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God sees the truth, butwaits”, the famous story by

Leo Tolstoy, was exactly thesame in the modern context,the way Nirbhaya’s batteredsoul and her grieving parentswaited for the 7 long years tosee the rapists and killers beinghanged. Justice was finallydelivered when hangmanPawan pulled the lever of all thefour death-row convicts oneafter another at 5.30 am onFriday morning and thusputting an end to the mosttalked about gangrape andsubsequent murder of a 23-year-old paramedic girl in the

independent India.Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan

Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26)and Akshay Kumar Singh (31)were executed at 5.30 am inTihar Jail.

Cheers went up after thehanging with some waving thenational flag and shouting slo-gans of “Long Live Nirbhaya”and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. Thecrowd even distributed sweetsamid chanting “Nirbhaya hasgot justice, the other daughtersstill await”.

The brutality of the crimeon a winter night more thanseven years ago had shaken thenation. After the execution ofthe convicts, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said justicehas prevailed. “It was of theutmost importance to ensurethe dignity and safety ofwomen,” the PM said.

While talking to the mediaat her home after a sleeplessnight that also saw the SupremeCourt holding an extraordinaryhearing that continued till 3.30am, Asha Devi, mother ofNirbhaya said they finally gotjustice but their fight will con-

tinue for India’s daughters. Nirbhaya was raped and

brutalised by six men, includ-ing a juvenile at the time, in anempty bus that was driventhrough the streets of thenational Capital on December16, 2012. They then dumpedher on the road and left her fordead on the cold winter night.Her friend who was with herwas also severely beaten andthrown out along with her.

She was so severely violat-ed that her insides were spillingout when she was taken to hos-pital and died in a Singaporehospital after battling for herlife for a fortnight.

Of the six, Ram Singhallegedly committed suicide inTihar Jail days after the trialbegan, and the juvenile wasreleased in 2015 after spendingthree years in a correctionalhome. On Friday morningsince 4 am, hundreds of peoplestarted to gather in front ofTihar prison. In view on exe-cution the authorities has alsoincreased its security in andaround the jail premises.

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India as on Friday reported 55more positive cases of

COVID-19, highest so far in aday, taking the total tally to 249belying hopes that the onset ofsummer will curb the spread ofdeadly coronavirus. Amongthose found positive for thenovel coronavirus are 32 for-eign nationals, including 17from Italy, three from thePhilippines, two from the UK,one each belonging to Canada,Indonesia and Singapore. Thefigure also included four deathsreported from Delhi,Karnataka, Punjab andMaharashtra so far.

Presently, 6,700 peoplewho came in contact with thepatients are under rigoroussurveillance.

A spike in numbersprompted the States and UTsto reinforce its efforts to con-tain the spread. While theMaharashtra Chief Ministersaid all workplaces in majorcities, including in country’scommercial hub Mumbai andPune, will remain closed tillMarch 31, the Delhi ChiefMinister announced shuttingdown of all malls in thenational Capital, but exempt-ed grocery stores and phar-macies.

The Centre extended tillApril 15 the ban on the regu-lar visa and e-visa of those for-eigners stranded in India dueto the coronavirus pandemic.India has reported four deathsso far due to the virus that has

taken toll on 5,168 peopleacross the continent, mostly inItaly which is now the hardesthit country in the world with3,405 fatalities.

As coronavirus continuedits upward trajectory acrossthe country, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridayheld a meeting via video linkand deliberated ways to checkits spread with Chief Ministersof various States. UnionHealth Minister HarshVardhan and top HealthMinistry officials were presentin the meeting.

On the other hand, sever-al Indo-Pacific nations onFriday held a teleconference toexchange their assessmentsabout the coronavirus pan-demic and discuss ways towork in synergy to combat theglobal menace. ForeignSecretary Harsh VardhanShringla took part in a US-ini-tiated teleconference duringwhich he briefed the partici-pants on the proactive stepstaken by India to counter thepandemic.

On the issue of Indianstranded in Europe in transitdue to the travel restrictionsimposed by India in the wakeof coronavirus scare, theGovernment said it is workingout the logistics with variousairlines to bring them back.

“The MEA is working outthe logistics with airline com-panies to bring back strandedIndians from EU countries,”the MEA said.

Continued on Page 4

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Ending days of speculationover the survival of 15-

month-old Madhya PradeshGovernment after 21 CongMLAs rebelled against theirown Government, ChiefMinister Kamal Nath tenderedhis resignation to GovernorLalji Tandon around 1 pm onFriday. Later, the MadhyaPradesh Assembly wasadjourned sine die. TheGovernor asked Kamal Nath tocontinue as the caretaker ChiefMinister until the nextGovernment is formed.

The Congress veteranstepped down a day after theSupreme Court ordered theMadhya Pradesh AssemblySpeaker to conduct a floor teston Friday by 5 pm.

As the House assembled at2 pm for the trust vote, onlyBJP legislators turned up, whilethe Congress MLAs remained

absent. Speaker NP Prajapatiread out the agenda saying thatthe meeting was convened asper the directives of the apexcourt. He said that since KamalNath has submitted his resig-nation, there was no point inholding the trust vote. He then

announced the sine dieadjournment of the Assembly.

Earlier on Friday whiletalking to the media, the CMannounced that he is tenderinghis resignation, hours ahead ofthe scheduled floor test.

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President of India, dozensof Parl iamentar ians,

Union Ministers, and sever-al dignitaries have comeunder the coronavirus scan-ner for coming into contactwith Lok Sabha memberDushyant Singh, who hadearlier attended dinner inLucknow with COVID pos-it ive B ol lywood singerKanika Kapoor, famous forher “Baby Doll” number.

Dushyant’s motherVasundhara Raje as well sev-eral top officials of the StateGovernment and UttarPradesh Health Minister JaiPratap Singh were present atthe party attended by over180 guests.

Dushyant , who hadattended Parliament pro-ceedings for three days afterKanika’s party and alsoattended a dinner receptionhosted by President RamNath Kovind where UnionMinisters Rajnath Singh,Smriti Irani, Maneka Gandhi,VK Singh and others werepresent at R ashtrapat iBhawan on Wednesday. Thesamples of Dushyant and

Vasundhara have gone fortesting and results wereawaited. Both of them havequarantined themselves.

Several MPs, includingTMC’s Derek O’Brien andSukhendu Shekhar Roy, andApna Dal’s Anupriya Patel,on Friday went into self-quarantine following theannouncement by the BJPMP and his mother that theywere self-isolating them-selves . Former UnionMinister and senior Congressleader Jitin Prasada too wentfor self isolation.

Singh was among themany MPs who attended abreakfast meeting hosted byPresident Ram Nath Kovindon March 18 as well as aParliamentary panel meetingon transport, tourism andculture attended by around

20 MPs on Wednesday. “While in Lucknow, I

attended a dinner with myson Dushyant and his in-laws. Kanika, who has unfor-tunately tested positive forCOVID-19 was also a guest.As a matter of abundant cau-tion, my son and I haveimmediately self-quarantinedand we’re taking all necessaryprecautions,” Vasundharasaid in a tweet.

According to sources,after attending the party inLucknow along with Kanikawho is now undergoingtreatment for coronavirus,Singh attended birthdayparty of an industrialist andformer MP. Dushyant alsoattended the BJPParliamentary Party meet-ing on March 17.

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The Indian Railways onFriday decided to stop the

operation all passenger trainsoriginating from any railwaystation in the country frommidnight to 10 pm on Sundayin view of the “Janata curfew”announced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

According to a railwayorder, mail and express trainswill also stop services from 4am to 10 pm on Sunday whileall suburban train services willbe reduced to a bare minimum.

“All passenger trains orig-inating between midnight ofMarch 21/March 22 to 22:00hours of March 22 (approxi-mately 2,400 services) shallnot be run. However, the pas-senger train services already onrun at 0700 hours on the daywill be allowed to run to thedestinations. Divisions shouldkeep a watch and trains whichare empty could be short ter-minated, if required,” the rail-way order said.

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/��0&� ��Lucknow (PNS): With a viewto check the spread of coron-avirus, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onFriday ordered all malls to beshut with immediate effectand directed officials to sani-tise Lucknow, Noida andKanpur cities. “All malls in thestate should be closed till fur-ther orders. Lucknow, Noidaand Kanpur cities should besanitised,” the chief ministersaid in a statement.

He also urged religiousleaders and gurus to post-pone all cultural, religious and

intellectual programmes tillApril 2 and appealed to reduce the number of peoplegathering at marriage func-tions to 10.

Earlier, the Lucknow dis-trict administration orderedclosure of all bars,cafes/lounges, hair salons,beauty parlours and eatingjoints with immediate effect.

“All bars, cafes/lounges,hair salons and beauty parloursshould be closed with imme-diate effect till March 31 or tillfurther orders,” DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakash

said. The decision has beentaken as a precautionary mea-sure to check the spread ofcoronavirus, he said.

Meanwhile, Bollywoodsinger Kanika Kapoor whohad attended several gather-ings here and tested positivefor coronavirus has beenbooked for negligence anddisobedience to the orderissued by a public servant, anofficial said.

The FIR was registeredagainst at Sarojini Nagar policestation, said PoliceCommissioner Surjit Pandey.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has liberalised the

process of issuance of licence tomicro, small and mediumenterprises (MSME) sectorsfor allotment of ethyl alcohol bythe Excise department for man-ufacture of hand sanitisers.Most UP-based units are pro-ducing hand sanitisers usingethyl alcohol or iso-propylalcohol (IPA).

“A Lucknow-based unithad demanded 10 MT of IPAwhich is around 12,500 litres.Every unit possessing druglicence is entitled for grant ofFL 41 denatured licence by theExcise department for manu-facturing hand sanitisers. Anodal officer has been appoint-ed at the office of ExciseCommissioner, Prayagraj and

FL 41 licence will be issued attop priority,” said PrincipalSecretary (Excise) SanjayBhoosreddy.

He said that due to thespread coronavirus, thedemand for IPA had peaked inthe market and hand sanitisermanufacturers were demand-ing additional quota of IPA.

Meanwhile, UP sugar millshave ramped up total ethanolproduction of more than 1.4billion litres (BL) per annumeven as more capacities are inthe pipeline.

As per Sugar industry andCane Development depart-ment, at least 25 sugar mills inthe state have started ethanolproduction from ‘B heavy’molasses, thus providing themuch needed liquidity to statesugar sector during currenttimes of glut and price crash.

The state government hasestimated that by 2021-22,about 60 sugar mills in UPwould be producing ethanolfrom ‘B heavy’ molasses, whilea few cooperative mills wouldalso start production of ethanoldirectly from cane juice, whichfetches even better prices.

No sugar mill was produc-ing ethanol from ‘B heavy’molasses before 2017-18 finan-cial year.

Recently, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath had said thathis government had successful-ly integrated sugar sector withethanol production for accru-al of sustainable benefit to sug-

arcane farmers. He said thatwhile sugar mills during theprevious regimes had eitherbeen sold or closed down, hisgovernment revived the sectorand was reopening non-func-tional units for the benefit oflocal farmers and to boost therural economy.

Over the last three years ofBharatiya Janata Party rule inUP, total sugarcane paymentsworth more than �92,500 crorehave been made to farmerssince 2017, which include�10,654 crore pertaining tothe previous cane crushingseasons.

Besides, 53 private sugar

mills in UP were provided�2,916 crore as soft loans underthe �4,000-crore state govern-ment scheme in 2018 to cleartheir outstanding dues.

At the same time, thebeleaguered sugar mills wereoffered additional grant worth�483 crore in the form of �4.50per quintal support againstcane procurement in 2017-18sugar crushing cycle.

Meanwhile, the state gov-ernment provided 113 newlicences to khandsari(unprocessed sugar) units toprovide ready sugarcane valuechain to farmers and partlyinsulate the sector from cycli-cal impacts.

These units have a totalcapacity of more than 30,000tonnes crushed per day (TCD),which is equal to five sugarmills.

Lucknow (PNS): In an attempt to improveupon ease of doing business in UttarPradesh, the state government is taking sig-nificant steps to streamline and bringtransparency to land management andallotment system in all industrial develop-ment authorities.

Principal Secretary (Infrastructure andIndustrial Development) Alok Kumardirected all key industrial developmentauthorities, which currently have off-line sys-tem, to develop on-line system for land allot-ment for all purposes and integrate it withNivesh Mitra single window portal of thestate. In a government order issued onFriday, Greater Noida, Yamuna ExpresswayIndustrial Development Authority (YEIDA),UP Expressways Industrial DevelopmentAuthority (UPEIDA) and GorakhpurIndustrial Development Authority (GIDA)

have been directed to ensure that all landallotments, including industrial, commer-cial and for other purposes, are madethrough the state’s single window portalNivesh Mitra by June 30. UP State IndustrialDevelopment Authority (UPSIDA) andNew Okhla Industrial DevelopmentAuthority (NOIDA) are already allotting alltypes of land plots through Nivesh Mitra.

Kumar also issued directive that fromJune 30 onwards, advertisements andnotices for allotment of land as well as receiptof applications be done through NiveshMitra portal only. Under this system, landallotment results will be displayed onNivesh Mitra portal to ensure transparentand time-bound action. Moreover, systemgenerated allotment letters will be issued toallottees to minimise the human interface.

Industrial Development Minister Satish

Mahana said that Uttar Pradesh was focus-ing on collaborating with global organisa-tions and corporations, especially in focusedsectors like defence and aerospace, andtherefore, having a robust on-line land bankdatabase linked with GIS and on-line build-ing plan approval mechanism was the needof the hour.

From April 1, building plan approvalapplications for all purposes (including com-mercial, institutional) shall be accepted onlythrough on-line mode on Nivesh Mitra por-tal in industrial development authorities. Inanother crucial initiative to eliminate ambi-guity in land management system in indus-trial development authorities, a statewidegeo-information system (GIS) has beenmandated for effective and transparent on-line land allotment system in all industrialdevelopment authorities by May 15.

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Aday after cancelling allpolitical programmes in

view of the coronavirus out-break, Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav appealed to thepeople to stay with their fam-ilies to check the spread of thedeadly virus that has so faraffected 23 people, including aforeigner, in Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh Yadav, however,lashed out at the YogiAdityanath government, accus-ing it of being insensitive to theepidemic and ignoring thedirectives issued by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

He also charged that thestate government was main-taining double standards inimplementing measures to pre-vent the spread of the coron-avirus.

“Today I want to tell myparty workers and people of thestate that treatment of Covid-19 is the job of a doctor butchecking its spread is ourresponsibility. Visit a doctorimmediately for testing if youspot symptoms of Covid-19 in

yourself, family or neighbour-hood. Remain clean, don’t meetothers and also check spread ofrumours through WhatsAppand other media,” the SP chiefsaid.

Akhilesh further said,“Remain with your family andbe positive and assume that forthe first time there is a summervacation and you are at home.”

“In view of the spread ofcoronavirus, I appeal to partyworkers to remain at theirhomes and remain connectedthrough phones with othersand provide them necessaryhelp. All programmes will beheld after Navratra (startingMarch 25). The Cycle Yatraproposed on March 23 has alsobeen cancelled,” he said.

However, when askedabout the protest againstCitizenship (Amendment) Act,the SP chief said, “The issue ismore serious than coronavirus.This hatred being spread by theBJP is also a very serious dis-ease. I appeal to protesters totake preventive measures.”

Akhilesh also lashed out atthe Yogi government for its fail-

ure to implement measures toprevent the spread of the virus.

“A former chief minister ofthe BJP, ministers and peopleholding high offices in thegovernment were attendinglavish parties where singerKanika Kapoor, who has test-ed positive for coronavirusinfection, was also present.The behaviour of the high andmighty is highly condemnablein view of the pandemic,’’ theSP chief said.

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Asking people to follow theguidelines of Uttar Pradeshand Central governments forpreventing the spread of coro-navirus, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that peopleshould cancel all religious andsocial functions till April 2.

The chief minister alsoordered that the state-run hos-pitals provide only emergencyservices to avoid unnecessarycrowding.

“Non-essential tests andOPD consultations should bepostponed till March 31. Thisis being done to ensure there isno unnecessary crowding inhospitals,” he said.

“It is mandatory to observesocial quarantine to preventspread of coronavirus. Peopleshould follow the guidelinesissued by the Union and stategovernments in letter and spir-it,” Yogi said in a statementissued in Lucknow on Friday.

Yogi also appealed to allreligious leaders to spreadawareness about coronavirusand how dangerous it was.

“Religious and social func-tions should be deferred tillApril 2 and in case of mar-riages, the number of inviteesshould not be more than 10.Efforts should be made tominimise crowding at onevenue. People should stay attheir homes and avoid meet-ing people,” the chief ministersaid.

Yogi said that orders hadbeen issued to intensify check-ing at bus and railway stationsand in buses entering UP fromdifferent states.

“Important cities likeLucknow, Noida and Kanpurshould be sanitised. Schoolsand colleges should remainclosed and teachers and non-teaching staff too should notcome to school till April 2,” hesaid.

“As far as possible, employ-ees in private sector shouldwork from home. Where it ispossible, the system be madeapplicable in governmentoffices too. Tehsil Diwas,Samadhan Diwas, Arogya Melaand Janata Darshan be can-celled till April 2,” he said.

The chief minister askedpeople to maintain restraintand not indulge in panic buy-ing. He said the district mag-istrates would ensure that therewas no black marketing andhoarding of essential com-modities.

“The police have beenasked to go for intensivepatrolling across the state toensure that people do not gath-er at one place,” Yogi said.

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Upset with constant harass-ment from a local youth, a

young girl set herself ablaze inKakod village of Bulandshahrlast Wednesday. She wasrushed to a hospital in Noidawhere she succumbed toinjuries.

The victim had com-plained to the police on thiscount and sought help, but thecops refused to act.

In an FIR lodged with thepolice, the victim’s mother stat-ed that a neighbour had beenconstantly harassing herdaughter after which sheslipped into depression. Thegirl’s family tried to convincethe accused not to harass thegirl, but he did not budge.

On March 11, the accusedtried to call the girl, but herphone was with her brother.Angered over this, the accusedthreatened to defame the girl.The victim got scared anddecided to torch herself at herhome. She was shifted to aNoida hospital where she diedon Tuesday.

While the victim was beingtaken to the hospital, the youthreached her house and abusedthe family members, assaultedthem and handed out life threats.He warned them against report-ing the matter to the police.

Meanwhile in a 22-year-oldwoman was raped by a neigh-

bour at her home and laterthreatened, in Sanjhak hamletunder Shahpur police station ofMuzaffarnagar almost a monthago. But a case was registeredonly on Thursday. In his com-plaint, the victim’s fatheralleged that his daughter wasraped by the youth while shewas alone at her house. The vic-tim and the accused were ten-ants in the same building.

In another incident report-ed from Muzaffarnagar, thebody of a farmer who wasmissing for the past four dayswas found floating in a canal.

Dayanand Sharma’s bodywas found in the canal nearBhainsi village in Khatauli areaon Thursday, the police said.

Sharma’s family had lodgeda missing complaint after hewent outside and did not returnhome. The body was sent forpost-mortem.

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drowned in a pit dug for con-struction of a railway underpassin Rupaideeha area of Bahraich.The incident took place onThursday when Mohd Sufiyan(13) and Mohd Safi (12) weretaking bath in the pit and slippedinto deep waters, police said.Their bodies were later fishedout by villagers. The pit was dugto construct an underpass atGangapur railway crossing andhad taken form of a pond.

Lucknow (PNS): Even as UPCongress chief Ajay KumarLallu continues to battle resent-ment from party leaders,Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi seems to havedistanced herself from thegoings as she has not visitedUttar Pradesh for a long period.She had last visited the state bycoming out in support of anti-CAA protesters in Azamgarh onFebruary 12 .

Sources in Congress saythat Priyanka is not happy withrecent developments in theUPCC, especially the manner inwhich a section of leaders fromupper castes openly expressedresentment against the UPCongress chief. A large numberof dissenting Congress leadersformed a WhatsApp group inthe knowledge of Lallu andstarted protesting his action,accusing him of working againstupper caste leaders particularlyBrahmins. They even used dis-paraging remarks against Lalluand his team members for hand-ing out step-motherly treat-ment to them. Known to beclose to Priyanka, Lallu hadexpelled 10 senior leaders with-in 24 hours of serving themnotice, accusing them ofindulging in anti-party activities.

But when these upper casteleaders revolted against Lalluand posted objectionableremarks against him, the UPCCchief chose to maintain a stoicsilence instead of taking action.

The sources said thatobserving that Lallu was the firstUP Congress chief to have facedsuch degree of intra-partyresentment, Priyanka chose toskip her visit to the state. She wasscheduled to participate in afarmers’ rally in Basti last monthbut cancelled it after learningthat the venue selected was toosmall to accommodate a thou-sand people. She also cancelledher proposed Kisan Rally inSaharanpur on Sunday due tospread of coronavirus.

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This is to inform all that, ISyed Ahitsham Ali Rizvi R/o178/186 Golaganj Lucknow, inpast I used to write my nameSyed Ahitsham Rizvi but infuture I would write my nameSyed Ahitsham Ali Rizvi andwould be recognized by thisname.

NOTICE

This is to inform all that, ISaba Abidi R/o 178/186Golaganj Lucknow, in past Iused to write my husband'ssurname with my name andwrite my name as Saba Rizvibut in future I would write myname as Saba Abidi and wouldbe recognized by this name.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment is trying to get the

approval of the Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR)for four institutes in the state toconduct novel coronavirustests.

This was stated by UPHealth Minister Jai PratapSingh on Friday.

As of now, only KingGeorge’s Medical University inLucknow has the approval fortesting Covid-19 cases.

“We are working on a warfooting to deal with the situa-tion arising out of the coron-avirus outbreak. We have avirology lab in Gorakhpur andfacilities in Aligarh, BanarasHindu University and SanjayGandhi Post-graduate Instituteof Medical Sciences Lucknow.We are trying to procure equip-ment and get accreditationfrom ICMR for carrying outtests at these places,” the min-ister said.

“Samples from GautamBuddha Nagar and some otherplaces in western UP go toNational Centre for DiseaseControl (NCDC) in Delhi fortesting,” he said.

“We have many coron-avirus cases in UP. The entirecountry is dealing with it at itslevel but on our part we start-ed working from January 27after alerts from the Centre,”Singh said.

“We have 19 points alongIndia-Nepal border and screen-ing began at all points withthermal analysers in January.We have screened over 18,000people at our airports and arefollowing Central government’sprotocols as and when issued,”he added.

A Union Health Ministrydata said that the number ofnovel coronavirus cases in thecountry rose to 173 onThursday. This includes fourdeaths reported from Punjab,Delhi, Karnataka andMaharashtra. Uttar Pradeshhas recorded 23 Covid-19cases, including one foreignnational.

*�� Lucknow (PNS): The Uttar Pradesh governmenthas imposed restrictions on entry passes to non-officials visiting the Secretariat in Lucknow.With the new restrictions in place, only officer ofthe rank of secretary to the government can senda request to the reception office for issue of entrypasses. The office will send the request only afterobtaining due approval of the secretary.

Principal Secretary (SecretariatAdministration) Mahesh Gupta said on Friday thatthe restrictions had been imposed to prevent thespread of coronavirus. He said that guidelines onthe entry of non-officials in different buildings ofSecretariat with entry passes were periodicallyissued by the state government. Gupta further saidthat a request for entry pass should be sent to thereception office only in unavoidable circum-stances.In a separate communication to theoffice-bearers of various organisations of stateemployees, trade union organisations, Gupta

sought their cooperation in implementing themeasures taken by the state government to pre-vent the spread of the virus.

Gupta urged leaders of employees’ organisa-tions to apprise their members of the measurestaken by the government to prevent the virusspread and also give their feedback to theSecretariat Administration department if they findanything lacking in Secretariat buildings for main-taining sanitation.

Meanwhile, UP Assembly Speaker HridayNarayan Dikshit asked all ministers and MLAs tonot issue recommendation letter to the receptionoffice of Secretariat for issue of entry passes to non-official persons till March 31.

Principal Secretary (Assembly) PradeepDubey in a letter sent to the ministers and MLAssaid that the advisory had been issued in view ofpreventive measures announced by the Union andstate governments.

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�� ,�-��Lucknow (PNS): Close on theheels of steps taken by Prisondepartment to check the pos-sible spread of coronavirus injails, the Provincial ArmedConstabulary (PAC) brass hasundertaken initiatives to spreadawareness about safety tips toprevent the spread of the dead-ly virus. A police spokesmansaid that PAC brass on Fridayspread awareness among per-sonnel of the force on how tosave themselves from coron-avirus.

All PAC jawans deployedon field duty or engaged in lawand order duty have been askedto sanitise their hands, usemasks for protection and takeother safety measures.

The spokesman furthersaid that the DGP also issueda circular to all wings of UPPolice, asking officers to adoptall safety measures in theirrespective jurisdiction.

�4�� %6�� Lucknow (PNS): Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s crackdown oncorruption continues as on Friday he asked officials to register casesagainst 10 officials and a firm in Jalaun district on charges of notfunctioning as per government standard and embezzling govern-ment money. Besides, he ordered investigation into these cases.

According to a tweet by the Chief Minister’s Office, YogiAdityanath has ordered an enquiry after registering cases againsta former executive engineer, four sub-divisional officers and fivejunior engineers.Enquiry has also been ordered against one firmaccused of corruption and one of its officers. The officers againstwhom action has been initiated are Executive Engineer SubodhKumar Jain SDOs Ramesh Chandra Jaiswal, GN Mehrotra, Babulaland Amar Pal, junior engineers Sohan Swaroop Katiyar, RajivKumar Pushkar, Gokran Singh, Anil Kumar Singh and RajveerSingh.

The chief minister has ordered action against these officialsunder sections 420, 409, 120B of Indian Penal Code and sections7, 13(1)A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against M/sIVRCL, Hyderabad under sections 409, 120B of the IPC and againstthe company’s representative Bhimsen Yadav under sections 408and 120B of the IPC.

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The three persons fromKhurramnagar, who tested

positive for coronavirus onFriday, are relatives of theKGMU resident doctor whowas confirmed to have con-tracted the infection onWednesday and was kept inthe isolation ward. Healthauthorities admitted that theywere wary after interactingwith them.

“They have been minglingwith people of their localityand visited the dense localities,which means it will be a hugetask for us to follow the trailand find out those who could

have contracted the infection”a senior official from theHealth department said.

The official said they weresurprised that the KGMU res-ident doctor had followed nosafety rules and although hewas a part of the team that waslooking into the infectiouscases, he had not taken nec-essary precautions. “The doc-tor has shown carelessnesswhich which has resulted inhis family members catchingthe infection,” the official said.

The increase in the num-ber of cases in the state capi-tal and and reports doing therounds in social media aboutthe places the four coron-

avirus positive cases inLucknow had visited,Lucknowites were apparentlypanic-stricken.

However, state surveil-lance off icer VikasenduAggarwal said there was noneed to panic. He said onlythose who have a history oftravel to foreign countries orthose who have spent over 2-3 hours with a patient shouldget themselves checked if theyshow symptoms. He saidthrough contact surveillance,they would reach out to sus-pects.

Meanwhile, singer KanikaKapoor, who tested positive fornovel coronavirus infection

in Lucknow on Friday, had vis-ited Kanpur on March 13.

Kanika had visited Kanpurto attend a ‘grih pravesh’(house warming) function andhad stayed in KalpanaApartment in Vishnupurilocality in the flat of hermaternal uncle Vipul Tandon.She had stayed in Kanpur forover six hours.

Over 100 persons, includ-ing industrialists, traders andother dignitaries, are reportedto have attended the functionorganised by Vipul Tandon.

With Kanika Kapoor test-ing positive for the coron-avirus infection, panic pre-vailed among the residents of

Kalpana Apartment and theguests who attended the ‘grihpravesh’ there.

Chief Medical Officer(Kanpur) Dr Ashok Shuklasaid he had deputed a medicalteam to Vishnupuri to exam-ine all the persons present atthe function on March 13. Thesinger’s relative Sanjay Tandonsaid after hearing aboutKanika testing positive forcoronavirus infection, all thefamily members have self-quarantined themselves for14 days. He said Kanika hadcome in contact with around20 persons who did notinclude any child or elderlyperson.

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A60-year-old woman, iden-tified as Shahnaz Jahan,

was stabbed to death alleged-ly by her husband MohammadAtiq of Baba Hazarabagh areain Thakurganj police station.over property dispute. He alsoattacked their son, MohammadAqil, who sustained multipleinjuries in his chest and leftshoulder. A blood-stainedknife and an iron rod wererecovered from one corner ofthe house.

Aqil was rushed toBalrampur Hospital where hiscondition was said to be stable.His sister Asma Khatoonescaped unhurt even as Atiqwas arrested on Fridayevening. Police said there wasa property dispute among thefamily members. Atiq had filedfor divorce six months ago andthe case in pending with fam-ily court. There used to be fre-quent fights among the fami-ly members over the dispute.

In order to avoid any morescuffles in the family, Shahnaz,along with son and daughter,shifted to another house in thesame locality. Atiq sent a noticeto his wife last week stating thathe would withdraw the divorcecase if she returned to hishouse along with the children.She agreed to the proposal andreached his house around11.30 am on Friday.

All of a sudden, Atiqturned violent and attacked herwith a knife and an iron rod.The police said Atiq attackedhis wife when she was she wasat the main gate of the housealong with her children. Thehusband first hit her on thehead with the iron rod thenrepeatedly stabbed her.

Aqil sustained multipleinjuries while he tried to savehis mother while Asma rushed

outside in fear and raised analarm. Neighbours reachedthe scene and rescued Shahnazand Aqil. Both were taken toBalrampur Hospital whereShahnaz succumbed toinjuries. Aqil lodged a com-plaint with the Thakurganjpolice alleging that his fatherstabbed his mother to death.

Meanwhile, a woman,identified as Shahida (35), wasdone to death allegedly by herhusband Mohammad Ahmedalias Munna of Gulshan Vihar

Colony under Thakurganjpolice station. There was noother person in the house bar-ring two minor children.

Police said Shahida’s broth-er Raziullah Qureshi, a nativeof Bahraich presently livingnear a mosque on Ring Roadin Thakurganj, reached herhouse to meet her around 8am. He was surprised to hearthe cries of his niece andnephew as he entered thehouse. He later found his sis-ter lying dead on the bed. His

niece Mahak (10) told him thather father first thrashed hermother and then hit her withan iron rod. Mahak said hermother fell on the bed afterbeing hit on the head.

Qureshi told the policethat his sister never made anycomplaints against her hus-band or any of the in-laws. Shegot married 13 years ago.Mahak was also not able tostate the motive for murderand said there was a fightbetween her parents in the

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Thieves struck at five shopsin a market situated near

Mulayam Nagar trisectionunder Ghazipur police stationon the intervening night ofWednesday and Thursdayand made off with Rs 2.75lakh in cash and goods worthlakhs of rupees.

Safai workers noticed thelocks of a textile showroombroken and shutter jacked up.Later, its owner Amit Guptaof Kalyan Vihar in Chinhatwas informed around 7.30am on Friday. He told thepolice that Rs 12,00,00 werestolen from the cash box. The money was meant to begiven to commission agents. Locks of four other shopsin the market were found broken. The thieves took awayRs 30,000 in cash from a footwear shop. Investigatingofficer IK Tiwari said that the shop-keeper received cashfrom customers on Wednesday night. Goods worthlakhs of rupees were also stolen.

