth's Tyler Rake to theextraction of his boss' child.

As the trailer shows, Hoodaand Hemsworth feature in astunning knife fight sequence.

The actor said he loved beingpart of an out-and-out actionmovie and is open to similarinternational projects in future.

"My character, as they say, isthe wrecking ball. He is respon-sible for Chris and other char-acters' involvement. His peopledon't have the money so he feelsthat we will just give them thejob and when it's time to pay, hewill just whack them out andtake the boy home.

"But it turns out that Rake isa tough Aussie and you cannotget past that," Hooda said in aninterview with PTI and a groupof international journalists vis-iting the Bangkok set of themovie last March.

The actor, who has starred inBollywood films such as "Jannat2", "Highway", "Kick", said work-ing on the film was akin to step-ping into a different world.

"I got a great gun and I waswaiting to fire some blanks andbe like Rambo. I've never donethis kind of action before. It wasreally, really cool.

Unique COVID-19 responsemechanism comes up in SrinagarPNS n SRINAGAR

A unique COVID-19 responsemechanism has come up inSrinagar to help people in dis-tress during the prolongedlockdown to fight the pandem-ic and provide a one-stop solu-tion to matters ranging fromreal-time tracking of cases toavailability of essential com-modities.

The Emergency Responseand Management Centre(ERMC), which could be thefirst such mechanism in thecountry, is a brainchild ofSrinagar's Deputy Commissio-ner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary.

It was inaugurated by LtGovernor of Jammu andKashmir G C Murmu on Fridayevening remotely from Jammu."After we detected the firstCOVID-19 case in Srinagar onMarch 18 and observed theproblems faced by the health-care staff in keeping a watch, wethought of making use of tech-nology. Discussed it with theInformation Technology teamand we had an app ready," the

39-year-old officer said."Similarly, while enforcing

lockdown, we were floodedwith calls about various needsof people. While a large num-ber were addressed, many stillwent unnoticed because of theenormous amount of workload.

"Half a dozen helplines forspecific sectors were also mak-ing the response cumbersome.Therefore, it was decided tohave an ERMC where one canget anything to everythingfrom essential services toemergency response, essential

commodities to grievanceredressal and so on," he said.

Choudhary, a 2009 batchIAS officer, said after takingover as the DeputyCommissioner his focus was toprovide good governance andprompt, efficient and effectiveservice delivery to citizens.

In the changing paradigmpost the COVID-19 outbreak,he fine-tuned his skills andmade Information andCommunications Technology(ICT) a vital tool for enablingservice delivery in Srinagar.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A plea has been filed in theSupreme Court seeking actionagainst the "arbitrary and unlaw-ful action" of landlords demand-ing rent from students andlabourers during the lockdowndespite a government order tothe contrary. The Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) had issuedan order on March 29 whichstops landlords from demandingrent from students, workers andmigrant labourers for a month.Those landlords who force peo-ple to vacate their houses will faceaction, the MHA statementwarns. The order, issued underthe Disaster Management Act,had said employers will paytheir workers' wages on due dateswithout any deduction.

The petition filed by advocatePawan Prakash Pathak and oth-ers, has sought implementationof the home ministry's March 29

order that no landlord will col-lect rent from the labour classand students for a month duringCOVID-19 period and thosewho violate it would be pun-ished. "Petition is being filledagainst the arbitrary and unlaw-ful action of landlords in the stateof Delhi amid COVID-19 wherethere is clear instruction issuedby the Ministry of Home affairsthat in order to maintain thelockdown situation and law andorder during COVID-19, incase they fail to pay rent duringthis period," the plea said.

"The lockdown hasbeen very success-fully conducted. Theworld is praising itbecause this is theway to fight thecoronavirus. Buteven after this youcannot (have)lockdownpermanently. It wasneeded to starteconomic activity

PLEA IN SC

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Two journos testpositive forcoronavirus in TNCHENNAI: In a first in TamilNadu, two city-basedjournalists on Sunday testedpositive for coronavirus, morethan a month after the firstcase was reported in the state,authorities said. A reporterworking for a Tamil daily and asub-editor with a Tamil newstelevision channel have testedpositive for coronavirus,officials said. While the reporterhas been admitted to the RajivGandhi Government GeneralHospital, the other is beingtreated at Government StanleyHospital, they said adding bothare in 'stable' condition. "Weare tracing their contacts andcontainment measures in theirrespective areas are on," anofficial said. The first positivecase was reported in TamilNadu on March 8.

No active COVID-19case in Goa, all 7patients discharged

Woman killed by tigerin Bhandara districtNAGPUR: A 38-year-oldwoman was killed by a tiger inPaoni forest in Bhandaradistrict of Maharashtra early onSunday, officials said. This isthe fourth such incident thathas happened within a week inVidarbha region of the state,they said. The incident tookplace in Mouza Sawarla forestrange between 5 am and 6 amwhen the woman had gone tocollect mahua flowers. Theplace is around 2.5 kms fromher village, the forestdepartment said in a statement."She had gone to collect theflowers along with her husbandwhen a tiger attacked her andkilled her on the spot," it said.After being alerted about theincident, Deputy Conservator ofForests (Bhandara), VivekHoshing, and other forestdepartment staff rushed to thespot. The woman's body wassent for post-mortem and animmediate financial assistanceof Rs 25,000 was given to thefamily of deceased, thestatement said.

PANAJI: All seven COVID-19patients in Goa have recoveredfrom the infection and havebeen discharged, state healthminister Vishwajit Rane said onSunday. The last of the sevencases in the coastal state wasdetected on April 3, and sincethen all have been dischargedafter their samples testednegative post treatment. "We areproud to announce that all thepatients that were reportedpositive in the state of Goa haverecovered from the COVID-19.The active number of cases inGoa now stands at zero," hetweeted. "While we currently donot have any active case in thestate, it is our responsibility tokeep in mind the importance oflockdown, maintain socialdistance, increase the scope oftesting and adhere to norms andguidelines issued by bothCentral and state government,"he added. He thanked thedoctors in the frontline tocombat the outbreak, CMPramod Sawant, Chief SecretaryParimal Rai and HealthSecretary Neela Mohanan.

Govt stops e-commerce platformsfrom selling non-essential itemsPNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Sunday pro-hibited e-commerce platformsfrom selling non-essential itemsduring the lockdown, four daysafter allowing the companies tosell mobile phones, refrigeratorsand ready-made garments.

Union Home Secretary AjayBhalla issued an order excludingthe non-essential items fromthe cart of e-commerce compa-nies.

The order said the followingclause -- "e-commerce compa-nies. Vehicles used by e-com-merce operators will be allowedto ply with necessary permis-sions" -- is excluded from theguidelines.

Asked why the governmentmade a U-turn on the matter,Joint Secretary in the home min-istry Punya Salila Srivastava saidthe Covid-19 situation has beenvery dynamic and the govern-ment is taking decision on a day-to-day basis.

When the government hasrealised that allowing non-essen-

tial commodities to sell throughe-commerce platforms mayaffect the proper implementationof the lockdown, the decision wasreviewed and reversed, she saidat a daily joint briefing on theCOVID-19 outbreak.

The April 15 order had said e-commerce platforms wereallowed to sell such items fromApril 20.

The reason for reversing theorder was not known immedi-

ately, but there was a talk of someretail traders mounting pres-sure on the government that localshops be also allowed to sell non-essentials items, like e-commercegiants.

E-commerce platforms, how-ever, are allowed to sell essentialcommodities such as food, phar-maceutical and medical devices.

The previous order said,"Supply of essential goods isallowed, as under: All facilities in

the supply chain of essentialgoods, whether involved in man-ufacturing, wholesale or retail ofsuch goods through local stores,large brick and mortar stores ore-Commerce companies shouldbe allowed to operate, ensuringstrict social distancing withoutany restriction on their timing ofopening and closure."

A day later, Home Ministryofficials said electronic itemssuch as mobile phones, TVs,refrigerators, laptop computers,ready-made garments, stationeryitems for schoolchildren wouldbe available on the e-commerceplatforms from April 20.

Following that directive, a fewe-commerce companies statedaccepting online orders.

Later on Sunday, the homesecretary wrote a letter to thechief secretaries of all States andUnion Territories giving a clari-fication on the subject.

"...I would like to clarify thatwhile operations of e-commercecompanies for non-essentialgoods stands prohibited, howev-er they will continue to operatefor essential goods as has beenallowed earlier and continue tobe allowed," he said.

Bhalla also requested the chiefsecretaries to clarify this to all thefield agencies and also adequate-ly disseminate amongst the gen-eral public so as to ensure smoothmovement of the entire supplychain of essential goods, includ-ing by e-commerce.

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha government onSunday declared some areas inBalasore as containment zonesto conduct active surveillanceand contact tracing, a day aftera 58-year-old man tested posi-tive to COVID-19 in the town,officials said.

Three wards located inNiliabag area of BalasoreMunicipality have been sealedand all the entry and exit pointswill remain closed initially for aweek, Balasore District CollectorK Sudarshan Chakravarthy said.

Describing Niliabag as adensely populated area, the col-lector said it requires intensivemeasures for active surveillanceand contact tracing. Residents ofthe area would not be allowed tomove out and people from out-side are prevented from enter-ing into the locality as a precau-tionary measure. The movecomes after a 58-year-old manfrom the area tested positive forCOVID-19 on Saturday. Theman has been admitted to a des-ignated Covid hospital for treat-ment, said an official.

Odisha has 61 COVID-19positive cases. Intensive preven-tive and disinfection measureshave been launched in the local-ity from where one patient hasbeen found COVID-19 positive.The entry and exit points havebeen sealed to restrict move-ment of people.

Separate teams have beenengaged to conduct medicalcheck up of over 400 familiesresiding in the area, while firebrigade has started disinfectiondrive since morning, saidDeputy Collector NiluMahapatra. Arrangements havebeen made to provide essentialcommodities, medicines and

other assistance to the peopleresiding in the containmentzone, said the official.

Detailed contact history of thepatient is being collected, whilehis family members and peoplewho came in contact with theman are being placed underquarantine to prevent spread ofthe deadly disease, he said.

Meanwhile, restrictionsimposed in two containmentzones Charampa and Erein inBhadrak town for contact trac-ing and active surveillance havebeen lifted, according toBhadrak district CollectorGyana Das.

However, the lockdownrestrictions will continue to be inforce at these places and peoplewould have to adhere to theguidelines, he said. Three placesin Bhadrak-Puruna Bazaar, Cha-rampa and Erein had been decla-red as containment zones afterthree persons tested positive forCOVID-19 in the town. Contai-nment restrictions have earlierbeen lifted from Puruna Bazaararea on April 15, sources said.

Odisha declares someareas of Balasore ascontainment zones

Sustained lockdown drives many inunorganised sector to sell veggies, fishPNS n KOLKATA

For two weeks, MohammadIrfan went to bed on a half-empty stomach, making surehis children get three squaremeals a day, but with the exten-sion of the lockdown, the rick-shaw-puller in the city'sPaikpara area knew it was timeto look for an alternative sourceof income.

Irfan, these days, wakes upat 4 am and rushes to whole-salers' hub - Mechhua Bazar -to procure vegetables andfruits, which he then sells in hisneighbourhood.

Much like Irfan, taxi drivers,small shopkeepers, tea stallowners and other vendors inthe city, who mostly trade innon-essential items, have takento selling vegetables, fruits andfish, with the COVID-19-induced lockdown havingdried up much of theirresources.

West Bengal ConsumerAffairs Minister SadhanPandey, when asked about thistrend, said if the traders abideby the norms, the governmentsees no reason to stop them."They can surely opt for analternative source of income inthis hour ofcrisis... Just that theyshould do business between 8am and 4 pm," he said.

Nirmal Kumar, a shoe shop

owner-turned-fish seller inBehala, expressed hope that hewould be able to send moneyto his ailing parents inBurdwan this month, as hisnew trade was picking up pacein Manton area.

"I couldn't send moneyhome last month as I had usedup half of my savings to buy acycle van. Now, I visitChowbaga fish market every

morning and buy some staplevarieties for sale in Manton.Many residents place orders onphone, and I deliver them totheir doorsteps," he said.

The story is no different forRatan Halder, the owner of afast food stall in Baguiatiarea, who has started sellingvegetables from his kiosk.The 45-year-old, who pooledin money from relatives to sethis alternative trade rolling,cycles 30 km up and down to

buy fresh produce fromPolerhat in South 24Parganas district.

"I had recently spent Rs3,500 to buy raw materials formyfast food stall. It has all gonewaste... Not once did I foreseethis month-and-a-half-longlockdown," Halder said.

A senior official of a retail-ers' body said more vegetablevendors would mean moreoptions, and people no longerhave to stand in queues.

WB Consumer Affairs MinisterSadhan Pandey, when asked aboutthis trend, said if the traders abideby the norms, the government seesno reason to stop them. "They cansurely opt for an alternative sourceof income in this hour ofcrisis...Just that they should do businessbetween 8 am and 4 pm," he said

PNS n PATNA

Work on about 40,000 projectswill start in more than 8000panchayats of Bihar fromMonday, as part of the state'sefforts to live up to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'smantra of "jaan bhi, jahaan bhi"(life as well as livelihood),Deputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi said on Sunday.Taking to Twitter, he said overfive lakh labourers will getjobs as soon as work on thepending projects commencesin 8,386 panchayats of thestate. Sushil Kumar Modi, whois also state's finance minister,noted that temporary centreswould be set up in the villagesto facilitate the process of link-ing bank accounts of labourerswith their Aadhaar cards foreasy withdrawal of money, es-pecially during times of crisis.

Work on 40Kprojects tostart today

PNS n PORT BLAIR

Three more people testedpositive for COVID-19 inAndaman and NicobarIslands, taking the total num-ber of cases in the UnionTerritory on Sunday to 15,officials here said.