The thieves made off with Rs 50,000 in cash anddrugs worth lakhs of rupees from a medical store. Theythen sneaked into a shop selling food and health drinksand took away Rs 50,000 in cash. The thieves also struckat a sanitaryware shop and decamped with Rs 25,000in cash. The investigating officer said the thieves musthave taken 3-4 hours to collect and make off with thebooty. He said investigations were underway and theculprits would be nabbed soon.

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The ASSOCHAM hasreleased recommendations

to allay impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the rec-ommendations, it has request-ed the government to providecash support of Rs 3,000-5,000per month for the most stressedsections of metros and citieswith population more than 10lakh. The Centre can also askall government or government-funded educational institu-tions to exempt two-monthtuition fees for any family thatis BPL or covered underAyushman Bharat.

The recommendationsstated that it should be mademandatory for companiesacross all sectors to not sackany employee during March-May. In most impacted areas,the government should offertax credit equivalent to salarypaid beyond 15 days of work

from home for employeesacross key sectors that are sig-nificantly negatively impactedand MSMEs.

The government could alsogive a three-month extension toindividuals, within a certainincome tax bracket, to fileyear-end taxes. Also, the gov-ernment should allow the roll-over of GST payments for 1-2quarters (based on the extent ofthe disruption) to be paid in thenext financial year.

MSMEs should be provid-ed concessional working capi-tal loan, equivalent to one tothree months (based on theextent of disruption) averageturnover of last year.

The ASSOCHAM has stat-ed that government shouldwaive-off utility costs for theurban poor for three months,to reduce fiscal pressures.

The government shouldcreate a COVID-19 responsefund, wherein private sector

and citizens can make contri-butions, which are leveragedtowards managing the pan-demic and its aftermath.

For the long term, the gov-ernment should create a holis-tic framework to manage suchhealth crisis. A disaster man-agement framework focused onmanaging disease outbreak willbecome essential in the largeand densely populated country

It also states that business-es can provide business conti-nuity by leveraging the workfrom home option. However,there are many sectors where itis not feasible. Given theurgency of the situation, tosafeguard human life and slow-ing the spread of the contagion,non-essential industries canimplement 14 days of shut-down for now, while continu-ing to pay salaries. They can ata later stage, extend workingdays and recover time lostduring Sundays.

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In view of the coronaviruspandemic, managing direc-

tor of UPMRC Kumar Keshavon Friday inspected andreviewed the metro premisesfrom CCS Airport station toMunshipulia station. At theCCS Airport station, heinspected the entire premisesand then all other stations up

to Munshipulia. “The managing director

had a special review of thecleanliness of ticket counters,AFC gates, TVMs, entry-exitgates and cleaning of all theplaces coming in contact withthe passengers in the metropremises,” a official said.

Keeping in mind the safe-ty of passengers, LucknowMetro has further improved

the proper sanitation system atstations and in trains. Themanaging director assuredpeople of the city thatLucknow metro is the safestmode of transportation andone should follow the direc-tions given by the governmentand guidelines issued by theWorld Health Organization(WHO) for health and safety.

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morning. The accused, who isa semi-skilled labourer work-ing at a civil site in Thakurganjarea, is said to have beenabsconding. Meanwhile, thebody of an unidentifiedwoman was recovered fromIndira Canal near Salempurvillage under Nagram policestation on Friday morning.

An employee of theIrrigating department noticedthe body around 7 am andinformed the police. The bodywas said to be in a discom-posed state and the deceasedwas aged between 35 and 40years.

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People in the city expressedhappiness over the hang-

ing of the four convicts whohad gang-raped Nirbhaya.Abhishek Mishra, who is amass communication student,said although it took sevenyears, the good won over theevil and the move would givestrength to all those womenwho have suffered from oneform of oppression in thesociety or other. “I congratu-late Nirbhaya’s parents andhope that there is never arepeat of such an incident thatembarrasses the word human-ity,” he said.

Adesh Kumar, pro-gramme officer at the Instituteof Wildlife Sciences, LucknowUniversity, said: “It is a mes-sage that criminals can notrun away from law. One day,justice will be done. But delayin justice is not a good mes-sage for society and encour-ages the accused. Governmentshould implement more andmore fast-track courts inevery state for quick justice.This is a lesson to hundreds ofpeople with sick mentalityand will restrict their hands aswell as their mind againstsuch a heinous crime.Government should set upspecial benches to handle anddeal with such cases with a

specific deadline,” he said.Pooja Virmani, a French

language teacher, said it gaveher immense pleasure to final-ly see the convicts gettingexecuted. “This decision is notonly Nirbhaya’s or her family’svictory but it is a huge victo-ry of every Indian femalewho has ever been molestedeven in the slightest possiblemanner. This decision takenby the courts is the establish-ment of the fact that nobodycan escape punishment afterhaving committed any such

crime. I am certain that thisdecision has consoled herfamily to a large extent, but itwould have been better if thejustice was meted out a littleearlier. It still makes me trem-ble with disgust and exasper-ation to even think of thatawfully tragic rape. Though alittle late, an apt decision forthe sinful act committed bythose inhuman beings. Butthis seven year durationreminds me of a quote by SirPierre Coreille that “Wherethere is no peril in the fight,there is no glory in the tri-umph”. Today, on the auspi-cious occasion ofInternational Day ofHappiness, the family ofNirbhaya and entire nation ischeering for the much-await-ed decision. This is certainlyevery woman’s victory and Iam glad to have won this bat-tle,” she said.

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Central Institute ofSubtropical Horticulture

(CISH) will launch its Agri-Business Incubation (ABI)Centre soon. It will be the firstIndian Council of AgriculturalResearch (ICAR)-aided ABIcentre in the city.

CISH director ShailendraRajan said the centre under theNational Agriculture InnovationFund (NAIF) scheme of ICARwill be launched in near future.He said that the scenario ofIndian agriculture is progres-sively changing at a fast pacebecause of the modern trademethodologies and availabilityof novel technologies.

“Country’s youths are play-ing an important role in posi-tive developments in businessmodels and coming forwardwith great ideas of entrepre-neurship in agriculture. In 2014,only 3100 start-ups operated inIndia and a whopping 11,500have been registered by thestart of this year. The buddingentrepreneurs have great poten-tial to rise. They need to bestrengthened and provided withthe guidance in right direction.The success rate can beincreased multiple folds if theyare encouraged by mentoringand reinforcing them. We havebeen working on developmentand transfer of technologies inhorticulture for a long timeand the institute has alreadyestablished several entrepre-neurs in the area of fruit nurs-ery, mushroom production, tis-sue culture, value addition andprocessing, low cost hydropon-ics and organic farming.However, by getting an inde-pendent business incubationcentre at CISH, we will be ableto up-thrust the aspiring start-ups more strongly with fullfocus. Many entrepreneurs visitCISH and show willingness toadopt and set up agri-businessin different technologies of theinstitute. Moreover, we receive

a number of queries from var-ious horticulture enterpriseseither for scaling up or newdevelopments in their business.Earlier, we were limited due tointellectual property and ethicalconstraints. But now we areopen for all these developmentsand mergers. At CISH – ABI,the enthusiastic entrepreneurswill be able to transform theirideas into a real business,” hesaid.

The business incubationcentre of CISH will be the onepoint solution for all theseentrepreneurs and enterprises.By having ABI, we would be inposition to answer all thequeries in the past. Institutekeeps on conducting severalhorti-entrepreneurship work-shops on regular basis. Manyrural youths have been trainedon model fruit nursery, organ-ic farming, mushroom produc-tion, tissue culture, protectedcultivation and processing offruits and vegetables etc. TheABI centre will provide a plat-form to all those who havecapacity built in different hor-ticultural technologies at theinstitute.

The aim of the ABI centrewill be to support and promotethe agri-preneurs comprehen-sively. CISH-ABI will incubatethe prospective entrepreneurs inhorticulture technologies devel-oped at the institute — advisorsfor mango, guava, banana andstrawberry production, com-mercial tissue culture & sec-ondary hardening of TC plants,production of high-value veg-etable crops, nursery raising ofvegetables, ready-to-fruit mush-room bag production, low-costprotected cultivation of horti-cultural crops, on-farm inputand organic production,orchard-based poultry farm-ing, mango & guava pulp pro-cessing, honey production &processing, hydroponics, insecttrapping technology and bio-immunization of tissue cul-tured plantlets.

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World Sparrow Day was cel-ebrated with an online

census at Wildlife Institute onFriday. Amita Kanaujia, coordi-nator of Wildlife Institute, saidsparrows help in pollination,spread of seeds and their disper-sal. “Sparrows are pest con-trollers as they feed caterpillarsharming crops to their youngones. They need to be con-served as a part of food chain,”she said.

Meanwhile, IGNOU learn-ers prepared and installed birdhouses on eve of World SparrowDay. Volunteers of NSS Unit,IGNOU, prepared bird houseswith the waste material andinstalled them on trees in thegarden of the regional centre toraise awareness about the impor-tance of sparrows in the ecosys-tem and to convey the messageof conservation of sparrows,which are disappearing fasterthan other common birds.

Regional directorManorama Singh said WorldSparrow Day is celebrated world-wide to promote conservation ofsparrows. She said more andmore initiatives like this have tobe taken by educational institu-tions and common public toincrease the number of thesebirds. Assistant regional directorKirti Vikram Singh said spar-rows generally live in shrubs andsmall trees, and everyone mustplant such trees in their housesand other places, so that conser-vation of sparrow can beensured.

)//�� Abhideep Shikhar, a class

IX student of City MontessoriS c h o o l ,Gomti NagarCampus II,has secured100 per-centile inMathematicsi nInternational Benchmark Test(IBT), getting the top rankglobally, thus bringing laurelsto the institution. IBT is organ-ised by the Australian Councilfor Educational Research(ACER) once a year in manycountries. In India, thousandsof students appeared for IBTwherein Abhideep secured 100percent marks in Mathematicsamidst a tough competition.CMS will honour him with acash prize of Rs 50,000 for hisachievement. PRO HariomSharma said it has been a con-sistent effort of CMS to impartholistic education to its stu-dents through various innova-tive competitions.

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The first coronavirus patient,a Canadian doctor, is said

to have tested negative forCOVID-19. Incharge ofInfectious Disease Centre(KGMU) Dr D Himanshu saidthe first test of the Canadianpatient turned out to be neg-ative and they were waiting forthe report of the second test. “Ifthe second test comes out to benegative, she will be quaran-tined at her home fromSaturday,” Dr Himanshu said.

KGMU media spokesper-son Dr Sudhir Singh said therewere seven suspected cases ofcoronavirus in the city. Thedoctor who was on a visit toher parents-in-law’s house hadtested positive on March 3.Meanwhile, under the direc-tions of the Chief Minister, theOPD will be open only foremergency services fromSaturday onwards.

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on board for the fear of penalty,Additional Secretary in MEA,Dammu Ravi, told reporters here.

He also clarified that no Indiandiplomats and embassy officials orstaff have been infected with COVID-19 as per the Government’s knowl-edge even in the worst affected citieslike Wuhan and Italy.

“The total number of activeCOVID-19 cases across India standsat 196 so far,” Lav Agarwal, JointSecretary, Union Health Ministry saidhere at a Press conference, adding that23 others have been cured/dis-charged/migrated while four havedied. Delhi has, so far, reported 17positive cases, which includes one for-eigner, while Uttar Pradesh hasrecorded 23 cases, including one for-eigner. Meanwhile, a 69-year-oldItalian tourist who had “recovered”from the novel coronavirus died at aprivate hospital in Jaipur after suffer-ing a massive cardiac arrest late onThursday night, SMS Medical Collegeprincipal Sudhir Bhandari said.

States continue to report thecases. Maharashtra has 52 cases,including three foreigners, whileKerala has recorded 28 cases whichinclude two foreign nationals whileKarnataka has 15 coronaviruspatients. The number of cases inLadakh rose to 10 and Jammu &Kashmir four. Telangana has report-ed 17 cases, which include nine for-eigners.

Rajasthan has also reported 17cases, including that of two foreign-ers. Tamil Nadu has three cases so farwhile Andhra Pradesh has three. InHaryana, there are 17 cases, whichinclude 14 foreigners. Odisha has twocases while Uttarakhand has threecases so far. West Bengal and Punjabeach reported two cases whilePuducherry, Chandigarh and Punjabreported one case each.

“A total of 14,376 samples from13,486 individuals have been testedfor SARS-CoV2 as on March 20,”Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) officials said. The sourcessaid that the ICMR is likely to soonissue instructions to the accreditedprivate labs who have been given nodto conduct tests for the virus to capthe price of each test between Rs4,500 and Rs 5,000. The UnionHealth Ministry has also asked hos-pitals and medical education insti-tutes to procure sufficient number ofventilators and high flow oxygenmasks and advised them to decreasegatherings on their respective premis-es. Without naming singer KanikaKapoor who evaded test by escapingfrom the airport, and has been foundpositive for the virus on Friday, LavAgarwal said that States are empow-ered to take legal action againstthose hiding their travel status ormedical treatment. “States areempowered to take legal actionagainst those evading or hiding their

status. There have been cases wherepeople have been found runningaway from the test,” he said. However,while the UP Government is yet toinitiate any action in Kanika Kapoor’scase, a resident of Lucknow, a Punjabwoman, who had tested positive forthe coronavirus, and fled from thehospital has been subsequentlybooked for doing so. Union MinisterG Kishan Reddy has urged familymembers to not resist theGovernment move to test and quar-antine people returning from coun-tries battling coronavirus.

2�� $�&&&As the clock ticked for the exe-

cution of the four convicts in theNirbhaya gang rape and murdercase and the Tihar Prison authori-ties geared up for the process, noneof the convict showed any resistancewhile being taken up to gallows onFriday morning. According to Tiharprison authorities, the convicts alsodid not show any signs of anxiety onthe night before their execution andskipped breakfast on Friday. Vinayand Mukesh had dinner but none ofthe four had breakfast or a bathbefore they were led to the gallows.

“The meal comprised roti, dal,rice and sabzi. Akshay had tea in theevening but did not have dinner.The four convicts showed no signsof anxiety in the evening. Minutesbefore the execution, Mukesh hadsaid he would like to donate hisorgans while Vinay wanted hispaintings, done during his years injail, to be given to the jail superin-tendent and his ‘Hanuman Chalisa’to his family,” he said.

“The bodies were kept hangingfor half an hour, a mandatory pro-cedure after execution in accordancewith the prison manual. The bod-ies were taken to the DDU Hospitalfor post-mortem and later werehanded over to family,” said the offi-cial. This is the first time that fourmen have been hanged together inTihar Jail, South Asia’s largest prisoncomplex that houses more than16,000 inmates.The executions werecarried out after the men exhaust-ed every possible legal avenue toescape the gallows. Their desperateattempts only postponed theinevitable by less than two monthsafter the first date of execution wasset for January 22. In last-gaspattempts, one of the convictsknocked on the doors of the DelhiHigh Court and the Supreme Courtjust hours before the hanging. ASupreme Court bench dismissedPawan’s last plea in a late-night hear-ing that began at 2.30 am and last-ed an hour.

It also refused to pass any direc-tion allowing Pawan and Akshay tomeet their family members justbefore they are sent to the gallows.Outside Tihar Jail, hundreds ofpeople gathered despite the unearth-ly hour and the coronavirus scare to

await news of the execution. UnionWomen and Child DevelopmentMinister Smriti Irani welcomed thenews. “I have seen Nirbhaya’s moth-er’s struggle over the years, thoughit took time to get justice but it hasbeen done finally. It is also a mes-sage to people that you can run awayfrom law but cannot finally avoid it.

Pramod Singh Kushwaha, theDeputy Commissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, who was dur-ing Nirbhaya gangrape and murderin 2012, the additional DCP (South)and headed the investigation team,said the hanging is a tribute to thedeparted soul and this will also actas a deterrent to other rapists.

Taking a counter view, humanrights group Amnesty Internationalsaid death penalty is never thesolution towards ending violenceagainst women and called the exe-cution a “dark stain” on India’shuman rights record. Recalling thedays when Nirbhaya was treated inSafdarjanj Hospital in 2012, the doc-tors remembered her as a bravewoman and said with the hangingof the four convicts’ law had takenits course. The road to the gallowswas a long and circuitous one,going through the lower courts, theHigh Court, the Supreme Court andthe president’s office before goingback to the Supreme Court thatheard and rejected various curativepetitions. The death warrants weredeferred by a court thrice on thegrounds that the convicts had notexhausted all their legal remediesand that the mercy petition of oneor the other was before the presi-dent. On March 5, a trial courtissued fresh death warrants forMarch 20 at 5.30 am as the final datefor the execution.

��3-�� &&&“This Government is putting us

all at risk. The PM says self isolateyourself but Parliament is on. I wassitting next to Dushyant the other dayfor 2.5 hours. There are two moreMPs who are in self isolation. The ses-sion should be deferred,” O’Brientweeted after the news of Singhgoing in self-isolation broke.

Kapoor has become the firstBollywood celebrity to test positivefor coronavirus in the country. Therewere reports that the singer landed inLucknow from the United Kingdomand was admitted in a city hospitalafter she showed signs of flu. Beforethat she attended three well attend-ed parties and hobnobbed with hun-dreds of people. Kanika reportedlytook help of some airport officials toavoid quarantine protocol afterreturning from London. Kanika alsoaddressed a Press conference inNoida.

Alarmed by the fact that Kanikatested positive on Friday, the UPChief Minister’s office issued direc-tives to sanitise all the places inLucknow, Kanpur and Noida visited

either by the celebrity singer or bythose who were present in differentparties with her.

The singer and UP HealthMinister were among 100 guests at aparty hosted by interior designer AdilAhmad, the nephew of former BSPMP Akbar Ahmad Dumpy, at his res-idence recently in Lucknow. SeveralVVIPs including top bureaucratsand political figures across partieswere present.

The UP Health Minister onFriday took a test for coronavirus asit emerged that he was at a partythrown by celebrity singer KanikaKapoor who is now suffering fromCOVID-19, while three BJP MLAswho met him on Thursday went intoself-isolation, sources said.

Noida MLA and BJP State gen-eral secretary Pankaj Singh, JewarMLA Dhirendra Singh and DadriMLA Tejpal Nagar took to Twitter tosay they are going into self-isolationas a precautionary measure as theyhad met the Health Minister onThursday in Greater Noida.

District Magistrate AbhishekPrakash ordered closure of Taj Mahalhotel in Lucknow till further orders.Though the official order gave no rea-son, sources said Kanika had attend-ed a party at the hotel.

According to Kanika’s fatherRajiv Kapoor, she attended a few par-ties between March 13 and 15. Nearly300 people attended these parties. Ina statement posted on Instagram,Kanika said she developed signs of fluonly in the last four days.

Soon after, Raje, O’Brien andPatel took to Twitter to announcethey have gone into self-quarantineas a precautionary measure.

“I got myself tested and it camepositive for Covid-19. My family andI are in complete quarantine now andfollowing medical advice on how tomove forward. Contact mapping ofpeople I have been in touch with isunderway as well.

“I was scanned at the airport asper normal procedure 10 days agowhen I came back home, the symp-toms have developed only four daysago,” Kanika said in her statement.

Hitting out at the Government,O’Brien said that on one side they aretalking of self-isolation and on theother hand they are continuing withthe Parliament session. “Parliamenthas hardly discussed coronavirus. TheLok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha dis-cussed COVID19 for only 3 per centof total time. Is this howGovernments inspire confidence incrisis? Defer session! Stop conflictingmessaging!,” O’ Brien said.

“I was present at an event yester-day and Dushyant Singh was also pre-sent at the event. As a precaution, Iam going for self isolation. I will fol-low the necessary guidelines by thegovernment,” tweeted Anupriya Patel.

Earlier, MoS External Affairs VMuraleedharan had self-quarantinedafter he visited a Kerala-based med-

ical institute whose hospital laterreported a coronavirus case. FormerUnion Minister Suresh Prabhu toowent for self isolation after hereturned from an economic seminarfrom Abu Dhabi last week.

�� &&&“I have decided to tender my res-

ignation to the Governor today,” hesaid while addressing a press confer-ence in Bhopal. On Thursday, theSupreme Court had ordered a floortest in the state Assembly to be heldon Friday. While addressing thepress conference, Kamal Nath statedthat the Bharatiya Janata Party hadtried to “destabilise” his governmentand added, that his government“tried best to give a new direction tothe state in a span of 15 months”. Healso accused the BJP of holdingCongress’s MLAs captive inKarnataka in order to topple the gov-ernment in the State.

“Over the last 15 months, I haveworked for the progress of MadhyaPradesh. BJP got 15 years but I onlygot 15 months, but during this timepeople of Madhya Pradesh know theconspiracy that BJP has indulged in.From day one, BJP began plotting.The party also held our MLAs cap-tive in Karnataka. 22 of our MLAswere held captive in Bengaluru. Thiswas politics spending crores ofrupees,” he said.

“We delivered on our 400promises in 15 months, BJP did notlike it. It could not stomach ourachievements. We also acted againstthe mafia, it could not thrive.” “Peoplewill not forgive those who wentagainst their wishes,” he added.

� ��,�� &&&It also said the decision has

been taken in view of the coronavirusoutbreak and the fact that thedemand will be less due to ‘JantaCurfew’. Suburban services inMumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennaiand Secunderabad shall be reducedto bare minimum level only to caterto essential travel.

The order stated that passengersalighting from trains already on therun, and desirous of staying at thestation will be accommodated inwaiting halls, waiting rooms and con-course without creating overcrowd-ing conditions while provisions fordrinking water, refreshments onpayment shall be arranged.

“Adequate arrangements may bemade to facilitate hassle-free refundto passengers affected by train can-cellations. Zonal railways will keepa close watch on the situation atmajor stations and where neededorder special trains to clear rush ofpassengers who may be stranded atstations despite advance publicnotice,” it stated. As of now, theIndian Railways has cancelled 245trains in order to restrict unnecessarytravel following the coronavirusoutbreak.

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Urban DevelopmentMinister and minister in-

charge of the district AshutoshTandon inspected the facilitiesavailable for coronavirus sus-pects at Deen DayalUpadhyaya (DDU)Government Hospital,Pandeypur on Friday andissued several instructions tothe district administration towork as per the advisoryissued by the government inwake of the outbreak of theinfection. He was accompa-nied by District Magistrate(DM) Kaushal Raj Sharma,regional BJP presidentMahesh Chandra Srivastavaand Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh andothers.

Earlier while talking tothe reporters along with

senior Bharatiya Janata (BJP)leaders and mayor MridulaJaiswal, he said that the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, inhis address to the nation hadcalled upon the people toobserve ‘Janata Curfew’ onMarch 22 for their safety andappealed to them to stayindoors as protection of elder-ly people and children wasextremely important. He saidthat isolation wards had beenset up at BHU, DDU andother government hospitalsapart from two local hotels.

Two days before the‘Janata Curfew’ the impactwas clearly visible in the cityas the crowd at several lead-ing temples, including KashiVishwanath, Sankatmochanand others, was thin. Sometemples, includingDwadashjyotirling KV templehad already imposed ban on

entry of devotees at its ‘grab-hgrih’ (sanctum sanctorum)and all shops inside and out-side the premises ofVishwanath temple in BanarasHindu University (BHU) hadbeen closed till March 31.Besides, for the past manydays, Buddhist township ofSarnath too was wearing adeserted look due to the clo-sure of all temples, museumand archaeological sites. Onthe contrary thousands ofpeople reached variousmosques to offer Friday’s‘namaj.’ However the crowdwas less when compared tonormal Fridays. There wasalso a ban on all the regularactivities at internationallyfamous ghats. The impact ofcoronavirus outbreak was alsoseen at airport and railwaystations as several internation-al flights and trains were can-

celled. Meanwhile, one pas-senger who had landed at LalBahadur Shastri InternationalAirport, Babatpur fromSharjah was sent to SirSundarlal Hospital (SSH) inBHU in view of his deteriorat-ing health condition.According to a report whenthe flight landed at the airportinformation about his deteri-orating condition wasreceived and an ambulancewas ready there to rush himto SSH BHU. With the admis-sion of this suspect fromDubai on Thursday, 24 ofthem were admitted to theisolation ward in SSH BHUbut none of them had beenfound positive so far. TheCOVID-19 sample testreports of five are still await-ed. Nineteen out of these 24were discharged when theirreports were found negative.

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Army Chief General MMNaravane on Friday

reviewed preparations withinthe force to meet the coron-avirus pandemic challenge andordered that at least 35 per centof officers and 50 per centjawans working in offices willobserve home quarantine andwork from there for a weekstarting March 23. The secondbatch will observe these pre-cautions from March 30 as perthe new advisory'.

The advisory issue onFriday also said intermixing of

groups to be avoided and itshall be ensured personnel areavailable on telephone andelectronic means at all times forexigencies of work. Theseadvisories were firmed up afterdiscussions between Naravaneand important functionaries atthe Army Headquarters here,officials said.

These instructions comedays after a Army jawan ofLadakh Scouts was tested pos-itive in Leh and now undergo-ing quarantine in a hospitalthere. AS a precautions, theArmy is now screening manyother soldiers of the Ladakh

Scouts Regimental Centre inLeh as they had come into con-tact with the 34-year-old sol-dier.

*Meanwhile, the Army inits advisory has asked the com-manders to regularly hold*Awareness Campaigns* onprecautions to be taken with-in the Army and also for com-munities in near vicinity toArmy establishments.

Among other measures,all conferences and seminarspostponed have been post-poned till 15 April andTemporary Duty of all ranksrescheduled/cancelled till 15

April. Leave of personnelalready on leave was extendedtill 15 April 2020 at the discre-tion of Competent Authority.

All service personnel (lessArmy Medical Corps) attend-ing courses terminating priorto 15 April 202were to beretained at respective traininginstitution for which addition-al training programme to beissued. The annual MedicalExamination(AME)/PeriodicMedical Examination(PME)was postponed till 15April.

Among other measuresentry to the army canteens will

be regulated and crowding andbunching has to be avoided.Moreover, posting of all per-sonnel was deferred.

The Army also appealed toveterans and civilians livingwithin and in the vicinity ofarmy cantonments and sta-tions to adhere to social dis-tancing norms and to supportadditionalinstituted to preventspread of COVID -19.

Moreover, those personnelworking in army offices willreport for duty in staggeredtimings to avoidcrowding/bunching atentry/exit points.

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Senior Congress leader andformer Finance Minister P

Chidambaram on Friday saidthe war against coronaviruscannot be fought with "moralarmaments" and that lock-down was the only solution.

After he supported PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on thesteps suggested by him in hisaddress to the nation onThursday, the Congress leadersaid the PM must take toughsocial and economic measuresand he should act boldly andnot waste any time.

"ICMR says that the diseaseis still at Stage 2 (local trans-mission) in India. This is the

moment to act. Let us notallow this moment to passwithout decisive action andregret later," he tweeted.

He said he had offeredsupport to the Prime Minister’sannouncements yesterday, “butI am absolutely certain that thePM will have no option but tocome back with tougher socialand economic measures”.

“Yesterday, I got theimpression that PM was testingthe waters. He should act bold-ly. The war against coronaviruscannot be fought with moralarmaments," he said on Twitter.

There has been a buzzabout the janata curfew beinga dry run or trial for a completelockdown in the days to come.

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New Delhi: Amid the coron-avirus outbreak, a Bhopal-based counter-terrorism relat-ed app developer has developedan android-based applicationCorona Virus Monitor fortracking news and develop-ments related to the outbreakof the virus across the globe.Through the application whichcan be downloaded for free, thedeveloper intends to providereal time developments relatedto Covid-19 pandemic andspread situation awareness andprotection from the viral infec-tion. The app http://app.apps-geyser.com/10347701/Coronavirus%20Defence is yet to beuploaded by the Google PlayStore. PNS

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Several Indo-Pacific nations onFriday held a teleconference

to exchange their assessmentsabout the coronavirus pandem-ic and discuss ways to work insynergy to combat the globalmenace.

Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla took part in aUS-initiated teleconference dur-ing which he briefed the partic-ipants on the proactive stepstaken by India to counter thepandemic.

The telephonic conferencecall, initiated by US DeputySecretary of State Stephen Biegunfor discussions among someIndo-Pacific nations on issuesrelated to countering COVID-19, also included senior repre-sentatives from Australia, SouthKorea, Vietnam, New Zealand,and Japan, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said in a state-ment. The participants sharedtheir assessments of the currentsituation with respect toCOVID-19, and discussed waysto synergise their efforts tocounter its spread, the MEA said.

"Foreign Secretary Shringlabriefed the participants on theproactive steps taken by Indiaboth nationally and in the regionunder the prime minister's lead-ership," it said.

Shringla conveyed India'sdesire to share its perspectiveswith partners in the region andto work together with others.

The participants are expect-ed to continue the conference callon a weekly basis, coveringissues like cooperation on vac-cine development, challenges ofstranded citizens, assistance tocountries in need and mitigatingthe impact on the global econ-omy, the statement said

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The Government has decid-ed to extend till April 15 the

regular visa and e-visa of thoseforeigners who are currently inIndia and unable to leave thecountry due to the novel coro-navirus pandemic.

According to a UnionHome Ministry notification, anumber of foreign nationals arein the country since imposition

of travel restrictions and areunable to exit the country dur-ing the validity of their visa.

It has been decided to pro-vide the essential consular ser-vices by the office of theForeigners RegionalRegistration Officers andForeigners RegistrationOfficers to foreign nationals,presently in India.

"Regular visa, e-visa or staystipulation of all foreign

nationals which have expired orwould be expiring during theperiod from March 13 (mid-night) to April 15 (midnight)would be extended till mid-night of April 14 on 'Gratis'basis after making online appli-cation by the foreigner.

"Exit of such foreignnationals, if so requested bythem during this period, will begranted without levy of overstaypenalty," the Ministry said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday held video

conference with Chief Ministersto monitor and deliberate in theways to check the spread ofcoronavirus and various mea-sures of preparedness of thepandemic. Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan andtop health ministry officialswere also present in the threehour long meeting held viavideo link, which started at4pm. Many Chief Ministersurged Prime Minister for ban ofinternational flights from sen-sitive countries for some moretime and demanded for finan-cial packages to workers in theun-organised sectors.

Modi appreciated the stepstaken by the States and thankedthem for sharing their experi-ences and giving suggestions.

He talked about the urgentneed of capacity building ofhealthcare workers and aug-mentation of healthcare infra-structure. He suggested thatthe Chief Ministers should dovideo conference with tradebodies in their states to preventblack marketing and undueprice rise. He urged them to usesoft power of persuasion aswell as legal provisions, wher-ever necessary.

"Prime Minister said thatthe COVID-19 Economic TaskForce set up by Government ofIndia will formulate the strate-gy to devise suitable approachto effectively tackle the eco-nomic challenge. He urged theChief Ministers to ensure that allnecessary steps are taken and alladvisories are adhered to inorder to ensure the safety of cit-izens in the country at large. Nostone should be left unturned inour common endeavors to fightCOVID-19," said PMO in astatement.

There was unanimousopinion on need of awarenessand training to the health work-ers in the field. Punjab ChiefMinister Amrinder Singh,Maharashtra CM UddhavThackeray, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath wereamong those who attended thevideo conference. West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee reiterated for stop-ping international flights to thestate and demanded for finan-cial packages to the workers andthose working the un-organisedsector.

Maharashtra CM urged forthe increase of in the number ofcoronavirus testingLaboratories in the country.

New Delhi: Parliament wouldmeet at 2 pm on Monday andnot at the usual 11 am on therequest of members as they saidthey would be reaching late dueto the changes in their airflights. The decision was takenafter several members said theywould not be able to reach thenational capital from theirrespective constituencies in themorning following relocation offlights and cancellation of trainsdue to coronavirus. SpeakerOm Birla informed Lok Sabhathat the Question Hour wouldremain suspended on Monday.He made it clear that the deci-sion is applicable for March 23only. PNS

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The Government on Fridaydenied in the Lok Sabha

that there was any evidence ofcoronavirus having any ‘suspi-cious origin’ from China asbeing circulated in the socialmedia and asked Oppositionnot to “press panic button” evenas the Congress sought to saythere was spectre of hoarding,and price rise after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’saddress a day before and sug-gested that the dispensationprovides temporary succourto daily wagers, auto-driversand small vendors.

Asking questions duringthe question hour on the pan-demic coronavirus, memberswanted Government to clarifywhether it has prescribedAurvedic or homeopathy med-icines for curing the disease ofwhich there was yet no clinicaltrial. N Uttam Kumar Reddy(Congress) said having issuedan advisory the Ayush Ministrycontradicted itself saying therewas "no known cure toCOVID-19."

The member sought toknow what advisory AyushMinistry has given on the issue.Responding to queries, AyushMinister of State (indepen-dent) Shripad Naik said hisministry's advisory neverclaimed "effective treatment" ofcoronovirus by Aurveda (orhomeopathy) as it has sug-gested that its treatment mayhelp respiratory and immunesystem of the patients.

Reacting to the concerns ofmembers, Union HealthMinister Harshvardhan saidwhosoever is being tested, isbeing tested with "perfect sci-entific rationale."

At this stage, ManishTewary (Congress) sought to

say that origin of coronavirusis surrounded with suspicionsaying World HealthOrganization (WHO) was notgiven access to Wuhan inChina, the place from wherecoronavirus first broke out andlater affected the global popu-lation. Would India speak tothe WHO and have the originof Coronavirus investigated?",the Congress MP asked andwanted to know "..whether itwas naturally originated andnot grown out of a scientificexperiment ..?"

Responding to Congressmember's question,Harshvardhan said hisGovernment was in regulartouch with the WHO and anysuspicion on the count of theorigin of the virus was linkedto what was being circulated inthe social media platforms likeWhatsUp. The Minister saidthere was "no authenticity" inthe report. Hashvarshan saidIndian research organisationsare in touch with other globalorganisations on the origin ofthe virus. He maintained thatIndia was the first to knowabout the coronavirus onJanuary 8th a day after Chinaestablished that there was a"new coronavirus" in Wuhan.

Speaking on theCoronavirus issue CongressMP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurysaid while his party was withthe Prime Minister on the sub-ject, the government shouldtake note of hoarding of essen-tial eatables and general price

rise after his address to thenation on Thursday night.Chowdhury suggested thatgovernment provide tempo-rary assistance to daily wageearners, auto drivers , securityguards , vendors who havebeen hard-hit by the self-imposed curfew of the people.

The Congress leader saidadvance wage payments shouldbe made to MNREGA dailywagers.

Intervening from the gov-ernment aide, Parliamentaryaffairs minister Pralhad Joshievery one should honour thegood suggestions given by thePrime Minister in the light ofthe global crisis. He deniedthere was any shortage ofessential commodities andurged opposition to not to"press panic button".

Chowdhury , however,went on to say that PrimeMinister's address " se Bazarmain aag lag gayi.." There wasan uproar and Congress mem-bers were seen walking out ofthe house. Later, at Zero hour,Speaker Om Birla saidParliament is with PM's reso-lution and his appeal fora"Janata curfew" on Sunday.

Kanimozhi (DMK) saideconomically poor section hasbeen the worst hit due to coro-navirus pandemic and theEconomic task forceannounced by the PrimeMinister should take note ofthe informal sector which is induress in the wake of the shut-down.

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The Government on Fridayassured Parliament that there

is no shortage of masks and handsanitisers which are necessarypreventive steps in the fightagainst coronavirus pandemic.This assertion came in the RajyaSabha after some MPs drew theattention to reports of paucity ofthese items since the outbreak.

Allaying their apprehen-sions, Minister of Chemicalsand Fertilisers MansukhMandaviya said more than 100manufacturing units all overthe country were producing

more than one and half croremasks every day. Therefore, fearsabout shortage were unfounded,he said. The minister alsoassured the Elders that there wasno paucity of sanitisers.

In another coronavirus relat-ed issues figuring in the house,two MPs namely Satish ChandraDubey and Kirodi LalMeena(both BJP)sought imme-diate government intervention tobring back stranded students inPhilipines.

The two MPs said morethan 540 students includingthose from Bihar and Rajathanwere stranded in Manila after an

emergency was declared follow-ing coronavirus and flights werecancelled.

Earlier in the day, ChairmanM Venkaiah Naidu announcedthat Sukhendu ShekharRoy(TMC) had sought permis-sion of the house to remainabsent and be self-quarantinedue to coronavirus.

The House unanimouslylauded Prime Minister NarendraModi's address to the nation onThursday urging people to unit-edly fight the challenge of coro-navirus. However, AnandSharma(Congress)said the gov-ernment by a notification had

asked people above the age of 65to remain at home but manyMPs above this age were comingto Parliament. He wanted toknow if Parliament was exemptfrom the government rulesincluding imposition of section144 and Epidemic Act.

Naidu and minister PiyushGoyal said essential serviceswere exempted and Parliamentwas fulfilling its respponsbility ofpassing the budget. Moreover,functioning of Parliament sent amessage to the nation that it wasleading the nation from thefront in the fight against coron-avirus.

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In an effort to give a boost to'Make in India' project of the

NDA Government in defencemanufacturing, the draft ofDefence ProcurementProcedure(DPP) 2020 propos-es higher indigenous contentand incentives for local mate-rial and software.

The draft unveiled byDefence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday here also pro-vides for making after salessupport a part of capital acqui-sition contract, leasing ofdefence equipment introducedfor the first time and emphasison product export under off-sets. The proposed DPP alsooffers incentive under offsetsfor units in Defence corridor.

The main focus of the DPP2020 is to further increaseindigenous manufacturing andreducing timelines for pro-curement of defence equip-ment. These and several othersuch innovative measures werepart the draft finalized by ahigh-level committee headedby Director GeneralAcquisition, Ministry ofDefence that was set up inAugust 2019.

Speaking on the occasion,the defence minister said theobjective of the DPP is tomake India self-reliant and aglobal manufacturing hub. Thegovernment is constantly striv-ing to formulate policies toempower the private industryincluding MSMEs in order todevelop the eco-system forindigenous defence produc-tion. The defence industry ofIndia is a strategically impor-tant sector having huge poten-tial for growth. It needs to be

the catalyst for India's eco-nomic growth and realisationof our global ambitions.

With experience gained bythe industry and the Ministryof Defence , it is now time totake further steps to strength-en 'Make in India' initiative,refine Life Cycle Support ofprocured equipment and plat-forms and hasten the defenceacquisition process by furthersimplifying the procedures &reducing the overall procure-ment timelines, he added.

The major changes pro-posed in the new DPP are hikein indigenous content ratio bymore than ten per cent to sup-port Make In India. Also, useof raw materials, special alloysand software incentivised asuse of indigenous raw materi-al is a very important aspect of'Make in India' and IndianCompanies are world leaders insoftware. A new categoryBuy(Global-Manufacture inIndia) is part of the proposedDPP with minimum 50 percent indigenous content.

Leasing has been intro-duced as a new category foracquisition in addition to exist-ing 'Buy' & 'Make' categories tosubstitute huge initial capitaloutlays with periodical rentalpayments. Leasing is permittedunder two categories i.e, Lease

(Indian) where Lessor is anIndian entity and is the ownerof the assets and Lease (Global)where Lessor is a Global enti-ty. This will be useful for mil-itary equipment not used inactual warfare like transportfleets, trainers and simulators.

The scope and options forProduct Support have beenwidened to include contempo-rary concepts in vogue, name-ly Performance Based Logistics(PBL), Life Cycle SupportContract (LCSC),Comprehensive MaintenanceContract (CMC)to optimiselife cycle support for equip-ment. The capital acquisitioncontract would normally alsoinclude support for five yearsbeyond the warranty period.

The DPP draft was pre-pared by a Review Committeebased on the recommenda-tions of all stakeholders, includ-ing private industry. In order toaccrue advantage of domainspecialisation of various subjectmatter experts, eight sub-com-mittees headed by LtGen/equivalent officers wereconstituted to assist the reviewcommittee. These committeescarried out extensive delibera-tions and interactions over aperiod of six months to for-mulate their respective char-ters.

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As many as 32 political par-ties, including seven

national parties have spent thehighest of �1495.41 crore onpublicity, followed by �567.19crore on travel expenses,�528.94 crore on lumpsumamounts paid to candidatesand �399.03 crore on other ormiscellaneous expenses duringthe Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

According to a report pre-pared by the Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR) onthe basis of expenditure detailssubmitted by the political par-ties to the ElectionCommission, these politicalparties have recollected�6405.59 crore in 2019. Ofthem, a major chunk of�5544.34 crore (86.55%) wasreceived by seven political par-ties while 25 regional partiesreceived �861.25 crore(13.45%).

According to the report,political parties have declaredtheir expenditure under theheads of publicity, travelexpenses, other/miscellaneousexpenses and lumpsumamounts paid to their contest-ing candidates. The expendi-ture on publicity is 49.94 per-cent of the overall expendituredeclared under various headswhile expensesincurredtowards candidates constituted17.67 percent of the totalex-penditure," it said.

The ADR report said the32 political parties analyzedspent the maximum on mediaadvertisement (�1166.15 croreor 77.98 percent) followed byexpenditure on publicity mate-rials (�222.1 crore or 14.85 per-cent) and public meetings

(�107.16 crore or7.17 per cent).Of the total expenditure of the32 political parties on publici-ty, �1223.71 cr or 81.83% per-cent was spent by the nationalparties and �271.70 cr or18.17% was spent by theregional parties.

On the travel expenses,the ADR has divided expendi-ture incurred by star cam-paigners and the party leaders.Political parties have spent atotal of �567.19 crore on'Travel'. Of this, national par-ties have spent �487.33 cr(85.92 %) and regional partiesspent Rs 79.86 cr (14.08%).

National and Regionalpolitical parties collectivelyspent 98.53% of their totaltravel expenses or �558.88crore on their star campaign-ers and the remaining 1.47% or�8.31 crore on the travel oftheir party leaders.

The 32 national andregional parties together spent�2591.39 crore during the 2019Lok Sabha polls, of which anexpenditure of �2004.99 crore(77.37%) was incurred by theseven national parties.

According to ADR, theelection expenditure statementsof 18 Regionalparties includingDMDK, JD(S), RJD, JKNPP,RLD etc. for the 2019 LokSabhaelections are unavailable on thewebsite of ECI till date.Theexpenditure statements ofIUML and SHS are not avail-able for theAndhra PradeshAssembly elections 2019.

"Regional Parties namelyMGP, MPC and MNS submit-ted their election expenditurestatements for the general elec-tions despite not having con-tested the elections - asdeclared by them.

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Intensifying the measures tocombat Coronavirus in

Maharashtra, Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Fridayordered closure of all shops,business establishments andprivate firms in MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR),Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad andNagpur till March 31 andreduced the employees’ atten-dance limit in governmentoffices to 25 per cent, even asthe total number of confirmedCovid-19 cases rose to 52.

Hours after the chief min-ister made an announcementabout the lockdown till March31, Deputy Chief Minister AjitPawar said in Pune that allshops, business establishmentsand private firms in MMRand three other cities in thestate will remain closed not justtill March 31 but the closureorder would remain in force tillfurther orders.

Simultaneously, StateEducation Minister Vasha

Gaikwad announced the can-cellation of examinations forfirst to eighth standards inschools across the State andsaid the remaining examina-tions for the ninth and 11thstandards would be held afterApril 15. “However, the ongo-ing SSC examinations for theremaining subjects will be heldas scheduled. All teachersexcept those taking classes forthe 10th standard have beenasked to work from home,” theminister said.

With three more personstesting positive for Coronavirusin different parts of the state onThursday, the total number ofconfirmed Covid-19 rose to 52.Pune and the neighbouringPimpri-Chinchwad haveaccounted for a maximum of21 cases, the break-up of pos-itive Coronavirus cases else-where in the State is: Mumbai-11, Nagpur-4, Yavatmal-3, NaviMumbai-3, Kalyan-3, Panvel-1,Thane-1, Ulhasnagar,Ahmednagar-2, Aurangabad-1and Ratnagiri-1. Of the patients

who had tested positive forCovid-19, a 63-year-old dis-ease-infected had died at theKasurba Hospital on Tuesday.

Addressing the peopleacross the State live throughsocial media, the ChiefMinister said the order closingdown all shops, business estab-lishments and private firms inMMR and three other cities inthe state would come in forceat 12 midnight. “The sale of

essential goods, food grains,drugs and supply of milk havebeen spared from the lock-down,” Uddhav said.

“In case there is confusionabout the closure announce-ment, the affected people maycontact the local district col-lector and divisional commis-sioner. I have a request tomake to the shopkeepers andowners of the business estab-lishments who are closed down

their units as per theGovernment orders pay minimum wages to the affect-ed employees,” the ChiefMinister said.

Uddhav said there were noimmediate plans to discontinueoperation of suburban trains andbuses in Mumbai. “For now, wehave no plans to close down sub-urban train and bus services.But, as part of our crowd reduc-ing initiative, rwe are bringing

down further the limit ofemployees attending the gov-ernment offices from the earli-er 50 per cent to 25 per cent”.

Meanwhile, interacting withmediapersons at Pune, DeputyChief Minister Ajit Pawarexhorted people not to con-tribute to crowds by invitingpeople for marriages andensure against crowds at funer-als. “During the period of clo-sure for shops, business estab-lishments and private firms, Irequest the owners to pay remu-neration to daily wage earners”.

“Since the next 15 days arevery crucial, I request the peo-ple to co-operate with the gov-ernment in implementing mea-sures to combat Coronavirus,”the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Pawar said the collectorsand divisional commissionershad been given powers to pur-chase whatever drugs neededfrom the market. “We have lift-ed all the restrictions on the pur-chase of drugs by the district col-lectors and divisional commis-sioners. We do not need funds

from the Centre. We are capa-ble of handling the situation. Wewill ensure that there is nodearth for funds”.

Meanwhile, MumbaiMunicipal CommissionerPraveen Pardeshi announcedrestrictions on vehicular move-ment in the areas of Isolationcentres and quarantine centresdeclared by the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)like Kasturba Hospital, KEMHospital and Seven HillsHospital. Through an amend-ed order for “social distancing”issued under the rule 10 of theRegulations for Prevention andContainment of COVID-19framed under the EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897, the BMCCommissioner also announcedthe closure of schools, cinemahalls, swimming pools, gyms,malls/mill compound, SpaCentres, Clubs, Pubs, dis-cotheques, Sanjay GandhiNational Park, AmusementPark and banning of mass con-gregations and functions.

“All private, Corporates

and establishments to be com-pletely shut down, However,essential services like drinkingwater supply, sewerage ser-vices, banking services, RBI,telephone and internet ser-vices, rail and transportationservices, food, vegetables andgroceries, hospitals, medicalcentres, medical stores,Electricity, petroleum, Oil,energy, media, Port, IT servicesprovided for essential serviceshave been excluded from theshut down. Production/ man-ufacturing processes whichrequire continuity of processmay continue to continue at 50per cent staff strength,” theamended order stated.

Among other things,Pardeshi asked the police toissue advisories to not to gath-er in masses at sea beaches andpublic places and said thatspitting at public places,premises and road wouldattract a fine of Rs 1000. Hesaid that the sanitary staff andpolice would enforce the penal-ty on spitting strictly.

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Mamata Banerjee hasappealed to the Centre to

“immediately stop all the inter-national flights.” The BengalChief Minister who interact-edwith Prime MinisterNarendra Modi through video-conferencing later told themedia on Friday that she had“told the Prime Minister to stopall the international flights” toBengal. “The coronavirus iscoming from outside the coun-try. Why should the people ofIndia suffer for the diseasethat is coming from outside?”the Chief Minister said addingMaharashtra and Telenganatoo had made similar requeststo the Central Government.

The Centre had onThursday announced a banon all international flights tothe country for a week begin-ning March 22.

Banerjee’s appeal camewithin hours of a second youthwas found to be infected bycoronavirus. The 22-year-oldwho had returned from

London on March 13 and hadbeen in home-isolation wasreported positive after he vis-ited the hospital with flu-likecondition on March 17, sourcessaid, adding all the 11 membersof the jointly family he lives inhave been quarantined in aGovernment facility.

A third person a plasticsurgeon who had visited Dubaihad also beenquarantined withsuspected corona infection.His pathological samples havebeen sent for tests.

Alleging that New Delhiwas not cooperative enoughregarding the StateGovernment’s requisitions forcorona preparedness the ChiefMinister said, “I reported himabout how our demands fornecessary kits have thus farbeen ignored.” On how thePrime Minister responded toher allegations she said “hesaid that he was taking note ofit but did not give any assur-ance… I said that all the equip-ment we are manufacturinghere in Bengal through MSMEsbut some other things like per-

mission for setting up labs thatonly the Centre can give has tocome from there.”

Banerjee also said she hadplaced demands for food grainsduring the coming months ofcrisis. The Chief Ministerannounced that theGovernment will provide 5 kgsof ration free to the people tillthe month of September. “Eitherwe will supply it home-to-homeor we will ask the guardians tocome and collect it from theration shops which have beenasked to remain open at leastfive-and-a-half days a week.”

The Chief Minister alsosaid she had requested thePrime Minister to come out aplan for the unorganised sector

that is likely to suffer from lossof jobs in case of bigger even-tualities in the coming weeks.She is also said to have request-ed the prime minister for a planfor the unorganised sectorwhich is expected to be worst-hit due to a considerable dropin economic activities as part ofcontainment efforts.

“I have requested the PM tocome up with a plan for theunorganised sector, sufferingdue to COVID-19 pandemic,”she said, adding herGovernment was taking all theprecautionary steps to handlethe pandemic. “We have a near-seven star facility at RajarhatNew Town for those who willhave to be quarantined. Thisfacility can accommodate abouta thousand people,” she saidadding all the districts have beenasked to create such isolationcentres.

As on Friday she said about5.63 lakh people had beenscreened in the State. Out ofthem 57 people have been quar-antined and 18,700 people havebeen kept in home isolation.

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Ahead of ‘Janta curfew’ onSunday, the entire Jammu

district locked down com-pletely on Friday to ‘effective-ly’ fight coronavirus pandem-ic. Though no fresh case test-ed positive in the last 24 hoursin Jammu and Kashmir, theGovernment agencies reviewedtheir preparedness to ensuresuccess of the ‘Janta curfew’ onSunday.

In Srinagar, all out effortswere being made to sanitisethe densely populated areasand tracking down any sus-pected case of coronaviruswho may have come in con-tact with the lone positive case.

In Jammu, all the localmarkets wore a deserted lookas shops remained closed.

The district administra-tion also suspended publictransport mini buses on dif-ferent routes across the districtto prevent movement ofcommon people. All the reli-gious places are also observ-ing complete shut down.

Late in the evening, thegovernment ordered that theemployees shall attend theiroffices on alternate weeksexcepting those who are asso-ciated with Coronavirus con-trol efforts and essential ser-vices. The concerned head ofthe departments were directedto draft a weekly roaster of dutyfor all employees till furtherorders.

In order to strictly enforcethe lock down, the DistrictAdministration, also sealedtwo business premises for vio-

lating the Orders of DistrictDisaster ManagementAuthority (DDMA).

According to the MediaBulletin on novel coronavirus(COVID-19), at present 2465persons have been kept underhome quarantine while as 44are in hospital quarantine.

Persons who are underhome surveillance stand at 416while as 405 persons havecompleted their 28-day sur-veillance period. The Bulletinadded 186 samples have beensent for testing of which 178tested as negative and only fourcases have tested positive, so farwhile as four reports are await-ed till March 20, 2020.

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The women protesters inShaheen Bagh will con-

tinue with their protest onSunday, the day when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasurged people to remain insidetheir houses under a self-imposed curfew.

The women have beenblocking a side of a road con-necting southeast Delhi toNoida since mid-Decemberto protest against the amend-ed citizenship law.

On Monday, the Delhigovernment said gatheringswith more than 50 peoplewere not allowed in the wakeof the novel coronavirus pan-demic. The size of gatheringshas since been reduce to 20people. “It also applies toShaheen Bagh,” Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal had said. Theprotesters on Friday told PTIthat not more than 50 womenhad been staging protest atany given time.

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In wake of the novel coron-avirus (Covid-19) outbreak,

over 50 per cent of Indian com-panies see impact on their oper-ations and nearly 80 per centhave witnessed decline in cashflows, says a survey. The pan-demic has presented fresh chal-lenges for the country’s econo-my, causing severe disruptiveimpact on both demand andsupply side elements which hasthe potential to derail the growthstory, according to a poll con-ducted by industry body FICCI.

The country is already expe-riencing a slowdown in growth.In the third quarter of the cur-rent fiscal, the economy grew at4.7 per cent, slowest in six year.“A significant 53 per cent ofIndian businesses indicate themarked impact of the coron-avirus pandemic on businessoperations even at early stages,”Federation of Indian Chambersof Commerce and Industry(FICCI) said. The pandemichas significantly impacted thecash flow at organisations withalmost 80 per cent reporting adecrease in cash flow, the surveyshowed. The findings were basedon interactive sessions and sur-

vey conducted by Ficci amongstthe industry members.

“Besides the direct impacton demand and supply of goodsand services, businesses are alsofacing reduced cash flows due toslowing economic activity,which in turn is having animpact on all payments includ-ing to those for employees,interest, loan repayments andtaxes,” it said. It said combina-tion of monetary, fiscal andfinancial market measures isneeded to help the businessesand people cope with the crisis.“The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) need to support the Indianindustry and economy at thisjuncture by bringing down thecost of funds further throughreduction in policy rates, say, byclose to 100 basis points,” it said.Banks should be given a flexi-bility to reschedule paymentterms without the need for pro-visioning. The survey said thereis need to maintain liquidity atsurplus levels and provide spe-cial liquidity support for anycompanies/NBFCs/banks thatcome under strain due to inten-sifying risk aversion in financialmarkets or due to large demandshock. With the corporate bondand commercial paper markets

are facing liquidity challenges,the RBI should intervene, eitherdirectly or through the com-mercial banking system, toensure adequate flow of fundsinto the market. The govern-ment should not cut its capitalexpenditure plans despite anyshortfall in tax collections, it said.

It also said the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC)should be suspended for a shortperiod for sectors like aviationand hotel, that are severelyimpacted due to Covid-19.

The survey showed thatmore than 60 per cent of respon-dents have seen impact on theirsupply chains and expect the sit-uation to worsen further.“Nearly 42 per cent of therespondents feel that it couldtake up to three months for nor-malcy to return,” the surveyhighlighted. Most of the organ-isations have brought in arenewed focus on hygieneaspects concerning the pan-demic. Almost 40 per cent haveput in place stringent checks onpeople entering their officesand disinfection while nearly 30per cent organisation havealready put in place work-from-home policies for their employ-ees, it said.

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An attempt by a tippler tomake the Kerala State

Beverages Corporation, theState-owned retail and whole-sale dealer of Indian MadeForeign Liquor, to home deliv-er the usual quota of spirit mis-fired on Friday as the KeralaHigh Court not only dismissedhis petition in this regard butimposed a fine of Rs 50,000 as

cost of the case on Jyothish, thepetitioner.

The demand of Jyothishwas to make the liquor availablethrough online platforms. Hiscontention was that in the back-drop of coronavirus COVID, ithas become risky to stand in thelong queue in front of the retailoutlets to purchase the regularquota of liquor. There are nodearth of customers queuing upin front of the BEVCO countersbecause the State is one of the

largest guzzlers of liquor in thecountry.

Jyothish pleaded before thecourt that the retails werecrowded during business hoursand it was unsafe to wait hoursin front of the “watering holes”for procuring alcohol for con-sumption. His suggestion wasthat the BEVCO could start dis-tributing the spirits through on-line service whereby the mate-rial would be home delivered.

But AK Jayasankaran

Nambiar, the judge who heardthe petition was neither amusednor humored by the contentionof the petitioner. “The citizen-ry ought to realize that therestrictions imposed by thisCourt on the filing of cases iswith a view to ensuring thattheir fundamental rights as cit-izens, for access to justice is,guaranteed to the extent possi-ble, even at the cost of exposingthe judges, lawyers, Clerks andstaff of this court to the risk of

viral infection. When measuressuch as these are adopted by theInstitution in public Interest ,the very least that is expectedfrom the litigating public is asensitivity to the interests oftheir fellow citizens in societywho like them have a funda-mental right to a safe place ofwork and a healthy environ-ment. One cannot help butlament at the selfishness of thepetitioner in the instant case ,and others like him in society

whose obsession with perceivedrights blinds them to the oblig-atory duty that they owe to thefellow citizens,” said the judgewhile dismissing the petition.

He also pointed out that‘the petitioner’s conduct in fil-ing a frivolous petition at a timelike this while making a mock-ery of the salutary concept ofaccess to justice which thisinstitution strives to guaranteealso ridicules the functioning ofthis noble institution. For the

said reckless, insensitive andinsolent action, the petitionercannot be let away lightly.’

The amount of Rs 50,000will be paid to the ChiefMinister’s Distress Relief Fund.

Old timers in the capital cityof Thiruvananthapuram recalledan incident that took place in1986 when late Prof M PManmathan, a Gandhian whodevoted his life to bring in totalprohibition in the State staged ademonstration in front of the

State secretariat demanding theclosure of all liquor shops. Arenowned film personality led arally of 100 tipplers demandingthe provision of ‘quality’ liquorthrough retail outlets!

Though Kerala is reelingunder the impact of CoronaVirus, the liquor outlets areoperating to capacity much tothe shock of the population.The Government has orderedthe closure of schools and col-leges but not the liquor outlets.

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The Lok Sabha on Fridaypassed the Indian Institutes

of Information Technology(IIITs) Laws (Amendment)Bill, 2020 Bill which seeks toconfer the status of Institutionof National Importance (INI)on five more Indian Institutesof Information Technology(IIITs). It proposes to bring thefive institutions under the IIIT(Public-private Partnership)Act, 2017, similar to the other15 IIITs established under thescheme in Public-privatePartnership (PPP) mode.

The five IIITs which areproposed to be given the INI

status are located in Surat,Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartalaand Raichur. These five IIITsalong with 15 others which arealso build in PPP mode willnow be able to use the nomen-clature of Bachelor ofTechnology (BTech) or Masterof Technology (MTech) or PhDdegree. Replying to the debateon the Bill, Human ResourceDevelopment Minister RameshPokhiriyal ‘Nishank’ said thatsuch institutes have recorded100 per cent placement.

Clarifying the apprehen-sions raised by some membersof the House, he said theseinstitutes also follow the reser-vation policy announced by thegovernment. The minister alsosaid the quality of educationwas improving and the coun-try was moving ahead inresearch and development.

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New Delhi: The CBI hasbooked four former seniorofficials of Mahanadi CoalfieldsLimited (MCL) and 25 com-panies, including Adani PowerLimited, Jindal Steel and PowerLimited, ACC and Vedanta, forallegedly causing a loss of Rs 97crore to the public sectorundertaking in the supply ofcoal from it.

The agency has bookedfour of the then officials in thefinance department of MCL —

chief manager KaberiMukherjee, senior managersAnil Kumar Bhowmik,Debajyoti Chakraborty anddeputy manager SripalliVeeraghanta, along with 25big companies, for the allegedconspiracy hatched between2013 and 2017, according tothe FIR.

The major companiesbooked by the CBI includeACC, Adani Power Limited,Adani Power Maharashtra

Unit-3, Adani PowerMaharashtra Unit-1, Vedanta,Sesa Sterlite Limited (nowVedanta), JK Paper Limited,Jindal Steel and Power Limited, IFFCO and EmamiBiotech Limited, according tothe FIR.

Other companies booked asaccused include ACC Ltd.,Haldia Energy Ltd., Hadia SteelsLtd., BILT Graphic ProductsLtd., JSL Ltd., Jindal Steel &Power Ltd and IFFCO. PNS

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The Ministry of Agriculturehas urged the States to

release their share of premiumunder crop insurance to ben-efit farmers, citing the examplesof Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan that have notreleased Rs 2,731 crore and Rs

1,482 crore respectively.Replying to a query during

the Question Hour in RajyaSabha on Friday, Minister of Statefor Agriculture and FarmersWelfare Kailash Choudhary saidthe Centre was in touch withstates for early release of theirshare so that it can release thepremium to farmers. The pre-

mium subsidy sharing patternbetween the Centre and Stateshas been 50:50.

“The states which have notgiven premium for crop insur-ance include Madhya Pradeshwhich owes Rs 2,731 croreand Rajasthan which owes Rs1,482 crore,” Choudhary said.

The other states with pend-ing premiums includeMahrarashtra, Telangana,Karnataka and West Bengal.He said the Centre was readyto release the premium tofarmers the same day.

“We are in constant touchso that the farmers get theirclaim,” he said. In reply to indi-vidual farmers’ premium,Minister of State forAgriculture and FarmersWelfare Parshottam Rupalasaid 64 lakh farmers fromMaharashtra had registeredtheir losses individually afterdamage to crops due to inces-sant rains. “A survey was doneand the farmers were paid Rs4,000 crore,” he said. Earlier,Choudhary said after detaileddiscussions with stakeholders,the government has recentlyapproved the revamping of thePradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) andRestructured Weather BasedCrop Insurance Scheme (RWB-CIS) for implementation fromthe kharif season this year.

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Yes Bank founder RanaKapoor, arrested in a

money laundering case, is “eas-ily susceptible” to getting infect-ed by the coronavirus in prison,his lawyer told a court here onFriday. Kapoor, arrested by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) earli-er this month, was remanded injudicial custody till April 2 as theinvestigation agency did notseek his further remand.

As his earlier remandended, the ED produced the 62-year-old Kapoor, former MD

and CEO of the beleaguered YesBank, before the court here.When the judge asked if he hadany complaints, Kapoor said hehas been suffering from asthmafor the last six-seven years, haslow immunity, and he was inacute depression.

Advocate Abbad Ponda, hislawyer, said a person with lowimmunity is “easily susceptible”to catching coronavirus. “Thevirus is spreading very fast....Itis a very precarious situation. Ifhe goes there (to the jail) hemight catch something which isvery very serious,” the lawyersaid, requesting that Kapoorshould be kept in a larger cell.

The court asked the jail author-ities to take proper care andprovide him medicines as perthe advice of the medical offi-cer.

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India has carried out at least720 execut ions s ince

Independence, nearly half ofthem in Uttar Pradesh,according to data collatedunder a project of theNational Law University here.The actual number could bemuch higher, a project officialsaid, as there are no properrecords maintained by thegovernment on executions.

Before Friday morning’shanging of four Nirbhayacase convicts in Delhi’s TiharJail, Yakub Menon was thelast person to be sent to thegallows in July, 2015.

According to the Project39A data, 354 executionswere carried out in UttarPradesh since Independence,followed by 90 in Haryana, 73in Madhya Pradesh, 57 inMaharashtra, 36 inKarnataka, 30 in West Bengal,27 in Andhra Pradesh, 24 inDelhi, and 10 in Punjab.

Eight deaths by executionwere recorded in Rajasthan,five each in Odisha andJammu and Kashmir, andone in Goa, it added.Executive Director of Project39A Anup Surendranath saidthe figures gathered by themare based on records sharedby states under the Right toInformation (RTI) Act, whilethe actual number could bemuch higher.