All three are family mem-bers of a government employ-ee, who was found to havecontracted the disease twodays ago, said Avijit Roy, thenodal officer for COVID-19in the UT. A resident ofBambooflat area in SouthAndaman, the 49-year-oldman had been keeping unwellsince April 10. One of thethree people who tested pos-itive on Sunday is the govern-ment employee's wife. Theyare all undergoing treatmentat the GB Pant Hospital here,officials said.

3 more testpositive for inA&N Islands

Pregnant women battle anxiety,restlessness in lockdownPNS n NEW DELHI

Sadhna, a 28-week pregnantwoman, is having sleeplessnights and terrified to visit ahospital. Pooja, who is set todeliver her baby in June, attimes suffers from anxiety andrestlessness. Like them, manyexpecting mothers feel extraor-dinarily pressured by the uncer-tainty the coronavirus pan-demic has brought in its wake.

And the lockdown has aug-mented the troubles as visitinga doctor for even the periodicconsultancy or being withfamily and relatives is not thesame as it were before the out-break. Also, stepping out of thehome to visit a hospital raisesthe risks manifold for not onlythe expecting mother but alsofor the one who is yet to born.

"I am away from my parents

who live in Bangalore. I wassupposed to be with my hus-band in Mumbai but my flightwas cancelled. I am alone hereand trying to keep myself calmthrough meditation," said Pooja.

Emerging evidence, accord-ing to the Indian Council ofMedical Research, suggeststhat transmission of coron-avirus from mother to babybefore birth or during delivery

is possible although the propor-tion of pregnancies affectedand the significance to theneonate is yet to be determined.

Sadhna said she is not surehow bad the situation will getbefore it starts to improve. “Ihave been depressed and anx-ious... I am scared for my child.”

Amid lockdown, DelhiPolice provides rationto Manipuri studentsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi Police came to therescue of three Manipuri stu-dents staying in the nationalcapital by providing them freeration after they ran out offood and money amid theongoing lockdown, a seniorpolice officer said.

The male students are pursu-ing their graduation from aDelhi University college andstaying at a rented accommoda-tion in Chirag Delhi, police said.

On Saturday, an SOS wasreceived through ManipurPolice following which thestudents were contacted, theysaid. "The students told us theywere running out of essentialsand did not have money to

buy food or grocery. A policeteam from Malviya Nagarimmediately visited them andgave them the required ration,"the officer said.

The students were providedwith 15 kg rice, flour, dal, oiland other essentials and weretold to contact police in caseof any emergency or distress,he said.

PNS n SRINAGAR

Kashmir has received the firstbatch of 9,600 rapid test kits asthe valley is trying to ramp uptesting in its fight to containthe spread of COVID-19, offi-cials said on Sunday.

The rapid test kits helpexamine whether a personhas developed antibodies intheir blood stream to fight thenovel coronavirus, which indi-cates whether a person hasbeen exposed to or hasCOVID-19.

The results of these teststake around 30 minutes.Doctors and healthcare work-ers can then determine thenumber of people who couldbe infected in a populationsample.

The kits would be used inthe 83 red zones in the valleyon a priority basis to help the

administration expand thetesting in these designatedareas, the officials said.

“We have received the firstbatch of 9,600 rapid testingkits,” Director, HealthServices, Kashmir, Dr SamirMattoo said.

Mattoo said the kits werebeing dispatched to red zonesin the valley and it would bedistributed to each such con-tainment zone. The kits pro-vide the results on the spot andwould cut the time taken todetermine the results, he said.

9,600 rapid test kitsarrive in Kashmir valley

Kerala's Kasaragod beatsodds to battle coronavirusPNS n KOCHI

Kasaragod, Kerala's COVID-19hotspot, is the only district in thesouthern state lacking adequatehealth infrastructure.

In spite of treating the high-est number of COVID-19patients in the state with meagreinfrastructural facilities and evenwithout the support of a medicalcollege in the north Kerala dis-trict, no deaths have been report-ed due to coronavirus.

The state health departmentviews the performance of MKunhiraman and his team, con-sisting of Janardhana Naik andKrishna Naik, at the Generalhospital in Kasaragod as a suc-cess story. "Not only did theycontrol the situation quicklywith minimum infrastructure,they also started turning out alarge number of negative caseswithin a few weeks and cred-itably ensured zero mortality.

This can be showcased as abest global model," Chairman of

the Information Education andCommunication (IEC)Committee and Project DirectorKerala State Aids ControlSociety, R Ramesh said.

Recalling the ordeal,Janardhana Naik said his firstmajor challenge was the physi-cal examination of a patientwith suspected COVID-19.

"Even with the PPE kit,nobody knew how effective theywere and it took a whole 30 min-utes to wear them properly.

But as time passed, we gotaccustomed to it," he said. Thetraditional method of dealingwith a patient involved knowinghis or her history, observationand physical examination.

For hundreds of years, thehands-on body approach hasbeen the soul of the doctor-patient relationship -- takingthe pulse, tapping on and listen-ing to the chest, feeling lumps.

With the onset of COVID-19all that has changed.

PNS n CHENNAI

Food at low-cost Amma can-teens will be served free of costin Salem district from Mondaywith the ruling AIADMK's localunits deciding to bear the cost ina bid to help daily wage earnersand others, who largely dependon the eateries, during theCOVID-19 lockdown.

The decision, which will be agreat boon to these sectionswhose livelihood has been hit bythe lockdown, was announcedby AIADMK joint co-ordinatorand Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterK Palaniswami on Sunday.

"The canteens are largely usedby daily wage earners and indi-gent people and they do not haveadequate earnings due to thecoronavirus situation," he said ina party release.

He said the urban and ruralparty units in the district, his

native, will bear the entire costof food served at mornings andnoon in the canteens, a petscheme of late AIADMK supre-mo and chief ministerJayalalithaa, who was fondlycalled

"Amma" by her followers.Besides, the party will provide

10 kilo rice and masks to each ofthe about 2,500 sanitary work-ers in Salem district till the end

of the lockdown on May 3, hesaid.

Days ago, MunicipalAdministration Minister S PVelumani had said the districtparty unit will bear the expen-diture of providing food at all the15 Amma canteens inCoimbatore. In Salem district, asmany as 11 Amma Canteens arefunctioning in the Corporationareas and four in municipalities.

AIADMK will foot the food billin Amma canteens in Salem: CM

The reason for reversing the order wasnot known immediately, but there was atalk of some retail traders mountingpressure on the government that localshops be also allowed to sell non-essentials items, like e-commerce giants

"I am away from myparents who live inBangalore. I wassupposed to be withmy husband inMumbai but my flightwas cancelled. I amalone here and tryingto keep myself calmthrough meditation,"said Pooja

Describing Niliabagas a densely popu-lated area, the colle-ctor said it requiresintensive measuresfor active surveilla-nce and contacttracing. Residents ofthe area would notbe allowed to moveout and people fromoutside are preven-ted from enteringinto the locality as aprecautionarymeasure

Even after the conclusion of the firstphase of the three-week nationwidelockdown imposed by theGovernment and its further exten-sion up to May 3 to curb the spread

of Coronavirus, signs are emerging that thevirus is not going away anytime soon. Thisis grim news for the country from both thehealth and economic perspective, especiallyfor the female population, which is likely tosuffer on multiple fronts due to the spread ofthe virus and the resultant need for the peo-ple to stay indoors.

The first category of affected women arehealthcare staff, including nurses, AccreditedSocial Health Activists (ASHAs) and angan-wadi workers, who have been holding the fortagainst the disease all across the country. AGovernment of India report of 2015 revealedthat 88.9 per cent of the support and ancil-lary staff among health workers, primarilynurses, midwives and ASHAs, are female. Thisis corroborated by earlier data from the 68thround of the National Sample Survey on the“Employment and Unemployment Situationin India” (July 2011 to June 2012). With hos-pitals facing an influx of Coronavirus patientsand given the need for active contact tracingof positive cases, these workers have becomefrontline warriors in times of crisis.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)reported that globally, too, women comprisea majority of the healthcare staff, accountingfor 70 per cent of the total in 107 countries,including India. The COVID-19 outbreak isa physical and emotional nightmare for manyhealthcare workers. Eleanor Holroyd, current-ly Professor at New Zealand’s AucklandUniversity of Technology, recounts her inter-actions with student nurses when she was pro-fessor of nursing at the Chinese University ofHong Kong during the SARS epidemic in2003. A large section of these nurses experi-enced confusion, anxiety and stress from thelong days of caring for patients and seeingmany of their colleagues, too, contracting thedisease in the process. “There’s the idea thatif there’s a gap in the health system, the nurs-es will fill it. Their duty is to be ever-presentand visible, offering empathy and care… Addthat to a sick child or husband or parent andthe very uncertain nature of an epidemic, itcan be hard [for the nurse] to hold on,” saysHolroyd.

The crisis is also likely to affect womendisproportionately because of the alreadydeclining female labour force participation(FLFP) rate in India, which according to theEconomic Survey of India of 2017-18, fellfrom 36 per cent in 2005-06 to 24 per centin 2015-16. The India Human DevelopmentSurvey (IHDS), conducted in two waves in2004-05 and 2011-12, too, reported a fall inthe FLFP from 31.12 per cent in 2005 to24.77 per cent in 2012. The IHDS is a multi-topic survey jointly conducted by theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch (NCAER) and the University ofMaryland, covering 41,554 households in

1,503 villages and 971 urbanneighbourhoods across India.This survey also suggests that thedecline in FLFP could be due tothe lack of demand for femalelabour rather than that of laboursupply. The paucity of demandfor women workers could bereinforced in the comingmonths after the real impact ofthe Coronavirus becomes appar-ent in various sectors of theIndian economy.

Another category of womenlikely to be impacted by the pan-demic are salaried workers, manyof whom are currently working-from-home but could eventual-ly face the prospect of lay-offs andpay cuts once their employersreturn to the normal work rou-tine in a recessionary economy.The temporary or permanentclosure of many businesses is like-ly to have a severe adverse impacton a range of professions domi-nated by women, such as flightattendants, tour operators, salesassistants and frontline hotelstaff and cleaners.

Academics, who have stud-ied past pandemics, includingEbola, Zika, SARS, swine flu andbird flu, report their deep andpersistent effects on genderequality. According to JuliaSmith, a health policy researcherat the Simon Fraser University,Vancouver, Canada, these out-breaks affected everyone’sincomes but “men’s incomereturned to what they had made

pre-outbreak faster than women’sincome.” This outcome is com-pounded by the already-existingwage discrimination in many sec-tors. For example, in the health-care sector, overall, womenreportedly earn 11 per cent lessthan their male counterparts.Anganwadi and ASHA workersreceive salaries in the range ofmerely ̀ 3,000-4,500 per month,which is even below the mini-mum wage, without any addi-tional benefits like pension andmaternity leave. These womenmay not lose their jobs but anydecline in their family incomesdue to the pandemic will makethem an equal part of the eco-nomic crisis looming ahead.

Even women, who are out ofthe workforce and traditionallystay at home, are facing a hugechallenge emanating from thelockdown with their alreadyextensive care-giving duties mul-tiplying even further due to thereverse migration of householdservice providers like maids,cooks and nannies to their nativevillages. A 2015 survey by theOrganisation for EconomicCooperation and Developmentfound that an Indian womandoes far more “unpaid work”,almost six hours per day on anaverage, than her peers in mostother countries. The correspond-ing figure for men is just 52 min-utes per day.

In fact, as per an Oxfamreport titled, “Mind the Gap”,

released in March 2019, Indianwomen do the most unpaid careand domestic work in any coun-try, barring Kazakhstan, largelybecause patriarchal norms,which dictate tasks such ascooking, cleaning, looking afterchildren and the elderly andfetching water and firewood,have to be performed by womenalone.

Data for the first wave ofIHDS also highlights the domes-tic drudgery for women, especial-ly in rural areas. The surveyfound that women in India’s vil-lages were spending an averageof 240 minutes per week collect-ing firewood and 66 minutes perday fetching water as comparedto much lower corresponding fig-ures of 136 minutes per week and29 minutes per day, respectively,spent by men in the household.

Last but not the least is theissue of domestic abuse, the inci-dence of which is believed to goup exponentially in any kind ofcrisis, especially the current onethat mandates people to practisesocial isolation and stay at homefor sustained periods. What isworse, in a lockdown situation,women in violent relationshipsare unable to seek help as the per-petrators of the violence arealways around, whereas thosewho can help the victims areinaccessible.

The US, the UK and Chinahave witnessed a significant risein domestic violence since the

advent of the Coronavirus. InIndia, the National Commissionfor Women (NCW) reporteddouble the usual number ofdomestic abuse cases since theimposition of the lockdown.According to the NCWChairperson, Rekha Sharma, atotal of 257 complaints related tovarious offences against womenwere received during the periodMarch 24 to April 1, out of which69 complaints were related todomestic violence. The UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres has, in fact, urgedGovernments “to make the pre-vention and redress of the hor-rifying [domestic] violenceagainst women a key part of theirnational response plans forCOVID-19.”