“Collecting data on exe-cutions is difficult as there areno proper records maintainedby the government. Our datais based on information pro-cured through RTIs and theactual number could be inthousands but we do not

have any record for that,” hesaid.

He said the evidence ofthis mismatch between therecords that governmentshave and the actual numbersl ies in a 1967 LawCommission of India reporton the death penalty.

“That report recorded wehad executed nearly 1,500people by then but as you cansee now, governments seemto have a record of only about720 executions. It shows howcallous we can be with thestate taking human life,”added the Executive Directorof Project 39A. In February2013, Parliament attack con-vict Afzal Guru was hanged.

In 2004, rape convictDhananjoy Chatterjee wasexecuted after a period ofabout 7 years since the lastexecution. After 2004, Indiahad an unofficial moratoriumin executions for eight years,until Kasab was executed inNovember 2012, according tothe Law Commission. In its2015 report , the LawCommission concluded thatthe death penalty does notserve the penological goal ofdeterrence any more thanlife imprisonment.

“Further, life imprison-ment under Indian law meansimprisonment for the wholeof life subject to just remis-sions which, in many states incases of serious crimes, aregranted only after many yearsof imprisonment which rangefrom 30-60 years,” it stated.“Retribution has an impor-tant role to play in punish-ment. However, it cannot bereduced to vengeance. Thenotion of ‘an eye for an eye,

tooth for a tooth’ has noplace in our constitutionallymediated criminal justice sys-tem. Capital punishment failsto achieve any constitution-ally valid penological goals,”the commission said.

Based on its conclusion,the Commission had recom-mended that measures whichinclude provisions for policereforms, witness protectionscheme and victim compen-sation scheme should betaken up expeditiously bythe government. “Althoughthere is no valid penologicaljustification for treating ter-rorism differently from othercrimes, concern is oftenraised that abolition of deathpenalty for terrorism relatedoffences and waging war, willaffect national security,” thecommission said.

“However, given the con-cerns raised by the law mak-ers, the commission does notsee any reason to wait anylonger to take the first steptowards abolition of the deathpenalty for all offences otherthan terror ism relatedoffences,” it stated.

“ The Commissionaccordingly recommends thatthe death penalty be abol-ished for all crimes otherthan terror ism relatedoffences and waging war,” itadded. Mukesh Singh (32),Pawan Gupta (25), VinaySharma (26) and AkshayKumar Singh (31), convictedfor the 2012 gang rape andmurder of the 23-year-oldphysiotherapy intern, wholater came to be known as‘Nirbhaya’, were hanged at5.30 am inside Delhi’s TiharJail.

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The chairman, Animal WelfareBoard of India (AWBI), Dr OPChaudhary, has acted commend-ably in issuing a circular, datedMarch 11, 2020, to the Chief

Secretaries of all States and Union Territoriesabout pet animals at a time of Coronavirus.Stating that it was being brought to the board’snotice that animal owners were “leaving theiranimals to stray without proper food, wateror shelter” due to the spread of COVID-19,the circular added, “In this regard, the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) has clarified thatdogs and cats are not involved in spreadinginfection in the current episode ofCoronavirus infection.” Further, the circularreminded that cruelty to animals was anoffence under Sections 3 and 11(1) of thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960and the rules thereunder, as well as violativeof the Supreme Court’s directives in thisregard.

The circular stated that AWBI hadalready advised the Governments of States andUnion Territories to see that stray animalswere looked after by local bodies, which wereresponsible for the matter. It requested ChiefSecretaries to issue circulars to all concernedto create awareness among the public aboutnot leaving the animals they were taking careof to stray or not inflicting unnecessary painand suffering on animals because of the spreadof COVID-19 and directing the law enforce-ment authorities to ensure the same. A copyof the circulars, it ended by saying, might beforwarded to the board.

Here is a kind of pro-active action on thepart of authorities one does not ordinarily see.Irrespective of the results that follow in itsimmediate aftermath, it will add to the pres-sure, building up over time, on the authori-ties and the public, to treat animals humane-ly and according to law. It is going to be a longhaul. Cruelty to animals is part of a widerproneness to hatred and cruelty that is as inte-gral a component of the human psyche as loveand compassion. Humans enjoy being cruel,whether to other humans or animals. As ErichFromm points out in his seminal work, TheAnatomy of Human Destructiveness, animals“do not enjoy inflicting pain and suffering onother animals, nor to ‘they kill for nothing.’Sometimes an animal seems to display sadis-tic behaviour — for instance, a cat playing witha mouse; but it is an anthropomorphic inter-pretation to assume that the cat enjoys the suf-fering of the mouse; any fast-moving objectcan serve as a plaything whether it is a mouseor a ball of wool.”

“Man,” Fromm points out, “is the onlymammal who is a large-scale killer and asadist.” He holds that indulgence in destruc-tion and cruelty can always cause a man tofeel “intense satisfaction; masses of men cansuddenly be seized by lust for blood.Individuals and groups may have a charac-ter structure that makes them eagerly wait for— or create — situations that permit expres-sions of destructiveness.”

Animals have been a specialtarget of human savagery becausethe dominant global discoursearising in the background of theEuropean Renaissance and the18th century Enlightenment haveexcluded them from the moraluniverse of the humans. The twoprincipal grounds for doing so isthat they, unlike people, lackedrationality and were created toserve humans. Neither groundsurvives scrutiny. Irrationality isas much a part of the human psy-che as rationality. Otherwise somany people would not havecheered Hitler and Mussolini orclung to countless superstitiousbeliefs. Elizabeth Costello, themain protagonist in JM Coetzee’sThe Lives of Animals, puts thingsin perspective when she says,“Both reason and seven decadesof life experience tell me that rea-son is neither the being of theuniverse nor the being of god. Onthe contrary, reason looks to mesuspiciously like the being ofhuman thought; worse than that,like the being of one tendency ofhuman thought. Reason is thebeing of a certain spectrum inhuman thinking.”

Reason, the cutting edge ofrationality, is an instrument foranalysing and assessing informa-tion and integrating it into theconsciousness. Equally, it is aninstrument for solving problemsand coping with the worldthrough the establishment of

causal relationships based onthought process like induction,the drawing of conclusions fromempirical observation anddeduction, the drawing of con-clusions from premises derivedthrough induction. The conclu-sions it has yielded have, how-ever, often proved wrong, espe-cially when the process of rea-soning has been based on incor-rect premises. As important,reason is value neutral. It canequally serve moral andimmoral causes.

Second, reason has not beenthe only instrument for copingwith and modifying the world.Sometimes instinct has workedwhere reason has failed orinstinctive responses have trig-gered rational speculationwidening the frontiers of knowl-edge and technology and chang-ing the world materially, philo-sophically and morally. Animalshave far sharper instincts — orthe sixth sense if you will — thanhuman beings. More, they havefar stronger and sharper facul-ties like that of hearing andsmell, can often see in the darkand have far stronger survivalcapacities than men and women.Coetzee further makes ElizabethCostello say, “scientific experi-mentation that leads you toconclude that animals are imbe-ciles is profoundly anthropocen-tric. It values your ability to findyour way out of a sterile maze,

ignoring the fact that if theresearcher who designed themaze were to be parachuted intothe jungles of Borneo, he or shewould be dead of starvation ina week. If I as a human beingwere told that the standards bywhich animals are measured arehuman standards, I would beinsulted. It is experiments them-selves that are imbecile.”

Finally, animals may not berational in the manner humansare but they can reach conclu-sions by weighing options andmap courses of action to be fol-lowed. They feel emotions suchas grief and joy exactly the sameway that humans do. They are asentitled to free and joyous livesas humans. Most of them do notdo so because they have eitherbeen enslaved and mercilesslyexploited or savagely hunted assport. Things have improved.Many countries have legislatedagainst cruelty to animals,banned or limited animal exper-imentation and banned orrestricted hunting. It is, howev-er, still a long way to a world inwhich humans and animals aretreated legally and morally at par.Time was when people thoughtthat human slavery could not beabolished. It was. There will alsobe a time when animal slaverywill cease to exist.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — It was indeed surprising andshocking that �1.76 was levied astransaction charges on recharge of�200 on the Delhi Metro card.Such incidents discourage digitalpayments. If the Governmentreally wants to promote digital sys-tems, transaction charges on pay-ment through credit cards shouldbe reduced and must be paid bythe Centre, rather than the traders.Presently, people avoid makingpayments through credit cardsbecause traders demand an addi-tional transaction charge of twoper cent.

Banks can discontinueexchangeable credit points for useof credit cards. They will, in turn,benefit from the manifold rise intransactions through credit cards.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)should fix the maximum interestrate on delayed payments for cred-it cards. Malpractices of imposingpenalties should also be regulated.The system of over-limit penaltyshould be abolished with bankshaving the liberty to decline pay-ment beyond the permissible limitto the customer.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — The star-crossed relationsbetween the telecom companiesand the revenue department ofthe Government are unlikely tochange. In the retrospective taxissue, the Supreme Court was per-suaded by the view that the busi-ness connection rule did not

apply to capital transactions. Subsequently, the apex court

held a similar view over revenueevaluation for taxation as that wasthe legal position arising out ofthe Government’s own ham-handed construct. The court’s lat-est observations — on theGovernment’s fresh submissionsover adjusted gross revenue —

have been also been severe.The malady is quite basic —

the inability to foresee the explo-sive impact of modern technolo-gy, both by service providers andthe government. In 2004, the tele-com companies had gross rev-enues pegged at �4,855 croreand by 2015, it had jumped to�2.37 trillion. The Government,

on its part, used law enactment tomake up for its lack of foresight.Caught in a bind, theGovernment must be ruing theineptness of its blindsided babus.

R NarayananMumbai

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Sir — Amid growing fear andparanoia in society due to thespread of Coronavirus, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s messageto the nation, asking the citizensto observe janta curfew thisSunday, is welcome. In fact, hisassurance was much-needed tocalm anxious nerves. In suchtimes of crisis, it is not just the Statemachinery but people, too, whomust show the resolve and worktogether for a larger cause. ThePrime Minister’s call for self-imposed curfew is meant to pre-pare us for tougher times and isdoable. We need to understandthat in such desperate times, weneed to be ready for some sacri-fices and pain to emerge stronger.

Bal GovindNoida

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American statesman and prominent attorneyDaniel Webster once said, “Justice is the great-est interest of man on Earth. It is the ligament

which holds civilised beings and a civilised societytogether.” We, the people of India, were gifted withone of the most significant Constitutions ever writ-ten, on January 26, 1950 and are fortunate to haveour freedoms and rights acknowledged and definedin it. The framers of the Constitution recognised thatpeople have inherent fundamental rights that areinalienable and constitutionally-enforceable throughcourts, subject to reasonable restrictions. They areuniversally recognised and include the right to equal-ity, freedom of expression, freedom of conscienceand religion and the right to approach courts toenforce them. These rights are contained in Part IIIof the Constitution. Part IV deals with the DirectivePrinciples of State Policy that act as instruments ofinstruction for the implementation of fundamen-tal rights in Part III.

Unlike the Indian Constitution, the AmericanConstitution written in 1787 was probably flawedat first. It did not have a written provision or a “Billof Rights” which guaranteed protection of funda-mental personal freedoms and rights of its citizens.Seeing the need for it Thomas Jefferson argued thatthe people were entitled to it against everyGovernment on the planet and “no just Governmentshould refuse a Bill of Rights to its people.” After that,in 1791, the “Bill of Rights” was introduced in theUS Constitution by the first ten amendments andit prohibited the Congress from making any lawwhich impedes the free exercise of religion, speech,right to peaceably assemble and the right to a fairtrial and several other personal rights of individu-als.

According to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor inthe “Bill of Rights”, the framers of the AmericanConstitution built a wall around certain fundamen-tal individual freedoms, forever limiting the major-ity’s ability to intrude upon them. Fundamental rightsare recognised in every civilised nation and arefounded on the rule of law which no law can depriveits citizen of, in a civilised and secular society.

Justice Patanjali Sastri in the AK Gopalan vsState of Madras case in 1950 noted that Part III formsa new feature of the Constitution and it is the Indian“Bill of Rights.” It is modelled on the first ten amend-ments of the American Constitution which declarethe fundamental rights of US citizens.

The rule of law and secularism are at the heartof the Indian Constitution and Indian laws. The ruleof law assures us of equality before it and equal treat-ment of laws, liberty, dignity, personal freedom andthe right to life. The Preamble to our Constitutionand Articles 25 and 26 dealing with freedom of reli-gion guarantee equality to all individuals and groupsirrespective of their beliefs. They also emphasise thatthere is no religion of the State itself. The conceptof secularism is one facet of the right to equalitywoven as the central golden thread in the fabricdepicting the pattern of the scheme of theConstitution as noted in the M Ismail Faruqui vsthe Union of India case.

There may be times when the Governmentmust be reminded about the rule of law and secu-larism as reflected in our Constitution. Recently, astatue of Lord Jesus and 14 crosses portraying eventsin the Passion of Christ, from his condemnation byPontius Pilate to his entombment, were removedfrom a cemetery in Karnataka near Bengaluru by

the district administration. It was allegedthat the church was encroaching on pub-lic land and involved in forcible conver-sions. The church says that the propertywas being used on the basis of a validGovernment sanction for several years.The church also says that the statue andthe crosses were removed at the behest ofmajoritarian groups amid false accusationsof forcible conversions.

The church requested the Stateadministration to allow them to contin-ue with their Lenten observances whichthey have been doing for the last severalyears at the cemetery. Lent is a 40-day peri-od before the crucifixion and burial ofLord Jesus on Good Friday and his res-urrection from the dead on Easter Sunday,that is observed by Christians by fastingand praying. The belief in the crucifixionand resurrection of Lord Jesus is the cen-tral belief of Christianity. The church saysthat the removal of the statue of Christ andthe 14 crosses is illegal as the land wassanctioned for a Christian graveyard andthey have the documents to prove it. Theysay that the State administration showedundue haste to remove the statue andcrosses and could have at least waited tillafter Easter and not obstruct the religiousobservances that have been going on forseveral years.

There are other incidents whenChristians have wrongly been accused offorcible conversions. In 2017, eightChristians were intercepted and arrestedon charges of forcible conversion underthe Madhya Pradesh Freedom of ReligionAct and kidnapping under the IndianPenal Code. They were travelling for aBible camp along with 60 children fromMadhya Pradesh to Nagpur. After a longand arduous trial, a court in MadhyaPradesh acquitted the eight Christians in

February, as they were proved innocent ofall charges. Increasingly, churches are tar-getted by mobs and their Sunday servicesdisrupted. Disturbingly, more often thannot, no action is taken against the attack-ers. However, the pastors and church lead-ers are assaulted and are arrested andaccused of forcible conversion. In 2015 inJhajjar, Haryana, Sunday services in onechurch were stopped by the districtadministration on account of a processionand puja which happened to be takingplace near it. The district administrationdid not respond to the pleas of thechurch to allow the members to worship.

However, the administration hastilywithdrew its illegal order as soon as thechurch approached the Punjab andHaryana High Court. The court directedthe State to provide adequate security asand when required, especially when thechurch services were in progress. Thechurch was allowed to function as per thefundamental rights guaranteed by theConstitution and the established princi-ples of the rule of law.

States such as Madhya Pradesh,Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat andHimachal Pradesh have Freedom ofReligion Acts which are also referred toas anti-conversion laws. These laws right-ly prohibit religious conversions by force,fraud and inducement. Some of these Statelaws have been in existence for more than50 years in Madhya Pradesh and Odishaand there have been many false convic-tions under these laws. It appears that suchlaws only serve the purpose of intimidat-ing and harassing Christian pastors andnot others who indulge in conversions andforced re-conversions. Such Acts impedeon the rights of Christians only and arebeing used to threaten religious leadersand congregations even in States where no

such laws exist. Accusing church leadersand pastors of forceful conversion hasbecome a convenient method for the per-petrators of crimes against Christians, toassault and silence them, just like thedreaded Blasphemy law in Pakistan is usedagainst minorities. The anti-conversionlaws only promote communal hatred anddo not subserve any Constitutional pur-pose and are a blot on our democracy. Allcitizens of India are equally entitled to free-dom of conscience and the right to freelyprofess, practice and propagate religion ascontained in Article 25 of the Constitution.

The Government must be remindedof its duty, as reflected in the observationsof the Supreme Court in the State ofKarnataka vs Praveen Bhai Togadia casewhich said that secularism is not to be con-fused with the communal or religious con-cept of an individual or a group of per-sons. It means that the State should haveno religion of its own and no one couldproclaim to make the State have one suchor endeavour to create a theocratic State.Each person, whatever be his religion,must get an assurance from the State thathe has the protection of law to freely pro-fess, practice and propagate his religionand freedom of conscience.

The anti-conversion laws are imped-ing the rights of the Christian minorityand must be repealed. The abrupt removalof the statue of Lord Jesus in Karnatakaand the promptitude with which theadministration acts to appease groups whoaccuse pastors of forcible conversion area few real incidents of a travesty of justiceand the misapplication of laws. The anti-conversion laws are an antithesis to therule of law and must be struck down fromthe statute books.

(The writer is Advocate Partner, DuaAssociates)

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With March 22 being celebrat-ed as World Water Day eachyear, it is pertinent to take

stock of India’s efforts to clean the mostrevered river of the country, the Ganga.Namami Gange the flagship pro-gramme which aims to clean Ganga ona mission mode, gets considerableattention from the Central Governmentin terms of funds and priority. NamamiGange lays much emphasis on pollu-tion abatement through the improve-ment of sewage infrastructure.However, despite the concerted effortsbeing made towards cleaning the river,the results have not been very promis-

ing. The data from the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) indicate thatthere was no change in the water qual-ity of the river between 2014-2018 interms of bacteriological parameters. TheCPCB has also been monitoring theorganic load in the priority drains enter-ing the river. In 2018, the pre-monsoondata showed that the drains dischargedwater of biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) varying from 2.48 tonnes perday (TPD) to as high as 241.17 TPD.Further, the CPCB has also installedreal-time water quality monitoring ofthe Ganga near the ghats and the drainsentering the river, which highlights theareas with BOD higher than threemg/L. Further, the data from CPCBindicates that most of the river waterfrom the stretch between Uttar Pradeshto West Bengal is unfit for drinking andat some places for bathing as well.

Another major cause of concern isthe non-point source of pollution. TheGovernment’s effort, in this case, hasonly been restricted to provide toiletsin the villages at the bank of the riverbut there has been no strategy for othernon-point sources of pollution such as

farm and cattle waste runoff. Regulatoryauthorities do not monitor these pol-lution sources and the focus is only onmonitoring sewage-related contami-nants.

There clearly exists a gap in theeffective implementation of this missionmode programme. The main objectiveof this flagship programme was to stopdirect dumping of waste into the riverby having effluent treatment plants andsewage infrastructure in all majorriverine cities. Under this objective, thetarget was to create sewage treatmentcapacity for 3,700 million litres per day(MLD). However, by February 2019, theGovernment could only create a capac-ity of 480 MLD.

Some of the reasons for ineffectiveimplementation can be sourced fromthe report of the Comptroller andAuditor General in 2017, which high-lighted unused funds, lack of staff andthe absence of long-term planning.Because of this mismanagement alarge amount of solid and liquid wastestill finds its way into the riverunchecked. The extended deadline of2020 has promised that most of the

drains would stop discharging filth intothe river but this seems difficult toachieve unless the focus changes fromcentralised solutions to a decentralisedones.

One of the main interventions bythe Government was setting up efflu-ent/sewage treatment plants at a citylevel i.e. the centralised systems. Thiswas because a greater population couldbe served and also to maximise theenvironmental and social gains. Suchsystems have been able to improve thequality of the river to some extent andalso reduce further deterioration. Butat many places, these treatment plantswere designed according to the futureneeds and hence involved huge costs,while running under capacity. TheGovernment’s plan to clean the river onmission mode might not lead to thedesired results unless there is a shifttowards the decentralised systemswhich is further strengthened throughactive stakeholders’ participation. Thesesystems should be supported by the bye-laws of city management rules. It helpsto treat the wastewater generated insmall localities. The treated waste-

water could be reused in replenishingthe local water bodies. Further, such sys-tems have several advantages such aslower costs, the potential to graduallyincrease the capacity, environmentalbenefits and also increased opportuni-ties for reuse of the effluents.

Decentralised systems that can beundertaken for wastewater manage-ment include septic tanks, waste stabil-isation ponds, constructed wetlands,membrane bioreactors (MBR) andland treatment. A constructed wetlandin Pompia, Greece is one examplewhere it was used for treating the waste-water generated by the local commu-nity. Due to the wetland, the treatedeffluent was equivalent in terms of qual-ity to the tertiary treated municipalwastewater. There were high removalrates for Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS),Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), phos-phorus, Total Coliform (TC) and FecalColiform (FC). Hence, it has a poten-tial to be reused in several areas, espe-cially irrigation. Given that the worldis facing the exacerbating effects of cli-mate change, the availability of treated

water for non-potable purposes canreduce its deleterious impact on dwin-dling water resources. Decentralisedsystems in such scenarios can bedependable and cost-effective solutionsand the treated effluent can either bereused in some application or forreplenishing the drains/channels whichfeed into the rivers.

India has also been able to build thetechnologies of constructed (floating)wetlands such as the PhytoridWastewater Treatment, which has beendesigned especially to treat industrial,municipal and agricultural wastewater.Siddheshwar Lake in Pachpakhadi,Dawala Lake in Ovala as well asDativali Lake in Diva are a few exam-ples in Thane, where this decentralisedsystem has been used and was success-ful in reducing BOD and COD in thewastewater.

Such systems can be replicated atmost of the places, especially the 100riverine cities at the bank of the riverGanga. These systems can help India insolving two major problems of the sec-tor — wastewater pollution and adeclining availability of the resource by

treating the wastewater and putting itto use for irrigation, landscaping and soon, which will reduce the burden onfreshwater resources. It is also a way ofadapting to the mounting stress of cli-mate change.

The emphasis should be on break-ing down the puzzle of river cleaninginto smaller problems and the provisionof sewerage infrastructure cannot be aone-size-fits-all solution. Each smallerproblem should have a customised solu-tion addressing it locally. Local bodiesplay a crucial role in this and theyshould be empowered to participate inthe process of decision-making, imple-mentation and facilitation to reuse treat-ed wastewater.

There is a need to undertake thecleaning of individual watersheds of thebasin on a decentralised basis, provid-ing local solutions to local problems/ori-gins of pollution. Tapping pollution atthe local level will not only help in curb-ing it at the source but will also makethe system sustainable.

(Grover is Fellow and Seth isResearch Associate, Water Resources,TERI)

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Snapping its four-day losingstreak, equity benchmark

Sensex rallied over 1,627 pointson Friday in line with globalmarkets as governments acrossthe world took drastic mea-sures to combat the economicblowback of Covid-19.

Domestic sentiment turnedpositive on hopes of a stimuluspackage after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced afinancial task force to supportsectors battered by the pan-demic, experts said.

After starting on a volatilenote and swinging over 2,485points, the BSE barometerended 1,627.73 points or 5.75per cent higher at 29,915.96. Ithit a high of 30,418.20 and alow of 27,932.67.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyzoomed 482 points, or 5.83 percent, to close at 8,745.45.

During the week, Sensexplummeted 4,187.52 points or12.27 per cent, while Niftysank 1,209.75 points or 12.15per cent.

ONGC was the top gainerin the Sensex pack on Friday,rallying 18.58 per cent, fol-lowed by UltraTech Cement(13.01 per cent), HUL (11.75per cent), RIL (11.24 per cent),TCS (9.90 per cent), Tata Steel(9.60 per cent) and Asian Paints

(8.91 per cent).Only HDFC Bank and

IndusInd Bank settled in thered, shedding up to 1.39 percent.

Modi on Thursdayannounced setting up of atask force under FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanto take necessary actions “inthe near future” after analysingthe coronavirus pandemic sit-uation.

Experts were of the viewthat the Covid-19 task forcemay come out with concreteproposals very soon.

The huge oil bounty fromthe crude crash can be used forthis, said VK Vijayakumar,chief investment strategist atGeojit Financial Services,adding that the PM’s appeal isa curtain raiser for the concreteactions to follow soon.

Covid-19 cases in Indiarose to 195 on Friday after 22fresh cases were reported fromvarious parts of the country,according to the HealthMinistry.

“Tracking positive senti-ments in the global markets,Indian indices closed up by

around 6 per cent. It was insync with Asian and Europeanmarkets and was more of arelief rally driven by technicalsrather than any fundamentalchange in outlook.

“Hopes of further stimulusfrom Central banks across theworld to contain the econom-ic damage boosted global mar-kets. The broader marketindices were also up by around4 per cent.” said Vinod Nair,head of research at GeojitFinancial Services.

All sectoral indices endedwith gains, with BSE energy, oiland gas, IT, FMCG, teck, met-als and utilities rallying up to9.96 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices surged up to4.18 per cent.

World over, market senti-ments improved as govern-ments stepped up measures tocushion the financial blow ofthe pandemic.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Seoul closed up to 7 percent higher.

Stock exchanges in Europetoo rallied up to 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the rupeeappreciated 6 paise to 74.72against US dollar intra-day.

Global oil benchmark,Brent crude futures rose over8.18 per cent to USD 30.80per barrel.

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Fitch Ratings on Friday cutIndia growth forecast to

5.1% for FY 2020-21, sayingsupply chain disruptions inthe wake of coronavirus out-break are likely to hit invest-ment and exports.

It also said that with glob-al GDP falling, the world wasin “recession territory”.

Fitch had in December2019 projected India to grow at5.6% in 2020-21 and 6.5% inthe following year.

In its Global EconomicOutlook 2020, Fitch said thenumber of people affected bycoronavirus in India wouldkeep rising in the comingweeks but that the outbreakwould remain contained.However, there are downsiderisks to this scenario.

“Supply-chain disruptionsare expected to hit businessinvestment and exports... Wesee GDP growth to remainbroadly steady at 5.1% in thefiscal year 2020-2021 followinggrowth of 5.0% in 2019-2020,”Fitch said. For 2021-22, Fitchprojected India’s growth to be6.4%.

Stating that the coron-avirus crisis is “crushing” glob-al GDP growth, Fitch halvedits baseline global growth fore-cast for 2020 — to just 1.3%from 2.5% projected inDecember 2019.

“The level of world GDP isfalling. For all intents and pur-poses we are in global recessionterritory,” said Brian Coulton,chief economist at FitchRatings.

Fitch said the outbreak ofthe virus was hitting sentiment,while local governments hadrolled out measures to containthe spread of the virus, such asclosing schools, cinemas andtheatres.

“While India’s linkageswith China (e.g. trade andtourism) are modest, manu-facturers in India are heavilyreliant on key Chinese inter-mediate inputs, especially ofelectronics and machinery andequipment,” it said.

It also projected the Indianrupee to be at 74 to the US dol-lar by the end of December 2020.The rupee is currently tradingaround 74.78 to a dollar.

WHO has declared coron-avirus pandemic. Over twolakh people have been infect-ed globally and the diseasecaused by it — COVID-19 —has claimed over 9,000 lives. InIndia there are over 160 posi-tive cases and four deaths so far.

The difficulties facing theIndian economy have beenexacerbated by Yes Bank failure.

“Fragilities in the financialsystem will further underminesentiment and domestic spend-ing. The overall financial systemremains burdened with weak

balance sheets, which will limitany upside to credit and growthdespite policymakers’ effortsin recent months to ease stress-es,” it added.

Fitch said the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) held an emer-gency meeting in mid-Marchand announced measures toshore up liquidity in moneymarkets, including the launchof further long-term repo oper-ations.

“Given downside pressureson growth, we think the RBIwill have to take additionalmeasures and we forecast a cutin the policy rate to 4.5% beforethe end of the year,” said Fitchwhich has a ‘BBB-’ rating onIndia with a stable outlook.

On the fiscal front, theauthorities announced targetedstimulus measures to mitigatethe impact of the outbreak, itadded.

Fitch said the number ofconfirmed COVID-19 casesin India was low, but was pick-ing up, at the time of project-ing growth in the Global eco-nomic outlook report.

“Our scenario assumes thenumber of people affected willkeep rising in the comingweeks but that the outbreak willremain contained. However,there are downside risks to thisscenario,” it added.

Fitch also lowered its oilprice forecast to USD 41%(Brent) for 2020 (annual aver-

age) from USD 62.5 per barrelin December.

“With the collapse of‘OPEC+’ co-operation boostingprospects for OPEC supply, wenow expect oil prices to aver-age USD 48 per barrel in 2021compared to our previous fore-cast of USD 60 per barrel,” itsaid.

Fitch said the global healthcrisis sparked by the outbreakof the coronavirus is taking anextraordinarily heavy toll onthe world economy.

Fitch further said it sees anoutright decline in global GDPthis year if more pervasivelockdown measures have to berolled out across all the G7economies, but a recoverycould be in sight in the secondhalf of calendar year 2020.

“Emergency macro policyresponses are purely aboutdamage limitation at this stagebut should help secure a ‘V-shaped’ recovery..., althoughthis assumes that the health cri-sis eases,” it added.

Fitch said even though itexpects a recovery in Chinafrom the second quarter of2020, Chinese growth isexpected to fall just 3.7 year forthe year as a whole, downfrom 6.1 year in 2019.

“The shock to the Chineseeconomy – primarily resultingfrom the official ‘lockdown’response to contain the virus –has been very severe,” it added.

"��4��BA��

:��6��%7=&>� �� New Delhi (PTI): Gold prices on Friday jumped �1,395 to�41,705 per 10 gram in the national capital following rally inthe international prices of the precious metal, according toHDFC Securities.

On Thursday, the precious metal had closed at �40,310 per10 gram.

Silver prices also advanced �2,889 to �38,100 per kg againstthe previous close of �35,211 per kg.

“Spot gold of 24 karat in Delhi shot up by �1,395 withovernight rally in international gold prices,” HDFC Securitiessenior analyst (commodities) Tapan Patel said.

In the international market, both the metals were tradingwith hefty gains, with gold quoting higher at USD 1,514 perounce and silver at USD 12.96 per ounce.

“Gold prices traded higher with broad-based recovery incommodities,” he added.