These gender-based conse-quences of Coronavirus make itimperative for both the admin-istration and social networks toensure that the pandemic doesnot negate the gains of genderequality achieved over the pastfew decades. Diah Saminarsih,Senior Adviser on Gender andYouth to the WHO Director-General, avers that tackling thisissue will be top priority in theWHO’s forthcoming study on theconnections between gender andCOVID-19. It remains to be seenhow well women will be able toride out the Corona storm.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor at NCAER. Views expressedin this article are personal)As ever-increasing numbers of people test

positive for Coronavirus daily, Indian scien-tists, medical professionals and researchers

are toiling round-the-clock to create a vaccine totreat and cure people. Researchers at the Councilof Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) believethat they may be on the threshold of a watershedmoment in the fight against the Novel Coronavirus.The scientists are testing a multi-purpose vaccinethat has in the past proven to be effective againstleprosy and which boosts immunity, too. Having

received the approval of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the MWVaccine is now being tested. Work is going on in developing the RNA and recom-binant DNA vaccines. CSIR is also working towards synthesising the drug Favipiravirthat is currently under trial in Japan. Two more approvals are awaited and oncethese are secured, trials will begin. However, the process of making a vaccineis a lengthy one as it is done in multiple stages till it reaches human trials. Onceit proves successful in multiple human trials, it will take months for enough vac-cines to be created and an even longer time before they hit the market. The time-line given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the development of anyvaccine meant to specifically tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is 12 monthsor maybe even longer. Meanwhile, a desperate race is on, not just in India butalso in the US and China, to come up with a cure in the form of a vaccine ordrug but no definitive results have been shared with the world as yet. In a bid tounderstand the way the virus functions, Indian scientists are working on its genomesequencing which should help understand and trace its place of origin and thepath through which it spreads. They also aim to understand with the help of genomesequencing whether or not the virus is mutating and developing any form of resis-tance to the drugs being used against it.

What is foxing the scientific community is the fact that there are around sixto seven strains (of the Coronavirus) in the world. It is simply too early to accu-rately determine just how many strains may be present in the country and sci-entists are racing against time. They are only too aware that each day that pass-es brings with it an increasing number of cases, making it that much harder fora nation already suffering from an economic slowdown to go about its businessas usual. As the COVID bomb continues to tick, Pune’s National Institute of Virologyhas completed 25 sequencings and the CSIR 30. The aim is to complete between500 to 1,000 genetic sequencings in the next two weeks. This race against timeis also a pointer on why we need to prioritise R&D, give adequate grants to thesector, incentivise our scholars and disseminate their findings widely. If home-grown scientists are working with the world now, it is clear that there is no dearthof talent and innovation. As we have said before, health and education budgetsin a post-COVID world will be the real deal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is doinga lot in trying to inject some liquidity andmore crucially, some confidence into the

Indian economy, which is currently sufferingfrom the ill-effects of the Coronavirus-imposed nationwide lockdown. In a desper-ate bid to stop the economy from slipping intoa deep recession, for the second time in a row,the Central bank, headed by Shaktikanta Das,sought to plug the gaps where it erred beforeand introduced yet another liquidity packageto help businesses stay stable and ensure that

the money reaches to those most vulnerable. However, banks have been unwill-ing to start lending aggressively. Measures include `50,000 crore liquidity sup-port for National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), SmallIndustries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and National Housing Bank (NHB),another `50,000 crore for banks for funding and a quarter-percentage-point cutin its reverse repo rate, which has now been lowered by 25 basis points to 3.75per cent. It is more than obvious that the Central bank wants to fund the finan-cial institutions so that they can then forward it to businesses, big and small,and the most vulnerable — all of whom have been facing the pangs of theCoronavirus in some form or the other. But the Central bank can just fund theTreasury. As any student of history, like the RBI Governor was, knows, histori-cal events have a habit in determining how we act today. Indian banks, both pri-vate and public, which got their hands (and the Indian taxpayer) burnt with badloans handed out a decade ago, have been unwilling to really start lending asevidenced during previous rate cuts before the lockdown began. Of course, itwould be unwise to predict just how banks will behave once the COVID-19 pan-demic is over but with no clear end in sight, talk of an extended lockdown andthe subsequent economic impact hanging in the air, we do not know just howbanks will react. It is likely that their risk-averse nature will continue. What is alsosure is the fact Indian entrepreneurs and industrialists will be unwilling to reallystart borrowing. However, both the RBI and the Government are desperate tomake sure that when things do improve on the public health front, the econo-my is not beyond redemption. Unfortunately, with the Indian economy alreadyhaving been on the back foot even before this crisis started, things could actu-ally get a lot worse before they get better. What is needed right now is a stimu-lus package that can help the economy breathe. With the Coronavirus leadingto a huge gap in demand and supply, there’s a glut in the market, leading to short-age of revenues.

This is because bankers and businessmen alike have no idea of what thingswill be like when we tide over the present crisis. This is not just the case in Indiabut across the rest of the world. Banks are parking with RBI on a daily basis.So whatever money they have with them and whatever they are getting fromRBI, the banks are giving back to the central bank instead of investing or lend-ing it. Cheaper rates may not encourage thousands of businesses to start bor-rowing but it is possible that the Government could start doling out money tomillions of Indians. This might really get things going and people will spend “freemoney” once this is over. Again, there is no idea of the efficacy of that strategyas well. People and companies have both incurred losses. Talks have gone fromlosing increments to actual worry about large-scale job losses across white col-lar, blue collar and informal sector jobs as well. At the end of the day, it all comesdown to confidence. There might be no winner from this war, because we arenot sure when the Coronavirus will finally be conquered. However, we have tostart planning for the future from today. While the plans may not be perfect, sincewe do not know an end date for the start, we have to be prepared for it. We arealready paying the price for having a woeful public health system.

Persuasion is hard

Flattening the curve

Sir — It is heartening to know thatKerala reported more recoveriesthan new cases in the past week.Out of 387 total recorded cases,218 people recovered so far. Ashort while ago, the largest num-ber of infected patients belongedto this State. But growth rate isnow completely under controland is declining rapidly.Statistically speaking, the well-being rate is about 42 per cent,which is a bit higher than in theentire country. The death rateamong the victims is also quite lowhere. This sends positive signalsthat it will be able to dip the infec-tion curve. According to theKerala administration’s statement,the State is being healed accord-ing to certain rules. Other Statesmust apply the same rules to getover this painful pandemic.

Mamun HasanAssam

Merit in US move

Sir — This refers to editorial,“WHO vs Trump” (April 17). It isunfortunate that US PresidentDonald Trump has halted funding

to the World Health Organistaion(WHO) over its handling of theCoronavirus pandemic. But hedoes have some justification forthis attack on the global body andits leader Tedros Adhanom, whomTrump has accused of being a

Chinese lapdog.Post this development, China

hinted that it would step up its con-tribution to the WHO. It must benoted that a lion’s share of the con-tribution to the WHO comesfrom the US and it is the largest

single Government donor in theworld. China or any other coun-try is far behind here. In this sense,he who pays the piper calls thetune. The US has been devastatedby the spread of the COVID-19pandemic and Americans are

falling dead en masse due to thisdisease. It is, therefore, natural forthe US to be offended due to theWHO’s irresponsible behaviour.

But why did China refuse todivulge details about the diseaseto the outside world even whenhundreds of its own people fellprey to the pandemic? These arequestions to which no definiteanswers have been offered byChinese authorities so far. Theworld body has to initiate a probeinto this matter.

TK NandananChennai

Rumour-mongering

Sir — Rumours are known to begreat disruptors. The COVID-19pandemic is no exception to it.Various false narratives have beenspread to tarnish the name of aparticular community. Despitediversity being India’s strength,the evil spreading on social mediaand caustic ideologies gravelydamage our syncretism. The statemust act responsibly.

Akash DhimanVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionVIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020

06

Women the biggest losers

ANUPMA MEHTA

Gender-based consequences of Coronavirus make it imperative for both the administration andsocial networks to ensure that the pandemic does not negate the gains of gender equality

While the whole world isfocused towards fightingCovid-19, Pakistan-insti-gated terrorists have beentargeting innocent civiliansin the hinterland.

Army chief—MM Naravane

His (Jackie Shroff’s) energyis unmatchable. Nobody canmatch up to his swag. He ishumble, easy to work with,quick with his shots and agreat actor.

Actor—Disha Patani

The pandemic-induced econom-ic contraction is having disas-trous consequences. Covid-19could trigger the worst down-turn in the global economysince the Great Depression.

UN Secretary-General—Antonio Guterres

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O RMasking home truths

This refers to the editorial, “WHO vs Trump” (April17). The world is in the midst of fighting a terriblepandemic and there is no other news than that about

the disease itself. US President Donald Trump is miffedwith the World Health Organisation (WHO) for he feelsthat its chief “sided” with China during the ongoing pan-demic. He also accused the body for “politicising” thepandemic and backing Beijing more than what wasexpected. But exactly how much is China forking out tohave attained apparent influence? Well, nowhere nearthe US, which contributes 10 times the amount Chinadoes. Even if for argument’s sake we believe that theworld health body failed to gauge the enormity of thevirus, it is puzzling how the US handled its outbreak. Morethan 26,000 people have lost their lives due to the virusand the number of infected is much more. On the otherhand, after the virus made its first appearance in Wuhanand then subsequently spread all across the world, caus-ing unprecedented devastation, China took stock of thesituation and could tide over the crisis, slowly but sure-ly. Why did it have to wait for instructions from the WHO?It’s more than clear that the US was caught napping.

President Trump's awaited response to the virusallowed the situation to snowball. Trump's “ineffective”leadership has increasingly come under fire. While he

believes that the WHO kept the US in the dark about theinitial escalation of the virus, the fact of the matter isthat he is not wanting to take responsibility for inaction.The unanimous opinion among the scientific and diplo-matic fraternity is that the US stumbled over the fine lineof anticipation and new cases. Trump's diatribe againstthe WHO is all but a frustrated rant by a man increas-ingly on a slippery slope, especially when the US hasno seat in the WHO. Either way, Trump would have donea world of good to his image and the cause of COVID-19 control had he waited for the pandemic to wane.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

The hunt for a vaccine

We need to mobilise ourhuge pool of scientists,engineers and data expertsto work on innovative solutions needed during the crisis.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

The RBI is imploring banks to start lending but recentmemory is still hobbling bankers’ confidence

Our scientists are working on a multi-purpose antidote. Thishighlights the need to fund R&D in a post-COVID world

A global war on bio threat

GOVERNMENT MUST PUSH TESTING AGGRESSIVELY.MAXIMISE TESTING AND USE TESTING

STRATEGICALLY, TO ASSIST STATES IN THEIR FIGHT. —CONGRESS LEADER

RAHUL GANDHI

I AM LAUGHING STRATEGICALLY AND ROLLING ON THE FLOOR DYNAMICALLY.—BJP SPOKESPERSON SAMBIT PATRA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

In the prevailing period of uncertainty, unpre-dictability and ambiguity of every aspect ofhuman life, in fact, of life itself, is it a war that

we are fighting and what kind of a war is this? Thetraditional understanding of conflict is violent activ-ity between two or more nations or groups over aperiod of time, bringing death and destruction inits wake. The world has, however, seen other typesof battles. For instance, the war on poverty, class wars,trade wars and so on. So, is our ongoing fight forexistence against COVID-19 to be termed a war?The significance is not merely of the word but theprinciples which should govern this fight.

In the spectrum of conflict, at the lower end islow-intensity engagement and at the highest levelthere is nuclear warfare. Chemical and biologicalwarfare can also be grouped with nuclear conflict.While chemical weapons have repeatedly been usedin some conflicts in the 20th century, the use of bio-logical weapons is relatively less and mostlyunproven. But biological weapons are the easiest andcheapest to manufacture and can adversely affect theentire enemy population. (A biological weapon canbe as simple as dropping a body in the village wellor a town’s water supply.) However, possibly due tomorality aspects and more importantly, the inabil-ity to control the fallout of a biological weapon, itsuse on a large scale has been precluded, though manycountries are reported to have had biologicalweapons programmes in the past.

The present crisis would definitely fall under thecategory of biological warfare. The commencementof this war could be both, natural or man-made. Atthis point of time, due to inadequate credible infor-mation, it would be inappropriate to pronounce adecision as to who is responsible for the commence-ment of this war. However, it is of extreme impor-tance to analyse inputs when available and reach aconclusion on its genesis because, many aspects ofthe post-COVID world, including possibly the worldorder, would depend on it. If this be a biological war,we need to see the scale of it. It is perhaps the firsttime in history that the entire human race, withoutany exception, is combatting a common enemy, theCOVID-19 virus. Though there have been pan-demics in the past, like the Spanish Flu in 1918 andthe Asian Flu in 1957, a global catastrophe of thisscale is unprecedented. It is not only the sickness anddeath which the virus-affected world suffers, seem-ingly at an exorbitantly large scale, but also the eco-nomic devastation that is likely to ensue in its wakein the globalised world, which makes this crisis atruly unparalleled one. Additionally, in all previousbattles whether conventional or otherwise (war onterror, price wars and so on), there have always been“sides.” In this unprecedented situation, the entiremankind is on one side and the virus is on the other.It is therefore, a true Global War On a BiologicalThreat (GWOBT).

Considering this to be a war, the “Principles ofWar” need to be applied to defeat it. While these fun-damentals have been enunciated by different mili-tary theorists from Sun Tzu to Clausewitz and dif-ferent countries have adopted their own dictumsbased on their national and strategic requirements,it is intended to elucidate these principles which aregenerally acceptable. Let’s deliberate upon them inthe context of the GWOBT.

Selection and maintenance of aim: This is thesingle-most important maxim as all actions will

depend upon the aim selected. My expe-rience in the Siachen Glacier and otherbattle situations is that, it is necessary firstto survive to defeat the enemy. A dead manis good to nobody. In the existing situa-tion wherein no treatment is available, theaim must remain focussed on survival.

Concentration of force: Since theentire human race has one deadly enemy,all national boundaries, religions, beliefs,ethnicities, caste, creed and gender areirrelevant in this war. All efforts of thehuman race must, therefore, be concen-trated on defeating the virus. Solidarityand synergy of all resources of the worldwould be necessary to defeat this enemy,which has humbled mankind.

Administration/sustainability: Tobe able to fight the war successfully, thehuman race, especially the economicallydeprived, has to be able to sustain itselfthrough the entire period that the battleis fought. The administration has to beperfected to take care of essential needs,especially food and medical assistance.Though this is already partly visible butit has to be ensured over a long period tillit is business as usual.

Security: In military terms, it meansthat an appropriate environment must becreated and maintained, which will enablenecessary freedom of action to achieveobjectives. In the GWOBT, it wouldentail creating an overall internationalenvironment wherein those scientists, doc-tors and researchers, who are involved infinding a solution, feel fully energised andmotivated to find avaccine/solution/drug/protocol, to end thiscrisis. One of the perils identified by theUN Secretary General on April 9 was ofextremist threats, including bio-terroristattacks. Such dangers need to be dealt withthrough an effective international responseand nipped in the bud. Otherwise these

will seriously hamper our efforts at find-ing a solution.

Economy of effort: With limitedresources, especially in the less developednations and the end not clearly in sight,all efforts must be economised. This wouldbe applicable to both, employment ofmanpower as also utilising resources,including foodgrain. The inability toimplement this dictum will result in seri-ous social disturbances, which willadversely affect preventive measures tocontain the virus.

Offensive action: The key to militaryvictories lies in relentless offensive action.In the current situation, too, bold decisionsby the leadership, which are in tune withthe selected aims and based on availabledata, would be the drivers of victory.Complacency or delay in decision-mak-ing can prove catastrophic.

Flexibility: The world is mostlygroping in a relatively unknown domain.The outcome, results and impacts thatemerge in the changing situation, must befactored in by the leadership in finding theroad ahead. One example is how the ubiq-uitous anti-malaria drugHydroxychloroquine has changed theway the world is looking at possible futureprevention.

Cooperation: Partnership amongall, cutting across boundaries, political ide-ologies and religion, will hold the key toa solution. It is also very important that,post-COVID financial benefits accruingto a nation or company, must not be thekey criterion. A competition at this stagehas the potential to ruin or delay successwhereas, collaboration will speed up theprocess, which in turn can benefit allnations.

Morale: These are times which mostof the present generation would not haveever faced earlier. A positive state of mind

in this situation needs to be created. Asense of well-being, group cohesion andthe feeling that the nation is firmlybehind every individual, need to be reit-erated. An inspired leadership — at theinternational, national, State and local level— is the need of the hour.

India has a lot to contribute to theworld in the current situation. The way thesecond-most populous country on theplanet is controlling the pandemic, willdefinitely be watched globally. The lock-down decision, albeit delayed, is beingappreciated by many the world over. Thesense of discipline in most areas and a highstate of morale, despite the extended shutdown which the country can ill-affordright now due to its precarious econom-ic situation, are examples for the world tofollow.

India has also set the example of inter-national cooperation by releasing theHydroxychloroquine tablets to manynations. In the field of research and find-ing a vaccine/treatment as also finding asolution through traditional methods,India can be a world leader.

Despite all the challenges that thenation is facing today, especially the eco-nomically deprived citizens, India couldbe at the forefront in this GWOBT andthereby be an important contributor in thepost-COVID world.

As in war, leadership in all spheres andat all levels — political, judicial, executive,legislative, military and at the national,State and local levels, will be judged by themanner in which they handle the crisis.

History has also shown us that fromthe ashes of war, great economic giantshave risen. Remember Germany, Japanand more recently Vietnam?

(The writer is a retired military veteran and former Director-General

of the National Cadet Corps)

It is perhaps the first time in history that the entire human race, without anyexception, is combatting a common enemy, the COVID-19 virus

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Choosing livesover livelihoods

GWYNNE DYER

Nations that have got the infection rate down and havetesting/tracing teams ready can start reopening,

although there will be a low but steady stream of deaths

ANIRUDDHA CHAKRAVARTY

THE PRESENTCRISIS WOULD

DEFINITELY FALLUNDER THE

CATEGORY OFBIOLOGICAL

WARFARE. THECOMMENCEMENT

OF THIS WARCOULD BE BOTH,

NATURAL OR MAN-MADE. ATTHIS POINT OFTIME, DUE TOINADEQUATE

CREDIBLEINFORMATION, IT

WOULD BEINAPPROPRIATETO PRONOUNCE

A DECISION AS TO WHO ISRESPONSIBLE

FOR THECOMMENCEMENT

OF THIS WAR.HOWEVER, IT IS

OF EXTREMEIMPORTANCE TOANALYSE INPUTSWHEN AVAILABLE

AND REACH ACONCLUSION ON

ITS GENESISBECAUSE, MANYASPECTS OF THE

POST-COVIDWORLD,

INCLUDINGPOSSIBLY

THE WORLDORDER, WOULD

DEPEND ON IT

Wuhan, the Chinese city where it all started, was locked downfor 79 days before the restrictions on movement were final-ly lifted last week. A bit overcautious perhaps but in China

the Coronavirus does really seem to be under control — not totallyeradicated but controllable without extreme measures. If President DonaldTrump “reopens” the US at the end of this month, then California anda few other States will have been under lockdown for only half thatmany days and some States for much less time or even none. Farfrom being under control, the COVID-19 virus is killing a huge num-bers of Americans, with 37,175 casualties on March 18 and the num-ber is still rising daily. These two giants define the extremes of the “livesvs livelihoods” debate but almost every other country is having it too.Everybody knows that you can’t shut the economy down indefinite-ly but nobody wants to risk a second wave of infections by movingtoo soon. Well, almost nobody. The toddler-in-chief in the White Houseis frantic to reopen the economy because he has an election comingup in six months, and he will lose it if the economy has not recoveredby then.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the American physician and immunologist whohas served as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases, has doubtless explained that lifting the restrictionson movement on May 1 will cause a second wave of deaths and asecond lockdown before November. But Trump doesn’t retain that sortof information for long. His attention span is not only short but selec-tive: He forgets unwelcome information very quickly. Trump might actu-ally order the country to reopen on May 1, as he believes that: “Whensomebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total.”But most States beg to differ and wouldn’t obey his command. AsNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo said: “We have a Constitution …we don’t have a king … the President doesn’t have total authority.”

Elsewhere, some countries are cautiously reopening theireconomies a bit at a time but they either had a very high death rateearly and have now wrestled it down again — China, Italy and Spain— or responded hard and early and never had a high infection rate,like Germany, Denmark, Austria, the Czech Republic and New Zealand.

We should also note two countries that never closed theireconomies down at all, because they could test, identify the infectedand trace their contacts fast enough to break the chains of infectionand keep deaths low: Taiwan and South Korea.

All three of these groups have one vital thing in common. Theyhave the ability to “test, test, test”, as the World Health Organisation’s(WHO’s) Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, put it a month ago,warning countries that they “cannot fight a fire blindfolded.” And theycan follow up the tests with contact-tracing teams and apps so thatnot just the individual who tested positive but the whole cluster of otherpeople who had contact with him/her can be isolated.

Any countries that have their infection rate down and have theirtesting and tracing teams ready can start reopening their economies,although there will be a low but steady stream of deaths until a vac-cine is found. France, Canada and Australia can probably do it nextmonth. Countries like Turkey, Russia and South Africa are more debat-able, because they gave the virus a head start. But their medical infra-structure is strong enough, so they could think about letting their cit-izens go back to work by July. However, the US, the UK, Brazil andIndia are very worrisome. India is doing the right things but it startedlate. Its medical resources are limited and given its population of awhopping 1.3 billion, the sheer number of victims may overwhelmthe system. Brazil has the reckless Jair Bolsonaro in charge, who notonly wants to open up the country’s borders but also fired his HealthMinister Luiz Mandetta for wanting to encourage social distancing forwhat Bolsonaro calls a “little flu.” Post Mandetta’s exit, many peoplein the healthcare system may fall victim to Bolsonaro’s bullying ways.

As for the US and the UK, they both reacted very late to the threat,which guarantees that their casualties would be considerably abovethe rich-country average. Worse, they do not have the testing and track-ing resources in place that would make reopening the economy a rel-atively safe proposition. On April 3 the British Health Secretary, MattHancock, pledged 1,00,000 Coronavirus tests per day by the end ofthe month. Half the month is gone and the maximum number of testscarried out on a single day has been under 15,000. The US situationis harder to judge, since there is not a unified healthcare system buta highly fragmented “healthcare sector.” However, nobody has spot-ted evidence of nationwide preparations for extensive testing and track-ing once everybody goes back to work, so a second wave of deathslater in the year is practically guaranteed. Finis Trump, perhaps but ata high price.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

As cases of the rapidly spread-ing Coronavirus increase,the world has come to a

standstill. COVID-19, the diseasecaused by the virus which has so farinfected over two million people andkilled 154,388, has also causedsome severe economic and socialdisruptions. Experts believe thesemay lead to political upheavalseven after the spread is somehowneutralised.

In the line of fire are regimeswho seem to be fumbling inaddressing the spread of COVID-19.Over the last two weeks, the inter-national media has specifically tar-getted the bombastic neo-populistregimes that came to power in var-ious countries after 2014.

Unable to comprehend an issuewhich does not fit their blatheringnarratives, such governments inIndia, the UK, the US, Brazil,Hungary, Philippines, Iran andPakistan are now constantly on thereceiving end of criticism. But thisdoes not mean that countries thatseem to be doing a better job of han-dling the crisis know when or howthis crisis will recede; they arebeing forced to think on their feet.Such is the elusive nature of thisvirus.

On March 12, Dr ZhongNanshan, a Chinese pulmonologistwho has been at the forefront of hiscountry’s fight against the pan-demic, told Reuters that the spreadof COVID-19 can be “contained” byJune this year but only if govern-ments continue to enforce strictsocial distancing through lock-downs.

This does not mean that even ifthe world somehow succeeds tocheck the spread in the next twomonths, everything will automati-cally return to normal. First of all,what was considered to be normal

before the outbreak will change,leading to a new normal. But eventhis won’t emerge unless an anti-COVID-19 vaccine appears.

Vaccines usually take up to 10years to develop for mass usage. Butrecent advances in virology havehelped scientists to greatly shave offyears of required testing and launchanti-viral vaccines in much shorterperiods of time.

Pharmaceutical companiesworking frantically in China,Europe, India and the US believethat an effective anti-COVID-19vaccine can appear in the next 12months. That’s still a whole year.However, the US pharmaceuticalgiant Merck was able to produce avaccine against the 1968 influenzapandemic in four months.

Vaccines have saved the humanrace on numerous occasions. Buttheir historic importance always getsdwarfed by other, more glamorousscientific feats. Human beings havebeen victims of catastrophic viralbreakouts for centuries but the firstvaccine wasn’t developed till the18th century.

In the late 18th century, aBritish doctor, Edward Jenner,noticed that those in England’s vil-lages who had contracted cowpox,became immune to smallpox. Forcenturies, smallpox had been one ofthe deadliest and most painful dis-eases that killed millions. It wascaused by a highly contagious virus.Cowpox, on the other hand, was rel-atively mild and not fatal.

In The Life and Death ofSmallpox, Ian and Jenifer Glynnwrite that Jenner drew some matterfrom a sore of a woman sufferingfrom cowpox. He then injected itinto an eight-year-old boy who hadcontracted smallpox. After severaldays, the boy recovered. Jennerthen injected the boy with mattertaken from a fresh smallpox patientto see if he had developed immuni-ty. He had. Compared to modern-day practices of lab sciences, thismethod seems rather cruel but inthe 18th century, it turned Jennerinto a celebrity.

By the 19th century, smallpoxvaccination became compulsory invarious European countries and in

some American States. Almost a 100years after Jenner’s discovery, aFrench biologist, Louis Pasteur, wassuccessful in developing a vaccineagainst another painfully fatal dis-ease, rabies. Caused by a virus thatenters the human body through aninfected animal bite, it can cause ahorrific death. In 1885, Pasteursuccessfully cured a rabies casewith a vaccine. He used the atten-uation method, in which the virusis weakened in the lab and injectedin the patient to prompt the body’simmune system to work harder.

Building on the works of Jennerand Pasteur, the 20th century saw arapid growth in the introduction ofvaccines against ailments that wereonce incurable and contagious. In1914, a vaccine against typhoidbecame common in the US; in 1921,French bacteriologists developed avaccine for TB; in 1939, US doctorsdeveloped a vaccine against whoop-ing-cough; in 1954, an anti-poliovaccine was successfully tested byAmerican scientists; in 1958, thefirst measles vaccine was intro-duced and in 1966 an anti-mumps

vaccine was launched in the US.Between the late 1960s and

1970s, robust vaccination pro-grammes were highly successful inchecking and, in some cases, erad-icating the spread of some of theworst contagious diseases known toman. However, scientists havealways been running a tricky raceagainst flu viruses because they con-tinue to mutate. This means scien-tists have to always be on their feetto readjust flu vaccines according tofresh mutations.

A problem governments havefaced in checking the spread of con-tagious diseases is the continuousexistence of “anti-vax” segments insome societies. These are groupswithin a population who are againstforced vaccination. The WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) hasdescribed them as a “threat” to pub-lic health.

The roots of this phenomenoncan be traced back to the 19th cen-tury when the British Governmentintroduced compulsory smallpoxvaccination. Some groups refused toget their children vaccinated, fear-

ing it was against their religiousbeliefs.

In 1926, newspapers in the USreported attacks on vaccinationteams in certain conservative ruralareas of the country. Even recently,anti-polio vaccination workers wereattacked in some areas of Pakistanby those who believe that polio vac-cines contain harmful chemicals.

According to a June 27, 2016article in Healthline by Dr DeborahWeatherspoon, the “anti-vax” mind-set is often the result of a mistrustof science in some groups whobelieve that pharmaceutical compa-nies are enhancing the fear of oth-erwise benign diseases to sell theirmedicines, or that such sciences areopposed to religious beliefs, or that“natural” cures through homeopa-thy or other traditional means aremore effective.