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Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 939.00 1033.70 930.05 1020.20HDFCBANK 876.00 914.50 824.55 882.40INFY 554.00 617.00 549.65 584.95ICICIBANK 332.00 359.85 323.10 345.70SBIN 205.45 215.60 200.10 209.65KOTAKBANK 1223.00 1282.00 1147.40 1263.35BAJFINANCE 2750.00 3043.60 2623.95 2962.70IBULHSGFIN 92.35 114.30 81.25 91.10THERMAX 690.00 765.00 656.45 718.20TCS 1637.00 1867.95 1627.00 1798.00MARUTI 4929.00 5222.00 4815.35 5077.10HDFC 1640.00 1778.00 1536.05 1753.90INDUSINDBK 453.00 479.25 405.00 439.95AXISBANK 434.70 449.50 414.05 428.35ONGC 63.55 74.30 62.75 72.45ITC 164.00 176.55 164.00 175.55LT 852.00 878.30 832.00 864.75TATAMOTORS 74.30 79.55 72.70 77.40TATASTEEL 277.70 305.00 274.70 298.05BAJAJFINSV 5780.00 6373.60 5700.00 6263.25HINDUNILVR 1846.00 2080.00 1846.00 2052.50POWERGRID 149.50 161.40 149.00 157.50BHARTIARTL 449.90 472.15 437.00 461.90SHILPAMED 290.25 309.40 290.25 291.65JUSTDIAL 328.00 335.50 305.40 332.95CUMMINSIND 424.00 436.25 415.55 421.00APOLLOHOSP 1178.60 1399.90 1160.90 1363.95ESCORTS 595.00 700.50 562.65 675.20IDEA 3.58 3.58 3.32 3.46ASIANPAINT 1614.00 1757.45 1574.15 1745.85HDFCLIFE 423.05 442.00 411.60 419.15RBLBANK 177.50 187.20 167.90 171.50JUBLFOOD 1206.10 1596.40 1166.00 1466.80INDIACEM 98.00 104.00 97.00 98.15INDIGO 860.00 955.65 836.00 871.90M&MFIN 204.55 218.80 189.30 210.50ASHOKLEY 49.70 49.70 41.10 43.90SUNPHARMA 369.80 379.10 362.80 365.80NAUKRI 1949.95 2072.30 1865.85 1943.05CERA 2095.00 2467.50 2095.00 2401.50IBREALEST 43.70 48.20 43.70 45.10ICICIGI 1020.00 1057.70 953.70 1004.45WESTLIFE 285.15 336.95 285.15 323.95OIL 79.90 85.55 75.20 81.50TITAN 910.00 934.05 866.25 906.55MOTHERSUMI 65.00 69.35 62.75 66.75HDFCAMC 2300.05 2534.00 2280.00 2411.95THYROCARE 505.70 519.40 485.45 505.75PETRONET 194.65 208.80 179.30 207.70NTPC 79.00 82.20 76.30 81.50ZEEL 143.60 153.25 136.35 144.80PVR 1200.00 1367.10 1162.80 1313.95EICHERMOT 15648.00 15960.80 14474.85 15661.30FDC 203.00 208.95 194.20 202.65JINDALSTEL 95.15 106.95 92.90 104.70BANDHANBNK 207.00 236.40 204.30 232.35VEDL 71.90 77.95 70.50 75.35BPCL 306.80 323.05 298.65 318.50PEL 780.00 818.55 663.30 684.80DLF 129.90 141.85 121.40 139.90ADANIPORTS 259.00 264.60 247.65 257.05NESTLEIND 13430.00 14425.95 13206.20 14148.85MUTHOOTFIN 585.00 636.00 584.20 625.45DRREDDY 2750.00 2946.35 2650.00 2898.10JSWSTEEL 169.85 179.35 164.85 176.45PIDILITIND 1450.00 1543.00 1420.70 1501.85COALINDIA 124.70 134.50 122.60 132.45TECHM 535.00 583.90 528.00 576.45ISEC 308.70 312.95 273.00 282.75UNIONBANK 29.50 29.90 28.60 29.20WIPRO 165.00 185.60 162.60 179.40AMBUJACEM 154.00 168.65 151.95 160.90L&TFH 59.65 62.40 56.85 59.55MANAPPURAM 85.35 100.00 85.35 97.20GAIL 69.55 82.30 69.55 80.90IDFCFIRSTB 21.00 21.65 18.60 20.60BANKBARODA 62.20 66.80 61.90 63.25LAXMIMACH 2701.75 2701.75 2476.70 2546.75INFRATEL 125.05 155.45 123.30 149.80FORTIS 122.60 136.00 121.90 131.75IOC 90.00 92.95 88.30 90.60M&M 315.05 327.25 308.25 322.95BATAINDIA 1090.05 1284.80 1090.05 1230.10DIVISLAB 1899.90 2010.00 1866.70 1993.60ULTRACEMCO 3200.00 3657.20 3144.70 3580.45SRF 2925.00 3320.00 2866.05 3221.00MGL 757.00 817.15 731.30 792.35HINDPETRO 192.10 212.40 189.60 209.25NMDC 69.50 74.80 66.15 71.95UPL 297.00 320.10 287.30 298.90GRASIM 491.00 548.95 488.45 528.35AUROPHARMA 361.50 372.00 341.20 347.00LUPIN 636.30 665.00 620.00 641.60CANBK 100.70 102.95 95.45 96.15NCC 20.15 22.70 19.60 22.10AMARAJABAT 469.00 474.25 421.95 434.70LICHSGFIN 227.00 234.00 218.00 223.70PNB 37.50 38.95 36.70 38.20IPCALAB 1345.00 1500.00 1310.00 1371.85SRTRANSFIN 636.30 664.35 570.50 582.15CADILAHC 254.00 290.00 254.00 286.10SBILIFE 610.00 680.00 605.65 636.45HINDALCO 103.75 107.65 99.00 105.45FEDERALBNK 52.20 55.80 52.20 52.85HEROMOTOCO 1706.00 1839.00 1680.00 1817.50ADANIPOWER 28.00 29.50 26.75 29.05DABUR 419.55 452.40 415.25 444.50NIITTECH 1064.30 1163.15 1005.00 1142.20

HCLTECH 415.00 461.70 412.80 445.45ICICIPRULI 289.30 313.00 282.30 304.35EQUITAS 48.00 54.05 47.10 51.40RECLTD 89.20 95.20 89.00 91.85BHEL 23.25 23.90 22.10 23.40BAJAJ-AUTO 2225.00 2297.95 2157.00 2251.65TATACONSUM 247.25 273.65 235.60 264.15TATAELXSI 581.15 631.65 572.80 599.10LTI 1340.00 1598.95 1320.55 1520.55BANKINDIA 36.00 36.65 34.70 35.25TORNTPOWER 271.60 294.00 263.25 287.10OMAXE 162.90 164.40 158.10 163.10BEL 67.00 73.75 64.45 71.80BIOCON 259.80 276.95 253.70 274.85AUBANK 640.00 682.95 598.55 650.00DMART 1760.15 1923.10 1740.00 1923.10DEEPAKNI 360.00 398.80 347.60 380.10GMRINFRA 16.05 17.60 16.00 17.20BALKRISIND 779.00 845.90 734.50 826.50NAM-INDIA 240.00 258.15 233.00 257.00GLENMARK 206.20 218.50 203.90 210.50PTC 34.50 37.85 34.50 36.25BERGEPAINT 403.00 455.85 400.70 452.15SAIL 25.70 27.00 25.35 26.75BRITANNIA 2366.60 2507.00 2297.70 2471.20ADANIENT 131.00 141.45 128.70 137.20ATUL 3987.00 4300.00 3744.90 4210.75MINDTREE 725.00 879.45 711.75 848.30STAR 277.00 303.10 271.00 303.10MRF 58967.50 60998.50 57479.65 59191.85SHK 85.00 89.25 68.90 82.20SHREECEM 17732.00 19133.50 17122.70 18945.70HEXAWARE 217.05 245.45 203.95 238.30COLPAL 1115.15 1209.95 1115.15 1188.30PAGEIND 18304.80 19000.00 17956.80 18096.95CIPLA 380.00 399.75 372.95 393.60BHARATFORG 305.25 327.45 292.90 301.35IGL 335.00 349.05 326.00 344.10GODREJPROP 656.50 724.95 612.00 711.85DIXON 3540.00 3698.00 3274.55 3589.00MFSL 381.00 413.80 371.00 407.85SIEMENS 1120.75 1177.60 1085.40 1168.85TORNTPHARM 1830.50 1934.15 1798.60 1906.30MCX 945.00 1050.00 935.00 1041.35NHPC 18.65 21.70 18.50 21.20CONCOR 292.10 351.90 289.65 331.05BOSCHLTD 9600.00 9833.20 9204.75 9661.65SPICEJET 34.50 35.80 32.50 35.25NAVINFLUOR 1136.40 1215.00 1122.20 1189.25MIDHANI 183.50 191.90 170.95 175.30PFC 89.20 94.60 88.20 91.85APOLLOTYRE 87.95 92.35 84.80 89.10

EXIDEIND 140.00 149.25 137.40 146.40UJJIVAN 185.00 200.80 177.80 186.25TATAMTRDVR 32.65 34.10 31.95 32.55GODFRYPHLP 815.00 880.00 810.00 850.50DCBBANK 109.00 112.60 105.45 108.85CEATLTD 719.50 748.15 708.00 714.25GODREJCP 485.00 509.35 475.55 500.05METROPOLIS 1560.00 1609.00 1455.00 1550.20HAVELLS 536.10 554.80 522.00 538.80GRAPHITE 131.10 134.85 124.95 129.65INFIBEAM 34.50 37.00 32.10 33.25RAJESHEXPO 599.95 604.20 578.00 583.50CANFINHOME 319.00 347.25 310.60 336.45TATAPOWER 34.55 37.50 34.10 36.80HEG 560.00 600.00 532.85 554.85VOLTAS 547.65 585.20 547.65 566.30STRTECH 74.50 79.95 72.10 72.85ABBOTINDIA 13260.00 15268.00 13260.00 14791.75ACC 1081.25 1145.65 1063.65 1128.40TRENT 477.70 524.00 448.85 505.15CASTROLIND 115.25 118.90 111.00 113.85RAYMOND 271.50 284.30 265.00 274.80GRANULES 132.15 143.65 131.15 138.25TVSMOTOR 369.90 383.55 354.70 379.80ADANIGAS 100.50 103.10 96.30 99.00BASF 1075.00 1152.70 1075.00 1125.35HAWKINCOOK 4099.95 4200.00 3650.25 3880.80SANOFI 6439.40 6600.00 6225.00 6368.85DBL 255.00 297.10 255.00 271.90SUNTV 334.80 339.70 319.20 325.90SUZLON 1.92 1.98 1.85 1.93PRSMJOHNSN 36.85 40.20 35.70 37.60MARICO 250.00 260.90 247.80 256.00SPARC 93.00 106.60 93.00 104.55LALPATHLAB 1454.70 1457.90 1362.55 1408.80GSKCONS 8100.00 9090.00 8100.00 8953.70AVANTI 283.45 295.00 279.70 285.30

WOCKPHARMA 184.85 193.00 172.90 177.25FSL 29.00 32.60 28.95 29.85RPOWER 1.14 1.19 1.10 1.19GICRE 99.00 104.40 94.35 94.90KAJARIACER 424.15 451.15 419.30 435.85CHOLAFIN 178.85 200.65 175.40 193.75IDBI 20.60 22.75 19.95 22.15POLYCAB 757.00 797.60 757.00 774.70VENKYS 644.00 699.25 634.95 684.45DELTACORP 61.00 66.20 61.00 62.85HONAUT 24998.70 27000.00 24000.10 25177.45NOCIL 60.60 66.30 59.70 64.00SUNTECK 241.65 248.05 212.30 227.80UBL 887.70 930.15 864.00 895.30RADICO 299.90 311.30 293.00 304.05BEML 502.00 527.10 465.25 473.00BOMDYEING 42.55 45.80 42.00 43.85ABCAPITAL 46.50 48.45 45.45 46.00WELCORP 74.65 79.20 71.70 72.05EDELWEISS 38.10 43.25 38.10 40.80ALKEM 2210.00 2365.85 2190.00 2351.35IRCON 336.00 362.40 326.95 355.90GSPL 170.00 189.20 156.80 186.90ITI 48.00 57.80 48.00 56.85NATIONALUM 30.35 32.55 29.80 32.35TV18BRDCST 14.70 15.10 13.85 14.65ALKYLAMINE 1148.00 1293.90 1094.45 1250.75DEEPAKFERT 76.00 87.20 76.00 78.90NBCC 16.00 17.05 15.40 17.05BLISSGVS 101.45 104.70 99.65 101.60GUJGAS 230.05 245.00 225.00 241.75PNBHOUSING 207.90 211.20 190.00 192.10PFIZER 4094.10 4140.00 3970.00 4020.85ABFRL 188.00 189.00 174.55 186.85LTTS 1210.05 1267.95 1152.50 1240.45ASTRAZEN 2110.00 2429.00 2080.00 2357.75CUB 153.00 165.95 141.25 163.35GODREJIND 318.25 325.20 313.50 315.00BALRAMCHIN 88.35 90.85 86.00 89.25RITES 239.00 249.80 226.35 245.25IDFC 17.20 17.45 15.40 16.15BAJAJHLDNG 2320.00 2411.40 2211.60 2299.75ASTRAL 970.35 973.75 910.00 934.55JKCEMENT 1038.00 1060.95 946.65 987.10AMBER 1151.20 1250.95 1128.05 1221.25VIPIND 237.00 237.90 213.00 231.55FORCEMOT 751.55 784.90 733.25 760.80RELAXO 560.00 607.85 538.60 597.75KTKBANK 45.50 49.45 45.50 47.90PGHH 9650.00 10001.00 9460.00 9842.40HEIDELBERG 147.00 159.05 140.00 152.40GSFC 37.40 39.50 36.70 37.10WHIRLPOOL 1832.80 2073.45 1794.05 2016.20PIIND 1182.50 1272.90 1160.00 1199.40ENGINERSIN 55.95 58.30 53.70 57.20INOXLEISUR 261.70 283.55 259.00 283.55HINDCOPPER 21.60 23.70 21.60 22.80IRB 58.05 60.70 57.15 58.45GNFC 115.50 117.45 109.00 115.75RVNL 13.80 14.80 13.60 13.90LUXIND 1043.00 1056.70 982.45 1016.00AJANTPHARM 1199.25 1254.00 1156.60 1203.203MINDIA 17051.00 17576.00 16932.05 17316.25HUDCO 21.50 22.25 21.15 21.65JUBILANT 265.00 280.65 250.00 280.65PCJEWELLER 10.20 10.60 9.40 9.65AKZOINDIA 2000.00 2189.00 1970.55 2143.30PHILIPCARB 61.00 67.15 61.00 66.80HINDZINC 130.00 142.65 127.25 135.95PRESTIGE 160.30 175.00 153.00 157.95APLAPOLLO 1211.00 1419.95 1211.00 1309.05EMAMILTD 176.00 193.60 176.00 184.45HFCL 8.95 9.60 8.95 9.36SOUTHBANK 5.50 5.73 5.45 5.67NLCINDIA 42.85 47.20 41.55 45.65JAICORPLTD 51.30 53.60 49.35 52.90SUDARSCHEM 368.00 384.00 345.00 367.40BBTC 729.00 768.00 726.90 738.90INDHOTEL 85.00 92.00 82.50 90.65FINEORG 1823.00 1915.00 1775.45 1852.15GODREJAGRO 307.60 332.20 303.15 315.00FCONSUMER 9.98 9.98 9.98 9.98VINATIORGA 740.00 804.85 735.00 785.95COCHINSHIP 235.00 272.90 230.60 270.15COROMANDEL 525.00 560.00 475.40 555.20JSWENERGY 47.00 50.50 42.55 46.65GLAXO 1202.45 1256.55 1182.10 1235.30KANSAINER 375.00 380.75 360.10 370.35GESHIP 191.00 205.05 186.65 197.50MOTILALOFS 560.00 614.50 555.00 605.60JINDALSAW 50.40 57.90 49.80 53.00INTELLECT 48.70 53.75 48.65 51.20RELINFRA 10.25 11.25 10.25 10.50SUPREMEIND 958.00 960.75 920.00 945.60CHAMBLFERT 107.95 111.55 104.40 107.70CREDITACC 589.95 602.00 513.20 519.75SCI 38.00 40.95 38.00 40.00VBL 663.00 663.00 567.45 604.75CRISIL 1227.50 1310.95 1166.35 1227.60ADANIGREEN 142.00 142.15 138.55 142.05GMDCLTD 33.30 36.05 33.00 34.85WELSPUNIND 27.30 27.55 25.00 25.35RAIN 51.50 56.30 51.50 55.35INDIANB 50.35 54.10 49.40 52.00RESPONIND 81.80 84.70 81.00 84.60ASHOKA 53.90 56.70 51.20 55.90KEI 267.45 279.25 252.00 257.25KEC 234.00 235.35 220.00 222.00SONATSOFTW 190.00 196.80 176.80 182.55

GREAVESCOT 79.90 89.90 76.60 86.20LAKSHVILAS 13.45 14.35 13.25 13.40NESCO 540.00 540.00 495.00 502.50RCF 27.00 28.85 26.80 28.05REPCOHOME 160.55 161.65 145.70 151.90ARVINDFASN 156.95 166.95 151.75 162.70JKPAPER 78.05 82.25 78.05 79.90APLLTD 507.55 553.00 507.55 545.10

EIDPARRY 116.80 129.00 115.00 127.10NATCOPHARM 516.65 554.25 516.65 533.65QUESS 257.35 267.30 247.20 247.20BALMLAWRIE 79.90 84.85 78.00 79.65NIACL 85.10 94.00 83.00 89.05AEGISLOG 141.35 154.15 132.30 140.75BAYERCROP 3600.00 3828.15 3415.00 3519.10SOBHA 179.75 200.00 176.00 180.70KRBL 164.10 174.95 164.10 169.05RELCAPITAL 4.35 4.53 4.15 4.30WABAG 110.20 112.00 100.20 102.05RALLIS 182.90 203.90 179.25 187.90FINOLEXIND 374.35 388.70 343.90 381.95VGUARD 165.00 186.25 162.00 179.10KALPATPOWR 217.45 217.45 206.80 211.95VSTIND 3242.00 3502.75 3208.90 3231.10LINDEINDIA 474.30 484.85 441.90 471.70MPHASIS 665.00 707.00 655.00 699.40SUNDRMFAST 286.95 295.80 283.65 294.45JCHAC 2220.15 2527.55 2210.05 2408.40MEGH 38.00 40.35 38.00 38.70CROMPTON 209.85 226.75 203.20 211.45DCMSHRIRAM 238.00 254.00 230.65 249.45PARAGMILK 55.90 62.60 55.00 58.45DISHTV 5.12 5.27 5.10 5.14GHCL 87.85 93.35 86.00 89.85ADANITRANS 215.00 215.00 195.45 195.50JBCHEPHARM 529.40 540.80 502.00 506.95EIHOTEL 70.85 73.90 63.00 73.15BAJAJELEC 320.00 370.40 307.80 341.05NH 266.00 282.85 240.95 247.55CYIENT 281.00 287.50 266.00 270.30JMFINANCIL 67.00 73.80 65.50 73.15TATAINVEST 713.50 756.55 696.00 737.35NETWORK18 16.60 17.60 16.50 17.05SWANENERGY 100.65 102.00 100.00 100.00WABCOINDIA 5800.90 5980.55 5766.45 5966.00GRINDWELL 472.00 479.95 444.45 461.50ORIENTELEC 164.05 180.00 164.05 172.65GARFIBRES 1022.85 1138.55 1020.85 1070.30TATACOFFEE 59.45 60.95 58.40 59.90SHANKARA 285.15 304.35 285.15 285.15HSCL 34.80 36.10 32.60 34.75SJVN 19.50 21.00 19.50 20.50CAPPL 243.95 248.15 231.00 238.90TVSSRICHAK 919.00 982.65 910.00 949.95TIMKEN 800.00 841.70 734.40 824.00MINDAIND 252.00 292.00 238.00 269.80RAMCOCEM 553.20 597.00 551.00 593.00BIRLACORPN 505.00 519.85 497.20 508.15JKTYRE 42.20 44.35 41.30 43.05J&KBANK 14.15 14.35 11.30 12.80MOIL 96.50 99.85 93.15 97.15CGCL 182.40 199.90 169.50 178.80OFSS 1860.00 1924.00 1810.70 1871.85OBEROIRLTY 432.00 450.90 412.20 431.25HAL 568.70 582.80 555.55 572.50SOLARINDS 970.70 981.20 922.10 962.20GILLETTE 4881.50 5004.95 4834.85 4959.10MAHSCOOTER 2500.00 2575.20 2419.00 2488.45LAOPALA 158.00 174.20 137.00 161.20SIS 355.00 431.50 337.25 423.05SYMPHONY 964.00 978.30 935.00 941.55CARERATING 325.55 338.00 309.10 332.45JAMNAAUTO 25.20 29.90 24.20 26.40TRIDENT 3.65 3.84 3.60 3.66ASTERDM 90.10 95.50 89.55 92.75IEX 136.40 143.00 131.50 137.05CESC 467.15 480.50 456.00 471.55REDINGTON 73.00 80.05 72.85 75.05MRPL 29.50 30.90 28.00 28.45MASFIN 595.00 628.00 568.00 573.20JISLJALEQS 3.55 3.83 3.47 3.73BAJAJCON 136.00 140.35 134.00 138.80IFCI 3.45 3.77 3.36 3.53CHENNPETRO 65.15 69.30 64.35 66.45ADVENZYMES 111.50 115.85 108.50 112.20PGHL 3460.00 3574.95 3337.15 3419.80

GRSE 136.90 141.50 130.75 139.30TATAMETALI 430.00 438.00 390.00 394.10IIFL 92.30 97.00 85.60 90.20BRIGADE 164.95 168.00 154.10 156.40CCL 168.50 182.50 166.25 181.35LAURUSLABS 362.55 379.75 359.25 364.90PHOENIXLTD 648.00 664.65 585.90 646.80VMART 1701.00 1807.95 1667.30 1700.05BLUESTARCO 630.00 630.00 553.00 561.55SCHNEIDER 67.00 68.50 66.00 66.95GUJALKALI 202.60 232.50 202.00 223.80TIINDIA 387.50 401.60 377.50 385.65JYOTHYLAB 95.00 100.00 93.00 98.35DALBHARAT 503.95 519.20 494.25 511.10TTKPRESTIG 4759.10 4953.70 4578.20 4603.35LEMONTREE 31.00 32.45 28.70 31.30PNCINFRA 118.75 130.00 112.50 123.85IOB 7.05 7.19 6.94 7.12ESABINDIA 1086.30 1147.00 1070.00 1132.50BLUEDART 2101.05 2435.00 2047.05 2315.25PERSISTENT 530.00 555.00 480.00 507.50BDL 172.00 190.00 172.00 182.65CENTURYPLY 105.00 119.90 101.25 113.00KNRCON 217.45 224.95 207.65 221.00NILKAMAL 1035.00 1126.50 1016.05 1097.35VARROC 180.00 189.70 169.10 183.35ALLCARGO 69.30 74.75 67.90 68.55HERITGFOOD 198.35 198.35 181.40 184.90FINCABLES 216.40 216.40 180.00 202.30RATNAMANI 1066.00 1066.00 990.70 1013.60DCAL* 58.40 60.70 58.00 59.75ZENSARTECH 92.80 93.00 85.95 87.85ITDC 114.60 123.80 114.40 116.25JSLHISAR 36.15 39.30 35.75 38.35ESSELPRO 151.90 156.65 149.65 154.65DHANUKA 326.65 344.95 318.50 319.15UCOBANK 10.25 10.25 9.65 9.71AAVAS 1300.00 1325.00 1233.95 1305.10MMTC 12.40 12.65 11.65 12.05MINDACORP 57.70 62.85 57.30 62.85SKFINDIA 1565.00 1600.15 1493.15 1546.85ECLERX 358.95 405.00 356.20 377.45VRLLOG 150.00 160.00 143.20 146.65CENTRALBK 12.35 12.70 12.05 12.45AIAENG 1402.50 1430.10 1350.45 1379.20MAHINDCIE 78.10 78.10 74.40 74.90SYNGENE 242.95 259.00 235.30 238.60VAIBHAVGBL 780.00 780.00 748.50 764.60ZYDUSWELL 1228.35 1250.80 1202.00 1230.05JKLAKSHMI 230.30 238.50 222.15 229.75JSL 28.00 28.75 26.25 27.90HIMATSEIDE 61.05 69.00 58.20 62.00UFLEX 150.25 157.85 146.25 155.25ENDURANCE 714.75 742.35 709.00 729.55ERIS 370.00 391.60 370.00 379.85SFL 1369.00 1470.00 1300.00 1358.05NAVNETEDUL 58.20 61.25 49.00 58.50GALAXYSURF 1160.05 1200.00 1110.00 1184.50ORIENTREF 150.50 160.40 147.00 149.85GET&D 79.90 81.25 70.05 73.15TCNSBRANDS 410.20 498.10 340.90 461.80CENTRUM 9.00 9.80 8.90 8.95IFBIND 283.00 289.45 268.25 270.10GPPL 58.55 68.00 57.85 58.45ORIENTCEM 48.45 49.60 46.00 49.00TEJASNET 36.50 39.65 36.50 36.90TCIEXP 614.20 639.25 592.00 614.80KPITTECH 48.80 48.80 42.90 44.95MAGMA 20.80 20.80 19.40 20.00MAHABANK 9.12 9.16 8.81 9.05ITDCEM 31.20 32.90 30.00 31.70MAHSEAMLES 224.45 241.00 220.10 237.75CHOLAHLDNG 426.60 433.95 406.10 414.55MHRIL 148.20 156.40 145.95 149.25MAHLOG 250.45 252.05 233.90 242.60TEAMLEASE 1845.00 1991.75 1834.10 1963.80TNPL 109.60 112.50 105.85 107.85FLFL 187.05 187.05 187.05 187.05JAGRAN 46.00 46.00 41.40 42.70DBCORP 95.00 95.00 81.05 84.05INDOSTAR 254.45 272.55 250.05 260.05GICHSGFIN 61.15 65.00 60.00 61.55NBVENTURES 39.25 41.15 38.00 39.30CARBORUNIV 229.15 230.35 220.00 221.85SADBHAV 39.50 39.70 37.60 38.05FRETAIL 112.50 112.50 112.50 112.50MAHLIFE 225.00 262.60 220.00 241.00TIMETECHNO 30.95 31.10 28.60 29.35KPRMILL 404.50 421.20 402.05 418.05TAKE 41.00 41.90 40.00 41.15SUPRAJIT 123.90 137.75 123.90 130.75JTEKTINDIA 40.00 43.50 39.00 42.85GDL 90.25 95.00 85.75 86.80MAXINDIA 66.40 66.55 63.95 65.35GEPIL 524.00 556.45 513.40 553.30DHFL 10.58 10.58 10.58 10.58STARCEMENT 68.50 73.00 66.20 69.90SOMANYCERA 121.75 121.75 111.55 111.90SCHAEFFLER 3900.00 3950.00 3844.85 3900.95SHOPERSTOP 219.15 230.00 203.00 208.25GULFOILLUB 515.00 556.20 515.00 544.45HATHWAY 12.65 13.30 12.20 12.80VTL 870.00 876.95 867.60 867.75CHALET 215.00 221.20 205.00 221.20INOXWIND 19.75 21.10 19.70 20.85TVTODAY 145.80 154.65 143.25 154.65IBULISL 60.90 60.90 60.90 60.90SHRIRAMCIT 990.00 1022.20 971.90 1017.75GAYAPROJ 10.85 10.85 10.85 10.85

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 8284.45 8883.00 8178.20 8745.45 482.00INFRATEL 124.20 155.90 122.80 152.10 28.05ONGC 63.05 74.40 62.75 71.90 10.85GAIL 71.00 82.40 70.30 80.80 11.40HINDUNILVR 1850.00 2078.90 1850.00 2075.00 236.70ULTRACEMCO 3185.00 3656.80 3140.35 3561.00 394.95RELIANCE 939.50 1034.90 930.00 1028.00 110.30GRASIM 495.00 564.70 488.05 543.55 52.50HDFC 1624.00 1776.90 1535.20 1776.90 159.30DRREDDY 2641.00 2949.00 2641.00 2879.80 255.85WIPRO 163.10 185.80 162.50 178.00 15.65VEDL 72.40 78.00 70.40 76.00 6.65TCS 1630.00 1869.00 1627.00 1792.95 156.60ITC 165.10 176.50 165.10 176.35 14.50TATASTEEL 279.70 305.00 274.15 296.00 24.15JSWSTEEL 167.00 179.10 164.65 177.65 14.35ASIANPAINT 1610.00 1757.40 1570.55 1737.30 136.10BAJAJFINSV 5725.20 6391.95 5700.00 6240.00 454.50HCLTECH 413.50 461.95 411.85 444.70 31.25NESTLEIND 13198.00 14433.10 13150.00 14100.00 979.70BAJFINANCE 2799.85 3044.00 2621.65 2950.00 203.90BPCL 305.00 323.00 298.60 322.00 21.75COALINDIA 124.50 135.80 122.65 132.40 8.85TECHM 525.10 595.45 525.10 567.00 37.00TATAMOTORS 74.00 79.60 72.65 77.80 4.85INFY 549.50 617.45 548.00 580.90 35.35SHREECEM 17385.00 19186.30 17026.75 18880.00 1148.55HEROMOTOCO1725.00 1845.70 1675.00 1822.00 109.55BRITANNIA 2341.30 2500.90 2294.25 2455.80 137.65HINDALCO 101.20 107.70 98.70 105.50 5.75MARUTI 4869.00 5225.00 4812.60 5094.00 274.45POWERGRID 148.25 161.85 148.25 154.70 7.55EICHERMOT 15394.50 15999.00 14465.65 15750.00 703.55KOTAKBANK 1217.00 1283.60 1146.50 1266.95 56.10BHARTIARTL 445.00 472.00 436.65 461.60 16.85IOC 89.00 92.95 88.10 90.90 2.95NTPC 78.50 82.35 76.35 80.95 2.60BAJAJ-AUTO 2189.90 2298.90 2153.95 2228.20 61.60CIPLA 379.80 399.80 372.45 385.20 10.50SBIN 205.55 215.70 200.00 208.85 5.20M&M 316.00 328.20 308.25 321.30 7.10ZEEL 144.20 153.30 136.20 144.00 2.80ICICIBANK 328.00 359.80 323.00 344.40 5.85UPL 294.00 320.65 287.00 300.00 3.25LT 849.00 877.80 831.30 852.00 8.90SUNPHARMA 365.20 379.50 362.20 363.05 2.65TITAN 906.10 934.00 866.00 905.00 1.50AXISBANK 431.40 449.70 414.20 425.00 -3.25INDUSINDBK 444.05 478.90 405.25 440.10 -3.95ADANIPORTS 257.60 264.50 247.20 255.20 -3.15HDFCBANK 875.00 914.60 824.55 881.25 -14.30

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 20421.75 21369.40 20071.05 20982.90 744.65BANDHANBNK 203.75 239.85 203.75 235.00 34.25CONCOR 288.45 352.35 288.45 334.55 48.65CADILAHC 252.00 290.00 252.00 285.20 39.35NHPC 18.70 21.75 18.45 20.85 2.40BERGEPAINT 413.90 456.00 400.00 450.40 46.35HINDPETRO 195.40 212.45 189.60 210.00 19.90DLF 129.00 141.75 121.35 141.00 12.55HINDZINC 130.00 142.50 127.30 138.65 11.40BIOCON 258.20 276.95 253.50 275.15 22.25COLPAL 1125.00 1212.00 1115.00 1197.15 84.60ICICIPRULI 288.00 313.00 282.10 302.20 20.65NMDC 67.00 74.80 66.20 71.50 4.85DIVISLAB 1875.55 2017.15 1864.40 2000.05 129.10DABUR 419.00 452.70 415.00 446.50 27.65OFSS 1782.10 1950.00 1782.10 1880.00 114.60IDEA 3.60 3.60 3.30 3.50 0.20PGHH 9750.00 10000.00 9478.80 9999.00 492.00DMART 1790.00 1916.10 1733.70 1916.10 91.20ACC 1085.10 1146.50 1060.60 1142.90 52.95NIACL 86.00 94.75 82.75 89.00 4.05SIEMENS 1120.55 1178.80 1085.00 1165.00 51.80HDFCAMC 2313.00 2533.00 2272.30 2405.00 105.55PETRONET 193.90 208.75 179.25 205.90 8.25MOTHERSUMI 64.10 69.45 62.60 66.70 2.55MCDOWELL-N 500.00 529.95 499.10 519.00 19.55PIDILITIND 1459.00 1543.95 1423.10 1499.95 54.25PFC 91.40 94.80 88.15 92.40 3.30GODREJCP 488.20 509.80 475.55 499.85 16.80AMBUJACEM 153.95 168.55 151.40 159.10 5.15BANKBARODA 62.05 66.90 61.85 63.25 1.80MARICO 250.55 260.90 247.80 255.00 6.70PNB 37.50 39.00 36.70 38.20 1.00IBULHSGFIN 93.00 115.50 81.00 92.00 2.25UBL 870.00 932.95 863.80 900.15 21.15L&TFH 60.00 62.40 56.75 59.55 1.30LUPIN 640.70 665.10 631.25 644.70 9.70AUROPHARMA 364.00 372.20 341.00 350.10 4.10BAJAJHLDNG 2301.60 2419.25 2210.80 2325.00 24.40BOSCHLTD 9579.95 9849.00 9200.05 9650.00 95.40HAVELLS 537.00 554.90 521.35 537.80 2.60SBILIFE 627.00 680.75 606.00 610.00 2.30HDFCLIFE 425.10 442.00 411.30 415.90 -1.05PAGEIND 18269.50 19018.70 17921.85 18000.00 -156.10ICICIGI 1050.00 1074.25 950.00 1013.00 -16.40INDIGO 850.10 949.20 835.10 870.00 -39.20ADANITRANS 209.00 214.00 195.65 195.65 -10.25SRTRANSFIN 637.00 664.75 569.80 588.00 -34.65GICRE 100.20 104.90 94.30 95.00 -8.45ASHOKLEY 49.20 49.40 41.10 44.10 -3.95PEL 779.90 819.25 665.00 682.95 -94.25

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California was placed underlockdown in the most dras-

tic step yet by a US state to con-tain the fast-spreading coron-avirus as Italy surpassed Chinaas the country with the mostdeaths from the pandemic.