Among these are also some whoinsist that vaccines stunt the repro-ductive capabilities of men.Ironically, this perception is mostprominent in some of the world’smost densely populated regions.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

An agonising wait for the Coronavirus cureVaccines have saved the human race on numerous occasions even though their historic importance was always

dwarfed by more glamorous scientific developments

NADEEM PARACHA

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

GoAir employees togo on leave withoutpay till May 3Mumbai: Majority of 5,500-odd employees of GoAir willnow be on "leave without pay"(LWP) till May 3 as its entirefleet remains grounded in thewake of the extendedlockdown, the airline has said.In March, the Wadia Group-owned airline asked itsemployees to go on LWP on arotational basis besides cuttingtheir salaries. "The lockdownhas been further extended tillMay 3, and with this extension,our fleet continues to becompletely grounded. Hence,we are constrained to requestyou to proceed on 'leavewithout pay' till May 3," GoAirsaid in a communication to itsemployees on Saturday. Thegovernment has extended thelockdown till May 3, whichwas to end on April 14.

McDonald's suspendsoperations in Singapore PNS n SINGAPORE

Fast food giant McDonald's onSunday suspended operations inSingapore till May 4 after sevenof its employees were detectedwith coronavirus last week. Thesuspension decision will includedrive-through and delivery ser-vices. The American fast foodchain had suspended its take-away operations on Saturday,Channel News Asia reported.

In a release, McDonald's saidit has been advised by theMinistry of Health that it shouldsuspend restaurant operations,including delivery and drive-through, till May 4 as preven-tive action against COVID-19.The circuit-breaker period ends

on May 4 in the city-state.During this period heavyrestrictions are placed againstcrowding and large gatherings.Last week, seven employees ofMcDonald's tested positive forcoronavirus.

"These are indeed unprece-dented times for all of us. Wehave done all we can to put inplace every safety precautionarymeasure to keep our employeesand customers safe – and willcontinue to do our part to flat-ten the curve," said managingdirector of McDonald'sSingapore Kenneth Chan.

"We thank our customersfor their continued support andlook forward to serving themagain on May 5," he added.

Mumbai: SpiceJet has decidedto send employees earningmore than Rs 50,000 per monthon leave without pay on arotational basis, sources said onSunday amid flight servicesremaining suspended till May3.This arrangement would be inplace for three months, theyadded. The sources also toldPTI that the salary for April islikely to be paid to staff for thedays they were on duty.Commercial flights remainsuspended since March 25 dueto the nationwide lockdown tocurb spreading of coronavirusinfections. The lockdown hasbeen extended till May 3.

PNS n KOLKATA

The prolonged lockdown hasbadly hit the travel, tourismand logistics verticals of diver-sified PSU Balmer Lawrie andCo Ltd and the company isbracing itself for a drop in prof-it this fiscal, an official said.

Travel, tourism and logisticsare the strategic business units(SBUs), which contribute about40 per cent of overall annualrevenue of the city-headquar-tered company and 60 percent of its profit, he said.

"Among the six verticals ofthe company, travel, tourismand logistics businesses arethe worst-hit," Balmer Lawrie

CMD Prabal Basu told PTI.All travel and tourism relat-

ed bookings have been can-celled since March 14, and peo-

ple are scared of the coron-avirus pandemic, he said.

"Confidence is low andnobody wants to come out,"

he said. In case of logistics,there is a global problem,and imports from China, USand Europe countries came toa standstill as these nations arein crisis due to the coron-avirus outbreak, he said.

"The logistics services hasbeen badly affected," Basusaid, adding that its lubricantmanufacturing factories arealso closed due to the lock-

down. Only the industrialpackaging division of thecompany is now working butin a small scale with restric-tions on manpower, and allnorms relating to health safe-ty and social distancing arefollowed, he said.

Basu said the economy isgoing through a "challengingtime" and will "take at leastone year to stabilise".

PNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank of India'sdirective asking banks to make10 per cent provisions on allmoratorium loans will shave atleast Rs 35,000 crore off theirprofitability in financial years2019-20 and 2020-21, accord-ing to a report.

On Friday, the central bank,in its second set of liquidity-enhancing measuresannounced Rs 1 lakh crorespecifically targeted fund infu-sion to small- and mid-sizedshadow banks, home financiersand micro-lenders, which willultimately go a long way inoffering some succour to thesmall and medium enterpris-es.

"While the liquidity boosterswill help the small lenders, theRBI has also stipulated banksto create a 10 per cent provi-sioning on all loans that areoverdue but not yet NPAs(non-performing assets)wherein the moratorium ison, over the March and Junequarters. This will impact theirprofitability by Rs 35,000 crorein the March and June quar-ters," Brickwork Ratings said in

a weekend note.The new provisioning

requirement has to be made forthe March and June 2020 quar-ters and this will impact theirprofitability in 2019-20 and2020-21.

The agency said its assess-ment is based on its assump-tion that at the system-levelbanks' ability to manage assetquality in the near-term post

t h e

m o r a t o r i u mremains a criticalmonitorable con-cern even thoughthey could be ableto manage thefunds for the provi-sioning by adjustingagainst the provisioningfor slippages to NPAs in thefinancial year 2020-21.

Banks will have to cate-gorise the moratorium loans asspecial mention accounts(SMA) wherein loans are in the0-90 days overdue buckets.

"As per our estimates, thestipulation on additional 10 percent provisioning couldincrease total provisioning byRs 35,000 crore in the Marchand June quarters. Thisassumes SMA accounts arearound 4 per cent of total sys-tem level advances and are inmoratorium.

"Such a large hit on prof-itability will also impair thecapital positions of banks,especially state-run banksmany of which continue toreport losses for nine monthsending December 2019. It mayalso necessitate further capitalinfusion into them," the agencysaid.

After pumping in almost 3.2per cent of GDP worth liquid-ity into the system since theFebruary 6 monetary policyto help the economy fight theCOVID-19 pandemic spawndisruption, last Friday, theRBI announced another Rs1 lakh crore of liquidity

boost specifically for NBFCs,housing finance companies(HFCs) and MFIs, which ana-lysts and shadow bankers willultimately help small business-es the most.

PNS n NEW DELHI

After the government barreddelivery of non-essential itemsthrough e-commerce plat-forms, Amazon India onSunday said the new guidelineswill disappoint consumerswhose list of essentials hadexpanded to 'work from home'and 'study from home' prod-ucts, as well as small business-es, sellers and manufacturers.

The company asserted thatit will continue to follow theguidelines and deliver essentialproducts and work closelywith authorities for expeditedprocesses to make safe deliver-ies of priority products possi-ble.

Stating that Amazon India isfully committed to the visionof the government to keep thecitizens healthy, a companyspokesperson emphasised thatthe need of the hour is toensure the safety of citizensfirst, serving their needs whilethey stay at home.

"The new guideline will dis-appoint not only the con-sumers whose list of essentialshad expanded to work fromhome and study from homeproducts but also the thou-sands of small businesses, sell-

ers and manufacturers acrossthe country, who had gearedup in the last 48 hours to pro-vide millions of people withsafe access to products," thespokesperson said.

Amazon India further saidthe company, on behalf ofconsumers and sellers, hopesthat "this situation is rectifiedsoon so that the urgent need ofconsumers is met and thatthere is revival of economicactivity". "We will continue tofollow the guidance and deliv-er essential products and workclosely with all central, stateand local authorities for expe-dited processes to make safe

deliveries of priority productspossible," the spokespersonadded. Four days after allow-ing e-commerce companies tosell non-essential items, thehome ministry on Sundayissued an order saying the fol-lowing clause -- "E-commercecompanies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will beallowed to ply with necessarypermissions" -- is excludedfrom the guidelines issues.Players like Paytm Mall haveurged the government to expandthe ambit of essential goods toinclude products like laptopsand mobile phones to facilitatepeople working from home.

Balmer Lawrie's businesses hit by lockdownPNS n NEW DELHI

Kerala-based ESAF SmallFinance Bank has expressed itscommitment for going publicby listing its stock in line withthe RBI's requirement and themoney raised will help supportthe country's economy hithard by the COVID-19 pan-demic.

Currently, promoters andpromoter group together hold77.94 per cent stake in thebank, which commenced itsoperation in March 2017.Besides, SIDBI TrusteeCompany Ltd-A/C SamridhiFund holds 12.24 per centstake in the bank.

Speaking to PTI, ESAFSmall Finance Bank Managing

Director K Paul Thomas said,"We have got the approvalfrom Sebi for the initial pub-lic offering only in March. Wehave time till March 2021 andwe hope that things will benormal by that time."

Thomas, who holds 7.29per cent stake in the bank inhis individual capacity, saidthat making any predictionabout the timeline at this point

of time is difficult but goingforward, things shouldimprove.

In terms of the licensingguidelines, a small financebank is required to list itsequity on the stock exchangeswithin a period of three yearsfrom reaching a net worth ofRs 500 crore.

Talking about various effortsundertaken by the bank to helppoor and hapless during theongoing nation-wide lock-down, Thomas said, "We arenot only providing bankingservice but engaging to supportunderprivileged especiallystranded migrant workers inmeeting daily needs under thecorporate social responsibilityinitiative.

10 pc provisioning may shaveRs 35,000 cr off bank profits

ESAF Small Finance Bankexpresses commitment for listing

PNS n NEW DELHI

Six of the 10 most valueddomestic companies togetheradded Rs 53,702.27 crore inmarket valuation last week,with ICICI Bank and TCSemerging as the biggest gain-ers. Reliance IndustriesLimited (RIL), HUL, BhartiAirtel and ITC were the othergainers from the top-10 list,while HDFC Bank, HDFC,Infosys and Kotak MahindraBank witnessed erosion fromtheir market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week endedFriday.

ICICI Bank's valuationjumped Rs 21,561.16 crore toRs 2,43,350.46 crore.

The market cap of TataConsultancy Services (TCS)advanced Rs 15,347.25 crore toRs 6,77,980.87 crore and thatof Bharti Airtel zoomed Rs7,201.34 crore to Rs2,74,005.37 crore.

RIL's valuation rose by Rs3,711.77 crore to Rs7,76,595.26 crore and that ofITC gained Rs 3,380.36 croreto reach Rs 2,31,216.87 crore.

Hindustan Unilever Limited(HUL) added Rs 2,500.39crore to its m-cap to stand atRs 5,16,196.27 crore.

In contrast, the valuation ofKotak Mahindra Bankplunged Rs 17,211.29 crore toRs 2,26,972.43 crore.

Likewise, HDFC Bank'smarket capitalisation droppedRs 7,621.77 crore to Rs4,99,198.40 croand that ofHDFC fell by Rs 3,732.56crore to Rs 2,91,053.28 crore.

The m-cap of Infosysdipped Rs 3,534.97 crore to Rs2,68,018.40 crore.

In the ranking of top-10firms, RIL remained the mostvalued firm, followed by TCS,HUL, HDFC Bank, HDFC,Bharti Airtel, Infosys, ICICIBank, ITC and KotakMahindra Bank.

‘Online-to-offlinestrategy to getprominence’PNS n NEW DELHI

More and more retailers will bebound to cling to e-commerceplatforms and mobile apps asthe prevailing situation amidcoronavirus lockdown isexpected to lead to shift in con-sumer behaviour, accordingto LOTS Wholesale Solutions.Subsequently, there will be aneed to have an omni channelstrategy -- Online to Offline(O2O) -- for the retail indus-try in order to cater to thechanging needs of consumers.

LOTS Wholesale Solutions,a wholly-owned subsidiary ofSiam Makro Public Co Ltd -

Thailand's leading cash andcarry operator, said there willbe an impact on its businessdue to the current situation asboth industry and suppliers arefacing problems ranging fromshutdowns, labour shortages,supply chain disruptions, etc."No doubt, there will be someimpact of this current situationin the near future. However, inphase-II of the lockdown thesituation will normalise withtime and the retail sector willembark on its journey towardsrecovery, albeit slowly," LOTSWholesale Solutions ManagingDirector Tanit Chearavanonttold PTI.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Reserve Bank of India's(RBI) measures to help facili-tate funds to the NBFC sectorare unlikely to boost the cred-it flow to the broader econo-my as NBFCs would shore uptheir own liquidity rather thanon-lending to customers,Moody's Investors Service saidon Sunday.

Moody's Investors ServiceVice-President (FinancialInstitutions Group) AlkaAnbarasu said the measureswill soften the near-term cred-it negative impact on non-banking financial companies'(NBFCs) funding and liquid-ity.

On Friday, the RBI said itwill conduct second tranche oftargeted long-term repo oper-ation (TLTRO 2.0) for anaggregate amount of Rs 50,000crore, to begin with. Underthis, banks can access three-year funding from the RBI thatshould be invested in invest-ment grade bonds, commercialpaper and non-convertibledebentures of non-bankingfinancial companies, with atleast 50 per cent of the total

amount availed going to smalland mid-sized NBFCs andmicrofinance institutions(MFIs).

"Although the RBI measurewill help facilitate funds to theNBFC sector, we don't expectthis measure to boost the cred-it flow to the broader econo-my as we expect NBFCs to pri-oritise liquidity over balancesheet growth in the near term,"Anbarasu told PTI.

She said the targeted long-term repo operation will helpfacilitate funds to NBFCs withwell-established franchises, forexample those with long-oper-ating histories, or to thosebacked by strong corporategroups.

"Nevertheless, we expect

funding conditions for otherNBFCs to remain under pres-sure given the risks to theirasset quality," Anbarasu added.

Under the TLTRO 2.0 win-dow, banks availing funds willhave to invest 10 per cent insecurities issued by MFIs, 15per cent in securities issued byNBFCs with asset size of Rs500 crore and below, and 25per cent in securities issued byNBFCs with asset size of Rs500-5,000 crore.

The RBI announced the liq-uidity facility under theTLTRO 2.0 window for NBFCsand MFIs after these institu-tions failed to get fundingunder the earlier TLTROscheme announced late inMarch.

PNS n BENGALURU

Tanishq, the jewellery brandfrom the house of Tata, onSunday announced its plans oftaking Akshaya Tritiya salesonline this year with jew-elleries shut due to theCOVID-19 lockdown.

The offer is on from April18 to April 27 on its e- com-merce platform; www.tan-ishq.co.in.

Once the situation returnsto normalcy and servicesresume, the customers caneither opt to go to the storeand pick up their jewellery orget it delivered to theirdoorstep, Tanishq said in astatement.

Akshaya Tritiya is also a tra-ditional anchor for a lot ofTanishq's customers, withnearly 54 per cent of its regu-

lar Akshaya Tritiya buyersexpressing their interest topursue the tradition of bring-ing gold as a harbinger of goodtimes, it said.

Ajoy Chawla, CEO,Jewellery Division at TitanCompany Limited, said:Contactless shopping experi-ence throughout will be anew experience for us and forour customers as well. We havetrained our retail team in theprocess. They are prepared todeal with our customers in thevirtual world.

PNS nMUMBAI

Small businesses will benefitthe most from the Rs 1 lakh-crore targeted liquidity boostto small and mid-sized non-banking lenders, housingfinanciers and micro-lenders,say the shadow banking indus-try leaders.

Non-banking financial com-panies (NBFCs), housingfinance companies (HFCs)and micro-finance institutions(MFIs) -- which have beenstarved of finances ever sinceIL&FS went belly up afterlarge-scale fraud and misman-agement by top managementcame to light in September2018 -- have finally heaved asigh of relief after the ReserveBank on Friday opened twodurable liquidity windowsworth Rs 1 lakh crore for

them.The latest measure has come

as two of its most innovativeliquidity measures worth Rs 2lakh crore since February 6 didnot elicit the desired effect.

On Friday in the secondCovid booster dose, the RBIannounced a new TLTRO,under which it will pump in Rs50,000 crore into the system

and made it mandatory forbanks to invest 50 percent ofthe money in lower-rated debtbeing issued by small andmedium NBFCs, HFCs andMFIs.

Apart from the new TLTROwindow, the RBI has alsoopened another Rs 50,000crore in refinance window forNabard, Sidbi and NHB.

SMEs to gain maximum fromliquidity boost to NBFCs, HFCs

All travel and tourism relatedbookings have been cancelled sinceMarch 14, and people are scared ofthe virus

Six of top-10 firmsadd Rs 53,702 cr inm-cap; ICICI leads

SpiceJet to sendselect staff on leavewithout pay

New Delhi: The finance ministryon Sunday said there will be nocut in pensions to centralgovernment employees. Theministry clarified its positionafter reports that thegovernment is planning to cutpensions. "It is being reportedthat a 20 per cent cut in centralgovernment pensions is beingplanned. This news is false.There will be no cut in pensiondisbursements.

No cut in pension tocentral govtemployees: FinMin

French retailer FnacDarty gets 500million euro PNS n PARIS

Electronics' retail giant FnacDarty announced on Sunday ithad secured a 500 millioneuro loan guaranteed by theFrench state "to secure cashflow" and prepare for recoveryafter the coronavirus crisis.Finance Minister BrunoLemaire said the guaranteed$544 million facility was "thefirst that the French state hasgranted to a major Frenchcompany" to help it over thecrisis. The group reported"very strong growth in e-com-merce, in all countries, duringthe lockdown" but in the firstquarter of the year revenueplunged 7.9 percent.

RBI measures unlikely to boostcredit flow to broader economy

‘Barring delivery of non-essentialswill disappoint consumers, small biz’

New provisioningrequirement hasto be made for theMarch and June2020 quarters andthis will impacttheir profitability

Amazon asserted that it will continueto follow the guidelines and deliveressential products

Tanishq brings AkshayaTritiya online this year

isinfectant tunnelshave been much-talked-about, thesedays. One of thebiggest discussionsfollowing the

Coronavirus outbreak hasbeen about these tunnels onwhether or not they’re effec-tive to kill the virus.

A disinfectant tunnel is a setup of a passage filled withnozzles that spray a disinfec-tant cloud of tiny waterdroplets on a person whowalks through the tunnel to kill bacteria and theCOVID-19 virus.

The recent introduction ofthese tunnels across the coun-try led to the development of

one such tunnel in Hyderabadtoo. On the current status ofsuch a resource in the city,Sathvika Gupta, Safety andHealth officer, tells us thatmany health experts providedminute details about this latestinvention being safe onlywhen sprayed on surfaces. “Ifsprayed on man, it createshealth hazards. Ranging fromskin disorders, burning of theskin, redness to blisters, etc.,the disinfectant tunnel is notadvisable to be sprayed onhumans,” the health officersays.

Comprising of 2-3 per centsodium hypochlorite, thischemical compound can beused as an oxidizing agent as

the main ingredient to wardoff sterilisers using a disinfec-tant tunnel as suggested by the

medical experts.Condemning the recent

incident of drenching migrant

workers with bleach disinfec-tants the health officer says,“These disinfectants containcertain chemical compositionsthat cause an increased risk ofdeveloping health hazardsincluding eyesight loss, rashes,etc. I don’t think crossing apassage of disinfectant for 5-10 seconds will kill the virus.”

Sathvika Gupta says that shehas currently withdrawn herservices from the disinfectanttunnels set up in the city andat the same time urges theTelangana government to dis-mantle the tunnels.

As per the reports, theWorld Health Organisationhas also issued a notice onminimal usage of sodiumhypochlorite chemical anddisinfectant tunnels that causeharm to humans in publicplaces. While they may workon material surfaces, the maincomponent, which is bleach,does not help sanitise humans.

D

YouTubers are making the most of thelockdown period to create awareness

among public about the ongoingpandemic by making relatable

content infused withhumour, finds V SATEESH

REDDY

he lockdown called dueto Coronavirus pan-

demic has peoplelocked indoors for

months. And with thenationwide lockdown

having been extended till May 3,boredom is all most people fear,

after the virus itself. But thanks to the time and the

internet, YouTubers are makingvideos on various issues relating to

the lockdown. And netizens aremore than happy to consume

entertainment via the internet.During the lockdown, people

have been witnessing manychanges like preferring home-

cooked food, improving their culi-nary skills, lifestyle changes and

others. To show what’s happeningduring the lockdown — the quar-

antine difficulties, work fromhome, love, fear of virus -

YouTubers are covering them all, ina funny way. They're also using

these videos to educate and createawareness among people.

In one of the videos titled WhatIf Virus Is A Person by a reputed

YouTube channel, the makers triedto explain the virus’ point of viewabout the current pandemic. The

video shows how people have nowbecome conscious about health and

hygiene and warns people abouttheir eating habits.

YouTuber Harika Alekhya says,“People are depressed with theextension of the lockdown. We

want to take them out of this situa-tion and that’s how What If Virus Is

a Person happened. This is tospread positivity among people. I

also did a video called MyQuarantine Time to show how to

utilise free time at home. I usedthis time to draw and advised myfollowers on social media too, to

follow the same.”Another video titled

Bhayam VadilesiJagrathapadadaam

chronicles thelife of

two roommates, one who fears thevirus to a point where he develops

an OCD against unclean and unhy-gienic places and lifestyle while theother is unaffected and irritated by

his roomate’s irrational fears. Allthis, with humour. Jones Katru,

one of the makers of the video says,“We are all making videos in our

respective homes. It is very impor-tant for us to stay safe during timeslike these. Our government is striv-ing hard to eradicate the virus and

we must obey the rules. We believethat our videos will help create the

much needed awareness.”Another YouTube channel madea series of videos on Work From

Home, Lockdown, Love InQuarantine and more. The series

narrates the difficulties of variouskinds of people in a satirical way.

Kids interrupting their parents’conference calls and other such

instances make these videosinstantly reliable and funny. Someof the videos also cover problems

faced by people surviving long dis-tance relationship.

Another YouTuber Shobanshares, “We’re making videos

showing what’s happening aroundus during this time. We’ve seen

people venturing out and endingup being thrashed by the police

and made some videos on thesame. We are also giving smart

solutions to celebrate birthdays athome.”

Due to the lockdown, peoplehave begun to do their own chores.

Celebrities and politicians too, aredoing things all by themselves,thanks to househelps not being

able to get to work. Thus came outanother video on the importance of

maids and other workers in ourlives. Titled Side Effects of

Quarantine, the video informs,educates and teaches one to respect

workers from all strata. All in all, these YouTubers are

doing the job of educating and cre-ating awareness among netizens,

albeit with humour.

T

People are depressed withthe extension of the

lockdown. We want to takethem out of this situation and

that’s how What If Virus Is aPerson happened. This is to

spread positivity among people.I also did a video called My

Quarantine Time to show howto utilise free time at home.

— HARIKA ALEKHYA

CREATING AWARENESS WITH A DASH OF HUMOUR

You-Tubers are

doing the job ofeducating and

creating awarenessamong netizens, albeit

with humour

Are disinfectant tunnelsharmful to mankind?

SHIKHADUGGAL speaks

to SathvikaGupta, Safety

and Healthofficer on all

the hypesurrounding the

DisinfectantTunnels

SIDE EFFECTSOF A

DISINFECTANTTUNNEL:

COUGHING AND

SORE THROATSTOMACH ACHEBURNINGSENSATIONDIARRHEAVOMITING

From skin disorders,burning of the skin,redness to blisters, allcan be caused due todisinfectant tunnels.It is not advisable tobe sprayed on humans

MondayApril 20, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Monday April 20 2020 what’s brewing

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

he lockdown peri-od has led to aboom in the tele-vision and OTTmarkets all overthe world, with

Indians getting their dose ofentertainment through fic-tion tales, historical pieces,mythological stories andsupernatural thrills.

According to a recentreport by Broadcast AudienceResearch Council (BARC), TVconsumption in India grewby 38 per cent over the pre-COVID period. People arenow watching TV for allseven days with an increaseof 47 per cent viewership.

The report also stated thatthe consumption of Hindi asa language has grown, withmythology driving thegrowth — thanks to the re-runs of classic shows likeRamayan and Mahabharat.This week, the Hindi GECattained an all time highviewership of four billionsince 2015 in HSM (Hindi

Speaking Market) Urban.Another trend which was

spotted was the resurgence ofEnglish movies category.English movies has shown an83 per cent growth in thelockdown period.

When it comes to OTT,the disruption caused byCOVID-19 gave a big fillip toeducation apps, along withstreaming services. The topcontent picked by the audi-ence includes fiction, thriller,history, news, supernatural,and mythology.

The growth of TV and

OTT was spotted byGlobalWebIndexEntertainment flagshipreport as well.

It stated that in every agebracket, “internet users watchmore broadcast TV thanonline TV, despite year-on-year drops in broadcastengagement”.

“Online TV has capturedmore and more daily mediatime among internet userssince 2012, climbing from the45 minute per day mark to itscurrent standing of 1 hour 17minutes,” it added.

According to the reportthe average time spent watch-ing linear TV in India is 1hour and 34 minutes, andonline TV on a typical day is1 hour and 31 minutes.

It is important to note thatwhile Netflix and AmazonPrime Video might havefound a strong ground inIndia, the report states thatIndian market is not asmooth sail for foreign play-ers.

Netflix engagement overthe past year in India,increased by 14 per centpoints to 58 per cent. It isfurther strengthening itsposition by widening itsIndian slate, and gettingBollywood biggies like ShahRukh Khan, PriyankaChopra Jonas and AnushkaSharma on board.

“India’s streaming marketis one of the biggest andfastest-growing in the world,and at the same time, one ofthe most resistant to penetra-tion from global players,” thereport said.

That explains the recentgrowth of Indian OTT play-ers, which include Voot,AltBalaji, Zee5, and MXPlayer.

“The country’s video mar-ket is valued at over $700million and is expected togrow to $2.4 billion in valueby 2023, with the over-the-top (OTT) industry projectedto be with the highest growthrate,” it explained.

Covid 19: TV viewershipINCREASED BY 47%T

here is an ele-ment of simplis-tic joy that drivesFour More ShotsPlease, and it’s aquality that

endears you to the show.Beneath the grit driving itsadmirably unapologeticprotagonists, it has a fairy-tale spirit propping the nar-rative. Same-sex love orbusiness woes, broken mar-riages or cheating partners— within the realism thatthis series sets up, thedrama invariably flowswith abundant feel-goodzest.

Perhaps it is meant to bethat way. The four heroinesof the show have, after all,learnt to comfortably coex-ist with their flaws and life’sworries. The new seasontakes the individual storiesof these four women for-ward with more introspec-tive edge and the sameirreverent wit that we lovedthe first time around.

Season two takes off afew months after the firstseason ended, and startswith a rather unnecessarycheck on where each leadcharacter currently stands,

before taking off with theirindividual stories.

Damini (Sayani Gupta),Anjana (Kirti Kulhari),Siddhi (Maanvi Gagroo)and Umang (Bani J) arestill dealing with familiarcrises. Damini, reelingunder the loss of her web-site, has turned her atten-tion to writing a book thathas the potential of stirringup a storm. Umang, afterouting herself to the world,wants to give her relation-ship with Samara (LisaRay) a proper shot. Anjanawants to patch up with herex-husband, while Siddhi istrying to make it as a

stand-up comedian.While Nupur Asthnana

takes over from AnuMenon to direct seasontwo, the overall uniformityin the unique mix of dramaand humour probably owesitself to the fact that DevikaBhagat returns as writer forall 10 episodes of the newseason. Bhagat keeps up theintrigue factor about eachof the leading ladies byreiterating their quirkyflaws from season one.