The United States mean-while is fast-tracking anti-malarial drugs for use as a virustreatment, President DonaldTrump said, as he lashed out atChina for not informing theworld earlier about the originaloutbreak.

China for its part on Fridayreported a second day with nonew domestic cases since thevirus appeared in the centralcity of Wuhan in December,before spreading worldwide.

While there was a glimmerof hope in China, several coun-tries tightened their bordersand imposed lockdowns, trap-ping tens of millions of peoplein their homes.

And the UN chief warned“millions” could die if the virusspreads unchecked around theglobe.

Governments and centralbanks have unleashed a block-buster series of measures toprop up the teetering globaleconomy, only to see the once-in-a-century pandemic seem-ingly spiral further out of con-trol.

The death toll soared inEurope as Italy announcedanother 427 fatalities onThursday, taking its total to3,405, according to a tally com-piled by AFP from officialsources.

China has officially report-ed 3,248 deaths from the virus,which can cause respiratoryfailure, particularly in the elder-ly.

Globally, the death tollfrom the virus has risen toalmost 10,000 with more than232,000 cases in 158 countriesand territories, according to theAFP tally.

UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres warnedThursday of the virus’s poten-tially devastating effects.

“If we let the virus spreadlike wildfire — especially in themost vulnerable regions of theworld — it would kill millionsof people,” Guterres said.

The number of infectionsand deaths in the rest of theworld has surpassed those inChina, which appears to havestaunched the virus with strictmeasures including a com-plete quarantine of Wuhansince January.

Trump, who has comeunder fire for his response tothe crisis, charged Thursdaythat the world was paying forChina’s lack of transparencyabout the outbreak there.

“It could have been con-tained to that one area ofChina where it started. Andcertainly the world is paying abig price for what they did,” hesaid.

Trump said US authoritieswere fast-tracking antimalari-als chloroquine and hydroxy-chloroquine for use as a coro-navirus treatment, makingthem available “almost imme-diately.” The drugs are syntheticforms of quinine, which hasbeen used to treat malaria forcenturies.

As the toll surged in Italy,Prime Minister GiuseppeConte said the national lock-down, which has been copiedaround Europe, would be pro-longed to April 3.

France also mootedextending its two-week lock-down ordered this week byPresident Emmanuel Macron,as the interior minister blasted“idiots” who flout home con-finement rules and put othersat risk.

In Argentina, PresidentAlberto Fernandez announceda “preventative and compulso-ry” lockdown from Friday toMarch 31, while Brazil’s Rio deJaneiro state will close its famedbeaches as well as restaurantsand bars for 15 days to try tocontain the pandemic.

California Governor GavinNewsom said the state’s lock-

down — affecting more than 39million people — would beginThursday evening in a “recog-nition of our interdependence”.

In Britain, Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said the countrycould “turn the tide” on coro-navirus within 12 weeks — butonly if people heed advice toavoid social contact.

The disease continued tohit high-profile figures with EUBrexit negotiator MichelBarnier, Monaco’s PrinceAlbert II and at least a half-dozen NBA players in theUnited States among thosetesting positive.

Also falling victim to thepandemic was the G7 summitin June, which was meant to behosted by Trump at the CampDavid presidential retreat nearWashington. The group ofseven wealthy democracies willnow meet via videoconference.

And as the Olympic flamearrived in Japan Friday to amuted reception, Tokyo Gamesorganizers faced renewed callsfor the event to be delayed.

“It should be postponedunder the current situationwhere athletes are not wellprepared,” Japan OlympicCommittee member KaoriYamaguchi told the Nikkeidaily in an interview publishedthe day the flame landed.

With countries paralysedby the pandemic and stock

markets imploding, policy-makers this week unleashed awave of measures to shore upthe global economy.

The European CentralBank announced a 750-bil-lion-euro bond-buying scheme,dubbed the “big bazooka.” Inthe United States, TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchinurged Congress to pass a $1-trillion emergency stimuluspackage. Asian equities enjoyedsome much-needed gainsFriday after Wall Street finishedhigher following a volatile ses-sion as investors weighed thegovernment stimulus measuresagainst some of the first datapointing to a sharp US eco-nomic slowdown.

European stocks alsostaged a rebound on the stim-ulus news.

The battle is only justbeginning across the rest of theworld, with the shadow of thevirus lengthening across Africa.

The Nigerian mega-city ofLagos announced it would shutits schools while Burkina Fasoconfirmed the first death insub-Saharan Africa.

Russia reported its firstdeath and even the Pacificnation of Fiji said it had its firstcase. Countries are takingincreasingly drastic steps tostem infections, with Australiaand New Zealand banningnon-residents from arriving.

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No new domestic coron-avirus cases were con-

firmed in China for the secondconsecutive day even as threemore fatalities have beenreported, taking the death tollin the country to 3,248, theChinese health authority saidon Friday.

No new domestically trans-mitted cases of the novel coro-navirus disease were reportedon the Chinese mainland onThursday, the National HealthCommission (NHC) said.

China achieved a newmilestone in its efforts to con-tain the spread of the COVID-19 in the last three months byreporting zero cases onWednesday.

However, the NHC saidon Friday that it receivedreports of 39 newly con-

firmed COVID-19 cases onthe Chinese mainland onThursday, a l l of which were imported taking thetotal of confirmed cases ofpeople coming from abroadto 228.

Of them, 14 were reportedin the Guangdong Province,eight in Shanghai, six in Beijingand three in the FujianProvince. Provincial-levelregions of Tianjin, Liaoning,Heilongjiang, Zhejiang,Shandong, Guangxi, Sichuanand Gansu each reported onecase.

Also on Thursday, threedeaths and 31 newly suspectedcases were reported on themainland with two of thedeaths reported in the HubeiProvince and the third onereported in the LiaoningProvince.

The overall confirmed

cases on the mainland hadreached 80,967 by the end ofThursday. This included 3,248people who died of the disease,6,569 patients still being treat-ed and 71,150 patients dis-charged after recovery, theNHC said.

On Thursday, 730 peoplewere discharged from the hos-pital after recovery, while thenumber of severe casesdecreased by 178 to 2,136, itsaid.

The NHC said 104 peoplewere still suspected of beinginfected with the virus, while8,989 close contacts were stillunder medical observation.

By the end of Thursday,208 confirmed cases includingfour deaths had been reportedin Hong Kong, 17 confirmedcases in Macao and 108 inTaiwan including one death, itsaid.

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The priest gave a final bene-diction. There were no

flowers, no embraces.Francesca Steffanoni and

her mother hurried away fromBergamo’s main cemetery, theirfurtive farewell lasting no morethan 5 minutes.

Bergamo is the epicenter ofthe hardest-hit province ofItaly’s hardest-hit region,Lombardy, the site of hun-dreds of coronavirus deaths.

Families here are deprivedof a bedside farewell with virus-stricken loved ones, or even atraditional funeral, and thecemetery is so overwhelmed bythe number of dead that mili-tary trucks transported 65 bod-ies to a neighboring region forcremation this week.

Steffanoni had taken hermother to watch as the coffincontaining an 82-year-old rel-ative — a widower with a heartcondition, struck down withthe virus — was driven inside

the imposing gates. They woremasks and gloves; they kepttheir distance.

“In theory, we should nothave gone. But it was one of herlast relatives who remains,”Steffanoni said.

According to unofficial fig-ures, more than 600 peopleinfected with the virus havedied in the province, which istucked up against the ItalianAlps and accounts for morethan a quarter of all deaths inLombardy, even though it rep-resents only a tenth of theregion’s population of 10 mil-lion.

“We are confronting thebiggest COVID emergencyafter Wuhan,” said Dr. LucaLorini, head of intensive care atBergamo’s main hospital,named for native son PopeJohn XXIII, where nearly 500beds are dedicated to peoplesuffering severe symptoms ofthe virus, 80 of those in inten-sive care. “The numbers tell usthis.” But the numbers thus far

don’t tell the whole story.Provincial mayors are

sounding an alarm that thevirus-related toll fails to reflecta spike in deaths in the gener-al population among thosewho have not been tested. Lastweek alone, 400 people died inBergamo and 12 neighboringtowns — four times the num-ber who died the same weekthe previous year, according tothe Bergamo mayor’s office.Only 91 of those had testedpositive for the virus.

People on the front lines ofthe virus fight, including hos-pital officials, funeral operators,city administrators and unionleaders, told The AssociatedPress that Bergamo’s crisismight have been preventedhad their individual requests tocreate a red zone around thearea as early as Feb. 23 beenheeded.

Instead, strict containmentmeasures were extended toBergamo only on March 8, twoweeks later, without ever iso-

lating two valley towns wherethe outbreak was first record-ed.

“When the virus arrivedhere, there was no containmentand it spread through the val-leys very quickly. ... Some saidit was the normal flu. We doc-tors knew it was not,” Lorinisaid.

Funeral parlors alreadywere registering an alarmingincrease in deaths starting inJanuary and February, ananomaly they signaled to offi-cials, said Antonio Ricciardi,head of a local funeral parlorassociation. His business han-dled 611 funerals from March1-18, when the usual pace isjust over 100 in a full month.

After the first death innearby Alzano Lombardo wasrecorded and other cases con-firmed on Feb. 23, doctors atthe Pope John XXIII Hospitalset up an emergency ICU tohandle virus patients. That wastwo days after the lockdown of10 towns in southern

Lombardy, which has beenlargely declared a success andserved as a model for thenationwide shutdown institut-ed March 9.

No official explanation hasbeen given for the decision notto extend red-zone status toBergamo. Regional welfare offi-cial Giulio Gallera acknowl-edged the question but said hedidn’t want to place blame,adding “we are in a situation inwhich the entire region hassubstantially adopted particu-larly rigid measures.”

Eliana Como of the influ-ential FIOM metalworkersunion said she believes thearea’s economic significanceplayed a role in the decision notto place a red zone aroundtowns at the mouth of theSeriana Valley, home to steelproduction and artisanal work-shops.

“I think the business inter-ests weighed heavily on thedecision,” said Como, who livesin Bergamo.

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Sri Lankan has imposed anationwide curfew from

Friday until Monday to combatthe fast-spreading coronaviruspandemic that has claimedover 9,000 lives globally,President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’soffice has announced.

The curfew announcementcomes a day after the country’sElection Commissionannounced the postponementof the parliamentary electionwhich was scheduled for April25. The Commission said adecision on the new date wouldbe taken after March 25.

The country is to be placedunder a curfew with effectfrom 6 pm (local time) tonightuntil 6 am (local time) onMonday, President Rajapaksa’soffice said.

Although there were noreasons given for theannouncement, it is believedthat the government is keen to

see restricted movement of thepeople in order to promotesocial distancing in the face ofa looming threat posed by theCOVID-19 outbreak.

The national center taskedto prevent COVID-19 infec-tions said out of the 66 con-firmed cases so far, 25 werereturnees from overseas.

It said 22 of them werefrom Italy while 2 from the UKand one from India.

Over 2,400 people aregoing through quarantinewhich includes 27 foreignnationals, it added.

President Rajapaksa hasrefused to lockdown the entirecountry, citing economic hard-ships for the poor.

Sri Lankan police had pre-viously restricted the curfew tonight time in the westerncoastal areas, a move aimed attracking down Italy returneeswho were avoiding compulso-ry quarantine process.

The police said despite the

curfew people were engaging insocial activities, defying theneed to maintain social dis-tancing.

Countries around theworld are sealing their bordersand banning travel to stop thefast-spreading COVID-19pandemic that has claimed9,800 lives and infected morethan 232,650 people in 158countries and territories.

In view of the rising num-ber of the novel coronaviruscases globally, Sri Lanka onTuesday suspended all inter-national flights arriving in thecountry.

China with 80,967 infect-ed cases and 3,248 deaths topsthe list followed by Italy (41,035cases and 3,405 deaths), Iran(18,304 infected cases and1,284 deaths), Spain (19,077infected cases and 831 deaths),Germany (15,320 infected casesand 44 deaths) and France(10,995 infected cases and 372deaths).

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One store advertised handsanitizer at USD 60 a bottle.

Another was accused of hawkingit at USD 1 a squirt. Chain storesoffered USD 26 thermometersand face masks at the “everydaylow price” of USD 39.95 a pair,while a convenience store tout-ed toilet paper at USD 10 a rollnext to a sign reading: “This is nota joke.”

Across a country where linesare long, some shelves are emptyand patience is thin, authoritiesare receiving a surge of reportsabout merchants trying to cashin on the coronavirus crisis withoutrageous prices, phony curesand other scams.

An Associated Press surveyof attorneys general or con-sumer protection agenciesnationwide found reports alreadyexceeded 5,000, with hundredsmore arriving daily.

“Greed is a powerful moti-vator for some people,” said JoshStein, the attorney general ofNorth Carolina, where the num-ber of reports jumped from 72 to131 one day earlier this week.

“It is inexcusable to prey onpeople in a vulnerable time tomake a quick buck.” AP’s 50-statesurvey is the most comprehen-sive look so far at the emergingproblem.

In all, 41 states respondedwith numbers that included bothtips and formally filed com-plaints against mom-and-popstores and big-box retailers alike.

AP’s count is certainly lowalso because it only includescases in which someone wentonline or called to register a griev-ance. Many others went to thecourt of social media to vent their

outrage. “STOP SHOPPINGHERE!!” one woman blared onFacebook next to cellphone pho-tos of a Southern California gro-cery charging USD 6.98 for a gal-lon of milk and USD 14.99 forcheddar cheese.

“There are families out therewho really need groceries andthey’re overcharging.” BeyondAP’s state count, individual citiesare carrying out efforts to preventexploitation. New York Cityalone has received more than1,000 complaints, issued 550violations and imposed USD275,000 in fines for price goug-ing — including one case inwhich a store was accused of sell-ing bottles of Purell at USD 79each. Among the items the city

is preventing stores from jackingup the prices on: aloe vera andrubbing alcohol, the ingredientsthat can be combined to makehand sanitizer.

Three states, includingCalifornia, refused to share howmany reports they’ve received,and several rural states saidthey had none. Those that didare still checking out many of theclaims. While some have gone tocourt against sellers, others havedetermined cases didn’t meettheir legal standard for pricegouging, which generallyinvolves an increase of morethan 10 per cent.

Many states said they try toresolve reports not by pursuingfines or criminal charges but by

confronting the retailer, whichtypically apologizes and lowersthe price.

In Maine, investigators hadphotographic evidence from ashopper showing the USD 10rolls of toilet paper. In Tennessee,where state lawyers forced twobrothers to stop selling the morethan 17,000 bottles of hand san-itizer they had hoarded, investi-gators checked out a tip that astore was charging USD 1 foreach squirt.

There were reports of over-priced rice in Wisconsin andpotatoes in Idaho. InConnecticut, a seller reportedlyinflated the cost of medicalmasks 10 times over the normalvalue.

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Malaysia will deploy thearmy to support police in

enforcing tough restrictions tohalt the spread of the coron-avirus because many people areflouting isolation rules, a min-ister said Friday.

People have been told tostay at home and all schoolsand most businesses haveclosed, while Malaysians arebarred from travelling overseasand foreigners from enteringthe country. But some areignoring the measures intro-duced this week, with peoplestill going for walks in parksand eating out.

Police had originally beentasked with enforcing therestrictions, but DefenceMinister Ismail Sabri Yaakobsaid the army would be broughtin from Sunday.

“We are confident thatwith the army’s help, stricterenforcement can be carriedout,” he told a press conference.

“There are still many whodon’t care about the ordersfrom the government.”Malaysia has so far reported900 virus cases, the highest fig-ure of any Southeast Asiancountry. Prime MinisterMuhyiddin Yassin previouslyappealed to Malaysians to abideby the restrictions, saying theyare not an excuse to take a hol-iday or hang out with friends.

The measures wereimposed after a surge in newinfections — most linked to amass Islamic gathering nearKuala Lumpur at the start ofthe month.

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An 81-year-old woman diedin Australia’s New South

Wales after contracting coron-avirus, becoming the seventhvictim in the country as theconfirmed COVID-19 casesjumped to 785, health officialssaid on Friday.

Prime Minister ScottMorrison on Thursdayannounced closing borders toall non-citizens and non-resi-dents.

“The entry ban takes effectfrom Friday, March 20, 2020, at9 PM (local time) with exemp-tions only for Australian citi-zens, permanent residents andtheir immediate family includ-ing spouses, legal guardiansand dependants,” he said.

On Friday, Morrison said

Australians should “reconsid-er the need for unnecessarytravel”.

He said that further adviceis being taken to the nationalcabinet next Tuesday nightand will be available beforepeople go on school holidays.

“I am just flagging that fornext week, when we considerthose issues on a broader scale,”he said.

In a bid to minimise thespread of the virus, Morrisonalso announced all non-essen-tial activities in venues includ-ing cafes, pubs and clubs to besubject to a restriction of oneperson per every four squaremetres.

“If you’ve got a room, ifyou’ve got a premises that’s 100square metres, then you canhave 25 people in that room.

“Now in addition to that,you should continue to practisewherever possible the 1.5metres of healthy distancebetween each of us,” the primeminister said.

Morrison said the mea-sures would be in place for atleast six months.

Urging Australians to“keep going”, the prime minis-ter said there was a “waythrough this”.

“All Australians have a roleto play. There is a bridge overthis,” he said, adding that “if wecontinue to work together inthe way we are, all around thecountry, then Australia willbounce back strongly”.

In New South Wales, 75new cases were reported onThursday, bringing the state’stotal to 382.

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President Donald Trump hasscrapped this year’s in-per-

son G7 summit set to be heldin the US in June due to thecoronavirus crisis and willinstead hold the high-profileevent through video-confer-ence, the White House hassaid.

The decision comes ascountries around the worldseal their borders and bantravel to stop the fast-spread-ing COVID-19 pandemic thathas claimed over 9,000 lives sofar.

The G7 summit is the lat-est high-profile event to be can-celled as anxiety over coron-avirus puts an end to politicalgatherings, sports events and

musical festivals around theworld.

In view of the ongoingcoronavirus crisis that hasgripped the entire world in anunprecedented way, the G7summit scheduled to be held atCamp David from June 10-12has been cancelled so thatleaders of these countries candevote their time and energy inaddressing the public healthchallenge, the White Housesaid on Thursday.

“In order for each countryto focus all of its resources onresponding to the health andeconomic challenges ofCOVID-19 and at PresidentTrump’s direction, NationalEconomic Council Directorand US Sherpa for the 2020 G7Larry Kudlow has informed his

Sherpa colleagues that the G7Leaders’ Summit the US was setto host in June at Camp Davidwill now be done by video-tele-conference,” White HouseDeputy Press Secretary JuddDeere said in a statement.

“The White House alsoinformed the other G7 mem-bers that in order to continueclose coordination, thePresident will convene theleaders’ via video teleconfer-ence in April and May just ashe did this week,” Deere said.

Early this week, Trumphad a video-conference callwith G7 leaders, whose mem-bers are the US, Canada,France, Germany, Italy, Japanand the United Kingdom.

In a joint statement, afterthe video-conference, leaders of

G7 acknowledge that theCOVID-19 pandemic was ahuman tragedy and a globalhealth crisis, which also posedmajor risks for the world econ-omy. “We are committed todoing whatever is necessary toensure a strong global responsethrough closer cooperationand enhanced coordination ofour efforts. While currentchallenges may require nation-al emergency measures, weremain committed to the sta-bility of the global economy,”they said.

The leaders expressed theirconviction that the currentchallenges related to theCOVID-19 pandemic neededa strongly coordinated inter-national approach based on sci-ence and evidence, consistent

with democratic values, andutilising the strengths of privateenterprise.

The G7 leaders said theywere committed to marshallingthe full power of their govern-ments to coordinate on neces-sary public health measures toprotect people at risk ofCOVID-19; restore confidence,growth, protect jobs, supportglobal trade and investmentand encourage science,research and technology coop-eration.

In another statement, Deersaid Trump spoke withPresident Emmanuel Macronof France and discussed the lat-est developments and efforts tocombat coronavirus.

“The two leaders agreed tocontinue close cooperation on

resolving the pandemic andminimising its economicimpact, in coordination withthe G7 and other internation-al partners. The two leadersalso discussed telecommuni-cations security and Europeanmigration issues,” he said.

A total of 218 people havedied in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pan-demic, while there are 14,299confirmed infected cases in thecountry. Coronavirus caseshave been reported in all the 50States in the US and District ofColumbia as well as PuertoRico.

Globally, the death tollfrom the virus has risen to over9,800 with more than 232,650cases in 158 countries and ter-ritories.

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The US has seen a significantspike in coronavirus cases

with the number of fatalitiessurging past 200 and the totalconfirmed infections crossing14,000, pushing health careofficials and political leaders tostep up efforts to contain thefast-spreading pandemic.

According to Worldometer,a website which compiles newcase numbers of COVID-19,there were 14,299 confirmedinfected cases and 218 deathsreported in the US as ofThursday night, making it thesixth top coronavirus infectedcountry.

China with 80,967 infect-ed cases and 3,248 deaths topsthe list followed by Italy (41,035cases and 3,405 deaths), Iran(18,304 infected cases and1,284 deaths), Spain (19,077infected cases and 831 deaths),Germany (15,320 infected casesand 44 deaths) and France(10,995 infected cases and 372deaths).

With a significant spike inboth the infected cases anddeaths in the last 24 hours, sev-eral US States and local gov-ernments have issued lock-down orders.

Coronavirus cases havebeen reported in all the 50States and District of Columbiaand Puerto Rico.

California on Thursdayordered all its residents, about40 million people, to stay athome in a bid to battle thecoronavirus pandemic in themost populous state in the US.

Californians can go outonly for essential needs likefood, hardware supplies, exer-cise and medication.

California Governor GavinNewsom in a letter to PresidentDonald Trump projected thatroughly 25.5 millionCalifornians - about 56 per centof the State’s population - couldbecome infected with the virusover the next eight weeks.

“This is not a permanentstate, this is a moment in time.We will look back at these deci-sions as pivotal,” the Governorsaid.

New York Mayor Bill deBlasio told New Yorkers to beprepared for a long battle.

“This is going to be one ofthe most difficult moments in

New York City history,” hesaid and urged retired healthcare workers to volunteer tohelp.

“There will be people whodie who didn’t need to die. Weare seeing an explosion in thenumber of cases. … It’s apainful and distressing num-ber,” he said.

New York city has report-ed 3,615 positive cases and 22deaths. The Mayor called it“nothing short of staggering.”

Texas issued a notificationordering the closure of allschools, gyms and restaurantsand asked people to avoid agathering of more than 10.

“We continue our relentlesseffort to defeat the Chinesevirus,” Trump told reporters atthe White House on Thursday.

He also visited the head-quarter of Federal EmergencyManagement Agency wherehe held a video conferencewith Governors of the States.

Later in the day, theRepublicans introduced thecoronavirus aid relief and eco-nomic security act.

“The legislation takes boldact on four major priorities thatare extremely urgent and verynecessary,” Senate MajorityLeader Senator MitchMcConnell said.

The legislation amongother things proposes directhelp for USD 1,200 per indi-vidual earning up to USD75,000 per annum. It alsoincludes an additional USD 500for a child.

“Preventing the spread ofthe coronavirus will take afinancial toll on individuals,families and businesses. Theserecommendations would bluntthe impact for most Americansand limit the damage to the USeconomy,” Senate FinanceCommittee Chairman ChuckGrassley said.

The bill that delays tax fil-ing for 90 days and a USD 300billion package for small busi-nesses also includes USD 50billion for airlines, USD 8 bil-lion for cargo air carriers andUSD 150 billion for other eli-gible entities.

The coronavirus outbreak,which originated in theChinese city of Wuhan inDecember, has killed over 9,000and infected over two lakh peo-ple.

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The West African nation ofMali has roughly one ven-

tilator per 1 million of its peo-ple — 20 in all to help the crit-ically ill. In Peru, with morethan 32 million people, about350 beds in intensive care unitsexist.

The coronavirus is nowmoving into parts of the worldthat may be the least prepared.Some countries in Africa andLatin America lack the equip-ment or even trained healthworkers to respond.

Many of their nations areslamming shut borders andbanning large gatherings inthe hope of avoiding the scenesin wealthier countries such asItaly and the US, but localtransmission of the virus hasbegun.

Containing that spread isthe new challenge. Africa hasless than 800 confirmed casesand Latin America under2,000, but an early response iscrucial as fragile health systemscould be quickly overwhelmed.

With such limitedresources, experts say identi-fying cases, tracing and testingare key.

“We have seen how thevirus actually accelerates thatafter a certain ... tipping point.So the best advice for Africa isto prepare for the worst andprepare today,” WHO Director-

General Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus said Wednesday.

“We have different andsignificant barriers to healthcare in Africa, which could bea real challenge,” said Dr NgoziErondu, a senior research fel-low at the Chatham HouseCenter for Global HealthSecurity.

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa do not have theisolation wards or large num-ber of health care workers torespond to a surge of COVID-19 patients, she said.

Liberia and Burkina Fasoonly have a few ventilators fortheir millions of people.

Dr Bernard Olayo, founderof the Kenya-based Center forPublic Health andDevelopment, said most coun-tries in Africa can’t afford ven-tilators. Even if ventilators wereprovided by other countries, it’snot sufficient because of thelack of qualified people to usethem. “It’s complex, it’s veryvery complex because thepatients that end up on venti-lators require round the clockcare by larger teams,” he said.

Many patients could dowell with just oxygen, he said,but close to half of health facil-ities in African countries don’thave reliable oxygen supplies.Oxygen concentrators can beused, but given the frequentelectricity cuts in many coun-tries, oxygen generators and

pressure cylinders are neededbecause they can functionwhile power is out.

The WHO regional Africadirector, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti,said the lack of ICU facilitiesand ventilators is one of thebiggest challenges facing thecontinent.

“We have been able toidentify importing a field hos-pital-type of facility that can beset up and equipped with someof the key items needed, suchas ventilators,” she said.Training has begun in Republicof Congo and Senegal so healthcare workers will be ready tooperate it, and World Bankfunding is being made avail-able, she said.

It’s not all grim. ElsieKanza, head of Africa at theWorld Economic Forum, saidmany countries are deployinglessons learned from the Ebolaoutbreak in West Africa in2014-2016 that killed well over10,000 people.

The Africa Centers forDisease Control andPrevention was created torespond to that Ebola out-break. As of Thursday, 43countries can test for the coro-navirus, it said. In addition,Chinese billionaire Jack Ma thisweek pledged to donate 1.1 mil-lion testing kits, 6 millionmasks and 60,000 protectivesuits and face shields to shareamong all African countries.

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At least two dozen Afghansecurity forces were killed

Friday in an insider attack ontheir base in southernAfghanistan, two officials toldAFP.

Several “infiltrators”opened fire on their comradesas they slept, Zabul governorRahmatullah Yarmal said, inone of the deadliest attackssince the US signed a with-drawal deal with the Talibanlast month.

The pre-dawn raid target-ed a joint police and armyheadquarters near Qalat, theprovincial capital, long con-sidered a Taliban stronghold.

“In the attack, 14 Afghanarmy forces and 10 policemenwere killed,” Zabul provincialcouncil chief Ata Jan HaqBayan said.

He added that four otherAfghan security forces weremissing.

“The attackers had con-nections with the Taliban

insurgents,” Bayan said.They fled in two military

Humvee vehicles, along with apickup truck, weapons andammunition.

Yarmal confirmed the tollto AFP.

The Taliban did not imme-diately respond to a request forcomment.

The incident comes a dayafter Afghan Defence MinisterAsadullah Khalid called onthe Taliban to commit to aceasefire as a way of tacklingthe novel coronavirus, whichobservers fear is spreadingunchecked through the impov-erished country.

Khalid also said Afghanforces should assume a moreaggressive “active defence” pos-ture against the Taliban, whohave continued attacks acrossthe country since signing a dealwith the US on February 29.

Zabul province bordersPakistan and former Talibansupreme leader Mullah Omar,who died in 2013, hid there foryears.

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The US is headed towards arecession in the wake of the

fast-spreading coronavirus, butthe Silicon Valley CEOs areoptimistic about the growth ofthe tech industry, a leadingIndian-American venture cap-italist has said.

Founder of Indiaspora, aplatform to unite Indian-Americans and to transformtheir success into meaningfulimpact in India and on theglobal stage, M R Rangaswami

said the coronavirus crisis wasmore difficult than the globaleconomic recession of 2008because of virus’ uncertaintyand invisibility.

“There’s definitely a reces-sion happening in the country.No doubt. In terms of the techindustry CEOs, they’re stillquite bullish and optimistic ongrowth,” the top Silicon Valleyventure capitalist and softwareexecutive told PTI.

The coronavirus crisis hasa combination of 9/11 as peo-ple are not travelling, the air-

lines industry has come to astandstill and people are notstaying in hotel, he said, addingthat people are getting sick andafraid to go out and afraid to dothings.

“So, it’s, much biggerimpact this time. And it’s aglobal impact. It’s a far greaterimpact. But I’m hoping thatthe recovery will be quicker.Let’s say the virus dissipatedin two months. Then therecovery can be faster,” hesaid.

Rangaswami - who had

just attended the EnterpriseRetreat, a conference for thetop CEOs of software com-panies, which was the lastmajor conference in theSilicon Valley before every-thing came to a standstilldue to coronavirus - said themood of the conference wasvery challenging.

One fourth of the atten-dees did not come this year,he said. “The recession waspredicted by the attendeesthemselves,” he said, addingthat, however, the CEOs were

bullish on the tech industry.“Attendees still forecast

and predicted that the techindustry can grow this year,”he said. But the caveat is howdoes the current quarter endsand if the companies are ableto get new contracts andsigned agreement by March31.

“So that’s the big questionmark. My personal feeling isthe deals that are closed forthese companies, would it beones where they’re able toclearly quantify the return

on investment and clearlypoint to savings. Those kindsof companies with those solu-tions will probably be able todo business,” he said.

“But if you’re selling tech-nology that makes life betteror does basic stuff, but theyalready have existing systemsthat can limp along for anoth-er quarter or two. Those kindsof things are not going to hap-pen. It’s easy to say, let’s lookat it next month, next quar-ter,” he said, adding that therewill be obviously huge delays

and closing deals whichmeans then it moves to sec-ond quarters and then theyhave to try the same thingagain.

Rangaswami, who hasseen the previous crises ofY2K and 2008 economicslowdown said that the 2000bubble burst primarilyimpacted the tech industryand it did not result in reces-sion. The 2008 one was amore pronounced and it hada huge impact.

“This one has a very seri-

ous impact where it hap-pened so suddenly and withsuch great force, I think thisis even more problematicthan the previous two I’veseen,” Rangaswami said.

A total of 218 people havedied in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pan-demic, while there are 14,299confirmed infected cases inthe country. Globally, thedeath toll from the virus hasrisen to over 9,800 with morethan 232,650 cases in 158countries and territories.

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Moscow traffic police havelaunched spot checks on

the city’s taxis to ensure driverswear face masks and regularlydisinfect their vehicles.

The inspections, whichrolled out Thursday, focus ondrivers serving rail stationsand airports, city traffic policespokeswoman Olga Dygalosaid.

Traffic police are carryingout checks along with officialsfrom the state health watchdog,

which issued the rules to dri-vers. Russia has recorded 199cases of the coronavirus,according to the most recentofficial figures publishedThursday.

Moscow health officials onThursday reported the firstdeath of a patient infected withCOVID-19, but said the 79-year-old woman died of pneu-monia, later changing the causeof death to a blood clot.

Under the new regulations,drivers are expected to changeface masks every three hours

and use sanitiser products toclean their hands and disinfecttheir vehicles twice a day, focus-ing on seat belt fastenings,door handles and the steeringwheel.

They are also expected toair their cars regularly.

Fulfilling the requirementsis no easy task as face masks arescarce in Moscow after resi-dents stocked up in bulk,Russian media reported.

The inspections will alsocheck whether taxi drivershave undergone short daily

health checks before begin-ning work as required, Dygalotold AFP.

Transport companies thatflout the rules could be fined30,000 rubles ($383).

Russia closed its borders toforeigners on Wednesday in aneffort to stop the spread of thevirus.

Moscow city officials havelimited public gatherings ofmore than 50 people andschools across the country willclose for three weeks fromMonday.

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The World Bank and theAsian Development Bank

have committed to providingUSD 588 million to Pakistanfor its emergency response tofight the coronavirus and toaddress the socioeconomicimpact of the pandemic, amedia report said on Friday.

According to an officialstatement, the World Bankwould provide USD 238 mil-lion and the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB)USD 350 million to Pakistan insupport for the COVID-19

emergency response and totackle the socio-economic dis-ruption associated with it.

The announcement wasmade by the PlanningCommission after a meetingwith representatives of the twolending agencies on Pakistan’spreparedness and response tofight COVID-19, the Dawnnewspaper reported.

The meeting, presided overby Deputy Chairman of thePlanning CommissionMohammad Jehanzeb Khan,was attended by World BankCountry Director IllangoPatchamuthu, ADB Country

Director Xiaohong Yang,besides other officials and rep-resentatives of the ministries ofeconomic affairs, finance andnational health services.

The meeting also approvedin principle a project concept“Pakistan National Emergency

Preparedness and ResponsePlan for COVID-19”.

The participants of themeeting agreed that not onlythey needed to enhance coop-eration to jointly fight chal-lenges but also work to demon-strate firm commitment for amulti-faceted cooperation indifferent fields, the report said.

Pakistan’s coronaviruscases sharply rose to 453 onThursday, a day after it report-ed its first two casualties due toCOVID-19 pandemic that hasclaimed 9,800 lives and infect-ed more than 232,650 people in158 countries and territories.

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Netflix and YouTube willreduce the default image

quality of streaming video inEurope to ease pressure on theinternet, the firms said Friday,as demand soars with millionsconfined to their homes overcoronavirus fears.

EU commissioner for thedigital economy Thierry Bretonurged internet giants to switchfrom high definition to the for-mer standard definition toreduce file sizes while strand-ed householders seek enter-tainment as well as news aboutthe epidemic. Late Thursday,entertainment platform Netflixagreed, and on Friday Google’svideo-sharing service YouTubesaid it would follow suit,although videos viewed on thesite from a European connec-tion on Friday by AFP were stilldefaulting to high definitionmode.

“While we have seen onlya few usage peaks, we havemeasures in place to automat-ically adjust our system to useless network capacity,” a Google

spokesperson said.“Following the discussion

between Google’s CEO, SundarPichai, YouTube’s CEO SusanWojcicki and CommissionerThierry Breton we are makinga commitment to temporarilyswitch all traffic in the EU toStandard Definition by default.”Separately, Netflix will “beginreducing bit rates across all ourstreams in Europe for 30 days,”a spokesperson for the stream-ing giant said in a statement.

“We estimate that this willreduce Netflix traffic onEuropean networks by around25 percent while also ensuringa good quality service for ourmembers,” the statementadded. With wide-ranginglockdowns and quarantines,schools, shops and bordersclosed and gatherings banned,people across Europe areincreasingly turning to theinternet to stave off boredom.

But the huge file sizes ofhigh definition offerings fromweb giants like Netflix, DisneyPlus, Hulu, HBO and Amazonare slowing the web, Bretonwarned.

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��How did you conceptualise thefilm, Sir?

The questions the film asks havebeen with me for almost my entirelife. I was aware of class divisions asa child... While growing up, manyof us need caretakers and we areclose to them but there is always abarrier when it comes to love.

As an adult, I employed womenin my home, women who I grewclose to... There is tremendous inti-macy when one shares a home,though of course it is a bit one-sided.For instance, someone who worksfor you can read your moods, theyknow if you’ve had a bad day, or ifyou don’t eat well, or if a phone callsuddenly changes your demeanour.Perhaps, even though we do notread them carefully but a bond thatdevelops over time.

The presence of two complete-ly disparate worlds within a singlehome is what I find most interest-ing — such different realities andconcerns but a human connection.

I decided to explore it as a lovestory to see how far I could take itand make the two characters moreequal. I feel that when you are in lovewith someone you see the worldthrough their eyes. It happens eas-ily, automatically... and that’s inter-esting as the individuals on eitherside of the barrier want to see eachother’s points of view.

��Is the film inspired by real-lifeinstances? What were the refer-ences that you took?

It is inspired from real-lifeinstances. The details are all fromlife, from my observations of peo-ple, life and society... Let’s say it’s asort of heightened reality.

��What is your definition of love?How do you think our societyunderstands it?

In the film I wanted to exploreideas of love. What is it really, howdo you know it is real, who is theone?

For me, it is about findingsomeone who sees you for who youare and enables you to be all that youcan be. And vice versa. Simply,

someone who brings out the best inyou. And of course, respect is cru-cial as there is no love without that.

��Do you think financial differ-ences or class hierarchy are a bar-rier for love?

I think they act as a barrier,especially, when people stick toprescriptive roles in society —what men and women ought tobe and so on. (Often in our soci-ety we accept it if a man mar-ries a woman who has less butthe opposite is more complicat-ed).

I feel that it’s important tochange your gender in yourhead before taking certaindecisions. I ask myself some-times, would I do this if I wasa man? If the answer isunchanged by gender, Iknow I am on the right pathbut if it changes, then I haveto stop and think.

One can overcomefinancial differences if peo-ple are self-aware and will-ing to actively fight preju-dices, even when itcomes to the oneswe have inter-nalised in ourown heart.

�� The filmcompels oneto think — weall believe inlove but can wereally love acrossclass? And if we can,how far do you thinkone can go?

People can loveacross class... Loveis a human emo-tion and I believeit can transcendclass if we allowit to. The ques-tion is how freedoes an indi-vidual feelwith respectto their fam-ily or soci-

ety? How account-able do we need to

be? That is a per-sonal decision.

Also, eachperson hashis/her ownneeds. Forsome, a deepe m o t i o n a lbond is morei m p o r t a n twhile forsome a struc-turally viablelife, wherefamilies andlifestyles aresimilar. It isagain, a very per-sonal choice.

��Most of yourfilms haverevolved around

different dimen-sions of love...

I guess I lovelove stories and Ibelieve in the trans-formative power oflove. Like I said,when you lovesomeone you see theworld through theireyes, you see differ-ently. That is incred-ibly powerful. �� Given the pan-

demic of Coronavirus, which isnot going to go away anytimesoon, how do you think delayingfilm releases is going to affect theindustry, especially the smallbudget films?

It’s very hard to say as nobodyknows how long this will take. I amtrying to focus on the positiveaspects. The trailer has received anoverwhelming response, the filmhas been trending on IMDb(Internet movie database) as themost anticipated Indian film. Ofcourse, the release schedule will bevery crowded whenever cinemasopen but I feel Sir… is a film thatis quite different from mainstreamfilms, so we can coexist.

I have spent years on this filmand I will do what it takes to get itto its audience. But right now, I feelthere are bigger issues at stake. Fora lot of people, it’s going to be astruggle to make ends meet or havetwo square meals a day. We needto be conscious of that and try toreach out to the most vulnerablearound us.

��How do you plan to tide overit?

Right now, I am spendingtime with my family and amextremely grateful that we areable to be together. I am trying toenjoy living a slow life... and I amwriting again, which helps me staysane.

Film theaters may be shutteredacross the country and projectsdelayed but there is still the

newly released work of lurid andpulpy goodness from Brian DePalma.

The 79-year-old filmmaker haswritten his first work of fiction, AreSnakes Necessary? a crime novel hepenned with his partner, SusanLehman, a former editor for The NewYork Times. The book, full of snap-py dialogue and sharp knives, bearsplenty of the hallmarks of De Palma.Films are baked into it (the title refersto a book Henry Fonda is seen read-ing in The Lady Eve). MartinScorsese sums it up in a blurb: “It’slike having a new Brian De Palmapicture.”

Just over two weeks ago, I droveout to East Hampton to meet DePalma (the director of Carrie,Scarface, Body Double and Carlito’sWay) at an inn near his and Lehman’sLong Island house.

The conversation spanned hisnew book (a John Edwards-inspiredtale about a senator having an affairwith a young staffer), his grimthoughts about the advent of stream-ing (The industry is eclipsing theartistry) and his plans for a film part-ly inspired by Harvey Weinstein.

An abiding passion for cinemacoursed through De Palma’s reflec-tions. Lately, he’s been soaking upwesterns. The day before, he said, hewatched John Ford’s My DarlingClementine again — a film De Palma,noted, that knew how to shoot ashoot-out.

� Why is Are Snakes Necessary? abook and not a film?

Too many ideas and not enoughtime to make all the films. You writea lot of stuff that never makes it intoa film. With my partner, Susan, wejust basically did it because we hadfun doing it. We had never writtena novel before, neither of us. I hadan idea for a script I had never devel-oped based on the Edwards cam-paign and the girl (Rielle Hunter, thewoman he had an affair with) mak-ing webisodes, those little intimatethings she shot. As I was watching

this happen, being a director, you cansee someone flirting with the cam-era. We started with that.

� Has the straightforward processof fiction writing been a welcomealternative to the struggles of film-making for you? Your last film,2019’s Domino, had financial dif-ficulties and wasn’t released in theUS.

It’s a very sad situation. It wasunder-financed. I was there 100days and shot 30. They weren’t pay-ing anybody and I had a wholebunch of people working for me. Wefinished it. But I was so disenchant-ed with the people who financed it... that I said, “Guys, here it is. Goodluck.” And I didn’t do any publicityfor it.

� Did that sour you on makingmore films?

I had never been in a situationlike that except way back when I firstwas starting to make independentfilms like Sisters, which I think wasbudgeted at $150,000.

� What struck me reading yourbook is how enduring your obses-sions are. Vertigo, for instance,makes a cameo. In the book, it’sbeing remade.

It was a very influential film. Isaw it in 1958 in Vista Vision, Imight add, at Radio City Music Hall,I believe. It left a very strong impres-sion on me, obviously. As I’ve got-ten older and made a lot of films, Ican see there’s always lessons to belearned from Hitchcock the way hesets up certain sequences. AndVertigo is the whole idea of creatingan illusion and getting the audienceto fall in love with it and then toss-ing it off the tower twice. Very, verygood idea.

� Are there any Hitchcock filmsyou don’t like?

I thought the late Hitchcockstuff was not that good. When he gotfinally discovered by the Frenchand all the critics started to writeabout him, that’s when he was in hisdecline, I thought. I don’t think he

ever reached the pinnacle that he didafter Psycho and Vertigo.

� Do you think of your career ashaving a pinnacle?

Sure. I’ve studied directors’careers my whole life. Susan doesn’tlike me to say this, but you get older.You have a very good creative peri-od, but if you’re making decent filmsafter you’re 60, it’s kind of a miracle.

� What’s that pinnacle for youthen?

In my mid-50s doing Carlito’sWay and then Mission: Impossible. Itdoesn’t get much better than that. Youhave all the power and tools at yourdisposal. When you have theHollywood system working for you,you can do some remarkable things.But as your films become less success-ful, it gets harder to hold on to thepower and you have to start makingcompromises. I don’t know if youeven realize you’re making them. Itend to be very hard-nosed about this.If you have a couple of good decades,that’s good, that’s great.

� You must have gotten accus-tomed to your films, years after crit-ical or commercial disappointment,reemerging as cult classics.

You’ve got to believe in thefilms when you make it. The fact thatthe audience didn’t respond to it and30 years later they think it’s a master-piece is always gratifying. Your

instincts were always right. I’ve alwayssaid that the film you make is mea-sured against the fashion of the day.That shouldn’t stop you from tryingto do what you think is correct, whatworks for you.

� Do you think that kind of bold,wide screen filmmaking is stillbeing practised?

The things that they’re doingnow have nothing to do with what wewere doing making films in the 70s,80s and 90s. The first thing that dri-ves me crazy is the way they look.Because they’re shooting digitallythey’re just lit terribly. I can’t stand thedarkness, the bounced light. They alllook the same. I believe in beauty incinema. Susan and I were looking atGone With the Wind the other day andyou’re just struck at how beautiful thewhole film is. The sets, how VivienLeigh is lit, it’s just extraordinary. Ifyou look at the stuff that’s streamingall the time, it’s all muck. Visual sto-rytelling has gone out the window.

� Is that what irks you most abouttoday’s films?

The whole system is changing.You used to go out and make a film.Our generation, we wanted to takeover the studios. Which we did. Ithink what’s so interesting about thegeneration I came up with, they gotvery rich, extremely rich, workingwithin the studio system. Now, we’reinto this endless streaming.Everything has 10 parts and six sea-sons. It’s sort of moved back to theold studio system where the produc-ers and the writers are the king. Thedirectors, who knows who directsone of these things from another?Then you have the whole Marvel uni-verse, which is digital action stuff, allcomputer generated. When I madeMission to Mars and spent a yearworking on these shots with three orfour digital houses — one was work-ing on the ship, one was working onthe smoke, one was working on thedust — I would storyboard a shot andit would keep coming back to me fora year as they added things. The shotsare hopelessly expensive. You say:“What am I doing?” That’s when I

went to Europe and said I can’t makefilms like this anymore.

�Mission: Impossible is up to, what,it’s seventh installment?

Stories, they keep making themlonger and longer only for econom-ic reasons. After I made Mission:Impossible, Tom asked me to startworking on the next one. I said: “Areyou kidding?” One of these isenough. Why would anybody wantto make another one? Of course, thereason they make another one is tomake money. I was never a filmdirector to make money, which is thebig problem of Hollywood. That’s itscorruption.

�Women in your films has alwaysbeen a flash point. Some havecalled your films misogynistic. Thebloody drill-bit scene in BodyDouble is hard to imagine happen-ing today.

That was the film that wasattacked relentlessly when it cameout, but I can’t tell you how manypeople come up to me and talk to meabout Body Double.

�Do you feel time has disprovedthose criticisms?

They always considered I wassomehow a misogynist directorbecause I had women as focal pointsin my thrillers. Well, I’m sorry. I pre-fer to photograph women walkingaround rather than men. (laughs) Ithink some great philosopher oncesaid: The history of movies is of menphotographing women. I’ve alwayssaid: “If I have to follow somebody,I’d rather it be a beautiful woman thanArnold Schwarzenegger.” I’m sorry.

�Scorsese has wondered beforehow many films he has left. What’syour expectation?

I think we’re getting near the endhere. I have a bad knee. WilliamWyler said when you can’t walk, it’sover with. Now, if you write thesebooks, that can use up our creativeimagination. But as long as I can doit, I will do it. But I’m not going tomiss not doing it. (laughs)

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Actor Kartik Aaryan, whomade a splash with his

famous monologue in Pyaar KaPunchnama, his 2011 debutfilm, has come up with anoth-er non-stop one in the wake ofthe coronavirus outbreak. In avideo that the actor shared withhis fans on social media, he usesthe monologue to advise peopleto stay at home in order to limitthe spread of the disease.

His monologue begins with, “Problem? Problem ye hai ki humsab genius hain. Aur kya problem hai! Problem ye hai ki hume kisiki sunni hi nahi hai. Subah shaam Netflix and chill ke sapne dekhnehai, lekin jab do hafte ghar baithne ko mil raha hai, toh hume kaampe jaana hai.” Posting the video, Kartik writes,“#CoronaStopKaroNa. My Appeal in my style. Social Distancingis the only solution, yet.”

��;!� �'��**��

South Indian actor Trisha, also aUNICEF brand ambassador, took to

social media to share an advisory againstthe pandemic. In a video that the actressposted in Tamil and English, she informsher followers about ways to avoid contact-ing the virus, which includes the basicssuch as washing hands with soap and con-tacting the medical helpline if the symp-toms begin to show.

“Novel coronavirus or COVID-19can be stopped. Together we can do it,” shesaid. In 2017, Trisha Krishnan became thefirst south-Indian to be bestowed with theUNICEF celebrity advocate status.

��!�

The 73rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival has been postponedin the wake of Coronavirus outbreak. The festival organisers

issued a statement, confirming the delay in the gala, which was ini-tially scheduled to take place in May.

“At this time of global health crisis, our thoughts go to the vic-tims of the COVID-19 and we express our solidarity with all of thosewho are fighting the disease. Today, we have made the following deci-sion — The Festival de Cannes cannot be held on the scheduled datesfrom May 12 to 23. Several options are considered in order to pre-serve its running, the main one being a simple postponement, inCannes, until the end of June to beginning of July 2020,” the state-ment read.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, on March 8, the French gov-ernment banned public gatherings of more than 1,000 people to limitthe spread of the disease. —IANS

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She has always been looked atthrough the prism of her husband.Commonly called ‘Ba’, Kasturba

Gandhi was an ideal model, great sup-port and the perfect co-voyager ofMohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s jour-ney from South Africa to India and histransformation into the Mahatma.She devoted herself to the dharma ofbeing a true Hindu wife and followedit her entire life. However, as authorRM Bhalla argues, “she was muchmore than that.” She weathered onestorm after another and successfullyfaced unexpected challenges. Sheemerged to become one of the bright-est faces of womanhood during India’sfreedom struggle while remainingwithin the precincts of her home.

While the Father of the Nation hasbeen the topic of many debates anddiscussions by various authors and byGandhi himself, not many accountsmention Kasturba and her life atlength. People know her through a fewletters written to her by Gandhi thathe has talked about in hisAutobiography. However, she has nopersonal memoirs about her thoughtsand experiences. Bhalla, in his bookKasturba Gandhi: A Biography, talksabout how her contributions to India’sstruggle for independence have notbeen given the critical importance theydeserve. Excerpts:

�Why Kasturba? How is she relevanttoday?

The book deals with the life ofKasturba, who took her own consciousdecision to participate in theSatyagraha movement in South Africa

along with a large contingent of une-ducated poor Indian women there. Herstory is very relevant today becauseuneducated poor women are stillstruggling for their rights.

�Documenting a prominent per-son’s life could be challenging, espe-cially if s/he is related to the historyof the nation. How did you gatherinformation for the book aboutKasturba Gandhi?

Kasturba was not educated. Sheherself left no records of her thoughts,feelings, struggles, associations, expe-riences or any details of events she wasa part of. She never thought of it norwas she intellectually equipped for it.So we don’t have Kasturba’s version ofthe events in which she was involved.Not many detailed accounts or remi-niscences have been left by the mem-bers of her family or friends in publiclife.

Kasturba’s life and work can’t evenbe imagined or assessed indepen-dently; it was enmeshed in the day-to-day engagements of her husband andthe alchemy of his life. Her situationdid not allow her to initiate any actionoutside her home. All initiatives andinnovations were initiated by her hus-band and obeying his dictates becamean opportunity for her to learn, reactand resist. So the facts about her lifeand work are part of the history of theeventful years in the 19th and 20thcentury in South Africa and India.

An author has to cope with thehuge material about Gandhi’s strugglewith himself and the mighty forcesagainst which he pitched himself.Kasturba was a perpetual partner inthese struggles. Her life andwork can only beassessed in an imag-inative and contex-tual framework of thishistorical epoch and itis indeed a challengingtask for any author.

�An author who is pen-ning a biography alwayshas this pressure of show-casing his protagonist inthe right light since ques-tions could be raised laterover the accuracy and actu-ality of the facts presented inthe book...

A biographer is an inter-preter of events in respect of his pro-tagonist and he has to decide what the“right light” for his interpretation is.The facts presented in the book haveto be documented and the events asthey unfold in the life of the protago-nist should be presented accurately. Yetthe author’s own set of values gives acertain slant to his interpretations.How convincingly he argues in pre-senting the facts is a matter of his art.

�Kasturba Gandhi’s life experienceshave never been properly document-ed or even talked about much. Wheredid you source your data from?

Yes. It is a fact that the Gandhiindustry has definitely expandedworldwide but any bibliography deal-ing with Kasturba would not list morethan a dozen entries even today.However, in the last few decades,Gandhi has been rescued — to someextent, out of myths, legends, apoth-

eoses — and dealt with more critical-ly.

Kasturba’s life and work call forthe same critical approach. Her storyhas to be read in terms of the strug-gle of Indian women for identity,equality and self-empowerment. Thedata for the book has been sourcedfrom Gandhi literature, his completeworks in 100 volumes and historicalnarrations. But in Kasturba’s case,interpretations are more important asthe data has its limits.

�How do you think womanhoodwas neglected during India’s free-dom struggle? How does the book

present it? Also, giventoday ’s nationwideprotests, most of whichare being led by women(for instance, at ShaheenBagh), how do youthink the understand-ing of women’s role inchallenging times hasevolved?

The struggle ofwomen for emanci-pation started withthe spread ofdemocracy andtechnologica ldevelopmentall over the

world and it is stillcontinuing in India and in

other countries. Women were notneglected during India’s freedomstruggle. Rather they were broughtout of the confines of the four wallsof their homes to the public arenaand they participated both in therevolutionary struggles and the socialreform movements.

After Independence, the unfold-ing of the democratic process, spreadof education and different move-ments across India have resulted inwomen’s participation in all walks oflife. Different groups are now vyingwith each other for a share in eco-nomic and political power andwomen are trying to become a votebank to achieve their rights.

�How long did it take to compile thework into a book?

The book was conceptualisedover many years and it was out of myinterest in the life and work ofMahatma Gandhi.

� What made you believe inmagic?

It all started when I used to goto Harvard Business School withmy father. There, he learnt creativ-ity and innovation from a magi-cian. It was surprising to see howmagic was treated with a complete-ly different perspective outsideIndia. So that changed my thoughtprocess. I always thought magicwas only Abra-Ca-Dabra.

I remember my father onceinvited me to Harvard to watch amagic show. For some reason, Iwas late, which angered me.Negative emotions were runningthrough my mind but a glimpse ofthe magic show changed some-thing in me. Long story short —the magician literally had thepower to take away all the negativ-ity that I had in me. After twohours or so, I did not even realisethat I was angry or sad. I felt likehe had the superpower to just takeaway all woes. I understood thatgood magic had the power to healyou in a certain way. And I thoughtmaybe in this world, somethinglike this is very essential. That’swhen I knew what I wanted to beand ended up becoming a magi-cian.

� How is You’ve Got Magic WithNeel Madhav different from otherexploration shows?

I am very excited. I am over themoon. I am elated. I am trying tofind more words in the dictionaryright now to tell you how excitedI am but I can’t think of many. Ithink it’s high time that magic as

a genre gets accepted. And thistime, it’s accepted by such a greatmedia house. Who could be betterthan Sony BBC Earth? I think it’san amalgamation of all good thingsto make the right potion. It’s thebest of magic, travel, food, culture,history and heritage. It’s a showthrough which most number ofpeople in India and across theworld will be able to exploreIndian heritage and culture in themost magical way.

� What draws you more — thetravel or the reactions of peoplewhile you perform the magic?

I think they go hand in hand.In my experience of travelling,magic is a major part of theinteraction that I do. Alot of communica-tion and conver-sation hap-pens afterthe magic,w h i c ha c t u a l l yacts l ikean iceb r e a k e rb e t w e e nthe audi-ence andme. It breaksthrough thegeneral norm,the thoughtprocesses and the per-ception that someone has.

We look at it through a regu-lar person’s perspective. If a ran-dom person woke up in the morn-ing not knowing that he will see

magic today orhe’s going to expe-

rience something asmagical as that, the

perception of the personis different because if you

take someone off guard, the con-versation just gets better. Itbecomes more real and truer.

� What kind of practice does

magic require? How do you stayon top of the game?

To have expertise at anything,you need practice. If you know youwant to become better than DavidCopperfield, you work hard for it.It’s as simple as that. There are noshortcuts. I wasn’t born with extra-terrestrial powers or this art ofmagic. This is just skin and Ibelieve that in the process of want-

ing to master things, each day is agift to practice and learn more.And every performance is practicein itself. So just keep adding on andon.

� Which was that one locationyou would like to revisit?

All of them. We under appre-ciate our Indian heritage, cultureand history. All the places have

been amazing and I’m the luckiestperson to have experienced somany of them. I have spent the lastsix years of my life travellingacross India and now, I have offi-cially been to all the 29 states inIndia. I have done the most mag-ical things and not so magicalthings — all at once!

� Have you performed your artfor any celebrity or influencer? Ifyes, then how was that experi-ence? And if not, then who wouldyou like to perform for?

My go-to magic effect is defi-nitely to reveal someone’s ATMpin. So whenever I meet a celebri-ty or artiste, that is the first trickI try with them. This obviously hasone and only one reaction where

they call me a ‘deadly guy’ or a‘dangerous guy’. I kind of knowalmost every celebrity’s ATM pinsranging from the Queen of Bhutan,who does not actually have one butshe made it up for the trick, to thePrince of Kuwait and knightedpeople from London. Well, the listgoes on...

� Your favourite trick?As mentioned, I love finding

peoples ATM pins. It’s the creepi-est and fun magic I have ever per-formed on celebrities. It’s interest-ing, keeps people on their toes andalso enough for them to not wantme to dive deeper into the game(Laughs).

(The show premieres on March23 at 10 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)

It was 1995 when Salman Khan and Shah RukhKhan shared screen space together for the first

time in the film Karan Arjun. Whether it was theMere Karan Arjun aayenge dialogue or the songs orthe actors’ performances, the Rakesh Roshan direc-torial became a huge hit for several reasons.

Reminiscing about the film’s 25 year long jour-ney, Salman said: “Karan Arjun was a special film.It is the first time that Shah Rukh and I had cometogether on-screen. I have so many beautiful mem-ories attached to this film. Karan Arjun is a com-plete entertainment package and even 25 years afterits release, fans can sit together with their familiesand enjoy it.”

The film also featured Raakhee Gulzar, Kajol andMamta Kulkarni in the lead roles. Rakesh Roshantoo shared his experience of working on the icon-ic film.

“When I had written Karan Arjun, I knew I hadto write a different kind of a story

from all the work I had done.Reincarnation as a topic wasdoing the rounds since theblack-and-white era but whenI decided to make a film on thetheme but using two brothers,

I faced a lot of criticism andrejection. So, I wrote the

film with a differentlens like that about amother-son bond. Ihad immense beliefin the story andsomehow knewthat my audiencewould feel andbelieve every dia-logue narrated bythe characters. Thereaction the filmreceived then and

even today is stilloverwhelming. The

fact that a mother’s dia-logue like Mere Karan-

Arjun aayenge got the statusit has, is all because of theconviction it was deliveredwith. If at that time theyreturned from an unimagin-able place, it would have beenaccepted by the audience.Conviction is the one elementthat is behind the success of themovie and the milestone beingcelebrated today,” Rakeshadded.

As Karan Arjun completed25 years a few months ago, ZeeCinema will air the film to cel-ebrate the milestone.

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It was supposed to be arecord 22-race world cham-pionship but with seven

Grands Prix already either post-poned or cancelled, FormulaOne in 2020 has become ashorter, tightly-packed and eco-nomically challenging sprintfor the title.

The season-opener inAustralia and F1’s iconic Rivierashowpiece in Monaco havebeen axed.

Races in Bahrain, Vietnam,China, Netherlands and Spainhave also been shelved but withorganisers still hoping to shoe-horn them into a breathlessfinale once the threat of thecoronavirus had subsided.

A season which shouldhave started in Melbourne onMarch 14 will now not startuntil Azerbaijan on June 7 — atthe earliest.

“It’s super complicated toredo a calendar because youdon’t know when everythingwill be operational,” FredericVasseur, the team principal ofthe Alfa Romeo F1 team, said.

“You need to have a globalvision. England is not too affect-ed at the moment but it couldbe when Italy is less affected,” headded in reference to the twocountries which play host tomost of the teams in the worldchampionship.

There are still 15 races lefton the schedule before the con-cluding race at Abu Dhabi onNovember 29.

Last weekend, Ross Brawn,the sporting director of F1,said he was optimistic of a “17-18 race” championship.

However, that was when

only Australia, Bahrain,Vietnam and China had beendropped.

On Thursday, the DutchGrand Prix, slated to make itsreturn to the calendar for thefirst time since 1985 on May 3,and the Spanish event, set forMay 10, were postponed.

The Monaco GP, an annu-al showstopper since 1955 andset for May 24 this year, wascancelled completely.

�� “We are in unchartered ter-

ritory. I’m pretty optimistic thatwe can have a good 17-18 racechampionship or more,” Brawntold Sky Sports.

“I think we can squeezethem in. But it depends onwhen the season can start.”

There is wriggle room.The traditional three-week

summer shutdown in Augusthas been scrapped to bereplaced by a 21-day break inMarch and April while the rac-ing season hunkers down.

The championship nowbecomes a frantic six-month

sprint rather than a nine-monthmarathon.

To rescue the calendar,there is an option of two racesorganised on the same weekend.

“It’s possible,” said Brawn,eyeing the three weeks betweenthe Hungarian Grand Prix onAugust 2 and at Spa in Belgiumon August 30.

“One thing we have alsobeen talking about is two-dayweekends, and therefore if wehave a triple header with two-day weekends, that could be anoption.”

F1 experimented with threeraces in a row in 2018 but sup-port was lukewarm from teamswho sweated over staff fatigue.

“I think what we need fromthe teams this year is flexibili-ty, I think they’ve got to givesome scope to do these things,”added Brawn.

“Because we are in veryunusual circumstances, andwe’ve got to make sure we’ve gota season that gives a good eco-nomic opportunity for theteams.

“For sure we’re going to

have a quiet start. I’m sure theteams will be flexible to allowus to fit those things in.”