This is a show brought tolife by an all-women crew.Beyond Asthana andBhagat, the narrative is suf-ficiently enriched by IshitaMoitra's dialogues. Thewriting of characters aswell as the lines they get tospeak, blend well withAsthana’s tack as a film-maker.

It is something that letsthe cast relish the job athand. Sayani Gupta, KirtiKulhari, Maanvi Gagrooand Bani J are actuallymore impressive in theirrespective roles this season.They seem to have settleddown comfortably in theirscreen avatars.

The male cast, really the

supporting acts here, arehowever impressive in well-penned roles. MilindSoman, Pratiek Babbar andNeil Bhoopalam are back infamiliar roles, while SameerKochhar and PrabalPunjabi join the cast, too.The men are particularlyuseful in triggering off theconflict points in the livesof the show’s four femaleleads, with their many huesbetween black and white.

Sure, season two has itsflaws. The start of the sea-son, for instance, need nothave wasted time withrecap, and straightawaytaken us into the currentlives of the four heroines.After a while, many of thestock plot points keep com-ing back, rendering someof the middle episodeswithout pace at times.

Still, you come out of theexperience happier — ifonly because Damini,Anjana, Siddhi and Umang have adamantlydecided they won’t let neg-ativity enter their world, nomatter what. Despite thefeel-good simplicity, theirworld continues to benuanced.

T

Four More Shots Please Season 2:

A HAPPIER HIGHCAST:

SAYANI GUPTA,KIRTI KULHARI,

MAANVI GAGROOAND BANI J;

DIRECTION: NUPURASTHANA;

RATING: 3.5

The average timespent watchinglinear TV in Indiais 1 hour and 34minutes, andonline TV on atypical day is 1hour and 31minutes

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | APRIL 20, 2020

PTI nMUMBAI

Former Australian pacerJason Gillespie was veryimpressed with Ishant

Sharma’s “thirst for knowledge”when he played English countyunder his coaching, despite beingan established international crick-eter.

Ishant, who has so far picked297 wickets from 97 Tests, playedfor Sussex in 2018 with Gillespieas the coach.

“You know what really struckme about Ishant was his thirst forknowledge, his willingness to lis-ten, ask questions, try new things,because sometimes you can getsenior players, experienced play-ers who will just go about and dotheir thing,” Gillespie said on achat-show Cow Corner Chronicles.

In fact, during the last first-class season, Ishant acknowl-edged that every one spoke abouthis problems but it was Gillespiewho provided solutions.

“They know what they needto do and that’s fine. But Ishantwas very much...He knew what heneeded to do to bowl well. He alsoknew he wanted to get better,”remarked Gillespie.

India toured England laterthat season in 2018 and Gillespiefelt Ishant was better for theexperience.

“Knowing that he had anopportunity at Sussex, knowingthat India were going to be play-ing in England, later on, I thinkhe saw it as a very good oppor-

tunity, to learn and bowl inEnglish conditions, and test him-self. Look he was fantastic with usat Sussex,” added Gillespie.

Gillespie also said that Ishantmade impact on Sussex players.

“The Sussex players were real-ly impressed with Ishant’s workethic. He fitted in really well in the

dressing room. His work ethic inthe nets, or on the track was phe-nomenal. It was really good for ouryoung seam bowlers at Sussex tosee, that this is what it takes for aTest bowler,” he added.

Gillespie, who worked withanother Test specialistCheteshwar Pujara, whom he

coached at other county sideYorkshire, also praised the latter.

“We had Pujara at Yorkshire,when I was head coach there. Weneeded a batsman in the top threewho could do a job for us insometimes challenging condi-tions, Someone with a very goodtemperament, someone whocould absorb some very goodbowling.

“Pujara fitted that bill perfect-ly. He found it a challenge, theearly season in county cricket withthe duke cricket ball movingaround in English conditions. Hefound that a challenge. I think that

was really a good test for him asa player. A good learning curvefor Cheteshwar,” said Gillespieabout Pujara’s first stint withYorkshire in 2015.

Gillespie feels the countystint helped Pujara, who hasamassed 5840 runs from 77 Tests,immensely.

“I think he grew as a player.He learnt more about his game.He adapted to conditions inEngland which can be quite chal-lenging for top three-top fourbatsmen at the best of times. So,I thought he did wonderfullywell,” Gillespie signed off.

NEW DELHI: Indian boxing’s High PerformanceDirector Santiago Nieva expects the nation-al camp to resume at least partially nextmonth and foresees no hiccups in fans rush-ing back to live sport in the age of social dis-tancing as he feels people always “look forrisks”.

The seasoned coach, who has been withthe Indian team since 2017, is quite optimisticof things improving by the beginning of nextmonth despite the rising COVID-19 cases.

“I think the camp will restart nextmonth. If not full strength, then at least thecore group,” he said.

The core group comprises the ones whohave already qualified for the Olympics andthose who are seen to be strong contendersto make the cut in future qualifiers.

Asked what gives him the belief thatcamps would be good to go if the nationallockdown ends, the Swede said, “That’s myhunch. Of course I can be wrong but I thinkwe will be able to restart early next month.”

“Humans have the ability to adapt to dif-ferent situations. And I think here, people arefacing up to the reality quite well even thoughit is an unprecedented crisis.”

Talking of the crisis and its impact onsports, Nieva said things would never be thesame again but asserted that people will notgive up on live sports either.

“In amateur boxing, we are used to fight-ing in empty halls, so no fan concerns for us,”he joked.

“But seriously speaking, yes, there will bemore restrictions on movement of people, thesecurity is going to be tighter, it won’t be thateasy to travel. But fans, they are going to rushback at the first opportunity,” he predicted.

“People don’t care. I think they should bemore careful but mostly they are not. Theywill come back easily because they have beenconfined at homes for too long. PTI

PTI n CHENNAI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’sintelligent recruitment

policy of roping in interna-tional captains who can con-tribute stretagically, was one ofthe biggest reason for ChennaiSuper Kings’ stupendous suc-cess in IPL, feels former SouthAfrica captain Faf du Plessis.

CSK has been a part of 10out of 12 seasons of IPL andhave never finished lowerthan semi-finals or play-offs.

“A great thing that CSKhas done over the years, andthat’s credit to MS and(Stephen) Fleming the coach,is they have targeted captains— (Brendon) McCullum,myself, (Dwayne) Bravo, obvi-ously MS, (Suresh) Raina’scaptained a bit — becausethey want thinking crick-eters,” the 35-year-old toldCSK’s website.

“So, there’s a lot of leaderswithin group, that experienceof thinking cricketers is whatthey want and obviously it hasproven to be very successful,”he added.

“Chennai Super Kings isa great franchise to be a partof. MS has got such strongleadership. He leaves a mas-sive hole when he’s not on thefield,” the former SA skipperwaxed eloquent about Dhoni.

Du Plessis, who has beenpart of CSK, also spoke abouthis passion for fielding, addingthe team had a few very goodfielders.

“I love going to positionson the field where the ballgoes all the time. We arelucky at CSK that we got a fewvery good fielders. Jaddu(Ravindra Jadeja) is incredible,he has got the strongest armin world cricket. Jaddu wantsthem to try and run. He jogsto the ball because he knowsif you run, you are out,” headded.

LONDON: Brighton owner TonyBloom believes that relegationshould be scrapped if thePremier League season cannotbe completed, claiming itwould be “unfathomable” thata club could be doomed by “0.2points”.

Most teams in the topflight still have nine games toplay while June 30 has beenmentioned as a potential cut-off date for the season to end.

“I don’t foresee a situation,if the season’s not played out,that teams will get relegated ona points-per-game basis,”Bloom said.

“I just don’t think it’s fath-omable that a team which is notallowed to play out the seasonmay lose out on 0.2 pointsbased on this system, and alsoit does not take into account thestrength of the team you havenot played.”

If the season ended early,

Brighton would stay up as theysit two points above drop zone.

Bournemouth, Aston Villaand Norwich were in the rele-gation places when the leaguewas suspended.

“You may get a title win-ner, obviously Liverpooldeserve it, you may use thatcriteria for European qualifica-tion but I do not see how any-one can vote for that, certain-ly the per cent needed (70 percent), for teams to get relegat-ed. I really cannot foreseethat,” added Bloom. AFP

LONDON (IANS): Former ManchesterUnited and Real Madrid midfielderDavid Beckham rates Barcelona’s LionelMessi higher than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo succeeded Beckham asManchester United’s No 7 before arriv-ing at Real Madrid two years after theEngland captain left the Spanish giants.

Beckham has also experience ofplaying against a young Lionel Messi inthe latter’s initial years with Barcelona andfaced him once while he was playing forParis Saint-Germain.

“He [Messi] is alone in his class as aplayer, it is impossible that there isanother like him,” Beckham told Telam.“He, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who is notat his level, are both above the rest.”

Beckham recalled his last matchagainst Barca in 2013 Champions Leaguequarters. PSG were ahead at one stage atCamp Nou when Messi came on as a sub-stitute. Eventually, Pedro scored andBarca went through on away goals rule.

“We were leading before Messi camein, and once he came in, Barca scored,”Beckham said. He was 37 years old bythen and ended his illustrious playingcareer at the end of season but Beckhamsaid that he did not enjoy losing that tie.

“Although I enjoyed playing at thatlevel at my age, I do not like to lose. Ourteam played well. In both matches, we didthings we should be proud of. We didn’tlose against Barcelona, and that is some-thing that should motivate us,” he said.

AFP nMUNICH

Bayern Munich captain andgoalkeeper Manuel Neuer

told German media onSunday he has become “irri-tated” with negotiations toextend his contract, whichhave reportedly stalled inrecent weeks.

“All talks I have had sinceI have been here have beenconfidential... nothing hasever leaked,” the 34-year-oldtold Germany’s most populardaily Bild.

“But now, details aboutthe current talks are con-stantly appearing in the media,and are often untrue. That irri-

tates me. It’s not something Iam used to at Bayern.”

The veteran goalkeeper’sunusually candid commentscome amid widespreadreports that his current con-tract negotiations have hitthe rocks.

If the talks fail, club cap-tain Neuer could be free toleave Bayern in June andattract the interest of thePremier League clubs.

Bayern have recentlyextended the contracts of for-ward Thomas Mueller andhead coach Hansi Flick, bothuntil 2023.

Neuer hailed Flick as a“super coach” and said that the

55-year-old’s extension hadconvinced him too to stay onat Bayern.

“I want to have a contractwhich is a win-win situationfor me and Bayern. I want toperform, be there for theteam... and give 100 percent,”he said.

“The conditions have tobe right (for that),” he added.

Neuer, who helpedGermany win the 2014 WorldCup title, has been namedworld goalkeeper of the yearfour times.

He has kept 191 cleansheets in 373 appearances forBayern since joining fromSchalke in 2011.

MONTEVIDEO: Real Madrid’sUruguayan midfielderFederico Valverde has cred-ited manager ZinedineZidane for giving him theself-confidence to flourishwith the Spanish giants.

After playing 25 match-es in his first full season as aReal Madrid player in 2018-19, Valverde has alreadymade 32 appearances in thiscampaign, mostly as a starter.

“He gives you confidencein a way that few other coach-es do,” Valverde said anInstagram Live.

“Everyone has greatrespect for him because, apartfrom being the manager, he’sa legend on a world scale,”Valverde said. “You have tokeep what he tells you insideyour head. Sometimes in agame he’ll tell you to changesomething or give you a sug-

gestion. Or he might criticizeyou. If he says it, you have tolisten and try to get the mostout of it.”

Valverde also praisedReal Madrid midfield col-leagues Luke Modric,Casemiro and Tony Kroos.He described Kroos as a ref-erence for all players, citingthe Germany World Cupwinner’s “admirable compo-sure” on the ball. IANS

GENEVA: European football’sgoverning body UEFA ismulling to continue theChampions League matches,suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on August 7-8.

According to a report onSky Sports Italia, the first of theremaining matches in theRound of 16 will be played onAugust 7 and 8 after whichthere will be matches everythree days until August 29when the final is scheduled tobe held.

The semi-final will be onAugust 18-18 and 21-22 beforethe final in Istanbul.

This would also result inthe group stage of the 2020/21season of the ChampionsLeague being postponed toOctober 20. It was initiallyrumoured that a deadline ofAugust 3 has been set for thefinal to be held but UEFA Prezdenied that. IANS

LONDON: Wayne Rooneymay be ManchesterUnited and England’srecord goalscorer but hestill believes he shouldhave found the back ofthe net more often dur-ing his career, eventhough he was not a nat-ural finisher.

Rooney, a teenagesensation at Everton,joined United in 2004and went on to score 253goals in 559 appearancesduring a 13-year spell forthe Old Trafford clubthat saw the Red Devilspile up the trophies.

Rooney surpassed1966 World Cup-win-ner Bobby Charlton asUnited’s all-time lead-ing scorer, just as he didfor England with a tallyof 53 goals.

Despite those fig-ures Rooney, writing inhis Sunday Times col-umn, insisted: “I’m goingto be honest — and thismight surprise you —but I’m not a naturalgoalscorer.”

The 34-year-old,now a player-coach atsecond-tier DerbyCounty, added: “I was

never a Gary Lineker or aRuud van Nistelrooy; I neverlooked at myself that way.

“I hold the goal records forManchester United andEngland and am very proudabout that — yet there havebeen better No 9s than me.

“How did I become arecord-breaker if I wasn’t a nat-ural scorer? Time,” Rooney

explained. “I played for Unitedfor 13 years, England for 15years. I had time to break thoserecords — and looking back Ishould have scored more.”

Rooney backed HarryKane to break his Englandrecord, although he would likethe Tottenham Hotspur strik-er “to stay high as that No 9”after seeing him drop deeperin during the past two seasons.