More than ever, bank bal-ances and income will be key in2020 as teams and organisersgrapple with the implications ofa shorter, crammed season.

“The costs are not necessar-ily much lower if you do 18races rather than 22,” saidVasseur.

“Also, our income will beless — we do fewer races, wewill have less commercialrights.”

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French defender AymericLaporte has urged his

Manchester City teammates tokeep up their home trainingroutines during their self-isola-tion — but admits he cannotstop thinking about the club’spossible exclusion from theChampions League.

The 25-year-old is present-ly recovering from a hamstringproblem, the latest in a litany ofinjuries that has limited him toeight appearances this season.

City’s players have had tostay at home and been giventraining plans since the reign-ing Premier League championsclosed the training ground fol-lowing British governmentadvice on Monday to avoid allnon-essential travel and con-tact.

“That’s (personal trainingschedule) the best thing foreveryone, that we do it everyday,” Laporte said, quoted inThe Times on Friday.

“They trust in you andyou have to be professional. Youhave to follow what they sayand we have to be responsiblein this case. “When we returnto normality, when we starttraining again outside, we haveto be ready.”

Premier League chiefs onThursday fixed a plannedresumption of domestic footballfor April 30. Britain has onlyjust begun to take the samerestrictive measures as otherEuropean countries to fightthe pandemic. Laporte saidCity players had been advisedto adhere to the guidance onavoiding social contact.

“We have the same proto-col as has been given out in allcountries: stay at home as muchas possible, don’t go out in thestreet, don’t shake hands withanyone,” said Laporte.

Laporte said he was wor-ried about City’s ban fromEuropean football for two yearsfor breaching financial fair-play rules, although the club hasappealed to the Court ofArbitration for Sport (CAS).

“We are waiting for a finaldecision,” said Laporte “We aregoing to see what happens nextseason.

“Obviously it would hurt usa lot if we aren’t in theChampions League next season.

“I am very happy here atManchester City. I am enjoyingmy football here. We are doinggreat things here. In the last twoyears we have won eight tro-phies.”

�� ,"+0�

Star Australian opener David Warner has reported-ly decided to pull out of England Cricket Board’s The

Hundred league as it is clashing with national team’slimited overs series against Zimbabwe.

According to Australian website WAtoday, Warner’smanager James Erskine said that the decision has gotnothing to do with prevailing COVID-19 pandemic thathas caused a global lock-down of cricketing activities.

“David Warner has pulled out of the Hundred inwhat could be the first of multiple withdrawals fromEngland’s new franchise league by international play-

ers as the coronavirus pandemic grips world sport,” thewebsite reported.

Warner at a fee of GBP 125,000 was the highest paidplayer for the 100-ball-a-side spectacle which was setto be held from July 17 to August 15.

“His decision to withdraw from the competitionwas unrelated to the COVID-19 outbreak, his manag-er James Erskine said as he confirmed the move onFriday,” the report further stated.

Erskine on Thursday had said that Warner will beplaying IPL if the COVID-19 pandemic is under con-trol and the league gets rolling after April 15, the timetill which the league has been suspended.

,�� New Zealandcricketers and support staffmembers have gone into a 14-day self-isolation period afterreturning from their abortedAustralia tour, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

New Zealand Cricket con-firmed that all 15 players andsupport staff members whoreturned from Sydney last week-end have gone into lockdown athome as per the government’sdirective. “They [Black Capsplayers and touring staff] haveall gone into self-isolation,” NewZealand Cricket’s public affairsmanager Richard Boock toldstuff.Co.Nz

“We’ve passed on all thedetails about what self-isolationmeans and as far as we knowthey’re all following it strictly,” headded. New Zealand werescheduled to play three ODIsand as many T20s but theChappell-Hadlee series wascalled off after just one ODI,which was held without specta-tors. PTI

�,� ��#�� Former India captainSunil Gavaskar believes the BCCI hastaken the right decision to suspendthe 13th edition of the Indian PremierLeague (IPL) amid the ongoingcoronavirus outbreak.

“The decision by the BCCI tosuspend the IPL till April 15 is a laud-able one. The health and safety of anation are more important thansport and it’s wonderful that the usu-ally much-maligned BCCI has putthat before anything else,” Gavaskarwrote in a column for Sportstar.

Gavaskar also said that the fateof the IPL depends upon how quick-ly the spread of coronavirus is con-trolled in the country.

“Whether the IPL will be playedat all depends on how quickly thespread of COVID-19 is controlled.Till April 15 overseas players won’tget a visa so it may take a bit longerfor the tournament to take off.Foreign players bring a differentflavour to the tournament and addto the excitement, so it’s important to

have them,” he said.The former Indian skipper also

lashed out at a BCCI official for thesuggestion that they did not want IPLto be like a Mushtaq Ali tournamentwithout the participation of foreignplayers.

“Having said that, for a so-calledtop BCCI official to comment that‘the BCCI has to ensure the qualityof the game is not poor. We did notwant a Mushtaq Ali tournament,’ isan incredibly insensitive statement ifindeed it is true,” wrote Gavaskar.

“Firstly, it’s insulting to the greatman after whom the tournament isnamed and secondly begs the ques-tion that if it’s such a ‘poor’ tourna-ment, then why have it at all? Also,can light be shed on why the quali-ty of the tournament is poor? Surelyit’s not simply because there are nointernational players in it, but alsobecause there are no Indian interna-tionals in it! That is a scheduling issuethat the BCCI has to look at,” headded. IANS

��#�� Former Pakistan captain andcurrent bowling coach Waqar Younis saidthat he won’t mind putting his papers ifhe is unable to deliver set targets.

Waqar, who has a three-year contractwith the Pakistan Cricket Board said hewould review his own performance asbowling coach after a year.

“I will be reviewing myself after ayear and let me make it clear, if I feel Iam not good enough for the job and I amnot doing justice to it I will resign andleave myself,” he told a YouTube channelCricketBaaz.

“It is not as if because I have a three-year contract I will hang around. I havesome set targets in mind and I want tohelp and groom the young fast bowlers.

“The way I look at it my plan is pre-pare a settled bowling attack for testcricket and keep a rotation policy for thewhite ball formats. Where we adopt a

horses for courses policy. Pick those whoare in form for us.”

He said so far he was satisfied aftertaking over as bowling coach lastOctober.

“We have got some exciting youngfast bowlers like Shaheen Shah, NaseemShah, Muhammad Hasnain and we arelooking at more talent. That does notmean I will ignore those who had donewell in domestic cricket.” PTI

��#�� Pakistan Cricket Board is confident ofgaining profit from the Pakistan Super Leaguedespite the T20 competition was suspended atthe semi-final stage.

According to official sources, the PCB is setto make profits from four major commercialdeals, including broadcasting and digital media.

“We will earn more compared to the fourprevious editions because majority of thematches (in earlier editions) had to be held inthe UAE where we generally had low crowds andcommercial deals were also not very profitable,”a source said.

“The losses will come from four matchesbeing held behind closed doors in Karachi andLahore but the gate money receipts are minimalcompared to the profits we will make from com-mercial, sponsorship and broadcasting deals.”

The PSL was on Tuesday suspended after thePCB revealed that a foreign player showed symp-toms of the dreaded COVID-19. The PCB hadalso shortened the league by four days consid-ering the worsening coronavirus situation butwas forced to call it off on Tuesday.

One source said 24 off the 30 matches heldbefore the semi-finals and final were full hous-es in Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachiand gate money earnings were very good.

“But yes, some matches were hit by badweather and reduced overs but we will still makegood profits from the PSL this time despite fourmatches being held in empty stadiums,” he said.

He also said the Board would refundmoney to ticket holders of the semi-finals andfinal. PTI

�� 52/5�+��

PK Banerjee, a footballing colos-sus of his time and a raconteur for

life, died here on Friday aged 83, hav-ing dribbled and dazzled for a goodpart of his mind-boggling 51 yearsof service to the game.

He was suffering from respira-tory problems due to pneumonia andhad an underlying history ofParkinson’s disease, dementia andheart problem. Banerjee, who was onlife support at a hospital here sinceMarch 2, breathed his last at12:40pm.

Born on June 23, 1936 inMoynaguri on the outskirts ofJalpaiguri in West Bengal, Banerjee’sfamily relocated to his uncle’s placein Jamshedpur before partition.

The 1962 Asian Games Gold-medallist’s best days as a playercoincided with Indian football’sgolden era. He scored 65 internation-al goals in 84 appearances for thenational team.

His contribution was duly recog-nised by FIFA which rated him asIndia’s greatest player of the 20th cen-tury, bestowing him with theCentennial Order of Merit in 2004.

From his debut for Bihar in theSantosh Trophy as a 16-year-old in1952 to a stint as MohammedanSporting coach 51 years later,Banerjee takes leave as one of India’s

greatest.A member of the holy trinity,

that also included Chuni Goswamiand Tulsidas Balaram, Banerjee wasthe last surviving scorer of the 1962Asiad Gold-winning team.

Another one his bright momentswith the national team was a fourth-place finish at the 1956 Olympics,where India beat Australia 4-1.

In the final of the 1962 Asiad,India prevailed in front of a hostilecrowd angered by chef de mission

Guru Dutt Sondhi’s remark that itwas ‘Jakarta Games’, for barringcountries like Taiwan and Israel.

Banerjee scored the opener inthat game.

He was captain of the Indianteam that last played the Olympicsin Rome 1960.

He retired as a player in 1967after being laid low by recurringinjuries. But then went on accumu-late a staggering 54 trophies as acoach.

He pulled off a heist as MohunBagan coach when they famouslyheld New York Cosmos 2-2 in anexhibition match starring Pele in1977.

The star of Indian football whenthe sport was at its peak, Banerjeenever played for Mohun Bagan andEast Bengal, representing EasternRailways all his life.

A FIFA-certified coach, Banerjeehad a coaching career as illustriousas his playing one, beginning withBata SC and Eastern Railway.

Having struck gold as a player,a young 35-year-old Banerjee wasmade a joint India coach with G MBasha, and they delivered a Bronzeat the Bangkok Asiad in 1970.

Within a year at the helm,Banerjee guided India to a joint tri-umph at the Singapore Pesta SukanCup in 1971.

East Bengal won five CFL titleson the trot under his tutelage.

He also delivered at MohunBagan, guiding them to a treble —IFA Shield, Rovers Cup and DurandCup — in 1977.

He was coach of the MohunBagan that famously held the thenSoviet Union team, Ararat Yerevan,in the 1978 IFA Shield final.

Back at East Bengal, Banerjeeoversaw their famous 4-1 win overthe arch-rivals in the 1997 FederationCup semifinal.

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Formula One’s drivers willbattle it out in an Esports

Virtual Grand Prix series in abid to give fans their racing fixwhile the season is delayed bythe coronavirus.

Formula One chiefs areaiming to start racing inAzerbaijan on June 7, but to fillthe void for now the sport hasasked current F1 drivers to playa racing game featuring as-yetunnamed celebrity guests.

“Featuring a number ofcurrent F1 drivers, the series hasbeen created to enable fans tocontinue watching Formula 1races virtually, despite the ongo-ing COVID-19 situation thathas affected this season’s open-ing race calendar,” a statementsaid.

“The first race of the serieswill see current F1 drivers lineup on the grid alongside a hostof stars to be announced in duecourse.

“In order to guarantee theparticipants safety at this time,each driver will join the raceremotely.”

F1 drivers Max Verstappenand Lando Norris took part intwo separate virtual races lastweekend following the cancel-lation of the Australian GrandPrix.

The races will be run for 28laps for around 90 minutes andwill take place at the same timeas the postponed Grands Prixwould have occurred.

The events start this week-end with the Virtual BahrainGrand Prix run on the official2019 F1 video game.

Viewers will be able totune in via YouTube, Facebookand Twitch with a qualifyingsession to determine the gridpreceding the race itself.

Results will not counttowards the F1 world champi-onship, but the plan is to runthe virtual tournament untilreal racing can return.

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Indian footballer N BalaDevi, the first to sign a

contract with Scottishwomen’s Premier League clubRangers, has been forced toextend her stay with the teamin Glasgow owing to the trav-el restrictions forced by theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The 30-year-old strikerdoes not have professionalcommitments right now afterthe Premier League was post-poned till April 30 owing tothe COVID-19 pandemic. Buther return to India has alsobeen stalled after the govern-ment on Thursday barred allincoming international flightsfrom March 22 to 31 to tack-le the deadly outbreak.

“There are no matchesnow as the league has beenpostponed and will start onApril 30. But even if she want-ed to go back home, the flightsfrom UK to India have beenstopped two days back,” BalaDevi’s agent Anuj Kichlu said.

“So she can’t go backhome, she will remain train-ing there, there is no otherway out. We will see the situ-ation. If the league re-starts onApril 30, she can stay thereand play.

“But if it does not startand is postponed again, wehave to see what to do or if anyflight is available at that timeand decide accordingly,” headded.

Devi was a captain ofIndia’s Gold-medal winningteam at the South AsianGames last year. She scored 16goals in five matches.

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Real Madrid striker LukaJovic apologised on

Thursday after travelling toSerbia and breaking self-isola-tion rules put in place to limitthe spread of coronavirus.

Jovic claims he was givenpermission to fly to his homecountry of Serbia by RealMadrid, who went into quar-antine last week after one of theclub's basketball players testedpositive for the virus.

But after arriving inBelgrade, according to Spanishnewspaper AS, the 22-year-oldwas "seen on the streets of thecapital, celebrating the birthdayof his girlfriend".

The local press in Belgradehave reported that Jovic wasvisited by police, although it isnot clear whether charges willbe brought against him.

"First of all, I am very sorrythat I am the main topic (ofdebate) these days, and I amsorry that people are con-stantly writing about me andnot about the main protago-nists in the fight against thiscrisis, who are the doctorsand all those who work inhealthcare," Jovic wrote onsocial media.

"In Madrid, my Covid-19test was negative. So I decidedto travel to Serbia, to help andsupport our people, in additionto being close to my family,with the permission of myclub.

"When I arrived in Serbia,they gave me the test and itcame out negative. I am verysorry that some people havenot done their job profession-ally and have not given me spe-cific instructions on how Ishould behave during my iso-lation.

"In Spain it is allowed to goto buy food or buy products inpharmacies, which does nothappen here (in Serbia). I apol-ogise to everyone if in any wayI have hurt or put someone indanger. I hope that together wecan overcome all this."

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The Olympic flame arrived inJapan on Friday to a muted

reception, what should havebeen a joyous celebration dra-matically scaled down due tothe coronavirus pandemic.

The flame landed on a spe-cial charter f light intoMatsushima Air Base in Miyagiprovince, chosen as part of the“Recovery Olympics” to show-case the region’s revival after the2011 earthquake, tsunami andnuclear meltdown.

Former JapaneseOlympians Saori Yoshida andTadahiro Nomura collected theflame from the aircraft and tookit to a cauldron in the shape ofa cherry blossom on a stage infront of selected guests.

But some 200 local childrenthat were due to welcome theflame were kept away as part ofwhat organisers called the“heartbreaking” decision topare back events as the worldbattles the virus.

After a speech by chieforganiser Yoshiro Mori, theformer Olympians lit the caul-dron with the torch, alsodesigned to represent Japan’scherished cherry blossom.

“Children had planned towelcome the Olympic flame,but we decided to scale it down,

giving priority to their safety,”Mori said.

The actual torch relaybegins on March 26, startingfrom the J-Village sports com-plex in Fukushima that wascommandeered as a base byworkers scrambling to containthe fall-out from the nuclearmeltdown.

“The Olympic flame relayis the biggest event ahead of theOlympics. It is very importantfor us to carry it out at any cost,”said Tokyo 2020 CEO ToshiroMuto ahead of the ceremony.

But organisers have beenforced to scale back whatshould have been a key event toraise awareness and excitementahead of the July 24 openingceremony.

While spectators areallowed to watch from theroadside, fans have been urgedto “avoid forming crowds”, withorganisers warning there couldbe a change of programme inthe event of “excessive conges-tion”.

Daily arrival and departureceremonies are closed to thepublic and all torch-bearers willhave their temperatures takenbefore participating in the relay,which is scheduled to visitevery part of Japan on a 121-day journey before enteringTokyo.

��-��01'8+2'

International Olympic Committeepresident Thomas Bach said itwould be “premature” to postpone

the Tokyo Games but admitted thebody was “considering different scenar-ios” as the coronavirus pandemicadvances.

The IOC will act on advice from itsown taskforce and the World HealthOrganization, Bach told the New YorkTimes, after a week when the IOC hasweathered criticism over its response tothe crisis.

But he remained optimistic aboutholding the Tokyo Olympics on sched-ule from July 24 to August 9, and saidthere was no question of cancelling theGames altogether.

“Of course we are considering dif-ferent scenarios, but we are contrary tomany other sports organizations or pro-fessional leagues in that we are four-and-a-half months away from theGames,” Bach said.

“For us, (postponement) would notbe responsible now and it would be pre-mature to start speculation or make adecision at a time when we do not haveany recommendation from the taskforce,” he added.

Speculation has been growingover the Games, scheduled to start onJuly 24, after the COVID-19 outbreakclosed sports competitions aroundthe world, and paralysed manycountries along with international trav-el.

Olympic qualifiers are among thetournaments affected, with 43 percentof athletes yet to book their spots. ButBach said the situation was still toouncertain to make a decision aboutTokyo.

“What makes this crisis so uniqueand so difficult to overcome is theuncertainty. Nobody today can tell youwhat the developments are tomorrow,what they are in one month, not tomention in more than four months,” hesaid.

“Therefore it would not be respon-sible in any way to set a date or take adecision right now, which would bebased on the speculation about thefuture developments.”

Athletes lashed out at IOC advice

this week to continue training “as bestthey can” but Bach said health consid-erations were “first and foremost”,adding “the decision of the IOC will notbe determined by any financial inter-

est”. “For us, while not knowing how

long this tunnel will be, we would likethe Olympic flame to be a light at theend of the tunnel,” he said.

Despite remaining hopeful of start-ing the Games on time, Bach said theIOC’s risk-management policiesand insurance “will make it possible forus to continue our operations and orga-

nize future Olympic Games”.“The IOC has no cash-flow prob-

lem,” he added, when asked about thepotential problem of broadcast pay-ments not arriving in July.

�� ',-�.,/01

Weightlifting’s Olympicqualifying schedule has

gone haywire due to the Covid-19 pandemic but India’sMirabai Chanu is a sure-shotfor the Tokyo Games, if they areheld, while young JeremyLalrinnunga is also set to makethe cut for the mega sportingspectacle.

Former world championChanu currently occupies thirdplace in the women’s 49kgworld rankings following thecancellation of the AsianChampionships, the lastOlympics qualifying event ofthe continent due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

She has taken part in fiveevents out of the six mandatedin the new qualification rules.

In a meeting of theExecutive Board of theInternational WeightliftingFederation held on March 17-18 via video conference, theworld body has made somerecommendations to theInternational OlympicAssociation (IOC) regardingthe Olympic qualifying events.

One of the key recom-mendations, sources said, mayclose the qualification processas all the five continental cham-pionships were cancelled.

This would mean theOlympics qualification slotswill be decided based on thecurrent world rankings. TheIOC will, however, take a finalcall on the recommendations ofthe International WeightliftingFederation.

“Mirabai is certain to thequalify for the Olympics, she iscurrently at third spot in theworld rankings. The top eightfrom the world rankings afterthe end of the qualificationperiod automatically qualifiesfor Tokyo Olympics,” IndianWeightlifting FederationSecretary General Sahdev

Yadav said.“She has competed in five

qualifying events but the sixthone, the Asian Championshipsin Tashkent was cancelled. Ithink there will be no morequalifying events and the worldrankings is set to be based onwhat it currently is.”

Under the new rules, toqualify for the Tokyo Olympics,a weightlifter must compete inat least one event in each of thethree periods of six months(spread over November 2018 toApril 2020), at least six eventsoverall and in at least one goldand silver-level event.

The 25-year-old Chanu hasnow collected 3869 Robi points— the IWF’s official calculationmethod — to be placed thirdbehind Hou Zhihui (4703) ofChina and Ri Song Gum (4209)of North Korea.

Regarding the 17-year-old Jeremey (men’s 67kg),who won a Gold in 62kg inthe 2018 Youth OlympicGames, Yadav said, “In theOlympics, there will be 14competitors in each weightcategory, men and women.Besides the top eight from theworld rankings, the top rankerfrom each of the five conti-nents will also qualify. Jeremyis at the top of Asian rankingsand if the international feder-ation’s recommendations areaccepted by the IOC, he willalso qualify.”

Jeremy is at the top ofAsian rankings with 3119Robi points, far ahead of sec-ond-placed MohammedAlmazyadi Nawaf (2672) fromSaudi Arabia. He is set for hismaiden Olympics.

The last slot will be fromthe host country, if that coun-try (Japan) has not qualifiedfrom this method. But if aweightlifter from the hostcountry has qualified, the lastslot will be given through thetripartite commission process.

�� ',-�.,/01�

Former India hockey coachHarendra Singh finds himself

on a different turf in the country’sbattle to contain the COVID-19pandemic — supervising arrange-ments for Indian evacuees fromcoronavirus-struck nations as AirIndia’s General Manager.

The former India player fromBihar is drawing from hisimmense coaching experience atthe Indira Gandhi InternationalAirport’s Terminal 3 here to over-see smooth transit of people beingrescued by the government.

“I am stationed here from thefirst flight that evacuated Indiansfrom Wuhan, the epicentre ofcoronavirus. It is my duty and I amprivileged to have been given thisopportunity by the Air Indiamanagement,” Harendra, who isAir India’s GM (Commercial)said.

“It is a very big challenge forme and being the leader, I had toset the example for the team,groom and motivate them. Iwould like to congratulate allthose from Air India who are asso-ciated with this mission.”

He said his team has beenworking round the clock and attimes 72 hours at a stretch.

“I am thankful to my familyfor supporting me in all myendeavours. They have neverstopped me.”

Harendra, who guided Indiato the 2016 Junior World Cup titlein Lucknow, said his 3C principlesof communication, commitmentand coordination, which heemployed as a hockey coach,have played a key role in his workso far at the airport.

“In this mission too, I just fol-lowed my 3C formula. It is thesame formula which I employedduring the Junior World Cup,” he

said.“When you have got an

opportunity to serve the country,you can’t take a step back. Lifethreat is there but I am enjoyingevery bit of this challenge,” saidHarendra, who is often seen run-ning from the terminal to the tar-mac wearing a decontaminationsuit.

Harendra said being in chargeon the ground, his job is to ensuresmooth and hassle free transfer ofthe passengers after they land here.

He said conducting opera-tions at the airport was a com-pletely different ball game but hishockey experience is definitelycoming handy in his currentassignment.

“Both the experiences arechallenging but are completely dif-ferent. But I must admit my expe-rience as a hockey coach is defi-nitely giving me an edge,”Harendra signed off.

�� ',-�.,/01�

The COVID-19 pandemic hasisolated her from the world

outside but iconic Indian boxer MC Mary Kom says the forcedslowdown of life as usual has alsoredefined the meaning of freedomfor her.

Mary Kom has self-isolated ather Delhi residence since return-ing from the this month’s AsianOlympic Qualifiers in Jordanwhere she booked herself a secondOlympic berth.

The precautionary measurewas necessitated by a training tripto Italy before landing in Jordaneven though the entire Indianteam got COVID-19 negative cer-tificates from the IOC.

“I am chilling, doing my exer-cises, taking care of my fitness andplaying with my children afterbeing away from them foralmost one month,” Mary Komsaid.

“That’s the best part of thisisolation, I am with my familythrough the day without havingto think of anything. My appeal toeveryone is don’t panic, try andstay at home if you can andspend time with your family,”she said.

“In my case, I have felt asense of freedom with this iso-lation. I have realised that I amnot feeling the stress of a dailyschedule right now.”

A five-timeAsian championbesides being aGold-medallistat theCommonwealth

and Asian Games, Mary Komwould be competing in her lastOlympic Games if it goes ahead asscheduled in July-August in Tokyo.

“I don’t think the Games willbe postponed or cancelled. It is toohuge an event to be shifted just likethat. It will cause chaos. In anycase, it’s not in my hands. So, it’sbetter I don’t say much,” she said.

But will the current situation,in which travel restrictions bymost countries have nearlybrought the world to a halt, havea bearing on her preparations forTokyo?

“Some planning is required. Ihaven’t yet made up my mind,Training here is also prettysmooth. There is nothing missing.We will see how the situation is inthe next couple of weeks beforedeciding on whether going outside

is an option,” sheexplained.

“Till then, every-one please stay athome and don’t forgetto wash your hands,”

she laughed.

�,��#��The BadmintonWorld Federation (BWF)on Friday suspended fivemore tournaments, includ-ing three continental cham-pionships crucial for TokyoOlympics qualification butstripped of that significancenow, in view of theCOVID-19 pandemic inthe host cities.

The announcementcame a week after the BWFput a halt to all of its eventstill April 12.

“...A further five tour-naments have also beencancelled or postponed,”BWF said in a statement.

“This includes the sus-pension of the threeContinental Confederationchampionships scheduledfor week 17 on the BWFTournament Calendar —one of the last chances forathletes to gain qualificationfor Tokyo 2020 OlympicGames before the April 26deadline,” it added.

The suspended tourna-ments are CroatianInternational (April 16-19 ),Peru International 2020(April 16-19), EuropeanC’ships (April 21-26),Badminton Asia C’ships(April 21-26) and Pan AmIndividual Championships2020 (April 23-26).

The European

Championships werescheduled in Ukraine, whileAsia event was to be held inPhilippines.

The AsiaChampionships had alreadyrelocated once, switchingfrom Wuhan, China toManila due to the COVID-19 outbreak in that city. Alltop Indian shuttlers, includ-ing PV Sindhu, SainaNehwal, B Sai Praneethand Kidambi Srikanth werescheduled to compete at theevent.

“Badminton Pan Amalso said it was no longerfeasible to stage the XXIVPan Am IndividualChampionships 2020 inPeru because of health andsafety fears linked toCOVID-19.

“The tournament wasoriginally planned forGuatemala City,” BWF said.

All five tournamentswere to be played within theTokyo Olympic Gamesqualifying period, but will“no longer contribute toOlympic qualifying as theywill now fall outside thequalification window.”

“BWF will make a fur-ther announcement on anyimplications related to theOlympic qualification peri-od at a later date,” BWFsaid. PTI

�� ',-�.,/01�

The BadmintonAssociation of India

(BAI) on Fridayannounced its office willshut down from March 23owing to the COVID-19pandemic.

BAI is the latestNational Sports Federation(NSF) to shut down itspremises in the wake ofnovel coronavirus out-break.

“In the wake of theCorona Virus outbreakand the advisories issuedby the Sports Ministry and

Government of Indiaguidelines for safety mea-sures, BadmintonAssociation of India (BAI)has decided to shut downtheir office from March23,” a media release said.

BAI General Secretary,Ajay K Singhania addedthat the situation will bereviewed on March 31.

“After assessing thesituations and discussionswith various stake holders,it was observed as the bestsolution and health andwellbeing of our staff is ofprime importance forBAI,” Singhania said.

�� ',-�.,/01

Star javelin thrower NeerajChopra has been ordered by

Sports Authority of India (SAI)to remain self-isolated for 14days at the NIS-Patiala after hisreturn from a training stint inTurkey.

Chopra, who has qualifiedfor the upcoming TokyoOlympics, has been told by theSAI to stay at his hostel roomwithout mixing up with otherathletes at the NIS if he has tobe at the premier sports facilityof the country.

He returned to India fromTurkey on Wednesday.

Another Olympics-boundjavelin thrower Shivpal Singhhas left NIS as he preferred tostay at his home.

“SAI said if Neeraj wants tostay at the NIS, he has to remainin self isolation for 14 days with-out mixing with others. He andRohit Yadav who returned fromTurkey have been given hostelrooms separated from othertrainees. They have also beengiven an old gym facility neartheir hostel room,” a source at

the NIS Patiala said.“Shivpal and Vipin

Kasana who returnedfrom South Africawanted to leave for

home. They left NISPatiala yesterday,” he added.The source said SAI insist-

ed that Neeraj and all those whoreturned from abroad shouldremain isolated for 14 dayseven though they were screenedfor coronavirus symptoms at the

Indira Gandhi International air-port.

“At the airport, everyonewas screened and cleared butwhen they reached NIS, the SAIsaid all the returning athletesand coaches should remain inisolation for 14 days. AFI said itwas all right since they havebeen screened and cleared at theairport but SAI insisted.”

The 22-year-old Chopraqualified for the Tokyo Gamesin a competition in South Africain January with a throw of87.86m, having made his returnfrom an elbow surgery last year.He then went to Turkey for atraining stint as part of prepa-rations for the Olympics.

He was supposed to takepart in the elite DiamondLeague series beginning in Dohaon April 17 but the WorldAthletics announced its decisionto postpone the first three legs.

Another Indian javelinthrower Shivpal also qualifiedfor the Tokyo Games whiletraining at Potchefstroom inSouth Africa.

The 24-year-old crossedthe qualifying standard of 85mby hurling the spear to a dis-tance of 85.47m during theACNW Meeting atPotchefstroom earlier thismonth.

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Australia’s swimmers are more con-cerned about a level playing field

than ruling the pool at the Olympics.Due to travel bans, isolation

requirements and other issues thou-sands of athletes still haven’t qualifiedfor their events.

“We are still preparing for theOlympics and Paralympics to thebest of our ability but we absolutelyunderstand that for a lot of ourpeers and colleagues this isn’t thereality anymore, as it may not befor us soon,” Swimming Australiasaid in a release co-signed byhead coach Jacco Verhaeren onFriday.

“We hope the IOC and(Paralympic organizers) are consider-ing everything they can to ensure thatthere is a level playing field, with ath-letes being able to perform in healthyconditions.”

The key theme? It would be fair-er to postpone the Olympics.

Swimming has been a regularsource of medals at the Olympics andworld championships for Australia,where the climate, location and rela-tively high number of Olympic-sizepools is an advantage, but not an insur-mountable one.

“At the heart of the Olympic andParalympic competition is the notionof fair play — a value we hold veryclose, and we do not want that to becompromised,” the statement contin-ued. “We know athlete preparation isbeing severely compromised.Friendship and solidarity are impor-tant Olympic and Paralympic valuesand we stand with you in this time ofuncertainty.”

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The Tokyo Olympics should bepostponed, according to a senior

member of the Japan OlympicCommittee, adding her voice to agrowing chorus calling for Tokyo2020 to be delayed.

“It should be postponed underthe current situation where athletescan’t be well prepared,” KaoriYamaguchi, a JOC executive boardmember, told the Nikkei daily in aninterview published on Friday.

Yamaguchi, who won a Bronze

medal for judo at the 1988 SeoulOlympics, is the first JOC boardmember to call openly for a post-ponement of the Tokyo Games.

Yamaguchi criticised the IOCstance, saying the body “is puttingathletes at risk.”

“By asking them to train underthese conditions, the IOC is open-ing itself up the criticism that it isnot putting athletes first,” Yamaguchitold the newspaper.

“Unlike other sporting events,the Olympics symbolise the idealthat sports bring about world peace,”

she said.The Olympics should not be

held “if people across the world can’tenjoy themselves,” she said.

“What I’m most scared of is thatwe force an opening and have peo-ple question the Olympics, asking,‘Why only the Olympics’?” she said.

She also urged the IOC to atleast set a deadline for its final deci-sion.

Yamaguchi said she plans toargue her position when the JOCmeets Friday next week, the businessdaily added.

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