“I don’t think it will takelong for Harry Kane to claimmy England record and itwould be a proud moment forme,” Rooney said.

“I’ve never been a selfishplayer and it would be great forEngland for Harry to get there.Bobby Charlton had to wait 50years (for Rooney to break hisEngland record) — I hope it’snot so long for me.

“The United record mightlast longer simply becauseplayers don’t stay at clubs aslong as they used to. AFP

AFP n MONACO

Novak Djokovic on Saturdaysaid that he, Roger Federer

and Rafael Nadal are organising aidfor players struggling with theparalysis of the game due to thecoronavirus pandemic.

“I spoke to Roger and Rafa afew days ago,” Djokovic, the worldnumber one, said in an Instagramchat with friend and rival StanWawrinka on Saturday.

“We had a long conversationabout the near future of tennis,what is going to happen, how wecan contribute and how we canhelp especially lower-ranked play-ers, who are obviously strugglingthe most.”

“The majority of the playerswho are ranked between 200, 250in the world, and the 700th or1,000th do not have federationsupport, do not have sponsors.They are completely independentand left alone,” he said

“Guys who are ranked between200-250, especially to 700...arethinking of leaving tennis rightnow.”

He said players, the ATP and

the four Grand Slams “would allget together and will contribute toa player relief fund that ATP willdistribute.”

“It looks, hopefully, that therewill something between $3 million(2.75 million euros) and $4.5 mil-lion that is going to be distributed,”

he estimated.Djokovic said the cash could

come from the prize money for theseason-ending World Tour Finalsor the final bonus pools for topplayers.

‘FUTURE OOF TTENNIS’“Maybe if we don’t have any

tournaments this season, we cantake a certain percentage from ourprize money form Australian Openin January,” he said.

“These guys are the grass rootsof tennis. The future of tennis. Weneed to show them they still canrely on support of the top guys.”

According to reports in tennismedia, Djokovic, as president ofthe ATP Players' Council, whichalso includes Federer and Nadal,proposed to members that playersin the top 100 for singles and thetop 20 in doubles contributeaccording to their rankings.

The proposed scale runs from$30,000 for a top-five player to$5,000 for those between 51 and100.

That would raise approximate-ly $1 million and the ATP wouldmake a similar contribution.

IANS n LONDON

World No 1 Novak Djokovic saidthat rival and Swiss great Roger

Federer’s ability to come up with serveand volley is somewhat underrated andnot talked about enough.

In an InstagramLive chat with for-mer world No 1 Andy Murray, Djokovicsaid that Federer is one of the most com-plete players to have ever played thegame.

“Roger. I mean he would definitelybe there. I mean he is one of the mostcomplete players ever to play the game,”said the Serb.

“We all know how great he is. I thinkit is a bit underrated. I don’t know if peo-ple really talk about his ability to comeup with serve and volley; accurate playat the most challenging times in thematch, against us (great returners).

“He was really not intimidated somuch by the return. He would place,especially on the quicker surfaces, hewould disrupt your rhythm.”

The pair have played a number ofmatches over the years that have decid-ed Grand Slam titles, the latest of whichincluded the 2020 Australian Opensemifinal and the epic 2019 Wimbledonfinal, both of which Djokovic won.

PTI n PANAJI

Goa Sports MinisterManohar Ajgaonkar on

Sunday said the state govern-ment will seek clarification fromthe Indian Olympic Associationover the fate of the much-delayed 36th National Games inwake of COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreakhas brought all sporting activi-ties to a grinding halt worldwide.In India, major events like theIPL have been postponed indef-initely.

The pandemic has alsoraised doubts over the theNational Games, scheduled to beheld in the state from October20 to November 4.

Goa has reported a total ofseven positive cases, of which sixhave recovered.

“My department has writtento the Chief Minister onSaturday urging him to seekclarification from IOA over thefate of National Games,”Ajgaonkar said.

The minister said the stateis prepared to host the games,but need at least three monthsadvance notice.

“We were all set to host the

National Games in November2020. Now, with this kind of sit-uation, we are not sure what willhappen,” he said

“Our infrastructure for theGames is ready. Our grounds areready. We can host nationalgames any time. But we need tobe informed three months inadvance about the date. Somesmall time tenders needs to beadvertised.”

The minister added thatthe ongoing works on the infra-structure creation are in the finalphase and can be completedwithin a month.

Goa was earlier supposed tohost the 36th edition of theNational Games in November2018. However, the state later setaside dates for the event fromMarch 30 to April 14 last year,but then expressed its inabilityto host the Games during thatperiod owing to the general elec-tions.

Earlier this month, IOApresident Narinder Batraexpressed optimism that theNational Games will go ahead asper schedule and will provide aperfect preparatory platformfor the Tokyo Olympics-boundIndian athletes.

Ishant’s thirst for knowledge impressed Gillespie‘SACHIN WAS HARDER TODISLODGE THAN LARA’MUMBAI: It was difficult to getboth of them out, but SachinTendulkar was a bit harder todislodge than Brian Lara, saidformer Australia pacer JasonGillespie.

The Aussie ratedTendulkar along side Lara asthe toughest batsman to dis-miss in his career.

“Two different types ofplayers, two equally difficult toget out. I always felt, Sachin wasprobably a little bit harder todislodge, in terms of getting hiswicket, but I didn’t feel hewould take you apart, in quitethe same way as Brian.

“I always felt I was in with

more of a chance to get Brianout because he was a bit moreexpansive, with his game. ButI found Sachin’s defence wasvery hard to get through,”Gillespie said.

“Look two fine players, Iam just really glad that I don’thave to bowl to them anymore.They were just far too good.

“It’s quite an honour forme to be able to sit here andtalk to you and say that Ibowled against these guys.

“It was a wonderful time tobe a cricketer, got to bowlagainst the best in the world.For me that was very satisfy-ing,” added Gillespie. IANS

Faf reveals secret ofDhoni’s IPL success

NEW DELHI: It is common forany captain to have afavourite player and when itcame to Mahendra SinghDhoni, it was Suresh Raina,who enjoyed unstinted back-ing from the former Indiacaptain, feels Yuvraj Singh.

One of India’s greatestlimited-overs cricketers,Yuvraj remembered howDhoni faced selection dilem-ma when he had to choosetwo out of him, Yusuf Pathanand Raina in the playing XIduring the 2011 World Cup.

“Suresh Raina had a lotof support then, because MSused to back him. Everycaptain has a favourite play-

er and I think Mahi reallybacked Raina at that time,”Yuvraj told Sports Tak.

Ultimately all three play-ers made the playing XI(although Yusuf was droppedfrom playing XI later) withYuvraj playing a pivitol rolein winning the title.

“Yusuf Pathan was alsoperforming well at that timeand even I was doing welland was also picking wickets.And Raina was not in agood touch then,” he said.

“They did not have a left-arm spinner at that time andI was picking wickets so theydid not have any choice,” headded. PTI

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orona Crisis Charity, which hasbeen formed nearly three weeks ago,is continuing to receive aid from thefraternity. Tamannaah Bhatia is thelatest celebrity to have pledged Rs 3

lakhs to the CCC, which is distributing gro-ceries to daily-wage workers and their fam-ilies belonging to the industry. The actresssent the money through RTGS to CCC onSaturday evening.

Likewise, Mega Super Good filmsproducers RB Chowdary, NV Prasadand Paras Jain donated Rs 5 lakhs toCCC. Producer Mohan Cherukurilauding the efforts of CCCannounced a sum of Rs 5 lakhs to it.Mohan, who was a part of MythriMovie Makers earlier, also appreci-ated the governments of Telugustates and the centre in the waythey are battling Covid-19. Heappealed to people to stay athome and ensure that surround-ings are clean.

ith health authoritiesfacing severe shortageof blood, in view of thelockdown, MegastarChiranjeevi has given acall to fans and general

people to donate blood andcome to the rescue of needypatients. “The responsibility lieswith us. We shouldn’t come

across reports where people havepassed away because of dearth ofblood,” the actor said. Leading byexample, he donated blood at hisblood bank in Hyderabad onSunday. Responding to Chiru’scall, actor Srikanth, his sonRoshan, Srimitra Chowdary andhis children donated blood atChiranjeevi Eye and Blood Bank.

Chiru also suggested that hisfans need not fear that policewill beat up donors. “Nobodywill stop you if you are on theroad to donate blood. Once youaccept to donate blood, yourmobile will get a code fromblood bank. You can show it tocops,” he said addressing hisfans.

lready a part ofexciting projectslike Miss India,Virataparvam 1992and Varun Tej’snext, actor Naveen

Chandra, The Pioneer haslearnt from multiplesources, has landed a keyrole in Sudheer Varma’snext, a remake of 2017South Korean action com-edy film MidnightRunners. ReginaCassandra and NivethaThomas are spearheadingthe film, which was to rollearlier this month butcouldn’t, due to Covid-19outbreak.

A source close to thedevelopment tells us,“Naveen will be seen asthe film’s baddie who theleading ladies are after. It’san intense role for theactor who also gets to tryhis hand in some hard-core and hand-to-handcombat action. Like theleading ladies, he toobegan training for thepart. Naveen also liked thefact that Sudheer has justtaken the plot of the origi-nal while giving his own

spin to the story.”Interestingly, this will

be second time thatNaveen, who tasted suc-cess with Tamil film Pattasearlier this Sankranti, willbe sharing screen spacewith Regina and Nivetha.While he did the very suc-cessful Evaru with Reginalast year, with Nivetha, hehad done Juliet — Lover ofIdiot.

Suresh Babu andSunitha Tati, who pro-duced the successful Oh!Baby, starring Samantha,are producing this unti-tled film, in partnershipwith Korean productionhouse Kross Pictures.Richard Prasad has beensigned on as the cam-eraman.

The Korean origi-nal, which was a bigbox-office draw, toldthe story of how twopolice academycadets’ race againsttime to bust anorgan traffickingracket and rescuekidnapped girlchildren.

The actor has landed akey role in Sudheer

Varma’s next, a remakeof 2017 South Korean

action comedy filmMidnight Runners,

finds Nagaraj Goud

12

Vijayawada Monday April 20 2020tollywood

Chirudonates

bloodW

Ane of Tollywood’sbiggest hits, AlaVaikuntha-purramuloo, starringAllu Arjun, PoojaHedge, Tabu,

Jayaram and Sushanth, isgoing north India. While its

old newsthat

original producers AlluAravind and S Radha Krishnawill be shepherding the Hindiremake as well under theirrespective production housesGeetha Arts and Haarika &Hassine Creations, the latest isthat it will be fronted byKarthik Aryan and directedby Rohit Dhawan, son offilmmaker David Dhawan.

Reports emerging fromMumbai point out thatKarthik was narrated thestory over a video call in thepresence of both the Teluguproducers and impressed withit, he gave his nod pronto.The fact that the original isalso a blockbuster in Teluguwas another reason. Rohit iskeen on tweaking the scripthere and there to suit thetastes of Hindi audiences.

With Karthik’s diarypacked for the next five-sixmonths, Rohit wants to usethe time to fine-tune thescript further and completethe pre-production by then,including the casting.

When we reached outto a source close to S

Radha Krishna, heconfirmed the devel-

opment, saying thatthe plan to remakethe film in Hindiis on withKarthik. He did-n’t dwell into fur-ther details

though.The original,

directed byTrivikram Srinivas,

told the story ofa youngster

Bantu (played byArjun) who finds

his world shakenafter he learns that

he was swapped atbirth with a million-aire’s son. He laterfinds a way to enterVaikunthapurram,

the home of his realparents and confront

those who threaten his family.The film has minted a shareof more than Rs 150 crore atthe box-office and in the pro-cess stood as Arjun’s career-best film revenue-wise.

Interestingly, Allu Arjuntoyed with the idea ofremaking Karthik Aryan-starrer Sonu Ke Titu KiSweety last year but withTrivikram informing thathe has on original idea,the actor dropped theremake plans. Buzzabout Ala... Tamilremake with SivaKarthikeyan in the leadis also doing the roundsfor the past one week.

O

C

CCC gets more donations

Now, NAVEENjoins Regina and Nivetha

Ala Vaikunthapurramlo

GOES TO HINDI

Music director Koti takes to actingusic director Koti, who is inthe news for composingsongs on coronavirus pan-demic, is debuting as a lead

actor with a new film titledSugreeva. Incidentally, the film isinspired by the heroics of the policeforce who are working round theclock to ensure that lockdown is fol-

lowed everywhere. It will tell thestory of one such “sincere, dashingand a powerful cop,” according tothe film’s director Siva Nagu. To rollonce the industry shutdown is lifted;it is a production venture of MNRChowdary. Interestingly, Koti, whowas one half of the successful musicjodi Raj-Koti in ‘90s, is making his

debut as a lead actor with Devineni,where he is playing KS Vyas, thesuperintendent of police ofVijayawada back then in 1983.Thefilm revolves around the life andtimes of TDP leader DevineniNehru (played Tarakaratna) and hisfeud with political rival VangaveetiRanga (Banerjee).

M

SWATHI clears the air

ith rumours suggesting that she is headed for adivorce after the sudden disappearance of her pic-tures with husband Vikas Vasu from her Instagramaccount, Swathi chose to clear the air in a cryptic

video. Turns out, the Swamy Ra Ra actress has saved thepictures in the archives folder of her account. Indirectly,she has also hinted — in an interesting analogy over aconversation between Dobby and Harry Potter — thatshe saved them because she can view them whenever shefeels like. Well, that should put all rumours to rest!

Swathi married Vikas Vasu, a pilot who hails fromKerala, in 2018. It was an arranged marriage. She hassubsequently decided to stop acting. She was in the newsrecently for being attached to reprise her part fromKarthikeya in its sequel.

W